A reading & conversation with four authors based in Los AngelesAbout this Event
Beyond Baroque presents the Los Angeles book launch celebration for Camille Hernandez's debut poetry collection, Motherlands, a lyrical meditation on the parallel journeys of motherhood, immigration, and amputation, exploring how the severance of migration echoes the raptures of childbirth. Hernandez’s work explores the fluid intimacy and resilient survival found in relationships between unseen women.
Following a reading from Motherlands, the evening will feature a discussion entitled "Apocalypse Thriving" with a panel of women of color poets who will discuss their perspectives of the end of the world as the beginning of connection; featuring Sarah Yanni, Muriel Leung, and Camille Hernandez, moderated by West Hollywood poet laureate, Jen Cheng. This is an evening that amplifies survival, intuition, and defiant pleasure. Books will be available for purchase. A signing with the authors will follow the discussion.
Doors Open: 7:00 PM I Readings: 7:30 PM
About the authors
Camille Hernandez (she/they) is Anaheim’s third Poet Laureate (2024-2026), the first Black and Filipina woman to hold the position. She authored the books Motherlands (Finishing Line Press, 2025). The Hero and the Whore (Westminster John Knox Press, 2023). Camille’swriting honors the women who kept their secrets intact and their altars clean. She is a fellow of The Watering Hole, an inaugural fellow of the McCormack Writing Institute (formerly Tin House) and an inaugural fellow of Roots.Wounds.Words. In 2025, OC Register named Hernandez as one of Orange County’s 125 more influential people for her contributions to establishing accessible literary arts programming.
Muriel Leung is the author of the Lambda Award winning novel How to Fall in Love in a Time of Unnamable Disaster(W.W. Norton & Company) as well as other titles that include Imagine Us, The Swarm (Nightboat Books), Bone Confetti (Noemi Press), and Images Seen to Images Felt (Antenna) with Kristine Thompson.
Sarah Yanni is a Mexican-Egyptian writer in California. Her writing has been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Mizna, Pleiades, Nat Brut, and Wildness Journal, among others, and has been recognized as a contest Finalist by BOMB Magazine, Hayden's Ferry Review, Poetry Online, Kelsey Street Press, and Letras Latinas. Her chapbook, Hard Crush, was released by Wonder Press in 2024. She holds an MFA from CalArts.
Jen Cheng (she/ella/kir) is the fifth West Hollywood City Poet Laureate (2023-2026), a Poet Laureate Fellow with the Academy of American Poets, a California Arts Council Fellow, and a Tin House Writers Workshop alumni. She was named one of the Top 50 LGBTQ+ Impact Leaders by LA Magazine (2025). Jen is a multidisciplinary artist who blends East-West influences as Feng Shui Poetry. Jen’s writing is published in Passengers Journal, Colossus:Current, and elsewhere. To connect, please visit JenCvoice.com or on social media @JenCvoice.
About 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.
Livestream: If you can’t join us in person the event will be livestreamed on at the scheduled time of the event. If you are tuning in this way, no ticket purchase is necessary.
If you are attending in person, ticket purchase is required. Tickets will be available at the Beyond Baroque bookstore on the day of the event, but we recommend registering in advance through Eventbrite. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. Please arrive early.
Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, staff, fellow attendees, or performers.
Event Venue
Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Boulevard, Los Angeles, United States
USD 0.00 to USD 11.49
