Inaugural Poetry Reading in the Monterey County Poet Laureate's Reading Series.

Featured Poets: Rachelle Escamilla, Manuel Paul López, MK Chavez and Darrell Dela Cruz

Rachelle Escamilla is a Chicana poet from the Central Coast of California. She is the author of three books of poetry: Imaginary Animal (Willow Books, 2015 & 2021), Me Drawing a Picture of Me[n] (Willow Books, 2019) and Space Junk from the Heavenly Palace (Nomadic Press/Black Lawrence Press 2023). Rachelle is the founder of a number of organizations and literary programs; was the producer and host of the longest running poetry radio show in the US; was a visiting scholar at the Library of Congress, Hispanic Division where she conducted research around her grandfather’s 1969 testimony for the fair treatment of migrant laborers in California. Rachelle is a Jeffers Fellow and the 2024/25 Poet Laureate of Monterey County.

Manuel Paul López’s books include Nerve Curriculum (Futurepoem), These Days of Candy (Noemi Press, Akrilica Series), The Yearning Feed (University of Notre Dame Press), winner of the Ernest Sandeen Poetry Prize, and Death of a Mexican and Other Poems (Bear Star Press). He also co-edited three anthologies, Reclaiming Our Stories: In the Time of Covid and Uprising (City Works Press), Reclaiming Our Stories 2 (City Works Press) and Reclaiming Our Stories (City Works Press), all three generated from a community-based writers’ workshop of the same name that he’s co-facilitated since 2016 in Southeast San Diego. A CantoMundo fellow, his work has been published in Bilingual Review, Denver Quarterly, Fairy Tale Review, Hanging Loose, Huizache, New American Writing, Puerto del Sol, and The Rumpus, among others. He lives in San Diego and teaches at San Diego City College.

MK Chavez is an art monster, writer, and educator. Chavez’s writing explores mixed-race identity, social justice, environmental resilience, horror cinema, magic, ritual, and the creative process. Chavez’s work has been recognized with the Pen Josephine Miles Award, the San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Literary Award, and the Ruth Weiss Maverick Award. Chavez’s literary offerings include Dear Animal, Mothermorphosis, the lyric essay chapbook A Brief History of the Selfie, and Virgin Eyes. Recent work can be found on the walls of the art installation Manifest Differently.

Darrell Dela Cruz's debut collection This is a Love Poem, Listen (Tourane Poetry Press) came out earlier this year. His work has also appeared in Saw Palm, The Minetta Review, Crab Orchard Review, Studio One, Steam Ticket, and Cider Press Review. He graduated with an MFA in Poetry from San Jose State University. For more about him and his analysis of poems: ddcpoetry.blogspot.comformerly known as RetailMFA, writes analysis of poems on his website ddcpoetry.blogspot.com. His debut collection "This is a Love Poem, Listen" is published by Tourane Poetry Press.

Poetry Readings followed by wine & cheese reception