Pen Parentis Relocates to Secret Historic Downtown Location

With longtime literary magazines closing right and left (Glimmertrain and Tin House have both announced their final issues will be in 2019) it is no surprise that the downtown literary nonprofit, Pen Parentis, is looking to circle the wagons and rejuvenate all lovers of the printed word. The longtime favorite Irish Bar, Killarney Rose, has struck up a new partnership with the nonprofit and will be hosting intimate Literary Salons at its "Hideout" location, a cozy lounge on the second floor of 127 Pearl Street. (A far more exciting access to this venue is through the secret back staircase at 82 Beaver Street, which will be open to accommodate Salon-goers who are escaping paparazzi or those who just think a secret back entrance is a thrill).

Pen Parentis' mission is to keep writers on creative track after starting a family. All the writers presented at Pen Parentis Salons are successful writers who also have kids. What better way to reconnect to one's inner pre-parenthood writer than in a intimate and friendly neighborhood Irish bar that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year?

The inaugural Killarney Rose Pen Parentis salon will be the Winter Poetry Salon on Tuesday, January 8th 2019 at 7pm. Everyone who loves a story is welcome (21+) - you don't have to be a writer or parent to be inspired. Admission is free and the bar will be serving drinks at historically low Happy Hour prices during the event.

Featured poets this January 8th are:

• Poet Erika Meitner, daughter of a German mother whose family survived the concentration camps. She won a National Poetry Series Award.

• Poet JP Howard, who curates Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon. Her poetry has been a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards.

• Octavia McBride-Ahebee is a Pan-African-American poet whose works of poetic activism are widely published.

• Max Stephan teaches at Niagara University, specializing in contemporary American poets; he runs a poetry series entitled "Western New York Poets"

Killarney Rose's Hideout was opened during post-9/11 reconstruction as a hidden-away space with a secret back entrance, so that the union bosses and foremen could mingle apart from their construction workers who gathered on the ground floor of the well-known bar. Now, on the second Tuesday of each month, it will be flooded with book-lovers hoping to escape the ordinary and to elevate their conversations to include lofty ideals. Everyone 21+ who loves the written word is warmly welcome to attend. Admission is free.

RSVP is welcome but not required at www.penparentis.org/calendar.