Dialogue: Grotto Nights at the Library

The monthly Grotto Night at the Library this month features Bay Area writers and poets who will discuss their experiences working against insidious movements to silence and destroy communities that are under attack.

This month's featured writers are:

Eirinie Carson is a Black British writer living in California. Eirinie is a frequent contributor to Mother magazine, and her work has also appeared in LitHub, Mortal Mag, Electric Literature, The Sonora Review and others. Her first book, The Dead Are Gods (Melville House, 2023) was critically acclaimed by Oprah Daily, Nylon Magazine, Shondaland and The Washington Post, and was named one of Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2023

Paul S. Flores creates plays, oral narratives, and spoken word about transnationality and citizenship that spur and support societal movements that lead to change. Paul is a Doris Duke Artist Award winner, a Creative Work Fund awardee and National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Catalyst for Change Fellow. His plays have been commissioned by Yerba Buena Center for The Arts, La Peña Cultural Center, Pregones Theater, Creative Capital, the MAP Fund, San Francisco Arts Council, San Francisco International Arts Festival, the NEA and many more. He has featured at prominent venues from Def Poetry on HBO to Mexico, Cuba and El Salvador. He is the co-founder of Youth Speaks Inc and Brave New Voices: International Teen Poetry Slam. His book of poetry We Still Be won the 2024 American Book Award. He lives in San Francisco.

ayodele nzinga is the poet laureate of Oakland. nzinga is the founder of the Lower Bottom Playaz, Inc.; Executive Director of the Black Arts Movement Business District Community Development Corporation, of Oakland, and the producer of BAMBDFEST International. nzinga, lead curator of BAM House Cultural Center in Oakland CA holds an MFA in Writing and Consciousness and a Ph.D. in Transformative Education & Change. Nzinga is a member of the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame; a YBCA 10 Fellow; a YBCA Creative Corps Fellow; California Arts Council Legacy Fellow; BIPOC Circle Fellow; VOICES Community Journalism Fellow and a Ranin Arts Fellow. nzinga is the author of Preforming Literacy a Narrative Inquiry into Performance Pedagogy, The Horse Eaters, SorrowLand Oracle, Incandescent and Poet-Trees. 

Jess Semaan is a queer Lebanese poet, psychotherapist, group facilitator and speaker. She researches, writes and speaks on subjects of healing from complex trauma, immigration, war and belonging.  Her first poetry book Child of the Moon was published by Andrews McMeel and sold over 16,000 copies. Her second book Your Therapist is Depressed Too came out in December 2023. The book chronicles the life of a new psychotherapist during the pandemic, who is witnessing the collapse of her home country from afar.

Vanessa Torres is Colombian born and San Francisco Bay Area based poet, anthropologist, literary journalist and human rights activist.

The Writers Grotto is a community of working writers and narrative artists who connect in physical and virtual space, pooling our talents to support each other, mentor and teach others, and engage the wider world. The Grotto fosters a literary culture that is generous in spirit and deeply inclusive, elevating writers of all backgrounds.

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