New York, NY.  I had the privilege of attending two readings this weekend at the KGB Bar Red Room Literary Space, 85 E 4th.  FBOMB on Friday, and BEST SMALL FICTIONS on Saturday. I have so much to tell! At the bottom of this post is a short film of my reading on Saturday night if you’d like to hear me read my finalist for BSF.

Friday 21 October 2016:  Friday night was the second NYC-based FBomb reading series, co-hosted by Bud Smith and Paul Beckman, with a stellar lineup including Robert Vaughan, Meg Tuite, Michael Gillan Maxwell, Len Kuntz, Karen Stefano, Gay Degani.  Holy smokes.

Off stage, I had made arrangements to meet up, as well, with dear friend April Bradley.  I also am always pleased to see Thaddeus Rutkowski, if only for a moment.  Sara Lippman was in the audience, too!  And, it was wonderful to meet Craig Fishbane.

This was a night when it seemed readers came from “all over the map” to be together in Manhattan.  The camaraderie shared by this posse of readers is really special — it was nice to be there and be near, and of course to hear them read and fill the room with applause!

Here’s a pic of Bud and one of Robert:

Bud Smith reading at KGB Red Room 21 Oct 2016

Robert Vaughan reading at KGB NYC 21 Oct ’16

Other amazing readers from the weekend experience, reading on both nights, included (in order below):

Karen Stefano, Len Kuntz, Michael Gillan Maxwell, Meg Tuite, and Gay Degani.  Applause applause!!!

What made this evening extra special was that a few writers whom I workshop with faithfully were also in the room, in the crowd, and we were able to hoop-it-up for our friends and idols while enjoying a good time in the East Village.

Saturday 22 October 2016: Best Small Fictions 2016. This reading event was so much fun — I got to hear some new writers, and was invited to read as well! Everyone universally thanked Tara Masih, editor of the Best Small Fictions series.  Paul Beckman was the emcee and host of the evening, and it was a wonderful night.

Here are some pics and captions — I really can’t tell you how impressive all the readings were, only to say that when and if you have the chance to attend a live reading, you should do so.  You should also pick up a copy of the Best Small Fictions 2016 Anthology.  What a wonderful archive of the best flash writing happening today. Plus, it’s so energizing for writers to have a real life audience, to make their words come alive.  It was wonderful!

Dawn Raffell, “Conductivity,” from Tammy, Iss 5

Ilana Massad, “In a World Gone Mad” One Throne Magazine

And, here I am, yours truly, reading “Sleeping Beauty: Markson Fangirl” from Tahoma Literary Review.  I edited it for the sake of this reading so that it focused on references to the artist Mark Tansey.  Thanks to my husband Paul for thinking to film this.

If you’re wondering about the featured image atop this blog post, the images are things I picked up while tooling around NYC with my husband on Saturday.  If you are in NYC, I recommend you see the Gustav Klimt special exhibit at Neue Galleries.  There is also a fabulous retrospective of Alfred Leslie’s work at Bruce Silverstein Gallery.

As always, thank you for stopping by my blog.  I appreciate your readership and support.