Author, Editor & Featured Reader — 2001–present
New York City • Seattle WA • San Francisco CA • Online & International
Overview
A sustained 25-year history of literary and erotica readings as author, featured reader, editor, event producer, and workshop facilitator — spanning in-person bookstore readings, conference literary events, online release readings, curated erotica showcases, and a co-produced monthly reading series. Zed has read and taught at independent bookstores, queer literary events, and online platforms across the US and Canada, in the UK, and in Australia, and has produced and coordinated readings for their own book releases as well as guest-reading at events organized by others. It started at the Seattle Spit in 2003 and has never stopped.
PART ONE: Book Release Readings & Author Events
Best Lesbian Erotica — Editor, 5 volumes (Cleis Press, 2012, 2019-2023)
- Produced and coordinated online release readings and in person readings for Best Lesbian Erotica across 5 volumes, 2012 and 2019–2023
- Each reading featured contributing authors reading their own work
- Coordinated author scheduling, platform logistics, and promotional outreach for each event
Sweet & Rough: Queer Kink Erotica (Maverick Press, 2016) — Author
- A collection of sixteen queer erotica short stories.
- 2016 Lambda Literary Award finalist for lesbian erotica.
- Coordinated and produced a 13-stop virtual blog tour across the queer literary internet, September–October 2014.
- Featured reader and discussant at 10+ bookstore events and online literary programming following publication.
Say Please: Lesbian BDSM Erotica (Cleis Press, 2012) — Editor
- 10-city North American book tour, April–November 2012, with contributing authors reading at each stop
- 30-stop virtual blog tour running simultaneously, April 2012
- Select venues: Good Vibrations (San Francisco), Babeland (Seattle), Charis Books (Atlanta), Bluestockings (New York City), Glad Day Bookshop (Toronto)
See full Say Please Tour page for complete details.
Fervor: Poems from the East Village (Pleasure Boat Studio, 2008) — Author
- Release party held at the Bowery Poetry Club, New York City
- Readers included Zed reading alongside guest performers Ariel Speedwagon, Jeanette Anderson, and Emily M. Haines.
- Zed produced and coordinated all logistics for the release event.
- Photographs by David Flores
PART TWO: Featured Erotica Readings & Literary Events
A sustained calendar of guest readings and featured appearances at literary and erotica events across the US, Canada, UK, and Australia, 2003–present.
- Venues and platforms have included independent queer bookstores such as Charis Books, Bluestockings, Glad Day Bookshop, Charlie’s Queer Books, and A Room of One’s Own
- Online literary platforms including Wicked Grounds, Swoon Bookstore, Theo, Echobird Press, and Bloom
- Curated erotica reading events including Kink Between the Lines, Drunken! Careening! Writers!, IMsL Conference, and the Valentine’s Day Erotica Reading series through Charis Books — with guest readings and featured appearances ongoing from 2003 to present.
PART THREE: Writing Your Life & Writing Spicy — Student Showcases
Writing Your Life and its sex-positive companion Writing Spicy are annual online erotica and personal writing workshop cohorts produced and facilitated by Zed under SBC Productions, 2020–present.
Each 6-week cohort culminates in 2–3 live virtual student showcases — produced online reading events featuring student performers and an invited featured guest, open to a public audience beyond the cohort. 13+ showcases produced across 5 cohorts to date.
See full Writing Your Life page for complete details.
PART FOUR: Sideshow: The Queer Literary Carnival Co-Producer, Co-Host & Booking Coordinator — New York City, April 2010–July 2011
Sideshow was a monthly queer literary reading series co-produced and co-hosted by Zed and the poet and performer Cheryl B. at The Phoenix bar in the East Village — 16 monthly themed shows, 50–100+ attendees each, free admission, featuring some of the most significant voices in queer and radical literature, including Kate Bornstein, Ivan Coyote, S. Bear Bergman, Melissa Gira Grant, Kay Ulanday Barrett, and Silas Howard, among many others.
See full Sideshow page for complete details.
PART FIVE: Bent Writing Institute for Queers Performer, Editor, Writing Teacher Trainee & Workshop Facilitator — Seattle WA, 2001–2005
The Bent Writing Institute for Queers was a Seattle-based queer literary organization producing annual writing conferences, live readings, and community writing education programming. Zed was an active participant and contributor across the organization’s full run — performing in Bent’s live readings, contributing to and helping edit a Bent chapbook, completing Bent’s writing teacher training program, and facilitating writing workshops under the Bent umbrella. Bent was formative ground for Zed’s development as a literary performer, editor, and writing educator — the foundation on which later work at Sideshow, Writing Your Life, and the Say Please tour was built.
PART SIX: Seattle Spit Featured Performer — Seattle WA, 2003
Seattle Spit was Seattle’s monthly queer open mic and reading series, held at the Wildrose — Seattle’s only dyke bar — and the center of the city’s small, tight-knit queer literary community. Zed’s first feature was April 3, 2003. It was the beginning of a practice of reading poems and stories out loud that has continued without interruption ever since — through Sideshow, through the Say Please International book tour, through Writing Your Life, and across 20+ years of queer literary life.
Outcome
Twenty-five years of continuous presence in queer literary and erotica reading culture — as editor, author, featured reader, series producer, and writing educator — across in-person venues on multiple continents and a growing calendar of online platforms. A track record of sustained literary event production and participation that reflects both deep roots in queer literary community and ongoing relevance in current erotica and independent publishing spaces.
Select performance images from Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle
Seattle Spit reading newspaper announcements with my name, 2003