Monday, December 11, 2023

We had a blast reading & listening at Tacovision NYC!

[See bios of readers below the photos.]

Holidaze on Mic!

What a grand time we had celebrating readers, guests, and banned/canceled books…not to mention eating and lifting our glasses to the holidaze at Tacovision.

READERS’ BIOS:

Amy Grech Amy Grech has sold over 100 stories to various anthologies and magazines. Alien Buddha Press recently published her poetry chapbook, A Shadow of Your Former Self. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison is her favorite banned book.

Deedle Rodriguez Tomlinson was born and raised in the Philippines, and both her poetry and prose draw heavily on the experience of being from and away from the archipelago. Her favorite banned book is Tango Makes Three.

Ivy Raff is a prolific challah baker who lived abroad in Dominica and Paraguay and has two poetry collections forthcoming in the next six months. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides is her favorite banned book.

Karen Heuler’s  latest novel is a satire about a stalker turned into a cat by a novice witch, and their exile to Texas after it secedes from the U.S. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (banned in Russia) and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (now removed from ban in Alaska) are her favorite banned books. 

Lois Meredith is the author of eleven plays and screenplays, including Professional Misconduct, Fossey, Bearing the Crown, and Sadegh. She previously directed the French Theater Workshop at Oberlin College. She read from her audio play, When Love Speaks, now available on the internet with Laila Robins playing the role of Marta. Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses is her favorite banned book.

Matt Sack is a writer, eater, and avid #YeahYouWrite fan based in Greenwich Village, who hopes that all of his books eventually get banned. The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is favorite banned book. 

Michele Herman writes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, is the author of the novel Save the Village and two chapbooks, and teaches memoir at The Writers Studio. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak is her favorite banned book. 

Sue Mell is the author of a prize-winning novel and chapbook of short essays, and her story collection, A New Day, is forthcoming from She Writes Press in September 2024. Maus is her favorite banned book.

Tim Tomlinson is the author of the story collection, This Is Not Happening to You, and Listening to Fish: meditations from the wet world, a hybrid text of poetry and prose concerned with citizens of the coral reef, forthcoming in Spring 2024. Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller is his favorite banned book, and he read it because it was banned.

Tony Britvec earned a writing degree from Columbia University and enjoys the many doors it has opened in life, such as bartending, being asked if he ever uses it, and paying off student loan debt. His favorite banned book is Berserk by Kentaro Miura.

Suzanne King read the opening of the oft-banned The Catcher in the Rye.

READ BANNED & CANCELED BOOKS!

Opening paragraphs of these books were on the tables for guests to peruse and read at the mic if they liked.