Join us for a devilishly delicious literary evening of poetry and prose fit for the fall season, with readings and performances by Monday Hakala, Arielle Hebert, and Taylor Sykes. In addition to offerings of original poems and story excerpts, there will be a delectable palate cleanser from classic literature between each reader’s main course.
The veil is thin and the moon is almost full, the perfect time to gather with friends, sip on a bubbling brew or magic potion, and listen to some spine-tingling tales and verse. Get your creep on and come in costume or come as you are—all manner of ghosts, goblins, witches, wolves, and wayward creatures are welcome. Stick around after the reading for a social hour of libations, mingling, book signing, and a spirited DJ set fit for scary monsters (and super creeps).
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Arielle (she/her) is a queer poet based in North Carolina with roots in Florida and Louisiana.
Bottom Feeders is her debut poetry collection, published by Black Lawrence Press. Her work has appeared in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series, The Slowdown, Poetry Daily, Best New Poets, and elsewhere.
She holds an MFA in Poetry from North Carolina State University and is the Director of Operations and Marketing at Blair, a nonprofit independent publisher uplifting emerging and diverse writers from the South and beyond.
Arielle believes in ghosts and magic.
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Monday (they/them) is a queer, nonbinary poet raised in the South. They are drawn to expressions of bodies as nature, self-mythologizing beyond trauma, and developing spaces of queerness, community, and abundant joy.
They are currently exploring rest as a means to deprioritize capitalistic structures in favor of sustainable creativity.
Monday's work has been most recently featured in Sundress Publication's Transmasculine Poetics: Filling the Gaps in Literature & the Silences Around Us.
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Taylor’s (she/her) writing has appeared in So to Speak, The Masters Review, Slash Magazine, NPR’s All Things Considered, and elsewhere.
She is the recipient of the James Hurst Prize for Fiction and a 35 in 35 Fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center. Originally from northwest Indiana, she has an MFA in fiction from North Carolina State University and teaches horror writing at UNC Asheville.