Vol. 1.1 contributor, Bay Area Poet Gillian Conoley, Reads From Her Latest Work

It was Fall 1995 when we released Fourteen Hills Volume 1.1. And one of the poets featured in our inaugaural issue was Gillian Conoley, the current poet in residence at Sonoma State University. This week, she's reading all over the Bay Area to promote her seventh book of poetry, The Plot Genie.




The title for The Plot Genie comes from a plot-generating device invented in the 1930s by former silent screenwriter, Wycliffe A. Hill. The plot genie was a cardboard spinning wheel with the numbers one through 180 printed on its rim, and an accompanying list to tell you what character trait or plot twist each number corresponded to. Conoley’s book is written from the perspective of film characters, some familiar (Frankenstein makes an appearance) and some invented, who are waiting to have their personalities and futures dialed up for them. As the narrative progresses, the plot genie itself becomes a character in the narrative, a force that rules the other characters, and is yet, itself a tool of chance and thus not fully culpable for its actions. For more information on The Plot Genie, visit the Omnidawn Press website.

This November, Bay Area residents have four opportunities to hear Conoley read her work:

Date: 11/06/09
Time: Doors open at 7pm; Reading is at 7:30pm
Location: Studio One Art Gallery, 365 45th St., Oakland, CA
Event & Participants: Studio One Reading Series featuring Gillian Conoley & Shannan Tharpe with music by Utrillo Kushner.
Find more event details here.

Date: 11/10/09
Time: 7pm
Location: Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Road, Berkeley
Event & Participants: Onmidawn Book Party featuring Gillian Conoley, Bin Ramke, Donald Revell, Michelle Taransky, & Richard Greenfield
Find more event details here.

Date: 11/13/09
Time:  7pm
Location:  Koret Auditorium of the deYoung Museum of Fine Art, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Event & Participants: The deYoung Poetry Series featuring Gillian Conoley & Rae Armantrout
Find more event details here.

Date: 11/14/09
Time:  7pm
Location: Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera
Event & Participants: Celebration of W.W. Norton Anthology, American Hybrid
featuring Gillian Conoley, Paul Hoover, Stephen Ratcliffe, Martha Ronk, & Carol Snow
Find more event details here.

And don't forget you can always order back issues direct from us for only $5.00. Download the form here and request Volume 1.1.

-Keely, Fourteen Hills Staff