Artsmith Salon Series & Writers’ Open Mic starts its season with Writer Michael Kerr with beats by local DJ Owlform on Oct 4, 7 p.m. at FIRE! Smokehouse and Grill in Eastsound.
Michael Kerr began his life as an entrepreneur but, after developing a nearly fatal aversion to numbers, he returned to academia to follow his passion for writing. He is well-known in certain literary circles as ”WTF?!” and ”Did You Just Spill Your Drink On Me?” His writing has been called barely tolerable, needs more work, and I don’t get it. Kerr’s big break came when he discovered a Wikipedia entry about fatal bear attacks in North America which he concluded he could transcribe verbatim and call “a poem.” He parlayed that early insight into an affinity for appropriating “words” and using them in “sentences.” From there, they became “stories” which some people actually “read.”
He is the author of two chapbooks of poetry, “Luggage Trunk of Air Hostesses” and “An Unauthorized and Inappropriate Image Taken In Between Posed Shots On a Windy Day Which I Was Unaware Of.” His stories and poems have appeared in “Prick of the Spindle,” “Troubles Swapped for Something Fresh: Manifestos and Unmanifestos,” “Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader,” the upcoming “Anthology of the Awkward,” and elsewhere. His story “Stranded in Kosmas” was nominated for inclusion in The Best Creative Nonfiction, Volume 3 published by W.W. Norton. He lives in Ashland, Oregon where he takes solace in uncomfortable silences.
Info: 376-2025 and salonseries@orcasartsmith.org
