Writers' Recess

Writers’ Recess (est. 2023) is a reading series that takes place at Pershing Studios, a 1918 schoolhouse-turned-apartment/studio complex in Owen Park (1903 W. Easton St.).

Join host Cassidy McCants (founder and editor of Apple in the Dark) for the this outdoor, BYOB event with a mix of both local and visiting authors presenting an eclectic mix of poetry and prose!

About the Readers:

Joy Clark received her MFA from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 2020. She’s been the recipient of the Carolyn F. Walton Cole Family Fellowship in Fiction, the James T. Whitehead Fiction Prize, an Artist 360 Grant, and an Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Grant. Her writing can be read in such places as The Kenyon Review Online, Pleiades Magazine, and Bayou Magazine.

Nicholas Claro holds an MFA in Fiction from Wichita State University. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and appears or is forthcoming in Louisiana Literature, Necessary Fiction, Variant Literature, XRAY, and elsewhere. He is the author of the story collections This Is Where You Are and Sedgwick County. He currently resides in Wichita, Kansas.

Portlyn Houghton-Harjo is a Mvskoke and Seminole writer and artist from the elusive state of Oklahoma. In April of 2022, she read with Joy Harjo (no relation) during the former Poet Laureate’s closing event at the Library of Congress. Her other work can be found in Brooklyn Rail, swamp pink, Beaver Magazine, Leak Mag, and The Creative Field Guide to Northeastern Oklahoma, and her art has been exhibited at Living Arts Tulsa. Houghton-Harjo worships Bigfoot and the natural process of decay.

Damion Shade is a creative and social justice force in Tulsa. By day, he works on public policy, championing a wide array of progressive social causes. By night, he raps, sings, and plays multiple instruments across a variety of bands and musical projects. He’s also a featured artist on the Fire in Little Africa project, which celebrates the Legacy of Black Wall Street, and the recipient of a Tulsa Artist Creative Fund grant. As a writer, he dabbles in many genres, and his work has been published in numerous magazines and journals. He’s presently working on a collection of poems and short stories and has plans to develop a novel in late 2026.

Liz Blood is a writer, editor, and publisher. She lives in Tulsa with her husband Will, son Lyle, and their new puppy, Obie.

Karl Jones is a Tulsa-based interdisciplinary artist. His projects explore regional history and avant-garde performance and storytelling. Before returning to his Oklahoma roots to participate in the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, co-creating Goff Fest and the Center for Queer Prairie Studies, Karl was an editor at Penguin Random House, where he acquired New York Times bestsellers and award-winning voices. He is a featured storyteller with OK SO Tulsa and has performed on The Moth Storytelling Mainstage. His editorial and curatorial projects have been featured in Hyperallergic, Architectural Digest, Huffington Post, The Today Show, and The Washington Post. Lately he's been obsessed with telling the many secrets of the Barbie™ community.

Tulsa LitFest is brought to you by The Center for Poets and Writers, Tri City Collective, and Magic City Books.

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