BONK! gets festive with C. Kubasta, Nicholas Michael Ravnikar, Vayl Luella Larkin Dec. 10

By Lynn Sommers Last updated Dec 2, 2022

This December’s BONK! event will be held on Saturday, Dec. 10, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Central time. The event will be held on Zoom webinar and streamed on Facebook Live at the BONK! Facebook page. Curated and hosted by Alex Reilly, BONK! will feature spoken word artists C. Kubasta, Nicholas Michael Ravnikar, and Vayl Luella Larkin. For more information and the Zoom link, visit https://bonkseries.org.

Featured Artists

C. Kubasta writes poetry, fiction, and occasional reviews. Her poetry books include the chapbooks, A Lovely Box and &s (both from Finishing Line); the full-length collection All Beautiful & Useless (BlazeVOX [books], 2015), and most recently Of Covenants (Whitepoint Press, 2017). Her fiction includes the novella Girling (Brain Mill Press, 2017) and This Business of the Flesh (Apprentice House, 2018), both of which explore the stories of girls and women growing up in small towns. Her short story collection Abjectification is now available from Apprentice House. She teaches writing, literature and cultural studies at Marian University, is active with the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, and serves as Assistant Poetry editor at Brain Mill Press.

C. Kubasta

Nicholas Michael Ravnikar

Nicholas Michael Ravnikar has quit nearly every job he’s ever had. A dishwasher, nonprofit program coordinator, tutor, general laborer and video producer before he earned his MFA from Naropa University. After eight years as a college prof, he quit to repair bathtubs and work the deadline shift on a newspaper copy desk. He’s also been a substance abuse prevention agency success coach and marketing copywriter. From 2006-2010 he edited and published Bathroom Reading Materials small press. In 2017, Moria Press published his long poem Liberal Elite Media Rag. SAD! on its Locofo Chaps imprint. He currently publishes and edits Paper Knives. Father of two and spouse of one, Nicholas has been sober since 2011 and lives with borderline personality, persistent depression and ADHD. Lifting weights, art & meditation take up most of his free time.

Vayl Luella Larkin is a trans, nonbinary, wheelchair-enhanced writer and all-purpose nerd. An upstate New York native, past employment ranges from Opera Singer to Exotic Dancer, but they have settled happily in Pittsburgh, where they write poetry, short fiction, theater, and sometimes impassioned essays. Their creative work often explores scientific ideas and metaphors, as well as their experience as part of historically marginalized communities. Social justice, for both people and the planet, is a prominent theme. They have been published in journals like Drunk Monkeys, and several anthologies, including, Love Letters to Gaia. They received a 2021 Brooklyn Poets fellowship, and their multimedia work with Deaf actor Crom Saunders has been featured through multiple programs. Their first play, a one-act titled Words of the Prophets, premieres April 2023 at Nancy Manucherian’s the cell theater in Chelsea, Manhattan.

Vayl Luella Larkin

About BONK!

BONK! exists to bring healing, justice, equity, joy, connection, and quality of life to the Racine community and beyond, through a variety of educational and community-building initiatives, including a world-class performing arts series. This series showcases poets, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and all sorts of talent in between. Founded in the fall of 2008, the BONK! series has been running with an event every month for over thirteen years now and is made possible by The Racine Public Library, the Racine Community Foundation, the Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation, the Friends of the Racine Public Library, and Olde Madrid restaurant.

For more information about BONK!, you can visit the BONK! website, contact Alex Reilly at 262-989-2930 or email them at [email protected].

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