David J. Peterson and “The Art of Language Invention”
David J Peterson, the creator of the Dothraki language for HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” discusses and signs “The Art of Language Invention: From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves, the Words Behind World-Building” and reveals the steps he takes to invent new languages in this detailed guide.
In this book the author focuses on four key elements everyone who creates a constructed language must consider: sounds, words, language evolution, and written language. The conlang phenomenon will teach you more about linguistics than you ever learned before.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Open Mic & Book Launch Party
Poet Robert Hoffman will be reading “15 Salton Sea Poems and a Lament”. Robert Hoffman divides his time between Lakewood and the Salton Sea desert in California. He married his high school sweetheart, Sylvia, and claims never to have regretted the shotgun moment. After retiring from poker dealing he has devoted himself to a dual master’s in poetry and fiction writing, acquireing his chops at the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts (NILA).15 Salton Sea Poems and a Lament celebrates one of the world’s starkest beauties: the Salton Sea of southern California. Below sea-level, this wonder is host to millions of migratory birds. Robert also honors his mother and her husband (Robert’s best friend), and the legacy of their short migratory retirement.
For Open Mic reader, bring a poem to share for open mic. This will be the time to share your words.
Where: Gatsby’s Books
Date: Tuesday, the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 5535 E. Spring St., Long Beach, CA 90808
Website: https://www.gatsbybooks.com/events/
Steph Cha at Santa Monica College
Join the SMC Literary Series to hear Steph Cha read from her work. Author Steph Cha—also an attorney and a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and the multimedia literary and cultural arts magazine Los Angeles Review of Books—is the writer of the popular ‘Juniper Song’ novels featuring a Korean-American sleuth who channels Raymond Chandler’s noir detective Philip Marlowe for guidance in tough situations.
Free. Seating is strictly on a first-arrival basis.
Date: Tuesday the 13th
Time: 11:15 am
Address: 1900 Pico Blvd., HHS 165, Santa Monica, CA 90405
Website: http://www.http://smc.edu/ACG/Marketing/Events/Pages/Literary-Series.aspx
Liz Goldwyn & Susan Orlean: L.A.’s Red Light Era
For her new book, Sporting Guide: Los Angeles, 1897, author and filmmaker Liz Goldwyn (Pretty Things: The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens) travels back to 1890s Los Angeles, when prostitution was legal and morphine addiction was rampant. Goldwyn re-creates the era through haunting and fastidiously researched vignettes of the city’s prostitutes, businessmen, madams, and johns. New Yorker writer Susan Orlean is the author of seven books, including The Orchid Thief. Her current project is The Library Book, detailing the life and history of the Los Angeles Public Library.
A book signing with both authors and complimentary coffee and tea will follow the reading.
Where: Hammer Museum
Date: Tuesday the 13th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: http://www.hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2015/10/liz-goldwyn-susan-orlean-las-red-light-era/
Carla Trujillo and Alex Espinosa at LAPCA
Join us as we celebrate Latino Heritage Month with Chicano authors Carla Trujillo and Alex Espinoza! Come listen as they discuss their newest works!
Director of the Graduate Diversity Program at U.C. Berkeley and a Lambda Book Award-finalist, Carla Trujillo shares her new novel, Faith and Fat Chances. Bringing to life another side of the fabled city of Santa Fe in this rollicking novel set in Dogtown, Faith and Fat Chances is filled with an with unforgettable cast of characters and illuminates the ingenuity and resilience of people fighting to preserve their way of life.
Alex Espinoza was born in Tijuana, Mexico to parents from the state of Michoacán and raised in suburban Los Angeles. After graduating from the University of California-Riverside, he went on to earn an MFA from UC-Irvine’s Program in Writing. His second novel, The Five Acts of Diego León, bears all the marks of a classic Hollywood story: romance, betrayal, glamour, and an underdog hero to root for till the end.
Where: La Plaza De Cultura Y Artes
Date: Tuesday the 13th
Time: 7:00 pm
Address: 501 North Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: http://www.lapca.org/content/carla-trujillo-and-alex-espinoza
ZZyZx WriterZ Read Around
Join us, the ZZyZx WriterZ in our creative lair, the backroom of Garfonos Pizza to hang out, read poetry & fiction, squeeze in a writing prompt or two. We have only one rule for our guests: bring something to share be it any genre of creative or nonfiction writing 😀 We float in that midpoint between nothingness & inspiration…ZZyZx
Hosted by Kimberly Cobian
Where: Garfano’s Pizza
Date: Tuesday the 13th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 5468 Valley Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90032
Website: http://www.facebook.com/events/764378737004226/
Open Mic at Half Off Books
Join us for another amazing night of poetry, spoken word, storytelling, music and much more!
And of course there is you, our wonderful open mic readers, to look forward to! Some come on out to share, or listen to, some great poetry! Comedy, acoustic music, and storytelling warmly welcome too!Let’s make it another amazing night…let’s make it something to SHOUT! about!
Where: Half Off Books
Date: Wednesday the 14th
Time: 7 pm- 9 pm
Address: 6708 Greenleaf Ave., Whittier, CA 90601
Website: http://www.localendar.com/public/CadenceCollective
Eric Bogosian at the Hammer
Grippingly told and meticulously researched, Eric Bogosian‘s new book Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot That Avenged the Armenian Genocide tells the story of the unlikely assassins who exacted retribution for the Armenian genocide. The book has consequences locally—Los Angeles is home to the largest Armenian population beyond Russia and Armenia. Bogosian’s play Talk Radio was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
A Q&A with Carla Garapedian and a book signing with complimentary coffee and tea will follow the reading.
Where: Hammer Museum, Billy Wilder Theater
Date: Wednesday the 14th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: http://www.hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2015/10/eric-bogosian-the-trail-of-the-armenian-genocide/
Mystery Book Club at Venice LAPL
Join us as we discuss “Murder on Bamboo Lane” by Naomi Hirahara. Naomi Hirahara was born in Pasadena, California. Naomi received her bachelor’s degree in international relations from Stanford University and studied at the Inter-University Center for Advanced Japanese Language Studies in Tokyo. He’s also the author of Snakeskin Shamisen, the third in the Mas Arai series, which won an Edgar Award and the history, “Terminal Island: Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor”about the Japanese who lived on Terminal island before WWII and the fate that befell them. Copies of Murder on Bamboo Lane are available for check out at the circulation desk.
Where: Venice-Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library
Date: Thursday the 15th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 501 S. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://www.lapl.org/branches/venice
Open Mic #22 at the Writers Underground
The Writers Underground Open Mic is held on third Thursdays at 8 pm and is open to all ages. There are no features because the feature is you. Check out at lawriterunderground@gmil.com.
Hosted by Iris De Anda.
Where: Eastside Cafe
Time: 8 pm
Date: Thursday the 15th
Address: 5469 Huntington Dr. N., El Sereno, CA 90032
Website: http://www.facebook.com/thewritersundergroundopenmic/info/?tab=page_info
Open Mic at Belmont Artspace
Bring a sweater, a thermos, your instrument or your words. Bring your spirit, your angst, your ethos. Bring your butt to our open mic, cause it’s going to be poppin!
Where: Belmont Artspace
Date: Thursday the 15th
Time: 8:30 pm- 10 pm
Address: 1341 West 1st St.., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: N/A
Xpressions Open Mic
Monthly open mic with mixed acts hosted by Shy But Flyy. Sign ups start at 6 pm and performances begin at 6:30 pm.
Where: CALB
Date: Friday the 16th
Time: 6 pm- 9 pm
Address: 737 Pine Ave., Long Beach, California
Website: http://www.localendar.com/public/CadenceCollective
10th Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar
The History and Stories of Los Angeles. All Day. All in One Place.
Come celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Los Angeles Archives Bazaar and the 20th Anniversary of LA as Subject.
Experience the diversity of stories that make Southern California such a place of discovery. At the 10th-annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar, presented by L.A. as Subject and the USC Libraries, anyone with an interest in the region’s history will find something of value. A broad array of institutions and archives will have experts on hand to show off their collections and answer questions. In all, more than 80 archives will be represented at this event, which is free and open to the public.
The USC Libraries serve as the host institution for L.A. as Subject, an alliance of libraries, museums, and other archival and cultural organizations. The relationship complements the USC libraries’ strong regional history collection and is a natural outgrowth of the libraries’ efforts to preserve and expand access to the primary sources of L.A. history.
USC is minutes from downtown Los Angeles and is easily accessible by major freeways and the Metro Expo line. Doheny Library is located in the center of campus, adjacent to Alumni Park and across from Bovard Auditorium, on Trousdale Avenue.
Where: Doheny Library, USC
Date: Saturday the 17th
Time: 9 am – 5 pm
Address: 3550 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/555971001218997/
Lillian Faderman and “The Gay Revolution”
Lillian Faderman discusses and signs “The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle” and the sweeping story of the modern struggle for gay, lesbian, and trans rights–from the 1950s to the present–based on amazing interviews with politicians, military figures, legal activists, and members of the entire LGBT community who face these challenges every day.
The fight for gay, lesbian, and trans civil rights–the years of outrageous injustice, the early battles, the heart-breaking defeats, and the victories beyond the dreams of the gay rights pioneers–is the most important civil rights issue of the present day. Based on rigorous research and more than 150 interviews, “The Gay Revolution “tells this unfinished story not through dry facts but through dramatic accounts of passionate struggles, with all the sweep, depth, and intricacies only an award-winning activist, scholar, and novelist like Lillian Faderman can evoke. A defining account, this is the most complete and authoritative book of its kind.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Saturday, the 17th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: http://www.booksoup.com/event/lillian-faderman-discusses-and-signs-gay-revolution-story-struggle
Poets at Skylight Books
Carine Topal reads from her new book of poetry “Tatooed,” together with Cecilia Woloch.
Join us for a special reading and discussion regarding the ghosts of history, as we celebrate the launch of Tattooed, the new, award-winning book of poetry by Carine Topal, with an introduction and reading by Cecilia Woloch.
Carine Topal was born and raised in New York City and earned her MA from New York University. She has lived in Jerusalem, Israel, where she worked with Palestinian merchants in villages and towns in the West Bank and Bethlehem. Over the years, Carine has anthologized the poetry of many special needs children. She participated in the grassroots organization California Poets in the Schools, was the Poet-in-Residence for the City of Manhattan Beach and Poet-in-Education for Manhattan Beach elementary schools. She is a recent recipient of The Briar Cliff Nineteenth Annual Poetry Award of 2015, and Tattooed, her collection of Holocaust poems, was the winner of the Palettes and Quills 4th Biennial Poetry Chapbook Contest, due out in late summer, 2015. Carine lives in La Quinta, California and conducts poetry and memoir workshops in the Los Angeles and Palm Springs area.
Cecilia Woloch is a poet, writer, teacher, and traveler based in Los Angeles but “on the road” across the US and Europe for the better part of each year. She has published six award-winning collections of poems—most recentlyEarth (Two Sylvias Press, 2015) and Carpathia (BOA Editions, 2009). Her second collection, Tsigan: The Gypsy Poem, was recently published in French translation (Tzigane, le poème, Gitan, Scribe-l’Harmattan, 2014) and has been adapted for multi-media performances in the US, France and Poland. Her honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, Chateau de La Napoule Retreat for Artists, and CEC/ArtsLink International. She conducts workshops for writers around the world.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Sunday the 18th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Mike Sonksen Hosts Three Generations on a Stage
This quarter’s three generations: MICHAEL C FORD, MONIQUE MITCHELL, V ZAMOR, CHRISTIAN LOZADA, LEE BOEK, JESSE BLISS and students from Mike Sonksen’s workshops. Community Program: $5-10 suggested donation. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Sunday, the 18th
Time: 2- 4 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice CA 90291
Los Angeles Literature 