Gil Ott Tribute & the First Annual Gil Ott Book Award

Sunday, June 3, 4:00 pm
Robin’s Bookstore
108 S.13th St., Philadelphia
215-735-9600

Rained out by the Nor’easter on Tax Day, we’re gonna try this again because it’s worth doing right. Ken Rumble (North Carolina) & Rachel Blau DuPlessis (Italy) will have to join us in spirit this time around, but Linh Dinh has been added to the roster. This makes me especially happy since Gil is the person who first turned me onto Linh’s work.

So let me reiterate: more than any other individual, Gil Ott is the person responsible for the strength of the poetry community in Philadelphia over the past 30 years. His skills as a poet & prose writer, as an editor, publisher & arts administrator, as a community organizer, and as a friend, proved to be a unique combination. A small “d” democrat, Gil led by example, usually denying that he was doing anything other than just being himself.

One way to carry on Gil’s work and his name is to publish a work each year that demonstrates the same principles Gil worked so tirelessly for in life. Tim Peterson is the recipient of the First Annual Gil Ott Book Award for his book Since I Moved In (Chax Press, 2007), selected by series editors Charles Alexander, Eli Goldblatt, Myung Mi Kim and Nathaniel Mackey. It is, as I noted here, a great selection.

We will also be celebrating Gil Ott's work and life directly. Those participating include:

Alicia Askenase
Julia Blumenreich
CAConrad
Linh Dinh
Ryan Eckes
Kristen Gallagher
Eli Goldblatt
Chris McCreary
Jenn McCreary
Bob Perelman
Joshua Schuster
Frank Sherlock
Ron Silliman

Click HERE for Traffic.
Click HERE for The Form of Our Uncertainty, a festschrift for Gil.
Click HERE for 2 audio clips from Frequency, including “The Moon Does Not Run on Gasoline”
Click HERE for audio from a tribute to Gil at Writers House.
Click HERE for a video of Gil.
Click HERE for Gil's last interview.
Click HERE at WIKIPEDIA, they're looking for help creating Gil's page.

This blog note lovingly plagiarized from CAConrad’s Upcoming Events.