Stream Line Series to Celebrate Indiana's Bicentennial on March 9th

by

Janine Harrison

 

How is Indiana developed as a place in writing—physically, socially, politically, and culturally?  What is its regional dialect?  How is Northwest Indiana, in particular, portrayed?  Who are “Region Rats”?  What is its history, and in such changing times, where is the state—the Region—going?  What can be said about its literary community, past, present, and future?  In celebration of Indiana’s 200^th anniversary, Stream Line Literary Reading Series will be exploring these questions and more.

Please join us for an Indiana-themed poetry and prose open mic and roundtable discussion on Wednesday, March 9^th, from 7 to 9 PM, at Paul Henry’s Art Gallery.  During the first part of the evening, interested open mic participants will have an opportunity to read poetry and either short prose or long prose excerpts in which Indiana is featured.  After a potluck intermission, readers and listeners will settle into a roundtable discussion, rooted in the open mic readings, about Indiana, and specifically the complex character that is Northwest Indiana, heroic yet flawed.  The evening will also include Indiana trivia and more.

The eclectic and inspired space, Paul Henry’s Art Gallery, is located at 416 Sibley Street in Hammond, Indiana.  Admission is $5.00 or $3.00 with a potluck contribution at the door. 

Stream Line Series is entering into its second year.  In 2015, the program, hosted by the Indiana Writers’ Consortium and sponsored by Purdue University Calumet’s Department of English and Philosophy, held events ranging from poetry readings and a slam; to children, YA, and speculative genres; to drama and an oral storytelling slam.  Stream Line will host 2016 events on the second Wednesdays of March, April, May, August, September, and October, always at Paul Henry’s Art Gallery, beginning at 7 PM.  If you are interested in presenting, making a theme suggestion, or simply have a question, please email streamlineseries@gmail.com.

Hope to see you on March 9^th for this bicentennial literary bash! 



Stream Line is Under Way!

by

Catherine Vlahos

 

We would like to announce the beginning of a new collection of events—look forward to the IWC's Stream Line literary reading series! Each monthly event focuses on a different genre or writing theme, and the public is welcome to experience a unique presentation by featured readers at the inspiring Paul Henry's Art Gallery right next to our office in downtown Hammond. 

 

Stream Line's structure is fast-paced and fluid with each reader only speaking for three 5-7 minute rounds, aiming to make individual pieces flow together to create a unified, energizing event that may challenge your current notions on (perhaps sometimes stagnant?) literature events. The audience is encouraged to engage and interact with the readers throughout the night, and a short intermission with a potluck will ensure that our creative minds have plenty of fuel to discuss, question, learn, and have a good time.

 

The first Stream Line night is on March 11^th and will focus on poetry. Below is our stellar guest reader line-up:

 

George Kalamaras, Poet Laureate of Indiana, has published fourteen books of poetry (seven of which are full-length), including The Mining Camps of the Mouth (2012), winner of the New Michigan Press Prize, Kingdom of Throat-Stuck Luck (2011), winner of the Elixir Press Poetry Contest, and The Theory and Function of Mangoes (2000), winner of the Four Way Books Intro Series. He lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with his wife, the writer Mary Ann Cain, and their beagle Bootsie. He is Professor of English at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, where he has taught since 1990.

Gordon Stamper, Jr. is a writer and educator from Northwest Indiana. Currently he is a co-moderator for Highland Writers Group and a graduate student in Purdue's Learning Design and Technology program.

 

William Allegrezza edits Moria Books and Moss Trill and teaches at Indiana University Northwest. He has previously published many poetry books, including still. walk., In the Weaver’s Valley, Ladders in July, Fragile Replacements, Collective Instant, Aquinas and the Mississippi (with Garin Cycholl), Covering Over, Port Light, and Densities, Apparitions; three anthologies, The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century, The Alteration of Silence: Recent Chilean Poetry, and La Alteración del Silencio: Poesía Norteamericana Reciente; seven chapbooks, including Sonoluminescence (co-written with Simone Muench) and Filament Sense; and many poetry reviews, articles, and poems. He founded and curated series A, a reading series in Chicago, from 2006-2010. In addition, he occasionally posts his thoughts at P-Ramblings.

 

Mary Ann Cain has published a novel, Down from Moonshine (Thirteenth Moon Press 2009), two books of scholarship on writing, and dozens of short stories, poems, and essays. Her current project is a creative nonfiction book on the legacy of Dr. Margaret Burroughs, a Chicago legend and artist-teacher-activist, co-founder of the DuSable Museum of African American History and the South Side Community Arts Center. She and her husband, George Kalamaras, share a 1929 Tudor-style home in Fort Wayne with their beloved beagle, Bootsie.  Mary Ann is Professor of English and Women's Studies at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne.  

 

The following is some vital information so you won’t miss the IWC’s very first Stream Line:

 

WHAT: Stream Line Poetry Night

 

WHEN: 7-9pm

 

WHERE: Paul Henry’s Art Gallery 416 Sibley St. Hammond, IN

 

WHO: Indiana Poet Laureate George Kalamaras, Gordon Stamper, William Allegrezza, Mary Ann Cain

 

ADMISSION: $5 ($3 if you bring a potluck dish!)

 

WHAT ELSE: There is an intermission with a potluck—bring a dish and get a discount!

 

As for future events, we are cooking up plenty of other exciting nights in the meantime. A young adult literature theme will be the focus of April’s Stream Line event, and possible other themes include a Midwest night and flash fiction and nonfiction. We hope to see you there and are looking forward to launching this series!