Saturday Night Special, An East Bay Open Mic Presents: Nighttime

As school starts back up and summer slides to its close, SNS celebrates “Nighttime.” Give us stars, dreams, darkness, a night on the town—Feel free to interpret our theme in any way that suits your fancy.

As always, we’d love to hear your (three-minute) poems, stories, comedic sketches, songs, or dances, on our optional theme (or any topic).

Our fabulous featured readers for August are: Heather June Gibbons & Rohan DaCosta

First come first served. Sign-up starts at 7pm and closes when it fills up or when the reading starts, so get there early if you want to read! (Note: Sometimes the list is full by 7:03pm)

Each reader will have 3 minutes maximum. For prose writers this is about one and a half double-spaced pages.

PLEASE NOTE: We are strict about the 3 minute max. When you reach your time limit at SNS, we turn on the disco lights! So, please plan ahead. Practice your piece out loud. Time yourself!

After the reading, stick around for karaoke starting at 10pm

Saturday, August 25, 2018
7 – 9:30 pm

Nick’s Lounge (21+)
3218 Adeline Street, Berkeley, CA
1 block south of Ashby BART
Between Fairview St & Martin Luther King Jr Way

FREE!
But bring CASH if you want to buy drinks (which you sort of have to, because there’s a 1-drink minimum!)

Hosted by Hollie Hardy

Please help out by liking our FB page, where you can also find more details and photos from past events:

https://www.facebook.com/Saturday-Night-Special-an-East-Bay-open-mic-112174188880786/

BIOS

Heather June Gibbons was born in Utah and grew up on an island in Washington. She is the author of the poetry collection Her Mouth as Souvenir, winner of the 2017 Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize (University of Utah Press). She is also the author of two chapbooks, Sore Songs (Dancing Girl Press), and Flyover (Q Avenue Press). Her poems have appeared widely in literary journals, including Blackbird, Boston Review, Drunken Boat, Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, jubilat, New American Writing, and West Branch. She received an MFA in Poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she held a Callen Graduate Scholarship, and she has been the recipient of a Full Fellowship Residency from the Vermont Studio Center, the Pavel Strut Poetry Fellowship from the Prague Summer Program, the Agha Shahid Ali Scholarship from the Fine Arts Work Center, and the Harold Taylor Prize from the Academy of American Poets. Heather teaches creative writing at San Francisco State University, and in the community. She lives in San Francisco.

Rohan DaCosta is a multi-disciplinary artist from the city of Chicago, working primarily through photography, writing, and song. Often approaching his work with great emotional sensitivity, Rohan explores complex dilemmas, and frequencies found in lovers, in families, in ecosystems, and in places. In his candid street photography and in his poetry, Rohan keenly examines intimacy and relativity, often finding the personal angle to political problems. In verse, he expresses the profound joy and quandary of black life in America. He is the founder of and curator for GRACEGOD The Collective, which celebrates the unique work of artists, craftsmen, and activists from all over the world. His work in graphic design and clothing has been featured as limited edition merchandise at The Koppel Project in London. His photography has been featured at The Flight Deck Gallery as a solo exhibition titled Ordinary People (2018). His photography has also been featured at Root Division Gallery as part of a group exhibition titled Let Me Be a Witness (2018). His book of photography, poetry, and song, The Edge of Fruitvale, was published by Nomadic Press on April 28, 2018.