How do writers use their imaginations to empower themselves and their audiences? How do their stories shape the future?

The series opener for WeHo Reads 2025 will feature four dynamic writers whose work delves into untold histories, urgent social issues, and enduring legacies of resilience during Black History Month.

Participating writers will include: Angela M. Franklin, whose poetry and essays confront topics often left unspoken and who recently won an Honorable Mention Award from the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest for her poem “Unbroken Habit”; Jenise Miller, a Pushcart-nominated poet and author of The Blvd, whose work explores intersectional history and geography; Pam Ward, a California Arts Council Literary Fellow and author of Want Some Get Some, Bad Girls Burn Slow, and Between Good Men & No Man At All; and Romaine Washington, editor of These Black Bodies Are… A Blacklandia Anthology and author of the poetry mini-memoir Purgatory Has an Address and the artivist collection Sirens in Her Belly.

The event is free and available to watch via YouTube Live on the WeHo Arts channel. Learn more at www.weho.org/wehoreads.

WeHo Reads is a literary series presented by the City of West Hollywood. For more information and events, visit www.weho.org/wehoreads. The 2025 season is produced by BookSwell, a literary media company amplifying historically excluded voices. Additional support is provided by Poets & Writers and media partnerships with Book Soup and Los Angeles Review of Books.