A Writer's Party
Virtual and in-person events happening this weekend, for those not attending AWP
Sometimes I travel to whatever city AWP is happening in that year and put together an offsite event with another press, and when I’m lucky I get invited to read for someone else’s event. AWP, for those who don’t know, is an annual conference for writing programs featuring a book fair and panels where writers give talks about writing, publishing, and going to school for writing (I’ve never actually attended a panel so I don’t really know), and many writers who don’t go to the conference often travel to the conference location to meet and hang out with each other at offsite events.
In 2016, at AWP Los Angeles, I drove down with Cassandra Dallett and shared a house with Beach Sloth and read at like 4 different events and I had a posse that showed up with me at each event. It was a really fun weekend and I felt like a super star. 2016 was a very good time for me writing-wise, it was when American Mary was released and I had a bunch of other projects I was working on and getting published. Personally however, it ended up being a very weird and tumultuous era, but I won’t get into that now.
Last year I flew out to Philly during AWP, where the conference was being held, and put together an event with Really Serious Literature, House of Vlad, and CLASH. It was a really fun event, held at Black Cat Tavern on 12th, home of some of the best pierogi I’ve ever eaten (which is now closed, sadly). Having AWP in Philly last year was cool, because I got to stay at my parents house for free, instead of paying for a hotel room or an AirBNB, and I used the opportunity to look at houses, since I knew I would be moving to Philly soon before having my baby.
This year, traveling to Seattle just wasn’t in the cards for me. I have a six month old, and it just didn’t seem reasonable to take a long, far away trip. Instead, I conspired with Josh Dale who runs the local press, Thirty West Publishing House, and my friend and fellow writer Catch Breath to put together an online event for Friday night, and an in-person reading in Philly at Lot 49 Books on Sunday. We even teamed up with another writer who organized a separate event on Saturday at Lot 49 to make it a cohesive three-day affair.
First up is our open mic reading, this Friday (March 10) at 8pm EST featuring comedic stylings by Jesse Prado. Please register in advance for this event (you can do this on the beaboutitpress.com website, or you can go directly to this link). If you don’t pre-register you won’t be able to attend. I’ve added this registration barrier to discourage 4chan from zoom-bombing (iykyk).
If you’re in Philly, I hope you can come out and party with us. More info below.
a three-day event online & at LOT 49 BOOKS (1612 S. 6th Street Philadelphia)
Friday March 10 at 8pm EST: Alternative to AWP Livestream Reading( online open mic feat. Jesse Prado) please register in advance!
Saturday March 11 at 5:30pm: reading in-person at LOT 49 Books feat. Teacher Hannah, Jesse Feinberg, Erin Kristin Caywood, Caroline Abide, Gen, Van Brooks, Myene T. Yanu
Sunday March 12 at 5pm reading in-person at LOT 49 Books feat. Catch Breath, Josh Dale, Justin Ryan Fyfe, Kat Giordano, Graham Irvin, Alison Lubar, Alexandra Naughton, Abigail Swoboda (with musical accompaniment)
I'm kicking myself for not going back to Philly for AWP last year. It always creeps up on me and I always miss it. Fugazi is my favorite band. I saw them in Drexel's gym a couple year's after that YMCA show. I do pretty well in Philly and I come up about twice a year. I'd love to combine forces and meet someday.
https://www.jimtrainer.net/