9/9: Virtual reading with Lana Hechtman Ayers and Arthur Russell, 12pm
Saturday, September 9th, 12pm
Online
Overtures
by Lana Hechtman Ayers
“... As a collection, it is ample and generous; the poet tells the story of her life, which could be yours, by way of what she insistently, almost obsessively, observes and records. And while you ‘can’t erase / what has already happened,’ she reminds us, in poems like these, at least, ‘Your life flows back to you.’” —Cecilia Woloch, author of Tsigan Cat mama, dog mama, sky-watcher, recovering coffee-addict, former New Yorker Lana Hechtman Ayers writes in a room over the garage. Her work appears in such places as Rattle, The London Reader, Peregrine, The MacGuffin, and Verse Daily. Author of eight full- length poetry collections, the most recent are: When All Else Fails (May 2023) and Overtures (September 2023). In 2024, her ninth collection, The Autobiography of Rain, will be released by Fernwood Press
At the Car Wash by Arthur Russell
In his chapbook, At the Car Wash, Arthur Russell investigates and cross-examines his experiences growing up and working in his family’s small business, a car wash located in Brooklyn, New York. The poems find their center in the physical plant, the men who work there, and the family relationships, particularly Russell’s relationship with his father. Arthur Russell is the winner of the 2023 Rattle Chapbook Prize, as well as the 2023 Fractured Lit Flash Fiction Prize, the second-place winner of the 2021 Allen Ginsberg Prize. His poems and stories have appeared in Copper Nickel and Glimmer Train among many other publications. He is one of the directors of the Red Wheelbarrow Poets of Rutherford, New Jersey where he co-leads their weekly workshops, co- hosts their monthly reading series and co-edits their annual journal.
About the poets:
Lana Hechtman Ayers, MFA, has shepherded over a hundred poetry volumes into print in her role as managing editor for three small presses. She leads generative writing workshops online and hosts a poetry book club. Her work appears in Escape Into Life, Rattle, The London Reader, Peregrine, The MacGuffin, and other journals. A National Book Award nominee, she won honors in the Discovery /The Nation and Rita Dove Poetry Awards. Ayers’ most recent poetry books are When All Else Fails (The Poetry Box, 2023) and Overtures (Kelsay Books, 2023). Her ninth full-length collection, The Autobiography of Rain, is forthcoming from Fernwood Press in autumn of 2024. She lives with her husband and several fur babies on the Oregon coast in a town known for its barking sea lions. Her favorite color is the swirl of van Gogh’s The Starry Night. Visit her online at LanaAyers.com.
Arthur Russell is the winner of the 2023 Rattle Chapbook Prize, as well as the 2023 Fractured Lit Flash Fiction Prize, the second-place winner of the 2021 Allen Ginsberg Prize, and of Brooklyn Poet’s Poem of the Year for 2015, and he was the runner up for the same prize in 2021. He has received fellowships from Syracuse University’s creative writing program and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. His poems and stories have appeared in Copper Nickel and Glimmer Train among many other publications. He is one of the directors of the Red Wheelbarrow Poets of Rutherford, New Jersey where he co-leads their weekly workshops, co- hosts their monthly reading series and co-edits their annual journal.