Quick Take
Writers of Color Santa Cruz County will host a poetry showcase Wednesday at the Museum of Art & History, featuring 17 performers from across North and South County. The collective meets monthly to host workshops and provide feedback to one another.
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Four minutes is not a lot of time to tell a story. But for the poets of Writers of Color Santa Cruz County, it can be enough to make their voices heard.
The collective will host its annual poetry showcase at the Museum of Art & History on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 6 p.m., marking five years of building an inclusive space for writers of color to share their work and center experiences that have often been overlooked in traditional literary spaces.
The showcase features 17 poets, ranging from emerging voices to established authors. The lineup includes current Watsonville Poet Laureate Victoria Bañales and her predecessor, Bob Gómez, as well as recent American Book Award winner Adela Najarro.
Retired bookseller Vivian Vargas started the collective in April 2021 to connect with other writers during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a space that didn’t exist in the industry. She cited a 2023 survey that found that 72.5% of people in the publishing industry identify as white.
“We’re human like anybody else — fall in love, hate our mom — but there’s a culture to it that needs to be heard,” Vargas said. “We needed to showcase that and nourish a community to bring our stories forward.”
She’s especially proud of how the collective brings together North and South County writers. Twelve of the 17 poets performing Wednesday have roots in Watsonville.
Vargas said each poet will have four minutes to perform. “You bring your A-game because you only have four minutes,” she laughed.
Bañales, who was appointed as Watsonville poet laureate last year, said Writers of Color’s poetry showcase is “unlike any other event you’ll see in our county.”
“All of the voices are so valuable. You don’t feel insecure like you might feel in some other spaces,” she said. “We all have experiences that are enmeshed in social oppression, but there’s a lot of resilience. It makes the poetry charged and powerful, and also beautiful.”
Bañales also teaches creative writing and English composition at Cabrillo College. She said Writers of Color creates a more approachable environment for new writers, bridging the gap for many of her students who find poetry inaccessible. She said she offers extra credit for her students to attend the showcase.
“My students will say, ‘Oh my God! I only planned to stay for one hour, but I ended up staying for the whole thing because it was so amazing,’” Bañales said.
Writers of Color meets every five weeks on Zoom. In 2021, its first meeting hosted eight people. Now, over 60 people have attended meetings, engaging in writing workshops and planning events. Vargas started a new meeting last year for members to share new work and feedback with one another.
Bañales said being a part of the collective has been an “energizing” experience.
“I think a lot of us were hungry to find a space where we could be honest with our voices and center our experiences and our artistry,” Bañales said. “A lot of spaces have unfortunately felt not very inclusive for us, and so Writers of Color really filled a huge gap in our community.”
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