Literary Continuation

My heart skipped a beat when I heard that part of a West Hollywood block was on fire. This block included A Different Light Bookstore. Thankfully, there was minimal damage and they're still open. Whew!

Here is information on the series that I'm curating at A Different Light:

The Promising Series is the only reading series in Los Angeles that exclusively features Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender writers. A goal for the series is to celebrate established writers and introduce the next generation of writers that will explore the GLBT experience. The second reading will be held on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 7:30pm.

“The first reading in July was packed with people,” said series coordinator Noel Alumit. “It really showed me that there was an incredible literary need out there that had to be met. I hope the second reading is just as wonderful!”

The September 12th reading will feature:

Eloise Klein Healy, the Founding Chair of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Antioch University Los Angeles and Distinguished Professor of Creating Writing Emerita, is a Guest Poet at the Idyllwild Summer Poetry Festival. Healy is co-founder of ECO-ARTS, an eco-tourism/arts venture and founding editor of ARKTOI BOOKS, an imprint of Red Hen Press. Her collections Passing and Artemis In Echo Park were both finalists for the Lambda Book Award. Her newest title, The Islands Project: Poems For Sappho, is from Red Hen Press. www.eloisekleinhealy.com

Gabrielle Calvocoressi is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, a Jones Lectureship in Poetry at Stanford University and a Rona Jaffe Woman Writers' Award. Her first collection, The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart (Persea Books, 2005), was shortlisted for the Northern California Book Award and won the 2006 Connecticut Book Award in Poetry. She lives in Los Angeles and currently teaches in the MFA program at California College of Arts in San Francisco and in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Warren Wilson College.

Steven Reign’s debut collection of poetry and short-short fiction, Your Dead Body is My Welcome Mat, was published in 2001 and has been followed-up with two chapbooks, Ignited and Cartography. Reigns served as Literary Director of The Center in Tampa for two years before recently relocating to Los Angeles. He has been selected as a 2008 recipient of the Los Angeles County Artist In Residency Grant, a project to teach free poetry workshops to GLBTQ seniors. www.stevenreigns.com

Sheila Traviss has been published in the anthology Bedroom Eyes, the Sun magazine and the collection Love Knots. Her screenplay, The Price Is Hope, and her one hour drama, The Block, have been optioned for development. She has written for the comedy show, Out There; was a writer/performer with the Groundlings Theatre and her one-woman show, Tribes, was produced in Los Angeles and off-off-Broadway. Sheila’s novel, Dreamwriter: Madison Mavis is making the rounds of publishers and giving her an ulcer. She is currently working on her second novel and pursuing a master’s degree in psychology at Antioch University.

Noel Alumit wrote the novels Letters to Montgomery Clift and Talking to the Moon. He wrote and performed the solos shows The Rice Room: Scenes from a Bar and Master of the (Miss) Universe. www.thelastnoel.blogspot.com

The Promising Series will take place on Wednesday, September 12 at 7:30pm. A Different Light Bookstore, 8853 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90069, (310) 854-6601.