First Friday Reading Series - June 1st
Join us every First Friday for the
for live author readings by local writers and poets. Each month will feature a different genre, including Local Flavor, Science Fiction and more. Light beverages and snacks will be provided. Come out and explore the literature growing in your own back yard, and support your local authors, writers, and publishers.
When: June 1st, 5 – 9PM and every first Friday of the monthWhere: Dennis Moore’s Pottery Studio, corner of S. Conkling and Bank, 21224. Across from Rooftop Hot in Highlandtown.This month we celebrate the art of storytelling with Memoir Night. Sharing a little bit about lives makes us all stronger. See more info on each author below.6:15pmLeslie Kain has a B.A. in Psychology from Wellesley College and an MBA from Boston University. She has written much nonfiction throughout her various professions and began writing fiction in 2016. She draws from her careers in psychology, business, high tech, Intelligence and nonprofits to create stories steeped in psychological complexity with multilayered plots and typically dark character arcs. Although occasionally dabbling in memoir, she usually prefers to re-purpose those memories into works of fiction. She has had two short stories published, has completed her first novel (looking for an agent!), and has begun a new novel.6:30pmMaggie Epps began her career as a playwright at age 6. However, it reached its peak at age 8 after her class put on her World War II epic. She retired to focus on her education. After graduating from NYU with a degree in Passion Studies, Maggie explored Washington, DC. She worked on Capitol Hill, and in a variety of childcare and food service jobs. She earned a Masters in Social Work from Catholic University. Afterwards, she worked in community mental health, before venturing out to Mountain View, California to learn web development. These days, Maggie lives in Baltimore, Maryland and works for the Wikimedia Foundation, helping them fund projects like Wikipedia. In her abundant free time, she chases a toddler, and writes speculative fiction and occasionally non-fiction.7:00pmGwen Van Velsor writes creative nonfiction and pseudo-inspirational prose. She started Yellow Arrow Publishing, a project that publishes and supports writers who identify as women. Raised in Portland, Oregon, Gwen has moved many times, from sea to shining sea, now calling Highlandtown her forever home. Her major accomplishments include walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain, raising a toddler, and being ok with life exactly as it is. Her memoir, Follow That Arrow, was published in 2016.7:15pmCija (pronounced Kia) Jefferson is the author of Sonic Memories, a collection of personal essays. Her work has been featured in Yellow Arrow Journal, Baltimore STYLE, HelloGiggles, The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet, and Baltimore Fishbowl. When she is not watching copious amounts of Bravo and HBO, she is reading and, of course, writing. 7:45pmDr. Diane Pomerantz is a clinical psychologist who has been in practice working with children, adolescents, and adults in the Baltimore, Maryland area for over thirty-five years. She has done extensive work in the area of trauma and child abuse and research in the area of personality development of abused children. She currently runs Healing Through Writing groups in her practice. She is a breast cancer survivor and has two wonderful grown children. She and her shaggy dog, Rug, live amidst tall trees on the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland.8:00pmJeannie Vanasco is the author of The Glass Eye: A Memoir. Featured by Poets & Writers as one of the five best literary nonfiction debuts of 2017, The Glass Eye was also selected as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Pick, an Indies Introduce Pick, and an Indie Next Pick. Her nonfiction has appeared in the Believer, the New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, Tin House, and on NewYorker.com. She is an assistant professor of English at Towson University and lives in Baltimore. She is working on her second book.8:30pmLisa M. Van Wormer is a memoirist who loves using the alluring poetry form to tell and enhance her stories. Along with Yellow Arrow, her writing has been included in xoJane, Huffington Post, AMVETS Magazine and Baltimore Fishbowl, among others. Her work has also been featured as a part of multiple shows on the Baltimore NPR station (WYPR). Lisa has an MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts from University of Baltimore and is constantly seeking avenues to process and heal through her art. To find out more, see her website at www.lmvanwormer.com and follow her on twitter @lisavanmark.8:45pm
Cybele (rhymes with What The Hell) Pomeroy is an itinerant artist for hire, for the last it's none of your business, but graduated from Loyola College, before it had grown up and become Loyola University, where she studied writing, literature, education and drama. She never studied costuming, improv or physical comedy but does them anyway. She's written and produced various comedy murder mysteries, a 17-minute interactive limerick operetta called Don Juan The Iguana, the 3 1/2-hour Watergate! The Musical, and was lead writer on a conflict-resolution computer game called Harmony Island. Cybele’s poetry has appeared in Poets Ink, City Paper and Scribble Literary Magazine. She's 5'3", brown-eyed, moderately snarky and writes all her Facebook status in 17 syllables. None of her memoirs have yet been published, unless you count blogging, which she doesn’t.