Poetry & Prose Open Mic at Secret Loft

Grab a seat in our comfortable loft and enjoy an easy evening of poetry, short fiction and creative non-fiction. Present an original or favorite piece during the open mic, or relax and be inspired by our featured readers.

7:30-8:00 – Open mic sign-up
8-8:30 – Open mic
8:30-9:30 – Featured readers
9:30-10:30 – Open mic

Featured Readers:

Julia Dixon Evans is the author of the novel How to Set Yourself on Fire (Dzanc Books). Her short fiction can be found or is forthcoming in McSweeney’s, Pithead Chapel, Fanzine, Monkeybicycle, and elsewhere, and her nonfiction can be found in Literary Hub, Barrelhouse, Like The Wind Magazine, San Diego CityBeat, and elsewhere. She is senior columns editor at The Coil and nonfiction editor at Noble / Gas Qrtrly. She lives in San Diego.

Shy Watson is the author of the poetry collection Cheap Yellow (Civil Coping Mechanisms) as well as the chapbook AWAY STATUS (Bottlecap Press 2016). Her work appears in places like Hobart, and Electric Cereal. She is from Missouri, and currently lives in Brooklyn.

Bud Smith is the author of Teenager (Tyrant Books), Double Bird (Maudlin House), and WORK (Civil Coping Mechanisms), among others. Some short stories are at Hobart, Fanzine, Joyland, Barrelhouse, New York Tyrant. He works heavy construction and lives in Jersey City, NJ.

Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Xenos (Agape Editions, 2016), and Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017). They are the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault (CCM, 2017). Joanna received a MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College, and is also the founder of Yes, Poetry , a managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM, as well as an instructor at Brooklyn Poets. Some of their writing has appeared in Brooklyn Magazine, Prelude, Apogee, Spork, The Feminist Wire, BUST, and elsewhere.