Past Events

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Poem In Your Pocket: OutLOUD’s Poetry Giveaway

Staten Island OutLOUD’s Poetry Giveaway, throughout April – National Poetry Month.

Ready for Poem-In-Your-Pocket Day – Thurs, April 24?  We’ve got your back!  Staten Island OutLOUD offers full poetry service.  Each year throughout the month of April, OutLOUD distributes thousands of free poems all across the Island. It’s our gift to you.  Take a poem & keep it in your pocket.  During the day, take out your poem & share it with a friend or two – Hey, stop & share it with a complete stranger if you like!

OutLOUD’s Poetry Giveaway is available in all Staten Island branches of the NYPOEM In Your Pocket logo Public Library, and at a variety of community venues throughout the Island, including:  Blue Heron Pond Nature Center, the Conference House Visitors’ Center, Staten Island Arts,  Every Thing Goes Book Cafe, Greenbelt Nature Center, Historic Richmond Town, Honor Wine Shop. and other cool spots around  the Island.

Celebrate National Poem In Your Pocket Day on Thursday, April 24, 2014!  National Poetry Month continues through April 30!

 

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An Evening of Short Stories: Alice Munro & local writer Avi Gvili

Alice Munro-BkFriday, March 28, 7pm: Every Thing Goes Book Cafe, 208 Bay St, SINY 10301

A community gathering to celebrate the short story, comparing a marvelous story by Alice Munro – “master of the contemporary short story” and recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, together with a short story by Island writer Avi Gvili, Staten Island teacher and author of Life & Love & the Like: Stories from the Everyday.

The two short stories examine how men & women communicate (or not), what they seek from one another, and what they may find.

This event is the first in an occasional Staten Island OutLOUD series on the short story, contrasting global classics with works by emerging writers.

For directions via public transportation, visit www.hopstop.com

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I Am Malala – Courageous Young Woman

Saturday, March 1 at 2pm:  Todt Hill-Westerleigh Branch Library, 2550 Victory Blvd (near Willowbrook Rd), SINY 10314

Staten Island OutLOUD hosts a reading/conversation on I Am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai.  This special event is presented in honor of Women In History Month.  Co-hosted by Joan Harmon.

Malala Yousafzai is a teenage educational activist who grew up in the Swat district of Pakistan’s Kyber Pass area.  In 2012, she was shot in the face by a Taliban gunman in an assassination attempt, because she and her father were staunch supporters of education for girls.  But Malala would not be defeated.  After recovering from her wounds, she redoubled her work, and the world’s support has rallied attention to her cause.  As a result of her efforts, Pakistan ratified its first Right to Education Bill, and the United Nations launched a petition in favor of universal education for all children around the world

. Malala addressed the UN in 2013 to urge universal education. She was the first winner of Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize, and has also been awarded the Sakharov Prize, and the Simone de Beauvoir Prize. Malala is the youngest person (and the first girl) ever to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.  Malala now lives with her family in Birmingham, England. Malala - white veil closeup

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Twelve Years a Slave

12 Years Slave book coverSunday, Feb 23, 2pm at the Greenbelt Nature Center, 700 Rockland Ave, SINY 10314

Staten Island OutLOUD hosts a community reading from Solomon Northrup’s compelling autobiography.  We present this spoke-word event in honor of Black History Month.  Northrup’s 1853 autobiography chronicles his compelling story.  A freed African-American resident of Saratoga NY, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery.  He spent 12 gruelling years laboring on several different Louisiana plantations before finally securing his freedom.  This gripping story has now been made into a major motion picture, but everyone should read Northrup’s book.  Co-hosted by Virginia Allen

For directions via public transportation, visit www.hopstop.com

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First African-American Aviator, Bessie Coleman

Monday, Feb 10, 6pm at Mariners Harbor Branch Library, 206 South St, SINY 10303

Staten Island OutLOUD’s special events for Black History Month continue with this program at the beautiful new Mariners Harbor branch library.   Bessie Coleman was a game-changer in American aviation history.  She was an African-American pioneer.  She broke new ground for women’s rights and occupational opportunities.  But today, few people know her story –  Indeed, few people know her name.

Bessie Coleman wanted to be a pilot, but nobody in the US would train or license a Black woman.  So she went to France.  Learned the French language.  Learned to fly.  Got her pilot’s license.  Made history.

Join Staten Island OutLOUD, and our host Doris Nielsen, as we read excerpts from biographies of this courageous and talented woman.  This free event is goodBessie Coleman- closeup in helmet-larger for all ages.

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In-School OutLOUD events & Edgar Allan Poe!

Staten Island OutLOUD hosts in-school events, Sept 2013 – Feb 2014, on Edgar Allan Poe.

These in-school events are a component of our series for The Big Read, Stories & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe.

If you are interested in scheduling an OutLOUD event at your school, please email us at sioutloud@yahoo.com.  We’ll be happy to arrange a program that suits your needs, and schedule.    We will prepare a program that’Poe closeup - Byronics age-appropriate for your students, and coordinates with your curriculum. Thanks!

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Audubon’s Journals

john-james-audubonSaturday, Feb 1, 2014 at 2pm – Clay Pit Pond State Park Interpretive Center, 2351 Veterans Road West, SINY 10309

We’ll read from the journals of John James Audubon. Pioneering naturalist, consummate artist, African-American visionary.  Weather permitting, after our reading concludes, we’ll also enjoy a short walk in the woodland with the park’s Environmental Educator.  This event is good for all ages.

For directions via public transportation, visit www.hopstop.com

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Moby Dick: Sat July 27 at Fort Wadsworth

Staten Island OutLOUD’s annual celebration of Moby Dick on Saturday, July 27, 6:30pm at Fort Wadsworth’s scenic Harbor Overlook.(Enter through the guard station at Bay St & School Rd).  Rain or shine; if it rains, we have a comfy indoor location adjacent to the Harbor Overlook, just a few steps away.

Every summer, Staten Island OutLOUD reads Moby Dick in a spectacular setting: the Harbor Overlook of historic Fort Wadsworth.  Music by the Staten Island Philharmonic Orchestra.

As you sit on the bluff listening to Melville’s haunting tale, you’ll feel as if you’re on the prow of a great ship. Our readers share the story of Ishmael, Ahab and the crew of the Pequod as they begin their mystical journey.  This is a place that Melville loved; he wrote lyrically about it in Redburn, one of his first novels. He visited the site during his many trips to Staten Island (where his brother lived), and he wrote about it in one of his last short stories.

Park in the Visitors Center lot, and follow the sidewalk to the Harbor Overlook.  If you have a permit for special-needs parking, ask the guard to direct you to that reserved parking area, located just a few steps from our event locale.

For directions via public transportation, visit www.hopstop.com.

This event is perfect for all ages; often three generations of families join us.  Free and open to the public. PLEASE BE SURE TO BRING A LAWNCHAIR!

For directions via public transportation, visit www.hopstop.com.

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Poe & Stephen King

Stephen KingSaturday, Nov 16, 2pm, Killmeyers Old Bavaria Inn, 4256 Arthur Kill Road, SINY 10309

Stephen King says that Poe is one of his chief inspirations.  Indeed, Poe has been idolized by generations of writers.  Join our Guest Host, the writer Victoria Hallerman, as we compare Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher with King’s The Shining.  What do these two masters of the genre have in common?

Plenty of free parking in the adjacent lots.  For directions via public transportation, please visit www.hopstop.com

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Poe & Murder and Mayhem on Staten Island

Thursday, Nov 14, 7:45pm   at Wagner College, 1 Campus Road (off Howard Avenue), Campus Hall – Room 228, Staten Island NY 10301

Join historian Patricia M. Salmon, who’ll present her new book Murder and Mayhem on Staten Island, published by The History Press. If details the stories of infamous murders on the Island, from 1843 through the Jazz Age.

One of the most notorious murder mysteries was covered by Edgar Allan Poe, when he was a young crime writer in New York City.  Mary “Polly” Bodine was accused of the Christmas murders of her sister-in-law and infant niece.  The mother and child were savagely beaten to death, then their house was set afire to destroy some of the evidence.  Polly Bodine was tried three times for the murders, but ultimately acquitted.  Some observers say that the Bodine story influenced Poe as he developed the first detective story, The Mystery of Marie Roget.We’ll read & discuss Poe’s writing, as we explore Ms. Salmon’s account of the Bodine case.

Free & open to the publicBodine news characture with flames

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