My City Centennial Celebration at Vroman’s Bookstore
David Wolf presents a Centennial of the City Planning Movement in Pasadena. My City tells the story of the City Beautiful movement and the landmark exhibit that brought 5000 people together to envision the city’s future. This project and narrative history explores the extraordinary results of this proven approach, the subsequent planning mistakes that occurred when it was abandoned, and how this simple process can be revitalized for any city today.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Monday the 5th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Shari Lapena at the Manhattan Beach Library
Join us for the Shari Lapena author event at the Manhattan Beach Library. Lapena’s explosive suspense debut, The Couple Next Door, is a chilling psychological thriller about a young couple whose lives are changed one night when a snap decision leads to every parent’s nightmare—the disappearance of their baby. They must cope with grief and doubt, along with the growing suspicion of the police, and then the tension ratchets up a notch!
Where: Manhattan Beach Library (with Pages Bookstore)
Date: Monday the 5th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1320 Highland Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: http://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/shari-lapena-author-event
Listening Room Open Mic at Gina M Woodruff Gallery
Listening Room Open Mic is a weekly open mic with mixed acts. Hosted by: Gina.
NOTE: Sign-ups start at 6:40 pm and open mic begins at 7 pm.
Where: Gina M Woodruff Gallery
Date: Monday the 5th
Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 5555 E. Stearns St., #203, Long Beach, CA 90815
Daniel Sharfstein at Vroman’s Bookstore
Join us to hear Daniel Sharfstein discuss and sign Thunder in the Mountains: Chief Joseph, Oliver Otis Howard, and the Nez Perce War. Oliver Otis Howard thought he was a man of destiny, when chosen to lead the Freedmen’s Bureau after the Civil War. But as the nation’s politics curdled in the 1870s, he exiled himself from Washington D.C., rejoined the army, and was sent to the Pacific Northwest. Shattered by Reconstruction’s collapse, his plans for redemption ran into the resistance of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce, who refused to leave ancestral land. The tragedy of the devastating war that followed is one that Americans continue to fight today.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 6th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Gwendolyn Womack at Book Soup
From the award-winning author of The Memory Painter, Gwendolyn Womack, comes The Fortune Teller, which is a sweeping and suspenseful tale of romance, fate and fortune, the story of a priceless tarot deck, which is a manuscript that is more memoir and prophecy, describing major events long before they occur. Somehow it holds the key to a two-thousand-year-old secret.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 6th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: http://www.booksoup.com/event/gwendolyn-womack-discusses-and-signs-fortune-teller
When the FBI Investigates the White House at ALOUD
The ALOUD Reading Series is pleased to present Tim Weiner to discuss what we have learned on the topic of When the FBI Investigates the White House, based on his award-winning writing and books on American intelligence and national security. His books include: Legacy of Ashes and Enemies–about histories of the FBI and CIA—and One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon.
RSVP for regular or stand-by seating at website. If event is closed to reservations, please arrive early to sign-up for stand-by status.
Where: Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library
Date: Tuesday the 6th
Time: 7:15 pm (stand -by seating at 7 pm)
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: http://lfla.org/event/fbi-investigates-white-house/
She Rides Shotgun at the Last Bookstore
Join us to hear debut author Jordan Harper, in conversation with Eric Beetner, discuss and sign She Rides Shotgun, a propulsive novel about a man, fresh out of prison, who must kidnap his daughter to keep her out of harm’s way. It is a dark, original take on the chase novel, as well as a touching father-daughter story, according to Booklist.
Where: The Last Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 6th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 453 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: http://lastbookstorela.com/#events
Objectivity in Journalism at the Hammer Museum
The Hammer Forum presents media editors and journalists Victor Navasky, Tom Warhover, and Lewis Wallace, who will discuss media objectivity, neutrality, and opinion in a political and cultural era where emotional appeals are in constant tension with objective facts.
Moderator: political theorist Ainsly LeSure.
Event is FREE. Please see website for details, as tickets are available one hour before program on a first come, first served basis.
Where: Hammer Museum
Date: Tuesday the 6th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: http://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2017/06/objectivity-in-journalism/v
Jess Arndt, with Maggie Nelson, at Skylight Bookstore
Join us to meet author Jess Arndt, read from the short story collection, Large Animals, which straddles the line between the imagined and real, the masculine and feminine, the knowledge and impossible.
Arndt is co-founder of New Herring Press, and her writing has been widely published. Nelson is the author of nine books, including the bestseller The Argonauts.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 6th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Maureen Goo at Vroman’s’s Bookstore
Join author Maureen Go to hear her discuss and sign I Believe in a Thing Called Love, a funny young adult novel about a Korean-American girl who uses K-Drama techniques to snag a boyfriend of her dreams. This is a fun, heartwarming story of falling in love—for real.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 7th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 69 E Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/maurene-goo-discusses-and-signs-i-believe-thing-called-love
Rich People Problems at Chevalier’s Bookstore
Join author Kevin Kwan to hear him discuss and sign Rich People Problems, the blazingly funny installment and chronicle of the extreme sport of vying for love and fortune among Singapore’s ultra-wealthy. The perfect summer read without leaving town.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 7th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Two and Two at Skylight Bookstore
Join author Rafe Bartholomew to hear him discuss and sign his memoir, Two and Two, a chronicle of his life growing up at McSorley’s Old Ale House, established in 1854—a place where tradition is not just implemented for nostalgia’s sake, but is a vital component of the life’s blood. Rafe’s father Bart, a poet and bartender extraordinaire, strove to be a better man than his own abusive father and that he did. They also went through losing Rafe’s mother to cancer together. Rafe was always protected and loved, and here he pours over his and his father’s legacy in a quickly vanishing world—that of old New York.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 7th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: http://www.skylightbooks.com/event/rafe-bartholomew-discusses-his-memoir-two-and-two
Los Angeles in the 1970s at the Glendale Central Library
Join us as author David Kukoff moderates a panel discussion with contributing authors Chip Jacobs, Lynne Friedman, and Ken Levine. Los Angeles in the 1970s: Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine tackles the tragic and bloody ending to the optimistic 1960s in Los Angeles’ fabled hills, a decade marked by the Manson murders, rampant inflation, recession, and a gritty and unsightly environment marred by smog and traffic. This is a love letter to the sprawling and complicated fabric of a Los Angeles often overlooked.
Please RSVP at link to Eventbrite on website for space planning purposes. Event is free.
Where: Glendale Central Library, Auditorium
Date: Thursday the 8th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 453 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: http://http://www.glendaleca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/26533/125?curm=6&cury=2017
All Lit Up at Chevalier’s Bookstore
Please join us for our monthly reading event and open mic, hosted by Rich Ferguson and Liz Newstat, featuring:
Puma Perl is a widely published poet and writer, as well as a performer and producer. She is the author of two chapbooks, Ruby True and Belinda and Her Friends, and has two published poetry collections, knuckle tattoos, and Retrograde. She is also an award-winning journalist.
Keith Morris is a singer and songwriter, and the author of the autobiography My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor. He is known for his role as a front-man of the hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Off!
Melody Federer, musician and singer/songwriter, was taught by her pastor father to sing and play hymns on guitar, then ran away to Paris at age 20 with a jazz pianist. Later she left her partner, began busking in L.A., and then signed a full-time publishing deal with producer/songwriter Billy Mann. Her new album is When the Dogwoods Bloom.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 8th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Peter Wortsman at Book Soup
Please join us to hear author Peter Wortsman discuss and sign Footprints in Wet Cement, a collection of stories, some experienced, some homespun, some dredged from fertile detritus of dreams, all gathered over the last decade. Straddling the tenuous borderline between the narrative and the poetic, they are all the product of a pressed aesthetic.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 8th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
The Leavers at Vroman’s Bookstore
Join us to hear Lisa Ko, with Neelanjana Banerjee, discuss and sign her powerful debut book, The Leavers, the winner of the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Fiction, awarded by Barbara Kingsolver for a novel that addresses issues of social justice. Set in New York and China, this book is a vivid examination of borders and belonging. it’s a moving story of how a boy comes into his own when everything he loves is taken away, and how a mother learns to live with the mistakes of the past.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 8th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/lisa-ko-neelanjana-banerjee-discusses-and-signs-leavers
Book’d Night Out at The Group Repertory/Theatre
Join us for Book’d “The Ultimate Bibliophiles’ Night Out” lit event, hosting a special YA Summer Edition.
Festivities to include: YA author readings by Maria Alexander (Snowed) Maurene Goo (I Believe in a Thing Called Love), Aditi Khorana (The Library of Fates) and Lilliam Rivera (The Education of Margot Sanchez).
Authors chat, moderated by Book’d’s Liz Donatelli.
Bookish giveaways and catered mingling reception included.
Where: The Group Repertory/Lonny Chapman Theatre
Date: Thursday the 8th
Time: 8 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601
Website: http://www.bookdevent.com
Olivia Koski and Jana Grcevich at Chevalier’s Bookstore
Join us to hear interactive-journalist Olivia Koski, and astronomer-educator Jana Grcevich, present and sign their interstellar Vacation Guide to the Solar System: Science for the Savvy Space Traveler. Guaranteed to transport you, packed with real science, and fueled by imagination, this is a beautifully illustrated travel guide for interstellar tourists of all ages.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore
Date: Friday the 9th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Karl Jacoby at Vroman’s Bookstore
Please join author Karl Jacoby as he discusses and signs The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire. To his contemporaries in Gilded Age Manhattan, Guillermo Eliseo was a fantastically wealthy Mexican. But for all of his obvious riches and elegant appearance, he was also the possessor of a devastating secret: he was not in fact from Mexico at all. Rather, he had begun life as a slave named William Ellis, born on a cotton plantation in southern Texas during the waning years of King Cotton. This is the amazing and complicated life story that reads like a novel, but offers fresh insights on the history of the Reconstruction era, the US-Mexico border, and the abiding riddle of race.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Friday the 9th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Three Writers at Beyond Baroque
Please join us to hear writers Peter Wortsman, Howard A. Rodman, and John O’Kane read from their works.
Peter Wortsman’s publications include: a book of flash fiction before the form had a name, A Modern Way to Die (1991); a travel memoir, two stage plays; and a novel, Cold Earth Wanderers (2014).
Howard A. Rodman is a screenwriter, novelist, educator, and President of the Writers Guild of America, West.
John O’Kane has published many articles and essays, as well as pieces of journalism, poetry, fiction, ad creative non-fiction, in a variety of publications.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Friday the 9th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: http://beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
Open Mic at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore
Please join us for our open Mic: Night of Music & Spoken Word, held on the 2nd, 4th & 5th Fridays of each month, hosted by Jeffrey Martin.
This is a welcoming, creative sanctuary where people are encouraged to share their thoughts, feelings and talents through various forms of expression. It’s free, but donations are accepted.
Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore
Date: Friday the 9th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 13197 Gladstone Ave., Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: http://www.tiachucha.org/programming
Mixed Remixed Festival at Los Angeles Theatre Center
Join us for our 4th annual film and performance festival celebrating stories of the mixed race and multiracial experience. This event is FREE, but registration is recommended and available at website, along with a more detailed schedule of events.
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Loving Supreme Court decision, our Storyteller’s Prize Honoree for 2017 is award-winning actor and producer David Oyelowo.
Where: Los Angeles Theatre Center
Date: Saturday the 10th
Time: 10 am – 9 pm (doors open at 9:30 am)
Address: 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: http://www.mixedremixed.org/
An Afternoon with Bill Esparza at Vroman’s Bookstore
Join us to hear author Bill Esparza discuss and sign L.A. Mexicano, the celebration of Mexican cooking that food lovers have been waiting for. Richly photographed and authentically local, L.A. Mexicano (Prospect Park Books) showcases L.A.’s rich and complex food culture. Part cookbook, part food journalism, and part love song to Los Angeles this is the definitive resource for home cooks nationwide.
Public Beer + Wine Shop form Long Beach, El Tepeyac Café in Boyle Heights and Chichenitza form Los Angeles, will be onsite serving appetizers and small bites.
Note: This is a ticketed event, with a charge for the book and one tasting event ticket. See website for details.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 10th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/vromans-presents-afternoon-bill-esparza /
Deep Poetry Critique Workshop at Santa Catalina Library
Join us for a Deep Poetry Critique Writing Workshop led by G.T. Foster, at Saturday Afternoon Poetry, curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell. (Bring 15 copies of your poem-in-progress.)
Where: Santa Catalina Library, Pasadena Public Library
Date: Saturday the 10th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 999 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91104
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Nicholas Bredie, with Andrew Wessels, at Skylight Books
Please join us as Nicholas Bredie, with Andrew Wessels, discusses his debut novel, Not Constantinople, the story of two expats living in Istanbul and working at the university, who come home one night to find their apartment occupied by a family of Greeks. Barred by a quirk of Turkish law form evicting them, they come to a strange kind of understanding with their new squatters. Lauded by T.C. Boyle as “tight and imaginative” this is the story of a city in transition and the uncertainty of life in a foreign country.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 10th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
DADA in LALA2! at Beyond Baroque
Three Rooms Press and Beyond Baroque present DADA in LALA2!, a disruptive performance of Dada Writing and Art, hell-bent on blowing minds plus the official west coast launch of Maintenant 11: A Journal of Contemporary DaDa Writing and Art.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Saturday the 10th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: http://beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
2017 Author Fair at El Segundo Library
This year’s Author Fair, titled Images of the Past Become Stories of the Future, will include four different author panel discussions:
SoCal History Writers, a panel featuring Huell Houser’s former cameraman Luis Fuerte, with his new book;
The History of Mystery, a panel moderated by El Segundo author Eric Beetner;
A Casual Talk with Hollywood, featuring comedian Grep Poops as moderator; and
Novel Inventions and Intriguing Stories, a fiction panel of various authors.
Other highlights include the traveling Centennial History Museum, local BBQ and more!
Where: El Segundo Public Library
Date: Sunday the 11th
Time: 11 am – 5 pm
Address: 111 W. Mariposa Ave. El Segundo, CA 90245
Website: http://www.elsegundo.org/cals/default.asp?ViewBy=0&CalDate=6/11/2017&EventDateID=57885 or http://www.elsegundo.org/library/
Top 10 Poets Anthology at Beyond Baroque
Beyond Baroque, Los Angeles Poets Society, Saturday Afternoon Poetry, Soap Box Poets, and Spectrum Publishing present Top Ten L.A. Poets of 2017 Anthology. Join them to hear a publication reading hosted by Don Kingfisher Campbell of the Top Ten L.A. Poets of 2017 Anthology.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Sunday the 11th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: http://beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
Anthony Poon at Diesel Bookstore
Join us to hear Anthony Poon discuss his book, Sticks & Stones / Steel & Glass: One Architect’s Journey, which begins with his re-envisioning a seaside public space as a very young architect. Poon has designed hundreds of buildings, nationally and internationally, from eco-friendly homes to public schools, from intimate retail venues and restaurants to sports arenas, from university housing to retreats and places of worship. He believes art is shelter and architecture is a social good.
Where: Diesel Bookstore, Brentwood
Date: Sunday the 11th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: http://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/anthony-poon-discusses-and-signs-sticks-stones-steel-glass
Cara Black at Vroman’s Bookstore
Join us to hear Cara Black, discuss and sign her new mystery book, Murder in Saint-Germain, set in Paris, July 1999, when a private investigator is accosted by a Brigade Criminelle agent on an elite counter-terrorism squad. Is she being stalked by a ghost—a Serbian warlord her team took down, or suffering from PTSD and imagining things?
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 11th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/cara-black-discusses-and-signs-murder-saint-germain
Roar Shack Presents Timeless
You don’t want to miss this lineup of lit talent: Roberto Loiederman, Bruce Ferber, Jen Huang, JoAnne Novak, Robin Rinaldi, and last month’s Live Write winner Lisbeth Coiman! Come be a part of the LA lit community family, won’t you?
Where: 826LA Eco Park
Date: Sunday the 11th
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: 1714 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90026
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1283226901774456/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%2222%22%2C%22feed_story_type%22%3A%2222%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&pnref=story
Voice in the Well Reading at Beyond Baroque
Please join us for a Public Works Improvisational Theatre presentation of lively cultural arts programming that celebrates the talents of local writers and artists. Hosted by Eric Vollmer.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Sunday the 11th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Los Angeles Literature 