If you’re ever in Philadelphia, at any time near the 3rd Tuesday of the month… I’d highly recommend arranging your travel plans to include a visit to the Erotic Literary Salon’s monthly Salon event.
Hosted by sexologist Dr. Susana Mayer, the Salon features one erotica reader and holds a sort of open mic (through reservation, though — and spots fill up fast!) for other attendees. The featured reader gets 10 minutes, and other readers get 5.
I’m very pleased I was a featured reader if only to get those 10 minutes! Honestly, I find choosing a 10-minute excerpt to be very challenging, and 5 minutes would throw me into a complete panic. That’s as a reader, though. As a listener, I can assure you that 5 minutes can pack quite a punch, and the readings I heard were fantastic.
I got lucky — I’d chosen a humorous excerpt from “Sales Pitch,” one of my favorites from Transported: Erotic Travel Tales. It’s not the one that usually gets special mention from reviewers, but … well, I like it, and I get to make the choice. Quite a few other people also chose to do humorous pieces (like Rochelle Lewis and her hilarious “Skanky Ho”), and the audience was very responsive and engaged. I had a blast.
It’s a nice space, too: the upper floor of a restaurant (The Bohemian Absinthe Lounge), which features a bar and food service as well. The event ran about two and a half hours, with a 15-minute intermission, and unfortunately not everyone who was on the waitlist to read got a chance (though of course they could still read next month. That’s why I said, be sure to sign up early if you’re interested in reading!). I’d guess there were about 100 people there; standing room only by the end, but not uncomfortably crowded.
I was particularly pleased to meet in person some erotica writers I’d met and known only online, such as erobintica and Riccardo Berra, who happened to be in town that Tuesday for the Salon.
For more information about attending the Salon, the direct link is here. Again — I highly recommend it! But even if you can’t make it ever, it’s worth checking out the Salon homepage for daily news on issues of sex, sexuality, and erotica.
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