Special Guest Alissa Bennett, featuring additional readings by: O F Cieri, Isabelle B Hughes, Megan M Garwood, Gena Huynh, Buffy Sierra, Yunyu Teng, Victoria Lo Bue, Indigo Carter the salon: the offal literary salon is nyc’s underground literary salon for the freaks. prioritizing voices, genres, and ideas that are repulsive, abject, neurotic, and weird, each literary salon features a theme, a guest writer whose writing exemplifies that theme, and a host of readings from writers in alignment with that theme. curated by sasha ravitch, offal literary salon specializes in showcasing established voices and promoting emerging talent. in an aeon of perfecting filters and self-panoticonization, this salon is for the freaks, the ugly ones, the marginriders, the writers of (actually) weird person fiction and nonfiction. it will accent and exalt voices writing from the grotesque inseams of human interiority, chase the sticky folds of the monsterflesh, and question the reality of nature. the ethos: the aspiration is that attendees and participants will come into greater connectivity, empathy, and love for humanity by neutralizing the charge of shame around taboo subjects and thoughts. it is my opinion that we are less cruel to others, and to ourselves, when we encounter transgressive and psychologically charged literature. silence and repression breed far greater monsters. writing which confronts abjection and the pathological self has been subjected to incredible scrutiny from media-illiterate audiences who conflate exploration of the human condition with narrativization of the self. ugliness is integral to art, and the stigmatization of ugliness does nothing to enhance culture. ugliness is integral to our humanity, and gazing at it without flinching makes us better humans to each other. how sign-ups will work: each salon will feature a combination of solicited and submission based writers. sign-ups for the next salon will open at the end of each salon. individuals who attended the salon will be prioritized. folks will provide their email on the sign-up form and i will reach out to each person requesting a writing sample. individuals selected will be given a month’s notice to prepare and practice their piece. folks interested in reading who were not able to attend live will have the chance to email to submit, but given lower priority than those who attended previous events in person. the desire is to privilege emerging voices and talent while maintaining a fastidiously curated series with an exceptional level of talent. this is not an open mic. Presented by Public Records. This is a 21+ event.