SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2012, 7pm

On Sunday, February 12th 2012 at 7pm, The Jubilant Thicket Literary Series presents poetry by Jacob Russell & Michelle Taransky, & visual art by Nicole Donnelly.

JACOB RUSSELL lives in South Philly, grows tomatoes and herbs in the little strip of a garden in front of his apartment, and reads his poems in the subway concourse with his Spirit Stick, Inihiti. He's currently working to complete a second novel and seeking a publisher for a MS of poetry. He manages the literary blog, Jacob Russell's Barking Dog at http://jacobrussellsbarkingdog.blogspot.com/His work has been performed by InterAct Theatre and appeared in Criiphoria 2, Conversational Magazine, BlazeVox, Scythe, Salmagundi, dcomP Mag, Pindeldeyboz, Pedestal, Philadelphia Stories, Apiary and other literary venues.

MICHELLE TARANSKY’s first book, Barn Burned, Then, was selected by Marjorie Welish for the 2008 Omnidawn Poetry Prize. She lives in Philadelphia where she works at Kelly Writers House and teaches poetry at Temple University.

NICOLE DONNELLY is a Philadelphia-based painter, printmaker, hand papermaker, installation artist, and shadow puppet enthusiast. She received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Iowa in 2009 and her BA in Visual Arts from Bennington College in 2002. Donnelly divides her time between the studio and her job as a curator, often finding time for regular collaborations with poet Hailey Higdon and choreographer Eleanor Goudie-Averill / Stone Depot Dance Lab. Her solo exhibition Mercury Retrograde was on view at the Abington Art Center in 2011, and she recently completed residencies at the Vermont Studio Center (2011) and the Women’s Studio Workshop (2010). She has exhibited her work throughout the United States, and in Canada, Mexico, and South Korea.

This all happens, as usual, at the marvelous Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Avenue, in Philadelphia!  Promises to be a very special evening.  Please come.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2011, 7pm

On Sunday, December 11, 2011, at 7pm, The Jubilant Thicket Literary Series features poetry readings by Frank Sherlock & Barbara Henning, and visual art by Dana M. Osburn.

FRANK SHERLOCK is the author of Over Here (Factory School), Feast Day Gone & Coming (Cy Gist), The City Real & Imagined (Factory School), a collaboration with CA Conrad, and Ready-to-Eat Individual (Lavender Ink) with Brett Evans. Sherlock is also the author of Neighbor Ballads, a public poetry installation project with Erik Ruin that celebrates South Philadelphia's immigrant communities.

BARBARA HENNING is an American poet and fiction writer. She is the author of eight books of poetry, three novels, a series of photo-poem pamphlets and most recently a collection of interviews, Looking Up Harryette Mullen: Sleeping with the Dictionary and Other Works (Belladonna 2010). Her work has been published in numerous journals. Her most recent books of poetry are Cities and Memory (Chax Press, 2010) and a conceptual project, a collection of sonnets composed from 999 passages from 999 books in her collection, entitled My Autobiography (United Artists Books, 2007). Her latest novel isThirty Miles to Rosebud (BlazeVOX 2009).

DANA M. OSBURN is a Philadelphia-based video and installation artist. She received her BFA from Moore College of Art & Design in 2010, after completing dual theses in Fine Art: 2D and Photography & Digital Arts. Her recent group exhibitions include: “Let's Play Nice,” Synergy Space, Philadelphia, PA; “I Love Mitch Hedberg,” PhilaMOCA , Philadelphia, PA and “Scape” LaunchPad, Brooklyn, NY. Osburn is also a founding member of the Great and Terrible Artists' Collective, active in Philadelphia and New York City. Her curatorial projects included the exhibition “I Got Rosacea Just For This Party,” as well as the audience-participatory event “It's Video Wednesday.”

This all happens at The Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia PA.  Will be very amazing.  Please come!!

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2011, 7pm

On Sunday, November 13, 2011, at 7pm, THE JUBILANT THICKET LITERARY SERIES features poetry readings by Patrick Lucy & Daniel Coudriet, poetry & storytelling by Asher Lewis & prose by Angelo Colavita.

PATRICK LUCY lives and works in Philadelphia. He's a member of the New Philadelphia Poets and the author of two chapbooks, LIVE FIELDS: GROWTHS 1-5 (self released) and WILLIAM (con/crescent press, forthcoming). Recent work has appeared or will shortly in Gulf Coast, elimae, Revista Laboratorio, Wheelhouse and more. Patrick keeps notes and catalogues ephemera at catchconfetti.com.

DANIEL COUDRIET lives with his wife and son in Richmond, Virginia, and in Carcarañá, Argentina. He is the author of Say Sand (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2010) and Parade (Blue Hour Press, 2011). His poems and translations of Argentinean poetry have made recent appearances in Verse, Boston Review, Bateau, The Laurel Review, Parcel, Typo, and elsewhere.

ASHER LEWIS was birthed inside a Russian Jewish mystical tradition.  His hobbies include woodworking, long walks on the beach, collapsing space/time. He has work forthcoming in The Atlantic, The New Yorker.  When he asks how you're doing, he's interested in how you're doing.  He's a writer/existential crimefighter and a stealth ninja of kindness.  He believes love is the answer but how do we figure out the right questions.

ANGELO COLAVITA has been reading stories and poems throughout his
native Philadelphia for the past decade. Rooted in Existentialism,
Post-Modernism, Surrealism and the Occult, and drawing influence from
the likes of Robert Montgomery Bird, Samuel Beckett and Donald
Barthelme, Angelo has been called "Jacques Derrida's worst
night-terror." In addition to his literary work, he has written and
produced two theatre pieces, "Audience" and "The Cage & The
Hearteater." A monthly reading series, "Handsome Devils," organized by
Angelo, is set to begin in early 2012.  He has been published on various sites online, in Moonstone
Arts' "Poetry Ink" Anthology (Moonstone/Plan B Press), and most
recently in Apiary Issue #2 (Spring/Summer 2011).

This all happens, as usual, at the wonderful Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA.  Come, come come!!!

SUNDAY, October 9, 2011, 5pm

On Sunday, October 9th 2011 at 5pm, The Jubilant Thicket Literary Series presents poetry by Travis MacDonald, prose by Abbi Dion & cultural criticism from femininja Maria Raha.

TRAVIS MACDONALD’s first book, The O Mission Repo, is available from Fact-Simile Editions (www.fact-simile.com) and his second collection, N7ostradamus was released by BlazeVox books in late 2010. Basho's Phonebook, an e-chap of experimental translations is available at E-ratio. He currently lives, writes and looks for work in Philadelphia.

ABBI DION writes for the blog Career Girls (www.careergirls.blogspot.com) and runs the WineO Reading Series (http://www.thewineoreadingseries.blogspot.com/). She hails from St. Paul, Minnesota and grew up reading Little House on the Prairie, Sweet Valley High, Christopher Pike, Anna Akhmatova and Pär Lagerkvist. She currently works for Temple University as a Higher Education Administrator and lives in Philadelphia with her soon-to-be hubby and their dogchild, Henri.


MARIARAHA (born 1972) is an American author and rock journalist from New York. She graduated from Ithaca College.  She specializes in the American rock underground. She has worked for major music publications such as Vibe and Spin as well as magazines like Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture.  She also contributed to the anthology "Young Wives' Tales : New Adventures in Love and Partnership" with the short story "Pillow Talk" (2001), and "The W Effect: Bush's War on Women", Feminist Press, (2004).  In 2005 she released the book Cinderella's Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground. The book was published by Seal Press.  Maria is managing editor of Swingset, an art and music journal based in New York City. She currently lives in Philadelphia, PA.

This all occurs, as always at The Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia PA.  Will be AMAZING!!  Please come.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2011, 5pm

On Sunday, September 11, 2011, at 5pm, The Jubilant Thicket Literary Series presents readings by poets Pattie McCarthy & Brian Carpenter & music by omnitonik (Lilla Kultsar). 

PATTIE MCCARTHY is the author of Table Alphabetical of Hard Words, Verso, & bk of (h)rs, all from Apogee Press -- as well as L&O, forthcoming this year from Little Red Leaves.  She teaches Literature & Creative Writing at Temple University & is a 2011 Pew Fellow in the Arts.

BRIAN CARPENTER has been living in Philadelphia since 2005, after moving from his native habitat of Seattle & spending two years in the Poetics program at the University of Maine.  He has self-published two books of poems (Aspect Cycle, Bluest Keys), & one box (Small Seasons).  An earlier prose poem, The Green Island Problem, is available through Vancouver’s Kootenay School of Writing collective.  He currently works as an audio archivist of Native American language recordings.


OMNITONIK  grew up in Budapest, Hungary behind the iron curtain, but has never seen it. She liked hitchhiking through Eastern Europe and taking long train rides there. She has been musically involved with herself for a few decades and is still getting a kick out of it. She has not been trained as a guitarist, so keen listening and hightened sense of patience are very much appreciated. She finds music as a vibrational element, and rhythm, to be her great connectors to particular states of being that she draws from and plunges into when inspired. She chizzles her lyrics with care: some songs she has been working on for years and some are pieces of popcorn from Pallas Athena. 

This all occurs at The Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA.  Will be amazing.  Please come.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2011, 5pm

On Sunday, August 14, 2011, at 5pm, The Jubilant Thicket Literary Series features poetry readings by Carlos Soto Roman & Sueyeun Juliette Lee, plus film/music by James Short & Maurice Wright.

CARLOS SOTO ROMAN is a Chilean poet who is currently living and attending school in Philadelphia. Carlos is responsible for the Elective Infinities project, and works with the New Philadelphia Poets to help change the face of poetry throughout the city.

SUEYEUN JULIETTE LEE grew up three miles from the CIA. She currently lives in Pittsburgh, where she edits Corollary Press. Her books include That Gorgeous Feeling (Coconut Press, 2008) and UNDERGROUND NATIONAL (Factory School, 2010).   

JAMES SHORT researches the potential of video as a development in the medium of writing. He has exhibited his motion picture studies in more than fifty group and solo exhibitions, most recently the 3LD Art & Technology Center in Manhattan, the SINErgy Project Space & Gallery in Philadelphia, and The Intermedia Festival of Telematic Arts at Indiana University Purdue University. He also visually scores music, dance and theatrical productions, and collaborates on butoh stage performances. He lives in Philadelphia.

MAURICE WRIGHT was born in Virginia, and has worked with computer music for over 40 years. His works for computer sound and images have been featured at festivals in England, Sweden, Germany, Canada and South Korea in the past few years alone. A student of Mario Davidovsky and Charles Dodge at Columbia University, he has lived in Philadelphia since 1980, teaching music composition at Temple University. He would like you to visit his website: mauricewright.org .


Promises to be a beautiful experience.  Please come.  This all occurs, as usual, at The Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA.

SUNDAY, JULY 10, 2011, 5pm

On Sunday, July 10th, 2011, at 5pm The Jubilant Thicket Literary Series presents poetry by Hailey Higdon & Vladimir Zykov, as well as a lecture + Q&A by Sam Durso on Virginia Woolf.

HAILEY HIGDON lives in Philadelphia, PA, where she teaches pre-kindergarten & runs the small, small press, what to us (press).  She is the author of The Palinode Project, which can be read & accessed at www.palinodeproject.blogspot.com.  Her newest chapbook, How to Grow Almost Everything, was recently published.  She is originally from Nashville, Tennessee.

VLADIMIR ZYKOV is a founding member of forgodot.com:  research in poetry.  His areas of interest include procedural & ambient listening, movement & space, dialectics, shamanism & bioenergetic analysis.  His work has been exhibited at the ICA Philadelphia & the Kelly Writers House, & will appear in Against Expressionism, a forthcoming anthology of conceptual writing edited by Craig Dworkin & Kenneth Goldsmith.

SAM DURSO divides time between arts & politics, having most recently run the writing program at the University of the Arts, where he was an assistant professor of Literature, & managed a City Council campaign.  He is the political director of the progressive group Philly For Change & blogs on Young Philly Politics.  He has written & directed plays & may have given Tina Fey her first speaking role.  He believes everyone should read A Room of One's Own in high school.

This all happens at The Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA.  Please come!