JaxbyJax is pleased to welcome a new voice to the festival on Saturday, October 16 at the Jessie Ball DuPont Center.

A Jacksonville native, Cheri “Junebug” Royal springs from a pioneer Westside family. Heavily influenced by snakes, wakes and whiskey, she considers her upbringing to be her greatest writing asset. At UNF she studied people and problem-solving, earning a BFA in figure painting. Her blog is sprinkled with family antics, paintings and photos ruled by the concept, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

Princess Simpson Rashid is an American visual artist, designer and writer. Now a resident of Florida, Rashid serves as a contributing member of the Ancient City Poets in St. Augustine, FL. Currently, she’s working on a book of poetry entitled, “All is Not”. She operates her creative studio practice as a resident artist in the CoRK Arts District located in Jacksonville, FL.

Rashid will read her work on Saturday, October 16 at the JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival VIII at the Jessie Ball DuPont Center. We are delighted to welcome her.

Damon Thomas is a sixth-generation Floridian who grew up on the banks of the Suwannee in rural Dixie County, FL. Here he experienced a Southernness that included sea monsters, swamp cabbage, and makeshift graves. Damon writes short “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”-like pieces that describe how the bookish might pass time in a Southern Gothic setting.

Hear Thomas read his one-of-a-kind stories at the JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival on Saturday, October 16, 2021 at the Jessie Ball DuPont Center.

Melissa Gopp-Warner is a creative nonfiction writer exploring human relationships and their intersection with sexual orientation and gender. After graduating from the University of North Florida, she served nine years as senior writer and editor for a DC-based maternal health nonprofit. Her memoir-in-progress follows the evolution of her own identity and was among the top 15% of entries in the 2021 First Pages Prize judged by Lan Samantha Chang, director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Melissa’s writing has appeared in Yoga Journal, The Writer, Jacksonville Mom, Uncomfortable Revolution, and (a) river rising: Anthology of Women’s Voices.

We are thrilled to welcome Melissa’s new voice to the JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival on Saturday, October 16 at the Jessie Ball DuPont Center.