Catching Up With Kevin McKelvey

Kevin McKelvey (MFA '04, poetry) sends the following news about what he's up to next week at the Spirit & Place Festival in Indianapolis:
Spirit&Place Festival

I'm fortunate enough to be reading or presenting at three Spirit & Place Festival events next week, and I hope you can make it to one (or all!) of them. This is an amazing festival whose themes are at the center of my creative work and community involvement, so I'm honored to be a part.

On Tuesday, November 10, I'll be reading at "Nature Awakens Creativity," which includes art, music, and writing inspired by Central Indiana Land Trust nature preserves. My poem "Hemlock Cliffs, December 2007" will have improvisational accompaniment by the Indianapolis Women's Chorus. The event is 7-9 p.m. at the Indianapolis Art Center
Creativity

On Thursday, November 12, I'll be pitching an idea at Pecha Kucha night at the IMA to start an independent book publisher, Pogue's Run Press, in Indianapolis. 10 presenters, and one of them walks away with a $10,000 check to get started. Our focus will be on making books for kids by kids with Second Story and on publishing place-based writing, as well as graphic novels and innovative collaborations with Big Car. Bring your friends. 9-11 p.m at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. A free ticket is required, which you can reserve through the IMA. There's a bar. A good audience helps my presentation (20 slides for 20 seconds each for a total of 6:40). Go to the bar before or after my presentation, not during.
Pecha Kucha

And on Friday , November 13, I'm reading my "Barns" essay along with other Spirit & Place Festival essayists as part of the Made for Each Other event at the Wheeler Arts Community. The reading starts at 7:30, Jim Walker will emcee and facilitate a Q&A at the end, and local band Tonas Triad will play at intermission and after the reading. Second Story is partnering on this, and Big Car and Made for Each Other will have two photography shows, one with cell phone pictures and another with photos shot with disposable cameras by Fountain Square residents. This should be a great Friday night.
Event
Essays

And one final pitch: my chapbook, "Dream Wilderness" is available for pre-order. (Scroll down to me). These poems started in graduate school and lived in the woods for awhile, so I'm happy to see them in print soon.
Finishing Line Press

Congrats, KMK, on all this activity!