First Sunday Prose Reading and Open Mic
Presented by the Writers Guild at Bloomington
The featured readers are: Tom Bitters, Julia Karr and Gilbert Ndahayo
SOMA Coffeehouse, 322 E Kirkwood (under the Laughing Planet; more or less across from the MCPL)
Come early to sign up for Open Mic!
Tom Bitters is a volunteer tutor in the VITAL program at the Monroe County Public Library, where he also
serves on the Friends of the Library Board. His short fiction has appeared in the Berkshire Review, Hampshire Life and more recently in the Ryder fiction issue. His ninth-grade English teacher encouraged him to write more fiction after she read a note he turned in, supposedly from his parents, excusing him from class one day.
After teaching for several years in South Korea and Russia, he returned to the U.S. in 2013 and chose to retire in Bloomington. In the early morning hours, he can usually be found at the Sample Gates Starbucks where the clerks serve him with kindness even though he doesn’t tip well.
Julia Karr is the published author of three young adult novels, various essays, and a small amount of poetry.
Her love of words started at a very young age, and has never stopped. When she was in elementary school, one of the things she was known for was reading the dictionary – for fun. She still does that. She shares her home with two crazy cats – one of whom may be the devil incarnate.
Gilbert Ndahayo is an acclaimed Rwandan filmmaker who has produced several documentaries, and 
recently published his first book, Rwanda: Coming to the Memory. The book is adapted from his 2009 documentary film, Rwanda: Beyond the Deadly Pit, for which he received an African Movie Award Academy Award Nomination.
