Bad Love
A Dark Valentine's Reading & Open Mic
Love is not always roses and chocolates. Sometimes love is dark, sometimes it's a punch in the gut, and sometimes it's just laugh-out-loud ridiculous. This Valentine's Eve, join us for a different kind of Valentine's reading--one that doesn't focus on the happily-ever-afters but that instead lingers on all that is less than perfect in, about, and around the subject of love. We'll feature three special guest readers, Chelsey Clammer, Jasminne Mendez, and Adrienne Perry, and will then open the stage to any and all Houston writers and poets for an open mic. Bring your fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and everything in-between!
Open mic signup will be on the night of the event, and will be starting at 6.30 pm. Get there early to secure a 5-minute spot on the Bad Love stage.
WHAT TO READ: Anything about bad love, sad love, love gone hilariously wrong, love cynically rejected, love misplaces, love lost. Feel free to interpret the theme widely: it doesn't have to be romantic love--you can talk about family relations gone sour, friends turned enemies, your cat whom you love but who hates you, or the book you tried to love but that sorely disappointed your expectations. We can't wait to see how you interpret the theme!
WHAT NOT TO READ: We will not tolerate readings containing/promoting acts of violence committed in the name of love. 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.
About Our Featured Readers
Jasminne Mendez is an award winning author, performance poet, actress, and educator. Mendez has performed her poetry in venues all around Houston, including the MFAH, Rice and the Alley Theatre. She has shared the stage with respected writers and poets, notably, Sandra Cisneros and Natalie Diaz. Mendez has been published both nationally and internationally and her first multi-genre memoir Island of Dreams (Floricanto Press, 2013) was awarded Best Young Adult Latino Focused Book by the International Latino Book Awards in 2015. Her second book Night-Blooming Jasminne: Personal Essays & Poems (Arte Publico Press) is forthcoming in April 2018. She is the Co-Founder and Program Director of the Houston based Latino literary arts organizationTintero Projects and a co-host to the poetry and writing podcast series InkWell, a collaboration between Tintero Projects and Inprint Houston.
Chelsey Clammer is the author of BodyHome and Circadian, which was the winner of the 2015 Red Hen Press Nonfiction Manuscript Award. Her work has appeared in The Normal School, Black Warrior Review, The Rumpus, McSweeney’s, Hobart, Essay Daily, and The Water~Stone Review, among more than one hundred other publications. She is the Essays Editor for The Nervous Breakdown, a reader for Creative Nonfiction magazine, and an online creative writing instructor and columnist for WOW! Women On Writing. Chelsey received her MFA in Creative Writing from Rainier Writing Workshop. She lives in Waco, TX.
Adrienne Perry grew up in Wyoming and earned her MFA from Warren Wilson College in 2013. From 2014-2016 she served as Editor of Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts. Adrienne has received a Hedgebrook residency, is a Kimbilio Fellow, a member of the Rabble Collective, and her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Copper Nickel, Black Warrior Review, Indiana Review, Tidal Basin Review, and elsewhere. She is at work on a novel and a collection of essays.
Featuring:
Jasminne Mendez
Chelsey Clammer
Adrienne Perry