Derangement of the Senses is a multimedia literary reading featuring some of New York’s most exciting writers, storytellers, musicians, and burlesque performers. The result is an atmosphere where new artforms flourish and incredible acts of literary and artistic dynamo amaze and astound. Inspired by the French proto-punk poet Arthur Rimbaud, Derangement focuses on the innovative new genres that are born when transgressive, transdisciplinary collaborations happen. Burlesque performers dance as their favorite literary characters while psychedelic visuals swirl and acoustic and electronic music cacophonously collide. You haven’t seen this kind of literary reading before.

Derangement is hosted by Kevin Carter and Miracle Jones, and it takes its name from a letter written by Arthur Rimbaud, who believed that “a poet makes himself a seer by an immense, long, deliberate derangement of the senses.” Its focus is on the necessity of cross-pollination between artists that work in different genres and the explosive interactions that take place when this occurs. Shows in the past have boasted everything from laser harps and electroencephalographs to cakes and LED butterfly wings. The show began in January of 2010 and previously took place at Happy Ending Lounge in the Lower East Side. Some of New York City’s most talented young writers and performers have performed pieces that recall the NYC theatrical and artistic performance art renaissance of the 80s and 90s while also managing to make that spirit their own in an entertaining, contemporary atmosphere.

Past readers/storytellers have included Rae Bryant, Peter Aguero, Bill Cheng, Elizabeth Crane, Miracle Jones, Ed Champion, Leigh Stein, Steve Zimmer, Arianne Benford, Jeanne Thornton, Meghann Plunkett, Lisa Marie Basile, Sasha Fletcher, and Chavisa Woods. The show has also hosted burlesque performances by Nasty Canasta, Iris Explosion, Anja Keister, Lucille ti Amore, Boots LaMae, and Masae. You can find more at www.derangementofthesenses.com.

Peter Aguero was born and raised in Southern New Jersey. He is a Moth GrandSLAM champion and an instructor for The Moth Community Program. He performs, hosts, and produces storytelling, burlesque, and variety shows all over NYC. His most recent show, Daddy Issues, has been performed in Philadelphia, Vermont, DC, Las Vegas, and the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. To find out more reasons why his mother is so proud of him, go to www.peteraguero.com.

Lisa Marie Basile is the author of APOCRYPHAL, along with two chapbooks, Andalucia and War/lock (February, 2015). She is the editor-in-chief of Luna Luna Magazine and her poetry and other work can be seen in PANK, the Tin House blog, The Nervous Breakdown, The Huffington Post, Best American Poetry, PEN American Center, Dusie, and the Ampersand Review, among others. She’s been profiled in The New York Daily News, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, Poets & Artists Magazine, Relapse Magazine and others. Lisa Marie Basile holds an MFA from The New School.

Rachel Lyon’s Pushcart Prize-nominated work has appeared in McSweeney’s, Joyland, Bustle, The Toast, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. She teaches fiction workshops for the Sackett Street Writers Workshop and Catapult, and is cofounder and host of the reading series Ditmas Lit. Her first novel, Self-Portrait With Boy, will come out with Scribner in February 2018.

M. L. Godin is a writer and performer. She has produced two plays: The Star of Happiness, about Helen Keller’s time on vaudeville and The Spectator & the Blind Man, about the very sexy history of the invention of braille. She received her PhD in early modern literature from NYU’s English department and taught many classes on the “Great Books of Western Civilization”. She has performed on more tiny NYC stages than can be remembered. Sometimes she is behind her accordion, more often she reads from a mysterious device, but she always believes that words can smash minds.

Todd Anderson creates poetic experiences using a projector, code, sound design and a wireless USB keyboard he wears around his neck. He calls this Hotwriting. He is a co-owner of Babycastles, host of the monthly WordHack language+technology series, and has a futuristic ebook forthcoming from Instar Books. See more at toddpoet.com.

Jason Scott Laney is a piano/keyboard player and songwriter living in Brooklyn, New York. In addition to his solo work, Jason performs with the bands Victor V. Gurbo & Co., Mad Meg, and House of Fiction. His website is www.jasonscottlaney.com..

Miracle Jones is from Texas. He is a Sagittarius. He is a very private person. You can read more of his work at miraclejones.com.

Kevin Carter is a writer, technologist, and musician whose work has been featured in Luna Luna Magazine, MAKE, The Fiction Circus, 2600 Magazine, Kerouac’s Dog Magazine, and Divine Dirt Quarterly. His first collection of short stories, Lives of the Saints, was published by The Fiction Circus in 2012. He lives in Manhattan. Read more at shotintoeternity.com.