Co-Founder and Co-Facilitator, Heart Rage Writing Group, Oakland CA & Virtual, (2014–present)
Co-Producer & Programming Chair, MAsT San Francisco (2014–2015)
Board Member, Marketing, Lesbian Sex Mafia, NYC (2010–2012)
Co-Facilitator, FYI Writers Group, New York City (2008–2012)
Advisory Board Member, Facilitator, Student, Bent Writing Institute for Queers, Seattle (2001–2005)
Overview
More than twenty years of community group facilitation, programming production, and writing group organizing — across leather and kink community organizations, queer literary and writing institutes, and sustained independent writing communities. From co-producing monthly programming for community organizations in Seattle, New York, and San Francisco, to founding and sustaining writing groups that have run for over a decade, this body of work reflects a long track record of building and maintaining community through consistent, well-produced recurring events and spaces.
PART ONE: Community Workshop & Discussion Group Production
MAsT San Francisco — Co-Producer & Programming Chair, 2014–2015
MAsT San Francisco is a community organization producing monthly programming for the Bay Area. Zed served as Co-Producer and Programming Chair, coordinating monthly workshops, discussion events, and speaker programming.
LSM — Programming Co-Chair, New York City, 2010–2012
The LSM is one of New York City’s longest-running queer education organizations, producing monthly workshops and discussion events. Zed served as Programming Co-Chair, coordinating monthly workshop programming, speaker booking, and event production across two years of the organization’s calendar.
PART TWO: Writing Groups — Organizer, Facilitator & Dedicated Participant
Heart Rage — Oakland CA & Virtual, 2014–present
A long-running literary writing group co-founded and co-organized by Zed in Oakland in 2014 — now in its eleventh year and still active. Heart Rage began with 4 members and has grown to 11, meeting weekly or biweekly depending on the season, with formats that have evolved continuously to meet members’ needs: reading and critiquing full manuscripts, co-writing sessions in weeks between meetings, attending each other’s book launches, and sustaining an ongoing conversation about publishing, craft, rejection, and celebration. Moved to a fully virtual format in 2020. Over time the group has evolved into a model of collective facilitation — decisions made by consensus and facilitation rotating among members — distributing leadership across the group rather than centering it in any single person. Heart Rage is less a workshop and more a sustained literary community — a place where writers show up for each other’s work and lives across the long arc of a writing career.
FYI Writers Group — New York City, 2008–2012
A curated literary writing group of 8–12 members meeting twice monthly in New York City over four years. Zed organized and facilitated the group across its full run, coordinating meeting schedules, membership, and programming. The group produced two chapbooks featuring work by current members, and two FYI public readings — structured literary events at which all members took turns reading five minutes of their own work. A sustained community writing practice in the heart of New York City’s queer literary scene, running concurrently with Sideshow and the Say Please tour.
Bent Writing Institute for Queers — Seattle WA, 2001–2005
The Bent Writing Institute for Queers was Seattle’s premier annual queer writing conference and community literary organization, producing writing conferences, live readings, workshops, and educational programming across its full run. Zed’s involvement with Bent was total: serving as Media Chair — managing all media relations, promotional materials, graphic design, and public communications for annual programming — while simultaneously attending Bent’s weekly writing workshops without fail for the full four years, as a dedicated member of the Thursday night crew. In addition to the weekly workshop commitment, Zed performed in Bent’s live readings, contributed to and helped edit a Bent chapbook, completed Bent’s writing teacher training program, and facilitated writing workshops under the Bent umbrella. Bent was the foundation of Zed’s development as a writing community organizer, literary performer, and writing educator — and the Thursday night crew was the first writing community that made it real.
Teacher of the Year Award, Bent Writing Institute, 2005.
Outcome
More than twenty years of sustained community group facilitation across five cities and multiple formats — from monthly leather community programming in San Francisco and New York, to weekly writing workshops and a decade-plus literary writing community now meeting virtually — demonstrating a long track record of building, organizing, and sustaining community spaces that keep people coming back year after year.