Joanna Clapps Herman’s latest publication is The Anarchist Bastard: Growing Up Italian in America (SUNY Press 2011).

Of Anarchist, Maria Laurino, author of Old World Daughter, New World Mother and Were You Always an Italian calls Clapps Herman, “…A clever alchemist and gifted storyteller, she mixes humor and sadness, anger and tenderness, extracting wisdom from every ounce of pain. Along the way, the reader inhales the rich aroma of simmering espresso, savors the sweet pasticceria, follows the needle that threads their lives…"
    Clapps Herman has co-edited two anthologies Wild Dreams and Our Roots Are Deep with Passion. Her essays have appeared in The Milk of Almonds, Don’t Tell Mama, Oral History, Oral Culture, and Italian Americans, Lavandaria.
    She has published extensively fiction, poems and creative non-fiction. She has won the Bruno Arcudi Prize, the Henry Paoloucci prize.The Litchfield Review awarded her their medal for Literary Excellence. She teaches at The City College (CUNY) Center for Worker Education and is on the Graduate Writing Faculty of Manhattanville College. 
Visit www.joannaclappsherman.com
Richard Vetere: This year, his play Last Day had its world premiere at Gloucester Stage and his first young adult play, Bird Brain (Dramatic Publishing ) was just released. His latest novel Baroque was published by Bordighera Press; his poetry collections include Memories of Human Hands and A Dream of Angels.
    Vetere’s critically-acclaimed novel, The Third Miracle (Simon & Schuster) was adapted into a screenplay he co-wrote. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola, directed by Agneiszka Holland, and starring Ed Harris and Anne Heche, the film was screened at MOMA. His other films include How to Go Out on a Date in Queens, Vigilante called a “cult classic” by the New York Times, and The Marriage Fool that starred Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett. 
    Currently, he teaches a playwriting workshop in the master’s program at NYU; is a member of the NY Playwright’s Lab, Author’s Guild and Dramatist Guild. Stony Brook University created the Richard Vetere Collection and his archives are displayed in the Frank Melville Library.
    Vetere’s father was born and raised a few blocks from Cornelia St. Cafe.
Email [email protected] or visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Vetere
    The reading takes place Saturday, October 8, 2011, 5:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., at the Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia Street, NYC, (212-989-9319); www.corneliastreetcafe.com. The evening starts with Open Mic readings of five minutes each. Since 1991, the organization has given voice to writers through its Open Reading series at Cornelia St. Café every month. For membership information, visit www.iawa.net