AQ’s Busy Month: US Readings and VU & University College Publishing Conferences
AQ’s Busy Month: US Readings and VU & University College Publishing Conferences
Late spring was a very busy time for Amsterdam Quarterly, its authors, artists, and editor. From 18 May to 18 June, AQ held three US readings and participated in two literary conferences in the Netherlands. Readings were held at the 2Life community in Auburndale, MA and at the Haverford Friends Meeting and the Quadrangle in Haverford, PA.
At 2Life, AQ editor Bryan R. Monte read from his book, On the Level: Poetry on Living with Multiple Sclerosis (Circling Rivers, 2022), along with poems published since in literary journals such as the Arlington Literary Journal, Poetry Pacific, and the South Florida Poetry Journal. Before the reading, Rebecca Maasland organized a luncheon for fellow writers, artists, and people with disabilities. An enthusiastic audience of approximately 40 came to hear Monte read, to ask questions, and to have their copies of On the Level signed.
At Haverford, Monte read poems while artist Kiera Faber, (AQ41, AQ43, & AQ46), exhibited a new collection of her colourful and intricate Jacquard tapestries. Audiences gathered physically and online at the Haverford Friends Meeting’s Forum Room and physically in the Quadrangle’s Mansion House main hall. Monte read new poems and a selection from his book, On the Level. Faber presented many new examples of her Jacquard tapestries, including two entitled Lungs and Secret Woods, which she announced would be published in AQ46’s issue on Summer.
Photographer unknown, Bryan R. Monte and Kiera Faber, The Quadrangle, Haverford, PA, photograph, 2026
On 16 June 2026, Monte also spoke at the Vrij Univesiteit for The Day of Writing and Publishing organized by Expanded Field literary journal and its co-editors-in-chief Ana C.S. Brito, Julia Drag, and Lyonne de Wit. Monte talked about the history and growth of Amsterdam Quarterly, the nuts and bolts of
literary magazine publishing, and staff and audience development. Other speakers included Ashley Fields, a free-lance writer, podcaster, and video on demand coordinator, Jules Rogier, a researcher, editor, and literary agent assistant from Amsterdam Museum, fiction writer Rachel Lynn Solomon, and Kristin Gehrman, a literary translator and VU professor. Representatives from TXT magazine, FRAME, Soapbox, and BLIK were also present. In addition, representing her own brand was Jesse Presse. At AQ’s table was fiction writer Caroline Cronjäger (AQ40), and publisher/editor Monte.
Maria Lucia Hoogland, Caroline Cronjäger and Bryan R. Monte, The Day of Writing and Publishing, Vrij Universiteit, Amsterdam, photograph, 16 June 2026. Used with permission.
Two days later on 18 June 2026, Monte also spoke at University College’s green campus in Utrecht at a literary event sponsored by WordCo’s and Euphorion’s literary journals.
Photographer unknown, Literary panel—left of centre with white shirt and jeans, co-moderator Katrijn Telgen, and centre, in a black dress, co-moderator İren Şerbetcioğlu, far right, Amsterdam Quarterly publisher/editor Bryan R. Monte, University College, Utrecht, photograph, 18 June 2026
In the college’s auditorium, Monte took part in a panel discussion moderated by Katrijn Telgen and İren Şerbetcioğlu with editors Sasha Staggs from FRAME, Flore Spekman from Erato’s (SV Euphorion), Caitlin Roeltgen from UCSA Boomerang, and Renee Breaux from UCU Scope about careers in publishing and academia, how submissions grab editors’ interest, and frequent mistakes new writers make in submitting manuscripts, among other topics. The event also featured tables with the journals’ publications. AQ
Monte’s book, On the Level: Poems on Living with Multiple Sclerosis, about overcoming physical, psychological, and social barriers, has been praised by writers on both sides of the Atlantic. T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize winner Philip Gross, (The Water Table), commented: ‘These poems [bring] readers…to the experience of MS in their own bodies as well as in the mind. But, the grace of the writing, its tenderness and often humour, lift us.’ US author of Who Says You’re Dead, Jacob M. Appel, praised On the Level as being ‘In the spirit of Sarah Manguso and Porochista Khakpour, Monte transforms his own body into a literary landscape. An arresting debut.’