Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS
Dennis Cooper & I Wished via Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Dennis Cooper will present I Wished, in which the author writes about George Miles, love, loss, addiction, suicide, and how fiction can capture these things, and how it also fails to capture them. .
I Wished is the author’s first novel in ten years, and it revisits the George Miles Cycle of acclaimed novels and the inspiration for the Cycle (Closer, Frisk, Try, Guide, and Period). This is his masterwork, and is his most raw, personal, and haunted book of all.
NOTE: See site for book purchase & event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Date: Monday the 11th
Time: 12 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event
Jaded Ibis Press & Skylight Present: Savannah Johnson, Kristen Millares Young, Erika T. Worth, with Lily Hoang via Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Savannah Johnson is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and she will present her debut story collection, Rites: Stories. Set in Oklahoma, these short stories document the quiet sorrow of everyday life as characters traverse the normalized, heartbreaking rites of passage, such as burying a family member, becoming a sex worker, or reconnecting with family after prison; the effects are subtle but loud.
Kristen Millares Young will present her debut novel, Subduction, which won the silver Nautilus and IPPY awards, among its other nominations. Her essays, reviews, and investigations appear widely, and she is editor of Seismic: Seattle, City of Literature, a finalist for the 2021 Washington State Book Award in Creative Nonfiction. She was researcher for the New York Times team that produced Snow Fall, which won a Pulitzer.
Erika T. Worth’s speculative novel is forthcoming from Flatiron/Macmillan. A writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, she teaches creative writing at Western Illinois University and has been guest writer at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her work has appeared in many journals, and she attended the Kenyon Review and Tin House workshops, and is narrative artist for the Meow Wolf Denver installation. She is of Apache/Chickasaw/Cherokee descent and was raised and lives in the Denver area.
Lily Hoang, moderator, is the author of five books, including A Bestiary, which was a PEN USA Non-Fiction Award finalist, and Changing, the recipient of a PEN Open Book Award. She has two works forthcoming in 2021: her novel Underneath, winner of the Red Hen Press Fiction Award, and the micro-tale collection, The Mute Kids (Spuyten Duyvil Press). She is Director of the MFA in Writing program at UC San Diego.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, book purchase & event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Date: Monday the 11th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Myriam J.A. Chancy, with Zinzi Clemmons, & What Storm, What Thunder via Vroman’s – Online Event
Join us to hear author Myriam J.A. Chancy, in conversation with Zinzi Clemmons, discuss her book, What Storm, What Thunder.
At the end of a long, sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of various characters affected by the disaster, and weaves together their disparate lives to give witness to the desolation wreaked by nature and by man. Brilliantly crafted, fiercely imagined, and deeply haunting, this book is a singular and stunning record of the heartbreaking trauma of disaster, and an unforgettable testimony to the tenacity of the human spirit.
NOTE: See site for event details and to purchase book.
Where: Vroman’s – Online Event
Date: Monday the 11th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online (See Site)
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/vromans-live-myriam-j-chancy-what-storm-what-thunder
Monday Night Fiction Workshop at Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online
The free Monday Night Fiction Workshop led by Raquel Baker is a community writing workshop in which participants are asked to bring copies of 2-3 pages of fiction to read, and for critique and discussion. Registration is required.
Raquel Baker earned a PhD in English Literary Studies from the University of Iowa and an MFA in Creative Writing form Mills College. She is currently Assistant Professor of Postcolonial Studies and Transnational Literatures at CSU Channel Islands. She also has published poetry and non-fiction, and done readings with the Ventura Poetry Project.
Where: Beyond Baroque – Online event (tickets at Eventbrite)
Date: Monday the 11th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: Zoom Online
Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html
Braintrust Poetry Writing Workshop with Jessie Jarrinvia The Poetry Lab – Online Zoom Event
Join us for the next Poetry Lab’s next Braintrust Poetry Writing Workshop, led by Jessi Jarrin, who will present this generative workshop on a theme TBA.
Jessi Jarrin is a half Korean, half Ecuadorian poet and writer from Lakewood, CA, and a CSU Long Beach alum with a BA in creative writing. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in the Santa Clara Review, PSPoets, Dig Magazine, MedWomxn Magazine, Rice and Spice, among others, She also serves as a contributing writer for Antifragile and The Daily 49er and is founder of Grieving is Good for You, a virtual poetry workshop focusing on the importance of expressing one’s joy and grief, launched earlier this year.
NOTE: See site for event details and cost schedule (from $3 donation).
Where: The Poetry Lab & Danielle Mitchell – Online Event
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: See Site
Website: https://www.thepoetrylab.com/braintrust-october-12
Expressions LA Virtual Poetry Readings & Open Mic via Studio City Branch, LAPL – Online Event
Join Expressions LA Poetry Readings & Open Mic for featured poetry readings and an Open Mic, held each month.
Please email Emily at eaaronson@lapl.org for instructions on how to join the program.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: LAPL (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-night
Virtual Poetry Open Mic via Westwood Branch, LAPL – Online Event
Join our Poetry Open Mic to share a poem you wrote or one you love, or just listen. Wyatt Underwood will serve as emcee.
To receive a Zoom invitation, please contact wwood@lapl.org
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: LAPL (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-open-mic-3
Robby Krieger & Set the Night on Fire via LiveTalks LA – Online Event
Join us to hear musician and author Robby Krieger, great guitarist and band member of The Doors, discuss his book. Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar With the Doors.
In his tell-all, the legendary guitarist, singer, songwriter, and author opens up about his band’s meteoric career, his own dark moments, and the most famous black eye in rock ‘n’ roll. Krieger is also an accomplished painter, and the co-founder of the annual Medock-Krieger Rock & Roll Golf Classic & All Star Concert.
NOTE: See site for event details and to purchase book.
Where: LiveTalks LA – Online Event
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: See Site
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/robby-krieger/
Andrea Elliott, with Brittany K. Barnett, & Invisible Child via Book Soup – Online Event
Author and Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Andrea Elliott, in conversation with Brittany K. Barnett, will present and discuss her book, Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City.
Invisible Child follows eight dramatic years in the life of a girl whose imagination is a soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. Dasani was named after the bottled water that signaled Brooklyn’s gentrification and the shared aspirations of a divided city. In this sweeping narrative, the author weaves the story of Dasani’s childhood with the history of her family, tracing the passage of her ancestors from slavery to the Great Migration north, and within the deepening chasm between rich and poor.
Dasani must guide her siblings through a city riddled by hunger, violence, drug addiction, homelessness, and the monitoring of child protective services, and becomes a fierce fighter to protect the ones she loves. When she escapes to enroll in a boarding school, she faces an impossible question: What if leaving poverty means abandoning your family, and yourself?
NOTE: See site for event details and to purchase book.
Where: Book Soup – Online Event
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: See Site
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/andrea-elliott-invisible-child-poverty-survival-hope-american-city
Rucker Moses & Theo Gangi & Kingston and the Echoes of Magic via Chevalier’s Books – Online Kids & YA Event
Authors of the Kingston duology, Rucker Moses & Theo Gangi, will present and discuss their second book, the graphic novel, Kingston and the Echoes of Magic.
Kingston and the Echoes of Magic is a sequel thatfollows Kingston and his friends, who must travel through the Realm to save their world from destruction. They find themselves traveling through time—from ancient Egypt to New York—to save their beloved Echo City.
Inspired by the magic of illusions, Rucker Moses conducted in-depth research on real 19th and 20th century Black magicians that has been woven into the series.
NOTE: See site for event details and to purchase book.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore – Online Kids Event
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: See Site
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/october-12-moses-gangi
Blackout Anthology Event & Six Authorsvia Vroman’s – Online Live Event
Join us to hear six beloved authors – Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany FD, Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk & Nicola Yoon– present and discuss the new anthology, Blackout, which celebrates the beauty of six couples and the unforgettable magic that can be found on a sweltering starry night in the city.
Dhonielle Clayton is the New York Times bestselling author of The Belles series, a nd co-founder of the Tiny Pretty Things duology, which was made into a Netflix original series. She is COO of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books and the owner of CAKE Literary.
Tiffany D, Jackson is the critically acclaimed author of Allegedly, Monday’s Not Coming, and Let Me Hear a Rhyme. A multiple prize winner, she received her BA in film at Howard University, and her MA in media studies from the New School. This Brooklyn native still resides in the borough she loves.
Nic Stone is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the William C. Morris Award finalist Dear Martin, Dear Justyce, Odd One Out, Jackpot, and Clean Getaway, and the Shuri novel series with Marvel Comics.
Angie Thomas is the author of the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling novels, The Hate U Give, On the Come Up, and Concrete Rose, as well as Find Your Voice: A Guided Journal for Writing Your Truth. A former teen rapper, She has a BFA in creative writing, and was born in and still resides in Mississippi.
Ashley Woodfolk worked in children’s book publishing before becoming an author full-time. Her novels include the highly acclaimed The Beauty That Remains and When You Were Everything.
Nicola Yoon is the bestselling author of Everything Everything and The Sun Is Also a Star, both of which have been adapted into major motion pictures. She is a multiple book award winner, and also co-publisher of Joy Revolution, a Random House young adult imprint focused on love stories starring people of color.
NOTE: See Site for details and guidelines.
Where: Vroman’s – Online Event
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Vroman’s – Online event
Mystery Book Club & The Bitter Taste of Murder via Pages Bookstore – In-Person Event
Pages Bookstore presents its monthly mystery Book Club which will meet in-person to discuss this month’s selection, The Bitter Taste of Murder, by Camilla Trinchieri.
This book is the follow-up to Murder in Chianti, and finds ex-NYPD detective Nico Doyle recruited by Italian authorities to investigate the murder of a prominent wine critic. One year after moving to his late wife’s home town of Gravigna, Nico has settled in and helps serve test recipes at his in-laws’ restaurant. But his landlord, whose vineyards the wine critic seemed intent on ruining, is enraged, and the victim’s vindictive personality earned him many enemies, so his poisoning is a complicated situation.
NOTE: See site for tickets, event details and to purchase book.
Where: Pages Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/mystery-book-club-person-3
Susan Orlean Presents: On Animals at Philosophical Research Society – In-Person Event
Susan Orlean will present and discuss her new book, On Animals.
This book from the New Yorker staff writer and acclaimed author of The Library Book and The Orchid Thief, is a collection of stories which consider a range of creatures—from household pets to those who comprise the meat on our plates, with whom we share our planet and who are central to human life. Equal parts delightful and profound, enriched by precise research, they celebrate the meaningful cross-species connections that grace our collective existence.
NOTE: See site for tickets & event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore at Philosophical Research Society – In-Person Event
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Adult Book Group & Migrations via Once Upon a Time Bookstore – Online Event
Once Upon a Time Bookstore presents its monthly Adult Book Group, a meeting of one of the longest running book discussion group events, via Zoom, which will discuss this month’s selection, MIgrations, by Charlotte McConaghy.
This book is an impressive debut novel which is also a big hearted environmental conservation novel about one woman’s passion to save the Arctic terns that are on their last migratory flight. It also trace the woman’s own migratory journey to save herself from a beleaguered past.
NOTE: See site for tickets, event details and to purchase book.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/adult-book-group-migrations-charlotte-mcconaghy-meeting-zoom
Tuesdays at the Virtual Cobalt: Poets Series Presents: Open Reading & Paul Corman Roberts – Virtual Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and guest poet Paul Corman Roberts.
Paul Corman Roberts is a poet and writer living in the Bay Area, and the author most recently of Bone Moon Palace (Nomadic Press, 2021), and the author of the poetry and prose collections We Shoot Typewriters, Notes From an Orgy, and 19th Street Station.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: http://poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html
Da Poetry Lounge Open Mic at Greenway Court Theatre Is Now Virtual – IG Online
DPL events at the Greenway Court Theatre are postponed until further notice.
DPL has an open mic every Tuesday night. There is a sign-up procedure and a three-minute time limit per performer.
Where: Online IG event
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 8 pm
Address: Online event (Check to verify)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/da_poetry_lounge/ (Check to verify)
Coffee Time Book Club & Lauren Groff’s Matrix via Pages Bookstore – In-Person Event
Pages Bookstore presents its monthly Coffee Time Book Club, which will meet in-person to discuss this month’s selection, recently announced finalist for the 2021 National Book award in Fiction, Matrix, by Lauren Groff.
This book is Lauren Groff’s first new novel since her groundbreaking Fates and Furies, and Matrix is a thrilling character study of seventeen-year-old Marie de France, who is cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life. Marie, the last of a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is sent to be new prioress of an impoverished abbey, where she finds focus and love in her new life as well as something new in her devotion to her sisters and her divine visions. This story is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupt world.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, event details and to purchase book.
Where: Pages Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 10:30 am
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/coffee-time-book-club-person-1
Children’s Book Club: Book Chat with Authors Rashad Doucet & Jason Reeves via Los Angeles Public Library – Online Kids Event
Join us for a children’s chat with authors Rashad Doucet and Jason Reeves, who will discuss their book, Pax Samson: The Cookout.
This program is for children ages 9 to 12 years old.
NOTE: Email Ms. Lauren at lkratz@lapl.org to attend or obtain a book.
Where: LAPL – Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online – See Site
Frank Bello, with Joel McIver & Jose Mangin, & Fathers, Brothers, and Sons via Book Soup – Online Event
Anthrax bassist Frank Bello, in conversation with Joel McIver & Jose Mangin, will present and discuss his book, Fathers. Brother and Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment, and Anthrax.
This memoir is a gripping read, beyond the author‘s tales of the touring life of a musician, as he grew up in difficult circumstances in a violent family, and had to find his own way in his personal life. His sense of humor and perspective helped him navigate through life’s challenges and here he passes on his wisdom.
NOTE: See site for event details and to purchase book.
Where: Book Soup – Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 6 pm
Address: See Site
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/frank-bello-fathers-brothers-and-sons
Writing Workshop with Matt Sedillo via Re/Arte Centro Literario – In-Person Event
Join us for a writing workshop, hosted by Chicano Political Poet, Matt Sedillo.
Matt Sedillo is an El Sereno native, a political activist, speaker, and writer, and author of the poetry collection, Mowing Leaves of Grass (Flowersong Press, 2019).
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Re/Arte Centro Literario – In-Person event
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 2014 ½ E. Cesar E. Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 900333
Website: https://reartela.com/events%2Feventos
Dormant Rose Poetry Writing Workshop via Los Angeles Public Library – Online Event
Join us for the Dormant Rose Poetry Writing Workshop, and study a different poet each month via Zoom. Then, write poetry based on that poet’s style.
NOTE: Email nohlwd@lapl.org to attend at least one day before the meeting.
Where: North Hollywood Regional Library, LAPL – Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm
Address: Online – See Site
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/dormant-rose-poetry-writing-workshop-0
Pacoima Branch Library Book Club & Manhattan Beach via Los Angeles Public Library – Online Event
Join us for the Pacoima Branch Book Club, as we discuss the most recent book from 2011 Pulitzer Prize winning author Jennifer Egan (A Visit from the Goon Squad), her novel Manhattan Beach.
Anna Kerrigan’s father has disappeared from Brooklyn, New York years before World War II. Missing him from the age of 12, she grows up to become one of the first women divers repairing vessels of war in 1942. But what has happened to her father, and who is the mysterious gangster Dexter Styles? This atmospheric tale will keep you turning pages!
NOTE: Email nohlwd@lapl.org to attend at least one day before the meeting.
Where: North Hollywood Regional Library, LAPL – Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm
Address: Online – See Site
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-1
Writers Bloc Presents: Timothy Snyder & Nora Krug, with Adam Gopnick, & On Tyranny via Skylight Bookstore – Online Livestream Event
Author and Yale Professor of History Timothy Snyder and graphic artist/illustrator Nora Krug, in conversation with author and contributor to The New Yorker Adam Gopnick, will present and discuss their book, On Tyranny Graphic Edition: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (Paperback).
This book’s slight size is deceptive in its power. When this book emerged in 2017, Timothy Snyder warned us that in the 1920s and 30s many European democracies didn’t believe that their countries could or would ever succumb to Nazism, Fascism, or other forms of authoritarianism. But the rest is history; very recent history. Nora Krug’s art adds a visually striking and engaging clarity to a necessary primer in social activism.
NOTE: See site for event details. A YouTube video will be posted after the event.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online – See Site
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/writers-bloc-presents-timothy-snyder-and-nora-krug-adam-gopnik
At Skylight: Erika Schickel, with Caitlin Flanagan, & The Big Hurt via Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event
Author Erika Schickel, in conversation with author Caitlin Flanagan, will present and discuss her book, The Big Hurt: A Memoir.
This complex memoir shows what it was like for the author to grow up in the shadow of a literary father and a neglectful mother, getting thrown out of boarding school after being seduced by a teacher, and all the later-life consequences that ensue. In the wake of her writer parents’ divorce, she was packed off to a bohemian boarding school in the Berkshires, and after that scandal she explores how she turned out and grew up, as well as how her mother created a second life and fame and shame. These tow coming of age tales look at a legacy of shame passed down through a maternal bloodline and the cost of epigenetic trauma.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-erika-schickel-presents-big-hurt-caitlin-flanagan
Anansi Virtual Writers Workshop via The World Stage – In-Person Event
Join this weekly community workshop founded in 1990, and following a three-part format, by joining in via Zoom every Wednesday night at 7:30 pm.
We return to the building after a 15-month, Covid-19 imposed exile, where the faithful met weekly via Zoom online. We are currently working on the process to continue to include our online community each session. WELCOME HOME!
In its 30th year, the Anansi Writers Workshop is a workshop and open mic performance featuring L.A.’s freshest, most inspiring voices speaking their truth in poetry and prose.
Suggested: $5.00 Donation via PayPal: The World Stage Gallery.
NOTE: See site for further details, and any change in the schedule. Contact kaliflowers@gmial.com or call (323) 293-2451
Where: The World Stage (Eventbrite)
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4321 Dengan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.theworldstage.org/events.html or https://www.facebook.com/events/2956323597961149/
Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop via Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online
Join Beyond Baroque’s longest running free poetry workshop via Zoom online as we welcome new and seasoned poets to share their work and provide feedback. Facilitators are rotated quarterly, and the current facilitator is Joseph Rios.
Joseph Rios is the author of Shadowboxing: Poems and Impersonations (Omnidawn), winner of the American Book Award, and was named one of the notable debut poets by Poets & Writers Magazine for 2017. He is currently attending the low residency MFA program at Bennington College.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets and information.
Where: Online event (Eventbrite)
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html
Wednesday Night Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Join Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry for the Wednesday Night Open Mic, in person at the Ugly Mug in Orange, CA.
Happy October friends! Come down to the Ugly Mug Cafe with your poetry for an autumnal open mic!
$4 cover fee, cash only. Masks are required unless eating or drinking.
NOTE: See site for further details, guidelines & information.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Two-Idiots-Peddling-Poetry-23001953541/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/287579686535435?ref=newsfeed
Author Talk: Henry Barajas & Helm Greycastle via Los Angeles Public Library – Online Event
Join us to celebrate Latinx Heritage Month with a conversation with author Henry Barajas (La Voz Mayo: Tata Rambo), who will discuss his mew Latinx fantasy series Helm Greycastle.
There will be a moderated discussion followed by an audience Q&A.
Where: North Hollywood Regional Library, LAPL – Online Event
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: Online – See Site
Writing Personal History: Authors Jen Winston & Qian Julie Wangvia Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Authors Jen Winston & Qian Julie Wang will present and discuss their new books, respectively: Greedy: Notes From a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much and Beautiful Country: A Memoir.
Greedy: Notes From a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much, by Jen Winston, is a hilarious and whip-smart collection of essays, offering an intimate look at bisexuality, gender, and of course, sex. This book is perfect for anyone who wants, and deserves to be, seen. She takes us inside her journey of self-discovery, and explores the male gaze, what it means to be “queer enough,” and how to overcome bi stereotypes, when you’re a poster child for all of them. It’s about finding stability in a state of flux, and defining yourself on your own terms.
Beautiful Country: A Memoir, by Qian Julie Wang, is an incandescent debut which puts readers in the shoes of an undocumented child living in poverty in the richest country in the world. In Chinese, the work for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to “beautiful country.” After arriving in New York from China with her family at age seven, she is shunned in school for her limited English and finds solace in the library where she masters the language through books, and finds joy in small excursions in the city with her family. When her mother dies from and illness she kept secret, the family fractures further. As she comes of age in the shadows, she never stops seeking the light.
NOTE: See site for event details and to purchase book.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Conversation with Rosecrans Baldwin & Gustavo Arellano & Everything Now via Village Well Books & Wende Museum Garden & Zoom – Hybrid Event
Author Rosecrans Baldwin, in conversation with author and LA Times columnist Gustavo Arellano, will discuss his new book, Everything Now, which brings a new understanding of Los Angeles, the nation’s most confounding metropolis. This conversation is a must for Angelenos, urban thinkers, and architects interested in new perspectives of the city they inhabit and work in. This event is presented with the AIALA Urban Design Committee and Village Well Books, and hosted by the Wende Museum.
Rosecrans Baldwin is a regular contributor to GQ and Travel & Leisure and his work has been featured in the Best American Essays and Best American Travel Writing collections.
Gustavo Arellano is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, covering Southern California and beyond. He was a reporter and editor of OC Weekly, and gained national acclaim for his column Ask a Mexican, among other works.
NOTE: See site for free RSVP and event details.
Where: The Wende Museum Garden & Zoom Online – Hybrid Event
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 10808 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1028326257709872 or http://wendemuseum.org/programs/conversation-rosecrans-baldwin-and-gustavo-arellano?fbclid=IwAR3jOKMBNZAYXmSU7nXmmmnUW4ok-q2SSgXl_BFJx_tSy9TMtHqPqCeN9zE
Sabor y Cultura: fos_thursdays Open Mic – Instagram Event
Please enjoy the Sabor y Cultura Open Mic on Instagram Live on Thursdays at 8pm PST.
This is an Instagram online event.
NOTE: Sign-ups open on Wednesday at 3 pm.
Where: Online event (see site)
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 8 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/fos_thursdays/ (Confirm at site)
Writers Bloc & LA World Affairs Council: Dr. Fiona Hill, with Doyle McManus, & There Is Nothing for You Here via Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Join us for a conversation with Fiona Hill, author and former senior director for European & Russian Affairs at the UN National Security Council and foreign policy expert, in conversation with Doyle McManus, Washington DC columnist for the Los Angeles Times and director of the journalism program at Georgetown University, to discuss her book, There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century.
Dr. Hill startled the nation and U.S. allies during her testimony as a key witness in the first impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, who has served three presidents, including Trump, Obama, and George W. Bush. She is currently the Robert Bosch Senior Fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institute. In this new book, she details her story of leaving an economically devastated part of England, to emerge as an internationally renowned expert on Russia.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, details, and book purchase.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online event
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Bookish Event Discussion: Alice Hoffman, John Lithgow & Mary Roach via Southern California News Group – Online Event
Join us for our latest Bookish conversation with authors, thinkers and performers, with our host, actress, writer, and radio personality Sandra Tsing Loh.
Today’s guests include:
Alice Hoffman is the acclaimed bestselling author of many books, including: The Book of Magic: A Novel (The Practical Magic Series #4) and Practical Magic: 25th Anniversary Edition (The Practical Magic Series #1).
John Lithgow is an award winning actor known for his films, plays, and such popular long-running TV shows as Third Rock from the Sun. He is also the author of Drama: An Actor’s Education.
Mary Roach is the author of the new nonfiction book, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, a look at various unique human encounters with wildlife, which are increasing as land development shrinks wildlife habitat.
NOTE: See Site for registration details, book purchases, and link.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore & SoCal News Group – Online
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/bookish-october
Jo Piazza & Christine Pride, with Kiki Koroshetz, & We Are Not Like Them via Book Soup – Online Event
Authors Jo Piazza & Christine Pride, in conversation with Kiki Koroshetz, will present and discuss their new novel, We Are Not Like Them: A Novel.
This is a story about lifelong friends Jen and Riley, whose adult lives have taken different turns, and how those differences now threaten their bond. Jen is married to a police officer and pregnant after years of trying. Riley is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in hometown Philadelphia. When Jen’s husband is involved in the shooting of an unarmed black teen, her life is thrown into freefall. Meanwhile, Riley wrestles with the implications of this incident for the community while weighing her ambitions and their relationship. This book explores complex questions of race and how they pervade and shape our most intimate spaces in a deeply divided world.
NOTE: See website for online link, book purchase, and further details.
Where: Book Soup – Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/jo-piazza-and-christine-pride-we-are-not-them
At Skylight: Ricardo Wilson, with Aimee Bender, & An Apparent Horizon via Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Join us to hear author Ricardo Wilson, in conversation with author Aimee Bender (The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, The Butterfly Lampshade), to discuss his book, An Apparent Horizon and Other Stories.
This book takes the reader to the turn of the 20th century during the construction of the Panama Canal, the avant-garde theatre scene of New York in the early 1970s, and a present day textured by psychic and physical violence inflicted on Black life. The novella that gives the collection its name follows Mar Gillette. a white environmental activist in the weeks following her failed hunger strike in the California desert. When she learns she has a half-brother who perished in the 1992 civil unrest, she must try to suture the distances in her life—with her mother, father, herself, and the city. This story, like the others in the collection, is also a meditation of that which is irreconcilable in our lives and escapes recording.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, details, and book purchase.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Ron Howard & Clint Howard & The Boys via L.A. Times Book Club & Vroman’s Bookstore – Online & In-Person Event
Join us for a hybrid LA Times Book Club event to hear actors and filmmakers and now authors Ron Howard & Clint Howard present and discuss their book, The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family. The authors will be in conversation with Times columnist Mary McNamara.
In this book, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard and actor Clint Howard bring reads inside a childhood spent on TV, growing up amid sound stages, Hollywood legends and trained bears. The Howard brothers rose to fame on popular shows of the 1960s and 70s. Ron Howard starred on “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Happy Days,” before he shifted to directing. Younger brother Clint Howard starred on “Gentle Ben” and appeared on shows ranging from “The Mod Squad” to “Star Trek.” Here they reflect on the importance of family and share their memories, and dig deeper into examining the industry with the perspective of life experience behind them.
NOTE: See site for event cost, details and to purchase book from Vroman’s Bookstore.
Where: LA Live’s Rooftop Terrace at Grammy Museum – In-Person & Vroman’s Virtual Event
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 800 West Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-club-with-ron-howard-and-clint-howard-in-person-and-virtual-tickets-170075268707?aff=ebdsoporgprofile or https://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/la-times-book-club-ron-howard-and-clint-howard-co-authors-boys
Frogtown Art Walk: Doors Drummer John Densmore, with Rex Weiner, & The Seekers via EVAC LA Icon Series – Virtual Zoom Event
Author and musician John Densmore will presenthis new book The Seekers, and will be in conversation with Jon Weiner, journalist and author of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane.
The Seekers: Meetings with Remarkable Musicians (and other Artists) is John Densmore’s third book, and he has the heart of a seeker, but aims for the core moment of the people he was drawn to by his uncanny ability to divine wisdom throughout his frenzied life. The iconic drummer of The Doors investigates his own relationship with creativity and performers in this compelling and spellbinding memoir.
NOTE: See website for online link, book purchase, and further details.
Where: Elysian Valley Arts Collective – Virtual Zoom event (see details at website link)
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: Elysian Valley Arts Collective – Online event
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/CUoMHfepeUa/ or https://www.evartscollective.com/current-clases or https://www.instagram.com/p/CUBdbU_J9bs/
Third Fridays Rapp Saloon at Home: Poetry Open Mic, curated by Elena Secota, featuring: Greg Bell, Clare Chu & Josie Roth – Virtual Zoom Event
The Third Fridays Rapp Saloon Open Mic events have been curated by Elena Secota, for the past ten years.
This month at Third Fridays Rapp Saloon, the features are poets: Greg Bell and Clare Chu, and violist Josie Roth.
Greg Bell has been writing poetry all his life as a matter of necessity. He facilitates the Green Poets Workshop at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice, CA. He is author of the plays “Alms for Oblivion” and “Polestar.”
Clare Chu was raised in Malta and England, and adopted Palm Springs, CA as her home. She is an art curator, dealer, lecturer and writer and has published twelve books and articles on Asian art. Her debut poetry collection, The Sand Dune Teacher, was published by UnCollected Press in June, 2020. She is a 2021 Pushcart nominee.
Josie Roth is a violinist and has played since age seven. She attended Carnegie Mellon University, majoring in art, and continued her art studies at the San Francisco Art Institute receiving a BA in Painting.
NOTE: See website link for details. Zoom details will be sent when you RSVP.
Where: Third Fridays Rapp Saloon (online)
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Address: Virtual event
Website: https://www.facebook.com/therappsaloonpoetryreading/
Graphic Novel Book Club & In Waves via Bel Canto Books – Online Event
To celebrate Filipino American History Month, the Graphic Novel Book Club will read and discuss the book In Waves, by AJ Dungo, author, surfer and illustrator. This debut graphic novel is part memoir and part history in a tender examination of grief and healing. It is a visually arresting work that remembers the author’s late partner and their shared love of surfing, which endured through their difficult times together.
NOTE: See website for online link, registration, and further details.
Where: Bel Canto Books – Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 10 am – 12 pm
Address: Online event (see website)
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/book-clubs
Creative Writing Workshop via LAwritersgroup.com – Online Event
Get words on the page and meet other writers in this online creative writing workshop.
NOTE: See website for online link and further details. Tickets are available via Eventbrite.
Where: Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 10 am – 12:30 pm
Address: Online event (see website)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1256929608015812/
The 44 Poetry Class (Level 1) via Sims Library of Poetry – Online Zoom Event
The 44 Poetry Class is a collaboration between the Community Literature Initiative and the Sims Library of Poetry focused on teaching writers how to improve their poetry and giving them space to write and recite their work. This class is for beginner poets, who are looking to enhance their craft.
You will learn about: literary devices; rhythm, meter, rhyme, syllabic count; poetic forms; and performance poetry/spoken word.
NOTE: See website link for tuition costs, registration, perks & details.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry – Online Zoom event
Date: Saturday the 16th (every 1st & 3rd Saturday of the month, starting on Oct. 2nd)
Time: 10 am
Address: See site
Website: https://www.simslibraryofpoetry.org/44-poetry-class
2021 Virtual Leimert Park Book Fair via Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza – Online Virtual Event
The 14 Annual Leimert Park Book fair will be a virtual event, presenting headliners. Book Club favorites, and up-and-coming new authors and their works.
This is the largest African American book fair on the west coast, centered in one of the most historic cultural areas of Los Angeles. There are special events, panel discussions, poetry readings, exhibitions, children’s activities, cooking stage entertainment, and much more!
NOTE: See website link for full schedule, registration & details.
Where: Leimert Park Village – Online event
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 10 am –
Address: Online event (See site)
Website: https://www.leimertparkbookfair.com/
LGBTQIA Book Club & Confessions of the Fox via LA Public Library – Online Event
Join us to read and discuss Jordy Rosenberg’s book, Confessions of the Fox. This book is an action adventure tale and an ambitious debut novel that doubles as an intimate meditation on belonging and a political history.
All are welcome. Email silver@lapl.org for the meeting link.
NOTE: See Site for details and registration.
Where: LAPL – Online Zoom Event
Date: Saturday the 16nd
Time: 12 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/lgbtqia-book-club-7
Social Justice Book Club & I’m Still Here via Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – Online Event
Join our Social Justice Book Club to read and discuss Austin Channing Brown’s book, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. This stunning debut is an illuminating look at how white middle class, Evangelicalism has participated in an era of rising racial hostility and support of white supremacy among Christians. She is an example of how one woman can change the world by telling the truth about her life with unflinching courage.
All are welcome to join and see registration link in bio.
NOTE: See Site for details and registration.
Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – Online Zoom Event
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 12 pm – 1:30 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/TiaChuchasCentroCultural/photos/4547438161984053
Writer’s Workshop with Viva Padilla via Re/Arte Centro Literario – In-Person Event
Join us for an introduction to submitting your writing to journals and magazines. Incudes career advice, and writing feedback. Bring your work and a notebook.
NOTE: See website for registration, donation, and further details.
Where: Re/Arte Centro Literario – In-Person Event
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: 2014 ½ E. Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://reartela.com/events%2Feventos
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Lisbeth Coiman, Marc Olmstead & Conney Williams & Open Reading – via Zoom Online
Join Saturday Afternoon Poetry for featured readings and an Open Mic hosted by DKC, and featuring:
Lisbeth Coiman is a writer, poet, educator and the author of I Asked the Blue Heron and Uprising/Alzamiento (2021), the latter of which is a bilingual collection dedicated to her homeland, Venezuela.
Marc Olmstead has long published in webzines, and his oil portrait of Kerouac, “Jack’s Empty Phantom” hangs in North Beach’s Beat Museum.
Conney Williams is a Los Angeles based poet, actor, and performance artist, and the author most recently of The Distance of Observation. He curates poetry events in Los Angeles, and cultural events at the Leimert Park Village Book Fair and The World Stage, among others.
All events are curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: Online Zoom Event
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Vroman’s Presents: Congressman Adam Schiff, with Jason Alexander, & Midnight in Washington via Vroman’s – Offsite In-Person Event
Join Vroman’s Bookstore for an in-person offsite event celebrating the release of Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could, by Congressman and author Adam Schiff, who will be in conversation with actor Jason Alexander.
In this book Adam Schiff argues that the Trump Presidency has so weakened our institutions and compromised the Republican Party that the peril will last for years, requiring unprecedented vigilance against the growing and dangerous appeal of authoritarianism. Schiff’s fight for democracy through impeachment of Trump and the January 6 insurrection, shows us how the anti-democratic forces unleashes will continue to define our challenges and make the future of democracy more uncertain than ever.
NOTE: See website for tickets, further details and to purchase book.
Where: Pasadena Presbyterian Church – In-Person event (see details at site)
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 585 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena CA
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/adam-schiff-midnight-in-washington
Music & Poetry Night: Kevin Campbell & Jade Harvey via My Place Cafe – In-Person Event
My Place Café’s Music and Poetry Night welcomes musician Kevin Campbell and poet Jade Harvey, who will perform music and read poetry.
Kevin Campbell will be playing an acoustic set. His new record, Running Out of Air, is out now!
Jade Harvey is a poet who has been featured in Enjambed Magazine. She was co-host of our Labor Day Special.
NOTE: See website for event details and guidelines.
Where: My Place Cafe – Online event
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 2057 N. Los Robles Ave., Unit #10, Pasadena, CA 91104
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1450405445332045
Sunday Series with Lynne Thompson & Generative Poetry Writing Workshop via The Poetry Lab – Online Event
The Poetry Lab is excited to welcome current LA Poet Laureate, poet and author Lynne Thompson, who will lead a combination craft talk and creative poetry writing workshop.
Lynne Thompson is the author of the collections Beg No Pardon (2007), Start with a Small Guitar (2013), and Fretwork (2019), winner of the Marsh Hawk Poetry Prize. She is the recipient of multiple awards and has been widely anthologized. She serves on the boards of Cave Canem, LARB, and the Scripps College Board of Trustees among other endeavors.
NOTE: See website for registration, and event details.
Where: The Poetry Lab – Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Sunday the 17th
Time: 1 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: The Poetry Lab – Online (see site)
Website: https://www.thepoetrylab.com/sunday-series
Voman’s Live: Hillary Rodham Clinton & Louise Penny & State of Terror via Vroman’s – Online Event
Join us for a book talk with authors Hillary Rodham Clinton & Louise Penny who will present their new novel, State of Terror, in conversation with Robert B. Barnett.
In this story there is no love lost between the new president and his new Secretary of State, Ellen Adams. It’s a canny move on his part because taking the job means Adams must step down as head of her multinational media conglomerate. When a series of terrorist attacks begins a race to develop new nuclear weapons, they must mount a new team to combat the carefully constructed conspiracy confronting them.
NOTE: See website for further details.
Where: Vroman’s – Online Event
Date: Sunday the 17th
Time: 2 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Erika Schickel, with Annabelle Gurwitch, & The Big Hurt via Pages Bookstore – In-Person Event
Author Erika Schickel, in conversation with author Annabelle Gutwitch, will present and discuss her book, The Big Hurt: A Memoir.
This complex memoir shows what it was like for the author to grow up in the shadow of a literary father and a neglectful mother, getting thrown out of boarding school after being seduced by a teacher, and all the later-life consequences that ensue. In the wake of her writer parents’ divorce, she was packed off to a bohemian boarding school in the Berkshires, and after that scandal she explores how she turned out and grew up, as well as how her mother created a second life and fame and shame. These tow coming of age tales look at a legacy of shame passed down through a maternal bloodline and the cost of epigenetic trauma.
NOTE: See site for tickets & event details.
Where: Pages Bookstore – In-Person Event
Date: Sunday the 17th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/erika-shickel-annabelle-gurwitch
Writers Bloc Presents: Congressman Adam Schiff & Midnight in Washington via Writers bloc– Offsite In-Person Event
Join Writers Bloc for an in-person offsite event celebrating the release of Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could, by Congressman and author Adam Schiff.
In this book Adam Schiff argues that the Trump Presidency has so weakened our institutions and compromised the Republican Party that the peril will last for years, requiring unprecedented vigilance against the growing and dangerous appeal of authoritarianism. Schiff’s fight for democracy through impeachment of Trump and the January 6 insurrection, shows us how the anti-democratic forces unleashes will continue to define our challenges and make the future of democracy more uncertain than ever.
NOTE: See website for tickets, guidelines& details and to purchase book.
Where: Robert Frost Auditorium – In-Person event (see details at site)
Date: Sunday the 17th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 4401 Elenda St., Culver City CA 90230
Feminist AF Book Event via Bel Canto Books – In-Person Event
Celebrate the BCB book launch of Feminist AF: A Guide to Crushing Girlhood by Brittney Cooper, Susana Morris, and Chanel Tanner.
This empowering guide combines hip hop and feminism with attitude, and covers colorism and politics, romance and pleasure, code-switching, and sexual violence.
NOTE: See website for online link, registration, and further details.
Where: Bel Canto Books at The Hangout (see details at website link)
Date: Sunday the 17th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 2122 E. 4th St., Long Beach CA 90814
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events
Los Angeles Literature 