Mac's Backs on Coventry Celebrates Local Talents

A Coventry Village mainstay for over 25 years, Mac's Backs in Coventry Village is full of reminders that it celebrates local talent. The walls are covered with posters promoting poetry readings, author signings, and local writers and events. The store regularly sponsors literary readings, mostly poetry, held in the no-frills basement. The independent bookstore is locally owned by a group of people including Suzanne DeGaetano.

One can wander from Tommy’s, the restaurant, through a side door that connects to Mac’s Backs. The space is full of books ranging from classics to mysteries to science fiction to collectibles, both used and new. Upstairs in a balcony area are mostly paperback books, but the main floor contains hardcover and new bestsellers, in addition to the used paperbacks for which Mac’s is known.

On Thursday, March 27, Nepalese poet Yuyutsu Sharma read with Leonard Trawick. Yuyutsu is editor of Pratik: A Magazine of Contemporary Writing, and is also a poet with several books to his credit, including Anapurna Poems. Leonard Trawick, professor emeritus at CSU, has edited over 120 books in the Cleveland State Poetry Series. Are these types of events obscure? Maybe. Are they worth checking out? Absolutely! Literary events sponsored by and performed by people who are passionate about words are worth checking out because they take one away from the regular ho-hum routine of life of us non-MFA graduates.

It’s really no different than the Cleveland International Film Festival—the words can change us, deeply. Deep Cleveland poets strive for depth, hence the name. On April 9, Mac’s Backs hosted Deep Cleveland Poets & Arpine Grenier, an Armenian poet and author of Par, Part Euphrates. Deep Cleveland’s mission is “perpetuating post-industrial literary culture & other types of cosmic enterprise in the service of the arts” — http://www.deepcleveland.com. Deep Cleveland is just one of the regular events that takes place at Mac’s. Mac’s regularly hosts book discussions and The Lit’s monthly poetry workshop

Mac’s events are showcased at http://www.macsbacks.com. Story Swap, an informal way to share stories while gaining expertise in presentation, happens every first Tuesday at 7PM — if you write poetry, go there just to watch the first time around. The first time I read my work at a reading, I didn’t realize it’s supposed to be a performance. It is. If you haven’t already, find an event where poet Michael Salinger is reading —it’s amazing what he can do with words. I would bet he’s been at Mac’s Backs and encouraged others to learn to perform.

If “green” is where you’re at, Mac’s Backs is a great resource. A small pamphlet at the register encourages patrons to recycle their books. Most paperbacks are priced at half the cover price. When one brings paperbacks to Mac’s, one is given credit for other used books or cash — 25% of the cover price in trade credit or 10% of the cover price in cash. And speaking of green... the bookstore now hosts the Nature Writers Workshop that used to meet in the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area.

On April 19, a reading and book signing features the short stories in Santi: Lives of Modern Saints. Local fiction writers Grant Bailie, Dan Chaon, and Erin O’Brien will read their works that appear in the collection. Dan Chaon, Grant Bailie, and Erin O’Brien are fiction writers of note. I’ve heard Erin O’Brien talk about her writing and the process of writing, and she’s committed to writing well (Harry and Eck, published in 2005 was well written) and does it often as the writer of Rainy Day Woman in the Free Times. Dan Chaon is worthy of awe: his novel You Remind Me of Me was rich with unforgettable characters and short fiction collection Among the Missing was a National Book Award Finalist and confronted fear and human struggle head-on.

An unsual link on their website hooks people in with books discussed on television and radio—Books on the Air. Mentioned recently were David McCullough’s John Adams on the Charlie Rose Show and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen on Diane Rehm’s Reader’s Review. The fact that books are on the air at all gives me hope that books are going to be around a long time.

Also on the website, a Fiction and Nonfiction Preview lets us know what’s coming soon in books. A Search by Author allows one to click on an author’s name to read an interview and browse a summary of the author’s works. I looked up my favorite author Alice Hoffman (my favorite because she believes in magic) and read “Making believe: Alice Hoffman takes her practical magic to the river.”

Visit Mac’s Backs, at 1820 Coventry Rd. They're open Monday through Thursday from 10AM - 9PM; Friday and Saturday 10AM - 10PM and Sundays from 11AM - 8PM.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Claudia J. Taller ctallerwritesATwowway.com
Claudia's blog can be found at http://claudiatallermusings.blogspot.com.
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