Past Events

Friday, Nov 30th, 7pm. At Staten Island Academy, 715 Todt Hill Road, SINY 10304.

The students of Staten Island Academy host this community conversation to explore how fantasy can inform reality. Homemade refreshments, book giveaway.

Sunday, Nov 18th, 2pm at ETG Book Cafe, 208 Bay St, SINY 10301 (between Victory Blvd & Hannah St). Free

A spoken word performance, inspired by Kelly Link’s “The Wrong Grave” – part of her short story collection, “Pretty Monsters”. This event is part of Staten Island OutLOUD’s series for The National Endowment for the Arts / The Big Read.

Cast (in alphabetical order): Julie Bentsen, Margaret Chase, Thomas Fucaloro, Olivia Roldan.
Directed by Vincent Vok.
Video montage by Julia Simoniello.

Saturday, Nov 10th, 2pm at the Richmondtown Branch Library, 200 Clarke Ave, SINY 10306

For this special event in our “Pretty Monsters” series for The Big Read, we’ll read sections of the short story “The Wrong Grave” alongside poetry by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal, poets and lovers whose macabre true-life story serves as inspiration for Kelly Link’s short story.
Dr. Marguerite Maria Rivas, poet and CUNY professor, will tell the story of the worm-eaten poems, the painter and his muse, and other-worldly tresses.
We’ll conclude by sketching our own monsters.
Book giveaway, while supplies last.

Saturday, Nov 3rd, 2pm at ETG Book Cafe, 208 Bay St, SINY 10301 (between Victory Blvd & Hannah St). Illustration by Julie Bentsen. Copyright 2018. Used with permission of the artist. All rights reserved.

Island poet Thomas Focalaro joins Staten Island OutLOUD for this special event.

“The Wrong Grave” is a short story that is really about the writer’s process, how we dig and dig until we find the right spirit. In this workshop, we will all engage in the conversation of the writer’s process and craft. Using actually lines from the short story as prompts, we will, as a group, talk about our process’ and expand on our own.

Thomas Fucaloro is the author of two books of poetry published by Three Rooms Press, most recently It Starts from the Belly and Blooms, which received rave reviews.

The winner of a performance grant from the Staten Island Council of the Arts and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, he has been on six national slam teams. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the New School and is a co-founding editor of Great Weather for Media and NYSAI press. He is an adjunct professor at Wagner College where he teaches world lit and advanced creative writing. He is a writing coordinator at the Harlem Children’s Zone and lives on Staten Island.

Thursday, Nov 1st, 6pm at the St George Library Center, 5 Central Ave (corner of Hyatt St, just up the hill from Borough Hall), SINY 10301

Monday, Oct 29th, 3pm at the Tottenville Branch Library, 7430 Amboy Road, SINY 10307

Our friends, the valiant librarians at Tottenville Library invite teens to join Staten Island OutLOUD for this afterschool meetup on Kelly Link’s wild short stories, Pretty Monsters.
Zombies, gravedigging, wizards, and underground librarians.
Don’t miss it!
Book giveaway too.

Saturday. Oct 27th, 4pm. Noble Maritime Collection, 1000 Richmond Terrrace, SINY 10301

Staten Island OutLOUD joins the Noble Collection for this spooky & seasonal spoken word performance with dance by members of Creation Dance Collective.
We’ll read from Kelly Link’s short story “Pretty Monsters” – and we’ll contrast that segment with a reading from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
This event is part of Staten Island OutLOUD’s autumn series for The Big Read – National Endowment for the Arts.
Readers include John Bostrom, Vincent Vok, Beth Gorrie and others TBA.
Dancers: Melisande Echanique, Alyssa Rapp, Rosita Roldan and Shawna Salmon.
The National Endowment for the Arts presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and in cooperation with Arts Midwest.