L.A. Book Launch: These Spaceships Weren't Built For Us by Alan Chazaro

The newest collection by poet Alan Chazaro.

Join us for a poetry reading celebrating These Spaceships Weren’t Built For Us, the new collection by Alan Chazaro. In this book, Chazaro reimagines space travel through the lens of his experience as the son of Mexican immigrants, moving between everyday settings and speculative worlds that reflect the tensions and possibilities of the present moment.

Alan Chazaro is the author of several previous collections and a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley. His work has appeared in NPR, The Guardian, and the Los Angeles Times. He will be joined by David Quiroz, whose debut Dreamer Paradise explores the complexities of the undocumented and DACA experience, and Joseph Rios, former poet laureate of Fresno and author of Shadowboxing: Poems and Impersonations.

This collection is the first release from a publishing partnership between Red Hen Press, Tía Chucha Press, and Letras Latinas. The program is co-sponsored by Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies.

Doors Open: 7:00 PM I Readings: 7:30 PM

About the authors

Alan Chazaro is the author of This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album (Black Lawrence Press, 2019), Piñata Theory (Black Lawrence Press, 2020) and Notes from the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge (Ghost City Press, 2021). He is a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley and was selected as a Lawrence Ferlinghetti Poetry Fellow at the University of San Francisco. A former high school teacher, he was raised by Mexican immigrants in the Bay Area and writes about the world. His work can be found in NPR, The Guardian, SLAM, GQ, L.A. Times, Condé Nast Traveler, Eater and more.

David Quiroz, born in Mexico, arrived in the USA in 1995. He is a product of the afterschool program The Boys and Girls Club of San Fernando Valley. As an undocumented first-generation college graduate, David was reenergized after each political battle. Upon receiving DACA, David utilized every opportunity afforded to him. “Dreamer Paradise,” his first book, tells the story of one dreamer, as the DACA/immigrant experience is not universal.

Joseph Rios is the former poet laureate of Fresno (2023-25) and a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. He is the author of Shadowboxing: Poems & Impersonations, winner of the American Book Award. He has been a fellow with Macondo, Canto Mundo, and the Academy of American Poets. He has been featured in Poets and Writers magazine, KVPR, Forum @ KQED, and the San Francisco Chronicle. He lives in Fresno.

About Beyond Baroque

Beyond Baroque is one of the United States' leading independent Literary | Arts Centers and public spaces dedicated to expanding the public's knowledge of poetry, literature and art through cultural events and community interaction. Founded in 1968 as an experimental literary magazine, Beyond Baroque is based out of the original City Hall building in Venice, California. The Center offers a diverse variety of literary and arts programming including readings and workshops. The building also houses a bookstore with a large collection of new poetry books for sale.

Livestream: 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. If you are tuning in this way, no ticket purchase is necessary.

If you are attending in person, ticket purchase is required. Tickets will be available at the Beyond Baroque bookstore on the day of the event, but we recommend registering in advance through Eventbrite. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. Please arrive early.

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, staff, fellow attendees, or performers.