By Brian Dunlap

During the Coronavirus pandemic, poet Angelina Sáenz revised her monthly open mic, La Palabra, and made it a weekly series for 10 weeks: 10 Poets in 10 Weeks. One poet a week was featured. They ranged from Jenise Miller to Willie Perdomo to Octavio Quintanilla. She’s been the host of the Highland Park-based open mic for just over two and a half years.

During these two and a half years, Sáenz graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Otis College, a program she struggled in completing. She said in a Facebook post, one professor told her that her poetry wasn’t any good.
Yet, in the meantime, in-between school, her day job as an LAUSD elementary school teacher, and being a single mother of two boys, she worked on her debut poetry collection. And this month she “humbly” announced on Facebook that the Latinx press, FlowerSong, accepted her manuscript, Edgecliff for publication.

“Friends…the book is tentatively scheduled to be released in winter 2021. I don’t have to tell you what this means on so many levels. Thank you for being in my life and supporting me. ¡Hasta la Victoria siempre!”