LUNADA Literary Lounge

Featuring the book release celebration of Unaccompanied by Salvadorean poet Javier Zamora, and performance by Sophia Mabelitini, with readings by Leticia Hernandez, Javier Huerta, Joseph Rios, Solmaz Sharif, Charif Shanahan, and Monica Sok.

Lunada’s OPEN MIC invites poets, storytellers, emcees, musicians, laureates and first-timers to shine under the lunar spotlight, under the backdrop of Galería’s current exhibition Queerly Tèhuäntin | Cuir Us. Sign up at entrance / First 5 spots on the list, 5 min. ea.

LUNADA is the Bay Area’s only full moon bilingual literary ritual & performance gathering devoted to spoken word, música, song, and story. Located in the heart of the Mission District at Galería de la Raza, and guest curated by some of the Bay Area’s most dynamic word slingers and artists, each LUNADA features community poets, local legends, visiting mystics, and other mero meros of the stage. Voted Best Literary Night of 2016 by the SF Bay Guardian.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Javier Zamora was born in El Salvador and migrated to the US when he was nine. He is a 2016-2018 Wallace Stegner Fellow and holds fellowships from CantoMundo, Colgate University, MacDowell, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Yaddo. The recipient of a 2016 Ruth Lilly/Dorothy Sargent Fellowship and the 2016 Barnes and Noble Writer for Writer’s Award, his first poetry collection Unaccompanied is forthcoming from Copper Canyon Press September 2017.

Sophia Mabelitini is a queer androgynous photographer, artist and musician, born and raised in San Francisco, CA.  At the age of 14, Sophia was one of the original cast members of the San Francisco Paul Green School of Rock, the program that inspired the movie School of Rock with Jack Black. Sophia has toured across the nation as a drummer, vocalist and keyboard player and has made appearances in Singapore and Thailand. After completing their degree in Fine Art: Photography in Brooklyn, New York, Sophia’s love of travel brought them to teaching young students in Thailand on how to utilize technology with the arts. While Sophia is multifaceted in the arts, music and holistic realms, their true passion lies with the continual avenues of self-expression. Sophia will be relocating to the Portland Oregon area next month with their partner Marie Shier and dog, Charlie.