Fourteen Hills Kicks Off 2013

Last Friday, SFSU's Fourteen Hills Review kicked off another year of literary awesomeness with a local reading at Mission District's Press: Works On Paper. The incredible line-up resulted in a solid turnout and I happily accompanied my friend Donna to listen to some literary greatness.

This was my first experience of the well-known Peter Kline.

First impressions: You are very tall, sir, and your hair has magnificent body. More important impressions: This guy has some serious gusto and makes the incendiary sound delicious. I can't wait to get my hands on his book Deviants, which is forthcoming in the fall of this year.

Ivan Hobson: Machinist. Poet. Former SFSU MFA student. Rad.

Ivan prefaced a piece (my favorite that he read) describing a connection he feels with his grandfather (founder of his family's machine shop) in working with the antique tools. Made me think of the erasure project I did with my great-grandmother's letters. Insert thoughts about erasure as a more physical/tangible experience.

Toni Mirosevich had a pretty epic fan club present and took the stage to major hollering from her SFSU students.

She read a gorgeous short story (about grocery shopping) that made me want to read more of her short stories which I feel confident are equally as gorgeous.

Okay, so I admit that I mostly came to this reading because of Robert Gluck. Hearing Mr. G read his work changes everything.  He was hilariously introduced with a quote from Giancarlo DiTrapano of NY Tyrant Books.  (The quote and the article were originally posted on Vice and you can/should read it here.)

He read a poem about Waterworld. The movie. Written as a letter from himself to Kevin Costner. Oh sweet, sweet laughter.

Finally, a big announcement from Editor-In-Chief Chad Koch! You know that awesome annual fiction award held by Fourteen Hills? And you know their annual fiction anthology?

Fourteen Hills is in the process of creating a similar award and anthology for ... POETRY! Boom. These things will likely occur in the nether regions of 2013 and early 2014, but we've waited this long. More time to polish the sonnets won't hurt, right?

Thanks for (and congrats on) a great event, Fourteen Hills!