Saturday, April 18, 8:00pm

Rae Armantrout & Mel Nichols

@ Bridge Street Books

Rae Armantrout came up as a poet in the Bay Area, educated at UC Berkeley, where she studied with Denise Levertov, and San Francisco State (MA, 1975). Subsequently, she was at the center of the first generation of Language Poets, the group in the US most often credited with introducing poetry to postmodernity. Since then Rae Armantrout has forged a growing international reputation--publishing eight remarkable books of poems including the brand new Versed (Wesleyan, 2009). Others books include Up to Speed (Wesleyan, 2004) and Veil: New and Selected Poems (Wesleyan, 2001), as well as countless poems in anthologies (Best American Poetry 2002, and Postmodern American Poetry, a Norton Anthology, 1994) and gathered in diverse journals such as Conjunctions, Partisan Review, and the LA Times. In 2000, A Wild Salience, a collection of critical writings on the work of Rae Armantrout, was published (Burning Deck). She has taught writing at The University of California San Diego for almost two decades.

Mel Nichols is the author of Bicycle Day (Slack Buddha Press 2008), The Beginning of Beauty, Part 1: hottest new ringtones mnichol6 (Edge Books 2007), Day Poems (Edge Books 2005), and due out from Edge Books in mid-April, Catalytic Exteriorization Phenomenon (finalist in the National Poetry Series). With Mark Cunningham she recently collaborated on the online chapbook nightlightnight.

Bridge Street Books is located 5 blocks from Foggy Bottom Metro, next to Four Seasons in Georgetown at the end of M street

open Monday - Saturday: 11:00am - 9pm
Sunday: 12pm - 6pm
(202) 965-5200

In business for over twenty years, Bridge Street is one of a rare breed these days--a successful independent bookseller. It has what is certainly the best poetry section in Washington, well-stocked in alternative poetry and poetics as well as mainstream. Bridge Street also has extremely good selections in Philosophy, Politics, Cultural Theory, Women's Studies, Film, Music, and other areas. They also have a plethora of quality sale books.

Manager (& well-known poet!) Rod Smith has been organizing readings in the Washington Area since 1988 and has brought Rae Armantrout, Charles Bernstein, Lee Ann Brown, John Cage, Kevin Davies, Lyn Hejinian, Lisa Jarnot, Alice Notley, Tom Raworth, Lisa Robertson, Leslie Scalapino, Chris Stroffolino and many other important writers to DC.