Bronwyn Mauldin's Blog, page 7

Paint Poems on My Car: LitFest Pasadena 2013

Poet Just Kibbe of the Pirate Pig Collective drove a white sedan to the second annual LitFest Pasadena. He handed out big, fat markers and invited people to write poems on it. After some hesitation – What should I write? What kind of poem is right for a car? Do you have any white-out? – people began to write. Their own poems. Poems by Famous Poets.

I wrote a portion of a poem by Pablo Neruda:

I was walking

down

a sizzling road:

the sun popped like

a field of blazing maize

Kibbe drove away that afternoon with a car covered in poetry.

More GuerrillaReads videos to follow from LitFest Pasadena. Stay tuned.

Tagged: author, guerrilla, literature, LitFest Pasadena, poetry, writing

GuerrillaReads No. 75: Henry Hoke

 

Henry Hoke climbed out on a fire escape to read his Resolution. You’ll soon see why.

I promised myself every year I’d get better at playing. But when I didn’t, and then didn’t, and then didn’t, it came down to you, the baby, and you rose to the challenge.

Hoke writes and blogs (yes, these are two different things). He also co-curates the ENTER>text immersive literary events at Concord. His work appeared on the New Short Fiction stage as one their Emerging Voices in 2012.

Emerging Voices celebrates its tenth anniversary on Sunday, May12, at the Federal Bar in North Hollywood. Click here for all the details.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out all the former Emerging Voices authors we’ve featured here on GuerrillaReads.

Tagged: author, fire escape, guerrilla, literature, New Short Fiction, piano, reading, resolution, writing

GuerrillaReads No.74: Liska Jacobs

Here’s Liska Jacobs, at the park with her guerrilla reading of an excerpt from her forthcoming book, Bitter Fruit. This excerpt originally appeared in issue three of DUM DUM zine. Her work appeared on the New Short Fiction stage in 2011.

In addition to writing her own fiction and editing Dum Dum, Jacobs also runs FreeWriteShop, an experimental collaborative writing workshop that has some guerrilla tendencies of its own.

Tagged: author, guerrilla, literature, New Short Fiction, reading, writing

Your video on GuerrillaReads: Meet me at LitFest Pasadena

Got a piece of writing that’s ready for GuerrillaReads?

On Saturday, May 11 I’ll be shooting videos of authors reading their own work at LitFest Pasadena. I have ten spaces available, and they’ll be given out on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you’re a writer with original work you’d like to see here on GuerrillaReads, submit your info here.

Tagged: author, guerrilla, LitFest Pasadena, reading

GuerrillaReads No. 73: Beth Escott Newcomer

Beth Escott Newcomer’s story, Wintering Bird, is about a bird and about a garden. But of course, it’s about so much more than that. She did her guerrilla reading in the greenhouse at Serra Gardens Landscape Succulents.

Newcomer’s work appeared on the New Short Fiction stage as one of their Emerging Voices in 2010. If you like what you see here, you can read another of her stories, Coyotes Howl in Fallbrook, on the Excuse Me, I’m Writing blog.

Tagged: author, cactus, gardening, guerrilla, literature, New Short Fiction, reading, winter, writing

GuerrillaReads No. 72: Miri Hunter Haruach

Also an alum of the New Short Fiction series, Miri Hunter Haruach reads her short story, Josephine on GuerrillaReads.

Josephine strolls into Tommy’s and sits down on a stool. She’s all in red, “Red dress, red nails, red lips, red shoes, topped by a dark burgundy hat with red feathers.” It’s just another Saturday night in the sleazy, homey piano bar. What could possibly go wrong?

Haruach’s work was featured on the NSF stage in 2009. The 10th Annual Emerging Voices show is coming up on Sunday, May 12.

Tagged: author, devil, guerrilla, Josephine, literature, Miri Hunter Haruach, reading, short story, writing

GuerrillaReads No. 71: Susan Lindheim

Susan Lindheim‘s work appeared on the New Short Fiction stage in 2009. In this guerrilla reading, she reads from her novel, Baby Driver, at the quite apropos Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Lindheim was awarded the Kirkwood Prize at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program for Baby Driver. Read more about her and her work.

Tagged: author, cars, driver, guerrilla, literature, New Short Fiction, reading, writing

GuerrillaReads No. 70: Monica Wesolowska

Today on GuerrillaReads we launch a special partnership with New Short Fiction, L.A.’s longest-running spoken word series. The writers you’ll see over the next few weeks are all alumni of NSF’s Emerging Voices program. 

Monica Wesolowska‘s work was featured on the NSF stage in 2008. Her writing has appeared in such places as Best New American Voices 2000, Carolina Quarterly, Quarter After Eight, Literary Mama and  New York Times bestseller My Little Red Book. Wesolowska’s debut memoir, Holding Silvan: A Brief Life, is now available from Hawthorne Books.

Tagged: literature, Monica Wesolowska, New Short Fiction, reading, short story, writing

GuerrillaReads No. 69: Practical Photovoltaics

For me, reading science textbooks can be like reading in a foreign language written in a familiar Latin script. I may be able to sound out the words, but I don’t always understand what they mean.

The maximum power point is the best combination of voltage and current. This is the point at which the load resistance matches the solar cell internal resistance.

They say the best way to learn a foreign language is to move to the country and live among its people. Welcome to the nation of Practical Photovoltaics by Richard. J. Komp. This book has been a very useful source of background material for a novel I’m writing. The more I read, the more I understand my characters and what they know.

This reading and my light-up dress were inspired by the celebrated Fashion Show Poetry Event and the inimitable Kate Durbin.

Hayley Roper-Fingerhut designed and constructed the lighting for the dress. Video is by Ben Gibbs.  

Tagged: guerrilla, literature, photovoltaics, science, science fashion, writing

GuerrillaReads No. 68: MIKE the PoeT

MIKE the PoeT has a date with Density.

He’s got so much guerrilla poetry street cred, that we’re featuring him for a second week in a row. Mike is a fixture in the LA literary scene, writing about the city and its subcultures:

Who’s Sunset Strip sipping?

As the neon super-semiotics

is punctuating the power of place

In this distinctive social space

you call your own home

Mike also blogs at KCET and he’s been featured in the LA Times.

Tagged: author, guerrilla, literature, Mike the Poet, poetry, reading, spoken word, writing