Sundered Sound is a multi-genre event showcasing SFSU students of the arts, aiming to force music and words into collision to create fresh experiences. It’s a series dedicated to the wide range of emotions that sounds can strike.

The evening will include segments by writer August Edwards; a duo comprising poet Elodie Townsend and electronic musician Nathan Ho; a quartet comprising rai, Kara, Leo and Alder Duan Hurley; writer Tadeh Kennedy; and Quinn Rennerfeldt. Evan Burkin, who has organized the event, will host.

August Edwards is a nonfiction writer. She is lucky in cards and in love. She listens to desert rock. You can find her work in Albuquerque Green Room, Word West Revue, Mulberry Literary, and Hard Noise.

ElodieTownsend (she/her) is a poet from San Francisco. She holds a B.A. in English jiterature from U.C. Berkeley, and is set to receive her M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University in May 2024. Her work has been published in The Berkeley Fiction Review, Made at Berkeley, and The Ana Magazine. Elodie’s poetry and prose have been described as toeing the line between absurd mundanity and objective surrealism. She lives in San Rafael with her chihuahua, Tilly.

Nathan Ho (何衛健, b. 1997) is an SF Bay Area native, electronic musician, educator, and specialist in digital signal processing. His debut album “Haywire Frontier” was released on the Japanese label tokinogake in September 2023. His work combines his background in mathematics, science, and modern classical composition with aggressive, hypermodern sound design. A lifelong open source advocate, he is a former developer of SuperCollider and maintains an extensive collection of free online resources on music technology.

rai (she/her) is a transfemme southeast asian drummer residing on Ohlone Land for the past 16 years. her drumming and creative practice is informed by her connection to trans spirit, relationships, community, love and rage. she is part of Comrade Lover, an anti-imperialist punk lion dancing group, has played latin percussion in a Charanga ensemble, and is currently performing with Tierra Suelta, mixing drag and live performance with an array of genres and musical styles.

Kara (they/any) is a hobbyist and earnest aspiring artist. They are a jazz burnout that’s just happy to be here.

Leo (he/they) is a trans, second gen Indian American from Edison, NJ who’s called the Bay home since 2019. He is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He’s played with jazz, classical and Charanga ensembles on trumpet, and is trained as a tabla player in the Hindustani classical tradition. He’s performed original songs for voice and acoustic guitar in Kearny Street’s APAture and Bushwick Bookclub Oakland. For sporadic updates, follow him on IG: @soundwithleo.

Alder Duan Hurley (he/they) is a mixed-race Chinese American poet based in the East Bay, on Ohlone land. Alder’s first artistic practice was the saxophone and study of jazz, which informs their approach to poetry. He has performed his poetry at Kearny Street Workshop’s APAture, at Diamondwave’s Theyfriend, and at GAPA’s 2022 QTAPI week celebration. They are the winner of the Wilner Award in Short Fiction at SFSU, where they are currently an MFA student. His work appears in The Margins.

Tadeh Kennedy is an Armenian-American emerging writer based in Oakland, CA. He is fascinated by history, enjoys writing into the nooks and crannies of realism, and is a skilled daydreamer. When not writing, Tadeh likes to record music, make comics, and stare at walls. He has been published in Transfer Magazine and The Ana.

Quinn Rennerfeldt is a queer poet, parent, and partner earning her MFA at SFSU. Their work can be found in Cleaver, SAND, elsewhere, Salamander, Fractured Lit, Flash Frog and The Pinch. Her chapbook demigoddess semilustrous is forthcoming from dancing girl press. They are a reader for Split Lip Magazine.