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A little over a week ago, Broetry author Brian McGackin visited Philadelphia to host his first Broetry Slam at National Mechanics, a favorite haunt of the folks here at Quirk.

Fledgling Broets and Broettes shared their broems in front of a lively audience at the Old City bar, while Jason Rekulak, Doogie Horner, Brian McGackin, and Anna Goldfarb (from the popular local dating blog Shmitten Kitten) judged away. We gave out some books, epic prizes to our two winners, and had an absolute blast. One of the winners, Christopher Wink, posted his broem in full on his personal website.

For those of you who missed the slam, Nathan Edmondson of Reel 9 Productions shot this fabulous video, full of highlights from the event. Enjoy!

Now, I know you're curious about those cupcakes in the video. Whipped by local baking genius (and guest Quirk blogger) Christine Eriksen, the recipe for those Broetry Cupcakes (which featured Jell-O shots inside), will be posted on here in the coming days.

Before the slam, Nathan shot a handful of Bro-Vignettes, featuring Brian reading select poems from Broetry at a couple locations around our office. That being said, a huge thank you goes out to A.K.A. Music, Brave New Worlds (especially Brian Johnson for his cameo appearance as a character in a video), and the Book Trader for letting us impose ourselves in your shops. I'll be posting the video clips here on blog over the next few weeks. For now, here's some photos.

Edgar Allan Bro by Joseph Toschlog

Yesterday, Brian McGackin's debut book, Broetry, hit bookstores everywhere with its hilarious (and often heartwarming) portrayal of the modern bro. Time liked it, USA Today liked it, and we sure as hell do too.

And now, we want to hear YOUR broems.

Submit your best broem to our author, Brian McGackin, for a chance to become one of the monthly Broet Laureates of Quirkbooks.com. The winners will be selected by Brian, and will have their poems posted here on the blog, along with a brief bio and a photo.

We're encouraging those of you submitting broems to be creative. Shoot a video. Record a bro-cast (also known as a podcast). Write your broem on a bar napkin and take a picture of it. Tweet a bro-ku (haiku!) at Quirk or Brian. You can also just email it in to Brian ([email protected]). Have more than one broem? Enter as many times as you'd like.

Winners will be announced on the first of the month and will recieve a fancy certificate, an autographed copy of Broetry, a handful of bro appropriate Quirk titles (Old Man Drinks, Perfect Drink For Every Occasion, Art of the Video Game & more!) and some serious bragging rights. Two monthly runners up will recieve a signed copy.

Good luck, broets and broettes in training. And again, send your broems to Brian at [email protected].

After months of writing, editing, preparation and the inevitable waiting, I am BEYOND STOKED to announce the release of my first book today, Broetry.

What is Broetry, you ask? Well, besides being the source of my obscene levels of euphoria today at having finally gotten this book out into the world, Broetry is poetry for dudes; it's poetry for people who don't normally like poetry. Are you the type of person that scoffs at Shelley, laughs at Lord Byron, and wouldn't be caught dead reading Whitman? Then I am quite pleased to inform you that there is finally a manly alternative.

Broetry isn't about nature and feelings and the way light shines through a butterfly's wings. It's poetry designed for today's common dude. There are broems about morning sex, hot celebrities, video games, football season and many other manly topics. Broetry finally brings poetry out of the lofty artsy fartsy stratosphere and back down to reality where it belongs, providing dudes across America with a poetic platform.