Betsy Sussler, the founder and longtime editor in chief of BOMB magazine, will bring her recently released debut novel, “Station of the Birds,” to The Church on Friday at 6 p.m. for a reading, a program of live music, and a conversation between the author and April Gornik, the venue’s co-founder. They will take questions from the audience afterward, and Sussler will sign copies of her book.
Real East End Brass, a New Orleans-style brass band made up of musicians and educators based on eastern Long Island, will kick off the program with a performance mirroring the novel’s landscape. Set in the bayous, swamps, and drug dens of the Louisiana back country and New Orleans, “Station of the Birds” follows Daryl Munroe, a privileged and disinherited son, to his hometown in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Swamp, where he intends to set up an illegal smuggling business.
As the celebrated author Jonathan Lethem put it, “How could we have guessed that Sussler, the heroic editor-impresario of the irreplaceable BOMB Magazine for decades, had also been cooking up this slinky, visionary gumbo of a novel? The book rewards comparison to Barry Gifford’s ‘Wild at Heart’ (and the film that came from it), as well as early Robert Stone or Joy Williams, or Denis Johnson’s ‘Already Dead,’ with a sense of heat and danger all its own.”
Sussler attended Sophie Newcomb Memorial College in New Orleans, now Newcomb-Tulane, and graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute with a B.F.A. in 1974. She co-founded BOMB in 1981 to publish conversations between artists and writers showing, according to The Church, how they spoke about their work among themselves. In addition, she has edited five anthologies.
Tickets are $25, $22 for members.
Tony Valderrama, an environmental artist and educator, will lead Native American Zoomorphic Pinch Pots, a workshop that blends culture, art, wildlife, and music, on Saturday afternoon at 2. He will guide participants through the basic techniques of working with clay as they create pinch pots — one of the most basic forms of Native American ceramics — in the shapes of their favorite animals.
Drawing upon his Taino heritage, Valderrama will incorporate flute music and artwork samples inspired by his Indigenous roots in his discussion. All necessary tools and materials will be provided; the finished pinch pots can be taken home after the workshop.
In addition to his art practice, Valderrama was the director of museum education at the Hillwood Estate Art Museum in Washington, D.C., and lead environmental educator and artist at the Quogue Wildlife Refuge for over 14 years. He is now director of the Wilderness Traveling Museum, which promotes Indigenous arts and culture across Long Island.
Tickets are $25, $20 for members.
