Biography
Beth Lisick is an accomplished writer and actor, authoring five books and featuring in films showcased at Cannes, Sundance, and the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Her published works include the memoir collection *Yokohama Threeway and Other Small Shames*, the New York Times bestselling comic memoir *Everybody Into the Pool*, the gonzo self-help manifesto *Helping Me Help Myself*, the story collection *This Too Can Be Yours*, and the performance poetry/story collection *Monkey Girl*.
Supported by a Creative Work Fund grant, she collaborated with artists at Creativity Explored, a San Francisco studio and gallery for artists with developmental disabilities, resulting in the chapbook series *Tell You What*, released throughout 2013.
Her acting roles feature leads in Frazer Bradshaw’s *Everything Strange and New*, which won the FIPRESCI critics' prize, received Spirit and Gotham award nominations, and screened at Sundance and Karlovy Vary; and Joey Izzo’s *Stepsister*, shown at the San Francisco International and Cannes festivals in 2013.
Since 1999, she has partnered with writer/comedian Tara Jepsen on stage and video projects, performing at Dixon Place, UCB Theatre, SF MOMA, and screening at OUTfest, Frameline, and the Mix Film Festival of Sexual Diversity in São Paulo, Brazil. They have opened for Tig Notaro, Neil Hamburger, and Dave Hill. Their web series *Rods and Cones* was named one of Indiewire’s Top 10 web series of 2014.
Her writing appears in numerous magazines and anthologies, including *Best American Poetry*, *Post-It Note Diaries*, *Yes Is The Answer*, *The Speed Chronicles*, and *The Outlaw Bible of American Literature*. Her voiceover work features in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, SF MOMA, the Oakland Museum, and Craig Baldwin’s cult film *Spectres of the Spectrum*.
In 2002, she co-founded the Porchlight Storytelling Series with Arline Klatte, a monthly storytelling event in San Francisco.
She has spoken or performed at venues such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Hammer Museum, Shakespeare and Company, the Guggenheim Museum, Stanford University, Storymoja Hay Festival in Nairobi, Lollapalooza, Lilith Fair, Bumbershoot, SXSW, Brown University, and the University of Arizona Poetry Center. Residencies include CESTA in Tabor, Czech Republic, and the RADAR Lab in Akumal, Mexico.
Beth has conducted onstage interviews with writers and actors like Dave Eggers, Mary Roach, Amy Sedaris, Elijah Wood, Evan Rachel Wood, and Zoe Saldana for City Arts and Lectures, Litquake, the San Francisco International Film Festival, and SF Sketchfest. She has opened for Neil Young, Allen Ginsberg, Lydia Lunch, and Exene Cervenka by performing excerpts of her writing. Her media appearances include the Rachael Ray Show, NPR's *Talk of the Nation*, *This American Life*, and *The California Report*.
Beth holds a degree in American Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz. A Bay Area native, she currently resides in Brooklyn.
