Virtual event tomorrow 4/18 @ 7 pm ET, Rumpus interview, two NYC events, & launch photos!
Hi friends,
I’d love to see your faces tomorrow night, April 18th at 7 pm ET, for a virtual event with the amazing organizer and artivist photographer Hector Vaca Cruz via The Writer’s Center. If you’re able to join us by zoom, Hector will share his photographs, I’ll read from Country of Under, and we’ll be in conversation about how our experiences of art and activism intertwine and the role that art might play in this time. You can register at https://writer.org/event/shaffner/.
Haley Sherif’s insightful interview for The Rumpus, “A Fierce Kind of Hope”, got me thinking about the experiences of activism, artivism, and advocacy I had over the 10 years that I worked on Country of Under, which were integral to the story. I’m looking forward to continuing that conversation with Hector, who had some wonderful things to say when we last spoke about where he’s finding hope these days. I hope there’s time for him to tell you about how his dog Chuy is an organizer, too!
NYC friends, mark your calendars for my April 30th and May 3rd events! I’m excited about the great conversations percolating with filmmaker Emily Branham and writers Jennifer Savran Kelly and Jess deCourcy Hinds.
Please RSVP for the Kew & Willow Author Talk: Gender & Street Art in Literature by getting free tickets here.
Thank you so much to everyone—120 of you!—who came out, brought friends, and helped with our Double Book Launch Drag Extravaganza Thursday. It was a night beyond my wildest dreams. I still can’t believe it all came together so beautifully and powerfully, thanks to my amazing collaborators Oso Chanel, Nova Stella, Lolita Chanel, and Onya Nerves; Main Street Books; and Goodyear Arts; and all of you in the audience who filled the space with love.
Niteesh, my partner in life and at Freedom Tunnel Press, is going to post a video of The Extravaganza on YouTube, but for now here are a few photos from Main Street Books, the lovely poet Irene Honeycutt, my mom, @leesirr, and our talented photographer friend Bimal Dimri, who shot photos throughout the show and captured those black-and-white beauties of Nova and Lolita.
Hope to see some of you tomorrow night and in NYC very soon!
Until then, as Pilar and Río would say, Besos on both cheeks!
-Brooke