Lyrics and Dirges: A Monthly Reading Series

Location: Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley (510) 649-1320

Pegasus Books Downtown is pleased to present Lyrics and Dirges, a reading series that happens on the Third Wednesday of every month.  This series features a mix of prominent, emerging and beginning writers each month.  Its aim is to highlight various forms of writing in an effort to spotlight the diverse literary community that lives in the Bay Area.

This month features a special appearance from the renowned Erika Lopez. Complete list of readers is:

Tanya Baker
Heidi Cooper
Andrew Lam
Erika Lopez
Tomas Moniz

Ericka Lopez -- (see website) I'm the author of FLAMING IGUANAS; THEY CALL ME MAD DOG; HOOCHIE MAMA: THE OTHER WHITE MEAT; and LAP DANCING FOR MOMMY: Tender Stories of Disgust, Blame, and Inspiration.  But it wasn't until I toured my solo show, "Nothing Left but the Smell: A Republican on Welfare--later re-titled The Welfare Queen-- that I snapped and became megalomaniacal enough to start Monster Girl Movies so I could officially use the Royal "WE," and say things like, "I'm sorry. It's against OUR policy to defer to you." Then we spent the past five years learning everything we could about film, acting, screenplays, and megalomania while adapting FLAMING IGUANAS into a script later titled, "All Witnesses Eventually Die."

Tomas Moniz is the founder, editor, and a writer for the award winning zine Rad Dad.  Looking for radical parenting community, he created Rad Dad to provide the space for parents (and in particular fathers) to share, commiserate, plan, and support each other in challenging patriarchy one diaper at a time.   He’s been making zines since the late nineties, and his most current project is the serialized zine novella, Without Words & Without Kneeling, which began in September 2010 and will continue a chapter a month for twelve months.  Tomas teaches at Berkeley City College focusing on basic skills classes and works with the National Writing Project.  He is helping to raise three children and lives with a menagerie of animals in Berkeley, California.

Andrew Lam is the author of Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora, which won a Pen Award in 2006, and "East Eats West: Writing in in Two Hemispheres." He is also co-founder and editor of New America Media, an association of 2000 ethnic media outlets in the US. He was a regular commentator on NPR's All Things Considered. His next book, a collection of short stories, is called "Birds of Paradise.He is working on a novel.

Tanya Baker is a forthcoming author and Heidi Cooper has been described as a "bad ass student".