2:00-2:45 PM

Nocturne and Aubade: 4 Poets' Journeys into Twilight and Dawn

Reading Venue: Fresno Music Academy & Arts: Vista Theatre (1296 N. Wishon Ave)

• Angela Chaidez Vincent (she/her)

• Victor Trejo (him/he)

• Kirk Stone (him/he)

• Megan Anderson Bohigian (she/her)

Four poets--Angela Chaidez Vincent, Victor Trejo, Megan Anderson Bohigian, and Kirk Stone--journey over thresholds, through liminality, between the concealed and the revealed--toward the boon of discoveries found at twilight and in the first rays of dawn.

UUCF Writing Group: Giving Voice to Spirit

Reading Venue: Hart's Haven Used Bookstore (950 N. Van Ness Ave) 

• Yvonne Freve (she/her)

• Steve Hay (he/him)

• Cheyenne Jenvey (she/her)

• Eleanor Richards (she/her)

The Adult Religious Exploration Writing Group at The Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno (UUCF), provides adults an opportunity to connect their spirit to their inner voice.  Writing together, in a shared space, they respond to prompts and stretch their creative muscles. Their stories are authentic, their voices strong, and they represent a diverse community that embraces life and speaks for justice.

F#@% yes! Fresnan Feminist Flash Forms

Reading Venue: Splash (644 E Olive)

• Venita Blackburn (she/her)

• Alison Mandaville

• sam h. tripp

• Brenna Womer (she/her/they/them)

Do you lack patience for long form readings? Stressed by the backlash to feminism? Writing across and amidst genres, four Fresno writers read their work in short form, addressing issues of gender equity, body politics, and gendered spaces and futures. From short fiction, to poetry, to creative non-fiction, to hybrid forms, these pieces move quickly and carry a joyous punch. Join us for a fast-paced, fun reading that challenges the sex/gender status quo. Adult language/content.

Familial Temporality

Reading Venue: Sour Milk (1474 N. Van Ness Ave)

• Aura Peredia (she/her)

• Samantha Martinez Palomares (she/her)

• Chloe Abella (she/her)

• Benjamin Rigby (he/him)

Four writers, each spiritually linked through the playing of a past never present, follow the physical sensuality to an environment now changed from the roots of a familial history. As a consequence, growing up finds itself in a disparity between what is forgotten in the person then and the person they are to become. Overlapping themes in the readings are, liminal spaces of time, protests to a modern life, the compression of the self against the silent past, and the questioning of love, both by location and person, that, with all, create a familial temporality.

Wax Poetic

Reading Venue: Spectrum Art Gallery (608 E. Olive Ave)

• Laura Sermeño (she/her)

• Daryl Gussin (he/him)

• Iris De Anda (she/her)

• Nikolai Garcia (he/him)

The ongoing relationship between music and poetry will be explored by four Southern California poets—who also double as musicians and/or record collectors. Poets will dig deep into their vinyl collections to be inspired; and dig deep into the psyche to transform emotion and memory into written word.

Forging Futures, Building Toward Home

Reading Venue: Goldstein’s (1279 N Wishon)

• Mariah Bosch (she/they)

• Roda Avelar (she/her)

• Viviana Melgoza (she/her)

• Esmeralda Gamez (she/her)

Four poets and friends come together to read work stretching toward new futures. Our renderings of home create new space for our identities, dreams, and collective liberations. Each poet interprets "home" and "futures" in ways that create something entirely new and transformative.

How Can I Dream America?

Reading Venue: Teazer World Tea Market (645 E. Olive Ave)

• Cristina Sandoval

• Michael S. Cantu

• Alberto Saldaña Uribe

• Andy Marin Contreras

In a life no longer dictated by deadlines and writing prompts, these four poets search a wild world for creative footing in an ever-changing landscape of Post-Academic life while wrestling with idealistic hopes and raucous realities.  Seeking to justify their existence and nurture their souls in a world filled with joy, death, suffering, and love, they each find themselves asking how can I dream America?

The Globe Within the Valley

Reading Venue: Tower Yoga: The Lotus Room (626 E. Olive Ave)

• Samina Najmi (she/her)

• Lena Mubsutina

• Vanessa Gonzalez (she/they)

• Sara Borjas

The Central Valley is often perceived as a provincial region, as closed off to the wider world intellectually as it is landlocked geographically. But in fact its literature articulates its own realities while also responding to larger historical moments. Valley authors amplify, resist, or intervene in the global narratives swirling around them. The writers on this panel, who are of diverse backgrounds but rooted in the Valley, will read poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction that is engaged with Gaza and Palestine, underscoring the porousness of the lines between the global and the local in Central Valley literature.