3rd Saturday Poetry in Chinatown

Open mic before and after the featured poets. Sign up at 1 pm.

The event will be Live streamed on our

Dorothy (Dottie) Payne is a performance poet/ visual artist/ cultural activist and international educator. She has worked alongside such luminaries as Eugene Redmond, Quincy Troupe, bell hooks, and most recently, Jack Hirschman. Her readings are empowered by a commitment to the innate rhetorical musicality of a vernacular poetics centered on social engagement and liberation struggles.

She has lived, worked and performed her poetry throughout the United States, Palestine, Southeast Asia, Mexico, and most recently West Africa. As the director of her art gallery and music venue, “ArtInternationale” in San Francisco’s North Beach, she curated a six-year series, “Communities Without Borders.”

Her book Birthmarks was published in 2015 by New Native Press and her poetry, and critical essays have been variously anthologized.She most recently presented her original oriki, “Warrior Women: A Hidden History” (an extended praise poem) honoring the great gifts enslaved West African women brought to the Americas, at the “Afro-Cuban Symposium” at the University of Missouri.

Dottie currently writes, paints, and plots her next moves out of her studio in the heart of the Mission, San Francisco.

Avotcja is an award-winning Poet & multi-instrumentalist who has been published in English & Spanish in the USA, Mexico & Europe. She has opened for Betty Carter, Susana Baca, played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Bobi & Luis Cespedes, John Handy, Dimensions Dance Theater, and Nikki Giovanni. Shared stages with Sonia Sanchez, Piri Thomas, Janice Mirikitani, Diane DiPrima, Michael Franti, Faye Carol and Jayne Cortez. She’s a popular Bay Area DJ & Radio Personality & leader of the group “Avotcja & Modúpue”, facilitates La Palabra Musical (The Music of The Word) the longest running Multi-lingual Poetry Series in Oakland, CA. Avotcja teaches Creative Writing & Drama & is a proud member of DAMO (Disability Advocates Of Minorities Org.)

Parking tip:

$6 all-day parking at St. Mary’s Square Garage.

Host or Publisher Clarion Performing Arts Center