I'll be on Merry's show for awhile this Thursday. I'm waiting for the Spirits to tell me what we'll be talking about. Join us.

Tuesday Sep 25, 7PM @ Red Emma's : Poetry at Red Emma's! With Janet Aalfs, Sally Bellerose, and Deanna Nikaido

Red Emma's is excited to host an evening of strong female voices, as we celebrate the release of three new books with a joint reading featuring:

Janet Aalfs, the former poet laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts, whose work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Creatively honest, lyric and imagistic, her latest book of poetry is Bird of a Thousand Eyes.

Sally Bellerose, who was awarded a Fellowship in Literature from the National Endowment for the Arts to complete her first novel, The Girls' Club - a phenomenal 70s-era working-class lesbian coming out story - out now from Bywater Books.

Baltimore-based poet Deanna Nikaido, who will read from her newest collection of poetry Voice Like Water, which is perhaps better described as a poetic conversation, a string of unembellished moments passing through the fingers like beads or drops of water.

Don't miss this lovely event!

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800 St. Paul St. * Baltimore, MD 21202 * (410) 230-0450 * info@redemmas.org
Red Emma's is open Monday through Friday from 10AM-10PM, Saturday from 10AM-8PM, and Sunday from 10AM-6PM. Our weekly collective meetings are Sunday at 7PM, and are open to anyone interested in the project, except for the first Sunday of every month, which is closed to everyone except collective members.
Red Emma's is part of IU 660 of the Industrial Workers of the World, one of the only unions to recognize that worker collectives can stand in solidarity with those fighting the bosses as part of one big union.

Lisa Dordal’s chapbook, Commemoration, is now available from Finishing Line Press (https://www.finishinglinepress.com). Lisa will be reading from and signing copies of Commemoration in PORTLAND, OREGON on Friday, October 5 at 7 PM at Tigard United Methodist Church (9845 SW Walnut Place). For more info: 503-530-0247 or jubilattecafe@gmail.com.

As a part of a monthly long celebration of Portraiture at The Painting Center, poet Joan Larkin (a contributor to Sinister Wisdom) will read on Saturday, September 29 (last day of show), 2012, 3:00 – 5:00 PM. A donation is requested at the door. The Painting Center is at 547 West 27th Street, Suite 500, and is open 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

Joan Larkin has published six collections of poetry, most recently Legs Tipped with Small Claws in Spring 2012 (Argos Books). My Body: New and Selected Poems (Hanging Loose Press) received the Publishing Triangle’s Audre Lorde Award for Poetry in 2008. Cold River, a collection of elegies, received the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Award for Poetry in 1998.

At The Painting Center Larkin will read poems inspired by works of art and portrait poems.

“For nearly 40 years, Joan Larkin has written poems that stake out a territory of relentless self-examination, taking on love and death, family and sexuality in a voice that is unsentimental, ruthless and clear-eyed.”
––David Ulin, Los Angeles Times

"There are few poets in America who can combine Joan Larkin’s formal mastery with her emotional intensity….”
––David Bergman, The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide
Her honors include the 2011 Shelley Memorial Award, the Academy of American Poets Fellowship, awarded annually for distinguished poetic achievement, two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in poetry, a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, and artist residencies at MacDowell, Djerassi, and Blue Mountain Center.
Larkin has taught at Brooklyn College, Drew University, and Sarah Lawrence, among many other places, and is currently writer in residence at Smith College.

Dear Friends and Fans of Sinister Wisdom,

We're writing with our first ever email update about Sinister Wisdom because we have just too much exciting news not to share!

New Website!

Check out www.SinisterWisdom.org to see our brand, new website! We've converted to a content management system that will facilitate updates about the magazine more easily, allow us to have a blog with news and information important to the Sinister Wisdom community (you can see the blog here: www.SinisterWisdom.org/blog), and soon will have all of our back issues featured with easy button to purchase back issues and fill out your collection of Sinister Wisdom.

A big thanks to Lori DeGolyer who has been volunteering and helping us out with getting the new content on the website. And the most heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Sue Lenearts who has been our webmistress for many years.

Sinister Wisdom 86: Ignite!

All subscribers should have received their copy of Sinister Wisdom 86: Ignite! which features fabulous lesbian writing, including poetry from lesbian slam poets, as well as a crop of great fiction and poetry. We hope that you are enjoying your copy. We've already been getting some praise about SW 86: Ignite!. We were so excited, we shared it on the blog here: http://www.sinisterwisdom.org/node/90

If you didn't receive your copy of Sinister Wisdom 86, perhaps your subscription has lapsed? You can renew your subscription quickly and easily online here: http://www.sinisterwisdom.org/subscribe

Fall Fundraising Campaign

We work for Sinister Wisdom for free because we love it--and we believe in building and promoting lesbian literature and culture. The printer and the mail shop, however, need to be paid with US currency. Sinister Wisdom has a core of subscribers, but subscriber contributions don't cover the full expenses of producing three print issues of the journal each year. So we turn to the community to support Sinister Wisdom. Our goal is to raise $8,700 between now and October 30th to support Sinister Wisdom throughout 2013. Your contributions will help us do a number of things over the next year:
*Release the special issue dedicated to Adrienne Rich, Sinister Wisdom 87, scheduled to go to the printer on November 1, 2012.
*Produce three issues of Sinister Wisdom in 2013.
*Release our very first "Sinister Wisdom Classic"--a reprint of a lesbian-feminist classic book to reach new audiences. Stay tuned for more information on this special series of reprint editions of beloved lesbian-feminist classics.
*Give free subscriptions of Sinister Wisdom to women in prison, women with limited incomes, and women in mental institutions.

Most importantly, your gift to Sinister Wisdom helps to ensure that Sinister Wisdom continues to be an important part of the lesbian community. Sinister Wisdom is a multicultural lesbian literary and arts journal. We've been publishing since 1976 through the generosity of women like you.

We hope to raise $8,700 in celebration of Sinister Wisdom 87 through our indiegogo campaign. Click here to contribute: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/219076?a=982372

Please share this campaign with your friends, especially people who might not know about Sinister Wisdom (or know that we are still publishing!). We need to build our base of subscribers and supporters to continue the important work of Sinister Wisdom.

Benefit Reading for Sinister Wisdom in Oakland, CA

Sinister Wisdom business manager and board member (and all around fantastic dyke), Susan Levinkind, is organizing a benefit reading for Sinister Wisdom on Sunday, October 27, 2012 at Laurel Bookstore in Oakland, CA. Tickets are $10 in advance and $13 at the door, no one turned away for lack of funds!

Local contributors to Sinister Wisdom, Elana Dykewomon, Jewelle Gomez, and Amanda Ream will read. Please share the reading with friends and colleagues and ask them to mark their calendars to attend. If you are a contributor and will be in the Oakland area to join the reading, let us know, we'd love to have you read! More information about the reading will be on the Sinister Wisdom website, including the time, in the next few weeks as the event is finalized.

Thanks so much, Susan, and Luan, the owner of Laurel Books, for putting together this fantastic event to benefit Sinister Wisdom!

Sinister Wisdom Blog--special note for Contributors

We'd love to have updates from contributors for the Sinister Wisdom blog (www.SinisterWisdom.org/blog). Published a book of interest to lesbians? Contributed to an anthology? Reading in your local community? Launching a new project? We are happy to post news and information about folks in the Sinister Wisdom community. Send the announcement (preferably in a format that can be easily cut and paste) to sinisterwisdom@gmail.com. We'll post it and send you a link as soon as we can.

How to Help Sinister Wisdom

There are lots of ways that you can be involved and support Sinister Wisdom. Here are a few simple ideas:
Sell Sinister Wisdom at local lesbian events. We're happy to send you issues on consignment to sell in your local community.
Ask your local bookstores or other lesbian-owned establishment to stock Sinister Wisdom with a standing order.
Organize a benefit for Sinister Wisdom in your local community. We're happy to talk about how to do that and give you ideas and support.
Share Sinister Wisdom subscriptions with family and friends. More readers build our community. It's fast and easy to order gift subscriptions on our new website: www.SinisterWisdom.org/subscribe

Most importantly, right now, we need folks to contribute to Sinister Wisdom through the indiegogo campaign http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/219076?a=982372 to help us meet our fundraising goal of $8,700 to ensure that we can fulfill our ambitious publishing goals for 2013. Please give today, as generously as you can, and share this campaign with family and friends. Encourage them to give. Every dollar helps.

In Sisterhood,

Julie & Merry

Julie R. Enszer & Merry Gangemi, Sinister Wisdom co-editors

OLOC held their national gathering in Boston, MA from July 19-22. All of us at Sinister Wisdom send our congratulations to OLOC for a fantastic gathering. We'll have a full report on the gathering in a future issue. Meanwhile, stay tuned for information about the next national gathering in 2014 in the San Francisco Bay area.

We were tickled to receive this gorgeous postcard praising Sinister Wisdom 86: Ignite!
Let us know what you think about the issue. . . .

Laurel Bookstore in Oakland, CA will be holding a fundraiser for Sinister Wisdom on Saturday, October 27, 2012 featuring past contributors to Sinister Wisdom. Stay tuned to the blog for more information as it develops. Special thanks to Susan Levinkind, Sinister Wisdom's administrator and the "Lesbian Tax Mom," for organizing this event.