Fiction and nonfiction in Portland, Maine
Aug 18 2010
“It’s hard to get anyone to come out for anything in August,” a friend warned last week. Well, friend, you’re probably right. Lucky for us Scratchpad #3 wasn’t anything. It was something.
Photos by Bryan Bruchman.
The scene outside Mama’s CrowBar.
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Aug 04 2010
Tuesday, August 17th, 7:00pm
Mama’s CrowBar (f/k/a Awful Annie’s), 189 Congress St., Portland ME (map)
FREE
bar is cash only/beer only/21+
FEATURING THE EFFERVESCENT, ENTERTAINING AND ASTUTE
Bridget M. Burns
Bridget earned her BFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maine at Farmington in 2005. After graduating, she moved to Vermont where she was first published in Seven Days, Burlington’s award winning alternative newsweekly. She now lives in a renovated barn in Kennebunkport, Maine, where she writes freelance for the The Portland Phoenix and The York County Coast Star. Use of her middle initial is necessary to distinguish her from one of Kennebunk’s most loved hairdressers, whom everyone assumes has suddenly switched to a career in newspapers.
Kate Sullivan-Jones
Kate lives in Portland. She takes pictures, makes jewelry, collects cameras, counts pills, writes about clothes and rarely leaves Congress Street. You can read her very important opinions on fashion, makeup and elephants at Sweet Disorder.
Tricia Pryce Henley
An accomplished poet, creative instigator and badass businesslady, Tricia puts the mama and the crowbar in Mama’s Crowbar. Fans of Portland’s poetry and slam scenes are familiar with her work on the mic, but tonight she’ll be giving us a rare treat: prose!
Jul 31 2010
This just in from Friend of Scratchpad (FOS) Tanya Whiton, who threw down short story-wise at Scratchpad #1: the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance is celebrating its 35th birthday on Thursday, August 12 with an event they’re calling Author! Author! Should there be a period at the end of that sentence? Perhaps! Perhaps!
The evening will unfold in three parts, or chapters, beginning with a dinner featuring 11 Portland restaurants and ten guest authors; next is a champagne and dessert reception at the Portland Public Library; last but not least the party adjourns to Space for the brassy, classy strains of the Fogcutters Big Band. Tickets and more information for the entire event, or portions thereof, may be had right here.
See you on August 12, and then again on August 17 for Scratchpad #3, featuring a marvelous lineup that I will post soon! Soon!
Jun 15 2010
Interested in reading some fiction or nonfiction at Scratchpad #3 (Tuesday, August 17)? The submission deadline is Tuesday, August 3. All the information you need is right here.
May 20 2010
Putting to rest the conventional wisdom about sequels, Scratchpad #2 was another resounding success. For those of you who missed it, here’s the recap.
Photos by Jon Donnell.
Natalya Federova MacWilliams meditated on death and family, and also stray cats in St. Petersburg.
Why did an author disappear from the back of a ferry bound for Peaks Island in 1975? And what of the book he left behind? Jefferson Navicky considered gaps in memory, holes in narrative.
Chris Gray narrated an afternoon at an art-house cinema, where a bizarre and fascinating film served as backdrop for an increasingly awkward encounter.
I guess we’ll drop the ‘we’ device here. That’s me, Mary. In addition to my hosting duties, I filled the #4 slot with a story about a restless adolescent boy in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
As always, thanks to Mama’s CrowBar for the hospitality.
Make a note of it: Scratchpad #3 takes place August 17. Interested in reading? Get in touch.
May 05 2010
Tuesday, May 18th, 7:00pm
Mama’s CrowBar (f/k/a Awful Annie’s), 189 Congress St., Portland ME (map)
FREE
bar is cash only/beer only/21+
FEATURING THE DYNAMIC, SCINTILLATING AND CHARMING
Natalya Fedorova MacWilliams
Natalya and her husband moved to Portland from New York City three years ago as part of her plan to begin a writing career after a successful Wall Street career in investment banking. She currently writes short stories that draw on her memories and experiences growing up in Russia and then coming to America at the age of nineteen. She is particularly interested in generational family histories, and is collecting information about her maternal grandmother, who witnessed so much of the devastating history of the Soviet Union under the Communist regime.
Jefferson Navicky
Jefferson’s work has appeared in Tarpaulin Sky, Bombay Gin, Pindeldyboz, Staccato, Smokelong Quarterly, Octopus and Omphalos; in 2007 Black Lodge Press published his chapbook Map of the Second Person. His one-act play, Lungfish, is a part of Acorn Production’s 2010 Maine Playwrights Festival. A Portland resident, Jefferson teaches English at Southern Maine Community College.
Chris Gray (rescheduled from Scratchpad #1)
Chris Gray is the listings coordinator for the Portland Phoenix, and his freelance work has appeared there, the Boston Phoenix and PopMatters. He can’t quite get it together enough to maintain a blog, though one day ofmaine.wordpress.com may become active again. He will either read a story wherein he has to briefly imitate the voice of a ’70s porn star or, out of gut-churning fear at the prospect, will compose something new in the hours before his reading.
As you can see from the list of upcoming events in yonder sidebar, Scratchpad is moving to a quarterly schedule. Why? Because “quarterly” anything sounds dignified and important. Also, we want to keep interest high and the risk of boredom low.
The change takes effect after our regularly-scheduled May 18th event. Those details forthcoming, but believe me, you won’t want to miss it.
Apr 21 2010
Four fantastic readers, one fantastic bar — now that’s a recipe for success. Thanks to everyone who came out; for those of you who missed it, here’s the recap.
Photos by Bryan Bruchman.
Rick Wormwood read the opening scene of his new novel, in which we learn how to rescue someone whose face has frozen into an icy lake. (One word: chainsaw.)
Amanda Pleau explained why she was hiding behind that building, and what happened when Snoop Dogg came to town.
Nicole Chaison’s attempt at a travel writing gig took a wrong turn when she wrote the truth about her trip to France: bad food, a finicky Peugeot and way too much (or not enough) wine.
Tanya Whiton brought us into the world of a young girl drifting through dark streets, dive bars and boats.
Many, many thanks to Mama’s CrowBar for the hospitality.
Mark your calendar! Alert the neighbors! Scratchpad #2 takes place Tuesday, May 18th. Interested in reading? Get in touch.
Mar 08 2010
Tuesday, April 20th, 7:00pm
Mama’s CrowBar (f/k/a Awful Annie’s), 189 Congress St., Portland ME (map)
FREE
bar is cash only/beer only/21+
***Update! To celebrate our debut, the first 20 people through the door will receive a special limited edition Scratchpad pin.***
FEATURING THE AMAZING, TALENTED AND FRIENDLY
Nicole Chaison
Nicole Chaison’s graphic novel, The Passion of the Hausfrau, sprang out of her tri-annually self-published comic zine, Hausfrau, which has generated a cult following among the lactating and radically sleep deprived. Men report locking themselves in the bathroom to read it in secret. Nicole wrote the James Beard Award-nominated Spice, and her stories and comics have appeared in Mamaphiles, The Wife of Bath, MotherWords and the collections Forty Things to Do When You Turn Forty and Creating a Marriage You’ll Love. A one-woman show based on her stories—and also called The Passion of the Hausfrau—opened at Portland Stage Company last spring. See Nicole’s serialized web comics at thehausfrau.com; to find out more about her book, go to passionofthehausfrau.com.
Amanda Pleau
Amanda was first published in 1996: a letter to the editor of the Lewiston Sun Journal about education budget cuts. Since then, she’s grown up, mostly, and between classes at the University of Southern Maine, slinging coffee and maintaining her bowling average, she keeps a blog about real life in Portland. Someday, she hopes to write a book about all of her dating experiences, but considering all of the places and names which will need to be changed to give anonymity to the unsuspecting, this is a daunting task.
Rick Wormwood
Rick Wormwood is a writer from Sanford, Maine. He now lives in Portland and hangs out at Ruski’s, in the West End.
Chris Gray
Chris Gray is the listings coordinator for the Portland Phoenix, and his freelance work has appeared there, the Boston Phoenix and PopMatters. He can’t quite get it together enough to maintain a blog, though one day ofmaine.wordpress.com may become active again. He will either read a story wherein he has to briefly imitate the voice of a ’70s porn star or, out of gut-churning fear at the prospect, will compose something new in the hours before his reading.
Tanya Whiton
Tanya Whiton has published stories and poems in numerous literary journals including Northwest Review and Crazyhorse 63. She holds two New England Press Association awards and was recipient of the 2009 Martin Dibner Memorial Fellowship for Poets, and the 2000 Martin Dibner Fellowship for Fiction Writers. Tanya is currently Assistant Director of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program. For more, visit tanyawhiton.com.
Feb 15 2010
While I wrangle logistics and details, let us meditate on this remark, courtesy Peter De Vries: “I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.”
Truer words, etc. etc.