Appearances

Music has long helped fuel the social justice movement
Contributing Writer, Press-Enterprise


Beyond Baroque presents an evening of prose with fiction writer Peter Cherches, joining us from Brooklyn, NY, and Southern California-based writers Dennis Callaci & Juanita Mantz.


Podcast appearance: How to Talk to [Mamí & Papí] about Anything: Writing a Memoir When Mamí Has a Different Version of the Story


Punk rock public defender fights the system as PCC’s writer in residence (PCC Courier – October 2022)


Death by Incarceration Podcast Appearance: “Abolitionist Deputy Public Defender”. Suave & Kevin interview Juanita E. Mantz also known to her followers as JEM. She is a USC Law educated lawyer/deputy public defender, writer, performer, and podcaster who believes storytelling has the power to change the world.


“Say Yes To the Small Press” SMOL Fair Panel Discussion, March 19-26, 2022. Commercial publishers continue to be notoriously difficult to access, let alone publish with, and thus self-publishing options have experienced a period of immense growth, even gaining the respect of industry professionals. But there is a middle way: publishing with a small, independent press. What is a “small” press, and why should you publish with one? Featuring authors published by sister presses Pelekinesis and Bamboo Dart, listen in as we discuss all the reasons why the small press option might be right for you. 


Podcast appearance: The Collective interview Juanita Mantz about her career as a deputy public defender, her show Life of JEM, and her new book “Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender: or how I became a punk rock lawyer.”


Podcast Appearance: Howard Zinn Book Fair ” Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender”


Author Talks: Where writers are an open book | Host writer/editor Jane VanVooren Rogers talks with JEM about her chapbook, “Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender, or how I became a punk rock lawyer”


JEM tells a Bowie tattoo story at the Inlandia “The Flame” Live Storytelling event. JEM is at about minute 7!


JEM reads a story live at a reading celebrating the Inlandia Anthology “A Short Guide to Finding Your Home in the United States”. Watch the amazing lineup of readers and find JEM’s story at minute 43.


JEM reading at Celebrating Cultura: Dia de la Raza (@ 1:16) 


JEM reading her story “Stalling” at Listen to Your Mother Burbank


JEM’s story “Fast Food Memories” being read aloud on air in Season 2, Episode 12 of The Dirty Spoon Radio Hour, which originally aired on July 5, 2019.