Nelly Reifler & Michael Hearst

Save the date and put on a costume!

Join Nelly Reifler and Michael Hearst as they read in support of 826NYC–just nights before Halloween!

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28th – 8PM

As always, we’ll be at The Flying Saucer, located at 494 Atlantic Avenue, between 3rd Avenue and Nevins Street, in Brooklyn, NY. Books will be sold on site. We kindly implore you to be there or be square. And if you’re not already on our mailing list, please shoot an email to othermeansreadingseries@gmail.com to join!

More information to come.

Reading! Joshua Furst and Irina Reyn, September 23, 2008, 8PM

After a long and humid summer off, the Other Means Reading Series is back in action! We will be kicking off our 2008-2009 season on Tuesday, September 23rd with Joshua Furst and Irina Reyn reading in support of PEN American Center!

As always, we’ll be at The Flying Saucer, located at 494 Atlantic Avenue, between 3rd Avenue and Nevins Street, in Brooklyn, NY, at 8pm. Books will be sold on site by Book Court. We kindly implore you to be there or be square. And if you’re not already on our mailing list, please shoot an email to othermeansreadingseries@gmail.com to join!

Joshua Furst’s most recent book, THE SABOTAGE CAFE, was called “urban blight pastoral…Furst is an impressively sharp, compassionate and morally scrupulous anatomist of human relationships…. His narrator has a haunting authority.” by the The New York Times Book Review and “a masterful book, replete with the raw, painful memories of American youth who no longer feel any connection to the generation that raised them” by Ad Busters .

His work has been published in The Chicago Tribune, Conjunctions, Five Chapters and The Crab Orchard Review among other places. Among the awards and grants he has received are a 2001-2002 James Michener-Paul Engle Fellowship from the James Michener Foundation/Copernicus Society of America, a 1997 Chicago Tribune Nelson Algren Award for his short story “Red Lobster,” and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony and  ArtOmi/Ledig House.  He was a finalist for the 1992 Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a runner up in the 2001 Playboy College Fiction Contest.

He lives in New York City, and teaches fiction and playwriting at The Pratt Institute.  His website is www.sabotagecafe.com.

IRINA REYN is the editor of Living on the Edge of the World: New Jersey Writers Take on the Garden State (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster). Her first novel What Happened to Anna K. was published by Touchstone in August 2008. Irina’s work has appeared in the following publications: One Story, Post Road, Tin House, Los Angeles Times, Town & Country Travel, The Forward, Nextbook, Ballyhoo Stories, San Francisco Chronicle, The Moscow Times.  She reviews literary fiction and nonfiction. Her fiction and personal essays can be found in anthologies, including Not Like I’m Jealous or Anything: The Jealousy Book (Delacorte), Becoming American: Personal Essays by First Generation Immigrant Women (Hyperion) and A Stranger Among Us: Stories of Cross-Cultural Collicsion and Connection (OV Books).

Irina was born in Moscow, and currently divides her time between Pittsburgh, PA and Brooklyn, NY.  She is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. Her website is www.irinareyn.com.

PEN American Center is the largest of the 141 centers of International PEN, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. International PEN was founded in 1921 to dispel national, ethnic, and racial hatreds and to promote understanding among all countries. PEN American Center, founded a year later, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. The Center has a membership of 3,300 distinguished writers, editors, and translators. In addition to defending writers in prison or in danger of imprisonment for their work, PEN American Center sponsors public literary programs and forums on current issues, sends prominent authors to inner-city schools to encourage reading and writing, administers literary prizes, promotes international literature that might otherwise go unread in the United States, and offers grants and loans to writers facing financial or medical emergencies. In carrying out this work, PEN American Center builds upon the achievements of such dedicated past members as W. H. Auden, James Baldwin, Willa Cather, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Thomas Mann, Arthur Miller, Marianne Moore, Susan Sontag, and John Steinbeck. Find out more at www.pen.org.

Summertime!

Thanks to everyone who came out (literally, we had our reading on the patio) for our June 10 event, featuring Jeff Sharlet and JoAnn Wypijewski, whose collaborative reading was so powerful the heavens shook! We had the chance to mingle afterwards with the writers, their friends, and Damaris Reyes and Lisa Burriss from GOOD OLD LOWER EAST SIDE (GOLES), the neighborhood housing and preservation organization our June writers – and all-weather attendees – chose to support.

Stay tuned for more information about our next season, opening Sept. 23, 2008 with readings from Joshua Furst and Irina Reyn!

And if you’re short on summer plans, we bet some of the organizations supported through Other Means are looking for volunteers…

Your Tuesday Plans: Jeff Sharlet and JoAnn Wypijewski, reading in support of GOLES

Start your summer off right!

Join us on TUESDAY, JUNE 10th at 8PM

as JEFF SHARLET and JOANN WYPIJEWSKI read in support of GOOD OLD LOWER EAST SIDE (GOLES).

As always, we’ll be at The Flying Saucer, located at 494 Atlantic Avenue, between 3rd Avenue and Nevins Street, in Brooklyn, NY.

WHY YOU SHOULD BE THERE:

Jeff Sharlet is a journalist and author of the books Killing the Buddha and The Family. He is a contributing editor for Harper’s and Rolling Stone. His work has also appeared in The Washington Post, Mother Jones, New York, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Columbia Journalism Review, Oxford American, New Statesman, Forward, Nerve, and The Baffler.

“Just when we thought the Christian right was crumbling, Jeff Sharlet delivers a rude shock: One of its most powerful and cult-like core groups, the Family, has been thriving. Sharlet’s book is one of the most compelling and brilliantly researched exposes you’ll ever read — just don’t read it alone at night!”
–Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, Bait and Switch, and Dancing in the Streets

They are the Family—fundamentalism’s avant-garde, waging spiritual war in the halls of American power and around the globe. They consider themselves the new chosen, congressmen, generals, and foreign dictators who meet in confidential cells, to pray and plan for a “leadership led by God,” to be won not by force but through “quiet diplomacy.” Their base is a leafy estate overlooking the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia, and Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have written from inside its walls.

***

JoAnn Wypijewski is an independent journalist and columnist for Mother Jones magazine. For eighteen years, from 1982 to 2000, she was an editor at The Nation magazine. She has written for that magazine, as well as for Harper’s, CounterPunch, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian of London and other publications. She is the editor of several books including Painting by Numbers: Komar and Melamid’s Scientific Guide to Art, which was called “a wonderfully tricky work of art” by The New York Times editorial page, and The Thirty Years Wars: Dispatches and Diversions of a Radical Journalist, 1965-1994, the collected work of Andrew Kopkind. Wypijewski lives in New York City, where she has been active for tenants’ rights and preservation of the Lower East Side since 1980. She is one of the founders and president of Kopkind, a summer project for radical journalists and organizers based in Guilford, Vermont, and dedicated to the memory of Andrew Kopkind.

***

About GOOD OLD LOWER EAST SIDE (GOLES):
As a neighborhood housing and preservation organization, GOLES is dedicated to tenants’ rights, homelessness prevention and community revitalization. A group of Lower East Siders founded GOLES in 1977. Since then, GOLES has worked with our neighbors to preserve quality, affordable housing and to prevent displacement and homelessness. Through organizing and advocacy, GOLES has helped tenants know their rights, save their homes and preserve their community by fighting for safe, affordable housing. Visit their website at www.goles.org.

Reading!: Janice Erlbaum and Roxana Robinson, Tuesday May 27th, 8pm

We are thrilled to announce that our May 27th reading will feature Janice Erlbaum, author of Have You Found Her: A Memoir, and Roxana Robinson, author of Cost. We hope you can join us at 8pm on Tuesday, May 27th, at the Flying Saucer Cafe, located at 494 Atlantic Ave (between 3rd Ave & Nevins St) in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. On site book sales will be provided by Book Court.

Janice Erlbaum is the author of GIRLBOMB: A Halfway Homeless Memoir (Villard, March ‘06), and HAVE YOU FOUND HER: A Memoir (Villard, Feb. ‘08). She was a contributor to BUST magazine from 1994 through 2007. She lives in her native New York City with her domestic partner, Bill Scurry, and their three cats.

Roxana Robinson has received Fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the MacDowell Colony. She is a critically acclaimed fiction writer, author of three novels and two collections of short stories. Her work has been compared to John Cheever’s, by The New York Times, and to Edith Wharton’s, by Time Magazine. It has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, and other magazines. Her work has appeared often in Best American Short Stories, has been widely anthologized and broadcast on National Public Radio. Three of her works have been chosen Notable Books of the Year by The New York Times, and she was named a Literary Lion by The New York Public Library. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review and Travel Section. She reviews books for The Washington Post and her essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Vogue, House and Garden, and other publications.

Reading! Kelly McMasters & Keli Goff* TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 8PM

Happy Spring!

Join us as we celebrate one year of Other Means
with readings from
Kelly McMasters & Keli Goff

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 8PM
at
 THE FLYING SAUCER
  494 Atlantic Ave, between 3rd Ave and Nevins St
**$5 suggested donation / benefit organization TBA**

Kelly McMasters grew up in Shirley, Long Island, which is the focus of her book Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir from an Atomic Town. Her essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post Magazine, Newsday, Elle Décor, Metropolis, and Time Out New York, among others. She has a BA from Vassar College and an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University. She teaches writing at mediabistro.com <http://mediabistro.com/>  and in the undergraduate writing program and Journalism Graduate School at Columbia University. She is also the co-director of the KGB Nonfiction Reading Series in the East Village. She lives in Manhattan and northeast Pennsylvania with her husband, the painter Mark Milroy, and can be found at www.kellymcmasters.com <http://www.kellymcmasters.com/> .

Keli Goff’s commentary has been seen and heard on numerous networks including: CNN, FOX News Channel, and Bloomberg Radio. Her career in politics and media has included stints as a congressional aide, campaign manager, and communications strategist. She holds a master’s degree from Columbia University and lives in New York City. In her literary debut Party Crashing (Basic Books), Keli explores the cultural and political divide between black Americans of the civil rights generation and their children and grandchildren, known collectively as the hip-hop generation.

Join Us Tuesday, March 25th: Felicia Sullivan, Daniel Holloway, and Dorothy Robinson

Do you like sweet and sour chicken? Black and white cookies? Pat Benetar’s “Fire and Ice”? Yes, you do, because you have a sophisticated palate that enjoys contrast and variety. In honor of that palate (and that chicken), Other Means Reading Series is proud to present to you an evening of memoir and humor, guaranteed to make you cry, laugh, laugh until you cry, and possibly buy a coffee.

We are thrilled to have Felicia Sullivan, Daniel Holloway, and Dorothy Robinson reading with us on Tuesday, March 25th, at 8pm at the Flying Saucer Cafe (494 Atlantic Ave, between 3rdand Nevins), in support of Girls Write Now.

Felicia C. Sullivan is a graduate of the Columbia University MFA program. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a Best American Essays notable. Her work has appeared in the Huffington Post, Swink, Post Road, Mississippi Review, and Pindeldyboz and in the anthologies Homewrecker: An Atlas of Illicit Loves and Money Changes Everything, among others. Sullivan was the recipient of the 2005 Tin House memoir fellowship, and in 2001, she founded the critically acclaimed literary journal Small Spiral Notebook. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Felicia will be reading from her new memoir, The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here.

Daniel Holloway is the chief film critic for Metro newspapers, where his reviews and commentary are seen by more than 800,000 readers in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. He can be heard every Friday on NPR’s national morning news program, The Bryant Park Project, and has appeared on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, Court TV’s Star Jones and WHYY’s Radio Times. His first book, Dating Makes You Want To Die (But You Have To Do It Anyway), will be published this fall by HarperCollins. His work has appeared in 944 magazine, The Comics Journal, The Miami Herald, Spin magazine, The Tallahassee Democrat, Time Out New York and Tokion magazine. He lives in Brooklyn with — in order of preference — a wife, a cat and an Xbox 360.

Dorothy Robinson is the co-author of Dating Makes You Want to Die.

Girls Write Now (GWN) provides a safe and supportive environment where girls can expand their natural writing talents, develop independent creative voices, and build confidence in making healthy choices in school, career and life. GWN provides at-risk New York City high school girls with emerging writing talent an opportunity to be custom-matched with a professional woman writer who serves as her personal mentor and writing coach, meeting with her weekly for the duration of an entire school year, and for up to four years. GWN also enrolls each student in a vibrant writing community — all mentees and mentors gather monthly for genre-based group writing workshops conducted at our offices within Teachers & Writers Collaborative in midtown Manhattan. The year is punctuated by three annual readings, college and career prep seminars, field trips to cultural events, and endless opportunities for scholarships and publication. The magic of the program is reflected in a solid nine-year track record, a 75-percent member retention rate, a 100-percent college acceptance rate, an annual anthology of original writing, and the seven-genre portfolios each student emerges equipped with each season. Founded in 1998, GWN was the first organization to ever present this combination of powerful services, and it continues to be the only program of its kind in the eastern United States.

SAVE THE DATE! We’re back…

… and happily kicking off our 2008 season with a Night of Noir, featuring readings from Akashic Books’ acclaimed Noir series.

Join us at 8pm on Tuesday, Feb. 26th, at our new home, the The Flying Saucer, for riveting readings from:

Brooklyn Noir, Tim McLoughlin
Bronx Noir, SJ Rozan
Queens Noir, Kim Sykes
Manhattan Noir, Liz Martinez

Benefit organization to be determined.

We’re Moving!

We hope 2008 is treating everyone well, so far. The New Year is sure to bring lots of changes–not the least of which (ok, maybe the least of which) is our big move. After several great events at Last Exit Bar, we’re heading a few blocks east.

We’re happy to announce that Other Means readings will be taking place at The Flying Saucer, at 494 Atlantic Ave, between 3rd Ave and Nevins St, in Brooklyn. We look forward to seeing you there in February, when we kick off our 2008 season with a night of good writing and good causes. Stay tuned for details!

WE HAVE A VENUE!

Don’t fall off the edge of your seat! We’ve kept you in suspense about the venue for our upcoming reading, but we promise: Monday night’s reading will merit the building excitement.

Please join us on Monday, December 3rd, at THE FLYING SAUCER (494 Atlantic Ave, between 3rd and Nevins) for readings from MATTHEA HARVEY, ZACHARY SUSSMAN, & BRIDGET TALONE to benefit THE COMMUNITY WORD PROJECT.