Author: benjaminalanmorris

For anyone interested in Room 220, the publishing wing of Antenna, they’re throwing a party on Thursday, January 3rd, from 7-9pm at the main gallery on St. Claude Avenue. From their December newsletter:

Are you a current, past, or interested in being a RM220 contributor? If so, RM220 welcomes you to a New Year’s literary celebration and reading. Bring work to share and/or ears to listen. RM220 is a multi-genre online arts journal and program of Antenna. We are looking for writers, visual artists musicians, audio/sound artists, and filmmakers for both the journal and our interactive event series, SHRINE AND SOUND. All members of the community are welcome to attend.

This coming Saturday, Main Street Books will host their 15th (!) annual author extravaganza, which is always a blast — readers, writers, book lovers, and book sellers come together for a relaxed evening of conversations, signings, and most importantly, snickerdoodles. It’s always a joy to represent the Hattiesburg history book, as every year folks with deep roots in the area (or ancestors involved in its founding) show up and chew the fat. The party runs from 4-7pm on Saturday, December 8.

For anyone interested in submitting a manuscript to Antenna, the deadline for their collaboration series (among other open calls) is November 30. Details on Submittable.

As part of their closing series of essays and interviews this month, Pelican Bomb has a brief piece on the future of arts criticism in New Orleans.

Just in time for the Louisiana Book Festival this weekend, the printing wizards over at Antenna and Paper Machine have delivered the second edition of Ecotone. Bigger, bolder, and brighter than before, this edition is even more beautiful than the first, and shows off Myrtle von Damitz’ paintings even more vividly than before. I am thrilled and humbled to be taking this book to Baton Rouge on Saturday to join a panel of exceptional poets: Anne Babson, Megan Burns, Julie Kane, Dylan Krieger, and Peter Twal, all moderated by the current poet laureate of Louisiana, Jack Bedell. If you’re anywhere near the state capitol this weekend, come and join us! The reading is absolutely free, and starts at 2.15pm in the Capitol Park Welcome Center.

Pelican Bomb has a short take on the mysterious, beautiful lumen prints of Natasha Sanchez at Ochsner Imaging Center — prints which are as much a lesson in the history of photography as they are gorgeous works of art in their own right.

What a thrill to be appearing at this year’s Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge, one of the warmest and most joyful gatherings of readers and writers in the Gulf South. And what an honor to read alongside such remarkable poets as Anne Babson, Megan Burns, Julie Kane, Dylan Krieger, and Peter Twal — moderated by state Poet Laureate Jack Bedell, it’s sure to be a memorable afternoon. The reading begins at 2.15 on Saturday, November 10, with a signing to follow; full details about the festival (which is free!) are available at http://www.louisianabookfestival.org/index.html.