PorchLight Recommends

Greetings from the Porch! The acorns are falling from the trees and so are the literary events. If you would like to catch a few, here are some of my personal picks.

The IC Book Festival kicks off tonight at the Englert with an opening reading from lit genius Anthony Doerr. If you want masterful and inventive prose writing, he is your person. Haven't yet read his newest, "Cloud Cuckoo Land," but "All The Light We Cannot See," blew me away.

Rebecca Solnit (reading Sept. 29th at the Coralville Public Library) is one of my writing heroins. Famous for her viral essay on "mansplaining" she's a fierce feminist, as well as an eco-critic, and an art-critic. She's all my favorite things rolled into one. I'm going to have to try hard not to jump onto the stage and hug her.

I'm also very excited to hear Jennifer Knox, and Elizabeth McCrackin reading new work at Prairie Lights on Oct 8th. They both have the kind of brilliantly quirky sensibilities + emotional power I adore.

OK, I'm going to sidestep here to our friends at Riverside. If you haven't seen "Chipmunked," written and performed by Megan Gogerty, you are missing out. Megan does mid-life crisis like no one else. Part whimsical autobiography, part meditation on mortality, part chipmunk ghost story, this play is hilarious and hard to categorize. And these are just two of the reasons I loved it.

Finally, we want to welcome you all to a party this Saturday celebrating Brink's 4th Issue. This journal is close to my heart, as it was founded by PromptPress alumnus Nina Lohman. It is a thing of beauty, and a vibrant addition to IC's growing community of experimental literary publications. Hope to see you there!