Lit Lyfe

Courtney Algeo writes about all things literary and awesome in the Twin Cities—from books to blogs to (intellectual) brawls.

Jeffrey Skemp presents a cacophony of poetry at the Bryant-Lake Bowl

By Courtney Algeo, Lit Lyfe

Jeffrey Skemp's poem "No Memories, No Vice" from SPENT

Despite a great number of near-meets, sightings, and acknowledgements of friends-of-friends, I still haven't met poet Jeffrey Skemp. Prior to October 18, I had watched him read once, at the Hazel and Wren Words at WAM open mic last February, and in June, noticed him watching (and enjoying) Sierra DeMulder, Haley Lasche, Cary Waterman, and Richard Robbins reading at a Maeve's Session, while I sat hoping that he would get up and read as part of the open mic. No dice.

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Lit Lyfe column transitioning from weekly to occasional publication

By Courtney Algeo, Lit Lyfe

Dear beloved cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul,

It is with heavy hands that I type this letter to you.

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Literary exchange (and rivalry) between Duluth and the Twin Cities heats up

By Courtney Algeo, Lit Lyfe

On Saturday, July 28, I got to find out first-hand how beautiful Duluth is. Recently John Jodzio, friend and author (published at Paper Darts, where I work as the editorial director), was awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant to create a series of literary readings in four Greater Minnesota cities. In June, for the first of the four events, Jodzio took Twin Cities authors Eric Vrooman, Dennis Cass, and Maggie Ryan Sandford out to St. Cloud for a reading as part of the Granite City Reading Series to perform with local authors Rex Veeder, Jeff Carmack, and Steve Klepetar. Over the last weekend in July, Jodzio invited some Twin Cities writers (including me) to Duluth for the second outstate reading, this time as part of the Zenith City Tales storytelling series at Teatro Zuccone. Performing along with Sandford, Cass, Jodzio, and me were talented Duluth authors Lucie Amundsen, Ryan Vine, Andy Bennett, and Luis Jenkins.

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Angus McLinn's "Your Heart Really Does Explode": Twisted spiritualism from Cloud City Press

By Courtney Algeo, Lit Lyfe

Color me not-all-that-surprised but Cloud City Press is still at it. Following up their first two publications—Filmpocalypse and Dragons Are Hung (authored by previous interview subjects Luke Marcott and Oliver St. John, respectively)—with Your Heart Really Does Explode, written by Cloud City staff editor Angus McLinn, the chapbook press is kicking ass with the help of names. Vouching for this merry band of young writers are the likes of John Jodzio, Peter Bognanni, and Ethan Rutherford, who have all vetted the newest offering from the chapbook publishers.

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Field of Reads at the Walker Art Center: If you build it up, you'll be bummed

By Courtney Algeo, Lit Lyfe

Expectations are weird. A natural occurrence of that silly brain of ours, having them often doesn't do any good at all. Mostly, having expectations just leads to unwarranted disappointment about things that we could have made the most of if we'd approached them with no expectations and a good attitude. Having Great Expectations can lead to falling in love with a girl who has been trained to never requite that love.

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