Stare all you like: Friday, Aug. 17th's Stellar Lineup

Dear citizen,
Did you miss the rare solar eclipse that took place this May? Are you crestfallen because you wonder if you'll ever catch a glimpse of such a rare and wonderful convocation of celestial forces again in this lifetime?*  

We're humbled.
We're gratified.
Because the intersection of literary prowess taking the stage on Friday, August 17th for True Story #16 is rare, rare, rare indeed.  An unprecedented four rogue readers will tell their true tales and share their artifacts from the past.  If you come too, this rare and shining night will be all the more astounding!

More on our readers. Yeah, it's impressive.

Melissa Fay GREENE

Melissa Fay Greene is the author of five books of nonfiction: Praying for Sheetrock (1991), The Temple Bombing (1996), Last Man Out (2003), There Is No Me Without You: One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue her Country’s Children (2006), and No Biking in the House Without A Helmet (2011).
      Her honors include two National Book Award nominations, a National Book Critics Circle Award nomination, the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, the Southern Book Critics Circle Award, the ACLU National Civil Liberties Award, and the Hadassah Myrtle Wreath Award, among others.
      Melissa has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping,Readers Digest, Life, MS, Newsweek, The Wilson Quarterly, Parade, Redbook, Parenting, HuffingtonPost, Salon, TheDailyBeast, and CNN.com and her books have been translated into 15 languages. She is a 2010 recipient of a doctorate of letters from Emory University and a 2011 inductee into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, inspiring her children to ask whether this made her rookie card more valuable.
      A recent New York Times Magazine article, “Wonder Dog,” went viral, becoming the number one most searched and most emailed storyfor the month of February 2012. It has been acquired by Ecco Press, an imprint of HarperCollins, and will become a book.

Thomas LAKE

Thomas Lake is the third of Robert and Elizabeth Lake’s six home-schooled children and a native of Stone Mountain, Georgia. He spent seven years working for newspapers in Georgia, Massachusetts, and Florida before he caught his big break, in 2008, when Gary Smith helped him get a freelance assignment for Sports Illustrated. That story, “2 on 5,” won the Henry Luce Award for story of the year among all the magazines of Time Incorporated, the nation’s largest magazine publisher. Lake believes in using the techniques of investigative reporting to uncover good deeds and prove people right. He has written about a softball player who carried her injured opponent around the bases, a buzzer-beating three-pointer that actually saved people from a tornado, and the man falsely accused of cutting Michael Jordan from his high school basketball team. Lake graduated from Herkimer County Community College in upstate New York and Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. His work has been anthologized in three editions of the annual Best American Sports Writing collection. As of 2012, he was the youngest senior writer for Sports Illustrated. He lives in Oakhurst, an easy walk from Kavarna. You can follow him on Twitter @thomaslake. In 2011 he told the story of his life in a speech at the chapel of Gordon College. That speech can easily be found on YouTube.
 

Johnny DRAGO

Johnny Drago is an Atlanta-based writer and performer. In 2011, he won first place in Creative Loafing’s annual Fiction Contest, and his play Kiss of the Vampire at the Process Theatre won the Metropolitan Atlanta Theater Award for Best Original Work. Other plays have been produced by Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Bloomington
Playwrights Project, and the Barter Theatre, among others, and have been finalists for Clubbed Thumb's Biennial Commission and The National Ten-Minute Play Contest/Heideman Award. As New American Junk, he has written, directed, and performed in local productions of Medea: A Tragedy, Billy Budd: A Portrait in Seamen, Little
Fruitcake's [Non-Specific Winter Holiday] Miracle, Attack of the 6-Foot Vagina, and Buckhead is Burning: A Psycho Serial Soap Opera Freakout Dinner Theater Experiment. Under his pseudonym, Dale Vigor, he is currently completing a collection of queer short stories entitled Masculine Adventures for Men, and looks forward to the upcoming publication of his first co-authored novel, the erotic satire Executive Privilege. Both Johnny and Dale have had the privilege of presenting their work for such local groups as Write Club Atlanta, Syllabus, MondoHomo, The Collective Project, The Drive-By Theatre Project, and HydeATL.

Brian BANNON

Brian Bannon grew up in Wisconsin, studied music history and theory at the University of Georgia and began writing and performing comedy in Atlanta in the '90s. He was twice a finalist in Creative Loafing's fiction contest and has a self-released comedy album titled Rolling Stephen Hawking Up A Hill. With Bill Taft, he co-hosts monthly shows of music, stories and silent film in the Krog Street Tunnel in celebration of the tunnel's centennial.

See you Friday, 8/17 at 8:00!

*(You might, actually, next November. But remember not to stare straight at it, or risk blindness. True Story readings can be similarly dazzling, but they pose no health threat. Stare all you like.)

(Annular solar eclipse of May 20th, 2012)

True Story #15 Readers: Where You've Seen 'em Before

Hey-oh, oh-ay. True Story's about a week away. 


Yep: Friday, June 15th at Kavarna, it's another night of true tales you'll NEVER FORGET.  


Well, maybe you will, but nonetheless, we here at True Story know that the evening will remain a point of joy in your life's recollections till they dim, then fade to nothing but a feeling of warmth and camaraderie that are evoked one day when a stranger or a friend speaks the words: "True Story. June 2012." 
Sunlight on your back. 
Fellow feeling.


And in that spirit, here's more about our readers:

Nicholas TECOSKY

Nicholas Tecosky is a writer/performer living in Atlanta. He is one of the cranky nerds behind WRITE CLUB Atlanta and her weekly podcast, and one of the writers behind V/H/S, the found-footage horror omnibus opening in theaters in October. He occasionally acts as well, and will be seen as a grumpy Russian underling this autumn in A&E's miniseries Coma. He co-shares a large dog.

Jack WALSH

Listen, people: Jack Walsh is not to be trifled with. Or, should that be “is not one with whom you should trifle?” Trifle not with the one who is called Jack Walsh.

Bleh. Whatever. Don’t mess with Jack. He’s like a force of nature most akin to, let’s say, an overcast day. He can’t decide if he’s going to be temperate and breezy or dull and depressing or just end up ruining your ultimate Frisbee game. So there. Y’know what, though? So what if it’s cloudy? We should totally go do something fun, you guys! 

But, on second thought, Jack should probably try to make it into the office sometime today. There, he co-produces the Emmy-winning program Get Delicious! on PBA30, which you might know better as “that show on the other PBS station where the big, bearded, tattooed guy eats a lot of food.” 

That reminds me: you should definitely check out the new episode when it premieres on July 5. There are several reasons to do so, not least of which is a guest appearance by the curator and host of a certain bi-monthly reading series that takes place at Kavarna. Another reason is that it’s subtitled “Barbeque, Bacon and Other Adventures in Meat.” 

Jack also directed the Emmy-winning Four Days at Dragon*Con and co-produces the multiple Emmy-losing This is Atlanta.

Jeffery WELLS

Jeffery Wells might read about unsolved murders from Edwardian-era Atlanta. He might read about Bigfoot. That's 'cause this local historian is the author of both The Atlanta Ripper: The Unsolved Story of the Gate City’s Most Infamous Murders and Bigfoot in Georgia.

   

Wowzers. He teaches History and Social and Behavioral Sciences at Georgia Military College.

See you next Friday.

Friday, April 20th Readers Announced!

Greetings!

Where the worlds of literature, rock 'n roll and the silver screen collide, you'll find True Story #14.

Our next night of artifacts and fine, fine writing begins with...

Susan Rebecca WHITE

Born and raised in Atlanta, Susan Rebecca White graduated from Brown University and received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Hollins University, where she was awarded a teaching fellowship and the James Purdy Prize for outstanding fiction. Her debut novel, Bound South, a Southern Independent Booksellers Association (SIBA) bestseller, was shortlisted for the Townsend Award. Her second novel, A Soft Place to Land, was chosen as a Target pick and received wide critical acclaim, from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution to Vanity Fair magazine. Her third novel is slated for publication by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster in the spring of 2013.

Susan has been teaching creative writing at Emory University since 2009. She was the writer-in-resident at SCAD Atlanta during the winter of 2011.

Jason MALLORY

Jason Mallory is the founder of Scene Missing magazine, which in the publishing world is like being the founder of a newspaper insert of Target coupons, or the founder of a Chipolte bag that's particularly descriptive of the burrito deliciousness that's contained within. Come to think of it, at least with the Chipolte bag you get to eat delicious food. Scene Missing Magazine offers no sour cream or salsa, or even guacamole. Jason lives in Atlanta.

Myke JOHNS

Myke Johns, like presumably the rest of you, harbors niche interests. He's been able to parlay some of into a job as a public radio producer. When he's not busy being "intrepid," he's one of the evil nerds behind WRITE CLUB Atlanta and, despite being older than 19, persists at playing in a rock and roll band called Mice in Cars.

Okay, that got awkward. Sorry. He wrote this.

So that's it! Writers both rogue...and oddly self-deprecating. Don't let their modesty fool you; it'll be a wang-dang-doodle April 20th. All night long.* We warned you.

(*or from 8:00-10:00 pm, roughly, give or take half an hour.)

MORE-! on our Friday, Feb. 17th Readers

Damon SGRINOLI-!

Damon Sgrignoli lives and writes in Atlanta. His work has been featured in Spin, Stone and Paste Magazines, among others. He is currently looking for an agent for his first novel.


Lain SHAKESPEARE-!

Lain Shakespeare is a native of Decatur, Georgia. He attended Kenyon College. Lain served as executive director of the Wren's Nest for five years. His grandmother grew up three houses down from Kavarna. He dislikes peanut butter.


Stacey Beth SHULMAN-!

Stacey Beth Shulman is a native of Atlanta, even if her accent doesn’t always sound like it. An active participant in the Carapace/Atlanta Moth Up events, she has told stories for Creative Loafing, The Museum of Design Atlanta, and The Southern Order of Storytellers. Stacey is not just a raconteur on stage. As a yoga teacher and yoga therapist, she helps people discover the stories held within their body. When she is not on the mat, she enjoys painting, bird watching, spending time with her partner of 12 years, and playing with their cat, Spike, who only gets mildly annoyed.

Looking forward to seeing you as these three rock the stage at "Lucky" True Story #13.

True Story #12 Readers: Where You've Seen 'Em Before

At the intersection of nervy journalism and rogue writing.
Friday, December 9th.
8:00 pm.
Kavarna.
Dig.

John Jeremiah SULLIVAN
He is a memoirist (Blood Horses), award winning writer (GQ, NY Times Magazine, etc), and an editor for the Paris Review. He also writes for Harper's Magazine and the Oxford American. His work in those publications has twice been given the National Magazine Award (for best feature and best essay, respectively). He has also received a Whiting Writers' Award and a Pushcart Prize. Sullivan is the author of Blood Horses (FSG, 2004) and Pulphead (FSG, 2011). He lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Read the Publishers Weekly starred review of Pulphead here: www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-374-53290-1

From "You Blow My Mind. Hey, Mickey!” The New York Times:
Something you learn rearing kids in this young millennium is that the word “Disney” works as a verb. As in, “Do you Disney?” Or, “Are we Disneying this year?” Technically a person could use the terms in speaking about the original Disneyland, in California, but this would be an anomalous usage. One goes to Disneyland and has a great time there, probably — I’ve never been — but one Disneys at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. There’s an implication of surrender to something enormous.

One night my wife, M. J., said I should prepare to Disney. It wasn’t presented as a question or even as something to waste time thinking about, just to brace for, because it was happening.


Justin HECKERT
Justin Heckert lives in Decatur, Ga., with his wife, Amanda, and their dog, Cooper. His work has been published in Atlanta magazine, Esquire, ESPN The Magazine, Men's Journal, the Oxford American, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, among others. In 2005 he was named Writer of the Year by the City and Regional Magazine Association. Some of his work has been anthologized in the Best American Crime Reporting and noted in the Best American Nonrequired Reading, Best American Essays and Best American Sports Writing.


From “And In The End,” Atlanta magazine:
The man’s chest was completely open after a few moments, the layer of his upper chest folded to tickle his nose. Then, beneath the fat, the organs. Organs upon organs in the gorge of the open body, stacked and miraculously fit together, delicate as rose petals. When looking inside of a cut-open body, during an autopsy, one cannot help but get a sense of wonder. The human body is a miracle. The lungs and heart and kidneys are a miracle. The intestines, how they stretch and bend, what they can hold, how they function, the sheer length of them—miracles. That blood can flow through a maze of veins thinner than mechanical-pencil lead is nothing less than a miracle.


Thomas WHEATLEY
An Atlanta native who spent nearly 12 lost years in the suburban wilderness, Thomas is an award-winning staff writer at Creative Loafing, Atlanta's alt-weekly, who covers transportation, the environment, urban development and state and local politics. A graduate of the University of Georgia and former New Yorker, he enjoys crossword puzzles and C-SPAN. He has an intense fear of spiders, clowns and old black-and-white movies in which men court women. Prior to joining CL, he was a staff writer at a weekly newspaper in north Fulton County and a contributing writer at Flagpole, Athens, Ga.’s altweekly, where he wrote about pigeon racers, nudist resorts and mountain town professional wrestling organizations. He lives in Decatur with his wife and two cats.


From “Sober,” Creative Loafing:
On Thanksgiving Day in 2006, I was alone in the bathroom of my Tahitian lagoon bungalow, shaking and vomiting blood. Outside, a lushly tropical island jutted up from the water and topless newlywed brides sunbathed on the decks. But in my all-expenses paid room – courtesy of a contest I'd won on "Live With Regis and Kelly" – the shades were drawn. I looked in the mirror and told myself to stop drinking, yet kept washing my mouth out with vodka. I hadn't eaten anything of substance in two days. I was doing exactly what I promised myself time after time I wouldn't do again.

I spent seven days puddle jumping to different islands in Tahiti, and I can tell you more about my hotel room than I can about the archipelago. My ritual consisted of cleaning out the mini-bar, ordering room service or making my way inland to pick up food that was easy on my stomach – bread, butter, crackers. More importantly, I'd buy two bottles of vodka so I wouldn't have to return to the store the next day. Even though the mini-bar and room service were only footsteps or a phone call away, I wanted options. When I went on my sole excursion – a jet-skiing trip around Bora Bora – the tour guide took a look at me and asked if I'd been partying the night before. No. I was just a guy who'd stayed up all night in his room drinking vodka.

Friday, October 21st Readers Announced!

Do we have some rogue writers lined up for True Story #11 or what?

The answer is, yes.

See here.

Krista DERBECKER

Krista hails from Ontario, Canada, but has spent enough years in Georgia to consider herself a bona fide Southerner. She graduated from the University of Georgia with degrees in Journalism and Spanish, but please don’t ask her to translate anything as she seems to have only retained how to ask for directions and order more cheese dip.

She has written for Skirt! Magazine, The Atlantan and Creative Loafing, but soon after college, fell in love with Little Shop of Stories, a children’s bookstore in downtown Decatur where she works as the store manager. When she isn’t at the bookstore reading at weekly storytimes, organizing community Christmas tree lightings, and reminding people that the cute little bookstore in You’ve Got Mail went out of business, so please don’t say Little Shop is “exactly like that movie,” Krista holes up in her house to work on her book, The Patron Saint of Doubt, a collection of nonfiction essays about faith, family, and figuring out life.

Shannon MCNEAL

Shannon McNeal grew up listening to her grandfather, J.B. Cochran, telling tales about their family in Mobile County, Alabama. She inherited his talent for spinning tragedy into comedy and loves to share her stories about growing up in Alabama and her adventures after moving to Atlanta. If you love southern porch stories, you will love Shannon McNeal.

Shannon was born in lower Alabama, or as she likes to affectionately call it, LA. After the two yet-to-be explained years living in Ohio, her family moved back to Alabama, this time to the northern section of LA. Shannon was sent off to college before graduating high school, so to this day, technically, she is a high-school drop out.

Shannon graduated from Georgia State University with a degree in philosophy and a couple years later went off to Mississippi to study law so she could earn a living. Now back in the Atlanta metro area, she is having the time of her life telling stories.

Jason MYERS

Jason Myers does not mess. He grew up in Hagerstown. Where? It's about an hour west of D.C. and Baltimore. He's been trying to live Somewhere ever since. Bennington, New York (Brooklyn), Wilmington (no, not Delaware), and Atlanta. His writing has been published in Agni, American Poet, The Paris Review, Tin House, and several other journals. He is a Master of Divinity Student at Emory University, and a National Poetry Series finalist.

True tales. Strange artifacts From the Past. Friday, October 21st at 8:00 pm at Kavarna. See you there.