Because of the illness and death of Kelli’s partner Cheryl, Queer Memoir has been on hiatus since March. For our first post-hiatus event, we’re partnering with the amazing organization Queers for Economic Justice, to present QUEER MEMOIR: Letters. It’s going to be an amazing evening, so please RSVP on facebook and come!
ABOUT OUR STORYTELLERS:
ASHLEY M YOUNG
Ashley is a black feminist queer dyke; poet, non-fiction writer and teaching artist. She is the creator of an online writing project for women of color called Brown Girl Love (www.browngirllove.com) and recently completed a chapbook inspired by the project. She is a non-fiction 2011 Lambda Literary Fellow and a 2010 poetry participant of Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation Retreat for Writers of Color. Under the name Indigo, Ashley writes a blog called Indigo’s Theory about her journey through sexuality, Polyamory and womanhood. She also writes a column called “Indigo’s Poly Beginnings” for Fearless Press, an online magazine about relationships and sexuality. Her erotica has been featured in Salacious Magazine and she will be a featured writer in “Perverts of Color” alongside her partner Sara Vibes. She has read her erotica throughout New York City and teaches sex positive workshops in the LBGTQ community. Ashley makes a living as non-profit arts administer and is currently working on her memoir.
KAY ULANDAY BARRETT
A CAMPUS PRIDE 2009 Hot List artist, Kay Ulanday Barrett is a poet, performer, educator, and martial artist navigating life as a pilipin@ transgender/queer in the U.S. with struggle, resistance, and laughter. Based in NY/NJ, their work has featured on stages nationally and internationally; from the NJ Performing Arts Center to the Chicago Historical Museum, Brooklyn Museum to Dublin’s Lesbian Arts Festival. Kay’s bold work continues to excite and challenge audiences. Previously, Kay has served on the Board of Directors for Beyondmedia Education and the Advocates Committee for freeDimensional, a social justice resource for the arts activist global community. Honors include: LGBTQ 30 under 30 awards and Finalist for The Gwendolyn Brooks Open-Mic Award. Kay’s work has appeared in several anthologies and journals such as: Make/shift magazine, Kicked Out Anthology, Philippine American Psychology, and Asian Americans for Progress. Kay. turns art into action as a dedicated activist who serves LGBTQ communities and youth. As a critical foodie of color, Kay’s next project is a documentary called Recipes for the People. Check out K. online: http://www.kaybarrett.net/ and http://www.recipesforthepeople.com/
BRYN KELLY
Bryn Kelly is all about the story. She has shared her written work at NYC-based performance series Gayety!, Low Standards, and Queer Memoir; on Showtime’s OurChart.com; and in the forthcoming anthology, Trans/Love: Radical Sex, Love and Relationships Beyond the Gender Binary. She was a cofounder of Theater Transgression, a multimedia performance collective, and has appeared in Dixon Place’s HOT! Festival; in As You Like It at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe; and on NBC’s Law and Order: SVU. She lives in Brooklyn.
JAY TOOLE
Jay Toole is the director of QEJ’s Shelter Project and a real, live superbutch.
R. ERIC THOMAS
R. Eric Thomas (@oureric) is a playwright, teaching artist and storyteller. He is the author of four produced plays, including “The Spectator” (Run of the Mill Theater Company, Baltimore). Eric has read or performed for Second Stories at the Dive, Rant-o-Wheel, Queer Ignite, Superheroes Who Are Super!, Queer Memoir, “Live at Kelly Writers House” on WXPN and Philadelphia’s First Person Arts Story Slams, at which he has competed in the Grand Slam three times. His writing has appeared in Columbia University’s The Collection and the literary magazine, The Q Review. His solo show, “Will You Accept This Friend Request?” premieres November 14 and 15 as part of the First Person Festival. Facebook.com/R.Eric.T
GENNE MURPHY
Genne Murphy is a Philadelphia native and playwright.. She’s passionate about the intersection of the arts, social change, and community-building. She has had readings or productions of her plays in Philly with Azuka Theatre Company, Flashpoint Theatre Company, Madhouse Late Night Cabaret, the Cardboard Box Collaborative, the Annenberg Center/Merge, LIVE at the Kelly Writers House (radio), and in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Check out her first full-length play, HOPE STREET AND OTHER LONELY PLACES to be produced by Azuka Theatre in spring 2012. Genne is the co-producer, with Kelli Dunham, of Queer Memoir (queermemoir.com
KELLI DUNHAM
Kelli Dunham (www.kellidunham.com) is everyone’s favorite nerd gone wild (mild?) stand up comic. She has appeared at colleges, clubs, fundraisers, the occasional livestock auction and on Showtime and the Discovery Channel. You can catch her full length show “Why Is the Fat One Always Angry: Kelli Dunham’s I’m Still Funny Dammit 43 Birthday Show” on October 1 at the Stonewall Inn. You can find her on facebook, youtube, twitter and any future social media platforms still to be invented as (get this cleverness) kellidunham.
Queer Memoir 