New H_NGM_N

H_NGM_N #9 has launched, and it is the first full issue that I worked on as the Reviews Editor. Thanks to Brynne, Nathan, Becca, Nate, and Matthew for contributing great reviews! You can read the whole issue here: http://www.h-ngm-n.com/cur_ent-i_sue

Also, since the new issue is out, I am now working on gathering reviews for the next issue. If you're interested in writing a review, I I have the following titles available:

Vauxhall by Catherine Daly (Shearsman)
Nota Bene Eiswen by Eileen Tabios (Ahadada)
Wardolly by Elizabeth Treadwell (Chax)
Self-Portrait With Crayon by Allison Benis White (Cleveland State)
Song of a Living Room by Brigitte Byrd (Ahsahta)
Terminal Humming by K. Lorraine Graham (Edge)

If you want to contribute a review to H_NGM_N but have a different title in mind, please let me know. I would also be interested in gathering some chapbook reviews. As always, please contact me at gina[DOT]myers[AT]gmail[DOT]com. Thanks!

Anne Boyer reviews A Model Year

If you haven't heard yet, Anne Boyer has started a new blog where she discusses books of poetry, and she recently wrote a little about my book, A Model Year. You can read the review here. Thanks for the kind words, Anne!

360 Main Street is Looking for Contributors

Here is the official call:

Do you want to be a part of 360 Main Street (http://360mainstreet.com)? We're currently looking for writers to contribute articles, reviews, and interviews to help our website grow.

In the Great Lakes Bay Area, we're looking for people interested in writing about local businesses, organizations, events, and arts. Just take a look at the tabs at the site to see the variety of topics possible. If you live outside of the area, you can still contribute to the website because we need people to review Michigan-related artists, musicians, books, movies, and cds.

We are willing to work with all levels of writers, so even if you are looking to break into print, you should apply as you can get nurturing and experience. If you are a photographer or videographer interested in submitting work or receiving assignments, we would also like to hear from you. Please note, however, that because 360 Main Street is a volunteer-run site, we are unable to pay contributors at this time. Please contact Editor Jeanne Lesinski at editor@360MainStreet.com for more information or to express your interest.

Our mission statement: Across the Great Lakes Bay Region, people are banding together to bring a positive change to the communities in which they live. The 360 Main Street Project is a grassroots effort to bring recognition to these progressive folks and their accomplishments, and to do so in a way that encourages the involvement of all. Our name, 360 Main Street, is metaphor for our mission, which is to present our visitors with a revolutionary, 360 degree view of the streets on which we live.

Chicago went something like this

Driving in Friday afternoon. Traffic jam inside the city. Two nights free hotel in Rosemont. Blue line to Division. Walking & walking. Stopped into a record store that sold Philip Jenks's books. Drinks & dinner at the High Dive. Saw Mayer Hawthorne at Darkroom. His set included a reggae version of "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out." Opening band JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound were a lot of fun too, and Buff1 and 14kt brought the Errol Flynn out in the crowd, or at least out in the people from Detroit in the crowd. Okay, okay, so I only saw one person doing it, and it was Matt. Long taxi ride back to Rosemont, and the driver got lost.

Saturday morning was spent recovering. Steak & Shake. Went into the city early afternoon. Blue line to Western. Walking & walking & then turning back to go to Green Eye for a pre-dinner drink. Met Max & Kate Greenstreet for dinner at Fuego Mexican Grill. Large portions and interesting conversation. When in school did I have a true learning experience? Then on to the Orientation Center, home of the Chicago Underground library. Meeting Lisa Janssen. Setting up the AV equipment, by which I mean I watched Kate & Max set it up, and I just tested my slideshow. Ducking under the giant screen. Jen Karmin arrived from the airport, having come from the Advancing Feminist Poetics Conference in NYC. Seeing faces I recognize from Saginaw. I read a new piece called "1,000 words (a documentary)" set to photos by Jaime Torres. Then Kate debuted her two movies that come with her new book, The Last 4 Things. She claims to be an amateur filmmaker, but these films look quite professional. Striking images and great audio--music, words, static, layers of language. I love the idea of having a movie in English with captions in English, with the captions not matching the spoken language. Following the films, a quick Q&A, then post-reading socializing. Briefly spoke with Nate Slawson. Spoke very inarticulately about Saginaw with Kerri Sonnenberg. Felt kind of "out of it." Post-reading food & drinks at Logan Square Bar & Grill. More great conversation. Blue line to O'Hare.

Sunday morning free breakfast. Then driving to Michigan. GPS took us a different route than we had expected, but it took about the same amount of time as the usual route. Turning the radio station dial through static until we found the Lions and the Tigers. Going back & forth between the two and hearing, just as we got into Saginaw, the final seconds of the football game and the Lions snapping their 19 game losing streak.

Red Rover in Chicago this Saturday

I'll be reading this Saturday with Kate Greenstreet in Chicago. I am reading a new piece that is a collaboration with photographer Jaime Torres, and I will also be showing some of my own photos too. Here are the official details:

Red Rover Series
{readings that play with reading}

Experiment #33:
Someone Was There to Take a Picture

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
7pm

Featuring:
Kate Greenstreet & Gina Myers

NEW LOCATION
at the Orientation Center
2129 N. Rockwell
corner of Milwaukee/Rockwell
left side of the Congress Theater building
http://orientationcenter.wordpress.com
suggested donation $4

KATE GREENSTREET's second book, The Last 4 Things, will be out from Ahsahta Press in September. Her first, case sensitive, was published by Ahsahta in 2006. She is also the author of three chapbooks, most recently This is why I hurt you (Lame House Press, 2008). Her new poems are in current or forthcoming issues of jubilat, Court Green, VOLT, Fence, Hotel Amerika, and the Denver Quarterly.

GINA MYERS is the author of A Model Year (Coconut Books, 2009) and four chapbooks, most recently Behind the R (ypolita press, 2008). She lives in Saginaw, MI, where she makes books for Lame House Press, teaches, and works as a freelance journalist.

Red Rover Series is curated by Lisa Janssen and Jennifer Karmin. Each event is designed as a reading experiment with participation by local, national, and international writers, artists, and performers. The series was founded in 2005 by Amina Cain and Jennifer Karmin.

Email ideas for reading experiments to us at redroverseries@yahoogroups.com

The schedule for events is listed at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/redroverseries

Readings

I read in Cincinnati a few weeks ago and it was awesome. I got to hear new work by Dana Ward and Eric Baus, and I got to talk to many wonderful people, catch up with my girl Sarah, and leave with a lot of new reading material. Thank you to Kristi Maxwell and Michael Rerick for inviting me down.

I have a couple of events coming up, or at least before the new year:

On Friday, September 18th: I will be hosting Kate Greenstreet & JodiAnn Stevenson at Court Street Gallery in Saginaw. More information will come on this soon.

On Saturday, September 26th: I will be reading with Kate Greenstreet in Chicago in the Red Rover Reading Series. More info soon.

On Thursday, December 3rd: I will be reading in Atlanta. More info soon.

And it looks like I may be reading in Milwaukee and New York in the spring.

On another note, Nate Pritts gave a shout-out to A Model Year on the h-ngm-n blog here. Thanks, Nate!

My book is now available

My first full-length collection of poetry, A Model Year, has been published by Coconut Books and is available for sale here. I will also have copies with me at my reading this Friday at 7PM at Bay City's Brewtopia.