In “Succulent Senior Lesbians: Loving is a Political Act,” senior lesbian poets reclaim the erotic, celebrating the profound love that has both challenged and sustained them. This reading explores a love which some have tried to erase, a love that has driven lesbians to march for their lives and separated them from families. During the reading, poets offer powerful reflections on how loving passionately in later life is both a form of revolution and survival. Their evocative words underscore the significance of love and the erotic as vital expressions of resilience and existence, invoking Audre Lorde’s belief that true love and eros are the essence of being.
This reading will take place at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Pride Hall on Saturday, October 19, 2024, from 2-3:30 p.m.
This program may not be suitable for all ages.
Participants
Jennifer Abod is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, published poet and jazz singer. is a former radio broadcaster and assistant professor of Communications and Women’s Studies.
Love TaShia Asanti is an award-winning poet, performance artist and author of 9 books including the #1 bestselling novel, The Seer: Legacy of Stone & Spirit which is currently being adapted as a movie. Love uses her platforms as a journalist and writer to promote healing across cultures and to spread the medicine of Love. More about Loves work can be found at www.officialtashiaasanti.com
Sharon Bridgforth collaborates with interdisciplinary artists, and audiences to install moving soundscapes of her ritual/jazz texts in celebration of African-American Southern Migration histories/queerly. With awards from Creative Capital, MAP Fund, the National Performance Network, USA Artist Fellowship, Yale’s Windham Campbell Prize in Drama, and the McKnight National Fellowship, Sharon is a Doris Duke Performing Artist, Playwrights’ Center Core Member and an Associate Company Member at Pillsbury House + Theatre. Sharon’s bull-jean & dem/dey back is published by 53rd State Press. https://www.sharonbridgforth.com.
Gayle Fuhr is a writer with work in numerous publications. She’s received the “Editors Choice Award” for poetry, and in 2012 released her debut children’s book, Grandma Ruby and Me.
Susana Gonzales’ poetry explores her Mexican American roots and the lesbian feminist experience. She has been published in numerous literary anthologies and journals including The Power of the Feminine I, Sheila Na Gig, Gyroscope Review, One Art, The Santa Fe Literary Review, and Mobius.
Queen Hollins is an elder queer Black Indigenous healer and Director of the Earthlodge Center for Transformation. Her work centers on those who struggle with mental, emotional and spiritual health issues in marginalized communities. Rooted in Mississippi tradition, Queen uses African American indigenous healing practices she inherited from her grandmother. earthlodgecenter.org
Lambda Literary Fellow, Bonnilee Kaufman, contributes Book Reviews to The Journal of Lesbian Studies. Her poetry has appeared in: Wild Crone Wisdom, Selfish, Gyroscope Review, Queer Loving Ang(st) Journal, Milk & Honey-A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry, Metro Weekly D.C, Altadena Poetry Review: Anthology 2024 &forthcoming 42 Stories Anthology.
Ronna Magy is a poet whose writing appears in Rise Up Review, Writers Resist, The Los Angeles Press, Persimmon Tree, and Sinister Wisdom. A past participant in the Napa Valley Writer’s Conference, she was recently honored as a civil rights hero by West Hollywood. In addition to crafting poetry and memoir, Ronna has authored several ESL textbooks.
Jan Nicholson (she/her/they) is an artist, educator, cultural wellness advocate and emerging writer. Janet uses the creative process as a tool for healing, awareness, and empowerment.
Dorothy Randall Gray authored the bestseller, Soul Between The Lines, and other publications. She’s a former LA Poet-in-Residence, award-winning artist, and evolutionary workshop leader.
This program is organized by Ronna Magy and Dorothy Randall Gray and co-presented with the Los Angeles LGBT Center as part of Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024, presented by One Institute.
The Los Angeles LGBT Center is a safe and welcoming place where the LGBTQ+ community finds help, hope, and support when it is needed the most.