This Labor Day weekend: if you’re in town for the UGA/ Boise State game today (or if you just like books!), check out the Decatur Book Festival! From 9:30am - 6:30pm today and 11:30am - 7pm tomorrow, authors will be setting up tents for readings, discussions, workshops, and more. Check out the schedule here for more information: http://www.decaturbookfestival.com/2011/schedule/index.php
To writers, poets, artists, and anyone else feeling inspired- a new literary zine in Athens is looking for submissions of your original work.  The Stray Dog Almanac, started “one warm July evening, damp with rain, after a tasty dinner of eggplant and a jug of beer,” when some art students recognized the need for a more prominent literary and artistic presence in the form of publications. Their name is derived from and inspired by the Russian Stray Dog Cabaret, part of the Silver Age that boasted the beginnings of many Russian writers, poets, and artists. Now’s your chance to become part of the movement. From the website: Stray Dog will be an almanac, which means we are interested in variety - from different voices as well as different subject matter and genres. Our call is open to all writing styles and writers, so that if you’ve had something for a while and have been waiting for the right opportunity, this is it! No theme, no constraints. Perhaps you’ve been too timid to show people your work or you may have never considered submitting work for publication before. We at the Stray Dog Almanac encourage you to challenge yourself and SUBMIT your work! We accept your poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction or black and white illustrations/comic strips. We have an arbitrary word limit of 5,000 words, but we will consider excerpting longer works. You may submit up to 5 poems and 2 prose pieces. E-mail your submission to straydogalmanac (at) gmail (dot) com with your name, the title(s) of your work(s) and, if you like, your affiliation with our Classic City (i.e. student, recovering student, downtown barkeep, professor, local band guru) by SEPTEMBER 28, 2011 to be considered for our winter 2011 publication! Please include the word “Submission” in the title of your email. All submissions will undergo a fair, blind review. Entrants will be notified of their acceptance by November 1, 2011. If your work is selected you will receive 2 free copies of our hand-bound almanac, not to mention ensuing fame and fortune. Our goal is to include as many different artists and writers as possible, but we must sadly admit that our space is limited. Please keep this in mind when submitting your work.  Visit the Stray Dog Almanac’s website at: http://www.straydogalmanac.com/
Thursday, July 28th at the Georgia Museum of Art- a film screening of “Visible Silence: Marsden Hartley, Painter and Poet” at 7pm! From the GMOA website: Using more than 60 of Marsden Hartley’s paintings and drawings, as well as many photographs from collections around the world, director Michael Maglaras traces Hartley’s life and work from its earliest beginnings in Lewiston, Maine, through his travels in Europe and the United States and ends with his secluded life in a remote Maine fishing village. Special guest Maglaras will speak about the film. Introduced by Paul Manoguerra, chief curator and curator of American art (65 minutes, NR). For more information, please check out: http://www.georgiamuseum.org/index.php/calendar/event-all/film-series-artists-biographies2/2011/07/28
Visiting Poet and Critic, Bill Berkson, will be on campus this week, Wednesday and Thursday visiting classes and studios.  This is a collaboration between the Art School and the Creative Writing Department at UGA. The visit culminates on Thursday, January 21, at 7:00 p.m. at Ciné. BILL BERKSON will read from recent work.Sponsored by the Creative Writing Program.  Free and open to the public.  Please direct questions to Andrew Zawacki: zawacki@uga.eduor Jim Barsness: gymbarsness@gmail.com
athensview: Literary Athens. From our archives. Andrew Mandell. “Word of Mouth” open poetry reading. The Globe. January 6, 2010. Photograph by Bob Brussack.