CLMP is thrilled to present this virtual reading of authors published by the winner and finalists of the Constellation Award! Winner FlowerSong Press and finalists DSTL Arts and Kaya Press will come together on Thursday, April 11, at 5 p.m. ET to share their work and celebrate independent publishers that champion the writing of people of color.
This event will feature readings by César L. de León, Gene Oishi, and Luis Antonio Pichardo.
César L. de León is the author of speaking with grackles by soapberry trees (FlowerSong Press, 2021), which won the 2021 John A. Robertson Award for Best First Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters and the 2022 Best Book of Poetry Award from the Philosophical Society of Texas. He has published writing in The Acentos Review, La Bloga, Pilgrimage, Queen Mob’s Teahouse, Yellow Chair Review, Zócalo Public Square, and various anthologies, and also serves as a poet-organizer for Poets Against Walls.
Gene Oishi is the author of the recently reissued memoir In Search of Hiroshi (Kaya Press, 2024) and the novel Fox Drum Bebop (Kaya Press, 2014), which won the 2016 Association for Asian American Studies Book Award. A former correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, Oishi has also written articles on the Japanese American experience for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and West Magazine. Now retired, he lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
Luis Antonio Pichardo is a poet and visual artist who grew up in Vista, California. A graduate of the California Institute of the Arts’ MFA program, he has published the poetry collections Love Notes (Blurb, 2018) and The People’s Poetry (Blurb, 2017). He is the founder and executive director of DSTL Arts, a nonprofit arts mentorship organization that inspires, teaches, and hires emerging artists from underserved communities in Los Angeles.
Underwritten by Penguin Random House, the annual Constellation Award is given to honor an independent literary press that is led by and/or champions the writing of people of color, including Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) individuals for excellence in publishing.
Automated closed captioning will be available for this event. If you have other accessibility requests, please contact Chelsea Kern at [email protected].
