Four Chicanx poets and authors from San Diego and Los Angeles from FlowerSong Press are reading this Saturday, May 28 from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m., at Barnes & Noble Encinitas (Town Center, 1040 N El Camino Real Drive, Encinitas, CA 92024). Collectively, these poets and writers have performed their poetry around the world, sold thousands of copies of their books, had their work published in dozens of literary journals and newspapers, performed at hundreds of colleges and universities, have been taught at dozens of colleges and universities and have engaged in powerful work to uplift and transform their communities. The FlowerSong poets and authors who will be reading: - Sonia Gutiérrez, "Dreaming with Mariposas" - Matt Sedillo, "Mowing Leaves of Grass" - Briana Muñoz, "Everything is Returned to the Soil/Todo vuelve a la tierra" - David A. Romero, "My Name Is Romero" FlowerSong Press: Based in McAllen, Texas, FlowerSong Press nurtures essential verse from, about, and through the borderlands. The voices of those from Latin America, the U.S.A. and all over the world. We are Literary, Lyrical, Boundless, and we welcome allies that understand and join in the voice of people of color and our struggle, truth, and hope. www.flowersongpress.com Sonia Gutiérrez is the recipient of the Tomás Rivera Book Award 2021 for her novel "Dreaming with Mariposas" (FlowerSong Press, 2020). In 2021, "Dreaming with Mariposas" also received an honorable mention for the Isabel Allende Most Inspirational Fiction Award from the International Latino Book Awards. She is the author of "Spider Woman / La Mujer Araña" (Olmeca Press, 2013) and co-editor for "The Writer’s Response" (Cengage Learning, 2016). She teaches critical thinking and writing, and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. Her bilingual poetry collection, "Paper Birds: Feather by Feather / Pájaros de papel: Pluma por pluma," is forthcoming fall 2022. Presently, she is working on her first illustrated book, "The Adventures of a Burrito Flying Saucer," and teaching in cyberland. Matt Sedillo has been described by journalists and historians alike as, “the best political poet in America” as well as “the poet laureate of the struggle.” His work has drawn comparisons in print to Bertol Brecht, Roque Dalton, Amiri Baraka, Alan Ginsberg and countless other legends of the past. Sedillo was the recipient of the 2017 Joe Hill Labor Poetry Award, a panelist at the 2020 Texas Book Festival, and a participant in the 2011 San Francisco International Poetry Festival, the 2022 Elba Poetry Festival. Sedillo has appeared on CSPAN, been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Axios, the Associated Press, NPR for the Southwest, the Kenyon Review, the Pacifica Network, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation among many other publications and broadcasts. Sedillo has spoken at Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba, at numerous conferences and forums, such as the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education, the National Association of Chicana/Chicano Studies, the Left Forum, the US Social Forum, the Left Coast Forum, the Worker Cooperative National Conference, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and at over a hundred universities and colleges, including the University of Cambridge. Matt Sedillo is the author of "Mowing Leaves of Grass" (FlowerSong Press, 2019) and "City on the Second Floor" (FlowerSong Press, 2022), both of which are taught at universities throughout the country as coursework. Briana Muñoz is a poet from Southern California. She is the author of "Loose Lips," a poetry collection published by Prickly Pear Publishing (2019) and of "Everything is Returned to the Soil" published by FlowerSong Press (2021). Her work has been published in the Bravura Literary Journal, the Dryland Literary Journal, the Oakland Arts Review, in Boundless: The Anthology of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival, and the anthology, Reimagine America, among others. She is an Indigenous Mexica danzante. She is also the co-creator of Hairy Leg Lingerie, a creative collective birthed to highlight local talent from the non-binary, femme, and trans communities. Briana currently serves as the Volunteer Event Coordinator for the Sims Library of Poetry and the Volunteer Fundraising Coordinator for the Luis J Rodriguez for CA Governor 2022 campaign. David A. Romero is a Mexican-American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, California. Romero is the author of "My Name Is Romero" (FlowerSong Press, 2020), a book reviewed by Gustavo Arellano (¡Ask a Mexican!), Curtis Marez (University Babylon), and founding member of Ozomatli, Ulises Bella. Romero has appeared at over seventy-five colleges and universities in thirty-three states in the USA. Romero's work has been published in literary magazines in the United States, England, and Canada. Romero has opened for Latin Grammy winning bands Ozomatli and La Santa Cecilia. Romero’s work has been published in anthologies alongside poets laureate, Joy Harjo, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Luis J. Rodriguez, Jack Hirschman, and Tongo Eisen-Martin. Romero has won the Uptown Slam at the historic Green Mill in Chicago, the birthplace of slam poetry. Romero’s poetry deals with family, identity, social justice issues, and Latinx culture. Romero offers a scholarship for high school seniors interested in spoken word and social justice: “The Romero Scholarship for Excellence in Spoken Word.” Barnes & Noble is on Facebook + Instagram
