A night of readings and revelry with six authors of bestselling and critically acclaimed queer novels redefining what the form can do.

Free RSVP required for entry. 21+ with valid ID
Doors at 7:30, readings begin at 8
The venue is located up one flight of stairs. More detailed accessibility info is here
All books will be for sale by local indie bookstore The Head & the Hand Books

FRIDAY, JUNE 6TH
DOORS @ 7:30PM + SHOW @ 8PM
NO COVER // FREE FUN
RSVP: EVENTBRITE

About the readers:

Kristen Arnett (@kristen_arnett) is the queer Floridian author of With Teeth: A Novel (Riverhead Books, 2021) which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in fiction and the New York Times bestselling debut novel Mostly Dead Things (Tin House, 2019) which was also a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in fiction and was shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Her third novel, Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One, was published in March 2025 by Riverhead Books, who will also publish an untitled collection of her short fiction. She has a Masters in Library and Information Science from Florida State University and lives in Orlando, Florida.

Lydi Conklin (@lydiconklin) is the author of the novel Songs of No Provenance and the story collection Rainbow Rainbow. They are an Assistant Professor of Fiction at Vanderbilt University and have received a Stegner Fellowship in Fiction at Stanford University, a Rona Jaffe Writer’s Award, four Pushcart Prizes, a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation, a Creative & Performing Arts Fulbright to Poland, work-study and tuition scholarships from Bread Loaf, and fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, Djerassi, Hedgebrook, the James Merrill House, the Vermont Studio Center, VCCA, Millay, Jentel, Lighthouse Works, Brush Creek, the Santa Fe Art Institute, Caldera, the Sitka Center, and Harvard University, among others.

Emma Copley Eisenberg (@frumpenberg) is the author of the novel Housemates, which was a national bestseller and named a best book of the year by The Boston Globe, People, NBC, Them.Us, Autostraddle, Electric Literature, and Kirkus Reviews. Housemates was longlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award and won the Athenaeum of Philadelphia’s Literary Prize for Fiction. Her narrative nonfiction book, The Third Rainbow Girl, was a New York Times Notable Book as well as a finalist for an Edgar Award and a Lambda Literary Award. She lives in Philadelphia, where she co-founded Blue Stoop, a community hub for the literary arts.

Alejandro Heredia (@aleherex) is a queer Afro-Dominican writer from The Bronx. His debut novel LOCA was published in February 2025 by Simon and Schuster. He has received fellowships from Lambda Literary, VONA, the Dominican Studies Institute, Kenyon Review, and Trinity College. In 2019, he was selected by Myriam Gurba as the winner of the Gold Line Press Fiction Chapbook Contest. His chapbook of short stories, You’re the Only Friend I Need (2021), explores themes of queer transnationalism, friendship, and (un)belonging in the African Diaspora. Heredia’s work has been featured in Teen Vogue, Lambda Literary Review, The Offing, and elsewhere. He received an MFA in fiction from Hunter College.

Melissa Mogollon (@melissamogollonwriter) holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a BA from the George Washington University. Originally from Colombia and raised in Florida, she now teaches at a boarding school in Rhode Island, where she lives with her partner and dog. Oye, which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, is her first novel.

Torrey Peters (@torreyadora) is the author of the novel Detransition, Baby, which won the 2021 PEN/Hemingway award for debut fiction and was named a Best Book of the Century by The New York Times. Her second book, Stag Dance, was published in March 2025 and was an indie bestseller. She is an amateur sauna builder, rides a pink motorcycle, and splits her time between Brooklyn and Santa Marta, Colombia.

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What’s Up at TMoms:

• Daily Happy Hour | All drafts are just $4 every day from 4-6pm!

• Daily Menu | Tattooed Mom will also be serving tasty eats and ice cold drinks all evening.

• Upstairs dining, bar access, and event entry is 21+ w/ valid ID.

• Accessibility at TMoms | Due to the construction of our historical building, Tattooed Mom is only partially accessible. Our event space is on the second floor, which is only accessible via a flight of stairs (20 steps, 3 feet wide, railing on the left side only). For more information, please visit our Accessibility page.