Pen + Brush's monthly reading series, P+B Reads, provides opportunities for women and non-binary writers to read excerpts of their works, regardless of where they are in their careers. Join us for this reading and a celebration filled with drinks and good conversation!

P+B Reads with Silvia Bonilla, Jessica Ciosek, Beatrice Scaccia, Elizabeth Horan, and Diane Schenker

Silvia Bonilla

Silvia Bonilla holds an MFA in Poetry from the New School. She is the author of a chapbook called An Animal Startled by the Mechanisms of Life (DC, 2014). She has received fellowships from Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Community of Writers Letras Latinas, The Frost Place, among others. You can find her more recent work in Green Mountains Review, Pittsburgh Poetry Journal, and Cream City Review. The rest of her work can be found at  https://bonillasilvia.com

Jessica Ciosek

Jessica’s debut novel, Sometimes a Soldier Comes Home, was published in September 2021 by GenZ Publishing. The novel is loosely based on the lives of her beloved grandparents during and just after the second world war. Her stories, essays, and articles have appeared in several small journals, magazines, and around the web. Jessica’s first short story, written when she was seven, won first prize in her summer camp’s writing contest.

When not writing, she enjoys running along the mighty Hudson River, biking on the vast rail-to-trails network in the Northeast, reading, puzzles of all kinds, and taking photos of her beloved city. Born in the Midwest, Jessica has lived in NYC for over half her life. Together with her husband, she has raised two children and a multitude of fur creatures in the Big Apple.

Beatrice Scaccia

Bea Scaccia is a visual artist and writer living and working in New York City. Originally from Italy, Scaccia studied Fine Art at the Fine Art Academy in Rome and Writing at the Minimum Fax Editor (Rome) and the Holden School (Turin).

She has had solo shows at venues such as the Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY (2021); Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York (2018); Artists Alliance Inc., New York (2014); and Ugo Ferranti Gallery, Rome (2010).

Her visual work has been included in group exhibitions at Magazzino Italian Art, New York (2020); The Center for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg (2020); American University’s Katzen Arts Center, Washington, D.C. (2016); Museo Arcos, Benevento (2014); and PAN, Naples (2011). Her writing has been published in Nero Magazine and Flash Art.

Elisabeth Horan

Elisabeth Horan is a poet, mother, and small press publisher living in the wilds of Vermont. She is the author of numerous poetry chapbooks and collections, and the Editor-In-Chief of Animal Heart Press. Elisabeth is passionate about discovering new voices and mentoring emerging poets. She is also a fierce advocate for those impacted by mental illness.

She earned her MA from SNHU, and her MFA from Lindenwood University. She is a 2018 Pushcart Nominee and a 2018 and 2019 Best of Net Nominee.

Follow her @ehoranpoet and ehoranpoet.net

Diane Schenker

Diane Schenker's poetry has appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Rhino, Subtropics, Gargoyle and The Squaw Valley Review, among others. She is author of the chapbook Relation/Couch/Dreaming and has written reviews for coldfrontmag.com and The Boxcar Poetry Review. Her book has been shortlisted by the Harbor Mountain Press MURA Book Award and awarded Honorable Mention by the Concrete Wolf Louis Poetry Book Award.

Diane has been a fellow at The Gettysburg Review Conference for Writers and is a two-time alum of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley.

She has also worked and taught extensively in theater and directed opera. She was co-creator and performer in the performance pieces Jane Smith Jane Smith and Nannerl: A Speculative Morality.