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 the San Joaquin Literary Association (SJLA).

Time: 6:30 to 7:30 PM
Date: Saturday, March 9, 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/

Soreath Hok is a first-year graduate student studying creative nonfiction in Fresno State's MFA program in creative writing. A self-described "donut kid," Soreath writes about her lifelong experience with her family-run donut shop.

Sharon K. McClain finds impetus to write from her unconventional childhood growing up in the beach cities of Southern California, alchemizing a painful past into healing and beauty. Themes prevalent in her writing range from trauma and grief to forgiveness and hope. 

Taylor Seals (she/her) is a first-year MFA student braving the poetry route, with an emphasis in literary editing and publishing. In exploring the vast intersections of poetry and creative nonfiction, her writing centralizes external and internal human relationships. Many of the themes Taylor excavates in her work tackle Black American generational trauma, matrilineal bonds, and BIPOC queer romantic experiences. Taylor spends most of her free time singing, reading anything to fill her spirit, and yes, still, watching Bob’s Burgers. This is her second Rogue Fest reading and she's grateful to be back.

Anthony Shemaria is a poet and photographer from the Bay Area who currently studies in the MFA program at Fresno State. He writes about his life as a teenage alcoholic and drug addict in a style that blends abstract memory with concrete experiential reflection. When he isn't writing, he is probably convincing his cat to choose love or contemplating the joys of mustard.

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.