PEN PARENTIS LITERARY SALON: “ASPECTS OF LOVE” | Fifteen is pretty much the high water mark of sassy and sullen, when it comes to the rough seas of parenting. When it comes to Pen Parentis, however, it’s been smooth sailing for season #15, whose March installment looks at love in all of its intense permutations by booking guests known for writing about matters of the heart (and other body parts). Internationally bestselling romance novelist and erotica writer Jennifer Probst, edgy literary novelist Marcy Dermansky, and poet, fictionist and essayist John Reed will be joined by Pen Parentis’ M. M. De Voe and Christina Chiu for a panel discussion directly following the schmooze session and some readings. In keeping with the Pen Parentis aesthetic, all of the abovementioned have made their mark on the literary world while raising children, and are appearing as a means to inspire other writers living with the challenge of writing one for the ages while dealing with those still navigating their formative years. Bonus activity: At facebook.com/groups/280475532369981, join the Pen Parentis Book club. This month’s pick is March panelist Dermansky’s “The Red Car.”
The “Aspects of Love” Literary Salon is Tues., March 14, 7–9:30pm, at Andaz Wall Street (75 Wall St., at Water St., second floor; enter through hotel lobby). Light refreshments and wine provided by the venue. RSVP to this free 21+ event is encouraged, via penparentis.org/calendar.
THE GREENWICH VILLAGE ORCHESTRA | Under the leadership of conductor Barbara Yahr and chorus master Robert Long, the Greenwich Village Orchestra plays Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Soprano Rachel Rosales, mezzo-soprano Jan Wilson, tenor John Tiranno, and baritone Peter Stewart are the soloists, with a guest appearance from the Brooklyn Conservatory Chorale. A reception follows the concert, with a silent auction whose proceeds benefit the Orchestra.
Sun., March 19, 3–5 pm at Washington Irving Auditorium (40 Irving Place, at 17th St.). Suggested donation: $20 ($10 for students/seniors). Visit gvo.org or call 212-932-0732.
POETS HOUSE EVENTS | Although it offers a wide-ranging roster of programming — including social justice initiatives like their Poetic Voices of the Muslim World series — the spine binding Poets House to its public has always been their ever-expanding library, currently stocked with 60,0000 volumes. If that amount impresses, so too did the sheer number of arts-loving practitioners and patrons who attended Feb. 27’s “cosmic alignment of food, wine, conversation, and poetry” — a none-too-shabby way of saying they had a fundraiser, whose proceeds will keep talks and readings for adults and children at Poets House free or low-cost. Case in point, upcoming offerings include the free Wed., March 22 opening event for “Poetry Since 1912: Books, Issues, & Ephemera from the Poetry Foundation.” At 6pm, Katherine Litwin and Fred Sasaki of the Poetry Foundation guide you on a walking tour of the exhibit, followed by a 7pm talk by Poetry Magazine editor Don Share. On Tues., March 28 at 7pm, “Huddled Masses” is a ticketed event ($10, $7 for students/seniors) that’s a part of the Poetry Coalition’s “Because We Come from Everything: Poetry & Migration” initiative. Award-winning poet and critic Alicia Ostriker will link poetry and America’s “origins as a nation of immigrants and as a beacon of equality, intended to be open and welcoming to all.”
Poets House is located at 10 River Terrace (at Murray St.) in Battery Park City. Hours: Tues.–Fri., 11am–7pm and Sat., 11am–6pm. Call 212-431-7920 or visit poetshouse.org.
—BY SCOTT STIFFLER
