Presented by Host Publications, I Scream Social is a monthly feminist reading series and ice cream party that takes place at Alienated Majesty Books. We aim to celebrate and empower historically marginalized writers and share incredible literature and diverse perspectives to an Austin-area audience.
For January, we are featuring writer-activists that move us into action and inspire us to write! We are honored to kick off the new year featuring Gaby Benitez, Sara Bawany, and Texas Poet Laureate Amanda Johnston. Hosted by Annar Veröld & Claire Bowman! Free & open to all lovers of literature.
Open mic sign-ups begin at 6:45pm and is reserved for writers from historically marginalized communities.
We'd like to thank Amy's Ice Creams for sponsoring this month's party box!
Health & Safety Statement: masks are required and will be provided for this event.
✦✦✦ ABOUT THE READERS ✦✦✦
Gaby Benitez (she/her) | @gabybeesknees on IG | loves eating ice cream in threes, but pistachio!
Gaby is a queer, xicanx writer in her perpetual-life-crisis living in her ever-gentrifying hometown of so-called Austin, TX; and is currently a co-organizer with Clear the Air ATX, an air-purifier lending-library that works to provide COVID-mitigation for local artists, performers, organizers, and events. Gaby loves a run-on sentence, and writes to make (non)sense of the ecology of all things, death and rebirth, ghosts, and the general chaos and grief of existing; and these days is mostly thinking about surviving under fascism in today's dystopia. Gaby’s work can be found in Moist Poetry Journal, Wussy Mag, Infrarrealista Review, Liminal Transit Review, and other scattered spaces.
Sara Bawany (she/her) | @sara.bawany on IG | loves pistachio, dulce de leche, & white chocolate raspberry ice cream
Sara Bawany is an award-winning poet, clinical social worker, and MFA Poetry student at Texas State University. She is the author of two poetry books: (w)holehearted: a collection of poetry and prose in 2018, and Quarter Life Crisis. She is the Managing Editor at Porter House Review and is a lead writing instructor at House of Amal, a school for Muslim writers. You can learn more about her work at www.sarabawany.com.
Amanda Johnston is a writer, visual artist, Texas Poet Laureate, and founder/executive director of Torch Literary Arts.
✦✦✦ ABOUT HOST PUBLICATIONS ✦✦✦
Host Publications is an award-winning, women-led independent publisher located in Austin, Texas. Devoted to our mission to elevate historically marginalized writers, Host Publications publishes radical poetry and fiction by emerging LGBTQ+, BIPOC, intersectional feminist, and immigrant voices.
✦✦✦ WHERE TO PARK ✦✦✦
Alienated Majesty is located at 613 W 29th St. There is (limited) free parking in our lot, as well as free street parking in the surrounding neighborhood.
✦✦✦ ABOUT ALIENATED MAJESTY BOOKS ✦✦✦
Alienated Majesty Books is a bookstore and community space in central Austin welcoming the weird, the radical, and the lost. We specialize in carrying small presses, poetry, works in translation, and comics. In 2024, AMB was voted Best Obscure Literature Collection by the Austin Chronicle.
This project is supported in part by the City of Austin Economic Development Department.
