Twisted Spoon Press Night - Monday, May 5th, 2003

• Slovak philosopher Robert Gal reads from his new book, Signs and Symptoms, a collection of aphorisms. Born in Bratislava, Gal now teaches philosophy at the Josef Skvorecky Literary Academy. A previous collection of aphorisms, Destructions + Paradoxes was published in 1997 by G+G Press, Prague.

• Howard Sidenberg reads selections from: "Tales of Galicia" by Polish writer, Andrzej Stasiuk. Stasiuk has been three times nominated for the Nike, Poland's National Book Award. His first book, ,"White Raven" a collection of stories based on his prison experien ces, achieved cult status in Poland (published in English by Serpent's Tail Press).

• "Second-Hand Souls" - Selected Writings by Nichita Danilov. Danilov writes in Romanian but is descended from the Lippovenian Slav minority that settled in Romania in the 1700s, fleeing church-schism-related persecution. His work is marked by a strong surrealist aesthetic, and concerns a deep exploration of the ineffable or "void" between Man and the Divine. Danilov places his prose and poetry in the tradition of religious mystics such as Dionysius the Areopagite, Meister Eckhart (c.1260-1327) and the Spaniard, Saint John of The Cross.