2nd annual Queer Writers Festival - 1st half of the show

by Jessica M. Wilson

On June 25, we proudly produced our 2nd annual Queer Writers Festival, celebrating diverse Queer Writers from many genres, from across Los Angeles! This years' festival was dedicated to Writer, Activist, Philospher, Angela Davis!

We began the night with a land acknowledgement to our indigenous and ancestors, and we shared our house rules of peace, love, and mutual respect for one another.

We were honored to have support from our sponsors, Poets & Writers, California Arts Council, Beyond Baroque, Jeffery Bryant, and the Stonewall Democratic Club. With this wonderful support, we had a dynamic line up, a panel discussion, a mini play, Drag performance, DJ, and vendors to create a very inclusive and expressive event celebrating Pride!

Featured Queer Writers included:

Steady, Estephanie Seis, Carol Potter, VOTH, Popcorn, Traci Akemi Kato-Kiriyama, Missy Fuego, Pam Palencia, Oombi Solis Flores, Angel Miguel Lopez,

Featured Queer Artist:

Ana Chavez

+ DJ Cesar from Fusion LA

Watch the first half of the Queer Writers Festival here. You will see performances from:

Angel Miguel Lopez (mini play, "Let's Be Blunt")

Steady - slam/spoken word performance

Pam Palencia - poetry

Oombi Solis Flores - poetry

Estephanie Seis - poetry and storytelling

Read all the participants' bios by clicking below.

After the intermission, we held a panel discussion called "Writing with Pride", including VOTH, Popcorn, Estephanie Seis, Missy Fuego, Eddy Gana, and Pam Palencia.

We moved on for another round of testimony and creative works from: VOTH (poetry), Carol Potter (poetry), Traci Akemi Kato-Kiriyama (storytelling poet), (who was giving an award from the LA Poet Society for all her amazing community building in LA for 25 years and offering safe spaces for all folks), and Missy Fuego (poetry).

Popcorn closed up the show with a poetry recital and fierce Drag performance!

It was such an incredible night. We ended with a Big Gay Dance Party, led by DJ Cesar with Fusion LA.

We all had a fabulous night of connecting, liberating, reconciling, and delighting in each others' work.