L.A. Book Launch: A Shared Condition by the Venice Collective

A Shared Condition (Moontide Press) gathers 10 poets of The Venice Collective, who created a literary ensemble and have inspired one another for twenty-five years. They share the common goal of expanding the boundaries of language, image, and form. Join the book launch celebration with contributors sharing their poetry in The Wanda Coleman Theater! Featuring Mariano Zaro, Holaday Mason, Jan Wesley, Jim Natal, Jeanette Clough, Paul Lieber, Marjorie Becker, Dani Hardy, & Sarah Maclay.

After the readings, join us for a reception & book signings.

Doors Open: 6:30 PM I Readings: 7:00 PM

About the authors

Mariano Zaro is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Decoding Sparrows (What Books Press, Los Angeles) and Padre Tierra (Olifante, Zaragoza, Spain). His poems and short stories have been published in anthologies and literary journals in Spain, Mexico and the United States. His translations include Buda en llamas by Tony Barnstone and Cómo escribir una canción de amor by Sholeh Wolpé. He is a professor of Spanish at Rio Hondo Community College (Whittier, California).

Jim Natal is the author of the forthcoming collection Everything Changes Everything, the new chapbook Étude in the Form of a Crow, and five previous full-length poetry books including Spare Room: Haibun Variations and Memory and Rain. A multi-year Pushcart Prize nominee, hIs work has appeared widely in journals and anthologies.

Jeanette Clough holds an M.A. from the University of Chicago and worked as an art librarian at the Getty Research Institute. She edited for Solo, A Journal of Poetry, reviewed for Poetry International, and was Artist in Residence at Joshua Tree National Park. Her fourth poetry collection, Fire Roulette, features lyrical and narrative poems of personal risk.

Paul Lieber’s third collection, Slow Return, was just published by What Books Press. Three times nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Paul produced and hosted “Why Poetry” on Pacifica radio. He taught Poetry at LMU and facilitated the poetry workshop at Beyond Baroque. He currently teaches acting at AMDA.

Nightfall Marginalia (What Books Press), a 2023 Foreword INDIES Finalist for Poetry, is Sarah Maclay’s fifth collection. Her fourth chapbook, The H.D. Sequence—A Concordance (Walton Well Press), was released in 2024. She offers periodic workshops at Beyond Baroque and is the producer/host of Poetry.LA’s “The Poetry of Night.”

Dina Hardy has received an Iowa Writers Workshop MFA; Stegner Fellowship; Pushcart nominations; fellowships to residencies in the countries of Georgia, Spain, and Wales; and has publications in such places as AQR, Bennington Review, Prelude, Gulf Coast, and Third Coast.

Marjorie Becker is a Macon, Georgia native who learned Spanish as a child, served in the Peace Corps in rural Paraguay where she wrote her first novel. She holds a Yale doctorate and is professor of History and English at USC. The author of six books, an array of articles, and one of the creators of Latin American historical studies at USC, her recent multi-genre work, Dancing on the Sun Stone: Mexican Women and the Gendered Politics of Octavio Paz, has already gone into multiple versions. She is the author of three poetry collections and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in poetry. She has received multiple awards including a Faculty Fulbright Research Fellowship for Mexico, a Mellon Mentoring Award, awards on her multi-genre work from the NEH, the AAUW, and the ACLU. She has been a member of the Venice Collective for decades and remains grateful for the opportunities to be part of this group.

Holaday Mason is the author of six full-length collections & two chapbooks. Currently the poetry editor of the online fine art zine Furious Pure. Multiple Pushcart nominee, publications include Hotel Amerkia, Poetry International, Spillway, Solo, The River Styx among others. Holaday is also a fine art photographer. www.holadaymason.com

Jan Wesley is the author of Only So Much [What Books Press], Living in Freefall, and a couple of published chapbooks. Her poems have been in Askew, Blue Mountain Review, The Iowa Review, Rattle, Spillway, Beyond Words, and two anthologies, titled Angle of Reflection, and newly published, Shared Condition. She worked in post-production in the film business for many years, and after receiving an MFA at Vermont College, she taught writing at The University of Redlands and The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandizing.

Ticket purchase is required. No one will be turned away for lack of funds! 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.

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, fellow attendees, or performers.

Because this is a free event seating is limited. Please arrive early.

Livestream: If you can’t join us in-person the event will be livestreamed on at the scheduled time of the event.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, United States