Plant the Seed
Reading & Open Mic
THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
FuenteCo is thrilled to present a reading by Franciszka Voeltz and Jennifer Morales, in conjunction with Failure to Identify, a series that creates spaces for innovative, interdisciplinary & risk-taking writers & artists to perform in Houston.
OPEN MIC: After our featured readers, we will open the stage for a FuenteCo open mic. Sign up begins at 6.30 pm on the night of the reading, so bring 5 minutes worth of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and any and all unclassifiable and hybrid works.
WHAT NOT TO READ: We will not tolerate readings that are racist, sexist, ableist, or contain hate speech against any minority groups. We reserve the right to end any reading with material or themes we deem unacceptable for these or other reasons.
If you are interested in the accompanying Plant The Seed: A Generative Workshop with Franciszka and Jennifer, scheduled for the afternoon before the reading (3-6 pm, $45), you can find more info and register via the link.
Featuring:
Franciszka Voeltz
Jennifer Morales
ABOUT OUR FEATURED READERS
Franciszka Voeltz
From the crossroads of writing and social practice, Franciszka Voeltz writes poems-to-go on a portable typewriter for magnificent strangers in public places, curates a collective poem to the entire planet, and has two decades’ experience facilitating community writing workshops and readings in living rooms, at universities, and everywhere in between. Writing together is her favorite way to be with people. Voeltz’s chapbook POETXTS is available from Imaginary Friend Press, and her work has appeared in journals including Dark Mountain, Analecta Literary Journal, and Adrienne. Voeltz is the recipient of various poetry fellowships including those granted by the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Santa Fe Art Institute, and Art Farm. She earned an MFA in Writing from the University of California, San Diego. franciszkavoeltz.com
Jennifer Morales
Jennifer Morales is a queer Latina poet, fiction writer, and performance artist whose work across genres wrestles with questions of gender, identity, complicity, and harm. She has led writing workshops for all ages—1st-graders through adults—and has been called (by the adults, not the 1st-graders) “a natural-born teacher.” She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University-Los Angeles in 2011. Jennifer’s first book, Meet Me Halfway (UW Press, 2015), a short story collection about life in hyper-segregated Milwaukee, was Wisconsin Center for the Book’s 2016 “Book of the Year.” Reviewers called it “a compelling debut” (Booklist) and Jennifer “an impressively gifted writer” (Midwest Book Review). Excerpts of her unpublished novel, Junction, appeared in The Account (spring 2017) and in Happy Hours: Our Lives in the Gay Bars (Flashpoint, 2017), edited by S. Renée Bess and Lee Lynch. Recent publications also include poems in MAYDAY and in "Pulsamos," a special issue of Glass Poetry dedicated to the Pulse nightclub victims. She’s the president of the board of the Driftless Writing Center, building literary community in rural Southwestern Wisconsin. www.moraleswrites.com
ABOUT FAILURE TO IDENTIFY
Since May 2012, Failure to Identify has been an experiment in creating spaces for innovative, interdisciplinary & risk-taking writers & artists to perform for Houston publics. Usually these events feature writers from out-of-town, often in conjunction with locally-based folk. The series has no fixed schedule and is super-occasional and super-dependent on happy coincidences and friendly participants. Events have sometimes been held on the back patio of Kaboom Books or at other times in conjunction with local organizations like Art League, Project Row Houses, Fotofest and more. www.johnpluecker.com/failure-to-identify/