Primal Sanities: A tribute to Walt Whitman.


We present a reading from Primal Sanities edited by Walter E. Harris III (a.k.a Mankh) and George Wallace a collection of poems and essays published by Allbook Books, Selden New York.

Whitman, was born in Huntington Town on Long Island. The collection includes 45 poets, many from the Long Island and New York area.  Mankh  hosted the reading and read from the work of George Wallace,  Bill Zavatsky and Pedro Mir. 

Also heard were Robert Savino, Mark Donnelly, Charlene Babb Knadle, the late Sag Harbor poet Allen Planz and Maryann Calendrille of Canios Books reading the poetry of Vince Clemente and Barbara Southard.

listen to audio here

Save the date: June 22 2012 - Greg Palast and Ted Rall for WPKN

Join WPKN staff members and Canio's Cultural Cafe's Kathryn Szoka as we present BBC investigative reporter Greg Palast of Greenport and syndicated political cartoonist and South Fork neighbor Ted Rall in a lively discussion about the coming elections and how they are being bought.

This joint benefit for Canio's non-profit Cultural Cafe and listener powered WPKN Radio will be at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork's sanctuary starting at 6:30PM on Friday June 22.

The UUCSF is located on the Bridgehampton - Sag Harbor Turnpike - just south of the junction with
Scuttlehole Road in Bridgehampton.

more - much more - info coming

Call Tony Ernst at 631-259-2482  for info.

WPKN needs your help

If you enjoy listening to the readings of literature and discussions heard on East End Ink we hope you will help us support the unusual gem of a radio station that allows this kind of cultural expression to be broadcast.  

Please go to wpkn.org and click on the 'Donate' button ( you may make a one-time or repeating monthy donation)

Dava Sobel - A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized The Cosmos

Science writer Dava Sobel talks about writing her book A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized The Cosmos - which contains a play and a narrative.

first broadcast April 25, 2012

LISTEN HERE

Poets Kathryn Levy, Julie Sheehan and Star Black

Today we present poets Kathryn Levy, Julie Sheehan and Star Black in a program recorded at Canios Books Sag Harbor to celebrate the publication of Star Black’s collection “Veliety’s Shade”.  

Kathryn Levy’s recent work includes Losing the Moon published by Canio's Editions.

Julie Sheehan’s most recent collection is “Bar Book” published by W.W. Norton.

Star Black read from Velleity’s Shade published by Saturnalia Books.

This program was recorded in July, 2011 at Canios Books in Sag Harbor New York.

Listen here

Helen Fitzgerald Reading at Canios Books

Our friend Helen Fitzgerald passed away at her home in Springs this week.  We remember her as a strong activist for peace and justice everywhere.  But Helen devoted much of her time to her large family.  She recounted her times at 'The House on Surrey Lane" in Massapequa in a work read at Canios Books in February 2009.

listen here (3 minutes): 

Helen's poem was part of a  program "Brother Can You Spare A Poem" - work on the theme of hard times at Canios Books.   

listen to the entire program here (29:20):

African American Read In

Each February The John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor presents a Read In of African American Literature.  Last February the read in took place at Canios Books Sag Harbor as the library prepared to close for repairs and expansion (the Library has re-located to temporary quarters at 34 West Water St. Sag Harbor).   

The readers were Catherine Creedon of the John Jermain library, Carol Spencer, Mikal Gohring and Pamela Kalamanis.  Music was provided by singer and poet, Terry Sullivan. 

Here are some sources for the work read on this program:

Virginia Hamilton’s collection of folk tales “The People Could Fly” was published in 1985 by Knopf and is distributed by Random House.  More children’s literature by Virginia Hamilton can be found at virginiahamilton.com 

The Complete Writings of Phyllis Wheatley, edited by Vincent Carretta was published by Penquin Classics in 2001.

A compilation The Essential Etheridge Knight was published in 1986 by the University of Pittsburgh Press

James Baldwin’s essay “The Price of the Ticket: Collected NonFiction 1948-1985 

was published by St. Martin’s Press in 1985. 

The voice of James Baldwin on today’s program is from the video: James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket produced by California Newsreels. It is available on the internet from newsreel.org 

Listen to today's program here

*** Another Read-In of African American literature co-sponsored by the John Jermain Library and Canios Cultural Café is scheduled for Saturday February at 5 PM at Canios Books, 290 Main Street Sag Harbor. Please bring a short excerpt of your favorite work by an African America author: fiction, poetry, non-fiction are welcome. You do not need to read to attend. Light refreshments will be served after the reading. Call 631.725.4926 to sign-in to read.***

**** Last February East End Ink presented “Lift Every Voice: The NAACP and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement” with author  Patricia Sullivan and a reading of “Freedom’s Plow” by Langston Hughes.  Listen to last February's program here

Philip Schwartz reads from Failure

Poet Philip Schultz reads from his Pulitzer winning collection “Failure” published in 2007 by Harcourt.  An encore broadcast recorded in November, 2007 at Canios Books, Sag Harbor  



Listen here

Emily Dickinson Marathon Reading

Today we present part II of a community marathon reading of the work of Emily Dickinson recorded at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, NY in April 2010. 

Farmers, writers and other lovers of literature read the work of the 19th century poet.

Emily Dickinson was born in December 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts.  As an adult she lived in virtual seclusion and died in Amherst in May of 1886.  

She started writing poetry as a teenager but her first surviving poem is from 1850.  The earliest poems can be heard on our previous program in the series. 

In today’s program we hear poems written in 1859 and 1860 and included in The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition edited by Ralph W. Franklin (The Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press, 1999). Franklin was the Director of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.  

The readers were all from the Bridgehampton area and included poets, a farmer, librarians, a public official, a photographer/bookseller and other lovers of literature.  

The marathon reading lasted more than 8 hours. The following readers are heard in today's program:

Marilee Foster, Virginia Tiger, Arkady Nebelsin, Kathryn Szoka, Ann Mackesey, Hillary Strober, Lee Foster, Diana White and Marcia Mitrowski of the Hampton Library (thanks Marcia!).

Listen here

Last December (2010) we presented Part I of the marathon reading - more info and the audio available here

To Kill A Mockingbird

The novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, set in a small Alabama town in the 1930’s was published 51 years ago.  A 50th anniversary edition of the novel was published in 2010 by Harper Collins.

Today, To Kill A Mockingbird continues to be read worldwide and is in the curriculum of middle and high schools in the US.  

Recently a stage production of the work at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor was shown to students from all over Long Island as part of the series ‘Literature Live”.  Public performances were scheduled for  Friday, November 25 at 7pm and Saturday, November 26 at 2 pm and 7pm at the theater on Sag Harbor’s Long Wharf.  

Last year Canio’s Books in Sag Harbor invited novelist Hilma Wolitzer to help celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the work as part of a nationwide celebration.  

Listen here

Allen Planz Memorial Reading

We present a memorial reading of the work of Allen Planz, a poet, teacher and fisherman who died in East Hampton at age 73 in March 2010. Planz was the poetry editor of The Nation from 1969 to 1973.

Jack Graves wrote in the East Hampton Star in 1975:

“The fit combination of poet and fisherman is embodied in Allen Planz: his compact, well-muscled frame and gnarled hands speak of the fisherman, and the language — sometimes reeled up as a fish from the depths, and at other times staccato - speaks of the poet,” 

In May of 2010, Long Island poets met at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton New York to pay tribute to the man known as the poet of the sea. Some 20 writers read their own and Allen Planz’s work during the program. We offer this half hour sampling. 

The program’s host was poet, actor, professor and publisher Graham Everett.

Listen here


A more complete recording of the program (1hr 8 min) can be heard here 

Coal River

Michael Shnayerson talks about his book about mountain top mining in West Virginia and how activists are fighting it in the courts.  "Coal River" was published by Farrar, Strauss, Giroux in 2008. We present an update prepared and written by WPKN's Melinda Tuhus.

Mr. Shanyerson was recorded at Canios Books, Sag Harbor.

Listen here

This program is part of WPKN's Fall fundraiser with the theme "Sustainable Radio".  Go to wpkn.org
to support East End Ink and all the diverse programs on WPKN.