March 17: Marion Bell, Brandon Holmquest, Carlos Soto-Roman

GENERAL IDEA 11 is coming up w/ co-host Ryan Eckes!

On Sunday March 17 at 4PM at Brickbat Books, come and hear poetry by Marion Bell, Brandon Holmquest, and Carlos Soto-Roman!

Carlos Soto-Román was born in Valparaíso, Chile. He is the author of Philadelphia's Notebooks (Otoliths, 2011). He curates the cooperative anthology of contemporary u.s. poetry Elective Affinities. He lives in Philadelphia, PA.

Brandon Holmquest will just show up unannounced in your town like it's no big deal and leave just as nonchalantly. When not living out his childhood dream of being a suspicious drifter, he writes and translates poems, rolls cigarettes and wonders what his problem is, exactly.

Marion Bell is a poet who lives in Philadelphia. She has a chapbook called The Abjector from con/crescent press. Recent interests include Marxist and trans feminisms, prison abolition movements, and the uses of anger. She also likes folk songs, cats and coffee. She’s working on a manuscript tentatively titled Hey High Lonesome or Queer Theory for Losers or You People. She was selected for a 2012 grant from the Barbara Deming Memorial Foundation.

February 9: Rauan Klassnik, Tony Mancus, Jaime Fountaine, Paul Cunningham

GENERAL IDEA 10 is coming up w/ co-host Ryan Eckes!

On Saturday February 9 at 7PM at Brickbat Books, come and hear poetry by Rauan Klassnik, Tony Mancus, and Paul Cunningham, and fiction by Jaime Fountaine.

Tony Mancus is the author of two chapbooks, Bye Land (Greying Ghost) and Bye Sea (forthcoming from Tree Lights). He and Sommer Browning founded Flying Guillotine Press in 2008. He currently lives in northern Virginia with his wife Shannon and their two cats. 

Jaime Fountaine is a liar.  Her work has appeared in PANK, Pear Noir!, Monkeybicycle, and elsewhere.

Rauan Klassnik lives in Kirkland, WA, home of Costco, etc. His 2nd book of poetry, The Moon's Jaw, releases Jan 21st from Black Ocean. He invites you to check out the video trailer (by Paul Cunningham) for it.

Paul Cunningham is the author of two e-chapbooks of poetry: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Pangur Ban Party, 2010) and Foamghast (NAP, 2012). He is the managing editor of the online journal and press, Radioactive Moat, and his writing has appeared in publications including A Capella Zoo, DIAGRAM, Aesthetix, Shampoo, H_NGM_N, and The Destroyer. 

January 19: Ian Davisson, Kate Greenstreet, Stan Mir

GENERAL IDEA 9 is coming up w/ co-host Ryan Eckes!

On Saturday January 19 at 7PM at Brickbat Books, come and hear poetry by Iain Davisson, Kate Greenstreet, and Stan Mir.

Stan Mir is the author of two books, The Lacustrine Suite (Pavement Saw, 2011) and Song & Glass (Subito, 2010). He lives in Philadelphia where he co-organizes the Chapter & Verse reading series with Ryan Eckes.

Kate Greenstreet's new book Young Tambling is just out from Ahsahta Press. Her other books are case sensitive and The Last 4 Things. Find out more at kickingwind.com.

Ian Davisson has recent work in Tenderloin and Little Red Leaves. He's glad that the pit of despair known as the year 2012 has come to an end, but values all the poems that came out of that pit--some of which he will be reading on Jan 19.

GI 8: Pollock, Browne, Magnus, Bennett

GENERAL IDEA 8 is coming up! Sunday October 7 at 7PM at Brickbat Books. Readings by Iain Haley Pollock, Laynie Browne, Magus Magnus, and Jacob A. Bennett.

Iain Haley Pollock's first collection of poems, Spit Back a Boy, won the 2010 Cave Canem Poetry Prize.  He teaches English at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia and poetry at the Solstice MFA Program of Pine Manor College. 

Laynie Browne is the author of nine collections of poetry and one novel.  Her most recent publications include: Roseate, Points of Gold (Dusie, 2011), The Desires of Letters (Counterpath, 2010), The Scented Fox (Wave, 2007), and Daily Sonnets (Counterpath, 2007). Her work is forthcoming in The Norton Anthology of Postmodern American Poetry  as well as Ecopoetry: A Contemporary American Anthology  (Trinity University Press). Her honors include: the National Poetry Series Award, of the Contemporary Poetry Series Award, and two Gertrude Stein Awards for Innovative American Poetry.  She has taught at The University of Washington, Bothell, at Mills College, Naropa University, and at the University of Arizona. She has also taught poetry-in-the-schools for various organizations including Teachers & Writers Collaborative in NYC and Seattle Arts & Lectures.  At University of Arizona she developed and ran an outreach program which brought graduate and undergraduate students into schools to teach residencies in imaginative writing in three genres (poetry, fiction, & creative non-fiction).  Since 2011 she has been a volunteer mentor for the Afghan Women’s Writing Project (http://awwproject.org/). Recent editorial projects include curating for the online journal Trickhouse, as well as a collection of writings celebrating the life and work of poet Stacy Doris on http://www.thevolta.org/. She is co editor of I’ll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women (Les Figues Press, 2012). 

Magus Magnus is the author of The Re-echoes (just out from Furniture Press); Idylls for a Bare Stage (twentythreebooks 2011); Heraclitean Pride (Furniture Press 2010); and Verb Sap (Narrow House 2008). Two poems from Verb Sap - "Radical Crumb" and "Empirical/Imperial Demonstration" - appear in the 10th edition of Pearson Longman's English Anthology textbook, Literature. Washington D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre Company will host a performance showcase of Idylls for a Bare Stage at Sidney Harman Hall in Spring 2013; development of the Idyll as a performance form can be tracked at http://sharedimagining.blogspot.com/"

Jacob A. Bennett has only known you four weeks and three days, but to him it seems like nine weeks and five days. The first day seemed like a week and the second day seemed like five days. And the third day seemed like a week again and the fourth day seemed like eight days. But the fifth day you went to see your mother and that seemed just like a day, but then you came back and later on the sixth day, in the evening, that started seeming like two days, so in the evening it seemed like two days spilling over into the next day and that started seeming like four days, so at the end of the sixth day on into the seventh day, it seemed like a total of five days. And the sixth day seemed like a week and a half. He has it written down, and he can show it to you tomorrow if you want to see it.

GI 7: Hamm, Karl, Marinovich, Wong

General Idea 7 comes to you on Friday May 25 at 7pm. Brickbat Books. Readings by: Christine Hamm, Steven Karl, Filip Marinovich, and Angela Veronica Wong.

Steven Karl is the author of the chapbooks, State(s) of Flux (Peptic Robot Press, 2009) (Ir)Rational Animals (Flying Guillotine Press, 2010) emissions/ of (H_NGM_N, 2011) and with Angela Veronica Wong, Don't Try This On Your Piano or am i standing here with my hair down (Lame House Press, 2012). He is the poetry editor of Sink Review and Immaculate Disciples Press and a news editor for Coldfront Magazine. Currently he lives in New York but will relocate to Miami in August.

Angela Veronica Wong is the author of several chapbooks and one full-length collection of poems entitled how to survive a hotel fire (Coconut Books 2012). She lives in Manhattan and on the internet at www.angelaveronicawong.com.

Christine Hamm is getting her PhD in English Literature, and teaches at CUNY. Nominated four times for a Pushcart, her poetry has been in Rhino, Stone Canoe, Pebble Lake Review, Women's Studies Quarterly, Blue Earth Review, Rattle, and many others. She has published three books of poetry, and the most recent, Echo Park, was just released from Blazevox. Christine is the east coast poetry editor for Ping*Pong, a literary journal published by the Henry Miller Library of Big Sur, CA.

Filip Marinovich is the author of Zero Readership and And If You Don't Go Crazy I'll Meet You Here Tomorrow and of the forthcoming Wolfman Librarian. His poems can be found online in Eoagh, Brooklyn Rail, and Esque. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

GI 6: Etter, Fletcher, Hess, and Spallholz

GENERAL IDEA 6 is on March 31 at 7PM at Brickbat Books (709 South 4th Street, Philadelphia, PA) with readings by Sarah Rose Etter, Sasha Fletcher, Mickey Hess, and Julianna Spallholz.

A retired shipbuilder, Mickey Hess is Associate Professor of English at Rider University, where he teaches arc welding, mig welding, and creative nonfiction. In the early months of 2012, he has released two books: The Nostalgia Echo (a novel) and The Novelist & the Rapper (stories). He is hard at work on a biography of the rap star Ol' Dirty Bastard.

photo by Katie Reing

Sarah Rose Etter's chapbook, Tongue Party, was selected as the winner of the 2010 Caketrain Chapbook Contest by Deb Olin Unferth. Her work has appeared in The Black Warrior Review, Salt Hill Journal, The Collagist and more. She lives in Philadelphia where she co-curates the Tire Fire Reading series.

Julianna Spallholz's short (and very short) fiction has appeared in Caketrain, Denver Quarterly, Sleepingfish, Tarpaulin Sky, and elsewhere.  Julianna has performed and collaborated her work with musicians, visual artists, a DJ, and a chef.  For the moment, she lives in upstate New York.  Her book, The State of Kansas, is available from GenPop Books.  Please visit her website  at http://www.juliannaspallholz.com/

Sasha Fletcher is the author of the novella WHEN ALL OUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED MARCHING BANDS WILL FILL THE STREETS AND WE WILL NOT HEAR THEM BECAUSE WE WILL BE UPSTAIRS IN THE CLOUDS [ml press 2010] and the poetry chapbooks I AIN'T ASKED ANY PARDON FOR ANYTHING I DONE [the greying ghost 2011] and I CANNOT PRETEND TO BE A GHOST TODAY [paper pusher 2012]. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

GI 5: Greg Bem & Gregory Laynor

General Idea 5 presents former Philadelphia poets Greg Bem and Gregory Laynor on Tuesday, December 27th at 5:00 at Moonstone Arts Center/ Robin's Books in Center City: 110A S. 13th Street

Philadelphia, PA 19107.

Greg Bem used to live a hearty life in Philadelphia and was a member of the New Philadelphia Poets, but then he moved to Seattle in August, 2010. In the year and four months since the migration, he has regularly volunteered for the poetry non-profit SPLAB and the Columbia City Public Library. He co-curates a dynamic multimedia performance series (called the Breadline) with poets Alex Bleecker and Jeremy Springsteed, works in the schizoid Search Engine Marketing/Optimization industry, and attends the Information School at the University of Washington. In September he organized and hosted Silence and Communication, a 20-feature event dervied from Cagean aesthetic, which helped get Greg shortlisted for the Stranger's Genius Award. The most important thing a poet can do, Greg believes, is help promote the advancements and document the actions of friends, villains, self, and the masses.

Gregory Laynor is living in Seattle, where he is studying & teaching at the University of Washington and curating readings & talks at the Hedreen Gallery. Recent work appears in EOAGH and Fence. He is co-editing the collected writings of Gil Ott for Chax Press. He is on the Internet at academicpoetry.com.