Among Friends: A Night of Poetry

Come celebrate National Poetry Month with us!

Join us for an inspiring evening where poetry comes to life and sparks the imagination. Featuring poets John Beroud, Judith Dancoff, Alexis Krasilovsky, Linda Singer, and Vanessa Hedwig Smith. Light refreshments will be served. The evening will include an open read.

Whether you’re a longtime enthusiast or exploring poetry for the first time, this reading promises to be an inspiring night of shared stories, compelling imagery, and heartfelt reflection. Don’t miss this chance to hear from these talented voices "Among Friends."

Featured Poets:

Karen Butler Basiulis was born and raised a farmer’s daughter in Watsonville, California. Her poetry has appeared in several literary magazines and her essays have appeared in professional journals and newspapers. Her book, Private Pitch, was published in July 2024. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband of over 30 years and two semi-feral cats.

John Beroud is a Co-Editor of Poetry Apocalypse. His bio - I am not a writer. You will not know me by my name. You will not know me by my words. All things are connected in definitions. Incomplete. But you can call me John.

Sharyl Collin wrote her first story at seven from a trailer in a small border town in Southern California, but it wasn't until she hit 50 that her poems insisted on being born. Her poems have appeared in various journals, including Altadena Poetry Review, Mason’s Road Literary Journal, Wild Goose Poetry Review, *82 Review, and The Intentional. She also plays the guitar and performs regularly.

Mary Cook has a Master’s degree in Psychology, has been an addiction counselor for 49 years, taught in universities over 29 years and was a speaker for 10 years. Her own book Grace Lost and Found: from addictions and compulsions to satisfaction and serenity, was published by Conari Press in 2010. She has contributed prose and poetry to four other books, and countless magazines and newspapers for 39 years. Her poems are reflections of earth, plants, animals, humans and spirituality. They range from deep and serious to lighthearted in tone. The intent is to support hope and positive change to help, heal, and compassionately care for the wild and wondrous diversity on our planet.

Judith Dancoff is a Pushcart Prize nominee, Dancoff’s writing has appeared in The Georgia Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Southern Humanities Review, Shanghai Literary Review and elsewhere. Her collection of short fiction The Calamity of Desire and Other Stories (Finishing Line Press 2024) received honorable mentions at the Los Angeles and Paris Book Festivals, and she has received residencies at Hedgebrook, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and Djerassi, where she was the McElwee Family Fellow. She is currently at work on a hybrid memoir/novel based on her father's work on the atomic bomb and her search for him through time.

GT Foster, a twice-nominated Pushcart poet, is a California native, retired educator, and 54-year married father and grandfather of 2. Former managing editor of SPECTRUM, a poetry and art quarterly and co-host of Saturday Afternoon Poetry Deep Critique, he resides in Pasadena and has completed his first novel, The Boys Are Not Refined, a Vietnam era, semi-biographic soldier’s story. His poetry has been published by the Pasadena Weekly, San Gabriel Valley Quarterly, Altadena Poetry Review, Spectrum, and elsewhere.

Don Hata is a retired professor of history (aka: Donald Teruo Hata, PhD), novice prose poet, and amateur artist whose watercolor paintings reflect his childhood memories of the mass removal and incarceration of over 110,000 Nikkei (Japanese Americans) during World War II. He has published many works of non-fiction including books, articles and pamphlets.

Alexis Krasilovsky is the author of Watermelon Linguistics: New and Selected Poems (Cyberwit), a 2022 International Book Awards finalist. Previous books include Great Adaptations: Screenwriting and Global Storytelling (Routledge), 2nd place winner, 2019 International Writers Awards and Women Behind the Camera (ABC-CLIO). She is a documentary filmmaker and videopoet, as well as Professor Emerita of Screenwriting at California State University Northridge. Alexis grew up in Chappaqua, New York, and now lives in Los Angeles.

Moni Olguín is an emerging poet and writer. She is also a singer and painter. When she is not creating, Moni swims frequently at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro.

Linda Singer, author of Wingless is a Pushcart nominated poet who has been widely published. Linda hosts a weekly poetry zoom, - Poetry Apocalypse. She is an actress, playwright, and poet. She currently performs with the acting troupe, Stop Senior Scams, which educates seniors about scams that target them. She had two plays produced in Dallas and sold a script to the television series, Evening Shade. Her poetry has been published in numerous journals and she sold a joke to Reader’s Digest. Linda has a new chapbook, Wingless, available on Amazon.

Vanessa Hedwig Smith - author of Room Tone is a painter, filmmaker, and writer who has lived and worked in India, Nepal, England, and the US. Smith is most proud of a BBC Correspondent piece she produced, which was instrumental in helping free a 14 year-old girl from prison, which helped changed Nepalese law, and which won the Amnesty International Media 2000 Award. Smith is a co-founder of the mental health series– Let’s Talk. Her work has been published in The Search for Reality, Poetry Apocalypse, Tiny Seeds Literary Journal, Chronogram, Topical Poetry, On the Seawall, and Silent Auctions Magazine.

From poets.org: Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month is a special occasion that celebrates poets’ integral role in our culture and that poetry matters. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, families, and—of course—poets, marking poetry’s important place in our lives.

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