For the past year and a half I’ve been on a bit of a touring hiatus in order to focus all of my time and attention on finishing Roving Pack. It was good to have the break, to be able to devote myself to getting this novel out onto the page, and then out into the world but I’ve missed all of you! With Kicked Out I had the incredible opportunity of visiting many many cities across the country to talk about LGBTQ youth homelessness, and facilitate storytelling workshops at colleges, conferences, homeless shelters, and community groups.
I’m available to do a variety of events from lectures and keynotes to readings and storytelling workshops. You can learn more about all my work/offerings at www.SassafrasLowrey.com but of my most popular lecture/performance offerings have been:
Roving Pack
‘Roving Pack’ the debut novel by award winning queer author Sassafras Lowrey is set in an underground world of homeless queer teens. Readers follow the daily life of Click, a straightedge transgender kid searching for community, identity, and connection amidst chaos. As the stories unfold, we meet a pack of newly sober gender rebels creating art, families and drama in dilapidated punk houses across Portland, Oregon circa 2002. Roving Pack offers fast-paced in-your-face accounts of leather, sex, hormones, house parties, and protests. But, when gender fluidity takes an unexpected turn, the pack is sent reeling. Get a short taste of ‘Roving Pack’ the book Lambda Literary calls “Political, raucous, dark, and totally engrossing…”
Nobody loves you. Now what? Queer youth homelessness and creating chosen family
40% of homeless youth in the United States are LGBTQ identified and this silent epidemic’s impacts are felt by queer kids in the biggest cities to the smallest rural communities. In this engaging lecture Sassafras draws on hir personal experiences of queer teen homelessness and the stories of ‘Kicked Out’ anthology contributors. In doing so ze takes audiences beyond the shocking statistics to the tangible experiences of current and former homeless LGBTQ youth’s survival and created kinship networks. Designed to inspire action from allies and bring hope and belonging to outcasts of all stripes, this lecture facilitates audiences move towards building chosen family and kinship networks
LGBTQ Storytelling Workshops:
When we’re children we’re taught that some people are writers, and some people aren’t. What if everything we’ve been taught about writing is wrong? What if anyone can do it and have fun with it?! In hir storytelling workshops Sassafras breaks down barriers that keeps people from writing. Designed for folks who do not consider themselves writers as well as those comfortable with expressing themselves through the written word, these storytelling workshops are an opportunity for participants to discover the transformative power of storytelling. We will explore how writing can be used to gain a better understanding of our own journeys, as well as a tool for creating social change. You can see a complete list of workshops here and I’m always available to create something specialized for your group.
In November I’ll be on the road in Europe but am working on booking 2013 in the States (and maybe Canada!) If you’re interested in bringing me to your campus, bookstore, conference or community group please get in touch ( SassafrasLowrey@gmail.com ) and lets see if we can make something work!Thank you for your time and consideration and I look forward to talking with you about the possibility of working together in the Spring.
In Solidarity
Sassafras