Tag: Chapbook Festival

CUNY Chapbook Festival, Part 2: Panel and Readings

Date: Thursday March 18, 2021
Time: 4:00PM – 5:30PM

Process & Collaboration: Designing Poetry Chapbooks in the Book Arts

Photo credit: Echosistemas (2020). Poems by Katerina Ramos Jordan. Designed and assembled by Erika Morillo, with printing assistance by Matthew Collins. 

Join us for an in-depth conversation led by three Book Artists with distinct practices, who will discuss their experiences designing and collaborating with poets on hand-produced limited edition chapbooks and other literary objects. CBA’s Programs Manager, Jenna Hamed will moderate this conversation with Aurora De Armendi, Erika Morillo, & Faride Mereb.

For nearly 50 years, Center for Book Arts has been supporting artists and book arts by presenting exhibitions, lectures, readings, and performances; providing opportunities for artists, writers, curators, and scholars through residencies. Their annual chapbook contest has been an elegant gateway for numerous emerging poets.

City University of New York MFA Reading: Four CUNY alumni read from their chapbooks. Featuring Dudgrick Bevins (City College), Charles Theonia (Brooklyn College), Jiordan Castle (Hunter College) and Leila Ortiz (Queens College)

CUNY CHAPBOOK FESTIVAL

Dates: February 18, March 18, and April 15, 2021

“In an age when everything is never fast enough, the chapbook is a small anchor to the moment; it is a pause to read and relish,” says Kimiko Hahn, poet, professor, and one of the festival organizers.

The chapbook, a modest publication has had an impressive longevity dating from early printing press publications to today’s editions, whether stapled and photocopied, hand-lettered on hand-made paper, or digital. 

This three-day festival revives an earlier incarnation that took place at CUNY’s Graduate Center. Funded by the Executive Vice Chancellor Jose Cruz’s Office of Academic Affairs and the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, the events are virtual and registration is open to the public.

Highlights include:

  • Keynote: Matvei Yankelevich, poet, translator and the executive director of Ugly Duckling Presse, will speak on “The Chapbook Then and Now.” He also recorded a video on how to make a chapbook, available on the website.
  • Musical performance: Cornelius Eady Trio will perform work whose lyrics are published in numerous chapbooks. 
  • Reading: Alicia Ostriker, N.Y. State Poet Laureate, will read from her chapbook Ideas of Order and Disorder, created just for the festival.  The presentation of this stellar hybrid collection will include her photographs. 
  • Panels include how to compile and chapbook and how to start a chapbook press.
  • Student reading: CUNY alumni from Brooklyn, City, Hunter, and Queens Colleges will read from their chapbooks.

The website also features an exhibition from the Library’s collection of chapbooks as well as a virtual Chapbook Fair.