Poetry and Prose for Pride: Queer Open Mic and Reading

Join us to celebrate Pride Month with a reading by local writers Lisa L. Moore, John Fry, Marilyse V. Figueroa, and Timothy Dailey-Valdés! We will open the event with a 30-minute open mic, so bring your work to share if you wish! Everyone is welcome.

Lisa L. Moore is the author of the 2018 chapbook 24 Hours of Men (Dancing Girl Press). EcoTheo Review described the collection as “deeply rooted in place…in a way that recalls the work of Seamus Heaney and Louise Gluck,” praising its “boldness and originality.” Lisa’s poetry and critical writing have been recognized with the Art/Lines Juried Poetry Prize and the Lambda Literary Foundation Book Award. The author or editor of five books of literary criticism, Lisa teaches English and Women’s and Gender Studies at The University of Texas at Austin.

John Fry is the author of the forthcoming with the dogstar as my witness, a finalist for the Orison Poetry Prize, the Dorset Prize, and the Nightboat Poetry Prize, which Orison will publish in October of this year. His poems have appeared in Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, West Branch, and Blackbird, among others. A graduate of Texas State University's MFA program, he's a poetry editor for Newfound Journal and currently a doctoral candidate at UT-Austin, where he's writing a dissertation on medieval English poetry. He lives in the Texas Hill Country.

Marilyse V. Figueroa is an unapologetic Scorpio just like Björk, and a proud queer femme Xicana - Puerto Riqueña from Oklahoma and Texas. Marilyse's work has been published in Acentos Review, Southwestern American Literature, St. Sucia Zine, and many others. Marilyse has been the Director of the San Marcos, Texas Chapter of Barrio Writers Workshop since 2017, and she is currently the Artist-In-Residence at the Writing Barn in Austin. Her work embodies a fascination with hybridity–a mezcla of fiction, poetry, testimonio, sci-fi and fantasy. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and an experimental novella. 

Timothy Dailey-Valdés is a native Austinite and an alleged poet. He holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Texas State University. He has worked on the editorial staffs of a number of publications, including Front Porch Journal, where he served as Poetry Editor. You may have seen his poems in such journals as the North American Review, Assaracus, Opossum, Us For President, and in the trash cans of many others.