The Hive Live! Poetry Reading

An evening of powerful poetry and expansive insight awaits. Join The Hive Poetry Collective for a special installment of The Hive Live! featuring poets Victoria Bañales and Samyak Shertok on February 10 at 7 p.m. at Bookshop Santa Cruz (1520 Pacific Ave.).

Bañales, the 2025–2027 Watsonville Poet Laureate, is a Chicanx educator whose work weaves lyric intimacy with social justice, honoring lived experience, community, and cultural memory. Shertok, winner of the 2024 AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry and longlisted for the 2026 Pen Open Book Award, brings a transnational voice shaped by his upbringing in Nepal and his acclaimed debut collection, No Rhododendron.

This free, public reading is part of The Hive’s ongoing bimonthly series celebrating diverse poetic voices and vibrant literary conversation. Registration is encouraged—click  here to reserve your seat.