Genre Fiction and Race panel at MOLAA

Join us as three fiction writers with new releases: Naomi Hirahara (Crown City), Pedro Iniguez (Fever Dreams of a Parasite) and David A. Romero (The Enemy Sleeps) discuss how mystery, horror, and science fiction can be used to celebrate cultures and unearth repressed histories.

MOLAA

628 Alamitos Ave.

Long Beach, CA 90802

ALL AGES

Genre Fiction and Race 

with Naomi Hirahara (Crown City), Pedro Ininguez (Fever Dreams of a Parasite) and David A. Romero (The Enemy Sleeps)

About the Workshop:

Art speaks to us.Sometimes in order to craft brilliant poetry, all we need to do is learn how to listen to the art of great artists with our eyes Join world renowned poets and publishers, the co-founders of El Martillo Press, Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero as they guide participants of all ages in a poet's tour of MOLAA: encouraging participants to discuss, take notes, and write poetry!

Join us as three fiction writers with new releases discuss how mystery, horror, and science fiction can be used to celebrate cultures and unearth repressed histories. We all love a good page-turner, why not support books that increase BIPOC representation and inspire us to investigate the world around us, that can be as entertaining as Hollywood movies?

Naomi Hirahara

Naomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award-winning author of multiple traditional mystery series and noir short stories. Her Mas Arai mysteries, which have been published in Japanese, Korean and French, feature an Altadena gardener and Hiroshima survivor who solves crimes. Her first historical mystery is Clark and Division, which follows a Japanese American family’s move to Chicago in 1944 after being released from a California wartime detention center. The second Japantown Mystery novel, Evergreen, set in 1946 Boyle Heights and Little Tokyo, was released in paperback last year. A former journalist with The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, Naomi has also written numerous non-fiction history books and curated exhibitions. She has also written a middle-grade novel, 1001 Cranes. Her next Japantown Mystery novel, CROWN CITY, which takes place in 1903 Pasadena, will be released in February 2026.

Pedro Iniguez

Pedro Iniguez is a Mexican-American Bram Stoker, Elgin, and Dwarf Stars Award-winning science fiction and horror writer from Los Angeles, California. He is the author of Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry from a Possible Future, Fever Dreams of a Parasite, Echoes and Embers: Speculative Stories, and The Fib, his debut picture book, among others. Apart from leading writing workshops and speaking at several colleges, he has also been a sensitivity reader and has ghostwritten for award-winning apps and online clients. His horror poetry collection, The Build-A-Monster Workshop will be released in May from Raw Dog Screaming Press.

David A. Romero

David A. Romero is a Mexican-American poet, novelist, and publisher from Diamond Bar, CA. He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of El Martillo Press. Romero is the author of the novel The Enemy Sleeps (El Martillo Press, 2026) and the books of poetry My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press, 2020) and Diamond Bars 2 (Moon Tide Press, 2024). Romero has received honorariums from nearly a hundred colleges and universities in thirty-four different states in the USA and has also performed live in Mexico, Italy, and France. His poem, "You Were Born a Tree" was sent to the Moon by NASA in 2025 as part of the Lunar Codex. 

Muesum of Latin American Art (MOLAA)

The Museum of Latin American Art was founded by Dr. Robert Gumbiner in 1996 in Long Beach, California, United States, and serves the greater Los Angeles area. MOLAA is the only museum in the United States dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American and Latino art.

El Martillo Press

Founded by Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero, El Martillo Press publishes writers whose pens strike the page with clear intent; words with purpose to pry apart assumed norms and to hammer away at injustice. El Martillo Press proactively publishes writers looking to pound the pavement to promote their work and the work of their fellow pressmates. El Martillo is the builder of bridges and the destroyer of walls.