Ten years ago, I started this crazy new event called, Naked Girls Reading. It was born out of a flash of inspiration. I was reading naked on the couch when my husband walked in and found the imagery to be beautiful. We started laughing about the idea of naked girls reading being a fetish for people. We let it rest but it was one of those ideas that stays with you. We thought we could do something with it. We thought that if we like it, then other people would too. Problem was, we didn’t know what to do with it. Should it be a site? A pay site? No. That didn’t feel right. A little while after I opened my burlesque school, Studio L’amour, I thought it might be fun to try it as a live literary event. I asked some of my Chicago Starlets who I knew liked reading and were generally interested in being naked. To my surprise, they all said yes! When it came down to the event, none of us were nervous about the nudity. We were all worried about reading! Reading something out loud to an audience is a nerve racking, especially when it is something you care about. It is so vulnerable. You hear your voice, but you become detached from yourself. Sort of like an out of body experience. It’s like you’re hearing the story just as the audience is hearing it. Then you start to become aware of your breath, the sweat (yes, there’s sweat) and the naked women sitting next to you in their silent support and encouragement. Then you see nothing but the words on the page and it is incredibly powerful. Beautiful. Magical. Vulnerable.
In that first event, I knew we had something special. We had planned to do monthly events in Chicago and that was it. But, what started happening is that women from other cities started approaching us because they wanted to bring this to their city. A Naked Girls Reading franchise was born! We now have 20 chapters all over the world.
Please help us celebrate our 10 year anniversary on March 15th in Chicago. The theme will be reader’s choice. The event is at 8pm at the Skylark Chess Society and is BYOB. Tickets
Remember, you can’t spell literature without T&A.
Michelle L'amour 