Matador Meetup / Reading in Buenos Aires
The author reading. Note “flow-enhancing” indentation in can. All photos: Kate Sedgwick
EARLY IN THE NIGHT, Kate and I walked from Juanele’s kitchen with plastic cups full of Limoncello and some kind of peach vodka for those who’d just arrived and requested beverages. It was my first time in the Juanele AR headquarters, this high lofted space on Calle Montevideo with floor to ceiling murals and a big, almost intimidating pair of house speakers.
It was also the first Matador meetup in Buenos Aires, but somehow it felt like we’d been doing this for years.
The night was a kind of hybrid meetup and also – as far as I know – the first real reading associated with Matador. Beforehand we took a moment to go around and introduce ourselves and talk a little bit about what we were doing:
- Rick Powell is the editor of Juanele (whose HQ we were meeting in), a bilingual publication and also community of both foreigners and locals promoting the Argentine art scene.
- Kate Sedgwick (not pictured) – organized the event. She’s editor of Matador Nights , and also runs the Second Story project, which is a monthly storytelling / reading workshop and series.
- Daniella DiRoma is an American writer and musician currently living in Buenos Aires and working on a masters in international relations. She’d traveled all the way from Mexico to Argentina with her partner, Solis.
- Solis Skvirsky is from D.F. Mexico.
- Tom Allmark is from Liverpool, but has been living for the last two years in Madrid. He works for an international logistics company and is currently on holiday in Buenos Aires visiting his friend, Sonya.
- Sonya Kunawicz lives in San Isidro, outside Buenos Aires, and teaches English. She met Kate through Second Story.
- Jacinta Young is an Australian born writer/photographer living in Buenos Aires. Her current project is S2 or Somos Dos, a photography company that specializes in Gay & Lesbian Wedding photography & events. She runs this with her business partner (Ashley Barnes), who was also in attendance:
- Ashley Barnes mentioned that S2 is taking their photography to the social documentary level, particularly in light of Buenos Aires’s status as an international Gay and Lesbian travel destination (last year same sex marriage was legalized in Argentina, the first country to do so in Latin America, and only the 10th country worldwide).
- Breanna Zack is an an artist from Chicago traveling through Buenos Aires and Argentina after completing a several month project based in Talca, Chile with an interdisciplinary design studio that helped rebuild areas affected by the 2010 Chilean earthquake.
- Skye Brannon is a writer and artist from Oklahoma who moved last year to Argentina to study Spanish. She’s recently launched About.com’s Argentina travel channel, GoArgentina.
- Charles Lucking is an American living and traveling extensively in Argentina, and who’s launched a start up company based on an alternative model for a record label.
- Paul Katz is living in Buenos Aires, teaching English, writing (he’s a freelance contributor to several publications, including Juanele AR), and working on a book about the treatment of Jews under Argentina’s last military dictatorship.
Afterwards five people read work. Kate recorded the audio – look for an upcoming post with that recording. Then there was a drawing for a gift certificate to Walrus Books in San Telmo. Congrats, Daniella DiRoma, for winning that. The night wrapped up with a big group heading out for dinner. It was a night of super buena onda.
If you’re interested in helping organize a Matador reading / meetup in your town, please let us know. Enjoy the photos of participants below. 
Intermission
Intermission
Intermission
