Soda Series #6 – March 20th @ 7:00p.m.

SODA SERIES is a bi-monthly conversation between four different writers, hosted by Greg Gerke and John Dermot Woods. Soda Bar is in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. 629 Vanderbilt Ave.

Vincent Czyz is the author of the short story collection Adrift in a Vanishing City, to which Paul West devoted a chapter of Master Class. He received two fellowships from the NJ Council on the Arts and won the Faulkner Prize for Short Fiction. His stories have appeared in Shenandoah, AGNI, Louisiana Literature, the Double Dealer Redux, and the Massachusetts Review, which nominated his work for a Pushcart Prize. One his stories was translated into Turkish for an anthology that published in Turkey in 2010.

Michael Leong’s poetry career began in the sixth grade when he won his first and only poetry prize in Mr. Harrison’s class for a haiku about a snake. Since then, he has received degrees in English and Creative Writing from Dartmouth College, Sarah Lawrence College, and Rutgers University and has published poems in journals such as Bird Dog, jubilat, Marginalia, Opium Magazine, Pindeldyboz, and Tin House. He is the author of two volumes of poetry, e.s.p. (Silenced Press, 2009) and Cutting Time with a Knife (Black Square Editions / The Brooklyn Rail, forthcoming), as well as a translation of the Chilean poet Estela Lamat, I, the Worst of All (BlazeVOX [books], 2009). He currently lives in New York City.

Janice Shapiro studied film at UCLA where she won first prize in The Samuel Goldwyn Screenwriting Competition. The short films she directed were screened widely at film festivals around the world and she was a recipient of an AFI Filmmakers’ Grant. She has written scripts for numerous studios and independent producers including the cult film, Dead Beat that she co-wrote with her husband, Adam Dubov. Janice’s short stories have been published in The North American Review, and The Santa Monica Review. A graphic piece that she wrote was part of the anthology, What Were We Thinking? published by St. Martin’s press. Another graphic piece appeared in The Seattle Review. Bummer and Other Stories is her first book. She is currently working on a second collection of short stories, a collection of food essays entitled, Eat Like Me, and a graphic memoir, Crushable – My Life In Crushes From Ricky Nelson to Viggo Mortensen. Janice lives in Brooklyn with her husband, son and dog.

Mike Young is the author of WE ARE ALL GOOD IF THEY TRY HARD ENOUGH (Publishing Genius Press September 2010), LOOK! LOOK! FEATHERS (Word Riot Press December 2010), and the chapbook MC OROVILLE’S ANSWERING MACHINE (Transmission Press 2009). He co-edits NOÖ Journal and Magic Helicopter Press. He lives in Northampton, MA.

~ by Michael Leong on March 16, 2011.