Come one, come all. Keith Gaboury will be reading poetry at Nomadic Bookshop on March 7th from his new book Monetized Happiness: Poems From Oakland and San Francisco along with featured poets J.R. Rice, Reggie Edmonds-Vasquez, Tino VH Jr., Esperanza Cabrales, and K.R. Morrison.
Monetized Happiness is a poetry collection that shows economic disparity, homelessness, parenthood, and urban living in Oakland and San Francisco, California. American happiness is monetized. When people sleep on sidewalks and others sleep under roofs, are we living in an equal country? A reader is left to decide on their own. If you subscribe to his free newsletter, you'll receive 3 free poems from Monetized Happiness. Learn more about Monetized Happiness and Keith Gaboury at keithgaboury.com.
Along with Keith Gaboury, check out the amazing featured poets who will also be reading at the event:
J.R. Rice is a Black man, writer, teacher, event host & curator, and spoken word artist, born and raised in Oakland, California. His novel, Broken Pencils earned the 2024 Literary Titan Gold Book Award, 2024 Pencraft Summer Best Book Award winner for Young Adult Coming of Age Fiction, and the 2024 Hawthorne Prize Finalist for Best Fiction. His poetry collection, I WAS, AM, WILL BE was a Semi-Finalist for the 2023 St. Lawrence Book Award from Black Lawrence Press. In addition to his writing accolades, he earned the Rookie of the Year award at the 2005 National Collegiate Poetry Slam in Philadelphia. He was a Semi-Finalist in the 2023 Berkeley Poetry Slam Finals. He was one of the judges for the 2025 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. To learn more about J.R. Rice, visit www.jrrice.com
Tino V. H. Jr. is a Mexican-American teaching artist and spoken word poet born and raised in Oakland, CA. He attended UC Santa Cruz, pursuing a degree in Literature with a concentration in Latin American Literature. He has represented poetry teams for cities like Santa Cruz and Berkeley, CA, on national stages. Most recently, he traveled to the Bigfoot Poetry Festival with the 2023 Berkeley Slam team, where they took 3rd place. His work explores im/migration, indigeneity, the hood, queerness, feminism, and decolonial frameworks.
Reggie Edmonds-Vasquez (They/Them) is a poet, educator, and cultural curator from Richmond, CA. Their work, which examines the intersection of Black, Queer, and Gender diverse identities, has been selected for fellowships and awards from Nomadic Press, the Afro Urban Society, The Museum of the African Diaspora and others. Their poem, Aerodynamics of the American Negro, was a finalist for the 2022 Red Wheel Barrow Poetry Prize. A two time Berkeley Grand Champion and a nationally ranked poet, Reggie can currently be found as the Program Director of Rich Oak Events. Reggie’s forthcoming book with Foglifter Press will be out this summer.
Esperanza Cabrales (she/they): a queer Xicana slam poet, performer, maker of earrings, and teaching artist based in Oakland. They lead poetry workshops through the nonprofit, Bay Area Creative, working with TK through high school students. Her work celebrates shared spaces, approaching emotions with curiosity, and the beauty of queer and cultural identities.
K.R. Morrison is a San Francisco poet who splits her time between Southern California and the Bay Area. Morrison is also an educator, a drummer, and a tarot & natal chart reader. Her first poetry collection, Cauldrons, was published by Paper Press Books in July, 2021.
Also check out other Arts events in Oakland, Literary Art events in Oakland, Performances in Oakland.
