Legion of Lit Mags, 2nd Annual Reading and Magazine Fair
Galapagos Art Space, Williamsburg
Dec 2, 2006

This year’s Legion of Lit Mag fair was a night filled with fun. Nine literary magazines—Small Spiral Notebook, Ballyhoo Stories, BOMB, Pindeldyboz, Swink, Tin House, Quick Fiction, Opium and Post Road—united to showcase six exciting readers. The selection was a sprightly one, giving those in attendance a flavorful scoop of what these periodicals have been up to.

Continue after the jump

Felicia Sullivan of Spiral Small Notebook

Following some drinking, chatting and checking-out of the magazines, Spiral’s Felicia Sullivan and Ballyhoo’s Joshua Mandelbaum began the show with a welcome.

Joshua Mandelbaum of Ballyhoo Stories

The Ballyhoo Stories presented the night’s first reader, Irina Reyn. She read from the comical voice of a videographer who has been assigned to film a Jewish wedding taking place in Brooklyn.

Irina Reyn

Aaron Hamburger read next from his book Faith for Beginners, the title of which, said Hamburger, must have resulted in at least one very angry Christian Evangelical book club leaving a negative comment on Amazon. For his reading he picked the most “depraved” passage, he said, in which the main character Jeremy, a young Jewish man visiting Israel, begins to explore the local gay community there.

Aaron Hamburger

NY Representative from Post Road

Post Road presented Elizabeth Searle, who happens to be a five-star reader. She read from her Tanya Hardigan / Nancy Kerrigan opera Celebrities in Disgrace, in which the dialogues were simply lifted from sources such as FBI transcripts and newspaper articles. With her legs apart at ease, a hand often on the hip and a face filled with expressions, Searle gave a wonderfully entertaining reading of Tanya’s laments. She inserted quick explanations as she read, fearlessly reading the stage directions and emphasizing the hilarious arias, one of which repeated “A good whack” and another, Nancy Kerrigan’s infamous plea, “Why me?”

Elizabeth Searle

Presented by Quick Fiction, Brian McMullen read two stories written in less than 500 words. The first was in tribute to Ben Kinsley (“Ben Kinsley will do what we cannot do”) and the second was titled Smoking Is Illegal. He then pulled out a thin journal from which he read another quick story of his, this one printed on the spine in very tiny letters (“You have a very good eyesight,” he was told as he got off the stage).

Brian McMullen

Elizabeth Koch and Todd Zuniga

Todd Zuniga and Elizabeth Koch of Opium magazine presented the fabulous Anthony Tognazzini. The editors of Opium were not kidding when they posted on their website, “Opium’s Anthony Tognazzini will read around the 8 p.m. hour, if you want to be wowed.” He calmly read very short stories filled with beautiful, bizzarre imagery. The titles included The Metaphysics of Orange Juice and The Enigma of Possibility, but upon a special request by the editors, Tognazzini read, in that same calm voice, a fabulous piece called Really Happy Day (for which you’ll just have to score yourself the correct issue of Opium, I suppose? (Update: Really Happy Day is not published in any issue of Opium, but The Great Grandson of J. Alfred Prufrock can be found in Issue 1)).

Anthony Tognazzini

Paul Morris of BOMB magazine

Paul Morris of BOMB magazine was generous enough to present the treasure that is Salar Abdoh, who moved to the United States after the revolution in Iran. In contrast to the rest of the readings that had been either uplifting or at least punchy, Abdoh read in a soft, almost wounded voice. The comfortably lengthy passage was from a work in progress, and owing to the vulnerability with which he read, it stirred a lingering sort of sadness. Unfortunately, at this point, having gone through four of the six readers and drunk merrily in celebration of literary magazines, those with the cocktails at the back had begun a chatter that did not stop.

Salar Abdoh

Swink Magazine

Swink Magazine presented Noria Jablonski, whose reading from the voice of a young girl smart beyond her age sounded rhythmic and melodic. Jablonski had a clear, controlled voice, and she read the humorous passage with articulate gestures and timely emphases.

Noria Jablonski

Pindeldyboz came on next and introduced themselves as working class heroes from Queens. They read a hilarious story of a Jesus-lover and the young boy who falls for her, enhanced by an impressive musical treatment that included Madonna and George Michael.