Book Reading and Discussion ~ Whip Smart by Melissa Febos - CANCELLED

*** This discussion has been cancelled.  We apologize for any inconvenience. ***

Join us for an evening of book reading and conversation by author Melissa Febos.   Joining Melissa will be here girlfriend, Sini Anderson, noted performance artist, poet, producer, and director, who lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Melissa's book is about her four-year experience as a professional dominatrix, but also deals with themes of addiction, feminism, sexual politics and identity, and whatever else you can probably imagine. You can check her out on her website www.melissafebos.com.

What people are saying about Whip Smart:

"All memoirs are an attempt to follow a trail of breadcrumbs home, yet WHIP SMART steps off the path, into the wooded shadows, and names that part of ourselves that could linger there forever. Melissa Febos masterfully brings us into these unexpected, unsettling places, the least of which are the dungeons she so vividly - briefly - occupies. Whip Smart is a wild, bright-eyed, ride home."

-Nick Flynn, author of ANOTHER BULLSHIT NIGHT IN SUCK CITY


"Melissa Febos writes with lacerating wit and insight into the world of the professional dominatrix, saving the sharpest sting for herself. An unsparing, deep, and dazzling read."

-Janice Erlbaum, author of GIRLBOMB & HAVE YOU FOUND HER


"Whip Smart is that rare, lavish thing - a pageturner that gets you to think, a book that transcends its subject, a true story (in both senses of the word). It's what you want. Lucid and slyly seductive, funny and sad, Melissa Febos is the real deal."

-Darin Strauss, author of New York Times bestsellers MORE THAN IT HURTS YOU & CHANG AND ENG


"Sometimes Melissa Febos's tale is wrenchingly sad, sometimes it's funny, but it's always remarkably honest, brave and provocative about growing up: the pleasures and perils of being visible, the temptations of being numb, and the weird kick of being desired."

-Rob Sheffield, author of New York Times bestseller LOVE IS A MIX TAPE

"Titillating, seamy and fascinating on the surface, Whip Smart gradually reveals an age-old tale: the power of desire, money, sex and addiction to mask both the strength and weakness of one young woman trying to hack her way out of her own private jungle."

-Leslie Morgan Steiner, author of New York Times bestseller CRAZY LOVE


"Melissa Febos takes us by the hand and leads us into a curious, disturbing, and funny world of a dominatrix, and she does so with often startlingly beautiful, expansive prose. That would be engaging enough. But what's even more gripping is Febos' fierce intelligence as she examines herself inside it. A must read for anyone interested in enlarging his or her understanding of sexual politics."

-Kerry Cohen, author of LOOSE GIRL


"Mesmerizing. A brave, darkly wild and powerful memoir, Melissa Febos's fearless journey through drugs and dungeons into the uncharted territory of true intimacy will shock, inspire, and leave you breathless. Don't even think about resisting."

-Rachel Resnick, author of LOVE JUNKIE

Who is Sini Anderson? 

In 1995, Sini Anderson and Michelle Tea started Sister Spit, the infamous all-girl open mic series that took San Francisco by storm with a weekly, anything goes, free show. After two years, Anderson and Tea sat down with a map and a pitcher of margaritas and planned an impossible 35-city tour, bringing with them 10 other performers, whom they picked out of a hat. They would repeat this ritual for the next five years, touring with over 40 different writers, performers, and trapeze artists. They were signed to Mouth Almighty/Mercury Records with Sister Spit's first album I Spit On Your Country. To their surprise, this first tour they performed to mostly sold out audiences across the country and Canada. Anderson and Tea kept this up for six years, and traveled with over 40 different performers. Anderson went on to be the artistic director of the non-profit of the same name until 2005. She plans to someday finish a feature length documentary about the Spitters.

Anderson is a collaborator by nature. She has performed and made original work with countless musicians and artists who inspire her. She often asks musicians to create original music for her, and then writes and shoots video to accompany it. These artists have included: Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Julie Ruin, Le Tigre), Johanna Fateman (Le Tigre), Kaia Wilson (The Butchies), Amy Ray (The Indigo Girls), Bitch (Bitch and Animal, Capital B), Passion Doll, and Elise Baldwin, among many others.

She still performs regularly, and in the past has had the privilege of reading with some of her heroes, including Dorothy Allison, Alice Walker, Patti Smith, and hundreds of other performers whom you wouldn't know of, but ought to.

Among other places, Anderson's work can be found in the anthologies The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (ThunderMouth Press) and Word Warriors (Seal Press). She has written for Good Vibrations and other publications, and her work can be heard on any of the four Sister Spit albums, in addition to her three collaborative studio albums. Mostly, she writes about her feelings.

Her work has been supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission, The Horizons Foundation, Theatre Bay Area's Cash Program, The California Arts Council, Grants for the Arts San Francisco, Open Meadows, The Women's Foundation, and the Astraea Foundation.

She has served as the Chief Curator and Artistic Director for The National Queer Arts Festival, a co-producer for the Nectar Stage at San Francisco's Pride, president of the board of directors for the Harvey Milk Institute, and co-chair of the board of directors for The Queer Cultural Center.

When Anderson is not making shows, she works in independent film. Her credits include, By Hook or By Crook, Mango Kiss, Jaded Consumer Looking for Something More, Fumbling Towards Rock: The Miriam and Helen Story, Karma Calling, Maggots and Men, and more. She is currently finishing a book trailer for the memoir Whip Smart (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press), by Melissa Febos, and is in the early stages of making a documentary about the seminal musician and feminist, Kathleen Hanna.