Enjoy this event in person at the library, or register via this link to join us on Zoom.
Spend an afternoon enjoying poetry readings and conversations with Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellows and authors Brian Sonia-Wallace, Lynne Thompson and Aileen Cassinetto. Mid-Valley Regional Branch librarian Michael Baradi will also read his poems.
Brian Sonia-Wallace is the West Hollywood City Poet Laureate, a 2021-22 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow for LGBTQ+ literary activism, and the author of The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter (Harper Collins, 2020). Bylines include Rolling Stone, The Guardian, LitHub, American Poets, Rattle, and more. Brian runs a queer open mic every Tuesday at Micky’s WeHo and teaches at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. His company, RENT Poet, creates custom poems on demand on vintage typewriters at events. Its motto is, “everyone needs a poem.”
Lynne Thompson is Los Angeles’ 2021-22 Poet Laureate and a 2022 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. She’s the author of three collections of poetry: Beg No Pardon, Start With A Small Guitar, and most recently Fretwork, winner of the 2019 Marsh Hawk Poetry Prize. Thompson sits on the Boards of Cave Canem and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Her recent work can be found or is forthcoming in Best American Poetry, New England Review, Black Warrior Review, Massachusetts Review, The Common, and Copper Nickel, among others.
Aileen Cassinetto is an immigrant writer and Commissioner on the Status of Women for San Mateo County, California. She was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow in 2021 and served as the San Mateo County Poet Laureate from 2019-2022. The founder of Paloma Press and author of two poetry collections, her work has appeared in POETRY, Cultural Daily, and poets.org among others.