Category
Literature
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11.19.09Tonight’s Literary Events: Comedy Writing, George Packer, and YA LitA panel discussion will take place at the Kelly Writer's House to discuss comedy writing. Questions to be answered: Where can you go to get your work performed? What's involved in pitching? How do you find outlets in Philadelphia to hone your comedy writing chops? Are Starr Jones jokes always funny? Panelists include Greg Maughan, executive director of the Philly Improv Theater; Gregg Gethard, a Philly based improv writer; and Meg Favreau, a freelance writer and member of the sketch comedy troup Meg&Rob. 3805 Locust St. 6pm, free. New Yorker staff writer George Packer will read from his new essay collection, Interesting Times: ...
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11.19.09The English Teacher’s Convention 2009: Julie Andrews, Junot Diaz, and Gordon KormanToday is my Hanukkah, World Series parade, and G8 Summit all rolled up into one. Why? Thousands upon thousands of English teachers from around the country are flooding Philadelphia for their annual 4-day convention, featuring hundreds of presentations on things like Shakespeare in the 21st Century and Examining Hip Hop and Controversial Topics to Promote Literacy. But that's not why I'm excited. Just look at this lineup they have! It's like English Teacher Woodstock! Guest speakers include Julie Andrews, Junot Diaz, Joyce Carol Oates, Tracy Kidder, Brian Selznick, Lorene Cary, Nancy Pearl, Nicolas Sparks, Jeff Kinney -- and my personal and ...
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11.18.09The Carnegie LibrariesPenn State's Center for the Book has an awesome guide to Pennsylvania's Carnegie Libraries. Between 1886 and 1923 many towns across the country received Carnegie library funds, some 1406 towns with 1679 libraries in total. Pennsylvania had 58 such libraries, each bearing the Carnegie's slogan about the purposes of libraries above the door: "Let There Be Light." Twenty-five of these libraries are in Philadelphia. Weirdly, Carnegie refused to donate to the Main Branch of the Philadelphia public library. Plan Philly has a nice overview of the remaining Carnegie libraries in the city (some have been torn down) and the Free Library has ...
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11.18.09Tonight: Christian Bök at Kelly Writer’s HouseTonight, the Kelly Writer's House is hosting Christian Bök, a writer and creator of no one -- but two -- artificial languages used on TV shows. Bök is also the author of Eunoia, a five chapter book that features and uses a different vowel in each chapter. An excerpt: “Enfettered, these sentences repress free speech.” Another: "Dutch smut churns up blushful succubus lusts." He also makes books out of Rubik's Cubes, performs sound poetry, and writes deep thoughts about Legos. Bök will read from his work, followed by a discussion with members of the Penn English Department. 3805 Locust St. 6pm, free.
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11.17.09Amazon Books About Philly for $0.00For some weird reason, Amazon is selling certain Philadelphia titles for free. Most of them are for the Kindle , but a few are not. All of them are weirdly hilarious -- so it's not surprising that they're free (although it would be more surprising to me if anyone reads and/or downloads these....) The Philadelphia Lawyer (This is a .pdf so I'm assuming everyone can read it. It's also 15 pages...) From the reviews, it appears to be your basic 15-page book about a lawyer, in Philadelphia. A Paper Presented to the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia. No details ...