September Reading Series is Coming in Hot

That is, coming in a little late to announce our next lineup.

Hello dear memoir lovers,

I’m writing this post from a coffee shop because Gunther is too much of a distraction for me to get any work done at home. He’s either in full crazy mode where I am convinced he’s going to hurl himself off a bookshelf or he’s so cuddly I just need to give him some scretchies and listen to him purr.

Prepping for the fall semester and Gunther is sleeping on the job (again).

I feel like August flew by, or we were short changed on some days, because suddenly the semester is starting and I’m going back to teaching freshman composition while Hope is wrangling her kids to get them ready for the new school year. It’s been tough to juggle everything but we won’t let anything get in the way of bringing you another amazing lineup of nonfiction writers.

Well…except the first presidential debate. Which is why this next reading will take place on MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 instead of our standard second Tuesday of the month, because I’m going to need to see Kamala wipe the floor with Trump, and I’m kind of betting most of you are planning on doing the same thing.

As much as I swore I’d never deviate from the second Tuesday of the month ever again, I’ve accepted that shit happens and as much as I’d love to, I can’t control everything. Life happens and you have to roll with the punches (or some other cliche I’m not caffeinated enough to think of).

So without further ado, I’d like to announce our next group of readers. Please mark your calendar and get ready for another amazing night of nonfiction.

♥️,

Krystal (and Hope)

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September Readers

Sumitra Mattai (below)

Sumitra Mattai is a writer and textile designer based in New York City. She holds a BFA in Textile Design from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. Her essays exploring identity and culture have been shared in Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, and Writing Class Radio, among others. To learn more, please visit her website, www.sumitramattai.com, or find her on Instagram @sumitramattai.

Diane Calvert (below)

Diane Calvert is a 78 year old memoir writer, a medieval-style artist, and she has recently begun a new “career” as a stand-up comic. From September to June she writes and does comedy in Manhattan. She spends summers in rural France where she creates medieval manuscripts.

Hope Elizabeth Kidd (below)

Hope Elizabeth Kidd lives in New York City with her husband, five children, and an assortment of pets. She enjoys writing about motherhood, mental health, and body image. She is working on a memoir about her childhood in Zimbabwe and recently completed her MFA in creative writing from the City College of New York. She has been published in MUTHA magazine, Halfway Down the Stairs, the Manifest Station, and a print anthology by Horns and Rattles Press. For two years, she worked as an editor on Promethean, City College’s literary journal. At any given moment, you can find her drinking a mocha or complaining about laundry. You can find her on Instagram at @hopeelizabethwrites.

Paulette Perhach (below)

Paulette Perhach’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, Vox, Elle, The Washington Post, Slate, Cosmopolitan, and more. She’s best known for her viral essay “A Story of a Fuck Off Fund,” featured in The Future is Feminist alongside Roxane Gay and Mindy Kaling. She’s the author of two million-reader viral essays. Paulette’s writing spans personal finance, travel, culture, and empowerment, with her work included in prominent anthologies and roundups celebrating influential voices. She also serves writers as a coach, helping them figure out how to make a life and career out of being a writer.

India Choquette (below)

India Choquette (she/her) is a fiction writer who is finishing her MFA in creative writing at the City College of New York. Her work has been published by Hobart, Foglifter, and Teachers & Writers, among other places. While she has lived in New York City for over a decade, she grew up on a small farm in Vermont and writes a lot about plants.

 Asya Stepnova (below)

Asya Stepnova is a writer and photographer from Brooklyn. She earned her BFA in Dramatic Writing from SUNY Purchase's Dramatic Writing Conservatory and received her MFA in Creative Writing at CCNY. Her plays have been performed at Playwrights Horizons. Her writing has been featured in Promethean, 433, Dwelling Literary, and Lovers & Other Strangers. Her photographs and zines have been exhibited in galleries in New York, Bristol, and Paris. Asya uses writing and visual art as a means to connect with and make sense of the insanity and absurdity of the world. Her passions include vanity plates and neon signs.