Encore - LA’s Former Poet Laureate on Storytelling and Survival

Luis Rodriguez credits reading and writing for keeping him resilient his whole life. He’s best known for his 1993 memoir Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A., which chronicles how he joined a gang at age 11, found himself homeless and using heroin, and wound up in the juvenile justice system. He went on to write 17 books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and he served as poet laureate of Los Angeles from 2014 to 2017. As part of our series on resilience, host Sasha Khokha sits down with Luis Rodriguez to talk about his life and work, and what advice he has for getting through tumultuous times.

This episode first aired on July 25, 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices