Dear BSR Subscriber,
Welcome to the latest exclusive monthly tips for our subscribers!
It's time for our monthly BSR in the Wild update! The first Friday of every month we bring you our hottest tips on what's on our radar, through three sections: Find Us!, Neil's Nod of the Month, and Recommended Reading.
Find Us! is exclusive subscriber tips on which events and exhibitions our staff is heading to in the coming month. There's a lot happening, this month as always, and we love to provide these tips.
Neil's Nod of the Month is a look forward to the upcoming BSR story or review I'm most excited to read.
Finally, Recommended Reading is a quick, subscribers-only tip to contextualize the work we have coming up, placing upcoming articles in dialogue with past stories, because our arts and culture scene is an ongoing citywide conversation that you're a part of, too.
If you're enjoying this series, let us know! And don't forget, as a reader you can support our writers in multiple ways. Be sure to become a Local Media Champion. Send an article to a friend. Follow our dynamic content on Instagram. Are you caught up on our podcast? Feel free to email me with your own January picks!
Read on for Janury's inside scoops.
Sincerely, Neil Bardhan BSR executive director
Find Us!
We packed a lot in this past December, and we're starting 2024 with some very fine options on the scene. As usual, you'll see some familiar names alongside new ones. We cover a wide range of experiences in our region. Read on, and be sure to tell us what you're seeing this month.
FIND NEIL Jami Attenberg’s 1000 Words WHEN: Tuesday, January 9, 2024 WHERE: Wherever books are sold Jami Attenberg writes beautifully about writing, for writers. With warmth and grace she encourages anybody who wants to just do the thing, via her newsletter Craft Talk and her #1000WordsOfSummer which I’ve made use of. Months ago I pre-ordered her newest book through South Philly bookstore A Novel Idea. Attenberg will be in conversation with Philly author Eric Smith on January 14, 2024 at Indy Hall. Plus there’ll be a write-along! I very much look forward to exploring this book as a set of meditations across the new year’s seasons.
FIND ALAINA Blue Stoop's Reading Philly WHEN: January 11 at 7:30pm ET WHERE: Zoom WHY: We love Blue Stoop, a hub for Philly's literary community that includes a huge range of classes and sessions for Philly readers and writers (I have participated in several myself). Blue Stoop is fundraising for new programming and to boost BIPOC-led classes, and they're offering a special virtual session featuring soon-to-be released books by local authors who'll also talk about how they've built successful writing lives. I'm excited to hear from the six authors on deck, who tackle reimagined classics, invisible disability, sobriety, "an alien on the loose in Philadelphia," and more. This is a big win-win for Philly lit lovers, who can donate to Blue Stoop and enjoy an exciting program in return. Register here.
Courtesy of The Arden Theatre
FIND ALAINA Ladysitting WHEN: January 24, 2024 (runs through February 25) WHERE: The Arden Theatre's Arcadia Stage WHY: This world premiere by Philly writer Lorene Cary, based on her 2019 memoir about caring for her grandmother in the last year of her life, grabs me partly because I have done a lot of hospice care in the past for my grandparents' generation. I'm also excited to see cast members Melanye Finister and Brian Anthony Wilson, two of my favorite Philly actors.
FIND ALAINA & KYLE & MORE BSR Webinars WHEN: Ongoing WHERE: Streaming on-demand We want to help artists and new writers approach media folks like us and develop relationships. At the end of 2023, we offered two 90-minute sessions on Zoom: an introduction to review-writing, and a guide to public relations for small cultural organizations and independent artists. We had a lively crowd for both classes, and great feedback from the learners. Both of these sessions were recorded (with captions), and you can access either of them with a one-time $30 donation to BSR (or become a Friend of BSR starting at $5/month, and get them both). Contact me at [email protected] for more information on how to make a donation and access this unique cultural resource.
Photo by Martin Greslou via Creative Commons/Wikimedia
Neil's nod of the month:
New BSR writer Thomas Hagen has a doubleheader of jazz album reviews coming our way. Hagen comes to us with a strong background in music. This particular review will surely appeal to funk fans and those (like me!) with a taste for wacky playfulness in their listening.
Earthy, real, and worth every moment
Emily Schilling
View
Emily Schilling’s piece about hospice resonated with me immediately when I read it last year. I think about how our culture approaches end-of-life concerns regularly, and I personally have experience with a beautiful hospice facility. Schilling’s upcoming review of Ladysitting will surely pair beautifully with her essay.
Now that you've found us, fund us!
Stay in touch,
Neil & Alaina & Kyle
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