Distributed Presses

Raúl Barrientos will be reading in Spanish from his bilingual work Corriendo bajo la lluvia / Running Back Through the Rain at the Cervantes Institute of Chicago, 31 W. Ohio St., Chicago, Illinois 60610 on November 29th, 2007. Professor Ben Heller, who translated Barrientos' work with Christopher Maurer, will read in English.

Barrientos, a Chilean living in the United States since the tragic events of 1973, is one of the most recognized contemporary Latin American poets. This literary event is part of the Chile Hoy! festival of Chilean culture, presented by the Consulate General of Chile and the Cervantes Institute.

The event takes place Thursday, November 29th, at 6:30pm. A reception will follow.

Visit the Cervantes Institute of Chicago

Learn more about Corriendo bajo la lluvia / Running Back Through the Rain, published by Swan Isle

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Posted to Author Events | Poetry | Swan Isle

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune recently reviewed Against the Grain: The Literary Life of a Poet, a Memoir by Reed Whittemore, calling it, "A witty and close-to-the-bone account of one poet's life—one that deeply explores the tough choices to be made between life and art."

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Posted to Poetry | Reviews | University of Alaska Press

Sebastian's Arrows: Letters and Mementos of Salvador Dali and Federico Garcia Lorca received glowing praise on the blog Kendall's Quest:

. . .transcendent bliss, despite the "punctured state," despite the "holes," no: because of the holes. Once again my head spins from so much evenement, from the conjunction of ironies, miracles, and large and small joys.

Christopher Maurer's masterful prologue and selection of letters, texts, and images (many generously provided by the Fundacion Gala-Salvador Dali and Fundacion Federico Garcia Lorca), offer compelling and intimate insights into the lives and work of two iconic artists. The two men had a "tragic, passionate relationship," Dali once wrote—a friendship pierced by the arrows of Saint Sebastian.

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Posted to Art and Architecture | Poetry | Reviews | Swan Isle

Eduardo Urios-Aparisi, author of the bilingual Las hormigas de oro / Ants of Gold, recently gave a reading at the University of Connecticut. The Daily Campus, University of Connecticut's paper, quoted Urios-Aparisi as saying, "Poetry is an art-form that must be spoken, he said, and should convey 'whatever is happening at the moment.'"

For Eduardo Urios-Aparisi poetry is above all, word, spoken word. Word that commits, pronounces, sounds. Word that leaves knots in the voice. For Urios, words play and challenge to play, to conceive the world from different and unsuspected points of view. The poems reflect the senses of the poet; moment to moment, in seduction, abandonment, and loss. It is reality flowing and always fleeing; fragmentary, accelerated, changing and unattainable.

Read the Article in The Daily Campus

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Posted to Author Events | Poetry | Swan Isle

Nancy C. Andreasen, author of The Creating Brain, was recently interviewed in USA Today by Kathleen Fackelmann. Andreasen discusses the brain and its relation to genius, madness, and creativity. The article concludes with suggestions for giving your mind a workout.

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Posted to Art and Architecture | Author Events | Dana Press | Music | Poetry | Psychology

Olivia Maciel will be giving a free reading from Sombra en plata: poemas / Shadow in Silver: Poems at the California Clipper in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood on Wednesday, July 19th. The California Clipper is located at 1002 N. California Avenue at the corner of Augusta and California. The doors will open at 8:00p.m. and the reading begins at 8:30p.m, ages 21 and over, only.

In Sombra en plata: poemas / Shadow in Silver: Poems, Mexican-born Olivia Maciel lyrically evokes another America. The richly allusive language of Sombra en plata / Shadow in Silver is a terrain at times steep, fevered, and sensual: a harmony of words scented of earth and sky. Her poems are catalysts for transformation, challenging the reader with a vision of a world where myth and the quotidian are intimately intertwined. Exploring complex and unpredictable landscapes, Maciel is both a guide and fellow traveler on a fascinating journey through memories and emotions.

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Posted to Author Events | Poetry | Swan Isle

Olivia Maciel, author of Sombra en plata: poemas / Shadow in Silver: Poems, will be giving a reading of her work at DePauw University's Peeler Art Center Auditorium in Greencastle, Indiana, from 4:00 to 5:30pm on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006.

The richly allusive language of Sombra en plata / Shadow in Silver is a terrain at times steep, fevered, and sensual: a harmony of words scented of earth and sky. Her poems are catalysts for transformation, challenging the reader with a vision of a world where myth and the quotidian are intimately intertwined.

Learn more about the Event

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Posted to Author Events | Poetry | Swan Isle

Olivia Maciel was interviewed on Chicago Public Radio's Eight Forty-Eight on Monday, March 6. The bilingual poet discusses a variety of topics including her call to poetry, Chicago, its immigrants, and the truth of poetry.

Her poems are catalysts for transformation, challenging the reader with a vision of a world where myth and the quotidian are intimately intertwined. Exploring complex and unpredictable landscapes, Maciel is both a guide and fellow traveler on a fascinating journey through memories and emotions.

Tune in and listen as Olivia Maciel speaks of poetry's ability to "harmonize disconnected objects" and "give shape to what truly cannot be expressed in any other way" by utilizing the "language of the eternal."

Listen to the Interview

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Posted to Author Events | Poetry | Swan Isle