Hello MMIX writers and readers,

We’re at the halfway point of summer 2011, and we can’t believe it’s been TWO years since we “graduated” from the PEN USA Fellowship. Time flies!

Just a few updates…and congratulations to all!

*Erika Ayon is heading to Cal State Fresno this Fall to pursue her MFA in Poetry.

*John Boucher was just awarded a 2011 LAMBDA Literary Fellowship, which is hosted at UCLA this year.

*Sylvia Sukop will be attending the Squaw Valley Writers Retreat this August.

*Marissay Tinloy’s short story “Snow Globe” won first place in the UC Davis Elliot Gilbert Prize. She will be attending the Tomales Bay Writers Workshops on a fellowship in October.

*Mehnaz Turner is participating in The Mark Program in Poetry through PEN Center USA. She’s blogging about it here.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Congratulations to MMIX poet, Mehnaz Turner who will be featured in the Newer Poets XVI Reading!

ALOUD at Central Library
630 W. Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Thursday, July 07, 2011 7:00 PM
NEWER POETS XVI: A READING
Featuring:

Lory Bedikian, A. Razor, Cassandra Love,
Sherman Pearl, Anthony Seidman, Mehnaz Turner

Hosted by Suzanne Lummis, Los Angeles Poetry Festival,
and Richard Modiano, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

For more information on the poets and to make reservations:

http://www.lfla.org/event-detail/587/Newer-Poets-XVI-A-Reading

Mehnaz Turner was born in Pakistan and raised in southern California. She is a 2009 PEN USA Emerging Voices Fellow in Poetry. Her work has appeared in publications such as Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mascara Literary Review, The Journal of Pakistan Studies, Cahoots Magazine, The Pedestal Magazine, and An Anthology of California Poets.

Congratulations to fellow MMIX writer John Boucher, who has just received a 2011 Lambda Literary Fellowship!

Forty-two talented emerging writers representing every region of the United States and traveling from as far away as Canada and Japan, were selected and will come to Los Angeles this August for the Lambda Literary Writers’ Retreat for Emerging LGBT Writers.

The Writers’ Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices was established in 2007 as the newest program of Lambda Literary Foundation and is the first of its kind ever offered to LGBT writers: a one-week intensive immersion in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. The retreat is an unparalleled opportunity to learn from the very best writers in the LGBT community. Faculty have included Dorothy Allison, Claire Carmichael, Bernard Cooper, Elana Dykewomon, Katherine V. Forrest, Rigoberto Gonzalez, Eloise Klein Healy, Fenton Johnson, Michael Nava, D.A. Powell, John Rechy, Ellen Bass, Ellery Washington and Nicola Griffith.

For more information on the Lambda Literary Writers’ Retreat, you can check it out here:

http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/07/03/2011-emerging-writers-retreat-fellows/#more-5125

John Boucher started writing in 2005 in HIV+ Writing Workshops sponsored by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, AIDS Project Los Angeles, and the LA Gay & Lesbian Center. His first published piece, “Speaking in Tongues,” appeared in Washburn University’s inscape literary journal, where it won the 2009 Best Nonfiction award. John was a 2009 PEN Center USA Emerging Voice Fellow, and is the recipient of a 2009/2010 Community Access Scholarship to UCLA, where he studied and worked on Dichondra, his collection of humorously dark nonfiction stories. John attended Corcoran College of Art and Design and earned his MFA from Claremont Graduate University. Born in 1962 and raised in Los Angeles, John lives in West Hollywood. (Photo by Don Tinling.)

Silver Lake Jubilee Presents: “Girls, Girls, Girls!”

Emerging Voices alumnae Natashia Deon, Marytza Rubio, Mehnaz Turner, and Rachelle Cruz will read at this Silver Lake Jubilee promo show. PEN Center USA will curate the reading stages for the evening.

$5 Admission Wednesday, April 27 @ 8 PM
Pehrspace
325 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, 90026

The Silver Lake Jubilee is a two-day music and art celebration featuring more than 20 local music acts, multi-discipline artists, crafters, and comedy acts, with literary performances curated by PEN Center USA.

OPEN WORDSPACE: Your Heart Is On Fire. Put it Out :: w/Writ Large Press

Sunday, February 13th – 5:00 – 9:00 pm

***

Valley Contemporary Poets present ERIKA AYON plus open reading
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 ~ 9:00 pm
Cobalt Cafe
22047 Sherman Way
Canoga Park, CA

http://PoetrySuperHighway.com/cobalt

Erika Ayon was a 2009 PEN fellow in poetry. She’s completing her first chapbook, Orange Lady, drawn from her childhood memories of working with her father selling fruit out of a cart.



© 2010 Sylvia Sukop

© 2010 Sylvia Sukop

Check out Sylvia Sukop’s breathtaking photograph series “I forget myself (I forget you)” on her website.

Below is her artist statement about the new series:

This new series of cell phone photographs is a direct outgrowth of Chron. As in that experiment, I’ve established rules including no cropping or manipulation of the image once it’s been shot; these are direct downloads from my phone. I am especially interested in shooting in “bad light” and seeing the shifts, ghostly at times, of colors and forms that emerge.

Congratulations to Mehnaz Turner!

She has three poems, “Mugged,” “Everything New” and “China Silk Shoes,” featured in Mascara Literary Review.  Read them here.

Mehnaz is also reading her poems on February 11th, 8-10 pm at Stories Books & Cafe, 1716 Sunset Blvd, Echo Park. Poets Jane Ormerod, Thomas Fucaloro and Rubén Martínez will also be featured.  Click here for more information!

For more updates and great musings on poetry/writing, check out Mehnaz’s blog.

Check out Erika Ayon at the “From Inspiration to Publication: the Business of Poetry” panel at The Latino Book and Family Festival!

Saturday, October 9, 2010 * Erika’s panel is at 2:00 pm in Room 137.

Lalo Alcaraz, William Archila, Daniel Chacon, Reyna Grande, Juan Felipe Herrera and more will be at the Festival!  Check it out!

For more information, click here for their website.

Congratulations, Mehnaz!