Upcoming Events
House show in Beverly Glen featuring musician Helen Gillet with special guest poet, Amber West, Los Angeles, CA, Thurs. 11/21/24, doors 7pm/performance 8pm; RSVP for address; suggested donation $20
Selected Past Events
2020-2024
Poetry & Music for Resilient Women featuring Amber West & Theresa Peterson, Petals & Pages, Denver, CO, July 2024
Poetry Workshop led by Amber West, Poetry Society of Colorado, The Philip & Jerry Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO, July 2024
Panel Organizer & Chair, “Crear Para Sanar/Create for Healing: A look into Mercedes, a multidisciplinary arts, humanities, and healing program,” University of California, Los Angeles, January 2024
40th Annual San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival reading featuring Karl Kempton, Amber West and Pilar Graham, Arroyo Grande Library, Arroyo Grande, CA, April 2023
Roundtable Presenter, “Pedagogy and Institutional Politics in the Urban Humanities,” Inaugural Urban Humanities Global (Un)Conference, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, March 2023
Featured Poet with Shonda Buchanan, Matt Sedillo, Aruni Wijesinghe, and Dan Navarro, Library Girl, Ruskin Group Theatre, Santa Monica, CA, December 2022
Invited Presenter: “‘We play our way, I’m proud to be me’: Masked Performance Among Contemporary Female Rappers.” Women & Masks: A Transdisciplinary Arts Research Conference, hosted virtually by Boston University, April 2022
Visiting Poet, San Luis Obispo High School, San Luis Obispo, CA, October 2021
Invited Panelist: “Creating Community and Embracing Diversity in the Online Classroom.” Creating Space: University of California Writing Programs Conference, hosted virtually by UC Berkeley, January 2021
Invited Panelist: “The Power of the Arts & New Media to Achieve Diversity.” Building Diverse Communities through Writing: Regional Conference on College Composition & Communication, hosted virtually by University of Southern California, December 2020
2019
Get Whit! 2019 was a time for Whitmania, a constellation of arts and humanities events exploring the radical optimism of Walt Whitman, America’s first bard of democracy. Whitmania was created, directed, and produced by Amber West in honor of Whitman’s bicentennial and UCLA’s centennial. For more information on our many free events held throughout 2019, visit www.whitmania.ucla.edu
Featured Poet, Curator, Producer: Daughters of Whitman: Womxn literary and performing artists explore the legacy of the father of American poetry; Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA, June 2019
Egg Up! poetry reading featuring Amber West, Kelly Terwilliger, and Jennifer Perrine, Rose City Book Pub, Portland, OR, April 2019
National Poetry Month reading featuring Amber West, Linfield College, McMinnville, OR, April 2019
National Poetry Month writing workshop: “Songs of Ourselves,” Eagle Point Library, Eagle Point, OR, April 2019
National Poetry Month lecture: “Celebrating the Radical Optimism of Walt Whitman, Father of American Poetry,” Eagle Point Library, Eagle Point, OR, April 2019
National Poetry Month reading featuring Amber West and Kelly Terwilliger, Bloomsbury Books, Ashland, OR, April 2019
Visiting Poet for National Poetry Month, Eagle Point High School, Eagle Point, OR, April 2019
Graduate Alumni Poetry Reading featuring Meghan Maguire Dahn, Sean Frederick Forbes, Matt Salyer, and Amber West, UCONN Bookstore, Storrs, CT, February 2019
Invited Presenter: “Blackface Minstrelsy in American Puppetry,” part of a panel entitled Minstrel Performance and the History of the African American Puppet featuring Bart Roccoberton, Amber West, Benjamin Fisler, and Paulette Richards; Living Objects: African American Puppetry Festival and Symposium, UCONN Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry, Storrs, CT, February 2019
2018
First Fridays: Rapp Saloon Reading Series featuring Amber West, Luivette Resto, Curtis Hayes, LaLa DeVille, and Jonny Cifuentes, Rapp Saloon, Santa Monica, CA, November 2018
Fourth Sundays: Poetry at the Claremont Library featuring Amber West and Warren Liu, Claremont, CA, September 2018
Bryant Park Poetry Series featuring Alicia Ostriker, Nancy White, Grace Schulman and Amber West, Bryant Park Reading Room, NYC, July 2018
Featured Poet, Sunset Village Open Mic, University of California, Los Angeles, May 2018
2017
Hen & God Hometown Book Launch Party, an evening of poetry, puppetry, live music, and revelry featuring Amber West, Zeb West, Will Jones, Clovis Blackwell, Jerime Ford, and The Singer & The Songwriter, The Palm Theatre, San Luis Obispo, CA, December 2017. Press release here
Featured Poet, Language of the Soul: 34th Annual San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival, Linnaea's Cafe, San Luis Obispo, CA, November 2017
Featured Poet, with Jules Nyquist, Jules' Poetry Playhouse, Albuquerque, NM, October 2017
Featured Poet, Fleur de Boom! Editions One-Year Anniversary Party and Open Studio, Fleur de Boom! Studios, Pasadena, CA, August 2017
Puppets & Poet, an eclectic evening of poetry and puppetry for mature audiences featuring Amber West, Dana Samborski, Jamie Moore, and more, Centennial Black Box Theater, Nashville, TN, June 2017
Poetry reading and book signing, Union Avenue Books, Knoxville, TN, Tuesday, June 2017
Joaquin Miller Poetry Series featuring Amber West and R.G. Evans, Rock Creek Park Nature Center and Planetarium, Washington, D.C., June 2017
Egg Up! Hen & God NYC Book Launch Party, an evening of poetry, puppetry, song, and revelry featuring Amber West, Modesto Jimenez, Brian Carey Chung, Kirsten Day Kammermeyer, Kirsten Benjamin, Sam Silbiger, Faithlynn Morris, and Megan Murtha's Healing Choir: Erica David, Zoë Geltman, Claire Moodey, Megan Murtha, Ashley Nease, Elisa Nikoloulias, and Emma Wiseman. Hell Phone, Brooklyn, NY, June 2017
An Evening of Words and Music featuring Amber West, Annie Bacon, and The Singer & The Songwriter, Dogwood, Beacon, NY, June 2017
Bryant Park Poetry Series featuring Alicia Ostriker, Marilyn Hacker, Grace Schulman and Amber West, Bryant Park Reading Room, NYC, June 2017
Poetry Happy Hour with Amber West and Annik Adey-Babinski, Inkwood Books, Tampa, FL, June 2017
The Word Works Authors! reading featuring Amber West, Annik Adey-Babinski, Nathalie Anderson, Jessica Cuello, David Eye, Anne Pelletier, Roger Sedarat, Fritz Ward, and Mary Sherman Willis, 50th annual Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) conference, Walls of Books, Washington, D.C., February 2017
Featured reader, The Word Works Strikes Again! Hostelling International, Washington, DC, February 2017
Way Back When…
Featured Poet. At The Inkwell Spring Poetry Series, KGB Bar, NYC, March 2016
Creator, Artistic Director, Producer. Puppets & Poets, a hybrid arts festival with performances and arts education programs for youth, families, and mature audiences, presented by Alphabet Arts at Brooklyn Arts Exchange and The Bushwick Starr, NYC, annually 2011-2015
Featured Poet. Brooklyn Gypsies presents Ghetto Hors D’oeuvres, collaborative performances by poets and rappers addressing gentrification, presented at The Bushwick Starr and JACK, NYC, annually 2013-2015
Writer, Director, Performer. Fable of the Flying Fox, a puppet poem by Alphabet Arts featured in Great Small Works’ 10th International Toy Theater Festival, St. Ann’s Warehouse, NYC, June 2013
Participating Poet. Walt Whitman “Song of Myself” Marathon, Brooklyn Bridge Park, NYC, annually 2011-2013
Writer, Producer. Puppets Got Talent, an interactive talent competition with rotating puppet contestants presented by Alphabet Arts in various indoor and outdoor NYC venues, 2010-2012
Creator, Curator, Performer. Toy Poets Theater, a collection of puppet poems performed by Alphabet Arts and special guests at Great Small Works’ 9th International Toy Theater Festival, St. Ann’s Warehouse, NYC, June 2010
Producer, Co-Writer. City of Hamburgers, a puppet play adapted from the children’s book by Mike Reiss (The Simpsons) presented by Alphabet Arts in a variety of indoor and outdoor venues in NYC and CT, 2009-2019
Featured Poet with headliner Matthea Harvey. Chin Music Reading Series, Pacific Standard, NYC, November 2008
Guest Poet Laureate. Poem In Your Pocket Day, Mark Twain IS 239, Brooklyn, NY, April 2008
Headlining Poet, Magnet Theater’s Under the Influence Series, NYC, May 2007
Commissioned Playwright. “The Princess & The Pea.” Two Minute Tales, Bay Area Children's Theatre, San Francisco, CA, 2005
Commissioned Poet. “Still Life With Blackberries.” Original poem set to music by Dorothy Caimano in classical composition for soprano and piano, debuted at California State University, Northridge, May 2005
Dramaturge. Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca, directed by Mina Morita, produced by Breaking Ground Collective. Live Oak Theater, Berkeley, CA, 2004
Playwright. Taping Ducks, a one-act feminist farce about the exercise industry, women, and aging created through improvisational rehearsals with a collaborative of female actors and puppeteers. Presented in the Body Shop Festival, Brava Theater, San Francisco, CA, April 2004
Featured Poet with headliner Steve Kowit, Language of the Soul: 16th Annual San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival, November 1999