J.J. Silkwood

May 9th at 5pm, join me at Vastela’s Write-Out-Loud author reading! Tickets are free, but if you want a seat, it’s recommended to arrive early due to past high attendance.

PAST:

At Vastela’s Write-Out-Loud author reading in March, I read a shortened version of my story “Fireflies”, a lyrical, introspective exploration of the death of a small town and generational loss. Riv Begun, a fellow author, detailed in an article about the event saying: “[J.J. Silkwood]…read an evocative passage that made small-town life in America and the nature of grief come alive.”

At the Zurich Story Slam: Things I Didn’t Say on February 26th, I won second place with my story “When Pigs Fly”. In this deeply personal piece of auto-fiction, I shared the story of my first concert (where Rush threw entire rotisserie chickens to a raving, mullet-coiffed crowd) while simultaneously walking through the growing estrangement with my father.

Are you in Zurich & love talking books? Join my book club and meet the awesome Vastela community. We meet Wednesdays at 7pm at Vastela books in Wiedikon, Birmensdorferstrasse 255. It’s a relaxed book club, in that our only rule is: (1) Finish a book, any book, we let you read whatever you wish; (2) Be ready to talk about it & give a rating out of 5 stars. You can do half stars, and even a quarter star, if it’s truly justifiable (I’ll be the judge!).

You’re also welcome to come & observe, just be prepared to grow your TBR list exponentially. Do we ever really finish those anyways?

Please double check vastelabooks.com in case of cancellations!

PAST:

In January, I co-wrote, alongside the talented thriller writer Bryanna Harbeke, an original murder mystery for Pile of Books’ Charles Dickens themed weekend. Bryanna and I created the entire story, all the props, and walked attendees through seven different acts over the course of two hours. Highlights included: a hilarious Victorian-style rendition of Wonderwall entitled “Ode to a Wondrous Barricade”, a drunken prophet a little too in love with profit, and a ghostly seance highly inspired by Kate Bush’s song Wuthering Heights. We all had a blast and look forward to future mysteries.

And of course, please never forget the orphan letter. I might have gotten a little carried away here, or perhaps it was the spirit of Oliver Twist speaking through me… whose to say. Here’s an excerpt from the front: