Writers With Drinks with Jeff Chang and Aya de Leon!

January's Writers With Drinks features race and hop hop in America, the dirty secrets of SIlicon Valley, fabled spoken word performers, and more!

When: Saturday, Jan. 14 from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM, doors open 6:30 PM
Who: Jeff Chang, Antonio Garcia Martinez, Aya de Leon, Jennifer Dronsky and Wendy C. Ortiz
PLUS SPECIAL GUEST HOST Baruch Porras-Hernandez!
How much: $5 to $20, all proceeds benefit the Center for Sex and Culture
Where: The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd. St., San Francisco, CA

About the readers/performers:

Jeff Chang's first book, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, garnered many honors, including the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. He edited the book, Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop. Who We Be: The Colorization of America was released on October 2014 to critical acclaim. His latest book, We Gon' Be Alright: Notes On Race and Resegregation, was published in September 2016. His next project is a biography of Bruce Lee. Jeff has been a USA Ford Fellow in Literature and a winner of the North Star News Prize. He was named by The Utne Reader as one of "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.” Jeff co-founded CultureStr/ke and ColorLines. He has written for The Guardian, Slate, The Nation, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Believer, Foreign Policy, N+1, Mother Jones, Salon, and Buzzfeed, among many others.

Antonio Garcia Martinez is the author of Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley, which was an NPR Best Book of 2016.

Wendy C. Ortiz's latest book is the "dreamoir" Bruja. She's also the author of Excavation: A Memoir, and Hollywood Notebook. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Hazlitt, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, Fanzine, and a year-long series appeared at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

Aya de Leon is the author of Uptown Thief, the first book in the Justice Hustlers series. She's the Director of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People at UC Berkeley. She was named best discovery in theater for 2004 by the SF Chronicle for “Thieves in the Temple : The Reclaiming of Hip Hop,” a solo show about fighting sexism and commercialism in hip hop. Also in 2004, she received a Goldie award from the SF Bay Guardian in spoken word for “Thieves…” and her subsequent show “Aya de Leon is Running for President.” In 2005 she was voted “Slamminest Poet” in the East Bay Express, and she also co-hosted the kickoff party for Current TV with Mos Def. Aya has been an artist in residence at Stanford University, a Cave Canem poetry fellow, and a slam poetry champion.

Recently awarded a Certificate of Excellence (it came with the frame), Jennifer Dronsky has been collecting prestigious comedy awards such as “Winner of the first Alameda Comedy Competition” and three-time “Dirty Haiku Battle Champion” at popular Oakland variety show Tourettes Without Regrets. Currently residing in Oakland with her partner, two cats and an ever-mounting collection of tiny porcelain cat figurines. Jennifer draws upon the odd happenings and uncomfortable conversations that seem to be omnipresent in her life. Performing a continuous response to life in a self deprecating “what I wanted to say was this”, sort of way. With her charismatic style and uproarious foul mouth, Jennifer Dronsky is sure to make even your curmudgeonly relatives laugh.

Special Guest Host Baruch Porras-Hernandez is a writer, performer, organizer, visual artist, and storyteller based in San Francisco. He has performed in L.A., Washington D.C., NYC, Canada, and all over California. His writing has been published in numerous anthologies, he is a Lambda Literary Fellow in Poetry, he regularly organizes poetry shows in the bay area, and is currently the curator and head organizer for The San Francisco Queer Open Mic and Program Director for ¿Donde Esta Mi Gente? He was born in Toluca, Mexico and grew up in Albany, California.

About Writers With Drinks:

Writers With Drinks has won numerous "Best ofs" from local newspapers, and has been mentioned in 7x7, Spin Magazine and one of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City novels. The spoken word "variety show" mixes genres to raise money for local causes. The award-winning show includes poetry, stand-up comedy, science fiction, fantasy, romance, mystery, literary fiction, erotica, memoir, zines and blogs in a freewheeling format.