Carolos Ornelas reviews “Scribble Scrabbles” by Boyle Heights native and poet Sandy Shakes and discusses how he can personally relate to her verse. Continue reading More Than a Chapbook: Poet Carlos Ornelas on Scribble Scrabbles by Sandy Shakes
Episode 4 of Nikolai Garcia’s interview series Not A Podcast, features Jennifer Baptiste, Houston native, poet, librarian and voice actor. Garcia and Baptiste discuss how she became a poet, how she got the curage to read her poetry at open mics, why she continues to engage in the literary community and more. Continue reading Not A Podcast: An Interview Series—Episode Four: Books Rule Everything Around Her (Jennifer Baptiste)
Editor-in-Chief Brian Dunlap’s unpublished book review on Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo’s debut poetry collection “Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge,” originally written in 2017. “In poems of her family living in Boyle Heights and her Chavez Ravine poems, Bermejo brings this true Chicanx L.Á.—away from the overused tropes of a lack of history, of being without, of L.Á. is Hollywood—to the fore.” Continue reading Posada: Finding Home
The Literary and Arts space founded and run by Viva Padila, Re/Arte, is looking to reopen after a two-month hiatus and is asking for the community’s help. Continue reading Re-opening of Re/Arte Centro Literario in Boyle Heights
By Brian Dunlap
It was a hot, August Sunday in Boyle Heights. Mid-afternoon, Ceaser Chavez was quieter than usual. It might’ve been due to the Delta variant raging across the county. It might’ve also been due because it was Sunday, the only slow day in L.Á. Still, some stores were open like Boyle Heights Amor, a small store front selling natural medicine.
Continue reading “Book Release: My Name is Romero”
By Brian Dunlap
Saturday in Boyle Heights. Cesar Chavez Ave. The grand opening for South Central poet and Dryland founder Viva Padilla’s literary arts venue Re/Arte.
Continue reading “Grand Opening of New L.Á. Literary Space”Viramontes’ passion for bringing erased communities to the forefront of literature and history has materialized into several acclaimed literary works.
By Jackie Swift
FROM: research.cornell.edu
Helena María Viramontes, English, brings people and places erased from history to life again. For years, she has focused her lens on the Latino experience in the United States, writing award-winning fiction that draws from her own heritage as a Chicana from Los Angeles. In her latest novel-in-progress, The Cemetery Boys, she explores the experiences of three generations of East Los Angelenos mired in three different wars. During this exploration, she highlights the mix of ethnicities and marginalized communities that flourished and then faded away in the California of the early-to-mid twentieth century.
Los Angeles Literature 