Two interviews with two Los Ángeles poets, VIva Padilla—Órale Boyle Heights—and Nikolia Garcia—The Badass Bookworm Podcast. Continue reading Two Interviews With Viva Padilla and Nikolai Garcia of Dryland: A Literary Journal Based in South Central Los Angeles
By Peter Mishler
FROM: Lit Hub
For the next installation in our interview series with contemporary poets, Peter Mishler corresponded with Victoria Chang. Victoria Chang’s books include OBIT (April 2020), Barbie Chang, The Boss, Salvinia Molesta, and Circle. Her children’s picture book, Is Mommy?, was illustrated by Marla Frazee and published by Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster. It was named a New York Times Notable Book. Her middle grade novel Love, Love will be published by Sterling Publishing in 2020. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award, the Poetry Society of America’s Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award, a Pushcart Prize, a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and a Lannan Residency Fellowship. She lives in Los Angeles and is the program chair of Antioch’s Low-Residency MFA Program.
Continue reading “Victoria Chang On The Self And Its Many Deaths”
By Mike Bravo
FROM: Venice Beachhead
Matt, thanks for your time I know you’re a busy dude. I’ve never done one before but congratulations on being my first interview. I’ve known you for about 5 years now maybe. I feel I know you pretty well. How would you summarize yourself and your artistry for those that don’t know you?
For those that don’t know me I’m a poet, I write political poetry a political poet. I write a lot about the important and contentious issues that are facing us in this time and age. On top of that I’m a Chicano poet and very proud of being part of that lineage as well. I write a lot about the struggle of the Chicano peopl and the struggles of all working class people in general. I also write about topics surrounding the fact that we’re living on a planet that’s being destroyed by the very wealthy.
Continue reading “Venice Beachhead Interview with Poet Matt Sedillo”
By Brian Dunlap
Earlier this month, Compton poet Jenise Miller hosted the release party for her debut chapbook The Blvd. (DSTL Arts, 2019) at a packed Patria Coffee. The audience connected with her poems that depicted and celebrated the vibrant Compton community she grew up in. The book centers around the apartment complex she lived in called The Blvd. and depicts in part, her black Panamanian heritage.
By Erick Huerta Erick Huerta’s guest this episode is Nikolai Garcia. He is a poet from South Central L.A. and they met up at his favorite bar, Hanks, to discuss his new poetry chapbook, what it was like growing up in the hood, his journey to becoming one of those great L.A. poets. You can follow Nikolai on Instagram and Twitter at @HelloKommie. Listen to … Continue reading Órale Boyle Heights ep 31: Nikolai Garcia
Steph Cha discusses her new novel “Your House Will Pay,” the LA Riots, the Korean American Angeleno community, her 3,600 Yelp reviews, and pushing back against gatekeepers in publishing.
By Victoria Namkung
FROM: Longreads
On March 16, 1991, 15-year-old Latasha Harlins went to a local convenience store in South Los Angeles to buy a bottle of orange juice. Owner Soon Ja Du accused the teenage girl of shoplifting, an altercation ensued, and in a split-second captured on video, Du shot Harlins in the back of the head. She died with two dollars in her hand. A jury found Du guilty of voluntary manslaughter, but against their recommendation, the judge sentenced the Korean-born woman to a $500 fine, probation, and community service.
Continue reading “‘I Was Interested In The People Who Are Stuck With These Memories’”
By Carolyn Neuhausen
FROM: The Argonaut
Loyola Marymount University writing instructor and rhetorical arts fellow Shonda Buchanan understands how abuse and self-hatred — the kind that ripples through families for generations — can set the tone for interpersonal relationships for decades, if not centuries.
Continue reading “LMU’S SHONDA BUCHANAN TELLS TRUER TALES OF AMERICAN HISTORY”
By Brian Dunlap
The Poetry Salon has released the six episode of its Poetry Saloncast. This episode’s interview is with local poet Alexis Rhone Fancher, whose work has been described as blazing and frank and her submissions regimen ambitious. Fancher discusses her work-ethic and her ability to detach herself from her writing, even when writing about very personal subjects.
Continue reading “Episode Six of Poetry Salon’s Poetry Saloncast”
By Denise Alicea
FROM: The Pen & Muse
Set against two distinct epochs in the history of Pasadena, California, Arroyo tells the parallel stories of a young man and his dog in 1913 and 1993. In both lives, they are drawn to the landmark Colorado Street Bridge, or “Suicide Bridge,” as the locals call it, which suffered a lethal collapse during construction but still opened to fanfare in the early twentieth century automobile age. When the refurbished structure commemorates its 80th birthday, one of the planet’s best known small towns is virtually unrecognizable from its romanticized, and somewhat invented, past.
Continue reading “Author Interview With Author of Arroyo, Chip Jacobs!”
By Brian Dunlap
Sara Borjas is the guest on the latest episode of The Blood-Jet Writing Hour.
Los Angeles Literature 