Frequency North: The Visiting Writers Reading Series at The College of Saint Rose

Frequency North, the Visiting Writers Reading Series at the College of Saint Rose, calls itself "aggressively eclectic." Events at Frequency North feature fiction writers, memoirists, graphic novelists, poets, slam performers, singer-songwriters, even game shows. All readings are free and are open to the public. Frequency North also regularly co-presents both on-campus and in the community (scroll down for more details)

Our Next Events

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 7:30pm
Georgia A. Popoff and Quraysh Ali Lansana
Location: Saint Joseph Auditorium, 985 Madison Avenue, Albany, NY

It has been 30 years since the last publication of a book suitable for K-12 classrooms that explores poetry as a vehicle for social justice. With the publication Our Difficult Sunlight: A Guide to Poetry, Literacy, and Social Justice in Classroom and Community (Teachers and Writers Collaborative, 2011) Lansana and Popoff share the results of nearly two decades in classrooms and community-based settings across the country: from K-12 to graduate schools, working with students and teachers in developing best practices for reading and writing poetry as a means to greater understanding of the human experience, cultural diversity, and pop culture, as well as language arts/reading comprehension constructs. Our Difficult Sunlight is intended to support both teachers and teaching artists with the aim to aid them in recognizing the value of poetry as a vehicle to access meaning/inference, cross-curricular applications, acceptance of others, and self-identity, and includes best practices, exercises, and anecdotes rooted in the authors’ diverse experiences as a Chicago-based, African American poet/professor and a Caucasian poet/educator from upstate New York. With a foreword by Dr. Carol D. Lee (Safisha Madhubuti), the book includes a series of essays that share poignant tales of specific classroom/workshop experiences, effective instructional processes in both reading and creating poetry, and comprehensive lesson plans to support the pedagogy presented throughout the book. Book website: http://www.twc.org/publications.

Quraysh Ali Lansana is author of five poetry books, a children’s book, and editor of seven anthologies. He is Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University, where he is also Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing. A former faculty member of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School and a former Reading/Language Arts editor for three of the nation’s largest educational publishers, Lansana has been a literary teaching artist and curriculum developer for two decades. Link: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/quraysh-ali-lansana.

Georgia A. Popoff is author of two collections of poetry, a teaching artist, arts-in-education professional development specialist, managing editor of Comstock Review, a Syracuse Downtown Writer’s Center faculty member, and former board member of the Association of Teaching Artists. Georgia is Poet-in-Residence in numerous school districts and teaches adult writing workshops. Website: http://gappoet.blogspot.com/.

Sunday, April 15, 2012, 2pm
Pitchapalooza!
Co-presented with 2012 Albany Word Fest
Location: Saint Rose Events and Athletics Center, 420 Western Ave. (Standish Conference Rooms, second floor), Albany

Pitchapalooza is American Idol for books (only without Simon). Twenty writers will be selected at random to pitch their book idea. Each writer will have one minute to make the best pitch possible. At the end, the judges will pick a winner, who will receive an introduction to an agent or publisher appropriate for his or her book. Judges help aspiring authors improve their pitch, not tell them how bad it is. Judges critique everything from idea to style to potential in the marketplace. Aspiring authors receive concrete advice as well as a greater understanding of the ins and outs of the publishing industry.

Pitchapalooza is the brainchild of Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, co-founders of The Book Doctors, a company that helps authors get their books published, and co-authors of The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It and Market It…Successfully (Workman, 2010). Eckstut has been a literary agent for 18 years at The Levine Greenberg Literary Agency and is the author of seven books and the co-founder of the “LittleMissMatched” brand of girls’ clothes, toys and bedding. Sterry is the best-selling author of 12 books on a wide variety of subjects including memoir, sports, young adult fiction and reference. The couple have taught their workshop on how to get published nationwide and have been covered by The New York Times, NPR’s “Morning Edition” and USA Today.

To sign up for a chance to pitch, authors must purchase a copy of Eckstut and Sterry’s book, in advance at The Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza or online at www.thebookdoctors.com, or at the Pitchapalooza door. For those just wanting to watch, the event is free. Purchasing also includes a 20-minute consultation with Eckstut and Sterry.

Co-Presented Events

Nitty Gritty Slam

Nitty Gritty Slam is Albany's first poetry slam venue in more than 10 years, and Frequency North is proud to be one of its co-sponsors, including Urban Guerilla Theatre, Albany Poets, and Albany Word Fest. Held the first and third Thursdays of the month, events are open to everyone 18 and older. Our home is Valentine's, 17 New Scotland Avenue, about a mile down Madison Avenue from the Saint Rose campus.

Nitty Gritty Slam celebrates the poetry slam, the competitive art of performance poetry and spoken word. Invented in 1984 when construction worker and poet Marc Smith started a poetry reading at a Chicago jazz club, slam puts a dual emphasis on writing and performance and encourages poets to focus on what they're saying as well as how they're saying it. The slam's MC is local poet Dain Brammage. The open mic is hosted by local poet-impressario Mojavi.

Follow NGS on Twitter at @nittygrittyslam or online. Everyone is encouraged to come and sign up for the slam or the open mic, serve as judge, or cheer on the poets.
 

Albany Word Fest

Albany Word Fest is an annual celebration featuring the poetry, spoken word, and music of upstate New York. Held every April to coincide with National Poetry Month, this year’s event, from April 15-21, kicks off on when Pitchapalooza comes to the Saint Rose campus. Other events include open mics, featured poets, Nitty Gritty Slam, Yes! Reading, Urban Guerilla Theatre, Karaoke + Poetry = Fun, and much, much more. The 2012 Albany Word Fest is sponsored by Albany Poets, Urban Guerilla Theatre, Frequency North, Hudson Valley Writers Guild, Valentine's, McGeary's, and the very generous donations of supporters of the arts in upstate New York.
  

Past Visitors to Frequency North

2011-2012
Dana Spiotta
Tobias Seamon
Megan Abbott
Georgia A. Popoff
Quraysh Ali Lansana

2010-2011 season
Alexander Chee
Kathleen Rooney
Scott Rosenberg
Meghan Daum
Stephen Elliott
Melissa Broder
Aaron Belz
Eboni Hogan
Jeanann Verlee

2009-2010 season
Darcey Steinke
Jessica Anthony
Peter Conners
Jericho Brown
Ernest Hilbert
CLMP's Capital Lit Festival
Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
Derrick Brown
“Mighty” Mike McGee

2008-2009 season
Marilin Nelson
Deborah Ager
Taylor Mali
Alice Fulton
David Rees
Rachel Shukert

2007-2008 season
Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
Shappy Seasholtz
Darcey Steinke
Gregory Pardlo
Wayne Koestenbaum
Nalini Jones
David Lehman

2006-2007 season
Patricia Smith
Janice Erlbaum
Jordan Davis
Jason Spiro
Tara Emelye of The Reverse
Drew Gardner
Joanna Fuhrman
Hal Niedzviecki
Nelly Reifler

2005-2006 season
Jenny Boully
Regie Cabico
Sparrow
Matt Madden