Valentine’s Day is just around the corner; that most vibrantly-hued demi-god of holidays that ensures a sugar rush and an inevitable bittersweet feeling of both overly-saccharin sentiment and sickeningly sticky bitterness. Row upon on row of discount treats in all their glorious vermillion cellophane will soon bombard the clearance isles and charm their way, if not to our hearts, then our eager bellies. All the confection of red and pink making you blue? Love comes in all packages my friends – with and without labels and bows. Enjoy a little pre-Valentine literary love tomorrow evening, February 10th, at the monthly presentation of the InKY Reading Series at The Bard’s Town. Poets Katerina Stoykova-Klemer and Alyssa Knickerbocker will be accompanied by the musical stylings of Louisvillian Molly McCormack starting at 7pm.
With her first volume of poetry, the bilingual The Air Around the Butterfly, an acclaimed winner of the 2010 Pencho’s Oak Award, poet Katrina Stoykova-Klemer has made a name for herself in both American and Bulgarian literary circles. The author of two additional poetry collections, Indivisible Number and the forthcoming The Porcupine of Mind, Stoykova-Klemer is also the editor of the anthology Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems and the founder of the independent publishing press, Accents Publishing. As well her contribution to the physical written word, Stoykova-Klemer additionally hosts “Accents”, a radio broadcast exhibition for literature, art and culture in Lexington.
Also basking in the literary limelight for the evening is current University of Louisville Axton Fellow, Alyssa Knickerbocker. Following her graduation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an MFA in Fiction, Knickerbocker’s work has appeared in numerous publications including, Brooklyn Magazine, The Bat City Review, Meridian, Sou’wester, and Avery Anthology, as well as in the anthology The Best of the West 2011: New Stories from the West Side of Missouri. A repeat nominee for the Pushcart Prize, Knickerbocker published he first novella, Your Rightful Home, in 2009.
As always, the night kicks off with an open mic beginning at 7pm and will be followed by music at 7:30pm, rounding out with the featured voices of Stoykova-Klemer and Knickerbocker at 8pm. Grab a box of cheap chocolate (or six) from your friendly, neighborhood convenient store, a friend and avoid Cupid’s commercially-stained arrows for a little longer. Stoykova-Klemer and Knickerbocker won’t be whispering sweet nothings, but pumping your heart with Grade A poetic pleasure.
Sign-ups for open mic begin at 6:30pm
The Bard’s Town is located at 1801 Bardstown Road
For more information about the InKY Reading Series, visit the Louisville Literary Arts website
Photos: Courtesy of Louisville Literary Arts website www.louisvilleliteraryarts.org
