On June 20, 2025, Woman Made Gallery hosted Come (OUT) As You Are, a Pride Month reading dedicated to queer joy, identity, and self-expression. Co-hosted by Jae Green and Le’Trice Buckingham, the evening featured up to ten minutes of original work from writers including Judith Heikes, Elizabeth Hoover, Davina Lee, Josie Levin, Rebby Onken, and mariarosa.
Across poetry and prose, readers explored coming out, community care, and radical visibility. The event was free and open to the public and fostered an affirming space for reflection, celebration, and connection.
About the Readers:
I am 85 and “a little beyond”. I am a widow by 5 years. I am a mother of six; a grandmother of five; a great grandmother of three; all this being something to list, with some educational verifications (Holy Name of Mary grade school, St. Scholastica Academy; Mount St. Scholastica College, along side of two husbands like book ends to 25 years of living a single life, to which I now again belong. I am not a disciplined poet; I write in the seizure of a moment of life that won’t leave me alone unless I commit to words – also wild and random, but compelling, and record that which so needs to be released from me that all things until then are unimportant. I am not a poet. That is a “priesthood” to which i do not belong. I do admit that I write in poetic form. I do admit I like to speak what I have written. I do admit that I like to do this to small groups. I do admit that I sometimes look at the faces of those who listen. And, of anything said to me thereafter, the silence is what I accept, as either nothing, or a moment within. that is up to them offered to them from me.
Elizabeth Hoover
Elizabeth Hoover is the author of the archive is all in present tense, winner of the 2021 Barrow Street Book Prize, and the recipient of the Pat Holt Prize for Critical Art Writing from Lambda Literary. Her poetry has appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Crab Orchard Review, and Tupelo Quarterly, among others, and she has published essays in the North American Review, the Southeast Review, and StoryQuarterly. Her writing about art, pop culture, and books has appeared in Kenyon Review, Paper, The Art Newspaper and the Washington Post. he is an assistant professor at Webster University, where she teaches such classes as LGBTQ+ Literature, Genderqueer Frankenstein, and Archival Poetics.
Davina Lee
Davina Lee, 24, queer femme, New York, NY: I was born and raised in Queens & Long Island and graduated from New York University in 2023. I’ve embarked on independent creative writing ventures by producing zines, poetry, and prose that are free and accessible through my instagram. I focus on community engagement and resonance–I wish to bridge people together through the pain, joy, suffering, elation, boredom, excitement, mundanity, spirituality, paranormal, regular, ins, and outs of the individual experiences we share. That we all bear teeth and hold big hearts. I wish to portray queerness in its most raw form. That there is something innately human and vulnerable in every single one of us.
Josie Levin
Josie Levin (she/him) is a Chicago Based visual artist and writer whose work appears in a variety publications, including Scarlet, Puerto Del Sol, and Denver Quarterly and was shortlisted for the 2023 Penrose Poetry Prize. Josie is currently a Poet-In-Residence at The Chicago Poetry Center.
Rebby Onken
Rebby Onken (she/they) is a poet and historian. Their creative work views modern life through the lens of ancient mythologies to collapse time and bring meaning to our present. Their genderqueer, asexual, and biromantic identities are infused into their work, often deepening them in unexpected ways. You can find their most recent work in the New Plains Review and In Parentheses. They are currently working on their debut novel, “The Lacuna.” They live in the southside of Chicago, but will be moving to Toronto for PhD work at the end of the summer.
mariarosa
as a multi-disciplinary artist, i explore a variety of mediums and methods depending on the concepts at play!
recently, after relocating back to my hometown, chicago, i’ve been dancing with the ideas of love and human connection AND human connection with nature! i write these narratives wanting eyes, ears, hands not just to view the artwork, but also to feel the artwork, metaphorically and/or physically.
my recent creations come from tickling the curious bone of soft material (doodling, writing) and abstraction (shapes, color, installation).
relying on the viewers to use more than one sense is an exciting journey to continue to fiddle with as i move into the world of poetry~
i thrive most when i’m creating interactive pieces that guide the audience to feel, relate, and connect with themselves and the people around them.
to experience beauty in all forms. art forms. human forms. nature’s forms!
WMG’s Literary Events Curator
Jae Green – WMG Literary Events Curator Jae Green is connected to Woman Made Gallery since its early days when the organization was located at its first location in Ravenswood Manor on Chicago’s northwest side. Jae is a visual artist, writer and published poet. She serves since 2020 on WMG’s Board of Directors and is also part of WMG’s Program Committee. In celebration of Woman Made Gallery’s 30th Anniversary she co-juried the Generations group exhibition in 2022 together with Gallery Coordinator, Marisa Miles.