San Luis Obispo 100 Thousand Poets for Change

Organizers: Youssef Alaoui slo100tpc@boun.cr and Kevin Patrick Sullivan kpsslopoet@charter.net

Our event will be held at the Sanitarium, 1716 Osos Street in San Luis Obispo from 5:30- 9:30 PM. We’ll have a BBQ pot luck, a few selected readers followed by an open reading. We invite all comers, please bring a sweet or savory item to share, or a beverage of your choice.

Acoustic musical acts are welcome to sign up for the open mic. Performances are limited to six minutes each.

*We are looking for a few event volunteers as well – please contact us for details*

We have our list of selected readers!

BONNIE YOUNG: Bonnie Young’s work has been published in Flyway, The Midwest Quarterly, Cafe Solo, Thema, Rattle and other journals. Her chapbook, Inside Pockets, was published in 2009 by John Daniel. She is completing her two-year tenure as Poet Laureate of San Luis Obispo.

PAUL CORMAN ROBERTS: Paul Corman-Roberts’ first fiction collection is “Sometimes You Invent New Words For Old Losses” forthcoming this year from Tainted Coffee Press.  He is a co-founder of the largest reading in Oakland history, the Beast Crawl festival.

IVAN BROWNOTTER: Ivan BrownOtter is a graduate of the University of Mars. He first started writing at the advice of his anger management counselor who suggested he get his feelings down on paper. Now, he writes to experience his life a second time, to gain understanding and perspective.

B.A. BOYD: Beverly Boyd taught literature and writing for many years in Southern California before moving to the central coast. Currently, she co-hosts a quarterly poetry reading series at a local library. Her poetry appears or is forthcoming in Caduceus, Conclave, English Journal, Healing Muse, Plainsongs and Poem.

PAUL LOBO PORTUGES: Teaches creative writing at UCSB. His many published books include Saving Grace, Hands Across the Earth, The Flower Vendor, Paper Song, Aztec Birth and Mao; soon to come from Word Palace Press. His poems are scattered in small magazines across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He has received awards from the NEA, the Ford Foundation, American Film Institute, The Rockefeller/Bellagio Foundation, and the Fulbright Commission.

ANNE CANDELARIA: Anne Candelaria has taught Spanish and English in California, Bogota, Colombia and in Guadalajara, Mexico. Her poems have been published by Papier-Mache Press, Feathermoon Press, Taproot Press, the Santa Barbara Community of Voices and the California State Poetry Society.

MISSY CHURCH: Missy Church, also visiting from Oakland, is co-founder of the largest poetry reading in Oakland history, called the Beast Crawl. Ask her about it. She has been writing poetry and short stories in the Bay Area since 1998. She is the proud parent of several zines, a toddler and a memoir called “Church.” Once a month, Missy calls her backyard The Naked Bulb and holds the only residential outdoor open mic in Oakland.

RUDY CALDERON: Rudy Calderon is an educator and translator who has authored 14 books of poetry.  Calderon has been a featured poet at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City and at the 8th Annual Latino Book and Family Festival hosted by Edward James Olmos at CSU Los Angeles. Moreover, two of his books have been required readings in the Modern Languages Dept. at Cal Poly SLO.

JAMES CUSHING: James Cushing has published three books of poetry, all with Cahuenga Press in Loss Angeles: You and the Night and the Music, The Length of an Afternoon, and Undercurrent Blues. In 1994 he received Renegade Magazine’s “Warlord of the Subculture” Award. He hosts “Miles Ahead,” a weekly jazz program on Cal Poly radio station KCPR. He is a recipient of the College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Lecturer Award.

JERRY DOUGLAS SMITH: Jerry attended five universities but has learned more from the college of boxcars, bars, and dead-end jobs. A San Luis Obispo resident today, Jerry grew up in the Colorado Rockies where he acquired a natural education; informed by rivers, raccoons, native Americans, smart trout, and wise old forests. Jerry is a naturalist of the old sense; a backpacker, a fly-fisherman, and an insatiably curious student of human nature and the universe.

Connect with us via our Facebook event page here.

SLO100TPC

WAS A GREAT SUCCESS!!

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ATTENDED TO MAKE THIS EVENT POSSIBLE.

SEVERAL POETS SIGNED UP TO READ AT THE EVENT:

Evy Cole

Francesca Nemko

Marian Mellow

Andrew J. Thomas

Victoria Billings

Robert Freeman

Rosemary Wilvert

Linda D. Young

Cody Morse

Chelsea Tinsley

Joe Laurenzi

Sam Duarte