ABOUT THE FEBRUARY 2017 SALON & WALKING TOUR:

The LAVA Sunday Salon is delighted to welcome back the esteemed poet and educator Suzanne Lummis as she curates a second series of Poem Noir readings.

Starting in the basement of Grand Central Market, Suzanne will describe the defining characteristics of this poetry, whose dark themes, atmosphere, and voice of cool detachment are inspired by the low budget black-and-white crime movies of the 1940s and 1950s. Then we’ll move across the street to the Bradbury Building for the Poem Noir readings, presented by a star-studded lineup of poets.

ABOUT THE SALON: On the last Sunday of the month starting at 2pm, LAVA welcomes interested individuals to gather in downtown Los Angeles for the Sunday Salon, featuring a presentation by a LAVA Visionary and opportunities to meet and connect with one another. Immediately after the Salon, a walking tour expands on the Salon theme. If you’re interested in joining LAVA as a creative contributor or an attendee, we recommend Salon attendance as an introduction to this growing community.

Presenters

Tony Forsmark, a Nevada, Iowa native, graduated from Iowa State University with a major in Performing Arts and is a longtime member of the master class at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. The veteran actor has appeared in multiple theatrical, commercial and television roles, including recent roles in such shows as Criminal Minds, Documentary Now, Speechless and American Crime. Forsmark is repped by Rex Talent Management (Manager) and RPM Talent (Agent).

Strawn Bovee is known for work in Theater, Film, TV, Video, Galleries, Commercials and Interactive Games. Selected works: THEATER: Richard III, Macbeth, Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Iphigenia at Aulis, The Heiress, Sister Cities, Daddyo Dies Well, Vagina Monologues, The Balcony, Antigone, The Possibilites, The Shawl, Tartuffe. PERFORMANCE ART: Double Play, I like to Sit, Astral Tea Party, Woman at The Well, The Dance Crazy Kid. FILM & TV: Gilmore Girls, The Guardian, Judging Amy, General Hospital, The Others, Just My Luck, All the Ships at Sea, Brewster’s Millions, Fourteen (in production).

Fanny Daubigny is a French-born, Los Angeles–based writer. She teaches at CSUF and is the author of numerous articles on Marcel Proust. She is currently working on a translation of Suzanne Lummis’ poems.

Suzanne Lummis, one of the region’s best-known poets, wrote a defining essay on the “poem noir,” published in New Mexico’s Malpais Review: “The Poem Noir, Too Dark to Be Depressed.” As director of The Los Angeles Poetry Festival she produced the 2011 citywide series, Night and the City: L.A. Noir in Poetry, Fiction and Film. Her poems have appeared in many publications including The New Ohio Review, The Antioch Review, Ploughshares, American Journal of Poetry, and The New Yorker. Poems with a specifically noir mood and theme were included in”Noir Riot,” an anthology of poetry and detective stories, and in the Vers Noir section of the Knoph “Everyman’s anthology,” Killer Verse: Poems of Murder and Mayhem. She has a strong performance background and appeared in numerous plays around Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s. In Los Angeles Magazine, theater critic Dick Lochte, himself a writer of detective novels, called her a “new wave Gracie Allen.”

RESERVATIONS: The LAVA Sunday Salon and walking tour are free, but reservations are required. There are no “plus ones,” so tell your friends to sign up individually. Please don’t reserve unless you plan to attend. To reserve your spot for this free event, click on the “Buy Tickets” button above.