Join The New Yinzer as we unwrap our presents early with the final installment of TNY Presents for 2008. Shiny baubles abound in the fiction of Jackie Corley and the poetry of Jessica Fenlon. Batteries are included with electronic mayhem that is the mysterious Lottery Puffs. As always the pink bathtub will be overflowing with holiday spirits provided by our good friends at Penn Brewery.

Date: Wednesday, December 17
Where: ModernFormations, 4919 Penn Avenue

Doors: 8:00pm

Cover: $4

Jackie Corley was born in 1982. She developed Word Riot in March 2002 with the help of Paula Anderson. Word Riot Press, an independent publishing press, evolved out of the magazine in January 2003.

Her writing has appeared on-line at MobyLives.com, 3AM Magazine and Pequin, among others, and in various print anthologies.

Her short story collection, The Suburban Swindle, will be published in October 2008 by So New.

Artist and writer Jessica Fenlon lives and works in Pittsburgh PA. She makes art that touches on the currents of violence, everyday joys, and haunting losses that move in her peripheral vision. BFA UW-Madison, MFA School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Her first book of poetry will soon be published by 6 Gallery Press soon. It is called Spiritual Side Effects.

She spends too much time at crossroads with scarecrows. She enjoys playing with fire in her free time. She is probably taller than you.

Lottery Puffs is Lottery Puffs.

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.

TNY Presents! Wednesday, October 15
At ModernFormations Gallery
Doors open at: 8 p.m. Cover: $4

October's event features the super-sized Pittsburgh talents: Jonathan Loucks, Tiffany Merriman-Preston, and band Samoan Cats.

Beverages are provided by our friends at Penn Brew.

Jonathan Loucks was born in Southern California. He has studied at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Pittsburgh. Jonathan lives in the Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA, where he teaches writing at the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University. He also plays guitar and sings for the noise pop band Workshop.


Tiffany Merriman-Preston is a poet and non-profiteer. Originally from Georgia, she moved to Pittsburgh in 2003. She received an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh and has published her work in such journals as Cream City Review, Rattle, Terminus, Tulane Review, Poetry Motel, and 88: A Journal of Contemporary Poetry. She also created the local blog Walking Pittsburgh with her husband, Matt. Tiffany currently resides in Lawrenceville.

Samoan Cats is a Pittsburgh soft-rock band Scott Silsbe does when not rocking with local band Workshop. Occasionally, Kurt Garrison helps keep time. The SamCats debut album, Coming of Age in Samoa, is due out sometime in the future.