This event takes place in person at Charis and on Crowdcast, Charis' virtual event platform. This event is free, but registration is required for virtual attendance. 

This celebration of feminist writing serves as an informal kick-off to the National Women's Studies Association Conference and Charis' 52nd birthday weekend. The evening includes a selection of poetry, hybrid work, and non-fiction readings by: Lisa Moore (How Lesbians Saved Poetry), Kimberly Dark (Motherlode), Anastasia Valecce (Disobedient Women: Decolonial Movements of Afro-Queer Puerto Rican Artists), and Kai Marshall Green (A Body Made Home: They Black Trans Love).

Lisa Moore’s latest book is the creative-critical hybrid, How Lesbians Saved Poetry. Lisa is also the award-winning author of Sister Arts: The Erotics of Lesbian Landscapes, the poetry chapbook 24 Hours of Men, and other works. Lisa is Archibald A. Hill Professor of English and Social Cultural Analysis at the University of Texas at Austin. She served as Chair of the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at UT-Austin until the department was eliminated in August 2026.

Kimberly Dark is a writer, sociologist and storyteller, working to reveal the architecture of everyday life so that we can reclaim our power as social creators. She’s the author of five books, including Motherlode, Fat, Pretty and Soon to be Old: A Makeover for Self and Society and Damaged Like Me: Essays on Love, Harm and Transformation. Her essays, poetry and stories are widely published in academic and popular publications alike. She travels to offer keynotes, workshops and lectures internationally and online. Her topics include social inequality, social transformation and the role of appearance and identity in our everyday lives. Learn more and sign up for The Hope Desk newsletter at www.kimberlydark.com.

Dr. Anastasia Valecce is an Associate Professor of Hispanic Cultural Studies at Spelman College, where her work moves across Latin American and Caribbean cultures, Afro-Queer aesthetics, visual culture, film, literature, performance, and decolonial practice. She is the author of Neorealismo y cine en Cuba: Historia y discurso en torno a la primera polémica de la Revolución (Purdue University Press, 2020) and Disobedient Women: Decolonial Movements of Afro-Queer Puerto Rican Artists (University Press of Florida, 2026). She is also co-editor of the forthcoming volume titled, Dissident Identities: Afro-Queer Aesthetics in the Hispanic Caribbean and Its Diasporas, forthcoming from the University Press of Florida in its "Reframing Media, Technology, and Culture in Latin/o America" series (2027). Her recent scholarship has also appeared in journals including Centro Journal for Puerto Rican Studies, Black Camera, Afro-Hispanic Review, and the Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies. Across this body of work, she returns to the creative and intellectual practices through which colonial, racial, gendered, and heteronormative structures are challenged, opening new possibilities for identity, agency, pleasure, and resistance.

Dr. Kai Marshall Green (He/They) is a shape-shifting Black Queer Feminist nerd; an Afro-Future, freedom-dreaming, rhyme-slinging dragon slayer in search of a new world; a scholar, poet, facilitator, filmmaker; and an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at The University of Delaware.  Green explores Black sexual and gender agency, health, creativity, and resilience in the context of state and social violence. An interdisciplinary scholar, Green employs Black feminist theory, visual culture, performance studies, and trans studies to investigate Black queer forms of self-representation and communal methods of political mobilization. He combines scholarship, art, and activism in his research on race, gender, and sexuality in Black queer communities and cultural production. He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity with specializations in Gender Studies and Visual Anthropology at the University of Southern California. Green is a former postdoctoral fellow in Sexuality Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University and winner of the Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral and Dissertation Fellowships. Green has published and edited work in GLQ: Gay and Lesbian Quarterly, South Atlantic Quarterly, Black Camera, and TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. His debut memoir, A Body Made Home: They Black Trans Love (The Feminist Press), came out in February 2026. He is a proud founding member of Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) where he sat on The Healing and Safety Council. Check out his podcast, #GENDERFAILS on Soundcloud or Medium. You can also find him on Instagram and Twitter: @drDrummerBoi

Sinister Wisdom is a multicultural lesbian literary & art journal founded in 1976. Sinister Wisdom works to create multi-class, multicultural, multi-gender, multi-racial, world-wide intergenerational queer and lesbian spaces. Through publishing quarterly issues, a Sapphic Classics book series, and offering educational programs, Sinister Wisdom nurtures lesbian communities. Sinister Wisdom is a living archive that celebrates the multiplicity of lesbian identities across races, classes, genders, abilities, and lived experiences. Sinister Wisdom recognizes the power of language and art to create radical, empowering, resilient, and joyous sanctuaries that build and sustain vibrant lesbian futures.

The event is free and open to all people, but we encourage and appreciate a donation of $5-20 in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Donate on Crowdcast or via our website: www.chariscircle.org/donate or in person at the event.

Charis Books is a fully wheelchair accessible space with on site van accessible parking, two ramps, and additional overflow accessible parking nearby. Additional accessibility information can be found on the Accessibility page of our website.

Please read the in-person event guidelines at the bottom of this page to be sure you can participate in the event. 

In-person event guidelines:

All attendees must wear a face mask during the event.

We will begin seating people at 6:30 PM ET.

This event will be live-streamed via Crowdcast. 

As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request specific accessibility accommodations, please contact info@charisbooksandmore.com or call the store at 404-524-0304.

Please contact us at info@chariscircle.org or 404-524-0304 if you would like ASL interpretation at this event. If you would like to watch the event with live AI captions, you may do so by watching it in Google Chrome and enabling captions: Instructions here. If you have other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in making digital events more accessible please don't hesitate to reach out to info@chariscircle.org.

By attending our event, whether in person or virtually, you agree to our Code of Conduct: Our event seeks to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), class, or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Unsolicited sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from this event and all future events at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to Charis staff immediately or email info@chariscircle.org.

A Feast of Feminist Voices: A Celebration of Feminist Writing Across Genre