NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here
Tween Book Club via Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – Online Tween Event
Kids ages 9 to 12 are invited to a monthly book discussion, to share other books they have read and to get new reading recommendations.
In June, we’ll discuss Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick. The book should be read in advance of the meeting. Find a copy to borrow at the library site link.
NOTE: See site for Zoom link and details.
Where: LAPL Online event
Date: Monday the13th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/tween-book-club
Book Club Bonanza: Let’s Celebrate LGBTQIA Voices! via Central Library, LAPL – Online Teens Event
Join us for a Book Club event for LGBTQIA Pride Month as part of our Book Club Bonanza series.
Please email teens@lapl.org from your school email address at least one hour before the program to request the link. Homeschool students, note the program name and “Homeschool” in the email subject line, make sure to include your name and grade level.
Description:
- June 13: Join us for read-alikes on the book chosen.
- June 20: Join us for an activity based on the book chosen.
- June 27: Book discussion on the book chosen.
NOTE: See site for Zoom link and details.
Where: LAPL Online event
Date: Monday the 13th
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-bonanza-lets-celebrate-lbgtqia-voices
Pomona Poet Voices Reading: Romeo Guzman, Michael Torres, Jose Vadi at Re/Arte Centro Literario – In-Person Event
Romeo Guzman is a writer, educator and an assistant professor at Claremont Graduate University. He co-edits Boom California and is the co-author of East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte.
Michael Torres is a writer and educator, and the author of An Incomplete List of Name, lauded by Juan Felipe Herrera as an “…ever-flaming matrix of being and becoming a brown man, a person in an unknown America. Incredible, truth-fisted, shattering, and groundbreaking.”
Jose Vadi is an award-winning essayist, poet, playwright and film producer, and the author of Inter State: Essays from California and Soma Lurk, a collection of photos and poems.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Re/Arte Centro Literario
Date: Monday the 13th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 2123 E. Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://reartela.com/events%2Feventos
Annie Krabbenschmidt & FRED: an unbecoming woman, at Chevalier’s Bookstore – In-Person Event
Author Annie Kabbenschmidt will present and discuss her debut book, FRED: an unbecoming woman, which is both wickedly funny and heartbreaking. More autotheory than memoir, Fred deconstructs the institution of “womanhood,” defying gender and genre.
Fred begins with a reckoning; narrator and author realizes that she is undoubtedly, inescapably gay. The first half of the book is a documentation about what it takes to accept one’s sexuality, or even acknowledge it. Annie retells the story of going from unaware high school senior, to closeted lesbian, to deeply in love closeted lesbian. When she realizes that she is ready for love, she enlists friends to help her come out, as slowly and excruciatingly as possible.
Right as this book reaches its middle, our protagonist is just about ready to launch into her future as an artist, and she finds herself single and sitting in the barstool of a prominent New York lesbian bar, having yet another earth-shattering epiphany. She might be afraid of lesbians!
The second half of the book is a set of thematic essays examining specific components of her life that could help explain the strength of the internalized homophobia that Annie is starting to fight. The book ends with an epic victory earned over six or seven years of work.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore
Date: Monday the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Emily Levesque & The Last Stargazers at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Emily Levesque will present and discuss her new book, The Last Stargazers.
Humans from the earliest civilizations through modern life have craned their necks each night, using the stars to orient themselves in the large, strange world around them. Stargazing is a pursuit that continues to fascinate us: from Copernicus to Carl Sagan, astronomers throughout history have spent their lives trying to answer the biggest questions in the universe. Now, award-winning astronomer Emily Levesque shares the stories of modern-day stargazers in this new nonfiction release, the people willing to adventure across high mountaintops and to some of the most remote corners of the planet, all in the name of science.
In this sweeping work of narrative science, Levesque shows how astronomers in this scrappy and evolving field are going beyond the machines to infuse creativity and passion into the stars and space and inspires us all to peer skyward in pursuit of the universe’s secrets.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Monday the 13th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
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 nonfiction and done readings with the Ventura Poetry Project.
Where: Beyond Baroque – Online event (tickets at Eventbrite)
Date: Monday the 13th
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-359544807197
Live on Zoom: Warsan Shire Poetry Workshop via Skylight Bookstore – Online Zoom Event
With her first full-length poetry collection, Warsan Shire, the celebrated collaborator on Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Black Is King introduces us to a young girl, who, in the absence of a nurturing guide, makes her own way toward womanhood.
Random House is thrilled to offer a special opportunity to learn directly from this award-winning poet at a Virtual Poetry Workshop on Tuesday, June 14 at 2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET on Zoom, as Shire guides us through exercises to deepen our craft as poets.
Poetry can heal, comfort, transform and confront the past. In this workshop we will be exploring memory and “post-memory,” examining the relationships we have with our bodies and how we can carry trauma. Please bring something to write on, something to write with, and an object you feel represents you in some meaningful way.
Each ticket includes access to this live virtual workshop, as well as a physical copy of Shire’s collection, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, to be shipped by our independent bookstore partner, Skylight Books.
NOTE: See site for tickets, link, and details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 14th
Time: 2 pm – PST
Address: Skylight & Random House (see site)
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-zoom-warsan-shire-poetry-workshop
The Art of Touche Amore Book Launch & Signing at The Last Bookstore – In-Person Event
Touché Amoré will be stopping by The Last Bookstore to celebrate their new art book The Art of Touché Amoré, featuring a Q&A moderated by author Dan Ozzi (Sellout, Tranny), and a signing of the book by the whole band!
Option A. Purchase “The Art of Touché Amore” to guarantee access to the Q&A/event and have your copy signed by the band.
Option B. General Admission: For those of you who already bought “The Art of Touche Amore” online – you can bring your copy to have signed by the band, but will not guarantee access to the Q&A/event. (Based on seating availability).
Please note there is a 2-ticket limit per household for GA.
GA does not grant access to book signing without proof of purchase of “The Art Of Touché Amore.”
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: The Last Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 14th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 453 S. Spring St., Ground Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Poetry Open Mic with Wyatt Underwood via Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Share a poem you wrote or a poem you love! You are also welcome to just listen and enjoy. Emceed by Wyatt Underwood.
NOTE: See site for Zoom link and details.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 14th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: LAPL Online (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-open-mic
Expressions LA Poetry Reading Series & Open Mic via Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
This event is offered every 2nd & 4th Tuesday at 6 pm.
Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series goes virtual via Zoom. Join us for featured poetry readings and open poetry mic.
NOTE: See site for instructions on how to join virtually via Zoom and details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 14th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: LAPL Online (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/expressions-la-poetry-reading-series-and-open-mic
Kristin Marguerite Doidge, with Beverly Gray, & Nora Ephron: A Biography at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Join us to hear Kristin Marguerite Doidge, in conversation with Beverly Gray, discuss her new book, Nora Ephron: A Biography.
This book is the first comprehensive portrait of the Manhattan-born girl who forged a path of her own, earning accolades and adoration from critics and fans alike. Author Kristin Marguerite Doidge explores the tremendous successes and disappointing failures Ephron sustained in her career as a popular essayist turned screenwriter turned film director. She redefined the modern rom-com genre with bestselling books such as Heartburn and hit movies including When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and Julie & Julia. Doidge also examines the private life Ephron tried to keep in balance with her insatiable ambition.
This is the first in-depth biography to explore the complex themes that ran through Ephron’s work and to examine why so many of them still grab our attention today.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines and event details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 14th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Livia Blackburne, with Alexandra Monir, & Feather and Flame Book Launch at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person YA Event
Livia Blackburne, in conversation with Alexandra Monir, will discuss her new YA book, Feather and Flame.
Part of the Queen’s Council series, this story takes the story of Mulan from Disney and retells it with a historical twist. Livia will be hosting two launches. The first will be virtual at 4:30 pm PT/7:30 pm ET via Zoom and then an in-person conversation at 7 pm with Alexandra Monir, author of Black Canary discussing writing, adaptations, and more. Feel free to attend one or both!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 14th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/feather-and-flame
Lindsey Fitzharris & The Facemaker at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Lindsey Fitzharris will present and discuss her new book, The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon’s Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I.
From the moment the first machine gun rang out over the Western Front, one thing was clear: mankind’s military technology had wildly surpassed its medical capabilities. Bodies were battered, gouged, hacked, and gassed. The First World War claimed millions of lives and left millions more wounded and disfigured. In the midst of this brutality, however, there were also those who strove to alleviate suffering. The Facemaker tells the extraordinary story of such an individual: the pioneering plastic surgeon Harold Gillies, who dedicated himself to reconstructing the burned and broken faces of the injured soldiers under his care.
This book places Gillies’s ingenious surgical innovations alongside the dramatic stories of soldiers whose lives were wrecked and repaired. The result is a vivid account of how medicine can be an art, and of what courage and imagination can accomplish in the presence of relentless horror.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 14th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/lindsey-fitzharris-discusses-the-facemaker
Adult Book Group: The Lost Apothecary, by Sarah Penner, at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – Online Event
Sarah Penner’s The Lost Apothecary is the book selection for this month’s Adult Book Group discussion. With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating debut novel of secrets, vengeance and the remarkable ways women can save each other despite the barrier of time.
Whether you loved it, hated it, or haven’t finished it, we want to see you at our Adult Book Club that has been going strong for 40+ years at America’s Oldest Children’s Bookstore!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 14th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/adult-book-group-lost-apothecary-sarah-penner
At Skylight: Fariha Roisin, with Aja Monet, & Who Is Wellness For at Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event
Fariha Roisin, in conversation with Aja Monet, will present and discuss her book, Who Is Wellness For?: An Examination of Wellness Culture and Who It Leaves Behind.
In this book, the multi-disciplinary artist and author of Like a Bird and How to Cure a Ghost explores the commodification and appropriation of wellness through the lens of social justice, providing resources to help anyone participate in self-care, regardless of race, identity, socioeconomic status or able-bodiedness.
This thought-provoking book, part memoir, part journalistic investigation, explores the way in which the progressive health industry has appropriated and commodified global healing traditions. She reveals how wellness culture has become a luxury good built on the wisdom of Black, brown, and Indigenous people—while ignoring and excluding them.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 14th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-fariha-r%C3%B3is%C3%ADn-presents-who-wellness-aja-monet
Tuesdays at the Virtual Cobalt: Poets Series Presents: Open Reading & T.A. Miles – Virtual Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and guest T. A. Miles.
T. A. Miles is a poet and writer and the author of several books. T.A. Miles is a being owned by curiosity and fueled by internal magic. She claims to have fallen down a rabbit hole as a child, but in reality seems to be living in a semi-permanent out-of-body experience where she meets fantastical people and magical creatures in lands unknown to earth. She believes her characters are real people, and she publishes for one reason only: to share these people and the experiences they relay in carefully constructed stories unmarred by common human perception. Which sounds very complicated. It’s easier to say she prefers to write about exceptionally human experiences.
Let’s not try to explain that, actually. It’s simpler to read one of her books instead. Remember to read with your head and your soul.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 14th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: http://poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html or https://www.facebook.com/events/752279532572868/
An Evening with Annie Leibovitz & Wonderland at Live Talks LA in Culver City – Off-Site In-Person Event
Annie Lebovitz, one of the most influential photographers of our time, comes to our stage for an exclusive event to mark the publication of Wonderland.
This book is legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz’s surprising account of her encounters with fashion over five decades.
Annie Leibovitz is one of the most influential photographers of our time. In 1970, she began creating what became her legendary work for Rolling Stone. Since the early 1980s, she has expanded her repertoire at Vanity Fair and Vogue and in independent projects. She is the recipient of many honors, including the International Center of Photography’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Centenary Medal of the Royal Photographic Society…
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Robert Frost Auditorium
Date: Tuesday the 14th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4401 Elenda St., Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/annie-leibovitz/
Da Poetry Lounge IG Live Open Mic Night – IG Live Event
Every Tuesday (except for 3rd Tuesdays and special events) Da Poetry Lounge holds open mic nights. At an open mic, all are welcome to share their poetry or sit in the audience.
See sites for details.
Where: DA Poetry Lounge
Date: Tuesday the 14th (Check to Verify details).
Time: 9 pm – 11 pm
Address: IG Live (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/dapoetrylounge_com/
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 14th
Time: 9 pm – 12 am
Address: 5205 E. Pacific Coast Hwy., Long Beach, CA
Website: Facebook
Book Club Discussion: The Good Lord Bird via Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us for a Book Club event discussion of The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride.
The Good Lord Bird is a novel and absorbing mixture of history and imagination about John Brown’s antislavery crusade, from the author of the memoir, The Color of Water.
NOTE: See site for Zoom link and details.
Where: LAPL Online event
Date: Wednesday the 15th
Time: 10:30 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-discussion-good-lord-bird
Coffee Time Book Club & Lessons in Chemistry, at Pages Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join our monthly Coffee Time Book Club to discuss this month’s selection, Lessons In Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus.
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, book purchase, and event details.
Where: Pages Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 15th
Time: 10:30 am
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/coffee-time-book-club-7
Tween Book Club: The Great Shelby Holmes via Panorama City Branch Library, LAPL – Online Tween Event
Kids ages 9 to 12 years old are invited to a monthly book discussion. Share other books you have read and get new reading recommendations!
In June, we’ll be discussing The Great Shelby Holmes by Elizabeth Eulberg. The book should be read in advance of the meeting. Find a copy to borrow at the library link.
NOTE: See site for Zoom link and details.
Where: LAPL Online event
Date: Wednesday the 15th
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/tween-book-club-3
Good Trouble Reading Group: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous via Edendale Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Adults are invited to join a monthly Good Trouble Reading Group discussion.
In June, we’ll be discussing On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong. The book should be read in advance of the meeting. Find a copy to borrow at the library link.
NOTE: See site for Zoom link and details.
Where: LAPL Online event
Date: Wednesday the 15th
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/good-trouble-reading-group-earth-were-briefly-gorgeous-ocean-vuong
Middle Grade Book Club & Lines of Courage, at Pages Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Join our monthly Middle Grade Book Club to discuss this month’s selection, Lines of Courage, by Jennifer A. Nielsen.
In this book the author artfully weaves together the lives of five children, each of whom holds the key to the others’ futures…if they are lucky—and brave—enough to find each other. In World War I Europe, these young people, each from different backgrounds and nations, face the terror of battle, the deprivations of hunger, and all the awful challenges of war.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, book purchase, and event details.
Where: Pages Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 15th
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/middle-grade-book-club-6
Ken Waissman & Tom Moore Webinar: GREASE: Tell Me More, Tell Me More! via Chevalier’s Bookstore – Online Event
Join us when Ken Waissman & Tom Moore discuss GREASE: Stories from the Broadway Phenomenon That Started It All.
Tom Moore directed the original Broadway production, eight national tours, and two London productions of Grease in the West End. He also directed Broadway’s Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘night Mother, the subsequent film, and other Broadway productions receiving two Tony nominations. Moore directed many years of film and television, earning three Emmy nominations along the way. His most recent project was the documentary on the Flying Trapeze, The Flight Fantastic.
Ken Waissman discovered Grease at the Kingston Mines Theatre in Chicago where it was running on weekends in the summer of 1971. Ken and his then partner Maxine Fox produced the original Broadway production, plus eight national tours and two London productions in the West End. Ken is a Tony Award-winning producer whose iconic hits, in addition to Grease, include Agnes of God and Torch Song Trilogy. He is one of only two producers in the history of Broadway to have a musical run over 3,000 performances and a play run over 1,000 performances.
NOTE: See site for registration, book purchase, and details.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore – Online
Date: Wednesday the 15th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XxiHdlvETPGhVOHjmGuUYw
Joey Hartstone & The Local: A Novel at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Join us to hear film and TV writer Joey Hartstone discuss his new book, The Local: A Novel.
In the town of Marshall sits the Federal courthouse of the Eastern District of Texas, a place revered by patent lawyers for its speedy jury trails and massive punitive payouts. Marshall is flooded with patent lawyers, all of whom find work being the local voice for the big-city legal teams that need to sway a small-town jury. One of the best is James Euchre.
Euchre’s new client is Amir Zawar, a firebrand CEO forced to defend his life’s work against a software patent infringement. Late one night, after a heated confrontation in a preliminary hearing, Judge Gardner is found murdered in the courthouse parking lot. All signs point to Zawar—he has motive, he has opportunity, and he has no alibi. Moreover, he is an outsider, a wealthy Pakistani American businessman, the son of immigrants, who stands accused of killing a beloved hometown hero.
Zawar claims his innocence and demands that Euchre defend him. It’s the last thing Euchre wants—Judge Gardner was his good friend and mentor—but the only way he can get definitive answers is to take the case. With the help of a former prosecutor and a local PI, Euchre must navigate the byzantine world of criminal defense law in a town where everyone knows everyone, and bad blood has a long history. The deeper he digs, the more he fears that he’ll either send an innocent man to death row or set a murderer free.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines and event details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday the 15th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/joey-hartstone-discusses-local
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 15th
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 Jose Hernandez Diaz.
Jose Hernandez Diaz is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. He is the author of The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020). His work appears in The American Poetry Review, Boulevard, Colorado Review, Huizache, Iowa Review, Poetry, The Southern Review, The Yale Review, and in The Best American Nonrequired Reading Anthology 2011. He teaches creative writing online and edits for Frontier Poetry.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets and information.
Where: Online event (Eventbrite)
Date: Wednesday the 15th
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-363445554437
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry & Aruni Wijesinghe’s Book Launch at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Join Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at the Ugly Mug on Wednesday Night.
The format is to welcome a featured poet for a reading, and an Open Mic reading. Tonight’s featured event features poet Aruni Wijesinghe.
Aruni Wijesinghe is a project manager, ESL teacher, and poet, and is celebrating the launch of her book, 2 Revere Place. A Pushcart Prize-nominated poet, her work has been published in journals and anthologies both nationally and internationally, with her first solo poetry collection titled 2 Revere Place published in May 2022 with Moon Tide Press.
She lives a quiet life in Orange County, California with her husband Jeff and their cats Jack and Josie.
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 15th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/718156425987721
Reclaiming the Origins of Juneteenth via Salt Eaters Bookstore – Online Online
For many non-Black folks, Juneteenth seemed to burst into the national consciousness over the last few years. For many non-Black folks, Juneteenth seemed to burst into the national consciousness over the last few years. For many Black folks, Juneteenth has been a day of celebration for generations. Join AJ Musewe in discussing the historical factors that led to the proclamation made on June 19th, 1865, in Galveston, Texas. Together, we’ll examine the players working to prevent the freedom of millions of enslaved folks and explore examples of the ways our loving ancestors were active participants in their liberation.
AJ Musewe is Director of Common Purpose and creator of the Truth to Power series at Seattle Rep, and co-host of the Debate Mixtape series, among other productions.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets and information.
Where: Online Webinar event (Eventbrite)
Date: Wednesday the 15th
Time: 11 am
Address: Online event
Website: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RYwQp-7MTrmc9_f4SSGYzA
“I don’t think I did this right:” An Evening with the Thursday Night Poets of Wisconsin at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – Online Event
Join Beyond Baroque for An Evening with the Thursday Night poets of Wisconsin, and a book launch hosted by Brendan Constantine and Dr. Jerry Hoepner.
The Thursday Night Poets of Wisconsin in collaboration with Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center present a special evening of poetry by authors currently living with Aphasia and Traumatic Brain Injuries. Co-founded in 2020 by the Communication Sciences and Disorders department of the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, and California poet Brendan Constantine, the Thursday Night Poets have developed specialized approaches to poetry and cultivated their own voices as contemporary artists. The result is an exciting new anthology of original work called I Don’t Think I Did This Right.
Join us when these passionate writers debut their new collection. Copies of I Don’t Think I did This Right will be available for purchase online!
NOTE: See site for link and event details.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Thursday the 16th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Beyond Baroque Online (see site)
Website: http://www.beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/i-dont-think-i-did-this-right-an-evening-with-the-thursday-night-poets-tickets-343171825167
Mystery Book Club & The Unwilling (Barrier Lands #1) at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us for the Mystery Book Club to read The Unwilling: A Novel by John Hart, a penetrating tale of magic, faith, and pride.
Judah is an orphaned girl with a secret gift, born at the gates of Highfall castle. Raised alongside Gavin, heir to Lord Elban’s empire, the two share an extrasensory bond—one that is key to Judah’s survival and her possible undoing.
Elban—as mighty as he is cruel—plans to use Judah as a pawn to amass greater control. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
But beyond the castle walls, a magus, a healer with his own powerful force, has arrived from the provinces. He, too, has designs on the realm, and at the heart of his plans lies Judah…The girl who started life with no name and no history will soon discover her own strength. Intriguingly, she does not have to be given power: she can just take it.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and event details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside
Date: Thursday 16th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/kids-book-club-premeditated-myrtle
Live on Crowdcast: Ashley Hutson, with Sarah Levine, & One’s Company at Skylight Bookstore – Online Event
Join us to hear Ashley Hutson, in conversation with Sara Levine, present her book, One’s Company.
This fearless debut chronicles one woman’s escape into a world of obsessive imagination.
Bonnie Lincoln just wants to be left alone. To come home from work, shut out the voice that reminds her of some devastating losses, and unwind in front of the nostalgic, golden glow of her favorite TV show, Three’s Company.
When Bonnie wins the lottery, a more grandiose vision—to completely shuck off her own troublesome identity—takes shape. She plans a drastic move to an isolated mountain retreat where she can re-create the iconic apartment set of Three’s Company and slip into the lives of its main characters: no-nonsense Janet Wood, pleasantly airheaded Chrissy Snow, and confident Jack Tripper. While her best friend, Krystal, tries to drag her back to her old life, Bonnie is determined to transcend pain, trauma, and the baggage of her past by immersing herself in the ultimate binge-watch.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Thursday 16th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-ashley-hutson-presents-ones-company-sara-levine
Alex Segura and Ed Brubaker Present: Secret Identity & The Ghost in You via Vroman’s – Online Event
Join us to hear authors Alex Segura and Ed Brubaker present their new books:
Alex Segura is a comics creator and will present his book, Secret Identity, which is set in 1975 when the comic book industry is struggling, but his character Carmen Valdez doesn’t care. Triumph writers enlist her help to create a new character, which they call “The Lethal Lynx,” Triumph’s first female hero. But her colleague is acting strangely and asking to keep her involvement a secret. And then he’s found dead, with all of their scripts turned into the publisher without her name. Carmen is desperate to piece together what happened to him, to hang on to her piece of the Lynx, which turns out to be a runaway hit.
Ed Brubaker will present his new book, The Ghost in You, the fourth book in the bestselling Reckless series. Bestselling crime noir masters Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips bring us yet another original graphic novel starring troublemaker-for-hire Ethan Reckless.
Except this time it’s the winter of 1989 and Ethan is out of town, so Anna must tackle this job on her own. When a movie scream queen asks her to prove the mansion she’s renovating isn’t haunted, Anna will stumble into the decades-long mystery of one of Hollywood’s most-infamous murder houses… a place with many dark secrets, some of which might just kill her.
NOTE: See site for book purchases and event details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 16th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
One Book/One Glendale: The Personal Librarian, by Mark Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray – Online & In-Person Hybrid Event
The Personal Librarian is the current book selection for discussion at the One Book/One Glendale reading event sponsored by the Glendale Arts and Culture Commission.
The Persona Librarian “…is an extraordinary tale that is both brilliant historical fiction and an important and timely commentary on racism. By holding up an unflinching mirror and illuminating this little-known chapter in American history, these two gifted authors have penned a work that is a must-read,” according to New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff. This fictional account of J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Bella da Costa Greens, feels authentic and compelling as she carves a place for herself in a racist make-dominated society.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details on this hybrid event.
Where: Glendale Central Library
Date: Thursday the 16th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 222 East Harvard St., Glendale, CA 91205 &Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/one-book-one-glendale-personal-librarian
An Evening of Poetry: Soul Stuf, LaLa DeVille, Danielle Mitchell & Christina Brown at the House of Blues, Anaheim – In-Person Event
Join us for An Evening of Poetry, featuring four dynamic poets and writers at House of Blues, Anaheim, CA. See site for dining, VIP Table, and all options.
Soul Stuf, or Christian “Soul Stuf” Perfas, is a spoken word artist who unveils deep love lessons learned through poetry. His work is available on Instagram and Facebook, as well as other venues.
LaLa DeVille is a spoken word poet, open mic phenomenon, author of three books, and the creator of her “G-Funk Poetry” album. Her work is timely and powerful, and her latest poem is related to the recent increase in gun violence in our schools and is available on Tik Tok and on her Facebook site.
Danielle Mitchell is a feminist poet, teaching artist, and graphic designer. She is the Founding Director of The Poetry Lab, a community-based learning program that rallies in service of working-class writers across the globe. Danielle is the author of Makes the Daughter-in-Law Cry, winner of the Clockwise Chapbook Prize (Tebot Bach, 2017). Her poems have appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Vinyl, Four Way Review, Transom, New Orleans Review, Animal and others. Danielle has received scholarships to travel to Patmos Island, Greece to study poetry, as well as grants from Poets & Writers and the Ashaki M. Jackson No Barriers Grant from the Women Who Submit. She is currently working on a manuscript of poems about misogyny and the Internet.
Christina Brown is a poet, performer, and educator based in Los Angeles, California. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English – Creative Writing from California State University, Channel Islands, and a master’s degree in American studies from California State University, Fullerton. Her scholarship focuses on popular culture, gender and technology, competing narratives, and the #MeToo movement. She is currently working on her first full-length poetry collection.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, $10 cover, and details on this event.
Where: House of Blues, Anaheim
Date: Thursday the 16th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 400 W. Disney Way, Suite 337, Anaheim, CA 92802
Website: https://www.houseofblues.com/anaheim/EventDetail?tmeventid=0&offerid=139816
Romantic Comedy Show at the Ripped bodice Bookstore – Online & In-Person Hybrid Event
Join us for our monthly stand-up comedy show, hosted by Jenny Chalikian and Erin Judge, and featuring an all star line-up.
The Ripped Bodice is the only exclusively romance bookstore on the West Coast. The store is proudly Woman and Queer Owned.
Sisters and owners Leah and Bea Koch opened TRB on March 4, 2016 following a successful Kickstarter campaign to bring their dream of a romance-only bookstore to life
The Ripped Bodice features a vast and diverse selection of romance fiction. In addition to books, the store has a wide selection of gift items with a focus on supporting independent, woman owned businesses.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details on this hybrid event.
Where: Ripped Bodice Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 16th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Architecture and Beyond: Googie Modern by Armet Davis Newlove at Skylight Bookstore at Los Feliz Library – Online Event
Join us for our Architecture and Beyond event for a virtual talk at Los Feliz Library by Skylight Bookstore to discuss Googie Modern: Architectural Drawings of Armet Davis Newlove, by Michael Murphy & Alan Hess, a highly visual monograph of plans and concept drawings from the Armet Newlove firm, the creator of what became known as “Googie Modern.”
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Thursday 16th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-ashley-hutson-presents-ones-company-sara-levine
ALOUD Reading Series: Sloane Crosley. With Judy Greer, & Cult Classic at Central Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us to hear author Sloane Crosley, in conversation with actress and director Judy Greer, discuss her second novel, Cult Classic, which takes the reader on a journey of past love, memory, and through the philosophy of romance.
One night in New York City’s Chinatown, a woman is at a work reunion dinner with former colleagues when she excuses herself to buy a pack of cigarettes. On her way back, she runs into a former boyfriend. And then another… And another. Nothing is quite what it seems, as the city becomes awash with ghosts of heartbreak. Is it possible to have a happy ending in an age when the past is ever at your fingertips and sanity is for sale? The author has a cunning way of spinning a wry literary fantasy that is equal parts page-turner and poignant portrayal of alienation.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and event details.
Where: Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday 16th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lfla.org/event/cult-classic-a-novel/
At Skylight: I Know What’s Best for You Group Reading at Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to hear contributors read from the new anthology, I Know What’s Best for You: Stories on Reproductive Freedom.
In their own unique and unforgettable way, each storyteller examines our crisis of access to care in ways that are at turns haunting, heartbreaking, and outright funny. This collection is a collaboration with the Brigid Alliance, a nationwide service that arranges and funds confidential and personal travel support to those seeking abortion care.
Shelly Oria is the author of New York 1, Tel Aviv 0 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014) and the editor of Indelible in the Hippocampus, Writings from the MeToo Movement (McSweeney’s 2019), as well as the forthcoming I Know What’s Best for You: Stories on Reproductive Freedom (McSweeney’s 2022). Her fiction has appeared in The Paris Review and on Selected Shorts at Symphony Space, received a number of awards, and been translated to several languages.
Agnes Borinsky is a writer and artist who has collaborated on all sorts of projects in basements, backyards, gardens, circus tents, classrooms, bars, and theaters. Recent plays in New York include A Song of Songs, Ding Dong It’s the Ocean, Brief Chronicle, Books 6-8, and Of Government. She is a 2021-22 Sundance Art of Practice Fellow and lives in Los Angeles.
Chana Porter (she/they), writes the NY Times, “uses incongruity and exaggeration to suggest some midnight-dark truths about human life and endeavor.” She is an emerging playwright, speculative novelist, and education activist. Her plays have been developed or produced at New Georges, Playwrights Horizons, The Catastrophic Theatre, La MaMa, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Cherry Lane, The Invisible Dog, & Movement Research. Chana is the co-founder of the Octavia Project, a free summer writing and STEM program for Brooklyn teenage girls, trans, and non-binary youth. Her debut novel, The Seep, was an Indie Best Pick in 2020, and a Times London Best Sci-Fi book of 2021. Her upcoming novel, The Thick and The Lean, is out from Saga Press in spring 2023. Chana is a queer Jewish genderfluid alien grateful to be embodied in human form.
Taneum Bambrick is the author of Intimacies, Received (Copper Canyon Press, Sept 2022) and Vantage, winner of the APR/Honickman First Book Award (American Poetry Review 2019). A 2020 Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, she is currently a Dornsife Fellow in the PhD program at the University of Southern California. Her work appears in New Yorker, The Nation, Academy of American Poets, PEN and elsewhere.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 16th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-i-know-whats-best-you-group-reading
Fos–Thursday & FOST Artistic Collective Presents: Freedom of Speech Open Mic with Sabir 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, with sign-ups open on Wednesday at 3pm.
NOTE: See site for cost, event details.
Where: Freedom of Speech (FOS) Open Mic – In-Person & Online IG event
Date: Thursday the 16th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 665 N. Heliotrope Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://www.instagram.com/fos_thursdays/
Your Author Series: Helena Ku Rhee & Rosa’s Song at Central Library, LAPL – Online Kids Event
Local author Helena Ku Rhee will discuss her latest work, Rosa’s Song. In this diverse picture book, a young immigrant from South Korea finds community and friendship in an apartment house filled with other newly arrived kids. Many may remember Helena as the author of the highly acclaimed picture book, The Paper Kingdom.
Streaming live on the library’s YouTube channel.
Those attending the virtual program will have an opportunity to win a free book.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and event details.
Where: LAPL
Date: Friday the 17th
Time: 4 pm
Address: LAPL (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/your-author-series-helena-ku-rhee
Bookish Author Discussion: Hosted by Sandra Tsing Loh via Southern California News Group & Once Upon a Time Bookstore – Online Event
Join us to hear author, actress and and radio personality Sandra Tsing Loh in discussion with three authors on their new works. This month’s event is featuring:
Caroline Aaron is an American actress. She is known for her performances in several films including Nora Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle.
Kristin Marguerite Doidge is the author of Nora Ephron: A Biography.
Delia Ephron is the author of Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life: A Memoir.
Sandra Tsing Loh is the author of The Madwoman in the Roomba: My Year of Domestic Mayhem.
NOTE: See site for book purchases, link, and details.
Where: Southern California News Group & Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Friday the 17th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Once Upon a Time – Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/bookish-june-2022
Made in L.A.: Beyond the Precipice at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Join editors and contributors to Made in L.A. Vol. 4: Beyond the Precipice as they read and discuss stories about Angeleños pushed past the point of no return.
NOTE: See site for guidelines, and details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Friday the 17th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/
The Poetry Brothel: Sappho’s on Sunset at El Cid Theatre – In-Person Event
In celebration of Pride Month, join us at The Poetry Brothel to step into Sappho’s on Sunset Darlings, where all are welcome, & fear and gender are myths. Following her mysterious disappearance in 550B.C., Sappho has resurfaced as a divine immortal poet and hardworking queer bar owner who hosts ghosts and art salons after hours, and since she’s a dear friend of the Poetry Brothel, she’s gracefully allowed us to inhabit her little dive, just in time for Pride!
Hosted by your favorite Mistress of Ceremonies: Linda Ravenswood as Dr. Ach, Suzette! Featuring Poetry by Kiri Callaghan as Echo, Becca Kahill as Sakina, Valerie Darling, Renata Zhigulina as Jean Paul, Brian Sonia Wallace as Vallachinsk, Tiffany Hudgins as Honey Locale, Rachel Leigh as Madame Rhythm, Frankie Tan as Moonlight, and more to be announced.
NOTE: See site for costs, guidelines, tickets, and details.
Where: El Cid Cabaret Concert Theater
Date: Friday the 17th
Time: 6 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4212 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90029
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-poetry-brothel-sapphos-on-sunset-tickets-333814707777?aff=ebdssbeac
Book Launch + Party à ALIENS + EL_S_TH H__ST_ON at Poetic Research Bureau – In-Person Event
There will be a performance to celebrate the nightmare-fiesta-space-ship launch of STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH, a book about race, gender, violence, and all its intergalactic iterations. The performance will start promptly at 8 PM, doors open at 7:30 PM.
DJ BrownStarShip will spin & play.
Event is free and open to the public
ABOUT AUTHOR:
Elisabeth Houston or “elisabeth houston” or EL_S_TH H__ST_ON or “baby…” or “not baby…” (note: there happened to have been a book written, alongside a series of performances. it is somehow-someway now called STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH. it is available for purchase on the interwebs and internets, but then the book somehow-someway swiftly disappeared. STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH disappeared. the live audience called it an alien abduction, the reader called it a problem of materials and capital, and EL_S_TH H__ST_ON said nothing. they had already been wiped out too, they had already been erased.)
NOTE: See site for guidelines and event details.
Where: Poetic Research Bureau
Date: Friday the 17th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057
Website: https://www.poeticresearch.com/events/book-launch-party-gt-aliens-elsth-hston
Josh Evens & Letter to Unity Virtual Release Party – Online Zoom Event
Please join us for a virtual release party by Josh Evens for Letters to Unity, a digital collection of poems to get your summer going right.
Guest readers will include: Jon Frisch, Sean Hill, and Iris De Anda.
Josh Evans is a poet, storyteller, voice actor, and educator from Pasadena, California. He has featured at Beyond Baroque, Avenue 50 Studios’ La Palabra series, a Dignidad Literaria read-in, the Altadena Arts Festival, and the Los Angeles Music Center’s “For the Love of LA” production. Josh Evans has also performed at weddings, birthdays, conferences, and both private school and college events. His poems and essays have been published in the Café Con Libros inaugural anthology, Spectrum anthology, Angel’s Flight Literary Magazine, Altadena Poetry Review, and the Los Angeles Poet Society’s debut anthology Los Angeles Poets for Justice: A Document for the People. When not performing, he also teaches poetry and creative writing from Pre-K to adult level; his short story collection Aces Wild can be purchased on Amazon. Josh is on TikTok at GriotJosh and Twitter/IG at @joshevansgo.
Jon Frisch N/A
Sean Hill, born and raised in Milledgeville, Georgia, is the author of two poetry collections, Dangerous Goods, awarded the Minnesota Book Award in Poetry, (Milkweed Editions, 2014) and Blood Ties & Brown Liquor, named one of the Ten Books All Georgians Should Read in 2015 by the Georgia Center for the Book, (UGA Press, 2008).
He’s received numerous awards including fellowships from Cave Canem, the Region 2 Arts Council, the Bush Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, The Jerome Foundation, The MacDowell Colony, the University of Wisconsin, a Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, and a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Hill’s poems and essays have appeared in Callaloo, Harvard Review, New England Review, Orion, Oxford American, Poetry, Tin House, and numerous other journals, and in over a dozen anthologies including Black Nature and Villanelles.
He has served as the director of the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference at Bemidji State University since 2012. Hill is a consulting editor at Broadsided Press, a monthly broadside publisher. He has taught at several universities, including at the University of Alaska – Fairbanks and Georgia Southern University as an Assistant Professor.
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 las Americas in Havana, Cuba and is named one of Today’s Revolutionary Women of Color. Author of Codeswitch: Fires from Mi Corazon with Los Writers Underground Press 2014 & Roots of Redemption: You Have No Right to Remain Silent with FlowerSong Press 2022.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Zoom Event: 896 6360 2353
Date: Friday the 17th
Time: 7 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/LosAngelesPoetSociety/
Third Fridays Rapp Saloon Reading Series, with host Elena Secota, via Rapp Saloon – Online Event
Join Third Fridays at Rapp Saloon Open Mic & Featured Readers, offered every 3rd Friday of the month by poet, curator and host Elena Secota.
Our featured guest poets and artists this month include:
Cati Porter is an Inland Southern California poet, and writes essays on many topics, and her poems run the gamut form serious to silly. Her collection My Skies of Small Horses is more playful but also decidedly and darkly domestic, and her new chapbook of poems, Novel, was released June 4, 2022.
Stephanie Barbe Hammer is a writer and artist who has created a poetic, conceptual and philosophical body of work in a variety of media, often literary/visual hybrids that dissolve boundaries between narrative, essay and dialectic works. Her work considers the basic philosophical questions of human and non-human existence (its morbidity, profundity and banality) with play and humor. Her short play, Trial in the Woods, premiered in Baltimore in 2018 and was published by Plays Inverse in 2020.
Steve Mc Cormick is the music world’s Renaissance man: studio owner, producer, performer, session player and singer-songwriter. He’s also a tech wizard, building his own microphones. His current album, Stars and Chandeliers, a collection of Americana songs, is being released in chapters. The latest chapter is The Laws of Love.
Share your voice at the Open Mic, where there is a time limit of 4 minutes max. Sign-ups are at 8:15 pm. Zoom details sent after RSVP.
NOTE: See site for event details. (CHECK to Verify)
Where: Rapp Saloon – Online Event
Date: Friday the 17th
Time: 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Address: Online Zoom event
Sounds of Goodness Festival at Norman O. Houston Park – In-Person Event
Shared Harvest celebrates its 4th year anniversary in service to its mission to spread compassion through wellness, service and debt relief by hosting the Sounds of Goodness Health Festival.
This event will include many elements: jazz, live DJ, Aztec dance, Mariachi band, live muralist, yoga session, covid vax, vercis film, stand-up, poetry, afro-funk, and food.
James Coats will be among the featured poets.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Norman O. Houston Park
Date: Saturday the 18th
Time: 10 am – 5 pm
Address: 4800 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sounds-of-goodness-tickets-344320601187
Return, Review, Renew: A Poetry Workshop with Mike Sonksen at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
Please join us for Return, Review, Renew: A Poetry Workshop and Open Mic, aka Mike with Mike Sonksen, aka Mike the PoeT.
Map your past, present and future poetically by celebrating your family history and rendering your personal geographies in a dynamic, collaborative setting.
The workshop will culminate with an open mic after you write.
Workshop attendees are expected to participate in a respectful, constructive, and considerate manner. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our workshops, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow participants, or facilitator.
Mike Sonksen aka Mike the PoeT is a 3rd-generation Southern Californian. Poet, professor, journalist, historian and tour-guide, his latest book Letters to My City was published by Writ Large Press. He’s written for KCET, Poets & Writers, Wax Poetics, PBS, LA Taco, LA Review of Books, LAist, Boom and the Academy of American Poets. His poetry’s been featured on Public Radio Stations KCRW, KPCC & KPFK & Spectrum News. Sonksen is the Coordinator of the First Year Experience Program at Woodbury University and taught high school before that. He’s been awarded by the Los Angeles Press Club. Follow him on Twitter & IG @mikethepoetLA.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, costs, and details.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday the 18th
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90291
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/return-review-renew-with-mike-sonksen-tickets-343167301637
Summer Children’s Storytime! at Re/Arte Centro Literario – In-Person Kids Event
Join us for a bilingual storytime for kids and their families.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Re/Arte Centro Literario
Date: Saturday 18th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 2123 East Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://reartela.com/events%2Feventos
Social Justice Book Club & Juliet Takes a Breath via Tia Chucha Bookstore – Online Event
Please join us for our discussion of Juliet Takes a Breath, by Gabby Rivera. This graphic novel is an adaptation of the hit LGBT coming-of-age novel is about exploring race, identity, and what it means to be true to your amazing self, even when the world doesn’t understand.
All are welcome to attend our virtual book club. Having read the entire book is not required, but recommended for discussion. Register through the link in our bio!
NOTE: See site for details. Contact andrea@tiachucha.org for more info.
Where: Tia Chucha’s
Date: Saturday the 18th
Time: 12 pm – 1:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/TiaChuchasCentroCultural
Celebrate Dads: Storytime with Joe Cepeda & Rafa Counts on Papa at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Join us to hear author/illustrator Joe Cepeda read from his picture book and then be available to sign books. This story is great for ages 4 and up.
Joe Cepeda was born and raised in East Los Angeles. Joe’s journey through college began with studying engineering at Cornell and finished with a BFA in illustration from Long Beach State. He is the award-winning illustrator of more than 30 books children, including Pura Pelpré honor book Juan Bobo Goes to Work, written by Marisa Montes.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 18th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/rafa-counts-papa
Emiko Jean, with Jenny Lee, & Tokyo Dreaming at The Ripped Bodice Bookstore – In-Person Event
Emikok Jean, in conversation with Jenny Lee, will present and discuss her new romance novel, Tokyo Dreaming, the sequel to Reese’s YA Book club pick and New York Times bestseller, Tokyo Ever After.
When Japanese American teen Izumi Taaka discovered that her father was the Crown Prince of Japan, she became a princess overnight. Now that she’s learned the imperial ropes, dodged tabloid gossip and landed herself a perfect bodyguard boyfriend, Izumi’s new life in Tokyo seems like a dream come true. Her parents have even rekindled their college romance, and their royal wedding is on the horizon…
But when the Imperial Council refuses to approve the marriage, citing Izumi and her mother’s lack of pedigree, and when her bodyguard boyfriend makes a shocking announcement, Izumi’s perfect world is suddenly falling apart.
NOTE: See site for tickets and event details.
Where: Ripped Bodice Bookstore
Date: Saturday 18th
Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 3806 Main Street, Culver City CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Saturday Afternoon Poetry Readings hosted by Don Kingfisher Campbell at My Place Café – In-Person Event & Online Event Via Zoom
Join us at Saturday Afternoon Poetry off-site at My Place Café, to hear poetry readings hosted by DKC, featuring: JERRY GARCIA, CHARLOTTE INNES, KARO SKA and those published in Four Feathers Press’ THE POETRY LOTTERY 3 and SCENES OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA VOL. 3: POETRY OF MOVIES read their poetry. Winner announced. + Open Reading hosted by COCO THIS MEETING CAN ALSO BE ACCESSED THROUGH OUR USUAL ZOOM PORTAL
Jerry Garcia is a poet, photographer, and film maker, raised in the corner of East Los Angeles that became Monterey Park in Southern California. His most recent collection is of Trumpets in the Sky (Moon Tide Press).
Charlotte Innes is a British-born poet and writer now living in Los Ángeles. She has published two chapbooks of poetry. Her most recent book is Twenty Pandemicals.
Karo Ska (she/they) is a South Asian & Eastern Europen non-binary femme poet, living on unseeded Tongva Land. They migrated here in 1996 from Warsaw, Poland. Their writing focuses on identity, mental health, survivorship and the intersections of trauma and politics. They are the author most recently of Loving My Salt-Drenched Bones (World Stage Press, 2022).
All events are curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry at My Place Café
Date: Saturday the 18th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 2057 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena, CA 91101 or Online via Zoom link (see site)
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Alan Hess and Michael Murphy & “Googie Modern” Architecture at Village Well Bookstore – In-Person Event
Alan Hess and Michael Murphy join in conversation with Thomas Aujreo to discuss their book, Googie Modern: Architectural Drawings of Armet Davis Newlove, and the architecture that captured the optimistic mood in post-war America that set the bar for what would evolve into Mid-Century Modern style.
NOTE: See site for tickets and event details.
Where: Village Well Bookstore
Date: Saturday 18th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events
Vroman’s Presents: James Burrows, with Billy Gardell, & Directed by James Burrows: Five Decades of Stories at Vroman’s Off-Site at Pasadena Presbyterian Church – In-Person Event
Join us to hear legendary director and creative James Burrows, in conversation with actor Billy Gardell, present and discuss his book, JAMES BURROWS: FIVE DECADES OF STORIES FROM THE LEGENDARY DIRECTOR OF TAXI, CHEERS, FRASIER, FRIENDS, WILL & GRACE, AND MORE.
Legendary sitcom director James Burrows has spent five decades making America laugh. Here readers will find never-revealed stories behind the casting of the dozens of great sitcoms he directed, as well as details as to how these memorable shows were created, how they got on the air, and how the cast and crew continued to develop and grow. Burrows also examines his own challenges, career victories, and defeats, and provides advice for aspiring directors, writers, and actors. All this from the man who helped launch the careers of Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Aniston, Debra Messing, and Melissa McCarthy, to name a few.
This book is a master class in sitcom, revealing what it truly takes to get a laugh.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines and details.
Where: Vroman’s at Pasadena Presbyterian Church
Date: Saturday the 18th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 585 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Sci-Fi Fantasy Book Club & The Kingdom of Copper at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us for the Sci-Fi Fantasy Book Club to read The Kingdom of Copper: A Novel (The Daevabad Trilogy #2) by S.A. Chakraberty, a sweeping adventure conjuring a world where djinn summon flames with the snap of a finger and waters run deep with old magic; where blood can be dangerous as any spell, and a clever con artist from Cairo will alter the fate of a kingdom.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and event details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside
Date: Saturday 18th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/sci-fi-fantasy-book-club-kingdom-copper
Obed Silva Book Talk with Mike Sonksen & at Re/Arte Centro Literario – In-Person Event
Join us for a book talk with author Obed Silva, in conversation with poet and author Mike Sonksen, to hear them discuss his book The Death of My Father the Pope: A Memoir.
In this acclaimed debut, a man mourning his alcoholic father faces a paradox: to pay tribute, lay scorn, or pour a drink.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Re/Arte Centro Literario
Date: Saturday 18th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 2123 East Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://reartela.com/events%2Feventos
Juneteenth Festival & Father’s Day Celebration at Segerstrom Center for the Arts – In-Person Event
Sunday, June 19, 1-3pm at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts we are celebrating fatherhood, family, and freedom as we culminate our Juneteenth Festival. The event will feature a performance by the award-winning Tatiana Tate and her jazz quartet and a poetry reading with James Coats. A catered lunch will be provided for attendees.
NOTE: See site for tickets and event details.
Where: Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa
Date: Sunday 19th
Time: 1 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: Julianne and George Argyros Plaza, Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa CA 92626
Website: https://www.scfta.org/events/2022/fathers-day-celebration
At Skylight: Rosecrans Baldwin & Everything Now Signing at Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us for a signing with Rosecrans Baldwin to celebrate the paperback release of his bestseller, Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles.
America is obsessed with Los Angeles. And America has been thinking about Los Angeles all wrong, for decades, on repeat. Los Angeles is not just the place where the American dream hits the Pacific. (It has its own dreams.) Not just the vanishing point of America’s western drive. (It has its own compass.) Functionally, aesthetically, mythologically, even technologically, an independent territory, defined less by distinct borders than by an aura of autonomy and a sense of unfurling destiny—this is the city-state of Los Ángeles.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Sunday 19th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-rosecrans-baldwin-signs-everything-now
Bucket List Book Club & Shuggie Bain at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us for the Bucket List Book Club to read the Booker Prize winning novel Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.
This book is an unforgettable story of young Hugh “Shuggie” Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher’s policies have put husbands and sons out of work, and the city’s notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings.
NOTE: See site for book purchase and event details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside
Date: Sunday 19th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/bucket-list-book-club-shuggie-bain
Mystery and Dark Comedy with Charles Harper Webb and Carlos Allende at Village Well Bookstore – In-Person Event
Red Hen authors, Charles Harper Webb and Carlos Allende join in conversation and a Q+A about their mystery and dark comedy novels – Ursula Lake and Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love.
Ursula Lake, by Charles Harper Webb, is about former best friends Scott and Errol, who meet unexpectedly at Oso Lake, a remote Canadian fly-fishing paradise where, five years before, fresh out of college, they had the time of their lives. Their situations, though, have changed, their high hopes quashed by workaday realities and, in Errol’s case, marriage to Claire, who has come with him trying to stave off divorce. But Oso Lake has changed. The fall before, a woman’s severed head was left in a campfire pit beside the lake. The shadow cast by her murder is darkened further by a fire-scarred white truck driver who claims to be a long-dead Native shaman and has plans to eradicate not only Scott, Errol, and Claire, but all of Western civilization. The beauty of the wilderness becomes, every day, more threatening and perverse. But the worst danger the vacationers face may be themselves.
Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love, by Carlos Allende is a mystery and dark comedy, with a unique twists:
Last November, I found a dead body inside the freezer that my roommate keeps inside the garage. My first thought was to call the police, but Jignesh hadn’t paid his share of the rent just yet. It wasn’t due until the thirtieth, and you know how difficult it is to find people who pay on time. Jignesh always does. Also, he had season tickets for the LA Opera, and well…Madame Butterfly. Tosca. The Flying Dutchman…at the Dorothy Chandler…you cannot say no to that, can you? Well, it’s been a few good months now—Madame Butterfly was just superb, thank you. However, last Friday, I found a second body inside that stupid freezer in the garage. This time I’m evicting Jignesh. My house isn’t a mortuary…alas, I need to come up with some money first. You’ll understand, therefore, that I desperately need to sell this novel. Just enough copies to help me survive until I find a job…what could I do that doesn’t demand too much effort? We have a real treasure here, anyhow. Some chapters are almost but not quite pornographic. You could safely lend this to nana afterward!
NOTE: See site for tickets and event details.
Where: Village Well Bookstore
Date: Sunday 19th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd.,
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events
At Skylight: Kirstin Chen, with Jean Chen Ho, & Counterfeit at Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to hear Kristin Chen, in conversation with Jean Chen Ho, to discuss her novel, Counterfeit.
Swift, surprising, and sharply comic, Counterfeit is a stylish and feminist caper with a strong point of view and an axe to grind. Peering behind the curtain of the upscale designer storefronts and the Chinese factories where luxury goods are produced, Kirstin Chen interrogates the myth of the model minority through two unforgettable women determined to demand more from life.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore
Date: Sunday 19th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-kirstin-chen-presents-counterfeit-jean-chen-ho
Los Angeles Literature 