News and Events

BOULDER, CO—On Thursday, May 7th, at 7:00 p.m., Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Café (1203 13th Street) will celebrate the literary journal Conjunctions with readings by contributors Graham Foust, Bin Ramke, Elizabeth Robinson, and Eleni Sikélianòs, introduced by Vicki Lindner.

This reading is the first in Conjunctions' new Cities Series, cosponsored by the Bard College Office of Alumni/ae Affairs, which celebrates the rich regional diversity of Conjunctions' writers and readers with events at indie bookstores across the country. It is free and open to the public. No tickets are required, but seating is first come, first served.

Conjunctions publishes innovative writing for adventurous readers. An internationally distributed magazine of provocative, risk-taking fiction, poetry, and narrative nonfiction, it is published by Bard College and edited by the novelist Bradford Morrow. Work from Conjunctions can frequently be found in the Best American and Pushcart Prize anthologies and in Harper’s. The journal features contemporary masters such as Joyce Carol Oates, Edwidge Danticat, Russell Banks, Ann Lauterbach, and Jonathan Lethem; as well as astonishing new voices like Laura van den Berg, Chinelo Okparanta, Julia Elliott, and H. G. Carrillo.

As Karen Russell has said, "Conjunctions is a translation into a multiverse of stories and poems and essays and even weirder hybrid forms, the mutant menagerie of literary fiction. I read it with Christmas pleasure."

Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Café creates a daily, living space for poetry lovers of all ages. Founded in 2010, the indie hotspot drawns fans of art and poetry in performance with a vibrant events series that features writing groups, open mics, art openings, live music, and readings by poets such as Michael Morse, Brent Armendinger, and Eric Baus.

To receive notifications of upcoming Conjunctions readings, book fairs, and other events in the metro area, follow the journal on Facebook and Twitter, or ask to be emailed about NYC events.

ABOUT THE READERS

GRAHAM FOUST's many books of poetry include To Ancreon in Heaven, which Dawn Raffel called "a gorgeously subversive field guide to the inner life"; A Mouth in California, which prompted The Nation to dub him "one of the best erotic poets writing now"; Necessary Stranger, described by Robert Creeley as having "an almost physical presence … a third dimension" (all Flood); and Leave the Room to Itself (Ahsahta), winner of the Sawtooth Poetry Prize, judged by Joe Wenderoth. His work has appeared in Conjunctions:43, Beyond Arcadia and Conjunctions:49, A Writers' Aviary; and can be found online at Konundrum Engine, Shampoo, Jubilat, Typo, The Volta, and elsewhere. He teaches at the University of Denver.

Poet BIN RAMKE won the Yale Younger Poets Prize with The Difference Between Night and Day (Yale UP); his collections The Massacre of the Innocents and Wake (both University of Iowa Press) were awarded the Iowa Poetry Prize. Library Journal hailed his most recent book, Missing the Moon (Omnidawn), as "enigmatic, haunting … darkly enchanting." In three starred reviews, Publishers Weekly called Ramke's Aerial "powerful," his Tendril "mature … brilliant," and his Theory of Mind: New and Selected Poems "strong and strange … wholly original" (all Omnidawn). His work has appeared in Conjunctions:35, American Poetry and in the Conjunctions weekly web magazine, and is forthcoming in Conjunctions:65, Sleights of Hand. Other poems are available online from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets, Tarpaulin Sky, and Diode; Poets & Writers offers a profile of Ramke and EOAGH has published an interview with him. He teaches at the University of Denver.

"One of the finest poets of her generation" (Jacket), ELIZABETH ROBINSON won the National Poetry Series Award for Pure Descent (Sun & Moon) and the Fence Modern Poets Prize for Apprehend (Fence). Of her twelve books of poetry, the most recent include Blue Heron (Center for Literary Publishing), Counterpart (Ahsahta), and On Ghosts (Solid Objects), which Andrew Joron described as "writing as the highest form of bewitching." Her work has appeared in Conjunctions:36, Dark Laughter, Conjunctions:38, Rejoicing Revoicing, Conjunctions:41, Two Kingdoms, Conjunctions:42, Cinema Lingua, Conjunctions:45, Secret Lives of Children, Conjunctions:47, 25th Anniversary Issue, Conjunctions:49, A Writers' Aviary, Conjunctions:53, Not Even Past, Conjunctions:58, Riveted, Conjunctions:63, Speaking Volumes, and in the weekly web magazine in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Read interviews with her at BOMB and the Poetry Society of America site.

"Unforgettable," said Michael Ondaataje of ELENI SIKÉLIANÒS's poetry collection The Loving Detail of the Living & the Dead; "Tough as nails," wrote The Believer of her You Animal Machine (The Golden Greek) (both Coffee House). Her many other books include Body Clock, The California Poem, Earliest Worlds (all Coffee House), The Book of Jon (City Lights), The Monster Lives of Boys & Girls (Green Integer), The Book of Tendons (Post-Apollo Press), and To Speak While Dreaming (Selva). Sikélianòs's numerous honors include a New York Foundation for the Arts Award in Nonfiction, two Gertrude Stein Awards for Innovative American Writing, and the New York Council for the Arts Translation Award. Her work is forthcoming in Conjunctions:65, Sleights of Hand and has appeared in Conjunctions:38, Rejoicing Revoicing, Conjunctions:42, Cinema Lingua, Conjunctions:48, Faces of Desire, Conjunctions:54, Shadow Selves, and the Conjunctions weekly web magazine. Interviews appear online in Jacket and at the Coffee House site.