Open mic before and after the featured poets. Sign up at 1 pm.

Susana Praver-Pérez is a poet, visual artist, editor, and organizer of cultural events. Her debut collection of poetry Hurricanes, Love Affairs, and Other Disasters received the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature (2022). Her second collection, Return Against the Flow, (Black Lawrence Press, 2024), was chosen by both Ms. Magazine and NYU’s Latinx Project as one of the best 30+ poetry books of the year and was awarded the 2025 Juan Felipe Herrera Best Book of Poetry Award in 2025. Susana divides her time between Oakland, California and San Juan, Puerto Rico and writes through the lens formed in the liminal space between languages, cultures, and geographies.

Website: susanapraverperez.com

ABDUL KENYATTA is the founder and Executive Director of The SPEAKEASY STORYTELLERS since 2002. The SPEAKEASY STORYTELLERS provide workshops and performances in storytelling and community events.

An old-school poet…