Better Things Open Mic
Please join us on Tuesday, July 1st, at 7:00pm, at Moon Palace Books, for our next 5×5 Reading, featuring five fantastic writers: Anthony Ceballos (@thatcasualgayvampire), Kyle "Guante" Tran Myhre (@guantesolo), Taiwana Shambley (@taiwanashambley), Barbara Currin (@barbaraacurrin), and Jeannine Ouellette (@msjeannineouellette).
Each reader will take five minutes to share work; after the main reading, there will be a short break for refreshments, followed by an open mic period. All are welcome to show up and to participate in the open mic! (List is first come, first serve.) This reading, and the open mic afterward, will be hosted by Davi Gray (@davigrayx), Erin Sharkey (@erinjaws), and Louise Waakaa’igan (@waakaaigan).
Light refreshments will be served; masks are required at Moon Palace Books and are available on-site. This is a free event, and for the first time, we've added ASL interpretation! (This will be an ongoing feature of our 5x5 readings.)
Better Things is a series of events sponsored by the ReEntry Lab, in partnership with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop (MPWW) and Moon Palace Books; the ReEntry Lab is an organization working to connect writers and other artists leaving incarceration to a community that’s ready to receive them.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Taiwana's MFA Graduation Ceremony
After three and a half years of working on my craft, Taiwana is officially graduating from Antioch University Los Angeles with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Fiction)! The ceremony’s at 10:00 a.m. PT / 12:00pm CST and will be live streamed. She’s excited and exhausted and has gotten so good at violent action scenes and revenge narratives and writing marginalized protagonists from her hood and holding a tight release of information that makes you read over and over how my characters be going THROUGH it and STILL leave the fight laughing with the girls, showing all they teeth. Come celebrate her!
Green Roof Poetry
In the gross, increasingly transphobic country that is the United States it’s critical for trans people to restore and protect our right to do what we want with our bodies. This year’s Green Roof Poetry event is about trans liberation, body sovereignty, and staying dangerous—a reminder that we are active agents in our fight for liberation who do not have to sit idle and roll over as our access to our bodies and happiness is tampered with and restricted through anti-trans legislation and instigated displays of anti-trans violence. Each of these four writers & artists, preluded and epilogued by the euphoric and somatic DJ BAZARRA, bring their own take on the phrase “stay dangerous,” taking risks in their sets and exploring the themes of trans liberation and body sovereignty in their own way. You’re invited to close out your Pride month with an unforgettable show of poetry, music, and resistance sure to coax the fire already burning inside of you.
Writing for Social Change at MIA
Artists have always critiqued and commented on the world around them. Participate in a workshop with speculative fiction writer Taiwana Shambley as part of PF x Meet at Mia: "Giants."
Anti-Capitalist Fiction
Welcome to Anti-capitalist Fiction, a six-session course where we'll explore the powerful stories of working class people and their resistance in literature.
Through discussions, readings, and writing exercises, we'll practice, analyze and evaluate the techniques authors use to bring working class struggles and triumphs to life. We'll delve into the works of Langston Hughes, Octavia Butler, and Charles Bukowski, examining how they use literary devices to amplify working class experiences. You'll have the opportunity to practice these techniques in your own writing, receiving feedback and guidance from the teaching artist and your peers.
In-class discussions will follow the interests of the students, with the occasional comment from teacher. You'll explore examples of the techniques discussed in class and have time to practice them in a supportive and stimulating environment.
By the end of this course, you'll have a deeper understanding of anti-capitalist fiction and know more about how to write it. Let's explore the transformative power of storytelling together!
Poets and Pints Feature
Come see Taiwana and others perform at this long-standing Twin Cities Literary Arts event by Poets and Pints.
Fiction for Social Change
Join Taiwana for this fall’s iteration of Fiction for Social Change, with Trans Fabulous!
The goal of this workshop is for attendees to gain firsthand experience practicing a tangible strategy for writing fiction and imagining new worlds. We will read, annotate, and analyze through guided discussion an excerpt from adrienne maree brown’s Grievers, before writing to a guided prompt inspired by her creative choices.
Abolitionist Fiction at the Loft Literary Center
This class is intended for systemically marginalized people, including people of color and transgender, disabled, or working class people of any racial identity. Abolition is about addressing the roots of social problems, restoring relationships between people and communities, and practicing life-affirming ways of meeting people’s needs. With these principles in mind, participants will be invited to write a series of excerpts over the course of six weeks, structured in three “units,” and each dedicated to one of the aforementioned abolitionist principles.
Each session we will critically discuss aspects of fiction writing, intersected with abolition principles, have in-class writing time with prompts related to creative process, and workshop each other’s stories at the end of each unit. (By “workshop,” we mean reading a story written by a classmate and critically discussing their craft decisions, as a way of offering feedback for improving the writing of everyone involved.) We will read contemporary abolitionist stories such as Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler and Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez, to learn how marginalized authors use craft elements to imagine liberatory worlds, or better understand oppressive ones.
Please obtain the following books for class: Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler, and Olga Dies Dreaming, by Xochitl Gonzalez.
This class takes place in-person, at the Loft at Open Book; we encourage participants to be fully vaccinated and masked in the interest of everyone’s safety. Please see the Loft’s website for the most up to date information about the Loft’s COVID policies.
Crafted Cadence Open Mic Ft. Taiwana SHambley
Taiwana is thrilled to invite you to **CRAFTED Cadence**, an open mic event that promises to be a night of powerful performances and community vibes. Join us on **August 20 at 7pm** at **Modist Brewing Co.** (505 N 3rd St, Minneapolis, MN 55401).
We'll be featuring some incredible talent, including the phenomenal **Douglas Kearney**, the dynamic **Crowfather**, and yours truly. This is a chance to experience the magic of hip hop and connect with both local and nationally recognized artists.
Come through, bring your friends, if you worry you’ll forgive to save the date then sign up for my mailing list, and let's make this a night to remember! 🎤✨
CASTLES: a crucible of vignettes
CASTLES is a "devising play" written and in development by Kat Purcell, featuring “The Wheelchairs Were for All of Us,” an original spoken word performance by Taiwana Shambley. It's an interconnected collection of vignettes that prompt artists to experimentation, and then we have a big show of queer, zany, political imaginings. The genre will be scattered. The spont will be aneous. We hope you will join us for a performance this August 9th & 10th!
For a whole lot of context and content, follow the project on Instagram @castles.friendship
Or read up some lore on the website: https://www.barricadesarebeautiful.com/