This evening will present poet and actress Amber Tamblyn and her mother, Bonnie Tamblyn, weaving together poetry and music to create a mélange of intimate and funny storytelling.
“Not-Your-Typical-Poetry-Reading”: Amber Tamblyn and Bonnie Tamblyn
In their one-of-a-kind presentation, Amber reads her poems and prose while Bonnie plays guitar and sings original songs. The elements of poetry, music, singing, and witty back-talk are interwoven to create a melange of intimate and funny storytelling. In Amber’s words, “It’s a variety show wrapped inside a Vaudeville show wrapped inside a gene pool. It is a collaboration of sass, grief, triumph and sometimes (if it’s not at a school) Maker’s Mark Whiskey.” While Amber’s poems frame the small pictures of a difficult life working in Hollywood for the past fifteen years, Bonnie’s songs take on the bigger picture of life, love, and growth in general, making for an endearing and thought provoking artistic conversation that goes beyond a traditional Mother/Daughter act. These two women are best friends who have lived multiple lives-on screen and off. Their show is nothing short of a punk rock lullaby for sleeping hearts, ready to be awoken.
Amber Tamblyn is the author of three poetry collections, Dark Sparkler, Bang Ditto, an Independent Best Seller, and Free Stallion, her debut which won the Borders Book Choice Award for Breakout Writing in 2006. Amber’s first published poem, “Kill Me So Much,” appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle when she was 12, having been submitted by her writing mentor Jack Hirschman (Poet Laureate of San Francisco 2009). Her poems have since been published in New York Quarterly, San Francisco Chronicle, Poets & Writers, Pank Magazine, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Interview, and others. She has self published two collections of poetry, art, and photography, Plenty Of Ships and Of The Dawn, and has collaborated with Semina Culture artist George Herms to create a limited edition book of collage and haiku dedicated to Jazz Musician Thelonious Monk entitled The Loneliest.
An acclaimed actress, Tamblyn has been nominated for an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Independent Spirit Award for her work in television and film. She came to fame on the soap opera General Hospital and is most recognized for her work as “Joan” on the CBS television program Joan of Arcadia. Other series she’s appeared on include House, The Unusuals, and Two and a Half Men, as well as film roles in 127 Hours, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Stephanie Daley, for which she won the 2007 Locarno Film Festival award for Best Actress.
Amber is the Executive Producer of The Drums Inside Your Chest, an annual poetry concert that showcases outstanding contemporary poets. She is the co-founder of the nonprofit Write Now Poetry Society which works to build an audience for unique poetry events. She currently writes for The Poetry Foundation and is a poetry reviewer for Bust Magazine.
Amber lives in New York City with her husband, comedian David Cross.
Excerpt from ‘Brittany Murphy’ in Dark Sparkler
The body is lifted from the red carpet,
put in a black bag,
taken to the mother’s screams
for identification.
The Country says good things
about the body.
They print the best photos;
the least bones, the most peach.
Candles are lit in the glint
of every glam. Every magazine stand
does the Southern belle curtsy
in her post-box-office-bomb honor.
Selected Works:
Poetry
Dark Sparkler (2015)
Bang Ditto (2009) – an Independent Best Seller
Free Stallion (2005) – Winner of the 2006 Borders Book Choice Award for Breakout Writing
Film
127 Hours (2011 – Actress)
Stephanie Daley (2007 – Actress) – Winner of the 2006 Locarno International Film Festival Award for Best Actress and nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005 – Actress) – Winner of the 2005 Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress in Drama
Television
Two and a Half Men (2013-2014 – Actress)House (2010-2012 – Actress)
Joan of Arcadia (2003-2005 – Actress) – Winner of the 2004 Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television and nominated for numerous awards including the 2004 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series Drama and the 2004 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Links
Amber Tamblyn’s homepage
The Washington Post: For Amber Tamblyn, writing poems about dead actresses was an ‘exorcism’
Amber Tamblyn reads her Poem Jane Doe
Amber Tamblyn faces her own demons writing poetry in ‘Dark Sparkler’
Vulture: Amber Tamblyn Explains the Moving Poem She Wrote About Lindsay Lohan
Amber Tamblyn & Ira Glass | Dark Sparkler
The Guardian: Amber Tamblyn’s Dark Sparkler: an unsettling meditation on early fame