In 1993, David Messineo, founder and editor of Secaucus-based Sensations literary magazine, set goals for the 1990s including an ambitious schedule of new issues. In 2003, Messineo has not only exceeded many of his original expectations, but has continued an ambitious schedule of publishing and touring the state with poetry readings.
This month, the Secaucus resident will unveil issue No. 32 of his magazine and will continue to promote his book through library readings.
Messineo, the founder and executive editor of the 17-year-old Secaucus-based literary magazine, has been sharing some material from his first published poetry collection, Suburban Gothic, and its follow up, Restoration, as well as from several issues of his magazine.
Sensations has been called one of the county’s last independent literary magazines, and during its history published more than 1,000 poets.
Restoration, his latest effort, contains 131 poems Messineo’s life, covering everything from his close calls with death to his eyewitness account of the fall of the World Trade Center from the window of his Secaucus residence.
On Sunday, Dec. 7, Messineo will appear from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Monroe Center for the Arts, 720 Monroe Street in Hoboken for a World AIDS Day reading sponsored by Stevens Institute of Technology’s Debaun Reading Series.
On Thursday, Dec. 11 from 7 to7:45 p.m., Messineo will be featured at the Somerville Public Library, Somerville, N.J. On Friday, Dec. 12, at 8:30 p.m. he will unveil the latest issue of Sensations Magazine at a special reading at the Cafe Local on Grand Avenue in Englewood.
Through the courtesy of reading host Paul Nash, who also is a fiction editor for Sensations, Messineo and invited Sensations writers will be the guests in the monthly Cafe Local series. In two feature sets (one at 8:30, and the other sometime between 10 and 11 p.m.), writers will read material from Fall 2003 Sensations Magazine Issue 31: “America at War, Part Two: World Power, 1898-Present,” which will be released that evening and available for purchase for $25/copy. There will be an open reading between these sets for material related, or not related, to this theme. For more information, go to Messineo’s website: http://www.sensationsmag.com.