Beyond Baroque 2014 Awardees, Mohr and Lupin
AND RICK LUPERT
The Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center will honor two Los Angeles poetry icons at its 4th Annual Awards Dinner on Sunday, April 6, 2014. Honorees will be William Mohr, distinguished educator, editor and poet, and poet, publisher and host, Rick Lupert. The event will take place at the Church in Ocean Park, 235 Hill St., starting at 6:00 p.m. Full Press Release below
Beyond Baroque’s Annual Awards dinner is becoming a major event on the Los Angeles literary calendar, and we invite you to participate in this landmark event by attending the dinner and/or showing your support for this year’s recipients by taking out a congratulatory ad in the Awards Dinner Program book.
Dinner will take place at The Church in Ocean Park, 235 Hill Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405
Free Parking is located a few blocks away on 4th Street, just south of Hill.
Doors at 5:45 | Cocktails at 6:00 | Dinner at 6:30 | Awards Ceremony at 8:00 PM
Emcee Brendan Constantine
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
January 2, 2014
BEYOND BAROQUE HONORS POETS WILLIAM MOHR AND RICK LUPERT AT THE 4TH ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER, SUNDAY, APRIL 6, 2014 AT THE CHURCH IN OCEAN PARK
Beyond Baroque is pleased to announce that it will be honoring poet and educator William Mohr, and poet and publisher Rick Lupert with awards for their dedicated service to the craft of poetry at its 4th Annual Awards Dinner at the Church in Ocean Park on Sunday, April 6, 2014. The awards show was moved from its summer timeframe to April in order to dovetail the celebration into Beyond Baroque’s National Poetry Month programming.
Rick Lupert will receive the Distinguished Service Award. Previous recipients include S.A. Griffin, Amélie Frank, and Mike Sonksen. The award is given to a Los Angeles based poet who has inspired public interest in poetry through his or her good works, and raised the pursuit and practice of poetry to new heights. Two-time Pushcart Prize nominated poet Rick Lupert has been involved in the Los Angeles poetry community since 1990. He served for two years as a co-director of the Valley Contemporary Poets, a non profit organization that produces readings and publications out of the San Fernando Valley. He has hosted the long running Cobalt Café reading series in Canoga Park since 1994 and is regularly featured at venues throughout Southern California. Lupert also created and maintains the Poetry Super Highway, an online resource and publication site for poets (PoetrySuperHighway.com). Currently, Rick works as a music teacher at synagogues in Southern California, and as a graphic art and web designer for anyone who would like to help pay his mortgage.
William Mohr will receive the George Drury Smith Award, named after the founder of Beyond Baroque. Previous recipients include David St. John, Wanda Coleman, and Eloise Klein Healy. The award is given to a Los Angeles based poet whose work has raised the profile of poetry outside the bounds of Los Angeles, and has brought widespread attention to the craft of poetry in Los Angeles. Poet, editor, publisher, scholar, and critic, Bill Mohr is widely recognized as one of the leading literary activists in Southern California over the past 40 years. His poems, prose poems, and creative prose have appeared in dozens of magazines and over a dozen anthologies, including one of American poets translated into Japanese. In 1993, New Alliance Records released his spoken word collection, Vehemence. He has given featured poetry readings at a multitude of venues, including the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s in New York City, the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University, and the Idyllwild Poetry Festival. As editor and publisher of Momentum Press from 1974 to 1988, he received four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Mohr has a Ph.D. in Literature from the University of California, San Diego and is currently an Associate Professor at California State University, Long Beach. His work as a literary historian has appeared in collections of essays published by Cambridge University Press and Temple University Press. His highly praised account of West Coast poetry, Holdouts: The Los Angeles Poetry Renaissance 1948-1992, was published by the University of Iowa Press in 2011. In 2014 Mantis Editores in Mexico will publish a bi-lingual volume of his poems, translated into Spanish by José Rico and Robin Myers.
The 4th Annual Beyond Baroque Awards Dinner will take place at the Church in Ocean Park in Santa Monica, California, and will once again be Emceed by poet Brendan Constantine. Tickets to the annual dinner are $65 and may be purchased at Eventbrite (4thbbawards.eventbrite.com). This event has sold out every year and advance purchases are recommended. Those wishing to congratulate the honorees are encouraged to purchase a program ad, also available on the Eventbrite page.
Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center is one of the United States' leading independent literary | arts centers and public spaces dedicated to literary and cultural production, interaction, and community building. Founded in 1968, it is based in the old City Hall in Venice Beach, California, near the Pacific Ocean. It offers a program of readings, new music, free workshops, and publishing. It also houses an independent bookstore featuring the largest collection of new poetry available in one place, an archive featuring thousands of books and artworks from local artists with an emphasis on the Venice Beats, and The Mike Kelley Gallery, which exhibits local and international artists.
Press & Interview Inquiries
Carlye Archibeque
carlye@beyondbaroque.org
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
www.beyondbaroque.org
681 Venice Blvd.,
Venice, California 90292
16 November, Sunday - 2:30 - 5:00 PM
(See 2014)