October 17: Dietrich, Rem-Martin, Steffen

When--Thursday, October 17th 
Where- ModernFormations, 4919 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh 
Time- 8:00 p.m. Cover- $5 or free w/ contribution of potluck dish 
Proudly sponsored by Mellingers Beer Distributor 
BYOB!

Karen Dietrich grew up in the 1980s in Connellsville, a small factory town fifty-seven miles from Pittsburgh. Her first memoir, THE GIRL FACTORY (skirt/Globe Pequot) was published October 1, 2013. Karen lives in Greensburg, where she works as an adjunct writing instructor at Westmoreland County Community College and the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. She recently joined the faculty of the online creative writing MFA program at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Her work has appeared in Joyland, Smokelong Quarterly, Specter, and elsewhere.

Michael Steffen is the author of three collections of poetry. His first, No Good at Sea, was published by Legible Press in 2002. His second, Heart Murmur, was released in 2009 by Bordighera Press. Bad Behavior, his third collection, was published by Brick Road Poetry Press in 2012. A long-time resident of northeastern Pennsylvania, Michael was granted a 2002 Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and has had poems appear in a wide variety of journals including Poetry, Potomac Review, The Ledge, Poet Lore,Rhino, Smartish Pace and many others. He is a Y2K graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Vermont College and currently lives in Lancaster, NY.

Sarah Beth (Rem) Martin, penname SBR Martin, was bred, born, and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she continues to live and work as a writer, journalist, and mother. An alumna of The Ellis School, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, she currently writes for The South Pittsburgh Reporter and is employed as an independent copywriter serving a variety of clients from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. Described as "a psychological and thoughtful novel of suspense" by Midwest Book Review, Martin's debut novel, "In Wake of Water," was published in Oct. 2011. Less than a year later, her second book, "Pig," hit the market after placing as a Second Prize Quarterfinalist in the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest, where Publisher’s Weekly said of it, “The ultimate resolution of the story makes for quite a surprise… (Martin) is able to build good characters, flawed and believable, yet familiar, so that at the end one is saddened, but also, in a strange way, enriched.” “Pig” was recognized by Suspense Magazine as a Best of 2012 book, in the category of Indie Fiction, and won First Place for Best Lesbian Contemporary General Fiction in the 2012 Elisa Rolle International Rainbow Awards. Martin is presently working on her third novel, which takes a controversial look at murder as an artform and uniquely explores one’s ownership over the creative process.

May 16: Jones, Salvadeo, Wagner

When--Thursday, May 16th
Where- ModernFormations, 4919 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh
Time- 8:00 p.m.
Cover- $5 or free w/ contribution of potluck dish
BYOB!

T.C Jones is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. His writing has appeared in the Monarch Review, The New Yinzer, Gadfly Magazine, and won the TAR award for fiction in The April Reader. A resident of the east end of Pittsburgh, T.C. currently directs a quarterly literary and art series called Jam2Jam.




















Alicia Salvadeo was raised in Staten Island, NY, and Stroudsburg, PA. She now lives in Pittsburgh's Polish Hill, where she spends more time on her porch than in any other room in the apartment. Current obsessions include Game of Thrones, Muriel Rukeyser, and Freddie Mercury. Her poetry and critical work has most recently appeared or is forthcoming in Bombay Gin, The Volta, DIAGRAM, and Phantom Limb.














Jasmine Dreame Wagner is the author of Rewilding (Ahsahta Press, 2013) and Listening for Earthquakes (Caketrain Journal and Press, 2012.) Her writing has appeared in American Letters & Commentary, Blackbird, Colorado Review, Indiana Review, NANO Fiction, New American Writing, Seattle Review, Verse, and in two anthologies: The Arcadia Project: North American Postmodern Pastoral (Ahsahta Press, 2012) and Lost and Found: Stories from New York (Mr. Beller's Neighborhood Books, 2009.) A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Montana, Jasmine has received grants and fellowships from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Summer Literary Seminars - Kenya, and The Wassaic Project. She lives in Brooklyn and teaches creative writing at Western Connecticut State University.

The Return of TNY Presents: August 18th!

Thursday, April 21: Kane, Michalski, Robinson, & Ross

When - Thursday, April 21st
Where - ModernFormations, 4919 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh
Time - 8 p.m.
Cover - $5 or free w/ contribution to potluck

<-----Kelli Stevens Kane's poetry appears in numerous journals including The Mom Egg, Kweli Journal, and Mythium Literary Journal. She's the recipient of a Flight School Fellowship, an alum of the VONA and Hurston/Wright poetry workshops, the editor of Planet Saturday Comics, and the author of an oral history manuscript about Pittsburgh's Hill District. She has performed nationally. For more information visit: http://www.kellistevenskane.com/


<----Jen Michalski's first collection of fiction, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, is available from So New (2007), her second is forthcoming from Dzanc (2013), and her novella MAY-SEPTEMBER (2010) was published by Press 53 as part of the Press 53 Open Awards. Her chapbook CROSS SECTIONS (2008) is available from Publishing Genius. She also is the editor of the anthology CITY SAGES: BALTIMORE (CityLit Press 2010), which won a 2010 "Best of Baltimore" award from Baltimore Magazine. She is the founding editor of the literary quarterly jmww, and is co-host of the monthly reading series The 510 Readings in Baltimore.

<-----Adam Robinson lives in Baltimore, MD, where he runs Publishing Genius, a micro press. He also plays guitar in Sweatpants, a rock band, and has written two collections of poetry including Adam Robison and Other Poems which was nominated for the Goodreads Award in 2010, and Say, Poem, a self-published MFA thesis which will be republished this year by Mitzvah Press. CAConrad called his work "marvelous, genius fun." Robinson is also a contributor to HTMLGiant, the literary blog of the future.

<-----Kristin Ross is a freelance writer, musician, and performance artist who has been active in the Pittsburgh cultural scene most of her life. She has been published by The New Yinzer, Zygote in my Coffee, Yawp and The Cerebral Catalyst. She is the author of Day Prize nominated comic book Hate Your Friends and paid her dues in local bands Sing the Evens Play the Odds and the Will Kills. Her current pet project is Literazzi, a poetry and performance troupe that is focused on increasing literacy in Pittsburgh. Literazzi donates partial funds to the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council and expects to release its first anthology at the end of 2011. Kristin can be found on the internet as the Editorial Intern at Pop Damage, a contributor to Soldout Music, and her own blog: http://baronetess.blogspot.com/ (Kristin’s photo by Ashly Nagrant)

Photos: March 17th TNY Reading

Thanks to everyone who came out last Thursday to the reading. There was a good crowd to greet three of Pittsburgh's own:

<----Dave Newman read a riveting section from his novel, Please Don't Shoot Anyone Tonight.

Bob Pajich, who will soon be published on Low Ghost Press, read some wonderful Pittsburgh poems------->

And ex-cop Jimmy Cvetic closed the evening with poems both in and out of his new book, Secret Society of Dog.

Shortly I'll be posting about our next reading on Thursday, April 21st: Kane, Michalski, Robinson, Ross. Stay tuned.

Next TNY Reading: March 17th

Thanks to all who came out to the February 17th TNY Presents reading. I'm always impressed how a great audience appears out of thin air at exactly 8:32 for a reading scheduled for 8:00pm. The tardy crowd didn't actually miss anything but enjoyed poems by Jason Baldinger & Justin Hopper, and stories by Sherrie Flick.

Please stay tuned for bios from our readers for Thursday, March 17th: Dave Newman will be reading fiction while Jim Cvetic will read poems; Bob Pajich writes both poetry and prose, so he'll surprise us (or at least, me).

November's TNY Presents brings talent from Pittsburgh and beyond! Join us November 19th at Modern Formations for poetry, fiction, music, and libations!

Date: Wednesday, 19 November
Where: ModernFormations Gallery
Doors: 8:00 p.m.
Cover: $4
Beer provided by our good friends at Penn Brew.

Karen Lillis relocated to Pittsburgh in December 2005. Her creative writing has been published in anderbo.com, A Taste of River Water, Long Shot, New York Nights, nthposition.com, Pulse Berlin, and The Southern Quarterly, among others. She is the author of the novels i, scorpion (Words Like Kudzu Press, 2000) and The Second Elizabeth (Six Gallery Press, 2009); and the illustrated novella, Magenta's Adventures Underground (Words Like Kudzu Press, 2004). Her writing was recently included in the anthology of women writing experimental prose, Wreckage of Reason (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2008). She has read extensively in New York, across America, and in Paris.

Yona Harvey is a swish caught in a net of teeth. She rises in the light of blue curtains & sleeps with one ear open. Maybe she is the water from which she pulls her baby son. Slippery Fish, she once called him. Slippery Fish, her daughter echoed back across the water. Maybe she is the woman closest to the blackboard. Maybe she is the woman wading at the edge of the room. Maybe she has been reading too much Tomaz Salamun. Maybe she is one small word in a noisy sea. Maybe she should speak more of credentials, academic scholarships. But she is afraid you’ve heard all the best stories. (Hard work, high marks, determination). She should keep better track of her volunteering—carpooling, book sharing, telling the stories of Martin Luther King, Jr. Next year, she’ll probably go swimming in Tokyo. Or in Pittsburgh—people wear black & gold there. The rivers take hold & don’t let go. The children say: Look! This is Yona Harvey. She buys green lentils from East End Food Coop. She prepares dinner, drinks, and works in the city.

Amy Guth is the founder of Pilcrow Lit Fest and author of Three Fallen Women (So New Media Publishing, 2006), as well as a forthcoming second novel, Light of Waters. Previously, she has written for The Believer, Monkeybicycle, Ninth Letter, Four Magazine, Bookslut, The Complete Meal and Outcry, among others. Currently, in addition to her authorey blog, Bigmouth Indeed Strikes Again, and her running and fitness blog Bonkless, she is assistant fiction editor at 42 Opus and hosts the monthly Fixx Reading Series in Chicago. Once upon a time, she collaborated on a few sketch comedy productions at The Second City's training center. Around the same time, she was also fumbling around a few improv comedy stages as well, and fondly recalls the nights she played the "Kill Whitey" crayon.

Boca Chica plays sometimes quiet, sometimes raucous alt-folk in the vein of Iron & Wine, Bright Eyes, and Sufjan Stevens. The Tribune Review describes their 2007 release, Transform into Beasts, as "Neil Young circa "Harvest" crossed with the hipster cool of Neko Case." They are currently recording their second full-length album due out in early 2009.