CHAPTER 510 AND FRIENDS - MAGICAL PROFESSORS Step into the offices of the department of Make Believe and come see a reading featuring the enchanted teachers and staff (past and present) of Chapter 510. This reading will feature poets and prose writers and promises to be a unique experience reflected by the amazing and various magical educators who have taught our youth. We will journey across the different departments at the organization. Everything from our department of far off ideas, to our offices of powerful beginnings all the way to the department of fantastic futures. Duane Horton is a black queer fantasy writer who is from the Midwest but resides in the Bay Area. He believes in writing his intersection of identity into his fantasy pieces, to widen the cannon of literature and so that folks who share his intersection of identity can see themselves represented on the page more. He graduated with his MFA in creative writing from Mills college in 2019 and since then, has been published in numerous literary magazines including Green Mountains Review, Sapphire Hues Press and more. He uses his background in feminist studies to create stories that offer possible blue prints for the future, as he believes this is one of the many uses of the fantasy genre. Duane is a current teaching artist with Chapter 510 and his fantasy writing workshop just produced an anthology named 'Empowered Origins'. Jahan Khalighi, a spoken word poet, youth educator and community arts organizer, leads creative writing workshops for personal and collective transformation in a wide range of settings, from juvenile detention centers to classrooms, from community centers to boardrooms. He is currently Director of Programs at Chapter 510, a youth creative writing and publishing program in Oakland, CA. Jahan has performed widely, including at: TEDxSonoma, YBCA, Mission Cultural Center, Bioneers and Esalen; and some of his work has been published in Tarot In Pandemic & Revolution, Stay Amazed, and Whoa Nelly Press. Daniel B. Summerhill is a poet, essayist and scholar from Oakland, CA. His work has appeared in Columbia Journal, Obsidian, The Progressive, Academy of American Poets and elsewhere. he is the author of two collections of poems, Divine, Divine, Divine (Nomadic Press 2021) which was a semi-finalist for the Wheeler and Saturnalia Poetry Prizes respectively and Mausoleum of Flowers (Cavankerry Press 2022). Summerhill has earned fellowships from Baldwin for the Arts and The Watering Hole. He is Assistant Professor of Poetry at Santa Clara University and is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Monterey County. Tavia Stewart is a writer, mom, activist, teacher, and magical thinker living in Oakland. She has nearly 20 years of experience running literary and community nonprofits. Prior to joining Chapter 510 as a co-founder, she co-ran National Novel Writing Month where she spent nine years building the organization’s Young Writers Program. Previously Tavia interned; volunteered; and worked for 826 Valencia, McSweeney's Publishing, ZYZZYVA, and Watchword Press. She is a co-author of Ready, Set, Novel (Chronicle Books). She is a proud 2020 YBCA Fellow, and the lucky mom of one highly energetic (and dramatic) nine-year-old humanoid. Yodassa Williams is a Jamaican American author and performing storyteller who crafts from an Afro-Feminist Fantasy lense. Yodassa served as a mentor for Chapter 501's After Origins youth writing series in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. An alumna of the VONA/Voices Travel Writing program, and creator of the storytelling podcast ‘The Black Girl Magic Files', she has taught storytelling craft through Girls, Inc, and blogged for the 2020 Debutante Ball. Yodassa has performed her personal parables at events including: The Black Woman is God, The Moth (SF), StorySlam, the Berkeley Book Festival and The Monkey House. In October of 2019, Yodassa launched ‘Writers Emerging’ a four day wilderness writing retreat for women of color, held at Fly Ranch, NV. She is currently fundraising with aims to repeat the event and continue serving black femme creatives. Her debut novel, The Goddess Twins, was published by SparkPress in May 2020. This Young Adult fantasy details the adventure of seventeen year old Caribbean American twins discovering they are goddesses when their mother goes missing. It is the intended first book of a series. Leg: 2 (5:30 pm - 6:30 pm) Venue: Chapter 510 & the Dept. of Make / Believe MISSION Chapter 510 is a made-in-Oakland youth writing, bookmaking & publishing center. Our teaching artists and volunteers work side by side with educators to provide a safe space and supportive community so Black, brown, and queer youth ages 8-19 can bravely write. VISION We want every young person in Oakland to write with confidence and joy. WHAT WE STAND FOR We believe that writing is an act of liberation. Young people transform themselves and their communities when they write and get published, succeeding in work, school, and life. INSPIRED BY Chapter 510 & the Dept. of Make / Believe is and 826 National-inspired organization.
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Synchronized chaos magazine presents - whose body"WHOSE BODY?" This provocative question from Dorothy Sayers' 1923 mystery novel introduces a reading from various Northern California and East Bay poets and prose writers. Many of us grapple with themes related to our physical bodies: disability, health and illness, and bodily autonomy. Others have crafted "bodies" of work dealing with topics that seem more cerebral but are still ultimately grounded in physical experience: identity, history, and language. This reading invites us to consider who we are, at our core, and the different ways we inhabit our world. Leticia Escalera has worked with the Center for Independent Living and served two board terms on a California disability advocacy organization and the Oakland Mayor's Commission on Persons with Disabilities. She’s written a memoir about life with cognitive/neurological disabilities. Christopher Bernard has published novels (including A Spy in the Ruins and Voyage to a Phantom City), collections of poetry and short fiction, and much cultural journalism. He is also a playwright, photographer, and co-editor of the semiannual webzine Caveat Lector, and writes regularly for Synchronized Chaos Magazine. Recent books are the novel Meditations on Love and Catastrophe at The Liars' Cafe and The Socialist's Garden of Verses, which won a PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award in 2021 and was named one of the “Top 100 Indie Books of 2021” by Kirkus Reviews. His children’s books Otherwise . . .: If You Ride a Crooked Trolley and Otherwise . . . : The Judgment of Biestia will be published later in 2023. Jan Steckel was a Harvard- and Yale-trained pediatrician who took care of Spanish-speaking children until chronic pain persuaded her to change professions to writer, poet and medical editor. She is an activist for bisexual and disability rights who lives in Oakland, California. Her poetry book The Horizontal Poet (Zeitgeist Press, 2011) won a 2012 Lambda Literary Award. Her fiction chapbook Mixing Tracks (Gertrude Press, 2009) and poetry chapbook The Underwater Hospital (Zeitgeist Press, 2006) also won awards. Her creative writing has appeared in Scholastic Magazine, Yale Medicine, Bellevue Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her work won the Goodreads Newsletter Poetry Contest, a Zeiser Grant for Women Artists, the Jewel by the Bay Poetry Competition, Triplopia’s Best of the Best competition, and three Pushcart nominations. Brad Buchanan is the author of four published books of poetry, the most recent being THE SCARS, ALIGNED: A CANCER NARRATIVE (2019), and CHIMERA (2022). Emeritus Professor of English at Sacramento State University, he has also published three scholarly books, and a medical memoir entitled LIVING WITH GRAFT-VERSUS-HOST DISEASE. Fred Dodsworth has published works by Alan Ginsberg, June Jordon, Kim Addonizio, Amy Wallace, Garrison Keillor, Corby Kummer, Ginu Kamani, Karla Brundage, Allison Francis, Meliza Bañales, and many others. His work history includes lifestyle magazines, literary magazines, lesbian sports magazines, news-weeklies, and daily newspapers. Working with Dolan Eargle he researched, wrote, edited and produced three books on California’s Native Peoples: California Indian Country: The Land and the People; Native California Guide 2000, Weaving Past and Present; and Native California: An Introductory Guide to the Original Peoples from Earliest to Modern Times. Last year he launched Dodsworth Books with three books in print, Mulatta—Not So Tragic, A Life In Service, Root for the Underdog, and three more in process. Terry Tierney is the author of a poetry collection, The Poet’s Garage, and the novel Lucky Ride. His new novel, The Bridge on Beer River, will be published in July 2023 by Unsolicited Press. Amember of the SF Writers Grotto, he lives in Oakland with his wife, a Librarian from the University of California, their two Persian cats, and their enthusiastic Golden Retriever. Website: https://terrytierney.com Leg 2 (5:30pm - 6:30pm) Venue: Feelmore Social Club, 1542 Broadway Downtown Oakland has a new hangout that's a little bit wild and sexy: Feelmore Social. "Feelmore is a sex forward bar," Nenna Joiner, owner of the popular adult shop and gallery, Feelmore Adult Gallery said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. "We want to create a space where sexual weirdos can come." The lounge isn't only for sexually forward and sex-positive people, Joiner, 48, a Black queer nonbinary person, clarified. The bar is also for the less sexually adventurous to be in a relaxed and open atmosphere sipping good cocktails. If they feel like talking about sex they can do so openly. "They can feel open to ask any question and not feel shame," they said. The sexy cocktail lounge is the newest evolution of the Feelmore brand. Joiner opened Feelmore Adult in 2010. Right before COVID-19 hit they opened the Berkeley location in February 2020. They also launched Feelmore Home in 2018. The adult shop is around the corner from the new Oakland bar. It's in the heart of downtown Oakland on Broadway close to the 12th Street BART Station. The SF Creative Writing Institute is a small center that focuses on teaching the art and craft of creative writing to people from all walks of life. Some of our clients are professional writers. Others are absolute beginners and just want to try their hand at something new. We believe that we all face the blank page the same way. We are a hands-on learning environment where our clients workshop their pieces alongside each other, and give and provide feedback. We are a culturally diverse group of teaching artists who are award-winning published writers, have advanced teaching skills, Master’s Degrees in creative writing, fine art or a related field, and professional editing experience. Write from the Gut!SF Creative Writing Institute is back at it again with a great lineup of featured readers and guests. Join us and hear writers of all experience levels read from their very best works in progress. We help foster creative writing and community and turn fledgeling writers into bestselling authors! Anyone can be a writer. All they need is a little support, a community, and a clean and well lighted place. We teach writing to all levels of writer at our location at the Harvey Milk Center in Duboce Park, San Francisco, conveniently located off the n-line. https://sfwriting.institute/events Nick Mamatas is the author of ten novels, over one hundred short stories, and dozens of essays and articles. His books include the novels I Am Providence and The Second Shooter, the short fiction collections The People's Republic of Everything, The Nickronomicon and The Spook School, and the how-to guide for writing short fiction and non-fiction, Starve Better. Nick’s short fiction has appeared in Best American Mystery Stories, Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, New Haven Review, and many other anthologies and journals. He has written about writing for The Writer, Fine Books & Collections, and Wonderbook. His anthologies include the award-winning Haunted Legends (co-edited with Ellen Datlow) and The Future Is Japanese (co-edited with Masumi Washington), and the hybrid cocktail recipe/flash fiction title Mixed Up (co-edited with Molly Tanzer). Cassandra Rockwood Ghanem holds a BA from California Institute of Integral Studies and an MFA in Creative Writing from California College of the Arts. Her award-winning poems and creative nonfiction have been published locally and internationally. In 2022, Nomadic Press published Cassandra’s first poetry collection, Hot Thicket, and she is currently in the final stages of editing a book-length lyrics essay. Also the illustrator of Basho’s Haiku Journeys, a haiku picture book, Cassandra derives her versatility through prolific creative experimentation and cross-pollination between artistic disciplines and literary forms. Cassandra upholds values of diversity and inclusion, and has taught workshops and classes at community centers, high schools, colleges, and universities in Alaska, Hawaii, and California. In 2019, Cassandra led a year-long literary reading series for women and non-binary writers at The Beat Museum in San Francisco. Leg 2 (5:30pm - 6:30pm) Venue: Annapurna Restaurant & Bar Annapurna is known for its Nepalese comfort food, especially, their momos in three flavors (chicken, lamb, vegetarian). Ultimate mixture of spices in our cup. Come take a sip of some authentic chai, and enjoy the vibes. |
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