Class Schedule

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San Antonio, TX
Permit No. 1360
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Great Books Series: Voices on Violence
Thu, 6:30–8pm, Free
Gemini Ink, 1111 Navarro St
Poetry moderated by San Antonio Poet Laureate Jenny Browne
Sep 29, Here, Bullet by Brian Turner
Nov 17, Seam by Tarfia Faizullah
Prose moderated by Octavio Quintanilla, PhD
Oct 27, The Devil’s Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea
Dec 15, Days and Nights of Love and War by Eduardo Galeano
Ars Longa, Vita Brevis (Art is long, life is short!)
Inkstravaganza Gala
Thu, Oct 13, 6pm, $150
Pearl Stable, 307 Pearl Pkwy
Save The Date!
Autograph Series
Featuring U.S. Poet Laureate
Juan Felipe Herrera
May 4–5, 2017
Catch author interviews, readings, live recordings,
and more at soundcloud.com/gemini-ink.
Cyra Dumitru & Students Celebrate Their Poems
Fri, Dec 9, 6pm reception & 7pm reading, Free, Gemini Ink, 1111 Navarro St
Poetry Reading from the Yearlong Gemini Ink Poetry Workshop: “Across the Seasons: Cultivating
Deep Listening to Poetic Voice.”
South Texas Literary Culture Live.
Brian Turner: Reading and Q&A
War Veteran and Award-Winning Poet & Memoirist Comes to San Antonio
Fri, Oct 28, 7pm, Free
Trinity University Holt Center, 106 Oakmont Court
From the left; William Glenn, Eusebio Diaz, Jen Knox, Matt Donovan, Joe Jiménez,
Tarfia Faizullah, Jim LaVilla-Havelin, J.R. Helton.
Poetry at The Twig
A Reading & Book Signing with Alexandra van de Kamp and Natalia Treviño
Thu, Oct 20, 6:30pm, Free
The Twig Book Shop, 306 Pearl Parkway, #106
Inkcast
Jan Jarboe Russell
Gemini Ink programs are supported by the Albert and Bessie Mae Kronkosky Foundation,
Brown Foundation, Catto Charitable Foundation, Cecilia Willard Young Helping Fund, Faye
L. and William L. Cowden Charitable Foundation, Edouard Foundation, Elizabeth Huth
Coates Charitable Foundation, Frost National Bank, theFund, H-E-B, Humanities Texas, Lone
Star Capital Bank, Myra Stafford Pryor Charitable Trust, Najim Family Foundation, National
Endowment for the Arts, New Image Dentistry, John and Florence Newman Foundation, Palo
Alto College, The Peter Ray and Deborah Sultemeier Hope Fund, Rackspace Foundation, Alice
Kleberg Reynolds Foundation, Russell Hill Rogers Fund for the Arts, Ruth Lang Charitable
Fund and Dan and Gloria Oppenheimer Fund of the San Antonio Area Foundation, San
Antonio Department for Culture and Creative Development, Texas Commission on the Arts,
Shield Ayres Foundation, The Twig Book Shop, Valero Energy Foundation, and Viva Tacoland.
1111 Navarro St , San Antonio, Texas 78205
geminiink.org
Every year Gemini Ink honors a great San Antonio writer
with the Award of Literary Excellence at our annual gala,
Inkstravaganza. This year our honoree is the beloved journalist
and distinguished author Jan Jarboe Russell.
Author and War Veteran
Brian Turner
October 28–29
Fall 2016 Schedule
Gemini Ink
Fall 2016 Readings & Events
Join our Monthly Book Club Meetings
Fridays from noon to 1pm, Free, Gemini Ink, 1111 Navarro St
Aug 26, Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar
Sep 30, Old Filth by Jane Gardam
Oct 28, My Life as a Foreign Country by Brian Turner
Dec 2, Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
Open Writers Lab
Mon, Aug 29, Sep 26, Oct 31, Nov 28, Dec 26
6:30–8pm, Open to members, Free, Gemini Ink, 1111 Navarro St
This peer-driven workshop, held the last Monday of each month, is open to writers of all levels.
Facilitated by Gemini Ink volunteers, Dario Beniquez and John McLennon.
Fall Workshops
Nights of Noir
Wed, Sep 14, Oct 12, Nov 9, Dec 14, 6:30–8pm
$60 for all 4 classes, or $20 for a single class.
Eusebio Diaz and William Glenn
Level: All
Plunge into the world of hardboiled detectives,
femme fatales, and nihilistic grifters through novels
of the classic era of American crime fiction. Explore
four powerful books from the 1930s to the 1950s that
left an indelible mark on American literature, film,
and popular culture.
Sep 14, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Oct 12, The Postman Always Rings Twice / Double
Indemnity by James M. Cain
Nov 9, In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes
Dec 14, The Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes
Early in life, Eusebio Diaz realized he was drawn to the dark
tales of Edgar Allen Poe, which developed into a passion for
noir novels that exposed the underside of humanity and
celebrated the poetry of the downtrodden. Diaz is presently
working on a book set in his birthplace and hometown,
Carrizo Springs.
Nights of Noir Kick-off Cocktail Party
Wed, Sep 14, 5–6:30pm, Free, Gemini Ink, 1111 Navarro St
Join us for a noir-tinged happy hour as we enjoy light fare, wine, and mixed
drinks. We’ll toast Bogart-style to the first night of our crime fiction series.
William Glenn has had a long love affair with literary and
cinematic noir, expressing and exploring his obsession on
the blog Zone: improvisations on literature: music: film. He
co-founded the bilingual literary journal Terra Incognita and
is the author of A Brief Guide to American Poetry (2005).
Glenn is a librarian at UTSA.
Engage the Active Imagination: Writing as Activism
Writing Lab with René Jaime González
Thu, Sep 8, 15, 22; Oct 6,13, 20
6:30–8:30pm, Open to members, Free, Gemini Ink, 1111 Navarro St
This writing lab is conducted in an open and communal space where participants are given prompts
to discover the depth of their active imagination, expand the breadth of their creative capacity, and
explore self-expression.
Around the World with the Novel
Gemini Ink at Viva Tacoland
Fridays, 6:30–8:30pm, Free, Viva Tacoland, 103 W. Grayson St
Sep 16, Yvette Benavides, Joe Jiménez, Diamond Mason
Fri, Oct 7, Matt Donovan, Anel Flores, Darrell Pittman
Fri, Nov 4, Tarfia Faizullah, Jen Knox, Sasha West
Followed by open mic.
Tue, Sep 20, Oct 18, Nov 15, Dec 20, 6:30-8pm
$60 for all 4 classes, or $20 for a single class
Jim LaVilla-Havelin
Level: All
This fall kicks off another year of literary globetrotting
with consummate reader Jim LaVilla-Havelin. Stop
at a different country every month and gather for
a lively conversation on an unforgettable array of
world novels, from Columbian epic magic realism to
Hollywood-smitten Argentina, and more.
Sep 20, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel
García Márquez / Colombia; Oct 18, At Swim-TwoBirds by Flann O’Brien / Ireland; Nov 15, We Need
New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo / Zimbabwe;
Dec 20, Betrayed by Rita Hayworth by Manuel Puig /
Argentina
Poet, editor and educator, Jim LaVilla-Havelin, is the
Coordinator for National Poetry Month San Antonio and
Poetry Editor for the San Antonio Express-News. LaVillaHavelin’s fifth book of poetry, WEST, will be published by
Wings Press in 2017.
Retelling: An Up Close and Hands-on Look
at Young Adult Storytelling
Painting the Page:
Writing About the Visual Arts
Sat, Oct 8, 10am-3pm*, $105
Matt Donovan
Level: All
How can writing about art provide literary inspiration?
What are the paintings, photographs, sculptures and
artwork that you obsess over as a writer? Participants
in this workshop will engage in the ekphrastic
tradition of writing about art and gather strategies
for how the visual arts can inspire present and future
writing projects. We’ll write poems and nonfiction
that respond to art both real and imagined, as well as
read work by Elizabeth Bishop, Mark Doty, Larry Levis,
Lia Purpura, and many others.
Matt Donovan is the author of two collections of poetry—
Vellum (Mariner, 2007) and the chapbook Ten Burnt Lakes
(Tupelo Press, forthcoming 2017)—as well as the collection
of lyric essays, A Cloud of Unusual Size and Shape: Meditations on Ruin and Redemption (Trinity University Press,
2016). He is the recipient of a Rome Prize in Literature, a
Whiting Award, a Pushcart Prize, and a National Endowment
for the Arts Literature Fellowship, among other distinctions.
Redefining Reality: The Art of Short Fiction
Sat, Oct 15 and Sat, Oct 22, 10am–1pm, $115
Jen Knox
Level: All
Joan Didion said, “I write entirely to find out what I’m
thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what
it means. What I want and what I fear.” In this class,
examine ways to incorporate a regular writing practice
in your life by inviting curiosity to be your muse.
Review the fundamentals of storytelling and explore
your creative voice while learning skills such as how
to make a short story resonate with readers, how to
examine the world through a fictional lens, revision
strategies and methods for submitting short fiction.
Tue, Oct 25; Nov 1, 8, 15, 6:30pm-8pm, $115
Joe Jiménez
Level: All
From Cinderella to Hamlet, writers have mined old
narratives for new material. Instead of just changing
characters’ names and settings, how might we retell
stories to convey the things we believe, maybe
other versions of the story’s truths, and craft our own
authentic YA novels? Gain hands-on experience on
how to build the arc of your plot, draft characters with
lyricism, and befriend the revision process. Writing
prompts will be a part of this four-week workshop,
along with publishing advice and do’s and don’t’s.
Joe Jiménez is the author of The Possibilities of Mud
(Korima 2014) and Bloodline (Arte Público 2016). Jiménez
is the recipient of the 2016 Letras Latinas / Red Hen Press
Poetry Prize. The short film “El Abuelo,” based on Jiménez’s
poem, has been screened in Belgium, the Netherlands,
Mexico, France, Argentina, Ireland, England, and the U.S.
He lives in San Antonio, Texas, and is a member of the
Macondo Writing Workshops.
The Soldier’s Rucksack:
A Workshop with Acclaimed Author and
War Veteran, Brian Turner
Sat, Oct 29, 10am–3pm*, $105
Brian Turner
Level: All
In this generative workshop, we’ll learn from writers
who have addressed some of the toughest issues of
their times. We’ll look at poems from Wilhelm Klemm
to Elyse Fenton, WWI to the present day. Our intent
will be to isolate and consider craft tools often used
by writers focusing on war and conflict so that we
might incorporate these techniques within our own
work. Please bring your preferred writing materials to
the workshop.
Jen Knox is the author of the collection of short stories
After the Gazebo (Rain Mountain Press 2015). Her fiction
has been featured in The Adirondack Review, Chicago
Tribune’s Printers Row, Chicago Quarterly Review, Clackamas
Literary Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, Istanbul Review,
Narrative, Sequestrum, and The Saturday Evening Post. Knox
lives in San Antonio and directs Gemini Ink’s Writers in
Communities program.
Brian Turner is a poet and memoirist who served seven
years in the U.S. Army. He is the author of the memoir My
Life as a Foreign Country (2015) and two poetry collections,
Phantom Noise and Here, Bullet, which won the 2005
Beatrice Hawley Award and the New York times “Editor’s
Choice” selection, among other distinctions. He is the
author of the poem “The Hurt Locker,” which inspired the
2009 Academy-Award-winning film. Turner’s work has been
published in National Geographic, The New York Times, and
other fine journals.
*Free boxed lunch included in all 10am-3pm
Saturday workshops.
Members, please sign up by phone at
210.734.9673 to receive 15% discount on class
registration. View our cancellation policy at
geminiink.org/cancellation-policy.
Connect with us!
Autobiographical Fiction with J.R. Helton
Thu, Nov 3, 10, 17, Dec 1, 6:30-8pm, $115
Level: Geared to intermediate but all are welcome.
Students will draft, workshop, and revise works of
fiction based initially or partially upon fact or real
life experience, the more truthful and personal the
better. The goal is to produce a fictional short story
or the beginnings of a novel. Unconstrained by strict
rules of memoir or “fact-based” narrative non-fiction,
students will experiment with more fluid methods
of storytelling and learn strategies to re-envision
their own writing processes. A seemingly mundane
afternoon spent alone, or talking with a friend, can be
turned into a great piece of fiction.
John “J.R.” Helton is the author of Below the Line (2000) on
the film business, the animal rescue memoir Man and Beast
(2001), and the novels Drugs (2012) and The Jugheads
(2014) from Seven Stories Press in New York. The artist
R. Crumb has painted four original covers for his books.
Helton has published a number of short stories and poems
in Mineshaft Magazine, The Sun, The Loose Canon, Savage
Kick, The Missouri Review, among others. His latest literary
novel Finding the Cure for Cancer is currently with Liveright/
WW Norton.
Patience and Pacing: An Intensive
Workshop with Award-winning Poet
Tarfia Faizullah
Sat, Nov 5, 10am-3pm*, $105
Tarfia Faizullah
Level: All
A.A. Milne wrote, “Rivers know this: there is no hurry.
We shall get there some day.” In a world that seems
to be moving faster and faster, it can be tempting to
want our poems to write themselves as quickly. In
this workshop, we’ll discuss patience as worldview,
process, and tool for enrichening our own writing.
We’ll read and discuss poems that model the value of
patience and pacing as well as generate some drafts
of our own.
Tarfia Faizullah’s poems appear widely in periodicals and
anthologies both in the United States and abroad. Her
first book, Seam (SIU 2016) is the recipient of the Crab
Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award. Other honors
include two Pushcart Prizes and a Fulbright fellowship. She
was recently honored by Harvard Law School as one of 50
Women Inspiring Change. Her second collection, Register of
Illuminated Villages, is forthcoming from Graywolf in 2018.
Faizullah is the Nicholas Delbanco Visiting Professor of Poetry
at University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program.
geminiink.org