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Dennis is joined via Zoom by author and poet Brian Sonia-Wallace to talk about his book The Poetry of Strangers, which documents his adventures traveling the country as a typewriter poet-for-hire. He recalls the stunt that led to him first getting into public typewriter poetry when he declared during an open mic type show that he was going to make his rent money doing nothing but poetry. It worked...and led to his career as what he calls a "rent poet," which is like a rentboy but for poems. He talks about some of the places this vocation has taken him; from paid residencies at the Mall of America and on an Amtrak train to a gathering of witches in Salem, Massachusetts to a political campaign in Chatanooga, Tennesssee. Other topics include: being invited to the White House for the ceremony where the AIDS quilt was displayed on the White House lawn, starting the Pride Poets booth at Weho Pride, why he never feels imposter syndrome at his rent-poet typewriter but he does when he sits down at his laptop to write his own projects and the idea that the mistake is actually part of the art. And at the end of the interview, he writes a poem for Dennis. Yes, there are tears. (www.rentpoet.com)
Brian Sonia-Wallace is a multifaceted author and poet raised in Culver City, California and Santiago, Chile. His memoir, The Poetry of Strangers (Harper Collins, 2020), details his experiences engaging with the world through poetry. Brian has contributed to notable publications like the Guardian, LitHub, and Rolling Stone. His latest publication is Maze Mouth (Moontide Press, 2023). Brian fosters LGBTQ+ voices through a poetry column for The Pride LA and teaches creative writing at UCLA Writers' Extension and the nonprofit Get Lit—Words Ignite. Sonia-Wallace's impact on the literary community is further recognized by his role as the fourth poet laureate of West Hollywood. Books recommended by Brian Sonia-Wallace: A poem is a house by Linda Ravenswood When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy Atherton Lin Recommended by VW community member, Buzzy Cohen: Tenth of December by George Saunders SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions? Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com. Village Well Books & Coffee is an independent book and coffee-shop in the heart of downtown Culver City. Come through, grab a drink, and read a book!
Did you know many cities, including West Hollywood, have an official Poet Laureate? We Know WeHo talks to the Official Poet Laureate of West Hollywood - Brian Sonia-Wallace. Listen to find out what it means to hold that position and Brian's official duties whilst he is in this role. Be sure to check out the Tuesday night open mic for poets, musicians, artists as well as a quarterly poetry SLAM competition being hosted at Micky's West Hollywood. GUEST RESOURCES Website: briansoniawallace.com Instagram: @rentpoet PODCAST Website: anchor.fm/weknowweho Instagram: @weknowweho_official Host: @TLP_Style Guest Co-Host: @johnericksonwh SHOW NOTES & LINKS: Brian Sonia Wallace - Poet Laureate West Hollywood Arts Micky's West Hollywood The Invisible Life of Addie Larue - V.E. Schwab West Hollywood Aquatic Center CicLAVia IRV's Burgers Tail O' the Pup Madeo at the One Hotel Butcher's Daughter Zinc Cafe and Market Zinque V Wine Room Sunset Marquis DineLA Restaurant Week West Hollywood City Council
Today's episode was recorded live on March 31st, 2022 over Zoom. We begin with a touching open mic– then we get into our lovely headliners. First, is Brian Sonia-Wallace, he currently serves as the West Hollywood City Poet Laureate, and is a Laureate Fellow for the Academy of American Poets for LGBTQ+ poetry activism. He curates Pride Poets, which brings queer poets on typewriters to write for the public at Pride in June. Check out his book, The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter, a memoir of his career as a poet-for-hire across the country. Rounding out the entire series is the incomparable Hank Henderson. He is a writer & performer whose work has been produced by the WeHo Pride Festival and Highways Performance space. He curated the LGBTQ+ reading series homo-centric for over 12 years. A 2018 Lambda Literary Fellow, he was most recently published in the anthology, Under the Belly Of the Beast.
Hello, my dear internet friends! This week I got to interview Brian Sonia-Wallace, the West Hollywood Poet Laureate, Harper Collins Author, and one of the most creative/ unique people I've ever gotten to talk to. In 2012, Brian set up a typewriter on the street with a sign that said “Poetry Store” and accidentally started their business: RENT Poet. Over 5,000 poems later, their book of essays, The Poetry of Strangers, profiles the communities they've written for across America, and the desperate desire to be listened to and heard that they found. Excerpts have been published in The Guardian and Rolling Stone, and they've been the official Writer in Residence for unlikely clients from Amtrak to the Mall of America. I got to talk with this incredible human about what it was like traveling America with a typewriter, meeting countless strangers, and talking about what they need. We also talked about Brian's story of how they became who they are today, how their relationship with their body has grown over the years through outlets like bodybuilding and theatre, and what it means to be a poet. Enjoy! Follow me: IG: @jackieg.tv Twitter: @jackieeg7 Support this Podcast: Patreon.com/jackiegtv Buy My Book: Gumroad.com/l/findinghome Follow Brian: IG/ Twitter/ Facebook: @rentpoet www.briansonia-wallace.com PRIDE POETS: "This Poems for You" podcast debuts in June 2022. ON JUNE 11TH: Call 202-998-3510 and poets will be standing by to write you a custom poem over the phone! More info at www.weho.org/pride or @wehoarts.
Before he became an award-winning writer and poet, Brian Sonia-Wallace set up a typewriter on the street with a sign that said “Poetry Store” and discovered something surprising: all over America, people want poems. An amateur busker at first, Brian asked countless strangers, “What do you need a poem about?” To his surprise, passersby opened up to share their deepest yearnings, loves, and heartbreaks. Hundreds of them. Then thousands. Around the nation, Brian's poetry crusade drew countless converts from all walks of life.In The Poetry of Strangers, Brian tells the story of his cross-country journey in a series of heartfelt and insightful essays. From Minnesota to Tennessee, California to North Dakota, Brian discovered that people aren't so afraid of poetry when it's telling their stories. In “dying” towns flourish vibrant artistic spirits and fascinating American characters who often pass under the radar, from the Mall of America's mall walkers to retirees on Amtrak to self-proclaimed witches in Salem.In a time of unprecedented loneliness and isolation, Brian's journey shows how art can be a vital bridge to community in surprising places. Conventional wisdom says Americans don't want to talk to each other, but according to this poet-for-hire, everyone is just dying to be heard.Thought-provoking, moving, and eye-opening, The Poetry of Strangers is an unforgettable portrait of America told through the hidden longings of one person at a time, by one of our most important voices today. The fault lines and conflicts which divide us fall away when we remember to look, in every stranger, for poetry.
“What does it mean to call every stranger friend?” That's a question poet and innovator Brian Sonia-Wallace asks as he discusses his unusual journey writing spontaneous poetry at events. In his twenties Brian Sonia-Wallace put out a typewriter on the street to write poetry for strangers and has been doing it ever since. He is the founder of “Rent Poet” and travels the world to write for others, including at a residency at The Mall of America. You can read about his adventures in his new book from Harper Collins, The Poetry of Strangers. In this interview, he discusses the ways that he, and others who write poetry for strangers find commonalities with their clients, how they write poems that reflect their feelings and the feelings of their clients. This is a rich interview with intriguing insights from the Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, and one of the more original, poet-entrepreneurs writing today. Recommended readings and Poets Referenced Danez Smith Sam Sax
The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter by Brian Sonia-Wallace Rentpoet.com Before he became an award-winning writer and poet, Brian Sonia-Wallace set up a typewriter on the street with a sign that said “Poetry Store” and discovered something surprising: all over America, people want poems. An amateur busker at first, Brian asked countless strangers, “What […] The post Chris Voss Podcast – The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter by Brian Sonia-Wallace appeared first on Chris Voss Official Website.
The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter by Brian Sonia-Wallace Rentpoet.com Before he became an award-winning writer and poet, Brian Sonia-Wallace set up a typewriter on the street with a sign that said “Poetry Store” and discovered something surprising: all over America, people want poems. An amateur busker at first, Brian asked countless strangers, “What […] The post Book Author Podcast – The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter by Brian Sonia-Wallace appeared first on Book Author Podcast.
Rattlecast #67 features RENT Poet founder Brian Sonia-Wallace and his new book, The Poetry of Strangers. In 2012, Brian set up a typewriter on the street with a sign that said “Poetry Store” and accidentally started his business: RENT Poet. Over 5,000 poems later, his book of essays, The Poetry of Strangers, profiles the communities he's written for across America, and the desperate desire to be listened to and heard that he found. Excerpts have been published in The Guardian and Rolling Stone, and he's been the official Writer in Residence for unlikely clients from Amtrak to the Mall of America. Brian Sonia-Wallace also just been named Poet Laureate of West Hollywood. For more information, visit: https://rentpoet.com/ As always, we'll also include live open mic for responses to our weekly prompt. For details on how to participate, either via Skype or by phone, go to: https://www.rattle.com/rattlecast/ This Week's Prompt: Write a poem that focuses on opposites or contradictions—a noisy library, a sunny night, a tragic comedy, etc. (Write your whole poem about one or sprinkle many throughout.) Next Week's Prompt: Randomstreetview.com is a site that randomly generates photographs of streets all over the world. Find a photo that speaks to you and write a poem about it. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Periscope, then becomes an audio podcast.
BRIAN SONIA-WALLACE Brian Sonia-Wallace’s books include The Poetry of Strangers (Harper Collins, 2020) and I sold these poems, now I want them back (Yak Press, 2016). His writing has been published in The Guardian and Rolling Stone, and he teaches creative writing through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and Get Lit - Words Ignite. He is the founder of RENT Poet, bringing poets on typewriters to events, as featured on NPR's How I Built This. Brian has been the Writer in Residence for Amtrak, Mall of America, the National Parks, and more. His work has been profiled by The New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, ABC7, and Telemundo. More at briansoniawallace.com. JAMES PAUL WAGNER James P. Wagner (Ishwa) is an editor, publisher, award-winning fiction writer, essayist, historian performance poet, and alum twice over (BA & MALS) of Dowling College. He is the publisher for Local Gems Poetry Press and the Senior Founder and President of the Bards Initiative. He is also the founder and Grand Laureate of Bards Against Hunger, a series of poetry readings and anthologies dedicated to gathering food for local pantries that operates in over a dozen states. His most recent individual collection of poetry is Everyday Alchemy. He was the Long Island, NY National Beat Poet Laureate from 2017-2019. He was the Walt Whitman Bicentennial Convention Chairman and teaches poetry workshops at the Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site. James has edited over 60 poetry anthologies and hosted book launch events up and down the East Coast. He was recently named the National Beat Poet Laureate of the US for 2020-2021. -- ~James P. Wagner (Ishwa) President: The Bards Initiative (Long Island Poetry Not-For-Profit) www.bardsinitiative.weebly.com Publisher For, Local Gems Poetry Press (Publisher Of Poetry Anthologies and Collections) www.localgemspoetrypress.com Editor For The Perspectives Series (Poetry Concerning Autism and Other Disabilities) www.perspectivesanthology.com On Twitter: @IshwaJPW Advisory Board Member: Nassau County Poet Laureate Society. http://nassaucountypoetlaureatesociety.com/ Advisory Board Member: Walt Whitman Birthplace and State Historic Site: http://www.waltwhitman.org www.bardsagainsthunger.com, www.bardconvirtual.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter by Brian Sonia-Wallace Rentpoet.com Before he became an award-winning writer and poet, Brian Sonia-Wallace set up a typewriter on the street with a sign that said “Poetry Store” and discovered something surprising: all over America, people want poems. An amateur busker at first, Brian asked countless strangers, “What do you need a poem about?” To his surprise, passersby opened up to share their deepest yearnings, loves, and heartbreaks. Hundreds of them. Then thousands. Around the nation, Brian’s poetry crusade drew countless converts from all walks of life. In The Poetry of Strangers, Brian tells the story of his cross-country journey in a series of heartfelt and insightful essays. From Minnesota to Tennessee, California to North Dakota, Brian discovered that people aren’t so afraid of poetry when it’s telling their stories. In “dying” towns flourish vibrant artistic spirits and fascinating American characters who often pass under the radar, from the Mall of America’s mall walkers to retirees on Amtrak to self-proclaimed witches in Salem. In a time of unprecedented loneliness and isolation, Brian’s journey shows how art can be a vital bridge to community in surprising places. Conventional wisdom says Americans don’t want to talk to each other, but according to this poet-for-hire, everyone is just dying to be heard. Thought-provoking, moving, and eye-opening, The Poetry of Strangers is an unforgettable portrait of America told through the hidden longings of one person at a time, by one of our most important voices today. The fault lines and conflicts which divide us fall away when we remember to look, in every stranger, for poetry. Brian Sonia-Wallace is a street poet and performance artist who challenges notions of art and value. He began RENT Poet, an experiment in paying his rent through writing poems for passersby on the street and at events, in September, 2014. Since then, he's written for tech companies and governments, toured nationally and internationally, and been nominated for a 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award. Brian is a Partner at the Melrose Poetry Bureau and lives in Los Angeles.
Our second poets panel on surviving 2020 as a writer and poet is chock full of great suggestions and helpful life tips to staying creative and staying sane while keeping your distance from other people. Three amazing talents - Poetry Salon teacher Arthur Kayzakian, creativity coach Jennie Linthorst and cultural writer and critic Brian Sonia Wallace chime in, read some poetry and offer their wisdom on absorbing the news, staying connected and keeping your projects going.
Cotton muslin baby blankets are commonplace in Australia, where Raegan Moya-Jones grew up. But when she started a new life and family in NYC, she couldn't find them anywhere. So in 2006, she started the baby blanket company Aden + Anais, which now makes more than $100 million in annual revenue. We first ran this episode in 2017 – but about a year later, Raegan's role as leader and co-founder took a dramatic turn. She fills Guy in on what happened in this special updated episode. PLUS in our postscript "How You Built That," we check back with Brian Sonia-Wallace, who started the business Rent Poet, and makes a living writing spontaneous poetry at weddings, corporate events, and other gatherings.
“Words are how we record our thoughts and put them in other people’s heads,” says Brian Sonia-Wallace aka Rent Poet. Brian uses a typewriter and his poetry to pay the rent. Beautiful Hollywood host Melanie Camp chats with the wordsmith about poetry and getting paid. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/beautiful-hollywood/support
Today, we invite artists, curators, a media specialist, and an invigilator to talk about complex art that challenges the resources of traditional exhibition spaces. Their backstories reveal how building relationships—through eco-systems, architecture, choreography, media archaeology and virtual community engagement – make exceptional art encounters possible. Featured voices: Brian Sonia-Wallace, Sarah Oppenheimer, Dara Friedman, Rene Morales, Kevin Arrow/Obsolete Media Miami, María José Arjona, Alexandra Pirici, Rea McNamara Sound Editor: Anamnesis Audio | Special sound: María José Arjona, Alexandra Pirici, Rea McNamara, and Tony Halmos | Photography courtesy María José Arjona, The New Museum, New York and Art Basel Cities Week Buenos Aires Related Episodes: Dara Friedman on the Theater of Your Mind, Sarah Oppenheimer on Space and Light, Sarah Oppenheimer on Architectural Interventions Related Links: Pierre Huyghe: UUmwelt, Serpentine Galleries, Pierre Huyghe, LACMA, Sarah Oppenheimer, Baltimore Museum of Art, Sarah Oppenheimer: S-281913, Perez Art Museum, Miami, Dara Friedman: Perfect Stranger, Perez Art Museum, Miami, Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present, Museum of Modern Art, NY, María José Arjona: To Be Known as Infinite, Alexandra Pirici, Leaking Territories, Skulptur Projekte Münster, Alexandra Pirici: Co-natural, New Museum, NY, Alexandra Pirici: Aggregate, Art Basel Cities, Buenos Aires, Brian Sonia-Wallace, Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016, Sheroes, Obsolete Media Miami
In 2010, Katrina Lake recruited 20 friends for an experiment: she wanted to see if she could choose clothes for them that accurately matched their style and personality. That idea sparked Stitch Fix, an online personal shopping service that aims to take the guesswork out of shopping. Today, it has over two million customers and brings in nearly a billion dollars in annual revenue. Plus, for our postscript "How You Built That", how Brian Sonia-Wallace built "Rent Poet" — a poem-on-demand service for weddings, corporate gatherings, and other events.