Tomorrow August 20th, the Lit Up Writers will host its inaugural reading series “Hello My Name is…”
Join us at a humor reading by local Bay Area writers. In addition to the reading, there will also be photography on display related to the “Hello My Name is…” theme. This promises to be a great night of entertainment that will leave you in stitches.
Curious to know whose work will be showcased? Read our writers’, photographers’ and dj’s bios below!
Writers’ Bios
Brittny Botorff
A recovering attorney, Brittny lives and laughs in San Francisco. She avoids revising the draft of her first novel by playing Legos with her son and organizing completely unprofitable enterprises like a series of humor readings in the Bay Area.
Laurie Frater
Laurie was born in Scotland – but came here as soon as he could! His well-meaning parents thought that naming their son “Laurie” was a good idea – which has led him to secretly harbor the notion that he may just have been the inspiration for a well-known Johnny Cash song…
Eleanor Hicks
Eleanor Hicks has been practicing law for four years, but has been practicing writing since age 8 when she had her first dispute with an editor over substantive cuts to her seminal work, “There’s a Ghost in my Closet!”. Her other hobbies include flailing around in water near a surfboard and running very slowly for long periods of time.
Ann Hillesland
Ann’s fiction has been published in literary journals including Bellowing Ark, The MacGuffin, North Dakota Quarterly, Open City, and Red Wheelbarrow. She is a graduate of the MFA program at Queen’s University of Charlotte.
Jennifer Lou
Jen chucked cubicle life and now stays in her pjs until the p.m. She has authored several thousand instant messages and emails. When she’s not reading or writing, she plays with otters and explores the world by traveling and foraging. Update: Jen and cubicle life have reconciled and are now working towards a part-time solution.
Mike Shur
Mike was born in Leningrad, U.S.S.R. and was nearly killed in Rome, Italy. He began writing at the age of 4 with incomprehensible scribbles in Russian and today he writes marketing emails in English. Only God will be his judge. He’s happy to be doing the reading tonight, because that means he doesn’t have to mow.
Mike Thomas
Mike Thomas is a freelance editor and writer whose work has appeared in Mid-American Review, Homestead Review, Porter Gulch Review, and other journals. His short comedy “Neighborhood Watch” was selected for the “Eight Tens@8” Play Festival in Santa Cruz earlier this year. He edits Foolish Times and invites submissions.
Photographers’ Bios
PJ Taylor
Three years ago, PJ picked up a digital camera and embarked upon a journey to take and post a new picture online everyday. The accumulation of entries became a loose visual diary. A self-described omnivore when it comes to subject matter, PJ has an insatiable appetite to shoot anything from macros to nature to street photography. As her passion for photography has grown, she’s been inspired by a voyeuristic impulse to capture people in the midst of their day to day lives. Her project “About Face” is a collection of images of individuals taken from behind or from the side and in the power of these images to tell stories even though the subject’s face is hidden or partially obscured. See PJ’s web site.
Erick Tseng
An Asian tourist through and through, Erick has taken his camera to the far reaches of the world: from Mount Everest, to the Red Sea, to the Serengeti, to New Zealand, to Hoboken, New Jersey. His exhibit tonight, entitled “Taiwanese American Homecoming,” chronicles a recent trip back to the Motherland as seen through the eyes of an American-born Taiwanese. www.visiglow.com
Geno Valle
Jennifer Yee
Jennifer has been shooting freelance photography for the past three years in both New York City and San Francisco. This exhibit showcases the portraits of some of tonight’s readers and photographers whom Jenny asked, “What’s your favorite part about you?” See Jennifer’s web site.
DJ’s Bio
DJ Grant Patterson
Grant enjoys playing all sorts of music that makes people move. He is particularly interested in underground electro house and breaks, for which there is a bountiful scene in San Francisco. Grant grew up in New Jersey and hopes you won’t hold it against him. He works as a web engineer for Virgance, a company in SoMa that aims to make money while producing social good.
Videographer’s Bio
Chris Whitmore
Chris is a filmmaker and photographer who can often be found prowling the Bay Area’s country hills and urban alleys in search of moonlight, vista, and just the right frame. Chris is currently a student in Media Arts and Narrative Film at California College of the Arts, and works as a commercial freelancer. Contact him at chrisplus [at] gmail.com
Special thanks to Space Gallery for hosting the event!