Around the Community: Haight Ashbury Literary Journal Vol. 40 Launch and Reading

Join the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal for an afternoon of poetry and community! The Haight Ashbury Literary Journal is celebrating the launch of Volume 40 on Saturday, April 25th from 2–4 PM at The Clarion Performing Arts Center with readings from the issue's featured writers, Colleen McKee and Justin Ayala, as well as friends of the journal.

Justin Ayala is a writer and visual artist based in San Francisco, California. He is constantly exploring the intersection between art, science, and social justice, and integrates the love and strength he has found being part of the LGBT, Latinx, and Asian communities into everything he does. His poem “A Millenium Howls“ appears in The Haight Ashbury Journal’s forthcoming issue.

Colleen Shoshana McKee is the author of seven collections of poetry and memoir touching on themes of queerness and disability, including Routine Bloodwork (Headmistress Press, 2020), a finalist for the Charlotte Mew Contest, and the forthcoming Feeding Ghosts (Be About It Press, Spring 2026). She has co-edited a book of creative nonfiction, Are We Feeling Better Yet? Women Speak About Health Care in America (PenUltimate, 2008), and has over twenty years of experience as an editor and teacher of creative writing. Her poetry collection Feeding Ghosts (Be About It Press) will be published in Spring 2026.