harlequin creature

the book will not go gently into this good night: bookfest in ann arbor

i had the deep pleasure and honor of being invited to participate in bookfest this past sunday, september 9th at the kerrytown farmers’ market by local artists and my mentors, barbara brown and jim horton. it was wonderful to meet so many people making books, turning the pages of books, peering into books that they may not have even considered books before they met the likes of michigan book artists like barbara, alvey jones, and jack o. summers. …

i also met some wonderful people who create the content that goes inside of books: jeremiah chamberlin and gina balibrera, faculty and student respectively in the mfa program at the university of michigan. they told me about a really amazing project called the state of the book, a day long literary symposium at the university on october 6th. leading up to this event is three-day write-a-thon that will get people writing (typing???) across the state of michigan. they describe it as a “walk-a-thon, but with writing” — lord knows i like things that involve both letters and endurance! …

it was a wonderful day full of new and old friends of the creature. i am now looking forward to the ann arbor typing bee at hollander’s this thursday and friday (followed in short order by another in los angeles)…i am so proud of the content of issue 3, culled from writers and artists across the world and assembled by hannah mcmurray and myself. a german speaking irish-scot and a tri-coastal prague-o-phile — what a formidable combination!

lit mag night at housing works was good fun

issue 2, “uncanon,” was officially launched on may 9th with the help of a whole lot of people who came out to housing works on a rainy wednesday eve. the space looked beautiful, with especial thanks to several bunches of bouquets from the wonderful florist, bar, and music space, sycamore, generously donated by my momma, dorothy forbes. and pbr was flowing for free, thanks to the young and lawyerly liam moriarty.

we kicked off the night with readings from our most recent issue by hannah webster, lecco morris, and stella wilde (who was home in germany, and so had editor katie vogel read her first ever english language poem for her). contributions from ugly duckling’s 6x6 and agricultural reader followed, and the rapt audience stuck around for music by relatives and isaac gillespie, the latter of whom made his break from jail just in time to play his set. (guerrilla promoters take note: putting up posters announcing concerts or other cultural events in the city of new york without a permit earns you a night in the pen. apparently bloomberg has done such a good job in office there are simply no other crimes left to prosecute!)

guests were very good about remembering to bring a book or two or three to donate to the housing works bookstore, which is a used bookstore/cafe that is run by volunteers and raises money to fight homelessness and AIDS. we also sold quite a handful of journals — which was particularly awesome because a portion of sales went to support housing works.

it was so fun to share our hard, laborious, challenging, grueling, labor-intensive, time-consuming, hands-on work with such a wide audience. the evening was for me a wonderful mix of new faces and loved ones. aside from a slew of friends, i was fortunate enough to have an aunt and uncle (who was doubling as hc contributor), their lovely little granddaughter, a cousin, a boyfriend, his mother and father, and my adopted greek mother all in the same room at the same time. and it is was also so nice to meet some of our contributors whose work i had come to love and whose names i had letterpressed, but faces i did not know. the arts unite!

if you were unable to make it to the event, and have yet had a a chance to buy a journal, there or a few remaining copies now in nyc book stores. just make your way into the st. mark’s bookshop on astor place or mcnally jackson books in soho. if you don’t live in new york, i have also held onto 2 copies w/ art, which you can still purchase via paypal.

oh yeah! and the event also got a nice little write up by electric literature! yay & thank you!

new york launch party with 6x6 and agricultural reader

please be sure to join us to celebrate the release of issue 2 on may 9th, from 7-8.30pm at the housing works bookstore cafe in manhattan. there will be readings from the new issue, as well as the most recent issue of the agricultural reader, and from 6x6. music will be provided by relatives and isaac gillespie. a donated book to housing works get you all this, plus free pbr!

journals, magazines, and records will be available for purchase — a portion of all sales will go to housing works, a not-for-profit helping “to end the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS”.

ann arbor typing bee & launch party

issue 2 of harlequin creature — “uncanon” — has officially made its way into the world.

the final typing bee of a 3 city tour, at hollander’s in ann arbor was hugely successful, with 18 eager participants who made a nice-sized dent in this issue’s goal of 100 copies.

the following night, a mini-launch party was held to thank our aa typists, and good fun and good eats ensued. journals were available for pre-sale, and they flew off the shelves.

journals are now available for sale, and can be ordered via paypal. all online orders will be filled during the month of april. copies will also be available at our upcoming full-scale launch party at housing works in manhattan on may 9th, and in select local book stores. stay tuned for more information about all that!

another successful typing bee!

los angeles typing bee was a wonderful day of family and friends with very fast fingers and/or much determination. some drove as much as 3 hours from san diego or sat in traffic on the pch to type all day in beautiful 80 degree march weather. we knocked off 20 journals and are well set up now for the final typing be in ann arbor in two weeks on friday, march 23rd. don’t forget to rsvp!

click here to see a list of volunteer typists in the bees so far.

1st typing bee of issue 2 a great success!

in kensington, brooklyn on sunday, february 26th, 9 friends and fanatics of harlequin creature convened to type up manuscripts for issue 2, “uncanon.” people came and went…and came again. the bee flew right past the scheduled end time, and went well on into the evening, late enough to warrant a whiskey night cap and some tunes on that other keyed instrument, the piano. the nyc bee had great energy and katie & i are oh-so-grateful to the busy bees who gave up a big chunk of their sunday to help bring the forthcoming creature into the world.

sound like fun? it’s not too late to get in on the action. typing bees are scheduled in the very near future for los angeles and ann arbor. more info here.

submissions are in for issue 2…and in the process we found the guest artist for issue 3!

thanks in large part to the hard work of guest editor katie vogel and a posting about harlequin creature on the 3rd ward blog, there were about four times the amount of submissions for the spring 2012 issue than our fall 2011 inaugural issue. they have all been all a delight to read, and now comes the process of editing, before we can get to the production ball rolling with typing bees in new york, los angeles, and ann arbor. along with the usual high quality and quirky prose, poetry, and art, the newest issue will feature a different binding, a musical score, and a single page set in letterpress using a remington typewriter font (the one typewriter model that still eludes me — hint hint).

through the submission process, a very exciting discovery was also made — the guest artist for issue 3! christina soriano is a new york based artist and educator, who will make a limited number of small-scale embroidered collages, to appear in the first set of copies of the fall 2012 issue.

the creature’s network of friends and talented artists is growing with the days!

art for issue 2

anita sidler is the talented guest artist for issue 2 of harlequin creature. she has already finished her work on the prints that will appear as a limited edition in the first 30 journals.

the second issue is slated to have a run of 100. order now to ensure you get your hands on a copy — issue 1 sold out in weeks!

the gang

in ann arbor, thanks to great finds and generous donations by dear friend and local artist, jim horton, my tally of typewriters has reached 11! we are well equipped now for issue 2 typing bees, which will take place in late february or early march 2012 (in ann arbor, new york, and los angeles).

please contact harlequincreature@gmail.com if you would like to be included on emails with updates about these upcoming events.

a bit of an idea of what issue 1 looks like (now sold out!)

nyc and ann arbor launch parties were great fun…

the harlequin creature launch party marathon was off to a good start on october 15th in kensington, brooklyn, with a fabulous set by the ever impressive isaac gillespie (http://isaacgillespie.com/). he regaled his intimate and rapt audience with cautionary tales about smoking on cross country greyhound buses and drinking up the courage to talk to that girl across the room. then came relatives (http://ourtripislong.tumblr.com/), that red-headed trio who hosted the party, and played many lovely songs new to a group of familiar fans, and some “oldies” on request. a contributor to the journal, lecco morris, provided an impromptu reading of his poetry.

in ann arbor, in lieu of live music, isaac’s band due diligence “i will wreck your life” and the relatives’ self-titled record got play on vinyl and there were lots of home made treats. one friend and new harlequin creature enthusiast asked to type out his check, with which he purchased a copy of the journal.

at both parties the room was full and the energy was high. it felt so good after slaving away for countless hours alone getting these journals typed, pressed, bound and ready to show, to have them so well received. and of course, they would not be ready were it not for my willing and able typing friends and family — thank you thank you!

~meghan

brooklyn

and we’re launched!

ann arbor

(older updates have somehow flown away…) :(