Magic number twelve!!! featuring: Alison A. Ogunmokun, Jacob Saenz, Kayla Sargeson, Naomi Washer, and Natalie Eilbert!
Alison A. Ogunmokun is a zesty girl with a deep passion for moisturizing. She's a writer, comedian, and good vibe spreader around the city. Born to immigrant parents, Alison writes a lot about the intersection of identities. She co-curates a show with her good pal, Jane called "Spread Your Own Gossip" monthly. You can find her on twitter @alisonogun and at this very reading. She wants you to know that she's happy you're [going to be] here.
Jacob Saenz is a CantoMundo fellow whose work has appeared in Pinwheel, Poetry, Tammy, TriQuarterly and other journals. He's been the recipient of a Letras Latinas Residency Fellowship as well as a Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship. He serves as an associate editor for RHINO.
Kayla Sargeson is the author of the full-length collection First Red (Main Street Rag, 2016) and the chapbooks BLAZE (Main Street Rag, 2015) and Mini Love Gun (Main Street Rag, 2013). She co-curates the MadFridays reading series and is the poetry editor for Pittsburgh City Paper’s online feature Chapter & Verse. She lives in Pittsburgh where she teaches at Carlow University and the Community College of Allegheny County.
Naomi Washer is the song that makes you emotional and the people and things that come to mind when you hear it. Trace evidence, from poem to dance film to translation, can be found in Split Lip Magazine, Apricity Press, TYPO, St. Petersburg Review, Essay Daily, Poor Claudia, and other journals. She holds an MFA in Nonfiction from Columbia College Chicago and a degree in site-specific performance studies from Bennington College. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Ghost Proposal.
Natalie Eilbert is the author of Indictus, winner of Noemi Press's 2016 Poetry Contest, slated for publication in late 2017, as well as the debut poetry collection, Swan Feast (Bloof Books, 2015). She is the recipient of the 2016 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellowship at University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she is serving a one-year academic appointment. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming from The New Yorker, Tin House, The Kenyon Review, jubilat, and elsewhere. She is the founding editor of The Atlas Review.