NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here
Mac Barentt & Marla Frazee Present The Great Zapfino via Once Upon a Time Bookstore – Kids Zoom Event
Two bestselling and popular children’s book creators, author Mac Barnett and illustrator Marla Frazee will present their sweet, inspiring story, The Great Zapfino, for children ages 5 and up, about a runaway circus performer.
When The Great Zapfino climbs to the top of the circus platform, all eyes are on him, waiting for his incredible leap. But Zapfino is afraid of heights! He can’t take the pressure and flees, boards a plane, and runs away to start a new life.
In the city, Zapfino starts work as an elevator operator in a tall building but soon learns you can never really outrun your fears. When disaster strikes, can Zapfino find the strength to be great?
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore – Kids Event – Zoom Online
Date: Tuesday the 5th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Once Upon a Time Bookstore – Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/great-zapfino
Paula McLain, with Regina Brett & When the Stars Grow Dark via Diesel Bookstore & Book Passage – Online Event
Paula McLain, in conversation with Regina Brett, will discuss her novel, When the Stars Grow Dark.
Anna Hart is a seasoned missing-persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She lived there as a child with her beloved foster parents, and now she believes it might be the only place left for her. Yet the day she arrives, she learns that a local teenage girl has gone missing
Weaving together actual cases of missing persons, trauma theory, and a hint of the metaphysical, this propulsive and deeply affecting novel tells a story of fate, necessary redemption, and what it takes, when the worst happens, to reclaim our lives—and our faith in one another.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link and details.
Where: Diesel Bookstore & Book Passage – Online Event
Date: Tuesday the 5th
Time: 5:30 pm
Address: Diesel Bookstore – Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/paula-mclain-virtual
Feminist Book Club: Men Explain Things to Me, by Rebecca Solnit at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-person Event
Join us for a discussion of our monthly book selection, Men Explain Things to Me, by author Rebecca Solnit.
In this slim book of seven essays, punctuated by enigmatic haunting paintings by Ana Teresa Fernand, Solnit offers an antidote to mansplaining, filled with power and wit.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 5th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/feminist-book-club-men-explain-things-me-0
Vroman’s Live: Amy Kim, with Alan Gratz, & Rema Chronicles at Vroman’s – Online Middle Grade Event
Amy Kim, in conversation with Alan Gratz, will discuss her new middle grade novel, Rema Chronicles #1: Realm of the Blue Mist.
In this sweeping adventure with a light romance, Tabby Simon is determined to learn what happened to her father, who was found dead after researching a tree that leaks a mysterious mist in her neighborhood. She is unexpectedly led to Rema, a distant world of magic and beauty that is periodically invaded by a nearby planet desperate for resources. While Tabby searches for the truth surrounding her father’s death, she meets a handsome blue-haired boy named Philip. He has his own dangerous secrets, but has promised to help Tabby get home. As she learns more about this strange world, Tabby discovers that she is destined for something far greater than she ever could have imagined. (Graphix)
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 5th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Vroman’s Online (see site)
Simon Rich & Tom Toro, with Zibby Owens, & I’m Terrified of Bath Time at Skylight Bookstore – Online Kids & Family Event
Simon Rich and illustrator Tom Toro, in conversation with Zibby Owens, will discuss their new kids book, I’m Terrified of Bath Time.
In this hilarious and clever bath-time picture book by humorist, novelist, and TV writer Simon Rich, with illustrations by Tom Toro (How to Potty Train Your Porcupine), begins a hilarious dip into the choppy waters of a nightly ritual that parents and children alike often dread. Filled with soapsuds, rubber duckies, and existential angst, this debut picture book is a splashy tale of cleanliness—and survival. This irreverent read-aloud treat about facing fear and embracing adventure might just change the way you see bath time (and your bathroom) forever.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 5th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Skylight Books – Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-simon-rich-and-tom-toro-conversation-zibby-owens
Steven Rowley & The Guncle at Book Soup – In-person Event
Author Steven Rowley will join us to discuss the paperback edition of his latest book, The Guncle.
Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. So when tragedy strikes and Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian, he is, honestly, overwhelmed.
Patrick has no idea what to expect, having spent years barely holding on after the loss of his great love, a somewhat-stalled acting career, and a lifestyle not-so-suited to a six- and a nine-year-old. But when his waggish set of Guncle Rules no longer appease Maisie and Grant’s parental void, Patrick’s eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you’re unfailingly human.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 5th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/steven-rowley-discusses-guncle
Tuesdays at the Virtual Cobalt: Poets Series Presents: Open Reading & Peter J. Harris – Virtual Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and guest poet Peter J. Harris.
Peter J. Harris is a 2018 Los Angeles COLA Fellow in literary arts, Fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at USC, and award-winning poet, is the author of Bless the Ashes, poetry (Tia Chucha Press), winner of the 2015 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and The Black Man of Happiness: In Pursuit of My ‘Unalienable Right,’ a book of personal essays, winner of a 2015 American Book Award. FlowerSong Press will publish Harris’ Safe Arms: 20 Love & Erotic Poems (w/an Ooh Baby Baby moan), with Spanish translations by Francisco Letelier.
Harris is founding director of The Black Man of Happiness Project, a creative, intellectual and artistic exploration of Black men and joy. Harris writes the blog WREAKING HAPPINESS: A Joyful Living Journal.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 5th
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 – IG Live Event
Open Mic Tuesdays at Da Poetry Lounge are back! Catch us live on IG Livestream. Hosted by Alysha Wise and Matthew “Cuban” Hernandez.
Where: DA Poetry Lounge at Dynasty Typewriter
Date: Tuesday the 5th
Time: 9 pm – 11 pm
Address: 2511 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYvULkirZCx/ or https://www.instagram.com/p/CbX26Z5lrTD/
SOM Tuesdays Open Mic at Di Piazza’s Pizza, Long Beach – In-person Event
SOM Open Mic Tuesdays at Di Piazza’s are back! Come and share music, comedy, and poetry with us.
Where: Di Piazza’s Pizza (Check to verify)
Date: Tuesday the 5th
Time: 9 pm – 12 am
Address: 5205 E. Pacific Coast Hwy, Long Beach, CA 90804
Website: Facebook Page
Washington Irving Book Club: While Justice Sleeps by Stacy Abrams at Washington Irving Branch Library, LAPL – In-person Patio Event
Join LAPL for the Washington Irving Book Club discussion of While Justice Sleeps, by Stacy Abrams.
Copies are available through the library catalog and a book summary is on hoopla digital. No registration is required, and new people are welcome!
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Washington Irving Branch Library, LAPL – Outside Patio Event
Date: Wednesday 6th
Time: 11 am – 1 pm
Address: 4117 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90018
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/washington-irving-book-club-0
Palms Mystery Book Club: Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith at Palms-Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join LAPL for the Palms Mystery Book Club discussion of Havana Bay, by Martin Cruz Smith.
Moscow Detective Arkady Renko arrives in Cuba to investigate the corpse of a Russian national turns up in Havana Bay. Professionally burned out, Arkady finds a place of loneliness and contradictions, where Russians are unwelcome, and a web of international deceit & intrigue that is enough to stir him back to life.
Copies of all titles available for checkout at the branch. Register in advance here. Once registered, participants will receive a confirmation email with meeting ID, etc for mystery book club meetings.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Date: Wednesday 6th
Time: 6 pm
Address: LAPL Online (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-discussion-2
WeHo Reads 2022: Road to Joy & Trans/Future/Poetics via WeHo Reads – Online Event
Join WeHo Reads for National Poetry Month, when we will bring together two established and two emerging trans poets in a reading and dialogue about the future and the intersections of science fiction and poetry, activism and language. Curated and hosted by West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Brian Sonia-Wallace, readers include:
Ryka Aoki , LA-based poet and author of the new sci-fi novel Light from Uncommon Stars , Harry Josephine Giles , Scottish poet and author of Deep Wheel Orcadia , in conversation with young poets and organizers Simba the Poet (Nashville) and Ava Dadvand (from Los Angeles, currently writing and studying at Yale).
NOTE: This event is free via Eventbrite link at site.
Where: WeHo Reads Event – Online event
Date: Wednesday the 6th
Time: 6 pm
Address: WeHo Reads – Online Event
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/492382732264238/
Poetry Speaks: A Poetry Reading with the OC Youth Poet Laureate via OCPL – Online Event
Join OCPL online, for the first event in our Poetry Speaks Reading Series, with Orange County’s first Youth Poet Laureate, Tina Mai, and Honorable Mention, Ariyah Nichol Brown.
Listen to the poets read their work, talk about what inspires them, and answer questions about their experience with LibroMobile’s Youth Poet Laureate Program.
NOTE: To get the Zoom link, email readoc@occr.ocgov.com.
Where: OC Poet Laureate Event – Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 6th
Time: 6 pm
Address: OCPL – Online Event (see site)
Website: https://ocpl.org/poetryspeaks
History Book Club: The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, by Les Payne, Tamara Payne at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-person Event
Join us for the History Book Club meeting, to discuss this month’s selection, The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, by authors Les Payne, Tamara Payne.
Les Payne, the renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, embarked in 1990 on a nearly thirty-year-long quest to interview anyone he could find who had actually known Malcolm X all living siblings of the Malcolm Little family, classmates, street friends, cellmates, Nation of Islam figures, FBI moles and cops, and political leaders around the world. His goal was ambitious: to transform what would become over a hundred hours of interviews into an unprecedented portrait of Malcolm X, one that would separate fact from fiction.
The result is this historic biography that conjures a never-before-seen world of its protagonist, a work whose title is inspired by a phrase Malcolm X used when he saw his Hartford followers stir with purpose, as if the dead were truly arising, to overcome the obstacles of racism. Setting Malcolm’s life not only within the Nation of Islam but against the larger backdrop of American history, the book traces the life of one of the twentieth century’s most politically relevant figures “from street criminal to devoted moralist and revolutionary.”
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 6th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/history-book-club-dead-are-arising
Vroman’s Live: Lian Dolan, with Rico Gagliano, & Lost and Found in Paris at Vroman’s – In-person Event
Lian Dolan, in conversation with Rico Gagliano, will discuss her novel, Lost and Found in Paris
Joan Blakely had an unconventional childhood: the daughter of a globe-trotting supermodel and a world-famous artist. Her artist father died on 9/11, and Joan–an art historian by training–has spent more than a decade maintaining his legacy. Life in the art world is beginning to wear on her–and then one fateful afternoon her husband drops a bombshell: he’s fathered twins with another woman.
Furious but secretly pleased to have a reason to blow up her life, Joan impulsively decides to get out of town, booking a last-minute trip to Paris as an art courier: the person museums hire to fly valuable works of art to potential clients, discreetly stowed in their carry-on luggage. Sipping her champagne in business-class, she chats up her seatmate, Nate, a good-looking tech nerd who invites her to dinner in Paris. He doesn’t know she’s carrying drawings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The next day she finds the drawings are gone, and a sketch form her father’s journals left in its place. With Nate as a sidekick, Joan will follow the clues all over Paris–from its grand cathedrals to the romantic bistros–hoping to recover the lost art, and her own sense of adventure. What she finds is even better than she’d expected.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday the 6th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
At Skylight: Gary Pillips & One-Shot Harry – In-person Event
Join us to hear master storyteller and crime fiction legend Gary Phillips discuss his new novel, One-Shot Harry.
Race and civil rights in 1963 Los Angeles provide a powerful backdrop in Gary Phillips’s riveting historical crime novel about an African American forensic photographer seeking justice for a friend. African American Korean War veteran Harry Ingram earns a living as a news photographer and occasional process server: chasing police radio calls and dodging baseball bats. With racial tensions running high on the eve of Martin Luther King’s Freedom Rally, Ingram risks becoming a victim at every crime scene he photographs.
When Ingram hears about a deadly automobile accident on his police scanner, he recognizes the vehicle described as belonging to his good friend and old army buddy, a white jazz trumpeter. The LAPD declares the car crash an accident, but when Ingram develops his photos, he sees signs of foul play. Ingram feels compelled to play detective, even if it means putting his own life on the line.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 6th
Time: 7 pm
Address: Skylight – Online (see site)
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-gary-phillips-presents-one-shot-harry
Transmissions: Horace Tapscott: Discussion & performance – Passing the Magic at The ICCA-LA – In-person Event
Join us for a panel discussion in celebration of the 88th birthday of the late jazz musician, composer, and activist Horace Tapscott. The discussion will traverse generations to focus on the theme of transmissions and the legacy of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. The panel will feature performers Kamau Daáood, Mekala Session, Michael Session, Roberto Miranda, and Jimetta Smith, moderated by Mike Sonksen. The discussion will be followed by a brief musical performance and poetry.
About the panelists:
Kamau Daáood is a performance poet, educator, and community arts advocate and a member of the Watts Writers Workshop and the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra.
Mekela Session is a drummer and current leader of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra.
Michael Session is a saxophonist and founding member of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra.
Roberto Miranda is a professor at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, a bassist, and historic member of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra.
Jimetta Smith is a singer/songwriter who founded The Voices of Creation, a soul and jazz choir centered around healing through music and positive thinking.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: The Institute of Cotemporary Art LA
Date: Wednesday the 6th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1717 E. 7th St., Los Angeles, CA 90021
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 6th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4321 Dengan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.theworldstage.org/events.html
Live Talks LA: Arthur Brooks, with Simon Sinek, & From Strength to Strength at Wilshire Boulevard Temple – In-person Event
Live Talks LA will present author Arthur Brooks, in conversation with Simon Sinek, at Wilshire Boulevard Temple to discuss his new book, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of LIfe.
The author is a social scientist who studies human happiness. He is the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School, the bestselling author of 12 books, an acclaimed public speaker, and creator of the popular “How to Build a Life” column for The Atlantic. Previously, he served for ten years as president of the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington, DC,
At the height of his career at the age of 50, Arthur Brooks embarked on a seven-year journey to discover how to transform his future from one of disappointment over waning abilities into an opportunity for progress. From Strength to Strength is the result, a practical roadmap for the rest of your life.
NOTE: Details, tickets, and guidelines at event link.
Where: Live Talks LA – Off-site at Wilshire Boulevard Temple
Date: Wednesday the 6th
Time: 8 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 3643 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/arthur-brooks-with-simon-sinek/
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 6th
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-311210919237
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry & Marilynn Montaño 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 Marilynn Montaño.
Marilynn Montaño is a first-generation Chicana writer and artist from Santa Ana, CA. Montaño is a proud daughter of migrant parents from Puebla, Mexico. She is the event coordinator and bookstore manager at LibroMobile, a bookstore & literary arts co-op in Santa Ana, CA. Also a Crear Studio fellow.
In 2019, Montaño was named Poetic Influencer for OC Weekly’s People’s Issue. Her poetry was featured in Mujeres de Maiz, Seeds of Resistance, Barrio Writers anthology and The Chachalaca Review. Montaño’s journalistic work has been featured in the OC Register, Voice of OC, and OC Weekly.
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
Date: Wednesday the 6th
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/1606125869720652
Palms Big Read Event: The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui at Palms-Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – Online Teen Event
Join LAPL for the Palms Big Read event for Teens, focused on The Best We Could Do, by Thi Bui.
We will discuss this year’s Big Read title, The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui. Following the book discussion, teens will be challenged to reflect on their ancestry and themselves in a visual medium by creating their own graphic novel story based on the quote, “How much of ME is my own, and how much is stamped into my blood and bone, predestined?
Copies of the book will be provided; while supplies last. Books are generously funded through the City of Los Angeles.
NOTE: See site for link and event details. Please email emeehan@lapl.org for the Zoom link.
Where: Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Date: Thursday 7th
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: LAPL Online (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/big-read-draw-your-story-graphic-novel-art-teens
Poetry Readings: Amy Uyematsu & Chuck Rosenthal via Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online Event
Join Beyond Baroque, with What Books Press and Giant Claw, for an online Poetry Reading of New Works from poets Amy Uyematsu and Chuck Rosenthal.
Amy Uyematsu’s new poetry collection, That Blue Trickster Time, addresses her life as an older Japanese American woman–rooted in the ancestral wisdom of goddesses and stones, her poems confront contemporary issues of racism, pandemic uncertainty and political justice.
Chuck Rosenthal’s Let’s Face the Music and Dance is three books in one: part contemporary love-story set in Los Angeles; part philosophical meditation on desire; and part historical romance. This engaging work of fiction marks Rosenthal’s 20th book.
The readings will be introduced by Karen Kevorkian.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, details and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque (Eventbrite)
Date: Thursday the 7th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online event
Poetry Night: Andrea Carter Brown, Chloe Martinez & Cynthia Hogue at Chevalier’s Bookstore – In-person Event
Join us for a Poetry Night to hear readings by: Andrea Carter Brown, Chloe Martinez & Cynthia Hogue
Andrea Carter Brown is the author of September 12 (The Word Works, 2021), The Disheveled Bed (CavanKerry Press, 2006) and two chapbooks, Domestic Karma (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and Brook & Rainbow (Winner of the 2000 Sow’s Ear Press Chapbook Award). Her poems have won the Five Points James Dickey Prize, the River Styx International Poetry Prize, and the PSA Gustav Davidson Memorial Prize, among many others. Since 2017, she has been Series Editor of The Word Works Washington Prize.
Chloe Martinez is a poet and a scholar of South Asian religions. She is the author of the collection Ten Thousand Selves (The Word Works, 2021) and the chapbook Corner Shrine (Backbone Press, 2020). Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, TriQuarterly, Shenandoah and elsewhere. She works at Claremont McKenna College. See more at www.chloeAVmartinez.com
Cynthia Hogue’s most recent collections are RevenanceandIn June the Labyrinth (2017). Her tenth collection, instead, it is dark, will be out from Red Hen Press in 2023. Her translation (with Sylvain Gallais) of Nicole Brossard’s Lointaines, entitled in English Distantly, will be out in May (2022) from Omnidawn. Hogue’s forthcoming chapbook is entitled Contain (Tram Editions 2022). Her honors include two NEA Fellowships. She lives in Tucson.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, tickets, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 7th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
At Skylight: Tamara Yajia & Poems I Wrote While Taking a Shit at Skylight Bookstore – In-person Event
Join us to hear author Tamara Yajia present and discuss her book, Poems I Wrote While Taking a Shit.
This book is described as a collection of disgusting and hilarious poems that will take you on a journey to the bathroom.
Tamara Yajia is comedy writer and actress from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She currently lives in Los Angeles and has appeared and written on shows for Comedy Central, Hulu, Apple +, and Funny Or Die.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 7th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N, Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-tamara-yajia-presents-poems-i-wrote-while-taking-shit
Vroman’s Live: Gary Phillips & One-Shot Harry at Vroman’s – In-person Event
Gary Phillips will present and discuss his novel, One-Shot Harry.
Race and civil rights in 1963 Los Angeles provide a powerful backdrop in Gary Phillips’s riveting historical crime novel about an African American forensic photographer seeking justice for a friend. African American Korean War veteran Harry Ingram earns a living as a news photographer and occasional process server: chasing police radio calls and dodging baseball bats. With racial tensions running high on the eve of Martin Luther King’s Freedom Rally, Ingram risks becoming a victim at every crime scene he photographs.
When Ingram hears about a deadly automobile accident on his police scanner, he recognizes the vehicle described as belonging to his good friend and old army buddy, a white jazz trumpeter. The LAPD declares the car crash an accident, but when Ingram develops his photos, he sees signs of foul play. Ingram feels compelled to play detective, even if it means putting his own life on the line.
Armed with his wits, his camera, and occasionally his Colt .45, Harry Ingram plunges head-first into the seamier underbelly of LA society, tangling with racists, leftists, blackmailers, gangsters, zealots and lovers, all in the hope of finding something resembling justice for a friend.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 7th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/gary-phillips-discussesone-shot-harry
FOS-Thursdays & FOST Artistic Collective present: Freedom of Speech Open Mic with Sabor y Cultura Café – In-person & Online IG Event
Please help FOS’s in-person venue 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.
This 10 Year Celebration takes place as a hybrid event and is offered on a first come, first serve sign-ups basis.
NOTE: See site for cost, event details.
Where: Freedom of Speech (FOS) Open Mic – In-Person & Online IG event
Date: Thursday the 7th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 665 N. Heliotrope Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://www.instagram.com/fos_thursdays/ or https://www.instagram.com/p/CbQpRzPv5qe/
Charlotte Offsay Book Launch & A Grandma’s Magic Storytime via Children’s Book World – Online Kids Event
Join us for the Charlotte Offsay Book Launch of A Grandma’s Magic, which will include a storytime of this new picture book.
Charlotte Offsay is also the author of the children’s books Big Beach Cleanup and How to Return a Monster.
NOTE: See site for book purchase and event details.
Where: Children’s Book World – Online Event
Date: Friday the 8th
Time: 10:30 am – 11 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Edward Vidaurre Reading & Cry, Howl via LibroMobile – Online Event
Edward Vidaurre is the author of eight collections of poetry, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Acentos Review, Poetry Bay, as well as other journals and anthologies. He was 2018-2019 Poet Laureate of the City of McAllen, TX and is publisher of FlowerSong Press and its sister publication Juventude Press. He is Director of Operations for the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival.
Edward Vidaurre’s newest collection, Cry, Howl, delivers anther offering of poems of resistencia, with nature and elegies, cantos, and love sprinkled in for nourishment for the reader’s heart. It is for the breath-length fight against the lying and dangerous oligarchs.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: LibroMobile, Santa Ana (Online Event)
Date: Friday the 8th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: LibroMobile – Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/cry-howl-by-edward-vidaurre
Harlan Coben, with Kristen Hannah, & The Match at Book Soup – Online Event
Bestselling author Harlan Coben, in conversation with bestselling author Kristen Hannah (The Nightingale), will join us to discuss his latest book, The Match.
After months away, Wilde has returned to the Ramapo Mountains in the wake of a failed bid at domesticity that confirms what he’s known all along: He belongs on his own, free from the comforts and constraints of modern life.
Suddenly, a DNA match on an online ancestry database brings Wilde closer to his past than he’s ever dreamed, and finally gives Wilde the opening he needs to track down his father. But meeting the man brings up more questions than answers. So Wilde reaches out to his last, most desperate lead, a second cousin who disappears as quickly as he resurfaces, having experienced an epic fall from grace that can only be described as a waking nightmare.
Was his cousin’s downfall a long time coming? Or was he the victim of a conspiracy as cunning as it is complex? And how does it all connect to the man once known as The Stranger, a treacherous fugitive with a growing following whose mission and methods have only turned more dangerous with time?
NOTE: See site for RSVP, book purchase, and details.
Where: Book Soup & Partners – Online Event
Date: Friday the 8th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Book Soup – Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/harlan-coban
H. Melt, with Kemi Alabi, & There Are Trans People Here via Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Join us to hear author, poet, artist, and educator H. Melt, in conversation with Kemi Alabi (Against Heaven, 2022), present and discuss his book, There Are Trans People Here.
There Are Trans People Here reminds us there are trans people here in the past,a nd in the future. Melt’s writing centers the deep care, love, and joy within trans communities. This poetry collection describes moments of resistance in queer and trans history as catalysts for movements today. It honors trans ancestors and contemporary activists, artists, and writers fighting for trans liberation. This book is a testament to the healing power of community and the beauty of trans people, history, and culture.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online
Date: Friday the 8th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Crowdcast Event (see site)
Marcellas Reynolds & Supreme Actresses: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Hollywood at Book Soup – In-person Event
Author Marcellas Reynolds will join us in-store to discuss his latest book, Supreme Actresses: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Hollywood.
From the author of Supreme Models comes the first-ever art book dedicated to celebrating Black actresses and exploring their experiences in acting. Through stunning photographs, personal interviews, short biographies, and career milestones, Supreme Actresses chronicles the most influential Black actresses who have worked in film, television, and theater. From Hattie McDaniel, the first actress of color to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1939, to Dorothy Dandridge, the first actress of color to be nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards in 1954. And from Ethel Waters8818, the first African American actress to be featured on an American sitcom in 1950, to Cicely Tyson, the first African American star of a TV drama in 1963. The performances by these talented actresses are ingrained into our memories. We experienced laughter, love, and loss with these women. But how did they begin their acting careers?
NOTE: See site for RSVP, book purchase, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday the 8th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/marcellas-reynolds
Anfitrionas: A Reading & Discussion with Latinx Poets and Literary Organizers in Southern California at Beyond Baroque – In-person Event
Join Beyond Baroque in-person for a poetry reading with Latinx Poets and Literary Organizers in Southern California, titled Antifitrionas. This panel of readers and authors is hosted by poet and writer Lisbeth Coiman, and features:
Lisbeth Coiman is a bilingual poet and educator, and a native Spanish speaker. She has a Masters in Education and over 25 years experience teaching both English as a Second Language and Spanish to children and adults in different settings. Her debut book, I Asked the Blue Heron: A Memoir (Independently published in 2017) narrates her immigration journey. Her first bilingual poetry collection, Uprising / Alzamiento, published by Finishing Line Press in 2021, brings attention to the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in her homeland. An avid reader, Coiman enjoys writing book reviews for the New York Journal of Books. She is an active member of several writing communities, Women Who Submit, the Community Literature Initiative, and the Wayward Writers. In her free time, Coiman dances salsa and hikes the trails in and around Los Angeles, CA.
Angelina Saenz is an award-winning public-school teacher and poet whose work focuses on memory, mujeres and motherhood. She is a UCLA Writing Project fellow, an alumna of the VONA/Voices Workshop for Writers of Color and a Macondo Writer’s Workshop Fellow. Her poetry has appeared in venues such as Diálogo, Split this Rock, Out of Anonymity, Angels Flight Literary West, Every Other, Cockpit Revue Paris and The Acentos Review. She is the host of the monthly poetry reading La Palabra at Avenue 50 Studio in Northeast Los Angeles. Her debut book of poetry Edgecliff was released in December of 2021 with FlowerSong Press.
Cynthia Alessandra Briano s Director of the Rapp Saloon Reading Series and Founder of LoveOn Demand Global. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and grew up in Southeast L.A. She left home at 14 to attend boarding school in Massachusetts. Cynthia earned a B.A. from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and a Master in Fine Arts in Poetry from University of California Riverside. Cynthia teaches at Cal. State University Fullerton in the African American Studies Department as part of the Ethnic Studies Program. She has been recipient of the Lois Morrell & J. Russell Hayes Poetry P rize and finalist in the James Hearst Poetry Prize. Connect with her at: @CynthiaABriano @RappSaloon @LoveOnDemandGlobal.
Jessica Wilson Cardenas is a Chicana Poet born in East Los Angeles, CA. She is a 3rd generation Beatnik… a Beat Poet from the lines of Jack Spicer to Paul Vangelisti, and the heartbeat of the visual Muse and Master Poet, Maurya Simon. She completed her BA in Creative Writing and Art History from UC Riverside in Riverside, CA, and obtained her Master of Fine Arts from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, CA. In 2009 she founded the Los Angeles Poet Society and began a network of literary events and open mics such as: Writers’ Row: The DTLA Artwalk’s Showcase of the Written Art, SoapBox Poets Open Mic, Salon @ NoHo, Gallery 19, LAPS Presents on Full Spectrum, and Writer Wednesday. She teaches poetry with California Poets in the Schools, the oldest non-profit dedicated to the empowerment of our youth in CA. Jessica is currently an English teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Her books of poetry include: What Breathes, Raw Kit, Marie Morrison, and most recently, Serious Longing, published by Swan World Press in Paris, France. Jessica is an International Poet!
Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley is a Dominican American non-fiction writer and filmmaker. Her work is featured in Gathering: A Women Who Submit Anthology and is forthcoming in The Washington Heights Memoir Project and HarperVia’s Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings edited by Reyna Grande and Sonia Guiñansaca. Lucy is the Chapters Liaison for Women Who Submit and leads the Long Beach chapter of the organization. www.lucyrodriguezhanley.com
Sarah Rafael Garcia is an author, community educator and performance ethnographer. As a child of immigrants and first-generation graduate, she has over 15 years of experience as an Arts Leader in OC. She’s the founder of Barrio Writers, LibroMobile and Crear Studio — all art programs initiated as a response to build cultural relevance and equity for BIPOC folks in her community. As of 2020, her community projects collectively established the LibroMobile Arts Cooperative (LMAC). She’s the author of Las Niñas, SanTana’s Fairy Tales and co-editor of pariahs and Speculative Fiction for Dreamers. Her poetry, essays and fiction have been published in various publications.
Davina A. Ferreira was born in Miami but grew up in Colombia. She is the quintessential symbol of the immigrant’s American Dream. Upon arriving in the U.S. Ferreira attended college, receiving a B.A. in Fine Arts from UC Irvine and worked as an actress with the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts. Later on, she attended The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London (RADA) to pursue classical acting. Ferreira then completed a Journalism Certificate at UCLA Extension and began a career in journalism, which led her to launch ALEGRÍA Magazine. She then wrote her first book, Take Me With You/Llévame Contigo, a bilingual compilation of short stories and poems of love. Her book, Finding My ALEGRIA is an inspirational memoir, which she hopes will motivate young entrepreneurs around the world to pursue their dreams regardless of their circumstances. If Love had a Name is her first poetry collection in English, winner of The Juan Herrera Best Poetry book award at The International Latino Book Festival. Her latest book Libre is a micropoetry collection in Spanish.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines and event details.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Friday the 8th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA 90291
Website: http://www.beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/anfitrionas-reading-discussion-with-latinx-poets-of-southern-california-tickets-298385387727
Social Justice Book Club for Kids & The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family via Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – Online Zoom Event
Literature can transform the way we look at the world. Join children’s librarians from the Los Angeles Public Library to discuss kid-friendly books related to topics of social justice. This is an all-ages book club for the whole family. Participants of all ages are welcome.
Today we will discuss The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family, by Ibtihaj Muhammad.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 10 am
Address: LAPL – Onllne Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/social-justice-book-club
Adult Book Club & A Long Petal of the Sea via Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Zoom Event
The Westwood Branch Library’s Adult Book Club meets monthly and discusses a wide array of literature.
Today we will discuss A Long Petal of the Sea, a novel by Isabel Allende.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 11 am
Address: LAPL – Onllne Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-12
LGBTQIA Book Club & Marriage of a Thousand Lies at Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us every third Saturday of the month for the LGBTQIA Book Club. This month’s selection for discussion is Marriage of a Thjousand Lies, by author SJ Sindu.
All are Welcome.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 12 pm
Address: LAPL – Online (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/lgbtqia-book-club-7
Harvey Fierstein, with Billy Eichner, & I Was Better Last Night at Book Soup Off-site – In-person Event
Cultural icon, gay rights activist, and author Harvey Fierstein, in conversation with Billy Eichner, will join us to discuss his book, I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir.
I Was Better Last Night bares the inner life of this eccentric nonconforming child from his roots in 1952 Brooklyn, to the experimental worlds of Andy Warhol and the Theatre of the Ridiculous, to the gay rights movements of the seventies and the tumultuous AIDS crisis of the eighties, through decades of addiction, despair, and ultimate triumph. Fierstein’s candid recollections provide a rich window into downtown New York City life, gay culture, and the evolution of theater (of which he has been a defining figure), as well as a moving account of his family’s journey of acceptance. This book is filled with wisdom gained, mistakes made, and stories that come together to describe an astonishingly colorful and meaningful life.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, book purchase, and details.
Where: Book Soup at First Congregational Church
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 12 pm
Address: 540 S. Commonwealth Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90020
Passing of the Laurels Ceremony: Alice Pero, New Poet Laureate – In-person Event
Sunland-Tujunga’s Village Poets will induct their new Poet Laureate, Alice Pero in a ”Passing of the Laurels” ceremony and reading event.
Alice Pero is a writer, teacher, and musician, who was actually elected to her new post in 2020, but her official induction has been postponed on several occasions as a result of county health mandates. While the McGroarty Arts Center, the customary host of the “Passing of the Laurels” ceremony, is unavailable, the former home of late artist and sculptor Wendell Dayton will open its gates to the public for this prestigious event. It’s a recognizable and lovely location surrounded by an outdoor sculptor garden in the Shadow Hills section of Sunland.
Pero’s poetry has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies including National Poetry Review, California Quarterly, We Are Here, Coiled Serpent and Altadena Poetry Review. Her first book of poetry Thawed Stars was praised by renowned poet Kenneth Koch as having “clarity and surprises.” She is the founder of the Windsong Players Chamber Ensemble and the ongoing poetry reading series “Moonday” which, since 2002, has featured published poets on both East and West sides of Los Angeles including a nine-year run at the Flintridge Bookstore in La Cañada.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 1 pm – 4 pm
Address: Dayton Sculpture Garden, 19755 Art Street, Sunland, CA 91040
Website: https://villagepoets.blogspot.com/
Liz Climo & You’re Loved at Vroman’s Bookstore Paseo – In-person Event
Children’s author Liz Climo will present her new book, You’re Loved, which celebrates all kinds of families, and is perfect for any day you want to say, I live you.
Loving, uplifting, and hilariously honest, You’re Loved is a celebration of the milestones of childhood and a tribute to the parents and caregivers who are there for every win, every fall, every goodnight kiss, and every sleepless night. With her trademark sense of humor, Liz Climo (creator of the beloved comic series The Little World of Liz Climo) pairs her adorable art with pitch perfect, gentle rhymes, making this a warm welcome gift for any new addition to the family.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s – Outside on the Paseo
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/liz-climo-presents-youre-loved
The Big Read: The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui via Canoga Park Branch Library, LAPL – Online Zoom Event
Join the Big Read and the Chinatown Library Book Club to discuss our book selection, The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui
This Big Read title is about the Vietnam War, refugees and immigrants, and intergeneration trauma.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details. Please email pmiranda@lapl.org for the Zoom link.
Where: Canoga Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 1 pm
Address: LAPL – Online (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/big-read-best-we-could-do-illustrated-memoir-thi-bui-3
National Poetry Month Series: I Am America Poetry Readings (4 Weekly Events) via Will & Ariel Durant Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us virtually during National Poetry Month to hear both local, Southern California poets and national poets share poems about their diverse and rich cultural heritages representing everyday people who live, work and build America from its past to its present and future. Alixen Pham, poet/writer/artist, hosts this four-week series with poets:
Michaelsun Stonesweat Knapp, of the Costanoan-Rumsen Carmel Band of Ohlone Indians, is an MFA candidate at the Institute of American Indian Arts, by way of Los Angeles County, with a BA in English lit from CSU San Bernardino, and two AAs from Mount San Antonio College. Nominated for a 2016 Pushcart, and winner of the Muse Times Two Poetry Award, he is also a 2016 Periphery Poets Fellow, poetry editor for Mud City, and now curates the Claremont West Reading Series. He has published over 80 pieces across the United States and Internet.
Bunkong Tuon is a Cambodian-American writer and critic. He is the author of Gruel, And So I Was Blessed (both published by NYQ Books), The Doctor Will Fix It (Shabda Press), and Dead Tongue (a chapbook with Joanna C. Valente, Yes Poetry). He teaches at Union College, in Schenectady, NYHe tweets @BunkongTuon
Joan Kwon Glass is the author of Night Swim, winner of the 2021 Diode Editions Book Contest & serves as Editor-in-Chief of Harbor Review. Her micro chapbook Bloodline won the 2021 Washburn Prize and her poetry chapbook, How to Make Pancakes for a Dead Boy (2022) won the 2021 Marginalia Contest. She was a Runner-Up for the 2021 Sundress Publications Chapbook Contest, a finalist for Sundress Broadside Contest. She serves as Poet Laureate (2021-2024) for the City of Milford, Connecticut & as poetry of West Trestle Review. Joan’s work explores trauma, grief, memory, motherhood, and recovery. She is a mixed-race (hapa) Korean American who grew up in Michigan and South Korea
Andres Cordoba is a Massachusetts-born writer. He has received honors such as the Thayer Fellowship For the Arts and the Patricia Kerr Ross Award, was named a 2019 Breakout 8 Writer in poetry by Epiphany: A Literary Journal, and was a finalist in Black Warrior Review‘s 2020 Poetry Contest. His work can be found in As It Ought To Be, Epiphany: A Literary Journal, and The Gandy Dancer. He is quick twitching, vivid with rushing wind. More can be found on twitter (@urgoodpalandres) and instagram (@urgoodpal_andres).
Dana Kinsey is a poet, actor, freelance writer, fine-arts teacher, and theater director.
Her poetry and prose have been published by several national and international literary journals, including On The Sea Wall, Sledgehammer Lit, West Trestle Review, Porcupine Literary, ONE ART, Prose Online, Spillwords Press, Tweetspeak, Silver Needle Press, Writers Resist, The Yellow Chair Review, The Broadkill Review, Fledgling Rag, and For Women Who Roar. Her poetry chapbook Mixtape Venus is forthcoming in Spring of 2022 from I. Giraffe Press.
Nancy Lynée Woo is a poet, writer and community organizer. As the founder of Surprise the Line, a community poetry workshop, she believes in the power of the arts to bring people together. Nancy has been awarded fellowships from the Arts Council for Long Beach, PEN America and Idyllwild Writers Week. She has published two chapbooks. She recently received her MFA at Antioch University, and has taught poetry in settings such as colleges, nonprofits and primary schools.
Kim Malinowski is a poet and writer and the author of HOME, her debut collection from Kelsay Books. She is a community workshop leader, educator and promoter of all things poetry.
Dania Ayah Alkhouli is a Syrian writer, editor, poet, and community organizer from sunny SoCal. She is the author of three poetry collections, the latest titled,Contortionist Tongue, fromMoon Tide Press released early 2020. Her work centers on feminism, sexuality, culture, identity, religion, death & grief, domestic violence & sexual assault, and her homeland, Syria. In 2012, Alkhouli and her mother cofounded the nonprofit traveling exhibition and series of events, A Country Called Syria.
Marjorie Maddox is the author of the collections Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For and Begin with a Question.. Professor of English and Creative Writing at Lock Haven University and a poetry editor of Presence, she has published thirteen collections of poetry, a short story collection, and has edited numerous books.
Yeva Johnson is a poet, musician, writer and artist whose work explores interlocking caste systems and the possibilities for human connection. A past Artist-in-Residence for Show Us Your Spines sponsored by RADAR Productions and the SF Public Library and part of QTPOC4SHO, a small and sustaining artists’ collective, She is a Board Member of the Marin Poetry Center.
NOTE: See site for RSVP in advance and details.
Where: Will & Ariel Durant Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: LAPL – Online (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/national-poetry-month-i-am-america
Saturday Afternoon Poetry & The Big Share – Off-Site In-person Event & Via Zoom
Join us at Saturday Afternoon Poetry off-site at My Place Café for The Big Share, hosted by Calokie & GT Foster. (Read poetry by anyone but yourself.)
All events are curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: My Place Café & via ZOOM online
Date: Saturday the 2nd
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 2057 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena, CA
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Black Ark: Poetry by Yesika Salgado & Music by San Cha at Hauser & Wirth – In-person Event
Join us for a collaborative performance by poet Yesika Salgado and singer San Cha on Gary Simmons’ sculptural installation “Recapturing Memories of the Black Ark” (2014-ongoing). Melancholia and longing are universal languages that Yeiska and San Cha explore in a gripping medley of song and poetry.
NOTE: See site for book purchase and event details.
Where: Hauser & Wirth
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: 901 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/975787333042902
Author Reading: Terre Reed & The Wind Blows and the Flowers Dance at The Book Jewel Bookstore – In-person Event
Join us to hear author Terre Reed present her book, The Winds Blow and the Flowers Dance, an artist’s memoir.
In her book, Reed takes an introspective exploration and shares the intimacy of her relationship with her husband and his death. Her story offers a profound understanding of loss and it is her inspiring journey of self-care that led her to develop her gifts as a painter, poet, and an author. Come out to The Book Jewel and hear Terre’s inspiring story told in person!
Where: The Book Jewel, Westchester
Date: Saturday the 2nd
Time: 5 pm
Address: 6259 W. 87th St., Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://www.thebookjewel.com/author-reading-terre-reed
At Once Upon a Time: Annual Wine Walk Event & Meet Author Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-person Event
Join us to meet and visit with author Kimberly Chriman-Campbell, browse books, enjoy wines and appetizers at the 4th Annual Wine Walk in Montrose.
Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell is the author of Fashion Victims: Dress at the Court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, as well as Worn on This Day: The Clothes That Made History and The Way We Wed: A Global History of Wedding Fashion. Her articles about fashion, art, and culture have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, the Washington Post, and Politico.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore, Montrose
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 5 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Montrose, CA 90027
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/spring-wine-walk-2022
At Skylight: Chloe Cooper Jones, with Ann Friedman, & Easy Beauty at Skylight Bookstore – In-person Event
Join us to hear author Chloe Cooper Jones, in conversation with Ann Friedman, present and discuss her book, Easy Beauty.
Easy Beauty is the rare memoir that has the power to make you see the world, and your place in it, with new eyes. Chloé Cooper Jones’s bold, revealing account of moving through the world in a body that looks different than most. Jones learned early on to factor “pain calculations” into every plan, every situation. Born with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis which affects both her stature and gait, her pain is physical. But there is also the pain of being judged and pitied for her appearance, of being dismissed as “less than.”
But after unexpectedly becoming a mother (in violation of unspoken social taboos about the disabled body), something in her shifts, and Jones sets off on a journey across the globe, reclaiming the spaces she’d been denied, and denied herself. This memoir is about disability, motherhood, and a journey to far-flung places in search of a new way of seeing and being seen.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Illuminate the Night Celebration: Poems and Songs at Elysian Valley Arts Collective, Taylor Yard Bridge – In-person Event
Come and enjoy this free community event to celebrate the opening of the Taylor Yard Bridge and the joining of two communities: Elysian Valley and Cypress Park!
The full schedule of events is below. The festivities start at 6:00 pm with a performance by Mariachi La Victoria at the bridge, then enjoy presentations by Xipe Totec (Aztec Dance), Modern Dance by MASH UP Contemporary Dance Company, live art projections by Projected Visions, light bottle art by Jeanie K and more. The performances are strolling and moving-there will be no official stage! It’s a moving, flowing event.
Poems and Songs section will include writers, poets, and music including storytelling an dong by Tongva Cultural Bearer Tina Orduno Calderon, a musical performance by writer and editor Rex Weiner, and poet Mike Sonksen, reading from his latest book, Letters to My City.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
6:00pm: Mariachi La Victoria at The Bridge
7:30pm: Aztec Dance & Blessing by Xipe Totec (from Cypress Park) at The Bridge
7-8:30pm: Epic Taco Truck at Klub Gymnastics-1683 Blake Ave. LA 90031
7:45pm:Projected Visions & Mash Up Comtemporary Dance at the Bridge
7-9:00pm: Literary Lounge at The Blake Artist Lofts – 1839 Blake Ave. LA 90039
9-10:30pm: Angelo Metz Jazz Trio at Frogtown Brewery – 2931 Gilroy Street LA 90039
9:30 PM: Screening of the 2021 Lewis MacAdams Prize Video at Frogtown Brewery
Where: Elysian Valley Arts Collective
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: Taylor Yard Bridge at Bikepath in Frogtown, LA River Greenway Trail
Website: https://www.evartscollective.com/event-details/
Christina Salvador Klenz & Hidden: Life with California’s Roma Families Book Launch – In-person Event
Join us at PATM for the book launch of Cristina Salvador-Klenz’s stunning new book of stories and photographs, Hidden: Life with California’s Roma Families, published by Long Beach’s own @brownpaperpress.
This book presents a beautifully intimate collection of 100 black-and-white photographs of Roma families in California, taking us behind the scenes of an ethnic minority who are largely unknown, yet frequently reduced to demeaning stereotypes (i.e. “gypsies”). Along with a discussion and book singing, we’ll also be exhibiting photographs from the book, and will have a selection of prints for sale.
Where: Page Against the Machine
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 2714 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1011330239484209/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22s
Obsidian Tongues/Open Mic Night at Pomona Art Walk & Café con LIbros Press – In-Person Event
Join our Obsidian Tongues/Open Mic Night, held every 2nd Saturday during the Pomona Art Walk andhosted by Caesar Avelar.
Check site to verify,
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Café con Libros Press
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm (during Pomona Art Walk)
Address: 280 W. 2nd St., Pomona, CA 91766
Website: https://www.facebook.com/cafeconlibrospress/
Skylight Treehouse & Punk Rock Marthas: Monica Roe & AIR at Skylight Bookstore – Online Middle Grade Event
Join us to hear children’s author Monica Rose present and discuss her book, AIR.
AIR is an action-packed, empowering middle grade novel about a girl who has to speak up when her wheelchair motocross dreams get turned upside down.
Twelve-year-old Emmie is working to raise money for a tricked-out wheelchair to get serious about WCMX, when a mishap on a poorly designed ramp at school throws her plans into a tailspin. Instead of replacing the ramp, her school provides her with a kind but unwelcome aide—and, seeing a golden media opportunity, launches a public fundraiser for her new wheels. Emmie loves her close-knit rural town, but she can’t shake the feeling that her goals—and her choices—suddenly aren’t hers anymore. With the help of her best friends, Emmie makes a plan to get her dreams off the ground—and show her community what she wants, what she has to give, and how ready she is to do it on her own terms.
NOTE: See site for book purchase, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 10th
Time: 11 am
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/treehouse-and-punk-rock-marthas-present-monica-roe-author-air
Author Reading: Anthony Chiles & Rue and Hoo: Better Together at The Book Jewel Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Join us to hear author Anthony Chiles present his children’s book, Rue and Hoo: Better Together.
In this book the story is about two siblings who are trying to figure out how to have fun together when the activities they like to do couldn’t be more different! Rue loves reading, writing and being indoors whereas Woo loves running, jumping, and spending his day outside.
One day, their parents notice them going their separate ways to play when they give them a challenge to try and find something to do together. Rue and Woo set off on their mission and discover that they’re better together.
Where: The Book Jewel, Westchester
Date: Sunday the 10th
Time: 12 pm
Address: 6259 W. 87th St., Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://www.thebookjewel.com/author-reading-anthony-chiles
Sunday Series Workshop with Taylor Byas via The Poetry Lab – Online Event
Join the Poetry Lab Sunday Series Workshop event for a one-time writing workshop with poet and writer Taylor Byas.
During this workshop, we will consider how to enter a formal poem that requires repetition, focusing on the form of the pantoum. We will spend some time talking about the two popular ways that writers usually approach pantoums (either strictly maintaining the lines, or by slightly altering the wording when the line repeats) and how these different approaches serve the poem differently. We will then engage in a writing exercise that will force us to think about punctuation radically, as I believe that freeing up our punctuation is critical to cracking the code on making repeated lines new again. The goal is to leave the workshop with the beginning of your own draft of a pantoum that rigidly maintains its repeating lines, allowing you to maintain this form or break it later.
Taylor Byas is a Black Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is now a third year PhD student and Yates scholar at the University of Cincinnati, and an Assistant Features Editor for The Rumpus. She is the 1st place winner of the 2020 Poetry Super Highway, the 2020 Frontier Poetry Award for New Poets Contests, the 2021 Adrienne Rich Poetry Prize, and a finalist for the 2020 Frontier OPEN Prize. She is the author of the chapbook Bloodwarm from Variant Lit, and her debut full-length, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times, forthcoming from Soft Skull Press in Spring of 2023.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, costs, and event details.
Where: The Poetry Lab – Online Zoom Event
Date: Sunday the 10th
Time: 1 pm – 4 pm
Address: The Poetry Lab (see site)
Website: https://www.thepoetrylab.com/register/sunday-series/taylorbyas
Poetry Workshop with Jodie Hollander: Poetry, Memory, Childhood at Vroman’s – Online Zoom Event
Jodie Hollander will lead a one-day Poetry Workshop on Poetry, Memory & Childhood via Vroman’s Bookstore Online.
In this workshop, participants will learn how to translate their most powerful memories into a polished, musical poem. In addition to engaging in exercises designed to awaken vivid memories, this workshop will examine how to craft an ear-pleasing line of poetry. Students will study examples from works of master poets such as Robert Frost, Louise Bogan, and more to understand the basics of writing in meter. No experience necessary.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, cost, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Sunday the 10th
Time: 1 pm – 4 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/vromans-ed-jodie-hollander
LA MADE: Father Greg Boyle & The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness via Central Library, LAPL – Online FB Event
Join us to hear Father Greg Boyle, Founder of Homeboy Industries—the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world— discuss his most recent book The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness.
During this LA MADE event he will share what he has learned in three decades working with marginalized populations—that love is the answer, community is the context, and tenderness is the connective tissue. He will be joined by actor and producer Richard Cabral.
Participants viewing the program will have an opportunity to win a free copy of Father Greg’s newest book, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness.
Streaming live on the library’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL
Date: Sunday the 10th
Time: 2 pm
Address: LAPL – Online (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/father-greg-boyle-power-extravagant-tenderness
Author Reading: Jane Wertman & Jane the Quene at The Book Jewel Bookstore – In-person Event
Join us to hear author Jane Wertman present her book, Jane the Quene, the first book in the Seymour Saga trilogy.
Wertman’s novel is about Jane Seymour, whose main desire is to have a husband; but when she catches the eye of the volatile King Henry VIII, she is pulled deep into the Tudor court’s realm of plot and intrigue.
Where: The Book Jewel, Westchester
Date: Sunday the 10th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 6259 W. 87th St., Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://www.thebookjewel.com/author-reading–janet-wertman
Second Sunday Poetry Series & Open Mic with Alex Frankel & Quincy Lehr at The Studio Theatre – In-person Event
Join host Alex Frankel for the 10th Anniversary of Second Sunday Poetry Series & Open Mic, featuring Quincy Lehr.
Quincy R. Lehr was born in Zimbabwe in 1753 to five priests, all of whom were named Jose Allajova. Somehow, he is also from Oklahoma. He went to university and has a job. His most recent books are The Dark Lord of the Tiki Bar (2015) and Near Hits and Lost Classics (2021), a selection of poems from his early works. He is a butt-scratching idiot, but his poems are good.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: The Studio Theatre at St. Denis Building
Date: Sunday the 10th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 3433 Cahuenga Blvd. West Los Angeles, CA 90068 (Near Universal Studios)
Los Angeles Literature 