I honestly don’t remember how I met Jesse Tovar. I don’t remember hearing about him, or anyone introducing us. But one day—seemingly out of nowhere—I was booked to read as part of an online reading series he was running from a nice café in Pasadena. Since then, Jesse has shown nothing but kindness. He has booked me for a couple of readings, from L.A. to Sacramento; he’s partnered up with me and my Trenches Full of Poets co-host, Mauricio Moreno, to do a spin-off series called Trenches Full of Prose; and we’ve even traveled together for a literary festival in Fresno where we had various adventures via an electric vehicle.

Jesse Tovar will probably die for poetry; I say this because I have seen him live for poetry. Jesse’s calendar schedule is filled with poetry readings throughout the week. I know him to support all his friend’s poetry readings, and he goes to any open-mic he hears about to check out poets from outside L.A. County. I’ve seen him search for new and different locations to host poetry events and try them out, not afraid of whether they will work out.

I know he books and publishes all types of poets, and even helps out-of-state authors set up book tours. He gives the same courtesy and opportunities to new poets in the community as he does to established poets. Jesse Tovar is a prime example of what it means to be a good person in the poetry community, and I think he’s someone more people should know.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

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Nikolai Garcia: When it comes to the life of a poet, what are the pros and cons of owning an electric vehicle? Would you recommend it?

Jesse Tovar: Haha…Pros is that you save a bit on refueling charges. I can say there are cons from lived experience. First experience was when someone drove me in an electric car to Sacramento. What would have been a seven- or eight-hour drive became about 12 hours! Second experience, (you know because you were there), on my way to pick you up, I thought my recharge would take about 30 mins. It ended up taking 55 mins that morning. Four-and-half hours later, you offered $10 to charge at a station I found outside a restaurant where we found out the charging time would have been 3 hours. I made the decision to leave after a few minutes to find a faster charging station for about 35 minutes. That $10 went to waste. Again, my bad. All that to say: what would have taken four or five hours to Fresno took seven hours. So, would I recommend owning an electric car? Sure, if you’re driving in the LA area and Long Beach for poetry/prose events, but not for special readings located hours away.

Garica: Tell me about how you got into the L.A. poetry scene and why you decided to start curating your own readings?

Tovar: What got me into curating my own readings was me wanting to set up a reading for my friend, Andrew Liu. He’s a phenomenal poet. But I knew this reading would have to be virtual.

LaTanya Smith from My Place Café asked me if I wanted to host a reading series at her coffee shop. Because I was in the house all day with my nephew and niece, I said yes! Days before the first reading event with Andrew Liu, I looked up many poets [online] and the rest is history.

Before the pandemic, I met Mike Sonksen at Espresso Mi Cultura in Monrovia, (three miles from my parent’s house). That event was a manuscript reading of My Father, The Pope, by Obed Silva, and it’s what got me into the LA poetry scene. Then, I contacted Mike for a virtual reading at Espresso Mi Cultura. He curated that lineup: F. Douglas Brown, Marcus Omari, Luivette Resto, Rocio Carlos, traci-kato kiriyama, and Allan Aquino. 

Getting to know Mike Sonksen gave me the confidence to reach out to writers individually to set up readings for them.

Garcia: With My Place Café temporarily closed, you are doing events in various different cities and venues. What are some of the problems that you encounter when working with new venues?

Working with new venues overall is good. First place I worked with in Long Beach was easy going. Second place, near Mt. Sac and Cal Poly Pomona, I thought they were cool. First event went really smooth, so I decided to plan another one for two months later. But, a month later, the manager I had spoken with quit, so I spoke with the owner, who told me to speak with their new manager who said we were good to go. Day of second event, the reading started off well. Then I noticed some customers walked over to speak with the baristas. One of them told us to lower our voice in being cheerful for poetry. We did our best. Later, another barista came and said the owner does not want us to livestream. I was pissed because I livestreamed the first event. During the final reader, the baristas turned up the music, which made it hard for the last reader to read. That’s when we knew we were passive aggressively being kicked out.

I also feel the need to mention that My Place Café will reopen in early 2024 at Hopkins Village, off Lake in Pasadena.

Garcia: When I first met you, you were hosting and/or curating a reading damn near every week! You seemed to have slowed down. What prompted you to do this? What have you learned?

Tovar: I slowed down because I needed to see if I could get an adjunct position or some other type of job. I get job offers here and there. I am a state employee because I was a caregiver for someone until shit hit the fan. So, if an opportunity pops up for me to do that again, I’ll take it. 

I also slowed down because I was the assistant to the 2023-2024 Altadena Poet Laureates in early 2023.

I learned to take breaks from curating events so I can have some time to attend other readings/workshops. If I want to say I’m for the community, how can I if I don’t go and support others who are bringing local literacy to their neighborhoods? Also, I am not trying to compete with other folks/writing groups. 

Garcia: And now you are also doing Mobile Data Mag! Can you tell me how that got started? Can you speak on how curating events has helped you curate this online lit journal?

Tovar: Mobile Data Mag (formerly known as Lit Stack) got started because I wasn’t sure if I would put together my own event anytime soon. Since My Place Café reading series ended, my time freed up. In early 2023, I was only doing Altadena Poet Laureate events and helping out with Four Feathers Press events. I thought after Spring, I was free from serving the writing community so I can look for work and balance out the rest of my family situation. So, the lit journal was my way to stay connected to the LA poetry scene if I “disappeared.”

Curating events allowed me to stay in touch with all the poets and prose writers I put on as features so I could ask them to be in my literary journal. I knew doing so meant paying writers. Some have said, “Don’t worry about paying me and I would be honored being in your digital literary journal.”

Garcia: Can you tell me a little about what people can expect when they check out Mobile Data Mag? What do you think sets it apart from the many online lit journals out there?

Tovar: Mobile Data Mag is a curated collection of poetry and prose. That’s what makes it stand out. It is not obvious to the random web surfer who stumbles upon Mobile Data Mag. This digital literary journal is (possibly) one of the few literary journals exclusively on Substack. Since the main page is run on Substack, those who subscribe get poetry and prose automatically emailed to their inbox the moment a piece is published (including links to pieces published on Threads). In the “Submissions guidelines” and “about” tabs, it is clear Mobile Data Mag is assembled by solicitation.

People who know of me and the series I ran in Pasadena can expect to read work from folks who appeared in the My Place Café reading series and the other writing acquaintances they are cool with. Some folks on Mobile Data Mag are writers I have met at open mics, panels, and readings. Others are people I have met on my day-to-day life traveling around So. Cal. Few are friends I had before I discovered the LA poetry scene. One guy from Pennsylvania, Sean Thompson, just happened to be at a bar and overheard my conversation with some of the writers who featured at the Sacramento Poetry Center. Life works like that for writers to get an opportunity to have their work published and all that good stuff. Writers I don’t know can submit to Mobile Data Mag by writing to the email listed in the “about” tab.

Also, another aspect that makes Mobile Data Mag stand out is that it is (possibly) one of the few literary journals exclusively on Threads. Readers who discover Mobile Data Mag there can click the link to the main Mobile Data Mag page on Substack.

Garcia: You just mentioned Sacramento and meeting people while traveling around So Cal so I wanted to ask you, where has your poetry taken you? (I mean this literally as well as figuratively). What are some of the places where you have been able to share your work? And what kinds of relationships have you been able to build through the literary world?

Tovar: My poetry and prose has taken me (literally) to Santa Monica for Rapp Saloon open mic, and to San Francisco for The Living Room and The Kitchen Table. (Living Room is run by Kevin Dublin with Giovanna Lomanto as co-host, and The Kitchen Table is run by Paolo Bicchieri and Lucie Perriera, where Kevin Dublin is a co-host). These two reading series inspired me to partner with you and Mauricio Moreno to do Trenches Full of Prose. Oh, and this past October, I went to Fresno Lit Hop as an attendee. Normally when I go to Fresno, I go to visit family. So, this was different and fun.

My poetry and prose has taken me (figuratively) to Besskepp for one of his radio shows at Claremont Colleges. Besskepp (Cory Coffer) read one of the poems I submitted on air. After he read it, I celebrated the win at a dive bar in East Pasadena. My writing has taken me to get to know Jean-Pierre Rueda. I asked him to translate a prose-poem written during the 2020 protests. I am honored he did so. I celebrated the win at a bougie bar in Pacific Heights in San Francisco. After getting to know Ivan Salinas, I asked him to translate a prose poem or mine in memory of a friend who passed away in late 2020. I am very touched Salinas did so. Figuratively, my poetry and prose has taken me to a point where I write in Spanglish and read it at open mics, including most recently reading it as a feature for Obsidian Tongues, hosted by Ceasar K. Avelar.

Garcia: Last question: what advice would you give to a young poet that is entering the world of open-mics?

Tovar: Just go for it! If you have nothing of your own, it’s okay to read from a writer you like/admire. You’ll be nervous, but you’ll feel and be great after your turn is over.

Jesse has a digital chapbook titled, Talks on Skinship, which you can inquire about when you see him at one of his many events. To see what readings Jesse is promoting, find him @authorpopups on instagram and twitter. To check out his online literary journal, visit  mobiledatamag.substack.com