I got a call from author and organizer, Bethel Swift! I’m honored (and possibly way out of my league) to sit on a poetry panel with the likes of JohnnieRenee Nia Nelson and Karla Cordero at Spacebar Cafe and Wine Bistro. Bethel will moderate the panel and host the open mic. Bethel describes the event like this:

To all fans of poetry and spoken verse, come kick off National Poetry Month with us by eating, drinking, and celebrating with local artists and poets at Spacebar Cafe & Wine Bistro on Sunday, April 3rd, from 1-3pm. Join San Diego-based poets Karla Cordero (How to Pull Apart the Earth), Michael Klam (Anything for a Dull Moment), and JohnnieRenee Nia Nelson (Classic Kwanzaa Poems: New and Selected) as they read and engage audience members in a panel discussion moderated by poet and fellow club member Bethel Swift (Conversations with Good Men). Panel will be followed by an Open Mic session so arrive early if you’d like to sign up! Authors will also be available to sign their books after the event.

Find more info and updates on MEET UP and FACEBOOK.

Panelist bios:

Award-winning writer JohnnieRenee Nia Nelson, aka the Kwanzaa Poet, has written five books of Kwanzaa poetry. “Classic Kwanzaa Poems: New and Selected” is her latest work. Ms. Nelson serves as the Poet Laureate of the World Beat Center and as the San Diego County Area-Coordinator for California Poets in the Schools.

Michael Klam is the executive editor of the San Diego Poetry Annual (SDPA), and editor-in-chief of Pozol, the bilingual edition of SDPA. He organizes and hosts Central Library’s video series, Conversations with Poets. His most recent collection of poetry and art, Anything for a Dull Moment (Garden Oak Press), published in 2020. Visit poetryandartsd.com for more.

Karla Cordero is a Chicana poet and educator raised along the borderlands of Calexico, CA. Her poems have appeared in Oprah Magazine, NPR, Academy of American Poets, The Break Beat Poets Volume 4. LatiNEXT Anthology, among other publications. Karla is the author of How To Pull Apart The Earth (NOT A CULT. ) a 2019 San Diego Book Award winner and awarding-winning finalist for the 2019 International Latino Book Award and the 2019 International Book Award. She currently serves as a professor of creative writing and composition at MiraCosta College. You can follow her work via Instagram @karlaflaka13