We had a fantastic time at Fire & Ink’s Literary Cafe during Philadelphia Black Pride! Thanks everyone for coming out, and for sharing your wonderful work and spirits!
Check out these wonderful pictures.
Fire & Ink Presents!
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, April 25, 2009
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Ballroom A
4100 Presidential Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19131
Welcome to Pride season 2009! To ring in this year’s Pride calendar, Philly Black Gay Pride hosts Fire & Ink Presents! this coming Saturday, April 25, 2009. Come on out and get a taste of the latest writing from black gay and lesbian authors. Reading from their works are:
- Lamar Ariel (Ready to Male)
- Marcel Emerson (My Eyes Are Green)
- Kimberly Q (Orchids III: Lesbian Funk)
- H.L. Sudler (Patriarch)
With a reading/tribute to Philadelphia writers Joseph Beam and Becky Birtha by host Lisa C. Moore!
Lamar Ariel
Lamar Ariel describes himself as a not-to-typical mid-Western boy who was easily seduced by the energy of New York City. Originally from Chicago, Ariel received a BS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master’s of arts management from Carnegie Mellon University. He lives in Manhattan. Ready to Male is his first published book.
Ready to Male provides fictional elaborations of memories, experiences and thoughts with a primary focus on Ariel’s journey through the “complicated realm” of his twenties. “I like to think of Ready to Male as a memoir in as well as a memoir of progress. When I go back and read what I felt, believed or wanted and then compare those moments to what my life is writing now, it’s a wonderful tool to document personal growth. I can read a letter like “Dear Funny Valentine” or a chapter of the book like “Is It Me or Is It New?” and always find a striking difference between the mental space that was ‘home’ at that particular space and time, versus the mental space which exists as my ‘home’ now,” says Ariel.
Marcel Emerson
Marcel Emerson has a degree in biology from the University of Washington, and an MBA from Trinity University. Emerson lives in Washington, D.C., where is works as a property manager for commercial real estate. My Eyes Are Green is his first novel.
In My Eyes Are Green, Jennifer Peele and Dontae Erickson have just entered the prestigious world of Georgetown University’s elite law school. A chance meeting brings them together and they realize they have a lot more in common than their green eyes. Personal tragedies have made them kindred spirits, both seeking to fill the empty space left by the deaths of their mothers. Dontae falls under the spell of a charming law student, Darrel, only to have Darrel quickly leave after the death of his father. When Darrel resurfaces later with a pregnant wife in tow, will Dontae accept Darrel’s offer of continuing their relationship? With My Eyes Are Green, Marcel Emerson makes a stunning literary debut with a gripping tale of passion, pain and the promise of love.
Kimberly “Q” aka the Lesbian Goddess is a self-published author, actress, singer and 3-time AUDELCO award winner. She has had two of her plays produced by various production companies in various cities; J’ai Deux Amours…A Journey with Josephine Baker, (winner of The Best Lead Actress award from AUDELCO) and The “Q” Stands for Queer. Her final installment of the Orchids erotic series, Lesbian Funk: A Journey into the Oblivion, is enticing, disturbing and explosive. The previous Orchids, Orchids I: African American Lesbian Erotica One Night Stands and Orchids II: Reality or Fantasy, broadened the thoughts, actions and creativity of the lesbian sexual experience. Her motto: Luxuriate in the positive stimulus of your sensuousness! It will enhance your ultimate fantasies!
Orchids III: Lesbian Funk, the final episode of the Orchids collection, is one woman’s search for the ultimate euphoric bliss. Her quest takes her on seven uniquely random journeys culminating in sexual oblivion. Lesbian Funk is enticing, disturbing, explosive and unexplainable; be warned that it may produce head shaking, stomach fluttering, dewy droplets of endless obscurity—not to mention a blown mind, a numb body, loss of memory, convulsions and a blackout!
H.L. Sudler
H.L. Sudler has been an editor, columnist, essayist and publisher. He is the president of Archer Media Networks, and has won the PATHS Humanitarian Writing Award for his short story on depression titled “The Way of All Flesh.” Sudler has completed work on his new books Man to Gentleman and Man to Gentleman’s Inspirational Diary, and is currently at work on two new books, Man to Gentleman’s Novice Chef and Patriarch, a memoir through essays. “Yesterdays and Tomorrows,” a quiet meditation on friends lost to AIDS, is a work from that collection. Sudler is a native of Philadelphia now residing in Washington, D.C.
Patriarch is a memoir in progress. “Yesterdays and Tomorrows,” an essay from Patriarch, is a quiet meditation on friends lost to AIDS.
We’ll see you in Philly!
Fire & Ink III: Cotillion registration is now open! Go here to register securely online; debit and credit cards accepted. And go here to book your rooms at the Hilton Austin, Fire & Ink’s conference hotel for Cotillion. We encourage you to come on out with a friend.
More info is coming in the next couple of weeks about the schedule. We’re bringing you some of the best workshops, panels, roundtables, readings and performances a writer/reader/teacher/student/librarian/thinker/performer/culture lover could stand. Stay tuned!
We know you’ve been waiting… and tomorrow the wait will be over! Hotel and registration info is just around the corner of midnight. Stand by!
Fire & Ink wishes to extend our best wishes to all of the nominees for the 2009 Lambda Literary Awards. The finalists’ list will be announced on or around March 15, 2009. Of course, being who we are, we wish to give some special Fire & Ink props to all of the LGBTQ writers of African descent on the list. Check them out, and read along!
* Special note: Those in red were in attendance at Fire & Ink I or have participated in subsequent Fire & Ink events! Make sure you don’t miss them next time by signing up for our e-update list in the top corner of our web site above!
LGBT ANTHOLOGIES
- Our Caribbean, edited by Thomas Glave, Duke University Press
Fire & Ink III: Cotillion is on the way! Hundreds of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer writers of African descent will be descending to Austin, Texas, from October 8 to October 11, 2009, for the greatest gathering of literary fierceness on earth. Writer and commentator Doug Cooper-Spencer won’t be missing the Cotillion.How about you? Send us your videos at fireandink2009@gmail.com and tell us why you’re coming!
Fire & Ink III: CotillionOctober 8-11, 2009
Austin, Texas
Original music (c) Phillip Alexander
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Check out this slick new ad for the upcoming Fire & Ink III: Cotillion! Want to share it? Well thank ye very much!
And check out your community lgbt-black-writer-supporting media outlets — we just might show up there! How about yours?
This past weekend, January 9-11, 2009, we held our first-ever Fire & Ink Board & Planning Retreat at Alma de Mujer Center for Social Change. Some wonderful pictures are posted below, and on Facebook Group. We got together to review some of the most amazing abstract proposals we’ve ever received or seen.
The full proposal deadline is March 30, 2009, but already the exciting ideas are pouring forth, including the engagement of visual artists and literary artists dialoguing about how we support each other in the work.
Stay tuned for more information, coming in March, about registration, our host hotel, and the beautiful conference site. Many thanks to everyone in the Austin community who came together to support our efforts, especially to Stephanie Lang and Johnathan Fleming at the University of Texas’ John L. Warfield Center for African & African American Studies.
Continue reading ‘Planning for Success’
This video, submitted to us by the uncomparable talents of visual artist Torkwase Dyson and writer/editor/publisher Tisa Bryant, about why they are coming to Fire & Ink III: Cotillion showcases not only the genius on its way to Austin, but the hilarious and loving spirit as well. How about you? Submit your video here.
The planning for Fire & Ink III: Cotillion has been well under way for over a year — but now that planning is hitting full steam.
We’ve just received a bucketful of abstracts on topics so fierce we’re going to make you wait on bated breath for a minute before we drop it on ya.
Fire & Ink’s Board of Directors is getting together with a group of our extended planning team for a Fire & Ink 2009 Board Retreat in Austin, Texas, from January 9-11th. We’ll be reviewing submissions, enjoying the scenery at Alma de Mujer Center for Social Change, and checking out Sharon Bridgforth’s production of delta dandi, her newest performance piece happening in Austin, Texas, that same weekend.
Our plates will certainly be full all weekend and, just like this October, it will be well worth the trip.
Continue reading ‘The words are coming thick and fast …’
