This Tuesday, March 13, Little Rock voters are being asked to vote for an enhancement of the Central Arkansas Library System. Information is below.
This will not only help CALS but will be a benefit to cultural life in general in Central Arkansas.
Category Archives: Literature
Read a Book
It’s a Monday.
Snow is starting to blanket Central Arkansas, most museums are closed on Mondays, most theatres are dark this day as well.
This is a good evening to read a book either as God intended (holding paper, cloth and cardboard in your hands) or electronically. Thanks to Central Arkansas Library System participating in Inter-Library Loan, I am currently reading the plays My Three Angels and Scapino!
I also have a stack of books I’ve purchased over the year that haven’t been read. Before this year’s Arkansas Literary Festival I must make headway on this stack or I’ll be on a self-imposed book-purchase ban.
Poets and Publishing – A casual, informative discussion
Borland
Poets Roundtable
Saturday, February 11
10:00 AM – 12:00
Main Library
100 Rock Street
Little Rock, AR 72201
West Room
Little Rock, AR
Featuring a discussion led by Bryan Borland, publisher of Sibling Rivalry Press, on the publishing business (getting published, self-publishing, eBooks, marketing). It’s casual, fun, free, and all are welcome.
Bryan Borland is a multi-time Pushcart-nominated poet from Little Rock, Arkansas, and the owner of Sibling Rivalry Press, LLC, a young publishing house whose goal is to develop, promote, and market underground artistic talent – those who don’t quite fit into the mainstream. As a poet, Bryan writes primarily narrative poems that create portraits of moments through words. Whether chronicling old friends and lovers in his “Book of” series (“The Book of David,” The Book of Cody,” “The Book of Dmitri,” etc.) or inviting us into his family through poems like “Sons of Abraham” and “Supper,” Bryan seeks to poetically etch tally marks into the walls of life; to, in essence, prove he’s been here.
His first collection of poetry, My Life as Adam, is a potent cocktail of family life, religion, and sexuality, the three pillars of Southern life. It was one of only five books of poetry selected by the American Library Association for their first annual “Over the Rainbow” list of noteworthy LGBT-themed publications.
Through Sibling Rivalry Press, Borland has also worn the editor’s hat, putting together Ganymede Unfinished, a tribute to the late John Stahle and his beautiful journal Ganymede that features the work of poets Jee Leong Koh, Jeff Mann, Matthew Hittinger, writers Charlie Vázquez, Perry Brass, and Scott Hess, artist Seth Ruggles Hiler, and photographer Eric Davis, among others. The success of Ganymede Unfinished led Bryan to create Assaracus, the world’s only quarterly print journal dedicated exclusively to gay male poets. Assaracus has exploded onto the poetry scene and has featured the work of Antler, Gavin Dillard, Raymond Luczak, and Emanuel Xavier.
Arkansas Rep’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Scout, Jem, Atticus, Calpurnia and Boo Radley come to life as the Arkansas Repertory Theatre presents the stage version of Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird. This deceptively simple episodic tale of life in the South was adapted for the stage by Christopher Sergel. All of the drama and humor from the novel and subsequent movie are found in the stage version as well.
Arkansas Rep’s Producing Artistic Director Bob Hupp directs this production. After previews, opening night is Friday, January 27; the production runs through February 12.
John Feltch portrays the noble Atticus Finch with Abby Shourd and Damon McKinnis as his children. Others in the cast include Spencer Davis, Laura E. Johnston, John-Patrick Driscoll, Lawrence Hamilton, Michael Jones, Sam Kitchin, Kathy McCafferty, Jason Collins, Briana Pozner, Alanna Hamill Newton, Verda Davenport, Jackie Stewart, and Tricia H. Spione. Will Frueauff and Julia Landfair understudy the children’s roles.
The creative team for this production includes Mike Nichols (scenery), Marianne Custer (costumes), Michael J. Eddy (lighting), Matt Duvall (properties) and M. Jason Pruzin (sound).
Clinton School next week features filmmaker, Rep play
The University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service speaker series brings a wide variety of engaging speakers to Little Rock throughout the year. For example, next week features an Ambassador and a World Food Prize Laureate.
Two of the programs next week have a cultural bent.
On Monday, January 23 at 6:00pm, Louie Psihoyos will discuss “The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Construction. He is director of the 2009 Oscar winning film for best documentary, “The Cove,” which uncovers how a small seaside village in Japan serves as a microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide.
At the Clinton School, Psihoyos will discuss the importance of using art to inspire activism and show clips from his next eco-thriller about the sixth mass extinction on Earth. The new film will feature Scientist Roger Payne, who declares that in the near future all the famines and world wars experienced by humanity will be a footnote compared to the destruction humanity is creating on the planet.
Fittingly, the Clinton School will host the Academy Award winner the night before this year’s Oscar nominations are announced. The day after the Oscar nominations come out, the Clinton School will feature a program about a stage adaptation of an Oscar winning film.
The Arkansas Repertory Theatre is producing the stage version of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird (which won Oscars when it was made into a film). On Wednesday, January 25 at 12 noon, Arkansas Repertory Theatre producing artistic director Bob Hupp will host the cast of The Rep’s upcoming production of the play for a panel discussion.Hupp and the cast will discuss the history of the famous novel, its compelling themes of compassion, justice, integrity and courage and their work to bring the story to The Rep stage. As it is told through the eyes of Scout, the tomboyish young daughter of small-town lawyer Atticus Finch, it becomes clear that To Kill a Mockingbird is a love story: a father’s love for his children, their love for him and a love for the South.
Both programs will take place at Sturgis Hall. Reservations can be made by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or calling 501-683-5239.
Shakespeare’s South
In partnership with the Arkansas Shakespeare Theater, acclaimed writers Graham Gordy, Trenton Lee Stewart, and Warwick Sabin will bring Shakespeare to the South for a very special Tales from the South on Tuesday evening, January 17, 2012, with stories centered around finding themselves, others, and even the South in the Bard. The live taping of the radio series will be at Starving Artist Café in the Argenta Arts District, Downtown North Little Rock. Live music by The Salty Dogs.
Doors open at 5pm, dinner is served 5pm-6:30pm and the show starts at 7pm. Tickets are $5 for the show, plus the cost of dinner. Seating is very limited. Tickets can be purchased online at www.talesfromthesouth.com.
“Tales from the South” is recorded on Tuesdays during “Dinner and a Show” at Starving Artist Café. The show airs locally on KUAR Thursdays at 7pm and is syndicated by World Radio Network, a satellite radio distribution service, available to more than 130 million listeners worldwide. Shows are also distributed nationwide to multiple public radio stations by PRX (Public Radio Exchange). Podcasts are available on ITunes, the NPR website, the KUAR website, the PRX website, and the “Tales from the South” website.
“Tales from the South” is presented by the Argenta Arts Foundation, with AY Magazine as the official media sponsor, publishing a story each month in the magazine. Additional support provided by William F. Laman Public Library, the North Little Rock Visitor’s Bureau and The Oxford American Magazine.
Sculpture Vulture: FUSION
For 23 years, Vernon C. Johnson, Sr., worked as a security guard at the Central Arkansas Library System’s main branch. Following his 2006 death, his friends and colleagues at CALS commissioned a sculpture as a memorial to him.
Michael Warrick’s Fusion is a limestone orb atop a pedestal. Etched into the orb are handprints of various sizes as well as scallops and ridges. As a befitting memorial to a man who helped everyone with whom he came into contact, the handprints are of various sizes representing both children and adults.
Sitting at the corner of 2nd and River Market (formerly Commerce) Streets, Fusion anchors the southeastern corner of the CALS campus downtown. Tucked away into a landscaped area, it greets visitors on foot as well as in cars waiting at the nearby stop sign. In so doing, it quietly interacts with visitors in the same way that Johnson did for over two decades at CALS.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 