Quiet Lightning Presents the 14th Better Ancestors

Quiet Lightning presents the 14th Better Ancestors, featuring readings and performance by Anastasia Lê, Sandy Vasquez, Zêdan Xelef, Paola Ramirez, and Tadeh Kennedy, hosted by London Pinkney.

This will be a set of intimate performances followed by a brief community Q&A.

Doors open at 6:00 pm and the readings will start at 6:30 pm. Come early to peruse our books and maybe grab a refreshment or two from the cafe. All are welcome to stay after the event for a brief tour of the library. Masks are recommended but will be optional.

Please write evan@quietlightning.org for more information on Quiet Lightning.

ABOUT THE SERIES

One of Quiet Lightning’s efforts to diversify and move toward racial equity, Better Ancestors is a quarterly showcase of writers of color. Developed in partnership with Michael Warr, the series features 5 authors reading or performing whatever they choose. Each author selects one performer for the following show, so the series – and community – is self-generating. All authors are paid and published in an end of the year anthology.

Why Better Ancestors? As one of our initiatives to diversify from a board that has historically been mostly white, this showcase aims to provide a long-term, forward-thinking goal. As a society, we are suffering the consequences of pervasive systemic injustice against people of color, queer and trans people, the poor, disabled, and otherwise disadvantaged. But we are all ancestors of the future. If the planet is to remain inhabitable; if the function of humanity is not to sort and oppress our descendants based on their skin color, accent, or material property, we must be better ancestors. This begins by listening to one another, and by giving each other space to be heard.

ABOUT QUIET LIGHTNING

Now in its 15th year, Quiet Lightning is a literary movement to create and foster community around the written and spoken word. QL aims to democratize public space by offering performances, curation opportunities, and programming with no barriers to entry, providing a launchpad for new and emerging artists, a reliable platform for professional writers, and an inclusive, accessible gathering place for the public. QL is committed to care-taking and progressing the rich threads of literary culture that exist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more about Quiet Lightning at https://quietlightning.org/.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

London Pinkney is a writer and editor. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Ana. In 2021, she was awarded the Debra Plousha Moore Scholarship due to her service to the literary advancement of Black Americans, women, and their intersecting communities. In 2023, she was a Show US Your Spines resident with RADAR Productions and San Francisco Public Library’s Hormel Center. Her work can be read in numerous places, including Mirage #5 / Period[ical], OmniVerse, and the anthology Nonwhite and Woman (Woodhall Press). She is currently working on her debut book— an essay collection about Black Californians.

Anastasia Lê is a Vietnamese American poet & book artist. In 2023, they received a Show Us Your Spines Queer Archives Residency from RADAR Productions at the SF Public Library. Previously, their work was displayed at the Asian Art Museum for the Bernice Bing: Open Call, and, once, in a mulberry tree in late spring. Anastasia self-publishes under the name B!NGO Press. Their favorite color is red.

Zêdan Xelef is a poet, translator, organizer, and archivist. They grew up in the Yazidi community of Shingal Mountains where they herded four goats with three other cousins. They are the co-creator of Tew Tew, an oral history and oral traditions archive with a mission to preserve the endangered Yazidi oral traditions in response to the Yazidi genocide. They’re the writer of A Barcode Scanner (Kashkul Books 2021/Gato Negro Ediciones 2022) and co-editor and co-translator of the upcoming Something Missing from This World: Contemporary Yazidi Poetry (Deep Vellum, August 2024).

Tadeh Kennedy is an emerging writer based in Oakland, CA. He has been published in The Ana, Two Headed Press, and Transfer Magazine. Tadeh is working on his first novel, relearning his first language of Armenian, and makes music and comics in his free time.

Sandy Vazquez is a dancer, writer, and educator born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Her work is heavily influenced by her experience as a first generation daughter of undocumented Mexican immigrants as well as her childhood growing up in low income neighborhoods and navigating transnational familial ties. Sandy is currently based in Oakland. You can find her facilitating writing workshops, dancing in the nearest cypher, or on a quest to find the best carne asada fries in the East Bay.

Paola Ramirez is a curator, screenwriter, and sociologist on multiple planets. She is the host and creator of the Somos Poetas Workshop Series and Local Fruit the podcast. Paola is a performing member of In Full Color, a WoC artist coalition. They are an East Oakland nerd, taurus bull in pasture, the eldest of four, aspiring bassist and napper, allergic to everything, and constantly on the hunt for the best carnitas. She is a graduate of the University of Kansas Honors College.