The Betsy South Beach is the host hotel for the inaugural Reading Queer Festival
Reading Queer is happy to announce that the Betsy Hotel South Beach is the host hotel for the inaugural and, most importantly, first ever queer literary festival in Miami. The Reading Queer Festival will run from August 22nd – August 30th, feature locally and nationally recognized queer writers and culminate with a performance at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden with headline poet L. Lamar Wilson, who has set his book Sacriligion to a choir for the festival. The RQ Festival will also feature literary readings with Julie Marie Wade, Sandra Simmonds and Jan Becker, and will also feature hybrid performance pieces by Celeste Fraser Delgado and Cuban performing artists, Omni Zona Franca. For more information about the Festival, sign up for our email notifications here.
About the Betsy: The Betsy South Beach is a boutique hotel that has been recognized by USA Today, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal as among the world’s greatest literary hotels. Each room at the hotel has a small library and a poetry bookmark is placed on guest pillows every night. Over the past five years, the hotel has become a catalyst for energized discourse, innovative thinking, and expansive charitable programming – working with over 250 nonprofit partners. The Betsy’s Writers Room welcomes year-round literary artists, including those affiliated with Reading Queer, who present public programs. The Betsy is located at 1440 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach. Telephone: 305-760-6900.
About Reading Queer: Reading Queer seeks to reveal Miami as a center for queer literature through an annual week-long literary festival, creative writing workshops led by nationally and locally recognized queer writers, a literary salon series and a literary archive. Reading Queer is open to all writers who create hybrid, genre-bending works that address queer identity. Reading Queer is partially funded with a Miami Foundation-National Gay & Lesbian Task Force GLBT Community Grant and a Knight Arts Challenge Grant. The Knight Arts Challenge Grant is a Miami-based initiative to draw the best and most innovative ideas out of local organizations and individuals seeking to transform the community through the arts.