Submitted by Justin La Torre
Photo courtesy of Richard Chambers“All you voices of the valley, let’s hear you roar!”
With those words, English professor Martin Pousson kicked off one of the opening events of Lit Crawl LA: NoHo to the clamorous chorus congregated in Gallery 800 at the historic Lankershim Arts Center. Though the Los Angeles–based word-centric extravaganza was only in its second year of celebration, support and attendance for Lit Crawl LA was already proving to be formidable, as a crowded house filled up to standing room only to lend an ear to a selection of California State University, Northridge’s elite writers in a reading session titled “Voices from the Valley.”
Focusing exclusively on established and emerging creative writers from CSUN’s undergraduate and graduate programs, Voices from the Valley boasted an impressive cast of wordsmiths. As a graduate of CSUN and emcee for the night, I was certainly no slouch myself, having been recently published in Westwind at UCLA and the last two issues of The Northridge Review. That being said, the presenters have had their work featured in publications such as Cargoes literary journal, Glimmer Train, and Los Angeles Review, and their crafts spanned the gamut from poetry to short story and even semi-biographical long fiction. In short, Voices from the Valley wasn’t just going to commence the night; it was going to rock- et right out of the gate.
Presenters from the night included:
Brandon Krause, CSUN graduate whose poem “Seven Grand” was a winning piece in Hollins University’s 2014 National Undergraduate Poetry Competition and has been featured in the Spring 2014 issue of Cargoes literary journal. His short story “Coldline” was published in the Fall 2014 issue of The Northridge Review.
Karlee Johnson, CSUN alumna and co-author of the ’zine series Doggone Sentiment, and whose work has been featured in The Northridge Review and Uno Kudo magazine. Johnson and Krause each received honorable mentions from Glimmer Train Press, and they are both currently pursuing MAs in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University.
Cody Dietz, master’s candidate at CSUN who has been published in Ellipsis, Chaparral, and The Northridge Review. His chapbook placed in the finals of Split Lip’s Uppercut Chapbook Awards, and he is currently working on a full-length collection of poetry.
Gina Srmabekian, graduate student and teaching associate at CSUN who was a recent finalist of the Glimmer Train New Voices Awards. She has work published in several literary journals including Chaparral, and is described by her students as “young and pretty…and kind of mean.”
Kim Young, creative writing professor at CSUN, author of the 2011 Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize–winning piece “Night Radio,” and founding editor of the Southern California–based online poetry journal Chaparral. Her work has appeared in Los Angeles Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, No Tell Motel, and POOL poetry journal.