Sponsored by Writers Guild at Bloomington
Featuring Alexandria Hollett, Hester Hemmerling, Nancy Chen Long
with music by The Hammer and The Hatchet
$5
There will also be an open mic.
ALEX HOLLETT’s work destabilizes oppressive power structures, challenges injustice, and celebrates radical love. As an activist, she has worked on a variety of campaigns including Stand Up! Chicago and The Chicago Teacher’s Strike of 2012. She is currently attaining a Ph.D at Indiana University, where she teaches classes and leads workshops for students, faculty, and the broader Bloomington community. She has received the Alan Wardell Award for Queer Advocacy in Education (2013), the Faculty Fellowship Award (2014-2018), and the Daisy M. & Vivian Jones Research Fellowship (2016). Alex has been invited to perform at Murray University, The Indianapolis Repertory Theatre, IndyFringe, The Back Door, the Neal Marshall Black Cultural Center, the IU Art Museum, and the 4th St. Festival, as well as at various queer, feminist, and antiracist rallies. In addition to her own writing and publications, her work with youth in Chicago Public Schools around gender and sexuality alterity is featured in Michael Sadowski’s book Safe Is Not Enough: Better Schools for LGBTQ Students (2016).
ARBUTUS CUNNINGHAM is an Indiana icon. She has performed with Carrie Newcomer and Krista Detor. She’s a crabby, mendacious old woman who has nothing good to say about scrofula. She lives in Green Acres and writes very short stories. Sometimes they’re good; mostly, they’re just short.
NANCY CHEN LONG is a 2017 National Endowment of the Arts Creative Writing fellow. Her first book Light into Bodies (University of Tampa Press, 2017) won the Tampa Review Poetry Prize. You’ll find her recent work in The Southern Review, Cimarron Review, Ninth Letter, Zone 3, Alaska Quarterly Review, Pleiades, Not Like the Rest of Us: An Anthology of Contemporary Indiana Writers, and elsewhere. She works in the Research Technologies division at Indiana University. www.nancychenlong.com
Birthed by the hill country pickin’ parties that are synonymous with these Brown County Hills, THE HAMMER AND THE HATCHET have created a sound that is reaching beyond the county line. John Bowyer, The Hammer, is a mandolin player and guitar player who has used his talents as a side man, studio musician, and front man for projects like Old Truck Revival, Punkin’ Holler Boys, Chris Dollar Band, Avocado Chic, and so much more. He recognized in Jayme Hood, The Hatchet, an undiscovered talent, who has quickly moved past protege to become his musical soulmate. The Americana sound that they have created is bluegrass inspired, harmony rich, and heartfelt. They have been co-writing songs and bringing their brand of American Roots music to the region for 3 years and continue to build momentum with every show. The Hammer and the Hatchet have released 2 albums. The first (self-titled) in January of 2015 and the second, Winter Fires, in October of 2016.