On Oct. 25 Village Poets will feature Maja Trochimczyk on Zoom. She is president of the California State Poetry Society and editor of the California Quarterly Autumn 2026 issue (Vol 52, Issue 3) featuring poets from around California and the U.S. This will be a “hybrid” reading, meaning both readers in attendance and readers on Zoom will be heard. This reading will take place (as usual) at Bolton Hall Museum, 10110 Commerce Ave. in Tujunga. Hosted by Joe DeCenzo and Alice Pero, there will also be an open mic and poets are invited to participate in the open reading segment of the event. If poets would like to participate in the Zoom portion of the event, please email CaliforniaStatePoetrySociety@gmail.comand request the link. The reading starts at 4:30 p.m. and lasts until about 6:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. 

Dr. Maja Trochimczyk is a Polish American poet, music historian and photographer. She has published 10 books on music and culture and six volumes of poetry. Her research and poems have appeared in numerous volumes of collected works, scholarly journals and poetry periodicals in 11 countries. She is the founder of Moonrise Press. 

The sixth poet-laureate of Sunland-Tujunga (2010-2012) and program director of Village Poets (2010-2022), she has served as president of the California State Poetry Society and managing editor of California Quarterly since 2019.

Established in 1971 and formally incorporated as a non-profit in 1985, California State Poetry Society is dedicated to its mission of promoting poetry and art in California and around the world through publishing a poetry journal and newsletter and organizing monthly and annual poetry contests. The CSPS began publication of the California Quarterly in the fall of 1972.  

Trochimczyk said about the Autumn 2026 issue of CQ, ”Since I enjoy classical music’s counterpoint, I wove this CQ issue into a tapestry of words, echoing and resonating in each other. Longer poems are interspersed with haiku by Gregory Cecil and Susan Rogers. In the polyphony of human experience, we overcome grief and become aware of cosmic unity: ‘Streams become rivers /And the river becomes the sea’ (Heard). And so, our journey continues, words flourish anew.”

The reading will include live readings by Andrew You, Maja Trochimczyk, Bruce Heard and Susan Rogers and Zoom readings by Charlie McCurdy, David Rosenheim, Sandra Irwin, Roman Montemorano, Patty Pieczka, Pamela Singer, Mike Breuleux and Ken Holland.

Submitted by Village Poets