What an incredible experience this year in Los Angeles for AWP 2025! This year’s conference was different than my previous three, in 2018, 2023 and 2024, in that this year I didn’t even try to do any panel discussions; I focused on the book fair and the commitments I had made to sign books at two different booths as well as what ended up being two separate off-site readings in the evenings. All in all, it was a packed few days, but in the best way. Being surrounded by a community of writers who “write for dear life” — holding onto the passion for it and sharing that passion with others — was soul nurturing in a way that is difficult to put words to.
Tinderbox Poetry Journal, which I write book reviews for, offered me a two-hour window to sign books on March 27, and later that evening was the epic Off Site. On Purpose reading event co-sponsored by several journals. Each journal had five readers, and I was so pleased to have been invited by SWWIM Every Day to read as one of their contributors. I really could do an entire blog post on that event, but I’ll include a video of me reading my poem below. This event was probably the highlight of my conference, due to the wide range of powerful voices who were present to read their work, the warm atmosphere of the venue, MG Studio, and the palpable energy among those who attended. Here’s a video of me reading “What’s Left of Us is Shaken,” credit to Mary Block for capturing!
Friday, I spent several hours at the Saint Julian Press booth, selling copies of my book, The Grief Committee Minutes, and getting to know some of my press mates. That evening, the five us and two friends of Elizabeth Cohen, the SJP author who organized the booth, dined at a Korean restaurant and Ubered over to another spot in Koreatown for an intimate group reading. It was a lot of fun.
To have a brand new, beautiful book to take with me to sell, trade or give away; to be able to find the editors of journals who published poems that appear in The Grief Committee Minutes and show them their poems; to experience the magic of an unexpected hug from an editor friend and to share with an editor I’d never met that an email she’d sent to me really mattered….those were just some of my magical moments this year. New friendships formed, existing connections renewed, supporting friends by buying their books and feeling the joy when someone bought mine. That was AWP2025. One for the books.