10.12.2011:
Hey folks! It's Autumn, meaning things are getting busy! I've got two readings coming up:

On Saturday, 10/15, check out the Good Tyme Writer's Buffet -- part of the Hamtramck Neighborhood Arts Festival -- which is featuring a slew of awesome Detroit writers reading for 10 minutes each. Also, it's a potluck! 8 PM, Public Pool, 3309 Caniff.

The following weekend I'll be at Leopold's Books in Midtown for a reading series hosted by the lovely gentlemen of [sic], an awesome Detroit-based chapbook series. The event starts at 7 PM on Saturday, 10/22. And there will be free beer! It doesn't get much better than that! See you then!

4.1.2011:
I'll be reading some of my work as part of Art X Detroit, a five-day multidisciplinary celebration that will present works created by the 2008-2010 Kresge Artists Fellows, from April 6-10, 2011. Art X Detroit is free and open to the public, and will be hosted at more than a dozen venues located throughout Midtown Detroit. You can find out more about Art X, along with the full schedule, at www.artxdetroit.com.

 I'll be reading at 6:30 PM on Thursday, April 7 at MOCAD, followed by performances by Joel Petersen and experimental harpist Zeena Parkins. I'll also be reading at 7 PM on Saturday, April 9 at the Scarab Club with Matthew Olzmann and Vievee Francis. Please come! 

Also, check out the lovely short videos of Emmy award-winning filmmaker Stephen McGee, featuring the last two years of Kresge visual, literary, and performing artists.

And! I'll also be reading on Monday, April 11 at noon with the ever-amazing poet Khaled Mattawa. You can find us at 5057 Woodward. More details here. See you there!

10.14.2010:
I'll be reading some of my poetry next Wednesday, 10/20 at 7 PM at the Detroit Institute of Art as part of "Detroit through Art, Time and Space." The event consideries memories of Detroit's collective past and the challenges of post-urban landscape. I'll be reading works rooted in that landscape. And in visual art from the DIA's collection. And stuff. See you there!

6.30.2010:
I am thrilled and honored to have been selected as a 2010 Kresge Artist Fellow, awarded by Kresge Arts in Detroit. You can read more about the fellowship here.

4.2.2010:
It's National Poetry Month! In celebration, InsideOut Literary Arts Project is posting one student poem every day in April on their blog (or follow @InsideOutDET on Twitter). A few of my students have already been featured! Enjoy!

1.27.2010:
I will be reading some poems this Friday, 1/29, with Norene Smith, Stefanie Wielkopolan, Joy Gaines-Freidler and special guest Lynn Crawford at the Detroit Artists Market. The reading begins at 7 PM at 4719 Woodward Ave. (at Forest) and its free! Check it out!

1.12.2010:
Take a peek at my featured article on Detroit's cocktail mixology in this week's issue of Model D!

12.4.2009:
Come check out Leopold's Books (15 East Kirby Street, in the Park Shelton) in Midtown Detroit during Noel Night, which runs from 5-9 PM on Saturday, 12/5. I'll be teaching some basic bookbinding skills (you can even sew your own notebook!) and some of my handmade, cloth-bound journals will be for sale. Stop by!

7.20.2009:
I've got a featured article on Detroit high school slam poets in this week's issue of Model D, a weekly e-zine of Detroit-centric creative, development and entertainment news.

7.1.2009:

Be sure to take a look at my poem in the latest issue of Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review. This season's issue is focused on ekphrasis and contains a ton of beautiful writing about art. Check it out.

4.6.2009:

Good news! The Portland-based literary and arts review POOR CLAUDIA is being released this weekend and it includes one of my poems! This lovely journal includes some amazing work by both emerging and established writers and will be celebrated at Powell's Books on Hawthorne (37th Ave. SE & Hawthorne Blvd, SE Portland, OR), this Sunday at 4 PM. All of you literarily-enthused Portlanders had better show your stripes and show up!

I wish, oh how I wish, I could be in PDX to attend this wonderful event, but I'm also thrilled that I'll be over 3,000 miles away - at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts - celebrating the opening of an exhibition of paintings made by my dear friend and second-year FAWC Visual Arts Fellow Meghan Gordon. Whether your on the far east coast or the far west, I hope you can attend one of these sure-to-be stellar events!

4.1.2009:
In partnership with the Detroit Artists Market, InsideOut's 4th annual Writers Reading Series will again feature the talents of our 08-09 team of writers to the community. Join me this Friday, April 3 at the Detroit Artists Market, located at 4719 Woodward Ave. (at Forest) from 7-9 pm. The reading will feature me, along with Suzanne Scarfone, Anna West and Lori Volante. Be there!

3.21.2009:
EKPHRASIS at the New Museum!

Please join me in the Sterns Auditorium of the newly expanded and reopened University of Michigan Museum of Art on Sunday afternoon, March 29, from 3:30 to 4:30 pm for a reading of poetry and prose written in response to the visual arts. I will be reading poetry inspired by artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeoise; other poets and writers who will be sharing their art-inspired work include Keith Taylor, Nicholas Delbanco, Laurence Goldstein, Ken Mikolowski and more. I hope to see you there!

1.22.2009:
In the struggle to reconcile some of my students' reaction to the Obama inauguration, I wrote and voiced an audio essay, "The Fragility of Hope," which aired on WDET's "The Backstory" on Inauguration Day (1/20) and on "Detroit Today" on 1/21.

Also, mark your calendars . . . I'll be reading my poetry at the Detroit Artists Market on Friday, April 3rd. Stay tuned!

1.10.2009:
Oops! I forgot to mention that since October 2008 I have been working as a Writer-in-Residence with InsideOut Literary Arts Project, a non-profit organization that places writers in Detroit Public Schools as teachers and mentors. You can read more about InsideOut on their website.

10.02.2008:
My review of National Poetry Series Winner "The Cosmopolitan," by Donna Stonecipher, is now in the book review section at NewPages.com.

6.10.2008:
If you're looking for something new to read, check out my poems in the latest issue of Hotel Amerika. . .

2.27.2008:
Hub City Writers Project's latest release, Still Home: The Essential Poetry of Spartanburg, is finished! In this collection I edited during my residency in Spartanburg, the included poets channel the natural beauty of the Carolina landscape and tackle the tragedies and comedies of everyday life.

Still Home will sell for $12 and will be available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and here.

2.24.2008:

The latest issue of Portland Review has finally arrived!
You can purchase a copy, which contains some of my poetry, here.

2.4.2008:
Please join me this Saturday, February 9, 2008 at 1 p.m. in the Showroom (149 S. Daniel Morgan Avenue in Spartanburg) as I host the second annual South Carolina Upstate competition for Poetry Out Loud. This regional event, presented in partnership with the South Carolina Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation, will feature recitation champions from eight area high schools. Competitors will perform classic and contemporary poems of celebrated authors ranging from Robert Lowell, to Elizabeth Bishop, to Langston Hughes, and even Shakespeare. Through , students can master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.  You can read the press release here. Come and show your support of this wonderful event!

1.22.2008:Thanks to everyone who joined me at Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor last week to celebrate the launch of Oleander Review. While in Ann Arbor I had the opportunity to return to the Living Writers Show, not as host this time, but as a guest. To hear me read a new poem, as well as an excerpt from my essay in Oleander, "The Silence of Objects," see the "Interviews" section on the right. Or download a PDF of the essay, available under "Work."

12.13.2007:
Mark your calendars, Michiganders. I'm heading back to Ann Arbor to give a reading at Shaman Drum Bookshop on January 17th , 2008 at 7 p.m. I'll be there along with Elizabeth Kostova and Cyan James to celebrate the launch of Oleander Review. You can read about the event here. I hope to see you there!

1.12.2007:
Warm thanks to everyone who joined me at Hub-Bub for Talk20 this past weekend. Talk20 is is a global event that has been held in cities around the world. In rapid-fire succession, ten people present 20 images each and discuss each image for 20 seconds. Photos of all ten presentations, including mine titled “My Crazy Parents,” are available here. And don't forget to check out my blog, which I keep regularly updated, here.

10.31.2007:
If you missed it in the daily news, the Herald Journal's photos of "We Live Here Now" are now available here.

10.28.2007:
One more article about "We Live Here Now" showed up in this Sunday's Herald Journal. You can read it here.

10.25.2007:
The Spartanburg Herald Journal has published a second article about my performative project "We Live Here Now." Check it out here.

10.23.2007:
As part of a five-day performative installation titled "We Live Here Now," I will be moving in to the storefront windows of 100 East Main Street in downtown Spartanburg with my fellow artist-in-residence, Arielle Angel, tomorrow morning. Or check out today's article in the Spartanburg Herald Journal here. I hope to see you downtown!

9.30.2007:

Four of my poems have appeared in the Fall 2007 issue of the Michigan Quarterly Review. Order a copy online here.

 

8.23.2007:
One of my nonfiction pieces, The Silence of Objects, will appear in inaugural issue of the Oleander Review, which hits bookstores this week! You can also order a copy online here.

Also, be sure to check out my poetry in the online version of Spork Press's final issue.

I am also pleased to announce that on Friday, August 24, I will be joining visiting authors Janis Owens, Kathleen Parker and Ron Rash at Spartanburg High School's Annual Literacy Day. I will be presenting a lecture/discussion on one of their summer reading books, The Secret Life of Bees, at 10:30 A.M. I hope to see you there!

6.25.2007:
On Tuesday June 26th at 7 p.m. I will be at The Showroom (149 S. Daniel Morgan Avenue in Spartanburg) for Hub-Bub's 2007 Artists in Residence Show. My work will be hung in the gallery along with the work of artists Derya Hanife Altan, Arielle Angel and Nicholas Dowgwillo and the poetry reading begins at 8 p.m. Please join us!

4.25.2007:
Announcement of the 2007 Hopwood Awards is available here.

4.11.2007:
Tune in to the Living Writers Show today as I interview Jonathan Lethem - novelist, essayist and recent recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" - reads from his latest novel, "You Don't Love Me Yet." We'll listen to Yo La Tengo and discuss autobiography, affectation and the art of writing about art. Check out Jonathan's wesbite here.

The Living Writers Show airs each Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.(EST) on WCBN-FM, 88.3 Ann Arbor. The show can be streamed during show-time at www.wcbn.org and show archives are available as podcasts on iTunes.

4.07.2007:
I am honored to announce that I am the recipient of three awards in this year's Hopwood contest: Undergraduate Nonfiction, Undergraduate Poetry and the Paul and Sonia Handleman Poetry Award, which is presented to the first-place winner in Undergraduate Poetry.

The awards ceremony will be in the Rackham Building at 3:30 PM on Wednesday, April 18. Susan Stamberg, author and special correspondent for NPR, will deliver a lecture. Please join me there!

4.05.2007:
The UM Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC) and SafeHouse Center are holding their 2nd annual art exhibition, rEVOLUTION: Making Art for Change. April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), and the show will provide a safe space for the community to offer artistic commentary on the issues of sexism, gender, sexual violence and empowerment.

I'll be at the opening night of the show on Friday, April 13th at 7 pm at the Duderstadt Gallery on UM North Campus where two of my poems will be projected on the wall space. The opening night will include live performances of poetry and music, as well as refreshments. I hope to see you there!

3.28.2007:
Tune in today at 4:30 PM to WCBN-FM 88.3 as poet and essayist Maggie Nelson reads from her newest work, The Red Parts, a memoir that chronicles Nelson's interest in the death of her aunt, Jane Mixer. Murdered in 1969, Jane Mixer was one of a handful of pioneering female students at the University of Michigan law school. Planning to tell her parents that she had recently become engaged, Jane arranged for a ride home to Muskegon, Michigan through a campus ride-share bulletin board. The next morning her body was found inside the gates of a small cemetery fourteen miles outside of Ann Arbor, shot twice in the head and strangled.

We'll move through Nelson's spare, poetic account of a girlhood haunted by loss, discuss the literary tradition of writing about writing and examine the consequences of the American cultural obsession with murdered women. The interview will be streamed live at www.wcbn.org and can be downloaded as a podcast from the iTunes store.

3.26.2007:
Please join me this Friday evening, March 30, at 7 PM in the Kuenzel room of the Michigan Union for the second of three readings featuring members of this year's creative writing cohort. I will be reading along with fiction writers Marshall Walker Lee and Kirstin Northenscold, and poets Tania Strauss and Sarah Sala. I hope to see you there!

3.23.2007:
Three new interviews have been uploaded to the mp3 section: poets Marie Howe & Catherine Wagner and novelist Ayelet Waldman.

3.19.2007:
Well kids, its official (pending a few minor details . . . like graduating from college). I'm soon to be a writer-in-residence with Hub City Writers Project in Spartanburg, SC. I'll be living with three talented visual artists-in-residence in a loft apartment/studio space and spending lots of time making beautiful things. More details to come. . .

3.18.2007:
Check out the interviews section for new interviews with poet Dennis O'Driscoll, author and creator of FOUND magazine Davy Rothbart and poet/essayist Christopher Merrill.

3.14.2007:
Get ready for St. Patrick's Day with beloved Irish poet Dennis O'Driscoll today on the Living Writers Show. We'll get a chance to discuss the state of contemporary European poetics, we'll examine the American fascination with the Irish literary tradition and we'll ponder poetic approaches to the tiny tragedies and comedies of modern life.

The Living Writers Show airs every Wednesday from 4:30-5:15 p.m.(EST) on WCBN-FM, 88.3 Ann Arbor. The broadcast can be streamed during show-time at www.wcbn.org and archives are available as podcasts on iTunes.

3.06.2007:
Join me at Shaman Drum Bookshop this Thursday evening at 7 pm as poet Richard Siken reads from his harrowing book of poems, Crush, winner of the 2004 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. Get more information about the reading from Shaman Drum's website.

On Friday: Richard Siken will answer questions about the compilation of a manuscript for poetry contests at 11 am in the Hopwood Room. Also, join us at 3 pm in 3222 Angell Hall, when I will introduce Richard Siken prior to his lecture on the state of contemporary American poetry. Check out Richard's blog here. Read one of my favorite poems of his, Litany in Which Certain Things are Crossed Out, here.

2.28.2007:
My interview with novelist Ayelet Waldman on the Living Writers Show will air today (Wednesday) at 4:30 on WCBN-FM 88.3 Ann Arbor and will stream live at www.wcbn.org. Ayelet will read from her newest work of fiction, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, as well as from her selected essays. We'll talk about the politics of the personal essay, the morality of loving your spouse more than your children, and the joys and complications of raising a family in a writerly home. View her website here.
Get the podcast from the iTunes store by searching for "Living Writers."