Poet Pasckie Pascua launches book at NC Stage Co., May 19

From a press release:

Poet Pasckie Pascua launches book at NC Stage Co., May 19

ASHEVILLE resident Pasckie Pascua will launch his new book of poems and prose, “Red is the Color of my Night,” at North Carolina Stage Company in downtown Asheville on May 19, Monday, 7:30 PM—as Altamont Poetry Series feature for May. NC Stage is located at 15 Stage Lane, Asheville, NC 28801 (ncstage.org) 828 239 0263.

The event, a vanguard in the poetry scene, also served as the kick off leg of Pascua’s reading tour, which includes stops in Spartanburg, Columbia and Charleston in South Carolina, and Athens, Savannah and Atlanta in Georgia. The tour continues on all through summer to winter mostly in the northeast and southeast, and culminates in New York City.

Hosted by Caleb Beissert and Jeff Davis, the Altamont Poetry Series consists of a reading by the feature poet followed by an open microphone, for which readers may sign up and recite one or two short pieces. During the open portion of the event, new voices and accomplished poets alike are encouraged to share what they have been working on in a space where writers have the opportunity to try out new works in front of an audience on a monthly basis.

Published by Loved by the Buffalo Publications based in Athens GA, the poems and prose in “Red is the Color of my Night” reflect the often ragged but mostly warm wisdom of a journeyman who witnessed and experienced a life that defies his reserved demeanor and soft-spoken tact. This book is written in blood and delivered with a language that crosses creed and culture, without hesitation or reserve. The poet traverses the rough terrains of his past with piercing honesty and visionary glare. His work bothers and comforts at the same time; it also provokes while it reassures.

Pascua is a veteran journalist and poet who survived a dictatorial regime in his home-country of the Philippines. He went to the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Mass Communication, and attended undergrad Film programs at Tisch School of Arts, New York University. He was a journeyman writer even before he reached the age of 30—having worked for print, radio, and TV in various capacities, as well as a community organizer/media specialist in coastal villages and farming barrios in the countrysides since he was 15 years old. He served as member of the media liaison staff for the late president Corazon Aquino’s “good government” commission in early `90s, and consulting team for Philippine presidential candidate Senator (deceased) Raul Roco in the 1990s.

In the US, Pasckie edited the Manhattan NY-based Headline Philippines from 1998 to 2001; and headed the Southern California/Los Angeles bureau of Philippine News, the oldest nationally-distributed Filipino/Asian-American newspaper in the US and Canada.

In Asheville, Pasckie published (and edited) the community paper, The Indie, from 2001 to 2011. He is also the founding executive director of the Traveling Bonfires, a non-profit “people’s culture” organization that advocates family wisdom and community connectedness. The TBonfires organizes the summertime downtown music convergence, “Bonfires for Peace at Pritchard Park.”

For more info: www.pasckie.com or http://pasckiepascuawords.blogspot.com/ (or find Pasckie Pascua in Facebook)