Tag Archives: LitCrawl

LitCrawl and PAWA present Barrio Fiesta

I’m honored and excited to host this event tomorrow at LitCrawl. These are some amazing writers who are really invested in both their stories and their connection with community and I know they’ve been workin hard to make sure that this is THE event people will be talkin bout during LitCrawl. Y’all should come out and support the poetry and enjoy the lumpia.

Barrio Fiesta: A Literary Celebration

Irma Pampagna Restaurant
6:00 – 7:00 pm, Oct 13,2012
Presented by Philippine American Writers and Artists (PAWA)

PAWA is partnering with Irma’s Restaurant to bring you Barrio Fiesta: a reading where five writers will share work about a celebration. The celebrations will be culinary, cultural or focused on the community. In the spirit of every good Filipino Barrio Fiesta, lumpia will most likely be served. Featuring Lisa Abellera, Melissa Sipin, G. Justin Hulog, Jennifer Derilo, and Aileen Suzara. Hosted by Oscar Bermeo.

LISA ABELLERA earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of San Francisco. Her work appears in The Southeast Review, Lowestoft Chronicle, and The Globetrotter’s Companion (Lion Lounge Press), an anthology of creative travel writing. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area, where she is currently at work on a collection of short fiction.

JENNIFER DERILO has a BA in Literatures of the World from UC San Diego and an MFA in Literature and Creative Writing from Mills College, where she was its first Jacob K. Javits Fellow. She is the Creative Nonfiction Editor for Kartika Review and an English instructor at Southwestern College. She enjoys writing and reading about people and things unseen. She often has nightmares about zombies. And abandoned predicate parts.

G. JUSTIN HULOG writes stories about ruined gods, forgotten spaces and new worlds. Born in Baguio City, he grew up in California before leaving home to study Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He has written for Hyphen, Remodelista, Karma Magazine and edits a Filipno food and bulul blog called The Palay. Justin is currently completing his MFA in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University.

MELISSA SIPIN is a writer from Carson, California. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2012 and her writing has been published or is forthcoming in Kweli Journal, Tidal Basin Review, and Kartika Review, among other publications. Melissa was awarded the full-tuition assistantship in narrative writing and community engagement at Mills College and is currently pursuing her MFA in fiction.

AILEEN SUZARA is a Filipina/American educator, cook, eco-activist, organic farmer and adobo champion. She finds inspiration in the power of story to create change — from the voices of climate change fighters to the oral histories of California’s AAPI farmworkers. Aileen’s writing appears in The Colors of Nature, Earth Island Journal, Growing Up Filipino II, and more. She blogs on food, memory and place at Kitchen Kwento.

LitCrawl: CantoMundo, Acentos de la Bahia

What: Come listen to seven CantoMundo fellows share their palabra during Phase III (8:30-9:30) of SF’s world-famous LitCrawl!

Where: Inside the Mission Cultural Center (Mission street between 24th and 25th), a venue that is celebrating 35 historic years of commitment to the community.

When: During Phase III (8:30-9:30) of the world-famous literary event, San Francisco LitCrawl (October 13th, 2012). More info on the event can be found at: www.litcrawl.org/sf.

Why: Because it’s an opportunity to listen to seven CantoMundo fellows that are part of an organization whose vision is to develop, sustain, and support a diverse community of Latina/o poets from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and sexualities. And because nuestras voces son fuertes!

For more information on CantoMundo, click on the link: www.cantomundo.org.  Apply!

Who Will Be Reading and Representing CantoMundo:

Javier Zamora is the winner of the Organic Weapon Arts 2011 chapbook contest, Nueve Años Inmigrantes (2012). His poetry has appeared in NewBorder, Spillway, and Phat’titude.

Angel Garcia has lived in several cities throughout Southern California. He has worked in the field of education for several years as a tutor, residential advisor, instructor, and most recently as a coordinator for an educational non-profit in El Monte, CA. Angel is currently completing his first collection of poetry.

Writer and educator, Leticia Hernández-Linares, has performed her poemsongs throughout the country, and in El Salvador, for over a decade. Her writing has appeared in newspapers, literary journals and anthologies. Since 1995, she lives, works, and writes in the Mission District, San Francisco. See more about her adventures: www.ciguanabaink.com.

Ruben Quesada is the author of Next Extinct Mammal. His poetry has appeared in American Poetry Review, Third Coast, Rattle, and Southern California Review.

Oscar Bermeo was born in Ecuador, raised in the Bronx, and now makes his home in Oakland with his wife, poeta Barbara Jane Reyes, where they co-edit Doveglion Press. He is the author of Anywhere Avenue, Palimpsest, Heaven Below and To the Break of Dawn.

Manuel Paul López was born and raised in the U.S.-Mexican border region of El Centro, California. His work has been published in Bilingual Review/La Revista Bilingue, ZYZZYVA, Hanging Loose, and Rattle, among others. He is the author of Death of a Mexican and Other Poems and 1984.

Raina J. León has authored two collections of poetry, Canticle of Idols (2008) and Boogeyman Dawn (2013). She co-founded The Acentos Review.

Lauro Vazquez grew up Santa Rosa. He is a CantoMundo fellow and an M.F.A. candidate in poetry at the University of Notre Dame’s Creative Writing program.