Join us on April 7th for Seven Minutes in Heaven, this time featuring *seven* writers: Linda Allegro, Liz Blood, Mitch Gilliam, Michael Mason, Ryan RedCorn, Damion Shade, and Jenny Wu.
Each reader will present a complete story in seven minutes. One **wild-card** reader will be chosen from the crowd—it could be you! Bring your seven-minute-or-less story to the event.
Readings will begin promptly at 6:00 p.m. Come at 5:30 to shop Whitty, grab a seat and a beverage, and say hey!
This event is sponsored by Tulsa Artist Fellowship.
READERS —
LINDA ALLEGRO is the executive director of El Centro, New Sanctuary’s Empowerment Center, a community and learning center for recently arrived and long-term migrants in East Tulsa. Linda earned her PhD in political science at the New School in New York City and has taught courses in Central American Politics and Transnational Migration. When she is not advocating for social justice, she spends time tending to her house plants. She and her family call Tulsa home since 2006.
LIZ BLOOD is a writer, editor, and arts worker. Her essays and journalism can be found in Oklahoma Today, Cimarron Review, The Tulsa Voice, and elsewhere. She is a Tulsa Artist Fellow and was awarded the Fellowship’s Arts Integration Award for her project, “Creative Field Guide to Northeastern Oklahoma,” a book rooted in place featuring the work of more than 40 Oklahoma-based artists and writers. Blood is the 2022 guest editor of Art Focus magazine and founder of the magazine’s poetry and art column, Ekphrasis, which has been publishing poets with Oklahoma ties since 2014. Recently, Blood was the writers’ assistant in the season two writers’ room of FX Network’s “Reservation Dogs.”
MITCH GILLIAM is from Coweta, OK. He used to love sausage biscuits but has transitioned to granola bars for breakfast. He teaches rock n’ roll at TSAS, and pretends to play it for fun. His writing career started when he was the magazine delivery boy at This Land Press. Michael Mason, This Land’s editor, thought Mitch was funny and asked him to interview Weird Al. This led Mitch to become a regular contributor at several publications, including This Land Press and The Tulsa Voice. Highlights of Mitch’s writing career include “Til The Clowns Come Home,” a profile of a local Juggalo, “Burgin’ Out,” a tour of the then-six Lot-A-Burgers in Tulsa, and a regular column profiling Tulsa comedians. He once talked to Tom Delonge about UFO’s for 30 minutes in the Mayo Hotel lobby. It was not planned or documented.
MICHAEL MASON is the founding editor of This Land, as well as a writer of books and articles. His book, Head Cases, tells the stories of several individuals living with traumatic brain injuries. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Believer, The Oklahoman, Discover magazine, and elsewhere.
RYAN REDCORN (Osage) was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma into a family of preachers, politicians and salesmen, which are all the same occupation. He is the ilonpa of Raymond and Elizabeth RedCorn, and the object of jealousy from his three younger brothers Jon, Alex and Studebaker, who between them have four masters degrees and two Phd’s. Ryan, however, took six and half years to get an art degree in visual communications from the University of Kansas. To the surprise of many, Ryan has been able to translate his education, his ilonpa entitlement, and his family lineage into something some people think is valuable. He co-founded the Indigenous comedy troupe, the 1491s, and started a full services ad agency in the middle of nowhere Pawhuska, Oklahoma called Buffalo Nickel Creative. He recently woke one morning and realized he was married and had three daughters. He remarked, “I live a crazy life” and promptly enrolled in an MFA in screenwriting program to test his capacity for stress. He graduated in the spring of 2020 and is presently alive, vaccinated, and a staff writer on the second season of FX Network’s TV show, Reservation Dogs.
DAMION SHADE is a multi-talented creative and social justice force in Tulsa. By day, Damion works on criminal justice policy, championing a wide array of progressive social causes. He is also a freelance journalist covering politics and culture. By night, he is one of the most talented musicians in Tulsa and was a featured artist on the Fire in Little Africa Project. Damion raps, sings, and plays multiple instruments across a variety of bands and musical projects. He’s dabbled in a number of writing genres, but is presently working on a collection of poems, short stories, and his debut hip-hop album, which is slated for release later this year.
JENNY WU is a fiction writer and arts worker based in Tulsa. Her writing, which explores East Asian history and identity through an experimental feminist lens, has received generous support from the Rona Jaffe Foundation, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the Louis B. Sudler Prize in the Arts, and the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry. Her literary and art criticism has been featured in publications such as Asymptote, BOMB, and Harp & Altar. In her free time, Jenny is an avid reader, coffee enthusiast, and burgeoning art curator. Most recently, her independently curated show “Texts and Soundings: The Image Talks Back,” featuring seven artists and collectives from three continents, won the NARS Foundation Exhibition Open Call 2022–23 and will be on view starting mid-April at the NARS Foundation in Brooklyn, NY.