Upcoming Events
L.A. Book Launch: Without The Consent of The People by Fred Dewey
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
7:30 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque and Live on YouTube
Join us for the Los Angeles launch of Without the Consent of the People, a posthumous collection by Fred Dewey (Beyond Baroque Executive Director, 1996 - 2010), published by IFSF Publishing. Written in the final years of his life and completed through the dedicated efforts of the Fred Dewey Legacy Project, this long-awaited book gathers Dewey’s reflections on art, politics, public life, and the possibilities of collective civic imagination.
Juicy Questions About Reality
Thursday, May 7, 2026
7:30 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque and Live on YouTube
To culminate the exhibit of Judy Kleinberg’s visual poetry now on view in the Mike Kelley Gallery, Beyond Baroque invites you to a lively reading with Judy Kleinberg, poet Suzanne O’Connell, and essayist Liz Stephens. In language that explores beauty in the unlovely and poetry in the unpoetic, the three writers contemplate memory, identity, and place. Please join us for a memorable evening of words and images.
Book Launch: Swirl & Vortex by Larry Levis,
David St. John, & David Ulin
Friday, May 8, 2026
7:30 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque and Live on YouTube
Swirl & Vortex at last makes all of Larry Levis’s poetry available in one definitive volume. This collection includes the five books published in Levis’s lifetime, a brilliant reconfiguration of Levis’s posthumous books, and unpublished late poems, edited and with an afterword by David St. John. Join us for a reading, and a Q&A between editor David St. John and author, David L. Ulin.
L.A. Book Launch: Piecework by Amy Shimshon-Santo
Saturday, May 9, 2026
1:30 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque and Live on YouTube
Join us for a celebration of Amy Shimshon-Santo's newest collection, Piecework: Ethnographies of Place (Unsolicited Press). The afternoon will feature readings and perfomances by Amy Shimshon-Santo, Avila Santo and Reva Santo, followed by a moderated discussion with Betty Avila. iecework brings together intergenerational essays that reflect on how people create possibility and shape place through creative work. The book moves between personal narrative and collective history, offering a thoughtful look at how change happens on the ground. Moving across classrooms, neighborhoods, and personal histories, The book highlights what becomes possible when communities come together with intention.
Women of the World: Poetry & Music Performances
Saturday, May 9, 2026
7:00 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque and Live on YouTube
UCLA’s Comparative Literature Graduate Student Association, in partnership with Beyond Baroque, is pleased to present Women of the World, an evening of commemoration for the struggles of women around the world. The program presents a commemoration for female poets and reflections on the struggles of women around the world involving talks about the history of International Women’s Day and various poetry readings in multiple languages with translations; featuring Hannah Jakobsen, Ivanna Berrios, JuliAnne Rach, Sylvie Gallagher, and Consuelo Salamia Góngora. The event will culminate in musical performances of songs of resistance by women artists Andrea Y Los Gallos and Guerra Paz.
Goat, Goddess, Moon: Poetry with Catherine Strisik & Karen Kevorkian
Thursday, May 14, 2026
7:30 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque and Live on YouTube
Beyond Baroque hosts a reading with poet Catherine Strisik celebrating her new collection Goat, Goddess, Moon (Holy Cow! Press, 2025), alongside Los Angeles poet Karen Kevorkian.
Poetry & Wine Tasting: A Fundraiser for Beyond Baroque
Saturday, May 16, 2026
6:00 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque
Join us in the Poets’ Garden at Beyond Baroque for our spring fundraiser! Enjoy an evening of wine tastings paired with poetry, with all proceeds supporting Beyond Baroque’s programming and its mission to expand opportunities for a diverse literary community. As Los Angeles’ oldest literary organization, Beyond Baroque needs your support to continue providing a home for learning and creative expression through workshops, weekly readings, and performances at our historic space in Venice. Stay tuned for more info!
More Upcoming Events
Intensive Workshops
Writing With Family and Community Archives
Saturday, May 2, 2026
11:00 AM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque
Join us for a workshop with Amy Shimshon-Santo! Here’s your chance to experience a generative writing workshop that delves into family and community legacies! Please come with any images, artifacts, or oral stories you wish to play with on the page.
Ongoing Free Workshops
Monday Night Fiction Workshop with Raquel Baker
Mondays 7:30 PM PT
Via Zoom
A community writing workshop in which participants are asked to bring 2-3 pages of fiction to read and receive feedback. Facilitated by Raquel Baker via Zoom. Registration required.
Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop
Wednesdays 8:00 PM PT
Via Zoom
The West Coast’s longest-running free poetry workshop welcomes new and seasoned poets to share new work and provide feedback. Please be prepared to share one poem. Facilitated by Martin Jago via Zoom. Registration required.
Exhibitions
The poem My trembling candle, a selection of visual poems by J.I. (Judy) Kleinberg.
April 11 - May 9, 2026
Closing Reading
Thursday, May 7, 7:30 PM
The poem My trembling candle is a selection of visual poems by J.I. (Judy) Kleinberg. The exhibit features framed original collages, about 4.25” x 5.5”, as well as enlargements in several sizes. The work in The poem My trembling candle touches on both the physical and the metaphorical. Doors seem to open on possibility as often as they open into rooms or houses. Light and shadow interplay in mood and spirit. Birds (tap-dancing with cardinals) cavort in an abbreviated syntax that Kleinberg describes as “somewhere between Dada and Twitter, between ransom note and haiku.”
More information here.
Proxy Gallery Presents
xiouping:
modalities: the body keeps time
March 28 to May 9, 2026, 2026
The work of artist xiouping is a 12-minute video and sound installation composed of a looped single-channel video. The camera stays in a fixed position inside a bedroom. We see a woman pushing someone in a wheelchair off camera, and then the same woman coming and going, tidying the room and the bed, carrying cups and bottles away from the bedside table, arranging medications, emptying the commode and changing the lining, placing new mattress protectors on the bed, and performing many actions indicative of caregiving to a disabled person, who is off camera.
For more information visit Proxy Gallery online here.
For past Proxy Gallery shows at Beyond Baroque click here.
We have new merch for you!
New arrivals include our new tote bags, zip bags, journals, candles, and of course, our classic Metaphors Be With You shirt. All proceeds support Beyond Baroque programming!
Visit our shop here
beyond-baroque.square.site
