This session focuses on the intersection of identity, creative resilience, and the power of storytelling to build inclusive spaces.
• Welcome and opening framing on the landscape of contemporary Queer literature in Pennsylvania.
• Authors share selected excerpts from recent poetry collections, creative non-fiction, and contemporary fiction.
• Moderated Q&A: A brief, guided discussion on creative autonomy, navigating the publishing industry as an LGBTQ+ writer, and the role of art in community advocacy.
• Community Connection: Audience meet-and-greet, book networking, and local community resource sharing.
Magnus Mateo (they/he/she) is a genderfluid, neurodivergent poet and performer in Lehigh Valley, PA. In addition to their debut chapbook, She's Jealous of my Purple Sky (AlienBuddha Press), Magnus has been published in various literary magazines and poetry anthologies. He is the main host and event organizer of the IceHouse Literary Arts Committee in Bethlehem and of Noble Quills in Easton, as well as the associate editor of The Poets' Cauldron Anthology series.
Jess Skultety (she/her) is the author of THE GREAT TREE OF IRIS, an epic romantic fantasy (2025) and THE CURSE OF THE STARTIDE, a sapphic pirate romantasy (4/6/27). She is also a prolific poet and quilter. Jess's favorite writing subjects include strong women, found family, queer joy, and crafting. She is proudly bisexual and lives in New Jersey with her alpha reader husband and cat-shadow-writing buddy. jessskultety.com, @jessskultetyauthor
Wednesdae Reim Ifrach, an art therapist, researcher, and poet, who is known for their unique interdisciplinary practice. They bridge clinical, creative, and community-based modalities, integrating poetic and art-based inquiry into their clinical work. Their academic publications include the peer-reviewed article “Social Action Art Therapy as an Intervention for Compassion Fatigue” and “Inked Identity: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Tattoos as Body Reclamation, Gender Affirmation, and Healing.”
Their published work includes academic work such as “I Learned to Paint the Body that Finally Felt like Home": Body Liberation and Queer Worldmaking in Art Therapy Eating Disorder Treatment, in Queer Worldmaking in Art Therapy (Routledge). Their books include Queer Expressions: Expressive Art and Somatic Therapy Practices for Healing Body Trauma (North Atlantic Books), Hex & Flesh (Rebel Satori), and a forthcoming Chapbook, Skeletons, Sequins, and Kin, through Finishing Line Press, due to be released in Fall 2026.
