Park Ridge, Il. Alum to read from her new book, Imperfect Tense

Park Ridge, Il. Alum to read from her new book, Imperfect Tense

Author Event Features Poetry about the Struggles to acquire a second language.

Chicago, Il. (November 2016) – On Thursday, November 3, 2016, City Lit Books invites you to hear a Chicagoland native read from her new book, Imperfect Tense. Designed specifically to celebrate border crossings of all kinds, and share the experiences of teaching and learning second languages. The event is free and open to the public. It will take place at 630pm, City Lit Books 2523 N. Kedzie Blvd. Chicago, IL 60647.

Imperfect Tense is a meditation on language. The first section delves into Americans’ pursuit of Spanish as a second language. Her poems take the literal grammar of the “imperfect” as a metaphor for the language acquisition process. The second section revolves around experiences as an English language and poetry teacher working with immigrant communities. The final section focuses on the languages of family.

· Read an excerpt from Imperfect Tense here.

· Watch Misha reading “Mother Less, Mother More” from Imperfect Tense here.

Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor is a graduate of Maine East High School in Parkridge, Il. and the author of the just-released book of poems, Imperfect Tense. Cahnmann-Taylor is the winner of Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Prizes and a Leeway Poetry Grant, a Fulbright award, and has co-authored two additional books,, Teachers Act Up: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities Through Theatre and Arts-Based Research in Education. Professor of TESOL & World Language Education at UGA, she has published numerous articles and poetry about language learning, sustainable or fragile states of bilingualism, and teacher education. Her poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Women’s Quarterly Review, Cream City Review, Barrow Street, Puerto Del Sol, Mom Egg, and many other literary homes. She judges the annual Anthropology & Humanism poetry contest and is the editor of the ethnographic poetry section. In October 2015 she won the Beckman Award given to Professors Who Inspire. Her website is http://teachersactup.com

FB event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1200442420016939/

Bookstore link: http://www.citylitbooks.com/event/melisa-cahnmann-taylor-author-imperfect-tense

Reviews:

“Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor’s Imperfect Tense asks questions of language in the way a philosopher must ask questions of morality. Cahnmann-Taylor is a poet of ethics, using her powers to explore the meanings of all things we take for granted. The formal poems in this collection stress the duty of the poet to subvert and to perfect the subversion.”

—Jericho Brown, author of Please and The New Testament

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“Gender made it worse, “ writes Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, referring not only to sexual nature but, more implicitly, to the grammar that attempts to inscribe it. Her poems underscore political, linguistic and romantic turbulence with wisdom, humor, and yes, craft. Imperfect Tense suspends us in multiple layers of meaning and introduces us to a poet—“what a broken world I am” —of moral depth and consequence.”

—Michael Waters, author of Gospel Night and Darling Vulgarity

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“Learning a second language anchors this collection and serves as a metaphor for living in community with others. ‘Survival’s a trade’ one speaker declares, three words that yoke the ‘Southern transplant’ to international students, refugees and undocumented youth. The language of family life—‘The rabbi says we never own our sons./ On loan these boys like never-ending books’ —reveals the poet’s fine ear and compassion for our ‘imperfect’ world.”

—Robin Becker, author of Tiger Heron

For more book buzz click here.

Event date:

Thursday, November 3, 2016 - 6:30pm

Event address:

City Lit Books

2523 N. Kedzie Blvd.

Chicago, IL 60647