It’s been a helluva summer for me. One of those whirlwind seasons that blazed the sun into my skin and a gigantic, mythological arrow into my chest. I’m still gasping under the pressure of those snapped ribs, folks. But a great man once told me in all his exuberant guidance: “Life’s a journey”, so with these pearls of wisdom around my neck I’ll soldier on, Freddie, onward, my good sir.
It is of little importance for Freddie to have context. So.
Seasons change! And summer is slowly slipping into my favorite stretch of the year. I can take solace in long, murmuring nights to impart the right kind of chill needed to reform my famously cold, steel-coated heart before it blushes with an irreversible surge of blood and human feeling. God speed thee, Autumn! And what better way to celebrate the burgeoning shift in weather and mood than with our favorite kind of fellowship? Raise a glass, grab a friend and hit up The Bard’s Town as the InKY Reading Series gets a fresh seasonal start tonight with the Savage Rose Theatre Company and writers Kirby Gann and Dan Rosenberg.
The author of three novels, including this year’s successful release, Ghosting, local writer Kirby Gann wields his literary luminescence well beyond his own work. As well as teaching in the MFA in Writing Program at Spalding University, Gann is also Managing Editor for Louisville’s own independent publishing house, Sarabande Books, and a co-editor for the lauded anthology A Fine Excess: Contemporary Literature at Play. Gann’s writing has won him acclaim as an Honorable Mention in The Pushcart Prize Anthology, the recipient of two Professional Assistance Awards and an Individual Artist Fellowship. His work has been most recently featured on the pages of The Lumberyard and The Oxford American.
For tonight’s literary co-star, Dan Rosenberg, the circuits of poetry, translation and book review cross on the career path. Rosenberg’s first poetry collection, The Crushing Organ, was honored with 2011’s American Poetry Journal Book Prize after its release from Dream Horse Press. Currently a co-editor of Transom and a Ph.D student, Rosenberg has additional writing pieces gracing the pages of Pleiades, American Letters & Commentary, Kenyon Review Online and Iowa Review.
Standard fare, right? Wrong! The mix of writers and words gets even more marbled tonight as attendees are treated to a performance from the local acting troop, Savage Rose Theatre Company. Mainly exploring the realms of Shakespeare, as well as other Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights, the actors of Savage Rose uses classic stories to speak a modern audience. With a full repertoire boasting the works of the Greeks, the French Neo-Classicist, the English Restoration, 19th Century Melodrama, Grand Guignol and Contemporary drama, Savage Rose pulls out the stops on the stage tonight at 7pm.
So. Take my hand, friends and follow me forward. Fall is here. Summer is fading. And my mind is only filled with one thing: words.
The Bard’s Town is located at 1801 Bardstown Road.
Image: Courtesy of Louisville Literary Arts website www.louisvilleliteraryarts.org
