Patty Schemel, author of HIT SO HARD in conversation with Tara Jepsen, author of LIKE A DOG.

Tara Jepsen is a writer, skateboarder, comic, and actor living in Los Angeles, California. Her novel, “Like a Dog,” was published by the Sister Spit imprint of City Lights Publishers in September of 2017!!! She has also been published by the Believer, xojane.com, and by the SF Weekly, among others. Tara toured and performed extensively with seminal queer cabaret Sister Spit from 1997 on. She co-hosted legendary San Francisco open mic K’vetsh with Kirk Read at a gay men’s bath house for over ten years. Ms. Jepsen created a skateboard deck company with Rad Women books illustrator Miriam Klein Stahl called Pave the Way, with the goal of injecting more queer imagery into skateboarding.

Patty Schemel is an American drummer and musician who rose to prominence as the drummer of alternative rock band Hole from 1992 until 1998. In 1998, Schemel left Hole, and in the early 2000s reunited with Hole frontwoman Courtney Love during her solo career, and later drummed for Juliette and the Licks. In 2013, Schemel joined the indie rock group Upset, formed by Ali Koehler, previously of Vivian Girls and Best Coast. She also formed a rock and roll band with her brother, Larry Schemel, called Death Valley Girls. She is on the board of the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls in Los Angeles, California, a non-profit organization that teaches girls all over the world that it's okay to be loud. She continues to perform, teach, and tour, currently with the band Upset, and lives in Los Angeles with her wife and daughter.