Aloud / Out Loud: The Writers Grotto

Please join us on Saturday, December 13th! The theme for this Aloud/Out Loud is: Planting the Dream: Stories & Poems of Possibility

Join us for a night of readings from Writers Grotto authors and Rooted & Written alumni. Emceed by Leslie Kirk Campbell

This month's event is co-organized with The Writers Grotto, featuring:

• Devi S. Laskar
• Tara Dorabji
• Kirsten Mickelwait
• Dr. Jeanne Powell
• saahil m.
• Christine C. Hsu

Telegraph Hill Arts and Literature presents writers, poets, and other artists, while giving back to the creative community and to our neighbors. (https://telhilit.org)

Devi S. Laskar is a poet, novelist, artist, photographer, songwriter,  former newspaper reporter. Her debut poetry collection, Self-Portraits Ex Machina is out now from Finishing Line Press. Laskar is the author of the award-winning novel, The Atlas of Reds and Blues, and recently, Circa. Her third novel, Midnight, At The War is forthcoming from Mariner Books (April 14,2026) and her first spoken-word album is coming out this spring. She holds degrees from Columbia University, University of Illinois and UNC-Chapel Hill. She now lives in California with her family.

Tara Dorabji is the award-winning author of the novel, Call Her Freedom, Simon and Schuster’s Books Like Us Grand Prize Winner. Tara’s documentary film series on human rights defenders in Kashmir won awards at over a dozen film festivals throughout Asia and the USA. Her publications include Al Jazeera, The Chicago Quarterly, Huizache, People.com and acclaimed anthologies: Good Girls Marry Doctors & All the Women in My Family Sing. The daughter of Parsi-Indian and German-Italian migrants, she lives in Northern California with her rabbit.

Kirsten Mickelwait is an alumna of the Community of Writers, the Napa Valley Writers Conference, the Kauai Writers' Conference, and several other writers' workshops. Her historical novel, The Ashtrays Are Full and the Glasses Are Empty, was published in May 2025 and was a semifinalist for the CIBA Book Award. Her memoir, The Ghost Marriage, was published in 2021. She has a speculative novel in the pipeline and is currently at work on a collection of linked short stories about post-menopausal women. 

Dr. Jeanne Powell is a published poet and essayist with five books in print.  She was an instructor in the OLLI, College Summit and Upward Bound programs on college campuses.  She is an online film critic and facilitates a weekly writers group. Her striking photographs appear on Instagram.  Her micropress published 20 poets.  She is the recipient of several residencies.

saahil m. (any/all pronouns) is a Teach For America alumnx (San Diego, 2014) and former Fulbright Scholar (Brazil, 2018) with an MA in Educational Anthropology and half-an-MFA (whatever that means). they have workshopped in numerous fellowships and retreats including Tin House (now McCormack Writing Center), Lambda Literary, Roots Wounds Words, Kearny Street Workshop's Interdisciplinary Lab, and Rooted & Written. saahil tends to write about longing, belonging, and home/land.

Christine C. Hsu (shoe) is a poet, playwright, essayist, and short story writer based in San Francisco. She has been published by The Bold Italic, xoJane, KQED, ABC News Radio Online, Yellow Arrow Journal, Lunchbox Moments, Slipform Poetry Anthology, Mixed Mag, DropOut Literary Magazine, NonBinary Review, Nonwhite and Woman Anthology, Red Ogre Review, Soft Star Magazine, and Livina Press. The Writers Grotto of SF selected her as a Rooted & Written Fellow for Screenplay, and she was part of the Kearny Street Workshop Interdisciplinary Writers Lab.

The Writers Grotto is a community of working writers and narrative artists who connect in physical and virtual space, pooling their talents to support each other, mentor and teach others, and engage the wider world. The Grotto fosters a literary culture that is generous in spirit and deeply inclusive, elevating writers of all backgrounds. Rooted and Written, sponsored by The Writers Grotto, is the first tuition-free professional creative writing program offered for BIPOC writers in the USA.