On Friday night we teamed up with VSA Texas and Pen2Paper to host a very special edition of our monthly Lion and Pirate open mic—we were honoring the winners of the fifth annual Pen2Paper Creative Writing Contest (a project of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities). The competition seeks out fantastic works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and comics that discuss the topic of disability (and it’s an international contest—one of this year’s winners comes from the UK). You can see the full list of finalists and read their entries here.

CTD’s Laura Perna and Susie Angel kicked off our celebration, with Laura reading an excerpt from Sandy Hiortdahl’s “Riding, Falling,” the 2014 Grand Prize winner, and Susie reading Cathy Bryant’s “I Want One,” which won the Poetry category. Hearty congrats to Sandy, Cathy, and all the winners… y’all have provided us with a ton of thoughtful, thought-provoking, funny, and just plain terrific reading material.

But wait, there’s more! We also welcomed first-timer Glenn Towery to the stage; he read a wonderful parable called “Unsad You.” And the audience warmly welcomed a few familiar faces: Shaniqua Esparza, Christopher “Bear” Beam, Milton Sullivan, and the awesome dudes from Dude Choir. Have a look-see at them all in action below (and check out our Lion & Pirate YouTube playlist to watch videos from past events). Do be sure to join us on December 20th for a festive round of the Lion & Pirate… you might just be lucky enough to encounter our swashbuckler under a sprig of mistletoe!