Dear annogrammers, In thissummer heat, some news to keep ...



Dear annogrammers, In thissummer heat, some news to keep you cool! Translation, Moby-Dick (yes, again), great-greatgrandmother Mary Eugenie and our connection to John Singer Sargent; RickWakeman, and Ancient Aliens. How about a cold Cherry Cola? We have that too.Enjoy the fizz.

 



Alparegho, Like-nothing-else


Thanks to everyone, especially ColeSwensen, who attended the launch of  Alparegho,Like-nothing-else (Beautiful Days Press). Hélène Sanguinettiread live from Arles and, during our Q&A, literary scholar John Stouttranslated. Poet MaryMcCray wrote anexcellent recap, 158 people have viewed it on YouTube, and Asymptotepublished afantastic review.

 


Women in Translation

 

Hélène Sanguinetti 
August is Women in Translation Month, and tocelebrate, I will give a talk, “Discovering Translation,” at the SmithtownNesconset Library on August 20 at 7pm.  I’ll share how to get started in literarytranslation, guide everyone in an easy translation exercise, and then read from Alparegho,Like-nothing-else (Beautiful Days Press).Andspeaking of translation, you can find mine of Jean-Luc Pouliquen’spoem, “We Must Let Childhood,” in Presence2025 .

 




Moby-Dick Marathon

As a reader in the annual Moby-DickMarathon at the Sag Harbor JermainLibrary, I had no idea what I would be asked to read. Fortunately, itwas a passage on a whale sighting—with Flask and Stubb shouting orders to thescrambling sailors. I did my best to incarnate those characters, or at leastwake up my audience. Heave-ho, mates!

 



Mary Eugenie Gregory

 

The family store in Sacramento, 
today the Sacramento VisitorCenterYep, that’s my great-greatgrand- mother (1838-1898). Imagine my surprise to
find her on YouTube speaking beyond the grave! Andthen to learn that the City of Sacramento last year. Wonders never cease. The city wantedto honor the economic contributions of Gold Rush-era women, and Mary Eugenie,according to her friend Leland Stanford(1824-1893), was “a better businessman than me.”

 


Grand Central School of Art

 

John Singer Sargent
(1856-1925)Mary Eugenie’s grandson, JuliusGregory (1875-1955), designed the GrandCentral School of Art in 1922. He had the terminal’s east wing roof raisedin order to install skylights. He must have known John Singer Sargent, one of the school’s three founders—which leads me to

 




Sargent and Paris

 

If you’re a New Yorker, or livein the area, you have probably seen this blockbuster Metexhibit once if not two or three times. “How was it?” I asked oneManhattanite who replied, “Crowded.” For deeper insight, register for BethGersh-Nesic’s talk on July 17 at 4pm through the Zoom host, Alliance Française USA,here

 


Rick Wakeman at the Paramount


Rick WakemanThis former Yes keyboardistnimbly played a grand piano or three-stacked synthesizers, tapping into “Catherine of Aragon” and “Jane Seymour” from The SixWives of Henry VIII , “Yessonata,” a blendof the Yes canon; and tributes to Bowie, Lennon, and McCartney. While hamperedby arthritis, Wakemanhilariously flexed a self-deprecatory wit regarding his weight and ex-wives. Agreat evening with a mesmerizing prodigy.

 



Ancient Aliens Live

 

We have been watching this History Channel show since2009—so we jumped at the chance to see Giorgio A. Tsoukalos (“theguy with the hair”) WilliamHenry, Nick Pope, and Jason Martell in a local90-minute panel discussion before a sold-out audience. It did not disappointwith humor, archaeoastronomy, and suggestions that “disclosure” is imminent.

 


Creative Opportunities

 

Photo by Unseen Studio TheCypress Review , fiction, poetry, art, photography, by July 21

 

FictiveDream, short stories, by August 25

 

Puttingthe World in Focus, Maine Media Workshop with Kevin Pilkington, July14-18

 

Photo by Marcus Dall Col MakingSpace for the Light , sexual assault survivor anthology, by July31

 



Sense andSensibility, haiku on vacation/holiday theme, by July 22

 

WritingDragons Hanoi, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, by August 3



New and Recent Releases

 

A Meditation on Longing , a filmby Frank Vitale (2025)

 

Cagibi 25

 





Ann Cefola, trans. Alparegho,Like-Nothing-Else by Hélène Sanguinetti (Beautiful Days Press)

 

Suzanne Cleary, The Odds (NewYork Quarterly Books)

 

First Literary Review-East


Eric Greinke, Anthropoetics (Independently published)


Ed Jordan mentors colleagues in Holding Up the Sky (2025)


Holding Up the Sky, a filmby Bob Nesson (2025)

 

Nathalia Holt, The Beastin the Clouds (Atria/One Signal)

 

Jerry T. Johnson, Bad Fruit (GnashingTeeth Press)

 

Edward McCann, Ed., Well SaidWell Read (Writers Read Press)

 

The Notre Dame Review 59

 

ThePedestal 96

 

Presence2025

 

Kevin Roy, The Mortician’s Son(Lines+Stars Press)

 

Margo Taft Stever, BarebackRider (Broadstone Books)

 

 

July+ Events – ET

 

Linda SimoneOngoing, the Waring (TX)Market Gallery, exhibit featuring work by watercolorist Linda Simone, andpainters Vera Smith and Laura Lopez

 




July 10, 11am-3pm, The NewDawn Foundation,“UntyingOur Tongues: Languages, Literature, and Our Own Writing,” withLisa Schantl who will lead discussion and writing in a historic waterfrontlocation; register here

 

July 10, 6pm, The Calandra Italian-American Institute, openmic followed by Cathy Gigante-Brown and Mike Jurkovic

Kevin Roy 

July 12, 6pm, Atomic Books(Baltimore), Lines+Stars launch of Kevin Roy’s The
Mortician’s Son

 

July 13-14, 11am-6pm, Governor’sIsland, The NewYork City Poetry Festival

 


July 17, 4pm, Alliance Française USA, “Sargentand Paris and the Gilded Age,” a talk via Zoom by art historianBeth Gersh-Nesic, PhD; register here

 



July 19, 3pm, StudioTheatre in Exile at MoCA, “Poetry as Identity,” panel discussionfeaturing Sarah Bracey White, Elizabeth Burk, and Edward Currelley

 

July 19, 6pm, BostonMarriott Burlington, SpeculativeWriting Open Mic at Readercon34hosted by Christina M. Rau


Christina M. Rau

July 20, 1:30pm, TheGowanus Dredgers Canoe Boathouse, A Persistence of CormorantsPoetry Series, Mary Newell and others

 

August 20, 7pm, SmithtownNesconset Library, Ann Cefola on “Discovering Translation,” aninformal workshop and reading from Alparegho,Like-nothing-else

 


 

Monthly Workshops andReadings

 

Use this link andscroll to listings

 


 

Old-Fashioned Cherry Cola Recipe

 

This comes from my favorite storeon the planet, the VermontCountry Store—where you can find the syrup and concentrateneeded for this nostalgic recipe:


8 oz. plain seltzer or sparklingwatercola syrup, to taste1 oz. black cherry concentrate

Simple syrup or stevia, to taste

 
Make it a float with a scoop ofcherry or vanilla ice cream!

 

 


ʼ Round theNet

 

Madame Chassagne and 
Captain Verlay in The Art of CrimeTranslators Chen Du and XishengChen on two translated Yan An poems, translator interviews, and audio in The Notre Dame Review

 



Musician and songwriter BrianEno on “What ArtDoes”

 


Art historian Beth Gersh-Nesicon her review of the French television series, L’Art duCrime in BonjourParis

 

Richard Hague
Poet Richard Hague onbecoming the 2025-2027 Cincinnatiand Mercantile Library Poet Laureate

 


Poet and artist Bob Hemanon his reading for the DMQVirtual Salon

 


Writer and artist Austin Kleonfor this video ofadvice from eight writers


Poet Heller Levinson on his upcoming chapbook, toward a reduced philanthropy (The Bodily Press), book Crossfall (Black Widow Press), poems in Word for/Word, and being a recent LitBalm feature


 

The Bride, oil painting
by Meg LindsayPoet and artist Meg Lindsayon having threepoems in The Monterey Poetry Review, and an oil painting,“The Bride,” in an international juried exhibit at the Cape Cod Museum of Art

 






Poet Mary McCray for sharingthis flashback of the Geico Caveman (John Lehr) reminiscing in Intro toAnthro with 2 Humans

 


Photo courtesy The Free PressYorktown Poet Laureate JohnMcMullen for thisarticle on “How Catholicism Got Cool”

 




Dos Madres Press Publisher
and poet Robert MurphyPublisher and poet Robert Murphy on DosMadres Press’s 20th anniversary celebration

 







Filmmaker Bob Nesson on therelease of HoldingUp the Sky , a documentary project to advance reforms forincarcerated and returning citizens

 

Poet Mary Newell on herrecent LitBalm reading

 


Poet Jean-Luc Pouliquen onmy translation of his poem, “We Must Let Childhood,” in Presence2025, and for introducing us to the artist Bertillede Baudinière




Bassist Larry Schwartzmanfor this clipof Buddy Guy and Junior Wells

 





Poet and artist Linda Simoneon curating “On the Square,” a multi-artist exhibit of 14 x 14-inch urban etchings,at KapejGallery & Café, October - January

 


Frank VitaleFilmmaker Frank Vitale onhis newest film, AMeditation on Longing , latest installment of TheMetropolis Organism film series, and new blog

 



Poet and playwright SarahBracey White on her essay, “Counterpoint,” in Well SaidWell Read (Writers Read Press)


Have a beautiful summer, everyone!

 

Until next time,

Ann

 

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Published on July 05, 2025 10:28
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