30 November 2009

Help the Reanimation Library build its coffers!

On Tuesday, December 1st at 8:00 PM the Reanimation Library is hosting a fundraiser in conjunction with the Other Means reading series.

For this event we invited five writers into the stacks and asked them to select texts from which to create new original works. We are honored and excited to present poets Julian T. Brolaski, Paul Foster Johnson, and E. Tracy Grinnell, and fiction writers Caitlin MacRae and Bob Powers reading these works on Tuesday night.

If you are unable to make it to the reading but still want to contribute to the library's fundraising efforts then the Coffer Builder is for you.

As you probably know, the Reanimation Library hosts readings, book launches, exhibitions and other events all year round. A growing community of artists, designers, poets, playwrights, writers, musicians and a healthy number of curious browsers have come to rely on the Reanimation Library for inspiration, creative challenges, generative constraints and perplexing visual information to fuel their imaginations. We try to provide them with whatever they need: reference advice, computer access, photocopying services, scanning and burning capabilities, and most importantly, someone to brainstorm with. To keep these services in tip top shape, please consider contributing $10-$25

A lot of great work has come out of the Reanimation Library this year. We were proud to be invited by non-profit gallery Vox Populi in Philadelphia to exhibit the Reanimation Library City Center Branch this past summer. Seven artists created work for this show using books from the library. Some of these works are currently on display in the Brooklyn space. The library has been invited to put on a similar exhibition at Dickinson College in 2010 and continues to pursue other collaborative opportunities with schools and non-profits around the country. To help with the considerable expense of traveling, mounting and documenting an exhibition please consider contributing $50-$75

Finally, the library continues to grow, expanding its unique collection of image laden odd ball books on a regular basis. To contribute to the acquisition fund and to support the labor involved in culling, cataloging, scanning, labeling and shelving what is truly the heart and soul of the library, please consider giving $25-$50

If you can't make it Tuesday, you have until December 31st to contribute to Coffer Builder. Do it today!

28 November 2009

The Reanimation Library, in conjunction with the Other Means Reading Series, is pleased to invite you to a night of library-inspired readings at the Reanimation Library on Tuesday, December 1st at 8:00.

For this event, which doubles as a fundraiser for the Library, we invited five writers into the stacks and asked them to select texts from which to create new original works. We are honored and excited to be presenting these works from poets Julian T. Brolaski, Paul Foster Johnson, and E. Tracy Grinnell, and fiction writers Caitlin MacRae and Bob Powers. Please join us for what promises to be a great night.

The Reanimation Library is a small, independent library based in Brooklyn. It is a collection of books that have fallen out of mainstream circulation. Outdated and discarded, they have been culled from thrift stores, stoop sales, and throw-away piles across the country and given new life as resource material for artists, writers, and other cultural archeologists.

The Other Means Reading Series was founded to initiate and encourage meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships between New York City writers, lit fans, and community organizations. Each month, three writers collectively choose a local charity to support. At their readings, attendees can learn more about the charity, make donations on the spot, or find out about volunteer opportunities. All money collected through our $5 suggested donation goes to that month's charity. Other Means aims to engage not just writers and charities, but to help people change their ideas about charity. By working with local community organizations and mobilizing attendees to give small donations, Other Means hopes to change people's minds about how much you have to give to make a difference - to show that small donations matter, and that charity isn't just for the rich.

caitlin macrae is a book artist, printmaker, writer, and snack enthusiast living in greenpoint. she has contributed to Nerve, Babble, Glamour (don't ask), Slice, and other titles, a handful of which contain more than one word.

Bob Powers is the author of several humor books, including Happy Cruelty Day! and You Are A Miserable Excuse For A Hero. He has performed at HBO's US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, and at the UNC Comedy Festival in Chapel Hill. His website is bobpowersonline.com.

Julian T. Brolaski is the author of the chapbooks Hellish Death Monsters (Spooky Press, 2001), Letters to Hank Williams (True West Press, 2003), The Daily Usonian (Atticus/Finch, 2004), Madame Bovary's Diary (Cy Press, 2005), Buck in a Corridor (flynpyntar, 2008) and the blog herm of warsaw. Brolaski's first book gowanus atropolis is forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse in 2010. Brolaski lives in Brooklyn where xe writes poetry, serves as a Litmus Press editor, sings and plays guitar with The Low & the Lonesome, and curates Mongrel Vaudeville.

E. Tracy Grinnell is the author of Helen: A Fugue (Belladonna Elder Series #1, 2008), Some Clear Souvenir (O Books, 2006), and Music or Forgetting (O Books, 2001), as well as the limited edition chapbooks Leukadia (Trafficker Press, 2008), Hell and Lower Evil (Lyre Lyre Pants on Fire, 2008), Humoresque (Blood Pudding/Dusie #3, 2008) Quadriga, a collaboration with Paul Foster Johnson (gong chapbooks, 2006), Of the Frame (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, 2004), and Harmonics (Melodeon Poetry Systems, 2000). She edits Litmus Press and Aufgabe, an annual journal of poetry and translations, and co-curated the Fall 2009 Segue Reading Series. She lives in Brooklyn.

Paul Foster Johnson's first collection of poetry, Refrains/Unworkings, was published in 2008 by Apostrophe Books, and his second, Study in Pavilions and Safe Rooms, will be published in 2010 by Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs. With E. Tracy Grinnell, he is the author of the g-o-n-g press chapbook Quadriga. His poems have appeared in a number of literary journals, including Cannot Exist, GAM, EOAGH, Pom2, Fence, The Portable Boog Reader 2, Antennae, Bird Dog, and Octopus. From 2003 to 2006, he curated the Experiments and Disorders reading series at Dixon Place. He is an editor at Litmus Press and currently lives in New York, NY.