Free Event at the Aquarium's Jellyfish Tank & Coney Island Public Library
The Coney Island History Project is pleased to be one of the sponsors of Parachute, Coney's Island's first annual literary and performance festival set to debut next weekend. Described as "two days of poetry, prose, spoken word, performance and jellyfish in Coney Island," the free event takes place at the New York Aquarium's Alien Stingers exhibit in Coney Island (Surf Ave at West 8th Street) at 6:30 pm on September 12 and 13. Reservations are recommended. for the free event. Email parachutefestival@gmail.com or RSVP via the Parachute Festival's Facebook fan page.
"The goal is to create something new and create a bridge over the whole neighborhood — east and west. Festival-goers can come, spend the day, walk around Coney Island, eat lunch at a local restaurant, ride the Cyclone and enjoy a poetry reading," says festival director and poet Amanda Deutch. The History Project's exhibition center will be open next weekend from 2-6 p.m. in conjunction with festival. Stop by to view the Dreamland Bell and Coney Island Icons exhibit, pick up a festival program, and sample Stumptown Coffee. Festival-goers are also invited to download the History's Project's free audio tour of Coney Island to their iPods or listen to it live on their iPhones.
Featured readers include an array of established and up-and-coming Brooklyn based poets and writers. Saturday evening's program will be hosted by the legendary local artist and performer Africasso. Saturday's readers are Cara Benson, Charles Denson (Coney Island: Lost and Found), Jibade Khalil Huffman (19 Names for our Band), Dennis Nurkse (former Brooklyn Poet Laureate), Akilah Oliver, Patricia Spear Jones and Edwin Torres.
Sunday evening's program will be hosted by the illustrious burlesque dancer Angie Pontani (Miss Cyclone). Readers include Edmund Berrigan,poet and member of the band, I Feel Tractor; Michael Cirelli, poet and founder of Urban Word NYC; post-punk poet Eileen Myles and John Ventimiglia ("Artie Bucco" from The Sopranos) reading Henry Miller's words on Coney Island.
Free poetry workshops will be led by Urban Word NYC, Patricia Spears Jones and Cara Benson at the Coney Island Public Library on Mermaid Avenue and 19th Street. Email parachutefestival@gmail.com for reservations or more information.
Festival sponsors are Poets & Writers, Bowery Arts & Sciences, Astella Development Corporation, Coney Island History Project. Stumptown Coffee Roasters, The Farm on Adderley, JoMart Chocolates, Coney Island Public Library and New York Aquarium.
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