Sehba Sarwar and Lester Graves Lennon (Photos – Altadena Library)
Join the Altadena Poets Laureate for the Altadena Poetry Review Celebration.
By Katlyn Ong
Featuring Mary Anne Berry, Don Kingfisher Campbell, Ron Koertge, Noriko Nakada, Anna Mixtlan, Thelma Reyna, Lynne Thompson, Pam Ward, Alene Terzian-Zeitounian, and an Open Mic. Hosted by Poets Laureate Sehba Sarwar and Lester Graves Lennon.
About the Poets
Mary Anne Berry is a retired high school teacher of French and English. Her love affair with poetry began in early childhood, and she is never happier than in a group of like-minded poets working to hone their craft. She hosts a group monthly in her home in Pasadena, California.
Don Kingfisher Campbell, MFA Antioch University L.A., taught at USC and Occidental College Upward Bound. He is a board member of California Poets In The Schools, publisher of Four Feathers Press, and host of the Saturday Afternoon Poetry reading and workshop series in Pasadena, California.
Ron Koertge is the author of a dozen or so books of poetry from presses like the University of Arkansas, University of Pittsburgh Press, and Red Hen Press. He is a Pushcart Prize winner and has two poems in volumes of Best American Poetry. An entertaining and dynamic reader, he is also a sought-after handicapper of thoroughbred race horses. His newest book is Pandora’s Kitchen, due from Red Hen in fall 2025.
Noriko Nakada is a multi-racial Asian American who creates fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art to capture the stories she has been told not to talk about. Her memoir Through Eyes Like Mine was shortlisted for the 2040 Book Award. Excerpts, essays, stories, and poetry have been published in Hippocampus, Catapult, Made in LA, Linden Ave, and elsewhere. She is an LAUSD teacher and parent, and a UTLA organizer. She sits on the Women Who Submit board supporting women and nonbinary writers to submit their work for publication. She lives in Los Angeles on stolen Tongva Land.
Anna Mixtlan, a Chicana born and raised in East Los Angeles, is fascinated by the idea of recreating one’s lost past through story-telling: our family stories, our love stories, and our ancestral stories. She believes that we can give voice to our ancestors through storytelling, and to tap into the way our ancestors manifest themselves in who we are today. She is an elementary school teacher and a licensed clinical social worker who currently calls Altadena home.
Lynne Thompson served as Los Angeles’ 4th Poet Laureate and received a Poet Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets. In September 2024, she represented Los Angeles at the Cultural Olympiad’s Poétique Marathon in Paris. Thompson is the author of four collections of poetry: Beg No Pardon, Start With A Small Guitar, Fretwork, and Blue on a Blue Palette. A lawyer by training and the recipient of multiple awards and fellowships, Thompson serves on the Boards of The Poetry Foundation, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Scripps College where she served a four year term as Chair of the Board of Trustees. She currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of Cave Canem, a literary nonprofit organization based in New York.
LA native, Pam Ward recently released her poetry anthology, Between Good Men & No Man at All (World Stage Press). She is also the author of two novels, Want to Get Some and Bad Girls Burn Slow (Kensington), a 2024 Paris Olympic poet and UCLA graduate, California Arts Council Fellow, Pushcart Poetry Nominee and founding member of the Leimert Park Book Fair. Ward is the 2025 recipient of the Department of Cultural Affairs Trailblazer award and recently completed her novel, I’ll Get You My Pretty, the true account of her aunt’s notorious role in the Black Dahlia murder, an event that shocked the world, resulting in the closure of California’s border.
Alene Terzian-Zeitounian EdD is a globally minded leader, poet, and educator with a deep commitment to advocacy and social justice. She currently serves as the Humanities Department Chair and teaches creative writing at College of the Canyons. She is also the faculty advisor of cul-de-sac, the campus’s award-winning literary and arts magazine. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing, with a concentration in poetry, and a doctorate in education, specializing in leadership and innovation. Her work has been featured in publications such as the Bellevue Literary Review, Colorado Review, Mizna, and Rise Up Review.
Altadena Co-Poet Laureate Sehba Sarwar is the author of the novel Black Wings (second edition, Veliz Books, 2019). Her essays and poems have appeared in Asia: Magazine of Asian Literature, Poetry in English from Pakistan, Callaloo, Creative Time, New York Times, Aleph, Vallum, and elsewhere while her short stories have been anthologized by Feminist Press, Akashic Books, and Harper Collins India. She is the recipient of honors from organizations, including Los Angeles’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Pasadena’s Cultural Affairs Division, Mid-America Arts Alliance, and Houston Arts Alliance. Sarwar trains youth leaders in Pasadena and Altadena.
Altadena Co-Poet Laureate Lester Graves Lennon is the author of Lynchings: Postcards from America (WordTech Editions, 2022); My Father Was a Poet (CW Books, 2013); and The Upward Curve of Earth and Heavens (Story Line Press, 2003). He is an investment banker, the poetry editor of Rosebud Magazine, and member of the board of directors of the Community of Writers.
Both Sarwar and Graves Lennon are recipients of the Academy of American Poets 2025 Poet Laureate Fellowships.
Altadena Poetry Review Celebration September 13, 2025 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm Location Altadena Main Library 600 E Mariposa St. Altadena, CA 91001
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