In this "Queer Aesthetics (Looking Forward)" reading, the first of the new 2x2 Reading Series between Gold Line Press and Ricochet Editions, writers Kazim Ali, Stephen Van Dyck, Angie Sijun Lou, and Alejandro Heredia will present work that speaks to the state of queer literature today. Their reading and following discussion will answer the questions: What are the limitations of queer literature’s focus on identity politics? And what possibilities exist for expanding beyond these bounds to address some of the many urgent issues brought about by late stage capitalism?
2x2: A Reading Series pairs authors from sister imprints Gold Line Press and Ricochet Editions for a reading and roundtable discussion about politics and aesthetics. Like the imprints, the reading series is intended to promote emerging and vital voices in the literary arts. Each discussion will be moderated by a guest host.
Moderator Roy Guzman is a 2019 NEA grant recipient and a 2017 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellow. Their debut poetry collection Catrachos will come out on Graywolf later this year.
Kazim Ali is an American poet, novelist, essayist and professor. His most recent books are Inquisition (Wesleyan University Press, 2018) and All One's Blue (Harper Collins India, 2016).
Stephen Van Dyck is a Los Angeles, California and Albuquerque, New Mexico based writer and artist. He is the author of People I've Met From the Internet, and organizer of the Los Angeles Road Concerts.
Angie Sijun Lou is a poet and writer living in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in the American Poetry Review, FENCE, Black Warrior Review, The Adroit Journal, The Asian American Literary Review, Hyphen, The Margins, and others.
Alejandro Heredia is a 2019 Dreamyard Rad(ical) Poetry Consortium Fellow and winner of the Golden Line Press 2019 fiction chapbook contest, selected by Myriam Gurba. His work has been featured in Auburn Avenue Magazine, La Galeria Magazine, and No Dear Magazine, amongst others. His chapbook You’re the Only Friend I Need, a brief collection of stories about immigration, queerness, and friendship, is forthcoming March 2021.