Stories & Beer | Mike & Molly’s | Tomorrow | 5–7 p.m. | Free
As you may or may not have heard, there’s a little shindig going down over at Mike & Molly’s tomorrow, wherein a certain local online magazine is celebrating its fifth year anniversary with, well, you. Of course, there’s no better way for us to kick things off than with a Stories & Beer, presented by the U of I’s widely acclaimed literary magazine, Ninth Letter.
And seriously folks, we always have a solid lineup, but this time around, I can safely say that we’ve outdone ourselves. Behold, tomorrow’s Stories & Beer lineup:
Jen Percy is an Arts Fellow in the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Stanley Foundation. Currently, she is the Writer-in-Residence at the Iowa Museum of Art. (She also has a badass essay coming out in the most recent issue of 9L!)
Salvatore Pane is the author of the novel Last Call in the City of Bridges. He’s an assistant professor of English at the University of Indianapolis. He likes Kanye West, the Nintendo Entertainment System, Spider-Man, the New York Knicks, and Richard Nixon. He won the Scranton branch of Blockbuster’s Video Game World Championships II for his high banana score in Donkey Kong Country.
Ruben Quesada is the author of one collection of poetry (Next Extinct Mammal). He is the founding editor of Codex Journal, and poetry editor at The Cossack Review. He grew up in Los Angeles where he was an extra on The Wonder Years and unsuccessfully auditioned for Ringling
Brothers’ Clown College.
Lindsey Gates-Markel is a lifelong ham, born in the Midwest and living in Urbana. She has an MFA in fiction writing from Lesley University; her stories have most recently been published by Whiskeypaper and Storm Cellar. Lindsey was a founding editor of Smile Politely and, as such, was once famously accused of drinking Seth Fein’s piss. She remembers the experience as bold and aromatic, a beautiful, transparent straw color with a lasting bubble stream that includes striking aromas: a little green chile pepper and a little more green olive, with just a whiff of sulfur. Served best as an apertif.
Roya Khatiblou’s work has appeared in numerous emails. Before pursuing writing, Roya earned a living testing human bodily fluids. She now spends her time searching for the perfect pair of jeans and writing bios of herself for publicity purposes.
David Wright was born in Champaign, or Urbana. He doesn’t actually remember, but he has lived here twice since. He has taught in Decatur, in Chicago, in the suburbs, and now back here. His poems have appeared in not quite that many places. They are often about places, and doubt, and bodies. He also used to write a column for Smile Politely.