On the evening of March 27th, 2024, The Country Bookshelf hosted a reading from Sunu P. Chandy’s poetry collection, MY DEAR COMRADES, with a reading and discussion by three of Bozeman’s own activists around poetry, activism and the intersection where they meet.
Sunu P. Chandy is a social justice activist, including through her work as a poet and a civil rights attorney. She’s the daughter of immigrants from Kerala, India, a queer woman of color, and lives in Washington, D.C. with her family. Her award-winning collection of poems, My Dear Comrades, was published by Regal House in 2023. In it she includes stories about her experiences as a woman, civil rights attorney, parent, partner, and member of the LGBTQ+ community.
KD lives and works with their family in Bozeman, MT. KD is a multidisciplinary artist and poet, whose work has appeared in shows from Turtle Island to Hawai’i, and in print in multiple locations. They are a queer indigenous neurodivergent parent, who spends most of their time engaging in the ideation of indigenous futures, solidarity, and freedom.
Jasmine James is a graduate of MSU Bozeman in English Literature. They have lived in the Gallatin Valley since 2013, and have been managing the Bozeman Poetry Collective since 2017. You can hear their work in person regularly at the Steep Mtn. open mic.
Hazel Gonzalez is a woman of trans experience, who grew up in Bozeman, having moved to town when she was five. Hazel has also worked at Erotique for many years, passionately learning about, and teaching, healthy sexuality and kink. She’s works to build community, and does her utmost to be a healthy and supportive elder queer role model and advocate for queer youth.

The Country Bookshelf’s General Manager, Jamie Winter, introduced the panel.