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dykes day’s Kitchen Table Saloon - January 18^th, 2026

dykes day’s Kitchen Table Saloon took place on January 18th at Lost City Books, in Adams Morgan, D.C. This event was hosted in the spirit of the Kitchen Table Press, as a space of communinion for lesbian and trans writers (and readers) in the District. dykes day was joined by Lilac Peril to share open calls and local literary innitiatives, as well as reeadings from dykes day friends and family. A photobooth was stewarded by Dani Lopez for attendees.

Lost City Books’ event coordinator Jonny Teklit opened up the saloon with basic housekeeping rules, followed by dykes day co-curators Mayah Lovell and Fabiola Ching, who introduced attendees to our Y26 research project and open calls. Lilac Peril editors Luke, Andrea, and LS introduced attendees to Lilac Peril’s mission as a small press by and for trans writers. They gave details about the open call for their upcoming anthology and their weekly writing workshop for trans writers.

A “Writers on Writers” reading followed, with local writers reading exercpts by their favorite authors. Arfie Ghedi read an exerpt from Hanif Abdurraqib’s March 2024 article on the Timberwolves’ special brand of mid-western hope. Sasha Charlemagne read an excerpt from Stephanie Wambugu’s Lonely Crowds, probing the audience with questions about autonomy over the self as well as the image of the self. Muse Dodd allowed us to rexamine our coming of age with an exerpt from Notozake Shange’s Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo. Maddie Poore came bearing gifts with sexy excerpts by Mini Bruce Pratt, accompanied by photography from JEB’s “Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians.”

A curated selection of zines was available for attendees to peruse. These publications center lesbian and trans writers, punks, sex workers, and fanatics, and are welcoming to up and coming writers who are interested in pitching or submitting work to new publications. The saloon encouraged authors to participate in their local literary community, make a fan zine, write a poem.

Featuring Ebony Tomatoes Collective, Scissors, Doxy Magazine, Demystification Magazine, TABOO by Lilac Peril, WORMS, and dykes day publications.