karo ska's "loving my salt-drenched bones" virtual release party

karo ska delivers an ensemble of poetic magic in her highly anticipated book, loving my salt-drenched bones. ska's mastery of emotional and interpersonal subject matter takes the reader on a journey into the bright side of darkness filled with love, heartache, joy, and the poetic tone that only ska can manifest.

they will read alongside five fabulous poets: Tyler Lenn Bradley, Brenda Vaca, Tommy Domino, Andres Sanchez, and Ravina Wadhwani.

Tyler Lenn Bradley (she/her) is a traveling poet and self-love advocate aspiring to bring radiance and courage to the lives of others. Through her company, HUE Productions, Tyler has toured live performances that combine spoken word, dance and music to various cities including Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit. Currently, Tyler is thrilled to be writing her first poetry book through the Community Literature Initiative!

In her spare time, Tyler works as a Sr. Analyst at the Walt Disney Company helping to create inclusive content so all people can see themselves on screen.

Brenda Vaca was born in Huntington Park, CA, and raised in South Whittier CA to a Mexican/Xicana family where the Apostolic and Roman Catholic traditions were hardcore influences.  She is the youngest of 4 children, was educated in the local public school system, and earned her B.A. in English at U.C.Berkeley.  Later she went on to graduate school in Berkeley earning a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts in Biblical Languages from the Pacific School of Religion and Graduate Theological Union.  She served as an ordained Elder for the United Methodist Church working primarily in “Latinx” communities until a life-changing interfaith pilgrimage to Central America in August 2015.  Poetry and writing have been lifelong passions.  Riot of Roses is her debut collection of poetry.  She is also the founder of Riot of Roses Publishing House LLC established in 2021.  You can find & follow her @iambrendavaca on Instagram and Riot of Roses on Facebook.  You can order her book wherever books are sold or directly at: https://linktr.ee/brendavaca

Tommy Domino an Alumni from the Community Literature Initiative is a spoken blues poet raised in Northwest Pasadena. Member of the Stillwater’s Writers Collective since (2012). His work is featured in two Anthologies: Sounds for the Water (2013) & Poets, Allies for Resistance (2015) and Black Minds Publishing (2/2021). Co-Founder of Poetry Friends & Drinks in 2016. His book Switches, Hot wheel Tracks & Extensions Cords was published by World Stage Press (2018). He has performed at tributes for: The 50th Anniversary of The Watts Writers Workshop of 1965, The Watts Prophets and The Last Poets. Served as a member of Diverse Verses and Co-Producer of The Annual Pan African Film Spoken Word Festival from (2017-2021). He is a member of the poetry collective @NeverSpeakLB. Facilitates the Long Beach poetry cohorts for the Community Literature Initiative (2020-Pres.)

Andres Sanchez, They/He is a Mexican poet, author, and advocate. He migrated to the U.S. at the age of 5 and grew up in Southern California and Las Vegas, NV. Andrés moved to Los Angeles, California 7 years ago.  His book, This Body was released on December 16, 2020.

RAVINA WADHWANI is a Los Angeles CA  based poet-ess who was born and raised in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Ravina is the author of YELLOW- a collection of poetry & prose published through World Stage Press. Ravina is active in the Community Literature Initiative (CLI) community as a faculty and alum as well as AIM4the Heart & Never Speak Long Beach. Ravina has performed at multiple open mics on the West & East Coast and believes poetry is a tool to connect heart, mind & voice for collective healing & social change.