Big Gay Writing Project: Open Mic Night // July 2025

Write things (beforehand)! Read them! Meet people! Join The Big Gay Writing Project for an open mic night and mixer. Come read something you wrote, sing a song, tell a joke. Or, just watch and support! Open Mic night will be from 6-8pm with a sign up sheet at the door, followed by karaoke and a general time to party and mingle until 10pm. This event is free, with a $5 suggested donation.

 

MONDAY, JULY 7TH
6-10PM
SUGGESTED DONATION $5
>> NOTAFLOF <<

 

Follow us on IG @biggaywritingproject

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What’s Up at TMoms:

Mondays, 4-11pm | Prepare yourselves—Meatless Monday is back at Tattooed Mom (with a twist)!!!!!!!!! Every two months we’ll be highlighting a different vegan menu item every Monday. See what’s on special this month!

Mondays, Upstairs 6-11pm | We see free 🎱 in your future! Introducing Free Pool Mondays upstairs 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.

Queer Novels Now

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_arnettis 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.

***

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.

Big Gay Writing Project: Open Mic / Karaoke / Mixer

Write things (beforehand)! Read them! Meet people! Join The Big Gay Writing Project for an open mic night and mixer. Come read something you wrote, sing a song, tell a joke. Or, just watch and support! Open Mic night will be from 6-8pm with a sign up sheet at the door, followed by karaoke and a general time to party and mingle until 10pm. This event is free, with a $5 suggested donation.

 

THURSDAY, MAY 29TH
6-10PM
SUGGESTED DONATION $5
>> NOTAFLOF <<
RSVP:  EVENTBRITE

 

Follow us on IG @biggaywritingproject

***

What’s Up at TMoms:

Thursdays, 4-10pm | All hail Pierogi Thursday! Munch and crunch on 75¢ pierogi (vegan, obvi) plus $3 cans of Tecate every Thursday!! And don’t forget ur toppings

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.

Barrelhouse Issue 25 Launch Party!

Event description: Come celebrate the release of Barrelhouse Magazine’s 25th print issue. The literary journal was founded 20 years ago, in a Washington, D.C. dive bar, with a mission to publish serious work while not taking itself too seriously. Since then, Barrelhouse has won awards, hosted conferences, published books, and become a worldwide leader in the ever-growing field of Patrick Swayze studies. The event will feature a selection of authors reading work from issue 25, plus plenty of socializing and general merriment.

 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19TH
7PM
NO COVER // FREE FUN

 

Host/MC: Juliet Gelfman-Randazzo
Readers: Danny Caine, J.M. Jones, Olivia Muenz, Yusuf Poladin

 

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What’s Up at TMoms:

Wednesday, 4-10pm | Burger Wednesday is BACK y’all! Come slam some Smash Burgers (classic or vegan) every Wednesday for just $6!! Plus $3 PBR! Recently named one of the top burgers in the city by The Philadelphia Inquirer!

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.