Let’s hear it for cross-urban pollination! A posse of Pittsburgh’s writers, more specifically some local authors on Pittsburgh’s Six Gallery Press, are driving up to Cleveland this Saturday for a group reading at Mac’s Paperbacks, in Cleveland Heights. Writers such as New Yinzers Kris Collins and Scott Silsbe, “Pittsburgh’s Rimbaud” John Thomas Menesini, novelist Dana Killmeyer, outsider writer Che Elias, and myself, will be joining Youngstown’s Noah Cicero, Cleveland native David Hoenigman, and the notorious Kane X. Faucher for the literary onslaught.
A small press publisher from Columbus subsequently contacted me, asking was I reading in his city soon. And I thought, why wouldn’t I? Nevermind that I haven't had a driver's license in nine years, that's not stopping me from getting to Cleveland! I asked him if his press was interested in trading readings—we’d set one up for his people here, and he’d set one up for some of us there. I do think it always works best if, like John Morris has mentioned on this blog before, the readings themselves cross-pollinate local writers with the out-of-towners. I once booked myself a cross-country reading tour before I grasped that fact--booking myself solo readings the whole way. I don't recommend it! It’s not a good way to gather audiences for emerging artists of any genre. Face it: in the independent art world, audiences still flock to support their friends and acquaintances first, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Six Gallery Press Reading
May 5th 2007 at 5:00pm
Mac's Paperbacks
1820 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights
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