Since the last Community News in September, a lot has happened in the literary community. Writers have hosted book release parties for their new books; hosted readings and open mics to bring the far-flung community together and to speak out against injustice; and a new independent bookstore has opened, among other events and news.
This news and these events stem from writers and literary arts supporters who are passionate about building and maintaining community that is loving and supportive.
In November Tía Chucha Press announced the hiring of local poet and middle school English teacher, Luvette Resto, as its first Associate Editor.
The small cross-cultural press, founded in 1989, by poet, activist and L.Á. native Luis J. Rodríguez, primarily focuses on socially engaged poetry, having become Resto’s “home press. It’s where I got started when I moved to L.[Á.],” she said on Facebook. Resto’s first two books Unfinished Portrait and Ascension were published by Tía Chucha’s.
Founded in Chicago, Tía Chucha Press is now the publishing wing of Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore in Sylmar, a bookstore and cultural center whose mission is “to transform community in [the] Northeast San Fernando Valley and beyond through ancestral knowledge, the arts, literacy and creative engagement.” Resto said, “I now get to give back to what it has given me.”
On December 15 at Latinx Plants in Boyle Heights, poet Alma Rosa Rivera, hosted “Brown is Beautiful: Poetry Showcase,” a night of Latinx poetry featuring Jose Olivarez, Yesika Salgado, féi hernandez, Nico Avina and Missy Fuego. The reading was held in Latinx Plant’s back patio “under [the] moonlight” as Rivera described it on Instagram.
As many local and national poets have done since the fighting resumed in the Middle East between the Palestinians and the Jews in October, but especially for that weekend, Rivera and a crowd of mostly local poets, came together in solidarity with the Palestinian people. To speak out against the Israeli state’s continued genocide against them in Gaza. As Rivera said on Instagram, that night was “a fundraiser for Gaza.”
The house was packed. As Rivera said, “what a beautiful feeling to know that in a world of technology and social media, the people still care for poems. Thank you to everyone who supported…I saw a lot of people leave with @multimedia_militia records, books, plants and #brownisbeautifulshowcase merch. The way y’all come thru for me at every event never ceases to touch my heart…Thank you to @sgvfilmworks of @multimedia_militia for documenting the L.[Á.] and brown poetry scene. Thank you for recording last night and I’m excited to see what comes out of those recordings. Thank you to everyone who offered help and who came out of their way to support this cause and movement. Y’all came out for poetry and for Palestine and I think that was a really beautiful thing.
“Last but definitely not least, thank you to the poets…Let’s not stop being poets. Let’s be poets on and off the page. We are the revealers of truth in times of war. I hope we can keep creating work that uplifts our people and all people in the fight and in the struggle. Till the next one.”
In the last few months of 2023, many local writers have published books. Writers such as Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Anastasia Helena Fenald, Mac Harris and VOTH. They celebrated by hosting release parties at places such as Blossom Market Hall to bring poetry to the people while celebrating the release of Bermejo’s second collection of poems; the Hen House Literary Center, Red Hen Press’s theatre, to celebrate Fenald’s sophomore poetry collection; The Nest in Long Beach in collaboration with The Definitive Soapbox to celebrate Mac Harris’ book of poems and photographs; Modern Shaman in Whittier to celebrate VOTH’s debut poetry collection; and North Figueroa Bookshop for Adrian Ernesto Cepeda new collection of poems.
On October 22nd, a crowd of family, friends and heavy hitting L.Á. poets and writers packed Blossom Market Hall in San Gabriel to celebrate the release of Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo’s poetry collection Incantation: Love Poems For Battle Sites. The hall, located in the historic Mission District of San Gabriel, next to the mission itself, is a food hall featuring 13 venders, a stage for live entertainment, a WiFi lounge, art gallery, and meeting room. The stage is surrounded by the 13 venders and the public, as they grab a meal at Caribbean Gourmet, Suchi Rolland, Tensevenrolls or any of the 10 remaining stalls, can see and hear the entertainment on stage.
That October day, before the release party began, the hall was filled with many patrons who had no idea a poetry release party was about to begin. After the reading commenced, I overheard several people inquire as to what was taking place.
I first ran across Brenda Vaca, poet and founder of Riot of Roses Publishing House. Accompanying her was children’s book author Paola Gutierrez. Then I ran into Luvette Resto. They were buying lunch as we waited for authors Alex Espinoza, Caribbean Fragoza, Lupita Limón Corrales and San Gabriel youth to feature before Bermejo took the stage.
The most powerful moment came when Bermejo read her poem “For the Love of Home” in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mission. Here, she confronts the mission’s devastating legacy where the native Tongva were enslaved by the Spanish Franciscans and forced to work the land. Forced to convert to Catholicism. Its legacy looming large over her hometown.
Before she read, Bermejo provided context to her poem. She spoke of how the first draft imagined knocking down the mission’s 250-year-old belltower, the symbolism of it’s colonialism and white supremacy. When a fire, on July 11, 2000, destroyed the mission’s roof, it caused her to rewrite the poem and to reconsider the meaning of dismantle. This, her family’s church.
Also in attendance were poet and Fullerton College Professor Cynthia Guardado; Loyola High School English teacher and poet F. Douglas Brown; arts advocate and community organizer Jessica Ceballos y Campbell; community organizer, author, actor and arts educator traci kato-kiriyama; social psychologist and poet Ashaki M. Jackson; author Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera; and others.
Later, on December 10th, at Red Hen’s headquarters in Pasadena, Anastasia Helena Fenald celebrated her take down of the capitalist system with the release of The Art of Job Hunting: Dramedy in Verse.
A different segment of the literary community came out in support, a significant portion Community Literature Initiative (CLI) alumni, like Fenald herself. Also, poets Alex Petunia, Mauricio Moreno, James Coats, Juan Amador, Ron Dowell, Lynda La Rose, Andrés Sanchez, Annalicia Aguilar, Karo Ska and Branda Vaca, Fenald’s publisher, among others.
Before the reading commenced, Alex Petunia and others wrote poems on demand at their own dedicated table, while Stephen from Huck and Puck Books sold LGBTQ+ literature and Good Eats by Chief Andrea Lee provided the food. Plus, everyone conversed, catching up and laughing.
As the reading began, Fenald introduced each feature—James Coats, Ravina Wadhwani and Brenda Vaca—who each read a poem of theirs in line with the themes of Fenald’s book. Their own takedown of the capitalist system. She sprinkled her introductions with her characteristic sarcasm, cracking up the audience.
As Fenald read from her book, she was sarcastic; interacted with the audience, not only with her jokes, but with her comments on herself in relation to her performance; and accompanied each poem with a mock job hunting Power Point presentation based on the poem she was currently reading. Her sarcasm helped illustrate the ridiculousness of capitalism’s arbitrary constructs.
With Southern California’s recent independent bookstore boom, Jesse Marez opened Lincoln Heights’ first community bookstore, The Libros: Lincoln Hights, on November 25, with books in English, Spanish and Portuguese, as noted on the store’s Instagram. Marez’s aim is to “create a bookstore that highlights the writing and artistic talents of the local community.” He graduated from Woodrow Wilson Highschool in El Sereno in 1981.
According to Instagram Marez “wants his bookstore to be a source of community pride and inspiration that offers book signing and book reading opportunities.” In accordance, The Libros hosted its first reading on December 9, featuring local poets and writers Susana Porraz, David Romero, Matt Sedillo, Viva Padilla, Brenda Vaca, Donato Martinez, Dr. Bertha Barraza, Tresa Mei Chuc, Obed Silva and the owner himself, Jesse Marez.
The Libros: Lincoln Heights is located at 3422 N. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90031.
Long Beach’s Filipina owned bookstore, Bel Canto, is moving and will open its first standalone shop in the Spring. According to the Long Beach Post’s Caitlin Antonios, the bookstore, “has locked in a new standalone location on Retro Row.”
For the past six years, The Hangout, which housed “various venders and [a] café,” including Bel Canto, is closing. In these six years, owner Jhoanna Belfer, has opened “locations inside Steel Cup on Lakewood Boulevard and KUBO LB, a creative collective, on Atlantic Ave.,” which she will maintain.
Bel Canto’s new location on Retro Row is in the former Relics site, a Black owned film lab, at 2106 E. Fourth St. They’ll have more room for expanded merchandise and to “host community workshops and book readings.”
Los Angeles Literature 