* A reminder: all branches of the Omaha Public Library will be closed the entire Fourth of July weekend, Friday through Sunday.
* If you need a break from the pre-Fourth booze and fireworks, the Old Market Tea House at 517 S. 13th St. hosts an open mic for poets and musicians Friday, July 3, from 7-9 p. m. Come early to sign up for a spot on the schedule.
The long arc of John Hlavacek’s life is coming full circle. For 70 years he’s traversed the world, much of that time as a reporter. Long retired from the arena of news desks and wire service tear sheets, the Omaha resident still writes. In recent years he’s published a series of memoirs chronicling his life as an adventurer and journalist.
India was the longest way-stop during his halcyon newspaper days in the Cold War era. When not covering its fight for independence from British colonial rule, he reported on neighboring Tibet’s struggle to maintain autonomy in the face of Communist Chinese incursions. He filed numerous stories on historic events and figures in that remote Himalayan land.
* Check out Unplucked with Chicken Boy at the Saddle Creek Bar (1410 N. Saddle Creek Rd.) Sunday, June 28, for a late night comedy show featuring video skits, comedy, spoken word and music. The guests for the first show are comic Scott Mullenberg, slam poet Jim Morrison and music acts Freedom Company and Platte River Rain. The show starts at 8 p.m. and is a mere $5.
* Ever wonder where all the historical events of the Bible took place? Do what Jesus would do: Google it. The website biblemap.org lets you select passages from the Bible and then displays both the passage as well as the corresponding locations on a map along with related trivia.
* Looking for a change of pace when it comes to book discussions? Swing by the Bookworm in Countryside Village at 87th and Pacific Thursday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m. when the As the Worm Turns Book Discussion Group discusses The Underworld Sewer: A Prostitute Reflects on Life in the Trade, 1871-1909 by Josie Washburn. Originally published in 1909, Washburn minces no words in exposing the conditions that perpetuate prostitution. Space is limited, so call 392.2877 to reserve your place.
* Self-publishing has never been easier. If you’re curious about the process or have a manuscript sitting on your desk at home, consider checking out Pat Schneider’s presentation on self-publishing at the Swanson branch of the Omaha Public Library. The event is free and open to the public. It starts at 6:30 p.m. For more information, contact Evonne Edgington at 444.5492.
* Thursday, June 11 you can catch Tunes in the Town Square in Ralston’s town square, featuring two sets of music and poetry readings between. Tonight features two-time member of the Omaha Poetry Slam team and winner of the Nebraska Book Award for Poetry, Matt Mason. Readings are at, or about, 7:20 p.m. in the downtown Ralston gazebo. Music starts at 6:30 p.m.
* It’s CWS time, and Ryan McGhee will be at the Bookworm at 87th and Pacific in Countryside Village to sign copies of his book, The Road to Omaha: Hits, Hopes, and History at the College World Series Saturday, June 13, at 10 a.m. The book is billed as “a snapshot of the one of the last remaining vestiges of pure Americana: a hometown, baseball, and the people who shape it and are shaped by it in turn.”
* The Omaha Public Library announced that Rivkah Sass, the executive director of the Omaha Public Library, is leaving to become the director of the Sacramento Public Library. The Library Board of Trustees is looking for a replacement but it’s doubtful they can replace Sass’s unique perspective and passion. Far from the stereotypical meek and unassuming librarian, Sass was an outspoken advocate for OPL and its patrons. She ruffled some feathers during her tenure, but her heart was always in the right place. She will be missed.
* Meanwhile back at the ranch, the Omaha Public Library’s Summer Reading Program aims to encourage children and teens to read by offering special events and exciting prizes from June 1-Aug. 1.
The Omaha Public Library’s 10th Annual Mayhem in the Midlands mystery conference kicks off Thursday, May 21 at the Omaha Embassy Suites, where the bulk of the conference will take place.
Attendees can visit book signings and panel discussions with authors including Dana Stabenow, Zoe Sharp and Sean Doolittle on topics from getting published to incorporating humor into stories, forensics and character development.
* If you’re in the neighborhood Wednesday, May 13th, stop by the lower level of the Burlington Place Building at 10th and Farnam for “Wednesday Words,” a monthly lunch event featuring writers who’ve received the Nebraska Arts Council’s Individual Artist Fellowships in Literature. Today features Lincoln writer MK Stillwell. The event runs from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. And don’t forget to swing by the Fred Simon Gallery to see the work of some local artists.
* Stop by the Bookworm in Countryside Village at 87th and Pacific to meet local writer Sean Doolittle, who will sign Safer at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 16th. The book, Doolittle’s fifth, has garnered good reviews, with the Washington Post calling it “a fine thriller” and “enthralling.”
* This Sunday is Mother’s Day. In the event you can’t get brunch reservations at your favorite restaurant, consider giving Mom a book. Here are a few suggestions:
Speaking of brunch, chef Gale Gand has a new book on that very topic: Brunch! Offers over 100 recipes for “the weekend’s best meal.” Gand offers staples, such as omelettes, stratas, and so on, with enough variations to keep cooks of all skill levels entertained.
And there’s always Paula Deen. Her latest, The Paula Deen Family Cookbook, offers more of her trademark comfort food, although you’re sure to be amazed at her inclusion of healthy recipes this time out — a full chapter’s worth to be exact.
The original Incredible puts Omaha in a hold this weekend
by Hal G. Senal
Don’t make him angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. As the song says, “You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger” — and you most certainly don’t waste The Incredible Hulk’s time.
After all, anyone who has seen the recent hit film, I Love You, Man, in which Lou Ferrigno makes a hilarious extended cameo as himself, knows that the man can and will put you in a sleeper hold at any moment (“Would you please stop calling me Hulk! I’m a person! I have feelings!”).
* Irish author Frank Delaney will sign copies of his latest book, Shannon, at The Bookworm, 87th and Pacific, in Countryside Village Thursday, April 30, at 6 p.m. He will also talk at a May 1 luncheon sponsored by the UNO Lifelong Learning Initiative on the importance of their mission. Four local women will be recognized for community service: Berdine Hall Williams, Elvira Garcia, Beverly Macek and Yvonne Stock. For tickets to the event at the Holiday Inn, 72nd and Grover, call 554.2292.
* Although turtleneck weather is behind us, a poetry-lovin’ guy or gal can still get in on the action. Friday, May 1, the Old Market Tea House at 517 S. 13th St. hosts an open mic for poets and musicians from 7-9 p.m. Come early to get on the schedule.
Author Scott Muskin is acutely aware first-time novelists often accept the axiom, “write what you know,” as an invitation to plumb the depths of their psyche. The subconscious gates are opened and the contents purged onto the page.
For his debut novel, The Annunciations of Hank Myerson, Mama’s Boy and Scholar (Hooded Friar Press), Muskin satirically channels this urge through a protagonist-narrator who’s all wrapped up in himself.
An Omaha native living in Minneapolis, Muskin’s enjoyed some traction as a short story writer; but his new book has popped like few first novels do, winning the 2007 Parthenon Prize for Fiction, a national competition to boost unknown authors.
* The As the Worm Turns Book Discussion Group meets at the Bookworm in Countryside Village, 87th and Pacific, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16, to discuss The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell, in which the NPR commentator investigates the Puritans. The people she finds are highly literate, deeply principled, and surprisingly feisty. Their story is filled with pamphlet feuds, witty courtroom dramas and bloody vengeance. Vowell’s special brand of armchair history makes the bizarre and esoteric fascinatingly relevant and fun. Andy Ketterson will lead the discussion. Space is limited, so please call 392.2877 to reserve your place.
* Nebraska Wesleyan University concludes its Visiting Writer’s Series, Thursday, April 16, with an appearance by poetry and fiction writer Gary Lutz. Lutz’s most recent books include Partial List of People to Bleach, I Looked Alive and Stories In the Worst Way. Lutz is also an expert grammarian, having written the Writer’s Digest Grammar Desk Reference with Diane Stevenson in 2005. His reading begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Callen Conference Center, located on the lower level of the Smith-Curtis Administration Building. The reading is free and open to the public.
Local slam poets celebrate a decade of outstanding local performance poetry
by Jeremy Schnitker
Sara Lihz Dobel remembers when she saw Omaha’s poetry slam competition turn the corner. It was when she looked into the crowd during a performance a couple years back and didn’t recognize every person there.
Dobel attended Omaha’s first slam competition 10 years ago this April at the Border’s at 72nd and Dodge. There were 29 poets competing, which meant there were probably exactly that many people in the crowd.
“Back then the crowd would be the performers and whatever random people were accidentally sitting in the coffee shop when we decided to start,” Dobel, who was 16 at the time, said with a chuckle. “It was very small and intimate.”
These days it can be a ruckus. With its prime digs downtown at The Omaha Healing Arts Center — where it’s been every second Saturday of the month since 2002 — crowds have ballooned to as many as 200. And it’ll likely be packed for the slam team finals Saturday, as 12 local qualifiers will compete for the five slots on Omaha’s 2009 Poetry Slam Team that will go to the National Poetry Slam in Florida this August.
* Vincenza Scarpaci, author of The Journey of the Italians in America, has been touring U.S. cities since the release of her book in November 2008 to promote this epic history of Italian-American life. She will appear this month in Omaha to discuss the Italian-American populations of the area. On April 9, she’ll be at the Sons of Italy hall (1238 S. 10th St) from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. for a presentation and signings. On the 11th and 12th she’ll be at Orsi’s Bakery at 621 Pacific St. for a signing at 10 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday. If those aren’t sufficient opportunities to meet her, she’ll also be at the Barnes and Noble at Oakview from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Lastly, she will give a lecture and conduct a signing for the Italian-American Heritage Society of Omaha at Pasta Amore e Fantasia at 11027 Prairie Brook Road beginning at 7:30 p.m. Monday the 13th. For more info on that one call 391.2585 or email uno@pastaamore.net.
* As part of its Big Read promotion highlighting Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the Omaha Public Library will host a showing of the movie Tom and Huck starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Brad Renfro at the Willa Cather Branch, 1905 S. 44th St., at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 8th. For more information call 444.4851.
* Thursday and Friday, April 2 and 3, the Center for Faith Studies will hold a Spirituality of Childhood conference featuring Richard Louv, author of Leave No Child Inside: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder and Dr. Susan Linn, author of The Case for Make Believe: Why Play is Essential to Body, Mind and Spirit, at Countryside Church, 8787 Pacific St. Visit radicalamazementomaha.org for details.
* If you’re an unpublished author of children’s books, consider entering the Cheerios “Spoonful of Stories” contest. For the third consecutive year, the cereal maker will award one author $5,000 as well as the opportunity to distribute their book inside specially marked boxes of cereal. You’ll also get the eyes of editors at Simon and Schuster. Who knows were it could lead? Shellie Braeuner, the winner of the first contest, will see her book, The Great Dog Wash, published by Simon and Schuster this summer. Entries will be accepted until July 15th. For full details go to spoonfulofstoriescontest.com.
* This month’s Ink Slingers’ Slam — a poetry slam for high school students only — is billed as the “Eat Your Heart Out” poetry slam. Held at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe at 302 S. 38th St., Thursday, March 19, poets compete for prizes ranging from cash all the way up to a dinner for two at McFoster’s with an additional $50 cash. There will be two rounds, so contestants will need to be ready to perform two separate, original poems that run less than three minutes. Signup starts at 5 p.m. and the slam starts at 5:30 p.m. There are 12 slots available and you must pre-register at omahapubliclibrary.org. Email kberry@omahapubliclibrary.org with questions.
* Irish poet Desmond Egan will give a reading in the Milo Bail Student Center in the Nebraska Room on the UNO campus Friday, March 13, at noon. Egan has 18 books of poetry, one of prose and two translations of Greek plays to his credit. He is artistic director of The Hopkins International Conference, named “the best literary festival in Ireland.” This event is free, open to the public, and will have free refreshments. For more information, please contact Erin Cron, 554.2711.
* In other poetry news, the Poetry Out Loud Nebraska State Finals will take place Saturday, March 14, at the Sheldon Art Gallery at 12th and R in Lincoln. Students representing high schools from around the state will compete to determine who will represent Nebraska at the National Finals in Washington, D.C.
Local author goes hardcover with latest crime novel
by Leo Adam Biga
Sean Doolittle lives a life of crime. In his head. The Omaha crime novelist (Rain Dogs, The Cleanup) commits imaginary transgressions to the page that explore the consequences of deceit, greed and other deadly sins of omission and commission.
His new work, Safer, is billed by publisher Delacorte Press as “a novel of suspense.” Like the best crime fiction it transcends genre, in this case studying social patterns gone awry and primal emotions under duress.
Paul, the smart aleck English Lit prof protagonist, is suspected of an offense he didn’t commit. While no saint — his judgment is not always sound — he’s no killer. The suspense hinges on his desperate attempts to clear his name. The closer he nears the truth, the more leading citizens are implicated in a conspiracy. He may not survive the telling.
After a brief set-up Doolittle opens the book with Paul being jailed. He alternates past-present passages with Paul describing what led to the charges and his frantic, against-all-odds search for justice. The approach grabs and holds the reader, but it came to Doolittle only after much struggle.
