Rey M. Rodriguez, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Jose Hernandez Diaz, and William Archila in The Wanda Coleman Theater

Join us for the L.A. Book Launch of Rey M. Rodríguez’s poetry collection, Todos Somos Sagrados (El Martillo Press, 2026). A meditation on the daily community work of neighborhood projects like Proyecto Pastoral in East Los Angeles aiding the unhoused, immigrant, and violence-plagued communities, this body of work collects the many voices that share their pain, joy, and experiences navigating the many battles in life.

The author will be joined by Lorna Dee Cervantes, William Archila, and Jose Hernandez Diaz in The Wanda Coleman Theater.

“A treatise in poetry about one of the most important stories of our time—the formation and work of Proyecto Pastoral in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. Violence, drugs, and death plagued these streets, which in the 1990s and into the 2000s were the most gang-inflicted in the country. But mothers stood up for healing, peace, for saving the children. Projects arose to help youth but also the unhoused and migrants. People in need. God’s work. Powerful figures like Father Greg Boyle met the call. Here, Rey M. Rodríguez uses poems to carry their voices, stories, pains, and joys. In Spanish and English, in any language, it’s a work of art, a work of action.”

—Luis J. Rodríguez, former Los Angeles Poet Laureate, author of Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.” and It Calls You Back: An Odyssey through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing

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

Rey M. Rodríguez is a writer, advocate, and attorney. He lives in Pasadena, California. He is working on a novel set in Mexico City. His poetry collection, Todos Somos Sagrados/All Are Sacred (El Martillo Press), released May 2026. He has attended the Yale Writers’ Workshop and Palabras de Pueblo workshop. He participated in Story Studio’s Novel in a Year Program. He graduated with an MFA in fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts. His poetry is published in Huizache, Anger is a Gift, and Altadena Poetry Review. His many interviews and book reviews can be found at La Bloga, Chapter House’s Storyteller’s Corner, Full Stop, Pleiades Magazine, and the Los Angeles Review. He is a graduate of Cornell, Princeton, and U.C. Berkeley Law School

Lorna Dee Cervantes is the author of Emplumada, From the Cables of Genocide, Ciento, DRIVE, and April on Olympia. Awarded NEA Fellowships, Pushcart Prizes, a Lila Wallace, state arts grants and best book awards, the founder of Mango Publications (first to publish Sandra Cisneros), Cervantes presented at the Library of Congress, Dodge Poetry Festival, Walker Art Center, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and others. Former Prof. of English and Director of Creative Writing at CU Boulder for 20 years, she writes in Seattle.

William Archila is the winner of the 2023 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry for his collection S is For, a finalist for the California Book Award. He is the author of The Art of Exile and The Gravedigger’s Archeology. His new collection, Canícula/Dog Days, is a bilingual selection of his first two books of poetry. He was awarded the 2023 Jack Hazard fellowship. His work has appeared in AGNl, APR, Copper Nickle, The Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, New Ohio Review, Prairie Schooner, Poetry, Ploughshares, Poetry Northwest, Pleiades, TriQuarterly and the anthology Latino Poetry: The Library of American Anthology. He is an associate editor at Tía Chucha Press.

Jose Hernandez Diaz is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. He is the author of The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020) Bad Mexican, Bad American (Acre Books, 2024) The Parachutist (Sundress Publications, 2025) Portrait of the Artist as a Brown Man (Red Hen Press, 2025) and the forthcoming, The Lighthouse Tattoo (Acre Books, 2026). He has been a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California at Riverside, and Visiting Writer in Residence at the University of Tennessee.

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.

Livestream: If you can’t join us in person the event will be livestreamed on Beyond Baroque’s YouTube channel at the scheduled time of the event. If you are tuning in this way, no ticket purchase is necessary.

If you are attending in person, ticket purchase is required. 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.