5:15-6:15pm Docent tours of the Marion Davies Guest House
6:30-8:30pm Readings

Beach=Culture and the Red Hen Poetry Series present a celebration of contemporary poetry in a seaside setting; the second of three readings this summer. Three poets will read from their acclaimed works: Chris Abani, recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Francisco Aragon, award-winning editor and poet, and Jenny Factor, recipient of the Hayden Carruth Award.

Chris Abani's prose includes Song For Night (Akashic, 2007), The Virgin of Flames (Penguin, 2007), Becoming Abigail (Akashic, 2006), and Masters of the Board (Delta, 1985). His poetry collections are Sanctificum (Copper Canyon Press, 2010), There Are No Names for Red (Red Hen Press, 2010), Feed Me The Sun - Collected Long Poems (Peepal Tree Press, 2010) Hands Washing Water (Copper Canyon, 2006), Dog Woman (Red Hen, 2004), Daphne's Lot (Red Hen, 2003), and Kalakuta Republic (Saqi, 2001). He holds a BA in English (Nigeria), an MA in Gender and Culture (Birkbeck College, University of London), an MA in English and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing (USC). He is a Professor at the University of California, Riverside and the recipient of the PEN USA Freedom-to-Write Award, the Prince Claus Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a California Book Award, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, a PEN Beyond the Margins Award, the PEN Hemingway Book Prize & a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Francisco Aragón is the author of Puerta del Sol (Bilingual Press) and Glow of Our Sweat (Scapegoat Press). He is also the editor of the award-winning The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (University of Arizona Press). His poems have appeared in a range of anthologies, including Inventions of Farewell: A Book of Elegies (W.W. Norton & Company), American Diaspora: Poetry of Displacement (University of Iowa Press), Evensong: Contemporary American Poets on Spirituality (Bottom Dog Press), and most recently, The Helen Burns Poetry Anthology: New Voices (published by the Academy of American Poets). His poems and translations (from Spanish) have appeared in various print and web publications, including Chain, Crab Orchard Review, Chelsea, The Journal, and online at Jacket and Poetry Daily. He directs Letras Latinas, the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He is a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop and is on the board of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP).

Jenny Factor's award-winning first collection Unraveling at the Name was published by Copper Canyon Press. In poems that electrify and engage with a series of traditional and kaleidoscopic verse forms, Factor explores issues of shifting identity and personal narrative. Unraveling at the Name was the recipient of an Astraea Grant in Poetry, a Hayden Carruth Award, and was one of five finalists for a Lambda Literary Award. Jenny currently teaches in the Antioch Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program in Los Angeles.

About Red Hen Press
Now a national presence in independent publishing, Red Hen Press was founded in 1994 by Mark E. Cull and Kate Gale. As a nonprofit literary press that publishes twenty works of poetry, literary fiction, and autobiography each year, they are dedicated to supporting quality writing that is being ignored or overlooked by large or commercial publishers. The Press also donates books to schools, libraries and other institutions, and presents seven reading series in New York and Los Angeles showcasing current and backlist authors. The Red Hen Press is a place for writers’ work to be published and celebrated; a literary family for a diversity of voices that speak to what it means to be human and speak it well. The Red Hen Poetry series at the Beach House is cosponsored by American Composers Forum Los Angeles. http://www.redhen.org; http://www.composersforum.org/chapters_about.cfm?oid=1460.

Stop by early for Beach House tours by docents from the Santa Monica Conservancy before every evening event, first come, first served. 

Tickets are free but seating is limited and reservations are required. If you would like to attend, please reserve online. Please plan to arrive by 6:15pm to retain your reservation. Late seating, even for reservation-holders, is not guaranteed. To adjust or cancel your reservation for this event, email beachhouse@smgov.net. We appreciate your keeping in touch!

Directions: The Beach House is located at 415 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica, CA 90402 on the west side of Pacific Coast Highway, a half mile north of the California Incline and a half mile south of Chautauqua Blvd. Plenty of public parking is available - enter off PCH at the Beach House Way traffic light. Parking: $8 for a day pass ($10/day on weekends). The facility is also easily accessible by foot or bike from the beach bike path, although the beach closes at sunset. There is ample bike parking at racks throughout the site - remember to bring your own lock.

Other events: To view & make reservations for future free Beach=Culture events, check http://www.eventbrite.com/org/199463539.

General Info: The pool and fitness center are open! For hours, rates and more, visit http://www.annenbergbeachhouse.com, or call 310-458-4904. Back on the Beach Café is open daily 8am - 8pm (8am - 3pm Mondays).