Sylvia Sukop and Mehnaz Turner represent Emerging Voices 2009 at Strange Cargo Release Party

Brava to Sylvia Sukop, Mehnaz Turner and all the Emerging Voices alumni who read at the release party for STRANGE CARGO, an Emerging Voices Anthology, at Skylight Books!  Congratulations again to EV alumni whose work is included in STRANGE CARGO!  MMIX Writers, Erika Ayon, John Boucher, Rachelle Cruz and Parnaz Foroutan are also featured.

Sylvia Sukop and Mehnaz Turner representing MMIX and EV 2009 at Skylight Books. Photo by Bonnie Kaplan

Sylvia Sukop and Rachelle Cruz chat before the STRANGE CARGO reading. Photo by Bonnie Kaplan

Skylight Bookstore is packed with folks hungry for stories. Photo by Bonnie Kaplan

"These are voices which demand to be heard, and the reader is grateful that...they have received the help, guidance and encouragement to allow their unique sound, their irreplaceable vision, to reach the reading world." Former EV Mentor and author advocate of the Emerging Voices program, Janet Fitch reads her foreword in STRANGE CARGO. Photo by Bonnie Kaplan

Sylvia Sukop reads excerpts from her memoir, DIFFICULT LIGHT. Photo by Bonnie Kaplan

"I remembered when Alex was little, taking him to a small ski area in Pennsylvania, not far from where we lived then. I taught him to ski by placing him and his short skis in between my long ones, both of us facing forward. He leaned back against my legs, neither of us using poles, and we glided down the slope as one, going not for speed but for a fearless and intuitive connection with the snow." - excerpt from DIFFICULT LIGHT by Sylvia Sukop, published in STRANGE CARGO. Photo by Bonnie Kaplan

"When I die, I said, pointing at the crumbs/ on my plate, bury me in these." - Mehnaz Turner reads "Second Eulogy", a poem from her memoir in verse, TONGUE-TIED. Photo by Rachelle Cruz

"All day the liquored branches/ seemed to flirt. My husband whispers,/ let's hug a tree. Some are 3000/ years ancient, and for once I feel/ less like an aging teacher/ with wisps of white hair/ behind the ears." - Mehnaz Turner's poem "Lip-Reading in Sequoia," included in both her memoir in verse, TONGUE TIED, and the EV anthology, STRANGE CARGO. Photo by Rachelle Cruz

Friend of L.A. writers and Erika Ayon enjoy supporting indie bookstores, like Skylight! Photo by Bonnie Kaplan

Marytza Rubio, Davin Malasarn, Cara Chow, Pireeni Sundaralingam and Mehnaz Turner -- all Emerging Voices alumni-- show off the new anthology, STRANGE CARGO. Photo by Bonnie Kaplan

For more information on purchasing STRANGE CARGO, an Emerging Voices anthology, please visit PEN USA’s website here.