Summer Lit Fest Getting Festier

Now that 5280, The Jet Hotel, and the good folks at Unbridled Books, Ghost Road Press, Fulcrum Publishing, Writers House, and Frederick Hill/Bonnie Nadell are all signed on for our urban lit fest, we're thinking it's the real deal. Visiting agent Elise Proulx gets props for her client Gary Amdahl in the current Poets & Writers. Her agency, if you don't know, is completely unafraid of things literary or commercial, boasting clients like David Foster Wallace and Richard North Patterson in the same breath. Another visiting agent, Daniel Lazar of Writers House, gives this nice interview on a romance web site (don't worry non-romance writers: He takes on everything from literary fiction to humorous nonfiction). He'll be leading 10-12 lucky souls through a critique of their query letter and first ten pages, which constitute the writer's only chance to bewitch an agent (or editor, or finicky reader, which yours truly tends to be on a bad day). Leading up to the agent and editor extravaganza will be the important (read: less attended) workshops on craft. Some of Denver's heavy hitting authors, like Nick Arvin, Shari Caudron, Kathryn Winograd, and William Haywood Henderson (whose book, Augusta Locke, just hit the local bestseller list!), will be coaching writers of all levels through starting new novels or screenplays, new nonfiction projects, and finishing stories or poems.Throughout the week we'll feature entertaining and thought-inducing (watch out!) craft talks and salons, such as "Art and Violence" (Or, "Is That a Gun in Your Pocket or Just Your Bic?" ©) with Denver Poet Laureate Chris Ransick and renegade filmmaker Alexandre Philippe, each of whom have differing perspectives on, for example, Quentin Tarrantino. Just for example. Also, we partner with the people in the know, such as the vaunted DPL librarian Joe Cahn, who will lead writers through the vortex of the old-school library system (as well as new online resources) and challenge everyone to "Stump the librarian," followed up with a workshop by Henderson, who will help writers discover their uncharted finesse in slipping said research into beautifully crafted creative works.So block out July 14-29 on your blackberry, and collect all doctor's notes in advance so that you can fully immerse yourself in the urban literary cyclone that is our first annual lit fest. --AD

Why Not Become One?

For those of you who don’t know, the alternatives to being a sensuist are pretty bleak, especially if you take Jake Adam York and Chris Ransick’s word for it. They both made their case for stripping off the “calluses over the senses” and walking through the world like a giant receptor. The two didn't see eye to eye on everything, though. Thoroughly debated were issues like: Is it possible for the writer be replicated, through his or her work, in 100 years? Does pizza making rate with transubstantiation? Can a person have a “relationship” with a literary ghost? (Things got kind of racy, there.)

Following in Rothman’s martini-sipping footsteps, Ransick tantalized the audience by opening a nice bottle of red and tasting it throughout the talk, all in keeping with his Epicurean thesis. For his part, York made the comment that, upon being asked to speak on the topic of "Becoming a Sensuist," he felt like a “jackass” for not knowing what a sensuist was. (“And I really wanted to wait until I was up here to be a jackass,” he confessed, to an appreciative, well-oiled crew.)

In the end, Ransick wants us all to become a sensuist not only to improve our writing, but also to improve ourselves. York says, Become a sensuist. Go to the next level with your writing, and burn the bridge behind you. Or something like that. (The bartender had a heavy pour.) Thanks to the Jet Hotel for hosting.

--AD

Jet (Not in a McCartneyesque Way)

The Jet Hotel, Sunday night, our first faculty reading for our first annual literary festival. People crowded onto couches, stools, the floor. I noticed everyone trying to massage their jaws after the whole thing was done, many risking injury due to overlaughing. Five reasons: Eric Olson, Chris Ransick, Shari Caudron, William Haywood Henderson, and a dramatic David J. Rothman, who spent the first few minutes of his reading watching us while he drank his martini on the stool, reciting Frost's "Fire and Ice" from memory. Later, he must have felt gratified to watch the martinis shoot out noses as he embarked on a stunning mock epic with a thread of invectives that were breathless in their hilarity. (I'll see if I can get him to e-mail them to be posted, but a lot of the fun was in the delivery.)

Here's what Shari had to say: "Readings about oyster vulvas, sexual harassment videos, frontier women losing their virginity, and the epic I’m-gonna-kill-you-and-watch-the-bullet-race-through-the-milk-carton-and-around-the-neighborhood poem. Safe to say there was probably something for everyone in that room."

And one only has to add Shari's own tale about stripping in a Jordanian Turkish bath with a stranger to get a full picture of what really went down. So far, so fun. The next one's a participant reading at FR5, then instructors, part II, Sunday at the Jet. See you all at the rest of the lit fest. --AD

The Art of Literary Friendships

Tuesday night’s salon, entitled “Literary Friendships” was the kind of event that made you want to lean to the nearest person and whisper, “Will you be my friend?” And not just any old friend. A literary friend. A friend who will read your work and respond with chafing honesty, who will send you postcards with microscopic handwriting from some sand-blown Arab country, who will argue with you about lyricism and ambition, maintain correspondence, promote your books, and follow you, accidentally or otherwise, all over the country. There is really no summarizing the friendship between Brian Kiteley and Eli Gottlieb, but watching them interact gives one a sense of it. As different as they are, both personally and artistically, they have provided each other with years of support, criticism and feedback during what can otherwise be a very lonely pursuit. And not only did these novelists find a critic in each other, they found the friendship of poets to be particularly helpful. For both writer’s, the poet’s concern with “local intensity” served to counterbalance their own obligatory awareness of narrative structure. And when they aren't writing, these poets and novelists help to promote each other’s work—yet another benefit of the literary friendship. All of this good feeling was not overshadowed by the raucous Pat Benatar (or was it Joan Jett?) fans upstairs.

Jody Rein and Patty Moosbrugger join lit fest panels

Two of Colorado's biggest agents have signed on for our summer literary festival in July: Jody Rein of Jody Rein Books and Patty Moosbrugger of the Patty Moosbrugger Literary Agency.

One of Patty's recent sales, to Viking, is Without A Net, by Michelle Kennedy. It's a memoir about a middle-class mother who ends up living in her station wagon with her three kids. Of the work, Dorothy Allison said, "A beautiful, heartfelt, and wonderful book."

Jody Rein has presented at Lighthouse in the past, and is known to be the six-figure book deal queen of the Rockies. She represents everything from literary fiction to high-concept nonfiction, and will be on board to discuss the business.

See you all there! Sign up for the panel talks and agent/editor reception here: www.lighthousewriters.org/order.htm.

LitFestival Parties and Salons

Insanity rules these last few days gearing up for our first summer literary festival: Writing the City. If you've not yet jumped in, please do. The more the merrier, as they say, so if you've been sitting around dreaming about writing that novel, screenplay, or poetry collection, now's the time to just get up and do it.

Plus, look at all the fun:

Parties ($10/person): Opening Reception on Friday, July 14, 6-9 PM, at the Thomas Hornsby Ferril House, 2123 Downing Street (a block north of Children's Hospital). There's a free parking lot directly across the street from the house (it says "reserved," but it's for us), and there's on-street free parking as well. Wine tasting provided by Above the Rims Fine Wine, and Catering by Marcyzk's Fine Food.Agent and Editor Reception on Friday, July 28, 6-9 PM, at the Thomas Hornsby Ferril House, 2123 Downing Street (a block north of Children's Hospital). There's a free parking lot directly across the street from the house (it says "reserved," but it's for us), and there's on-street free parking as well. Wine tasting provided by Above the Rims Fine Wine, and Catering to be determined.

Readings (free and open to whoever wants to come--no registration necessary): Faculty reading, including William Haywood Henderson, Shari Caudron, Chris Ransick, David Rothman, and many more, on Sunday, July 16, 6-8 PM, at the Jet Hotel, the Jet Hotel: 1612 Wazee Street, 303.572.3300. Sunday nights meter parking is free downtown. There are plenty of $5 parking lots in the area, as well as great access to public transport (the hotel's just steps off the 16th Street Mall, so there's a free shuttle from the bus and light rail along the mall). Please arrive 10 minutes early to order drinks and food and get situated. FREE.

Participant reading, Saturday, July 22, 6-8 PM, at Forest Room 5: 2532 15th Street, (303) 433-7001, a block and a half northwest of My Brother's Bar and Shakespeare's on Platte. There's parking along 15th Street, as well as pay lots nearby (on Platte, for example). Please arrive 10 minutes early to order drinks and food and get situated. FREE.

Faculty reading, including Kathy Winograd, Aaron Anstett, Nick Arvin, Eli Gottlieb, Jenny Vacchiano, and many more, on Sunday, July 23, 6-8 PM, at the Jet Hotel, the Jet Hotel: 1612 Wazee Street, 303.572.3300. Sunday nights meter parking is free downtown. There are plenty of $5 parking lots in the area, as well as great access to public transport (the hotel's just steps off the 16th Street Mall, so there's a free shuttle from the bus and light rail along the mall). Please arrive 10 minutes early to order drinks and food and get situated. FREE.

Salons ($10/person) "On Becoming a Sensuist” (Tuesday, July 18, 7:00-9:00 PM at the Jet Hotel, 1612 Wazee Street, 303.572.3300) The world is abundant with writing material, but we don’t always take time to notice it. Denver Poet Laureate Chris Ransick and Westword’s Best Prose Pro Jake Adam York will give a tour of the senses, encouraging writers and literary types to “see” differently. Next time you see a wheel barrow and some chickens in the rain, you’ll do something about it! (And we don’t mean take the chickens for a ride).

“Art and Violence” (Thursday, July 20, 7:30-9:00 PM at Forest Room 5, 2532 15th Street, (303) 433-7001) Some people can watch American Psycho and eat popcorn at the same time; others cringe at the sight of Teletubbies. How much violence is too much? What is the responsibility of the artist? At what point does it become gratuitous? Filmmaker Alexandre Philippe and Denver Poet Laureate Chris Ransick will lead a discussion of the merits (and demerits) of violence in writing, art, and film.

“Literary Friendships” (Tuesday, July 25, 7:00-9:00 PM at the Jet Hotel, 1612 Wazee Street, 303.572.3300) Authors Brian Kiteley and Eli Gottlieb will discuss their friendship, and how literary friendships (prickly and otherwise) have enlivened what might otherwise be a solitary pursuit. You’ll have the opportunity to ask those burning questions: Did you guys ever get into a fist fight? Do writers really deserve friends?Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Tickets can be purchased by calling 303-297-1185, e-mailing info@lighthousewriters.org or visiting http://www.lighthousewriters.org/litfest.htm.

FOR MORE INFO CONTACT: 303-297-1185, info@lighthousewriters.org.