Four Writers on Desire: Tomas Moniz & Friends
Four authors discuss their work, focusing on literary desire, friendship, and legacy.
Join us for a reading and conversation all about literary desire!
In celebration of Tomas Moniz’s new novel The King of Aloe Vera, four novelsits will share work and discuss desire and legacy and friendship.
About the authors:
Tomas Moniz is a latinx writer living in East Oakland, CA. His debut novel, Big Familia, was a finalist for the 2020 PEN/Hemingway and the LAMBDA. His second novel, All Friends Are Necessary, won the 2024 California Golden Poppy Award. His new novel, The King of Aloe Vera, was published in September 2026 from Algonquin Books. He teaches at Berkeley City College, the Antioch MFA program and St. Mary’s College. He has stuff on the internet but loves penpals: PO Box 3555, Berkeley CA 94703. He promises to write back.
Lisa Locascio Nighthawk is the chair of the Antioch MFA in Creative Writing and the executive director of the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference. Her novel Open Me was published by Grove Atlantic in 2018. She writes a newsletter called Not Knowing How.
Ruth Madievsky is the author of the national bestselling novel, All-Night Pharmacy, winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction, as well as a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction. Her writing appears in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Cut, GQ, The Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. She lives in Los Angeles, where she works as a clinical pharmacist.
Max Delsohn is the author of Crawl (Graywolf Press, 2025), a short story collection about trans men living in 2010s Seattle. Crawl was named a best book of the year by Vulture, Them, Electric Literature, Debutiful, and Chicago Review of Books, as well as a November Indie Next List pick. His short fiction and essays have appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, VICE, Joyland, The Rumpus, Triangle House, Lit Hub, and Nat. Brut, among other places. He received his MFA degree from Syracuse University and now lives in Los Angeles.
