All posts tagged La Bodega Gallery

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

KASAI: Years ago at an open mic literary event, a woman read a poem all about her cats…which was written on toilet paper that she unfurled onstage…unironically.

Kirsten Imani Kasai writes very dark, very weird fiction. She publishes Body Parts Magazine: The Journal of Horror & Erotica and owns MagicWordEditingCo. which offers a full range of services to creative writers, academics and scientists. Her third novel, The House of Erzulie was published this February by Shade Mountain Press. According to Foreword Reviews, Kirsten “makes the macabre beautiful.”

Come see Kirsten read at La Bodega Gallery in San Diego on Saturday, April 28 at 7pm.

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

GRIFFITH: In 2005 I went to see in interesting reading at a bar in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where my friend read and then a Belorussian band took the stage and performed dressed as a group of insects.  Following the show, we all gathered at another bar where the band of insects approached my friend and began to verbally assail him in Russian, accusing him of wearing a fake beard, which evidently was a serious breach of decorum and grounds for a fight.  Soon our friends entered the mix and a huge “beard brawl” nearly ensued, but my bearded friend slipped out the door and, once the offending facial hair was out of sight, cooler heads prevailed.

Ryan Griffith served as resident storyteller for The Lounge on KPBS radio, where he read from his acclaimed series, The Midnight Pharmacy. His stories and poems have also appeared in a variety of literary journals such as elimae, Night Train, and NANO Fiction.  He teaches at Grossmont College and during the 2015-2016 school year, he took sabbatical to work on his novel while living abroad in Iceland, Russia, Turkey, and other countries. His current project is a multimedia narrative installation, “Relics of The Hypnotist War,” which is now on display at Space4Art studios in downtown San Diego.

Come see Ryan read at La Bodega Gallery in San Diego on Saturday, April 28 at 7pm.

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?

SHARP: The gnarliest thing I’ve seen at a lit reading was a dude that sobbed about me unmatching from them on Tinder after too many messages received from them when they were drunk. What made it worse was that I attended that reading with someone else I met on Tinder. The first person got kicked out, the second was a wee upset at me playing the field a bit. Moral of the story–don’t bring potential dates to your home bar.

Alix Sharp is an anthropologist with a writing problem, currently attending Southwestern College. She’s a professional translator/animal wrangler irl and in video games. She has a piece in PacificLit, and other forthcoming work. Stay tuned on Twitter @debaucherie.

Come see Alix read at La Bodega Gallery in San Diego on Saturday, April 28 at 7pm.