Impossible Language is ending its run. The final installment of the monthly poetry series will feature readings by Emma Bolden, Christian Anton Gerard, and Heather Dobbins.
Facebook invite

Cheer on the runners of the St. Jude Marathon and enjoy drag performances by Bella DuBalle and Freak Nasty. Vegan blueberry pancakes and bloody marys will be served. Please bring noisemakers and posters to cheer on the runners. Fun and playful clothing is encouraged.

Location: Parking lot in front of story booth (438 N. Cleveland)

Impossible Language, a Memphis-based literary reading series, presents three poets: Karyna McGlynn and Alice Bolin are new to the Memphis community, and Jonathan May is near and dear. Come hear them read and purchase books.

Alice Bolin’s first collection of essays, DEAD GIRLS, is forthcoming in 2018 from Morrow/HarperCollins. Her writing appears regularly in publications including The LA Review of Books, Racked, The Awl, and The New Yorker’s Page-Turner blog. She is Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at the ….

ZineFest is a celebration of Zinedom! Bring your zines to sell (contact Erica at ericaqualy@gmail.com to reserve a table) or bring a wad of cash to buy some of the raddest zines on the planet!

Zine making is for everyone! The free Public Zine Workshop is for beginners to experienced zine makers.

We will give an overview of the process and have paper and basic supplies, but feel free to bring your own imagery, drawings, and favorite art supplies.

After eight weekends of training, Cazateatro is delighted to introduce the new generation of little stars. Come and see their own version of “Little Pink Riding Hood.” The event will also feature an exhibition from the workshops of shadow puppets and plaster masks made by Cazateatro students. Music by Alejandro Paredes.

The Soulsville Charter School presents the fourth annual Revolutionary Writers Reading. This event allows middle school writers from the Soulsville Charter School to share their art with a wider audience.

Ongoing contemporary poetry series organized by Ashley Roach-Freiman.

Curated In collaboration with Memphis/Fayetteville-based poet Bailey Hutchinson, this special Impossible Language will feature poetry readings by writers shaping the literary scene in Fayetteville, Arkansas: Julia Paganelli Marín, Vicente Yépez, Molly Bess Rector, and MD Myers.

In these theater workshops for kids aged 10 to 12, we will explore the similarities and differences that make cultural styles unique. Your child will enjoy fun, creative, hands-on activities that will leave them yearning to experience more from this bilingual, multicultural setting lead by the cast of Cazateatro. Workshops dates are February 25, March 4 and 25, and April 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29.

Join the staff of the Pinch Literary Journal in celebration of the official release of our Spring 2017 issue! Featured contributors for the reading will be Brenna Wormer and Michael Alessi.

Ongoing contemporary poetry series organized by Ashley Roach-Freiman. This month’s event features readings by Sheree Renée Thomas, Ashley Anna McHugh, Alina Stefanescu, and Ashley M. Jones.

Join us to meet your neighbors and learn more about the progress of Crosstown Concourse! Get an overview of the construction timeline as well as information about future resources and opportunities. We are welcoming our neighbors, business owners and friends to join us for coffee, conversation, and questions.

Ongoing contemporary poetry series organized by Ashley Roach-Freiman. This first-ever multidisciplinary Impossible Language will feature literary readings by Erin Elizabeth Smith, Emily Capettini, and Jennie Frost of Sundress Publications/Sundress Academy of the Arts.

cocktail hour networking event for working writers

whether or not your day-job is writing makes no difference — if you’re a working writer, you’re invited.

Join the staff of The Pinch Literary Journal in celebration of the official release of the Fall 2016 issue! There will be readings from featured contributors Katie Knoll, Christian Anton Gerard, and John McDermott.

Volunteer to help us type up stories from middle- and high-school writers to be included in our fall 2016 book project. Just show up at story booth with a (functioning) laptop and your best words-per-minute/hunt-and peck skills and help us get student stories ready to go into print.

Ongoing contemporary poetry series organized by Ashley Roach-Freiman.

Join us for an evening with Robert Olen Butler, author of the novel Perfume River, which examines family ties and the legacy of the Vietnam War through the portrait of a single North Florida family.

Join us for an evening with the author of the best-selling memoir “Brown Girl Dreaming,” Jacqueline Woodson, as she shares with us her lyrical new novel, “Another Brooklyn.”

the back-to-school edition. for writers.
in the interests of continuing to further cultivate and connect the writing community of Memphis, story booth is hosting the 5th edition of Crosstown Arts‘ Working Writers’ Cocktail Hour, on Wednesday, August 24, from 5:30 to 7 pm, in conjunction with sponsor Memphis Daily News.
all writers who live and work in Memphis—whether writers of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, journalism, art writing, music writing—are invited to visit story booth for an hour (or ….

Join us for a reading, signing, and sale of “A Real Imitation” (Ain’t Bad) with New York/Memphis-based artist Tommy Kha.

Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, Tommy Kha felt a pervasive alienation from his surroundings and was often mistaken for a tourist or ‘foreigner.’ Gesturing to his eyes, strangers would inquire about his ethnicity. As he approached adolescence, these inquiries evolved into questions concerning his sexuality, adding a new layer to his perceived outsider status. These experiences ….

Join us to see and purchase new zines created by community workshop participants, story booth workshop participants, and professional “zinesters” from Memphis and beyond!
Featured vendors (as of July 10)
Rickie & Aimee
Grrl Punch Magazine
Porceline Teeth Zines
WWW (Courtney & Adele)
Stuffed Animal
Eric C
WALLS DIVIDE PRESS
VENDORS WANTED!
We have about 10-15 table spaces for local vendors, please email Erica Qualy (ericaqualy@yahoo.com) to reserve your spot!

this workshop gives participants the chance to write(design/draw/collage, etc.) and self-publish an original “zine,” and then to display their work at our second-annual ZineFest on Friday, July 29, alongside the work of professional “zinesters” from Memphis and beyond. participants will develop and display their creative writing and art and design skills, and they’ll leave with a better understanding of the elements and power of DIY publishing. participants will also design a collaborative zine during the week, so that each participant ….

Don’t know what a “zine” is? Never made one before? Do you want to but just don’t have the means?
Learn a little about the history of zine making and zine culture. Meet other zine-sters in the Memphis area and get inspired!
Basic zine-making supplies will be provided, but if you can, please BYOScissors.
Free admission, all ages
Led by artist Erica S. Qualy

Would you like to volunteer your time or donate some of your old zine-making supplies? We need people ….

WRITE LAB is an opportunity for those who want to begin writing creatively, or for those who already are, who would like feedback on their work from peers and from a professional fiction writer, in a workshop setting. participants will learn how to give and receive constructive criticism on their written work, an essential and invaluable skill for any serious writer. participants must commit to at least one two-week block of time to participate. a book of all the critiqued ….

Crosstown Arts and the Booksellers at Laurelwood present Visiting Writer Donald Ray Pollock upon the release of his newest  novel, The Heavenly Table.

From Donald Ray Pollock, author of the highly acclaimed The Devil All the Time and Knockemstiff, comes a dark, gritty, electrifying (and, disturbingly, weirdly funny) new novel that will solidify his place among the best contemporary American authors.
It is 1917, in that sliver of border land that divides Georgia from Alabama. Dispossessed farmer Pearl Jewett ….

this workshop gives participants the chance to script, shoot, edit, and screen their own independent, original films—all in one week. we’ll make use of Crosstown Arts’ brand-new digital lab to edit, and then we’ll premiere all films at a mini-film festival on the last Friday of the workshop. led by Crosstown Arts’ professional videographer, Justin Thompson, each participant will receive a DVD with all the participants’ films.
10 participants | for entering and current middle-school students
Contact Nat Akin at nat@crosstownarts.org ….

WRITE LAB is an opportunity for those who want to begin writing creatively, or for those who already are, who would like feedback on their work from peers and from a professional fiction writer, in a workshop setting. participants will learn how to give and receive constructive criticism on their written work, an essential and invaluable skill for any serious writer. participants must commit to at least one two-week block of time to participate. a book of all the critiqued ….

if you are interested in learning how to better put verses together for poetry or music (or just to express yourself), and then how to effectively perform these original pieces onstage, join us for our first-ever spoken-word workshop. taught by professional actress, playwright, and spoken-word artist Jazmin Miller, the “word-shop” will begin with a workshop in crafting and revising verse/prose poetry, and then on Friday of this week, we’ll have a poetry slam event and chapbook signing, open to the ….

In the interests of further cultivating and connecting the writing community of Memphis, story booth is hosting the fourth edition of Crosstown Arts‘ Working Writers’ Cocktail Hour, on Wednesday, June 8, from 5:30 to 7 pm, in conjunction with sponsor Memphis Daily News.
All writers who live and work in Memphis–whether writers of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, journalism, art writing, music writing—are invited to visit story booth for an hour (or so) to do what it normally takes an expensive ….

Peruse fine woodworking designed and handcrafted by Caleb Sweazy right here in Memphis, Tennessee.
Organized by Caleb Sweazy 

story booth would like to thank the administration and faculty of Northwest Preparatory Academy for working with us to to create our first-ever class residency.
For four weeks in March on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, young writers from Northwest Prep met in story booth for workshop sessions as part of their English class to produce the writing (and the cover art) for each of these original, limited-edition books.
Specific thanks go to Ms. Crystal Johnson-Evans, teaching artist and Northwest Prep’s English Language Arts Department ….

Join the staff of The Pinch Literary Journal in celebration of the official release of their stunning Spring 2016 issue!
There will be food and drink, of course – Pinch Punch!
You will be regaled with readings from featured contributors, including those of award-winning poet, Madison McCartha and melty-cheese West Coast loving fiction writer, Kerry Donoghue.
Back by popular demand is the silent auction with more fabulous literary and wholesome goodies so don’t miss your chance to bid and help ….

Ongoing contemporary poetry series organized by Ashley Roach-Freiman. This installment features readings by Michal Robins, Adam Clay, and Ada Limon.
Learn more
Facebook event 
 

Playwrights and actors from Humes Preparatory Academy write their own collaborative script and stage a final performance at Rhodes McCoy Theatre

The 2016 Spring Film Production workshop at story booth will offer students an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of documentary film production.

Crosstown Arts and the Booksellers at Laurelwood present Visiting Writer Chris Offutt, reading from and signing his memoir.

Participants will create maps to chart their own fantastical worlds and then write the legends to accompany them. This workshop will culminate in a book-release party of all the participants’ stories.

Introduction to screen printing for high school students

New from the Impossible Language reading series, this feature will allow Memphis-based poets to share writing that they have recently finished or, even more frightening, are currently working on. For the kick off of the spring season and this feature, IL welcomes Aaron Brame, Matthew Hellams, Kat Moore, and Tara Mae Mulroy.

In the interests of further cultivating and connecting the literary community of Memphis, story booth is hosting the third edition of Crosstown Arts‘ Working Writers’ Cocktail Hour.
College and MFA students to early/mid-career/accomplished (meaning published and not-yet-published) writers who live and work in Memphis are welcome. Whether writers of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, journalism, art writing, music writing—all are invited to visit story booth for an hour (or so) to do what it normally takes an expensive retreat ….

Crosstown Arts and the Booksellers at Laurelwood present Visiting Writer Ed Tarkington
“Love can make people do terrible things.”
Welcome to Spencerville, Virginia, 1977. Eight-year-old Rocky worships his older brother, Paul. Sixteen and full of rebel cool, Paul spends his days cruising in his Chevy Nova blasting Neil Young, cigarette dangling from his lips, arm slung around his beautiful, troubled girlfriend. Paul is happy to have his younger brother as his sidekick. Then one day, in an act ….

From story booth‘s fall in-school writing workshops, we have published anthologies featuring original work of 62 young writers at Snowden and 18 young writers from Humes Prep. This will be the first time the writers have the books revealed to them, and they’ll be able to participate in binding their own copies of the book to take home. Food and drinks available; free and open to the public.

Crosstown Arts and the Booksellers at Laurelwood present visiting writer Stewart O’Nan, reading and signing from “West of Sunset.”
Amazon’s Best Books of the Month for January 2015
An Indie Next Pick for January 2015
A “rich, sometimes heartbreaking” (Dennis Lehane) novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s last years in Hollywood
In 1937, F. Scott Fitzgerald was a troubled, uncertain man whose literary success was long over. In poor health, with his wife consigned to a mental asylum and his finances in ….

Booksellers at Laurelwood and Crosstown Arts present Visiting Writer Leonard Pitts, Jr. Please join us for a reading and signing of his most recent book, Grant Park.

Poetry reading series organized by Ashley Roach-Freiman
ELIJAH BURRELL is the author of one collection of poems, titled The Skin of the River (Aldrich Press, 2014). His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in publications such as Agni, Birmingham Poetry Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Measure, Sugar House Review, Structo, and many others. He received the 2009 Cecil A. Blue Award in Poetry and the 2010 Jane Kenyon Scholarship at Bennington College. His poem “Bones” was recently featured in audio ….

in the interests of further cultivating and connecting the literary community of Memphis, story booth is hosting another working writers’ cocktail hour to celebrate the second-annual Mid-South Book Festival.

whether or not your day-job is writing makes no difference — if you’re a working writer, you’re invited.

During the summer of 2015, story booth and artist Yvonne Bobo hosted and facilitated a workshop to create a Rube Goldberg Machine: a contraption, invention, device or apparatus that is a machine deliberately over-engineered to perform a very simple task in a very complicated fashion, including a chain reaction. This workshop was a hands-on opportunity for young people to use science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics to create an interactive sculpture on display at an opening exhibition for the entire community to celebrate. At the ….