This evening City Lights Bookstore held a joint reading by local contributors to the current issues of Granta & Zyzzyva. About 35 good-natured & attentive listeners fit themselves into the upstairs poetry room. Oscar Villalon & Laura Cogan of Zyzzyva introduced the authors. Daniel Alarcón read from his piece in Granta 118 about witnessing a street brawl in South America. He also told us about Radio Ambulante, started by him & his wife, which he described as "This American Life in Spanish & for a trans-national audience." Herbert Gold read the 1st 2 pages of "Melinda, Doing Her Best", & he did a good job making us curious about the aloof title character. Dean Rader read a selection of his poems, including his "Self Portrait as Wikipedia Entry." Though he claimed it was "riddled with inaccuracies," he did show us his broken pinky finger.
The readings were over in a tight 40 minutes. Mr. Gold was the first of the writers to arrive, & when he noticed a small table set with wine bottles & plastic cups, he asked his host guilelessly, "Is that wine just for display?" I suppose City Lights can be forgiven for misspelling "Zyzzyva" on their posters & event Web page.§ Zyzzyva Meets Granta
Readings at City Lights Bookstore
Tuesday, February 7, 2012, 7:00 P.M.
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