Writers Festival Event with Ibrahim Nasrallah

If you had hoped to catch our reading and discussion this morning but the date and hour made it impossible, the 90-minute event was recorded and is available here to view, if you wish, at your convenience.

I had previously read two of Ibrahim Nasrallah’s novels but still was not prepared for the overwhelming power and beauty of his poetry. He read in Arabic with the English translation on the screen, so we non-Arabic speakers could appreciate the meaning and use of language while also having the benefit of the sound and rhythm of his poetry.

Thank you, Allison Hedge Coke and the UCR Writers Week Festival for making this possible, to Playwright Esther Banegas Gatica for introducing me, and writers Hannah Roberts and K. Quyen Pham for hosting the session and asking great questions.

I’m part of an international writers festival!

The UCR Writers Week Festival, beginning Feb 12, has such a fabulous lineup, it means a lot to me I get to be part of the 4th session on Feb 17th. Please join me, virtually, but really, seriously, check out the whole schedule and register, free, for as many sessions as you possibly can! Schedule 2022

Thursday, Feb 17th at 6:30 PM PST, I’ll be with Australian eco-poet John Kinsella and Chinese author Luo Ying. We’ll start off reading excerpts from our work, then there will be a Q&A with audience.

Thank you, Allison Hedge Coke!

Poetry and Prose on January 14, 2017

Saturday, January 14th, at 4:00 PM

I’m gonna be the prose filling in a poetry sandwich! Thanks to Brendan Constantine (who will serve as emcee and I expect will be LA’s poet laureate one of these days), I’ll be reading for the first time from a new novel-in-progress. Poet Elizabeth Iannaci – who is also an actor and singer and has been known to play the drums – is sure to offer a spirited reading. And my friend and comrade-in-arms, Natasha Sajé, will be in town from Utah with her restless and witty explorations of etymology, the alphabet, and the contested meanings of our lives. Brendan says the date marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Anaïs Nin. Does he have something in mind?

Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

Members admitted free.

Others: $10

Reception to follow the reading.

Remembering Maria Guardado

The Second Chances LA website would hardly be complete without the story of Salvadoran torture survivor and activist Maria Guardado. But weakened by cancer in the last few years, Maria had no energy for interviews. We lost her on May 16.

What I’ve just now posted at the website is a very brief tribute, but with a link to the brief documentary about her by Randy Vasquez which includes–warning–a graphic account of what she endured.

Here’s the mural LA artist El Mac painted in Mexico City back in 2012 to honor Maria Guardado and her decades of service.

Maria Guardado – ¡presente!

Three Poems

Thank you, Diane Smith, editor of Grey Sparrow Journal, for including three of my poems in the Fall issue. Here they are.