Featured artists 2024
Sonora Jha
Sonora Jha is the author of three books, most recently the novel The Laughter, which the New York Times described as a “no-holds-barred comic achievement.” The Laughter was named a Best Book of 2023 by the New Yorker and NPR, longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and awarded the AutHer Award for Best Fiction. Jha’s other books are How to Raise a Feminist Son: A Memoir and Manifesto (2021), translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and German, and her debut novel, Foreign (2013). After a career in journalism in India and Singapore, she came to the US to earn a PhD in political communication and is now a professor of journalism and an associate dean at Seattle University.
Kristen Millares Young
Kristen Millares Young is a book critic, essayist, and author of the novel Subduction, named a staff pick by The Paris Review. Winner of Nautilus and IPPY awards, Subduction was a finalist for two International Latino Book Awards and Foreword INDIES Book of the Year. Her essays and reviews appear in the Washington Post, the Guardian, Literary Hub, PANK Magazine, and the anthologies Advanced Creative Nonfiction, Latina Outsiders, and Alone Together. A former prose writer-in-residence at Hugo House and distinguished visiting writer at Seattle University, Young is the editor of Seismic, a Washington State Book Award finalist. She was also the researcher for the New York Times team that produced “Snow Fall,” which won a Pulitzer Prize.
Joshua Mohr
Joshua Mohr is the author of five novels, including Damascus, which the New York Times called “Beat-poet cool.” He’s also written Some Things That Meant the World to Me, one of O, the Oprah Magazine’s 10 Terrific Reads of 2009; and All This Life, winner of the Northern California Book Award. Termite Parade was an editors’ choice on the New York Times Best Sellers list. His latest book, a memoir entitled Model Citizen, was an Amazon Editors’ pick. In his Hollywood life, he’s sold projects to AMC, ITV, and Amblin Entertainment.
Last of the RedHot Mamas
Last of the RedHot Mamas is a blues band built around the jazz-inspired, country-sauced songs of Amber Flame. Singing about queer Black life, Flame brings raunchy wordplay, constant hustle, and heartbreaking love of the blues to contemporary issues of self-care, racial injustice, apocalypse survival, ethical nonmonogamy, and post-church spirituality. Last of the RedHot Mamas features Roma Raye Everly on bass, guitar, ukulele, and cabasa, Gabby Rivera on cajón, and Kristen Millares Young on vocals and tambourine. With Jack Straw Cultural Center’s support, Last of the RedHot Mamas released their first ensemble album, Magick Black Woman Blues, with a sold-out show at the Royal Room in 2024.
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