L.A. Book Launch: Hovering by Carol V. Davis

A new poetry collection by author, Carol V. Davis

In her haunting new poetry collection, Hovering, Carol V. Davis explores how disease steals what makes us human. These poems explore what it means when language and memory uncouple like merry-go-round animals that break free and gallop off. Drawing on texts and traditions, the poems confront the reality of the void and the length of the journey. They delve into what is said, what is unsaid and what is lost by the people involved. These poems do not turn away, instead Davis courageously lifts dark moments to the light.

The author will be reading new and selected work with poet Lory Bedikian, author of Jagadakeer: Apology to the Body.

Doors Open: 2:30 PM I Readings: 3:00 PM

Carol V. Davis is the author of Below Zero (Stephen F. Austin Univ. Press, 2023), Because I Cannot Leave This Body (Truman State Univ. Press, 2017) and Between Storms (TSUP, 2012). She won the 2007 T.S. Eliot Prize for Into the Arms of Pushkin: Poems of St. Petersburg. Her first book, It’s Time to Talk About…, was published in a bilingual English/Russian edition, (Symposium, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1997). Her poetry has been read on National Public Radio, the US Library of Congress and Radio Russia. Formerly Poetry Editor of the Los Angeles newspaper, The Jewish Journal, in 2018 she has guest edited the poetry journal, Shirim. She was the 2008 Sandburg-Auden-Stein Poet-in-Residence at Olivet College, MI, and teaches at Santa Monica College and Antioch University, both in California. She was a senior Fulbright scholar in Russia, 1996-97 and again in 2005. She taught in Siberia, most recently in winter 2018 and was awarded a Fulbright Specialist grant for Siberia in 2020, postponed due to Covid, and then canceled. Her poetry is in The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry and Jewish Poems for the Third Millennium, among others. Her work has been translated into German, and recent work is being translated into Russian. She has also published translations from Russian.

Lory Bedikian is the author of The Book of Lamenting, winner of the Philip Levine Prize for Poetry. Her poems have been published in multiple journals, including Tin House, the Adroit Journal, the Los Angeles Review, and Gulf Coast. She teaches poetry workshops in Los Angeles. For more information about the author, visit lorybedikian.com.

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.

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.