Money Talks: Celebrating In the Black In the Red: Poems of Profit & Loss

Join us for a dynamic celebration featuring some of LA’s most compelling poets: Terri Niccum, Florence Weinberger, Paul Peress, Patti Seyburn, Dorothy Baressi, Anika Paris, Mariano Zaro, Nels Christianson, Suzanne Lummis, Lee Rossi, Greg Bell, Gloria Vando, Lilian Elaine Wilson, and James Ragan.

In the Black: In the Red: Poems of Profit & Loss (2025) is an illustrated anthology of poems about money: the financial crisis we face as individuals, as a nation, and as part of the globe. 

This anthology is significant as it marks the final book published by Gloria Vando’s Helicon Nine Editions, concluding 48 remarkable years in the publishing world of poetry, fiction, and magazines. Let’s make this an unforgettable performance and celebration of poetry!

Copies of the anthology will be sold on the evening of the program at Beyond Baroque's bookstore. Visit Itasca Books for more information about the anthology.

A reception with light refreshments and book signings will follow after the performances.

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

About the authors

Terri Niccum is the author of the poetry collection The Knife Thrower’s Daughter (Moon Tide Press) as well as two chapbooks Dead Letter Box (Moon Tide Press) and Looking Snow in the Eye (Finishing Line Press). Niccum was runner-up for the 2020-2021 Steve Kowit Poetry Prize.

Florence Weinberger is the author of six published collections of poetry, most recently These Days of Simple Mooring, winner of the Blue Light Book Award. Six times nominated for a Pushcart, her poetry has appeared in literary magazines, including Nimrod, Poetry East, Rattle, Baltimore Review, Calyx, The River Styx, December, North American Review, The Los Angeles Review, Shenandoah, and numerous anthologies.

Paul Peress, Ambassador for the Author’s Guild, presents bi-monthly zoom interviews of best-selling authors and prominent editors, lawyers, and publishers. Peress is currently writing an international action thriller. His jazz band—the Paul Peress Project—has appeared in over 20 countries. A graduate of Columbia Peress lives in Los Angeles with two amazing daughters.

Patty Seyburn has published five books of poems and all of them have something to offer, but her favorite remains her first, Diasporadic, published by Helicon Nine Editions in 1998. She teaches at California State University, Long Beach.

Dorothy Barresi is author of ,ve poetry books, including The Post-Rapture Diner, American Book Award winner, and What We Did While We Made More Guns (2018, Univ. of Pittsburgh Press), featured on PBS News Hour online. She received an NEA Fellowship and two Pushcart Prizes—one for “Poem to Some of My Recent Purchases.” She is Professor of English at California State Univ., Northridge.

Anika Paris is a songwriter/author/educator. Poems appeared in Poetic Voices  without Borders, The Mom Egg, Extreme, Ghost Anthology, Whirlybird Anthology, The Lunar Collections and more. Her co-authored book Woven Voices (Scapegoat Press), was nominated for the International Latino Poetry Award. She’s authored two educational books (Hal Leonard), teaches songwriting and performance at UCLA and the GRAMMY, and is thrilled to be among 125 poets on the Codex Polaris rocket's historic mission to the moon in 2025.

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. He is a professor of Spanish at Rio Hondo Community College (Whittier, California). “Street Vendor” is published in Decoding Sparrows (What Books Press, 2019).

Nels Goñi Christianson has poems in Faultline, 88, Onthebus, Song of the San Joaquin, Poetry/LA, UCLA’s Beat, and others. He has judged the Poetry Out Loud competition and is a board member of California Poets in the Schools. He has degrees in Political Science and Hispanic Civilization from UCSB. He uses his mother’s name, Goñi, in order to honor his Basque heritage.

Suzanne Lummis’ poems appeared in Hudson Review, Ploughshares, Plume, The American Journal of Poetry, The New Yorker. Collections include:Open 24 Hours (Blue Poetry Prize, Lynx House Press 2014), In Danger (Roundhouse), diosyncrasies (Illuminati). She edited Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond (Paci,c Coast Poetry Series/Beyond Baroque Books), LA Times Ten Best Books of 2015. She’s the recipient of Beyond Baroque’s 5th George Drury Smith Outstanding Achievement in Poetry.

Lee Rossi is a winner of the Jack Grapes Poetry Prize. His latest book is Darwin’s Garden, from Moon Tide Press. Individual poems have appeared in The Southwest Review, Rattle, Spillway, The Chiron Review, The Southern Review, and many other venues. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and a Contributing Editor to Poetry Flash.

Gregory Bell writes because. He’s authored a hybrid poetry book, Looking for Will: My Bardic Quest with Shakespeare, and two award-winning plays. Honors include the 2019 Kowit Poetry Prize & 2023 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Prize. He facilitates the Green Poets Workshop at Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA. He’s most recently published in April 2024400/13 by Scienti!c American in honor of Earth Day.

Gloria Vando’s books and poems have won numerous awards, including the Poetry Society of America’s di Castagnola Award, Latino Literary Hall of Fame’s Best Poetry Book of the Year, and others. She’s founding publisher/editor of Helicon Nine, which received the Kansas Governor’s Arts Award, a contributing editor to the North American Review, and serves on the boards of the Venice Arts Council and Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles.

Lillian Elaine Wilson (Friman) earned a B.A. from Purdue University. At the Getty Museum, she captured photographs within the archive. Her portraits of Leonard Nimoy are on the cover of I Am Spock, Leonard and in the 2016 Oscars Memoriam. Wilson’s portrait of Perry Botkin, Jr. was in the 2021 Grammys Memoriam. She is Manager of Constituent Research and Management at the Autry Museum. lillianelainewilson.com

James Ragan has authored 10 poetry collections, with poems in 35 anthologies, 15 languages, and 3 plays staged in U.S. Moscow, Beijing, Athens. Honors: performances for 7 Heads of State, NEA Grant, Poetry Society citation, Swan Foundation Humanitarian Award, 9 Pushcart nominations, Houston Film Festival’s Platinum Prize (documentary, Flowers and Roots). Currently Dist. Professor, Prague’s Charles U. jamesragan.com

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

Masks are encouraged while inside our center.

If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected]

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.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

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