Interdisciplinary Writers Lab

Originally from San Francisco, Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, movement worker, and educator. His latest curriculum on extrajudicial killing of Black people, We Charge Genocide Again, has been used as an educational and organizing tool throughout the country. His book titled, "Someone's Dead Already" was nominated for a California Book Award. His latest book "Heaven Is All Goodbyes" was published by the City Lights Pocket Poets series, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and won a California Book Award and an American Book Award.

photo by Alex Ivey

Elaine Castillo was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Comparative Literature. She is a Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation Fellow, and her writing can be found in Freeman’s, Lit Hub, The Rumpus, Taste Magazine, Bon Appetit, Electric Literature and elsewhere. Her short film, A Mukbang, was commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Open Space. America Is Not the Heart is her first novel and has been nominated for the Elle Award, the Center for Fiction Prize, the Aspen Words Prize, and the Northern California Independent Booksellers Book Award.

photo by Amaal Said

Marga Gomez is the GLAAD Award and LA Theater Ovation Award winning writer /performer of 12 solo plays which have been presented at The Public Theater, La Mama ETC, Dixon Place, Highways, Bootleg Theater, nationally and internationally. The SF Weekly named Gomez one of “2016’s Artists To Watch.” Huffpost named her an "Agent of Change" in 2015. She has been described as “deliciously cheeky and incendiary” by the New York Times. She was an original member of the Latino ensemble Culture Clash. Her acting credits include Off-Broadway and national productions of The Vagina Monologues with Rita Moreno and Vicki Lawrence and roles in HBO's "Tracey Takes On..." and Warner Brothers film's "Batman Forever" and "Sphere." Gomez can be seen in season two of the Netflix series "Sense 8" Marga Gomez also tours nationally as a stand-up comedian and is known for being one of the first openly lesbian performers in the business. She has appeared on LOGO’s “One Night Stand Up,” Showtime's "Latino Laugh Festival,” Comedy Central’s “Out There" and HBO’s “Comic Relief” at the invitation of Robin Williams who called her “Amazing… a lesbian Lenny Bruce.” She has been a guest on leading comedy podcasts Marc Maron’s "WTF," "The Keith and The Girl Show” and Kevin Allison's "Risk." She has been featured at numerous comedy festivals including SF Sketchfest, Montreal’s Just For Laughs, South Beach Comedy Festival, Vancouver Comedy Festival and The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Marga also teaches solo performance in classes and online and is a tenured Artist-in-Residence at Brava Theater, San Francisco. Selections from Gomez’s work have been published in several anthologies including Extreme Exposure (TCG Books), HOWL (Crown Press), Out Loud & Laughing (Anchor Books), Contemporary Plays by American Women of Color (Routledge), When I Knew (Harper-Collins) and Out of Character (Bantam Books.) She was born in New York City to entertainers in the Latino community and currently resides in San Francisco. Her website is margagomez.com