Author Michelle Tea will be having a public reading of her new book “Black Wave” in Gorgas Library Room 205 on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. 

The book is a merging of a memoir and science fiction based in San Francisco, the city where she has been living since 1993 and where she discovered the outlet she could exercise her passion. The book has yet to be published so the reading will be a sneak peek.

Originally born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, a dilapidated low-income town outside Boston, Tea said she was looking for something more. 

“There was a lot of racism and lack of opportunity in Chelsea,” Tea said.

Upon moving to San Francisco, she discovered a vibrant punk rock lesbian scene where people were themselves. Tea fell in love with the atmosphere and frequented open-mic night where she read her poetry and was spectator to wild, off-the-wall performances.

“Spoken word and street poetry during that time in San Francisco was thriving,” Tea said.

Tea published her own poetry for a while, but in 2005 her poetry was published in a collection called “The Beautiful.” Tea has written mostly memoirs documenting her time imbedded in the refreshing flamboyancy of her younger years. Her works include “The Passionate Mistake” and “Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America and Valencia,” which was made into a movie. 

Tea also founded Sister Spit, which is an international LGBT performance tour, showcasing individual performances all along the spectrum of human experience. The vaudeville style performance group began as an all-girl open-mic gathering in San Francisco but turned into a national tour from 1997-2000.  In 2007, it was brought back and tours annually, but Tea no longer manages the tour so she can focus on her writing.

She was asked to read here at the University after she did a reading in the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania as a part of Sister Spit. She is now a traveling writer and makes visits and readings all around the country. She attributes where she is now today to her experiences in San Francisco.

“All writers are products of their place and time,” Tea said. “I feel really lucky that San Francisco was my place and time.”