Friday, March 20, 2026

Free Poetry Workshops for Eaton Fire Survivors Continue Friday in Altadena

Glendale’s poet laureate uses $50,000 national fellowship to fund writing sessions, anthology, and scholarships at the Collaboratory

A free poetry workshop for people affected by the Eaton Fire will be held Friday at the Eaton Fire Collaboratory in Altadena, the second in a three-part series funded by a $50,000 Academy of American Poets fellowship.

The March 21 session, led by poet and literary advocate Linda Ravenswood, runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 540 W. Woodbury Road. A third workshop on April 25 will be led by Carla Sameth, who served as Altadena’s Co-Poet Laureate from 2022 to 2024. Both sessions are free and open to anyone directly or indirectly affected by the January 2025 fire, according to a press release from the organizers.

The San Gabriel Valley Phoenix Poets project was founded by Raffi Joe Wartanian, Glendale’s inaugural Poet Laureate and a UCLA Writing Programs lecturer who received the fellowship from the Academy of American Poets in 2025, according to the Academy. The Mellon Foundation funds the fellowship, which supports community poetry projects in cities across the country, the Academy said.

The Pasadena-based Light Bringer Project, a nonprofit arts organization founded in 1990, serves as fiscal partner for the program, according to the press release. Teresa Mei Chuc, who grew up in Pasadena and served as Altadena Poet Laureate Editor-in-Chief from 2018 to 2020, led the series’ first session on February 28.

Participants may submit writing for a planned anthology and scholarship program. The submission deadline is April 1, according to the press release. Submissions can be made at https://forms.gle/oeCvZBbebNPadVTh7.

“Literal and figurative fires can silence us, so aftermath moments like these are critical to elevate overlooked perspectives and stay rooted in the complex truths of what communities endure and process,” Wartanian said in the press release.

Ravenswood, who leads Friday’s session, founded The Los Angeles Press in 2018 and helped establish the Glendale Poet Laureate Program in 2022 alongside Mayor Ardy Kassakhian, according to The Los Angeles Press. Sameth, who will lead the April session, is also a 2023 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow, according to the Academy.

The Eaton Fire claimed 19 lives and destroyed thousands of buildings in and around Altadena. The Collaboratory, which opened in October 2025, serves as a central hub where survivors access recovery resources and connect with more than 200 community organizations, according to the Eaton Fire Collaborative.

The broader fellowship project also calls for a public mural and scholarships for young poets, according to UCLA’s Newsroom.