Writing Our Future at ALOUD
Our third annual gathering of students from five Southland graduate writing programs—CalArts, Otis College, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and USC—will read and share recent work and tune our ears to the future of language and writing.
These emerging writers include: Emily Ansara Baines, Bridget Chiao Clerkin, Emily Dorff, Alex Dupree, Howard Ho, Cecilia Latiolais, Niko Nelson, Benjamin S. Sneyd, Casey Taylor, and Jacqueline Young. RSVP to ensure seating. Check site for details and stand by policy.
Where: Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 2nd
Time: 7:15 pm
Address: 630 West 5h St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: http://www.http://lfla.org/event/writing-our-future/
Poets and Allies for Resistance!!
A Monthly Poetry Event Focusing on Social Justice Issues. Features: Natashia Deon & Jeffery Martin. And an Open Mic. Natashia Deon is an attorney, writer, and law professor. Her debut novel, Grace, about a 15 year old runaway slave, is due out in June 2016. Jeffery Martin is an activist and poet. He is the host of the Open Mic on Friday nights at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural and the author of many books of poetry. More info/hosted by: Khadija Anderson 206-551-2567
Where: The Sidewalk Cafe
Date: Monday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm start (6:45 open mic sign up)
Address: 2087 N. Los Robles (at Woodbury), Alta/Pasadena, CA 91104
Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/792556747483331/
Naomi Hirahara at Vroman’s
Naomi Hirahara discusses and signs Sayonara Sam, the latest and sixth Mas Aria mystery. At Dodger Stadium it’s Japan vs, Korea in the World Baseball Classis, but before the first pitch is thrown, Mas Aria finds himself in the middle of a murder. There will be a Dodgers ticket giveaway at this event!
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Monday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/naomi-hirahara-discusses-and-signs-sayonara-slam
Evening Book Club at Pages Bookstore
Join us to discuss The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O’Brien, a fiercely beautiful novel about one woman’s struggle to reclaim a life shattered by betrayal, after a mysterious stranger to the town of Cloonoila is revealed to be a notorious war criminal and mass murderer. This story moves from Ireland to London and then to The Hague, and is O’Brien’s first novel in ten years.
Where: Pages Bookstore
Date: Monday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: http://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/evening-book-club-discussion
Speakeasy Open Mic at the Last Bookstore
It’s the first Monday of the month, and we’ve got our open mic night happening! Starts at 8 pm. Sign up at 7:45. Come early to get a good spot in line!
Where: The Last Bookstore
Date: Monday the 2nd
Time: 7:45 pm – 10:45 pm
Address: 453 S. Spring St., Ground Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: http://lastbookstorela.com/#events
The Big Read at Vernon Memorial Branch, LAPL
Adults and Teens are invited to join a presentation of passages from the book Fahrenhite 451, by Ray Bradbury, The Big Read for the city this year. Free copies of the book will be available, but supplies are limited.
Where: Vernon – Leon H. Washington Jr. Memorial Branch Library
Date: Tuesday, the 3rd
Time: 4 pm
Address: 4504 S. Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90011
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/big-read-fahrenheit-451-0
Susan Jacques at Vroman’s
Susan Jacques will discuss and sign The Empress of Art: Catherine the Great and the Transformation of Russia. Intelligent and determined, Catherine modeled herself on her grandfather in-law, Peter the Great, and sought to further modernize and westernize Russia. She believed the best way to do this was through a ravenous acquisition of art, which Catherine often used as a form of diplomacy with other powers throughout Europe. There are few women in history more fascinating, and Susan Jacques brings her to life through the prism of art.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Dates: Tuesday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Requiem for Sandra Bland at ArtShare
Join us for the third installment of the Requiem for Sandra Bland series, a thematic reading in honor of the life of Sandra Bland. For the third part of this reading series, LA youth will speak for and with Sandra Bland, alongside L.A. poets Conney Williams, Karineh Mahdessian, Peter J. Harris, Dexter L. Booth, Natasha Deon, Mike Sonksen, Teka Lark, and more.
Where: Art Share LA
Date: Wednesday the 4th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 801 E. 4th Place, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: http://www.facebook.com/events/729093363888073/
Joshua Clover at Skylight Books
Joshua Clover discusses his book, Riot. Strike. Riot: The New Era of Uprisings. Riots are coming. They are already here, and more are on the way. They deserve an adequate theory. In recent decades we have returned to an “age of riots,” as the prominent form of struggle against the abuses of capitalism. This theoretical and historical account by award-winning poet Joshua Clover explores how riots, the leading form of protest in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, are supplanted by the strike in the early nineteenth century, and then re-emerge as the preeminent for in the early 1970s.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Wednesday the 4th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: http://www.skylightbooks.com/event/joshua-clover-discusses-his-book-riot-strike-riot
The Fierce Reads Tour at Vroman’s
Vroman’s is happy to be a stop on this year’s Fierce Reads tour, and to welcome YA authors:
Cecilia Ahern, author of Flawed, about a society that does not tolerate imperfection and one young woman who decides to take a stand that could cost her everything. Harriet Reuter Hapgood, author of The Square Root of Summer, a stunning YA debut with time travel, quantum physics, and world stopping kisses. Maria Rutkoski, author of The Winner’s Kiss, the epic conclusion to the Winner’s Trilogy. Before the kiss, there was a curse. Special guest: Leigh Bardugo.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 4th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/fierce-reads-tour-arrives-pasadena
Star Wars Days at the Last Bookstore
For Star Wars Day, we have invited three science fiction writers to form a panel for discussion of all things sci-fi: time travel, teleportation—of course, Star Wars–and anything else like it:
Brett Battles, has written over 25 novels and is a Barry Award winner. PJ Manney is a novelist and TV writer. Joshua Scher is an internationally produced playwrite and screenwriter, and now novelist, with Here & There.
Where: The Last Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 4th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 453 S. Spring St., Ground Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: http://lastbookstorela.com/events
Santa Monica Reads: Snowpiercer
Graphic novels, an extended form of the comic book, are the source of many apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic tales. Join us as we explore the format with a brief talk and then screen the film Snowpiercer, based on a French post-apocalyptic graphic novel. Seating is first come, first served.
Where: Santa Monica Main Library, Martin Luther King, Jr Auditorium
Date: Wednesday the 4th
Time: 6 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Website: http://www.http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=20860
Passed and Present at Diesel Bookstore
Allison Gilbert will discuss her new book, Passed and Present: Keeping Memories of Loved Ones Alive, in conversation with authors Hope Edelman and Claire Bidwell Smith. This book is a one-of-a-kind guide for discovering creative and meaningful ways to keep the memory of loved ones alive. It is not about sadness and grieving, but about happiness and remembering.
Allison Gilbert is the producer of CNN’s American Morning, with Paula Zahn and Soledad O’Brien, and helped to launch MSNBC as a writer and producer.
Hope Edelman is the author of six nonfiction books, including the bestseller Motherless Daughters.
Claire Bidwell Smith is the author of The Rules of Inheritance and After This. She is also a therapist specializing in grief issues.
Where: Diesel Bookstore, Brentwood
Date: Thursday the 5th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite #33, Brentwood, CA 90402
L.S. Hilton at Vroman’s
L.S. Hilton will discuss and sign her recent book, Maestra. With the cunning of Gone Girl’s Amy Dunne, and as dangerous as The Girl With the Dragon Tattooo’s Lisbeth Salander, the femme fatale of this psychological thriller is sexy, smart and very, very bad in all the best ways. Maestra is a glamorous, ferocious thriller and the beginning of a razor-sharp trilogy that introduces the darkly irresistible Judith Rashleigh, who will keep you guessing until the last page.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 5th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/ls-hilton-discusses-and-signs-maestra
Lawrence Weschler & Ramiro Gomez at Hammer Museum
The writer Lawrence Weschler first encountered the work of the painter Ramiro Gomez at an art fair, where he noted Gomez’s insightful riffing on the work of David Hockney. Gomez calls attention to Southern California’s invisible domestic workers by inserting then into recasted, familiar scenes by other artists or ads from luxe magazines.
Weschler and Gomez will discuss their new book, Domestic Scenes: The Art of Ramiro Gomez. Complimentary coffee and tea served. A book signing will follow the reading.
Where: Hammer Museum
Date: Thursday the 5th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm
Address: 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: http://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2016/05/lawrence-weschler-ramiro-gomez/
All Lit Up at Chevalier’s
Our monthly event of literary artist and musicians, followed by open mic surprises, features:
Dana Johnson is the author of the short story collection In the Not Quite Dark, forthcoming in August 2016, as well as Break Any Woman Down and the novel Elsewhere, California. She is a professor of English at USC. Ana Maria Spagna is the author of five books, the memoir Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter’s Civil Rights Journey, as well as two collections of essays. Amilia K. Spicer is a singer/songwriter who spends half her time in Austin, and whose music covers “water, wine and whiskey.”
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Thursday the 5th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: http://www./chevaliersbooks.com
Read a Play Event at Santa Monica Library
Join us for a discussion of George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man, and discover great plays while uncovering your inner actor. This new monthly group will read through a different play each month, with each person in attendance taking part in the read through.
Where: Ocean Park Branch, SMPL
Date: Thursday the 5th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 2601 Main St.untington DrHuntington , Santa Monica, CA 90405
Website: http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=20517
Marinaomi with Yumi Sakugawa at Skylight
Marinaomi discusses her new graphic memoir Turning Japanese, with Yumi Sakugawa. In 1995, 22-year-old Mari has just exited a long-term relationship, moving from Mill Valley to San Jose California. Soon she falls in love, and then finds employment at an illegal hostess bar for Japanese expats, where she is determined to learn the Japanese language and culture. Turning Japanese is a story about otherness, culture clashes, generation gaps and youthful impetuosity.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Thursday the 5th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Book Club at Edendale Branch, LAPL
Book Club for adults and seniors always welcomes new members. In May we will be discussing Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Copies of the book are available at the branch or can be placed on hold through the library online catalog.
Where: Edendale Branch Library
Time: 6:30 pm
Date: Thursday the 5th
Address: 2011 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: http://www..lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-1
Brendan Jones at Skylight Books
Join us for a discussion of The Alaskan Laundry, by Brendan Jones. This is a fresh debut novel about a lost, fierce young woman who finds her way to Alaska and finds herself through the hard work of fishing, as far as the icy Bering Sea. A beautiful evocation of a place that can’t help but change us, and a testament to the unshakable lure of home.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Friday the 6th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: http://www.skylightbooks.com/event/brendan-jones-reads-his-debut-novel-alaskan-laundry
Sallie Tisdale at Book Soup
Sallie Tisdale is the author of seven books on such varied subjects as medical technology, her pioneer ancestors, and Buddhist women teachers. This first collection of work spans 30 years and includes an introduction and brief epilogues to each essay, as well as a recent essay never before published, about the mystery of how we present.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday, the 6th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: http://www.booksoup.com/event/sallie-tisdale-discusses-and-signs-violation-collected-essays
Design for Dying at Vroman’s Bookstore
Please join us to hear Rosemarie & Vince Kennan writing as Renee Patrick discuss and sign Design for Dying: A Lillian Frost & Edith Head Novel. In Los Angeles in 1937, Lillian Frost has traded dreams of stardom for security as a department store salesgirl…until she discovers she’s a suspect in a murder case. This is the first of a series of riveting behind-the-scenes mysteries, and a delightful romp through Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Friday, the 6th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Authors at Rapp Saloon
Join us to hear three authors read and discuss their work:
Nicelle Davis is a California poet who walks the desert with her son, J.J., in search of owl pellets and rattlesnake skins. She is the author of In the Circus of You and Studies in Monogamy. Ashaki M. Jackson is the author of The Surveillance Poems: 1-10, serialized by Cultural Weekly, which explores police killings of Blacks captured on video and the public’s consumption of these videos. Jawanza Dumisani is a PEN Fellow and recipient of a 2005 PEN AWARD. His first collection of poems is Stoetry (2003) and his work has appeared in a mumber of journals, in print and online.
Where: Rapp Saloon
Date: Friday the 6th
Time: 8:30 pm – 11:30 pm
Address: 1436 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/967977329986398/
Author Program at Children’s Book World
Meet Jennifer Holm, author of Sunny Side Up and other wildly popular graphic novels, and award-winning middle grade novels, including The Fourteenth Goldfish. Jennifer collaborates with her brother, Matthew Holm, on the Eisner Award-winning Babymouse series, which has more than 2.3 million books in print, and the best-selling Squish series. She is the recipient of three Newberry Honors, and many of her books will be available for signing.
Where: Children’s Book World
Date: Saturday the 7th
Time: 2:30 pm
Address: 10580 Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Website: http://www.childrensbookworld.com/Calendar/calendar.htm
Downtown Book Fest, presented by Grand Park and Writ Large Press
Celebrate the annual Grand Park Bookfest, and independent Los Angeles-based authors and publishers. This year, the annual Grand Park’s Downtown Bookfest will explore, “Literary LA: Places, Spaces and Faces,” a celebration and reflection of where Angelenos love to read and write – past, present and future. Some of the highlights include:
POP UP BOOKSHOP curated by Writ Large Press of Los Los Angeles independent presses; CHILDREN’S BOOKSHOP brought to you by Skylight Books; ACTIVITIES for bookworms large and small; READINGS, PERFORMANCES & PANELS, for young and old, throughout the park’s nooks and crannies. See site for more details!
Where: Grand Park
Date: Saturday the 7th
Time: 12 pm – 5 pm
Address: 200 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: http://www.pw.org/calendar
Jonathan Shapiro at Book Soup
Jonathan Shapiro discusses and signs Deadly Force, which takes place in the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Santa Ana branch office, a desert outpost where a handful of federal prosecutors are responsible for enforcing the law in an area larger than 14 states. The ultimate insider’s look into federal civil rights prosecution, with fascinating legal and moral issues.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Saturday the 7th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: http://www.booksoup.com/event/jonathan-shapiro-discusses-and-signs-deadly-force
Viet Thanh Nguyen at Skylight Books
Join us to hear Viet Thanh Nguyen, with Tom Hayden, discuss Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Sympathizer. Pulitzer Prize committee said of Nguyen’s book “A layered immigrant tale told in the wry, confessional voice of a “man of two minds” — and two countries, Vietnam and the United States.”
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Saturday the 7th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: http://www.skylightbooks.com/event/
Morgan Matson at Vroman’s–Teen Event
YA Fiction author, Morgan Matson, will discuss and sign The Unexpected Everything. From the author of Since You’ve been Gone, comes a feel-good story of friendship, finding yourself, and all the joys in life that happen while you’re busy making other plans.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 7th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/morgan-matson-discusses-and-signs-unexpected-everything
Las Lunas Locas Love Mamas
On Mother’s Day weekend join your favorite womyn-identified writing group, Las Lunas Locas, to hear poems regarding your mamas, abuelitas, aunties, and anyone else you may consider a mother figure. Help us continue our fundraising events, and make our Southwestern tour a reality.
Where: Holy Grounds Coffee & Tea
Date: Saturday the 7th
Time: 10 am – 2 pm
Address: 5371 Alhambra Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90032
Website: http:// www.facebook.com/events/264035817263381/
First Sunday Open Reading at Beyond Baroque
Join us for the Soap Box Open Poetry Reading, hosted by Jessica Wilson. This is your home, share your words. Sign-ups at 1:45 pm.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Sunday the 8th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: http://www.beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
Red Hen Press Anthology at Skylight Books
Editors John Brantingham and Kate Gale discuss and sign L.A. fiction Anthology: Southland Stories by Southland Writers, which brings together many of our finest local storytellers in this celebration and exploration of Los Angeles and its surrounding environments. Readers include: John Brantingham, Kate Gale, Stephen Jay Schwartz and Ruth Nolan.
Bonus: Every mother who attends will receive a free Mother’s Day gift!
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Sunday the 8th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Los Angeles Literature 