Kevin Coval's "L-vis Lives!" Tour Planning Underway

"Kevin Coval is a new, glowing voice in the world of literature. In his voice is our hope for a new world of peace, grace and beauty."
—Studs Terkel

“The new voice of Chicago... brilliant, funny, magnificent and intensely personal.” 
—Chicago Tribune

“One of my favorite poets.”
—Mos Def

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Now Booking Fall 2011, Spring 2012:

L-VIS LIVES!
A spoken word concert featuring
KEVIN COVAL
for the release of L-vis Lives: Racemusic Poems

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HAYMARKET BOOKS is pleased to announce the planning of national tour featuring Kevin Coval to coincide with the September release of his new book of poetry, L-vis Lives: Racemusic Poems. Coval will be available for readings from L-vis Lives!, writing workshops, and screenings of the award-winning 2010 documentary Louder than a Bomb.

L-vis Lives! is a bold new collection of poetry and prose exploring the collision of race, art, and appropriation in hip hop culture. L-vis is an imagined persona: a representation of artists who have used and misused Black music. Like so many others who gained fame and fortune from their sampling, L-vis is as much a sincere artist as he is a thief. In Kevin Coval's poems, L-vis' story is equal parts autobiography, forgotten history, and re-imaginings. We see shades of Elvis Presley, the Beastie Boys, and Eminem, and meet some of history's more obscure “whiteboy” heroes and anti-heroes: legendary breakdancers, political activists, and music impresarios. A story of both artistic theft and radical invention, L-vis Lives! is a poetic novella on all of the possibilities and problems of “post-racial” American culture.

KEVIN COVAL is the author of ALA “Book of the Year” finalist Slingshots: A Hip-Hop Poetica and Everyday People. He is also the Artistic Director of Louder Than a Bomb: The Chicago Teen Poetry Festival which he co-founded. Coval has performed at hundreds of universities, high schools, synagogues, and theaters in seven countries on four continents. A regular contributor to Chicago Public Radio and a four-time HBO Def Poet, Coval is former poet-in-residence at The Jane Addams’ Hull House Museum and is currently faculty at The School of the Art Institute. He has taught creative writing and spoken-word performance workshops in Chicago high schools for over ten years.

The award-winning documentary film LOUDER THAN A BOMB chronicles the annual Chicago teen poetry festival of the same name. Directed by Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel, Louder Than a Bomb has appeared at over 20 film festivals and will air on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, this December. Variety calls Louder than a Bomb “an affecting and superbly paced celebration of American youth at their creative best." More information and a trailer can be found on the film's website: http://www.louderthanabombfilm.com/.

IF YOU would like to discuss hosting a reading, performance, workshop, or screening, please contact Jon Kurinsky at Jon@haymarketbooks.org. For media requests, please contact Sarah Macaraeg at Sarah@haymarketbooks.org.

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MORE INFORMATION on L-vis Lives!, including an excerpt and advance praise, can be found at:
http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/L-vis-Lives

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