Co-organized by interdisciplinary poets & artists Kristine Esser Slentz & Matt Gahler, featuring work by Sylvia Thomas, Kristine Esser Slentz, Zora Neale Satchell, & Cea (Constantine Jones).
Proof of vaccination against COVID-19 required. 21+, no cover. Come buy us all a round, we’ll make it worth yr while.
Matt Gahler:
Matthew Gahler (he/him) is a queer Pacific Islander raised in Minnesota and based in New York City. He received his MFA from The City College of New York, where he teaches composition and creative writing. You can find him on Instagram here.
Cea (Constantine Jones):
Cea (they/them) is an interdisciplinary Greek-American thingmaker. They are a member of the Artist+ Registry at Visual AIDS and the collective, What Would An HIV Doula Do?. They are the author of a novel, In Still Rooms, (The Operating System, 2020) & a collaborative chapbook with Portuguese visual artist Vicente Sampaio, BALEEN: A Poem In Twelve Days, (Ursus Americanus, 2022). Their work has been performed or exhibited at various venues across NYC & Tennessee
KRISTINE ESSER SLENTZ:
KRISTINE ESSER SLENTZ is the author of woman, depose (FlowerSong Press). She is originally from northwest Indiana and the Chicagoland area. Recently, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing (poetry) from City College of New York (CCNY) where she is currently an English Department adjunct. KRISTINE is a 2017 Pushcart Prize nominee, finalist in the 2020-2021 Glass Poetry Chapbook Contest, Spring 2020 Flash Fiction Contest finalist for F(r)iction, CCNY English Department 2019-2020 Teacher-Writer Award, 2020-2021 Rifkind Fellow, and recently completed the Poets Afloat residency. You can find her online at her website, and on social media here: Instagram / Twitter / Facebook
Zora Neale Satchell:
Zora Satchell is a Black queer poet and editor who writes about mental illness, film, family, and friendship. She believes that poetry creates space to explore and heal from trauma as well as allow us to imagine new worlds. She is a founding member of the Estuary Collective and holds a degree in Ethnic Studies from Colorado State University. She was recently awarded the Brooklyn Poets fellowship for winter/spring 2021. You can look for her forthcoming column on film & poetry, “The Cutting Room Floor”, with the Poetry Question. You can find her on Twitter @thecasualrevolt where she lets her typos run wild.
Sylvia Thomas:
In 2016, Sylvia began performing her spoken word in Indianapolis. She performed at a few open mics and showcases. From then on, she began to feature at different spots all over the state and the Midwest. In 2018, her words took her to Copenhagen, Denmark as a poet for Winter Pride. After her trip to Europe, she wrote a collection of poems for her debut chapbook, DIVINE. In 2020, she began displaying her creative process of her works on Patreon. She is also the author of Twirl: A Collection of Poetry by a Queer and Transgender Hoosier, which you can order here.
She is the recipient of a Performing Arts grant through the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF). In August of 2021, she was a headliner for Copenhagen 2021: World Pride and Eurogames. After her World Pride performance, she performed for a collaboration between the Global Queer Youth Network and the United Nation Envoy on Youth. She is releasing her next publication, Twirl, November 12th.
Sylvia Thomas is a Hoosier from Indianapolis. She has a degree in History from Indiana University. When she’s not writing, performing, or working in her community, she enjoys being a cinephile, keeping up with pop culture, listening to Pop music, going to museums, walking, exploring cities, and spending time with loved ones. You can find her online at her website here.