Co-sponsored by Works/San José art and performance center!
38 South Second Street, downtown San José.
Open mic to start the show!
If you are unable to attend in person, we welcome you to join via Zoom! Register in advance for this event.
Link: https://bit.ly/Well-RED_January2026
Arlene Biala
POET, AUTHOR, PERFORMANCE ARTIST
Arlene Biala is a Pinay writer from the San Francisco Bay Area who has been participating in poetry performances and workshops for over 30 years. She is a 2023-2026 Lucas Artist Residency Fellow in Literary Arts at the Montalvo Arts Center and was Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County for 2016 and 2017. She is the author of continental drift, one inch punch, and her beckoning hands, which won the 2015 American Book Award. Her latest book, a thousand voices whispering, (November 2025) from Sampaguita Press is available at bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, and Arlene's tote bag.
Rosanna Alvarez
Rosanna Alvarez is a Chicana storyteller, educator, Aztec dancer, and visual artist whose work thrives at the intersection of cultura, creativity, and comunidad. A woman of many hats—literally and artistically—her practice spans poetry, performance, publishing, and handcrafted art that honors memory and movimiento. A silver medalist for the Juan Felipe Herrera Best Book of Poetry Award, she is the author of Braided [Un]Be-Longing, a collection that weaves poetry, testimonio, and ancestral echoes into a journey of healing and reclamation.
Her work has been anthologized and published across academic journals and community-rooted collections, including Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, the MALCS Journal of Chicana/Latina Studies, Somos Xicanas, and Anger Is a Gift, among others.
Through every medium, Rosanna invites others to dream, heal, and dismantle fronteras as we co-create a future rooted in dignity, humanidad, and collective joy.
She is also the co-founder of Eastside Magazine, the founder of Ocote Libre Press, and an Ethnic Studies educator at West Valley College.
Downtown SJ provides free parking on the street after 6:00 p.m. Available street parking is difficult to find after 6:30 p.m.
If you are unable to find parking on the street, there are two parking garages of note:
1.) 25 S. 3rd Street PARKSJ Garage (located underground, under The Globe Apartments), about 300 meters from Works/San Jose;
2.) 2nd & San Carlos PARKSJ Garage (first 90 minutes are free). This is a 5-10 minute walk to Works/San Jose
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