Christina Perez is a Latina Slam/Performance Poet. Her work is comedic, political, self-exposing, and she hopes, connecting. Her poems are deeply personal and honest. Christina is a miner for words that get down to the bone, all the while maintaining deft complexity. She is explosively exciting to watch. She uses voice and body to add layer, depth, and power to her art. At times loud, soft, slow, or at breakneck speed, she may whisper, or use heavy breath, while her arms, hands, fingers and whole being are all contributing to the performance. Christina can sing and sometimes, she does. She can take you from tears of sadness to tears of belly wrenching laughter.

Christina was a finalist to Represent Berkeley for The 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam. Christina taught a recent workshop for high school kids sponsored by MCWC, Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Mendocino County, and the Youth Project.

Christina is a poet teacher in Sonoma County (CPITS California Poets in the Schools). You can find Christina performing regularly at the Berkeley, San Francisco and Oakland Slam Venues.

Linda Kay Silva believes that whatever story we want to tell the world is worth telling, worth hanging in there for, and worth the struggles we each face as we grapple with our muse. She has published six mysteries, one historical, and two urban fantasies in the last fifteen years. She has a new paranormal series coming out in 2010, titled More Than an Echo.

For her day job she teaches American and British Lit as well as Writing for Criminal Justice Majors. Her latest urban fantasy, Across Time has just been nominated for a Lambda Award in the Young Adult category, and the sequel, Second Time Around, came out earlier this year.