Sparkle with GEMS May 8, 2009

Please join us for an evening of springtime fervor among sparkling GEMS as we celebrate a truly astounding and inspiring decade of transforming the lives of girls in New York. You may not be aware of it, but underage girls, legally children, are being exploited in the commercial sex trade industry perhaps less than a mile from where you read this today. And yet, a lucky few escape and, against nearly unfathomable odds, go on to happy, productive lives with the help of GEMS, which provides shelter, practical assistance, and medical and legal support, as well as therapeutic, educational, and vocational programs to hundreds of girls annually. Right here in New York.

We'll be celebrating this stunning success, and much more to come, at Bowery Poetry Club in a few weeks. Hosted by GEMS volunteer Janice Erlbaum (author of Girlbomb and Have You Found Her), GEMS' tenth birthday party on Friday, May 8, from 6-10PM, features founder Rachel Lloyd reading from her forthcoming memoir, Acceptable Victims (to be published by HarperCollins), and readings by several of the GEMS girls from their own work. There will also be birthday cupcakes and dancing with DJ Jools Palmer.

Rachel Lloyd has been featured in The New York Times as a Public Lives profile, The New York Sun, The New York Daily News, Essence, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, The Village Voice, The Daily Telegraph (UK), and The Washington Times among other places. In 2003, Ms. Magazine honored her as ‘One of 50 Women Who Change the World' and she was featured in the New York Daily News in 2004 as ‘One of 100 Women Who Shape Our City'. Rachel has also appeared on many TV and radio shows including Oprah and NPR. A two hour documentary film entitled VERY YOUNG GIRLS was made last year by filmmaker David Schisgall (who previously collaborated with Erroll Morris) starring Rachel and featuring her work with GEMS. VERY YOUNG GIRLS premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last autumn and recently enjoyed an extended run on Showtime. ACCEPTABLE VICTIMS has recently been optioned for TV by Lifetime.

Janice Erlbaum is the author of GIRLBOMB: A Halfway Homeless Memoir (Villard/Random House, 2006), and HAVE YOU FOUND HER: A Memoir (Villard/Random House, 2008). Her poetry and prose has been featured in anthologies including ALOUD: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café, THE BUST GUIDE TO THE NEW GIRL ORDER, THE BEST AMERICAN EROTIC POEMS FROM 1800 TO THE PRESENT, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK: The 826 National Guide to Writing Your Memoir, and VERSES THAT HURT: Pleasure and Pain from the POEMFONE Poets. She was a contributor to BUST magazine from 1994 through 2007 and has also written for the websites McSweeney’s, Nerve, and Nextbook. Her work has been featured in Glamour, Redbook, Marie Claire, Elle, Elle UK, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Post, The New York Daily News, and New York Times.

Details: Friday, March 8, 6-10PM, $10 donation suggested at the door. Bowery Poetry Club is located at 308 Bowery at First St. RSVP to janice.erlbaum@gmail.com -- THE GUEST LIST WILL BE CLOSED WHEN IT REACHES CAPACITY. More: http://gems-girls.org

Official Website: http://www.gems-girls.org