with Rob Costello, Emrys Donaldson, Liza Flum, and Leia Penina Wilson
Discussion and Q&A moderated by Michael Solis, Executive Director of Writers & Books
Time: Doors – 6:30, Readings – 7:00
Supported by the Rainbow Quill, an initiative of Writers & Books
Join us for a group reading and discussion with upstate NY authors whose work engages the supernatural, the spiritual, the sexual, and the spine-chilling to not only celebrate queer identity but to transform its borders. We’ll hear readings, have a discussion about the themes and craft behind the books, and invite audience questions. Copies of the authors books will be available through our indie bookstore, Ampersand, and authors will sign copies after the reading.
Featuring Rob Costello, YA author of An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys (2026) and editor of We Mostly Come Out at Night (2024); Emrys Donaldson, author of the debut short fiction collection, The Iridescents (2026); Liza Flum, author of the debut poetry collection, Hover (2025) which won the 2026 Nassar Poetry Prize; and Leia Penina Wilson, author of the new poetry collection call the necromancer (2026).
More on We Mostly Come Out at Night, edited by Rob Costello
An empowering cross-genre YA anthology that explores what it means to be a monster, exclusively highlighting trans and queer authors who offer new tales and perspectives on classic monster stories and tropes. Costello is also celebrating the release of his debut novel, An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys (2026) is a gritty and harrowing queer coming-of-age novel as well as a love story between two mismatched brothers coping with the burden of secrets and a legacy of shame.
Rob Costello (he/him) writes dark speculative and contemporary fiction with a queer bent for and about young people. His debut novel, An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys, is a 2026 Lambda Literary Award finalist. He’s the contributing editor of We Mostly Come Out At Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels & Other Creatures, winner of the 2025 CNY Book Award for Children’s Books, nominated for a 2024 Bram Stoker Award®, and named a 2024 CYBILS Award finalist, a 2025 Locus Award finalist, and a 2025 Lambda Literary Award finalist. He’s also author of the dark fiction story collection The Dancing Bears: Queer Fables for the End Times, named a finalist for The Whirling Prize. An alumnus of Millay Arts, Rob
holds an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and has served on the faculty of Boyds Mills (formerly the Highlights Foundation) since 2014. He is co-founder (with Lesa Cline-Ransome, Jo Knowles, and Jennifer Richard Jacobson) of the R(ev)ise and Shine! writing community, and he lives in upstate NY with his husband and their four-legged overlords.
More on The Iridescents by Emrys Donaldson
Steeped in a fabulist version of the American South, The Iridescents highlights how the LGBTQ+ community transforms everyday acts of support and survival into miracles. We redefine sainthood and spiritual history through the lens of queer resilience with fierce joy. A trans man visits a donut shop with his ailing dog to pray for advice. Genderqueer lovers search the desert for a ballerina saint. Three-hundred-year-old crustacean oracles predict the future of our oceans. Blending irreverence with reverence, these stories explore the contemporary yearning to find meaning in something larger than ourselves.
Emrys Donaldson is the author of the short story collection The Iridescents (Texas Review Press, 2025). His stories have recently been anthologized in Queer Little Nightmares (Arsenal Pulp Press) and published in venues such as LitHub and Electric Literature, among others. He received his MFA from the University of Alabama in 2019 and his BA summa cum laude from Cornell University in 2012. He joined the Geneseo faculty in 2025.
More on Hover by Liza Flum
Liza Flum’s Hover focuses on queer polyamorous families, considering the ways people in radical family structures are both highly visible and erased. From hummingbirds to stars, historical records, and cemetery monuments, Flum searches for images to represent lives and loves like her own and to find lasting traces of queer and chosen family.
Liza Flum’s poetry has appeared in AGNI, Narrative, Meridian, Washington Square Review, Lambda Literary, and Zócalo Public Square. She is a recipient of a Barbara Deming artist grant, and her writing has been supported by fellowships from the Saltonstall Foundation, the Vermont Studio Center, Aspen Summer Words, and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center. She holds an MFA in poetry from Cornell and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Utah. Hover (Omnidawn, 2025) is her first book.
More on call the necromancer by Leia Penina Wilson
Incantation or hex? Curative or curse? Buzzing, clomping, and crying out solilo-quies, Leia Penina Wilson’s call the necromancer performs boldly on the page. Be medusa’d, be transmogrified: follow cordeliababy (King Lear) down a terrific rabbit hole where the poet, acting as voice mediator and corpse manipulator, prompts readers to weigh the value of death against the absurdity of reason. A vibrant carnival of language, call the necromancer shatters expectations for femme sexuality, embracing the vulgar, the violent, the desirous, and the pleasurable.
Leia Penina Wilson is proudly Samoan and the author of three books: This Red Metropolis What Remains (Omnidawn Press), Splinters Are Children of Wood (University of Notre Dame Press), and i built a boat with all the towels in your closet (and will let you drown) (Red Hen Press). When not reading trashy monster romance novels, she plays Magic: The Gathering. Her favorite commander is Olivia Voldaren. Her favorite ninja turtle is Donatello. Other favorites include Sailor Moon, Baldur’s Gate 3, Dragon Age, cinnamon tea, rice pudding, and crafts.
Buy your books at Ampersand and join the conversation!
