Darkhorse Dramatists presents "Checkpoint" a 10 minute play by Jason Irwin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9XBENm6QF4&t=2s

CL. Bledsoe's review of "A Blister of Stars"

I've long been a fan of Jason Irwin's work, ever since his first chapbook, Some Days It's a Love Story, which absolutely blew me away. It actually beat a collection of mine out for a prize, and it deserved to. All of his books have been solid. Irwin tends to write personal poems about his life experiences, which, on the surface, sounds pretty straight-forward. But Irwin has had quite a life. He has seen truly hard times, and he's chosen to share with us the lessons he's learned, dealing with profound issues like trauma and death, while avoiding navel gazing. 

A Blister of Stars does not disappoint. Irwin writes about his childhood, deeply personal poems about illness and poverty, with the underlying theme of economic instability brought about by the dying of the rust belt, a common theme in Irwin's writing. As a reader, you are present with Irwin as he faces life-threatening sickness and terrifying operations, while across the street, the neighbors are shooting at each other because dad got laid off. "Tethered" describes a childhood surgery. "The doctors assure me/I will be better off in the long run." He describes the surgery going wrong and explodes the image of dying children as Christlike. I don't want to spoil it, but he describes the aftermath, "I was just one sick child/ among many sick children/tethered to this world." It's powerful stuff, but Irwin navigates it beautifully. 

But don't let me give you the wrong impression. There is trauma and pain in these poems, but there is also great love and hope. This is the true power of Irwin's writing, the way he is able to redefine the shadows of life in order to accentuate the light. In a brief poem like, 'Moonlight and Chocolate Cake," where he ruminates on the decadence of two lovers sneaking a piece of chocolate cake late at night, "with moonlight spilling like milk" on the counter top. This is someone who's been through a lot and has learned to enjoy the joie de vivre.

C.L. Bledsoe, author of "Riceland."

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1932304.C_L_Bledsoe

Dunkirk native uses poetry to overcome adversities

http://www.observertoday.com/news/2017/10/dunkirk-native-uses-poetry-to-overcome-adversities/

Thanks Damian!

Reading with Jen Ashburn & Zach Jones @ the art bar, Toronto 9/5

https://www.facebook.com/events/130867130868806/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%2222%22%2C%22feed_story_type%22%3A%2277%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&pnref=story

Jen Ashburn, Roger, Craik, Jason Irwin @ litYoungstown 8/2

https://www.facebook.com/events/1925999297633167/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%2222%22%2C%22feed_story_type%22%3A%2222%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&pnref=story

reading 7/8/17

reading @ Hemingway's 6/13/17

audio recording from Hemingway's Cafe Summer Poetry Reading Series, hosted by Joan Bauer & Jimmy Cvetic.   http://hemingwayspoetryseries.blogspot.com/


http://www.kostany.com/hemingwayspoetryseries/2017-06-13/Jason%20Irwin%20Reading%20of%202017-06-13.mp3

Our Sudden Museum: Saturday Poetry at CC Mellor Memorial Library

Charlie Brice, Robert Fanning, Judy Brice, Jen Ashburn & Jason Irwin

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  Saturday, July 8 at 3 PM - 5 PM

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  C.C. Mellor Memorial Library 1 Pennwood Ave, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15218 CHARLES W. BRICE is the author of Flashcuts Out of Chaos (WordTech Editions, 2016). His poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in over forty publications including The Kentucky Review, The Atlanta Review, Hawaii Review, Chiron Review, The Dunes Review, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Sport Literate, Avalon Literary Journal, The Paterson Literary Review, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Spitball, Barbaric Yawp, VerseWrights, The Writing Disorder, and elsewhere. ROBERT FANNING is the author of five poetry collections, including three full-length collections: Our Sudden Museum (Salmon Poetry, Ireland), American Prophet (Marick Press), and The Seed Thieves (Marick Press), as well as two chapbooks: Sheet Music (Three Bee Press), and Old Bright Wheel (Ledge Press Poetry Award). His poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, Shenandoah, The Atlanta Review, and other journals. Recent work has also appeared on The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor on NPR, and Fanning was interviewed at the Library of Congress for the nationally-syndicated radio program “The Poet and the Poem.” A graduate of the University of Michigan and Sarah Lawrence College, he is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Central Michigan University. He is also the founder and facilitator of the Wellspring Literary Series in Mt. Pleasant, MI., where he lives with his wife, sculptor Denise Whitebread Fanning, and their two children. JUDY BRICE is a retired Pittsburgh psychiatrist whose love of nature and experiences with illness, both her own and that of her patients, inform her work. Her poems have appeared in The Paterson Literary Review, and many Pittsburgh and national publications. Judy’s collected poems have appeared in Renditions in a Palette (David Robert Books, 2013). More recently Judy’s work has appeared in Versewrights.com and is forthcoming in Vox Populi. One of her poems has been set to music by Tony Manfredonia, to be performed by a quintet. JEN ASHBURN is the author of the full-length poetry collection The Light on the Wall (Main Street Rag, 2016), and has work published in numerous journals. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Chatham University, where she taught creative writing to inmates in the Allegheny County Jail through Chatham’s Words Without Walls program. Originally from southern Indiana, she spent four years in Japan and greater Asia, and now lives in Pittsburgh. JASON IRWIN is the author of A Blister of Stars (Low Ghost, 2016), Watering the Dead (Pavement Saw Press, 2008), winner of the Transcontinental Poetry Award, and the chapbooks Where You Are (Night Ballet Press, 2014), & Some Days It's A Love Story (Slipstream Press, 2005). He grew up in Dunkirk, NY, and now lives in Pittsburgh.www.jasonirwin.blogspot.com

poetry reading with Jen Ashburn at Village Lights Books Madison Indiana 6/23

https://www.facebook.com/events/470981179903021/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%2229%22%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3A%22plan_user_invited%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&notif_t=plan_user_invited&notif_id=1497824894329052

Review of "A Blister of Stars" in Coal Hill Review.

http://www.coalhillreview.com/book-review-blister-stars-jason-irwin/

litYoungstown Reading Series

https://allevents.in/youngstown/jen-ashburn-roger-craik-and-jason-irwin/1925999297633167