U.S. Poet Laureate Emeritus Juan Felipe Herrera says that Fresno is the "Capital of Poetry in the World." The Fresno State Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing takes that literary legacy seriously. As part of Fresno's annual Rogue Festival, hear the latest poetry and prose from emerging #FresnoWriters in this storytelling and spoken word show, featuring voices from Professor Brynn Saito's undergraduate English 165 craft seminar.

Time: 8:30 to 9:30 PM
Date: Friday, March 1, 2024
Place: Hart's Haven Bookstore (950 N. Van Ness Ave.)
Admission: $10 + Rogue Fest wristband
Rated PG-13 • Latecomers OK • Seating is limited

Buy tickets: https://roguefestival.ticketleap.com/fresnostatecreativewriting/

Chloe Abella is a proud Fresno writer studying creative writing at Fresno State. Focusing on the painful beauty of life, her nonfiction and poetry is heavily influenced by love, nature, and her experiences as a Chicana woman. Her poems will be included in the 24th issue of Flies, Cockroaches and Poets, and she looks forward to what else the future has in store. 

Valentino Di Pietro Hernandez is an English major studying creative writing at Fresno State. Born in San Diego, raised in Switzerland, he's Mister International. Lucid indifference, insatiable curiosity, and a soft spot for the ironic, his absurd personality reflects into his stories filling them to the brim with grandiose pettiness, crisis of identities, and a Kafkan sense of the world.

Eduardo Espinoza-Gonzalez is an English student at Fresno State, studying creative writing. He prefers to write fiction dealing with themes of growing as a person, but he isn't a stranger to poetry and creative nonfiction. He hopes to expand his writing skills and share his writing with everyone in hopes of people connecting with it.

Amelia Holguin is a senior creative writing major at Fresno State. She will be graduating this May with the hopes of attending Fresno State's Master of Fine Arts program in Fall 2024. Amelia is also working to become a grant writer and hopes to help various communities address issues of food insecurity.

Michael Steiner is an undergraduate poet studying creative writing at Fresno State. He is interested in the participation of written and spoken word in mystic traditions and the potential for art to access universal human experience. He has poems forthcoming in hais: a literary journal and he was a finalist in Fresno State's 2023 Art Song Festival.

All participants are welcome. For disability related accommodations or access information, please contact Jefferson Beavers at jbeavers@mail.fresnostate.edu or 559.278.1569. Requests should be made at least one week in advance of the event.