For Immediate Release Contact: City Art Director Joel Long: joeltlong@yahoo.com SylviaTorti and Richard Robbins to read at City Art Salt Lake Public Library Main Branch 210 East 400 South Salt Lake City UT 84111 Wednesday October11th, 7:00—8:00 P.M. Sylvia Torti and Richard Robbins will read from theirworks on Wednesday, October 11th at 7:00 p.m. at the Salt Lake City PublicLibrary as part of the City Art Reading Series and the Utah Humanities BookFestival. This event is free and open to the public. Sylvia Torti: Set in and around a researchlaboratory in which two scientists are experimenting on birds to discover theorigins of memory and birdsong, Sylvia Torti’s Cages is a complex interweavingof biological, philosophical and mystical themes. Two neurologists are engagedin divergent quests: one to locate the source of memory and the other to studyspeech patterns in humans by analyzing and manipulating bird vocalization. Bothmen use experiments on live songbirds in a laboratory on a university campus,and both become romantically intertwined with a woman lab assistant who takesissue with their methods. Overshadowing this trio are significant figures fromtheir individual pasts—a distant mother, a former girlfriend, a best friend andornithological expert who dies tragically while conducting field research inthe Amazon, and a mentor turned lover and nemesis. This is a subtly layerednovel rich in natural description and sense of place that grapples with seriousphilosophical and moral themes, peopled by characters who must confront theemotional truths in their lives in order to be released from their own,individual cages. Sylvia Torti is the author of The Scorpion’s Tail, winner ofthe Miguel Marmol Award for first fiction by an American of Latino descent. Sheholds a Ph.D. in biology and is Research Assistant Professor in biology as wellas current Dean of the Honors College at the University of Utah. Richard Robbins grew up in Southern California and Montana.He has published five books of poems, most recently Radioactive City (BelldayBooks, 2009) and Other Americas (Blueroad Press, 2010). He has received awardsfrom The Loft, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the National Endowment for theArts, and the Poetry Society of America. From 1986-2014, Robbins directed theGood Thunder Reading Series at Minnesota State University Mankato, where hecontinues to direct the creative writing program. Robbins' Body Turn to Rain:New and Selected Poems (Lynx House Press) was published in May of 2017. · This event is made possible with support fromCity Art, The Salt Lake City Public Library, and Utah Humanities. Most featured readings are followed by an open reading. The event is free and open to the public. City Art is sponsored by the Utah ArtsCouncil, the Salt Lake City Arts Council, Zoo, Arts, and Parks, X-mission, andaudience donations. Joel Long