Cynthia Garrrett at Book Soup
Join us as Cynthia Garrett discusses and signs Prodigal Daughter: A Journey Home to Identity. In this candid , raw and challenging look at how identity gets lost in today’s modern world, TV personality and evangelist Cynthia Garrett shares an incredible, red-carpeted journey through her life, and we meet a faith that is inclusive and unifying, with love triumphing over hate.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 9th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Young Adult Squad – New Book Club for YA with Jay–Young Adult Event
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Monday the 9th
Time: 7pm – 8pm
Address: 126 Northe Larchmont Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/events/
Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle at Hammer Museum
Join us for In Real Life: Studio, which provides a glimpse into the working processes of artists. A select group of artists utilizes spaces in the museum to convene and rehearse new material. Some will simply discuss or workshop material, while others will produce a new project from rehearsal to final performance.
Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle is an interdisciplinary visual artist, writer and performer who lives and works in Los Angeles and Oakland, CA. Her practice fluctuates between collaborative and participatory projects, and for this project she will be workshopping a performance to present in her upcoming solo exhibition at the California African American museum in February 2017. At CAAM she will present a new body of work focusing on the concept of disappearance and erasure as it pertains to the current 64,000 missing black women in America and the historical disappearances of Black women throughout the African Diaspora.
Where: Hammer Museum
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 11 am
Address: 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: http://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2016/in-real-life/kenyatta-ac-hinkle/
Laurelin Krause at Hammer Museum
Join us for In Real Life: Studio, which provides a glimpse into the working processes of artists. A select group of artists utilizes spaces in the museum to convene and rehearse new material. Some will simply discuss or workshop material, while others will produce a new project from rehearsal to final performance.
Laurelin Kruse is a writer and performer and has been traveling the country for two years as the founder and director of the Mobile Museum of American Artifacts, collecting and exhibiting people’s personal objects and stories as a public intervention of hierarchical paradigms.
Where: Hammer Museum
Date: Tuesday the 10th (and Jan 3, 4, 10, 12 & 25)
Time: 2 pm
Address: 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: http://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2016/in-real-life/laurelin-kruse/
Teen Zine Project at Woodland Hills Library
Join our local teens to publish a group teen zine collection that will add a chorus of teen voices to the city. Express yourself and have your art and writing shared with a larger audience.
Where: Woodland Hills Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 10th (and 17th)
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 22200 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/teen-zine-project
Poetry Open Mic at Westwood Branch Library
C’mon! It’ll be fun! You’ll hear poems and poets, and – who knows! – maybe someone else with some other kind of written word!
Maybe you’ll hear the secret keyword for the century. Maybe you’ll hear a prayer that resonates with you own. Maybe you’ll hear just what you needed to reinvigorate your work. Y’just cain’t never tell ahead of time!
Anyway, be there! Add your sparks to the fireworks!
Hosted by: Wyatt Underwood.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 1246 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-open-mic-2
Sin Bravely at Chevalier’s Bookstore
Lauded writer-performer Maggie Rowe debuts her memoir Sin Bravely: A Memoir of Spiritual Disobedience. The popular producer of .A.’s sitnspin show delivers a tour-de-force about her flight INTO the cuckoo’s nest as a young born-again Cristian and how her fellow inmates got her out the other side.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: http://chevaliersbooks.com
Poetry Reading at Claremont Colleges Event
Join us for a poetry reading with Doulas Kearney and Carmen Giminez-Smith to hear CGU’s Kingsley and Kate Tufts poetry awards, in association with the Ashbury Home School .
Where: Claremont Graduate University (art building at corner of Columbia and 10th St).
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 251 E. 10th St., Claremont, CA 91711
Website: http://www.collegescalendar.org/
Gargoyles Author at Chevalier’s Bookstore
Author and Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman reads and signs World of Warcraft: Traveler, a New Book Series for Middle Readers. Weisman –creator of Disney’s Gargoyles– will entice younger readers in a new series based on the bestselling game franchise, World of Warcraft: Traveler, starts the epic adventure by introducing the youthful characters as they discover the land of Azeroth.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: http://chevaliersbooks.com
Janie Chang at Vroman’s Bookstore
Join us to hear Janie Chang, with Shilpi Somaya Gowda, discuss and sign Dragon Springs Road. From the author of Three Souls, comes a vividly imagined and haunting new novel set in early 20th century Shanghai, a story of friendship, heartbreak, and history that follows a young Eurasian orphan’s search for her long-lost mother.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Lindsey Lee Johnson at Book Soup
Lindsey Lee Johnson discusses and signs The Most Dangerous Place on Earth, a novel about the wealthy enclaves north of San Francisco, which are not the paradises they appear to be. Written with the rare talent capable of turning teenage drama into urgent, adult fiction, this book makes vivid a modern adolescence lived in the gleam of the virtual, but rich with sorrow, passion and humanity.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: http://www.booksoup.com/event/lindsey-lee-johnson-discusses-and-signs-most-dangerous-place-earth
All Lit Up at Chevalier’s Bookstore
Please join us for our monthly series, garnished with a light selection of open mic surprises. Our featured artists include:
Gwen Banta is a writer of novels, short-fiction and screenplays. Her newest novel is The Flytrap is hailed as “an extraordinary coming-of-age story.”
Brandon Jordan Brown is a former PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellow in poetry and winner of the 2016 Orison Anthology Poetry Award. he is currently working on his first book.
Marnie Goodfriend is a 2016 PEN Emerging Voices Fellow, and is a writer and violence intervention speaker. She is currently working on two memoirs titled Birth Marks and Chewing Gravel.
Jay Souza (from Patrolled by Radar) is a singer-songwriter who tells stories that are simultaneously funny, sad and ironic, and the music rocks.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1850 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: http://chevaliersbooks.com
Junot Diaz at CalArts in Valencia
The School of Critical Studies presents visiting artist Junot Diaz at a Reading and Reception. Junot Diaz’s dynamic fiction includes: his debut collection, Drown; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and This is How You Lose Her, a New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist. He has won many awards and fellowships and is currently the Nancy Allen Professor of Writing at MIT. Diaz is also known for his activism and advocacy on behalf of immigrants and writers of color.
Where: California Institute of the Arts, Langely Hall & Patio
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 24700 McBean Pkwy., Valencia, CA 91355
Website: http://www.calarts.edu/event/2017-01-12/school-critical-studies-presents-visiting-artist-junot-diaz
Alan Sepinwall, with Jon Hamm, at Skylight Books
Please join us as we welcome Alan Sepinwall and Jon Hamm to present, discuss and explore TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time, about the 100 greatest scripted shows in American TV history.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: http://www.skylightbooks.com/event/alan-sepinwall-discusses-his-book-tv-book-jon-hamm
Chris Bohjalian at Vroman’s Bookstore
Join us as Chris Bohjalian discusses and signs The Sleepwalker, a spine-tingling novel of lies, loss and buried desire. The mesmerizing story of a wife and mother who vanishes from her bed late one night, Annalee Ahlberg is a sleepwalker whose affliction manifests in ways both bizarre and devastating. When she goes missing her children fear the worst. Conjuring a place somewhere between dreaming and wakefulness, The Sleepwalker is a masterful novel from one of our best storytellers.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/chris-bohjalian-discusses-and-signs-sleepwalker
Pacific Coast Poetry Publication Party at Beyond Baroque
Please join us to hear the Pacific coast Poetry Series (an imprint of Beyond Baroque) launch its first individual collection and winner of the $2,000 Pacific Coast Poetry Series Prize: Nance Van Winckle’s Our Foreigner. This book charts an American West sometimes mysterious, often elliptical, and sometimes oddly familiar. Nance lives in Washington State and is the author of seven other books of poetry.
Hosted by: Suzanne Lummis.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: http://beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
Open Mic of Spoken Word & Music at Tia Chucha’s
Please join us for Tia Chucha’s Open Mic, a welcoming, creative sanctuary where people are encouraged to share their thoughts, feelings and talents through various styles of expression. Everyone is welcome to be themselves. Participants sign up upon arrival. It’s FREE but donations are accepted.
Hosted by: Jeffrey Martin.
Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 13197 Gladstone Ave., Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: http://www.facebook.com/events/1856808287871204/
Dryland Book Reading at Book Show LA
Please join us for the Dryland Book Reading event. Details to follow; check website.
Where: Book Show LA
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 9 pm – 11 pm
Address: 5503 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: http://bookshowla.com/event/dryland-lit-reading/
Claudia Harrington at Children’s Book World–Children’s Events
Children’s Book World invites you to meet local author Claudia Harrington, to celebrate the publication of the Hank, the Pet Sitter series. The first book in the series is Otis, the Very Large Dog. When Hank leaves his bike in the driveway to be run over by his dad, he needs to help pay for a new one. But Hank is a kid. What can he do? Pet sitting sounds easy! (Ages 4-8)
Where: Children’s Book World
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 2:30 pm
Address: 10580 ½ W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Website: http://www.childrensbookworld.com/Calendar/calendar.htm
Saturday Afternoon Poetry at Santa Catalina Library
Join us for a Deep Poetry Critique Workshop led by poet G.T. Foster. Bring 12 copies of your poem-in-progress.
Hosted and curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: Santa Catalina Branch Library, Pasadena Public Library
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 999 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91104
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Joe Ide at Vroman’s Bookstore
Please join us as Joe Ide discusses and signs IQ: A Gritty, Emotional, and Clever Thriller about a Brilliant Young Private Detective Helping Inner-City Los Angeles Residents. As a resident of one of L.A.’s toughest neighborhoods uses his blistering intellect to solve crimes the police ignore, he becomes known as IQ. He’s a loner and high school dropout, who charges whatever his clients can afford to pay.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Michael Goorjian at Book Soup
Please join us as author Michael Goorjian discusses and signs What Lies Beyond the Stars. In this novel Adam Sheppard, a San Francisco programmer who has spent most of his life lost in the dim glow of a computer screen, finds himself on the verge of a psychotic break. He begins to have a recurring dream of his early childhood, and is convinced he left something there in the town of Mendocino that is vital to his present sanity.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: http://www.booksoup.com/event/michael-goorjian-discusses-and-signs-what-lies-beyond-stars
Bittersweet Poetry Reading at Beyond Baroque
Angleno residents tell bold, untold stories of their journey to America, as contained in the collection Bittersweet: The Immigrant Stories. Special guest Korean poets Soo Bok Kim and Duk Kyu Park will also read. This evening of multi-language readings will be hosted by Tanya Ko Hong and Julayne Lee, followed by a reception and opportunity to meet the poets.
$5 donation suggested.
Where: Beyond Baroque’s Mike Kelly Gallery
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: http://www.beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
Poetry Reading at Gatsby’s Books
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine: — Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus, II, 29. Tr. Anita Barrows/Joanna Macy.
Gatsby’s Books Reading Series presents Five Stellar Poets & Open Mic:
Gerald Locklin’s books include Along With Deep Meanings (2013), The Case of the Missing Blue Volkswagen, and many more. Locklin is now Professor Emeritus, and was Professor of Creative Writing, 2oth Century Literature and Literary Theory at CSU Long Beach from 1965-2007. He continues to teach and publish.
Mohsen Emadi is the award-winning author of four collections of poetry published in Spain and Iran, and several poetry translations. He is the founder of a Persian anthology of world poetry and is based in Mexico City.
Lester Graves Lennon is an investment banker, and published his first book of poetry in 2002, The Upward Curve of Earth. His second book, My Father Was a Poet, was published in 2013, and he was a founding member of the mayor’s L.A. Poet Laureate Task Force.
Dr. Natalie J. Graham received the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for her manuscript in 2016, Begin with a Failed Body. She is an assistant professor of African American Studies at CSU Fullerton.
Cynthia Alessandra Briano is Director of the Rapp Saloon Reading Series First Fridays in Santa Monica, and founder of Love On Demand Global. She has served as literary programs director at Self Help Graphics & Art and has taught creative writing at many venues. She is also a college counselor and an editorial consultant, and she is at work on her first collection.
Where: Gatsby’s Books
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 5535 E. Spring St., Long Beach, CA 90808
Website: http://www.facebook.com/events/1814840875453433/
Writers Resist at Beyond Baroque
Los Angeles – Our democracy is at risk. Growing public cynicism and an alarming disdain for truthfulness is eroding our most dearly held democratic ideals. As writers we have tremendous power to bypass empty political discourse and focus public attention on the ideals of a free, just, and compassionate society.
Poets and writers have a responsibility to preserve language in all its truth, whether beautiful or ugly, and to resist any attempt t0 put their art into the service of the powerful.
READERS: William Archila, Ishmael Beah, Aimee Bender, Ron Carlson, Victoria Chang, Geoff Dyer, Blas Falconer, Amy Gerstler, Dana Goodyear, Naomi Hirahara, Doug Kearney, Meme Kelly, Vandana Khanna, Michele Latiolais, Douglas Manuel, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Alicia Partnoy, Mona Simpson, Christine Schutt, Safiya Sinclair, Lynne Thompson, David Ulin, Vanessa Villarreal, and Amy Wilentz.
Hosted by: David St. John.
FREE, but donations gratefully accepted.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Sunday the 15th
Time: 1 pm – 4 pm
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: http://www.beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
Susan Sherman Publication Party at Diesel’s Bookstore
Our Brentwood store welcomes Susan Sherman to discuss her new novel, If You Are There, and all are invited to attend her publication party. Set in the early 1900s, the novel follows young Lucia Rutkowski who, thanks to the influence of her beloved grandmother, escapes the Warsaw ghetto to work as a kitchen maid in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the bustling city of Paris. Too talented for her lowly position she is thrown out on the street and must take a job working for two poor and disorganized scientists, who later find fame as Marie and Pierre Curie. Ultimately Lucia is placed in the crosshairs of faith versus science.
Where: Diesel’s Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 15th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Voice in the Well at Beyond Baroque
Please join us for Public Works Improvisational Theater’s Voice in the Well series of monthly literary salon-style readings produced by Eric Vollner. We are a group of writers, poets, and performers who believe in the transformative power of art to breathe new life into classic works of prose, poetry and playwriting.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Sunday the 15th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: http://www.beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
Los Angeles Literature 