Word Café, held on Thursday evenings at Outdated on Wall Street in Kingston, started the season off last week with a rousing selection of poems by Gerard Malanga. Readers and writers turned out en masse to listen and then do a writing exercise, which was reported by the workshop host, Nina Shengold, to have been “knockout” stuff.
A great start to the season – one that runs through November 19 with local authors Nelly Reifler, Barbara Ungar and Stuart Bartow, Lisa A. Phillips, Owen P. King, Paul Russell, Mary Louise Wilson, Elisa Albert, Nicole Quinn, Jenny Milchman and Jeffrey Davis showing up to read from their works, talk about the craft of writing and interact with the audience. Check the Word Café website for more about each of these writers, including the focus of their upcoming talks.
Nelly Reifler (pictured above) will appear at the Word Café this Thursday, September 17, from 6:30-8 p.m. The Saugerties writer teaches in the M.F.A. program at Sarah Lawrence College and is the author of a story collection, See Through, and a novel, Elect H. Mouse State Judge. Her stories have most recently appeared in Story, Tweeds, The Atlas Review and Lucky Peach, and her newest essays may be read online at Farrar, Straus & Giroux’s Work in Progress blog and at The Weeklings.
And don’t forget: The last session on December 3 will be another Word Café Salon – an open-mic night to wrap up the series.
Word Café, Thursday evenings through December 3 (skipping October 8 & November 26), 6:30 p.m., $15/class, $125/series, teens/college students free, Outdated: An Antique Café, 314 Wall Street, Kingston; www.wordcafe.us.
Join the family! 
