Join us for a reading with the writers of the Francisco Homes, a collection of transitional homes for formerly incarcerated communities.

These writers come together on Thursday nights for writing workshops where they share stories, laughs, challenges, feedback, and life lessons. The pieces they share (and the writers who penned them) come out of various contexts. Some authors composed these pieces while incarcerated; other work has come from the time the group spends together each Thursday—particularly during their sacred twelve-minute free writes. Many of the authors’ pieces can be found in the Francisco Homes anthology Free Writers: A Collection of Our Truths.

Regardless of the writing’s provenance or destination, these authors are united through their participation in the Francisco Homes Writing Workshop at some point between 2019 and 2023, and the collection of pieces chosen for this reading showcase the writers’ experiences, ideas, and talents.

The event will feature readings by current and former residents of The Francisco Homes:

John Njoroge

Charles Mebane

Daryl Thompson


Ronnie Noday

Rill Alexander

Gilbert Salazar

Ronald Patterson

John Sanchez

Jessie Garcia

and the participation of USC professors Ben Pack, Zen Dochterman, Emily Artiano, and Stephanie Bower.

About the organization:

The writers of The Francisco Homes—a collection of transitional homes for former lifers—come together on Thursday nights for writing workshops where we share stories, laughs, challenges, feedback, and life lessons. The pieces we share (and the writers who penned them) come out of various contexts. Some authors composed these pieces while incarcerated; other work has come from the time we spend together each Thursday–particularly during our sacred twelve-minute free writes. Regardless of the writing’s provenance, the authors are united through their participation in the Francisco Homes Writing Workshop at some point between 2019 and 2023, and the collection of pieces chosen for this reading showcase the writers’ experiences, ideas, and talents. Many of the authors’ pieces can be found in our anthology, Free Writers: A Collection of Our Truths.

This event is Free & In-Person at Beyond Baroque. Masks are required while inside our center.

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, fellow attendees, or performers.

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.

Please RSVP if you are planning to attend this event. We accept walk-ins, but priority will be given to people that have registered. Limited seating is available; we recommend arriving early.