Our July Featured Readers
The LGBTQIA+ Writers Workshop
Madyson Crawford
Originally from Houston, Texas, Madyson Crawford now calls Providence Rhode Island home where she enjoys exploring bookstores with her partner and cuddling with her black cat, Molloy. Madyson uses creative writing as a medium to explore queer Black women in the South, specifically in the small town of Crockett Texas, where most of her short stories take place. Her interests include fantasy, short fiction, oral traditions, and black kinship. You can find Madyson at your local coffee shop writing stories and daydreaming!
Justin Jannise
Justin Jannise (they/them) is the author of How to be Better by Being Worse, which won the 19th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. Their writing has appeared in Best New Poets, Best of the Net, Copper Nickel, Houston Chronicle, New Ohio Review, New England Review, Pleiades, Poetry Northwest and Yale Review, among other places. They have received both the Inprint Marion Barthelme Prize and the Inprint Verlaine Prize in Poetry.
Scott Moore
Scott Moore is a queer poet in Houston, TX. His poetry has been featured in Beyond Queer Words ((April, 2024), StoneOfMadnessPress.com (issue 25), and will be published in an upcoming edition of ScreenDoorReview.com. He received his B.A. in Drama from University of Houston. His work explores the themes of modern queer identity such as marriage, loss, and parenthood. He is currently working on his first volume of published poetry with Community Literature Initiative. When he isn’t writing, he enjoys music, musicals, and spending time with his husband and 12 year old son.
Chris Reyes
Crystal Reyes is a Chicanx essayist & poet native to Houston and works as an educator. Currently, she holds a B.A. in Liberal Studies from UH and a Master of Arts in Higher Education from Sam Houston State. She is a graduate candidate at Bay Path University, working on her MFA in Creative Nonfiction, and an alumni and TA with Community Literature Initiative. Her works have been featured in Entre Magazine, Voyage LA, Berlinable & other literary magazines. She has received support from the following literary organizations: The Kenyon Review and The Writer's Center. You can follow her work at @Crisreyeswrites
Vivan Song
Vivian Song recently moved to Houston last year from Boston. So far, she thinks the food and people are great, but the driving is not. She’s mostly written speculative fiction short stories and is supposedly “working on a novella” if she can find the time outside of work to sit down and beat writer’s block. Only one story titled “Water Marks” is kind of / sort of published online(?) but everything else she shares with her writers group called Kill Your Darlings, which she is one of the admin for. KYD is not a queer writing group, but it is a writing group that happens to be majorly queer. Her book recommendation is The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. Her other hobbies includes climate justice activism through Sunrise Houston, playing violin, and pole dancing.
Sara Wrye
Sara Wrye is a native Houstonian who grew up playing in the forest next to her house on the Turkey Gully off White Oak Bayou inside the northwest corner of 610. Sara has a MEd from UH and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola University New Orleans in Creative Writing. She spent two years in her 20s in the AmeriCorps NCCC program doing various community service projects including building Habitat for Humanity houses in New Orleans and trail building in Dallas, Texas. Sara is currently a public school administrator working to support students faculty and staff and has a passion for educating newcomer immigrants and refugees. When not working, Sara enjoys abstract painting with acrylics, baking cookies to share with friends and family, and jogging or hiking in nature.