Cornelia Street Café Hosts 'Son of Pony,' Italian American Writers Association 6/11-14

The Cornelia Street Café (29 Cornelia St.) offers a variety of spoken word this weekend as well as the Composers Collaborative Inc.'s Serial Underground 2010. For more information, please call 212-989-9319 or visit www.corneliastreetcafe.com.

On Friday, June 11th, Son of Pony, the Friday night legendary open mic poetry series, starts at 6 pm. Please arrive before then to sign up. The featured reader is Rosie Lugosi and Jackie Sheeler will host. There is a $7 cover.

Italian American Writers Association will take perform on Saturday, June 12th at 6 pm. There will be an open mic with a 5 minute limit. The Italian American Writers Association (IAWA) celebrates its 19th Anniversary with two prolific authors whose works spark controversy and debate - both having used "dago" in the titles of their widely read publications: Rachel de Vries and Fred Gardaphe.

Rachel Guido deVries' latest poetry collection is The Brother Inside Me, (Guernica, 2008). Her first children's book, Teeny Tiny Tino's Fishing Story, (Bordighera, 2008) won The 2008 Paterson Prize: Books for Young People Award. Other books include her novel, Tender Warriors, and two other collections of poems, How To Sing to a Dago, and Gambler's Daughter. A recent poem, Imperfection, was published in Sojourners magazine, and was awarded first prize in poetry by the Evangelical Press Association, and an honorable mention by the Associated Church Press. She is past recipient of a New York Foundation Artist's Fellowship in fiction. She is a poet-in-the-schools throughout central and upstate New York, and offers workshops for women independently. She lives in Cazenovia, NY.

Fred Gardaphe was born in Chicago and is Distinguished Professor of English and Italian American Studies at Queens College, CUNY. His study, Italian Signs, American Streets: The Evolution of Italian American Narrative, is based on his dissertation which won the Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli/Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs award for 1993 and was published by Duke University Press in 1996; it was named an Outstanding Academic Book for 1996 by Choice. He has also published Dagoes Read: Tradition and the Italian/American Writer and Moustache Pete is Dead!: Italian/American Oral Tradition Preserved in Print, Leaving Little Italy: Essaying Italian American Studies, and From Wiseguys to Wise Men: Masculinities and the Italian American Gangster.
Maria Lisella and Gil Fagiani host the event; cover is $7.

AT 6 pm, on Monday June 14th, the New York City Big City Lit presents the current contributors to one of the best online literary journals. The attendees will present new work. Editor Johnson, a poet himself, presides. A line-up for The Big City include: Joel Allegretti, Allen C. Fischer, Joanne Grumet, Pamela Hart, Kate Irving, Dean Kostos, Richard Levine, Philip Miller, Ellen Peckham, Carl Rosenstock, Bertha Rogers, Anna Soo-Hoo, Susan Tepper, MeLinda Thompson, Barry Wallenstein, Chocolate Waters, Estha Weiner and Rob Wright. Cover is $7; more information can be found at http://www.nycbigcitylit.com/.

Later in the evening at 8:30 pm, the Composers Collaborative Inc.'s Serial Underground 2010 takes place. There will be performances by William Anderson, Adam Negrin, Martin Moretto, Giancarlo Vulcano, and Jason Sagebiel. CCi artistic director, Jed Distler, curates the programs abetted by director Arnold Barkus and lighting designer David Lovett. Tickets can be purchased at the box office at (212) 663-1967; there is an advance purchase discount available. Admission at the door is $15 plus one drink minimum. Jed Distler is hosting. More information can be found at http://www.composerscollab.org.

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