Palabra Pura: Want

Curated by Cyn Vargas, the theme of this month’s Palabra Pura is Want. Cyn writes, “Want. It could be a person, thing, words we long to hear, a new place. Want is at the core of what we do and say. It drives us or it stuns us. The stories this night will be about narrators wanting something or someone and what they do to try and get it. What happens if they don’t? What happens if they do? We’ve all been there, so come join us for a night of fictional stories where the want is very real.”

About the Artists

Bobby Biedrzycki is a writer, performer, educator, and transnational human rights activist who resides in Chicago, IL. His stories, poems, and performances have appeared on pages, stages, and public spaces across the U.S. and beyond. His work is rooted in cross-disciplinary collaborations that focus on creating social change. Bobby is the Curriculum and Instruction Associate in the Department of Education and Community Engagement at the Goodman Theatre, a company member of 2nd Story, and is faculty at Columbia College Chicago, where he was the 2013 recipient of the Excellence-in-Teaching Award. Bobby is also deeply committed to collaborating with youth artists working to change the world, and is @bobbyfloats on all forms of social media.

Adriana Galvan is a native of Northwest Indiana, Adriana Galvan is a first generation Mexican-American writer who enjoys the art of creating and exploring. Her passion for storytelling began at a young age when she would listen to her late grandmother share stories about growing up in Northern Mexico and later immigrating to Gary, Indiana. Over the years, this oral tradition grew into Adriana’s writing and takes root in her short stories. She currently lives in Chicago and is working on her first novel, “In a Distant Dream.”

Kevin Kane is an MFA candidate in Fiction Writing at Columbia College Chicago. He served as managing editor for The Handshake Magazine from March 2011 to November 2012; managing editor for the Spring 2012 issue of fictionary, an editor for the 2012 Story Week Reader, and editor for the 2012 Story Week special edition of fictionary. His fiction and nonfiction has appeared in Hair Trigger, Story Week Reader, and Word Riot.

About the Curator

Cyn Vargas‘ short story collection is being published by Curbside Splendor Publishing and set to be released in spring 2015. She is the winner of the 2013 Guild Literary Complex Prose Award for Fiction, received a Top 25 Finalist & an Honorable Mention award in Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers contests, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing- Fiction from Columbia College Chicago. Her work has appeared in Word Riot, Split Lip Magazine, Hypertext Magazine, and elsewhere. She writes because it’s her way of legally exposing herself in public. www.cynvargas.com