Patron Saints Summer '26 Reading + Open Mic
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Our next quarterly literary reading & open mic on 7/26 at 4PM will pay homage to modernist, feminist, queer, gender activist writer Virginia Woolf with featured readings by Dinika Amaral, JoAnn Borri, and M.M. Olivas.
As always, you are also welcome to share your own written work in 5 minutes or less during the open mic. That could include work inspired by Virginia Woolf, but that's absolutely not required! All words are welcome as long as they are not hateful.
About the Featured Readers:
Dinika Amaral (www.dinikaamaral.com) was born and raised in Bombay, India. She has an M.A. and M.F.A. from New York University. Her work has appeared in Guernica, The Times of India, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Golden Handcuffs Review, Denver Quarterly, The Massachusetts Review, and The Iowa Review. She has been awarded residencies at the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, PLAYA, and Ragdale, and has received fellowships from—Napa Valley Writers' Conference, the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, Tinhouse, and Rooted&Written. She was also a 2017-2018 Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University and served as a judge for the L.A. Times Book Prizes in First Fiction and in Fiction for 2022 and 2023. Having completed her short story collection, she is at work on her novel. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and daughter.
JoAnn Borri is the curator of the Woolf Wall at the Sitting Room Library. She is the guest editor, curator, and foreword author for the recently published collection A Luminous Halo, Selected Writings by Virginia Woolf, created in partnership with the Sitting Room Library and Cita Press. Vocations include reading, writing, and gardening. (http://www.citapress.org/a-luminous-halo-selected-writings-by-virginia-woolf)
M. M. Olivas (www.olivasthewriter.wtf) is an alumna of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop and the Lambda Literary Workshop, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Jose State University. She has been an Ignyte Finalist and her work has appeared to critical acclaim in Uncanny, Apex, Weird Horror, and Bourbon Penn. As a trans, first-generation Chicana, Olivas explores the intersection of queer and diasporic experiences in her fiction. Her debut novel Sundown in San Ojuela was released by Lanternfish Press in 2024. Olivas currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she collects transforming robots in her free time.
As always, you are also welcome to share your own written work in 5 minutes or less during the open mic. That could include work inspired by Virginia Woolf, but that's absolutely not required! All words are welcome as long as they are not hateful.
About the Featured Readers:
Dinika Amaral (www.dinikaamaral.com) was born and raised in Bombay, India. She has an M.A. and M.F.A. from New York University. Her work has appeared in Guernica, The Times of India, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Golden Handcuffs Review, Denver Quarterly, The Massachusetts Review, and The Iowa Review. She has been awarded residencies at the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, PLAYA, and Ragdale, and has received fellowships from—Napa Valley Writers' Conference, the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, Tinhouse, and Rooted&Written. She was also a 2017-2018 Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University and served as a judge for the L.A. Times Book Prizes in First Fiction and in Fiction for 2022 and 2023. Having completed her short story collection, she is at work on her novel. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and daughter.
JoAnn Borri is the curator of the Woolf Wall at the Sitting Room Library. She is the guest editor, curator, and foreword author for the recently published collection A Luminous Halo, Selected Writings by Virginia Woolf, created in partnership with the Sitting Room Library and Cita Press. Vocations include reading, writing, and gardening. (http://www.citapress.org/a-luminous-halo-selected-writings-by-virginia-woolf)
M. M. Olivas (www.olivasthewriter.wtf) is an alumna of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop and the Lambda Literary Workshop, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Jose State University. She has been an Ignyte Finalist and her work has appeared to critical acclaim in Uncanny, Apex, Weird Horror, and Bourbon Penn. As a trans, first-generation Chicana, Olivas explores the intersection of queer and diasporic experiences in her fiction. Her debut novel Sundown in San Ojuela was released by Lanternfish Press in 2024. Olivas currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she collects transforming robots in her free time.
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Where is it happening?
Shady Oak Barrel House, 420 1st St, Santa Rosa, CA 95401-6339, United States
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherPatron Saints of Influence
