INVASIVE SPECIES 2: Literary Panel & Open Mic Night

As INVASIVE SPECIES 2 expands beyond the gallery and into literature, this evening brings together writers and artists whose practices explore identity, survival, womanhood, and the complicated ways we move through the worlds around us. Moderated by Annar Veröld, a Honduran-American artist and the publisher of the small, women-led press Host Publications, the conversation will feature Jasmine Games, Julie Poole, and Katy Horan. The panel will engage with themes from the exhibition and consider how identity, lived experience, and the body inform writing and art. The conversation will include readings from each panelist, followed by an open mic for members of the community to share their own work. Accessibility Info: Future Front is fully accessible for wheelchairs and has appropriately sized bathrooms. Tactile graphics created in partnership with the Clovernook Center for the Blind will be available to support blind and visually impaired visitors in experiencing the exhibition. About the Panelists: Jasmine Games Jasmine Games (she/they) is a Black, queer poet, theatre maker, and educator born in Dallas, raised in Houston, and rooted in Austin, TX. Her work lives at the intersections of poetry, performance, and social justice, where she uses words and theatre as tools for healing, disruption, and transformation. She serves as Artistic Director of The Poet House, home to every.Word Poetry and Courageous Cadence, and as Director of Education & Social Justice at The VORTEX. Through these roles, she produces and directs theatre, hosts open mics, and leads writing and performance workshops in poetry, playwriting, devised theatre, and applied theatre. An award-winning artist, Games received the 2021 Sexton Prize for Poetry for her debut collection, Somebody’s Daughter. She is also a Winifred Ward Scholar and a finalist of the 2025 Blackberry Peach National Poetry Slam and the 2025 Right2Write Poetry Slam Festival. Julie Poole: Julie Poole (she/they) was born in Seattle, Washington, and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She received a BA from Columbia University and an MFA in poetry from The New Writers Project at The University of Texas at Austin, where she was a finalist for the Keene Prize for Literature. Her first book of poems, Bright Specimen, was inspired by the Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center at UT and was published by Deep Vellum in 2021. Her second book, Gorgeous Freak, is out now. Poole has received fellowship support from the James A. Michener Center, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, The Corsicana Artist and Writer Residency, and Yaddo. Her writing has appeared in Texas Monthly, the Texas Observer, Scalawag, The Baffler, Bon Appétit, Slate, and The Nation. She lives in Austin, Texas. Katy Horan: Katy Horan (she/her) is an illustrator and fine artist with a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design (2003). Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and in Canada. It has been published in a number of books including Beasts! by Fantagraphics, The Exquisite Book by Chronicle Books, and Dark Inspiration II by Victionary, as well as in numerous publications such as Juxtapoz Magazine and New American Paintings. Horan is also the author and illustrator of Murder Ballads: Illustrated Lyrics & Lore, published in 2025. In this unique, illustrated collection, Horan resurrects the real and fictional women and men of twenty traditional murder ballads, exploring their legacy in modern American music and culture. The book examines the genre's roots in patriarchal violence and white supremacy, as well as its contemporary relationship to true crime. She is also the illustrator of Literary Witches: A Celebration of Magical Women Writers, written by Taisia Kitaiskaia and published by Seal Press. Horan has completed two painting residencies at The Vermont Studio Center and was a finalist for the 2015 Hunting Art Prize. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, daughter, and two dogs. About the Moderator Annar Veröld (she/her) is a Honduran-American artist and the publisher of the small, women-led press Host Publications. She proudly co-founded and curates the feminist reading series I Scream Social and co-hosts the literary podcast The Host Dispatch. When not making books or attending readings, you can find her performing with the Austin Civic Wind Ensemble. About the Collaborators Host Publications Host Publications is an award-winning, queer- and women-led independent publisher located in Austin, Texas. Devoted to their mission to elevate historically marginalized writers, Host Publications publishes radical poetry and fiction by emerging LGBTQ+, BIPOC, intersectional feminist, and immigrant voices. They are a 501(c)(3) literary nonprofit organization. Future Front Texas Homegrown in Austin, Future Front is an award-winning cultural space and public exhibition series with women and LGBTQ+ creatives at the front. As a 501(c)(3) arts and culture nonprofit, they produce community-led exhibitions, markets, festivals, and programming that platform independent artists and creatives across Texas. Their creative space in East Austin hosts seasonal exhibitions and workshops, welcoming more than 20,000 visitors each year. About INVASIVE SPECIES 2 INVASIVE SPECIES 2 is a multidisciplinary exhibition and series of programming curated and led by Alexis Hunter. The exhibition runs October 9–31, 2026, at Future Front in East Austin. What began as a group exhibition has grown into a network of more than 25 women artists, writers, filmmakers, and cultural workers across Central and Southeast Texas and beyond. For its second edition, INVASIVE SPECIES establishes new territory beyond the gallery, entering the cultural ecosystems of cinema and literature through collaborations with Hyperreal Film Club and Host Publications. Treats by Zucchini Kill Zucchini Kill is a woman-owned bakery offering vegan, gluten-free, and soy-free treats in 100% compostable packaging. Named in homage to Bikini Kill and the feminist punk pioneers who came before them, Zucchini Kill brings feminist community, creativity, and a little delicious disruption to the evening. The invasion is spreading… This program is supported in part by an Elevate Grant of Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment.

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