4:00-4:45 PM

One Must Imagine Them Happy | Deep Roots: Networks of Care | Costeñas: The Siren’s Call from the Central Coast of California | Black Freighter Press & Comrades | Critterary Devices: Truth via the Animal World | Earth, Wind, Fire, and Steven

One Must Imagine Them Happy

Reading Venue: Hart’s Haven (950 N Van Ness)

  • Sean Andersen (he/him)

  • Brianna Alvarez (she/they)

  • Peter Garza (he/him)

  • Halimah Smith (she/her)

In the midst of the proverbial “daily grind,” one must honor their reprieve however brief. These writers are anything but career writers as they go to their day jobs to put food on the table and writing becomes what’s left in the small hours of the night. At best, words have brought nothing but an oasis of the mind. At worst, these writers have steeped in their misery and prepared it for others to sup. There is no end, but still they must. What follows are the moments of daybreak and gloom in the lives of everyday people. No one and everyone.

Deep Roots: Networks of Care

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

  • Grisanti Avendaño

  • Michael Dominquez

  • Christina Olague

  • Matt Robles

Working artists explore what it means to be an artist, find their voice, and dream of futures beyond capitalism.

Costeñas: The Siren’s Call from the Central Coast of California

Reading Venue: Splash (644 E Olive)

  • Adela Najarro (she/her)

  • Farnaz Fatemi (she/her)

  • Marie Butcher (she/her)

  • Aideed Medina (she/her)

A reading from four dynamic Central Coast women representing the meeting of cultures and sisterhood forged to highlight women in the literary arts. Each of these readers is a passionate advocate for the inclusion of diverse perspectives in their respective literary circles, as well as being inspiring sirens whose words call to the soul. 

Black Freighter Press & Comrades

Reading Venue: Goldstein’s (1279 N Wishon)

  • Norman Antonio Zelaya

  • Roxanne Villaluz

  • Matt Sedillo

  • Alie Jones

Black Freighter Press is honored to curate a reading at Lit Hop Fresno for the second year. Join us for a reading by Norman Antonio Zelaya, Roxanne Villaluz, Matt Sedillo, and Alie Jones.

Critterary Devices: Truth via the Animal World

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

  • Angela Chaidez Vincent (she/her)

  • Corrinne Clegg Hales

  • Michael Meyerhofer

  • Marisol Baca (she/her)

Enter the animals of the fable, allegory, bestiary, poem, and story. Animals in literature pad quietly onto the page as embodiments of delight and fear, society and wildness, exile and belonging. Join four Fresno poets as they explore the forests, meadows, burrows, hives, and dens at the periphery of what we know as humans.

Earth, Wind, Fire, and Steven

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

  • Venita Blackburn (she/her)

  • Brynn Saito (she/her)

  • Brenna Womer (she/they)

  • Steven Church (he/him)

 Three groundbreaking Fresno writers and Steven, all of them friends and colleagues in the MFA Program at Fresno State will channel the earthly elements, read from their newish works of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction, and probably talk about their dogs if you give them a chance. Come for the astrology chatter and illegal cheese, stay for the reading.