NUVO: Written + Spoken Word

Life Stories Project hands mic to everyday Hoosiers

Scott Shoger — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:05:00 -0400

Storytelling Arts, in concert with the Indiana Historical Society and WFYI, is launching a project dedicated to recording, sharing and preserving the memories and stories of ordinary people. by Scott Shoger This week, Storytelling Arts, in partnership with WFYI and the Indiana Historical Society, launches its Life Stories Project, dedicated to recording, sharing and preserving the memories and stories of ordinary Hoosiers. The project runs from May 22 to Nov. 30 in various locations, beginning May 22 at Madame Walker Theatre Center (four spots remain open for those interested in signing up via lifestoriesproject.net).…

Woman's Press Club of Indiana turns 100

Rita Kohn — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:00:00 -0400

On a blustery February day in 1913, 13 women met up at the Ayres Tea Room to talk about a hot topic: their right to write bylined stories for front pages of Indiana newspapers. by Rita Kohn February 18, 1913 was a cold day in Indianapolis. But that didn't keep thirteen women from gathering at The Ayres Tea Room to discuss a hot topic - their right to write bylined (or signed) stories for the front pages of newspapers across Indiana.…

Review: The Gila Wars by Larry Sweazy

Rita Kohn — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:20:00 -0400

The sixth and final installment in multi-award-winning Sweazy's Josiah Wolfe series is typically exciting and vivid. by Rita Kohn The Gila Wars - the sixth and final book in award-winning Noblesville author Larry D. Sweazy's Josiah Wolfe series - takes us into the heart of Texas cattle county circa 1875. Rustlers are stealing herds for shipment by steamboat to Cuba "to feed the starving families," as explained by one of the rustlers taken as prisoner.…

Book review: Mike Tyson Slept Here

Joseph Fitzpatrick — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:20:00 -0400

Chris Huntington's realistic, heartbreaking novel - set in Indianapolis amidst familiar landmarks - is based in part on his ten years teaching at Plainfield Correctional Facility. by Joseph Fitzpatrick When Brant Gilmour is turned down by the Peace Corps, he's forced to answer a question: How can an English major from Indiana make the world a better place? On the surface, Mike Tyson Slept Here would seem to anecdotally pull from author Chris Huntington's almost ten years working in the Indiana Correctional Facility in Plainfield.…

Review: An American Tune

Charlie Sutphin — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:15:00 -0400

Barbara Shoup, executive director of Indiana Writers Center, tells the story of an anti-war radical in hiding in An American Tune, which vividly recollects 1960s Bloomington. by Charlie Sutphin An American Tune by Indiana author Barb Shoup is a work of art by a veteran author filled with linguistic ingenuity. The book spans five decades as the protagonist develops from a teenage girl, experiencing the visceral thrills of college life, into an anti-war radical hiding from authorities for an act of violence.…

Interview: Novelist Ann Patchett

Stacey Mickelbart — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:00:00 -0400

Things Ann Patchett is married to: books, writing, dogs, family, friends, her husband. The writer and owner of Nashville's only independent bookstore will speak Friday in Indy. by Stacey Mickelbart Ann Patchett is that rare writer whose books hit the sweet spot: they're smart and thoughtful, but also make you want to know what happens next. She's written six novels; her debut, The Patron Saint of Liars was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, but her fourth, Bel Canto, was her breakthrough, winning the Orange Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award in 2001.…

Review: Booth 4

Joseph Fitzpatrick — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:00:00 -0400

The fourth edition of a journal published by Butler MFA fellows and students is uniformly vital. Check out Joshua Unkiel's essay regarding the psychology of Cookie Monster. by Joseph Fitzpatrick Werewolves and folk singers and and the syllabus for your end-of-the-world prep class. The fourth installment of Booth, the literary journal produced by MFA fellows and students at Butler University, exudes vitality on every page.…

Columnist Clarence Page talks Vonnegut

Scott Shoger — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0400

The Pulitzer-prize winning columnist, who will keynote a fundraiser Saturday for the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, says his favorite Vonnegut novel remains 'Cat's Cradle.' by Scott Shoger Clarence Page, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Chicago Tribune, thinks of Kurt Vonnegut as an "uncle by a different family," the kind of guy who's prone toward telling stories, sometimes even preaching, but always with a sense of humor. Page, who has worked for the Tribune since 1971 and says he can relate to Vonnegut's post-war Chicago journalism experience (Page after Vietnam, Vonnegut after WWII), will keynote the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library's annual fundraiser, Night of Vonnegut, on April 13 at Scottish Rite Cathedral.…

Review: The Pipeline and the Paradigm

Jim Poyser — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:30:00 -0400

Louisville-based Keystone XL protestor Samuel Avery is calling for a new ecologic paradigm in which "human need is subordinate to the Earth's capacity to sustain life." by Jim Poyser The soon to be released book, The Pipeline and the Paradigm, is a mixture of science, philosophy and first-person advocacy. The book is adamantly anti-Keystone XL, but Sam Avery gives space to the other side, respectfully allowing them their say, and letting their side of the story deepen his thinking about the issue.…

Spirit & Place takes some risks

Scott Shoger — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:30:00 -0400

S&P's year-round programming series launches April 9 with an evening featuring post-modern theologian Peter Rollins and entrepreneurs Laura Henderson and Derrick Braziel. by Scott Shoger Spirit & Place, best known for its fall festival featuring a broad range of programming pertaining to a single theme (this year's is "risk"), is opening up early this season with the launch of its Signature Series, a year-round programming series that opens April 9 at Christian Theological Seminary with a visit by post-modern Christian thinker Peter Rollins. Rollins will be joined for the event, titled Living Into the Edge, by three locals who have also taken risks in their work: singer-songwriter and Asthmatic Kitty Records fixture Liz Janes, urban farmer Laura Henderson of Growing Places Indy, and social entrepreneur (and future NUVO columnist) Derrick Braziel of Dreamopolis.…

Vouched Books: Poetry drinking a High Life

Joseph Fitzpatrick — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:15:00 -0400

People tell Christopher Newgent, founder of the pop-up bookstore Vouched, that they'd never read for fun before he handed them a hand-picked book from his table. by Joseph Fitzpatrick Fiction in jeans. Poetry drinking a High Life.…

Review: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

Shawndra Miller — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:10:00 -0400

Kingsolver's latest novel invites us to begin the process of grieving for the natural world, embodying its lost beauty in the form of the monarch butterfly. by Shawndra Miller "Where will they go from here? Into a whole new earth.…

Storytelling through Powerpoint and Twitter

Stacey Mickelbart — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:20:00 -0400

Jennifer Egan, who will speak March 20 at Butler, tells us about her enthusiastic adoption of new technologies as a writer - and her distaste for them as a mother and consumer. by Stacey Mickelbart Critics and book lovers still haven't stopped talking about Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad, which won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, and the LA Times Book Prize. Each chapter of the book features a different character, though each character usually turns up in other chapters at a different point in his or her life.…