NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events
World Literature Book Club: Story Selections via Central Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us for a spirited discussion of the world’s best short stories! All selections are from The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story (New York, 2021) ed. John Freeman. This week’s selection is:
March 21: A Temporary Matter by Jhumpa Lahiri (1998)
NOTE: See site for event details and Zoom link.
Where: West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – Online event
Date: Monday the 21st
Time: 10 am
Address: LAPL – Online Event
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/world-literature-book-club-28
Book Club Bonanza: Women’s History Celebration & Tiffany Sly Lives Here Now via Central Library, LAPL – Online Teen Event
Join us for our Women’s History Celebration to discuss our selection, Tiffany Sly Lives Here Now, by Dana L. Davis.
For sixteen-year-old Tiffany Sly, life hasn’t been normal for a while. She lost her mom to cancer, and now she has to leave her hometown of Chicago to live with the father she’s never known. Anthony Stone is a rich man with four other daughters—and rules for every second of the day. Tiffany doesn’t fit into her new luxurious but super-strict home—or get along with her standoffish sister London.
But Tiffany has a secret. Another man claims he’s Tiffany’s real dad—and she has only seven days before he shows up to demand a paternity test. With her life about to fall apart all over again, Tiffany finds herself discovering unexpected truths about her father, her mother and herself, and realizing that maybe family is in the bonds you make—and that life means sometimes taking risks.
NOTE: See site for event details and Zoom link.
Where: Central Library, LAPL – Online event
Date: Monday the 21st
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: LAPL – Online Event
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-bonanza-womens-history-celebration
Philosophical Horror Book Club: Black Leopard Red Wolf (Sections 4-6) at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us for a Philosophical Horror Book Club discussion of Black Leopard Red Wolf (Sections 4-6), by Marlon James, the Dark Star Trilogy #1.
In this finalist for the 2019 National Book Award, myth, fantasy and history come together in the story a mercenary named Tracker, who is hired to find a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier. But why do so many people want to stop him from finding the boy? This is an ambitious adventure tale.
NOTE: See site for event details and Zoom link.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Monday the 21st
Time: 6 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Book Club & The Vanishing Half via Sherman Oaks Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us for our Women’s History Month book selection and discussion of the novel, The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett.
The Vanishing Half is about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white. The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?
NOTE: See site for event details and Zoom link. Please email shrmno@lapl.org for the Zoom link.
Where: Sherman Oaks-Martin Pollard Branch Library, LAPL – Online event
Date: Monday the 21st
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: LAPL – Online Event
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sherman-oaks-book-club-vanishing-half-0
Dr. Mona Delahooke & Brain-Body Parenting at Vroman’s – Off-site In-Person Event
Dr. Mona Delahooke is a leading child psychologist who offers new understanding into managing children’s challenging and oppositional behaviors, through a “bottom up” approach to behavior that considers the essential role of the entire nervous system. Her book offers tools to help their children develop self-regulation skills, while also encouraging parental self-care. The results are more harmonious family dynamics and increased resilience;
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Vroman’s – Off-site at All Saints Church
Date: Monday the 21st
Time: 7 pm
Address: 132 N. Euclid Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/mona-delahooke-presents-brain-body-parenting
Monday Night Fiction Workshop at Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online Event
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 to use 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 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 21st
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: Zoom Online
Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/monday-night-fiction-workshop-tickets-298278558197
Matthew King & In the Forest of the Blind via Scripps College – Online Zoom Event
Join UC Riverside professor Matthew King, author of In the Forest of the Blind, his new book about the many lives of Faxian’s Foguo ji. The talk will focus on the possibilities for thinking about more global histories for the humanities. Professor King draws on indigenous methods, the critical Asian humanities, feminist critiques, and also de-orientalizing and de-imperializing scholarship in Islamic Studies.
In the Forest of the Blind is a rather experimental history of the connected discovery and interpretation of Faxian’s Foguo ji by Orientalists in Paris and Siberia, and by Buddhist monk historians in Mongolia and Tibet. He is trying to write an anti-field history, which foregoes the linearity of intellectual history (especially field history) for a model of centerless exchange in which the humanities were made and unmade in circulation. Specifically, exploring the debts of Europe’s first monograph on “Buddhist Asia” (Abel-Rémusat’s 1836 translation and study of Faxian’s Foguo ji) to 18th century Qing encyclopedia and language ideologies (including those produced by Mongols like Gombojab). And then the circulation of Abel-Rémusat’s translation into Inner Asia, where between the 1840s-1960s it was translated into entirely new frames in monastic history and the like that undid the Orientalist scaffolding of Abel-Rémusat’s study and reimagined Faxian’s ancient walking instead as an extension of Qing world historical order, an emergent nationalism, and the Tibetan refugee experience.
NOTE: Zoom Link: https://scrippscollege.zoom.us/j/95229622532
Where: Scripps College – Zoom Online Event
Date: Tuesday the 22nd
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: Online Event – Zoom conference Webinar
Website: https://www.scrippscollege.edu/events/calendar/in-the-forest-of-the-blind
Ashley Herring Blake & Rachel Lynn Solomon in Conversation via The Virtual Ripped Bodice – Pre-Recorded Event
Join romance authors Ashley Herring Blake & Rachel Lynn Solomon for a virtual conversation about their new releases:
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, by Ashley Herring Blake, is our April Book Club in the Park pick. It’s a clever and steamy queer romantic comedy about taking chances and accepting love—with all of its complications.
Weather Girl, by Rachel Lynn Solomon, is a charming comedy. The story is about a TV meteorologist and a sports reporter scheme to reunite their divorced bosses with un-forecasted results, from the author of The Ex Talk.
NOTE; See site for event details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice – Pre-Recorded event
Date: Tuesday the 22nd
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online Event (Pre-recorded)
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Dana Brown, with Buzz Bissinger, & Dilettante via Book Soup – Online Event
Join us to hear deputy editor of Vanity Fair and author Dana Brown, in conversation with author Buzz Bissinger (Friday Night Lights, Father’s Day),discuss his new book, Dilettente: True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster.
In this memoir, the author goes from a college dropout life playing in punk bands and working as a cater waiter to being hired by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter on a whim to be his deputy editor in the early ‘90s. He soon realized the life consisted of trying to stay sober while going from one social event to another to get the magazine job done. He spent a quarter century curating tastes at one of the most storied cultural shops ever assembled, and recounts tales from the trenches with affection and insight.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, link, and event details.
Where: Book Soup – Online event
Date: Tuesday the 22nd
Time: 6 pm
Address: Book Soup – Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/dana-brown
Evoke LA: Tyree Boyd-Pates, Suyapa Portillo Villeda & Natalia Molina, with Josh Kun via ALOUD Reading Series – Online Event
Join us to hear Autry associate curator Tyree Boyd-Pates, Pitzer professor Suyapa Portillo Villeda, and USC professor Natalia Molina, in conversation with USC Annenberg professor Josh Kun, to discuss this new collaboration with KPCC & LAist that blends live music, live conversation, and archival research form the LAPL archives.
Evoke LA Brings LA musicians, historians, and journalists together to interact and create new live performances and provocative discussions, which will also air later on KPCC 89.3.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and event details.
Where: ALOUD Reading Series – Online event
Date: Tuesday the 22nd
Time: 7 pm
Address: ALOUD Reading Series – Online (see site)
Website: https://lfla.org/event/evoke-la/ or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/evoke-la-tickets-266380229437
Nonfiction Book Club & Burning the Books at Pages Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join our Nonfiction Book club t discuss our next monthly selection, Burning the Books, by Richard Ovenden.
In this book, the director of the famed Bodleian Libraries at Oxford narrates the global history of the willful destruction–and surprising survival–of recorded knowledge over the past three millennia. Ovenden takes a polemical stance on the social and political importance of the conservation and protection of knowledge, challenging governments in particular, but also society as a whole, to improve public policy and funding for these essential institutions.
NOTE: See site for guidelines, and event details.
Where: Pages Bookstore – In-person event
Date: Tuesday the 22nd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/nonfiction-book-club-1
PEN America & Scripps Presents: Julisa Arce & You Sound Like A White Girl at Scripps Garrison Theater – In-Person & Online Event
Join bestselling author and cofounder of the Ascend Educational Fund, Julisa Arce, in conversation with comedian, writer and producer Aida Rodriguez, for the launch of her new book, You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Reflecting Assimilation.
In this book, the author interweaves her own experiences with cultural commentary to critique the values of assimilation, and to offer a new perspective that “belonging only comes through celebrating yourself, your history, your culture, and everything that makes you uniquely you.”
NOTE: See site for live and virtual options, guidelines, and event details.
Where: PEN Out Loud & Scripps Presents – Garrison Theater & Online
Date: Tuesday the 22nd
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 231 10th St., Claremont, CA 91711
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1556298188064246/
Tuesdays at the Virtual Cobalt: Poets Series Presents: Open Reading & Kevin Prufer – Virtual Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and guest poet Kevin Prufer.
Kevein Prufer is a poet and editor of the journal Pleiades, the author of The Art of Fiction: Poems (2021), How He Loved Them (2018), In a Beautiful Country (2011), a finalist for the Rilke Prize and listed as a 2011 Notable Book by the Academy of American Poets, and National Anthem (2008), named best poetry book of the year by the Virginia Quarterly Review. Other collections of poetry include Fallen From a Chariot (2005), The Finger Bone (2002, reissued 2013), and Strange Wood (1997). He is a professor in the English Department at the University of Houston and lives in Houston.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 22nd
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: http://poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html
Da Poetry Lounge Tuesday Open Mic at Dynasty Typewriter – In-Person & IG Event
Open Mic Tuesdays at Da Poetry Lounge are back! Catch us live at Dynasty Typewriter and also on IG Livestream. Hosted by Alysha Wise and Matthew “Cuban” Hernandez.
Where: DA Poetry Lounge at Dynasty Typewriter
Date: Tuesday the 22nd
Time: 9 pm – 11 pm
Address: 2511 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYvULkirZCx/
SOM Tuesdays Open Mic at Di Piazza’s Pizza, Long Beach
SOM Open Mic Tuesdays at Di Piazza’s are back! Come and share music, comedy, and poetry with us.
Where: Di Piazza’s Pizza
Date: Tuesday the 22nd
Time: 9 pm – 12 am
Address: 5205 E. Pacific Coast Hwy, Long Beach, CA 90804
Adult Mystery Book Club & Fortune Favors the Dead: A Novel at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Event
The Adult Mystery Book Club will discuss this month’s selection, Fortune Favors the Dead, by Stephen Spotswood, (which is a Pentecost and Parker Mystery)
Whether you loved it, hated it, or haven’t finished it, we want to see you at America’s Oldest Children’s Bookstore.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore (in the circle in front of Star Café)
Date: Wednesday the 23rd
Time: 9 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/mystery-book-group-fortune-favors-dead-stephen-spotswood
Good Trouble Reading Group: Native American Poetry via Edendale Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us Dr. Andrea Liss on Zoom to discuss a selection of Native American poetry from anthologies available at the library.
Email eden@lapl.org for the Zoom link to join, and for the selection of poems.
The Good Trouble Reading Group shares books that engage themes of social justice with love and family at their core. Dr. Andrea Liss, an Echo Park resident, is Professor Emerita of Visual Culture and Cultural Theory at California State University San Marcos. Her teaching and research focus on feminist visual culture and writing, visual art and photography related to historical events and representations of social justice particularly through the work of African American women.
Where: Edendale Branch Library, LAPL – Online event
Date: Wednesday the 23rd
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: LAPL – Online Event
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/good-trouble-reading-group-native-american-poetry
Cover to Cover Book Club & The Island of Sea Women via Mid-Valley Regional Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join the Cover to Cover Book Club on Zoom to discuss the historical novel, The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See.
Copies of each month’s selection will be available for check out at the Reference Desk. New members are always welcome!
Send an email to npholana@lapl.org to receive Zoom login information.
Where: Edendale Branch Library, LAPL – Online event
Date: Wednesday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm
Address: LAPL – Online Event
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/cover-cover-book-club-2
In Conversation with Sabaa Tahir & Nicola Yoon & All My Rage at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to hear author Sabaa Tahir, in conversation with author Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything), to discuss her new book All My Rage: A Novel.
In this book, told in alternating perspectives, Misbah, Salahudin, and Noor reveal their stories, from their roots in Pakistan to the Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel in Juniper, California. Noor’s family perished in an earthquake in Pakistan, but her uncle dug her out of the ruins, brought her back to California with him, and sacrificed his education to raise her. Misbah and Toufiq came to California to escape tragedy and pursue their dream, but hard-work and a beautiful dream can be shaken by the evils in the world, and they are barely holding on when an even greater tragedy strikes. The steep price of the American dream and the emotional and physical burden bequeathed to the children of those dreamers sear these pages. Salahudin and Noor navigate these burdens in search of love and redemption in a tale of profound tragedy and beauty.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/conversation-sabaa-tahir-and-nicola-yoon
Puja Guha, with Wayne Johnson, & Sirens of Memory via Chevalier’s Bookstore – Online Eve
Join Puja Guha, in conversation with Wayne Johnson, to discuss one of the most anticipated crime dramas of the year, her novel Sirens of Memory.
When your past comes back to haunt you, you are forced to see who you really are.
Mariam is pregnant and fleeing an abusive marriage as the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait begins. Leaving her husband Tareq for dead, she crosses the border and is evacuated with the help of Raj, who she meets at a refugee camp and suggests she assume the identity of his dead wife so she can be issued Indian papers.
Twenty-five years later, Mariam is still living under the identity of Raj’s Indian wife in the US. In an attempt to put her past to rest, she attends an event commemorating the anniversary of the invasion at the Kuwaiti embassy. Also in attendance is Tareq, miraculously still alive, who had assumed his wife was killed in the invasion decades before. Angry and obsessed, he begins planning his revenge. The confrontation that follows forces Mariam to confront her past as a victim and decide who she really is, once and for all.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore – Online event
Date: Wednesday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm
Address: Chevalier’s Bookstore – Online Event
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/march-23-puja-guha
Young Adult Book Club & The Bone Spindle, by Leslie Vedder, at Pages Bookstore – On-site YA Event
Join our Young Adult Book Club to read and discuss our selection this month, The Bone Spindle, a novel by Leslie Vedder.
Set in a lush world inspired by beloved fairytales, The Bone Spindle is a fast-paced young adult fantasy full of adventure, romance, found family, and snark.
Briar Rose is a prince under a sleeping curse, who’s been waiting a hundred years for the kiss that will wake him.
Cursed princes are nothing but ancient history to Fi—until she pricks her finger on a bone spindle while exploring a long-lost ruin. Now she’s stuck with the spirit of Briar Rose until she and Shane can break the century-old curse on his kingdom.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Pages Bookstore – On-site event on Patio
Date: Wednesday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/young-adult-book-club-7
At Skylight: Amanda Oliver, with Claire Comstock-Gay, & OVERDUE via Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to hear author Amanda Oliver, in conversation with author Claire Comstock-Gay (Madam Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars) present and discuss her book, OVERDUE: Reckoning with the Public Library.
“One part love letter, one part eulogy, Overdue tells the story of America’s public library system through the eyes of a young, idealistic librarian who has experienced both the best and worst of it. Amanda Oliver proves herself a vibrant new literary voice as she weaves her own deeply personal account with an unblinking look what the library was meant to be, and what it has become. This is a book for all book lovers.” — Reza Aslan, author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
NOTE: See site for book purchase and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-amanda-oliver-presents-overdue-claire-comstock-gay
Elizabeth Nyamayaro & I Am a Girl from Africa at Vroman’s – In-Person Even
Join us to hear author Elizabeth Nyamayaro, discuss and present her book, I Am a Girl from Africa.
When severe drought hit her village in Zimbabwe, Elizabeth Nyamayaro, then only eight, had no idea that this moment of utter devastation would come to define her life’s purpose. Unable to move from hunger and malnourishment, she encountered a United Nations aid worker who gave her a bowl of warm porridge and saved her life–a transformative moment that inspired Elizabeth to dedicate herself to giving back to her community, her continent, and the world.
In the decades that have followed, Elizabeth has been instrumental in creating change and uplifting the lives of others: by fighting global inequalities, advancing social justice for vulnerable communities, and challenging the status quo to accelerate women’s rights around the world. She has served as a senior advisor at the United Nations, where she launched HeForShe, one of the world’s largest global solidarity movements for gender equality. In this book she charts this “journey of perseverance.”
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guideines. and event details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/elizabeth-nyamayaro-discusses-i-am-a-girl-from-africa
Anansi Virtual Writers Workshop at The World Stage – In-Person Event
The Anansi Writers Workshop was founded in 1990 by Kamau Daáood, Akilah Oliver, Nafis Nabawi and Anthony Lyons. In 1993, Michael Datcher initiated the development of a three-part format for the workshop. Our tradition of a community workshop began in the late 1960s at the Watts Writers’ Workshop, where World Stage co-founder Kamau Daáood started his writing career. For general information and booking, contact V. Kali, the Anansi Writers Workshop Coordinator, at vkaliflowers@gmail.com.
• 7:30p.m.–8:30p.m. — Formal workshop;
• 8:30p.m.–9:00p.m. — Featured reader;
• 9:05p.m.–10:00p.m. — Open mic
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 23rd
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4321 Dengan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.theworldstage.org/events.html
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 Pam Ward.
Pam Ward is the author most recently of Between Good Men and No Man at All (World Stage Press, 2022). Author of two novels, Want Some Get Some, and Bad Girls Burn Slow, she is a California Arts Council Fellow, Pushcart nominee, and Art Center instructor/designer. Her poetry has been published in Calyx, Chiron, The Santa Monica Review, Voices of Leimert Park, and The Los Angeles Times. Pam’s writing sings of her beloved city in prismatic color.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets and information.
Where: Online event (Eventbrite)
Date: Wednesday the 23rd
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wednesday-night-poetry-workshop-tickets-300840410767
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry & Judy Kronenfeld at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Join Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at the Ugly Mug on Wednesday Nights.
The format is to welcome a featured poet for a reading, and also have an Open Mic reading. Tonight’s featured artist is Judy Kronenfeld.
Judy Kronenfeld will present her fifth full-length collection of poetry, Groaning and Singing. Her four previous collections include Bird Flying through the Banquet (FutureCycle, 2017), Shimmer (WordTech, 2012), and Light Lowering in Diminished Sevenths, (2nd ed. Antrim House, 2012), winner of the Litchfield Review poetry book prize for 2007. Her poems have appeared in Cider Press Review, Cimarron Review, Ghost Town, New Ohio Review, One (Jacar Press), Rattle, Slant, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Verdad, Your Daily Poem and other journals, and in over three dozen anthologies. Her creative nonfiction has appeared in Under the Sun, Hippocampus, and other magazines, and her more occasional short fiction in Literary Mama, The Loch Raven Review, and elsewhere. Judy is Lecturer Emerita, Department of Creative Writing, UC Riverside, and an Associate Editor of Poemeleon.
See site for details and/or to verify.
$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 – In-person event
Date: Wednesday the 23rd
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/Two-Idiot-Peddling_poetry/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/651018469432585
OLLI Thursday Morning Book Club: A Gambling Man, by David Baldaccivia OLLIE@CSUDH – Online Event
Join us at an adjusted time this month to discuss our book selection to hear authors, A Gambling Man, by David Baldacci.
It’s 1949 and Aloysius Archer is on his way to start a new job as a private investigator when he meets aspiring actress, Liberty Callaghan in a casino, and together they head west. Arriving in Bay Town, Archer discovers that the appointment of a top official is in jeopardy, and when two seemingly unrelated people are murdered at a burlesque club Archer must try to find out the truth from a tight-lipped community.
All books selections are listed at site.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: OLLI@CSUDH – Online Event
Date: Thursday the 24th
Time: 1:30 pm – 3 pm
Address: OLLI Online (see site)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1127804044718067/
Cover to Cover Book Club & The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See via Mid-Valley Regional Library, LAPL – Online Zoom Event
Join the Cover to Cover Book Club to discuss this month’s selection, The Island of Sea Women, by bestselling author Lisa See.
Please email npholana@lapl.org for the Zoom login information.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Los Angeles Public Library – Online Event
Date: Thursday the 24th
Time: 6 pm
Address: LAPL – Online (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/cover-cover-book-club-2
Actor & Debut Author John Cho, with SuChin Park, & TROUBLEMAKER via Bel Canto Bookstore – Online Zoom YA Event
Join us to hear acclaimed actor and debut author John Cho, in conversation with SuChin Park present and discuss TROUBLEMAKER.
Troublemaker follows the events of the LA Riots through the eyes of 12-year-old Jordan as he navigates school and family. This book highlights the unique Korean American perspective.
12-year-old Jordan feels like he can’t live up to the example his older sister set, or his parent’s expectations. When he returns home from school one day hoping to hide his suspension, Los Angeles has reached a turning point. In the wake of the acquittal of the police officers filmed beating Rodney King, as well as the shooting of a young black teen, Latasha Harlins by a Korean store owner, the country is at the precipice of confronting its racist past and present.
Please email npholana@lapl.org for the Zoom login information.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Bel Canto Bookstore – Online Event
Date: Thursday the 24th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Bel Canto Bookstore – Online (see site)
Website: https://shopthehangout.com/products/bcb-virtual-author-event-john-cho-3-24-6pm
Jean Beauvoir, with John Ostrosky, & Bet My Soul on Rock ‘n’ Roll at Book Soup – Online Event
Join us to hear artist, producer, songwriter and author Jean Beauvoir, in discussion with John Ostrosky, discuss his new book, Bet My Soul on Rock ‘n’ Roll: Diary of a Punk Rock Icon.
In this book the author tells the story of joining the Plasmatics in 1979, playing bass and keyboard, and becoming one of the first Black recording artists to cross the start-up music channel’s ”color line.”
His collaborations and stories span genres, and he considers the way his Haitian heritage has shaped his public image, his music, and his role as an activst for the dispossessed and poor.
NOTE: See site for book purchase and event details.
Where: Book Soup – Online event
Date: Thursday the 24th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Crowdcast Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/jean-beauvoir
LGTBQ Book Club: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, a novel by Ocean Vuong at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join the LGBTQ Book Club to discuss the novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong.
This award-winning debut novel finds incredible, aching beauty in the deep observation of live in many forms, through its powerful emotions and precision in writing.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person event
Date: Thursday the 24th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/lgbtq-book-club-earth-were-briefly-gorgeous
At Skylight: Andre Henry, with Blair Imani, & All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep at Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to hear author Andre Henry, in conversation with Blair Imani, present and discuss his book, All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep: Hope—and Hard Pills to Swallow—About Fighting for Black Lives.
In this personal and thought-provoking book, Henry explores how the historical divides between Black people and non-Black people are expressed through our most mundane interactions, and why this struggle won’t be resolved through civil discourse, diversity hires, interracial relationships, or education. What we need is a revolution, one that moves beyond symbolic progress to disrupt systems of racial violence and inequality in tangible, creative ways.
Andre Henry is an award-winning musician, writer, and activist contending for the world that ought to be. He is a columnist for Religion News Service and the author of the newsletter “Hope and Hard Pills.” His activism in pursuit of racial justice has been featured in The New Yorker and The Nation, and on The Liturgists Podcast.
Blair Imani (she/her) is the LA Times Bestselling author of Read This to Get Smarter. She is an award-winning educator, historian and influencer. She is also the author of Making Our Way Home, and Modern HERstory. Blair’s work centers women, global Black communities, and the LGBTQ community.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 24th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N, Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Naomi Hirahara and Gigi Pandian: An Eternal Lie and Under Lock & Skeleton Key at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Join us to hear authors Naomi Hirahara and Gigi Pandian, discuss and present their books, An Eternal Lie and Under Lock & Skeleton Key, respectively.
In Hirahara’s An Eternal Lei, Leilani Santiago finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation that endangers her family and friends after saving a mysterious woman wearing a lei from drowning in Waimea Bay. She must learn of this woman’s identity and connections to others on the island to save herself and those dearest to her. (Prospect Park Books)
In Pandian’s Under Lock & Skeleton Key, a disastrous accident derails Tempest Raj’s career, and life, and she heads back to her childhood home in California to comfort herself with her grandfather’s Indian home-cooked meals. Though she resists, every day brings her closer to the inevitable: working for her father’s company. Secret Staircase Construction specializes in bringing the magic of childhood to all by transforming clients’ homes with sliding bookcases, intricate locks, backyard treehouses, and hidden reading nooks. When a firmer stage double is found dead inside a wall, she fears the worst.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 24th
Time: 7 pm
Address: Vroman’s Online (see site)
Poetry Reading at the Hammer: Henry Cole & Orphic Paris at Hammer Museum – In-Person Event
Join the Hammer and UCLA distinguished service professor Stephen Yenser to welcome poet and writer Henry Cole to read and discuss his work.
Henri Cole has published 10 books of poetry, including Pulitzer Prize finalist Middle Earth and his most recent collection, Blizzard. He also recently published a memoir, Orphic Paris. Cole has received many awards for his work, including the Jackson Prize, the Kingsley Tufts Award, the Rome Prize, the Berlin Prize, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and the Medal in Poetry from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Boston and is the Josephine Olp Weeks Professor of Literature at Claremont McKenna College.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Hammer Museum – In-Person event
Date: Thursday the 24th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2022/poetry-henri-cole
FOS-Thursdays & FOST Artistic Collective present: Freedom of Speech Open Mic with Sabor y Cultura Café – Online IG Event
Please help Sabor y Cultura with the link in the bio. Open Mic is currently only on IG Live at 8 pm PST, with sign-ups open on Wednesday at 3pm PST.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Freedom of Speech (FOS) Open Mic – Online IG event
Date: Thursday the 24th
Time: 8 pm
Address: Online IG Event
Website: https://www.instagram.com/fos_thursdays/
NoHo Book Club & Hidden Figures via North Hollywood Regional Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join the NoHo Book Club twice a month for a selected title and a book of your choice to discuss.
This week’s selection is Hidden Figure: the American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, by Margot Lee Shetterly.
Email nohlwd@lapl.org to receive the Zoom link.
NOTE: See site for link and event details.
Where: North Hollywood Regional Library, LAPL – Online event
Date: Friday the 25th
Time: 10 am
Address: Online – LAPL Zoom Event
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/noho-book-club
How To Market Your Poetry On Instagram Using Canva – Online Event
Want to know how to use Canva to spruce up your poetry in your Instagram posts? Come check out “Using Canva to Market Poetry on Instagram.” We’ll write a little before illustrating our brief writings into a post for the world to see!
Led by Miss Zany.
Miss Zany is a Spoken Word/Published Poet that is currently in Austin, Texas. After being moved from seeing NeoSoul Poetry Slam perform on stage in 2016, she took her pencil & notebook to let words flow on pages. She would perform off & on through the NeoSoul Poetry Open Mic until mid-2019 where she took a hiatus from the stage. Nearly a year later, she came back to write & perform on Virtual stages being featured on Open Mic Poetry platforms such as Write About Now, The Word Is Write & Poets Playground. Miss Zany is a second semester student with CLI.
RSVP at site for link.
NOTE: See site for link and event details.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry – Online event
Date: Friday the 25th
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online – Zoom Event
Website: https://www.simslibraryofpoetry.org/event-details/how-to-market-your-poetry-on-instagram-using-canva
Black Lit Book Club: Hell of a Book, by Jason Mott at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join the Black Lit Book Club to discuss the 2021 National Book Award winning novel, Hell of a Book, by Jason Mott.
In Jason Mott’s Hell of a Book, a Black author sets out on a cross-country publicity tour to promote his bestselling novel. That storyline drives Hell of a Book and is the scaffolding of something much larger and more urgent: Mott’s novel also tells the story of Soot, a young Black boy living in a rural town in the recent past, and The Kid, a possibly imaginary child who appears to the author on his tour.
As these characters’ stories build and converge, they astonish. For while this heartbreaking and magical book entertains and is at once about family, love of parents and children, art and money, it’s also about the nation’s reckoning with a tragic police shooting playing over and over again on the news. And with what it can mean to be Black in America.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person event
Date: Friday the 25th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/black-lit-book-club-hell-book
The Art of Museum and Memory, with Karen Tei Yamashita via Japanese American National Museum (JANM) – Online Event
Join us in a celebration of author Karen Tei Yamashita, UC Santa Cruz emerita professor of literature, who was recently awarded the 2021 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from The National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards. Yamashita will discuss her work and writings, followed by an audience Q&A moderated by Jasmine Alinder, UCSC Dean of the Humanities. She will be introduced by Alice Yang, UCSC Associate Professor of History.
Karen Tei Yamashita was born in Oakland, California; her parents were both survivors of incarceration at the Topaz internment camp during World War II. Yamashita is the author of eight books traversing short story, memoir, and novel—all published by Coffee House Press—including: Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Brazil-Maru, Tropic of Orange, Circle K Cycles, Anime Wong, and I Hotel, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, the American Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Award, and the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award. Her most recent publication, Sansei and Sensibility (2020), is a collection of buoyant and inventive stories where Yamashita transfers classic tales across boundaries and questions what an inheritance—familial, cultural, emotional, artistic—really means.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Japanese American National Museum – Online Event
Date: Friday the 25th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: JANM – Online (see site)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/476023600714422/
QT (LGBTQ+) Open Mic Event at Café con Libros, Pomona – In-Person Event
Join us at Café con Libros for our recurring QT (LGBTQ+) Open Mic, held every 4th Friday of the month.
Featured reader(s) TBA.
NOTE: See site for guidelines & event details.
Where: Café con Libros, Pomona
Date: Friday the 25th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 280 2nd St., Pomona, CA 91766
Website: https://www.facebook.com/cafeconlibrospress/ or https://www.facebook.com/cafeconlibrospress/photos/a.1179263212513054/1381194488986591/
Poetry + Open Mic Event at $10 Or Less Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us at $10 Or Less Bookstore, after hours, for a Poetry + Open Mic Night.
Featured readers TBA.
NOTE: See site for guidelines & event details.
Where: $10 Or Less Bookstore, SFV
Date: Friday the 25th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 8727 Tampa Ave., Northridge, CA 91324
Website: https://www.facebook.com/10dollarbookstore/events/?ref=page_internal
Open Mic Night Event at Village Well Bookstore – In-Person Event
Open Mic Night is Back!
Show off your stuff at Village Well’s first open mic of the year!
Authors, poets, musicians––this all-inclusive event will create space for local artists of any medium to share their talents with the community. Come hang out, as an audience member, or a performer, and meet some talented locals!
For this special evening, our friends at Taza Bengal will join us for their monthly Indian cuisine pop-up. Pre-orders will also be available. More info to come soon.
Sign-ups for performers are at the door, day of, 30 minutes prior to the event. Sets are limited to 5-10 minutes.
We will provide two microphones and two mic stands. Please bring any other equipment you will need.
NOTE: See site for guidelines & event details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Friday the 25th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/13871 or https://shop.villagewell.com/calendar
Marjorie Becker & The Macon Sex School: Songs of Tenderness and Resistance at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Join Beyond Baroque in-person for a poetry reading with author and scholar Marjorie Becker. Her most recent collection is, The Macon Sex School: Songs of Tenderness and Resistance (Tebot Bach, 2020).
This book reveals a world in which an array of women attempt to alter centuries of misogyny, through their bodies, music, language, and song. The reading will be introduced by author David St. John.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines and event details.
Where: Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Date: Friday the 25th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA 90291
Open Your Mic LA Event at New Musicals Inc. – In-Person Event
Join us for Open Your Mic: Black. Educated. Lit, an Open Mic Event filled with music, poetry, art and expression, and an artistic showcase.
Featured artists between Open Mic performers include: Justin C. Rauls, Byronique Barbie, and others.
NOTE: See site for costs, tickets, guidelines & event details.
Where: New Musicals Inc.
Date: Friday the 25th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 5628 Vineland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 91601
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/942508463323210/
LWVSB Book Club & How the Word Is Passed, by Clint Smith via League of Women Voters, San Bernardino (LWVSB) – Online Event
Join us for the next meeting of the LWVSB Book Club, when we will discuss How the Word Is Passed, by author and Atlantic columnist Clint Smith.
Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history, and ourselves.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: LWVSB Book Club – Online Event
Date: Saturday the 26th
Time: 10 am
Address: LWVSB – Online Event
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/216190934055720
Mystery Book Club & Win, by Harlen Coben, at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us for the Mystery Book Club discussion of our selection this month, Win by Harlen Coben.
This novel is a thrilling story that shows what happens when a dead man’s secrets fall into the hands of a vigilante—drawing him down a dangerous road.
NOTE: See site for selections for all 2022 meetings and details.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 26th
Time: 11 am
Address: LAPL– Online Event
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-3
Meet Authors Carla Fountain & Mike McNichols at Pilgrim’s Coffee House – In-Person Event
Join us in historic dpwntown Fullerton to meet two authors form different walks of life and discover the fascinating journeys they’ve had.
Carla Fountain is the author of Bicycle Odyssey, which is a travel odyssey told with vivid observations about the world and the people in it, and is a rich and enlightening pilgrimage.
Mike McNichols is the author of Out of the Circle of Being: A Novella and Time Whisperers. He writes about theology and faith, but also creates supernatural thrillers that have underlying theologi92832cal questions.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Pilgrims’ Coffee House, Fullerton
Date: Saturday the 26th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 124 W. Wilshire Ave., Fullerton,, CA 92832
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/539858050686316
Taj McCoy, with John Clarence Stewart, & Savvy Sheldon Feels Good as Hell Launch Party at The Virtual Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Join romance author Taj McCoy, in conversation with John Clarence Stewart, for a launch party, discussion and singing of Savvy Sheldon Feels Good as Hell.
This is a delicious debut rom-com about a plus-size sweetheart who gets a full-life makeover after a brutal breakup—with the help of an irresistible cast of friends and family, a kitchen renovation, and a devastatingly handsome contractor Savvy Sheldon spends a lot of time tiptoeing around the cracks in her life: her high-stress and low-thanks job, her clueless boyfriend and the falling-apart kitchen she inherited from her beloved grandma—who taught her how to cook and how to love people by feeding them. But when Savvy’s world starts to crash down around her, she knows it’s time for some renovations. Starting from the outside in!
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and event details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Date: Saturday the 26th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 3806Main Street, Culver City, 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Afternoon Poetry with Briana Muñoz at My Place Café – You Tube & In-Person Event
Join us for a poetry reading with poet Briana Muñoz.
Briana Muñoz is a poet from Southern California and an Indigenous Mexika danzante. She is the author of Loose Lips, a poetry collection published by Prickly Pear Publishing (2019) and of Everything is Returned to the Soil published by FlowerSong Press (2021). Her work has been published in the Dryland Literary Journal, in Boundless: The Anthology of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival, in the Oakland Arts Review, the Bravura Literary Journal, among others.
Following Muñoz’s reading is a collaboration with Spectrum Publishing and FlowerSong Press at 3pm. You can also tune in via Livestream on Spectrum Publishing’s Facebook page.
NOTE: See website for tickets and further details.
Where: My Place Café – See YouTube link
Date: Saturday the 26th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 2057 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena, CA
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/2122309124597674/
Saturday Afternoon Poetry & Print & Internet Publishing Workshop with Flowersong Press & SPECTRUM – Off-Site In-Person Event & Via Zoom
Join us at Saturday Afternoon Poetry off-site at My Place Café for a Print & Internet Publishing Workshop led by Flowersong Press and SPECTRUM.
This workshop is led by: Iris De Anda, Angelina Sáenz, Matt Sedillo & Mega Sood.
Iris De Anda is a Guanaca Tapatia poet, speaker & musician who has been featured with KPFK & KPFA Pacifica Radio, organized with Academy of American Poets, performed at Los Angeles Latino Book Festival, Feria del Libro Tijuana, Mexico, Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba. She is the author most recently of Roots of Redemption: You Have No Right to Remain Silent.
Angelina Sáenz is an elementary school teacher in Los Ángeles who grew up in the Silver Lake/Eco Park neighborhood in the 1980s. She is the author most recently of the collection Edgecliff.
Matt Sedillo has been described as the “best political poet in America” as well as “the poet laureate of the struggle” by academics, poets, and journalists alike. He has appeared on CSPAN and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. His Three Act Poem structure has been taught as capstones of coursework at UCLA and Occidental College. He is the author of most recently City on the Second Floor.
Megan Sood is an award-winning Pushcart-nominated poet, editor, author, and literary activist. She is the author of My Body Is Not an Apology.
All events are curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: My Place Café & via ZOOM online
Date: Saturday the 26th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 2057 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena, CA
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
LAPS Press Birthday Party Celebration + Valley Fresh Open Mic at Café Afecionado, Northridge – In-Person Event
Join LAPS for the 1st birthday celebration of Los Angeles Poet Society Press, with contributors reading & an Open Mic & Cake!
This new celebration is to celebrate one year of LA Poet Society Press, and Acid Verse Literary Journal.
This is a NEW Open Mic in the valley. Come by if you can.
430pm to 7pm PST. In the flesh!
We NOTE: See website for tickets and further details.
Where: Café Afecionado – Off-Site In-Person Event
Date: Saturday the 26th
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: 8904 Reseda Blvd., Northridge, CA 91324
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1337308483450581/
Beatnik Café: Poetry & Open Mic Event at Hey Hey, with Hannah Pachman – In-Person Event
Join us for the Beatnik Café Poetry Reading and Open Mic, featuring another night of hearing truth form lesser heard perspectives!
Schedule is as follows:
4:50-5 pm – Open Mic Sign Up
5-5:10 pm – Intro
5:10- 5:30 pm – Rhiannon McGavin Reading
5:30- 5:50 pm – Carla Sameth Reading
5:50- 6:50 pm – Poetry Open Mic (3 minutes per poet)
6:50- 7 pm – Close
NOTE: See website for guidelines and further details.
Where: Hey Hey & Hannah Pachman
Date: Saturday the 26th
Time: 5 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 1555 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/325455449436088/
Historical Fiction Book Club & Island Queen at Cellar Door Books – On-site Event
Join us for the Historical Fiction Lit Book Club discussion of Vanessa Riley’s book Island Queen: A Novel.
This book is a novel based on the incredible true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free woman of color who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 26th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/historical-fiction-island-queen
Patricia Ann Kindred & Magic, Honey Bees, and Weed Streaming Live From the Sims Library of Poetry – Online Event
Join us for the book release event for Patricia Ann Kindred‘s debut novel, Magic, Honey Bees, and Weed (World Stage Press, 2022).
Streaming LIVE from the Sims Library of Poetry.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, tickets, and event details.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry – Online Event
Date: Saturday the 26th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 2702 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/525252555974765 or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-release-event-magic-honey-bees-and-weed-by-patricia-ann-kindred-tickets-295504480857
Virtual Brunch Date: Cameron Esposito, with Andrea Lawler, & Save Yourself: A Memoir via Book Soup – Online Virtual Event
Join author Cameron Esposito, in conversation with Andrea Lawler, to hear them discuss her book, Save Yourself: A Memoir.
This is a queer coming-of-age story full of funny and insightful recollections about everything from coming out (at a Catholic college where sexual orientation wasn’t in the nondiscrimination policy) to how joining the circus can help you become a better comic (so much nudity) to accepting yourself for who you are
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Book Soup – Online Event
Date: Sunday the 27th
Time: 10 am
Address: Book Soup – Online (see site)
Website: www.booksoup.com/event/cameron-esposito-conversation-andrea-lawlor-discusses-save-yourself
Burning Issues Book Club: Caroline Criado Perez & Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men via Bel Canto Bookstore – Online Zoom Event
Join the Burning Issues Book Club to discuss author Caroline Criado Perez’s book, Invisible Women: Data in a World Designed for Men.
This is a landmark, prize-winning, international bestselling examination of how a gender gap in data perpetuates bias and disadvantages women, now in paperback.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Bel Canto Bookstore – Online Event
Date: Sunday the 27th
Time: 12 pm
Address: Bel Canto Bookstore – Online (see site)
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/book-clubs or https://shopthehangout.com/products/bcb-invisible-women
Latinx Book Club & Infinite Country at Cellar Door Books – On-site Event
Join us for the Latinx Lit Book Club discussion of Patricia Engel’s novel, Infinite Country: A Novel.
In this novel, Talia is being held at a correctional facility for adolescent girls in the forested mountains of Colombia after committing an impulsive act of violence that may or may not have been warranted. She urgently needs to get out and get back home to Bogotá, where her father and a plane ticket to the United States are waiting for her. If she misses her flight, she might also miss her chance to finally be reunited with her family in the north.
How this family came to occupy two different countries, two different worlds, comes into focus like twists of a kaleidoscope. Author Patricia Engel, herself a dual citizen and the daughter of Colombian immigrants, gives voice to all five family members as they navigate the particulars of their respective circumstances.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 27th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/historical-fiction-island-queen
Fourth Sundays Poetry Readings: Tim Hatch & Hari B. Khalsa at Claremont Library – Alternative In-Person Event Site at the Claremont United Church of Christ
Join us for the Fourth Sundays Poetry Reading Series event, featuring:
Tim Hatch is a writer and educator living and working in the Inland Empire. His first poetry collection, Wild Embrace, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and the Levis Reading Prize. His ebook series, My Bariatric Year, has a third volume coming soon. He teaches composition at several colleges as an adjunct professor.
Hari B. Khals is a poet, blogger, wife and mother, who has called LA home for 40 years. She is the author of Life in Two Parts (Main Street Rag, 2009), Talk of Snow (Walrus, 2016) and She Speaks to the Birds at Night While They Sleep, winner of the 2020 Clockwise Chapbook Contest (Tebot Bach, 2021).
Where: Claremont Library at the United Church of Christ – Louise Roberts Room
Date: Sunday the 27th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 233 W. Harrison Ave., Claremont, CA 91711
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/250853813877047
La Palabra Reading Series at Avenue 50 Studios – In-Person Event
Join the monthly La Palabra Reading Series & Open Mic, with host Angelina Sáenz, to hear featured poets and writers read their work and for an Open Mic to follow. Readers include:
Alicia Viguer-Espert was raised in a bilingual household in Spain, and began writing in English in 2017. She won the 2017 San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival Book Contest for her book, Holding a Hummingbird. Her work has been published in Colorado Boulevard, Lummox Anthologies, Altadena Poetry Review, ZZyZx Intersections, Spectrum Publications, and others.
Teresa Mei Chuc was born in Saigon, Vietnam shortly after the Vietnam War, and settled in Pasadena. She is the author of three poetry collections: Red Thread (2012), Keeper of the Winds (2014), and Invisible Light (2018), plus numerous chapbooks. Chuc’s poetry engages memory, trauma, healing, and her family’s particular history of the Vietnam War.
Cesar K. Avelar is a storyteller and poet. His new book of poetry is fourth coming from FlowerSong Press.
NOTE: See website for RSVP, link, and further details.
Where: Avenue 50 Studios – In-Person Event
Date: Sunday the 27th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 131 North Avenue 50, Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Words & Ideas: Maria Tatar & The Heroine with 1001 Faces via Skirball Cultural Center – Online Event
Join us to hear from world-renowned folklorist Maria Tatar. Her latest work, The Heroine with 1001 Faces, challenges notions of heroism with its male-centric emphasis on achieving glory and immortality.
In conversation with celebrated literary curator Louise Steinman, Tatar shares how heroines wear their curiosity as a badge of honor and how their “mischief making” evidences compassion and concern. Their quests may not take the traditional form of a “hero’s journey,” but they reveal the values of courage, defiance, and, above all, care.
NOTE: See website for RSVP, link, and further details.
Where: Skirball Cultural Center – Online Event
Date: Sunday the 27th
Time: 2 pm
Address: Skirball Cultural Center– Online Event
Website: https://www.skirball.org/programs/words-and-ideas/maria-tatar-heroine-1001-faces
Shawn Peters, with Antione Wilson, & The Unforgettable Logan Foster #1 at Diesel Bookstore – In-Person YA Event
Join author Shawn Peters, in conversation with author Antoine Wilson (Mouth to Mouth, Panorama City), to hear them discuss his book, The Unforgettable Logan Foster
Packed with superheroes, super villains, and epic showdowns between good and evil, The Unforgettable Logan Foster from debut author Shawn Peter shows that sometimes being a hero is just about being yourself.
Logan Foster has pretty much given up on the idea of ever being adopted. It could have something to with his awkward manner, his photographic memory, or his affection for reciting curious facts, but whatever the cause, Logan and his “PP’s” (prospective parents) have never clicked.
Then everything changes when Gil and Margie arrive. Although they aren’t exactly perfect themselves—Gil has the punniest sense of humor and Margie’s cooking would have anyone running for the hills—they genuinely seem to care.
But it doesn’t take Logan long to notice some very odd things about them. They are out at all hours, they never seem to eat, and there’s a part of the house that is protected by some pretty elaborate security.
No matter what Logan could have imagined, nothing prepared him for the truth: His PP’s are actually superheroes, and they’re being hunted down by dastardly forces
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Diesel Bookstore, Brentwood
Date: Sunday the 27th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Ste. 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/shawn-peters
Roar Shack Readings & Open Mic, with David Rocklin – Online Zoom Event
Roar Shack Readings & Open Mic, hosted by David Rocklin, is back virtually on Zoom this month. Featured guests include:
Terri Nicum is a former journalist and special education teacher. She lives in Southern California where she continues to advocate for children with special needs. Her first chapbook, Looking Snow in the Eye, was released by Finishing Line Press. A second chapbook, Dead Letter Box, was published by Moon Tide Press in 2019. Her first full length volume of poetry will be released by Mood Tide Press later this year.
Nathan Elias is a poet and writer, and the author of two chapbooks, A Myriad of Roads that Lead Here (2017) and Glass City Blues (2018). His work has been published in numerous journals, including Barnstorm Journal, Drunk Monkeys, Entropy, Lunch Ticket, Stonecast Review.
Iris De Anda is a poet, writer and activist of Mexican and Salvadoran ancestry. She is the author of Codeswitch: Fires from Mi Corazon and Roots of Redemption: You Have No Right to Remain Silent, a new release form FlowerSong Press.
Marnie Goodfriend, 2016 PEN America Fellow and Creative Nonfiction Editor at Angel’s Flight Literary West, is the author of two forthcoming memoirs: Birth Marks and Chewing Gravel.
Don’t miss it!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Roar Shack – Zoom Online Event
Date: Sunday the 27th
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: Roar Shack – Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/3257652664517212/
Bee Grateful Journaling Workshop: Angela Benson & Kai Adia at Bel Canto Bookstore at The Hangout – In-Person Event
Join us for a Bee Grateful Journaling Workshop led by Angela Benson & Kai Adia at The Hangout, with the themes, Change Your Life in a Season.
This is a presentation of the same-titled journaling book/journal.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Bel Canto Bookstore at The Hangout
Date: Sunday the 27th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 2122 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/book-clubs or https://shopthehangout.com/products/bcb-workshop-bee-grateful-journaling-3-27-6pm
Soulful Open Mic, by Sharice Chaney, Calling All Creatives – In-Person Event
Soulful Open Mic, by Sharice Chaney, is calling all artists and poets to come back to Soulful Open Mic to celebrate the art of poetry, music, and love for community.
Limited event with restrictions, include only online ticket sales, no door sales.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, tickets, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Soulful Open MIc – Chapter One: The Modern Local
Date: Sunday the 27th
Time: 6 pm – 10 pm
Address: 227 North Broadway, Santa Ana, CA 92701
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/soulful-open-mic-tickets-292502040477
Los Angeles Literature 