Big Queer Book Party: Tea Leaves by Jacob Bundez – outside at Current Space!

Additional Readings:
Sylvia Jones
Tonee Moll

Special Guests:
DJ Amsies
Alex D'Agostino
Molesuit Choir

& Tarot by Soleil

About the book: A queer romance spans multiple reincarnations, but only in doomed cities. A gay medieval scholar must testify for his life to the otherworldly octopus who has him trapped in a French Quarter cafe bathroom. A lesbian food truck power couple caters a gay wedding in Lafayette as the spirits of the air and land attempt to sabotage their own ill-fated union. Heralded by Baynard Woods (author of Inheritance: an Autobiography of Whiteness) as "fabulous, in every sense... quick and sharp, full of charms that whisk us into the darkest forests of the human experience" and by award-winning editor and author dave ring as "a come-hither to the hidden forces of the universe," Tea Leaves narrates the urgency of modern queer life through encounters with the otherworldly. Editor-in-chief of the iconic Taco Bell Quarterly calls the collection "beautiful... it's funny, it's queer, and it's full of life," and Tad Bartlett, award-winning author of Marchers' Season and managing editor of Peauxdunque Review, writes, "Tea Leaves is such a fiercely and tenderly human set of stories. Jacob tells tales of longing--longing to be seen; longing to be loved; longing for definition, for certainty, or at the very least to be accepted in all our foible-filled uncertainties. These are unremittingly and exultantly queer stories, but this is not a collection solely for the queer reader. These are stories of intense universality. Jacob Budenz is a magician. On September 19th, give yourself over to his spell."

About the author:
Jacob Budenz (Jake Bee) is a queer writer, multi-disciplinary performer, educator, and witch with an MFA from the University of New Orleans and a BA from Johns Hopkins University whose work explores the intersections between otherness and the otherworldly. A 2020 winner of the Baker Innovative Projects Grant for Simaetha: a Dreambaby Cabaret, Jake has work in journals including Slipstream, Taco Bell Quarterly, Baffling, Wussy Magazine, and more, as well as anthologies by Mason Jar Press and Lycan Valley publications.

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Outdoors at Current Space – Enter through the back at 421 Tyson Street
Accessibility and Parking Info: https://www.currentspace.com/contact
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Events at Current Space are rain or shine. Tickets are non-refundable.

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Membership Details: currentspace.com/membership

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This program is made possible in part with support from Maryland State Arts Council Creativity Grant; supporting members like you; the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization; the generous contributions of The Maryland State Arts Council; and the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation.