OUT LOUD!! You're Invited

You're Invited...

____________________

 

Come hear Shanghai Writers    

Out Loud!! 

 

Featuring

Nichol Bradford

&
Greg Baines  

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Sunday, May 29, 2011

 4:00 pm

 

@

The Glamour Bar

If you ask me what I came to do this in this world,

I, an artist will answer you: I am here to live out loud."

-Emile Zola
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      Ruth Kuguru

The Glamour Bar

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Greetings! 

The time has come for another Out Loud!! Reading.

Come  to the Glamour Bar this Sunday, May 29th, at 4:00pm to listen to Shanghai writers, featuring Nichol Bradford and Greg Baines, share their work.

Have a cup of tea or a glass of wine. Curl up on a comfy chair.  And listen. What better way to spend a late Sunday afternoon?

Please join us.

Readings by Nichol and Greg will be followed by open-mic sessions. (Please note that there will be a limited number of open-mic readers. Come early to sign up. Open-mic readers must be 18 years old to participate. Complete guidelines are listed below.)

I look forward to seeing you.

Ruth Kuguru
Curator
 
P.S. The reading will cost RMB 65 (includes one drink). Please pay at the door.
MEET THE FEATURED READERS
NICHOL BRADFORD
nicholbradford-outloudmay2011Nichol Bradford is based in Shanghai and the Director of Business Operations for Blizzard Entertainment, an award-winning global video game developer. Prior  to relocating to Shanghai, Bradford served as the Senior Global Director of Business Growth for Vivendi Games, reporting to the CEO and focused on global corporate strategy. Previous roles include Global Brand Management at Vivendi Games and  Disney Interactive. She received her MBA from the Wharton School of Business and is a novelist.
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GREG BAINESgregbaines-outloudMay2011

Greg Baines has written several short stories for Cafe Diverso (an online short story collection), and was one of the authors in the HAL short fiction book Party Like It's 1984.   Earlier this month he completed his first long work entitled Disco Mao - a hybrid travel blog/novel combination that  is available on Amazon. He's currently working on a novel set in Shanghai about property, demolition and love across cultures that uses a Chinese classic text as a feature of the work. 

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GUIDELINES FOR OPEN-MIC READERS

Are you a writer living in Shanghai? Interested in reading at the next Out Loud!! on May 29th?

Terrific!

Open-Mic Readers can sign up at the Glamour Bar on the day of the event. You can read up to 650 words (approx. 2 double-spaced pages).

Length will be strictly monitored, so be sure your piece meets the requirements. (NOTE: Ruth will be wielding a large sheep's hook with which she will pull from the stage any reader who attempts to defy the guidelines by reading his or her 650-page memoir!)

Open-mic readers may read fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

All readers must read from a paper copy of their work. Sorry, no laptops.

If you have questions about what to read or have never read to a live audience, feel free to drop me a line at outloud@publishedbygrace.com.

NOTE: Open-mic readers must be over 18 to participate.
TIPS FOR OPEN-MIC READERS

HOW TO CHOOSE A PIECE
THAT WILL GRAB (AND HOLD)
THE AUDIENCE'S ATTENTION

The word limit for the open-mic session is 650 words. This is approximately four minutes of reading time, give or take thirty seconds. Not all pieces of writing work well given these constraints. Here are a few tips for deciding how to choose a piece that will grab (and hold) your audience's attention:

* Choose a piece that stands on its own. (Remember, you're not going to have time to introduce or set up your piece. Choose a piece in which what is happening is clear from the very first word.)

* Choose a scene (a scene has three elements: action, dialogue, setting). In other words, people are talking and doing something in a particular place.

* Choose a piece that starts right at the moment something is happening. (A good place to start if you were Karen Connelly reading from The Lizard Cage would be page 90--"Teza smiles when the metal bolts of the window trap starting clicking.")*

* Choose a funny piece. (A good place to start if you were Amy Krouse Rosenthal reading from the memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life would be in the middle of page 80--"While getting my annual checkup at the doctor's, the nurse says, as she's preparing to draw blood from my arm, You've got great veins. Thanks, I say, as if it were a compliment, as if I had anything to do with the creation of my veins.")**

* Choose a piece about sex. (If you were Audrey Niffenegger reading from The Time Traveler's Wife, you might begin reading in the middle of page 18--"We are in my lobby"--and stop reading on page 20--"She pinches my nipples, hard. The hell with virtue. I've figured out the mechanics of her dress.")***

* Choose a funny piece about sex. (A good place to start if you were Sherman Alexie reading from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian would be near the bottom of page 25--"Most guys, no matter what age, get excited about curves and circles, but not me. Don't get me wrong. I like girls and their curves. And I really like women and their curvier curves.")

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Polish up a journal entry. Maybe a dream, a letter never sent, or a description of a place.

Make sense?

I look forward to hearing your pieces.

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*Connelly, Karen. The Lizard Cage. Vintage, London, 2008.
** Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. Three Rivers Press, New York, 2005.
***Niffenegger, Audrey. The Time Traveler's Wife. Vintage, London, 2005.
****Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2007.
WHY READ OUT LOUD!! 
Glad you asked.  Here are a few reasons:
  • experience the thrill of reading to a live, supportive audience
  • listen to your storytelling voice
  • get inspired
  • have fun! (Yes, I know. It can be a wee bit scary to read to a room full of people, but the more you do it, the more comfortable you get and the more you learn about your own writing.)
  • mingle and talk shop with the Shanghai writing community
  • because your work could be included in the upcoming SHANGHAI OUT LOUD!! publication
  • be the star!
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Curator Ruth Kuguru is, among other things, an author.  Her debut non-fiction anthology Thrive (Grace Publishing) was publishAuthor Pic by Boboed in June, 2010.

With a deep appreciation for writers who find the discipline, determination and inspiration to write, and simply a lover of a good story, Ruth is honored to carry the Out Loud!! torch.