The Yes! Reading series is back in full swing, just coming off a reading this past Friday with Heather Christle, Dana Ward and Eric Hardman. Coming up on September 30, Charles Alexander, Rebecca Wolff and Nick Demske will be the readers at the Social Justice Center (33 Central Ave., Albany) starting at 8:00PM.
Charles Alexander is the founder and director of Chax Press. His books include Hopeful Buildings (Chax 1990), Arc of Light / Dark Matter (Segue 1992), Near or Random Acts (Singing Horse 2004), and Certain Slants (Junction 2007), as well as nine chapbooks. A new book of poems, the complete edition of his long serial poem Pushing Water, is expected in September 2011 from Cuneiform Press. He is recipient of the distinguished Arizona Arts Award, and is a former director of Minnesota Center for Book Arts, of Black Mesa Press, and of the Tucson Poetry Festival. He teaches at the University of Arizona, and frequently in the Summer Writing Program at Naropa University. He is the editor of Talking the Boundless Book, published by Minnesota Center for Book Arts. Alexander lives in Tucson, Arizona, with the visual artist Cynthia Miller.
Rebecca Wolff is the author of three books of poetry, (Manderley, Figment, The King), and a novel called The Beginners. She is the editor of Fence and Fence Books and the publisher of The Constant Critic. A fellow at the New York State Writers Institute, she lives in Athens, New York.
Nick Demske lives in Racine, Wisconsin, and works there at the Racine Public Library. His self-titled manuscript was selected by Joyelle McSweeney for the Fence Modern Poets Series prize and was published in the fall of 2010. It was featured as one of 15 debut poetry books from 2010 by Poets and Writers magazine and it was chosen as one of the ten best books of poetry for the year by a reader’s survey conducted by The Believer magazine. Here are some things that have been said about it: “When not wearing formality like a silly dress, Demske has a tendency to slip Tourette’s-like into scatology, a kind of compulsive shit-talking” (Elisa Gabbert). Also, “Nick Demske” is at least as attractive and compelling as he is repellent and scary” (Kathleen Rooney). So there’s that.
