solidad decosta is an uppity Portuguese woman who isn't afraid to claim her black Latina maternal ancestry. Equal parts street journalist, storyteller and crone-ta-be with Leo moon credentials, her work encompasses the why and where of life outside the boxes in a label obsessed world, and the what, when, who and how of everything else.

She has authored three books (Litmus of Desire, Signal Theory and Dérive) two CD recordings (My Own Private Revolution and Manifesto) and a number of chapbooks including I’ll Eat You with my Teeth, Manifesto and Transmission.

solidad has performed at a variety of venues across the United States, including St. Marks, ‘da Poetry Lounge, The Green Mill, Pitzer College, Brava! Center for the Arts, Antioch University, SomARTS, City Lights, Bumpershoot and the University of Washington. Her writing has appeared in Shampoo, Mirage #4/Period(ical), Street NOTES, The Angry Poet, Fireweed and The San Francisco Bay Guardian.

solidad has facilitated writing and performance workshops at Cell Space, STARC, Dancing Tree, Alameda County Youth Facility, SF Juvenile Hall and Pitzer College. She holds an MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts, and was the 2008 recipient of the Kari Edwards Scholarship at Naropa University’s Summer Writing Program.

All of her appearances incorporate an interactive Q&A session:

• Performance as justice (performance and social justice 1-2 day intensive)
• Hyphen shock (solo performance)
• Channel CHANGE (solo performance)
• Improvisational piano performance
• Spoken word performance

solidad is also available for lectures, writing and performance workshops on such topics as:

• Sex in the ACT-UP years
• Intro to trans and intersex
• Trans and intersexed sexuality
• Negotiating sex with non-trans or intersexed partners