Last month’s reading was stunning! But summer at Why There Are Words is just warming up, and July promises to be intriguing, as the following authors read from their work on the theme of “Culpable.” We’ll be in Sausalito’s Studio 333 at 7 PM, with books, beer, wine, and blame! $5 is all you need to come join us.
Graham Gremore is a reclusive misanthrope from St. Paul. He co-produces the humor reading series LitUp Writers in San Francisco. Graham has written two stage musicals, both of which were commissioned and produced by SteppingStone Theater in St. Paul. In 2009, his play “As in Autumn” was a semi-finalist in The Source: 10 Minute Play Festival in Washington D.C. His solo show, “Private Parts,” had its world premiere at SF Playhouse in May 2011. Currently, he is an MFA candidate in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Playwriting at San Francisco State University.
A child of World War II, Agatha Hoff describes the violent destruction of a city, a country and the culture of her native Hungary in her book, Burning Horses. She came to America in 1949 as a refugee, attended high school in Menlo Park, and college at Seattle University. When her youngest child started kindergarten, Agatha went to San Francisco Law School and earned her J.D. degree at night. She worked in poverty law where clients often abandoned her for a “real lawyer,” meaning someone they paid. When she became a real lawyer in private practice, her clients termed her personal injury practice “the armpit of the law.” When she was appointed a court commissioner at San Francisco Superior Court, her favorite moniker written by a disgruntled litigant pronounced her to be a “fascist terrorist cross-dressed in the cloak of justice.” When at last a British tourist who came to traffic court called her “Your Worship,” she thought she’d retire before it went to her head. Agatha is spending her retirement writing and long distance cycling. Her column, “Tales From The Bench”, has appeared regularly in San Francisco Attorney Magazine.
Evan Karp covers literary culture as a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and is a regular contributor to SF Weekly‘s Exhibitionist blog. He is the founder and editor of Litseen and creator and host of Quiet Lightning, a monthly submission-based reading series that publishes each show as a book called sparkle & blink, which he also edits. He is a contributing editor of Instant City and the official blogger of Litquake.
K.M. Soehnlein is the author of three novels: Robin and Ruby, The World of Normal Boys, and You Can Say You Knew Me When, plus essays and reviews in many publications. He was born in New York, grew up in New Jersey, and has lived in San Francisco since the early ’90s. He teaches in the MFA in Writing Program at the University of San Francisco. His wish list includes learning to play the piano, becoming fluent in Italian, and finishing the New York Times Sunday Crossword puzzle in under 45 minutes.
Kristen Tracy is a poet who has also written several teen and middle-grade novels, including Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus, Lost It, Sharks & Boys, and A Field Guide for Heartbreakers. She lives in San Francisco where she volunteers as a gardener on Alcatraz. Along with Nina LaCour she teaches Bay Area writing classes.
James Warner is the author of All Her Father’s Guns, a novel published in 2011 by Numina Press. His short fiction has appeared most recently on KGB Bar Lit Magazine, Narrative, and Night Train. He writes an almost-monthly literary column, “Standing Perpendicular,” for opendemocracy.net, and is also a fiction editor for Identity Theory.
