SpokenWord Paris

Sarah “Sam” Saltiel is a queer nonbinary transmedia artist based in Chicago where she is finishing up a triple major in English, Visual Arts, and Creative Writing. She’s been writing since second grade, when she made her first attempt at writing a book by the title of “Kung Fu Kitty”, about a cheetah with wings that did kung fu. She’s spent the rest of her writing career trying to live up to that high bar, and trying to exercise restraint in not getting a tattoo of every beautiful piece of writing that she encounters. She is currently working on editing a manuscript of a novel, and on editing a tabletop rpg that she designed based on the concepts of anxiety. She believes in making writing as accessible as possible and in breaking down the hierarchy in literature. In both her poetry and prose she experiments with form in efforts to push language to its potential. In her writing, as well as in her art, she examines the body in its relationship to the self and she delves into themes of gender, loneliness, and mental health. Her publications include “A Manual to Understanding Your Breath, Curing Your Anxiety, and Other Faux Sciences” in Duende, “This is How You Lose Him” in Memoryhouse Magazine, “Your Trial” in Sliced Bread Magazine, A Year’s Worth of Oxygen in Récolte Poetry Anthology, and “A Thousand Ways to Die on a Greyhound” (Excerpt) in Blacklight Magazine.

Nina Zivancevic –Poet, essayist, fiction writer, playwright, art critic, translator and contributing editor to NY ARTS magazine from Paris, Serbian-born Nina Zivancevic has published 12 books of poetry. She has also written three books of short stories, two novels and a book of essays on Milosh Crnjanski (her doctoral thesis) published in Paris, New York and Belgrade. The recipient of three literary awards, a former assistant and secretary to Allen Ginsberg, she has also edited and participated in numerous anthologies of contemporary world poetry.
As editor and  correspondent she has contributed to New York Arts Magazine, Modern Painters, American Book Review, East Village Eye, Republique de lettres. She has lectured at Naropa University, New York University, the Harriman Institute and St.John’s University in the U.S., she has taught English language and literature at La Sorbonne ( Paris I and V) and the History of Avant-garde Theatre at Paris 8 University in France and at numerous universities and colleges in Europe.
She has actively worked for theatre and radio: 4 of her plays were performed and emitted in the U.S. and Great Britain.  In New York she had worked with the “Living Theatre” and the members of the “Wooster Group”.  She lives and works in Paris.

Emily RK is a writer, translator and journalist who has been living in Paris for 8 years. She started writing poetry at 11 years old, but has never sought to publish her work. Instead, she gets her poetry rocks off by co-hosting the weekly Paris Lit Up open mic, running literary tours in Europe and acting as an editor for the annual PLU magazine, now in its fifth year. Emily has a Bachelor of Arts in English and French Literature from the University of Warwick, UK, a Masters in Comparative French and English Literature from the Sorbonne – with a focus on les poètes maudits – and a beagle.

steve dalachinsky (in my words and not his) is a an American treasure. Active in the poetry, music, art, and free jazz scene, his work has appeared extensively in journals on & off line  He has written liner notes for the CDs of many well-known recording artists His 1999 CD, Incomplete Direction (Knitting Factory Records), a collection of his poetry read in collaboration with various musicians, garnered wide attention and praise. He has written countless books, made almost as many recordings– among them– The Final Nite (complete notes from a Charles Gayle Notebook, Ugly Duckling Presse 2006) which won the 2007 Josephine Miles PEN National Book Award. ). He has read throughout the N.Y. area, the U.S., Japan and Europe, including France and Germany. He has participated in the Poetry Biennial Festival of Val de Marne, the Sons d’Hiver Festival of Paris and the Grim Festival in Marseilles. He is a contributing writer to the Brooklyn Rail. He has recently been nominated for a PEN Oakland Lifetime Achievement Award though he’s not sure why. He’d like you to know that he is born in Brooklyn and died in Montmartre. I think he likes it here.

Andy Phillips is a poet, screenwriter, actor, and director. He hails from Louisiana and is currently based in sunny Los Angeles after many long New York City winters. This summer he published New York, a collection of poetry reflecting on his time and experiences of living in NYC. His first short film, Words, screened at festivals worldwide including Festival De Cannes Court Métrage, London’s InShort Film Festival, and NewFilmmakers New York. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University and The Actors Studio, MFA.

Theme – The Art of Love

Guest – Kristina Vaughan

Kristina has been a regular at SpokenWord for the last 4 years as well as performing at the other poetry and music open mics in Paris.

Now she’s crowdfunding to record her first album. If you want to get a copy by contributing, here’s the link.

More about her music here on her website.

Prince Emagine, a contractor by day and multi talented artist by night in the boroughs of New York. Born In Baltimore, Maryland, but raised in the diverse cities of Georgia where he picked up most of his talents. He has walked the journey of an artist for 21 years, starting at the age of 7 in the field of painting. He now performs, expressing his thoughts through singing, dancing, and poetry. Prince Emagine is currently working on a music album and art exhibits to be displayed in the coming New Year.  You can reach him at enroorel@yahoo.com or find him and his work through social media. Instagram/Facebook: Prince Emagine

Jude Cowan Montague is an artist, writer and composer with a multi-media practice that crosses disciplines. She is active in new printmaking, installation, poetry, prose fiction, film history, vocal work and performance. She is known for her innovative work with international news agency output. This practice developed while working as an archivist for the Reuters Television Archive. Her first collection For the Messengers (Donut Press 2011) re-formed edits from the Reuters output during 2008 as individual poems. Her album The Leidenfrost Effect (Folkwit Records 2015) was co-composed with Dutch producer Wim Oudijk and reimagines quirky stories from the Reuters Life! feed. She is a broadcaster and curates and hosts The News Agents a weekly hybrid news-arts show on Resonance 104.4 FM. Her latest book ‘The Originals’ is out on Hesterglock Press.