Slapering Hol Press, the small press imprint of The Hudson Valley Writers' Center, invites you to a publication party for its 13th publication, The Scottish Café, by Susan H. Case. Case's poems were selected for publication by means of a competition that attracted entries from throughout the United States and from several other countries.

The title is a bit misleading. The Scottish Café, a real place, was located not in Scotland but in Lvov, Poland, which after World War II (WWII) became L'viv in the Ukraine. The Café was a favorite gathering place for mathematicians and thinkers, and before and during WWII, the mathematicians kept their sanity by working on problems which they kept in a notebook at the Café. Some very important theories, particularly about geometry, were developed there. The Café still exists, although it has been renamed.

Susan Case was inspired to write about these mathematicians after the events of 9/11/01. With the smoke rising from Ground Zero in her view from her New York City apartment, Case wondered how people over time have dealt with fear and anxiety during times of great uncertainty. Having ancestors from Eastern Europe, she had heard about the Scottish Café's remarkable patrons and decided to focus on them.

The party will feature Polish and Ukrainian refreshments; a reading by Case and very short readings by other Slapering Hol Press winners, SHP co-editor Margo Stever, and SHP volunteers; and the announcement of the 2003 winner.

Case's recent poems and short stories can be found in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review; Slant; Asphodel, Fireweed; Ariel; Stray Dog; Jewish Women's Literary Annual; Zeek; 2River View, Pierian Springs, and Summerset Review, among others. She is a winner of this year's Annual Salute to the Arts Poetry & Graphics Contest, judged by the well-known Illinois poet, G. E. Murray. Find out more about her at www.susanhcase.com.

Suggested Donation: $5 ($3 for members)

The readings at the HVWC are made possible in part by a grant from the Bydale Foundation; with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts; and by Westchester Arts Council with funds from Westchester County Government, corporations and individuals.

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