Catching Fire: The Los Angeles Wildfires - by S a Griffin & Richard Modiano (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Poets and writers explore the devastation of the cataclysmic 2025 fires in Los Angeles, California, penetrating the unfathomable despair of losing everything, exposing the struggle with the ensuing grief, and, through it all, summoning the courage to rise again.

Fueled by dry conditions and relentless Santa Ana winds rushing over the landscape with speeds upwards of 100 miles per hour, everything bending to the will of the wind, the spark of Los Angeles's January 2025 fires exploded into an unprecedented gut wrenching apocalypse.

In this superbly curated collection, edited by award-winning L.A. poets S.A. Griffin and Richard Modiano, contemporary poets and writers from L.A. and beyond explore the intense horror of devastating loss, the helplessness of watching from across the country, the grief in the aftermath, and the resolve to rise again together from the ashes.

Contributors include: Susan Auerbach, Lin Nelson Benedek, Mary Anne Berry, Michelle Bitting, Laurel Ann Bogen, Lynne Bronstein, Jeffrey Bryant, Mona Jean Cedar, Teresa Mei Chuc, Jeanette Clough, Brendan Constantine, Iris De Anda, Alexis Rhone Fancher, Rich Ferguson, Kathleen Florence, Land Flowers, Kat Georges, S.A. Griffin, Spencer L. Griffin, Susan Hayden, Steve Hochman, jerry the priest, La Rombé, Tom Laichas, Rick Lupert, Suzanne Lummis, Phoebe MacAdams, Sarah Maclay, kamla maya, Holaday Mason, Ellyn Maybe, Richard Modiano, Bill Mohr, Chris Morris, K.R. Morrison, Majid Naficy, Jim Natal, Harry E. Northup, Cynthia Perello, Puma Perl, Kennon B. Raines, Nicca Ray, Riot Renwick, Marilyn N. Robertson, Beth Ruscio, Cathie Sandstrom, Dan Saucedo, Maryrose Smyth, Mike Sonksen, A.K. Toney, David L. Ulin, jimmy vega, Pam Ward, Dig Wayne, Hilda Weiss, Jessica M. Wilson, Gail Wronsky, and Z.

About the Author

While a resident of New York City, Richard Modiano became active in the literary community connected to the Poetry Project where he came to know Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, William S. Burroughs, and Ted Berrigan. In 2001 he was a programmer at Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center, joined the Board of Trustees in 2006, and from 2010 to 2019, he served as Executive Director. The Huffington Post named him as one of 200 people doing the most to promote poetry in the United States. Richard Modiano is the winner of the 2022 Joe Hill Prize for labor poetry and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. His most recent poetry collection, The Forbidden Lunchbox, is published by Punk Hostage Press.