Tag: literary community

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Book Review: Through the Screen

By VK Lynne

Review: Once Removed by Colette Sartor

I first met Colette Sartor in 2020. She was sitting in her backyard, adjusting her glasses and announcing, in the middle of a women’s writing meeting, that she had a sourdough bread to check.  I was smitten.

Of course, whether my admiration translated through the portal of Zoom is anyone’s guess, but she became a friend through those Women Who Submit check-ins, and then later through the pages of her enchanting book, Once Removed.

The pink/peach cover of Colette Sartor's short story collection, Once Removed, with the purple silhouette of a woman standing with her hands in the pockets of her a-line dress.

Colette’s writing is much like the woman herself: No nonsense, yet sensitive; incisive, yet gentle. She was one of the first in the group to listen to my music and tell everyone else to do the same, and when I told her that I planned to read her book in order to write a review, she briskly popped a copy in the mail before I could object.

There is always that one person, when you join a new group, who you gravitate toward to find your footing. I had joined Women Who Submit perhaps a year before the COVID-19 pandemic, but had not really felt like a concrete part of the community, until the meetings became virtual and weekly.

That first morning, as I scanned the boxes, something about the woman with the half-smile, long dark hair and knowing eyeglasses settled my nervousness, and gave me the courage to return, Saturday after Saturday.

So of course, I really wanted her book to be good. There are few things worse than building something or someone up in your head, only for the idol to come crashing down from the pedestal once the statue is exposed as mere stone.

Fortunately, as I turned page after page of the short story collection, it became clear that it was not a gilt facade, but a solid golden cathedral.

Each story is discrete, yet all the tales are connected. In this way, Colette acknowledges that there is dignity and value in our starring roles in our individual life stories, while gently reminding us that we are also a supporting characters in many others’.

As the stories describe various women’s journeys, and losses they suffer along the way, it becomes a book that commiserates and comforts its reader. We are all struggling, we are all succeeding and failing, and while our tragedies are to be honored, they should not isolate us in despair- for we are not alone.

Colette deftly stitches the pieces of each life’s fabric together into a bittersweet tapestry that reveals its glorious pattern gradually, beautifully, until the final page, when the entire work is thrown into the light to take your breath away.

Once Removed is one of the very few books I’ve read that left me greedily turning back to the beginning immediately upon completion to walk the path again. More slowly this time, I began to notice the sweet harbingers, the dangerous forebodings, and the profound lessons strewn along the way.

The Saturday after I finished reading, I logged on to Zoom and saw Colette propped in her bed, a smile curling up one side of her face, and I longed to climb through the screen to hug her in gratitude for the experience that is her book. Ruefully, I knew that even if we’d been face to face at that time, we still could not have embraced, because we were still in the plague of distance.

So instead, I wrote this down. Colette, for me, your book served as a reparative to that isolation. It brings its reader edification and visibility and empathy. It offers perspective, healing, and wisdom…and not a small amount of joy.

Thank you.

Image of author and musician VK Lynne with bright pink hair and wear a black hat and and jacket with a gray fluff color.

VK Lynne is a writer and musician from Los Angeles, and a 2015 recipient of the Jentel Foundation Artist Residency Program Award for writing. She penned the award-winning web series ‘Trading on 15’, and authored the novels ‘Even Solomon’ and ‘A Pook is Born.’ Her two poetry volumes, ‘Crisis’ and ‘Revelation,’ make up the audiobook ‘The Release and Reclamation of Victoria Kerygma.’

Her writing has been published in the LA Poet Society’s Anthology “Los Angeles Poets For Justice: A Document for the People”, Image Curve, The Elephant Journal, GEM Magazine, and Guitar Girls Magazine.

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July 2021 Publication Roundup

It’s hard to believe we’ve made it past the midway point of 2021, but here we are, close to turning the corner into Fall.

Meanwhile, our determined members have continued to send their beautiful, provocative, insightful work into the world and publish it. This month we’re celebrating the WWS members whose work was published during July 2021. I’ve included an excerpt from their published pieces (if available) or a blurb if the publication is a book, and a link (if available) to where the pieces can be purchased and/or read in their entirety.

Let’s celebrate our members who published in July!

Continue reading “July 2021 Publication Roundup”
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June Publication Roundup

We’re headed into the sweltering heat of summer, which sometimes can wilt the resolve to do anything. Not our members. They’re still sending out their work and getting it published in wonderful outlets.

This month we’re celebrating the WWS members whose work was published during June 2021. I’ve included an excerpt from their published pieces (if available) and a link (if available) to where the pieces can be purchased and/or read in their entirety.

Congratulations to our members who published in June!

Continue reading “June Publication Roundup”
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May Publication Roundup

As we near the end of Spring and the midpoint of 2021, our WWS members continue to thrive in the publishing world. May was an especially productive publication month for our members. I’ve included in this publication roundup an excerpt from the published pieces (if available) of members who published this month and a link (if available) to where the pieces can be purchased and/or read in their entirety.

Congratulations to all those in WWS who published work during the month of May!

Continue reading “May Publication Roundup”
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Cheers to 2019!

three women of color holding beers and standing in front of a graphic black and white mural

Dearest Writers,

As we come to the end of another year (and decade), I like to look back at all we’ve accomplished this year, and congratulate everyone for continuing to thrive when too many want us to disappear.

Firsts the firsts. The Kit Reed Travel Fund, thanks to a donation from Kit Reed’s surviving family members, made it possible for WWS to sponsor three writers of color to attend a workshop, residency, or conference of their choice with a small $340 grant meant to offset travel costs. In the spirit of Kit Reed’s prolific work and adventurous spirit, Sakae Manning attended the Summer Fishtrap Gathering of Writers in Oregon, Grace Lee attended Bread Loaf Writers Conference in Vermont, and Sibylla Nash attended Joya: AiR in Spain. We look forward to offering more grants in 2020.

Thanks to the tireless work of managing editors, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera and Rachael Warecki, we had our first anthology, ACCOLADES, made it through it’s open call, selection process, and design, and will be ready for release in spring 2020. ACCOLADES was made possible by CCI Arts Investing in Tomorrow grant and is a celebration of our writers’ publications and awards over the last few years.

Another first in 2019 was our WWS Happy Hour at AWP hosted by our friends at Nucleus Portland where we featured 10 readers to a jovial crowd drinking beer and wine. Be sure to be on the look out for our 2020 AWP event, the ACCOLADES, a WWS Anthologly, Release Party on March 5th at La Botanica from 4pm-7pm .

We ended the year strong with one last first, our first crowd funding campaign, and thanks to the work and leadership of Lauren Eggert-Crowe and Ashley Perez we surpassed our funding goal! These funds were needed to match funds from a CAC Local Impact grant we received in 2019.

In 2019 we also hosted the following workshops and panels:

February: You Need a Website! A Practical Guide to the What, Why, and How of Building (or Strategically Updating) Your Author Website with Li Yun Alvarado

April: Poetry Submission Panel with Muriel Leung & Vickie Vertiz and moderated by Lauren Eggert-Crowe

June: Finding an Agent and What I Never Knew Until It Happened with Natashia Deón

August: Tier One Submission Strategies with Désirée Zamorano

October: Pay attention: attending and collaborating at the end slash beginning of the world with Rachel McLeod Kaminer and Rocío Carlos

But let’s not forget other highlights such a the 6th Annual Submission Blitz in September, where we encouraged our members to submit to tier one journals, an action inspired by Vida and the Vida count. We also made our 4th appearance at Lit Crawl LA, with “It’s a Book Party!” featuring new titles from members Jenise Miller, Carla Sameth, Colette Sartor, Micelle Brittan Rosado, and Noriko Nakada, and we featured at the Los Angeles reading series, Roar Shack, hosted by David Rocklin with readers Sakae Manning, Grace Lee, Sibylla Nash, Ryane Granados, Lituo Huang, Andy Anderegg, and Ann Faison.

And last but not least we can’t forget the 125 publications and awards celebrated on the WWS Publication Round Up in 2019, a list curated each month by the brilliant and tireless, Laura K. Warrell.

So with that, I thank you for all you did this year. I thank you for sharing space with me, and for continuing to champion your work and the work of other writers in our community. We do this together, and I look forward to another year of submission parties and publications with you!

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Director of Women Who Submit

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Breathe and Push: Writing While Momming

A table set up with a laptop for writingBy Jamie Asaye FitzGerald

Your identity as a writer doesn’t disappear once the responsibility of children come into your life. In fact, your identity as a writer may take on a more obvious shape, form and demand, and may give you the strength you need to deal with the challenges of being a parent.

There will be days filled with the joy and plenitude of childrearing, and days when you might feel like being a parent is, to put it bluntly, one of the nine circles of hell. As hard as it is to find the time to write, your refuge can be the page. Even if you can only write for fifteen minutes each day or fifteen minutes each week, that writing could be your lifeline—that writing could save you.

When you have a baby, you really have to take baby steps. For a baby, those first steps are huge. For a parent-writer, those baby steps to keep the writing life alive are equally huge. Give yourself credit for even the smallest effort.

To preserve your writer self, you will have to fight against forces that might not consider, value or acknowledge that part of you. These forces may be closer to you than you realize. They may even be your own loved ones. If you have a partner, you may have to contend with working things out with that person. They might be 100% supportive or 98% supportive or not supportive enough. The reality is that you will need their support and understanding.

If they’ve committed to being with you, they’ve committed to being with an artist—and an artist has needs. Getting your partner on board with you will make things much easier. Sometimes they just need to be reminded who you are and what you need.

Fighting for a writing life also means asserting it as a priority in small, achievable ways. Any parent knows that if you wait until the end of the day, after other responsibilities are taken care of, you will have very little left to offer the page—let alone the energy to brush your own teeth. If possible, write first, before you do the thousand things required of you each week, even if that means you write for just five or fifteen minutes.

I’ve found my best sustaining resources have been scheduled group activities. The literary submission parties held by Women-Who-Submit have been great ways for me to block out time to devote to my writing life and get work out into the world. I can tell my partner on this day and time, I will be away. It’s a scheduled event—it’s legit, concrete, with a beginning and an end.

On top of having time blocked out in advance, the meetings transform preparing submissions, a difficult and painstaking task for the uber self-critical writer, into a positive and uplifting experience when done in community. As Pat Schneider, in her book Writing Alone and With Others, counsels: “Find and keep in contact with other writer/artists who can provide you with an intimate community of support, give you honest critical response, strengthen you, and encourage your work.”

From time to time, I also participate in a writing accountability group called The Grind. Participants write something every day for a month and email it to an assigned group. For a time-pressed parent, this arrangement works for me. There is no comment, no critiquing, just the doing of the writing. The Grind got me in the habit of approaching writing as I do brushing my teeth—it’s just something one does every day. Forming the habit was the achievement. I found myself jonesing to write each morning like jonesing for that first cup of coffee.

I don’t always write every day, but now I know I can, and I know that jotting down any thought I may have at any moment could turn into something down the road. As a parent, you’re being pulled in many directions at once. It can be hard to concentrate. You won’t remember that pithy thought later. Record it on your phone. Jot it on a receipt. Throw it in your purse. You’ll stumble across it when you fish out a tissue for your snot-nosed kid, and it may become a poem, story or book!

Writing while momming is playing the long game. Everyone tells you your kids will grow up so fast. As writers, it often seems like that’s not the case. But it does help to put things in perspective when you can accept the limitations of your present circumstances while remembering that it won’t always be this way. Things change. Children grow up.

There is no reason why you should throw in the writing towel just because you have children to take care of, but you will need to accept the limitations placed upon you if you want to be an effective parent AND remain connected to your writing self. You have to feed your writer self and care for it to avoid despair and bitterness.

Moreover, your attentiveness to yourself as an artist is setting an example for your children, and especially for young girls, that in addition to being a mother, you are also your own person, with your own hopes and dreams, needs and desires. Following through on those needs, dreams, and desires is not selfish or taking time away from your kids. It’s good parenting.

author Jamie Say FitzgeraldJamie Asaye FitzGerald is a Los Angeles-based poet from Hawaii. Her poems have appeared in the American Poetry Review, Works & Days, Poetry Daily, Mom Egg Review, and elsewhere. She earned an MFA in poetry from San Diego State University and a BA in English/Creative Writing from the University of Southern California where she received an Academy of American Poets College Prize and the Edward Moses Poetry Prize. She is also the mother of two young daughters and enjoys playing piano in the evenings as they run in circles around the couch.

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Goodwill and Gratitude: Twelve Years with Poets & Writers

13 writers sit around four folding tables fit together, facing the camera, smiling

by Jamie Asaye FitzGerald

For the last twelve years, I’ve worked for Poets & Writers, Inc. Founded by Galen Williams in New York City in 1970, and guided for over thirty years by the steady hand of executive director Elliot Figman, P&W is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization serving creative writers. Its mission is to foster the professional development of poets and writers, to promote communication throughout the literary community, and to help create an environment in which literature can be appreciated by the widest possible public.

I was hired as a program assistant in 2005, and have directed the California branch office of P&W and its Readings & Workshops (West) grant program for the past three years with the help of program coordinator and fellow poet Brandi M. Spaethe. I didn’t understand at the beginning how foundational the organization’s mission and key values of service, inclusivity, integrity, and excellence were, but over the years these tenets have seeped into my bones and informed my work and my life. I consider my time at P&W as post-post-graduate work—my unofficial PhD in literary community.

Continue reading “Goodwill and Gratitude: Twelve Years with Poets & Writers”

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Highlight on WWS-Long Beach, CA: An Interview with Chapter Leads Desiree Kannel and Rachael Rifkin

Four women with laptops sit around a table with a pink flower centerpiece, smiling

How would you describe your city and your local literary community?

We like to say that Long Beach is a “little ‘big’ city.” We have a big and diverse population and lots of very different communities. In fact, LB was named one of the most diverse cities in the US according to the last census. A fact we are very proud of.

LB has a lot going on in the literary world. It isn’t hard to find a poetry reading, someone doing a book launch, or even a critique group. Independent businesses like coffee shops and bookstores like to support LB writers and welcome small groups to do events such as readings or workshops. Continue reading “Highlight on WWS-Long Beach, CA: An Interview with Chapter Leads Desiree Kannel and Rachael Rifkin”

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The Animal In Us

by Melissa Chadburn and Lauren Eggert-Crowe

One December night in Culver City, I, Melissa Chadburn, was talking to Lauren Eggert-Crowe about Kate Gale’s Huff Po missive about AWP’s inclusion and Carol Muske-Dukes’ defense of said article. Lauren said she’d wanted to write a response but it takes her time to write these things. I suggested we collaborate on a response to be read aloud at a Red Hen Press event. So on Thursday April 7th, rather than read the essay that Red Hen published in the Los Angeles Review, I read this:

MC:
I used to live in a group home. I used to wander the streets looking into people’s dining rooms with the worst kind of ache. I used to stand around with teenage boys on the street corner waiting for the stoplight to change color. I used to hitch rides through the Palisades to go to my group home for girls by the ocean. I used to worry about gonorrhea and feel like I was the worst piece of shit alive. I used to pat my mother’s hair between my hands like hamburger meat. I used to practice kissing girls by kissing the back of my hand or kissing my own shoulder just to see what my skin tasted like. I used to do graffiti on government issued desks waiting for my name to be called. I used to long to belong to a world of the ordinary.

Continue reading “The Animal In Us”

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Women Who Submit at AWP

For those planning to attend AWP 2016 this week in Los Angeles, we do not doubt slogging through the list of scheduled events and managing the deluge of invites is making you short of breath. To help, we’ve created a cheat sheet of panels, readings, awards ceremonies, and cocktail parties where you can find the bright, shining women of Women Who Submit. And if our list doesn’t have a calming effect, there is always Lauren Eggert-Crowe’s piece, “How to Do AWP,” posted last week on the blog, for tips on self-care and success while getting your conference on.

So take a breath and dive in to the many wonders and amazements we have in store for you, and be sure to stop by booth #1504 to say hello and catch a glimpse of “The Amazing Submitting Woman.”

Monday March 28, 2016

The Instant. at 8pm (Not technically AWP, but a good warm up because… soup)
Ham & Eggs Tavern: 433 W 8th St, Los Angeles, California 90014
A monthly reading series that serves up local and visiting literary contributors, unique live music/performance and everyone’s favorite go-to food in a cup, Instant Ramen. Featuring Vickie Vertiz, Jervey Tervalon, Jade Chang, Jesse Bliss, & Toni Ann Johnson.

Wednesday March 30, 2016

Hello Los Angeles: An AWP Kickoff Party at 4pm-6pm
barcito: 403 W 12th St, Los Angeles, California 90015
An L.A. literary cocktail party benefitting 826LA with Special Guests Luis Alberto Urrea, Michael White, Robin Black, Desiree Cooper, Fabienne Josaphat, Bethanne Patrick, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Teka Lark and Dan Smetanka.

AWP Offsite: Coiled Serpent Publication Reading with Luis Rodriguez at 6pm-11pm
Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles: 929 S Broadway, Los Angeles, California 90015
Beyond Baroque Books and Tia Chucha Press present a publication reading for Coiled Serpent: Poets arising from the cultural quakes and shifts of Los Angeles edited by Luis J Rodriguez, Neelanjana Banerjee, Daniel A. Olivas, and Ruben J. Rodriguez. Featured readers include Don Campbell, Marisa Urrutia Gedney, Yago S. Cura, Jessica Ceballos, traci kato-kiriyama, William Archila, Sophie Rivera, Trini Rodriguez, Terry Wolverton, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo and more!

Shipwreck Presents: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a Literary Erotic Fanfiction Competition at 7pm
Bootleg Theater: 2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90057
Shipwreck, the San Francisco-based literary erotic fanfiction competition, is coming to LA for the first time, and we’re taking on Sherlock—yep, the whole f*cking canon with featured writers: Carmiel Banasky, Nina Bargiel, Lauren Eggert-Crowe, Nate Waggonner, Zoë Ruiz, and Matt Young.

AWP16 Offsite Event: “IX LIVES” Launch Hosted by Exposition Review at 7pm
Hennessey + Ingalls Bookstore: 300 S Santa Fe Ave, Ste M, Los Angeles, California 90013
Come kick off #AWP16 with the editors of Exposition Review as we celebrate the launch of our new volume “IX Lives”!

Thursday March 31, 2016

From the Drudges: Sustaining a Writing Life from Outside of Academia at 12pm-1:15pm
LA Convention Center, Room 408 A, Meeting Room Level
The lion’s share of prizes, grants, fellowships, and accolades originates in academia and is awarded to academics. Does this mean we have to teach in order to sustain a writing life? Five panelists discuss how a meaningful and successful writing career can be established and sustained from outside of the university cycle. Moderated by Jen Fitzgerald with panelists Rodrigo Toscano, Alyss Dixson, and Ashaki M. Jackson.

From New Wave to Punk: Musical Influences on Latino Literary Aesthetics at 1:30 pm to 2:45 pm
Room 505, LA Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
From all corners of Los Angeles and across this country, punk and New Wave music have influenced Latino writers for decades. This multigenre panel is equal parts reading, discussion, and listening party with special guest Michelle Gonzales author of The SpitBoy Rules, Daniel Chacon, Carribean Fragoza, musicologist Marlen Rios, and Vickie Vertiz.

Mistaking Planes for Stars: Writing from Los Angeles Flight Paths and Freeways at 3pm-4:15pm
AWP Conference, Room 410, LA Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
Working-class writing in Los Angeles has a long-standing tradition, from Bukowski to Viramontes. This read-ing highlights cutting-edge poetry, story, and performance by working-class and queer Latinos from southeast Los Angeles with with Steve Gutierrez, Melinda Palacio, Aida Salazar, and Vickie Vertiz.

Does America Still Dream? Depictions of Class, Poverty, and Social Im/mobility in Literature at 3pm-4:15pm
Rm 503, L.A. Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
Authors writing across genre and form hold an interracial conversation about rendering American class and poverty on the page. Moderated by LA-based writer and educator Dawn Dorland, featuring Jodi Angel, Teka-Lark Fleming, Jaquira Díaz & Melissa Chadburn.

Never on Your Own: Creating Community When Writing Is Done at 4:30pm-5:45pm
Gold Salon 1, JW Marriott LA, 1st Floor
Members of Booklift, Los Norteños, Seattle 7 Writers, the Shipping Group, and Women Who Submit—groups that focus on promotion, networking, and sending work out—share strategies on how to start and run such a group, how to partner with local bookstores and writing centers, and how to foster community both online and offline. Moderated by Waverly Fitzgerald with panelists Kathleen Alcalá, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Josephine Ensign, and Kelli Russell Agodon.

Incarcerated Juvenile? Veteran? Senior? Teaching and Reaching the Writer Hidden Within the Underserved at 4:30pm-5:45pm
Diamond Salon 6&7, JW Marriott LA, 3rd Floor
Five veteran teachers of the underserved discuss strategies and best practices to bring the power of writing into the lives of those often discounted in our culture. Panelists discuss the challenges and rewards of working in unusual classrooms and delve into how to best engage unique populations. Moderated by Monona Wali with panelists Robert Fox, Esché Jackson, Ashaki M. Jackson and Leslie Diane Poston.

La Pachanga 2016! at 5:30pm-8:30pm
Avenue 50 Studio: 131 N Avenue 50, Los Angeles, California 90042
An award ceremony & celebration honoring Francisco X. Alarcón, RIP, Juan Felipe Herrera, Lucha Corpi, Luis Javier Rodríguez, Odilia Galván Rodríguez as well as celebrating the release of the new anthology Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice (University of Arizona Press).

The Lulus at 5:30pm-7:30pm
The Palm Restaurant: 1100 S Flower St, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Lulu will present its first annual awards, the Lulus, in recognition of writers and organizations who actively support racial, gender and class justice. Honorees include Garth Greenwell, Saeed Jones, and Wendy C. Ortiz.
$10 per ticket

Word of Mouth offsite reading AWP 2016 at 6pm
Casey’s Irish Pub: 613 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, California 90017
Featuring David James Poissant, Tammy Delatorre, Tom Hunley Ron Salutsky, Leona Sevick, Tania Runyan, Susan Browne, Scott T. Starbuck, Martha Silano, Dave Essinger, CC Perry, Cindy Rinne, Brendan Kiely, and Tom Bligh.

Best of the West Reading at Villains Tavern at 6pm
Villains Tavern: 1356 Palmetto St, Los Angeles, California 90013
Join The Los Angeles Review, Pacifica Literary Review, and CutBank for a Best of the West Reading at Villains Tavern in the LA Arts District featuring Siel Ju, Madgalawit Makonnen, Jeff Walt, William Camponovo, Corinne Manning, Catherine Pond, Daniel Riddle Rodriguez, and Caleb Tankersley.

Best of the Net / Political Punch / Sundress / Agape Reading at 7pm-10pm
The Lexington: 129 E 3rd St, Los Angeles, California 90013
Join Sundress Publications for a night of three celebratory readings for our new poetry anthology, Political Punch, the 10 year anniversary of the Best of the Net Anthology, and Sundress’s Sweet 16 with readings by Timothy Liu, Cam Awkward-Rich, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, Lee Ann Roripaugh, Chen Chen, Traci Brimhall, Matt Hart, Emily Jungmin Yoon, Alix Olin, Nicole Walker, Sarah Einstein, Fox Frazier-Foley, Amorak Huey, Letitia Trent, Jill Khoury, Saba Syed Razvi, Jessica Rae Bergamino, and M. Mack!

Friday April 1, 2016

The Flash Sequence: A Reading and Discussion at 9am-10:15am
LA Convention Center, Room 406 AB, LA Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
For 20 years, the Marie Alexander Series has published hybrid work: prose poems, flash fiction, lyric essays, and books that mix all three and defy categorization. For our 20th anniversary, we decided to publish an anthology of flash sequences—that is, pieces comprising short prose segments.Each participant will read and discuss his or her contribution to the anthology. Moderator, Debra Marquart with panelists, Irena Praitis, Siel Ju, Jenn Koiter, and Sonia Greenfield.

Through the Closet: Writing Human Complexity in Queer Characters at 10:30am
Los Angeles Convention Center, Room 404 AB, Meeting Room Level
The typical “coming out of the closet” narrative is a fantasy of a starkly contrasted before-and-after, of complete disclosure and consequence. Through the lens of their works of fiction, the panelists discuss the limitations of this oversimplified account of the queer experience and explore their varying approaches in writing queer characters in all of their human nuances and differences across genres and time periods. Moderator, Catie Disabato with panelists Thomas McBee, Marcos L. Martinez, Seth Fischer, and Kate Maruyama.

“Once, I Was That Girl”: Creative Writing Pedagogy for Tween and Teen Girls. at 10:30am
LA Convention Center, Room 505, Meeting Room Level
“Empowering girls” has become a catchphrase that can be relatively meaningless. Yet, single-sex environments have been proven to be productive spaces in which creativity is nurtured and young writers can grow. Four educators and writers who have founded organizations that serve tween and teen girls speak to the practical challenges and the reverberations of success they have witnessed while mentoring girls, as well as the inspiration this has brought to their own creative work. With panelists Elline Lipkin, Allison Deegan, Nancy Gruver, Margaret Stohl, and Marlys West.

Book signing of The Amado Women by Désirée Zamorano at 2pm-3pm
Bindercon table, exhibit space #1936

¡Chicana! Power! A Firme Tejana-Califas Reading at 3pm-4:15pm
LA Convention Center, Room 410, Meeting Room Level
With a brown fist in the air, chanting “¡Sí Se Puede!” these mujeres bring la palabra. This is a reading by fierce Chicana poets stemming from Texas and Califas. Moderated by Dr. Guadalupe Garcia Montano with panelists Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Anel I. Flores, Emmy Pérez, and Laurie Ann Guerrero.

Poetas in ONE-derland (An AWP offsite reading) at 7pm
Self Help Graphics & Art: 1300 E 1st St, Los Angeles, California 90033
A Poetry evening featuring eastside and east coast sisters of the
historical Nuyorican Poets Cafe featuring Cynthia Guardado, Ashaki M. Jackson, reina alejandra prado saldivar, Peggy Robles-Alvarado, Maria Rodriguez-Morales, and Vickie Vértiz.

AWP 2016 Offsite: The Rumpus and Rare Bird Present PICK YOUR POISON at 7pm-9pm
Lethal Amounts: 1226 W 7th St, Los Angeles, California 90017
The Rumpus and Rare Bird proudly present PICK YOUR POISON, an AWP 2016 offsite event. With readings from Cornelius Eady, Rich Ferguson, Ashley C. Ford, Erika Krouse, Anna March, and J. Ryan Stradal! Hosted by Antonia Crane!

AWP Offsite: Kundiman & Kaya Present LITERAOKE at 8:30pm-11pm
Kapistahan: 1925 W Temple St, Ste 103, Los Angeles, California 90026
Come out and get down with Kaya Press & Kundiman at our AWP offsite event as we combine readings and Karaoke into a never-before-attempted experiment of entertainment and enlightenment! Features include Vidhu Aggarwal, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Sam Chanse, Leticia Hernandez, Ashaki M. Jackson, Janine Joseph, Teka Lark, Sueyeun Juliette Lee, Ed Lin, R. Zamora Linmark, Kenji Liu, Rajiv Mohabir, Angela Peñarendondo, and more!

VIDA Dance-a-Thon at AWP at 10pm-2am
Ace Hotel Los Angeles: 929 S Broadway, Los Angeles, California 90015
Don’t worry, it’s not a competition, we just want to have a good time! Come party with VIDA at our AWP offsite event, and support another year of amplifying women’s voices with features Charlie Jane Anders, Sheila Black, Wendy C. Ortiz, Gregory Pardlo, Christopher Soto (aka Loma), Michelle Tea.

Saturday April 2, 2016

The 3rd Annual Rock and Roll Reading at 4 PM – 7:30 PM
The Echoplex: 1822 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90026
Rapid-fire readings followed by live music from Frances Gumm featuring Alice Bolin, Stephen Burt, Melissa Chadburn, Jerry Gabriell, Eleanor Henderson, Micah Ling, Nate Marshall, Adrian Matejka, Emily Nemens, Elena Passarello, Jim Ruland, Ethan Rutherford, Amy Scharmann, Amy Silverberg.

AWP: Thanks for Visiting! at 6pm-8pm
Espacio 1839: 1839 E 1st St, Los Angeles, California 90033
Los Angeles Poet Society and The Writers Underground present a showcase of Los Angeles Poets that bring it! With: Iris De Anda, Jessica M. Wilson, Jeffery Martin, Gloria E. Alvarez with Musical accompaniment from Greg Hernandez, Steve Abee, and Cynthia Guardado.

FLORICANTOS UNCOILED: Afterdark Whispers of Passion at 10pm-1:30am
Medford Street Studios: Los Angeles, California 90033
An late night reading co-hosted by Las Lunas Locas with Karineh Mahdessian and Sophia Rivera celebrating POETRY OF RESISTANCE: VOICES FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, published by the University of Arizona press and co-edited by Francisco X. Alarcón (RIP: Rest in Poetry) and Odilia Galván Rodríguez and COILED SERPENT: POETS ARISING FROM THE CULTURAL QUAKES & SHIFTS OF LOS ANGELES, published by Tia Chucha Press.

For those not attending AWP 2016 or looking to take a break from the Los Angeles Convention Center, be sure to attend a panel or two at THE REJECTED, an alternative mini-convention brought to you by Lauren Traetto, Writ Large Press, and CIELO featuring panels and speakers rejected by “stupid ass AWP16 for no damn good reason.”