Babylon Salon is a quarterly reading & performance series based in San Francisco.

Since 2007, we've featured award-winning authors (including the Booker Prize, the National Book Award, the Philip K. Award and more) and showcased exciting early-career writers and performers.

Laurie Ann Doyle

Laurie Ann Doyle is the author of World Gone Missing, winner of the Nautilus Book Award in fiction, and praised by NY Times bestselling author Edan Lepucki for delivering “astute portrayals of people desiring connection, hope, and renewal.” Laurie’s stories and essays appear in Los Angeles Review, The Millions The Rumpus, Under the Sun, and many other publications. She teaches at The Writers Grotto and UC Berkeley Extension, where she is an honored instructor. www.laurieanndoyle.com

Lauren Connell Johnson attributes her upbringing in Florida, America’s weirdest state, to her interest in the ecological, speculative, and surreal. She earned her MFA from American University and has appeared in the Pacifica Literary Review, Museum of Science Fiction, Oracle Fine Arts Review, Winterwolf Press, and others. Recent workshops include ZYZZYVA, the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference, Lit Camp, and the Mendocino Coast Writers' Conference. She lives in San Francisco. www.laurencjo.com

Dominic Lim’s debut novel, All the Right Notes, will be released in June 2023 by Forever (Grand Central Publishing/Hachette). He is a member of the Writers Grotto and sits on their board of directors. Dominic holds a Master of Music from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and has sung with numerous professional early music and choral ensembles. As a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association he has performed Off-Broadway and in regional productions throughout the US. www.dominiclim.com

Ryan Sloan

Ryan Sloan is a novelist and essayist. He teaches writing at the University of California, Berkeley. A graduate of New York University’s fiction MFA program, his work is published or forthcoming in LA Weekly, Joyland Magazine, Opium Magazine, The Modern Spectator and Painted Bride Quarterly, among other publications. Residencies include the 2021 Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, the 2021 Tin House Winter Workshop, the 2019 Lit Camp Writers’ Conference and the 2019 Arctic Circle Residency on the Summer Solstice Expedition. He lives in Oakland. www.rrsloan.com

Maury Zeff's plays have been performed nationally and have won multiple awards. His fiction has been published in American Fiction, Southern California Review, Embark, bosque, and elsewhere. He has received fellowships from the San Francisco Writers Grotto and PlayGround, and has an MFA from the University of San Francisco. His play Not So Famous Seamus, a parody about the 1980s British pop music scene, the Cold War, and celebrity philanthropy, was a 2017 PlayGround commission.