Author, memoirist, and literary art organizer Michelle Tea will be the keynote speaker at the 2018 OutWrite LGBTQ Book Festival, scheduled for Friday, August 3, through Sunday, August 5, 2018, at the Franklin D. Reeves Municipal Center, 2000 14th St. NW. OutWrite, a celebration of queer literature, is the premiere LGBTQ literature festival in the Washington, D.C. area. The festival features more than 60 authors, 40 exhibitors, and a full day of readings and intimate panel discussions. The festival concludes with six writing workshops, open to emerging and experienced writers.
Tea is known for publications like memoirs Valencia, Rent Girl, and How to Grow Up and the novels Black Wave, Rose of No Man’s Land, and Mermaid in Chelsea Creek. A prolific literary organizer in queer and feminist communities, she co-created the long-running performance tour Sister Spit and founded the literary non-profit RADAR Productions. Tea is the curator of the Amethyst Editions imprint at the Feminist Press and the founder of Drag Queen Story Hour. In her most recent work, Against Memoir (Feminist Press), Tea blurs the lines between telling other people’s stories and her own. She turns an investigative eye to the genre that has nurtured her entire career and considers the extent to which art preys on life.
OutWrite strives to build and engage a diverse literary community, offering a line-up reflective of the many voices in LGBTQ communities. This year’s themes include writing as counter-cultural resistance, the power of speculative fiction, fluidity between writing and performance, and the transformative power of personal narratives.
The event will kickoff on August 3 with Tea headlining “A Night of Literary Comedy” at Ten Tigers Parlour. The evening will be hosted by Chelsea Shorte, comedian and cohost of the Tagg Nation podcast.
For a full listing of OutWrite events and for more information, visit thedccenter.org/outwrite/.
