Reading Den

Join us on July 30 at Fort Greene for the next installment of the Reading Den series.

The event is free to the public and begins at 7pm. We are no longer requiring free registration for our events. Just show up and enjoy the readings and community.

Lauren Rhoades is a writer and editor living in Jackson, Mississippi. Originally from Denver, Lauren has served with AmeriCorps, started Mississippi’s first kombucha company, and helmed the Eudora Welty House & Garden. She is now director of grants at the Mississippi Arts Commission and a host of Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s The Mississippi Arts Hour. In 2022, Lauren founded Rooted Magazine, a bestselling Substack publication dedicated to telling unfiltered stories about what it means to call Mississippi home. She holds an MFA from the Mississippi University for Women. Split the Baby: A Memoir in Pieces is her first book.

Marissa Morrow is a Colorado-grown photographer, poet, vinyl DJ, cat mom, and community advocate. Her photography has appeared in The Collab. Year 1 magazine and the 2025 Month of Photography exhibition Restoring the Past, Building the Future: The Freedom and Diversity of Black Expression. Before stepping into her current role as Community Engagement Program Manager at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Marissa championed survivors of domestic violence as a legal advocate. She holds a B.A. in Human Development with a minor in Sociology from Metropolitan State University of Denver. Rooted in social justice and inspired by the transformative power of art, Marissa brings passion and purpose to everything she creates—whether it’s behind the lens, on the page, or behind the decks.

Bri Gonzalez (they/them) is a Chicanx, queer writer from San Antonio, TX. They are the author of A Wellness Check (Game Over Books, 2024), a hybrid collection that investigates diagnosis by putting prescription pads and glitter pens in the hands of Gotham’s dark knight. A graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder MFA program, Bri is wondering how writing even works. Bri currently teaches at Front Range Community College in Longmont, CO and is diligently researching vampires.

Lauren Dennis will also join Reading Den.

Isabel Beeman is a writer and artist from New England. She just received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Colorado Boulder, where she also taught the undergraduate fiction workshop course. In her program, Isabel served as a prose editor for the graduate student journal TIMBER and organized the reading series Static Parade at Trident Booksellers. Her thesis project is an unpublished novel titled MUD which she will be reading from tonight. Isabel’s writing has been described as cinematic, impressionistic, and surreal. Her stories often deal with sexuality, cruelty, and the embarrassment of being alive.