Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Exciting News from Paris!

Simone and Etel have been based in Paris for the past several months, excepting jaunts to Beirut, Berlin and most recently, London where Etel gave a reading at The Serpentine gallery of which we hope to have photos to share soon. The most recent big news from Paris however, is that The Despalles Editions, based in Meinz and Paris will publish an excerpt of Etel Adnan's "Seasons". The section "Spring" will be published as a special de luxe edition with wood engravings by german artist, Johannes Strugalla, and the book will be presented at the upcoming Frankfurt Bookfair.


Johannes Strugalla working on the engravings for Seasons:




























Here is an excerpt from a critical essay by Mark Grimes on Seasons titled "Listen to Etel Adnan", published in a 2009 issue of Al Jadid Magazine:

Imagine a movie screen larger than her native country of Lebanon, positioned in the sky above those timeless cedars, and revealing in anguishing replay the war of 1982. Shatila? Sabra? Again, perhaps. but, we do want a sense of logic, a sense of continuity, in what we read. And this is not to be the case with Etel Adnan's Seasons. No. We are to enter an exquisitely imagined and private world, where "The oak tree is growing with anxiety," and "No object can compete with a sound's intimacy."

Stay tuned for more news from Sausalito, Paris, New York, Beirut and beyond.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Demosthenes Agrafiotis reads in New York!


Contemporary Greek poet, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, author of Post-Apollo's "Maribor" will be giving a reading at Poet's House in New York to celebrate the release of his newest book "Chinese Notebook", which was also translated by John & Angelos Sakkis. We hope to get him out to the West Coast for a Bay Area reading soon!

Here's what Demosethenes has to say (swiped from translator John Sakkis' blog)

***

Dear friends
from Demothenes...

"The Ugly Duckling Press will publish my book "Chinese notebook" in september 2010.
We are going to celebrate the publication with a poetry action in the POETS HOUSE in NY
(see site below),on 6th of October ,at 07.00 pm.
John Sakkis (one of the translators -the other translator is Angelos Sakkis) will be present.
The event includes :video projections,readings in greek,english,french,performance,debate..
I will be happy to invite you for this <>.
If you distribute this information to your friends and collegues,I will be extremely grateful.
I will be in NY from the 2nd until the 10th of October .
I will stay in Brooklyn .
Thanks in advance for your attention.
all the best
da"

Friday, September 17, 2010

Upcoming Events Celebrating the Life and Work of Leslie Scalapino


November 16th, Dixon Place
New York City
Flow-Winged Crocodile
A play by Leslie Scalapino
Directed by Fiona Templeton
Performed by The Relationship

December 3rd, UC Berkeley, Maude Fife Room
Berkeley, CA
Bay Area Memorial Reading for Leslie Scalapino
*Simone plans to contribute to the evening with a short reading.

December 4th, Small Press Traffic
San Francisco, CA
Celebration of Leslie Scalapino's plays

December 21st-22nd, ODC Theater
San Francisco, CA
Flow-Winged Crocodile
Directed by Fiona Templeton
Performed by The Relationship

*If you haven't had a chance to check out the extensive and inspiring 4 Day Tribute to Leslie Scalapino happening over at Delirious Hem, we highly, highly recommend you do.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Jalal Toufic Now Available Online



For the past year or so we at The Post-Apollo Press have been plum OUT of two of Jalal Toufic's most engaging and sought after novels: Vampires and Undying Love, or Love Dies. We hope to be able to reprint both books in the future, but unfortunately, do not have the means do so just yet. In the meantime, there is good news: Jalal Toufic has made several of his publications including Vampires and Undying Love, or Love Dies available for download as pdfs on his website JalalToufic.com. Hooray!

I (Lindsey Boldt, assistant editor) recently read Toufic's Two or Three Things I'm Dying to Tell You, which by the bye, is one of the most frustrating,entertaining and mind shuffling works of cross-genre criticism I have ever encountered. Toufic's retelling of Hitchcock's Rear Window and Vertigo as a mashup titled "Rear Window Vertigo", was a highlight definitely worth the price of admission. Since then I have been hot to read his other works but we honestly sold the very last copies in the office! Thank you to Jalal Toufic for generously sharing his work!

Stay tuned for reprints from Post-Apollo.