LUNADA ~ Literary Lounge & Open Mic ~ Summer Series JULY '12

Spoken Word * Música * Open Mic

Featuring Niki Escobar and David Maduli (aka DJ Dmadness), with host & curator Sandra Garcia Rivera

LUNADA Literary Lounge & Open Mic had such a great Spring season, we decided to keep the verses flowing with our first ever Summer Series, turning the heat up with two high powered poets from around the Bay. Hailing from la cuna of the Lunada, San Jose, we welcome poet and visual artist Niki Escobar, and San Francisco native David Maduli (aka DJ Dmadness). These two artists shine bright in their communities through their work as teachers, painters, poets, and DJs. Join us at Lunada on the eve of Independence Day, with verses that represent the true color of liberation through poetry, unity, and love across borders. And don’t forget, your voice matters, with ten slots on the open mic, amplify your mind. Sign-up at 7:15pm.

LUNADA ~ Literary Lounge & Open Mic
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012 | 7:30 pm
Featuring:
~ NIKI ESCOBAR
~ DAVID MADULI
~ SANDRA GARCIA RIVERA, Host & Curator
~ OPEN MIC: Sign up at 7:15pm

About LUNADA:

Held every month, on the night of the full moon, Galeria de la Raza’s LUNADA series is a community gathering where stories, food, songs, and spirit are shared. For over a decade, Lunada has been the Bay Area’s only full moon bilingual literary ritual & performance gathering.  Located in the heart of the Mission District at Galería de la Raza, and guest curated by some of the Bay Area’s most dynamic word slingers and artists, each Lunada features community poets, local legends, visiting mystics, and other mero meros of the stage.

ARTIST BIOS:

David Maduli (DJ Dmadness) is a lifelong writer, veteran public school teacher, active working deejay, and recent father.  A San Francisco native based in Oakland, he is the winner of Cutthroat Journal’s 2011 Joy Harjo Poetry Prize. His work has also appeared in Tayo, Cipactli, Maganda, and the anthology Walang Hiya: Literature Taking Risks toward Liberatory Practice. He is a proud alum of the VONA and Las Dos Brujas writing communities.

Niki Escobar studied creative writing at San Francisco State University. Her first collection of poems, Loved Letters, was a finalist in the Meritage Press Tabios Manuscript contest. She is a recipient of the Frances Jaffer Poetry Award, a prize acknowledging a poet’s highly feminist and experimental work. Her work can be found in various literary journals including Rust & Moth, Solo Cafe, The Womanist, Mythium, The Walrus, Maganda Magazine, Red Wheelbarrow, and the anthology Walang Hiya. She is a drop-out at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. She currently teaches reading and writing to folks with developmental disabilities, plays piano, draws and inks comic books, and, from time to time, sells her paintings out of her garage.

Sandra García Rivera is an award-winning poet and prose writer. Most recently her work has appeared in the anthologies Caribbean Erotic (Peepal Tree Press, Leeds); Breaking Ground: Anthology of Puerto Rican Women Writers in New York 1980-2010; as well as in the Centro Journal; Hostos Review/Revista Hostosiana; Urban Latino Magazine; and Manteca. She has published two chapbooks: Shoulder High, and Divination of the Mistress, and two special editions of her hand-made books That Kiss (Ediciones Mixta, NYC). Poet and chanteuse, she has captured audiences throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, Cuba, Holland and Great Britain with her Nuyorican soul and blues inspired delivery, both as a solo artist, and alongside musical legends. She recently earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, from Antioch University in Los Angeles, with a mission of social justice as the artist's role in society. 

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Check out photos from 2012's spring season here >>

Photos