Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS
Moira First Press Reading Series: Jose Hernandez Diaz & Open Micvia Woodbury University/ Microsoft Teams & In-Person – Hybrid Event
Join Woodbury University for the next Moira First Press Reading & Open Mic event, offered both virtually and in-person, to hear featured artist, Jose Hernandez Diaz.
Jose Hernandez Diaz is a 2017 NEA Fellow, and the author of The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020). His work has been published or featured in The American Poetry Review, Boulevard, Crazyhorse, Georgia Review, Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Times, LitHub, The Nation, Poetry, and in The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He has been a finalist for The Andres Montoya Prize, The Colorado Prize, The Akron Prize, and the National Poetry Series. Currently he is an Associate Editor a Frontier Poetry and a Guest Editor at Palette Poetry. He teaches creative writing online for Litro Magazine, Frontier Poetry, and other venues.
NOTE: See site to complete online RSVP form, to receive meeting link & details.
Where: Woodbury University – Hybrid Event
Date: Monday the 15th
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 7500 Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank, CA 91510
Website: https://www.moriaonline.com/first-press-reading-series
Bob Spitz, with Ann Wilson (HEART), & Led Zeppelin: The Autobiography via Book Soup & Changing Hands Bookstores – Online Event
Please join author Bob Spitz, in conversation with musician Ann Wilson (HEART), to hear them discuss Led Zeppelin: The Autobiography.
From the author of the definitive New York Times bestselling history of The Beatles, Bob Spitz, comes the authoritative account of the group many call the greatest rock band of all time, arguably the most successful, and certainly one of the most notorious: Led Zeppellin.
No one has lived up to the dream of “rock star” quite like Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. In this book, Bob Spitz takes their measure, separating myth from reality with his trademark storytelling flair. Led Zeppelin gave no quarter, and this book is the full and honest reckoning the band richly deserves.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, tickets & event details.
Where: Book Soup & Changing Hands – Online Event
Date: Monday the 15th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Santa Monica Main Library Book Group & Blindness, by Jose Santiago – Online Zoom Event
Please join the Santa Monica Main Branch Book Group for a community conversation about the November monthly selection, Blindness, by author and Portugese Nobel Prize winner Jose Santiago.
This classic speculative fiction novel begins in an unnamed city when a man is suddenly stuck blind while driving in traffic. The whole story hinges on a “what if,” and as it progresses it becomes a spreading blight for everyone. This story of an unprecedented epidemic and its consequences seems timely now, in the wake of our own epidemic.
NOTE: See site for RSVP & event details.
Where: Santa Monica Main Public Library – Online Zoom Event
Date: Monday the 15th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=33661
At Skylight: Rax King, with Miles Klee, & Tacky via Skylight Bookstore – On-site Event
Join us to hear author Rax King, in conversation with MEL Magazine staff writer Miles Klee, to hear them discuss her collection of essays, Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer.
Tacky is an irreverent and charming debut essay collection about the joys of low pop culture and bad taste, exploring coming-of-age in the 2000s in the age of Hot Topic, Creed, and frosted lip gloss, and the power of culture, and any other art, to imprint itself on our lives and shape our experiences. These fourteen essays are a nostalgia-soaked antidote to the millennial generation’s obsession with irony and into a kinder and sharper perspective.
NOTE: See site for details and book purchase.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Date: Monday the 15th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-rax-king-conversation-miles-klee
Monday Night Fiction Workshop at Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online
This 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 from 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 15th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: Zoom Online
Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html
Louise Erdrich, with Eric Gansworth, & The Sentence via LAFL – ALOUD Reading Series – Online Event
Join us for a conversation with Pulitzer Prize winning author Louise Erdrich, and author Eric Gansworth, when they present and discuss her latest novel, The Sentence, which creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage, and of a woman’s resiliency through her relentless errors.
The Sentence asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader, and to the book. When a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store’s most annoying customer, formerly incarcerated and newly hired bookseller Tookie, must solve the mystery of the haunting while trying to understand all that occurs in that place during a time of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.
Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band, is the author of many novels as well as volumes of poetry, children’s books, and a memoir of early motherhood. Her novel The Round House won the National Book Award for Fiction. Love Medicine and LaRose received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Erdrich lives in Minnesota with her daughters and is the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore. Her most recent book, The Night Watchman, won the Pulitzer Prize. A ghost lives in her creaky old house.
Eric Gansworth, Sˑha-weñ na-saeˀ, (Onondaga, Eel Clan) is a writer and visual artist, born and raised at Tuscarora Nation. The author of twelve books, he has been widely published and has had numerous solo and group exhibitions. Lowery Writer-in-Residence at Canisius College, he has also been an NEH Distinguished Visiting Professor at Colgate University. His work has received a PEN Oakland Award and American Book Award, Printz Honor Award and was Longlisted for the National Book Award.
NOTE: See site for details, tickets, and book purchase.
Where: ALOUD Reading Series – LFLA Online event
Date: Tuesday the 16th
Time: 5 pm
Address: LFLA – ALOUD online (see site)
Website: https://lfla.org/event/the-sentence/
Sarah Desai, with Sonali Dev, & The Singles Table Launch Event via The Ripped Bodice Bookstore – Online FB Event
Join us at our Live Stream Virtual Event with author Sarah Desai, in conversation with Sonali Dev, to celebrate the launch of The Singles Table,and to discuss all things romance.
Opposites attract in this romantic comedy about a free-spirited, celebrity-obsessed lawyer who is determined to find the perfect match for the grumpy bachelor at her friend’s wedding.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice – Online FB Event
Date: Tuesday the 16th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Braintrust Writing Workshop with Kelsey Bryan-Zwick via The Poetry Lab – Online Zoom Event
Join us for the Braintrust generative writing workshop led by The Poetry Lab’s Lead Collaborating Fellow, Kelsey Bryan-Zwick, and curated by Danielle Mitchell.
This Braintrust workshop is titled Revision Tactics with Kelsy, and it requires a donation and registration to receive the Zoom link.
Kelsey Bryan-Zwick, Lead Collaborating Fellow, is a bilingual poet from Long Beach, CA. Disabled with scoliosis as a child, her poems often focus on trauma, shedding light on this isolating experience. She’s a graduate of UC Santa Cruz and is a community-taught artist, Her poems can be found in Spillway, Trailer Park Quarterly, Cholla Needles, Rise Up Review, and Redshift. Her first book of poems, Here Go the Knives, is forthcoming from Moon Tide Press in January 2022.
NOTE: See Site for details.
Where: Braintrust Writing Workshop at The Poetry Lab – Online event
Date: Tuesday the 16th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.thepoetrylab.com/register/braintrust-november-16
Shayda Kafai, with Alice Wong (Disabiility Visibility Project), & Crip Kinship via Book Soup – Online Event
Please join author Shayda Kafiai, in conversation with Alice Wong of The Disability Visibility Project, to hear them discuss her new book, Crip KInship: The Disability Justice & Art Activism of Sins Invalid.
This book explores the arts-activism of Sins Invalid, a San Francisco Bay Area-based performance project, and its radical imaginings of what disabled, queer, trans, and gender nonconforming bodyminds of color can do: how they can rewrite oppression, and how they can gift us with transformational lessons for our collective survival.
NOTE: See site for book purchase & event details.
Where: Book Soup – Online Event
Date: Tuesday the 16th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Santa Monica Library Mystery Book Group & The Family Upstairs, by Lisa Jewel – Online Zoom Event
Please join the Santa Monica Library Mystery Book Group for a community conversation about the November monthly selection, The Family Upstairs, by author Lisa Jewel.
This mystery concerns an inheritance of an abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames, which sets 25-year old Libby Jones on a collision course with her family’s past that is connected to long-ago murders.
NOTE: See site for RSVP & event details.
Where: Santa Monica Public Library – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 15th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=33661
At Skylight: Debbie MiIlman, with Roxane Gay, & Why Design Matters at Skylight Bookstore – On-site Event
Join us to welcome author Debbie Milman, in conversation with Roxane Gay, when they present and discuss Why Design Matters.
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People is an illustrated, curated anthology, in which Millman includes approximately 60 of her best interviews with visionaries from across diverse fields. Grouped by category—Legends, Truth Tellers, Culture Makers, Trendsetters, and Visionaries—these eye-opening, entertaining, and enlightening conversations—offer insights into new ways of being and living. Accompanying these interviews is a brief biography, and a portrait by Millman and a pull quote written in her artistic hand.
Debbie Millman is an author, educator, curator and host of the podcast “Design Matters,” one of the world’s first and longest running podcasts. In the 16 years since its inception, “Design Matters” has garnered a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, six Webby nominations, and an Apple Podcasts “best overall podcast” designation. In 2009 Debbie co-founded with Steven Heller the world’s first graduate program in branding at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She is the author of seven books, including her latest, Why Design Matters, and has been published in over 10 languages. Accompanying these dozens of interviews is a brief biography, and a portrait by Millman and a pull quote written in her artistic hand.
Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and the New York Times bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television and film projects. She also has a newsletter, The Audacity.
NOTE: See site for tickets, event details and to purchase book.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 16th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-lucy-corin-conversation-niela-orr
Tuesdays at the Virtual Cobalt: Poets Series Presents: Open Reading & Asia Renee – Virtual Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and guest poet Ron Kolm.
Ron Kolm is an American poet, editor, activist, and bookseller based in New York, who has been widely published in books anthologies, magazines and journals. His publications include: Welcome to the Barbecue (Autonomedia, 2019) and the anthology I Let Go the Stars in My Hand (Great Weather for MEDIA, 2014),
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 16th
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 16th
Time: 8 pm
Address: Online event (Check to verify)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/da_poetry_lounge/ (Check to verify)
Book Talk: Sharon M. Draper & Out of My Heart at Children’s Book World – School Virtual Event
Author Sharon M. Draper will have a book talk about her newest book, Out of My Heart, the long-awaited sequel to her bestselling and award-winning novel, Out of My Mind.
In this sequel to the middle grade novel Out of My Mind, Melody faces her fears to follow her passion, and it’s filled with joy and friendship. Melody is an eleven-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, who is frustrated by limitations others have placed on her and desperate to communicate her intelligence and wit. Its narrative shows that everyone n needs a voice and to be respected for who they are.
Where: Children’s Book World – School Virtual Event (see site)
Date: Wednesday the 17th
Time: 10 am
Address: See Site
Coffee Time Book Club & Lincoln Highway at Pages Bookstore – On-site Event
Coffee Time book Club, offered every 3rd Wednesday of the month, and facilitated by Linda McLoughlin, will read and discuss, Lincoln Highway, by author Amor Towles.
In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett’s intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden’s car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett’s future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York.
NOTE: See site for details and book purchase.
Where: Pages Bookstore – On-site Event
Date: Wednesday the 17th
Time: 10:30 am
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/coffee-time-book-club-0
Book Club Discussion of Granada Hills Branch LAPL & The Wangs vs the World via LAPL – Online Event
Join the Granada Hills Branch, LAPL Book Club discussion of the novel, The Wangs vs the World, by Jade Chang.
Jade Chang’s acclaimed 2016 novel debut is a humorous and fresh look at what it means to belong in America—and how going from glorious riches to (still name brand) rags brings one family together in a way that money never could. It breaks every unwritten rule of the Asian-American family saga, and does it in a brash, witty, and honest tale of escaping our parents’ American dream to move to an unknown, but more vulnerable and hopeful place.
NOTE: See site for details and Zoom link.
Where: Granada Hills Branch, LAPL – Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 17th
Time: 1:30 pm – 3 pm
Address: LAPL – Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-discussion-wangs-vs-world-jade-chang
Literary Conversations: Indigenous Author Readings via PEN/Faulkner Foundation & Politics & Prose – Online Event
Join the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to hear Indigenous Literary Conversations with four of the most highly acclaimed Native writers of our time, and explore how their storytelling has been informed by their experiences as Indigenous people.
Louise Erdrich is the author of sixteen novels, volumes of poetry, children’s books, and a memoir of early motherhood. Her newest book is The Sentence, which explores racial tensions is a divided Minneapolis. Her fiction has won the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award (twice), the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She has received the Library of Congress Prize in American Fiction, the prestigious PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. She lives in Minnesota with her daughters and is the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore.
Kali Fajardo-Anstine is from Denver, Colorado. The author of Sabrina & Corina, a finalist for the National Book Award, the PEN/Bingham Prize, The Story Prize, and winner of an American Book Award, she is the 2021 recipient of the Addison M. Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her work has been honored with the Denver Mayor’s Award for Global Impact in the Arts and the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association Reading the West Award. She has written for The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, O: the Oprah Magazine, The American Scholar, Boston Review, and elsewhere, and has received fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and Tin House. Fajardo-Anstine earned her MFA from the University of Wyoming and has lived across the country, from Durango, Colorado, to Key West, Florida.
Tommy Orange is the New York Times bestselling author of There There (Alfred A. Knopf) winner of the 2018 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. There There was longlisted for the National Book Award for fiction 2018, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2019. It was deemed a Top Five Fiction Book of the Year by The New York Times and won the John Leonard Award for Best First Book and the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. There There was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His next novel, Wandering Star, will be published in 2022.
Margaret Verble is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Her first novel, Maud’s Line, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her second novel, Cherokee America, has recently been listed by the New York Times as one of the 100 Notable Books of the Year for 2019. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky.
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Half of all proceeds from this event will be donated to an indigenous non-profit.
NOTE: See site for details and eventbrite link.
Where: PEN/Faulkner Foundation & Politics & Prose – Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 17th
Time: 4 pm
Address: PEN/Faulkner – Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/literary-conversations-indigenous-tickets-168617809407
Middle Grade Book Club & Daughters of the Deep at Pages Bookstore – On-site Event
Middle Grade Book Club, offered every 3rd Wednesday of the month, reads middle grade fiction, and this month will read and discuss, Daughters of the Deep, by author Rick Riordan.
In this undersea adventure, Ana Dakkar is a freshman at Harding-Pencroft Academy, a five-year high school that graduates the best marine scientists, naval warriors, navigators, and underwater explorers in the world. Ana’s parents died while on a scientific expedition two years ago, and the only family’s she’s got left is her older brother, Dev, also a student at HP. Ana’s freshman year culminates with the class’s weekend trial at sea, the details of which have been kept secret. She only hopes she has what it’ll take to succeed. All her worries are blown out of the water when, on the bus ride to the ship, Ana and her schoolmates witness a terrible tragedy that will change the trajectory of their lives.
NOTE: See site for details and book purchase.
Where: Pages Bookstore – On-site Courtyard Event
Date: Wednesday the 17th
Time: 4:30 am
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/middle-grade-book-club-0
Emergent Grammars Reading with Truong Tran, Mai Der Vang, Cathy Lin Che & Khaty Xiong via Beyond Baroque & Kaya Press – Online Zoom Event
Join us for an Emergent Grammars Poetry Reading, celebrating the release of Truong Tran’s Book of the other: small in comparison, and featuring poets and writers:
Truong Tran is the author of Book of the other: small in comparison, a collection of prose, poetry and essays that is a timely commentary on the inequities built into the white establishment within academia and beyond. His writings challenge conventional grammatical conventions while confronting the issue of anti-Asian racism in the U.S. and resist the luxury of metaphor to name the daily injustices encountered as a queer working-class teacher, immigrant, and refugee. Trong is the author of six previous collections, a children’s book, an artist monograph, and is the recipient of numerous grants and honors.
Mai Der Vang is the author of Yellow Rain (Graywolf Press, 2021), and Afterland (Graywolf Press, 2017), winner of the 2016 Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets, longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award in Poetry, and a finalist for the 2018 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. The recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship, she served as a Visiting Writer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Fresno State.
Cathy Lin Che is the author of Split (Alice James Books), winner of the Kundiman Poetry Prize, the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America, and the Best Poetry Book Award from the Association of Asian American Studies. Her work has been widely published, and she has taught at the 92nd Street Y, New York University, Fordham University, Sierra Nevada College, and the Polytechnic University at NYU. She was Sierra Nevada College’s Distinguished Visiting Professor and Writer in Residence. She is working on a poetry manuscript, a creative nonfiction manuscript, and a short documentary, with director Christopher Radcliff, on her parents’ experiences as refugees who played extras on Apocalypse Now.
Khaty Xiong is a Hmong American poet from Fresno, California. She’s the author of the full-length poetry collection, Poor Anima (Apogee Press, 2015), and three chapbooks: Ode to the Far Shore (Platypus Press, 2016), Deer Hour (New Michigan Press, 2014), and Elegies (University of Montana, 2013), and her work has been featured in Poetry, Gulf Coast, The Adroit Journal, Academy of American Poets, Poetry Society of America, The New York Times, and elsewhere. In 2018, her poem, “On Visiting the Franklin Park Conservatory & Botanical Gardens” was highlighted in an immersive poetry installation at the Poetry Foundation Gallery in Chicago, a collaboration between the Poetry Foundation and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, centering on the conversation of grief and loss.
NOTE: See site for details and RSVP.
Where: Beyond Baroque & Kaya Press – Online event
Date: Wednesday the 17th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
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 17th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 2014 ½ E. Cesar E. Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 900333
Website: https://reartela.com/events%2Feventos
OPEN MIC: Grito de Boyle Heights with Sammy Quetzalli via Re/Arte Centro Literario – In-Person Event
Join us every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month for an OPEN MIC hosted by poet and activist Sammy Quetzalli.
Sign-ups at 6:45 pm, and start time is 7 pm. Donations accepted at the door, but no one will be turned away due to lack of funds.
Come early at 6 pm for a writers workshop guided by Chicano political poet Matt Sedillo, author of Mowing Leaves of Grass (donations accepted).
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Re/Arte Centro Literario – In-Person event
Date: Wednesday the 17th
Time: 6:45 pm – 9:15 pm
Address: 2014 ½ E. Cesar E. Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 900333
Website: https://reartela.com/events%2Feventos
Flower Conroy & Donna Spruijt-Metz, Ananda Lima, Heidi SeabornPresent Poetry Night at Chevalier’s Bookstore – In-Store Event
Join us for an In-Store event to hear the authors of three books present their works:
Heidi Seaborn’s astonishing second collection of poems, An Insomniac’s Slumber Party with Marilyn Monroe, explores obsessions, addictions, abuse, objectification, marriage, work, children, childlessness and death.
Ananda Lim’s Mother/Land, winner of the 2020 Hudson Prize, is focused on the intersection of motherhood and immigration and its effects on a speaker’s relationship to place, others, and self. It combines English and Portuguese, interrogating translation and transforming traditional poetic forms.
Flower Conroy & Donna Spruijt-Metz are the authors of the micro-chapbook, And Haunt the World, is part of the 2021 Ghost City Press Summer micro-chapbook series,
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore – In-Store event
Date: Wednesday the 17th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/november-17-poetry-night
Santa Monica Montana Branch Library Book Group & The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein – Online Event
Please join the Santa Monica Library’s Montana Branch Book Group for a community discussion about the November monthly selection, The Color of Law, by author Richard Rothstein.
This book is about the groundbreaking history of the modern industrial metropolis. The author is a leading authority on housing policy, and here he explores the myth that cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and register at stephaniearcher@santamonica.gov
Where: Montana Branch, SMPL – Online Zoom Event
Date: Wednesday the 17th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=33874
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 17th
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/2956323647961144/
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 17th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html
Poetry Reading: Ellen Webre & A Burning Lake of Paper Suns by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Join Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at the Ugly Mug on Wednesday Nights.
Moon Tide Press presents Ellen Webre’s debut book launch of A Burning Lake of Paper Suns, at the very site where she started her journey. She will also be selling her resin art and broadsides illustrated by the glorious Amanda Le.
Ellen Webre is a biracial, first-generation Taiwanese American poet born in Hong Kong and raised in California. She is currently a social media marketing specialist and videographer for Moon Tide Press and Two Idiots Peddling poetry.
$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 17th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Two-Idiots-Peddling-Poetry/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/573816183853002/
Peter H. Reynolds & Our Table via El Segundo Library & Pages Bookstore – Onsite Event
Author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds will present his latest children’s book, Our Table.
This children’s book brings the author’s signature touch of love and kindness to a special, timely story of how families are rediscovering and reevaluating what means the most: time together with one another.
NOTE: See site for details and book purchase.
Where: Pages Bookstore at El Segundo Library – Onsite Event
Date: Thursday the 18th
Time: 3:30 pm
Address: 111 W. Mariposa Ave., El Segundo, CA 90245
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/peter-h-reynolds-el-segundo-library
Artist Talk: Neelanjana Banerjee & Kate Lain via Armory Center for the Arts – Online Zoom Event
Author Neelanjana Banerjee and filmmaker Kate Lain will be in conversation to discuss their individual practices and their respective contributions to the online program connected to Alison Saar’s “Catfish Dreamin,” currently on view in the Armory’s front garden,
Neelanjana Banerjee is the managing editor of Kaya Press, and teaches writing and publishing in the Asian American Studies Department at UCLA and through private writing workshops. Her fiction, poetry and essays have appeared widely in journals and anthologies, and her journalism has appeared in magazines, blogs, and other venues.
Kate Lain is a director and producer at KL Dream Pictures in the UK, and her debut film, Fear of Water (2015) was screened at many international film festivals and secured world-wide distribution. Her films have screened in the UK and Belgium, on cable TV in the US and UK as well as multiple online platforms. She is now in development with her second feature.
NOTE: See site for details and book purchase.
Where: Armory Center for the Arts – Online Event1
Date: Thursday the 18th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/950334239167197/
Andy Cohen, with Amber Tamblyn, & Glitter Every Day via LiveTalks LA – Online Event
Author and entertainment host Andy Cohen, in conversation with author, actress and director Amber Tamblyn, will present and discuss his new book, Glitter Every Day: 365 Quotes from Women I Love.
In Glitter Every Day, Andy Cohen offers an inspiring collection of daily quotes from the larger-than-life women that defined his life, offering inspiration, affirmation, and (just enough) intoxication to make any day shine brighter. It’s the perfect gift for the holidays.
Andy Cohen is the author of three books, most recently Glitter Every Day, and is host and executive producer of Watch What Happens live, Bravo’s late-night interactive talk show. He serves as executive producer of The Real Housewives franchise and hosts the reunion specials.
Amber Tamblyn is an author, actress, and director who has been nominated for an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Independent Spirit Award for her work in television and film. Her books include her memoir, Era of Ignition and three books of poetry including Dark Sparkler and her debut novel Any Man.
NOTE: See site to RSVP and receive zoom link.
Where: Live Talks LA– Online Event
Date: Thursday the 18th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/andy-cohen/
Jung Yun, with Elizabeth McKenzie, & O Beautiful via Vroman’s – Online Event
Join us to hear author Jung Yun, in conversation with Elizabeth McKenzie, present and discuss her novel, O Beautiful. This book is an immersive portrait of a community rife with tensions, and competing interests, and one woman’s attempts to reconcile her anger with her love of a beautiful, but troubled land.
The story is about Elinor Hanson, a former model struggling to reinvent herself as a freelance writer, who is offered a chance to write for a prestigious magazine about the Bakken oil boom in North Dakota. After decades away from her Bakken home, she returns to a landscape she hardly recognizes, overrun by tens of thousands of newcomers. The longer she pursues this assignment, the more her past intertwines with the story she’s trying to write, revealing disturbing new realties that will forever change her.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, details, and book purchase.
Where: Vroman’s – Online Event
Date: Thursday the 18th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Jung-Yun-conversation-Elizabeth-McKenzie-discusses-O-Beautiful
Three Idiots Shouting Poetry Open Mic via Two Idiots Peddling Poetry – Online Event
Join us this month, Three Idiots Shouting Poetry comes to you a week early because of the Thanksgiving holiday falling on its usual fourth Thursday of the month time.
This month we don’t have a feature. We are focusing on the Open Mic community. We hope you can join us for some virtual family time.
NOTE: See site for further details, guidelines & information. Sign up there at Google Sheets.
Where: Three Idiots Shouting Poetry – Online Event via Zoom
Date: Thursday the 18th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/651988289300924/
Santa Monica Library Social Justice Book Group & Finding Latinx, by Paola Ramos – Online Event
Please join the Santa Monica Library’s Social Justice Book Group for a community discussion about the November monthly selection, Finding Latinx: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity, by author Paola Ramos.
In this cross-country travelogue, journalist and activist Paola Ramos embarks on a journey to find the communities of people defining the controversial term “Latinx.”
NOTE: See site for RSVP and registration link.
Where: SMPL – Online Zoom Event
Date: Thursday the 18th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=33880
Alejandro Morales Book Launch & Zapote Tree via Flintridge Bookstore – On-site Event
Flintridge Books & Golden Foothills Press present author Alejandro Moreales, to launch and discuss his collection of poetry, Zapote Tree.
Alejandro Morales is the acclaimed author of numerous novels, short story collections, and nonfiction, and he will present his first book of poetry to the world: Zapote Tree.
The author is the son of Mexican immigrants, a professor at UC Irvine for 40 years, and in this book he brings together 34 poems pulsing with insights, imagery, love of family and his vulture, plus hard truths about socioeconomic and sociopolitical inequities in society. The books unforgettable characters are treated with compassion and wisdom.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, guidelines, & event details.
Where: Flintridge Bookstore – On-site Event
Date: Thursday the18th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 858 Foothill Blvd., La Canada-Flintridge, CA 91011
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 18th
Time: 8 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/fos_thursdays/ (Confirm at site)
Your Author Series: Brandy Colbert & Black Birds in the Sky via LAPL – Virtual YA Event
Join us in welcoming acclaimed YA author Brandy Colbert, when she discusses her latest non-fiction book, Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
This book is a searing and necessary account of one of the most deadly and destructive acts of racial violence in American history, when a white mob started a massacre, and marched into the predominantly Black, thriving, affluent Greenwood District of Tulsa, and raised 35 blocks of a community to the ground in a few short hours, leaving hundreds dead. The author seeks answers to many questions raised by this horrific event, and finds it is a part of a legacy of violence that can be traced to Reconstruction and through the 20th century, and accounts for roots of the unresolved issues Black Americans still face today.
Where: LAPA – YA Virtual Event (see site)
Date: Friday the 19th
Time: 4 pm
Address: See Site
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/your-author-series-brandy-colbert
Bookish Event: Mary Gaitskill, Tom Vitale & Martin Dugard, with Sandra Tsing Loh, Present Booksvia Southern California News Group & Once Upon a Time Bookstore – Online Event
Please join authors Mary Gaitskill, Tom Vitale & Martin Dugard, in conversation with Sandra Tsing Loh, to hear them discuss their new books: The Devil’s Treasure, In the Weeds, and Taking Paris, respectively
Mary Gaitskill’s The Devil’s Treasure creates a collage out of her previous works, connected by the thread of a new short story. It rewards those looking for a deeper connection to Gaitskill’s rigorous imagination.
Tom Vitale’s In the Woods: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain is a fascinating insider’s account, by the director and producer, of the making of groundbreaking TV in some of the most volatile places in the world, with a legendary person in Anthony Bourdain.
Martin Dugard’s Taking Paris: The Epic Battle for the City of Lights is a spellbinding story of the Allied liberation of Paris from the grip on the Nazis in World War II, from the co-author of the Killing series with Bill O’Reilly.
Sandra Tsing Loh is the author most recently of The Madwoman and the Roomba: My Year of Domestic Mayhem, a comic exploration of a year in the life of and imaginatively twisted and fearless best-selling author and radio host and commentator.
NOTE: See site for book purchase & event details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore – Online Event
Date: Friday the 19th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/bookish-november
Joe Dator & Inked via Chevalier’s Bookstore – On-site Event
Join us to hear cartoonist and author, Joe Dator, present and discuss his book, Inked.
This is a collection of cartoons from one of The New Yorker’s most beloved cartoonists, filled with more than 150 of his single panel works, and it a lively, quick-witted collection with a deadpan sense of humor. Dator also dives into his creative process and how ideas come to fruition vs what ends up on the cutting room floor.
NOTE: See site for details and guidelines.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore – In-store event
Date: Friday the 19th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/november-19-joe-dator
The Return of S.W.A.A.M Spoken Word Art & Music Series & Open Mic, with “Duania” at The Creative House – On-site Event
Join the Return of SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music, with featured artists, offered on the 1st & 3rd Friday of the month. Featured artist this week is “Duania,” a poet, motivational speaker, best-selling author, and domestic violence advocate, who also co-hosts various podcasts on the subject.
Share your voice at the Open Mic, and enjoy a live band, catered food, drinks, wine bar, VIP booths. Organized by Lorenzo Frank.
NOTE: See site for guidelines & event details. Tickets via Eventbrite, $5 – $280.
Where: SWAAM Open Word Event – “The Creative House”
Date: Friday the 19th
Time: 8 pm – 11 pm
Address: 12214 Market St., Inglewood, CA 90301
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/swaam-spoken-word-art-music-tickets-198724017887
Third Fridays Rapp Saloon Reading Series, with Elena Secota via Rapp Saloon – Online Event
Join Third Fridays at Rapp Saloon Open Mic & Featured Readers, offered every 3rd Friday of the month by host Elena Secota.
Featured artists TBA.
Share your voice at the Open Mic, where there is a time limit of 4 minutes max. Sign-ups are at 8:15 pm. Zoom ID posted 3 hours prior to event.
NOTE: See site for guidelines & event details. Features TBA.
Where: Rapp Saloon – Online Event
Date: Friday the 19th
Time: 8:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event
Creative Writing Workshop via LAwritersgroup.com – Online Zoom 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 20th
Time: 10 am – 12:30 pm
Address: Online event (see website)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1256929621349144/
Book Clubs for Middle grade Readers: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine Engle via Brentwood & Palisades Branch Libraries, LAPL– Online Event via Zoom
Book Clubs for Middle Grade Readers are offered by both the Brentwood and Palisades Branch Libraries of LAPL online.
This month’s selection for reading and discussion is A Wrinkle in Time, by author Madeleine Engle. This winner of the 1963 Newberry Medal is about the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles, Wallace, and Calvin O’Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg’s father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.
NOTE: Please email Miss Gail at gkim@lapl for Zoom login information.
Where: – Online (see site)
Date: Saturday the 20th
Time: 10:30 am – 1 pm
Address: Online events (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-middle-grade-readers-wrinkle-time-madeleine-lengle-0 or https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-middle-grade-readers-wrinkle-time-madeleine-lengle
Fundamentals of Fiction Writing with Laurie Horowitz via Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online
Join a Beyond Baroque online writing workshop, led by Laurie Horowitz: Fundamentals of Fiction Writing (A Writer’s Toolbox). This workshop will give you the tricks and tools to make your journey as a writer more joyful and productive. We will cover the basics: character, point of view, dialogue, and structure, etc. and examine the writing process and what makes our lives as writers meaningful
Laurie Horowitz started out as a lawyer in the Boston area but left for Hollywood where she became an agent at Creative Artists Agency and sold the film rights to literary properties. After leaving the corporate world, she wrote THE FAMILY FORTUNE, published by William Morrow and optioned to Meg Ryan for film. Laurie has since written two books for James Patterson’s Bookshots imprint. She also wrote a movie for Lifetime Television. She led the Monday night fiction workshop at Beyond Baroque for five years and now runs THE WESTSIDE WRITERS’ LAB where she is both an instructor and editor. https://lauriehorowitz.com
NOTE: See site for costs, further details, tickets and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque – Online Zoom event (Eventbrite)
Date: Saturday the 20th
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/intensive_workshops.html or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fundamentals-of-fiction-writing-a-writers-toolbox-with-laurie-horowitz-tickets-190596087027
LGBTQIA Book Club: Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosneberg via Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL– Online Event via Zoom
This adult book club will meet to discuss this month’s selection, Confessions of the Fox, by Jordy Rosenberg. All are welcome!
This book is a novel which re-imagines the lives of Jack Sheppard, eighteenth-century English thief and jail-breaker, and his lover Edgeworth Bess. It’s structured as a story within a story and offers a satirical commentary on historical and contemporary issues, including policing and racism, and describes the experience of transitioning gender.
NOTE: Please email silver@lapl for the meeting link.
Where: LAPL – Online (see site)
Date: Saturday the 20th
Time: 12 pm
Address: Online events (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/lgbtqia-book-club-7
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 20th
Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: 2014 ½ E. Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://reartela.com/events%2Feventos
Book Fair & Open Mic at Sims Library of Poetry – On-site Event
Join us for an afternoon with publisher, food, live music, and an Open Mic for our Patron Campaign Relaunch.
NOTE: See website for RSVP and further details.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry – On-site Event
Date: Saturday the 20th
Time: 2 pm – 6 pm
Address: 2702 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043
Website: https://www.simslibraryofpoetry.org/event-details/book-fair
Saturday Afternoon Poetry & Poetry Features & Open Mic – Online Event
Join Saturday Afternoon Poetry for Poetry Readings by Scott Kaestner, Shahe Mankerian, & Heather Parker, hosted by DKC, and an Open Mic hosted by Coco.
Scott Kaestner is the author of Swimming in the Aquarium of Now, which dives into all the modern world has thrown his way in the past five years.
Shahe Mankerian is a poet, playwright and principal, and the author of History of Forgetfulness.
Heather Parker is the author of Loving a Lioness: Poetry in Life, Love & Eros.
All events are curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: Online at Zoom ID: 759 9367 3202 (no spaces required); P/W: poetry.
Date: Saturday the 20th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Teatro Performance with Chicano Secret Service Elias Serna at RE/ARTE Centro Literario – In-Person Event
Join us at RE/ARTE for a special event: Teatro Performance with Chicano Secret Service Elias Serna.
Details TBA.
NOTE: See website for further details.
Where: RE/ARTE – In-Person Event
Date: Saturday the 20th
Time: 4 pm – 9 pm
Address: 2014 ½ E. Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://reartela.com/events%2Feventos
Cellar Door Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book Club & Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi at Cellar Books Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us at Cellar Door Bookstore for our Sci–Fi & Fantasy Book Club, offered every third Sunday of the month at 5pm.
We will read and discuss author Susanna Clarke’s novel Paranesi. This is a story about a man in a house like no other, where corridors are endless, lined with thousands of statues, where an ocean is imprisoned, and where Paranesi tries to understand its tides and the pattern of the labyrinth itself, without end.
NOTE: See website for further details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Date: Saturday the 20th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., Suite # 30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/sci-fi-fantasy-book-club-piranesi
Sunday Series Writing Workshop with the poet Astrid via The Poetry Lab – Online Zoom Event
Join us on the 3rd Sunday of the month for the Sunday Series writing workshop, led this month by visiting artist Astrid at The Poetry Lab online. While there is no critique in this session, you will have an opportunity to share your newly generated work by reading aloud to your classmates. Everyone is welcome!
Astrid is a Salvadoran American poet and journalist based in Los Angeles. She earned a BS degree on Business administration from CSU Dominguez Hills, where she was captain of the slam poetry team and president of the poetry club, FLOW. She has become a beacon in L.A.’s writing community, through her annual showcase Talk That Sh*t, and having esteemed feature performances at numerous venues. She lives in Long Beach, shares her editorial voice at LA Taco, and her work has been featured at Viva La Muxer and Cultural Weekly.
NOTE: See Site for costs, discounts, and details.
Where: Sunday Series Writing Workshop at The Poetry Lab – Online event
Date: Sunday the 21st
Time: 1 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.thepoetrylab.com/sunday-series
Dawn Perry & Ready, Set, Cook at Diesel Bookstore, Brentwood – On-site Event
Author Dawn Perry will present and discuss her new book, Ready, Set, Cook: How to Make Good Food with What’s on Hand (No Fancy Skills, Fancy Equipment, or Fancy Budget Required).
Whether you are just getting comfortable in the kitchen, or are a seasoned cook looking for new tips and tricks, this book teaches you how to make meals taste like you worked much harder and much longer on t hem than you actually did.
NOTE: See site for registration, book purchase, guidelines and event details.
Where: Diesel Bookstore – Outdoor Courtyard
Date: Sunday the 21st
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Los Angeles Literature 