Welcome to Westville

The next Local Lit @ Lotta, in Westville, will hold their next literary reading “On The Range” at Lotta Studios, offering one local author her first foray into fiction.  

Writers are often left to work in isolation from their audiences, making it difficult to anticipate what the general public wants or interprets from a story. Sarah Harris Wallman, co-director of Albertus Magnus’s MFA writing program, explains that  “the public part of writing is often neglected by artists... So many of us labor for an imaginary audience, and [Local Lit @ Lotta] gives us the chance to present ourselves to listeners with flesh and blood. This series puts the end goal of writing - expressing ourselves to a receptive world - within reach.”

In addition to bridging the gap between writer and reader, Local Lit @ Lotta hopes to give voice not only to established authors, but also to a well of newer writers who are vying for opportunity. Event founder and co-organizer Rebekah Fraser wants the series to be “a venue and a space for people who have been doing this for years and are making it a career, as well as a space for people who are just exploring what it means to express themselves through writing.”

Established on this premise, Local Lit @ Lotta will feature two local women writers at their event on October 2: one a boundary-pushing MFA student with a number of published credits, and one a talented newcomer who has been waiting to make her name in fiction.

JOSEPHINE QUEEN, an up-and-coming writer originally from Cambridge, England, lives in New Haven with her husband and daughter and runs her own in-home daycare. Queen writes short-stories as often as she can and has published non-fiction articles online. The reading at Local Lit @ LOTTA offers Queen her first break into the world of fiction.  The author will present her short story entitled After the Storm, which weaves the tale of a broken wife and missing husband.

SHELLEY STOEHR will read her provocative short fiction piece, Knucklehead.  Stoehr is the author of Crosses (1991), the first YA novel about self-injury. A current MFA candidate and adjunct English instructor at Southern CT State University, Stoehr’s work has appeared in Fresh Ink, The Gordian Review, and Dead Alive Magazine. She received an honorable mention in the 2017 Writer's Digest Annual Competition and was a runner-up in WOW! Women on Writing's flash fiction contest (2017).

Local Lit @ LOTTA, aiming to highlight the work of Greater New Haven authors and build a constructive community around writing, hosts readings on the first Tuesday of every other month.  Each event features two or more short fiction pieces, followed by an audience discussion of each story, guided by a moderator. There is a suggested donation of $5, which includes beverages and snacks.  Submissions are now open for upcoming Local Lit @ LOTTA readings on December 4th and in 2019. Guidelines and more information are online atlocallitatlotta.com and on Facebook.