Issue 30 Launch: A Brief Review
It’s official: Issue #30 has made its merry way into your hands, into your tote bags, and onto your bedside tables. The production of this issue was a labor of love as always, and after all of that labor, and all of that love, the Washington Square team needed a drink. Since drinking alone is far less fun than drinking with friends, and since drinking for free always trumps paying to drink, we had no choice but to send our new issue out into the world via a killer launch party.
Complete with readings, raffles, and brews (I would usually never call beer “brews” I swear, but the gracious provider of the evening’s beverages was Brooklyn Brewery) Issue #30’s launch was a total success. To kick off the evening’s readings, Lydia Davis treated the healthy crowd assembled at the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House to a smattering of her translation work and original short-short stories.
Davis was followed by Colin Winnette, a writer whose personality is as colorful as the cover of the 30th Issue of the Washington Square Review—which for the first time ever boasts a full-color cover illustration! Woo! Winnette read from (and later pedaled) his quirky new book “Animal Collection,” before turning the floor over to poet Ken Walker, whose fast paced, at times political poems went down as quick and smooth as the swigs of whiskey he took throughout his reading.
Following the three readers of the night—all of whom, I might add, can brag about having appeared in either this or past issues of Washington Square Review—there was a raffle, because everyone loves a good raffle. While everyone loves a good raffle, no one loved Saturday night’s raffle more than Dorothea Lasky, as it made her the glowing new owner of an Aesop Theory of Evolution gift set! Cha-ching!
I won’t go into what else was won, so as not to inspire envy in those who left empty handed (but for their excellent new issue of the review) or deep regret in those who failed to attend the event, but I will say that there were some very happy winners in the house.
Once the prizes had run out, raffle winners and losers alike were encouraged to share in that much needed celebratory drink, and all those in attendance sprang from their seats to partake. As the beer began to flow (haltingly at first—someone failed to supply a bottle opener for the non-twist-off Brooklyn Brewery selection—oops that might have been me!) things got social and the 30th Issue got the Saturday night send-off it deserved.
Well, that’s all for now folks. Everyone knows the best parties don’t get blogged about ;)
Catch us at the next launch. Issue #31 here we come! Or at one of the fabulous events in between. Next up: Washington Square Review Book Fair on November 3rd!