Image by dbbent

Tonight, join all the cool lit kids at the Loft Literary Center for its first-ever Short-Short Salon. The event centers on Marge Barrett's Short-Shorts Contest. Barrett, who also teaches flash fiction at the space, has previously hosted the contest via MinnPost.

Years ago, submissions were originally limited to 800-words maximum. Over the years, however,  this number has been whittled down, and it's currently set at a slim-and-trim 100-word limit. The winning entries from four past contests will be read at this evening's Salon, in addition to this year's top piece.

When searching for the best submissions, Barrett keeps an eye out for pieces that "bring us into the world of the writer instantly. They hit a nerve, a universal theme; we love or hate, laugh or cry with them."

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Photo by Sean Smuda

Paul D. Dickinson

This Friday, Salon Saloon is serving up a double-dose of witty entertainment for its December installment. The evening will feature the Heavy 100, a year-end review exploring 2012's highlights on topics ranging from familiar to obscure. The event is split into two shows, one early and one late, so audiences can catch all the guests by seeing both programs, or just take in half of the festivities.

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Jessica Heart Above Minneapolis, 2011 by Carolyn Lee Anderson

Traditionally, there are two ways to experience a poem. You can either read poetry, usually in a book or literary journal, or you can go to a reading and hear it spoken out loud. "Pilot Car," a new exhibit at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, offers a new way to interact with a poem.
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Photo courtesy Walker Art Center

We stand at the cusp of fall, awaiting the imminent drop in temperature that we all know is coming. So now's the time to squeeze in your last days of basking outdoors. At the Walker's Open Field you can enjoy one these final, precious summer days, as this month's Free First Saturday is hosting several events that are sure to be really fun. Beloved local children's author Nancy Carlson (author of I like Me) will be on hand to read stories and offer activities that combine exercise with reading, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts will host book-making activities, and local yarn bombing squad Swatch Team will be presenting Abundant Harvest.
 
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Photo by Simi Kang

Bao Phi with his daughter

This evening, two acclaimed local poets will be giving a reading sponsored by BIrchbark Books at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Performance poet Bao Phi, author of Sông I Sing, and Ed Bok Lee, winner of the poetry Minnesota Book Award 2012 for Whorled, have known each other for many years. For a brief time they even performed slam together. Recently, they released their poetry books together.

"We both work from an urgency," Phi says. "We both love language, and exploring these things about our identity, how we are perceived, and how that fits into the larger scheme of things."

Phi says he's planning to do a mix of new material and excerpts from his book.

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Photo by Emily Lloyd

"6 Words Minneapolis" at Shoebox Gallery

Emily Lloyd is on a mission to gather six-word memoirs from Minneapolis residents. So far, she has collected about 750, but she knows that's just barely scratching the surface.

The poet-turned-public-artist has been working on her "6 Words Minneapolis" project for about a year, gathering the super-short memoirs through social networking sites, submission posters in coffee shops, and from commenters online. She prints them on black paper with white letters, and has displayed them in libraries, at the Midtown Market, and at the Shoebox Gallery on Chicago Avenue by Lake Street.

This weekend, she'll be installing a new exhibit on Franklin Avenue near Nicollet for the Artists in Storefronts Project. We recently spoke to Lloyd about her project, and what she hopes to achieve by collecting the short-form stories of as many Minneapolis residents as possible.  More »

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Photo courtesy Bosso Poetry Company

Kevin Brixius

​Bosso Poetry Company is the exact opposite of a high-brow, snooty poetry reading. The monthly series takes place at Dusty's Bar in northeast Minneapolis, an old-school, blue-collar dive where the beer is cheap and the sandwiches are to die for.

On Thursday, Bosso is celebrating its third anniversary. The event, started by Kevin Brixius, had a short spout of shows at the Cedar in 2000. However, Jeffrey Skemp, who does a lot of the organizing for the group, says that Bosso started doing its monthly gig at Dusty's at the suggestion of one of the bartenders.

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Photo by Kevin McLaughlin.

Suli Holum in Chimera, one of the pieces from Playlabs 2010.

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