Palabras Literary Salon (Sept 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 September edition features acclaimed multi-genre poet and writer Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera to feature her book BREAKING PATTERN, 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 "courage." All are welcome to attend - especially bring your allies and others curious to hear BIPOC voices.

Our guest readers circle includes award-winning poets and writers in addition to emerging artists: M. Anne Kala'i, Lili Flores, Jalen Jones, Benin Lemus, Genesis Perez, Danielle P. Williams, José Rios, 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 1:45pm as we would like to start at 2pm and finish by 3:30pm 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 Sunday, September 13, 2026 at 2pm at Studious Coworking in Chinatown (418 Bamboo Lane, Los Angeles, CA 90012).

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

Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera is a multi-genre writer and interdisciplinary scholar. Her doctoral dissertation titled, “Claiming Our Space,” explores the post-adolescent bildungsroman in college novels written by women of color. She is the author of Breaking Pattern (Inlandia Books 2023), a YA novel which received Honorable Mention for First Book of Fiction in English from the International Latino Book Awards, and a prose chapbook, Stories All Our Own (Bottlecap Press). Her play Blind Thrust Fault was featured in Center Theater Group Writers’ Workshop Festival and her one-act play “Temporary Arrangement” was featured in the Latinx group of Short + Sweet Festival Hollywood. Her short stories have been anthologized in Rural Writers of Color, Made in L.A. Volume 4 & 5, Ramblings & Reflections: SouthWest Writers Winning Words Anthology, and Puro Chicanx Writers of the 21st Century. Her fiction has been nominated for Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and was spotlighted in Best Small Fictions 2022. A first-generation college graduate, she writes so the desert landscape of her childhood can be heard as loudly as the urban chaos of her adulthood. She is a Macondista and works for literary equity through Women Who Submit. Find her on Instagram @writertish and links to her work at

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).