Registering for the open mic is required!  Signing up to read is first come, first served. You can add yourself to the reader's queue upon registration (below). 

Please join California Poets in the Schools for a community open mic at 7pm, Saturday, October 23rd.  The event is part of a quarterly series of open mic events meant to foster community amongst our network, and to highlight our fantastic poets.  Each event will spotlight one or two poets from the CalPoets' network as featured readers, and an emcee (also from the network). On the 23rd, our featured readers will launch the event with a 15 minute reading (each) and then we'll then transition into an open mic.  

• teens 14+ & adults welcome
• register online & join link will be sent before the event
• event will occur on Zoom
• event will not be livestreamed
• there will be time for 20 open mic readers, give or take
• each reader will have 3(ish) minutes to read or perform
• reader slots are first come, first served... If you are interested in reading, please note in the registration form.
• thanks for bringing poems that are fit for all ages 14+

Emcee:

Angelina Leaños is a student at California Lutheran University with the hopes to become a published author, as well as an English teacher. In high school, she won the Poetry Out Loud competition both at the school and county level and has since returned as a coach to other participants. Leaños has had several poems published and organizes a monthly poetry open mic with the Ventura County Arts Council in partnership with the Oxnard public library.  She is the newest board member at California Poets in the Schools and the current Youth Poet Laureate of Ventura County.

Featured Readers: 

Brennan DeFrisco is a poet, educator, editor & drinker of coffee from the San Francisco Bay Area. He’s been a National Poetry Slam finalist, a Pushcart Prize nominee, 2017 Grand Slam Champion of the Oakland Poetry Slam, & Cal Poets area coordinator for Contra Costa County. He’s the author of A Heart With No Scars (Nomadic Press) & has served as poetry editor on the mastheads of Lunch Ticket & Meow Meow Pow Pow. Brennan facilitates creative writing and performance workshops as a teaching artist in schools, juvenile centers, and various arts education programs. His work has been published in Words Dance, Red Wheelbarrow, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, Collective Unrest, & elsewhere. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles.

Jessica M. Wilson is a Beat Chicana Poet from East Los Angeles, CA. She has an MFA in Writing  (Poetry concentration) from Otis College of Art and Design. She has a BA in Creative Writing and Art History from UC Riverside. She is the Founder of the Los Angeles Poet Society (www.lapoetsociety.org) and of Los Angeles Poet Society Press. She is an Artivist and Poetry teacher working with youth through California Poets in the Schools, and through Los Angeles Unified School District. She is a Community Organizer,  Open Mic Host, and published international Poet. Her 1st book, Serious Longing, is published by Swan World Press in Paris, France.  Jessica is the mother of 2 and a lover of 1. www.jessicamwilson.com @europawynd @losangelespoetsociety