National Queer Arts Festival Press Releases
Queeriosity & The Monster Debut!

San Francisco-Youth Speaks presents Queeriosity & The Monster Debut, a night of intergenerational unity and celebrations of queer, bi, transgender, lesbian, gay voices. In support of the next generation of queer youth writers, Queeriosity & The Monster Debut will bring together established writers and youth poets of Youth Speaks. Curated by Joel Barraquiel Tan debuting his first book of poetry MONSTER out on Noise Press, the evening will feature readings from the selected works of Tan, Ginu Kamani, Justin Chin, Philip Huang, Alfred Arteaga, Mariana Minahal, and Jaime Cortez by the authors themselves, and a preview of the soon-to-be published works of the Youth Speaks Small Press Project from emerging writers Chinaka Hodge, Stephen Pickens, Eli Marienthal, Gabe Crane, and Tim Arevalho. The primary goal of the event itself is the recognition of how disparate communities have really inspired one another, and ultimately found common ground within our space.

Mirroring the traditional Pilipino DEBUT, the reading will be laced with musical intermissions mixed by Dhamaal, who will be playing the deepest of cross-cultural underground positive hip-hop, and electronica. This event also features Lolan Sevilla of Flip Dyke poets, and Juba and Tim'm from DeepDikCollective .

Queerosity & The Monster Debut exposes and educates Bay Area audiences about the diverse possibilities of the literary experience. We endeavor to bolster the Bay’s capabilities to support meaningful engagements between artists, audiences, and the communities that support them. In the short term, we recognize our immediate task to fulfill important objectives, which will serve us organizationally and communally as we attempt to elevate the visibility and the new queer poetic aesthetic of the spoken word writing, performance and publication opportunities in the San Francisco Bay Area.



We are challenging young writers to examine their own writing and the state of literature in a different way, continuing to foster dialogue among writers who take, or have taken a different approach to the word. In our programming such as Queerosity, we deconstruct past perceptions of what literature is, and what the possibilities of language are. Integrating with the multi-ethnic community of arts patrons; Queeriosity & The Monster Debut will provide a medium for intra-generational dialogue among groups divided along lines of gender, age, geography, and artistic genre to create a breakthrough venue for artists of all disciplines to celebrate the infinite potential and inspiration of language.

The proposed reading will be staged as a "Monster Debutante's Ball", mirroring the traditional Pilipino DEBUT with local writers and performance artists introducing and passing the "scepter" down to the next generation. The author and Youth Speaks will coordinate the event including all logistics in addition to inviting writers and activists to perform. In addition, we are also asking community support in the presence of organizations such as GAPA and the API Wellness Center. Books and CDs of "Monster" will also be sold at the event and all profits will go to fund the Youth Speaks Small Press Project 2003 Series. More than just a party, Queeriosity & The Monster Debut is a place for queer youth and more established writers to come together, organize, and get serious about building a community which they individually and collectively envision, and create a unified movement toward a more hopeful future. Through this event celebrating our voices, bodies, and existence, Youth Speaks and the youth and writers we support, hope to acknowledge and confront the struggles still facing us.

Youth Speaks is building the next generation of leaders through the written and spoken word. A non-profit literary arts, education, and cultural resource center for emerging writers and literary art forms, our innovative programs nurture and develop positive social dialogue across boundaries of age, race, class, gender, culture, and sexual orientation. We encourage young writers to find their own avenues toward creative self-expression, and to embrace the collaborative nature of group dynamics and peer-to-peer education. By coupling public performance and publication opportunities with educational workshops, mentoring programs, and cooperative learning, Youth Speaks is committed to creating spaces that celebrate emerging voices and their essential role in the literary continuum. Throughout each facet of the organization, Youth Speaks encourages active literacy, honest writing, and critical thought.