The Lambda Literary Foundation has selected 119 finalists for the prestigious 24^th Annual Lambda Literary Award, which identifies and celebrates the best of lesbian and gay books in the year of their publication. Finalist readings are being held in San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis, New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles.

On Friday, May 11, Lambda Literary Award Finalists will be reading from their selected works in NYC at  Bluestockings Books, 7:00 pm.

Confirmed authors for this event are: Anton Dudley, Paul Legault, Barbara Browning, Michael Schiavi, Bil Wright, Barry Brennessel, Glen Retief, Sacchi Green, Sally Bellerose, Dawn Lundy Martin, Jonathan Tolins, Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio, Rafe Posey, Steven Haas, Colm Toibin, Michael Hames-Garcia, and Jafari S. Allen.

The awards, now in their twenty-fourth year, celebrate achievement in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) writing for books published in 2011. Winners will be announced at a Monday evening, June 4th ceremony in New York at the CUNY Graduate Center (365 Fifth Avenue) with an after-party at Slate (54 West 21st Street).

Books from major mainstream publishers and from academic presses, from both long-established and new LGBT publishers, as well as from emerging publish-on-demand technologies, make up the 119 finalists, culled from a submission pool of approximately 600 titles represented from about 250 publishers.

More than 90 booksellers, book reviewers, librarians, authors, previous Lammy winners and finalists, and other book professionals volunteered many hours of reading time, critical thinking, and shared discussion to select the finalists in 24 categories. To view the full list of finalists, click here.

The Lambda Literary Foundation nurtures, celebrates, and preserves LGBT literature through programs that honor excellence, promote visibility and encourage development of emerging writers. For more about Lambda Literary, check out their website.

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2nd Ave Poetry, vol 3: The Occult

Saturday, September 25
5-7 pm
FREE (or with suggested donation)
The Creek and The Cave
10-93 Jackson Ave, Long Island City
(on the E, G, & 7 train, B61 bus)

featuring readings & multimedia performances by

mitch HIGHFILL   *   toni SIMON  *  hector CANONGE * charles BORKHUIS  *  priscilla STADLER* brenda COULTAS   *  jill MAGI   *  kelly SPIVEY  * douglas a. MARTIN  *  mark LAMOUREAUX

downstairs after-party with live set by dj DESPO

volume 3 also includes work by
kevin KILLIAN * leslie SCALAPINO * dodie BELLAMY* jeremy THOMPSON * rit PREMNATH * caitlin PARKER  * tsering wangmo DHOMPA * thom DONOVAN  * r. zamora LINMARK * thomas FINK * denise DUHAMEL * filip MARINOVICH * ca CONRAD * frank SHERLOCK  * lyn GOERINGER * matt JONES * clayton ESHLEMAN * charles BERNSTEIN * stephanie GRAY * gerrit LANSING  * vincent KATZ * rusty MORRISON * laynie BROWNE * tim PETERSON * john HARKEY * r.m. ENGELHARDT * emmy CATEDRAL * yago CURA * ernest CONCEPCION  * jonny FARROW * alan ramon CLINTON

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Press Release from New York Center for Independent Publishing:

New York served as the model for Gotham City, inspired Will Eisner as he created the noirish adventures of The Spirit, and became a recurring character during the 1960s resurgence of Marvel in comics such as Spider-Man and Iron Man. Comics expert Peter Gutiérrez will moderate a high-energy round-table on the relationship between superheroes and their favorite hometown, followed by a wine and cheese reception provided by GraphicNovelReporter.com!

Join us and learn how comics culture has promoted potent and memorable images of New York to readers worldwide.

When:  Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 6:30-8:30 pm
Where: 20 W. 44th Street, New York, NY 10036

Tickets $15 for general admission, $10 for CIP Members, and $5 for students – and they’re tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Please email contact@nycip.org or call 212-764-7021 to reserve!

Speaker Bios:

Danny Fingeroth was the longtime group editor of Marvel’s Spider-Man line and the writer of many comics featuring Spider-Man, Iron Man, The X-Men and other iconic characters. He is the author of Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society; Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero, and the Rough Guide to Graphic Novels.

Peter Gutiérrez is an Eisner-nominated comics creator and a born-and-bred New Yorker who hopes that people don’t learn that he now lives in New Jersey.  Peter has written about pop culture for Graphic Novel Reporter, the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Montclair Times, Screen Education, School Library Journal, Rue Morgue, the ALAN Review, and ForeWord Reviews, where he is the graphic novels columnist.

Gene Kannenberg, Jr. is the author of 500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide(Collins Design, 2008) as well as articles about comics for the Comics Journal, Hogan’s Alley, The Chronicle of Higher Education, the International Journal of Comic Art, and several academic essay collections, some of which come from his 2002 Ph.D. dissertation on comics.  His new publishing house specializing in books on comic art will debut later this year.  Currently he writes graphic novel reviews for the “Ulysses ‘Seen’” website and is the director of ComicsResearch.org.

Frank Tieri is an award-winning writer and creator who has worked on some of the biggest franchises in comics including Wolverine, X-Men, Hulk, Iron Man and Batman. His current work includes: Wolverine/ Wendigo, Wolverine/Mr. X, Web of Spider-Man, and Deadpool Team-Up.

Billy Tucci is an award-winning illustrator, writer and filmmaker best known for his modern-day samurai fable Shi. Shi has been featured on every major American TV network while also garnering praise in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. The character has also crossed over with many comic book icons including Daredevil, Witchblade and Wolverine. He recently completed illustrating Jonah Hex, as well as a new Shi series and several other creator-owned projects.

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Admission is free!

March 6th & 7th from 10:00 – 5:00

Saturday, March 6th:

11:30 – 12:00 PM
Maria Filice of  Food & Fate Publishing will presents Breaking Bread in L’Aquila
Reviewed in Library Journal as a “wonderful book…will appeal to foodies and cooks looking for effortless Italian cooking.”

12:00-1:00 PM
“It’s Easier Than You Think: Raising A Passionate Reader” with Nancy Newman
In this informal workshop, Nancy Newman will share simple but effective parenting “secrets” that help all children – pre-readers, precocious readers and dyslexics – become skilled avid readers.

1:00-2:00 PM
“Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye”
New York literary agent Katharine Sands takes participants step-by-step through the success checklist for getting-published.

2:00 – 4:00 PM
Strangers Gate Books presents Uyghur Poet Aisha Kashgari

Three Rooms Press presents Peter Carlaftes, with “A Year on Facebook,” and poets George Wallace (“Poppin’ Johnny”) and Jane Ormerod (“Recreational Vehicles on Fire”)

Brown Paper Publishing presents Goodloe Byron

Colin Broderick (praised by Colum McCann as “one of those younger writers who make sense of where we are right now”) reads from his memoir Orangutan.

4:00 PM
“Presses in Transition”
Lawrence Soehnel of People’s Pages/Coral Press will facilitate a discussion of the realities of technological change for independent publishing. Audience participation is encouraged.

Sunday, March 7th:

12:00 – 12:30
Fractious Press presents Buzz Poole
Greenpoint Press will present Mark Goldblatt, reading from his novel Sloth.

12:30 – 1:00
GNYIPA presents:
Norm Beim
Kay Williams
Francine L. Trevens, TnT Classic Books, speaks on art/aches of doing an anthology.

1:00 – 2:00
Golden Heritage presentation on Margaret Fuller
Intima Press presents on the typesetting of the Declaration of Independence, which was originally printed by Mary Katharine Goddard.

2:00-3:00 PM
David Mathison, author of Be the Media, will discuss how authors and media creators can use social media to promote their work.

3:00-4:00 PM
William Powers (www.williampowersbooks.com) will talk about his environmental and aid work that led to the books Whispering in the Giant’s Ear, an account of his life and activism in Bolivia, and the forthcoming Twelve by Twelve: A One Room Cabin Off the Grid & Beyond the American Dream, about an American physician’s efforts at creating a sustainable life.

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Who wouldn’t want to read a book with a subtitle as searing and juicy (yes, I’m going for a steak vibe here) as “A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession“?

One part of Julie Powell‘s life has just been immortalized on film in “Julie & Julia“, but Ms. Powell has a lot more memoir in her, and Cleaving tells the tale of her marriage, her infidelity, and her journey to learn to cut meat (um … I don’t think I need to point out the subtext there) the way the experts do from the butchers at Fleisher’s Meats (“We follow a nose-to-tail cutting program so we use every part of the animal” their website boasts.)

If you like free events, listening to racy passages read aloud, and meat, then by all means get yourself over to Brooklyn Kitchen Labs and hear Ms. Powell reading selected passages from Cleaving, while enjoying some Meat Hook sausages and wine.  The event is free and open to the public – though I would assume vegetarians may want to eat before attending.

~~~

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The Man and The Music - Charles Strouse

Charles Strouse isn’t a name that immediately rings a bell with most people the way, say, Andrew Lloyd Webber does.  If you say “the great musical composer, Charles Strouse”  people don’t go “Ahhhh, right, of course”.  But mention some of his iconic songs and right away the “wow, I didn’t know he wrote that“s and “seriously, that was him?“s come rolling in.  So, for those of you who don’t know and need me to hum a few bars …

No?  Not yet?  How about

Warmer?  Well you’ve gotta know this one …

Yeah?  Starting to come together?  Want the big finish?

OHHHHH!  THAT’S Charles Strouse!  Yes … THAT’s Charles Strouse, writer of musicals such as Bye, Bye, Birdie, Annie, Applause and composer of movie scores and TV scores like “All in the Family”.   With writing partner Lee Adams he penned half a dozen musicals, and even after that collaboration ended he went on to create a half dozen more with other lyricists (most notably one of my 2nd favorite Musical Theatre Stephens after Sondheim — Stephen Schwartz — for Rags).

On Wednesday night I attended The President’s Forum: An Evening with Charles Strouse at the New School. Being able to sit and hear this man talk about his illustrious career was almost unparalleled; born in 1928 Strouse is a rare gem: someone who was trained in the discipline of music in a way that quite possibly doesn’t even exist anymore who is able to turn on the radio and hear a song with roots in music he helped create.  When he speaks of harmonics it’s with the verbosity of a musical professor; how tones relate to each other, why notes are meant to be paired with each other, explanations as to why one tone follows another, and how to write a piece of music in order to maintain control over an arrangement.  This is not a man who wandered upon a hit song by haphazardly plonking out a tune on the keyboard.

Born into a middle class family to parents who didn’t quite get along Mr. Strouse spoke about evenings gathered around the piano as his mother, a jazz pianist, played old favorites.  It was this memory of his childhood that was the seed that sparked the now iconic All In The Family opening (and of course, the Family Guy opening too, no doubt).

He spent time as Lee Strasberg‘s  piano player and watched as the likes of Marilyn Monroe worked through scenes in The Actor’s Studio.  He paid his dues as a Movietone News composer writing background music for such stirring pieces as “Chorines March to War” (and even here he can dissect the technicalities, explaining how everything was written in 2nds and glissandos so that the music could be edited to fit the piece).

He scored industrial films, one of which (for Van Heusen) he later partially repurposed and unwittingly gave birth to the opening phrase of one of the best known  little girl anthems of all time, Tomorrow … (Ya wanna feel young?  Van Heusen!)

Speaking of Tomorrow … it’s inescapable, I’m sure, for Mr. Strouse to get around talking about it.  I was lucky enough to see Lisa Loeb in person recently and she performed (amoung other songs I enjoyed) Stay.  She was asked by an audience member what her feelings were about the song … she of course replied that she owed her career to it.  However, Mr. Strouse had many melodies to his credit long before this little ditty (written to fill in the two-to-three minutes needed for a scene changed).  When Mr. Strouse was asked to play it on the piano (he played several numbers that night) I did an inward groan.   Really?  I mean, I was honored to be in the presence of the man but … really?  That treacley little number?  Howsabout another song from Goldenboy?

However, when Mr. Strouse played the opening notes of the song  it forever shifted for me.  I don’t think I will ever hear the song the same way again (and for that I am very grateful).  The Tomorrow that Mr. Strouse played was jazzy, undiluted, sublte, and best of all, not an anthem as much as a shrug.  Not a punch in the face but an inevitability — a restating of “Tomorrow’s another day”.  There was no hanging on for dear life … “I just stick out my chiiiiiiin and griiiin and saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay …. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!”

In fact, hearing this 81 year old man happily singing along to his playing of this song just about made the rest of my year.  And for the first time the song brought tears to my eyes and a wide smile to my face.

Aside from all that, one of the most beautiful things about hearing this man speak about his illustrious career is to hear how much he loves his wife and credits her with making him who he is.  He speaks of her dearly, and it elicited  several “awww”s from the audience — especially after hearing about his dysfunctional childhood and what it meant to grow up with a mother who was eventually committed due to mental illness.

I enjoyed every moment in the presence of Mr. Charles Strouse, and I encourage you to take a look at his book: Put on a Happy Face: A Broadway Memoir which has all these stories and more.  The only thing missing is his performance of Tomorrow.   The good news is that  this event was  videotaped and will be available for viewing on the New School’s YouTube site in a few weeks.  I urge you to check it out.

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In the early part of the century (yes, that would be the year 2000) I became fascinated with Lidia Bastianich and made a point of telling everyone that I wanted to go to her restaurant, Felidia (243 E. 58th New York, NY 10022).

People tend to like me (what can I say?) so everyone made a point of trying to get reservations there.  When I went for lunch with some co-workers my boss asked if Lidia was around and would she sign a cookbook?  We were told that Lidia was back in her office, but the book was sent back there and arrived at our table at the end of the meal autographed, with a personal inscription, wrapped in tissue paper.  We were thrilled.

A few months later I returned and this time I bumped smack dab into Lidia herself in the ladies room with my friend.  Lidia was personable, lovely and sweet.  When we told her we were with a little boy (celebrating his birthday) who adored her and wanted to be a chef when he grew up she made a special stop at our table later on to wish him a happy birthday and give him encouragement.

I went to Felidia one more time and got to see her again, but this time she was hosting

an ambassador and couldn’t do more than shake our hands (graciously, but distractedly).  I didn’t hold it against her.  I still think she’s wonderful.

For those not as lucky as I am to have bumped into her twice, you’ll have your chance next week because Lidia Bastianich will be at the uptown Williams-Sonoma store for a special book signing event, signing copies of her new cookbook, Lidia Cooks From the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes.

Date:  Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Time:  5:00pm

Store:  Williams-Sonoma 59th and Lexington

121 E 59th St., NY, NY 10022

(917) 369-1131

Tell her Karen says “hi!”

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If you’re like me, you love cake.   And the internet.  And laughing at other people’s mistakes. So chances are you’ve come across Cake Wrecks already and I’m not about to tell you anything new.  This tip is not for you.

This tip is for those among us who have technology-averse loved ones who say things like “I saw that secret code you sent me in your email, but it didn’t make any sense” … and you reply “That was just a link, dad.  All you have to do is click on it.”  And anonymous loved one says “Oh, I didn’t want to break the internet.  Can you just print it out and send it to me in the mail? ”  But how do you mail an ENTIRE WEB SITE of funny images?  Well … now you can …

Cake Wrecks has not only gone from a very funny (some times very very very VERY funny) blog to a book, but the author of said book is galavanting around the states on a book tour and if you want to not only buy a copy, but have it autographed (hopefully with some sort of misspelled, too-literal inscription, or else where’s the fun?) and you live in NYC then you’re in luck!  Catch Cake Wrecks author here:

New York
(Greenwich Village)
Barnes & Noble Tuesday, Nov 3rd, 7:30PM

Yeeee…. Ha Ha Ha!

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Keith Chow

Paolo Javier chats with Keith Chow about the inaugural Asian American Comicon in post-convention glow.

Asian Americans have been vital contributors to the American comic book since, well, its birth, a fact rarely acknowledged by an industry that continues to uphold a homogeneously white and hetero imaginary on the covers and in the panels of its mainstream and independent titles. With this in mind, I cannot thank the BSG gods enough for the editors of Secret Identities, the first-ever anthology of Asian American comics published earlier this year, who followed-up their historic publication with an equally groundbreaking event on July 11th at the Museum of the Chinese in America: the inaugural Asian American Comics Convention. The AACC felt more like a day-long celebration; I got to participate in the morning as a reader on the panel ‘Every Comic is Asian American’, then geek out in the afternoon and evening as a reader and fan. (During my panel, I shared excerpts from obb, my on-going poetry comic collaboration with artist Ernest Concepcion that’s partially inspired by our lifelong interest in underground comic art and artists.) And I loved AACC for all the reasons that Keith Chow, co-organizer of the event and co-editor of Secret Identities, gives in our post-convention interview below.

PAOLO: How did you feel about the inaugural AACC? Any particular highlights?

KEITH: Well, from my POV, everything was a chaotic blur of escorting journalists, nagging moderators, directing volunteers and making sure the show was chugging along.

But I heard from other folks that it was a great show. The word that got used over and over was intimate. And I understand that. You don’t really get to hang out with artists at typical conventions. Especially not with the heavy hitters that we had at AACC. Folks like Bernard Chang, Greg Pak, Larry Hama, Cliff Chiang, Christine Norrie. You name it. But that wasn’t the case here. Fans and artists alike were on a level field. And these artists felt the same. It was cool to really mingle with fans and check out the other artists and panels without all the hubbub. I think it struck the perfect balance, a convention that featured comic superstars but still retained the vibe of a smaller, more intimate, show.

Of course the highlight was seeing Larry accept the Kiyama Award. His speech was really touching. He crystallized the mission of the whole day in his speech when he talked about the importance of community. Because, ultimately, that’s what the AACC set out to celebrate: the richness of our community. Be it a community of Asian Americans, a community of comic book fans, a community of artists, etc. Without your community, you’re nothing.

PAOLO: Yeah, my wife and I were coming down from the high on Sunday night. We definitely haven’t experienced that intimate sense of community at comic conventions before. In a weird way, it reminded be a bit of what Larry told you during your Q & A about how in the 80s everyone working in comics knew one another, and quite well. On Saturday, the love and respect for community and achievement were palpable. You typically don’t expect this when you think of the competitive field of comics publishing these days, more so now that D.C. and Marvel have become such corporate Hollywood giants.

But in addition to celebrating the contributions of an industry legend such as Larry Hama, you also chose to recognize a young talent such as Derek Kirk Kim, who continues to operate largely within the small comics press sphere. Would you comment on this inclusive decision?

KEITH: Anyway, we were thrilled to have Derek as a featured guest! Not only is he a tremendous talent in the business, but we’re all huge fans of his. Part of the goal of AACC (and Secret Identities for that matter) was to showcase just how diverse the Asian American comics community really. Not only are we industry legends, we’re also indie artists and everything in between.

Secret Identities editors. L to R: Jerry Ma, Parry Shen, Keith Chow, Jeff Yang

PAOLO: The involvement of the Asian American Writers Workshop offered something unique to the convention, I thought, in the Reading Comics panels. You won’t typically find such programming in most comics conventions. What made you guys decide to include the AAWW in the event?

KEITH: One of the things we discussed in our initial planning of the AACC was that we wanted the “con” in Comic-Con to stand for more than “convention.” We thought it could stand for “conference”, or “conversation”, so we incorporated each of those elements into the programming. So while we had an Artists’ Alley and Writing/Art panels–typical of comics conventions–we wanted to add aspects that were more reflective of an Asian American Studies conference, hence the Reading track. As for the “conversation” part, we included special one-on-one “creator spotlights” on the likes of William Wu, Derek Kirk Kim and Larry Hama.

We’d been wanting to do an event at the AAWW for a long time. One of the special things about our book is that in addition to your typical comic fanboy/girl, our audience is also made up of readers of Asian American literature. An anthology of Asian American writers might be unique to the graphic novel market, but we literary-minded Asian Americans aren’t unfamiliar with the likes of Charlie Chan is Dead or The Big Aiiieeeee!, you know? With that said, we’d been trying to figure out how to do a big NYC Secret Identities event, and the Workshop was one of the places we had in mind. (This was before it evolved into the Asian American ComiCon). I met Ken at the CAPA fest back in the beginning of May and told him briefly about our ideas. Eventually, the idea of celebrating SI morphed into what transpired on Saturday, a celebration of Asian Americans in the comics community. But beyond that, I loved that we included authors and poets in the AACC because it shows that we are all part of a broader artistic community.

PAOLO: Awesome. What’s next for the Secret Identities crew, and the AACC?

KEITH: What’s next for SI and AACC is a lot of talking and meeting and planning. Everyone involved with the book wants there to be another volume. It’s just a matter of defining what that will entail. While we didn’t put any nomenclature on the book to presume it was a “volume one” of any sort, we deliberately called the AACC the “First Annual” because we want this to continue in some fashion for a long time. Whether or not we’re the ones spearheading it is irrelevant. We feel it’s important that there is a venue to honor and celebrate our contributions to the industry and community. Besides, it can only get better, right?

PAOLO: Tell us about the San Diego Comic Con and your participation?

KEITH: We’ve got a jam-packed schedule in San Diego. It’ll probably be the last time in a long time that all four editors–myself, Jeff Yang, Parry Shen and Jerry Ma–will be in one room together. And we have a ton of celebrity signings. Kelly Hu from X-Men 2 will be at our booth on Saturday signing a SDCC-exclusive lithograph by Cliff Chiang (who will also be signing with her). We also have Keiko Agena from Gilmore Girls signing with artist Ming Doyle on Friday. Gene Yang and Sonny Liew kick off the signings by comic book superstars on Thursday, while Dustin “Detective Comics” Nguyen and Bernard “Wonder Woman” Chang wrap up the signing festivities on Sunday. Also on Friday night, Jeff Yang will be moderating a panel called “Four Color Reality: Making Comics Relevant Across Cultures” with panelists such as Dwayne McDuffie, Gail Simone, and Stuart Moore. Really crazy busy, actually!

PAOLO: That sounds terrific, Keith. I wish you the SI crew a memorable weekend at SDCC! And thank you again for making the AACC happen.

KEITH: (Already off and running to the SDCC.)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Find out more about the Asian American Comicon on their website. Or become a fan on Facebook.

* * * * * * *

PAOLO JAVIER is the author of LMFAO (OMG Press), Goldfish Kisses (Sona Books), 60 lv bo(e)mbs (O Books), and the time at the end of this writing (Ahadada), which received a Small Press Traffic Book of the Year Award. He publishes 2nd Ave Poetry, and lives in New York.

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