Palabras Literary Salon (May 2026 edition)

Come enjoy an afternoon with Palabras Literary Salon, a BIPOC-centered literary community event with host Jen Cheng in Chinatown Los Angeles.

Our May edition features acclaimed writer Xuan Juliana Wang to feature her book HOME REMEDIES, and other writing. Our event has a guest readers circle, a curated invited list of diverse BIPOC poets, writers, playwrights, and creatives to read 3-minutes of writing to celebrate this salon's theme of "lust." All are welcome to attend - especially bring your allies and others curious to hear BIPOC voices.

More about the theme:
"Lust" can evoke yearning, confusion, and unrequited love.

Our guest readers circle includes award-winning poets and writers in addition to emerging artists: Jia-Rui Cook, Pallavi Dhawan, Jen Cheng, Jose Enrique Medina, and others TBA. Light reception is provided.

• This salon series has been around for 4+ years and is volunteer-run + grassroots-driven. If each attendee donated $10 or more, we could cover our costs. We need everyone to pitch in on the honor system. If you can afford more, we would would appreciate your donation to help support other community members. We believe in accessibility, so if you need a scholarship ticket, please privately email the host ([email protected]) with the subject header "scholarship."
• Please kindly help us with your early RSVP here to attend and join in the facilitated discussion. Previous events have sold out so please join the waitlist if the RSVPs are full - people do cancel! We are asking for RSVPs for priority entry due to limited capacity.
• Everyone is welcome. Drop-ins are welcome.
• Please arrive by 2:45pm as we would like to start at 3pm and finish by 4:30pm to have time for post event mingling, community conversation, and reception.
• Please budget for time to get your street parking in the neighborhood. There is free parking if you take the time to walk several blocks. There is a $5 parking lot across the street on Broadway at Mandarin Plaza and other neighborhood lots.

We are glad to have you celebrate with us on Saturday, May 30, 2026 at 3pm at Studious Coworking in Chinatown (418 Bamboo Lane, Los Angeles, CA 90012).

>>> If the "Donate at the Event" tix are sold out, please select the other tix and you can donate as little as $1 to get a tix. This mechanism was created to limit the number of no-shows and so we can get an accurate number for our chair rentals and reception food.

More about Palabras Literary Salon

With a mission to create intercultural community building, Jen Cheng founded Palabras Literary Salon , inspired by our elders of civil rights consciousness raising and Maya Angelou's salons in the Harlem Renaissance. As a facilitator, Jen Cheng, brings home-cooking and light snacks to the event as we build bridges by breaking bread together. We sit in a non-heirarchical circle, without a stage. This is not an open-mic. Talk-story and witnessing are ways we can build better understanding of our humanity. If you are interested in being invited as a guest reader, please attend a salon to see if this format is a fit for your writing. Note: This event is an independent project and not affiliated with Jen's role with the City of West Hollywood. More about the salon on Jen's website: www.jencvoice.com/palabras

More about our featured writer

XUAN JULIANA WANG is the author of the story collection Home Remedies which was published in 2019 by Hogarth in the U.S. and Atlantic in the U.K.

Her stories and essays have appeared in The Atlantic, Ploughshares, Freemans, Narrative, The Cut, Gulfcoast, and The Pushcart Prize and The Best American Nonrequired Reading anthologies. She is a fiction editor at Fence.

Wang received the Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University as well as residencies from the MacDowell Colony, The Corporation of Yaddo, and LMCC Workspace. She currently teaches creative writing at UCLA. Find Juliana's social media @boyandgirlaffair.

Graphic: @JenCvoice

Exterior photo is from July 2024 edition of Palabras Literary Salon featuring Sonia Guiñansaca (Nostalgia and Borders). Event graphics by Jen Cheng. Interior photo is from January 2024 edition of Palabras Literary Salon featuring Cassandra Lane (We Are Bridges).

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Host or Publisher Jen Cheng