Thursday, Sept 12,  7:30pm–9:30pm
50 participants max
Free

The WCCW Reading Series is a quarterly literary reading series organized by Bridgette Bianca and Nina Rota. The readings are thematically linked with WCCW programming which, for summer 2019, is the idea of work & labor in all of its possible meanings. 

Sehba Sarwar
Irene Sanchez
Camari Carter-Hawkins
Miya King
Amoni Thompson-Jones

*This event is free and open to the public. Everyone is welcome. We will provide drinks and light snacks.

Sehba Sarwar creates essays, stories, poems, and art that tackle displacement, migration, and women’s issues. Her writings have appeared in publications including New York Times Sunday Magazine, Creative Times Report, Asia: Magazine of Asian Literature and elsewhere. Her short stories have been anthologized by Feminist Press, Akashic Books, and Harper Collins India, while the second edition of her novel, Black Wings, was released in 2019. Her papers are archived at the University of Houston’s library where she was artist-in-residence for several years. In 2000, while based in Houston, Sarwar founded and ran an arts organization that tackled social justice issues and was the recipient of many awards from the National Endowment for the Arts. Born and raised in Karachi Pakistan in a home filled with artists and activists, Sarwar recently relocated to Los Angeles County and was awarded the 2019-20 individual artist grant from the City of Pasadena.

Irene Sanchez, Ph.D. is an educator, poet, writer, and public scholar. She centers social justice in her work producing poetry, art, stories, essays, talks, presentations, workshops, curriculum, and academic research/writing Her commentary, writing, & poetry has been featured by: CNN, The Huffington Post, Public Radio International, Zocalo Public Square, Inside Higher Education, KPCC-Southern California Public Radio, ProPublica, NPR-Latino USA, Remezcla, KPFK 90.7 Los Angeles, Latino Rebels, and more!

Camari Carter-Hawkins is the author of Death by Comb, a stellar body of poetry that seeks to normalize natural hair and find solid ground in an ever-changing world, and *Write Back to You*, a guided journal for writing yourself back into your life. Her works can also be found in Rise: An Anthology of Power and Unity by Vagabond Press and The Best of The Poetry Salon 2013-2018 Anthology. Hawkins is the 2018 Spoken Word, Voices Heard Women’s Amateur Slam Winner. As a Master of Organizational Management, she coins herself as the “Queen of Getting Things Done”. Hawkins blends her love for creativity and administration as the founder of The Artist Support. Hawkins moonlights as a singer in her band, SafeHearts, with her husband, William Hawkins. Camari lives in Los Angeles with her husband, his 10 guitars, and hundreds of her books.

Miya King is a Los Angeles Soul/Jazz artist exploring lust and loneliness through music. Her debut album Palaces was released in March of 2019, and includes a collection of works that are both sultry and soul-baring.

Amoni Thompson-Jones has the honor of calling Lumberton, North Carolina her home. She is currently a PhD student in the Feminist Studies program at UC Santa Barbara. She completed her BA in Comparative Women’s Studies with a minor in Creative Writing at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. Her research interests broadly include Black girlhood, cultural ethnography, sexuality, and popular culture. She has read her work at the Decatur Book Festival in Atlanta, GA and The Free Black Women’s Library Launch Party in Los Angeles, CA. Her poetry covers topics of race, Black feminism, Black girlhood, and the Black South. Her work has been published on The Feminist Wire along with a forthcoming article in a special collection called The Black Girlhood Studies Collection: Imagining Worlds for Black Girls published by the Canadian Scholars/Women’s Press.

Accessibility information for this event: WCCW has a 36” wide ramp at our front entrance and a stairway with 8 steps and a rail. There are 2 gender neutral restrooms. One restroom is wheelchair accessible, with a handrail. We provide scent free soaps and encourage guests to attend our events scent free. If you require ASL interpretation, CART, interpretation for a language other than English, supervised childcare, or have any other access needs or questions, please contact [email protected] at least two weeks in advance. It is our practice to do everything we can to create a safe and accessible space.