Readers
ALIA AYER (Da Salon #12)
Alia Ayer is a poet/writer, font enthusiast and exceptional suitcase packer.
She loves words, performing and the enlivening combination of the two.
EIRINIE CARSON (Da Salon #18)
Eirinie Carson is a Black British writer living in CA. She is a mother of two children and sits on the board of The Writers Grotto in San Francisco. Her work has appeared in LitHub, Mother Magazine, The Notre Dame Review, Mortal Mag, Electric Literature, The Sonora Review and others. She was the NEA Distinguished Fellow at the Hambidge Center, and she and her work have been supported by Mesa Refuge, Hedgebrook and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Eirinie contributes to her local paper, The Argus Courier, via a column, Eirinie Asks. Social: @eirinieee.bsky.social on Bluesky, and @eirinieeee on instagram
FRED CURCHACK (Da Salon #3, #13)
Fred Curchack has written and performed 78 original theatre pieces (51 ensemble works and 27 solos). His plays have been featured at dozens of international theatre festivals. He has been hailed as “a theatrical virtuoso” by the NY Times, a “writer, editor, director, musician, mask-maker extraordinaire” by the LA Times, a “theatrical genius … supremely talented artist” by The Dallas Morning News. He is currently Professor of Theatre at The University of Texas at Dallas.
CARLOS GARBIRAS (Da Salon #3, #9, #14)
Carlos Garbiras is an award-winning essayist and solo performer sorting out the deeply ingrained neurosis of a topsy-turvy upbringing in 90s Colombia, the immigrant experience in the San Francisco Bay area, the joys and stresses of modern relationships and the difficulties, indignities and absurdities of the post-pandemic life. You can find him at telltalltale.com
MICHAEL GIOTIS (Da Salon #7, #17)
Michael Giotis (Original Giotis) is a journalist for the North Bay Bohemian, East Bay Magazine and more, who performs as "Original Giotis" when given the chance. FMRL published Giotis' poetry collection Daybreak in 2018.
AL HAAS (Da Salon #16)
Al Haas was a mild mannered Allergist until he caught the storytelling bug when West Side Stories came to town. Since then he has been telling wild (but true!) stories about his early life as a lost hippy soul. When he is not telling tales, he is writing and performing original songs.
JACQUELINE HAYWARD (Da Salon #12)
Jacqueline Grace Hayward is a performance artist, acting and speech coach, writer/editor, playful, creative and well-earned-wise elder.
KARY HESS (Da Salon #2, #7)
Kary Hess, MFA, is a writer, artist, and filmmaker exploring themes of “place” and how it contours our experience. She is the author of 1912, Poems of Time, Place, and Memory, creator of the SparkTarot® deck and guidebook, and producer and production designer of the feature films Pill Head and Wolf Story. She earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Writing from the California Institute of Integral Studies and recent bylines include the North Bay Bohemian, Pacific Sun, East Bay Magazine, and Boheme Magazine.
DAEDALUS HOWELL (Da Salon #1 & Co-host #7)
Daedalus Howell is the writer-director of the feature films Pill Head and Wolf Story, author of Quantum Deadline and I Heart Sonoma, editor of North Bay Bohemian and Pacific Sun newspapers, and a partner in the FMRL story studio.
CHERYL KING (Da Salon #10, #11 and co-host #13)
Cheryl King is a multi-hyphenate theater maker from NYC, now making her home in Santa Rosa. She performs with Shannon and Alia in Forbidden Kiss, a show she produces at The California, and teaches acting, writing and improvisation at Artaluma, in Petaluma. She expects to complete the first draft of her first novel, Twisted Flower, by the end of 2023.
MARLA PEDERSEN (Da Salon #16)
Marla Pedersen is primarily a visual artist based in Petaluma, CA. She has been an artist and art teacher working in the Bay Area since 2004. She’s reading from a memoir about her experience being diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer in 2021 at the age of 40. Pedersen teaches workshops and expressive arts in her home studio to all ages and levels. She hopes her story, her art, and her facilitation of art processes inspire and encourage others to make meaning through creativity.
MATT REISCHLING (Da Salon #4, #14)
Matt Reischling is a longtime singer-songwriter, published author, and world traveler. He has released eight albums, and in 2021, published a well-received nonfiction book called Almost Weightless: Essays on the Journey to Myself. His follow-up book, Transmissions from a Restless Soul will be out in early 2024. For more info, visit: www.almostweightless.com
FRANCES RIVETTI (Da Salon #10)
Frances Rivetti is a Northern-California-based British American journalist and author. She has written four books: two non-fiction, regional food history and culture books in her Fog Valley series and two award-winning novels: Big Green Country and The House on Liberty Street. She is currently working on a third contemporary novel set on the Sonoma Coast. Her author website is Francesrivetti.com. Find her on social media at fogvalleypress.
SCOTT SCHAFER (Da Salon #5)
Scott Schafer is still trying to justify the expense of a Creative Writing degree that he received nearly twenty five years ago. While he still plans to finish his book, he's lately been more focused on finishing an album of original songs or trying to squeeze a laugh or two out of a crowd in an open mic comedy set. He describes himself as a (mostly) cheerful nihilist. His non-writing projects include making ridiculous video games in which you must unclog angry toilets or pick blackberries, and also once designed the world's only "Waiting for Godot" board game during times of COVID and wildfire lockdown.
ANNA SIMSON (Da Salon #6, #9, #13)
Anna Simson is an artist, writer, mother, and amateur gardener.
She started writing poems in year two of the global Coronavirus pandemic.
Her artwork and poems can be found on iG at amsimson
TONY VIGORITO (Da Salon #2, #5)
Tony Vigorito is the author of the award-winning and critically-acclaimed underground hits, Love and Other Pranks, Nine Kinds of Naked, and Just a Couple of Days. Visit TonyVigorito.com to read his numerous essays as well as extended samples from all of his books. You may also follow him via facebook @tonyvigorito.writer, and instagram or twitter @tonyvigorito
NICOLE WARD MACDONALD (Da Salon #6)
"Kali Ma" has been teaching yoga & meditation for 23 years as Yoga with Nicole, and is a proud mother, local business owner, and part-time celebrity in her own mind. Nicole caught the stage bug performing in the live musical Hair in 2021 with 6th Street Playhouse, going on to write/perform her own piece as Eartha Kitt for Da Salon, and later serving as dramaturge for the live musical Ain't Misbehavin' in 2022 with Sonoma Arts Theatre.
NICOLE ZIMMERMAN (Da Salon #5)
Nicole R. Zimmerman (she/her) is a queer Jewish American writer born in Brazil and living with her wife in Petaluma. She holds an MFA from the University of San Francisco and was a recipient of Creative Sonoma’s Discovered Awards for Emerging Literary Artists. Her writing appears in publications such as Longreads, Sonora Review, The Rumpus, and Creative Nonfiction. Nicole leads women’s writing workshops using the Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) method.
DAWN ROBINSON (Da Salon #11, #15)
Seven is a Band whose singer lives on a boat in Sausalito.
At times the band consists of many musicians, at times just of one.
SAMANTHA ROSE (Da Salon #18)
Samantha Rose is an Emmy award-winning television writer and a New York Times, USA Today and internationally bestselling ghostwriter whose titles have been selected as Reese’s Book Club and Target Bookmarked Picks and featured in the Wall Street Journal, Time and Harper’s Bazaar. She is the principal of YellowSkyMedia, a boutique editorial agency in Petaluma, California, where she lives with her son. Her new memoir, Giving Up the Ghost, is her first book written under her own name. IG: samantharose_writer