July 2012 archive

A little over a year ago, Strange Cage was created to showcase the fountain of poetry blood from the vein split that is Iowa City. On October 1, we present our biggest, brightest, beefiest, bloodlustiest, boldest, best reading yet.
From the historic Englert Theatre downtown, Strange Cage brings to you a FREE evening of dangerous and beautiful poetry from:

-JOYELLE McSWEENEY. The legendary and influential Joyelle McSweeney needs no introduction. What. So. Ever. But here’s one anyway: She is the author of Nylund, the Sarcographer (Tarpaulin Sky Press, 2007), as well as Flet, The Red Bird, and The Commandrine and Other Poems, and Percussion Grenade, all published by Fence Books. With her husband Johannes Göransson, she publishes Action Books and Action, Yes, a press and web-quarterly dedicated to international writing and hybrid forms and showcasing the absolute best in contemporary writing and emerging writers. Usually teaching at the University of Notre Dame, she’s currently a visiting professor at the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. A frequent Montevidayo blogger, Joyelle’s Necropastoral ear to the ground has made her a critically important poet of today and tomorrow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyelle_McSweeney

-TJ DEMA. Tjawangwa Dema, also credited as TJ Dema, is a Botswana based performance poet, writer, columnist and voice over artist. She’s currently living in Iowa City as part of the International Writing Program and has performed at events around the country and at local top reading spots like Prairie Lights and at Anthology here in town. A former radio presenter, independent event emcee, model, catwalk instructor, entrepreneur, she runs an arts and performance management boutique that works with artists, ad agencies and funders to craft new ways of approaching the business of art. She is chaiperson of The Writers Association of Botswana (WABO) for which she was Publicity Secretary (2005/07) as well as being a founding member (alumni) of the acclaimed Exoduslivepoetry! collective (ELP), who have coordinated Botswana’s sole annual poetry festival between 2004 and 2009. She has performed in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Denmark, France, and India, and we’re honored to have her right in Iowa City at the Englert. http://www.facebook.com/pages/TJ-DEMA-POETRYSPOKEN-WORD/256405985772

-LESLEY WHEELER. One of the three founders of Strange Cage, Lesley graduated the Writer’s Workshop in May of this year and took to the road, where she and her husband Karl McComas Reichl camped, wrote, and adventured. This will be her Iowa City homecoming by way of her new home in Kansas City, MO by way of everywhere, American Highway, USA. strangecage.org

-DANIELA OLSZWESKA. The author of four collections of poetry– cloudfang : : cakedirt (Horse Less Press, 2012), Citizen J (Artifice Books, forthcoming), True Confessions of An Escapee From The Capra Facility For Wayward Girls (Spittoon, forthcoming), and (with Carol Guess) How To Feel Confident With Your Special Talents (Black Lawrence Press, forthcoming)–Daniela teaches at Oakton Community College and received her MFA from the University of Alabama. She sits on Switchback Books’ Board of Directors and serves as Associate Poetry Editor of H_NGM_N and Another Chicago Magazine. Daniela was born in Wroclaw, Poland and she but she self-identifies as a Chicagoan.

-SKYLAR ALEXANDER. Skylar Alexander is the public relations coordinator of “earthwords undergraduate literary review” and the former assistant director of the Young Emerging Writers internship program at the Midwest Writing Center in Davenport. She has been published in “Ink”, “earthwords”, and “The Atlas”. She studies English, Linguistics, and Entrepreneurial Management at the University of Iowa.

-BRIONY GYLGAYTON. Briony is working on her MFA in Poetry at the Iowa Writers Workshop. Her chapbook, LOUDER WALLS, a collection of poetry about psychological disorders according to the DSM-IV, was awarded the Elliot Gilbert Memorial Prize, and selections from the manuscript won the California-wide Ina Coolbrith Memorial Poetry Prize and the Pamela Maus Contest for Creative Writing. Her current poetry explores the
connections between American folktales and survival-horror video games. www.BrionyGylgayton.com

-FATIMA ESPIRITU. Fatima is a 2nd year student in the Poetry program at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her style can be
described as Nerdcore meets Your Best Friend’s Awkward Voice Messages. She writes mostly about a rabbit named Baedo, the Internet, and the relationship between metaphors & embodiment. Current favorite craft tools = templates, internal rhyme, and yelling about socialization. F’s publishing & published history are less thrilling than this extended video of an exquisite dog’s exquisite joy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgrZ5Dtsi-E

-LILLIAN BROWNING.

BEER AND WINE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHA$E!