Found Poets! featuring Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour, hosted by Original Giotis

Showstopper Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour bombs up from Santa Cruz to headline this monthly showcase of the North Bay’s best poets for an afternoon of lyrical upheaval and comfort-bubble bursting. First Saturdays in Petaluma. Art heals, yo!

Found Poets! is about the entertainment of the spirit through performance poetry. From our development program grads to nationally acclaimed headliners, Found Poets! is a challenging, committed poetry community dedicated to hosting a good night out.

(Headliner)

Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour
Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour is a Poet, Artist and Emcee from the Midwest now living in Santa Cruz. A Filipino and French Creole fiasco, he has struggled as a young parent and worked countless jobs. Today, his Daughters are grown, he has true love in his life and he wants to share his art, his heart, with you. In partnership with Rica Smith De La Luz, as Sacred Poets, he dramatically
inspires a creative message of peace and empowerment. As a coordinator and co-host of local events including Mic Drop!, a monthly open mic at 418 Project, he consciously works to contribute to a strong community of Artists and Supporters locally and globally. Currently, he has grant projects, collaborations and scheduled performances in progress in Santa Cruz County and the Bay Area.
IG: @josephjasonsantiagolacour

(Openers)

Bernice Espinoza
“Bere” Espinoza is a civil rights activist with a lifelong dedication to social justice. Her poetry has been featured in Palabra by Teatro Campesino and I Love Immigrants at San Jose City College.
IG: @xochitlacatl_poeticjustice

Grayson Thompson [he/him]
Grayson Thompson is a Black, Jamaican-American, queer transgender poet and therapist. His 2024 work ”Sand Bodied Florida Boy” won Foglifter Press’s Start A Riot! Chapbook Prize and Write Bloody Publishing’s Jack McCarthy Book Prize.
IG: @graysonwritespoems
www.graysonwritespoems.com

N’gamè Gray
N’gamè is a native of Sonoma County and the Founder/Executive Director of NuBridges Youth Collaborative. She has a proclivity & love for Poetry, in all its forms.
IG: @sunflower_soul_ngame

Anna M. Simson is an artist, poet, and mother. She was raised in California by a Mexican-American mother and Estonian father. She started writing poems while on lockdown with her husband, kids, and two cats.
IG: @amsimson

Grown Man Speed
Gregory Speed Sr. is a poet and current staff member at UC Santa Cruz. Whether writing or performing, Greg is thrilled to share pieces of himself with you today.
IG: @grownmanspeed

Michael J. O’Connor
Michael J. O’Connor is a recipient of the Moon Valley Writing Award and published in journals like River River, Flying South, and Hive Avenue. His first novel, Dead Broke in the Yonder Void, was published by Spaceboy Books in 2024.
IG: @themichaeljoconnor