Archive for category: News

Amsterdam Quarterly’s Busy Spring 2025—US Readings/Amsterdam Conference

[AMSTERDAM] On 16 April 2025, Amsterdam Quarterly held two readings in Philadelphia area, both in Haverford, Pennsylvania. The first was a reading by poet, Bryan R. Monte, and artist, Kiera Faber, at the historic Haverford Friends (Quaker) Meetinghouse’s Forum Room. These AQ contributors were the guests of the Haverford Meeting Kaffee Klatch, a group of Friends interested in the arts who meet weekly. The reading was both physical and virtual in scope and included audience members from as far away as Denver, Colorado. Monte read poems about the limitations and insights gained from his disability as illustrated in his book, On the Level: Poems about Living with Multiple Sclerosis, published by and available online through Circling Rivers at https://circlingrivers.com/books/on-the-level-poems-on-living-with-multiple-sclerosis/ as well through barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com and other online bookstores. Kiera Faber presented a series of cyanotypes, two of which were published in AQ41 alongside two poems by Philip Gross, as well as textiles she designed.

Left Kiera Faber, right Bryan R. Monte, Haverford Meetinghouse, Haverford, Pennsylvania, 16 April 2025

Kiera Faber presents her Jacquard tapestry, The Gathering, The Quadrangle, Haverford, Pennsylvania, 16 April 2025

The second reading was held the same day just down the road at The Quadrangle, where there was a large, enthusiastic audience. Here Monte read his very humorous but also informative long proem to his book,On the Level, entitled ‘The ABCs of Multiple Sclerosis’ which goes alphabetically through all the symptoms and challenges MS presents as well as a few other poems. Faber presented her cyanotypes and her textiles, the latter of which were received enthusiastically, with particular interest in her double-sided Jacquard tapestry, The Gathering.

On 17 April, a third AQ reading was held at The Writer’s Center, just outside Washington DC in Bethesda, Maryland. Readers/presenters included Claudia Gary, Jim Ross, Kristin Chastain Turner, and AQ’s editor. They delivered a reading in three genres: poetry, memoir, and photography. Contributors were also officially presented with their copies of AQ 2024 Yearbook. It was the third time AQ contributors have read together, hosted by The Writer’s Center.

Amsterdam Quarterly authors/artists l. to r. Bryan R. Monte, Claudia Gary, Jim Ross, and Karin Chastain Turner, The Writer’s Center, 17 April 2025, photo by Lee Hurwitz. Used with permission.

On 10 June, AQ Publisher/Editor Bryan R. Monte and VU Master’s student, fiction writer, and AQ40 contributor, Caroline Cronjäger, attended the The Day of Writing conference held in Vrij Universiteit’s 15th-floor, cathedral-ceilinged, brutalist Kerkzaal with a breathtaking view of Amsterdam-Zuid’s apartment and business towers. Speakers included Publisher and Fiction Translation Editor, Jessica Nash from Atlas Compact, editor and former VU student Niels Noot, and journalist, interviewer, and novelist Arjan Visser. Featured also during this conference were tables for local publishers and literary magazines.

AQ Participants, Bryan R. Monte and Caroline Cronjäger, The Day of Writing, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, 10 June 2025

AQ Holds 2023 Yearbook Reading at the ABC, Amsterdam

[AMSTERDAM] On Friday, 9 February 2024, Amsterdam Quarterly held its annual book launch and reading for its 2023 Yearbook at the American Book Center in Amsterdam. In attendance were AQ writers Simon Brod, Darya Danesh, Monique van Maare, Bryan R. Monte, Pat Seman, Marcus Slingsby, and Angela Williams, who all read from their work.

Maria Mínaya, Head Table Preparation, photograph, 2024

The reading was held in the ABC’s second-floor White Room and had an audience which continued to grow so events coordinator, Luke Nyman, had to break out the First Friday Open Mic chairs to accommodate them. During the reading’s interval, María Minaya demonstrated the ABC’s Espresso Book Machine, which prints and binds copies of the yearbook on request.

María Minaya. Head Table, AQ 2023 Yearbook Reading, photograph, 2024

The AQ 2023 Yearbook features art, essays, fiction, memoirs, news, a photoessay, photography, poetry, and book and art reviews about three themes: No Planet B (AQ36), On the Move (AQ37), and MACRO micro (AQ38). Its 143 pages include photography by Jim Ross and Bob Ward, artwork by Jj D’Onofrio and Samarra Prahlad, as well as poetry and prose.

Headlining AQ39, out now with work about Generation, is an interview with poet, writer, and professor Timothy Liu. AQ39 also features work by poets B. Anne Adraiens, Emma Atkins, Jane Blanchard, Joan Byrne, Naomi Foyle, Kevin Grauke, Robin Helweg-Larsen, Bryan R. Monte, Nora Nadjarian, Carl Palmer, Marcus Slingsby, Sharon Whitehill, and Mantz Yorke, fiction writers William Cass, Margaret Elysia Garcia, Zach Keali’i Murphy, and Marcus Slingsby as well as photographer Karin Chastain Turner. AQ’s next issue, AQ40, theme is Vibration(s) Its reading period is the month of April 2024. Check the submissions page for other information. https://www.amsterdamquarterly.nl/submissions/

Luke Nyman, Head Table Close Up, Left Side, photograph, 2024

Amsterdam Quarterly was founded in 2011 by Bryan R. Monte. Over its first 13 years, it has featured work in twelve genres: art, articles, essays, drama, fiction, interviews, memoirs, news, photoessays, photography, poetry, and reviews. International, award-winning writers interviewed over its 13 years include Kim Addonizio, Jacob M. Appel, Andrei Codrescu, Moira Egan, Kate Foley, Philip Gross, Timothy Liu, Susan Lloy, Ed Mycue, Naomi Shihab Nye, Philibert Schogt, David Sedaris, Joan Z. Shore, and David Trinidad.

[AMSTERDAM] On Sunday, 19 November 2023, Amsterdam Quarterly celebrated its Dutch twaalf en half lustrum (twelfth and one half year anniversary) virtually during its monthly writers’ group meeting. (Dutch tradition is that the twelfth and one half, twenty-fifth, fiftieth, and every tenth anniversary thereafter are officially celebrated.) AQ writers ‘present’ for this celebratory meeting included Darya Danesh, bart plantenga, and Pat Seman in Amsterdam, Bryan R. Monte in Utrecht, and Simon Brod, Down Under in the future.

From above left clockwise and then below are AQ Writers’ Group members Bryan R. Monte, bart plantenga, Darya Danesh, Pat Seman and Simon Brod.

     They’ve had much to celebrate in the past 12.5 years including 38 online issues of their tri-annual, online literary magazine, (every spring, summer, and autumn), along with eleven printed issues of the annual Amsterdam Quarterly Yearbook (each winter) including the work of authors and artists in twelve genres in six continents, making AQ a truly international publication.
     During this time, AQ has interviewed 16 distinguished writers. Some of these interviewees have included internationally-known poets and writers such as: former American Academy of Poets Chancellor and multi-award winning writer, editor, and educator Naomi Shihab Nye; NPR personality and Louisiana State University MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English emeritus, Andrei Codrescu; NPR and BBC personality and humorist David Sedaris; 2009 T. S. Eliot Poetry Prize winner Philip Gross; 2000 National Book Award finalist poet, writer, and editor Kim Addonizio; poet, editor, and academic David Trinidad; CBS News Paris correspondent and author Joan Z. Shore; physician, bioethicist, 2012 Dundee International Book Award winner and author of Who Says You’re Dead?, Jacob M. Appel; and award-winning Amsterdam novelist Philibert Schogt and poet Kate Foley.
     AQ’s Writers Group was founded in April 2012, and meets on the third Sunday of the month. (July and August excepted). Due to the Covid pandemic, the group’s physical meetings, at cafes and bookstores, went virtual in March 2020, and the group has continued to meet that way.
     In the past twelve and one half years, AQ has also published work in six languages other than English including Asturian (AQ28 & AQ33), Dutch (AQ8, AQ10, AQ12, AQ15, AQ16, and AQ17), Italian (AQ23), Romanian (AQ3), Spanish (AQ4), and Turkish (AQ3), with English translations below or on facing pages.
     Next, AQ will celebrate the publication of its thirteenth yearbook on Friday, 9 February 2024 from 4 to 6 p. m. with a book party and reading at the American Book Store, Spui 12, in Amsterdam. Come and hear some of AQ’s writers. All are welcome. AQ

AQ Writers’ Group Celebrates 10th Anniversary

On Sunday, 17 October 2021, four members of Amsterdam Quarterly’s Writers’ Group raised a glass to celebrate their group’s 10th anniversary. Unfortunately, due to past Covid restrictions, the members hadn’t seen each other and discussed their work face to face since their last physical meeting in Amsterdam on 16 February 2020 before the Covid-19 restrictions went into effect.
      Group members found a videoconference a refreshing change from the group’s previous practice of sending feedback to each other via email. Group member Simon Brod set up the meeting’s communication link and sent the invitations.
      This writers’ group meeting discussed and/or critiqued five pieces: three poems, one memoir, and one essay. Sandhya Kirshnakumar sent a poem for consideration about a weather warning in Amsterdam, Bryan R. Monte, a poem about searching for relatives in Trento, Italy, and Simon Brod, an enigmatic poem about the creation of an idea or a child. Darya Danesh submitted a memoir about the accessibility barriers people with disabilities face at a public concert. A fifth member, bart plantenga, was unable to attend due to his return from Ameland the same day. However, the group sent him feedback on his essay on gun violence and popular music, and bart also sent the group members feedback on their work. Lastly, long-time writers’ group member, Pat Seman, a regular for the past eight years, was also unable to attend because she was on a return journey from Greece. She sent her best wishes and emailed she looked forward to rejoining the group in November via videoconference.

Darya Danesh, Amsterdam Quarterly Writers’ Group Virtual Meeting 17 October 2021, screenshot, 2021. Writers from upper-left window clockwise: Simon Brod, Bryan R. Monte, Darya Danesh, and Sandhya Krishnakumar. Not shown are AQ Writers’ Group members bart plantenga and Pat Seman.

Amsterdam Quarterly Marks Three 10th Anniversaries in 2021

In 2021, Amsterdam Quarterly was scheduled to celebrate three 10th anniversaries. However, due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, two of these three anniversaries could not be celebrated.

The first anniversary would have been in January 2021 and marked the 10th Amsterdam Quarterly yearbook launch party and reading at the American Book Center in Amsterdam. AQ would have celebrated this event on 29 January 2021 with writers published in AQ in the past year, members of the Amsterdam Quarterly writers’ group, and an enthusiastic audience. The AQ 2020 Yearbook features work in in eight genres: art, essay, fiction, memoir, news, photography, poetry, and reviews. However due to lockdown restrictions, no physical event could be held, and the 2021 yearbooks were posted to 63 contributors in 12 countries in five continents with the assistance of Maria and Steven at the ABC.

The second anniversary was the 10th anniversary of the amsterdamquarterly.nl website, which would have taken place sometime in May 2021. amsterdamquarterly.nl is AQ’s original website and URL, which has served AQ well for the last decade. It would have also marked the date of Amsterdam novelist’s Philibert Schogt’s first interview with AQ in 2011.

The last anniversary, which hopefully will be celebrated in person, is the 10th anniversary of the AQ Writers’ Group, which has run continuously since October 2011. During this time, the writers’ group has met at three locations, the last of which being the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg Café and Brasserie. Here the group met every third Sunday (July and August excepted), to discuss each other’s work and to take in a bit of Amsterdam’s rich artistic scene. However, since March 2020, the AQ Writers’ Group has met virtually. AQ publisher/editor Bryan R. Monte, the group’s leader, hopes the group can soon return to meeting physically after this summer so that ‘we can finally celebrate at least one of AQ’s three 10th anniversaries in 2021.’