Join me as I moderate two panels at the #AWP16 writers’ conference happening in LA this year! Latinx writers from all over the southland will share our prose and poetry on the following panels, THURSDAY, March 31, 2016:
Panel R225. From New Wave and Punk: Musical influences on Latino Literary Aesthetics.
1:30 pm to 2:45 pm, Room 505, LA Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
With special guest Michelle Gonzales from SpitBoy, Daniel Chacon, Carribean Fragoza, musicologist Marlen Rios, and Vickie Vertiz.
From all corners of Los Angeles and across this country, punk and New Wave music have influenced Latino writers for decades. This multigenre panel is equal parts reading, discussion, and listening party. Through poems, essays, and stories, the panelists highlight how, as listeners, they blend literary aesthetics with New Wave and punk sounds to tell new stories.
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm
Room 410, LA Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
Panel R252. Mistaking Planes for Stars: Los Angeles Writing from Freeways to Flight Paths.
With Vickie Vertiz, Aida Salazar , Steve Gutierrez, and Melinda Palacio.
From Bukowski to Viramontes, working-class writing in Los Angeles is a longstanding tradition. Latinos are the largest ethnic group in the county, bringing avant-garde aesthetics to literature. However, many of our stories have yet to be told. This reading highlights cutting edge poetry, story, and performance by working-class and queer Latinos from a little-known part of Los Angeles: the southeast. From railroad yards to factory floors, writers share their work of grit and heart.
See you there!