About this Event
Join Leila Farjami in celebration of Daughter of Salt, a collection of poetry published by Trio House Press. Kalehua Kim, Jose Hernandez Diaz, and Preeti Vangani will be joining the author for a poetry reading in The Wanda coleman Theater. Farjami is an Iranian-American poet, translator, and psycotherapist. Recepient of a Puschart Prize and The Cincinnati Review's Schiff Award.
The speaker in Iranian-American poet Leila Farjami's debut collection, Daughter of Salt, fiercely engages with and questions her mother, her father, ancestors, and herself. Patriarchy, intergenerational trauma, and displacement swirl together, colored by the frustration at being expected to hold it all together for everyone else: A daughter made of salt-a dead sea to keep bodies afloat. Throughout, the daughter vacillates between rebellion, acceptance, and empathy, searching for healing from a childhood marked by war and violence. This collection moves the reader into remembrance and healing; the preservation and renewal of the self that occurs when grace is given to others and ourselves, when we allow ourselves to keep close the memories we share with those we have lost, and use them to build a foundation for a better future.
Doors Open: 7:00 PM I Readings: 7:30 PM
About the authors:
Leila Farjami is an Iranian-American poet, translator, and psychotherapist. She is the author of Daughter of Salt (Trio House Press, July 2026), an Editor's Selection. A recipient of a Pushcart Prize, The Iowa Review Award in Poetry, The Cincinnati Review's Schiff Award, and a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship, her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, AGNI, and elsewhere. She lives in Los Angeles.
Kalehua Kim is the author of Mele, winner of the inaugural Pasifika Poetry Prize awarded by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association. She was named one of Poets & Writers featured debut poets for 2025 and was a 2023 winner of the James Welch Prize for Indigenous Poets. Born of Hawaiian, Chinese, Filipino, and Portuguese descent, her multicultural background informs much of her work. Her poetry has appeared in Poetry Northwest, Denver Quarterly, Calyx, and ‘Ōiwi, A Native Hawaiian Journal. She lives in the Pacific Northwest.
Jose Hernandez Diaz is a poet and prose‑poem writer from Southern California. His work has appeared in Poetry, The Nation, The Yale Review, The Southern Review, Poetry Wales, The London Magazine, and Denver Quarterly. He is the author of Bad Mexican, Bad American and The Lighthouse Tattoo, with Split/Mezcla: New and Selected Poems forthcoming in 2029. A 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow, he teaches contemporary poetry and workshops nationally.
Preeti Vangani is an Indian poet & writer based in San Francisco. She is the author of the poetry collections Mother Tongue Apologize (2019) and Fifty Mothers (River River Books, 2026). Her work has been published in AGNI, The Georgia Review, Gulf Coast, Prairie Schooner among several other places. Her debut short story won the 2021 Pen/Dau Emerging Writers Prize. Vangani has been a resident at UCross, Djerassi and Ragdale. She has received artist grants from San Francisco Arts Commission and YBCA through which she facilitates poetry workshops rooted in writing grief through joy. She holds an MFA in Writing from University of San Francisco.
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.
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 & nearby stays
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, United States
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