Crescent City Books will host a 12-hour marathon reading of James Joyce’s Ulysses this Saturday, June 16, at the Irish House (1432 St. Charles Ave.) in celebration of your favorite literary nerd holiday and mine, Bloomsday! The event encourages folks young and old, bookish and barely literate, to take part in the reading of one … Saturday is Bloomsday!
The Fish that Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King By Rich Cohen Farrar, Straus, and Giroux Reviewed by Nathan C. Martin Samuel Zemurray, former president of the United Fruit company and history’s most ambitious banana magnate, has a lot in common with Daniel Plainview, the antihero of P.T. Anderson’s 2007 … THERE WILL BE BANANAS: If Samuel Zemurray is Daniel Plainview, why doesn’t Rich Cohen treat him like it?
*Not to be confused with Press Street’s Draw-a-Thon By Cate Czarnecki Founded by Abram Himelstein and Rachel Breunlin in 2004, the Neighborhood Story Project has been an important presence among the myriad narratives that emerge from the city. This Sunday marks their fourth annual Write-A-Thon, the organization’s primary fundraising event, which aims to raise the … Give it up for the Neighborhood Story Project Write-a-Thon*
Room 220 is pleased to present writers Kristina Robinson and Shade Ashani for an evening of live prose as part of the New Orleans Loving Festival at 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 9, at the New Orleans Healing Center (2372 St. Claude Ave.). The reading will coincide with the opening of Mixed Messages.2, a showcase … LIVE PROSE: Shade Ashani and Kristina Robinson to read as part of the New Orleans Loving Festival
SIFT, your local artistic bookmaking organization, is hosting a field trip to the special collections at Loyola University New Orleans from 1-4 p.m. on June 14, where participants will be shown an assortment of the collection’s best books curated by archivist Trish Nugent. Because of the nature of viewing rare books, space will be limited … SIFT archive visit June 14 provides a look at fancy books
On May 8, Room 220 hosted a discussion between philosopher Tamler Sommers and anti-death-penalty attorney Billy Sothern at the Community Book Center. They were to discuss the philosophy of punishment. I figured it would be heady, and criminal justice issues have a particular flavor and bite in this city, so since neither Tamler nor Billy … Event recap: Kristina Robinson and co. at the Community Book Center
On May 3, authors Matt Sumell, Anne Gisleson, and Yuri Herrera read as part of the Room 220 Live Prose from the Antenna Gallery Outdoor Auxiliary reading series. More than 130 people came out to hear the readers, drink daiquiris supplied by Gene’s, and mingle among the sweet sounds spun by DJ Brian Boyles. Aside … Event recap: Literary Late Night at the Outdoor Auxiliary
From New York magazine’s Culture Vulture: “When Fortuna spins you downward, go out to a movie and get more out of life.” — Ignatius J. Reilly, A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole’s posthumously Pulitzer Prize–winning novel may finally be taking its protagonist’s advice: Vulture hears exclusively that Flight of the Conchords co-creator and The … Zach Galifianakis to play Ignatius J. Reilley
By Cate Czarnecki Like most things in New Orleans, the men and women of the MelaNated Writers collective aren’t simply just writers—among them you will find musicians, students, journalists, lawyers, professors, activists, and citizens who live and work in a city where some were born but ultimately all have chosen to call home. As one … Preview: The MelaNated Writers summer reading series
Here at Room 220, we’re still stuck in a state of awe over Ben Sandmel’s fantastic biography of Ernie K-Doe, published recently by the Historic New Orleans Collection. We’ve recently posted a whole slew of archival photos of the book along with Wesley Stokes’ review of it. Is that Quintron in the pool, and Miss … K-Doe Photos from the K-Doe Bio
