The Instant at Ham & Eggs Tavern
Writ Large Press presents The Instant, a monthly reading series that serves up local and visiting literary contributors, unique live music/performance and everyone’s favorite go-to food in a cup, Instant Ramen.
Episode 2, features:
Vickie Vertiz was born and raised in Bell Gardens. Her writing explores the intersections of feminism, class, and Latino sub-cultures through everyday beauty. Her writing is widely anthologized, found in publications such as Open the Door (from McSweeney’s and The Poetry Foundation). Her poetry collection, Swallows was released in 2013 by Finishing Line Press.
Jervey Tervalon grew up in Los Angeles, received his MFA from UC Irvine, where he wrote his first novel Understand This, based on his experiences at Locke High School. He has written six novels, now teaches at UC Santa Barbara, and in 2012 co-created the now-annual LitFest in Pasadena.
Jade Chang has covered arts and culture as a journalist and editor. She is the recipient of a Sundance Fellowship for Arts Journalism, the AIGA/Winterhouse Award for Design Criticism, and the James Houston Memorial Scholarship for the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. The Wangs vs. the World is her debut novel.
Jesse Bliss is writer and co-creator of the chapbook I Love myself Golden, based on a decade of teaching creative writing at Central Juvenile Hall through the Inside OUT Writers program.
Toni Ann Johnson is an actress and writer, and won the 1998 Humanitas Prize and the Christopher Award for her teleplay Ruby Bridges and a second Humaitas Prize in 2004 for the teleplay Crown Heights about the 2001 Crown Heights riots. Her debut novel Remedy for a Broken Angel (2014) won numerous awards.
And a live music intermission by Runson Willis III.
Where: Ham & Eggs Tavern
Date: Monday the 28th
Time: 8 pm – 11:45 pm
Address: 433 W. 8th St., Los Angeles, CA 90014
Website: http://www.facebook.com/events/1338625232821708/
Rolling the R’s 20th Anniversary Reading
Twenty years ago a new generation of Asian Pacific American writers from island nations published their first novels—and changed American literature. This exciting event brings together authors Jessica Hagedorn (Dogeaters), Lois-Ann Yamanaka (Blu’s Hanging), and R. Zamora Linmark (Rolling the R’s) for a conversation about writing books that expanded ideas of 1990’s multiculturalism and ultimately became staples of American literature courses.
Playwright and USC professor Luis Alfaro will guide the discussion.
Post-event reception and book signing with authors, 8:30 – 9:30 pm. Free and open to the public, but RSVPs required. See site for details.
Where: USC, Doheny Library, Room 240
Date: Monday, the 28th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3550 Trousdale Pkwy., Los Angeles, CA 90089
Website: http://visionsandvoices.usc.edu/rolling-the-rs-literary-revolutions-in-the-asian-pacific-diaspora/
#LITinCOLOR: Celebrating Writers of Color at JANM
Kaya Press is partnering with Kundiman, Tia Chucha Press, Tuesday Night Project, and Writ Large Press, to present a night of intergenerational storytelling with:
April Naoko Heck, author of the poetry collection A Nuclear Family. Naomi Hirahara, author of the forthcoming Sayonara Slam. David Mura, poet and author of The Last Incantations and Turning Japanese. Gene Oishi, renowned Nisei journalist who published his first novel, Fox Drum Bebop, when he was in his eighties. Traci Kato Kiriyama, poet and founder of the Tuesday Night Project.
The evening will also include an Open Mic and musical performances. FREE and open to the public. RSVPs are recommended using link at site.
Where: Japanese American National Museum
Dates: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: http://www.janm.org/events/#29
Algonquin Books Night at Book Soup
Algonquin Books features authors Tim Johnson, Aline Ohanesian, and Andrew Roe, discussing and signing their books.
Tim Johnson’s book, Descent, tells how the Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtland family, who are taking a family vacation before their daughter leaves for college. But when Caitlin disappears, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic.
In Orhan’s Inheritance, Aline Ohanesian tells a story of a decades-old business which is surprisingly inherited by a stranger, an injustice which unearths a story of the Armenian genocide.
Miracle Girl, by Andrew Roe, tells the story of eight-year-old Anabelle Vincent, a girl who should have died, but didn’t, and what this miracle leads to.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Askew Poetry Journal at Avenue 50 Studio
An Askew Poetry Journal reading will feature many poets published in Askew over the years, and will be hosted by Marsha de la O, Friday Gretchen, and the Ventura County Poet Laureate, Phil Taggert.
$5 donation suggested. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Where: Avenue 50 Studio
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 131 N. Avenue 50, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: http://www.facebook.com/events/1132344043452117/
AWP ANNUAL CONFERENCE, LOS ANGELES, 3/30 – 4/3/16
The Annual AWP Conference will be supplemented by many off-site events open to the public, most of them free or at minimal cost. Some of those highlights are included below:
Hello Los Angeles: An AWP Kickoff Party at barcito
This literary event is hosted by LITFOLKS (Melissa Chadburn, Antonia Crane, Anna March, Ashley Perez and Laura Warrell) to Benefit 826LA.
Special Guests: Luis Alberto Urrea and Michael White
Featured Authors: Robin Black, Desiree Cooper, Fabienne Josaphat and Bethann Patrick.
Special L.A. Guests: Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Teka Lark, Dan Smetanka and J Ryan Stradal.
Cash Bar – Complimentary Hors D’oeuvres – Book Signings. Raffle drawing to benefit 826LA. Event is FREE. Consider donating $10 or whatever you can for 826LA. All are invited.
Where: barcito
Date: Wednesday the 30th
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 403 W. 12th St., Los Angeles, CA 90015
Website: http://www.pw.org/calendar
Coiled Serpent Publication, hosted by Luis Rodriguez
Beyond Baroque Books and Tia Chucha Press present a publication reading for Coiled Serpent: Poets arising from the cultural quakes and shifts of Los Angeles, edited by Neelanjana Banerjee, Daniel A. Olivas and Ruben J. Rodriguez. This anthology features 160 Los Angeles poets, including Laurel Ann Bogen, Wanda Coleman, Kamau Daaood, Dana Gioia, traci kato-kiriyama, Ruben Martinez, Bill Mohr, Holly Prado, and Amy Uyematsu. Hosted by L.A. Poet Laureate and Tia Chucha publisher Luis J. Rodriguez.
Registration required through Eventbrite. Sponsored by: Ace Hotel. Contact: Beyond Baroque and Tia Chucha.
Where: Ace Hotel
Date: Wednesday the 30th
Time: 6 pm – 10 pm (6 pm Doors, 7:30 Show)
Address: 929 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Arktoi Books Turns 10! Let’s Party
Arktoi Press, an imprint of Red Hen Press, established by esteemed poet and educator Eloise Klein Healy, marks its tenth year of publishing high quality works by lesbians. Come celebrate with readings by authors: Elizabeth Bradfield, Ching-in Chen, Catherine Kirkwood, Rita Mae Reese, Kelly Barth, Amy Schultzer, Veronica Reyes, and Celeste Gainey.
Great music – Cash bar – Surprise guests!
Where: Border Grill Downtown
Date: Wednesday the 30th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 445 So. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: http://www.arktoi.com/
Coast to Coast Poetry Presses at Pasadena Central Library
Join us for poetry readings by poets published by the small presses in the Coast to Coast Poetry Collective: Foothills Publishing (Wheeler, N.Y.), Hummingbird Press (Madison, Wisconsin & Seattle, WA), Many Voices Press (Kalispell, Montana), and Shabda Press (Pasadena, CA). Special guest press: Bear Star Press (Chico, CA).
Where: Pasadena Central Library
Date: Wednesday the 30th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 285 E. Walnut St.untington DrHuntington , Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: http://cityofpasadena.net/library/news_events/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=date%3D20160330#/?i=1
Women’s Caucus Reading
The AWP Women’s Caucus annual reading features: Natalie Diaz, Margaret Rozga, Natasha Deon and Dana Johnson.
Doors open at 7 pm. Network with other writers before the authors read from their work.
Where: MorYork Gallery
Date: Wednesday the 30th
Time: 8 pm – 9:15 pm
Address: 4959 York Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 900342
Website: http://pw.org/calendar
Always in Translation: Trans Pacific Poetry and Prose
Writ Large Press presents Always in Translation: Trans Pacific Poetry and Prose, featuring: Kim Kyung Ju (trans. Jake Levine), Kim Yi-Deum (trans. Jiyoon Lee), Chiwan Choi, Eunsong Kim, Janice Lee, Hannah Sanghee Park.
Where: Document Coffee Bar, in Koreatown; one block from Wilshire/Western train stop.
Time: 8 pm
Date: Wednesday the 30th
Address: 3850 Wilshire Blvd., # 107, Los Angeles, CA 90010
Website: http:// www.pw.org/calendar
Against White Privilege
Poets & Allies for Resistance presents: 15 nationally published poets who will be responding to AWP’s consistent lack of diversity.
Confirmed poets include: Jericho Brown, Ava Chin, Bao Phi, Teka Lark, Xavier Cavazos, Neelanjana Banerjee, Dan Vera, Taz Ahmed, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Jessica Ceballos, Orlando White, Regie Cabico, Armine Iknadossian, Arash Saedinia, Linda Rodriguez.
Where: The Falls
Date: Thursday the 31st
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 626 S. Spring St., #107, Los Angeles, CA 90014
Website: http://www.pw.org/calendar
La Pachanga 2016 at Avenue 50 studio
Please join us for the Con Tinta collective of Chicano, Latin and activist writers for the La Pachanga award ceremony and celebration. This year we’ll be honoring the following writers:
Francisco X. Alarcon, RIP
Juan Felipe Herrera
Lucha Corpi
Luis Javier Rodriguez
Odilia Galvan Rodriguez
We are also celebrating the release of a new anthology, Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice (University of Arizona Press), edited by Francisco X. Alarcon and Odilia Galvan Rodriguez.
Where: Avenue 50 Studio
Date: Thursday, the 31st
Time: 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 131 N. Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA 90042
Website: http://www.pw.org/calendar
ELJ Publications & Orange Monkey Publishing Showcase
East meets West in this event featuring 13 authors of prose and poetry with new works out in 2015 r 2016 from either ELJ Publications (NY) or Orange Monkey Publishing CA).
Readers include: Steve Westerbrook, Amy Pickworth, S. Marie Clay, Aaron Reeder, Ruben Rodriguez, Cindy Rinne, Michael Coper, Zack Bean, Katie Cortese, E. Kristin Anderson, Allie Marini, Lawrence Eby, and Jessica Walsh.
Where: Ham & Eggs Tavern
Date: Thursday the 31st
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 433 W. 8th St., Los Angeles, CA 90014
Website: http://www.pw.org/calendar
Poets Out Loud and What Books Readings
Please join us for an evening of poetry with Amy Catanzano, Gregory Mahreer, Sara Michas-Martin and Nancy K. Pearson from Poets Out Loud (Fordham University) & Elena Karina Byrne, Ramon Garcia, Karen Kavorkian, Patty Seyburn, Judith Taylor and Gail Wronsky from What Books Press.
Wine and sparkling cider will be served.
Where: DTLA 1548
Date: Thursday the 31st
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1548 S. Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90021
Website: http://www.pw.org/calendar
Readings at Poetic Research Bureau
Readings showcase with Black Radish Books, Tinfish Press, eohippus labs and Staging Ground. Featuring: Carrie Hunter, Sarah Mangold, Valerie Witte, David James Miller, Brittany Billmeyer-Finn, Eireene Nealand, Janice Lee, Michelle Detorie, Allison Carter, Tim Dyke, Deborah Meadows, Julia Wieting, Daniel Tiffany and Will Alexander.
Where: Poetic Research Bureau
Date: Thursday the 31st
Time: 7 pm – 8:45 pm
Address: 951 Chung King Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: http://pw.org/calendar
Anniversary Reading Bash
The Last Bookstore presents readings from Saint Mary’s MFA program, celebrating its 20th anniversary; Pool, celebrating its 15th, and Wave Books, celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Featuring readings by: Molly Bendall, Candace Eros Diaz, Brenda Hillman, Tyehimba Jess, Matthew Rohrer, Juan Alvarado Valdvia, Valerie Wallace, and Matthew Zapruder.
Where: The Last Bookstore
Date: Friday, the 1st
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 453 S. Spring St., Ground Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: http://lastbookstorela.com/
A Gathering of Social Justice Poets & Writers
Join us for a gathering of social justice poets and writers for idea sharing and a brief reading, to socialize and dine in the bottle neck room in Tom’s Urban restaurant at LA Live, near the convention center. Special guests from the Tule Review visit and entertain you.
Where: Tom’s Urban LA Live Restaurant
Date: Friday the 1st
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1011 Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90015
Website: http://www.pw.org/calendar
Red Hen Press Showcase at Beyond Baroque/Offsite
Join us for a Red Hen Press free poetry reading to hear: Dana Gioia, Adrienne Kalfopoulou, David Mason, Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, Laurel Ann Bogen, Katherine Coles, Brendan Constantine, Nicelle Davies, Kim Dower, Ramon Garcia, Kevin Goodan, Jane Hilberry, Ron Kortege, Gary Lemons, Holaday Mason, Heather Aimee O’Neill, Jessica Schneiderman, Peggy Shumaker, Tess Tayor, Jacqueline Tchakalian, William Trowbridge, and Sarah Wetzel.
Where: The Velaslavasay Panorama
Date: Friday the 1st
Time: 6 pm
Address: 1122 W. 24th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007
Website: http://redhen.org/events/?uuid=6F4AB952-1CEA-9BA2-5630-8DC144FA5592
What I Say: Innovative Poetry by Black Writers in America
Join us for poetry readings by contributors and editors to What I Say, a path-breaking anthology of experimental black poetry from the mid-1970s to the present.
Readers include: Tisa Bryant, Tracie Morris, Fred Moten, C.S. Giscombe, Will Alexander, Duriel E. Harris, Dawn Lundy Martin, Julie Ezelle Patten, Harmony Holiday, Geoffrey Jacques, Douglas Kearney, giovanni singleton, Ronaldo V. Wilson, Aldon Lynn Nielson, Lauri Ramey.
FREE and open to the public. No tickets required.
Where: California State University, Los Angeles Downtown Campus
Date: Friday the 1st
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 801 S. Grand Ave., Hollywood, CA. 90017
Website: http:///www.facebook.com/events/1069788166385090/
The Rumpus and Rare Bird Present Pick Your Poison
The Rumpus and Rare Bird present Pick Your Poison, with readings from: Cornelius Eady, Rich Ferguson, Ashley C. Ford, Erika Krause, Anna March, and J. Ryan Stradal.
Doors open a 7 pm; readings begin at 7:30 pm.
Hosted by: Antonia Crane.
Tickets $5, available via Eventbrite.
Where: Lethal Amounts
Date: Friday the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1226 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, CA 90017
Poetry Reading at Central LA Library
In a Western Light: Poetry at the Edge of America, celebrates the diverse poetry and fiction of California poets writing visions of lives lived in the harsh clarity of a Western light. Sponsored by ALOUD, USC, and Red Hen Press.
Featured readers: Victoria Chang, Brynn Saito, Brendan Constantine, Percival Everett, Piotr Florcyzk, William Archila, and Jenny Factor.
This is a free event.
Where: Central Library, Mark Taper Auditorium
Date: Friday the 1st
Time: 7:15 pm – 9 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: http://pw.org/calendar
VONA/Voices and Willow Books Authors Read
Writ Large Press presents Writers of Color—More Urgent Now Than Ever, at the Falls Lounge.
Faculty Authors from VONA/Voices: Elmaz Abindar, Faith Adiele, Tananarive Due, M. Evellina Galang, David Mura, Daniel Jose Older, Willlie Perdomo, Diem Jones hosts.
Willow Books Authors: Yesenia Montilla, Cedric Tillman, Cole Lavalais, Mahogany Browne, Rachelle Escamilla, Reginald Flood, Randall Horton.
Where: The Falls Lounge
Date: Saturday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 626 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90014
Website: http://pw.org/calendar
Thanks for Visiting! at Espacio 1839
Los Angeles Poets Society and The Writers Underground present a showcase of Los Angeles poets that bring it! Featuring readers: Iris De Anda, Jessica M. Wilson, Jeffery Martin, Gloria E. Alvarez, Gerg Hernandez, Cynthia Guardado, and Steve Abee.
Join us for poetry, food, and social time.
Where: Espacio 1839
Date: Saturday the 2nd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1839 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://pw.org/calendar
Kim Dower at Book Soup
Kim Dower will discuss and sign her third poetry collection, Last Train to the Missing Planet. Experience love, longing and passion tipped sideways. Lose yourself in the unexplored sensations of the ordinary in this engaging year of moments, both comforting and terrifying.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Sunday the 3rd
Time: 4 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: http://www.booksoup.com/event/kim-dower-discusses-and-signs-last-train-missing-planet
Los Angeles Literature 