Valarie Esguerra grew up writing and directing plays for her church, as well as performing in local theatre. She worked as a creative for TeleNext Media and Flyover Studios, companies that produced family-friendly movies of the week for Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble. Valarie was one of four artists chosen for the arts integration residency program “Lift Every Voice” sponsored in part by the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and Duval County Public Schools.

One of her favorite quotes is by Fredrick Buechner: “The place God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”  ​

Hear Esguerra read her work at the JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival on Saturday, October 16th at the Jessie Ball DuPont Center in downtown Jacksonville.

Brad and Darlyn Kuhn would like to invite you to the screening of our first collaborative short film for the 48 Hour Film Project, “Fourth and Long.” You can buy tickets and read about the project and all the other films at https://www.48hourfilm.com/jacksonville-fl Our team, River of Grass Studios, will be featured in Group B on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. at the MOSH Bryan-Gooding Planetarium1025 Museum Circle, Jacksonville 32207

Group A will show its films on Tuesday, Sept. 14, and Group C will screen on Thursday, Sept. 16. The premise – more than 20 teams of local filmmakers all learn their genre, character, prop, and line of dialogue on a Friday at 7:30 p.m. and turn in their finished film on that Sunday at 7:30 p.m. It’s absolute madness and mayhem, but somehow results in some terrific movie-making miracles.

Writer and journalist Johnny Masiulewicz is author of the poetry collection Professional Cemetery (Puddin’head Press) and creator of the award-winning Happy Tapir zine series. His artisan publishing house, Happy Tapir Press, not only publishes the zine but also produces and distributes the work of other northeast Florida creatives. He has written locally for Folio, The Mandarin News and the Times-Union, and his poetry has appeared in a wide variety of literary journals, sites and anthologies including Curbside Review, The Main Street Rag, Third Wednesday, Ash & Bones, Clever Fox and The Alembic. A Native Chicagoan, Johnny now lives and works in St Johns.

You can hear Masiulewicz read at the JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival VIII on Saturday, October 16, 2021.

Yvette Angelique is a poet and storytelling facilitator. She runs Narratives for Change, an art, culture, and social change practice. Studying creative writing at the University of Denver and transformative language arts for personal and social change at Goddard College, Yvette completed her graduate work to produce poetry and prose that speak to the context and complexity of Black women’s lives. She works with women and girls to use storytelling for healing, literary art-making, consciousness-raising, and advocacy. Yvette balances her practice between writing, teaching, and coaching leaders committed to a healthy and just society. 

Yvette Angelique will be the Featured Poet at the JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival VIII on Saturday, October 16, 2021 at the Jessie Ball DuPont Center in Downtown Jacksonville. She will also present a workshop on advocacy writing entitled “Writing for Civic Engagement and Social Justice.”

For event details, go to: https://www.jaxbyjax.com/event

Photo credit: Amanda Rosenblatt