Yo! It’s been a minute, I realize. This summer ended up being more than what I bargained for; travels, teaching myself a whole new genre – oh my! But I’m back out of the weeds of things to tell you happy fall & give you some thoughts & tell you what I was up to this summer.
It’s virgo season, so I’ll be stereotypical & make a list :) <3
I did cool tour stops w/ friends in LA, San Marcos, New York, and 6 other cities to celebrate the release of FREEDOM HOUSE (my debut full-length poetry collection). Fun fact: while in P-Town, I signed a copy of my book for Eileen Myles!
I met my reading goal for the year & am pretty close to doubling it 😀! As a writer & person who aspires to be better, it’s hella important to me to always be ingesting words; it so happens that there’s so much cool ish being published everyday. Some of my personal fav books that I read over the summer are Jaquira Diaz’s Ordinary Girls, Miss Major & Toshio Meronek’s Miss Major Speaks, Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues, Edgar Gomez’s High Risk Homosexual (congrats to Edgar for winning an American Book Award this week!), and Deesha Philyaw’s The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. Because I got bored with my own reading logs, I’ve gotten in the habit of tweeting lil jokes to tell people what I’m reading:
I made a list of indie bookstores you can purchase FREEDOM HOUSE at. I know that it’s easiest to buy it online, but supporting the literary ecosystem is v important (watch the video below to see why)!
I went to Mexico in June! It was amazing to snorkel in crystal-clear water and experience a different pace of life. To nobody’s surprise, they also had Barbie marketing there.
FREEDOM HOUSE is in (at least) 94 libraries (yay) !!! If you don’t see a location near you on this list, please request it at your local library using this info:
I went to Tin House’s Summer Writing Workshop and met the coolest writers from across the country <3
The prevalence of graffiti was probably my fav lil touch:
I did my first ever IRL residency with the Anderson Center in Red Wing, MN <33
I got to be part of a documentary, and the BTS shots are beautiful!
I went to Chicago to accept a Stonewall Honor Book award for my chapbook, How To Identify Yourself With a Wound 🙂
It was likely at this exact moment that I said “As Andre 3k said years ago, the south got sumn to say.”
I may or may not have gotten back into acting…. More on this soon!
I planned the fall leg of my tour, which you can now check out here !!!!! <3 More dates will be added in the coming weeks as well.
If you got to the end of this newsletter, condragulations: here’s a free copy of all three zines I’ve created as a prize for your hard work. I know that it’s hard to keep up with emails/posts, & I truly appreciate each of you for being subscribed to this here newsletter!
I’ve got cool stuff planned for the fall. After this newsletter, I’ll get back into the groove of updates + reflections, but today, let’s just celebrate the fact that we made it — climate catastrophe and all. Happy Friday and happy back-to-school for all students. Stay cool in this heat!
Love, Peace, & Chicken Grease,
- KB