The city and Southland’s free books-and-authors festival returns for its 7th year with two days of panels, discussions, readings, workshops, performances, and literary activities. Over 150 authors and special guest speakers will appear in over 50 events from the afternoon into the late evening. LitFest Pasadena is held throughout the historic Pasadena Playhouse District at Vroman’s Bookstore, the Pasadena Playhouse, and other local establishments.

Saturday & Sunday, May 19 & 20, 2018
1:00pm to 10:00pm
Pasadena’s Playhouse District
FREE

Highlights From Schedule

Who Do You Think You Are?: A Teen Writing Workshop Presented by Tunnel Magazine
May 19 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

About: An interactive workshop and panel discussion that explores personal expression and self-identity in a world that stereotypes youth. This event is presented by TUNNEL MAGAZINE, an online and sometimes irl art community for young people based in Los Angeles. Presented by teens for teens!

Led by Amelia Anthony, Editor in Chief, Brandon Yung, & Tunnel Magazine contributors!

Location: New School of Cooking, 525 E Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91101

The Future of Publishing
May 19 @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Note: Featuring Los Ángeles independent literary presses

About: Five small presses with a wide range of specialties—fiction, children’s books, literature in translation, poetry, cookbooks—talk about the challenges and opportunities in book publishing in the near future, and how they’re looking to innovate and look beyond the corporate Big Five publishing model.

Featured Guests: Featuring: Neela Banerjee, Kaya Press; Ariana Stein, Lil Libros; Ross Ufberg, New Vessel; Tobi Harper, Red Hen Press; Colleen Dunn Bates, Prospect Park – Moderator.

Location: Pasadena Playhouse Library 39 S El Molino Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101 

The Ovary Office: Women of the World Stage
May 19 @ 4:15 pm – 5:15 pm

About: The Ovary Office was founded by V.Kali, the poetry director at The World Stage. The Ovary Office features female poets who read strong, activist-based, shameless poetry that places the pussy, front and center (so to speak.) We read in a “court-like” setting bringing up “witnesses” or demanding “order in the court.” The group’s first performance was last year’s LitCrawl. Readers include founder, V Kali, organizer Pam Ward, Bridgette Bianca and Jaha Zainabu. The group formed at a Harriet Tubman reading at The World Stage in Leimert Park considered the mecca of art / music / literary art.

Location: The Stand Courtyard, 36 S El Molino Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101

Adventures in Story Time! Middle Grade Authors Read Favorite Passages from Their Books–Young Readers
May 19 @ 4:15 pm – 5:15 pm

About: Join us in the magical Pasadena Playhouse Library for story time! Middle grade authors (several who appeared on the earlier middle grade panel) will entertain kids by reading favorite passages from their books! Don’t miss the fun!

Featuring: Armand Baltazar (Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic), Danielle Davis (Zinnia and the Bees), Sally Pla (The Someday Birds), Jennifer Torres (Stef Soto, Taco Queen), Tom Rogers (Eleven), Dana Middleton (Open If You Dare), and more!

Location: Pasadena Playhouse Library 39 S El Molino Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101 United States

LA Queer Lit Reading: From Choppers to Burning Leaves
May 19 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

About: These queer readers write poetry and prose spanning from Hawaii to Australia, from choppers overhead to the burning leaves that will never settle upon our souls. Come to enjoy the diversity of Los Angeles queer literature by these incredible writers. Sponsored by Red Hen Press.

Featured Guests: Ryka Aoki (Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon This Soul), David Francis (Wedding Bush Road), Gabriel Jesiolowski (As Burning Leaves), Steven Reigns (Inheritance), and Veronica Reyes (Chopper Chopper!), & Tobi Harper – MC

Location: Pasadena Playhouse Friendship Room 39 S El Molino Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101

Indigenous Hearths: California American Indian Women Writers, Warriors and Educators
May 20 @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

About: Join us as we explore the role of the indigenous woman storyteller in today’s society and the contemporary social, cultural and political issues confronting indigenous women, writers, activists and educators in a changing world. How far have we actually come from the displacement and relocation of California tribes? How are we translating these issues into narratives that impact change?

Featuring: Johnnie Jae (Journalist and Founder of A Tribe Called Geek); Terria Smith (Editor of News from Native California & Director of California Indian Publishing at Heyday); Dr. Melissa Leal (Executive Director of Education at Wilton Rancheria, University of California, Davis); and Shonda Buchanan (Award-winning poet and educator) – Moderator

Location: The Andalucia 686 E Union St. Pasadena, CA 91101

PilipinX America: Southern California Pinays Voice Out — Reading and Panel
May 20 @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

About: Our landscape of PilipinX poetry is transnational, immigrant, queer, second generation and as diverse as our personal histories and circumstances. As educators, healers, artists, human rights and non- human animal activists, we reclaim spaces, battle erasure, create pleasures and render the publishing, dissemination, and reading of poetry as socially engaged practices that keep the communities we live and work in, aware and involved. We situate our works in intersectional and feminist social spaces where conversations about race, gender, class, ability, ethnicity and identities are deemed crucial to our survival and our well-being.Signing hosted after panel.

Featuring: Michelle Castillo, Rachelle Cruz (God’s Will for Monsters), Angela Penaredondo (All Things Lose Thousands of Times), Melissa Roxas & Irene Suico Soriano (Primates from an Archipelago).

Location: El Portal Patio 695 E Green St. Pasadena, CA 91101

Poets & Allies for Resistance
May 20 @ 4:15 pm – 5:15 pm

About: Poets & Allies for Resistance presents numerous Black poets from across Southern California reading poems about social justice issues. Poets & Allies for Resistance is a bi-monthly reading series created to participate in the Black Lives Matter conversation. P & A features 2 Black poets and has an open mic and book giveaway on the first Monday of even months at The Sidewalk Cafe in Pasadena.

Featured Guests: Khadija Anderson, Nikki Blak, Zoe Blaq, October Blu, Derek D. Brown, Eric DeVaughn, Arlene Diaz, Marvin Dorsey, James Evert Jones, J.G. Finch, A Kold Piece, S. Pearl Sharp, Romaine Washington, and Conney Williams

Location: The Stand Courtyard 36 S El Molino Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101

The Storytellers of Our Community
May 20 @ 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm

About: Join us for an intimate reading by storytellers from the Leimert Park Village and Community Literature Initiative. Each storyteller is a newly released author sharing pieces from their debut works of art.

Featured Guests: Erika Ayón, Nadia Hunter Bey, Tommy Domino, Penelope Lowder, and Jaha Zainabu

Location: The Stand Courtyard 36 S El Molino Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101

Find rest of of schedule here: http://litfestpasadena.org/schedule/