Well, the Rochester Arts and Lectures series is already sold
out. If you don’t have tickets, you may be able to get standing-room-only
tickets to hear Khaled Hosseini (The Kite
Runner)and Alexander McCall
Smith (The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency,
The Sunday Philosophy Club) — both
worth it.
And there are still chances to catch a seat at other
lectures and literary events around town this fall.
First up is the ImageArt Poetry event on September 24 at
Visual Studies Workshop. The open mic coincides with the ImageOut Lesbian and
Gay Film and Video Festival and features local poets.
The Metro Justice is bringing Camilo Mejia, the first Iraq
War veteran to refuse further military service, to speak at its annual dinner
on October 2.
The organizers of the SUNY Brockport’s Writers Forum are
providing a solidly noteworthy collection of readings again this year. The
biggest name is Joyce Carol Oates on October 10, but there are other great
names on the list.
The University of Rochester offers the Plutzik and Neilly
Series of lectures each year: Watch for Ha Jin (Waiting)on October 21.
Also beginning on the 21st is a week-plus of workshops at the Amitabha
Foundation: “A Buddhist View of Death and Dying and Phowa Transmission and
Teachings.” May be time to get enlightened.
Finally, a new event in the local literary constellation is
Rochester Ink, a poetry festival on October 21 and 22. Poets Mark Doty (T.S.
Eliot Prize-winner) and Kim Addonizio (thrice BOA-published) headline, and
Saturday is full of free workshops on publishing and reading poetry and
readings from local poets.
This article appears in Sep 21-27, 2005.
