Jeff Parker

5.30.15 at the Brookhaven Warehouse
Telling a story from his memoir, Where Bears Roam the Streets: a Russian Journal

Jeff Parker has written several books including the nonfiction book Where Bears Roam the Streets: A Russian Journal (Harper Collins), the novel Ovenman (Tin House), and the story collection The Taste of Penny (Dzanc). His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the Best American Nonrequired Reading, Ploughshares, Tin House, The Walrus, and many others. With Pasha Malla, he co-“wrote” the collection of found sports poetry Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion (Featherproof) and with Annie Liontas he edited A Manner of Being (University of Massachusetts Press), a book of essays by writers on their mentors. With Mikhail Iossel he edited two collections of writing by contemporary Russian writers, Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia (Tin House) and Amerika: Russian Writers View the United States (Dalkey Archive). With Alina Ryabovolova and Mariya Gusev he translated the novel Sankya by Zakhar Prilepin from the Russian. He is the Director and co-founder of the DISQUIET International Literary Program in Lisbon, Portugal, and he teaches in the MFA program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Bonus: Jeff Parker reads “Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion” a poem constructed using quotes from Metta World Peace, also known as Ron Artest. Plus a poem constructed from Internet comments made on the site where the original poem appeared.