Join us for an evening with poets Michael McLaughlin and mónica teresa ortiz. Michael will be reading from his most recent collection of poetry, Countless Cinemas. 

Michael McLaughlin is both a restless and weary traveler. Countless Cinemas thoughtfully explores the difficulty of genuine connection in the midst of our everyday struggles. McLaughlin’s poetic sensibility is vivid and engaging, his aesthetic dynamic and visceral. He unflinchingly examines the subjectivity of our experience, offering readers “a universe of closet-sized cinemas / each occupied by a single person / eternally viewing a different film.

A three-time California Arts Council grant recipient, Michael McLaughlin has worked for twenty-six years as an Artist-in-Residence at Atascadero State Hospital, a maximum security forensic facility, as a Contract Artist with the California Department of Corrections and as San Luis Obispo County Area Coordinator for California Poets in the Schools. Founding editor of USC’s Southern California Anthology, Michael  McLaughlin has written two novels, Western People Show Their Faces and Gang of One. His third and most recent collection of poetry, Countless Cinemas (University of Hell Press, Portland, Oregon) came out last March. Originally from San Francisco, McLaughlin currently lives on the central California coast with his brilliant and beautiful wife. Selected Poet Laureate of San Luis Obispo county in 2003, he runs Santa Marias’ Live from the CORE poetry/performance series and is an Artist in Residence at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California.

mónica teresa ortiz was born and raised in Texas. Her work has appeared in Pilgrimage Magazine, Borderlands, the Texas Observer, Black Girl Dangerous, and elsewhere. A two-time Andres Montoya Letras Latinas Poetry Prize finalist, ortiz is the poetry editor for Raspa Magazine, a queer Latino literary art journal.