Podcast appearances and mentions of tia chucha press

We are thrilled to welcome back Luis J. Rodriguez, former Los Angeles Poet Laureate from 2014 to 2016, in this episode. We discuss the Always Running festival, which is named after his well-known book - Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. Since our last interview, Luis has been traveling with his wife Trini for poetry readings and speaking engagements around the world. Currently, he is working on a script with Freddy Negrete based on the true story of the killing of David Dominguez, a gang member, by San Gabriel ex-cop Billy Joe McIlvain. We also touch on a project that Luis was involved in with John Leguizamo, though unfortunately it was not completed. One of the most heartbreaking topics we discuss is the growing homeless population in Los Angeles and how expensive housing is causing many people to leave the city or move to Mexico. Take a listen to this insightful conversation with an accomplished author and activist. In addition to being a novelist, memoirist, short story writer, children's book writer, and essayist, Luis is also a poet. He is also known as a mentor, healer, youth and arts advocate, community and urban peace activist, husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. And if you find yourself in the Los Angeles area, be sure to visit Tia Chucha Bookstore and Cultural Center. He has 16 books in all genres (poetry, children's books, fiction, and nonfiction), including the best-selling memoir, "Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A." His latest memoir is the sequel, "It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing." His last poetry book is 2016's "Borrowed Bones" from Curbstone Books/Northwestern University Press. In 2020, Seven Stories Press released his first book of essays, "From Our Land to Our Land: Essays, Journeys & Imaginings from a Native Xicanx Writer." Among his many awards and fellowships, in 2022 Luis was given a California Arts Council Legacy Fellowship and a Los Angeles Times' Robert Kirsch Lifetime Achievement Award. Luis is founding editor of Tia Chucha Press, now for over 30 years, and more than 20 years ago he co-founded with his wife Trini Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore in the San Fernando Valley. He has traveled across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, Europe, and Japan to speak, do poetry readings, indigenous ceremonies, or reportage over the past 40 years. This includes prisons, jails, and juvenile lockups in around 20 U.S. states, as well as Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Argentina, Italy, and England. Dedicated to his indigenous roots and Native American spirituality, Luis has a Mexika name: Mixcoatl Itztlacuiloh. With his wife Trini (Tlazohteotl) he has a podcast called "The Hummingbird Cricket Hour"--http://hchpodcast.libsyn.com/ Luis is dedicated to a clean, balanced, abundant, cooperative, healing world. No more capitalist private property relations, exploitation, war, or inequities. "In essential things, unity; in nonessential things, liberty. In all things compassion." Always Running – La Vida Loca, Gang Days in LA by Luis J. Rodriguez The Concrete River: Poems by Luis J Rodriguez Tia Chucha Bookstore & Cultural Center Freddy Negrete: Smile Now, Cry Later Good Cop or Bad Cop? The Story of Billy Joe McIlvain and the Murder of David Dominguez

Ruben Rodriguez, our guest for this month's episode of the Poetic Resurrection Podcast, is a highly accomplished editor and English teacher. He shares with us the intriguing story of how he first ventured into the world of editing and teaching. From a young age, Ruben had a deep appreciation for literature and storytelling, which led him to pursue a degree in English. Throughout his academic journey, he discovered his talent for editing and his ability to bring out the best in written works. His passion for working with writers and helping them refine their stories is evident in every project he takes on. Ruben's experiences have taught him the importance of not only understanding the technical aspects of editing but also fostering a nurturing and collaborative relationship with writers. In this episode, he shares valuable insights on the creative process, the challenges faced by writers, and the fulfillment he finds in helping them realize their literary visions. Ruben J. Rodriguez received his degree of Bachelor of Arts with a major in English from UCLA, magna cum laude, was an editor of Westwind magazine, has read his works at UCLA's Powell Library, co-edited the L.A.-based poetry anthology Coiled Serpent, and currently works as a freelance editor, including with Tia Chucha Press, and as an English teacher through IANT Education with a focus on creative writing. He recently started a YouTube channel focused on book reviews and discussion of literature, To Readers It May Concern. Listen to his YouTube Channel Here

(Airdate 8/11/23) Luis Javier Rodriguez is the official Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. Luis is also a novelist as well as a community & urban peace activist, mentor, healer, youth & arts advocate, husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He has 16 books in all genres (poetry, children's books, fiction, and nonfiction), including the best-selling memoir, "Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A." His latest memoir is the sequel, "It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing." His last poetry book is 2016's "Borrowed Bones". Luis is founding editor of Tia Chucha Press, now for over 30 years, and more than 20 years ago he co-founded with his wife Trini Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore in the San Fernando Valley. https://www.luisjrodriguez.com/ www.tiachucha.org

Edward Tick, PhD is a nonfiction writer and poet. He is a transformational healer, holistic psychotherapist, educator, consultant and international journey guide. Dr. Tick has been working to heal the invisible wounds of war and violent trauma for over forty years. He is honored for his groundbreaking work in the spiritual, holistic, and community-based healing of veterans and other survivors of severe violence who suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and moral injury. He has published breakthrough books in this field, including the award-winning War and the Soul. His work introduced the ancient concept of soul wounding and how to heal it to our modern military, veteran and trauma studies worlds. Dr. Tick is an internationally recognized educator, author and expert on the military, veterans, PTSD, Viet Nam, and the psychology, spirituality and history of global trauma, warrior traditions, and military-related issues. For four decades he has conducted trainings, retreats and workshops across the country and overseas. He has trained staff, taught and worked with wounded warriors at major Department of Defense and Veteran Administration facilities and at colleges, universities, hospitals, health care and community centers across the country and overseas. Defense Dept. and VA facilities use his pioneering work and he has served as the US military's subject matter expert trainer on PTSD and Moral Injury for the past decade. Ed cofounded the nonprofit Soldier's Heart, Inc. with his partner Kate Dahlstedt and for 13 years served as its director from their national offices in Troy, New York. He now consilts internationally on these issues. In addition to War and the Soul Ed is the author of the nonfiction books Sacred Mountain, The Practice of Dream Healing, Wild Beasts and Wandering Souls, and Warrior's Return, the poetry collections The Bull Awakening and The Golden Tortoise, the audio set Restoring the Warrior's Soul, much poetry, and over 200 scholarly, professional and popular book chapters, essays and articles in psychology, trauma studies, poetry, literature, philosophy, mythology, humanistic, classical and Vietnamese studies. He was editor of Voices: The Art and Science of Psychotherapy, the Frontiers of Psychotherapy book series, and poetry editor for Outpost and other little magazines. Ed's forthcoming books are a 20-year poetry collection documenting his healing journeys in Viet Nam. Coming Home in Viet Nam will be published in November 2021 by Tia Chucha Press. Soul Medicine: Healing Through Dreams, Visions, Oracles and Pilgrimages was published in 2022 by Inner Traditions. https://www.edwardtick.com ------------------------------- Watch Path 11 TV wherever you want, on the iPhone, AppleTV, Android, Amazon Fire, and Roku Apps.

We kick off season 2 by sipping on our cafecito and connecting with a couple that exemplify resiliency. So grab your cafecito and learn more about Luis Rodriguez and Trini Rodriguez, co-founders and former Executive Director of Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore (www.tiachucha.org), a cultural center/bookstore in L.A's San Fernando Valley that transforms community through ancestral knowledge, the arts, literacy and creative engagement. Luis rodriguez is the author of 16 multi-genre books, including the bestselling memoir "Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A." He is also founding editor of Tia Chucha Press. For more than 40 years, he's taught creative writing, read poetry, lectured, and facilitated healing circles in prisons, jails, and juvenile lockups in the United States., Mexico, Central America, South America, and Europe. He's been active in Indigenous spiritual practices and teachings for around 30 years, including among the Lakota, Mexica, Dine (Navajo), Akimel O'odham. Raramuri (Tarahumara). Maya (Mexico and Guatemala). Pibil (El Salvador),.and Quechua (Peru). He's been published widely. including in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, San Jose Mercury. L.A. Weekly, The Nation, Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine. Grand Street. American Poetry Review. Brooklyn Rail. and the Huffington Post. among others. From 2014 to 2016, he served as Los Angeles' official Poet Laureate. Trini Rodriguez (AKA Tlazohteotl) is a former bilingual educator, court interpreter, and newspaper editor, she writes, speaks and strives for personal and collective healing and systemic social change. Trini facilitates women's healing sweat lodge and healing circles in Native American and Native Mexican traditions. To connect further with this amazing couple go to their podcast "Hummingbird Cricket Hour"!

The Latino Bookstore & Gift Shop is proud to anchor a Texas Tri-City Tour of Latino Literature following the trail blazed by The Librotraficante Caravan of Banned Books. Salvadoran American poet Claudia Castro Luna will visit each stop to present her collection of poetry Cipota Under the Moon. It's published by Tia Chucha Press from Los Angeles California founded by Los Angeles Poet Laureate, and gubernatorial candidate, Luis J. Rodriguez. Rodriguez's books formed part of the Mexican American Studies curriculum banned in Arizona. The Latino Bookstore will provide sales at each stop. Cristina Balli, Director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, which houses the bookstore, said, "The Latino Bookstore is not only a state-wide destination for Texas Latino authors, but it is also a fountain of support for Latino Literature in other cities. This is one way that we can support Latino authors, publishers, and communities. This is another way to address the book deserts that engulf Latino communities in other cities." Each evening will be hosted by Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, Literary Curator of the Latino Bookstore. He said, "Book bans will not silence our community. Book deserts will not snuff out our voices. Our movement will continue to defy attacks on intellectual freedom. We are building on the trail we have blazed with the Librotraficante Caravan of Banned Books. Now we are uniting three major Texas cities again, and we are uniting with our brothers and sisters from California. We will not rest until our community has full access to this Art, History, and Culture." Each stop will also feature writers, visual artists, and musicians from each city and the Central American community. Here are the 3 Cities: Houston: Home of The Librotraficantes. Wednesday, June 29, 2022, 6 pm. Free. The Alta Arts 5412 Ashbrook Dr, Houston, TX 77081 Austin: Thursday, June 30, 2022, 6 pm. Free. La Peña, Inc., site of the Librotraficante Under Ground Library in Austin. 227 Congress Ave. Austin, Tx 78701 512.477.6007 San Antonio: Friday, July 1, 2022, 6 pm. Free. The Latino Bookstore 1300 Guadalupe San Antonio, TX 78207 Part of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center About: Claudia Castro Luna is an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate fellow (2019), WA State Poet Laureate (2018 – 2021) and Seattle's inaugural Civic Poet (2015-2018). Castro Luna's newest collection of poetry is Cipota Under the Moon from Tia Chucha Press. She is also the author of One River, A Thousand Voices (Chin Music Press), the Pushcart nominated Killing Marías(Two Sylvias Press) also shortlisted for WA State 2018 Book Award in poetry, and the chapbook This City (Floating Bridge Press). Her most recent non-fiction is in There's a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis (Vintage). Born in El Salvador she came to the United States in 1981. Living in English and Spanish, Claudia writes and teaches in Seattle on unceded Duwamish lands where she gardens and keeps chickens with her husband and their three children. The Latino Bookstore's Texas Author Series takes place every First Friday. Subsequent authors will represent the entire state of Texas. Their work also touches on many other aspects of Latino culture, Mexican American History, and the other art fields that the GCAC specializes in. Friday, Aug 5, 2022, 6 pm: The Latino Bookstore's Texas Author Series features the national launch. of the non-fiction book The Tip of The Pyramid: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital by Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante. Houston Partners: Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say Tintero Projects The Central American Collective The Gulfton Super Neighborhood Council Houston Artists BIPOC Arts Network Fund MantecaHTX Nuestra Palabra City Council J The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center The Latino Bookstore Pan American Round Table of Houston The Center for Mexican American & Latino/a Studies See less www.Librotraficante.com www.NuestraPalabra.org www.TonyDiaz.net

The Latino Bookstore & Gift Shop is proud to anchor a Texas Tri-City Tour of Latino Literature following the trail blazed by The Librotraficante Caravan of Banned Books. Salvadoran American poet Claudia Castro Luna will visit each stop to present her collection of poetry Cipota Under the Moon. It's published by Tia Chucha Press from Los Angeles California founded by Los Angeles Poet Laureate, and gubernatorial candidate, Luis J. Rodriguez. Rodriguez's books formed part of the Mexican American Studies curriculum banned in Arizona. The Latino Bookstore will provide sales at each stop. Cristina Balli, Director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, which houses the bookstore, said, "The Latino Bookstore is not only a state-wide destination for Texas Latino authors, but it is also a fountain of support for Latino Literature in other cities. This is one way that we can support Latino authors, publishers, and communities. This is another way to address the book deserts that engulf Latino communities in other cities." Each evening will be hosted by Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, Literary Curator of the Latino Bookstore. He said, "Book bans will not silence our community. Book deserts will not snuff out our voices. Our movement will continue to defy attacks on intellectual freedom. We are building on the trail we have blazed with the Librotraficante Caravan of Banned Books. Now we are uniting three major Texas cities again, and we are uniting with our brothers and sisters from California. We will not rest until our community has full access to this Art, History, and Culture." Each stop will also feature writers, visual artists, and musicians from each city and the Central American community. Here are the 3 Cities: Houston: Home of The Librotraficantes. Wednesday, June 29, 2022, 6 pm. Free. The Alta Arts 5412 Ashbrook Dr, Houston, TX 77081 Austin: Thursday, June 30, 2022, 6 pm. Free. La Peña, Inc., site of the Librotraficante Under Ground Library in Austin. 227 Congress Ave. Austin, Tx 78701 512.477.6007 San Antonio: Friday, July 1, 2022, 6 pm. Free. The Latino Bookstore 1300 Guadalupe San Antonio, TX 78207 Part of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center About: Claudia Castro Luna is an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate fellow (2019), WA State Poet Laureate (2018 – 2021) and Seattle's inaugural Civic Poet (2015-2018). Castro Luna's newest collection of poetry is Cipota Under the Moon from Tia Chucha Press. She is also the author of One River, A Thousand Voices (Chin Music Press), the Pushcart nominated Killing Marías(Two Sylvias Press) also shortlisted for WA State 2018 Book Award in poetry, and the chapbook This City (Floating Bridge Press). Her most recent non-fiction is in There's a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis (Vintage). Born in El Salvador she came to the United States in 1981. Living in English and Spanish, Claudia writes and teaches in Seattle on unceded Duwamish lands where she gardens and keeps chickens with her husband and their three children. The Latino Bookstore's Texas Author Series takes place every First Friday. Subsequent authors will represent the entire state of Texas. Their work also touches on many other aspects of Latino culture, Mexican American History, and the other art fields that the GCAC specializes in. Friday, Aug 5, 2022, 6 pm: The Latino Bookstore's Texas Author Series features the national launch. of the non-fiction book The Tip of The Pyramid: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital by Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante. Houston Partners: Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say Tintero Projects The Central American Collective The Gulfton Super Neighborhood Council Houston Artists BIPOC Arts Network Fund MantecaHTX Nuestra Palabra City Council J The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center The Latino Bookstore Pan American Round Table of Houston The Center for Mexican American & Latino/a Studies See less www.Librotraficante.com www.NuestraPalabra.org www.TonyDiaz.net

The Latino Bookstore & Gift Shop is proud to anchor a Texas Tri-City Tour of Latino Literature following the trail blazed by The Librotraficante Caravan of Banned Books. Salvadoran American poet Claudia Castro Luna will visit each stop to present her collection of poetry Cipota Under the Moon. It's published by Tia Chucha Press from Los Angeles California founded by Los Angeles Poet Laureate, and gubernatorial candidate, Luis J. Rodriguez. Rodriguez's books formed part of the Mexican American Studies curriculum banned in Arizona. The Latino Bookstore will provide sales at each stop. Cristina Balli, Director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, which houses the bookstore, said, "The Latino Bookstore is not only a state-wide destination for Texas Latino authors, but it is also a fountain of support for Latino Literature in other cities. This is one way that we can support Latino authors, publishers, and communities. This is another way to address the book deserts that engulf Latino communities in other cities." Each evening will be hosted by Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, Literary Curator of the Latino Bookstore. He said, "Book bans will not silence our community. Book deserts will not snuff out our voices. Our movement will continue to defy attacks on intellectual freedom. We are building on the trail we have blazed with the Librotraficante Caravan of Banned Books. Now we are uniting three major Texas cities again, and we are uniting with our brothers and sisters from California. We will not rest until our community has full access to this Art, History, and Culture." Each stop will also feature writers, visual artists, and musicians from each city and the Central American community. Here are the 3 Cities: Houston: Home of The Librotraficantes. Wednesday, June 29, 2022, 6 pm. Free. The Alta Arts 5412 Ashbrook Dr, Houston, TX 77081 Austin: Thursday, June 30, 2022, 6 pm. Free. La Peña, Inc., site of the Librotraficante Under Ground Library in Austin. 227 Congress Ave. Austin, Tx 78701 512.477.6007 San Antonio: Friday, July 1, 2022, 6 pm. Free. The Latino Bookstore 1300 Guadalupe San Antonio, TX 78207 Part of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center About: Claudia Castro Luna is an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate fellow (2019), WA State Poet Laureate (2018 – 2021) and Seattle's inaugural Civic Poet (2015-2018). Castro Luna's newest collection of poetry is Cipota Under the Moon from Tia Chucha Press. She is also the author of One River, A Thousand Voices (Chin Music Press), the Pushcart nominated Killing Marías(Two Sylvias Press) also shortlisted for WA State 2018 Book Award in poetry, and the chapbook This City (Floating Bridge Press). Her most recent non-fiction is in There's a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis (Vintage). Born in El Salvador she came to the United States in 1981. Living in English and Spanish, Claudia writes and teaches in Seattle on unceded Duwamish lands where she gardens and keeps chickens with her husband and their three children. The Latino Bookstore's Texas Author Series takes place every First Friday. Subsequent authors will represent the entire state of Texas. Their work also touches on many other aspects of Latino culture, Mexican American History, and the other art fields that the GCAC specializes in. Friday, Aug 5, 2022, 6 pm: The Latino Bookstore's Texas Author Series features the national launch. of the non-fiction book The Tip of The Pyramid: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital by Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante. Houston Partners: Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say Tintero Projects The Central American Collective The Gulfton Super Neighborhood Council Houston Artists BIPOC Arts Network Fund MantecaHTX Nuestra Palabra City Council J The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center The Latino Bookstore Pan American Round Table of Houston The Center for Mexican American & Latino/a Studies See less www.Librotraficante.com www.NuestraPalabra.org www.TonyDiaz.net

Interview with Claudia Castro Luna, recorded 17-JUNE-2022 via Zoom about her new book Cipota Under the Moon published by Tia Chucha Press.

From gang life and drug addiction in East LA to community organizing, activism, and becoming an internationally acclaimed poet and writer, Luis J. Rodriguez has walked a long and arduous path. Now Rodriguez is running for governor in the California primaries under the campaign slogan “Imagine a New California for Shared Well-Being. Then Let's Build It!” Primary voting will take place on June 7. In this installment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Rodriguez about his campaign and why—in this urgent and dangerous political moment when the right is ascending, climate change and inequality are accelerating, and working people's faith in the political system is collapsing—he is taking on Gavin Newsom's political machine.Luis J. Rodriguez is a current candidate for California governor; his campaign has been endorsed by the Green, Peace & Freedom, and Justice parties. Rodriguez is an acclaimed writer and poet who served as the official Poet Laureate of Los Angeles from 2014-2016. He is the author of numerous novels, memoirs, children's books, and essay collections, including Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in LA and It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing. He is also the founding editor of Tia Chucha Press and co-founder of Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore in the San Fernando Valley.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Read the transcript of this podcast:Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

From gang life and drug addiction in East LA to community organizing, activism, and becoming an internationally acclaimed poet and writer, Luis J. Rodriguez has walked a long and arduous path. Now Rodriguez is running for governor in the California primaries under the campaign slogan “Imagine a New California for Shared Well-Being. Then Let's Build It!” Primary voting will take place on June 7. In this installment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Rodriguez about his campaign and why—in this urgent and dangerous political moment when the right is ascending, climate change and inequality are accelerating, and working people's faith in the political system is collapsing—he is taking on Gavin Newsom's political machine.Luis J. Rodriguez is a current candidate for California governor; his campaign has been endorsed by the Green, Peace & Freedom, and Justice parties. Rodriguez is an acclaimed writer and poet who served as the official Poet Laureate of Los Angeles from 2014-2016. He is the author of numerous novels, memoirs, children's books, and essay collections, including Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in LA and It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing. He is also the founding editor of Tia Chucha Press and co-founder of Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore in the San Fernando Valley.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Read the transcript of this podcast:Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

"El Salvador existe en dos lugares: el la diáspora y los que viven en El Salvador" dice Claudia Castro Luna, quien es la Poeta Laureada ingaugural del estado de Washington. Es docente en Seattle ha trabajado para crear espacios multilingues, rescatar la memoria de los migrantes salvadoreños y de otras presencias latinas en ese estado. Su libro Killing Marias: A Poem For Multiple Voices (Two Sylvias Press, 2017) lo escribe en 7 años para despertar conciencia sobre la gran tragedia de los feminicidios en Ciudad Juárez y darles vida a las mujeres que la han perdido. Su último libro es Cipota under the moon (Tia Chucha Press, 2022). Les va a gustar esta emotiva conversación.

On the first stop of the “Las cuatro esquinas Tour” around the United States, Dr. Adriana Pacheco and Seattle Escribe bring together a panel of key players in education, culture, and literature to discuss names, topics, trends and voices in literature by writers of hispanic heritage and their impact on the culture. The literature of writers from Spanish-speaking countries who write from the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain is impacting the world in an unprecedented way. Awards, publishing houses, curated lists, and translations of new books give proof of the movement. Hablemos, escritoras has followed these changes and recognizes synergies that mark our contemporary world, as well as the causes and motivations that have driven the phenomenon. This talk, part of the 2022  “Las cuatro esquinas Tour” around the United States, will allow for conversations with cultural advocates, members of the community, and especially readers about what we have learned after years of work. Most importantly, it offers space to learn what is happening in our region, the challenges we face, and the road that still needs to be traveled in recognizing new names, topics, and trends. The tour's goal is to broaden the scope of the conversation beyond regional borders and to encourage and foster meaningful, nationwide conversations about the presence, impacts, and influences of literature, language, and the hispanic culture in the United States. This event will be presented in English. Presented by Town Hall Seattle, Seattle Escribe, and Hablemos, escritoras. Participants Catalina Marie Cantú (Xicana) is of Indigenous Mexican/Madeiran heritage and is a multi-genre writer, interdisciplinary artist, Jack Straw Fellow, and Alum of VONA/Voices and The Mineral School. She has received funding from Artists' Trust, Hugo House, Centrum, and Hedgebrook. Her poems and stories have been published widely and anthologized. Cantú earned a B.A. in La Raza Studies and a J.D. from the University of Washington, where she was a co-founding member of the groundbreaking Latinx groups MEChA and Teatro del Piojo. As a volunteer attorney, she managed the King County Bar Association Bilingual Spanish Legal Clinic. She is a co-founding member and current Board President of La Sala Latinx Artists and former chair of Los Norteños NW Latino Writers. As a writer, Cantú's goal is to bring her Latinx BIPOC family viewpoint to the page and provide stories to connect readers to themselves and their familias. She is currently finishing her braided essay collection and her first YA novel. She lives on the unceded traditional land of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically, the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People. Miguel Guillén joined ArtsWA in 2016 and currently serves as Program Manager for the Grants to Organizations program. As a seasoned arts administrator, Miguel provides support to community-based arts organizations and projects, small arts groups, and artists across Washington. He has previously managed arts programs for the private sector. Born in Mexico and raised in the Skagit Valley of Washington State, Miguel received an Arts Management Certificate from Seattle Central College. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle. He is a practicing visual artist. Claudia Castro Luna is an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate fellow (2019), WA State Poet Laureate (2018-2021), and Seattle's inaugural Civic Poet (2015-2018). Castro Luna's newest collection of poetry, Cipota Under the Moon, is forthcoming in May of 2022 from Tia Chucha Press. She is also the author of One River, A Thousand Voices, the Pushcart-nominated Killing Marías, which was also shortlisted for WA State 2018 Book Award in poetry, and the chapbook This City. Her most recent non-fiction is in There's a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis. Living in English and Spanish, Claudia writes and teaches in Seattle on unceded Duwamish lands where she gardens and keeps chickens with her husband and their three children. Alfonso Mendoza is a Mexican author that has written and published more than forty peer reviewed academic articles and chapters in the areas of economics, finance, and social sciences. As a creative writer, he enjoys writing short stories and poetry. Alfonso was a founding member of Seattle Escribe and participated as a student in the first writing workshop. Since then, he has remained in close contact with creative writing and the writers in the group. He is the current president of Seattle Escribe. José Luis Montero is passionate about storytelling regardless of the medium. After dabbling in radio, photography, and filmmaking, he turned his artistic attention towards the written word, both in English and Spanish. He was born and raised in Mexico and has lived most of his adult life in Seattle. He earned a certificate in Literary Fiction from University of Washington and a Master in Narrative and Poetry from Escuela de Escritores in Madrid. Upon his return from Spain, he worked as a production intern for Copper Canyon Press and assistant editor of poetry for Narrative Magazine before becoming a resident of the Jack Straw Writers Program in 2021. He is the former president of Seattle Escribe, a nonprofit promoting Spanish literature, and currently serves on the board of Seattle City of Literature. Dr. Adriana Pacheco was born in Puebla, Mexico and is a naturalized American Citizen. She sits at, and is the former Chair of, the International Board of Advisors at University of Texas Austin. She is an Affiliate Research Fellow at Llilas Benson, a Texas Book Festival Featured Author (2012), has several publications in collective books and magazines and has edited several books like Romper con la palabra. Violencia y género en la literatura mexicana contemporánea (Eón, 2017), and Para seguir rompiendo con la palabra. Dramaturgas, cineastas, periodistas y ensayistas mexicanas contemporáneas (Literal/Eón, 2021). She is the founder and producer of Hablemos Escritoras podcast and its accompanying encyclopedia, and founder of the first online bookstore for the United States focusing on women writing in Spanish or of Hispanic heritage: Shop Escritoras. She is currently working on several new books. Rubi Romero has worked as a content and policy manager, technical account manager, and UX Researcher at Amazon. In addition, Rubi serves as one of the leaders for Latinos@; an affinity group at Amazon, as a Career Development Director, and as a project manager for the Hispanic Heritage Month. Rubi graduated from the University of Washington with a Master's Degree in Digital Business and a B.A. in Communications and Sociology. Previously, she was a Project Manager for Microsoft and a Program Director for a non-profit organization where she built a State Program to assist Latino Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Human Trafficking. Rubi is originally from Mexico City and has lived in Seattle since 1994. Kristen Millares Young is a journalist, essayist and novelist. Named a Paris Review staff pick, her debut novel Subduction won Nautilus and IPPY awards. Her short stories, essays, reviews and investigations appear most recently in the Washington Post, The Rumpus, PANK Magazine, the Los Angeles Review, and others, as well as the anthologies Alone Together, which won a Washington State Book Award in general nonfiction, and Advanced Creative Nonfiction: A Writer's Guide and Anthology. She is the editor of Seismic: Seattle, City of Literature, a 2021 Washington State Book Award finalist in creative nonfiction. A former Hugo House Prose Writer-in-Residence, Kristen was the researcher for the New York Times team that produced “Snow Fall,” which won a Pulitzer Prize. Presented by Town Hall Seattle. To become a member or make a donation click here. 

Tia Chucha Press is one of the country's leading small cross-cultural presses, focused on socially engaged poetry and literature that matters. Learn more about Tia Chucha Press with the founder Luis J. Rodriguez and our bookstore team Karen Ugarte, Rocket Garcia, & Brian Reyes.

Episode 120 Notes and Links to traci kato-kiriyama's Work         On Episode 120 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes traci kato-kiriyama, and the two discuss, among other topics, traci's upbringing with her thoughtful and well-read curators of history and art-her parents-her life as a creative, both as an individual and in collective spaces, themes from her work that are inspired by various muses within and without her family and her local communities, racism against Japanese and Japanese-American and other marginalized communities, and her creative and thought-provoking Navigating With(out) Instruments.      traci kato-kiriyama (they+she), author of Navigating With(out) Instruments--based on unceded Tongva land in the south bay of Los Angeles-- is an award-winning multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary artist, recognized for their work as a writer/performer, theatre deviser, cultural producer, and community organizer. As a storyteller and Artivist, tkk is grounded in collaborative process, collective self-determination, and art+community as intrinsically tied and a critical means toward connection and healing. She is a performer & principal writer for PULLproject Ensemble, two-time NET recipient; NEFA 2021-22 finalist for their show TALES OF CLAMOR.  tkk —presented for over 25 years in hundreds of venues throughout North America as a writer, actor, poet, speaker, guest lecturer, facilitator, Artist-in-Residence, and organizing / arts & culture consultant— has come to appreciate a wildly hybrid career (w/ presenters incl. LaMaMa Cabaret; Enwave Theatre; The Smithsonian; The Getty; Skirball Cultural Center; and Hammer Museum, to Zero Gravity; Grand Park; Whisky a Go Go; Hotel Cafe; House Of Blues Foundation Room; and countless universities, arts spaces, and community centers across the country).  Their work is also featured in a wide swath of media and print publications (incl. NPR; PBS; Elle.com; Entropy; Chapparal Canyon Press; Tia Chucha Press; Bamboo Ridge Press; Heyday Books; Regent Press). tkk is a core artist of Vigilant Love, member of the H.R. 40 Coalition and organizer with the Nikkei Progressives & NCRR joint Reparations Committee, and Director/Co-Founder of Tuesday Night Project (presenter of the Tea & Letterwriting initiative and Tuesday Night Cafe series in Little Tokyo).     traci kato kiriyama's website   Buy Navigating with(out) Instruments   traci's profile on DiscoverNikkei.org   traci's bio for Tuesday Night Project   traci reads "Remember All the Children Who Were Never Born to Me" for Poetry Lab At about 4:00, Pete asks traci about notions of the “writer as speaker,” including a profound quote from Zora Satchell   At about 6:20, traci's cat makes an appearance!   At about 6:30, traci talks about her background and her parents' focus on education and intellectual and historical curiosity, including how The Japanese American Historical Society was founded by her parents    At about 8:30, traci discusses what stories drew her interest in adolescence, including song lyrics, theater, and art of all types   At about 11:30, Pete and traci freak out over their collective love and admiration for Tori Amos   At about 12:25, traci describes the artists and writers-often playwrights-who thrilled her through high school into college and beyond, such as Wakako Yamauchi, Rumi, Yusuf, Adrienne Rich, Nikki Giovanni, and Janice Mirikitani    At about 15:30, Pete wonders about the connection between natural sociability and performance for traci   At about 17:30, traci responds to Pete's question about which artists and creatives inspires her Nancy Keystone and Kennedy Kabasares, Howard Ho, and LA and West Coast standouts Writ Large Press, Not a Cult, Kaia Press, The Accomplices   At about 21:20, traci discusses ideas of “representation,” especially with regard to her childhood and the Japanese-American communities of which she was part   At about 23:15, traci recounts her experience in seeing Sixteen Candles and the thought process that followed the viewing-regarding racist representations in Hollywood and beyond   At about 27:45, traci gives background knowledge on a poem from her collection that references her mother and Dec. 7; it is instructive about the ways in which memory works   At about 30:35, traci talks about the aforementioned incident in the school and connections to Michi Weglyn's book/if and how the story was a microcosm   At about 33:35, traci gives background on the book, includiing an impetus from Ed Lin that didn't exactly bring immediate publication   At about 34:40, traci discusses inspiration for the book's title   At about 38:00, traci discusses the idea of the “muse,” including inspiration from her grandfather, Taz Ahmed, her mom, and others   At about 40:00, traci responds to Pete's questions about the rationale for the many different forms used in her collection   At about 45:50, Pete and traci discuss “Where We Would Have Gone” and the ideas of “what if” and “predicting the past”   At about 48:10, the two talk about the spectrum of sexuality as a theme in traci's collection, as well as meanings of “queer” and pronoun usage and comfortability with names   At about 51:20, traci references her longest acronym and ideas of a “collective coming out” that comes from real life and a poem of hers   At about 53:20, traci explains some background on “Death Notes” that are featured in the collection, as well as ideas/themes associated with being close to death; she highlights editor Chiwan Choi's great help in sharing difficult and “heavy and important” moments   At about 58:00, traci discusses her use of “bury” throughout her work   At about 59:25, the two explore ideas of racism, family, and resistance in traci's family; traci shows the photo of her bearded grandfather and talks of discovering his rebellion, which is instructive in many ways   At about 1:02:55, traci talks about her mother's political awareness and Yuri Kochiyama's “massive impact”; she talks about how traci spoke at a Los Angeles memorial   At about 1:06:00, traci connects the “collectivity” of art with artists and the “continuum” of the world's people and the world's artists and activists; traci cites WorldMeter as an addictive and important website    At about 1:07:45, traci talks about the poems/letters in the collection that serve as conversations between her and Taz Ahmed, including conversations where the subject matter evolved   At about 1:09:45, traci and Pete discuss ideas of “eminent domain” that populate her work   At about 1:10:50, traci reads a poem about her grandfather/reparations after reminding listeners about the annual visits/pilgrimages to Manzanar   At about 1:14:25, traci reads “Remember All the Children who were Never Born to Me”    You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.  This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.    Please tune in for Episode 121 with Michael Torres, a VONA distinguished alum and CantoMundo fellow. His first collection of poems, AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF NAMES, (Beacon Press, 2020) was selected by Raquel Salas Rivera for the National Poetry Series, named one of NPR's Best Books of 2020, and was featured on the podcast Code Switch. He teaches in the MFA program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.    The episode will air on May 3. 

Today’s episode discusses the ongoing trauma of gang involvement, specifically the lasting impact on those who joined as minors. According to a National Youth Gang Survey, two out of every five active gang members are juveniles, and therefore particularly vulnerable to the pressures and traumas associated with gang affiliation and community violence. As this relates to gangs, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network explains, “while traumatic stress is certainly not the sole cause for gang involvement and delinquency, it can increase a youth's vulnerability to a gang's appeal. Gangs can offer a sense of safety, control and structure often missing in the lives of traumatized youth”. Gangs offer traumatized youth an opportunity to experience affirmation, often for the first time. These are children who have not experienced a family, community or society that is able to protect and provide for them, to offer them a vision of a positive future. The gang then steps in to fill that role. This week Tricia speaks with Luis Javier Rodriguez, a renowned poet, novelist, journalist and community activist. He was named the 2014 Los Angeles Poet Laureate by Mayor Eric Garcetti and is perhaps best known for his memoir Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in LA, for which he received the Carl Sandburg Literary Award. Luis is also the founder of the Tia Chucha Press and Tia Chucha Cultural Center. In My Backyard is brought to you by The Guidance Center, a children's mental health agency in Long Beach, CA. In My Backyard is produced by Tricia Costales and Matthew Murray. Thank you to Jay Vincent B for original music. All other music licensed through SoundStripe. Thank you to our listeners and supporters. Please visit tgclb.org or text HOPE to 562-262-5689 to make a one-time donation or join our Hope and Healing Club to become a monthly donor today. And subscribe to In My Backyard on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Capítulo 004: On this episode of Ocu-Pasión we are joined by Luis J. Rodriguez, LA-based poet, novelist, journalist, critic, and columnist who served as the 2014 Los Angeles Poet Laureate. Listen in as we have a soulful discussion on writing, gang life in early years, and his cultural contributions to the world.Luis J. Rodriguez has been a champion for the arts since he escaped gang life and drug addiction in his teens by painting murals, social justice activism, and writing. He's co-founder with his wife Trini of Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore, a comprehensive arts and literacy education and presentation nonprofit, based in the Northeast San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, now in its 20th year. He is founding editor of Tia Chucha Press, which publishes cross-cultural voices in poetry. He is also the author of 16 multi-genre books, including the best-selling memoir "Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A." For 40 years, he's done creative writing workshops, readings, and lectures in prisons, juvenile lockups, jails, schools, colleges, universities, libraries, bookstores, and conferences around the U.S, Europe, Latin America, and Japan. From 2014 to 2016, he served as Los Angeles' official Poet Laureate.Excerpt from “Words” By Luis J. RodriguezThe thing is I wanted to be a writereven before I knew what writing was about.I wanted to carve out the wordsthat swim in the bloodstream,to press a stunted pencil onto paper so lines break free like birds in flight— to fashion words with hair, lengths and lengths of it, washed with dawn's rusting drizzle.Follow Luis: @lrodrig555 on instagram, or www.luisjrodriguez.com & find Tia Chuchas at www.tiachucha.org Ocu-Pasión Podcast is a heartfelt interview series showcasing the experiences of artists and visionaries within the Latin American/ Latinx community hosted by Delsy Sandoval. Join us as we celebrate culture & creativity through thoughtful dialogue where guests from all walks of life are able to authentically express who they are and connect in ways listeners have not heard before.Delsy Sandoval is the executive producer of Ocu-Pasión. If you want to support the podcast, please rate and review the show here. You can also get in touch with Delsy at www.ocupasionpodcast.comFollow Ocu-Pasión on Instagram: @ocupasionpodcast Join the Ocu-Pasión Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/5160180850660613/Visit www.ocupasionpodcast.com for more episodes.

In conversation with Luis J. Rodríguez "Not only a gifted writer, but an absolutely essential one" (The New York Times Book Review), Sandra Cisneros explores the themes of place, identity, and working-class culture in her novels, poems, and short stories. Her bestselling books include The House on Mango Street, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, and Loose Woman. She is the recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, and numerous fellowships and honorary doctorates, among other honors. Cisneros is also the founder of the Macondo Foundation and the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation, nonprofit organizations dedicated to encouraging emerging writers. Martita, I Remember You/Martita, te recuerdo is a story about a young woman who leaves her Mexican family in Chicago to find literary success in Paris. A significant figure in Chicano literature, Luis J. Rodríguez is a poet, novelist, critic, and journalist. He is the founder of the Tia Chucha Press, the recipient of the Carl Sandberg Literary Award, and was the 2014 Los Angeles Poet Laureate. (recorded 9/14/2021)

Bilingual poet and all-around literary superstar Viva Padilla dives into the beautiful disruption of moths, love, and language in her poem “exhibición: polilla en pandemia” from our new Hunger issue. Expo Poetry editor CD Eskilson is back from Season 1 to guide us through the literary journey. Read along at: http://expositionreview.com/issues/vol-vi-hunger/exhibicion-polilla-en-pandemia/#VivaPadilla About the Reader: Viva Padilla is a bilingual poet, writer, editor, and publisher born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. She's the founding editor-in-chief of Dryland, an independent print literary journal established in 2015, and Hombre Lobo, an intergenerational book series documenting paranormal/supernatural stories experienced by Xicanx. She is a first-generation Chicana, a daughter of immigrants who crossed the border from Colima, Mexico. She also runs FUTURE NOW, a virtual Black and Brown reading and open mic series. She's been an invited speaker at universities like CSU Dominguez Hills and CSU Fullerton, and international cultural institutions like Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba. Her work has been featured or is forthcoming in the L.A. Times, The Acentos Review, PANK, wearemitú, SAND, the Autry Museum, L.A. Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, the X LA Poets anthology, and others. She currently works at Tia Chucha Press and lives on the Eastside in Los Angeles. Links from the Podcast: Viva Padilla's website: https://vivapadilla.com/ Viva's Twitter: @anotchka Viva's Insta: @anotchka Dryland Literary Journal: https://drylandla.org/ Hombre Lobo: 13 True Xicanx Spooky Stories: https://drylandla.org/product/hombre-lobo-13-true-xicanx-spooky-stories-vol-1-2020/ Re/Arte Centro Literario: https://reartela.com/ Patria Coffee: https://www.patriacoffee.com/ House Party Flash 405 Writing Contest: http://expositionreview.com/2021/08/call-for-entries-flash-405-august-2021-house-party/ Help us spread the word! Please download, review, and subscribe to Transposition. Thank you to Mitchell Evenson for intro and outro music, and the generous donations from our supporters that allow us to pay our authors. Exposition Review is a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas. Associate Producer: Mitchell Evenson Intro Music by Mitchell Evenson Hosted by Laura Rensing --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/exposition-review/support

This week we have the community activist and Los Angeles Poet Laureate 2014-2016 Luis J Rodriquez. We discuss his beautiful and moving poem entitled Make a Poem Cry.  We're honored to have this special never published reading of the poem along with an in-depth conversation about the incarcerated, their beliefs, and culture. This interview sheds new light on not only their lives but our perceptions of them. Luis Javier Rodriguez has 16 books in all genres, including eight in poetry. His latest poetry book is "Borrowed Bones" (2016 Curbstone Books/Northwestern University Press). He has won a Lila Wallace-Readers' Digest Writers Award, a Passaic Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement, a Lannan Poetry Fellowship, and more. He garnered fellowships from Los Angeles, California, Illinois, Chicago, and North Carolina. He is the founding editor of Tia Chucha Press, which publishes poetry collections and anthologies, now for over 30 years. For forty years he's done poetry readings, talks, and healing circles as well as creative writing workshops in prisons, jails, and juvenile lockups. From 2014-2016, he served as Los Angeles' official Poet Laureate. https://www.luisjrodriguez.com/ https://www.tiachucha.org/ https://hchpodcast.libsyn.com/

In an interview recorded on inauguration day poet and activist Luis J. Rodriguez, discusses his hopes for the new administration, the ways poetry saves lives and souls, and the work he is doing in opposition to solitary confinement. He also talks about how he was "cared straight" as an incarcerated young man, and the books that meant the most to him during a difficult time in his life. Learn more about Rodriguez's Tia Chucha Press and the new collection "Make a Poem Cry" here: https://www.tiachucha.org/tia_chucha_press SUBMIT TO THE OPEN MIC OF THE AIR! www.poetryspokenhere.com/open-mic-of-the-air Visit our website: www.poetryspokenhere.com Like us on facebook: facebook.com/PoetrySpokenHere Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/poseyspokenhere (@poseyspokenhere) Send us an e-mail: poetryspokenhere@gmail.com

Luis J. Rodriguez reading at the Unamuno Author Festival. The festival took place in May of 2019 in Madrid, Spain. This reading was recorded at the book store Desperate Literature. Luis J. Rodriguez is a chicano poet whose memoir “Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days” was a national bestseller. In 2014 he was named Los Angeles poet laureate a position he held until 2016. He has been nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and has written everything from poetry and criticism to children’s books. He is also an activist - one of the founder of Tia Chuchas Centro Cultural, and a founding editor of Tia Chucha Press. You can learn more about Rodriguez at his website: luisjrodriguez.com. Visit our website: www.poetryspokenhere.com Like us on facebook: facebook.com/PoetrySpokenHere Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/poseyspokenhere (@poseyspokenhere) Send us an e-mail: poetryspokenhere@gmail.com

The simplest of things can become quite complicated! Kim Dower, City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood (October 2016 – October 2018), has published four collections of poetry, all with Red Hen Press: Air Kissing on Mars, described by the Los Angeles Times as, “sensual and evocative . . . seamlessly combining humor and heartache,” Slice of Moon, called “unexpected and sublime,” by “O” magazine, Last Train to the Missing Planet, “poems that speak about the grey space between tragedy and tenderness, memory and loss, fragility and perseverance,” said Richard Blanco, and Sunbathing on Tyrone Power’s Grave, which Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick, calls exuberant, sexy and sobering.” Nominated for four Pushcart Prizes, Kim’s work has been featured in Garrison Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac," and Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry,” as well as in Ploughshares, Barrow Street, and Rattle. Her poems are included in several anthologies, notably, Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, (Beyond Baroque Books/Pacific Coast Poetry Series,) and Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes & Shifts of Los Angeles, (Tia Chucha Press.) She teaches Poetry and Dreaming in the B.A. Program of Antioch University and Wake Up Your Prose for UCLA Extension. You can connect with Kim through her website:  www.kimdowerpoetry.com.  

Our mothers will always be with us. Kim Dower, City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood (October 2016 – October 2018), has published four collections of poetry, all with Red Hen Press: Air Kissing on Mars, described by the Los Angeles Times as, “sensual and evocative . . . seamlessly combining humor and heartache,” Slice of Moon, called “unexpected and sublime,” by “O” magazine, Last Train to the Missing Planet, “poems that speak about the grey space between tragedy and tenderness, memory and loss, fragility and perseverance,” said Richard Blanco, and Sunbathing on Tyrone Power’s Grave, which Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick, calls exuberant, sexy and sobering.” Nominated for four Pushcart Prizes, Kim’s work has been featured in Garrison Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac," and Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry,” as well as in Ploughshares, Barrow Street, and Rattle. Her poems are included in several anthologies, notably, Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, (Beyond Baroque Books/Pacific Coast Poetry Series,) and Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes & Shifts of Los Angeles, (Tia Chucha Press.) She teaches Poetry and Dreaming in the B.A. Program of Antioch University and Wake Up Your Prose for UCLA Extension. You can connect with Kim through her website:  www.kimdowerpoetry.com.  

***First Episode of 2020***Join us for our Bonus Episode where we explore Nepantla, Borderlands, and Queerness with Vickie Vértiz, a Queer Chicana Poet and Professor from California. "Vickie Vértiz was born and raised in Bell Gardens, a city in southeast Los Angeles County.Her writing is featured in the New York Times magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, Huizache, Nepantla, the Los Angeles Review of Books,  KCET Departures, and the anthologies: Open the Door (from McSweeney's and the Poetry Foundation), and The Coiled Serpent (from Tia Chucha Press), among many others.Vértiz's first full collection of poetry, Palm Frond with Its Throat Cut, published in the Camino del Sol Series by The University of Arizona Press won a 2018 PEN America literary prize. Get a copy here.Vickie is a proud member of Colectivo Miresa, a feminist cooperative speaker's bureau, her first poetry collection, Swallows, is available from Finishing Line Press. She teaches at the University of California, Santa Barbara."

Episode 7 of the Rattlecast features frequent Rattle contributor Kim Dower and her new book "Sunbathing on Tyrone Power's Grave." Who was Tyrone Power and what was the Poet Laureate of West Hollywood doing on his grave? We'll find out! As always, we'll also include live open mic after talking to our guest. For details on how to participate, either pre-recorded or via Skype, go to: https://www.rattle.com/rattlecast/ ____ Kim Dower, originally from New York City, received a BFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College, where she also taught creative writing. Sunbathing on Tyrone Power’s Grave is her fourth collection of poetry. Her other collections, Air Kissing on Mars, (2010) described by the Los Angeles Times as “sensual and evocative . . . seamlessly combining humor and heartache,” was on the Poetry Foundation’s Contemporary Best Sellers list, Slice of Moon, (2013) was nominated for a Pushcart, and called, “unexpected and sublime,” by “O” magazine, and Last Train to the Missing Planet, (2016), was described by Janet Fitch as being “full of worldly, humorous insights into life as it is,” were all published by Red Hen Press. Kim’s work has been featured in Garrison Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac," and Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry,” as well as in Ploughshares, Barrow Street, Rattle and Eclipse. Her poems are included in several anthologies, including, Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, (Beyond Baroque Books/Pacific Coast Poetry Series, 2015) and Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes & Shifts of Los Angeles, (Tia Chucha Press). She teaches two workshops, Poetry and Dreaming and Poetry and Memory in the B.A. Program of Antioch University. Owner of Kim-from-L.A. a literary publicity company helping authors promote and market their books, Kim was the City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, from October, 2016 through October, 2018. She lives in West Hollywood with her family. For more information, visit: http://kimdowerpoetry.com _________ On the open mic: Jonathan Humble Soren James Melinda Jane / The Poet MJ Nicole Jenkins Anthony Murphy Michelle Parks Emilio Puerta Sarah Simon

LARB law editor Don Franzen talks about the career of the late supreme court justice Antonin Scalia and whether his unique legal theories will survive him. We're also joined by Daniel Olivas and Ruben Rodriguez, co-editors of an upcoming anthology of Los Angeles poetry, "The Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles", from Tia Chucha Press. "The Coiled Serpent" publishes on April 15, 2016, and Tia Chucha Press will host a launch party for the book during the AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) Conference, on March 30, at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Featuring Tom Lutz, Laurie Winer, and Seth Greenland. Produced by Jerry Gorin. The LARB Radio Hour airs Thursdays at 2:30pm on KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles.

This morning we open with an interview with one of our favorite writers, Michael Warr, who with Luis Rodriquez will be speaking on Art as Healing in a free lecture at the Koret Audiotirum, de Young Museum in San Francisco, 3-4:30 p.m. Visit http://deyoung.famsf.org/deyoung/calendar/conversation-authors-luis-rodriguez-and-michael-warr Michael Warr is author of The Armageddon of Funk, We Are All The Black Boy, and co-editor of Power Lines: A Decade of Poetry From Chicago's Guild Complex, all from Tia Chucha Press.  Valerie Cooper, vocalist/writer, who joins us next to talk about her sneak preview at the African Museum and Library, Oakland, Sept. 14, 2013, 7-9 p.m. Visit http://expressmoments.com We close with a conversation with three writers: The Hon. Claire Mack, former mayor of San Mateo, Rafael Jesus Gonzalez, poet, teacher, humanitarian, and Nadia Lataillade, writer, attorney, and Mrs. Mack's granddaughter. The topic is 100 Authors for Literacy, a free event, Sat., Sept. 21, 2013, at the Martin Luther King Center, 725 Mt. Diablo Ave., San Mateo, CA. http://northcentralneighborhoodassociation.org/100-authors-for-literacy-event.htmlSpecial guests include: Belva Davis and Dr. Joy DeGruy. Music: Michael Warr; Michael White; Meklit Hadero  

Ben & Daniel take the "Words on a Wire" microphones to the Associated Writing Programs (AWP) Conference in Boston MA. We'll hear them talk with Tino Villanueva, a Boston resident who has written 6 books of poetry. He was honored at AWP at the Con Tinta celebration by Letras Latinas. Ben & Daniel also conduct rapid-fire interviews with a number of writers attending the Con Tinta celebration. Fred Arroyo talks about the future of American letters...Tim Z. Hernandez talks about an upcoming book about Kerouac's brief relationship with a Mexican girl...Sergio Troncoso talks about his essays on narco violence on the border...Melinda Palacio talks about promoting Tia Chucha Press at AWP...Aaron Michael Morales explains why he wants to revise his novel, "Eat Your Children"...Francisco Alarcon shares some personal stories with Ben and talks about breaking the news to Laurie Ann Guerrero that she had won the Andres Montoya Poetry Prize (Guerrero joins in the conversation)...and Francisco Aragon talks more about Letras Latinas and Con Tinta. The first in a series of AWP-related programs.

It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing (Touchstone) Luis J. Rodriguez, author of Always Running and Republic of East L.A., launches his new book It Calls You Back! "Rodriguez's life story is astonishing . . . It takes a heart broken open by a lifetime of sorrows to write with this wisdom and compassion. It takes a visionary to use this knowledge in service to those the world despises—troubled youth, the homeless, the incarcerated, the poor, the migrant—to be called back for those you love." —Sandra Cisneros, author of Caramelo and The House on Mango Street The son of Mexican immigrants, Luis Rodriguez began writing in his early teens and has won national recognition as a poet, journalist, fiction writer, children's book writer, and critic. He has emerged as one of the leading Chicano writers in the country with fourteen published books. Luis is best known for the 1993 memoir of gang life, Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. Now selling more than 300,000 copies, this book garnered a Carl Sandburg Literary Award, a Chicago Sun-Times Book Award, and was designated a New York Times Notable Book. Rodriguez co-founded Tia Chucha Press and Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore, a cultural center in Northeast San Fernando Valley. He is currently working as a peacemaker among gangs on a national and international level. Photo of the author by D. Zapa Media. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS OCTOBER 11, 2011.

Luis Rodriguez has published eight books of poetry, memoir, and children's literature. His poetry, including Trochemoche, has won a Poetry Center Book Award, a PEN Josephine Miles Literary Award, and Foreword magazine's Silver Book Award. He is also widely known for his memoir of gang life, Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., and for founding and directing Tia Chucha Press.

Luis Rodriguez has published eight books of poetry, memoir, and children's literature. His poetry, including Trochemoche, has won a Poetry Center Book Award, a PEN Josephine Miles Literary Award, and Foreword magazine's Silver Book Award. He is also widely known for his memoir of gang life, Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., and for founding and directing Tia Chucha Press.