Escape from LA, A Poetry Reading

Escape from LA, A Poetry Reading

Three radical poets from L.A.are coming to the Bay Area! They will be presenting “poems made of fire,” from Matt Sedillo’s latest collection, Mowing Leaves of Grass; Nikolai Garcia’s first chapbook, Nuclear Shadows of Palm Trees, and Dryland, a literary journal born in South Central L.A., published and edited by Viva Padilla.

BIOS:
Born in El Sereno, California in 1981, Matt Sedillo writes from the vantage point of a second generation Chicano born in an era of diminishing opportunities and a crumbling economy. His writing - a fearless, challenging and at times even confrontational blend of humor, history and political theory - is a reflection of those realities. The poetry of Matt Sedillo is in turn a shot in the arm of pure revolutionary adrenaline and at others a sobering call for the fundamental restructuring of society in the interest of people not profits. Passionate, analytical, humorous and above all sincere, a revolutionary poet fortunate enough to be living in interesting times, the artistry of Matt Sedillo is a clarion call for all those who know a new world is not only possible but inevitable.

Viva Padilla is a first-generation Chicana from South Central L.A., a daughter of Mexican immigrants who crossed the border. She has been in the trenches at the L.A. Times, Red Hen Press, and Punk Hostage Press. In October she featured at Casa De Las Americas in Havana, Cuba for their Coloquio Internacional Latinos en los Estados Unidos.

Nikolai Garcia is all-city L.A. He grew up in South Central Los Angeles; graduated from Birmingham High School in The Valley; went to East L.A. College (where he studied Journalism and Creative Writing under Jean Stapleton and Carol Lem, respectively); spent 12 years working in Skid Row; currently works in East Hollywood, and has been sleeping in Compton for the last 15 years.
He has been published in the anthologies, The Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles, (Tia Chucha Press, 2016), & Extreme: An Anthology for Social and Environmental Justice, (Vagabond Books, 2018), No Tender Fences, and in various literary journals. He is a founding member of the Coleman Collective and is Assistant Editor for Dryland, a literary arts journal based in South Central.
Price: $5 - $10