An Evening with What Books Press & Giant Claw

Welcoming What Books Press and their imprint, Giant Claw, at Beyond Baroque, join us for an evening showcasing the release of four new collections. Readings from authors Stephen Cooper, Patty Seyburn, Suzanne Lummis, and jimmy vega in The Wanda Coleman Theater.

Stephen Cooper's book, River of Angels: Stories, feature ten stories of blood relations, family skeletons, random forces, and the often-violent folly of love. Patty Seburn's Jukebox, is a collection that moves from poems about music made by people to poems about music made by birds to poems that must live on their own music. Suzanne Lummis's Crime Wave, touches on street crime, the international drug trade, and present-day political corruption are among the subjects of these poems that showcase Lummis’ signature noir style. Lastly, jimmy vega's debut collection, zirconium ash, centers around loss—death of individuals, relationships, and ways of communicating, the poems psychically map the geography of Los Angeles.

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

About the authors

Stephen Cooper is the author of Full of Life: A Biography of John Fante, a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. He has worked as a longshoreman on the docks of Los Angeles Harbor, a mule packer in the Eastern Sierra, a guard in Stockholm’s subway system, and at sundry other jobs. Long a Professor of English at California State University, Long Beach, he has written and published on both literature and film. He also cowrote and produced the Netflix Original Documentary Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski. River of Angels is his first story collection.

Patty Seyburn has published six books of poems: Jukebox (What Books Press, 2025), Threshold Delivery (Finishing Line Press, 2019); Perfecta (What Books Press, Glass Table Collective, 2014); Hilarity, (New Issues Press, 2009), Mechanical Cluster (Ohio State University Press, 2002) and Diasporadic (Helicon Nine Editions, 1998). She earned a BS and an MS in Journalism from Northwestern University, an MFA in Poetry from University of California, Irvine, and a Ph.D. in Poetry and Literature from the University of Houston. She is a professor at California State University, Long Beach, and was a 2024 Fulbright Scholar in Iasi, Romania. Featuring Jukebox, this collection moves from poems about music made by people to poems about music made by birds to poems that must live on their own music.

Suzanne Lummis edited the new anthology, national in scope, "Poetry Goes to the Movies” (2025). Her poems have appeared in New Ohio Review, Ploughshares, Plume, Catamaran, Rattle, The New Yorker and elsewhere. She is an influential poet and teacher in Los Angeles and 2018-19 City of Los Angeles (COLA) fellow. Featuring Crime Wave, street crime, the international drug trade, and present-day political corruption are among the subjects of these poems that showcase Lummis’ signature noir style.

jimmy vega is the child of Mexican immigrants, a Chicano Los Angeles poet, educator, and interdisciplinary artist. vega is the author of zirconium ash (What Books Press, 2025). He holds a BA from UCLA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing from CalArts. vega's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Diode, Dunce Codex, Maintenant, and elsewhere. vega is currently the Interim Executive Director of Beyond Baroque Literary / Arts Center. He lives and works in Los Angeles. More @jimmyyvega or jimmy-vega.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.

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.