Kwame Dawes

CALABASH DISPATCHES 2009

The truth of the matter is that Calabash #9 may not have happened.  Why might this be important?  Calabash is a literary festival that takes place in a small village in a remote parish on a small island each year, and in the larger scheme of things, the possibility of a nine year old festival not happening may seem unimportant.  But Calabash is other things.  It is an International Literary Festival, it is free to the public, it brings together some of the best writers from around the world who donate their time and talents to read here, and for many people—several thousand to be exact—Calabash is necessary.

05.22.09 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (2)

Forrest Gander

Slovene Invasion

The Slovenes are coming! Five of them, anyway: Tone Škrjanec, Tomaž Šalamun, Gregor Podlogar, Ana Pepelnik, and Primož Čučnik. This could be big trouble (see their bio notes). Catch you unprepared? That’s just what they want! Better click Continue Reading This Entry below.

Tomaž Šalamun at Brown University, 2007

09.14.08 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (4)

Travis Nichols

Mommy Must be a Fountain of Feathers

Summer has come slowly to Seattle, but it was fully present last weekend. The audience at Gallery 1412–there to hear Don Mee Choi read her translations of the South Korean poet Kim Hyesoon–arrived sun-dazed and pink-cheeked, with swimming hair, flip flops, and (in my case) ice cream.
We shuffled into the dark makeshift gallery—a rickety retail space taken over by artists— where an old cassette tape recorder had been placed on a folding chair in the middle of the stage. Without much fuss or introduction, Don Mee walked up to the tape recorder, pressed play, and then sat back down as Kim Hyesoon’s voice came hissing out of the speakers.

07.07.08 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1)

Travis Nichols

Poetry Reading & Tractor Show in Lewiston, Illinois this Saturday

Lewiston, Illinois, childhood home of Edgar Lee Masters, will hold the 19th annual Masters Day celebration this Saturday.
In honor of the famously cynical poet, local actors in costume will give dramatic readings of Masters’ Spoon River Anthology in the cemetery, the city council will honor local poets for their work, and “members and friends of the South Fulton Antique Tractor Club and Old Iron Club will show their equipment from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ”
“It used to be kind of a big deal with food and vendors and stuff,” a Lewiston city hall representative said over the phone, “but it’s kind of died out. The tractor people are the only ones left really holding out.”
The Canton Daily Ledger has a full schedule of events here.

06.06.08 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1)

Kwame Dawes

CALABASH 08—IMAGINE—Festival Dispatches

Calabash 2008 – Sunday May 25th
Calabash Sunday manages, somehow, to become something of a church service. Of course, the entire festival is about the word, and the spoken word and the received and given word and people at the festival like to talk about spirit and vibe and heart and such the like. But Sunday is Sunday and it is hard to shake the feel of Sunday morning in Jamaica. Early in the morning, in the silence before the sound system kicks into gear in the tent area, you can hear choruses and hymns carrying over the acacia bushes and zinc roofed houses—the rituals of prayer and grace. Some Calabashers want to have a real service at the festival on Sunday. They pull me aside each year, and pitch this ecumenical service for all who will come. I suspect it could happen, but I realize also that in the throes of the festival, I can only think that it would be another brilliant idea to be managed. And we have many brilliant ideas. We don’t try all of them. We simply can’t. But the suggestions will always come. These are not to be seen as criticisms. They are the gestures of those who see the festival as their own and they would like to see it embrace something of their own image. I think, though, that there is so much open beach at Treasure Beach, and praying people do not need the stamp of Calabash to make something happen. Calabashers have been known to turn a simple gathering at the beach into a service to music and dance, or a service to political discussion, or an improvised outdoor hotel, and much else.

05.31.08 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (2)