(Charles Olson and Diane di Prima on Dogtown Common, in Gloucester, MA, during the 1960s. Di Prima will headline the Charles Olson Centennial in Gloucester, October 3-10, with Michael Rumaker and Ed Sanders)
Gloucester’s Charles Olson Centennial Week, October 3-10, will open with five evenings of readings at three separate locations. Each reading begins at 7 p.m. They are free and open to the public.The schedule is as follows:
On Sunday, October 3, poet, novelist and CUNYGraduateCenter professor Ammiel Alcalay will read from and sign copies of his recently published novel “Islanders,” at the Bookstore of Gloucester, 61 Main Street. Alcalay grew up as a summer resident of Rocky Neck in the 1950s and early 60s, with Charles Olson as a close friend of his parents, painter Albert Alcalay and his wife Vera.He has written extensively about Olson and his childhood memories of Gloucester.
Of his novel “Islanders,” published by City Lights Books, the LA Times wrote: “Atlantic islands, Northeastern U.S. fishing towns, the last years of the Vietnam War: Ammiel Alcalay flies over this time and these places. .. Memories emerge, and from the memories, stories. The placement of details on the pages is stunningly simple.”
On Monday October 4, a group of local poets calling themselves "The Usual Suspects,” will read from their own work at the GloucesterWritersCenter, 126 East Main Street.Readers will include James and Amanda Cook, Kent Bowker, Schuyler Hoffman and other local talents.These writers have been inspired by the work of Charles Olson and the school of writing which formed in the 1960s called “The New American Writing,” of which Olson was a major influence. They will read from their work and discuss it with participants. Parking for the GloucesterWritersCenter is across the street in the East Gloucester Marina.
On Tuesday, October 5, Gloucester natives Peter Anastas and David Rich will read fiction and non-fiction inspired by Charles Olson at the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library.Anastas will read from a recently completed memoir, “From Gloucester Out,” and his forthcoming novel, “Decline of Fishes,” also set in Gloucester. Rich will read from the fiction of the late Gloucester playwright and novelist Jonathan Bayliss, including excerpts from Bayliss’ posthumous novel “Gloucestermas,” due for publication this fall.
On Wednesday October 6, the GloucesterWritersCenter, located at the former home of poet Vincent Ferrini, will host a second evening of readings featuring works by Olson's friends and fellow poets, Vincent Ferrini and Linda Crane.A highlight of the evening will be the presentation of unpublished work by Crane. Readers will include Sarah Stotzer, Joanna Bowker, Jo-Ann Castano, Carol Weston, Peter Anastas, Dorothy Nelson, Elizabeth McKim, and Fred Dewey.
On Thursday, October 7, poets Gerrit Lansing and Charles “Chuck” Stein will read from their work at the Bookstore of Gloucester, 61 Main Street.Both poets were close personal friends of Olson’s and each has paid tribute to Olson in poetry and prose. Lansing’s most recent book is “Heavenly Tree, Northern Earth,” published by North Atlantic Books.Stein is the author of a major critical study of Olson, “The Secret of the Black Chrysanthemum: The Poetic Cosmology of Charles Olson.”
For further information about these readings and about the Charles Olson Centennial celebration, please visit http://www.Olson100.blogspot.com.
Peter Anastas was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1937 and attended local schools. He holds degrees in English from Bowdoin College and Tufts University. Among his publications are Glooskap's Children: Encounters with the Penobscot Indians of Maine (Beacon Press), Landscape with Boy, a novella in the Boston University Fiction Series, At the Cut, a memoir of growing up in Gloucester in the 1940s (Dogtown Books), Broken Trip, a novel of Gloucester in the 1990s (Glad Day Books), and No Fortunes, a novel set at Bowdoin in the 1950s (Back Shore Press), along with fiction and non-fiction in Niobe, The Falmouth Review, Stations, America One, The Larcom Review, Polis, Split Shift, Cafe Review, Sulfur, Art New England, Architecture Boston, and Process. Anastas is also the editor of Maximus to Gloucester: The Letters and Poems of Charles Olson to the Editor of the Gloucester Daily Times, 1962-1969 (Ten Pound Island Books). In naming his blog A Walker in the City, the writer wishes to pay homage to Alfred Kazin's 1951 memoir of growing up in Brooklyn in the 1920s and 30s. Anastas has recently completed a sequel to his memoir At the Cut, to be called "From Gloucester Out."
(Charles Olson and Diane di Prima on Dogtown Common, in Gloucester, MA, during the 1960s. Di Prima will headline the Charles Olson Centennial in Gloucester, October 3-10, with Michael Rumaker and Ed Sanders)
