If you made it to our grand opening reading + music event, you’ll know exactly what’s going on with Local Voices. This new event series highlights local writers, musicians, and artists, bringing together multiple genres and mediums to create an evening of enjoyment and discovery.

Catch Local Voices #1 on Wednesday, July 8 at 6pm. (Yes, it’s free!)

This first event is headlined by local writers Justin Wymer and Jessica Alexander, featuring music from Tate Gentry, with additional readings from emerging local writers.

Jessica will be reading from and chatting about her “atmospheric gothic vampire journey” Agnes, We’re Not Murderers! “Lesbian vixens from another dead world thread through moon-drenched cornfields and opulent drawing rooms in this literary horror remix of iconic gothic sagas.” …I’m not sure what else needs to be said!

Justin will be exploring his latest book, Let the Forest Go, “a memoir in poetic fragments that follows a queer Appalachian’s quest for truth as he explores memory, intergenerational trauma, and the rise of authoritarian power. … Wymer dissects his multifaceted identity as an expat, a gay man raised in a religious, small West Virginia town, a member of a family involved in the opioid epidemic, a mourner caught within Appalachia’s poorly understood grieving rites, and a human witness to ecological devastation.”

These books seem very different — one a gothic horror, the other a collection of letters, poems, and vignettes — but they intersect in some interesting ways. First is the emphasis on queerness, seen in the “romance” of Agnes and Mary and appearing as a central theme across the fragments and poems collected in Wymer’s book. Both authors also play with form in interesting ways: Wymer by blending literary forms, Alexander through footnotes and red text.

I have no idea how these readings will play off each other, but I’m very excited to see it.

Providing some tunes for the evening will be writer/musician/songwriter Tate Gentry with a few songs — maybe they’ll also intersect with the books, maybe not! I’m excited to find out.

And rounding out the evening will be a few emerging local writers giving readings in various genres.

It’ll be a great evening, hope to see you there!