Ryan Quinn at Book Soup
Author Ryan Quinn discusses and signs The Good Traitor, the story of a crisis in the American intelligence community, when the US ambassador to China is killed in a suspicious plane crash, just days after a news article links Chinese spies to US business interests. Investigations lead to hackers, complications, and geopolitical conspiracies that challenge the world’s two superpowers.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 16th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: http://www.booksoup.com/event/ryan-quinn-discusses-and-signs-good-traitor
Chris Gillebeau at Vroman’s Bookstore
Chris Gillibeau discusses and signs Born for This: How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do. There’s a method for finding our perfect job, and the author of The $100 Startup has created a practical guide for how to do it, whether within a traditional company, or by striking out on your own. The intersection of joy, money, and flow is what Gillebeau will help you find in this book.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Monday the 16th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Main Library Book Club at SMPL
This book group, which is open to all, features an eclectic selection of literary fiction and nonfiction. This month the group discusses Colum McCann’s award-winning novel, Let the Great World Spin.
Where: Santa Monica Library, Main Branch, 2nd Floor
Date: Monday the 16th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 6901 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Website: http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=19559
Charlotte Shane at Skylight Books
Join us as Charlotte Shane discusses and signs her memoir, Prostitute Laundry, in conversation with Ann Friedman, an intimate investigation in one young woman’s best attempt at understanding her own rich, conflicted life, and the forces that act upon it. In the winter of 2014, writer and sex worker Charlotte Shane sent out her confessional letter to a small but devoted mailing list. In the months that followed, readership grew to over 5,000 subscribers who followed her candid, sometimes heartbreaking meditations about love sex, money and identity.
Ann Friedman is a freelance journalist who writes about gender, politics, technology, and culture. She is a columnist for New York magazine and the Los Angeles Times.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Tuesday the 17th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
An Evening of Poetry and Music at California Institute of Technology
Ciaran Carson has written many books of poetry, translation and prose. His most recent book is From Elsewhere, translations of the work of French poet Jean Follain, paired with his own “spins” on the translations. Carson has won several literary awards, holds the Seamus Heaney Chair of Poetry at Queen’s University Belfast, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Deirdre Carson initially learned the fiddle from her father, Paddy Shannon. She and Ciaran have been making music together for 40 years. Together they will be exploring the aisling tradition through poetry and music.
Where: California Institute of Technology, Dabney Lounge
Date: Tuesday the 17th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1200 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125
Website: http://www.hss.caltech.edu/content/evening-poetry-and-music-ciaran-and-deirdre-carson
You Are a Complete Disappointment at The Last Bookstore
Author, musician, and raconteur Mike Edison will read and perform from his new book, You Are a Complete Disappointment: A Triumphant Memoir in Spite of It All. For anyone who ever suffered from parental bullying, this often-hilarious yet intensely heartbreaking memoir from the former High Times publisher will provide both solace and laughter.
Where: The Last Bookstore
Dates: Tuesday, the 17th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 453 S. Spring St., Ground Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: http://lastbookstorela.com/#events
Claudia Casper, Jamie Lee Curtis, at Book Soup
Author Claudia Casper, with an introduction by Jamie Lee Curtis, discusses and signs The Mercy Journals, an unsettling novel set thirty years in the future, in the wake of a third world war. Set against a sparse yet fantastical landscape, The Mercy Journals explores the parameters of personal morality and forgiveness at this watershed moment in humanity’s history and evolution.
Where: Book Soup
Dates: Tuesday the 17th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: http://www.booksoup.com/book/9781551526331
Storytime at Vroman’s Hastings Ranch
Join us for Storytime for children, every Tuesday morning at 10 am.
Where: Vroman’s Hastings Ranch
Date: Tuesday the 17th
Time: 10 am
Address: 3729 E. Foothill Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91107
Website: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/storytime-hastings-ranch-16
Launch for ChangeAbility at Chevalier’s Books
Ever wanted to change the world, change your life, or simply adapt to change skillfully when it inevitably comes your way? Sharon Weil, host of the podcast Passing 4 Normal: Conversations with Authors, Artists, Activists and Awakeners About Seeding Change in the World, has an insightful new book to guide you through these turbulent times. Join her and five ChangeAbility contributors for this Book Launch.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Tuesday the 17th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: http://chevaliersbooks.com
Authors at Book Show
THE RwlrGiHtTe READ presents:
Xohitl-Julisa Bermejo, is the 2013 poetry winner of the Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange. She has work published in American Poetry Review, CALYX, Acentos Review, Los Angeles Review, and The Nervous Breakdown. A short dramatization of her poem “Our Lady of the Water Gallons,” directed by Chicano activist and Hollywood director, Jesús Salvador Treviño can be viewed at latinopia.com. She is the creator and curator of the quarterly reading series HITCHED and a co-founding member of Women Who Submit.
Laurel Ann Bogen, is the author of eleven books of poetry and short fiction. Since 1990 she has been an instructor of poetry and performance for UCLA’s Extension Writers’ Program.
Tisha Reicle, earned her MFA in creative writing from Antioch University, teaches at Santa Monica High School, and is part of Women Who Submit.
& Ben Trigg, is a musician, producer and workshop leader with Ichthus Christian Fellowship in London, UK, whose latest EP is “Where I Am Free.”
+ Open Mic!
Curated and hosted by Peggy Dobreer, this event features writers of prose and poetry, with a four-minute-limit Open Reading. Food and sign-ups at 6:30 pm. Reading will begin at 7 pm. Stories closes at 9pm.
Open Readers please bring two poems or four minutes, including introductions.
Where: BookShow LA
Date: Tuesday the 17th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 1716 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: http://storiesla.com/blogs/events
Margaret Guroff at Skylight Books
An evening with Magaret Guroff, who discusses her book, The Mechanical Horse: How the Bicycle Reshaped American Life. In this lively cultural history, the journalist Margaret Guroff reveals how the bicycle has transformed American society, from making us mobile to empowering people in all avenues of life.
Margaret Guroff is a magazine editor, and the editor and publisher of Power Moby-Dick, an online annotation of Herman Melville’s classic novel. She teaches writing at the Johns Hopkins University.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Wednesday the 18th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: http://www.skylightbooks.com/event/margaret-guroff-discusses-her-book-mechanical-horse
Three Actors/Narrators at Vroman’s
Vroman’s is happy to welcome Jayne Entwistle, Kirby Heyborne, and Scott Brick, with moderator Marielle Wakim, to read from the new audio release of Grimm’s Fairy Tale! Stories read this evening by their narrators include: The White Snake, read by Scott Brick; Sweet Porridge, read by Jayne Entwistle; and The Frog-King, or Iron Henry, read by Kirby Heyborne.
Moderating this event will be Marielle Wakim, Arts + Culture Editor of Los Angeles Magazine.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 18th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Fernanda Santos at Barnes & Noble, The Grove at Famer’s Market
Join us as author Fernanda Santos discusses and signs The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and One of the Deadliest Days in American Firefighting. New York Times bureau chief Fernanda Santos has written a riveting, pulse-pounding narrative of an unthinkable disaster, a remarkable group of men, and the raging wildfires that threaten our country’s treasured wildlands.
Where: Barnes & Nobel, The Grove at Farmer’s Market
Date: Wednesday the 18th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 189 The Grove Drive Suite K 30, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Website: http://www.stores.barnesandnoble.com/store/2089
Wilmington Book Club at Wilmington Branch, LAPL
The Wilmington Library Book club, for adults, will be discussing Shanghai Girls, by Lisa See. All are welcome.
Where: Wilmington Branch, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 18th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 1300 N. Avalon Blvd., Wilmington, CA 90744
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/wilmington-book-club-19
LA Big Read at Pacoima Branch, LAPL
Please join us for the Pacoima Library’s Book Club. As part of the Los Angeles Big Read, we will be discussing Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Snacks and a fun discussion are part of the evening, and we welcome all new participants to join our regular attendees.
Where: Pacoima Branch, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 18th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 13605 Van Nuys Blvd., Pacoima, CA 91331
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/la-big-read-fahreheit-454-book-club
PEN Anthology at The Last Bookstore
Join us to hear the 12th grade students from the Police Orientation Preparation Program Magnet in Inglewood reading from the anthology of their fiction, nonfiction and poetry, Reading Between the Thin Blue Lines. This is the culminating event of their 12-week PEN in the Community creative writing residency, led by teaching Artist Carlos Castellanos.
Where: The Last Bookstore
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Date: Thursday the 19th
Address: 453 S. Spring St., Ground Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: http://lastbookstorela.com/#events
Debbie Graber’s Debut at Skylight Books
Debbie Graber will discuss and sign her debut book, Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday. In this short story collection, we find a trenchant and searing satirical look at office life that is as astute and hilarious as Joshua Ferris’s And Then We Came to the End. These thirteen stories skewer corporate culture, as told through souls adrift in a khaki-clad purgatory. One of the aspects of the workplace that most interests Graber are the personas people are forced to adopt, where reason always seems to be taking a vacation day.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Thursday the 19th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Carmine Appice Memoir at Book Soup
In Stick It: My Life of sex, Drums, and Rock and Roll, Carmine Appice, with Ian Gittins, discusses his life with teenage gangs in Brooklyn before becoming a global rock star in the Summer of Love. He was managed by the mob, hung out with Hendrix, trashed thousands of hotel rooms, and had outrageous adventures with Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart’s Sex Police, and others, bonded with Ozzy Osbourne and got fired by Sharon, became a megastar in Japan, etc., etc.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 19th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Rachel M. Harper at Eso Won Books
Join us as Rachel M. Harper discusses and signs This Side of Providence. Arcelia Perez fled Puerto Rico to escape a failed marriage and a history of abuse, but she is unable to find her piece of the American dream. Through rotating narrators we hear from characters whose lives and futures are linked with Arcelia’s own uncertain fate. This is a powerful story of hope and redemption.
Where: Eso Won Books
Date: Thursday the 19th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 4327 Degnan Blvd.untington DrHuntington , Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: http://www.esowonbookstore.com/event/rachel-m-harper-booksiging-side-providence
Writers Underground Open Mic @ Eastside Café
The Writers Underground Open Mic is hosted by Iris De Anda, author of Codeswitch: Fires from Mi Corozon, every third Thursday of the month.
Where: The Eastside Cafe
Date: Thursday the 19th
Time: 9 pm – 11 pm
Address: 5469 Huntington Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90032
Website: http://irisdeanda.com/events/event/the-writers-underground-open-mic/
Matteson Perry at Skylight Books
Matteson Perry discusses and signs Available: A Memoir of Heartbreak, Hookups, Love and Brunch. In this heartfelt and hilarious memoir, Perry recounts his year-long break from serious relationships and how it changed his life. He uses “the plan” to casually date thirty women over the course of a year, and while he sets out to become better with women, he becomes better at life.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Friday the 20th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Poets-A-Plenty at Beyond Baroque
This poetry reading event features: Hiram Sims, Gerald Locklin, Anna Urena, Wendy Rainey, and Curtis Hayes.
Open Reading: first 10 sign-ups admitted free.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Time: 8 pm
Date: Friday the 20th
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: http://beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
William Finnegan at Pages Bookstore
Join us to hear the new Pulitzer Prize winner for Biography, and New Yorker staff writer, William Finnegan, here promoting the paperback edition of his best-selling memoir Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life. A life-long surfer, Finnegan’s memoir derived from his epic two-part piece in the New Yorker in 1992 called Playing Doc’s Games. Raised in California and Hawaii, he has chased waves all over the world, and immerses the reader in the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships annealed in this culture.
Cost to get in is purchase of the book. Please RSVP as space is limited.
Where: Pages Bookstore
Date: Friday the 20th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: http://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/william-finnegan-author-event
The Stories Debut at Chevalier’s
Local author and U.K. transplant Bali James’ debut collection of stories illuminates those often unnoticed moments in a life in which choices get made, and unfolds the unforeseen consequences of these decisions. Join us for a reading and signing of Stories: Book One.
Born and raised in the U.K., Bali James considers Los Angeles her home, but her themes of identity and belonging reappear throughout her writing. This is her first book of fiction.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Friday, the 20th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: http://www.chevaliersbooks.com
Quiet Los Angeles at Gatsby’s Books
Join us for a book launch party for Quiet Los Angeles by Rebecca Razo, the next in her series, following Quiet London, Paris and New York. These guides offer both visitors and locals a chance to enjoy the quiet side of the city, to find places off the beaten path, to explore enticing small museums, enjoy peaceful gardens, or just get away from the hustle and bustle of urban life.
Rebecca Razo was born and raised in Southern California, has been a writer and editor for over 16 years, and loves LA for its rich heritage, as well as its cultural and geographical diversity.
Where: Gatsby’s Books
Date: Saturday, the 21st
Time: 3 pm
Address: 5535 E. Spring St., Long Beach, CA 90808
Website: http://gatsbybooks.com/book-signings/
The Big Read at Central Library, LAPL
Join us for the Big Read 2016 Celebration of Ray Bradbury, one of Los Angeles’ most prolific and creative writers. In 2012, Bradbury was posthumously honored with a Public square near the Central Library, and today’s program includes: activities with Sam Weller, biographer of Ray Bradbury; a screening of the film of his famous book Fahrenheit 451 in the Mark Taper Auditorium; artmaking and community booths in the Thornton Courtyard.
Where: Central Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 21st
Time: 11 am – 3 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/bradbury-festival-big-read-2016
Saturday Afternoon Poetry
This event meets EVERY Saturday in the backroom of the Santa Catalina Branch Library, and this week features: Nikki Blak, Radomir Vojtech Luza & Jacqueline Tchakalian.
Plus, this week we have an Open Reading.
Created and hosted by: Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: Santa Catalina Branch, Pasadena Public Library
Date: Saturday the 21st
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 999 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, CA
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Viva Poetry Reading at Arroyo Seco Library
As a Lummis Day event, the poets of Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, will read from this acclaimed anthology edited by Suzanne Lummis, including: Jawanza Dumiani, Marsha de la O, Conney Williams and “special guest” Ventura County Poet Laureate Phil Taggert. The reading will be followed by a reception.
Where: Arroyo Seco Regional Branch, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 21st
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 6145 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/viva-poetry-lummis-day-event-0
UC Irvine MFA Students at Skylight Books
Students from UC Irvine’s MFA Program in Creative Writing will read from their work.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Saturday the 21st
Time: 5 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: http://www.skylightbooks.com/event
Desert Boys at Vroman’s Bookstore
Chris McCormick discusses and signs Desert Boys: Fiction, a series of powerful, linked stories illuminating and following the life of Daley Kushner, growing up and coming out in California’s Mojave Desert. Desert Boys traces the development of towns into cities, of boys into men, and the haunting effects produced when the two transformations overlap. This book mines the terrain between the desire to escape and the hunger to belong.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 21st
Time: 4 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/chris-mccormick-discusses-and-signs-desert-boys-fiction
Las Lunas Locas at Proyecto Jardin
Under a full moon, Las Lunas Locas will host a special reading at Proyecto Jardin to raise funds to preserve the community garden. Some of the Lunas will also spend the night in the garden to give rest to those who have been keeping watch around the clock to ensure they are not locked out. If you are unable to join us, please consider donating to the cause and contact Karineh Mahdessian.
Some of the Lunas reading their work include: Ana Bernal, Gtz Sandy, Zury Chavez, Johana Lozano Kiedis, Amanda Wang, Emily Fernandez, Laura Guadalupe Ramos, Sylvia Chavez, Jamie Smerdel, Sophia Rivera.
Where: Proyecto Jardin
Date: Saturday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1718 Bridge St., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: www.facebook.com/events/236913920002388/
Mike “the Poet” Sonksen at West Los Angeles Library, LAPL
Join us to hear a poetry performance by Mike Sonksen, aka Mike the Poet, for I Am Alive in Los Angeles! Mike will take us on a diverse tour of Los Angeles as he performs poems about LA geography, literary history and the spirit of the city.
Mike is a third generation LA native acclaimed for his poetry performances, published articles and legendary city tours. Poet, journalist, historian, and teacher he has performed and been published in many venues, taught at various educational institutions, and his column LA Letters appears at KCET’s website. His book I Am Alive in Los Angeles! has become part of the curriculum at several universities.
Where: West Los Angeles Regional Branch, LAPL
Date: Sunday the 22nd
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 11360 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/poet-mike-sonksens-i-am-alive-la
Nebraska Girl Open Reading at Beyond Baroque
The Nebraska Girl Open Reading is hosted by Wyatt Underwood. Sign-ups at 1:45 pm.
FREE!
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Sunday the 22nd
Time: 2 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: http://beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
La Palabra Reading Series at Avenue 50 Studio
Join host Karineh Mahdessian to hear three authors at the La Palabra Reading Series at Avenue 50 Studio. As always there will also be an Open Mic!
This month’s features are:
Art Currim is a Los Angeles-based poet, writer, and composer, who previously lived in India, the UK and Canada. He is published in numerous literary publications, and co-hosts a literary reading series in Echo Park, A Rrose in a Prose.
Eddy M. Gana, Jr. is a spoken word artist, community organizer, behavior therapist, and MSW candidate. He is married to and works with Stephanie Sajor.
Stephanie Sajor is a spoken word artist and community organizer. She and Eddy M. Gana Jr. are leaders of KmB, ProPeople Youth and founders of Sunday Jump, an open mic in historic Filipinotown.
Where: Avenue 50 Studio
Date: Sunday the 22nd
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 131 N. Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA
Website: www.facebook.com/events/1305398649475943/
Jeff Michaels at Gatsby’s Books
Join author Jeff Michaels as he presents his new collection of short stories A Day at the Beach, and entertains us with a book signing and storytelling.
Date: Sunday the 22nd
Time: 3 pm
Address: 5535 E. Spring St., Long Beach, CA 90808
Website: http://gatsbybooks.com/book-signings/
Monthly Literary Variety Show at Tongue & Groove
This monthly literary variety show hosted by Conrad Romo features:
Iris De Anda, a writer, activist, and practitioner of the healing arts, and the author of Codeswitch: Fires from Mi Corozon. She currently hosts the Writers Underground Open Mic every third Thursday of the month at the Eastside Café;
Meredith Alling, is a writer living in Los Angeles, whose debut collection Sing the Song will be out in November 2016;
Vanessa Diaz, graduated from UC Davis, and has been published in Huizache magazine and The Acentos Review;
Robert Kerbeck, was selected for mentorship by Cheston Knapp, managing editor of Tin House, based on 13 of his short stories. His first play, Putin and the Snowman, opens Off-Broadway in July;
Jessica Lee Garrison, is the author of the collection One Dollar Stories, and her work has appeared in many journals and online sites.
With music by Christopher Leopold Jackman (of the Fuzzy Crystals).
$7 admission.
Where: The Hotel Cafe
Date: Sunday the 22nd
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 1623 ½ N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028
Website: http://www.www.facebook.com/events/931308746986429/
Los Angeles Literature 