Open Mic

October 21 2005

Featuring Peter Covino & Jerry Williams. Readers: Deborah Asch, Emily Candace Shaw, Robert Siek, Todd Cincala, Idalmis Toro, Karen Delasala, G Emil Reutter, David Curzon and Glen River.

Peter Covino’s new book Cut Off the Ears of Winter (2005) was recently published by Western Michigan University/New Issues Press. His awards include the 2001 Frank O’Hara Chapbook Prize in Poetry; a scholarship from the Fine Arts Work Center; and two prestigious Steffensen Cannon Fellowships from the Dean of Graduate Programs at the University of Utah, where he is finishing his Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing. His poems have appeared in Colorado Review, Columbia, The Journal, The Paris Review, Verse, andThe Penguin Anthology of Italian-American Writing among other publications. He is one of the founding editors of Barrow Street and Barrow Street Press.
Jerry Williams was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. He received a BA from Vermont College and an MFA from the University of Arizona. His first collection of poems, Casino of the Sun (Carnegie-Mellon University Press, 2003), was a finalist for the prestigious Kate Tufts Discovery Award. His poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in American Poetry Review, Crazyhorse, Exquisite Corpse, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Southeast Review, Barrow Street, Under the Sun, and many others. He has received a New Jersey Arts Council Fellowship, several Academy of American Poets awards, and recently a nomination for a Pushcart Prize. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the English Department at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City.