The Los Angeles Poet Society presents “Palabras de Cambio/Words of Change” Tour, featuring Juan Cardenas and Jessica M. Wilson, to show and inspire the youth of San Fernando Valley colleges, higher education, and multidisciplinary facilities, that growth and positivity can blossom from the most difficult upbringings; including language barriers, class system prejudices, economic poverty, gang and neighborhood violence, and drugs. The goal of this tour is not only to inspire change in our youth, but to show that there are no walls in front of them. Dreams and soul desire can light the path to our own success and happiness!

 

Book Juan and Jessica today! Each visit includes: guest speaking & poetry reading/performance. 

More in depth visits can include: guest speaking & poetry reading/performance, plus bilingual poetry workshop, and chapbook publication at the end of the tour to include works produced from those engaged in their workshops. Booking email:losangelespoetsociety@gmail.com

 

 

About our guests…

 

Juan Cardenas was born in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, and raised in the north San Fernando Valley. He grew up as a 1stgeneration Mexican immigrant, having crossed the desert with his family at the young age of 10. Juan struggled with English language learning, navigated tough gang-infested neighborhoods, and embraced his love of music, literature and the arts, despite it all. Through adversity, Juan rose up, becoming the Vice President of the Los Angeles Poet Society, an accomplished classical Flautist, a published Poet and Writer, and a bilingual youth educator with California Poets in the Schools, a 51 year old organization serving the children of California with poetry and literature. Most recently, Juan was asked to give a poetry reading and performance for Assemblywoman of the 39th District, Patty Lopez, who represents the same communities and cities which Juan resides.

 

Jessica M. Wilson is a mestiza, Navajo Indian/Spanish, Poet born in East Los Angeles, CA. She has her MFA in Poetry from Otis College of Art and Design, and a BA in Creative Writing and Art History from UC Riverside. She grew up in a very distressed household that bounced all around Southern California, bringing her in and out of different classrooms. Having divorced parents, she felt her heart tear between truths and realities at a young age; with her biological parents, step parents, abandonment, and random flings, which she had witnessed. Despite this suffering, Jessica kept to her education, discovering art and literature as a means to cope. She wanted to be a Poet since age 12 and never stopped reaching for her dream. In 2015, Jessica’s book of poetry was published by Swan World Press in Paris, France, making her the 1st English language imprint for the press in the subjects of Literature and Poetry. Being a woman and a minority did not stop her from founding the Los Angeles Poet Society in 2009, building a bridge between the creative communities, (artists, novelists, publishers, poets, and more), in Los Angeles county. Jessica is also the Area Coordinator for LA County for California Poets in the Schools and is an active Poet Teacher.

 

About Los Angeles Poet Society…

The Los Angeles Poet Society, (LAPS), is a non-profit community organization, and produces over 170 events a year at no cost to the public, promotes poetry and artistic collaboration in Los Angeles, and is advocated by the Poet Laureate of LA, Poet, Luis J. Rodriguez. LAPS is a community sponsor of Lit Crawl LA, and collaborates with cultural centers such as Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, The World Stage, and The McGroarty Arts Center.

 

Donations to LAPS can be made via www.losangelespoetsociety.org, and are tax deductible. LAPS is fiscally sponsored by the 501c(3) non-profit, 100 Thousand Poets for Change, a world movement to build peace and sustainability in our communities

 

Special Guest packages…

 

Poets package: Guest Speaker & Poetry reading/performance.

Poetry Pow Wow package: Guest Speaker & Poetry reading/performance, + bilingual poetry workshop & publication.

Inquiries can be made to losangelespoetsociety@gmail.com – WRITE ON!

 

LINKS:

Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural: www.tiachucha.org

Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center: www.beyondbaroque.org

The World Stage: http://www.theworldstage.org/

McGroarty Arts Center: http://www.mcgroartyartscenter.org/