Red Light Lit Austin presents: Lions Like Us Book Launch Party
Join me for a love-drenched evening of poetry and stories, live music and delicious wine in celebration of my newly released poetry collection, Lions Like Us published by Red Light Lit Press.
Featuring:
Kim Denning
Shy-Zahir Moses
Heidi Kasa
Dale Bridges
C. Prudence Arceneaux
Stephanie Yue Duhem
Bianca Alyssa Pérez
S.C. Says
Hollie Hardy
Live Music:
Brandix
Hosted by: Hollie Hardy
Sunday, August 18, 2024
6pm
Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar
1101 E 11th St
Austin, TX
Free Event
Author Bios
C. Prudence Arceneaux, a native Texan, teaches English and Creative Writing at Austin Community College, in Austin, TX. Her work has appeared in various journals, including The Academy of American Poets’ Poem- A- Day, Limestone, New Texas, Hazmat Review, Texas Observer, Whiskey Island Magazine, African Voices and Inkwell. She is the author of two chapbooks of poetry-- DIRT (awarded the 2018 Jean Pedrick Prize) and LIBERTY. Her debut full length collection PROPRIOCEPTION is out 2025 from Texas Review Press.
Andre Bradford, a.k.a. S.C. Says, is an Austin based slam poet who has been performing since 2013. He's toured and featured at venues and universities across the country, and his work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Write About Now, The Edge radio, The Culture Trip, and Blavity. He is a two time Austin Poetry Slam Champion, the 2022 Texas Grand Slam Champion, and is the author of the poetry collection Golden Brown Skin. He also once popped a bag of popcorn without burning a single kernel, which is arguably one of his greatest achievements.
Dale Bridges is a fiction writer, essayist, and painter. His work has appeared in more than thirty publications, including The Rumpus, The Masters Review, and Barrelhouse Magazine. For several years, he was the arts-and-entertainment editor at the Boulder Weekly, where he won journalism awards for his feature writing and cultural criticism. He has published a book of short stories Justice, Inc. (Monkey Puzzle Press) and a novel called The Mean Reds (SFA Press). He currently lives in Austin and works at the library.
Kim Denning is a Latina poet, consultant, former professor, and recovering high school teacher. She practices curanderismo in the footsteps of her ancestral abuelas and likes to play the guitar very loudly. Her poetry has been published in various online and print publications and she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her poem, Borderland Suburbia. Her poetry has been featured in Last Stanza Poetry Journal, FERAL, OpenDoor Magazine, Pareidolia Literary, VIPF’s 2021 Boundless Anthology, Adanna Literary Journal: Women in Politics; and Essential Voices: A COVID-19 Anthology. Although she often writes about love and heartache, she proudly murdered romance by winning Versification Zine’s 2021 Kill Cupid Contest.
Stephanie Yue Duhem is an Austin-based writer and educator, with an MA in Higher Education Administration and an MFA in Creative Writing. She was a 2020 Best of the Net nominee and a 2021 and 2023 Pushcart nominee. Learn more: syduhem.wordpress.com
Hollie Hardy is a writer, educator, and author of the newly released Lions Like Us (Red Light Lit Press) and How to Take a Bullet: And Other Survival Poems (Punk Hostage Press) winner of the Annual Poetry Center Book Award at San Francisco State University. She holds an MFA in Poetry from SFSU, teaches private writing workshops online, founded Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets, and hosts the long-running monthly reading series Saturday Night Special: A Virtual Open Mic. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. She lives in Austin, TX. Learn more at: holliehardy.com Follow her on Instagram at @hollie.hardy
Heidi Kasa is the author of Split (Monday Night Press, 2022), and her writing has appeared in Barrelhouse, Ruminate, and The Racket, among others. She won the 2024 Plaza Prose Poetry Prize and the 2023 Poetry Super Highway Poetry Prize. Kasa’s flash fiction collection The Beginners won the 2023 Digging Press Chapbook Contest, and is forthcoming in 2025. She works as an editor and creates handmade artist books. See more at www.heidikasa.com.
Shy-Zahir Moses is a poet & lover from Dallas, working on their way to make it out of Texas. They are a Watering Hole Writing Workshop Fellow, and their work has been supported by the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice, A Gathering Together Journal, and Callaloo. Shy's work meditates on queerness, family, black southern spirituality and religion, and the contemplation of God, the Ancestors, and the divine.
Bianca Alyssa Pérez (she/her) is a Latina poet, educator, and editor born and raised in Mission, Texas – a small southern town bordering Mexico. She holds her MFA in Poetry from Texas State University, where she also teaches and coordinates the MFA in Creative Writing program. She was the 2022-2023 Clark House Writer-In-Residence in Smithville, TX. Her chapbook, Gemini Gospel, is published with Host Publications. She is also the co-host of the horror podcast, Basement Girls, with writer, Steph Grossman. Find more chisme at her website: biancaalyssaperez.com. website: biancaalyssaperez.com
Brandix sprouts and grows along the Texas-Mexico border, nourishing her roots with an abundance of influences reflected in her music, art, and creative style. Around Austin, she transmutes her music setlist to include genres like Nu-Metal, Mariachi, and Neo-Soul. Her original art and music is experimental and genre-bending. Healing, and inner/outer exploration are huge influential themes for her art and music as well as the biology of planet Earth. Brandix is accompanied by fellow Virgo friend Meredith Galaif on guitar.