With a visit from C-SPAN2’s Book TV Bus… (Sept. 14 & 15)
Note: (downtown) omaha lit fest events at the Omaha Public Library are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. The Joslyn Art Museum and Film Streams charge admission for their lit fest-related events/exhibits. Books by lit fest authors available for sale at library, courtesy of The Bookworm (Countryside Village, 87th and Pacific streets)
*Now through Sept. 16 @ Joslyn Art Museum (2200 Dodge St.):
Stan Strembicki: The Lost Library
In New Orleans, photographer Stan Strembicki focused his attention on objects in the debris field following Hurricane Katrina, particularly storm-lost photo albums, wedding albums, and snapshots. He found the library of Alfred Lawless High School, which had filled with flood water; one of its walls had burst, scattering books across an adjacent field. Over the course of a year, Strembicki photographed the books as they began to dissolve into the landscape.
Photograph by Stan Strembicki (American, born 1952), Untitled, from the Lost Library Portfolio, 2006, color photograph, Museum Purchase with funds from the James Art Acquisitions Fund, 2007
*Aug. 31-Oct. 5 @ Film Streams (1340 Webster St.):
Adaptation: a repertory series of cinematic adaptations of books
Lady Chatterley
(A new French adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s own alternate version of his classic novel.)
Aug. 31-Sept. 13
The Shining
(Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of the Stephen King novel, starring Jack Nicholson.)
Saturday, September 1: 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm
Sunday, September 2: 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm
Monday, September 3: 4pm, 7pm, 10pm
An Angel at My Table
(Jane Campion’s portrait of New Zealand author Janet Frame)
Tuesday, September 4: 4pm, 7:15pm
Wednesday, September 5: 4pm, 7:15pm
Thursday, September 6: 4pm, 7:15pm
Friday, September 7: 4pm, 7:15pm
Double Indemnity
(The classic film noir treatment of James M. Cain pulp, starring Barbara Stanwyck)
Saturday, September 8: 1pm, 3:15pm, 5:30pm, 8pm
Sunday, September 9: 1pm, 3:15pm, 5:30pm, 8pm
Monday, September 10: 3:15pm, 5:30pm, 8pm
Tuesday, September 11: 3:15pm, 5:30pm, 8pm
Naked Lunch
(David Cronenberg’s biographical interpretation of the classic Beat novel.)
Wednesday, September 12: 5:30pm, 8:30pm
Thursday, September 13: 5:30pm, 8:30pm
Friday, September 14: 4pm, 7pm, 10:30pm
Rosemary’s Baby
(Ira Levin’s comic potboiler turned classic horror a la Roman Polanski.)
Saturday, September 15: 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm
Sunday, September 16: 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm
Monday, September 17: 4pm, 7pm
The Third Man
(Graham Greene wrote his novel version after he wrote the screenplay for this Carol Reed/Orson Welles collaboration.)
Tuesday, September 18: 5pm, 7pm, 9pmWednesday, September 19: 5pm, 7pm, 9pm
Thursday, September 20: 5pm, 7pm, 9pm
Friday, September 21: 5pm, 7pm, 9pm
East of Eden
(John Steinbeck, Elia Kazan, and Jimmy Dean.)
Saturday, September 22: 12pm, 2:30pm, 5pm, 7:30pm, 10pm
Sunday, September 23: 12pm, 2:30pm, 5pm, 7:30pm, 10pm
Monday, September 24: 5pm, 7:30pm
Tuesday, September 25: 5pm, 7:30pm
Short Cuts
(Robert Altman interweaves thematically linked short stories by Raymond Carver.)
Wednesday, September 26: 4pm, 8pm
Thursday, September 27: 4pm, 8pm
Friday, September 28: 4pm, 8pm
Walkabout
(Nicolas Roeg’s portrait of the Australian wilderness, based on a novel by James Vance Marshall.)
Saturday, September 29: 1pm, 3:15pm, 5:30pm, 8pm
Sunday, September 30th: 1pm, 3:15pm, 5:30pm, 8pm
Monday, October 1: 5:30pm, 8pm
Masculin Feminin
(Godard does de Maupassant.)
Tuesday, October 2: 5:30pm, 8pm
Wednesday, October 3: 5:30pm, 8pm
Thursday, October 4: 5:30pm, 8pm
The Film Streams Adaptations Series is made possible by the Nebraska Arts Council.
*September 13
Chapter One : Occam's Razor, Excerpts from The Fairy Tales of Mistress Goat Delilah.
A Photographic Exhibition, text and images by Frances Skyelar Hawkins (based on a fairy tale of her own devising).
Reception: 7 pm -10 pm.
The Moving Image Gallery, 11th and Jones
*September 14
10 am
Omaha Public Library, W. Dale Clark branch, 215 S. 15th (15th and Farnam)
Announcement of Omaha Reads citywide book club picks. Featuring a dance performance on 14th Street, by UNO’s The Moving Company, directed by Josie Metal-Corbin.
11 am – 5 pm
Poets in the Gallery
Omaha Public Library, W. Dale Clark branch, 215 S. 15th (15th and Farnam)
Including readings by contributors to Nebraska Presence: The State of Poetry, a forthcoming anthology of eighty Nebraska poets.
11 am Mel Krutz
11:20 Laural Winter
11:40 Todd Robinson
Noon Marge Saiser
12:20 Liz Kay
12:40 Sarah McKinstry-Brown
1 Matt Mason
1:20 Denise Banker
1:40 Mary Kay Stillwell
2 Greg Kosmicki
2:20 Brian Bengston
2:40 Michael Catherwood
3 Steve Langan
3:20 Mark Scott
3:40 Susan Aizenberg
4 Anthony Hawley
4:20 Paul Dickey
4:40 Bruce Koborg
5:00 Twyla Hansen
7 pm
Screening of David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch (@ Film Streams, $), followed by the panel discussion, Liquor, Junk, Madness, and the Underwood Portable: The Portrait of the Author in Film.
Featuring: Debra Di Blasi, Ron Hogan, Rivkah Sass, Gerald Shapiro, Timothy Schaffert.
*September 15
[All panel discussions on the Forbidden Fourth Floor of the Omaha Public Library, W. Dale Clark branch, 14th and Farnam, unless otherwise noted.]
Two panel discussions per hour throughout the day… choose wisely…
10 am
Angels on the Head of a Pen: The Panel about Writing to Inspire. The conflicts, delights, and challenges of writing to inspire, and publishing faith-based literature in these hectic times.
Featuring: Mary Connealy, Meredith Efken, John Price, Cyndy Salzmann.
Screening of Omaha Reads short film at Omaha Public Library, followed by discussion with choreographer Josie Metal-Corbin and filmmaker Jeff Curtis, who will talk about the nature of adapting literature into dance performance.
11 am
Desperadas: Bad Girls of the Plains A preview of the “Death, Murder, and Mayhem on the Plains” conference of April 2008.
Featuring: Cindy Bruneteau, Kira Gale, Susan Maher, Amelia M.L. Montes.
Literary Failure & Literary Feuds: The Panel about Anxiety. The highs and lows, the glamour and the gutter, of the literary life.
Featuring: Poe Ballantine, Sean Doolittle, Dallas Hudgens, Katie Kelly, John McNally.
Noon
Up From the Gutter: How to Cultivate a Cult Following. Writers discuss how they get attention for their work.
Featuring: Poe Ballantine, Lauren Cerand, Monica Drake, Dallas Hudgens, Aaron Raz Link, Jack Moskovitz.
1 pm
The Devil in Miss Jones: The Panel about Women Writing on the Edge. What possesses women writers to write with such vitriol, to spew such spit and vinegar, to be so utterly… unladylike?
Featuring: Monica Drake, Jessica Kennison, Andrea Portes, Carolyn Turgeon.
Save Your Soul: Did Literature Survive the 20th Century? Book reviewers, lit journal editors, and zine publishers talk about cultural commentary, and answer the existential question: Is it truly hip to be square?
Featuring: Sarah Dodson, Amy Guth, Jonathan Messinger, Ragdoll, Jonathan Segura, Marcus Tegtmeier.
2 pm
The Art of Grave Robbing: The Panel about Writing and History. Drawing from the past can lead to either compelling fiction and nonfiction or hours of fruitless research. What makes for a successful portrait of history?
Featuring: Jonis Agee, Amy Knox Brown, Melanie Hauser, Michael Pritchett, Otis Twelve, Annasue McCleave Wilson.
The Grimm Reality: The Panel about Reinventing the Fairy Tale. Contemporary authors inspired by classical tales. Includes a discussion of the new anthology, Brothers and Beasts: An Anthology of Men on Fairy Tales.
Featuring: Susan Aizenberg, Debra Di Blasi, Timothy Schaffert, Carolyn Turgeon,
3 pm
Sex in the Library: The Panel about Canoodling on the Page. Writers talk candidly about fiction and nonfiction inspired by acts of love and lust.
Featuring: Debra Di Blasi, Holly Hollenbeck, Dallas Hudgens, Anna Monardo, David Philip Mullins, Laural Winter.
Truth and Dare: The Panel about Turning Your Life into a Book. Memoirists, novelists, and poets discuss the act of incorporating intimate life details into nonfiction and fiction.
Featuring: Kiara Brinkman, Maud Casey, Aaron Raz Link, Amelia M.L. Montes, Hilda Raz.
4 pm
Living Blue in the Red States: The Panel about Politics. Inspired by the new anthology, Living Blue in the Red States, from the University of Nebraska Press.
Featuring: Jonis Agee, Poe Ballantine, Jeff Koterba, Margaret Rine, Rivkah Sass.
Don’t You Look Swell!: The Panel about Writing about Fashion. Writing about style with flair for magazines and blogs.
Featuring: Megan Berry Barlow, Lauren Cerand, Wanda Ewing, Alice Kim, Carolyn Turgeon.
6:30 pm-10 pm
The End, Part Three: the (downtown) omaha lit fest closing party
@ Omaha Public Library, W. Dale Clark branch, Forbidden Fourth Floor (14th and Farnam)
Suggested donation of $10
Featuring:
--Wine and light eats, and an opportunity to view and purchase the first in the (downtown) omaha lit fest print series; six new prints by area printmakers, inspired by the lit fest.
--The premiere Omaha edition of Chicago’s new literary-improv sensation, The Dollar Store Show, at 9 pm (performance is an additional $1, natch. We’ll pass a hat.)
10 pm
After-party at Nomad Lounge 1013 Jones; cash bar $
*September 16
2-4 pm, Omaha Public Library, W. Dale Clark branch (14th and Farnam)
Reading and book signing by Francisco X. Alarcón, author of ten volumes of poetry, including From the Other Side of Night, and of bilingual books for children. He currently teaches at the University of California, Davis, where he directs the Spanish for Native Speakers Program.