Balloon Theater: Short Stories & Personal Essays

A reading from a newly published collection of short stories and personal essays
titled Balloon Theater, by Steve Moncada Street, will take place at the Villager
Gallery and Frameworks on September 12 from 7:00 – 8:00 in the evening. Mark
Street and Lynne Sachs, Street’s brother and sister-in-law, will read excerpts
from the collection, published posthumously by Contingency Street Press.
Steve Moncada Street, after graduating from Beloit College and receiving his
MFA in fiction from the University of Arkansas, taught at the American
University in Cairo, then for thirty years at a dozen American colleges. A noted
academic labor activist, his commentary on the crisis confronting adjunct labor,
as well as his fiction, book reviews, and personal essays, appeared widely. He died
of cancer in 2012.

Since the book’s publication, it has garnered numerous stellar reviews. John
Dufresne, author of Storyville, writes, “The prose is incandescent, the characters,
many of them ex-pats . . . are riveting. Street is one savvy, fearless, and lyrical
storyteller. His range and confidence are astonishing.” Phillip Lopate, author of
The Art of the Personal Essay, writes, “This stunning collection of stories and
personal essays—harrowing, wryly insightful, wise, filled with beautifully crafted
sentences—displays the remarkable gifts of a writer who sadly never got the
recognition he deserved and now can only be appreciated posthumously.”
A reception will follow the reading.

For more information, contact The Villager
Gallery & Frameworks, 608-365-6007, info@villager.com, or the publisher,
Contingency Street Press LLC, contingencystreetpress.com/