Saturday December 1st, 2007
3:00 p.m.
National Park Visitor Center
246 Market Street
Lowell, MA 01852
sponsored in part through the Lowell Cultural Council
BOOTSTRAP PRESS is proud to announce the publication of THE RIOT ACT, a new book of poetry and prose by Geoffrey Young. Handsomely designed, and with a cover painting by Eric Fischl, THE RIOT ACT is divided into three sections. Lyric wit, sober narrative, impatient critique and generous insight flow through the course of this book’s 106 pages like a broken-field runner on a lop-sided playing field. Perfect bound, in an edition of 1000 copies, each copy is exactly the same as its neighbor in the box.
Comprised of “Why I Don’t Write Novels” (34 faux sonnets), “Conversion” (short prose), and “Up the Wazoo” (occasional poems), THE RIOT ACT continues this writer’s compelling engagement with language, history, and personal life in a range of forms, inviting each reader to take refuge in freshly conceived spaces, between the lines.
GEOFFREY YOUNG grew up in San Diego on flat streets under Queen palms. Before settling in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1982, he spent years in Santa Barbara (UCSB), Albuquerque (UNM), Paris (a Fulbright year followed by six months at La Galerie Sonnabend), and Berkeley (two sons born). He has taught at SF State University, UC Berkeley, Columbia, and Vassar.
His small press, The Figures (since 1975), has published more than 125 books of poetry, fiction, and art writing.
His own recent books of poetry include Admiral Fever (with drawings by Philip Knoll), Pockets of Wheat (drawings by James Siena), Cerulean Embankments (drawings by Carroll Dunham), Lights Out (drawings by James Siena), and Fickle Sonnets (drawings by Donald Baechler).
In 1992 Young opened a gallery in Great Barrington, where he continues to curate exhibitions of contemporary art. In the spring he teaches a class in Art Criticism at the University at Albany.
Over the last thirteen years he has curated 40 shows for his contemporary art gallery, as well as written catalog essays for a dozen artists.
