"LGBT Writers Who Inspire Us" on June 6th!

Skylight Books has been kind enough to allow me to curate this series.  It's been in existence for three years, and falls on the eve of Gay Pride in Los Angeles.  On June 6, the work of James Baldwin, Oscar Wilde, Lidia Yuknavitch, Eloise Klein Healy, and Jerome Steuart will be explored by some of today's finest writers.  Naomi Hirahara, Ali Liebegott, Wendy Ortiz, and Jervey Tervalon will light up the night!

 

June 6

7:30pm

Skylight Books

1818 N. Vermont Ave.

Los Angeles  CA  90027

FREE

 

Naomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award Winning writer.  Her debut mystery Summer of the Big Bachi received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.   It has been included in the trade magazine's list of best books of 2004, as well as the best mystery list of the Chicago Tribune. Gasa-Gasa Girl, the second Mas Arai mystery, received a starred review from Booklist and was on the Southern California Booksellers' Association bestseller list for two weeks in 2005. Most recently Snakeskin Shamisen, the third in the series, was released in May 2006. In April 2007 it won an Edgar Allan Poe award in the category of Best Paperback Original.

Ali Liebegott is the author of the award-winning books The Beautifully Worthless and The IHOP Papers. In 2010 she took a train trip across America interviewing female poets for a project titled, The Heart Has Many Doors; excerpts from these interviews are posted monthly on The Believer Logger.

Wendy C. Ortiz is a Los Angeles native. Her first book, Excavation: A Memoir, will be published by Future Tense Books in summer 2014. Her second book, Hollywood Notebook, is forthcoming from Writ Large Press in 2014. She currently writes the monthly column "On the Trail of Mary Jane" about medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles for McSweeney's Internet Tendency. 

Jervey Tervalon is the author of All the Trouble You Need, Understand This, and the Los Angeles Times bestseller Dead Above Ground. An award-winning poet, screenwriter, and dramatist, Jervey was born in New Orleans, raised in Los Angeles, and now lives in Altadena, California, with his wife and two daughters.
 

Promising on June 11: Riffing on Pride

On June 11, Queers writers will riff on Pride. On the eve of Gay Pride Weekend, nine amazing writers will explore Pride—all sorts of PRIDE. True creativity will shine as writers read work that exemplifies Pride’s meaning. This could be discussing civic Pride, an analysis of Pride and Prejudice, a description of a Pride of animals, the Deadly Sin of Pride and, of course, gay Pride.

Contributing to the fray:
Hailed as one of “the top 5 up and coming solo artists” by Music Connection Magazine, ALEX DAVIS is a transman to be reckoned with. In 2004, he began touring local venues in LA, leaving audiences awed and moved by his phenomenal talent and raw emotion. With influences such as Elliott Smith and Kurt Cobain, he's apt to be driven. Check him out at http://www.luckyalex.com/

ALISON DE LA CRUZ is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist and community-based cultural organizer. Whether working in theater, film, arts education, administration, music, or arts and culture, De La Cruz is always exploring something.

Described as a “jolt of creative and comedic energy,” D'LO is a Tamil Sri L.A.nkan-American, political theatre artist/writer, director, comedian and music producer.

LARRY DUPLECHAN is the author of five novels, including Blackbird and the Lambda Literary Award-winning Got ‘til it’s Gone. His hobbies include playing the ukulele, reading show business biographies, and pursuing his ongoing quest to forestall the physical aging process and build truly outstanding pecs.

DAVID FRANCIS' first novel Agapanthus Tango was published internationally in seven languages and then in the United States as The Great Inland Sea. His second novel, Stray Dog Winter won the American Library Association Stonewall Prize. http://www.straydogwinter.com/.

JACKY GUERRERO is an award-winning journalist in Los Angeles.

HANK HENDERSON curates the monthly reading series homo-centric. His first solo show, Stories From the Fugue State, will be performed at Highways this July.

RIC MONTEJANO is a writer, director, actor who has proudly had his work performed at Highways Performance Arts Space, Wordspace in Los Feliz, Stories in Echo Park, the West Hollywood Book Fair, the Village and various venues around the state. He has always been a proud gay man

IMANI TOLLIVER has been honored with a Certificate of Appreciation by the City of Los Angeles for her work as a promoter, host and publicist in support of the literary arts in Southern California. She also served as the 2007/2008 Poet Laureate for the Watts Towers Arts Center in Los Angeles, California.

The Promising Series will take place on Friday, June 11 at 7:30pm. Skylight Bookstore, 1818 North Vermont, Los Angeles, CA 90029, (323) 660-1175.