Sesshu Foster & Arturo Ernesto Romo in Conversation with Carribean Fragoza

Sesshu Foster and Arturo Ernesto Romo in conversation with Carribean Fragoza, celebrating the book launch of "ELADATL: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines," published by City Lights Books. This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Josiah Luis Alderete. You can purchase copies of "ELADATL: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines" directly from City Lights at a 30% discount here: https://citylights.com/city-lights-published/eladatl-a-hist-of-the-east-la-dirigi/ Sesshu Foster taught composition and literature in East L.A. for over 20 years, and at the University of Iowa, the California Institute for the Arts, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. His work is published in The Oxford Anthology of Modern American Poetry, Language for a New Century: Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond, and State of the Union: 50 Political Poems. His most recent books are "City of the and "Atomik Aztex." Sesshu was awarded the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award in Poetry for "World Ball Notebook;" the Believer Book Award for "Atomik Aztex; an American Book Award for "Invocation LA: Urban Multicultural Poetry;" and finalist for the PEN Center West Poetry Prize, as well as the Paterson Poetry Prize, for "City Terrace Field Manual." Sesshu is based in Alhambra, CA. Arturo Ernesto Romo was born in Los Angeles, California in 1980. His artwork, mostly collaborative mixed media works but also drawing, has been circulated internationally. Fluency, agency and folly are central themes in his practice; he sees his artwork as a companion multiplier, folding folds, netting nets. His art-making is pushed through explorations on the streets of East and North East Los Angeles, which feed into an ongoing series of collaborations with Sesshu Foster. He is based in Alhambra, CA. Carribean Fragoza is the author of Eat the Mouth That Feeds You (City Lights), and founder of Vicious Ladies, a new website publishing womxn, queer, and non-binary critics of color. She co-edits UC Press's acclaimed California cultural journal, Boom California, and is also the founder of South El Monte Arts Posse, an interdisciplinary arts collective. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous publications, including Zyzzyva, Alta, BOMB, Huizache, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She is the co-editor of East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte and Senior Writer at the Tropics of Meta. Carribean is the Coordinator of the Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Award at Claremont Graduate University, and she lives in the San Gabriel Valley in LA County. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation