Amsterdam Quarterly Holds 8th Annual Yearbook Launch Party & Reading

Amsterdam Quarterly Holds 8th Annual Yearbook Launch Party & Reading

On 25 January 2019, approximately 30 people attended Amsterdam Quarterly’s eighth annual launch party and reading to celebrate the publication of its eighth yearbook at the American Book Center in Amsterdam. Launch party readers included Simon Brod, Darya Danesh, Amina Imzine, Bryan R. Monte, bart plantenga, Pat Seman and Jasmine Nihmey Vasdi. The evening also included a demonstration by Maria Minaya of the ABC’s print-on-demand Betty the Bookmachine. In attendance were also Amsterdam poet Kate Foley and novelist Philibert Schogt.

AQ 2018 Yearbook Party readers. l. to r.: Simon Brod, bart plantenga, Jasmine Nihmey Vasdi, Amina Imzine, Bryan R. Monte, Darya Danesh & Pat Seman.

The Amsterdam Quarterly 2018 Yearbook contains art, articles, essays, fiction, memoirs, photography, poetry and book and art reviews from the magazine’s two websites, www.amsterdamquarterly.nl and amsterdamquarterly.nl from issues 21 to 23. These were organized around the themes of Money (AQ21), Texture (AQ22), and Genealogy (AQ23). AQ24, whose theme is Media, will appear online at the end of March 2019. The reading periods for AQ25 (Amsterdam) and AQ 26 (Borderlands) are the months of April and July 2019 respectively.

Amsterdam Quarterly was founded in April 2011 to publish, promote and comment on writing and art in Amsterdam. Internationally-known writers with interviews and/or work in past issues include humorist and NPR/BBC personality David Sedaris, poet and 2009 T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize winner Philip Gross, 2012 Dundee International Book Prize winner Jacob M. Appel, and former American Academy of Poets chancellor and poet Naomi Shihab Nye.

Amsterdam Quarterly has a writers group that is open to those who have been published in past issues of AQ. This group meets in Amsterdam on the third Sunday of the month (July and August excepted).

Amsterdam Quarterly Party/Reading 25 Jan. ABC, A’dam

Amsterdam Quarterly 2018 Yearbook Publication Party/Reading 25 Jan. ABC A’dam

Amsterdam Quarterly (AQ) will mark the publication of its eighth-annual, print-on-demand (POD) yearbook with a party and reading on Friday, 25 January 2019 from 6 to 7.40 p.m. at the American Book Center, Spui 12 in Amsterdam. AQ 2018 Yearbook writers Simon Brod, Amina Imzine, Bryan R. Monte, bart plantenga, and Pat Seman, as well as AQ Writers’ Group member Darya Danesh, shall read their work. Admission is free.

Amsterdam Quarterly Yearbooks 2011 to 2018

The AQ 2018 Yearbook includes poetry by 2017 Sow’s Ear Poetry contest winner, AKaiser and 2018 Keats-Shelley Prize winner Laurinda Lind, photography and art by Jury S. Judge, Dianne Kellogg, Jayne Marek, Peter E. Murphy and Bob Ward, and fiction by Carrie Callaghan and Susan Lloy, among others.

Amsterdam Quarterly was founded in 2011. Its mission is to publish, promote and comment on writing and art in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the rest of the world. AQ publishes art, articles, drama, essays, fiction, interviews, memoirs, photo essays, photography, poetry and reviews of local and international writers and artists.

AQ’s themes in 2018 were: Money (AQ21), Texture (AQ22), and Genealogy (AQ23). Themes for 2019 will be: Media (AQ24), Amsterdam (AQ25), and Borderlands (AQ26) with reading periods in January, April and July 2019 respectively.

AQ is published online in the spring, summer and autumn at www.amsterdamwquarterly.org and at amsterdamquarterly.nl and as a print-on-demand yearbook compilation in the winter. In addition, the AQ Writers Group meets on the third Sunday of the month from September to June in Amsterdam.

AQ Holds 7th Annual Yearbook Party/Reading

Amsterdam Quarterly Holds 7th Annual Yearbook Launch Party/Reading

Last Friday, 26 January, four Amsterdam and two Dutch-resident writers celebrated the launch of the Amsterdam Quarterly 2017 Yearbook with a party and reading at the American Book Center (ABC) in Amsterdam. The six readers included AQ 2017 Yearbook contributors Darya Danesh (AQ18) and Pat Seman (AQ20) as well as editor, Bryan R. Monte, and AQ Writers’ Group members Simon Brod, Amina Imzine and Sarah Kinebanian.

AQ 2017 Yearbook Launch Party Readers l. to r.: Simon Brod, Amina Imzine, Darya Danesh, Sarah Kinebanian, Pat Seman & Bryan R. Monte

Danesh, in her AQ debut, read several moving pieces about her cancer diagnosis and her treatment’s side effects. Seman read an excerpt from one of her Ukranian memoirs that have received reader responses from as far away as Moose Jaw, Canada. Monte read five poems from his series On the Level, about living with multiple sclerosis.

The audience enjoyed not only the readers and their work, but also drinks and nibbles during the launch party, which was free and open to the public. In addition, Maria, from the ABC, demonstrated the Espresso Book Machine that has printed and bound all seven of AQ’s yearbooks, the last of which, the AQ 2017 Yearbook, in full colour.

Amsterdam Quarterly is an international online and print literary magazine, which was founded in 2011. Its mission is to publish, promote and comment on writing and art in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the world. Notable past international contributors include Jacob M. Appel (US), Srinjay Chakravarti (India), Philip Gross (UK), Naomi Shihab Nye (US), David Sedaris (US/UK) and Joan Z. Shore (US/France), as well as local treasures Kate Foley and Philibert Schogt.

AQ publishes thrice yearly online in the spring, summer and autumn at www.amsterdamquarterly.nl and amsterdamquarterly.nl and annually as a print-on-demand compilation anthology or yearbook. Since 2011, AQ has published work in eleven genres: art, articles, drama, essays, fiction, interviews, memoirs, photo essays, photography, poetry and art and book reviews. AQ’s next issue, AQ21—Money, will be published on 21 March 2018. The deadline for this issue’s reading period is 31 January 2018. Other 2018 issues include AQ22—Texture, reading period April 2018 and AQ23—Genealogy, reading period July 2018. Please check AQ’s submissions page for more information.

AQ also has a writers’ group which meets on the third Sunday monthly (except for July and August) in Amsterdam. Admission to the group is through publication in AQ or by submitting a seven to ten page audition manuscript of work in your genre to the editor.

Amsterdam Quarterly Party/Reading 26 Jan. ABC, A’dam

Amsterdam Quarterly Publication Party/Reading 26 Jan. ABC A’dam

Amsterdam Quarterly (AQ) will mark the publication of its seventh annual print-on-demand (POD) yearbook with a party and reading on Friday, 26 January 2018 from 6 to 7.45 p.m. at the American Book Center, Spui 12 in Amsterdam. AQ 2017 Yearbook writers Darya Danesh, Bryan R. Monte and Pat Seman, as well as AQ writers’ group members Simon Brod, Amina Imzine, and Sarah Kinebanian, shall read their work. Admission is free.

The AQ 2017 Yearbook includes interviews with former American Academy of Poets Chancellor Naomi Shihab Nye and Dundee International Book Prize and Black Lawrence Hudson Prize winner Jacob M. Appel. The AQ 2017 Yearbook also includes poetry by Nye, fiction by Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg prize winner, Srinjay Chakravarti, as well as digital images by Dianne Kellogg (including the yearbook’s cover image). The AQ 2017 Yearbook will also be the first yearbook with colour pages.

Amsterdam Quarterly was founded in 2011. Its mission is to publish, promote and comment on art and writing in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the rest of the world. AQ publishes art, articles, drama, essays, fiction, interviews, memoirs, photo essays, photography, poetry and reviews of local and international writers and artists.

AQ’s themes in 2017 were: Medicine (AQ18), Animals (AQ19), and Education (AQ20). Themes for 2018 will be: Money (AQ21), Texture (AQ22) and Genealogy (AQ23) with reading periods in January, April and July 2018 respectively.

AQ is published online in the spring, summer and autumn at www.amsterdamwquarterly.org and at amsterdamquarterly.nl and as a print-on-demand yearbook compilation in the winter. In addition, AQ has a writers group which meets on the third Sunday of the month from September to June in Amsterdam.

AQ 2018 Themes Announced; AQ Goes “All Oxford”

Amsterdam Quarterly’s 2018 themes for issues 21-23 were announced yesterday at the AQ Writers’ Group’s monthly meeting in Amsterdam. At the meeting, publisher/editor Bryan R. Monte also announced that Amsterdam Quarterly would go “all Oxford” in 2018 for both its dictionary and style manual. For issues 1-20, AQ had used the Oxford Dictionary and The Chicago Manual of Style. As of AQ21, AQ will continue to use the Oxford Dictionary and it will adopt the New Oxford Style Manual (2016).

AQ’s 2018 themes are as follows: AQ21, spring 2018, Money; AQ22, summer 2018, Texture; and AQ23, autumn 2018, Genealogy. Work in AQ’s eleven genres including art, articles, drama, essays, fiction, interviews memoirs, photo essays, photography, poetry and reviews for these three issues will be read during the months of January (AQ21-Money), April (AQ22-Texture) and July (AQ23-Genealogy) respectively. Work received at all other times will be returned as unread.

For AQ21-Money send work that explores how money, or the lack of it, is the root of all evil. Share through your work how money affects your life positively or negatively as a writer. For examples, how does paying the bills affect your life or the lives of your literary characters? More specifically, how do you or your characters feel about paying money to enter literary contests or to have literary presses read your work?

For AQ22-Texture, send work that varies stylistically from short, light verse to heavy, dark, stormy, long narratives and everything in between. Send narratives and images of dark doorways or sunlit passages, of things smooth or grainy, whose texture is as important as the telling of the story itself.

For AQ23-Genealogy, send pieces about your ancestors (relatives who are no longer alive and from whom you are descended). How did their struggles, aspirations, deeds, misdeeds and personalities influence the way you are today?

Just as last year, these three topics are very broad and AQ looks forward to reading your creative work related to these themes in the periods mentioned above. Whilst preparing your submissions, please note that AQ will as of AQ21 use the Oxford Dictionary’s preferred spelling instead of traditional spelling (for example, realize instead of realise). Please prepare your submissions with this new Oxford Dictionary spelling preference and Style Manual in mind.

Colour AQ 2014 & 2015 Yearbooks Displayed at ABC, A’dam

Colour AQ 2014 & 2015 Yearbooks Displayed in American Book Center Window, Amsterdam

Amsterdam Quarterly’s 2014 and 2015 Yearbooks are on display at American Book Center, Spui 12, in Amsterdam. This is to publicize the ABC’s new, colour, print-on-demand, book printer. Previously, all AQ yearbook pages were printed in black & white. Now with the ABC’s new printer, all AQ yearbook pages will be in colour. On display in the window are digital images by Yolanda V. Fundora and photographs by Dianne Kellogg. (See photos below).

AQ 2014 & 2015 Yearbooks on display, American Book Center, Amsterdam, June 2017.

Photography and art are two of the eleven categories in which AQ currently publishes work. The other nine include articles, drama, essays, fiction, interviews, memoirs, photo essays, poetry and reviews.

Left: Digital images by Yolanda V. Fundora from AQ 2014 Yearbook.
Right: Photographs by Dianne Kellogg from AQ 2015 Yearbook.

AQ was founded in 2011 to publish, promote and comment on writing and art in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the world. Its twentieth, online issue (AQ20), whose theme is education, will be published this autumn. The reading period for this issue is the month of July 2017. The AQ 2017 Yearbook, available to AQ 2017 contributing writers and artists, AQ monthly writers’ group members and AQ reading attendees only, will be published in December 2017.

AQ Celebrates 2016 Yearbook Launch at American Book Center, Amsterdam

On Friday, 20 January 2017, Amsterdam Quarterly (AQ) celebrated the publication of its 2016 Yearbook with a reading and party at the American Book Center (ABC) in Amsterdam. In attendance were readers and audience members from as far away as the United Kingdom and as nearby as Amsterdam. Readers included poets Arthur Allen, Simon Brod, Kate Foley and Sarah Kinebanian, poet and photographer Amina Imzine, and poets and memoirists Bryan R. Monte and Pat Seman.

The party and reading took place in the ABC’s second-floor White Room around its newly-furnished white table whilst drinks and nibbles were enjoyed by all. After the reading, Maria, from the ABC, demonstrated the Espresso Book Machine (EBM), a print-on-demand device, on which the AQ 2016 Yearbook and AQ’s five previous yearbooks have been printed.

AQ was founded in 2011 to publish, promote and comment on art and writing in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the world. AQ is published in the spring, summer and autumn online at www.amsterdamquarterly.nl and amsterdamquarterly.nl and in the winter as a print-on-demand compilation anthology. AQ publishes work in ten genres including articles, art, drama, essays, fiction, interviews, memoirs, photography, poetry and reviews. AQ18, due out in spring 2017 and whose theme is medicine, will feature an exclusive interview with award-winning short-story writer and novelist, Jacob Appel.

Readers AQ 2016 Yearbook Launch, 20 January 2017 American Book Center, Amsterdam. From l. to r. : Pat Seman, Simon Brod, Kate Foley, Bryan R. Monte, Sarah Kinebanian and Amina Imzine. Not pictured: Arthur Allen.

Readers AQ 2016 Yearbook Launch, 20 January 2017 American Book Center, Amsterdam. From l. to r. : Pat Seman, Simon Brod, Kate Foley, Bryan R. Monte, Sarah Kinebanian and Amina Imzine. Not pictured: Arthur Allen.

AQ Yearbook Party/Reading, 20 January 2017, American Book Center, Amsterdam

Amsterdam Quarterly (AQ) will hold its sixth annual Yearbook launch, party, and reading on Friday, 20 January 2017 from 6 to 7.45 PM at the American Book Center, Spui 12, second floor, in Amsterdam. The AQ 2016 Yearbook includes an interview in Dutch with photographer Carel van Hees about his Rijksmuseum Document Nederland exhibition (translated into English by AQ editor Bryan R. Monte and Amsterdam novelist Philibert Schogt). The AQ 2016 Yearbook also includes poetry by T. S. Eliot Poetry Prize winner, Philip Gross, poetry and fiction by Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg prize winner, Srinjay Chakravarti, digital images by Yolanda V. Fundora (including the yearbook’s cover image below) and photography by Rink Foto.

AQ2016YB_cover_abc_400X638p

Readers at the event will include Arthur Allen, Simon Brod, Kate Foley, Amina Imzine, Sarah Kinebanian, Bryan R. Monte, Philibert Schogt and Patricia Seman. They will read poetry, fiction and memoirs in English with some Dutch translations about AQ’s three 2016 themes: War & Peace, (AQ15), Interiors, Gardens, Landscapes and Music (AQ16), and Climate Change (AQ17). Themes for 2017 are Medicine (AQ18), Animals (AQ19) and Education (AQ20) with reading periods in January, April and July 2017 respectively.

Amsterdam Quarterly was founded in 2011. Its mission is to publish, promote and comment on art and writing in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the world. AQ publishes art, articles, drama, essays, fiction, interviews, memoirs, photography, poetry and reviews of local and international writers. AQ is published online in the spring, summer and autumn at www.amsterdamquarterly.nl and at amsterdamquarterly.nl and as a print-on-demand yearbook compilation in the winter. In addition, AQ has a writers’ group which meets in Amsterdam on the third Sunday of the month from September to June.

Entrée to the AQ 2016 Yearbook launch/party/reading is free.

AQ Editor Interviewed by Friends Journal

On 30 March 2016, Amsterdam Quarterly’s editor, Bryan R. Monte, was interviewed via Skype by Friends Journal associate editor, Gail Coyle. Monte’s “No One Ever Asks” poem about accessibility issues at Amsterdam’s 1890s meetinghouse was published in the March 2016 issue of Friends Journal devoted to disability and inclusion in Friends (Quaker) meetings. This interview can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPMOKG_nI2E. His poem can be read at http://www.friendsjournal.org/no-one-ever-asks/.

After a brief introduction, Coyle asked Monte to read his poem. Then Coyle asked Monte how he came to write the poem—and how long it takes for him to write poems in general. Monte said he saw that the deadline for the disability and inclusion issue had been extended. He thought: ‘C’mon, Bryan its time to step up to the plate and contribute something’…”so I wrote this poem, which came very quickly in about two or three days, and usually it takes me about a month or longer to write anything and finish it and I sent it in.” (Then) “I thought, ‘Well I hope they take this one, I think they will’—and you did.”

Coyle asked how long Monte had been writing about living with MS. Monte said for two years since Jeffrey Shott, executive editor at Graywolf Press, had read his poems at a writers’ conference in Florida in January 2014 and asked him why he didn’t have any poems about his experience with MS. “No One Ever Asks” now belongs to a unpublished chapbook of twenty-three poems about living with MS called On the Level. Coyle also mentioned some of Monte’s other poems were included in Gathered: Contemporary Quaker Poets that Friends Journal reviewed in its November 2013 issue at http://www.friendsjournal.org/books-november-2013/.

When Coyle asked Monte where her viewers could read more of his poetry and other work, he mentioned Amsterdam Quarterly’s websites.

AQ Celebrates Fifth Anniversary/Lustrum at OBA

On Thursday, 4 February 2016, Amsterdam Quarterly (AQ) celebrated its fifth anniversary (lustrum) at the Amsterdam Main Library’s (OBA) Theatre with a book launch and a reading. Headlining the event was Amsterdam novelist Philibert Schogt reading from his latest, bi-lingual novel End of Story/Einde verhaal. Other readers included poets Abra Bertman, Amina Imzine, Sarah Kinebanian, Bryan R. Monte and Pat Seman and fiction writer/memoirist Sharon Feigal. After the reading, the audience received signed copies of the AQ 2015 Yearbook.

Amsterdam Quarterly was founded in 2011 to publish, promote and comment on writing and art in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the world. AQ publishes work in ten genres: art, articles, drama, essays, fiction, interviews, memoirs, photography, poetry and art and book reviews. It is published online in the spring, summer and autumn and as a print-on-demand compilation anthology in the winter. AQ’s past issues have included interviews with NPR/BBC celebrity humorist and writer David Sedaris and 2009 T.S. Eliot Poetry Award winner Philip Gross, and art by acclaimed visual artist Yolanda V. Fundora.

Amsterdam Quarterly also has a monthly writers’ group which meets the third Sunday of the month (September to June) in an Amsterdam Jordaan district café. Admission to the writers’ group is through publication in one of AQ’s issues or by sending an admission’s manuscript of seven to ten pages in your genre to editor@amsterdamquarterly.nl . (Please wait for written permission to join the group).

2015 Yearbook Launch Readers OBA Amsterdam, 4 Feb. 2016 L. to r. Bryan R. Monte, Pat Seman, Sarah Kinebanian, Amina Imzine, Abra Bertman, Sharon Feigal and Philibert Schogt. Photo copyright 2016 by Winfred Wiercx. All rights reserved.

2015 AQ Yearbook Launch Readers, OBA Amsterdam, 4 Feb. 2016. L. to r. Bryan R. Monte, Pat Seman, Sarah Kinebanian, Amina Imzine, Abra Bertman, Sharon Feigal and Philibert Schogt. Photo copyright 2016 by Winfred Wiercx. All rights reserved.