Los Angeles Will Always Be a Character in My Story

For Three Generations, a Writer’s Family Has Lived and Loved in the City of Angels

It took until the cusp of middle age—the ripe age of 39—for me to write what would become my first book.

The spark for this new stage of my life was grief. My wife and I were lucky to have a healthy 8-year-old boy, but the pregnancy had been difficult. Little did we know that the experience would portend years of trying to have another child—and eventually, seven miscarriages.

I was content to stop after the first miscarriage, but my wife deeply desired another baby, so who was I to argue? But …

The 2023 Zócalo Poetry Prize Celebrates Poems of Place | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The 2023 Zócalo Poetry Prize Celebrates Poems of Place

No-Fee Contest Submissions Accepted November 2022–January 2023

Since 2012, the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize has recognized the U.S. writer of a poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is currently accepting submissions. The deadline …

Chelsea Rathburn Wins the 2022 Zócalo Poetry Prize

The Georgia Poet Laureate’s ‘8 a.m., Ocean Drive’ Captures an Early Morning in Miami, Where She Is Neither Tourist Nor Citizen

Chelsea Rathburn is the 11th annual winner of the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize for “8 a.m., Ocean Drive,” which brings us to the streets of Miami’s South Beach in …

The 2022 Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize Explores Place | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The 2022 Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize Explores Place

Since 2012, We’ve Honored Works That Visit Landscapes Both Real and Imagined

Since 2012, the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize has recognized the U.S. writer of a poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is now accepting submissions for our …

Is Anything More American Than Oklahoma! in Oklahoma? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Is Anything More American Than Oklahoma! in Oklahoma?

Forget Broadway's Reopening—The Nation's Artistic Heartbeat Is at Its Center

If there’s a more rambunctious and promiscuous genre than musical theater, I haven’t met it yet.

Musicals are an everywhere phenomenon. They touch an enormously broad swath of American lives, unapologetically …

Angelica Esquivel Wins Zócalo’s 10th Annual Poetry Prize | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Angelica Esquivel Wins Zócalo’s 10th Annual Poetry Prize

In 'La Mujer,' a Silver-Haired Believer Bridges a Generational and Cultural Gap

Each year for the past decade, the Zócalo Poetry Prize has been awarded to the U.S. poem that best evokes a connection to place.

The power of this concept to unite …