Performance: Readings from Flor y Canto

Members of the San Francisco International Flor y Canto talk about their mission and read from their latest works. 

This will be a hybrid event, join us live in-person or via Zoom (registration required). 

Watch on YouTube. 

Featuring Josiah Luis Alderete, Lourdes Figueroa, Hector Son of Hector, Ricardo Tavarez and Monica Zarazua.

San Francisco Flor y Canto promotes literature and culture along the 24th Street Corridor. Flor y Canto Literary Festival illuminates the literary arts, enhances the collective mental well-being and confidence of the Mission District neighborhood and the city at large. Flor y Canto promueve la literatura y la cultura a lo largo de la calle 24. El Festival Literario Flor y Canto ilumina las artes literarias, mejora el bienestar mental colectivo y la confianza del vecindario del Distrito de la Misión y de la ciudad en general.

Connect with San Francisco Flor y Canto on Facebook | San Francisco Flor y Canto on Instagram 

Inquiries can be sent to sfflorycanto2021@gmail.com

Josiah Luis Alderete is a full blooded Pocho, spanglish speaking poeta who first learned how to write poesia in the kitchen of his Mama’s Mexican restaurant. He was one of the founding member of  Bay Area outspoken word group “The Molotov Mouths” and is the curator and host of  the long running monthly Chicano/Latinx reading series “Speaking Axolotl”. This year he had the honor of being one of the recipients of the  2021 San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Literary Award and also had his first book of poems Baby Axolotls & Old Pochos published by Black Freighter Press. Connect with Josiah Luis Alderete on Instagram.

hector son of hector lives in Oakland, CA. He is the child of Mexican immigrants, currently works in a hospital, dreams of short stories and writes poetry in secret.

Ricardo Tavarez is a Bay Area educator and arts organizer. Ricardo’s recent projects include editing a student poetry anthology and the forthcoming Pan Dulce Poets anthology on Pochino Press. You can find him jogging along Lake Merritt or trails in the Oakland Hills.

Connect with Ricard Tavarez on Instagram.

Monica Zarazua has an M.F.A in Creative Writing from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has published short stories in The Collagist, Asia Literary Review and 805. In 2012, she co-founded Pochino Press, which publishes work that seeks new conceptions of culture and story-making. From 2013-2018, she taught grades four and five at an international school in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Currently, she lives and works in Oakland, California.

Connect with Monica Zarazua on Instagram.

Lourdes Figueroa was born in Yuba City, California during a trip her parents made from Mexico to the USA when they worked in the campo, en el azadón, in the tomato fields. Figueroa’s second chapbook, Ruidos = To Learn Speak, with the Alley Cat Bookstore and Gallery, Writing Residency is forthcoming. She received her MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Poetry at the University of San Francisco. She works as a family case manager, a community organizer in the South of Market, and occasionally as a camera assistant. Figueroa continues to believe in your lung, your throat.