It begins every Wednesday at 7:30 pm. Early arrivals step to the mic, sharing a poem in progress to receive much needed feedback. Then they provide feedback to others. V. Kali, author of Hymn (World Stage Press), sits next to the donation box and front entrance and welcomes attendees as they arrive. As host, V. has been a warm presence each week for years, her long beautiful natural hair a thing of legend. As the crowd grows, the list of open mic readers expands before the feature grabs everyone’s attention. Murmurs of “mmm hmm” and “that’s right” arise from the crowd. After, it’s the community-the open mic readers’-turn at the mic. It’s their chance to bring down the house.

This is the Anansi Writers Workshop at the World Stage Performance Gallery in the heart of creative, artistic black Los Ángeles: Leimert Park

It’s an iconic staple in literary Los Ángeles.

The World Stage was founded in 1989 on Leimert Park’s Degnan Blvd. by local poet-performance artist Kamau Daaood and renowned master jazz drummer Billy Higgins in an attempt to fill a cultural void in a Los Ángeles being ripped apart by racial and police brutality. The L.A. Rebellion would erupt three years later.

Located on the western edge of South Central, the Anansi Writers Workshop was founded a year later, continuing black L.A.’s tradition of providing a free community writing workshop that dates back to the mid-1960s and the Black Arts Movement with the Watts Writers’ Workshop. The workshop in Watts was where Daaood first cut his teeth as a poet.

Since ’89, The Stage-offering tight sets of straight ahead jazz and other related musical programming-has been maintained by a series of dedicated community members and the workshop by local poets and writers such as Michael Datcher, V. Kali, and Conney Williams and Hiram Sims who both founded World Stage Press in 2014. It’s this tight knit community of black artists who have given back to this venue, that has helped shape, and sometimes save, their work and lives, that’s led to the workshop’s expansion and The Stage’s flourishing. Back in ’92 Datcher turned the open mic into a workshop because he wanted the writers’ heartfelt words to resonate and grow, when he ran the workshop. It was a time when L.A.’s black artists had no other such venue in their community. It’s these goals, to share information, expand the writing community and to produce black writers and beyond, that shaped the workshop’s three point format that still exists today.

All this led to the creation of World Stage Press, a home for the creation and proliferation of African American Literature and a place to finish mentoring and producing these local poets and writers and their work. Headed by local poet Hiram Sims, author of Photoetry: Poetry and Photography from South Central LA (Figueroa Press), his aim is to release a new book by a local writer each month and host the release party at the Anansi Writers Workshop. In doing so, Sims’ is giving this talented community of writers, who too often get lost in the literary world reading at open mics, a venue to publish a book, have their words reach a wider audience and the access to the opportunities that come with publishing a book. As a way to encourage community support for the press Sims created the Supporting Membership program, where for a donation, a free World Stage Press release is mailed to members each month.

In conjunction with the press is the Living Writers Series. The series, also created by Hiram Sims, is for the enrichment and enjoyment of the high school literary experience. The series is meant to fill in the void in the standard curriculum of not including any living writers. To make learning and reading literature more fun and relevant for students, the series brings living Los Ángeles poets and storytellers into the classroom. These writers, who’ve published books, perform their works and sign copies for students.

Creative, artistic black Los Ángeles continues to grow, with the dedicated support from the community these literary opportunities are meant to benefit. And the growth of these writers as whole people doesn’t just stop when the Anansi Writers Workshop ends each Wednesday night. It continues with the relationships these writers form with each other.

All this vibrant literary activity in Leimert Park and the wider South Central region of L.A., can trace its lineage back to 1965 and the Watts Writers Workshop that screenwriter Bud Schulberg created.

“Anyone else want to share a poem they wrote?” V. Kali asks during the poetry critique section of the workshop.

The early arrivals look around as a dedicated soul breathes deep and steps to the mic.