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E: LA Launch
Join us for a book signing and poetry reading at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center celebrating E, the debut collection by Noa Micaela Fields. The evening will feature readings by Fields and special guests, including féi iká shumarí, imogen xtian smith, and Raquel Gutiérrez.
Accessibility note: This reading will be fully accessible and will include ASL interpretation by poet and ASL interpreter Mona Jean Cedar.
Doors Open: 7:00 PM I Readings: 7:30 PM
About the authors:
Noa Micaela Fields is an echodeviant (trans poet with hearing aids) in search of the hypervivid in her one and only captionless life. Her debut poetry book E is now out from Nightboat Books. You can also find her writing in Anomaly, Antiphony, Poem of the Day, Sixty Inches From Center, Tripwire, and Zoeglossia, among other places. She is the public programs curator at the Poetry Foundation and poetry co-editor for Chrysalis, a trans youth literary magazine. Born in California, she lives in Chicago. www.doyounoapoet.com
féi iká shumarí (b.1993, Chihuahua, Mexico) (formerly known as féi hernandez) is a two spirit/trans woman, (un)documented writer, visual artist, and healer. She is a 2023 Lambda Literary fellow and 2022 Tin House Scholar. féi is the author of HOOD CRIATURA (Sundress Publications, 2020), the forthcoming (UN)DOCU MENTE (Noemi Press, 2026) and CHABÓCHI DOLL (Abode Press, 2026). féi’s poetry/ prose is published in Los Angeles Review of Books, POETRY, Academy of American Poets, Hayden Ferry’s Review, Oxford Review of Books, TransLash Media, Somewhere we are Human( Harper Collins, 2022), Here to Stay (Harper Collins, 2024), Split This Rock, F News Magazine, and more. féi is descendent of the Pi’ma, Rarámuri, and Cora peoples. Candidate for SAIC MFAW, class 2026. For more of her projects, designs, services and products visit: feiikashumari.com
imogen xtian smith is a poet & performer living in Los Angeles. Their work has appeared in Baest, B L U SH, Folder, The Rumpus, The Poetry Project Newsletter, & Tagvverk (among others), as well as in We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics. A 2021-22 Emerge Surface Be Fellow at The Poetry Project & MFA graduate from NYU, imogen’s debut collection, stemmy things, is available from Nightboat Books.
About the ASL Interpreter:
Mona Jean Cedar‘s poetry is truly unique in that it’s composed and performed simultaneously in Spoken Word and American Sign Language (ASL). Ms. Cedar has performed and interpreted all over Los Angeles, the U.S. and in Europe. Her poetry slam adventures include interpreting for The National Poetry Slams and The Women of the World Poetry Slams, and both interpreting and competing representing the United States in Paris, France, for their Coupe du Monde de Poesie. Ms. Cedar choreographs her poetry in collaboration with her husband, Jeff Boynton, a composer/sound artist. Their initial collaboration was performed at Burning Man.
About Beyond Baroque:
Beyond Baroque is one of the United States’ leading independent Literary | Arts Centers and public spaces dedicated to expanding the public’s knowledge of poetry, literature and art through cultural events and community interaction. Founded in 1968 as an experimental literary magazine, Beyond Baroque is based out of the original City Hall building in Venice, California. The Center offers a diverse variety of literary and arts programming including readings and workshops. The building also houses a bookstore with a large collection of new poetry books for sale.