In this extraordinary collection, Tom Laichas is our Vigil, guiding us through Venice, California, and its ancient namesake. Throughout Laichas shape-shifts from resident, to historian, to social critic, to ghost, moving among one neighborhood’s heavens and hells. A work of poetry, prose, and memoir, Three Hundred Streets of Venice is masterful, provocative, and unforgettable.

To celebrate Laichas’s third poetry collection, poets-travelers Susan Suntree, Beth Ruscio, & Mike Sonsken will be reading their selected works. A reception will be held before and after the event with food & light refreshments. The authors will also be signing books.

Doors open: 6:30 p.m. Readings: 7:00 p.m.

About the authors:

Tom Laichas is the author of Sixty-Three Photographs from the End of a War and Empire of Eden. A recipient of the Nancy Hargrove Poetry Prize, his work is widely published. He lives with his wife Donna in Venice, California.

Susan Suntree is an award-winning poet, performer, and essayist whose recent books of poetry included Dear Traveler and the updated paperback and audiobook release of her non-fiction epic poem Sacred Sites: The Secret History of Southern California which won the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Award for Nonfiction, the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Narrative Poetry, a Mellon Foundation Elemental Arts Award, and was a finalist for a Society of Voice Arts and Sciences prize. Other books include Eye of the Womb, also published in Madrid as a bilingual edition, El Ojo de la Matriz; Tulips, a bilingual chapbook of translations of poetry by Spanish poet Ana Rossetti; Rita Moreno, YA biography; Wisdom of the East; Stories of Compassion, Inspiration and Love for which the Dalai Lama wrote the foreword. http://www.susansuntree.com/

Beth Ruscio, daughter of actors, poet with multiple honors, accomplished actor, and winner of the Brick Road Poetry Prize for her 2020 collection SPEAKING PARTS praised as “. . .an exceptional collection. Ruscio has spent a career acting and is able to bring the wisdom of that career with her to show us what it means to be human.” and “I realized this is the first collection of poems I’ve cherished this much . . . moved carefully through with the devotion I once reserved for listening to the Dark Side of the Moon. This truly deserves–and richly rewards–the attention.”

Mike Sonksen aka Mike the PoeT is a 3rd-generation Southern Californian. Poet, professor, journalist, historian & tour-guide, his book Letters to My City was published by Writ Large Press. He’s written for Poets & Writers, Metropolis, KCET, Alta, Wax Poetics, PBS, LA Taco, LA Review of Books, LAist, Boom and the Academy of American Poets. His poetry’s been featured on Public Radio Stations KCRW, KPCC & KPFK & Spectrum News. Sonksen is the Coordinator of the First Year Experience Program at Woodbury University. He’s been awarded by the Los Angeles Press Club and in 2013, Beyond Baroque honored him for Outstanding Public Service to Los Angeles Poetry.

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.