An informal meetup for LGBT writers, poets, wannabe writers, wannabe poets, & supportive friends who'd like to hang out, drink coffee, chat about writing, & even [gasp!] write. Bring your laptop or pen & paper.

I'd like to set this up as a regular meetup for people who, like me, might need that little extra nudge to keep the ink leaking out of their pens in artful phrases, poems, & even full-length stories & novels. Remember all that lonely stuff about the lonely lives of writers toiling alone in the dark lonely hours of the lonely night? Bull. The very best writing comes out of us encouraging each other, riffing off each other, even collaborating. Let's do our part to build a great community for LGBT writers -- that is, us -- in southcentral Alaska.

Why Side Street? Because it's my writing home-away-from-home. I completed most of the work toward my MFA in Creative Writing (poetry) there some years ago, & it's still an important writing venue for me as I work on one (two? three? how many is it now?) of my eternally forthcoming novels. Its owners -- George Gee & Deb Seaton -- have long been upstanding & LGBT-friendly members of the progressive business community, & Side Street is well-known among its regulars as a friendly, personable place, a community in itself. I make an extra effort to get there on Saturday mornings, because George & Deb close in midafternoon to go to the rest of their lives. When they close, usually I move over to another cafe, like the Kaladi Bros. just down the street at 6th & G -- & if you come to Side Street, it'd be great to have you come along to Kaladi too.