Bookish Events in Philadelphia: September 20th – 26th
Gentle readers: get your smelling salts. Writers: hang on to your berets. This is a whirlwind of a week! And as always, remember this is but a gust of the exhilarating literary weather of Philadelphia, back in full force for fall.
Love,
10 years! On Saturday, September 20, Philadelphia Stories (the O.G. free poetry & fiction mag for Philly) marks its 10th anniversary this Saturday with a super-fancy literary gala at the Proceeds from this event go to keep the mag running. 7-10 p.m., Cheltenham Center for the Arts.
If you spent a lot of time in Colorado this summer, you might have a story for the First Person Arts Story Slam this Tuesday, September 23. The theme: High Point. L’Etage Cabaret, doors 7:30, slam starts at 8:30 sharp.
From Thursday, September 25 through Saturday, September 27, visit PHILALIA, a new small press poetry and art fair for Philly! It takes place at Tyler School of Art. Beautiful books, local poets, paper-making workshops galore. The full schedule is here, but you can find a selection below.
Thursday, September 25, the PHILALIA Opening Reception hosts Philly Poet Laureate Frank Sherlock and Youth Poet Laureate Soledad Alfaro-Allah at Temple Contemporary. 4-6 p.m.
Friday, September 26: the prize is CAKE (and internet fame). Philly-based literary mags APIARY and Gigantic Sequins — both women-founded, both celebrating 5th anniversaries — are holding an interactive fiction/poetry contest: turn a story from the magazine into a poem, and vice versa, in 30 minutes. 1:00 p.m., Temple Contemporary.
Need a break from the festivities? Friday, September 26, head west to the Fuze Poetry Slam, featuring the official Philly national slam team. Sëla will be on deck providing the sounds for the evening with special guest Arka. And it's CASH SLAM with money and points on the line.
On Saturday, September 27, brunch with poetry great Eileen Myles from 11 a.m. — 1:00 p.m. Then, make paper and learn about how book arts and social justice intersect with the People’s Library from 1:30-3:00 p.m. in the Atrium at the Tyler School of Art.
And finally, something you can do from your couch. If you interested in a dedicated creative space for serious writers of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, help out Writers' Room Philadelphia by filling out this quick survey to help make a writing co-working space a reality (You can learn about a similar space, Writers' Room DC, here.)
