At Play On Words, we love meeting fellow Bay Area writers, so we were delighted to receive a wonderful submission by Allison Landa. Join us January 6 at Cafe Stritch to see an excerpt of “Not the Madonna” performed live!

Allison is a Berkeley-based writer of fiction and memoir. A graduate of St. Mary’s College’s MFA program in creative writing, Landa’s work has been featured in Salon Magazine, You and Me Magazine, Word Riot, Toasted Cheese and Defenestration, among other venues. She has taken the stage at events including Flash Fiction Forum, Why There Are Words, Lip Service West, Quiet Lightning and Porchlight SF. She is represented by Miriam Altshuler of DeFiore and Company and is currently revising her memoir into a young adult novel. She shares her home with her husband, son and two manic Labrador-Australian Shepherd mixes. Stalk her at allisonlanda.com.

Recent Publications:

• Salon Magazine
• CherryBleeds
• Word Riot
• Defenestration
• You and Me Magazine
• Toasted Cheese
• Swill
• Sparkle & Blink
• Cease, Cows

Honors:

• Finalist, SheWrites Passion Project
• Nominee, Micro Award Contest

Awards:

• Fellow, Mendocino Coast Writers Conference
• Fellow, The MacDowell Colony
• Fellow, Playa Summer Lake
• Fellow, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts
• Fellow, Julia and David White Artists’ Colony

Upcoming projects:

• BEARDED LADY
• Blog: Allisonlanda.blogspot.com
• February appearance at Lip Service West

What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?

It’s an exciting opportunity to see my work interpreted in a new and fresh way. Also, I dig San Jose.

Which writers or performers inspire you?

In no particular order: Stephen King, Jackie Collins, Michel Houellebecq, T.C. Boyle, Spaulding Gray, Ann Packer, Persimmon Blackbridge, and likely you.

Name a book or performance that fundamentally affected you.

Gone with the Wind, both as a book and as a movie. Scarlett O’Hara rocks my world and has ever since I first read the book at 6 – yes, 6! – years old. I was kind of a weird kid. Not much has changed.

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As a reminder, our January 6 show will be collecting $5 donations at the door. We also will be live-streaming this show with South Bay Pulse–stay tuned to learn more!