Memorial Poetry and Music Tribute to JOHN MARK EBERHART
Sunday, May 26 / 2 PM - 4 PM
Join us as we celebrate the life of JOHN MARK EBERHART, who lost his battle with cancer on Tuesday, March 19. John was the former editor of the Kansas City Star, as well as a published poet and musician. He was an avid supporter of Kansas City's literary community. His book of poetry will be for sale.
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The Writers Place Salon Open Mic, hosted by SHARON EIKER
Monday, May 27 / 7 PM - 9 PM
Share your poetry and prose in this Memorial Day open mic forum. $3 members; $5 nonmembers (no one turned away for lack of funds)
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A Celebration of Poetry and Jazz
Thursday, May 30 / 7 PM
Featuring poetry readings by GLENN NORTH, PHYLLIS BECKER and MARK SCHROER. Music performed by renowned jazz performer ANGELA HAGENBACH, and musicians ROGER WILDER, piano; GARY HELM, percussion; and ZACH BEESON, bassist.
GLENN NORTH is the Poet-in-Residence of the American Jazz Museum and has won numerous fellowships and awards including the Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Award. He provided poetic narration for the critically acclaimed film short, May This Be Love, and recently did a guest appearance on the popular ABC family drama Lincoln Heights. North is also a Cave Canem fellow and he is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at UMKC.
PHYLLIS BECKER is coordinator of the Riverfront Reading series featuring local and regional writers. Her book, How I Came to Love Jazz (Helicon Nine Editions), was named one of the top 10 poetry books by the Kansas City Star for 2008. Her poems have been published in several magazines and anthologies. Becker’s poems also have been set to jazz on the CD Poetry of Love, produced, recorded and arranged by national Jazz vocal artist Angela Hagenbach, one of which was part of the sound track in the movie Last Will starring Tatum O’Neill. She’s also a nominee for the 2013 Pushcart Prize in poetry (Coal City Review 30, 2012).
MARK SCHROER is a lyricist and poet who has been published in numerous poetry publications including Thorny Locust, The Same, and the anthology Show and Tell, a collection of visual art and writing. As a lyricist he has written the bluegrass band, The Smashing Bumpkins, and for national jazz talent Angela Hagenbach.
Singer/songwriter ANGELA HAGENBACH has worked and recorded with such jazz greats as Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Russell Malone and Frank Foster. She’s represented the U.S. as a Cultural Jazz Ambassador twice during the Clinton Administration and has performed at numerous festivals and concert halls around the world. Two of her compositions are featured in Last Will, a film starring Tatum O’Neil, James Brolin and Peter Coyote. Jazz historian Scott Yanow listed Hagenbach as one of The 521 Great Jazz Singers in his publication, The Great Jazz Singer’s ~The Ultimate Guide. Angela is also a proud member of BOOK OF GAIA, a new Kansas City based vocal trio with Nedra Dixon and Pamela Baskin-Watson.
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“Madwoman?,” Exhibit Opening & Performance by SYBIL PARIS NOBLE
Friday, May 31 / 4:30 - 6:30 PM (Mezzanine Level)
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Workshop: How to Survive as a Writer
Saturdays, June 1, 8, & 15 / 1 PM – 4 PM
Instructor: JAMES MCKINLEY
This workshop will focus primarily on fiction, with a serious detour into creative nonfiction, and a small byway into screenwriting. Attendees are expected to bring draft work to the sessions for workshop discussion, in addition to being prepared to write and discuss work during the sessions. Attendees are encouraged to keep journals and a small portion of the total session will involve the importance of journals as a writing resource. If the workshop has a motto, it’s “writing is hard, live with it.”
Enroll on our Workshops page.
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Reading featuring TORIANO PORTER & CHALISE BOURQUE
Sunday, June 2 / 4 PM – 6 PM
TORIANO PORTER is an author, motivational speaker and journalist formerly from St. Louis, Mo., who now resides in Kansas City. His fiction and nonfiction books, lauded by educators, school counselors and students, are testaments of hope. He’s the author of the young adult novel JAMES COOL (AuthorHouse 2012), a saga about the Winston clan battling for survival in the gritty Northside neighborhood of St. Louis on a street famously known as James Cool. He’s also the author of THE PRIDE OF PARK AVENUE (AuthorHouse 2008), a collection of essays, flash fiction, short stories, poetry and gonzo blog entries about love, loss, betrayal and the pursuit of the American Dream. Porter is the business and education reporter for the Lee's Summit Journal. His journalistic works have appeared in the Independence/Blue Springs Examiners, St. Louis American, St. Louis Evening Whirl, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Riverfront Times, the Kansas City Pitch, inBox Magazine, Playback STL Magazine, Central News Magazine, ENVY Magazine, Houston Press, and at www.stlhiphop.com.
CHALISE BOURQUE is a writer, teacher and editor, formerly from Kansas City and Oklahoma City, now based in Sarasota, Fla. She’s the author of a young adult novel, ONE RIGHT THING (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012), which addresses the tough subjects of sexual abuse and teen pregnancy, but with hope. Bourque was co-director of Birthright of Kansas City for years, where she counseled and befriended hundreds of girls like Maggie, her main character. She’s also the author of RAIN FOREST GIRL (Mitchell Lane Publishers, 1989), a non-fiction children’s book about her daughter who was adopted from Brazil at age 9. She’s published numerous articles, stories, and poems in such publications as Kansas! Magazine, Teen Life, St. Anthony Messenger, The Family, Magazine for Christian Youth, GRIT, The Denver Post, and the Kansas City Star. Her next book, LONG RIVER HOME, is about six Osage Indians who got taken to – then abandoned in – France in 1827.
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Morning Lalla, hosted by SHARON EIKER
Sunday, June 9 / 11 AM - NOON
Monthly literature group for women of the arts; named in honor of the 14th-century Kashmiri poet and songwriter. Love offering; no one turned away for lack of funds.
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Blue Monday Open Mic @ the Uptown Arts Bar
Monday, June 10 / 8 PM - 10 PM
Enjoy your 5 minutes of fame at our Open Mic at the Uptown Arts Bar, 3611 Broadway, KCMO. No cover. Hosted by SHARON EIKER.
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Riverfront Readings Special Event featuring DAN JAFFE and JO ANN JAFFE
All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 4501 Walnut St., KCMO
Tuesday, June 11 / 7 PM - 9 PM
DAN JAFFE and JO ANN JAFFE will present a concert of classical music and poetry featuring works by Prokofiev, Bach, and Gershwin, among others. Kansas City Composer MERTON SHATZKIN will be present for the premier performance of a new composition. DAN JAFFE will perform his poems before, after, and along with the music. All Souls is located across the street from the Kemper Museum.
DAN JAFFE has written more than two dozen books. His most recent publications have emphasized his obsession with music. They include Playing the Word, a book of jazz poems; Festival, primarily classical; On the Way to the Polls, political poems, many jazz poems as well; and All Cats Turn Grey When the Sun Goes Down, a book-length poem based on the libretto for a jazz opera. Jaffe has written about 200 jazz poems, likely more than anyone else. He has performed with many jazz greats, including Mike Melvoin, Ira Sullivan, Bobby Watson, David Basse, Nicole Yarling, Greg Richter, Brian Murphy, George Salisbury, and Frank Smith. Jaffe’s poems have been widely anthologized in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Jaffe is the subject of two films, one the winner of a CINE Golden Eagle Award in international competition representing the US. His CD, Playing the Word, with Mike Melvoin, received wide airplay. Jaffe was an Elder Statesman of Kansas City, Jazz in 2007.
JO ANN JAFFE, classical musician and multi-instrumentalist, has performed in more than 10 concerts of music and poetry during the past two years. The concerts in Kansas City and Tucson included a varied repertory of Bach, Brahms, Granados, Prokofiev, Bartok, Gershwin and others. This return to a performance schedule by Jo Ann follows a distinguished teaching career of more than 40 years that began at the University of Nebraska and led to private studio teaching in Florida and California. Students from her studio graduated from The Manhattan School of Music, Northwestern, Brown, the University of Miami, and the University of Florida. Her studio classes in piano, voice, chamber music and theory, as well as her special concern and knowledge of injury prevention in musicians led to statewide recognition. She served as an officer of the San Bernardino (Calif.) County Music Educators Association and vice president of Pre-College Student Events for the Florida State Music Teachers Association (MTNA). She also served on the State Board of the MTNA.
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Sunday Salon, hosted by SHARON EIKER
June 16 / 2 PM - 4 PM
$3 members; $5 nonmembers (no one turned away for lack of funds)
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The Thomas Zvi Wilson Reading Series
Tuesday, June 18 / 7 PM
Johnson County Central Resource Library, 9875 West 87th St., OPKS
Featuring LEAH SEWELL and MATT PORUBSKY; free; light refreshments served. Sponsored by The Writers Place and The Johnson County Central Resource Library.
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The Writers Place Reading Series LGBT CELEBRATION, hosted by WAYNE COURTOIS
Friday, June 21 / 7 PM - 9 PM
Featuring ROBIN WAYNE BAILEY, CRYSTAL BOSON, CHERAE CLARK, WAYNE COURTOIS, CHARLES FERRUZZA, MIGUEL M. MORALES, DAVID WAYNE REED and DIANE SILVER.
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BOLD.NEW.POETS Poetry & Spoken Word Reading
Saturday, June 22 / 6 PM – 10 PM
Featuring poets VAUGHAN NOIR, ART DIESEL, SHAKUR NEWMAN, MISSCONCEPTION, NIGHTLIFE JONES, LADY POW'ET and others; sponsored by the Music & More Foundation.
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The Writers Place Salon Open Mic, hosted by SHARON EIKER
Monday, June 24 / 7 PM - 9 PM
Share your poetry and prose in this open mic forum. $3 members; $5 nonmembers (no one turned away for lack of funds)
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The Writers Place Special Reading
Tuesday, June 25 / 7 PM - 9 PM
Featuring traveling writers KYLE MCCORD and NICK COURTRIGHT.
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Writers’ Blocks Summer Literary Camp for Youth (7th-12th grades)
Monday, July 8-12 / 9 AM – NOON (Poetry)
Do you have a child or student who loves to write? We can help nurture and guide that love.
Enroll on our Workshops page.
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Blue Monday Open Mic @ the Uptown Arts Bar, hosted by SHARON EIKER
Monday, July 8 / 8 PM - 10 PM
Enjoy your 5 minutes of fame at our Open Mic at the Uptown Arts Bar, 3611 Broadway, KCMO. No cover.
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Writers’ Blocks Summer Literary Camp for Youth (7th-12th grades)
Monday, July 15-19 / 9 AM – NOON (Prose)
Do you have a child or student who loves to write? We can help nurture and guide that love.
Enroll on our Workshops page.
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The THOMAS ZIV WILSON Reading Series
Tuesday, July 16 / 7 PM
Johnson County Central Resource Library, 9875 West 87th St., OPKS (913.495.9107)
Featuring LINDSEY MARTIN-BOWEN and JO MCDOUGALL; free; light refreshments served. Sponsored by The Writers Place and the Johnson County Central Resource Library.
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The Writers Place Reading Series
Friday, July 19 / 7 PM – 9 PM
Featuring SUSAN WHITMORE and RICK GIBBENS
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Sunday Salon, hosted by SHARON EIKER
Sunday, July 21 / 2 PM - 4 PM
$3 members; $5 nonmembers (no one turned away for lack of funds)
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The Writers Place Salon Open Mic, hosted by SHARON EIKER
Monday, July 22 / 7 PM - 9 PM
Share your poetry and prose in this open mic forum. $3 members; $5 nonmembers (no one turned away for lack of funds)
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The Neon Gallery Music + Poetry + Art
Friday, July 26 / 7 PM - 10 PM
Join us for an evening of music with RIVER COW ORCHESTRA and RICK MALSICK, the art of TOM COBIAN, et. al., and the poetry of MARTHA GERSHUN, JUDITH ROBERTS, JANICE YOKUM, and LEA ELIOT. Bring your own beverage and something for the table.
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