The Loudest Voice

A Los Angeles reading series promoting fresh, challenging work.

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Originally from New York, STEWART GRACE is the author of a hand-bound chapbook, The Shepherd’s Hour, and an as-yet untitled book-length collection of poems.  Formerly a Poetry Editor for Canteen Magazine, he now instructs writing at the USC Marshall School of Business while teaching music and sustainable gardening for an after-school enrichment program in Hollywood.  With any luck, he will defend his dissertation on transcendence in American poetry this Fall at USC.

CHRIS SANTIAGO is a fiction writer, poet, and Mellon/ACLS Fellow in the English Department at USC. He has new poems forthcoming from The Offending Adam and TAYO Literary Magazine, and a new story in the upcoming issue of The Asian American Literary Review.

NEIL AITKEN is the author of The Lost Country of Sight, winner of 2007 Philip Levine Prize, and the founding editor of Boxcar Poetry Review. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and raised in Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and western United States and Canada. His poems have appeared in American Literary Review, The Collagist, Crab Orchard Review, Ninth Letter, The Normal School, and elsewhere. A former computer programmer, he is presently pursuing a PhD in literature and creative writing at the University of Southern California where he writes on artificial intelligence and existential anxiety. Leviathan, a selection of poems from his current book-length project, Babbage's Dream, will be published in chapbook form by Hyacinth Girl Press in 2015.

ZOË RUIZ lives and writes in Los Angeles. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Weeklings, Salon, Two Serious Ladies, Ohio Edit and the anthology California Prose Directory (2014). She is the former managing editor of The Rumpus and curates READINGS, a Los Angeles based reading series.

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Photos from The Loudest Voice + Energies Conference event!

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Robin Coste Lewis is a Provost’s Fellow in English and Visual Studies at USC.  A Cave Canem Fellow, she received her MFA from New York University’s Creative Writing Program where she was a Goldwater Fellow in poetry.  She also holds a Master's of Theological Studies degree in Sanskrit and comparative religious literature from Harvard's Divinity School. She was a finalist for the International War Poetry Prize, the National Rita Dove Prize, and semi-finalist for the “Discovery”/Boston Review Prize and the Crab Orchard Series Open Poetry Prize.   Her work has appeared in various journals and anthologies, including The Massachusetts Review, Callaloo, The Harvard  Gay & Lesbian Review, Transition, VIDA, amongst others.  She has taught at Wheaton College, Hunter College, Hampshire College and the NYU Low-Residency MFA in Paris.  Fellowships and awards include the Caldera Foundation, the Ragdale Foundation, the Headlands Center for the Arts, the Can Serrat International Art Centre in Barcelona, and the Summer Literary Seminars in Kenya.  Born in Compton, California, her family is from New Orleans.

  Stacy Gnall is the author of Heart First into the Forest (Alice James Books, 2011). According to Publisher’s Weekly, "Gnall's debut takes such delight in the musicality of language that at times it is enough to simply hear her lines…[she] threads the lyric through the fantastic, creating a collection that is as boisterous and stark as it is macabre." Stacy earned her BA at Sarah Lawrence College and her MFA at the University of Alabama, and she is currently pursuing her PhD in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California. Her work has previously appeared in The Cincinnati Review, The Florida Review, The Gettysburg Review, Indiana Review, The Laurel Review, The Spoon River Poetry Review, and Prairie Schooner. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio she now lives in West Hollywood.

Ashley Farmer is the author of the chapbook Farm Town (Rust Belt Bindery, 2012) and the collection Beside Myself (PANK/Tiny Hardcore Press, 2014).  Her work can be found in publications like The Progressive, Gigantic, Hobart, DIAGRAM, and Artifice. A former editor for publications like Atomica Magazine, Salt Hill Journal and others, she currently serves as a managing editor for Juked. 

Chris Muñiz is a College Doctoral Fellow in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California specializing on the intersection of race, identity, and culture in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands and American West. He holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Writing from CalArts and is currently knee-deep in the blood, sweat, and tears of his first novel. 

Sandra Lim is the author of The Wilderness (forthcoming in 2014 from W.W. Norton), selected by Louise Glück for the 2013 Barnard Women Poets Prize, and Loveliest Grotesque (Kore Press, 2006). She is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

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Photos from our January 23 event!

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Chad Sweeney teaches in the MFA program at California State University San Bernardino where he edits Ghost Town (online at ghosttownlitmag.com). He is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Parable of Hide and Seek (Alice James Books, 2010) and Wolf’s Milk: Lost Notebooks of Juan Sweeney (Forklift Books, bilingual Spanish/English, 2012). Sweeney’s poems have appeared in Best American Poetry, The Pushcart Prize Anthology,Verse Daily, American Poetry Review, The Writer’s Almanac and elsewhere. He is co-translator of the Selected Poems of contemporary Iranian poet H.E. Sayeh (White Pine Books) and translator of Pablo Neruda’s final book The Call to Destroy Nixon (Marick Press, forthcoming). He lives in Redlands with his wife, poet Jennifer K. Sweeney, and their son Liam.

Andrew Allport is the author of the poetry collection the body | of space | in the shape of the human (New Issues Press, 2012)and the chapbook The Ice Ship & Other Vessels (Proem Press, 2008). He teaches at USC, where he is a Lecturer in the Thematic Option Honors Program. 

Kate Folk is from Iowa and now lives in San Francisco. Her fiction has appeared in Smokelong Quarterly, Gigantic Sequins, Neon, Tin House Flash Fridays, and elsewhere. She is currently a fellow at the San Francisco Writer’s Grotto. Visit her website, www.katefolk.com.

Jessica Piazza is the author of two poetry collections: Interrobang (Red Hen Press, 2013) and the chapbook Thing is not a sky (Black Lawrence Press, 2014). Currently, Jessica serves as Contributing Editor at The Offending Adam. Among other places, her work has appeared in The National Poetry Review, Agni, Indiana Review, 32 Poems, The Missouri Review, Mid-American Review, No Tell Motel, 42 Opus, Pebble Lake Review, Rattle, Hobart, Country Dog Review, Coconut, Barefoot Muse, Forklift Ohio, and the anthologies 150 Contemporary Sonnets (U of Evansville Press) and Hot Sonnets (Entasis Press).

Trinie Dalton has authored, edited, and/or curated six books. Wide Eyed (Akashic) was a selection of Dennis Cooper’s Little House on the Bowery series and a finalist for The Believer book award. Dear New Girl or Whatever Your Name Is (McSweeney’s), co-edited with Lisa Wagner and Eli Horowitz,Mythtym (Picturebox).  Sweet Tomb (Madras Press) is a fairy tale novella. Baby Geisha (Two Dollar Radio) is her most recent story collection. Dalton also writes about art, books, music, and frequently contributes to artists’ book projects. She has written for magazines such asBookforum, Artforum.com, The Believer, Modern Painters, and Paper and taught at many schools, including NYU, Art Center College of Design, Columbia University, School of Visual Arts, and USC. 

More information on the event here!

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Some super-dark pics of our readers!

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Rob Rabiee was born in Lexington, Kentucky. His short fiction has appeared in Product Magazine (UK) and The Evergreen Review, his music criticism in fly-by-night periodicals that no longer exist, and his critical work in academic journals with monthly subscription fees that likely exceed his rent.

Jackson Crawford hails from somewhere between Houston, Texas and Sheridan, Wyoming. He is a member of the faculty in the Scandinavian Section at UCLA. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in English in Midwest Quarterly and Bear Creek Haiku, and in Norwegian in Norsk Årbok and Norsk Tidend. He has also translated the American poet Robinson Jeffers into Norwegian (in Norsk Årbok).

Amy Silverberg has grown up in Southern California. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in The Los Angeles Review, The Southern Review, Lumina, the Tin House blog, and elsewhere. She likes animals doing people things. 

Alfred Brown IV was born and raised amongst the salt and Sex Wax of Los Angeles' South Bay.  He's been (somewhat) gainfully employed as a donut decorator, drug deliverer, and dorm room dishwasher.  Last September, he ended a four-year stint as a children's behavioral therapist to pursue a doctorate in literature at USC.  He holds degrees from Princeton and Columbia Universities, where he served as the fiction editor for the Columbia Journal, and performs with the band DANGERS.  His most recent publication is in Fence Magazine.  

Catherine Theis is the author of The Fraud of Good Sleep (Salt Modern Poets). Her poems have appeared in various journals, including Fence, Gulf Coast, Volt, and 1913 a journal of forms. She is a recipient of an Individual Artists Fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council, and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her chapbook, The June Cuckold, is published by Convulsive Editions. These days she’s writing very long-long poems at USC.  

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Photos from our most recent event!

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The Loudest Voice - October 17

Michael Powers grew up in Connecticut and completed his MFA in fiction at the University of Houston. His fiction and non-fiction have appeared in Barrelhouse, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Gulf Coast, H.O.W. Journal, and Bellevue Literary Review.

Nikki Darling is a student in the Creative Writing/Literature PHD program at USC. An art critic columnist at KCET Artbound, her music criticism and essays appear regularly or have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Art Book Review, Tomorrow Magazine and Public Books, among others. Her essay “Appropriate For Destruction” was included in Best Music Writing 2010. She is finishing her first novel, “Fade Into You,” a memoir of mixed race identity in the San Gabriel Valley during the 90’s.

Chris Santiago is a poet, fiction writer, and critic who lives in Pasadena with his wife and two boys.  He was born and raised near Minneapolis and has lived in Ohio, London, and Northern Japan.  Recent poems appear in the current issue of Kartika Review and in the forthcoming issue of Postcolonial Text.

Douglas Manuel received a BA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University and a MFA from Butler University where he was the Managing Editor of Booth a Journal. He is currently a Dornsife Fellow at the University of Southern California where he is pursuing a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in North American Review, Many Mountains Moving, Thoughtsmith, Punchnel’s, The Bruised Peach Press, Marooned, and Lux.

Ryan McIlvain is a doctoral student in USC’s Literature and Creative Writing Program. His novel, Elders, came out in March and was recently longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. He is at work on his second book.

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CRAIG BLAIS was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. His first book, About Crows, was selected by Terrance Hayes for the 2013 Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry by the University of Wisconsin Press. His poems have appeared in such literary journals as Bellingham Review, Best New Poets, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Pinch, Sentence, and Spoon River Poetry Review. He currently lives in Tallahassee, Florida.

A graduate of Vassar College, ALEXIS LANDAU went onto work in the London publishing world after which she received her MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. She is now pursuing her PhD in English Literature and Creative Writing at The University of Southern California. Her area of interest is the early to mid twentieth century, specifically Jewish identity and assimilation during the interwar years. Twice, Alexis was awarded honorable mention in the Edward W. Moses Graduate Creative Writing Competition, and her short stories have appeared in journals such as LA City Zine and Amor Fati. She was awarded the General Education Graduate Assistant Award for teaching, and she now teaches in the Thematic Option Program. She is currently revising her second novel, The Empire of the Senses, and lives with her husband and daughter in Santa Monica.

LISA LOCASCIO's fiction has appeared in American Short Fiction, The Northwest Review, Faultline, Grist: The Journal for Writers, and many other journals. Grist named Lisa their 2012 Featured Emerging Fiction Writer, and she is the winner of the Daniel Alarcon-judged 2011 John Steinbeck Prize for Fiction. She has received honors and support for her writing from the National Association for the Advancement of the Arts, Western Michigan University, the Del Amo Foundation, and several other institutions. Lisa holds two degrees from New York University (BA in Individualized Study, Gallatin School of Individualized Study, 2007; MFA in Fiction Writing, College of Arts and Sciences, 2009). She has taught creative writing and literature at New York University, the University of Southern California, and through various tutoring and mentorship organizations in California, New York City, and Chicago. She is a PhD candidate in the department of Creative Writing and Literature at the University of Southern California and fiction editor of Ricochet Editions, an imprint of Gold Line Press.

SARAH VAP grew up in Missoula, Montana. She attended Brown University, received her MFA from Arizona State University, and is completing her PhD at the University of Southern California. Her two most recent collections are End of the Sentimental Journey (Noemi Books) and Arco Iris (Saturnalia). She recently received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Be sure not to miss it!

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Photos from the reading!

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The Loudest Voice - March 14 @ 7:30PM

TODD FREDSON, poet and non-fiction writer, won the 2011 Patricia Bibby First Book Prize for his collection of poems, The Crucifix-Blocks recently published by Tebot Bach. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Blackbird, Gulf Coast, Interim and other journals, as well as in anthologies. He lives with his partner, Sarah Vap, and their two sons in Santa Monica.

Alisa Slaughter has published fiction and creative nonfiction in several literary journals, including Santa Monica Review, The Missouri Review, Natural Bridge, Alimentum, and SundaySalon.org. Her chapbook Bad Habitats was recently selected by Dana Johnson as the winner of the 2012 Gold Line Press Fiction Chapbook Competition. She lives in the mountains of Southern California.  

Brandon Som is the author of the chapbook Babel’s Moon, winner of the Tupelo Press Snowbound Prize. His poems have appeared in Barrow Street, Indiana Review, Black Warrior Review, and Octopus Magazine. He has been awarded fellowships to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. His full-length collection The Tribute Horse was selected for the 2012 Nightboat Books Poetry Prize and will be published in the spring of 2014.

A native of Los Angeles, where she co-curates the 3rd Area Poetry Series, Marci Vogel has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize and the AWP Intro Journals Award. Her work appears or is forthcoming in many publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Colorado Review, ZYZZYVA, and Seneca Review. Her collection Valiant was recently published by Finishing Line Press.

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Photos of our illustrious readers Leah Bailly, Michelle Brittan, Heather Dundas, and Anthony Abboreno! Sarah Vap was sadly home with a cold. 

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Bios for our readers!

Anthony M. Abboreno is currently pursuing a PhD in Literature and Fiction Writing at the University of Southern California. Previously, he earned an MA in the same subjects from the University of Southern Mississippi. He has work forthcoming, this summer, in Reunion: The Dallas Review.

A Canadian playwright, fiction writer and journalist, Leah Bailly's writing has appeared in publications such as PANK, Prism, Room, subTerrain, Hobart, on CBC Radio and in an anthology of Las Vegas fiction “Restless City.” In 2010, she traveled to Sierra Leone, where she conducted interviews and research for her first novel titled “The Following.” In the summer of 2010, she was awarded her first Canada Council grant for development of this manuscript.

Michelle Brittan has poems published in the journals Poet Lore, The Los Angeles Review, Nimrod, Calyx, The Grove Review, and Crab Creek Review, and was the title poet for the anthology Time You Let Me In: 25 Poets Under 25.  Born in San Francisco of mixed white and Malaysian heritage, she graduated from the MFA program at California State University, Fresno.  While there, she taught poetry and composition, interned with The Normal School, and co-edited San Joaquin Review.  In 2010 she won the Academy of American Poets/Ernesto Trejo Poetry Prize, and is currently at work on her first collection of poems.

Heather Dundas has been a playwright, producer, lyricist, teaching artist, writer of cooking shows, editor of medical textbooks, and other things. Her play, Cannibals (described as “a comic reverie” by The New York Times), was published by Smith and Kraus and has been produced around the country. Stories and essays have appeared recently in PoemMemoirStory, Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers, The Los Angeles Times, and The Loudest Voice Anthology.

Sarah Vap grew up in Missoula, Montana. She attended Brown University, received her MFA from Arizona State University, and is completing her PhD at the University of Southern California. Her most recent collection of poems Arco Iris was published by Saturnalia and was listed on Library Journal's Best Books of 2012. She recently received an NEA grant for her work.

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Come one, come all, to our first reading of 2013, featuring the infamous Leah Bailly, Michelle Brittan, Anthony Abboreno, Heather Dundas, and Sarah Vap! Thursday, January 24, 7:30 PM at Verdugo Bar in Highland Park, 3408 Verdugo Road, 90065.

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From top left to bottom right: Bryan Hurt, Emily Fridlund, Frank Montesanti, Jessica Piazza, and Lisa Lee wow at our November 8 reading at Far Bar. 

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November 8 Roster

Frank Montesonti is the author of Blight, Blight, Blight, Ray of Hope, winner of the 2012 Barrow Street Book Contest. He has been published in literary journals such as Tin House, Black Warrior Review, AQR, Poet Lore, and Poems and Plays, among many others. His second collection, Hope Tree, is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press in 2014. He teaches poetry at National University.  

Emily Fridlund grew up in the Twin Cities, received her M.F.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, and now lives with her husband outside Philadelphia. She has published short fiction in Boston Review, New Orleans Review, Sou’wester, Painted Bride Quarterly, and many other journals. Her current writing project is a novel entitled History of Wolves, the first chapter of which will be published by Southwest Review in 2013. (We do not have a photograph of Emily, so please enjoy the first result of a Google Images search for "History of Wolves." - Ed.) 

Bryan Hurt's stories and essays have recently appeared in The New England Review, TriQuarterly, and Tin House. He occasionally tumbles at Everyone Wants to Be Ambassador to France and even more occasionally tweets at @bryan_hurt. As the erstwhile host of The Loudest Voice, he's eternally grateful to Lisa Locascio for taking over the reins and is honored and humbled that she'd ask him back to read. Three cheers for Lisa! 

Lisa Lee’s fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in North American Review, Sycamore Review, Gulf Coast, The Tusculum Review, Pebble Lake Review,and Reed Magazine.  She has received fellowships and awards from the Inprint Foundation, Kundiman, and the Center for Fiction.  Lisa holds an MFA from the University of Houston where she was a Nonfiction Editor of Gulf Coast.  She received a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley in English and Music, and a J.D. at Santa Clara University in Public Interest Social Justice Law.  Lisa enters USC’s PhD program in Literature & Creative Writing as a Dornsife Doctoral Fellow and is working on her first novel.

Jessica Piazza's poetry collection, Interrobang, is forthcoming from Red Hen Press in 2013. Her chapbook This is not a sky is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press in 2014. She's published poetry in Agni, Indiana Review, Mid-American Review, Rattle, No Tell Motel, 32 Poems, Forklift, Ohio, National Poetry Review, Pebble Lake Review, Anti-, and 42 Opus.