First Sunday Prose Reading and Open Mic
Presented by the Writers Guild at Bloomington
with Guest readers: Mervyn Alphonse, David Press, Eric Rensberger
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Mervyn Alphonse has lived in Bloomington for the past 19 years. He is a writer, musician, poet, and actor, and has studied Meisner acting technique and Improvisation Movement Theater. He has appeared in several locally produced films and has had his poetry published in several regional publications, and has also written and directed several short plays for the theater. He is currently working on a collection of personal perspectives and experiences that he hopes when completed will defy literary categorization and propel him into the present moment with stunning alacrity and nonchalance.
David Press taught composition, comics, creative writing, and film at Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondack Park of upstate New York. He’s currently co-writing a climate change comic book called Walden: The Graphic Novel with former colleague Dr. Curt Stager (Deep Future, Your Atomic Self) illustrated by Emilyann Cummings. Since he was thirteen he has been writing comics because he believes they have unique potential for students who struggle with confidence in reading and creative writing. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and Brooklyn College. You can find out more about him at davidpress.net.
Eric Rensberger is originally from Elkhart County in northern Indiana, but he has lived in southern Indiana, mainly in Bloomington, since 1974. His work has been published in numerous journals and anthologies. His chapbooks include, amongst other titles, Letters, Standing Where Something Did, and Blank of Blanks, and he has indulged in more fugitive forms of publication such as posting poems anonymously on public kiosks, street lamp poles, and bulletin boards in restaurants. He is a convinced and persistent self-publisher. His collected works can be found at the website www.ericrensbergerpoetry.net, which is home to his major work, the ongoing chronological series Account of My Days, at present consisting of more than 1,000 poems.