Our authors: Ann Marie Elliott, Ben Tanzer, and Amber Peckham
The Downtown Writers Jam, Vol. 4: Storytellers hosted by The Geeky Press took place at the New Day Meadery in Fountain Square on Wednesday, July 15 from 6:30 – 8 pm.
Not sure what the Jam is? You can read why I started the Jam. Still not convinced? You can read the recap from Vol. 1, Vol. 2, and Vol. 3.
But don’t too tied to the previous format because this time we did things a little bit differently. Since our reading was in an intimate space, we thought it best to have our authors open up about what led them to write their pieces. We had three authors tell the “behind the scenes” story of their work before they read the pieces that had been inspired.
You can watch all the performances at our YouTube page, and see all of our pictures at our Flickr album.
Amber Peckham
The Geeky Press’ own Amber Peckham kicked off the night with two essays from her blog, which we’re hoping she soon turns into a chapbook of some kind. Her first essay, “What My Life-Sized Barbie Did, and Did Not, Teach Me About Rape Culture,” brought the house down.
Ann Marie Elliott
Next up was Ann Marie Elliot, a local actress and aspiring playwright who gave a reading from her two-act play, “Dear Ida.”
Ben Tanzer
One of our very favorite friends from Chicago, Ben Tanzer was in town to read from his latest book, The New York Stories Three Volumes in One Collection.
Vol. 4 Sponsors
The Geeky Press, a loosely-affiliated writers collective and organized by Brad King (me), is driving this show. We host events, we have a writer’s podcast, and we write and publish books. As for the Jam, it takes a village to put on a killer show.
New Day Craft specializes in craft mead and hard cider. Our products are light, refreshing, full of flavor and easily enjoyed.
Our Tasting Room is located in the heart of Fountain Square.
The Indianapolis Literary Pub Crawl was co-founded by Erin Cataldi and Heather Howard in 2013. Both are non-stop readers and hope to help spread their love of reading by supporting Indy Reads, an organization that helps teach literacy to residents of central Indiana.
We’re lucky to have an organization such as Indy Reads Books, which has agreed to let us take over their establishment for a few hours. They host a plethora of amazing events, including the monthly Indy WordLab series
The space is perfect for a night of storytelling. Come prepared to experience an old-school book environment.
Vouched Books has been instrumental in getting the word out, and they’ll be on hand at the event. Whether they are reviewing work on its website, hosting a reading, or selling small press books at one of it’s guerrilla bookstores, the heart of Vouched Books is this: they love small press literature.
Our friend Barbara Shoup who is the executive director of the Indiana Writers Center, a literary hub that hosts workshops, readings, and gatherings, has thrown the support of their organization behind this. You might also want to take a look at the IWC workshops.
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