Poetry of Resistance and Posada Readings

CSUF Grand Central Art Center

125 N Broadway, Santa Ana, California 92701

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27TH (6:30-8:30pm)

WORKSHOP & READING

with local poets, Javier Pinzón & Odilia Galván Rodríguez

Event Description:

The reading will start with an open mic session featuring six local poets paying tribute to the late Francisco X. Alarcón. Odilia Galván Rodríguez will read her writing along with a selection of the works in the "Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice" anthology published by The University of Arizona Press in 2016. Alarcón's life partner Javier Pinzón will close with his own work.

The reading will address a wide variety of themes, including racial profiling, xenophobia, cultural misunderstanding, violence against refugees, shared identity, and much more. "Poetry of Resistance" is a political call for tolerance, reflection, reconciliation, and healing.

Flor y Canto poets:

Iuri M. Lara

Jesus Cortez

Marilynn Montaño

Jose Morales

Natalie Sánchez Valle

David Lopez

Before the reading (6:30-7:30pm), a special poetry workshop with maestra Odilia Galván Rodríguez! Email libromobile@gmail.com to reserve a spot. All ages over 16 years-old are welcomed.

The reading (7:30-8:30pm) will be followed by a book sale and signing. GCAC Artist in Residence, Sarah Rafael García will host the reading.

This literary reading is supported by Grand Central Art Center and in part by Poets & Writers through grants it has received from The James Irvine Foundation and the Hearst Foundations.

About the featured poets:

Javier Pinzón came to the United States from Mexico in the eighties. He has had his poetry published in Bay Area community newspapers of San Francisco, and various literary magazines among them, Revista Mujeres, of the University of California at Santa Cruz, and La Palabra, at the University of California, Davis.

Odilia Galván Rodríguez, poet, writer, editor, and social justice activist, is the author of six volumes of poetry, her latest, The Nature of Things, along with photographer Richard Loya. She is co-editor, along with the late Francisco X. Alarcón, of Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice, from The University of Arizona Press. Odilia has worked as an editor for various magazines, most recently as the English edition editor of Tricontinental Magazine in Havana, Cuba. Her activist work stems several decades with organizations such as the United Farm Workers of America AFL-CIO. Currently she facilitates creative writing workshops nationally, and is a moderator of Poets Responding to SB 1070 and Love and Prayers for Fukushima, both Facebook pages dedicated to bringing attention to social justice issues that affect the lives and well-being of many people. Her poetry and short fiction has been anthologized in many anthologies and literary journals in print and on-line media.

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POSADA

Saturday, October 29th  at 7 PM - 10 PM

Avenue 50 Studio

131 N Avenue 50, Los Angeles, California 90042

Message from Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo:

Hi everyone! I'm excited to share that my book, POSADA: OFFERINGS OF WITNESS AND REFUGE, will be released from Sundress Publications October 15th, and I will be holding a release party on Saturday, October 29th at Avenue 50 Studios in Highland Park.

POSADA: OFFERINGS OF WITNESS AND REFUGE celebrates my family's immigration story from Jalisco, Mexico to Los Angeles, CA in the 1950s while also giving visibility to those currently crossing into the country from Central America and the human atrocities occurring at the Arizona-Mexico border.

The night will include readings from badass writers Ashaki M. Jackson, Kenji Liu and Melissa Chadburn, a collective building of a Día de los Muertos altar for those who have passed along the border, music from Angela Spiñorita Blanca, food, and of course a book signing. A collection will be taken to support the work of No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes.