Events

Sunday, January 29, 2:00pm.
Cancer Healing Odyssey reading with Sarto Schickel.
In 2007 Sarto Schickel’s wife Sun Hee was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer. Thus began an incredible odyssey for Sun Hee, Sarto and their daughters Arianna and Julianna. Sun Hee used both conventional and alternative medicine with an embrace of Macrobiotic and Gerson methods including a trip to Mexico. Four and a half years later Sun Hee is living a normal life, a rare outcome in medical history. Sarto Schickel lives in Philadelphia and is a partner in an architecture and design firm. He is a graduate of Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science degree and the University of Pennsylvania with Masters in Architecture. 

Tuesday, January 31, 7:00pm.
Women of the World Book Club with Maleka Fruean.
We are a book club that reads international and multicultural women writers, both fiction and non-fiction. We meet the last Tuesdays of the month at 7:00pm. January's Book: Create Dangerously by Edwidge Danticat.

Saturday, February 4, 3:00-4:00pm.
Goddard College Sustainability Programs Information Session.
Are you looking for a graduate program to explore your budding social entrepreneurial skills? Do you want to go back to school for your master's, but feel like you can't leave your job in this economy? Would you like to travel to beautiful, picturesque Vermont once every six months? Are you a mom or dad who's looking to do something innovative, creative, community and environmentally minded, with eventual income-generating outcomes, while still caring for your children? If you answered yes to any of these questions, please join an information session on: BA in Sustainability; or MA in Sustainable Business and Communities. The application fee for programs is waived if you attend this event. Hosted by Allison Budschalow in the Community Room. For information email allison@coachtrainchange.com.

Friday, February 10, 7:00pm-9:00pm.
Nor'easter Open hosted by Quincy Scott Jones.
A new monthly open mic brought to you by Quincy Scott Jones and Nina Sharma Jones, founders of the Nor’easter Exchange, a floating literary reading series that brings together multicultural writers from the tri-state area to meet, read and collaborate. The Nor’easter Open will be held the second Friday of each month and welcome two featured readers followed by an open mic. The featured readers for this month’s open are incredible poets and Philadelphia natives Yolanda Wisher and Dan Schall. Please arrive at least 15 minutes early (6:45pm) for the open mic to sign up, and allot 3 minutes for your reading. For more information about the Nor'easter Exchange check out the series blog.

Yolanda Wisher received a B.A. in English/Black Studies from Lafayette College and a M.A. in Creative Writing/Poetry from Temple University. In 1999, she was named the first poet laureate of Montgomery County. A Cave Canem fellow and Leeway Foundation Art and Change Award recipient, her poems have appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ploughshares, The Fence Reader, and Gathering Ground. During a decade of teaching at Germantown Friends School, Wisher hosted a poetry radio show on Gtown Radio and founded the Germantown Poetry Festival. She currently heads the art education department at the Mural Arts Program.

Dan "the Man" Schall teaches at Arcadia University and is the Director of the University's Writing Center. He is a scholar by day, and a poet by night (or is it the other way around?). He is a founding member of the Assassin's Guild Writing Group and is currently an editor for Obsession Literary Magazine. He has forthcoming publications in xcp streetnotes and Moria Poetry Journal, and is currently working on a collection of poems titled SPACE WITHIN LINE NOT DEDICATED: Private Moments in Public.

Saturday, February 11, 1:00pm.
One Lucky Pound Puppy reading with Sondra Dankel.
Come along as author Sondra Dankel tells the story of One Lucky Pound Puppy! From being alone and scared in an animal shelter, to having a cozy spot in the backyard, Lucky manages to rise through the ranks of puppy life thanks to his loving pet parents. Even though he's thankful, he still gets into plenty of tail-wagging mischief! From barking to get attention to taking the family on a wild-goose chase, you'll never be bored with Lucky around. Recommended for pet lovers and children ages 8-12.

Sunday, February 12, 2:00pm.
Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina lecture & signing with author Brenda Dixon Gottschild.
The personal and professional histories of Joan Myers Brown reflect both the hardships and the accomplishments of African Americans in the artistic and social developments through the twentieth century and into the new millennium. Dixon Gottschild deftly uses Brown's career as the fulcrum to leverage an exploration of the connection between performance, society, and race—beginning with Brown's predecessors in the 1920s—and a concert dance tradition that has had no previous voice to tell its story from the inside out. Brenda Dixon Gottschild is Professor Emerita of Dance Studies at Temple University and a former consultant/writer for Dance Magazine. She is the author of Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance, Waltzing in the Dark, and The Black Dancing Body.

Friday, February 17, 7:00pm.
Readings and Panel Discussion with Playpen Writers Group.
Playpen Writers Group was founded in 1989 by Joyce Eisenberg and has been supporting writers and the creative process for over 20 years! Current members of the group gather to read from their latest works and discuss the benefits of forming a writers group to help foster community and creative expression. Author and Playpen member Elise Seyfried hosts the event which includes a brief panel discussion and Q&A.

Underway: Reflections on Everyday Grace is Elise Seyfried's second collection of humorous essays that celebrate the spiritual in the "everydays." Here are the further adventures of Elise, her husband and five kids, her church family and friends. "Underway" is a nautical term meaning "in progress, out to sea." We are, each of us, underway, with our own daily adventures and unknown challenges ahead--but Elise reminds us that God's grace travels with us, always. A portion of the proceeds from sales of this book will benefit Lutheran World Relief.

Robin Lentz Worgan will be reading from her book, Journaling Away Mommy's Grief: A Book and A Journal for Mothers after Stillbirth or Infant Loss published in collaboration with Centering Corporation. Robin has taught school, tutored and contributed poems and articles to various publications, and leads Our Silent Angels, a local organization that offers guidance and support to women who have lost babies. She will be leading two six-week Infant Loss Journaling workshops at Musehouse in Chestnut Hill that will run from March to June. Robin lives in Flourtown with her husband and four children.

For more than 20 years, award-winning writer Ellen Scolnic's features and humorous essays have appeared in local and national publications including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Parents magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, Parents Express, Main Line Life and more. She's the co-author with Joyce Eisenberg of the Dictionary of Jewish Words, a best-selling guide to everything Jewish holidays. Together, they write, speak and blog as The Word Mavens.

Lini S. Kadaba is an award-winning writer with more than 25 years of experience in daily and features journalism. In April 2010, she left the Philadelphia Inquirer, her first job out of grad school, for her sanity and to pursue other projects, including sporadic blogging at www.myyearasaladyofleisure.blogspot.com, freelance writing for alumni magazines and university public relations. She also is working on her first novel. Lini holds a master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and lives in Newtown Square, PA, with her husband and teenage son.

Joyce Eisenberg is an author and editor with more than 25 years of experience. Though she’s written about topics ranging from aging to x-rays, she’s most passionate about travel and topics of Jewish interest. She loves to edit – whether it‘s a memoir or a magazine article – and to write personal essays. She founded Playpen Writers’ Group in 1989 and is the co-author with Ellen Scolnic of the Dictionary of Jewish Words, a best-selling guide to everything Jewish holidays. Together, they write, speak and blog as The Word Mavens.

Saturday, February 18, 5:00pm.
Poetry Reading with Ryan Eckes and Quincy Scott Jones.
Poets and Renaissance men Ryan Eckes and Quincy Scott Jones land at the Marble to mix it up in verse. They’ll take on tricksters, mythology, Thomas Paine and Mister Softee among other themes as they get to droppin’ serious science.

Ryan Eckes was born in Northeast Philadelphia in 1979. He wrote Old News (Furniture Press, 2011) from the spring of 2008 to the spring of 2009 in South Philadelphia, where he continues to reside. More of his poetry can be found in the book when i come here (Plan B Press, 2007), on his blog, and in various journals. Along with Stan Mir, he organizes the Chapter & Verse Reading Series. He works as an adjunct English professor at Temple University and other colleges.

Quincy Scott Jones earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, a master’s degree from Temple University, and $100 once working as a supermarket clown. His work has been or is forthcoming in African American Review, Journal of Pan African Studies, Water~Stone Review, California Quarterly, Let Loose on the World: Celebrating Amiri Baraka at 75, and the anthology From Where We Sit: Black Writers Write Black Youth. Since 2006 he has taught “Poetry on Page and Stage,” a course exploring the idea of poetry as live performance as well as a performance on the page. With Nina Sharma Jones, he co-created the Nor’easter Exchange: a multicultural, multi-city reading series. His first book, The T-Bone Series, was published by Whirlwind Press in 2009.

Thursday, February 23, 7:00pm.
Big Blue Young Adult Book Discussion
An open discussion group for adults who read YA and teens who like to talk about books. We meet the fourth Thursdays of the month at 7:00pm. February's Book: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.

Friday, February 24, 7:15pm.
Poetry Aloud & Alive. Featuring: Barry Farber.
Everyone's favorite neighborhood poetry gathering. Hosted by local poet Mike Cohen, with a featured reader and an open reading to follow.

Saturday, February 25 and Sunday, February 26, 1:00-4:00pm.
The Playwright's Toolbox weekend workshop with Merridith Allen.
Ever dream of writing for the stage? This workshop will show you how! By exploring the nuts and bolts of playwriting, theatrical storytelling will become accessible and fun. Topics covered will include understanding dramatic structure, building character, rewriting, and generating ideas that make good plays. We will also do in-class exercises, and discuss examples of modern short plays. By weekend's end, participants will have all the tools they need to begin working on the play they've always wanted to create.

Merridith Allen is an award-winning playwright from New York City. Her plays have been produced by The Manhattan Repertory Theatre, The Provincetown Theater, The Hudson Guild Theatre, and The Dorothy Strelsin Theatre as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival. Her play, The House of Fallen Snow, was a finalist in The Strawberry International One-Act Festival, and will be published next year. Other publication credits include a ten minute play in Northern Light, a literary journal through Edinburgh University, and work featured in the upcoming 2011-2012 Best Women's Stage Monologues and Scenes, through Smith & Kraus publishers.

To register contact Minter Krotzer at minterk@gmail.com. The course fee is $150 (including a $50 deposit required to guarantee a spot). A minimum of 5 people is required for the workshop to run.

Tuesday, February 28, 7:00pm.
Women of the World Book Club with Maleka Fruean.
We are a book club that reads international and multicultural women writers, both fiction and non-fiction. We meet the last Tuesdays of the month at 7:00pm. February's Book: The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna.

Wednesday, February 29, 7:15-8:30pm.
Life Stories Book Group.
Hosted by local writer Minter Krotzer. The Life Stories Book Group is designed for writers but all are welcome. We will read and discuss mostly memoirs, both contemporary and classic, focusing on the writing and structure as well as content and narrative. We will meet the last Wednesdays of the month. February's Book: Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje.

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Classes at Big Blue Marble

Please see our Classes page for information on writing and other classes.

Just For Kids

Fridays, 10:30am.
Big Blue Marble Story Time

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