uptownword

uptownword

Image courtesy of Uptown Word.

January’s UPTOWN WORD Reading & Arts Series will take place on Sunday, January 17 at 1:00PM, and will honor San Bernardino in light of the recent tragedy. The series will also commemorate its new home at the North Branch Library community room. This first event of the new year will feature three accomplished writers who have all lived in San Bernardino at one time in their lives as literary aficionados.

Ruth Nolan, who was born in San Bernardino, writes for Riverside Press Enterprise and Inlandia Literary Journeys. She is editor of Phantom Seed Magazine and No Place for a Puritan: The Literature of California’s Deserts and teaches creative writing and Native American Literature at College of the Desert. Nolan is currently writing a memoir about her work as a wildland firefighter in the 1980s, according to the release.

A fiction writer, poet and adjunct instructor, Isabel Quintero’s young adult novel, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces, was awarded the 2015 William C. Morris Award for Debut YA Novel and the 2015 Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award and the California Book Award Gold Medal for Young Adult. It has been included on the Amelia Bloomer Project List of Recommended Feminist Reading, one of School Library Journal’s Best Books of 2014 and one of Booklist’s Best Books of 2014, according to the release.

Uptown Word Organizer, liz gonzalez will also be reading. She is a fourth generation San Bernardinian living in North Long Beach. Most recently her work was published in Inlandia: A Literary Journey, Silver Birch Press’ Series and in the anthology Wide Awake: The Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond. gonzalez is a writing consultant and also teaches creative writing through the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.

“The reading will [sic] be significant as all three of us have lived in the City of San Bernardino,” gonzalez said. “It’s a great way for readers and writers to connect with each other and learn more about the [Inland Empire] and Long Beach.”

Following the featured readings the stage will be opened to all writers to share their work during an open mic. Whether an experienced or new writer, all are welcome to show off their work to an appreciative audience. The event will end with a reception of free light refreshments. Attendees can also purchase books from the featured writers post event.

For more information about Uptown Word, click here.  

The North Branch Library is located at 5571 Orange Avenue.

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Asia Morris is a Long Beach native covering arts and culture for the Long Beach Post. You can reach her @hugelandmass on Twitter and Instagram and at [email protected].