THERE ARE NO GHOSTS
THERE ARE PORTRAITS
Book Launch & Performances
10.24.22
Hosted by Five Myles Gallery, this event launched Basil King's new book, There Are No Ghosts There Are Portraits, edited by Öykü Tekten, introduced by Ammiel Alcalay, and co-published by Pinsapo Press and Lost & Found.
INAUGURAL VERBATIM
TEXT SOUND EXPO
Book & Performance Fair
9.19.21
This was the 1st annual Verbatim // Text Sound Expo, a Hudson Valley small press fair inhabiting the space between text and noise. Vendors included Pinsapo, Siglio Press, Shivastan, Model City, Station Hill, Lanesville Press, News Stand, dispersed holdings, Notice Recordings. Performers included Charles Stein, Claire Donato, Rebecca Wolff, Evelyn Reilly, Zoë Tuck, Zoots Houston, Daniel Carter, Admiral Grey, and others
ANNE WALDMAN & AMMIEL ALCALAY
Virtual Reading
1.29.21
This zoom event honored the first anniversary of the publication of Anne Waldman's Mundo Aparte / Offworld (edited by Öykü Tekten and translated by Mariano Antolín Rato) and Ammiel Alcalay's new collection of poems Ghost Talk that is forthcoming with Pinsapo Press. Our guest reader Natasha Tiniacos read the Spanish translation of Waldman's poem "Stereo" from Marriage:
A Sentence.
MUNDO APARTE/OFFWORLD
Book Launch & Performances
1.23.20
This event, hosted by Howl Happening, launched Anne Waldman's 2019 Pinsapo publication, Mundo Aparte/Offworld. The evening began with a screening of Crepuscular, a film by the multimedia artist No Land, based on Waldman’s poem of the same name. Waldman was later joined for a reading with multi-instrumentalists Devin Brahja Waldman, Janice Lowe, and James Brandon Lewis. Poet, translator, and scholar Mónica de la Torre read the poems in Spanish.
THE CIRCUS
Book Launch & Performances 11.10.19
Hosted by The Record Shop in Red Hook, this event launched Tara Homasi's new artist book, The Circus, co-published by Pinsapo Press and Publication Studio. Homasi's phantasmagoric vision is a "distanced proximity" she literally carved out from a 1991 hardcover photo book called The Circle of Life. Elena Botts and Mahdokht Mahmoudabadi joined Tara with their instruments.
LANGUAGE IS MY SECOND LANGUAGE
Workshop 9.27.19
At this event hosted by St. Mark's Poetry Project, we discussed texts by Ammiel Alcalay, Gertrude Stein and Anne Carson which explore the dimensions of speaking and listening that transcend language’s coding function: the moments when speech is instinctual, receptive and tentative rather than self-affirming or group-affirming. Attendees also participated in various writing experiments. The event was co-facilitated by Öykü Tekten, Olivia Divecchia, Tara Homasi and Miriam Atkin.
TRANSMISSIONS
Reading & Book Launch
6.16.19
4 acts of aesthetic conjury to honor the release of Tatiana Istomina's artist's book, Fhilosofhy of the Encounter: Susan Kuo improvised on the grand piano and sang; Tatiana read from FotE; Amanda Nedham read poems about the primatologist Dian Fossey; Laura Henriksen read a prose piece dedicated to Love & Cobain. We concluded with a free-form discussion about mediumship and reanimation as art/writing practice.
POET TOUR
Performance & Book Launch 5.30.19
The second annual gathering of poets and musicians took place in Granada with performances by Anne Waldman, Ambrose Bye, Devin Brahja Waldman, Floy Krouchi, and Juan Codorníu. The Tour also launched the publication of Offworld / Mundo Aparte, the first bilingual edition of Anne Waldman's selected poems. The Tour is organized by Öykü Tekten and hosted by La Corrola de Santiago.
TRANSLATION|
TRANSMIGRATION
Reading & Discussion 2.23.19
For this event, sponsored by Montez Press, Pinsapo artists came together to read from their books. To varying degrees, these texts all ask what it means to migrate between languages, between bodies, between states, between minds and mediums. The readings led into a perambulatory collective exploration of these topics. With Sousan Hammad, Tara Homasi, Tatiana Istomina & Anna Gregor, and Anne Waldman. Photo credit: Alystyre Julian.
SMALL PRESS NIGHT
Reading & Book Sale
12.11.18
This annual event organized by Boog City provides the opportunity for a curated selection of small presses to showcase their work. This year’s event was curated by Miriam Atkin of Pinsapo Press, and included readings by Phil Anderson (Passenger Pigeon Press), William Camponovo & Talia Shalev (Lost and Found), Shahrzad Kamel (Rhombus Press), and Sousan Hammad & Tara Homasi (Pinsapo). There was also a musical performance by Craig Schenker.
CREATURE /VERDURE
Reading & Book Launch 8.10.18
This event, hosted by Berl's Brooklyn Poetry Shop, marked the release of Creature/Verdure, the second issue of Pinsapo Journal. With readings by James Loop, Claire DeVoogd, Adjua Gargi Nzinga Greaves, Fernando Quigua and Miriam Atkin.
POET TOUR
Performance
5.7.18
The first annual Poet Tour took place in Granada and Madrid with performances by Anne Waldman, Devin Brahja Waldman, and Ambrose Bye joined by special guests Joan La Barbara, Juan Codorníu, Floy Krouchi, and Öykü Tekten.
PROYECCIÓN Y COLOQUIO CON BELIT SAĞ
Screening 7.13.17
Belit sağ, es una artista y videógrafa residente en Amsterdam, estará con nosotras para la proyección de su vídeo, acto seguido responderá a las preguntas de los asistentes. Este evento está organizado por Pinsapo Collective y La Variable.
MOURNING TENT
Reading & Book Launch
6.3.17
A night of poetry and music at Spectrum performance space celebrating the release of our inaugural journal issue, Mourning Tent. With readings by Iris Cushing and William Camponovo and a musical performance by Eva Salina.
DANTE|HAFIZ
Book Launch
5.27.17
The third event on Dante / Hafiz took place at Quimby's Bookstore in Brooklyn. The night launched the publication, Dante/Hafiz: Readings on the Sigh, The Gaze, and Beauty (co-edited by Nicola Masciandaro & Öykü Tekten).
With readings by Nicola & Franco Masciandaro, and a musical performance by Dijwar Karaman accompanied by dancer Eo Constantos.
LECTURA POÉTICA CON NAJWAN DARWISH
Reading 5.25.17
El aclamado poeta palestino Najwan Darwish nos visita en Granada por la lectura poética. De resaca del Festival Internacional de Poesía de Granada, ha decidido quedarse unos dias más en la ciudad y regalarnos unos versos. Nos vemos el jueves a las 20h.
POETICS & HIGHER ED JUSTICE
Panel 5.5.17
For this round table discussion, CUNY writers, teachers and activists spoke about the history of poets' involvement in mobilizing locally for higher ed access and equality, and visualized how to continue such work into the future.
Featuring Makeba Lavan, Conor Tomás Reed, Zohra Saed, and Meghann Williams , moderated by Miriam Atkin.
JAZZ NIGHT CON DEVIN BRAHJA WALDMAN
Performance 4.18.17
Estamos preparando una noche muy especial con el único Devin Brahja Waldman, la poesía de Öykü Tekten y las improvisaciones de Selko Granada y Juan Codorníu. Devin tocará un solo seguido de una jam session abierta. ¡¡No te lo pierdas!! Trae tus instrumentos, canciones, poemas y bebidas. Este evento está organizado por Pinsapo Collective y tendrá lugar en La Variable.
ANNUAL NEWROZ CELEBRATION
Reading & Performance 3.4.17
Newroz (the new day) is a Middle Eastern celebration that marks the arrival of spring and the new year. This year we celebrated Newroz in Granada (Spain) with performances by Floy Krouchi, Cristina Remacho, Gabriel López, and Maria Paz Regueira (a local spirit of joy who will be reading Najwan Darwish's "Fabrications" in Spanish). The event was co-hosted by La Variable.
THE GAZE
Panel
10.22.16
Continuing a conversation between Dante and Hafiz that began the previous spring with 'Reading the Sigh,' this event featured two lectures on the poetics of the gaze.
READING THE SIGH
Panel
5.6.16
This event, hosted by CUNY Graduate Center, featured two lectures on the significance of the sigh in the works of two medieval poetic masters, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) and Hafiz of Shiraz (1325-89), followed by a musical performance. With Nicola Masciandaro, Franco Masciandaro, Peter Booth and Dijwar Karaman.
SARA DENİZ AKANT'S BABETTE
Book Launch 4.16.16
Celebration of Sara Deniz Akant’s new book, Babette (Rescue Press, 2015). The night also featured a reading by Jessica Laser and a musical performance by Dijwar Karaman.
ANNUAL NEWROZ CELEBRATION
Reading & Performance 3.26.16
Newroz (the new day), as a beginning in the ancient sense of the word, is the celebration of the new year and spring, as well as our collective resistance and struggle against the whistles that blow fear in us, against cultural amnesia and myopia, against forces that work to eradicate our human traces of / in history. Performances by David Henderson, Eva Salina, Selim Temo, Demet Arpacik, Dijwar Karaman, and Mehdi Darvishi.
PALESTINE: NOTHING MAKES SENSE, WHY SHOULD I?
Performance 2.18.16
This event, held at the James Gallery, featured Suad Amiry, Palestinian writer, conservation architect, and political/social activist, performing from her book Sharon and My Mother in Law: Ramallah Diaries (Random House, 2005). The event was moderated by Öykü Tekten, and followed by a Q&A session.
ROSHMIA
Film Screening
2.12.16
Screening of Salim Abu Jabal's film Roshmia at Martin E. Segal Theatre (Graduate Center), with an introduction by Shoumik Bhattacharya and a panel discussion with Tami Gold.
HANCOCK HOUSE SHOW
Reading & Musical Performance 10.17.15
For this intimate gathering we huddled in a chilly backyard in Brooklyn to be dissolved and reconstituted by Gao Jiafeng & Kurt Ralske (voice, electronics, trumpet), Miriam Gabriel (poetry) and Jonathan Wood Vincent (accordion, songs).
WANTED 18
Film Screening
10.13.15
Screening of Wanted 18, directed by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan at Martin E. Segal Theatre (The Graduate Center), followed by a discussion with Riham Barghouti (Adalah-NY), Tony Alessandrini (Kingsborough Community College & The Graduate Center), and Emma Alpert (Just Vision).
ANNUAL NEWROZ CELEBRATION
Reading & Performance 3.22.15
This event is dedicated to the lasting memory of our beloved kurdish bard Ahmet Kaya to acknowledge his legacy, his life and work as a monument to all children who are killed in a lesson of the state. With readings by Abiodun Oyewole, Bejan Matur, Mohamad Hodeib, Iris Cushing, Mariam Bazeed and Rodin Hamidi and music by Ana ïsma Viel and DisOrient. The event was hosted by Bowery Poetry Club.
MEMORY OF FORGETFULNESS
Reading & Performance 12.12.14
A night of readings & music gathering our attention to the events of summer 2014 in Gaza, and the events of the many possible futures we may build in response to it. With performances by Ammiel Alcalay, Mati Shemoelof, Sousan Hammad, Iris Cushing, Nicola Masciandaro, Lynley Shimat Lys, Öykü Tekten and DisOrient. Hosted by Bowery Poetry Club and co-sponsored by MEMEAC (CUNY).