graphite and colored pencil on paper
I have founded a literary festival and fundraiser in New York to support a wonderful Canadian NGO called the Rainbow Railroad. It’s going to be a special event. Please come:
Five Queer Writers to Headline New Literary Festival:
‘Road to Freedom’ All proceeds to benefit the Rainbow Railroad
The Rainbow Railroad is thrilled to announce its inaugural Road to Freedom Literary Festival, centered around the theme that “storytelling helps heal humanity’s wounds”. On January 12, 2023 at Penn 1, the newly renovated tower above Penn Station, the Road to Freedom Literary Festival will contribute to that healing when prominent Queer writers, together with select beneficiaries of Rainbow Railroad, share moving and inspiring stories from their ‘roads to freedom.’
The Rainbow Railroad, like the Underground Railroad of lore, saves the lives of Queer people who are in mortal danger from their governments because of who they are and who they love. There are 69 UN countries that outlaw same-sex love, and in 11 of them the sentence is death.
In addition to the rich literary experience on offer at the festival, hosted by award-winning journalist and novelist Richard C. Morais, Rainbow Railroad beneficiaries will share personal stories alongside Kimahli Powell, Executive Director of the Rainbow Railroad. The festival brings together the following literary and political talents: Chen Chen, poet and author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, a National Endowment of the Arts Fellow in literature; Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of the bestselling and critically-acclaimed novels Patsy and Here Comes the Sun, and a two-time Lambda Literary Award Winner; Richie Hofmann, Stanford professor, poet, and author of A Hundred Lovers and frequent contributor to the New Yorker and The Atlantic; Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby, which won the 2021 PEN/Hemingway award for debut fiction; and Peter Staley, HIV/AIDS activist and author of Never Silent: ACT UP and My Life In Activism, prominently featured in the documentary How to Survive A Plague.
A very limited number of tickets, which includes food and drink, are available at $150 each. A bargain. Act now to lock in a ticket: https://www.rainbowrailroad.
Picture above is a work by acclaimed artist John Brooks and will be auctioned off on the night.