Poetry.LA
Encyclopedia
Poetry.LA is an online video
showcase featuring established and emerging poets filmed at various venues throughout Southern California
. It's an up close look at a variety of poetic voices, including interviews with poets and publishers. The venues where poetry readings are held are also spotlighted to share with the poetry
audience.
Poet/artistic director Hilda Weiss and videographer
/producer Wayne Lindberg started Poetry.LA in January 2007 as a way to expose poets to a much larger audience beyond the intimate spaces of coffeehouses, cafes, bookstores and cultural art centers, where the readings are often taped. Poets can post the video links (uploaded to YouTube) in their emails and on websites, blogs or social networking pages. Currently, there are about 270 poets featured on Poetry.LA. and the videos have received over 200,000 viewings on YouTube
. Poetry lovers have also found Poetry.LA via links on various literary organizations' websites, including the Library of Congress
.
Special features of the site include: 2008-2009 U.S. Poet Laureate
Kay Ryan
's reading at the Casa Romantica Series, video interviews with Fred Dewey, executive/artistic director of Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
, Cobalt Poets' host Rick Lupert, the Ruskin Art Club's Literary Programs Director Elena Karina Byrne
(2008 Pushcart Prize
winner), Red Hen Press
' Managing editor
Kate Gale
as well as hosts of The World Stage Reading Series and Redondo Poet’s Coffee Cartel readings, among others.
Hilda Weiss' poetry has been published (or is soon to be published) in Askew, Margie, Nerve Cowboy, RATTLE
, Salamander, Writers at Work and Westview, among other publications. Her first chapbook of poems, Optimism About Trees, will be published by Finishing Line Press and released in July 2011. Weiss has also read her work at local venues and when attending readings found that, “I’ve often heard a good poem at a reading and wanted to listen to it again. So, Wayne and I started out videotaping open mics and it evolved from there. We now update the site typically every month with videos of a half dozen new poets reading their work. Before we tape a poet we like to read their work and look at their publication credits. Since our end product is video, we are very interested in artists who have engaging performance styles. For that reason, we keep our camera handy for strong open mic performances,” states Weiss. Weiss and Lindberg also work on Poetry.LA with their associate producer Michael Child, a Los Angeles-based musician and poet. Weiss has also been featured on KPFK
90.7 FM's Poets Cafe discussing her work as well as that of Poetry.LA.
Wayne Lindberg is a Los Angeles-based writer and videographer. His short fiction collection, Cary Malone and Other Stories was published by Nothing Moments Press in 2007. His plays have been produced by various Los Angeles theatre companies over the past 25 years, including Pacific Repertory Theatre Ensemble, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
, Public Works and the Venice Mooney Company.
Hilda Weiss' business experience also includes technical writing, PR writing and photography. She is an active Kundalini
yoga
student and holds a 4th degree black belt in Shotokan Karate.
, Anne Carson
, Luis Campos, Wanda Coleman
, Larry Colker, Brendan Constantine, Sarah Cruse, Deborah Digges
,Jawanza Dumisani, B.H. Fairchild, Andrea Gibson
, Juan Felipe Herrera
, Tony Hoagland
, Rodney Jones
, Yusef Komunyakaa
, Gina Loring, Suzanne Lummis
, Sarah Maclay, Jack McCarthy
, 2010 Colorado Poet Laureate David Mason (writer)
, Lucia Perillo
, Carl Phillips
, Mike the Poet, Holly Prado, Luis J. Rodriguez
, David St. John
, Amy Uyematsu
, Pam Ward, Charles Harper Webb
, C.K. Williams, Robert Wrigley
, Gail Wronsky, among others.
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
showcase featuring established and emerging poets filmed at various venues throughout Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
. It's an up close look at a variety of poetic voices, including interviews with poets and publishers. The venues where poetry readings are held are also spotlighted to share with the poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
audience.
Poet/artistic director Hilda Weiss and videographer
Videographer
Strictly speaking, a videographer is a person who works in the field of videography, video production — recording moving images and sound on video tape, disk, other electro-mechanical device. News broadcasting relies heavily on live television where videographers engage in electronic news...
/producer Wayne Lindberg started Poetry.LA in January 2007 as a way to expose poets to a much larger audience beyond the intimate spaces of coffeehouses, cafes, bookstores and cultural art centers, where the readings are often taped. Poets can post the video links (uploaded to YouTube) in their emails and on websites, blogs or social networking pages. Currently, there are about 270 poets featured on Poetry.LA. and the videos have received over 200,000 viewings on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. Poetry lovers have also found Poetry.LA via links on various literary organizations' websites, including the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
.
Special features of the site include: 2008-2009 U.S. Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
Kay Ryan
Kay Ryan
Kay Ryan is an American poet and educator. She has published seven volumes of poetry and an anthology of selected and new poems. Ryan was the sixteenth United States Poet Laureate, from 2008 to 2010...
's reading at the Casa Romantica Series, video interviews with Fred Dewey, executive/artistic director of Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center is a literary arts center located at 681 Venice Blvd. Venice, California, founded in 1968.The Center launched its own imprint, Beyond Baroque Books, in 1998, dedicated to emerging, overlooked, out of print, and experimental writing, as well as the history and...
, Cobalt Poets' host Rick Lupert, the Ruskin Art Club's Literary Programs Director Elena Karina Byrne
Elena Karina Byrne
Elena Karina Byrne is a poet, visual artist, teacher and editor. Her poem "Irregular Masks" was featured in The Best American Poetry 2005 and her poem "Berryman's Concordance Against This Silence" received a Pushcart Prize in 2008 for which she has been nominated eleven times...
(2008 Pushcart Prize
Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....
winner), Red Hen Press
Red Hen Press
Red Hen Press is an American non-profit press specializing in the publication of literary fiction and poetry located in Pasadena, California. Founded by Kate Gale, the mission of Red Hen Press is to discover, publish, and promote works of literary excellence that have been overlooked by mainstream...
' Managing editor
Managing editor
A managing editor is a senior member of a publication's management team.In the United States, a managing editor oversees and coordinates the publication's editorial activities...
Kate Gale
Kate Gale
Kate Gale is an American poet, librettist, and independent publisher.- Life :Kate Gale was born in Binghamton, New York to Stephen Gale and Evadene Swanson. She graduated with a B.A. in English from Arizona State University. She received an M.A. in English with a creative writing emphasis from...
as well as hosts of The World Stage Reading Series and Redondo Poet’s Coffee Cartel readings, among others.
Hilda Weiss' poetry has been published (or is soon to be published) in Askew, Margie, Nerve Cowboy, RATTLE
RATTLE
RATTLE is an award-winning poetry magazine based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1994, the magazine is published by the Frieda C. Fox Family Foundation. Established writers such as Philip Levine, Jane Hirshfield, Billy Collins, Sharon Olds, Gregory Orr, and others have appeared in RATTLE,...
, Salamander, Writers at Work and Westview, among other publications. Her first chapbook of poems, Optimism About Trees, will be published by Finishing Line Press and released in July 2011. Weiss has also read her work at local venues and when attending readings found that, “I’ve often heard a good poem at a reading and wanted to listen to it again. So, Wayne and I started out videotaping open mics and it evolved from there. We now update the site typically every month with videos of a half dozen new poets reading their work. Before we tape a poet we like to read their work and look at their publication credits. Since our end product is video, we are very interested in artists who have engaging performance styles. For that reason, we keep our camera handy for strong open mic performances,” states Weiss. Weiss and Lindberg also work on Poetry.LA with their associate producer Michael Child, a Los Angeles-based musician and poet. Weiss has also been featured on KPFK
KPFK
KPFK is a listener-sponsored radio station based in North Hollywood, California, United States, which serves the Greater Los Angeles Area, and also streams 24 hours a day via the Internet...
90.7 FM's Poets Cafe discussing her work as well as that of Poetry.LA.
Wayne Lindberg is a Los Angeles-based writer and videographer. His short fiction collection, Cary Malone and Other Stories was published by Nothing Moments Press in 2007. His plays have been produced by various Los Angeles theatre companies over the past 25 years, including Pacific Repertory Theatre Ensemble, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center is a literary arts center located at 681 Venice Blvd. Venice, California, founded in 1968.The Center launched its own imprint, Beyond Baroque Books, in 1998, dedicated to emerging, overlooked, out of print, and experimental writing, as well as the history and...
, Public Works and the Venice Mooney Company.
Hilda Weiss' business experience also includes technical writing, PR writing and photography. She is an active Kundalini
Kundalini
Kundalini literally means coiled. In yoga, a "corporeal energy" - an unconscious, instinctive or libidinal force or Shakti, lies coiled at the base of the spine. It is envisioned either as a goddess or else as a sleeping serpent, hence a number of English renderings of the term such as 'serpent...
yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
student and holds a 4th degree black belt in Shotokan Karate.
Poets featured
Molly Bendall, Charles Boote Bivins, Elena Karina ByrneElena Karina Byrne
Elena Karina Byrne is a poet, visual artist, teacher and editor. Her poem "Irregular Masks" was featured in The Best American Poetry 2005 and her poem "Berryman's Concordance Against This Silence" received a Pushcart Prize in 2008 for which she has been nominated eleven times...
, Anne Carson
Anne Carson
Anne Carson is a Canadian poet, essayist, translator and professor of Classics. Carson lived in Montreal for several years and taught at McGill University, the University of Michigan, and at Princeton University from 1980-1987....
, Luis Campos, Wanda Coleman
Wanda Coleman
Wanda Coleman is an American poet. She is known as "the L.A. Blueswoman," and "the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles."-Biography:...
, Larry Colker, Brendan Constantine, Sarah Cruse, Deborah Digges
Deborah Digges
-Biography:She was born Deborah Leah Sugarbaker in Jefferson City, Missouri, on February 6, 1950. Her father was a physican and her mother was a nurse; she was the sixth child in a family of ten children....
,Jawanza Dumisani, B.H. Fairchild, Andrea Gibson
Andrea Gibson
Andrea Gibson born April 22, 1975 is an award-winning poet and activist. She currently lives in Colorado. Her poetry focuses on gender norms, politics, and today's struggles facing non-heterosexual people. Gibson disclosed that she chose to write what was in her bones and thus these subject...
, Juan Felipe Herrera
Juan Felipe Herrera
Juan Felipe Herrera is a poet, performer, writer, cartoonist, teacher, and activist.The only son of María de la Luz Quintana and Felipe Emilio Herrera, the three were campesinos living from crop to crop, and from tractor to trailer to tents on the roads of the San Joaquín Valley, Southern...
, Tony Hoagland
Tony Hoagland
Anthony Dey Hoagland is an American poet and writer. His poetry collection 2003, What Narcissism Means to Me, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Other honors include two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a 2000 Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry, and a...
, Rodney Jones
Rodney Jones
Rodney Jones is an American poet and professor of English at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Jones was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the winner of the 1989 National Book Critics Circle Award. His other honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Peter I.B...
, Yusef Komunyakaa
Yusef Komunyakaa
Yusef Komunyakaa is an American poet who currently teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly...
, Gina Loring, Suzanne Lummis
Suzanne Lummis
Suzanne Lummis is a poet, poetry educator/instigator, and co-founder and present director of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival. Suzanne completed her M.A. in English/Creative Writing at Fresno State University where she studied with Philip Levine...
, Sarah Maclay, Jack McCarthy
Jack McCarthy
Jack McCarthy is an American writer and slam poet.-Biography:McCarthy was born in Massachusetts and now lives in Seattle, Washington. He began writing poetry in the 1960s, but did not begin performing his works for audiences until the 1990s...
, 2010 Colorado Poet Laureate David Mason (writer)
David Mason (writer)
David Mason is an American writer and the Poet Laureate of Colorado.-Life:David Mason was born and raised in Bellingham, Washington. He studied briefly at the Colorado College, but left after one year to work as a fisherman in Alaska. He returned to the college to earn his B.A. in 1978...
, Lucia Perillo
Lucia Perillo
-Life:Lucia Perillo grew up in the suburbs of New York City in the 1960s. She graduated from McGill University in Montreal in 1979 with a major in wildlife management, and subsequently worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She completed her M.A...
, Carl Phillips
Carl Phillips
Carl Phillips is an American writer and poet. He is a Professor of English and of African and Afro-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis....
, Mike the Poet, Holly Prado, Luis J. Rodriguez
Luis J. Rodriguez
Luis J. Rodriguez is an American poet, novelist, journalist, critic, and columnist. His work has won several awards, and he is recognized as a major figure of contemporary Chicano literature...
, David St. John
David St. John
-Biography:Born in Fresno, California, he was educated at California State University, Fresno, where he studied with poet Philip Levine, and at the University of Iowa, receiving an M.F.A. in 1974...
, Amy Uyematsu
Amy Uyematsu
-Biography:Growing up in Southern California, Uyematsu was torn between the Japanese culture of her family and the American culture of her environment, a conflict which has deeply influenced her poetry. She is also a high school math teacher and many of her poems reflect elements of math and quote...
, Pam Ward, Charles Harper Webb
Charles Harper Webb
Charles Harper Webb is an American poet, professor, psychotherapist and former singer and guitarist. His most recent poetry collection is Shadow Ball . His honors include a Whiting Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Kate Tufts Discovery Award, a Pushcart Prize and inclusion in The Best American...
, C.K. Williams, Robert Wrigley
Robert Wrigley
Robert Wrigley is an American poet and educator.His most recent book is Beautiful Country'. Other collections include Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems Lives of the Animals ; Reign of Snakes ; In the Bank of Beautiful Sins ; What My Father Believed ; Moon in a...
, Gail Wronsky, among others.