World Literature Book Club via West Valley Regional Library, LAPL – Online Event
This Book Club hosts a discussion of the world’s best short stories. All selections are from The Best Short Stories 2021-The O. Henry Prize Winners, edited by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
This month’s selections are:
Nov. 7 – Antediluvian by Ben Hinshaw
Nov. 14 – Grief’s Garden by Caroline Albertine Minor
Nov. 21 – To the Dogs by Jianan Qian
Nov. 28 – Color and Light by Sally Rooney
This group meets every Monday morning (excluding holidays).
This program is repeated at 2 pm by Woodland Hills Branch Library.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: West Valley Regional Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 7th
Time: 10 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/world-literature-short-stories-book-club-0
Creative Writing Conservatory Students from California School of the Arts – San Gabriel Valley Present Their Work at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Creative Writing Conservatory students from California School of the Arts – San Gabriel Valley present the poems, stories, and songs they’ve been working on.
This is a rigorous college-preparatory education and pre-professional arts conservatory training. The students in the Creative Writing Conservatory take classes in short story, poetry, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, songwriting, and other creative writing genres. They are thrilled to be welcomed by Vroman’s bookstore to share their voices.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Monday the 7th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/creative-writing-conservatory-presents
At Skylight: Gail Wronsky & The Stranger You Are: Art by Gronk at Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event
Author Gail Wronsky and illustrator Gronk present their collaboration in the new book, The Stranger You Are: Art by Gronk, from Tia Chucha Press.
The artist Gronk was raised in East Los Angeles and lives in downtown LA. Gail Wronsky was raised in suburban Detroit and lives in the hippie haven of Topanga Canyon. But as artists they have found common ground—a shared commitment to the offbeat and the beautiful, to the slightly absurd and the slyly surreal, to blurring the distinction between our inner lives of dreams and imagination and our daily realities. Wronsky’s poems and Gronk’s drawings are equally grounded in poetic imagery. Wronsky mixes vernacular diction, or spoken language, with a more formal style in a way that is entirely unique; Gronk’s signature style alludes to both street art and classical art. Both are committed to making memorable work that surprises and delights, that sharpens and feeds our everyday lives as well as our deepest selves.
Gail Wronsky is the author, coauthor, or translator of 15 books of poetry and prose. The Stranger You Are, a book of poems by Gail and artwork by the renowned artist Gronk, is just out from Tia Chucha Press. Under the Capsized Boat We Fly: New & Selected Poems was published in 2021 by White Pine Press. Her poems have appeared in POETRY, BOSTON REVIEW, ANTIOCH REVIEW, DENVER QUARTERLY, GUESTHOUSE, VOLT and other journals.
Painter, printmaker, and performance artist Gronk has exhibited artwork at many institutions, including the UCLA Hammer Museum, the UCLA Fowler Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, the San Francisco Mexican Museum, the Craft Contemporary Museum, the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, and the San Jose Museum of Art. Gronk has created stage designs for director Peter Sellars, as well as for the Santa Fe Opera, the LA Opera, Latino Theater Company, and the East West Players. He’s collaborated on musical performances by the Kronos Quartet. Recently he was given a career retrospective at the University of New Mexico. He is a founding member of ASCO, a multi-media arts collective of the 1970s and of the Glass Table Collective, a contemporary group of writers and artists. Born in East Los Angeles, he now makes his home in downtown LA.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Monday the 7th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-gail-wronsky-and-gronk-present-stranger-you-are
ALOUD Reading Series Presents: An Evening with George Saunders at Writers Guild Theater – In-Person Event
Author George Saunders, in conversation with actor Nick Offermen, present an evening of discussion of his new work Liberation Day: Stories.
Called the “best short-story writer in English,” (Time) George Saunders is back with a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice and cuts to the very heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. With his trademark prose, Saunders continues to challenge and surprise—here is a collection of prismatic, resonant stories that encompass joy and despair, oppression and revolution, bizarre fantasy, and brutal reality. Join Saunders for an ALOUD program discussing these nine subversive, profound, and essential stories that coalesce into a case for viewing the world with the same generosity and clear-eyed attention Saunders does, even in the most absurd of circumstances. He will be joined in conversation by actor, comedian, and close friend Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, A League of Their Own).
NOTE: See site for RSVP, tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Writers Guild Theater
Date: Monday the 7th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 135 S. Doheny Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Website: https://lfla.org/event/an-evening-with-george-saunders/ or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-george-saunders-tickets-419980221147
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 7th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: Zoom Online (see site)
Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/monday-night-fiction-workshop-tickets-458423475957
At Dynasty Typewriter: Lake Bell & Inside Voice: My Obsession with How We Sound (Audiobook Release) at Dynasty Typewriter – In-Person Event
Author Lake Bell will present her new audiobook release INSIDE VOICE: My Obsession with How We Sound.
INSIDE VOICE is humorous, insightful, and personal deep dive into our most outward-facing, least-appreciated trait: our voice.
Raise your hand if you cringe at the sound of your own voice, worry that you actually do sound like your mother, or have spent a sleepless night wondering if your inner and outer voices are in sync.
Now, hands down, headphones on. Lake Bell is going to tell you why you’re not alone and why your voice matters in the most deeply personal ways.
Inside Voice unpacks the writer-director-producer-actor’s obsession with voice and all its permutations. It takes us on a journey to discover how this vital piece of our identity serves as an x-ray of our personal histories. Bell explored the power of voice in her critically-acclaimed and award-winning film, In a World, which she wrote, directed, and starred in. With this audiobook, she dives back into the rabbit hole to deliver a fun, whip-smart exploration of the psychology, social science, cultural constructs, and mechanics of our voices.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Dynasty Typewriter at The Hayworth
Date: Monday the 7th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 2511 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/dynasty-typewriter-lake-bell-discusses-inside-voice
LiveTalks L.A. Presents: Jerry Saltz, with Irwin Miller, & Art Is Life: Icons and Iconoclasts, Visionaries and Vigilantes, and Flashes of Hope in the Night – In-Person & Virtual Hybrid Event
From the Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of How to Be an Artist, comes a deliciously readable survey of the art world in turbulent times.
Jerry Saltz is the senior art critic at New York magazine and its entertainment site Vulture, and the author of the New York Times bestseller How to Be an Artist. In 2018 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. A frequent guest lecturer at major universities and museums, he has lectured at Harvard University, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and many others, and has taught at Columbia University, Yale University, the Rhode Island School of Design, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and elsewhere..
Irwin Miller is an award-winning designer, artist and thought leader who has worked in the design industry for over 25 years with a focus of architecture and interior design. Irwin has been a Principal and Design Director with Gensler for over 20 years working on projects of every scope and scale around the world. Before that, he worked with a variety of international architects throughout Europe after receiving degrees from RISD and Harvard Graduate School of Design. Irwin has also worked in stop-motion animation and film – creating music videos and commercials over the past decade..
NOTE: See site for RSVP, tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Glorya Kauffman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar
Date: Monday the 7th
Time: 8 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 3200 Motor Ave., Los Angeles, 90034
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/jerry-saltz-2/
Under the Mic Influence & Open Mic featuring Antonio “Paz One” Appling – In-Person Event
Join host Kuahmel Alyeeus KuahAllah and DJ Kev Jam for poetry, Open Mic, rare grooves, cocktails, tasty bites.
Antonio “Paz One” Appling will be the featured artist!
Antonio Appling is the host of @thedefinitivesoapbox mic series and the Long Beach Poetry Slam. Antonio “Paz One” Appling is showing you #WhatWouldJesusDo if he rocked the microphone in the 2020s!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, cost, and details.
Where: LB Unified Bar & Lounge
Date: Monday the 7th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 2222 E. Anaheim, Long Beach, CA 90804
Website: https://www.facebook.com/photo/ or https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1766925123686032&set=a.383136428731582
Come Write In! NANOWRIMO Event at John C. Fremont Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Do you NaNo? November is National Novel Writing Month.
If you’re looking for a place to work on your book, join us for silent writing sessions in our community room on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in November.
Note: There will be no event on Thursday, November 24.
Call (323) 962-3521 or email jcfrmt@lapl.org with questions about the event.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: John C. Fremont Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 8th
Time: 5 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 6121 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/come-write
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.
To receive a Zoom invitation, please contact wwood@lapl.org.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 7th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-open-mic
Three Act Writing Workshop: Matt Sedillo at Eastside Café – In-Person Event
The Three Act Writing Workshop will be presented and led by Matt Sedillo.
All donations will go to the Eastside Café.
Matt Sedillo is an acclaimed political poet, writer and spoken word performer, and is the author of two books: Mowing Leaves of Grass and City on the Second Floor.
NOTE: See site for details. Check to verify.
Where: Eastside Café, El Sereno
Date: Tuesday the 8th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 5469 Huntington Dr. North, Los Angeles, CA 90032
Website: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10162683988554522&set=a.212071394521
The Mic at Micky’s Open Mic, with Hosts Brian Sonia-Wallace & Nate Lovett at Micky’s Nightclub & Bar – In-Person Event
Join The Mic at Micky’s Open Mic and Literary Readings, hosted by West Hollywood Poet Laureate Brian Sonia-Wallace, Nate Lovett and Tony Moore.
This is a weekly event for creatives to collaborate and write something for the Mic and/or sign up for the Open Mic, limited to 3-5 minutes per person, and offering poems, stories and music.
Located in the heart of one of LA’s oldest gay clubs, this space promises connection and community for folks across the LGBTQ+ spectrum (and allies!) before the untz untz starts.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Micky’s Nightclub & Bar in West Hollywood (Upstairs)
Date: Tuesday the 8th
Time: 6 pm – 9 pm
Address: 8857 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-mic-mickys-tickets-383607950707?aff=erelpanelorg
Alka Joshi & The Secret Keeper of Jaipur and The Henna Artist at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Alka Joshi will discuss and sign her books, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur and The Henna Artist. Her third book in the Jaipur series, The Perfumist of Paris, is forthcoming in March, 2023.
Alka Joshi was born and raised in India until the age of 9, when her family moved to the United States for her father’s doctorate education. She has a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from California College of Arts. At age 62, Joshi published her debut novel, The Henna Artist, which immediately became a New York Times bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Bookclub pick, was Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, was translated into 26 languages, and is being developed into a Netflix limited series. The sequel, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, released June 2021 is also being translated into several languages. The highly anticipated third book of The Jaipur Trilogy, The Perfumist of Paris, will be released in March 2023. Alka worked in advertising and marketing for 30 years prior to becoming a full-time author.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore (in the Courtyard)
Date: Tuesday the 8th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Alka-Joshi-november-8-Author-signing
Mystery Book Club & Portrait of an Unknown Woman at Pages, A Bookstore– In-Person Event
The Mystery Book Clubwill present and discuss this month’s selection, Portrait of an Unknown Woman, by Daniel Silva.
In this book, legendary spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon has at long last severed ties with Israeli intelligence and settled quietly in Venice, the only place where he has ever truly known peace. His beautiful wife, Chiara, has taken over the day-to-day management of the Tiepolo Restoration Company, and their two young children are discreetly enrolled in a neighborhood scuola elementare. For his part, Gabriel spends his days wandering the streets and canals of the watery city, bidding farewell to the demons of his tragic, violent past.
But when the eccentric London art dealer Julian Isherwood asks Gabriel to investigate the circumstances surrounding the rediscovery and lucrative sale of a centuries-old painting, he is drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse where nothing is as it seems.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Pages, A Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 8th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/mystery-book-club-10
At Skylight: Robin McLean & Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing (And Other Stories) at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Author Robin McLean presents his new book Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing (And Other Stories),
From the author of the acclaimed Pity the Best, this is a new collection of new stories plumbing the depths of American laughter and evil.
Dark, profane, and hilarious, yet ultimately humane, these ten stories are the latest and best of McLean’s reports from the eternal battlefront that is the United States. Ranging across the continent, from Alaska to Missouri, from the flatlands to the mountains, each tale is a snapshot of the political, racial, and sexual undercurrents roiling contemporary life, and each finds a way into the nerves and blood that pulse beneath the question of how to live a decent life.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Tuesday the 8th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Joint Book Launch: Ashton Politanoff and Kathryn Scanlan at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Authors Ashton Politanoff and Kathryn Scanlan will launch their new books: You’ll Like It Here and Kick the Latch, respectively.
Ashton Politanoff’s You’ll Like It Here is a haunting bricolage, divided into three parts, that excavates the forgotten history of Redondo Beach in the early 1900’s through old news clippings, advertisements, recipes and other ephemera that speak to the ills of male stoicism, industrialization and capitalism, and environmental displacement.
Kathryn Scanlan’s Kick the Latch vividly captures the arc of one woman’s life at the racetrack—the flat land and ramshackle backstretch; the bad feelings and friction; the winner’s circle and the racetrack bar; the fancy suits and fancy boots; and the “particular language” of “grooms, jockeys, trainers, racing secretaries, stewards, pony people, hotwalkers, everybody”—with economy and integrity.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Stories Books& Café
Date: Tuesday the 8th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1716 W Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/
Adult Book Group: Carnegie’s Maid, by Marie Benedictat Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Event
The Adult Book Groupwill present and discuss this month’s selection, Carnegie’s Maid, by Marie Benedict.
In this novel of historical fiction Clara Kelley is not who they think she is. She’s not the experienced Irish maid who was hired to work in one of Pittsburgh’s grandest households. She’s a poor farmer’s daughter with nowhere to go and nothing in her pockets. But the woman who shares her name has vanished, and assuming her identity just might get Clara some money to send back home. Discover the story of one brilliant woman who may have spurred Andrew Carnegie’s transformation from ruthless industrialist to the world’s first true philanthropist.
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 8th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/adult-book-group-carnegies-maid-marie-benedict
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic with Phynne-Belle – Virtual Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and guest Phynne-Belle.
Phynne-Belle is San Francisco Bay Area poet, podcaster, and blogger, and hosts a weekly online open mic every Thursday, as well as a podcast on Anchor every Tuesday.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 8th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: http://poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html
The Sunless Sea Open Mic: Poetry and Spoken Word Show – In-Person Event
The Sunless Sea Open Mic: Poetry and Spoken Word Show is offered every week at the Unurban Coffee House. Hosted by DeForest Wright, all are invited to attend.
NOTE: Details at event link.
Where: Unurban Coffee House
Date: Tuesday the 8th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 3301 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica 90405
Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1699147113818899
Da Poetry Lounge Tuesday Open Mic at Greenway Court – In-Person Event
The nation’s largest weekly Open Mic event is 24 years strong. It takes place every Tuesday and is open to all ages. Third Tuesdays are SLAM NIGHTS! A slam is a poetry competition.
$10 donation. Do NOT lineup prior to 7:30 p.m. Free parking adjacent to theatre.
See sites for details.
Where: Greenway Court Theatre and YouTube Live Stream
Date: Tuesday the 8th
Time: 9 pm – 11 pm
Address: 544 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChLUBSRPCFb/ or https://www.dapoetrylounge.com/admission
SOM Tuesdays Open Mic: On Hiatus (no longer at Di Piazza’s Pizza, Long Beach) – In-Person Event
SOM Open Mic Tuesdays will no longer take place at Di Piazza’s.
SOM Open Mic will return soon, once a new location is TBA.
Where: New location TBA
Date: Tuesday the 8th
Time: 9 pm – 12 am
Address: New location TBA
Website: https://dipiazzas.com/tickets-%26-events
NANOWRIMO Write-In Event at Venice Memorial Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
November is National Novel Writing Month.
Need time and space to write during NaNoWriMo? The Venice Library is providing two hours of weekly space, just for you! We may write straight through or do sprints of 25 minutes at a time.
Open to all. Refreshments will be provided.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Venice-Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 3:30 pm
Address: 501 S. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/nanowrimo-write
The Page Turners Book Club for MG Readers & Two Degrees at Pages, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
The Page Turners Book Club is for 8th & 9th Graders and it reads books from all genres.
This month’s selection to be discussed is Two Degrees, by Alan Gratz.
The #1 New York Times bestselling author Alan Gratz (Refugee; Ground Zero) is back, tackling the urgent topic of climate change in this breathtaking, action-packed novel that will keep readers turning pages while making their own plans to better the world.
Fire. Ice. Flood. Three climate disasters.
Four kids fighting for their lives.
Akira is riding her horse in the California woods when a wildfire sparks—and grows scarily fast. How can she make it to safety when there are flames everywhere?
Owen and his best friend, George, are used to seeing polar bears on the snowy Canadian tundra. But when one bear gets way too close for comfort, do the boys have any chance of surviving?
Natalie hunkers down at home as a massive hurricane heads toward Miami. When the floodwaters crash into her house, Natalie is dragged out into the storm—with nowhere to hide.
Akira, Owen, George, and Natalie are all swept up in the devastating effects of climate change. They are also connected in ways that will shock them—and could alter their destinies forever.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Pages, A Bookstore (in the Courtyard)
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/page-turners-0
Liz Climo & I’m So Happy You’re Here at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Liz Climo presents her latest book: I’m So Glad You’re Here: A Little Book About Why You’re Great.
We all need a reminder that we’re loved and that we matter, and international bestselling author Liz Climo delivers that dose of warmth and love in her new book
Sometimes we just need a little pep talk to remind us that we’re doing our best. With help from her charming animal drawings, Liz Climo encourages us to embrace the joyful moments, to get back up after falling down, and always to love ourselves.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm PT
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/liz-climo-presents-i%E2%80%99m-so-happy-you%E2%80%99re-here
NANOWRIMO Write-In Event at the Fabulous Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
November is National Novel Writing Month.
Join us in person as we celebrate NaNoWriMo (National Novel-Writing Month) by offering weekly “Write In” sessions in our cool new study rooms! These small collaboration-friendly spaces feature wi-fi, outlets, comfy chairs, and whiteboards. Light refreshments will be served along with literary inspiration. Attendees will also receive some library swag! What more could an aspiring novelist ask? Space is limited, so email fiction@lapl.org to register today.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Literature & Fiction Study Rooms
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/nanowrimo-write-ins-fabulous-central-library
Plume Poetry Anthology: A Reading with Contributors via Beyond Baroque – Online Event
Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Plume Poetry Anthology, with readings by contributors to Plume Poetry 10: Elena Karina Byrne, Ata Moharreri, Shamar Hill, and others.
The virtual reading features poets across the United States, Elena Karina Byrne, Cathy Colman, Ramón García, Ata Moharreri, Shamar Hill, & Carolyn Joyner. Plume Poetry 10 includes new poems from these authors.
Other contributors range from Juan Felipe Herrera to Jane Hirshfield, Kwame Dawes to Rae Armantrout—and so many more, with a Featured Selection including new translations, essays on and photographs of Arthur Rimbaud, by Mark Irwin.
Pushcart Prize, and Best American Poetry recipient, Elena Karina Byrne is the author of five poetry collections including If This Makes You Nervous (Omnidawn Publishing, 2021). Her poems, reviews, essays, and interviews can be found in POETRY, The Kenyon Review, The Paris Review, Poetry International, Poetry Daily, Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, APR, Plume, Los Angeles Review of Books, BOMB, and elsewhere. Former 12-year Regional Director of the Poetry Society of America, Elena’s the Programming Consultant & Poetry Stage Manager for The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and Literary Programs Director for the Ruskin Art Club. She’s writing screenplays while completing a collection of hybrid essays entitled Voyeur Hour.
Carolyn Joyner, a Washington, DC poet, uses contemporary and traditional form to examine life’s themes. Her work has been featured in various literary magazines and anthologies, among them, Revise the Psalm: Work Celebrating the Writing of Gwendolyn Brooks, Pleiades, Obsidian, Gathering Ground, Beyond the Frontier, ArLiJo, and Beltway Poetry Quarterly. She is a former WritersCorps instructor, volunteer poetry workshop leader for the DC Public Library and the River of Words community project, and has a Master of Arts degree in creative writing from The Johns Hopkins University. She is a Cave Canem and Hurston-Wright Foundation fellow and has been awarded artist fellowship grants from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
Ata Moharreri is a first-generation American. His mother emigrated from Belarus and his father emigrated from Iran. Ata you has lived all over the United States. He has a poem forthcoming in Gulf Coast.
Ramón García is the author of two books of poetry The Chronicles (Red Hen Press, 2015) and Other Countries (What Books Press, 2010), and a monograph on the artist Ricardo Valverde(University of Minnesota Press, 2013). The Chronicles was a finalist for the International Latino Book Award, in the category of Poetry Book in English. His poetry has appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies, including Los Angeles Review, Springhouse Journal, Best American Poetry 1996, Ambit, The Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB), Mandorla: New Writing from the Americas, Gulf Coast and Plume. He teaches at California State University, Northridge, and lives in Los Angeles. https://ramongarciaphd.com
Cathryn Colman’s first book Borrowed Dress won the Felix Pollak Prize for Poetry, and was on The Los Angeles Times Bestseller List the first week of its release. She has also won The Browning Award for Poetry and the Asher Montandon Award. Her other books are Beauty’s Tattoo (Tebot Bach Press) and Time Crunch (What Books Press) Colman’s poetry has appeared in The Colorado Review, Ploughshares, The Huffington Post, The Gettysburg Review, Prairie Schooner, Plume, The Journal, The Southern Review, Barrow Street, The Los Angeles Review, Quarterly West, Pool, Chance of a Ghost Anthology (Putnam/Tarcher), Writers on Writing (Putnam), and many other publications. She has been a free-lance reviewer for The New York Times Book Review and a reviewer for Artweek Magazine and Los Angeles Magazine. Her poetry has been translated into Italian, Russian, and Croatian.
Shamar Hill is Black, Cherokee, and Jewish. He is the recipient of numerous awards including fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Cave Canem, and Fine Arts Work Center. He has been published in American Poetry Review, Poetry Northwest, The Missouri Review, and Washington Square Review, among others. He is working on a poetry collection, Photographs of an Imagined Childhood, and a memoir, In Defiance of All True Things.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
David Downie & Roman Roulette: Murder in the Catacombs at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
David Downie will present and discuss his new novel, Roman Roulette: Murder in the Catacombs.
For Commissioner Daria Vinci, it was supposed to be a night off, attending a benefit concert for the Institute of America in Rome. But little did the wealthy, distinguished guests know that beneath their feet, in the ancient catacombs, a very different kind of gathering was being held. One that would end in murder.
In Roman Roulette, the second Daria Vinci investigation, the glamorous and high-principled police commissioner of DI GOS, Italy’s FBI, must investigate what at first seems a simple case of suicide. In doing so, she attracts the attention of her boss, the Questor of the Province of Rome, who has sinister reasons of his own for wanting her off the case. Now, Daria Vinci must rush to solve the murder in 36 hours, while risking her career and, possibly, her life.
David Downie is the author of four previous mysteries and over a dozen renowned travel books. A keen observer of international politics, especially the corrupt kind, Italian American Downie brings razor-sharp insights into the dark side of government and policing in his two native countries. A native of San Francisco, he divides his time between France, Italy and California with his wife, photographer Allison Harris.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore (in the Courtyard)
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/david-downie-november-9-Author-signing
Jean Hanff Korelitz & The Latecomer at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Jean Hanff Korelitz will present her novel, The Latecomer, a layered and immersive story about three siblings, desperate to escape one another, and the upending of their family by the late arrival of a fourth.
The Latecomer follows the story of the wealthy, New York City-based Oppenheimer family, from the first meeting of parents Salo and Johanna, under tragic circumstances, to their triplets born during the early days of IVF. As children, the three siblings – Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally – feel no strong familial bond and cannot wait to go their separate ways, even as their father becomes more distanced and their mother more desperate. When the triplets leave for college, Johanna, faced with being truly alone, makes the decision to have a fourth child. What role will the “latecomer” play in this fractured family?
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/jean-hanff-korelitz
At Skylight: Simon Hanselman, with Anna Haifisch, & Below Ambition at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Simon Hanselman, in conversation with Anna Haifisch, will present and discuss his graphic novel, Below Ambition (Megg, Mogg and Owl).
Following Simon Hanselmann’s 2021 smash hit graphic novel Crisis Zone—which captured the zeitgeist of life under Covid and the New York Times Book Review called “the first great work of pandemic fiction”—things settle down, and Megg the Witch and Werewolf Jones get the band back together.
Below Ambition is a meditation on youth, performance, and memory as only Simon Hanselmann, is capable of. The book will also include a flexidisc single by Horse Mania, “Stick It in for the Ambient”, which will be bound into the book with a perforated edge for easy removal and play.
Simon Hanselmann hails from Tasmania but resides with his family in Los Angeles, CA. His bestselling New York Times series Megg, Mogg and Owl has been translated into thirteen languages, nominated for multiple Ignatz and Eisner awards, and won Best Series at the Angouleme International Comics Festival in 2018.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-simon-hanselmann-conversation-anna-haifisch
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
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4321 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.theworldstage.org/events.html
Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop a 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: Beyond Baroque
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wednesday-night-poetry-workshop-tickets-460744397897
Flight School Open Mic at Playground Hookah Lounge – In-Person Event
Flight School Open Mic is offered every Wednesday.
All arts are welcome: singing, dance, poetry, improv, comedy, music, and we learn to fly together, all balanced by host O. Smith and a full live band and DJ D-Major.
$10 entry at the door. $8 tickets at Eventbrite.
NOTE: Check site for further details, updates, and information.
Where: Flight School Open Mic at the Playground
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 8 pm – 12 am
Address: 630 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, CA 90302
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/flight-school-open-mic-tickets-362733053327?aff=erelpanelorg
LiveTalks L.A. Presents: Siddhartha Mukherjee, with D.A. Wallach, & The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human – In-Person & Virtual Hybrid Event
From the author of The Emperor of All Maladies, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and The Gene, Siddhartha Mukherjee writes an exploration of medicine and our radical new ability to manipulate cells. Rich with Mukherjee’s revelatory and exhilarating stories of scientists, doctors, and the patients whose lives may be saved by their work, The Song of the Cell is the third book in this extraordinary writer’s exploration of what it means to be human.
Siddhartha Mukherjee is the author of The Gene: An Intimate History, a New York Times bestseller; The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize; and The Laws of Medicine. He is the editor of Best Science Writing 2013. Mukherjee is an associate professor of medicine at Columbia University and a cancer physician and researcher. A Rhodes scholar, he graduated from Stanford University, University of Oxford, and Harvard Medical School. He has published articles in many journals, including Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, Cell, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker. Visit his website.
D.A. Wallach is a venture capital investor and an acclaimed recording artist who Fast Company named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. Since 2015, D.A. has focused on biotechnology and healthcare, seeking to reinvent medicine through breakthrough start-ups like Beam, Glympse, Doctor on Demand, Devoted Health, and Neuralink. As co-founder and General Partner of Time BioVentures, he brings this experience to a new generation of talented entrepreneurs in the life sciences. His band, Chester French, was signed by Interscope Records, where they released two full-length albums. He has toured with Lady Gaga, Weezer, and Blink 182, performed on TV Shows including Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. In 2011, D.A. stopped touring to focus on his other passion, investing. He has since built a parallel career as a venture capitalist, backing a series of industry-defining technology companies including Spotify, SpaceX, Ripple, The Boring Company, and Memphis Meats. He publishes essays on a range of topics on his website and is the co-founder of the non-profit Franca Fund for preventive genomics, an advisory board member of No Patient Left Behind, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Santa Fe Institute.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Glorya Kauffman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar
Date: Wednesday the 9th
Time: 8 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 3200 Motor Ave., Los Angeles, 90034
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/siddhartha-mukherjee/
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry & Peggy Dobreer at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Join Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at the Ugly Mug on Wednesday Night for our Reading & Open Mic, featuring Peggy Dobreer.
The format is to welcome a featured poet for a reading, and an Open Mic reading. Tonight’s featured reader is Peggy Dobreer.
Peggy Dobreer is a Los Angeles poet and writing mentor with three published books of poetry: Forbidden Plums, with Glass Lyre Press; Drop & Dazzle and In the Lake of Your Bones with Moon Tide Press.
She is a graduate of Whittier College, studied poetry at Charles University, School of Anglophile Studies in Prague and was awarded the 2017 “Poetry Matters Prize” from The Downey Symphony Orchestra in association with NASA.
Dobreer has work in a variety of publications, most recently: Kyoto Journal: Reflections from Asia, Micro Lit Journal from Birch Bark Editing, and upcoming in Beat Not Beat, from Moon Tide Press. Her poems have been included in Voices From Leimert Park: Redux Anthology (Harriet Tubman Press for Tsehai Publishers); Aeolian Harp Folio Series Vols. I and V, (Glass Lyre Press). Everything About You Is Beautiful, Yoga Magazine, and Poetic Diversity online among others.
$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 9th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Two-Idiots-Peddling-Poetry/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/636655041283550
Kids Book Club: Ophie’s Ghosts at Cellar Door Books – In-Person Kids & MG Event
The Kids Book Club will discuss its monthly selection, Ophie’s Ghosts, by Justina Ireland.
Winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, this Middle Grade debut with a sweeping tale of the ghosts of our past that won’t stay buried, stars an unforgettable girl named Ophie.
Ophelia Harrison used to live in a small house in the Georgia countryside. But that was before the night in November 1922, and the cruel act that took her home and her father from her. Which was the same night that Ophie learned she can see ghosts.
Now, Ophie and her mother are living in Pittsburgh with relatives they barely know. In the hopes of earning enough money to get their own place, Mama has gotten Ophie a job as a maid in the same old manor house where she works. She soon comes to realize that Daffodil Manor may hold more secrets than she bargained for.
Justina Ireland is the New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation and its sequel, Deathless Divide, as well as Vengeance Bound and Promise of Shadows. She is also one of the authors creating the next generation of Star Wars novels entitled the High Republic and is the author of the middle grade Star Wars adventures Lando’s Luck, Spark the Resistance, and A Test of Courage. She lives with her family in Maryland, where she enjoys dark chocolate and dark humor and is not too proud to admit that she’s still afraid of the dark. You can visit her online at www.justinaireland.com.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Books
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., Riverside CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/kids-book-club-ophies-ghosts
NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month Write-Ins at Edendale Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
November is National Novel Writing Month! NaNoWriMo.org is a nonprofit writing group that encourages writers worldwide to take the plunge and write the first 50,000 words of a novel in November. Join fellow writers from the community to discuss writing and work on your novel. Writers of all ages welcome!
We’ll be meeting in the library meeting room, 2011 Sunset Blvd. Enter through the parking lot on the Alvarado Street side.
Join fellow writers from the community as we write our novels. This is all about writing, so no reading or editing during the month.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Edendale Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 2011 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/national-novel-writing-month-write-ins
NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month Write-In at Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL– In-Person Event
November is National Novel Writing Month! NaNoWriMo’s challenge is to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. Are you ready to brave the page?
Join fellow writers from the community as we write our novels. This is all about writing, so no reading or editing during the month.
These Write-In events are all about giving you the time and space to write! Writers of all ages are welcome. We’ll be meeting in the library’s community room upstairs. We’ll have writing sprints (short, focused time to write) and plenty of encouragement for you.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Donald Bruce Kauffman – Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 5 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 11820 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/nanowrimo-national-novel-writing-month-write-0
Come Write In: National Novel Writing Month Write-In at John C. Fremont Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
November is National Novel Writing Month! NaNoWriMo’s challenge is to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. Are you ready to brave the page?
If you’re looking for a place to work on your book, join us for silent writing sessions in our community room on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in November.
Note: There will be no event on Thursday, November 24.
Call (323) 962-3521 or email jcfrmt@lapl.org with questions about the event.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: John C. Fremont Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 5 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 6121 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/come-write
Writer’s Workshop with Editor-in-Chief of Dryland Literary Journal, Viva Padilla at Re/Arte – In-Person Event
Join us for a Writer’s Workshop led by writer Viva Padilla to focus on getting your work published. Bring your work to get feedback. Donation of $15 minimum encouraged.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, further details, guidelines & information.
Where: Re/Arte Centro Literario
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 2123 East Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 900
Website: https://reartela.com/events%2Feventos
ALOUD Reading Series Event: How Does L.A. Inspire First-Time Novelists at ASU California Center – In-Person Event
ALOUD hosts a discussion with writers and debut novelists Fatimah Asghar, Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi, and Ryan Lee Wong, who visit Zócalo and ALOUD to read from their books, and to discuss the excitement and challenges of putting out a first novel, what inspires their craft, and why Los Angeles had to be a part of it all.
Fatimah Asghar, author of If They Come for Us, is a poet, filmmaker, educator, and performer. They are the writer and co-creator of Brown Girls, an Emmy-nominated web series that highlights friendships between women of color. Along with Safia Elhillo, they are the editor of Halal If You Hear Me, an anthology that celebrates Muslim writers who are also women, queer, gender-nonconforming, and/or trans.
Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria and graduated from Barnard and UPenn with bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science. She is a Professor of Preventive and Social Medicine at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. She has been a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Studzinski Award (published in New Writing from Africa 2009, a collection of PEN/Studzinski Award finalists’ stories) and has been published in Ploughshares and The Best American Short Stories 2018. Her poetry has appeared in the Massachusetts Review, the Indiana Review and Wasafiri. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband.
Ryan Lee Wong, is the author of the forthcoming novel Which Side Are You On. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, the son of a fifth-generation Chinese American father and a Korean immigrant mother, and lives in Brooklyn. Ryan organized the exhibitions Serve the People at Interference Archive and Roots at Chinese American Museum, both focused on the Asian American movements of the 1970s. He holds an MFA in Fiction from Rutgers-Newark and lived for two years at Ancestral Heart Zen Temple.
Eryn Brown is a Los Angeles-based editor and writer who joined Zócalo Public Square as an editor-at-large in 2017. A former staff writer at the Los Angeles Times and at Fortune Magazine, she has covered science, health, business, and a variety of other subjects, and has written stories for the New York Times, Wired, Nature, and other outlets. She graduated from Harvard College in 1993.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: ASU California Center
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1111 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA
Website: https://lfla.org/event/how-does-l-a-inspire-first-time-novelists/
John Ross Bowie, with Leslie Grossman, & No Job for a Man: A Memoir at Book Soup – In-Person Event
John Ross Bowie, in conversation with Leslie Grossman, will present and discuss his new memoir, No Job for a Man.
This is a darkly witty, deeply affecting, and finely crafted memoir by the Big Bang Theory and Speechless star and comedian, John Ross Bowie.
From his earliest memories of watching Rhoda with his parents in their tiny Hell’s Kitchen apartment, John knew that he wanted to be an actor. The strange, alternate world of television–where people always cracked the perfect joke, lived in glamorous Upper East Side buildings, and made up immediately after fighting–seemed far better than his own home life, with parents on the brink of divorce and a neighborhood full of crumbling pre-war architecture and not-so-occasional muggings. That other world also seemed so unattainable. Besides crippling stage fright (which would take him years to overcome) John’s father, ever aloof and cynical, has instilled within him the notion that acting is “no job for a man.”
But everything changes when John discovers improv (and anti-depressants). As an early student of New York’s now-famous Upright Citizens Brigade, John not only explores his passion for acting and comedy–and begins to envision himself doing so professionally–he also finds a community and a unique stability in instability.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/john-ross-bowie
Natalie Rodriguez & The Extraordinary Ordinary at Flintridge Bookstore– In-Person Event
Natalie Rodriguez will present and discuss her book, The Extraordinary Ordinary, based on the Award-winning film.
In this story, three college students learn how to cope with their mental health when one of them experiences panic attacks.
Years after being attacked in high school, a young photography student named Erica moves across the country from New York to Southern California (CA) in search of a fresh start. At the same time, she also strives to finish a photography project from high school to reach a sense of closure.
In California, Erica meets and befriends two individuals, Bianca, and Alex, who have a painful history of their own. Erica soon realizes that she is not alone in her struggles with anxiety and depression. She learns that the road to recovery is possible for anyone, regardless of their past.
While adjusting to her new life, her past and old coping mechanisms also heighten, especially with her parents’ different views on life and their future.
Natalie Rodriguez is an award-winning director, screenwriter, and author. She is also an advocate for mental health and recovery awareness and has worked with organizations like The Mighty, Anxiety Resources Center, and OC87 Recovery Diaries. Some of her articles and blogs have been published in Hello Giggles, HuffPost Blog, Thrive Global, and more. Her novels, “Elephant,” “Skeletons,” and “The Extraordinary Ordinary” book adaptation have established a following and gained positive reviews from around the world. Her short and feature films have won and screened in the U.S. and internationally, including at film festivals such as Culver City Film Festival, HollyShorts Film Festival, NALIP: Latino Lens, Stage 32 Screenwriting, and others. She also spoke at events, sharing her experience of being a Latina filmmaker, at Hispanicize, Google, and YouTube.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Flintridge Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 858 Foothill Blvd., La Canada Flintridge, CA 91011
At Skylight: Hua Hsu, with Rachel Kushner, & Stay True at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Hua Hsu, in conversation with Rachel Kushner, will discuss his book, Stay True: A Memoir.
Hua Hsu has written a gripping memoir on friendship, grief, the search for self, and the solace that can be found through art.
In the eyes of eighteen-year-old Hua Hsu, the problem with Ken—with his passion for Dave Matthews, Abercrombie & Fitch, and his fraternity—is that he is exactly like everyone else. Ken, whose Japanese American family has been in the United States for generations, is mainstream; for Hua, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, who makes ’zines and haunts Bay Area record shops, Ken represents all that he defines himself in opposition to. The only thing Hua and Ken have in common is that, however they engage with it, American culture doesn’t seem to have a place for either of them.
But despite his first impressions, Hua and Ken become friends, a friendship built on late-night conversations over cigarettes, long drives along the California coast, and the textbook successes and humiliations of everyday college life. And then violently, senselessly, Ken is gone, killed in a carjacking, not even three years after the day they first meet.
Determined to hold on to all that was left of one of his closest friends—his memories—Hua turned to writing. Stay True is the book he’s been working on ever since. A coming-of-age story that details both the ordinary and extraordinary, Stay True is a bracing memoir about growing up, and about moving through the world in search of meaning and belonging.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N, Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-hua-hsu-presents-stay-true-rachel-kushner
Volunteer Collective Presents a New Speaker Series: The Intersection of Pop Culture and Activism with Gary Phillips and Mandalit del Barco at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join NPR Correspondent Mandalit del Barco in conversation with acclaimed novelist, television writer, and community activist Gary Phillips, exploring the potent intersection of pop culture and social change.
Admission is $25 and includes wine and light fare.
Purchase tickets: https://www.volunteer-collective.org/initiatives
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/21331
Sheldon Epps & My Own Directions at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Actor and author Sheldon Epps will present and discuss his memoir, My Own Directions.
Sheldon Epps’ journey in the American theatre has been amplified by his experience as a Black man who has frequently been one of the few, the first or even the only. His directing career has been full of rewards and opportunities as well as huge challenges and frustrations, along with the anger that has come from being chased by race for so many years. Much of the author’s experience comes from two decades artistic director of Pasadena Playhouse, one of the oldest and well-known theatres in America, and for a time early in his career, one of the whitest. This is the story of how the author came into leadership at Pasadena Playhouse after a successful career directing on Broadway, in London and all over the world. It relates how the theatre was radically changed and reignited by his leadership, including his insistence on making diversity a priority onstage and off. This is the very personal story of a person who wanted his race to be recognized, but never used as a reason to be less than fully respected.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/sheldon-epps-discusses-my-own-directions
Fos–Thursday & FOST Artistic Collective Presents: 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, 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 10th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 665 N. Heliotrope Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://www.instagram.com/fos_thursdays/
LiveTalks L.A. Presents: Stacy Schiff, with Lisa Napoli, & The Revolutionary Samuel Adams at Glorya Kauffman Performing Arts Center – In-Person Event
Author Stacy Schiff, in conversation with journalist Lisa Napoli, will discuss her new biography The Revolutionary Samuel Adams.
This book is a revelatory biography of arguably the most essential Founding Father—the one who stood behind the change in thinking that produced the American Revolution: Samuel Adams.
Stacy Schiff is the author of Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Saint-Exupéry, a Pulitzer Prize finalist; A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America, winner of the George Washington Book Prize and the Ambassador Book Award; Cleopatra: A Life, winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for biography; and most recently, The Witches:Salem, 1692. Schiff has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she lives in New York City.
Lisa Napoli has had a long career in journalism, including staff reporting jobs at public radio’s Marketplace, the pioneering New York Times CyberTimes, and as a columnist/correspondent at MSNBC. She is the author, most recently, of Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR. Her previous books include Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News; a biography of NPR benefactor, the McDonald’s heiress, Joan Kroc, Ray & Joan, and a memoir about media’s impact on the tiny kingdom of Bhutan, Radio Shangri-La. She is also the co-creator of the Bio Podcast.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Glorya Kauffman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar
Date: Thursday the 10th
Time: 8 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 3200 Motor Ave., Los Angeles, 90034
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/stacy-schiff/
Spectacular Storytime for Children at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Kids Event
Spectacular Storytime is offered Friday morning at 9:30 am. Storytime is ready to delight and dazzle with troubadour Maddie, and it is geared for children ages 3-6.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Friday the 11th
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/spectacular-story-time-12
David Moscow, with Selma Blair, & From Scratch: Adventures in Harvesting, Hunting, Fishing, and Foraging on a Fragile Planet at Book Soup – In-Person Event
David Moscow, in conversation with Selma Blair, will present and discuss his new book, From Scratch: Adventures in Harvesting, Hunting, Fishing, and Foraging on a Fragile Planet.
David Moscow, the creator and star of the groundbreaking series From Scratch, takes us on an exploration of our planet’s complex and interconnected food supply, showing us where our food comes from and why it matters in his new book of global culinary adventures. Through the people who harvest, hunt, fish, and forage each day, we come to
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday the 11th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/david-moscow
Village Well Open Mic Night at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Calling all musicians, poets, authors, and comedians for our bi-monthly open mic night!
This all-inclusive event will create space for local artists of any medium to share their talents with the community. Come hang out, as an audience member, or a performer, and meet some talented locals!
Sign-ups for performers are at the door, day of, 30 minutes prior to the event. Sets are limited to 5-10 minutes. All performances must be family friendly.
We will provide two microphones and two mic stands. Please bring any other equipment you will need.
This event is free, no registration is required!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Friday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/20667
Michael Connelly & Desert Star at Vroman’s off-site at Pasadena Presbyterian Church – In-Person Event
Bestselling author Michael Connelly will present and discuss his latest mystery thriller, Desert Star, a Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch story in which they team up to hunt the brutal killer who is Bosch’s “white whale”—a man responsible for the murder of an entire family.
A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralization, and endless red tape. But after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her own ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving “the Late Show” to rebuild and lead the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division. The two must put aside old resentments and new tensions to run to ground not one but two dangerous killers who have operated with brash impunity
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s at Pasadena Presbyterian Church
Date: Friday the 11th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 585 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/upcoming-events
At Skylight: Rachel Kauder Nalebuff & Our Red Book at Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event
Author Rachel Kauder Nalebuff will present and discuss Our Red Book: Intimate Histories of Periods, Growing & Changing, in a group reading, featuring:
Cassie da Costa, Cristina Fernandez, Barbara B Kruse, Laurelin Kruse and Samantha McCann.
This book is a collection of essays, oral histories, and artworks about periods across all stages of life, gathered by the editor of the New York Times bestselling anthology My Little Red Book.
After hearing a harrowing coming-of-age story from her great aunt, Rachel Kauder Nalebuff started gathering stories about menstruation in her family that had never been told. What began as an oral history project quickly snowballed: Rachel heard from family and friends, and then from strangers—writers, experts, community leaders, activists, young people, and other visionaries—about the most intimate physical transformations in their lives. The result is a people’s history of menstruation, told through an array of perspectives and identities that span the globe. Gathered over twenty years, the collection takes stock of our shifting relationships to family, cultural inheritance, gender, aging, and liberation.
Rachel Kauder Nalebuff is a writer working at the intersection of oral history, performance, and public health. Her newest book, Our Red Book: Intimate Histories of Periods, Growing, and Changing, is forthcoming. She is the author of Stages: on Dying, Working, and Feeling; coeditor of The Feminist Utopia Project; and the editor of the New York Times bestselling My Little Red Book. She teaches drama at senior centers and nonfiction writing at Yale University.
NOTE: See site for book purchases, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Friday the 11th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-rachel-kauder-nalebuff-presents-our-red-book
Performance Techniques for Poets: Workshop with Annalicia Aguilar at Sims Library of Poetry – Online Event
In this free virtual workshop titled Performance Techniques for Poets, led by Annalicia Aguilar, we will amp up ou rperfrmance game.
In this 90-minute workshop, you will learn
to be aware of your body & voice
mic & book holding techniques
warm-up exercises
how to tackle fear & performance anxiety.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and event details.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 10 am – 11:30 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/performance-techniques-for-poets-tickets-424597110387
Women Who Submit Writing Workshop at WWS Online – Online Zoom Event
Women Who Submit facilitates free quarterly workshops on writing, publishing, career building, and community. These workshops are one hour long and are led by local professional women and nonbinary writers. Workshop and New Member Orientation will be remote by Zoom. The workshops will be archived on our YouTube channel.
Participate in new member orientation at one of our future workshops to become a member in Los Angeles. There is no fee to join. If you are new to WWS, you must register to be invited to the Zoom event. Registration opens one month prior to the event date.
If you are not in Los Angeles, please visit our Join Us page for more information.
On Saturday, November 12, 2022–WWS special guest speaker will be the author of Navigating Without Instruments, traci kato-kiriyama (she/they), award-winning, multi-,inter-, and transdisciplinary artist. Her workshop will focus on Death Moments, transformation, and creative process in the midst of psychological blockage. Hosted by WWS Board Member, Kate Maruyama
NECESSARY MATERIALS:
– Laptop or desktop computer for orientation, research, and online submissions
– Crafted poems/essay/short story: something submission ready
Breakout rooms for New Member Orientation and returning member Submission Party will follow. See Schedule at site
If you are NEW to WWS, please register here: https://forms.gle/HkCoUbjC4wPxhPyB6
There is no fee to join, but this event is restricted to 20 new participants.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and event details.
Where: Women Who Submit
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://womenwhosubmitlit.org/workshops/
Social Justice Book Club: She Heard the Birds at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
The Social Justice Book Club will discuss this month’s selection, She Heard the Birds: The Story of Merriam Bailey, Pioneering Nature Activist, by Andrea D’Aquino.
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.
Email cquinn@lapl.org for the meeting link.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 10 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/social-justice-book-club
Indie Bookstore Field Trips: Field Trip #9 to The Last Books (Los Angeles) with Bel Canto Bookstore – In-Person Event
Love to read? Love to explore new neighborhoods? Love to get lost wandering the aisles of a physical bookstore? Then YOU are invited to come join us for Indie Bookstore Field Trips around Southern California!
This event was previously postponed.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Bel Canto Books goes to The Last Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 11 am
Address: 453 S, Spring St., Ground Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Kids Storytime with Jessie Byrd & Ozzie & Sunny Days at Village Well Books & Café – In-Person Kids Event
Author Jessie Byrd will present her children’s book, Sunny Days.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/20 986
Vroman’s Special Storytime: Pearl Auyeung & The Best Kind of Mooncake at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
Pearl Auyeung will present her children’s book, The Best Kind of Mooncake.
Once upon a morning in Hong Kong, in the alley of Tai Yuen Street, a girl is promised a mooncake with a double-yolk center—the best kind!
The special mooncake seems like the only excitement on an otherwise boring day in the market where nothing changes…until an exhausted stranger falls to his knees right in the street! He ran through forests, swam through rivers, and even stowed away on a ship, all to get to Hong Kong. Now at the end of his journey, all he needs is a bite to eat, but no one seems willing to help–not even the girl, if it means giving up her prized treat.
The girl’s ultimate decision has surprising, far-reaching consequences in this mostly true story that reminds us that even the smallest acts of kindness hold the power to change lives, for the giver as much as the receiver.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 11 am
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/pearl-au-yeung-presents-best-kind-mooncake
NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month “Mile of Words” at Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
November is National Novel Writing Month! NaNoWriMo’s challenge is to write a Join fellow-writers from the community as we write our novels.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 11 am – 5 pm
Address: 11820 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90o49
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/nanowrimo-national-novel-writing-month-mile-words
Early Readers Book Club: Cookie of Doom at Cellar Door Books – In-Person Kids & MG Event
The Early Readers Book Club will discuss its monthly selection, Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Doom, by Matthew Swanson and illustrator Robbi Behr.
Meet Ben, a literal-minded kid with a big heart and an even bigger sweet-tooth, who cracks open a fortune cookie and discovers that TODAY might be his last day on Earth!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Books
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., Riverside CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/early-readers-book-club-ben-yokoyama-and-cookie-doom
Little Black Poetry Release and Screening: Aiyana Sha’niel at Sims Library of Poetry – In-Person Event
Come join a screening of the features and reading from the Little Black Poetry Release, followed by an author’s Q&A session, a book signing, and more with Aiyana Sha’niel.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Address: 2702 W. Florence, Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043
Poetry Reading: Gustavo Barahona-Lopez, with Gustavo Hernandez, & Loss and Other Rivers That Devour at LibroMobile – Online IG Event
Gustavo Barahona-Lopez will be in conversation with poet Gustavo Hernandez (Flower Grand First), to present his book, Loss and Other Rivers That Devour.
This book charts the evolution of one son’s grief as he reconciles his identity with the expectations of his late father.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, link, and details.
Where: LibroMobile
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: Online IG Event (see site)
NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month at Palisades Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
Join writer Anne Louise Bannon as she hosts an in-person write-in where writers can get together, meet other writers, and talk about ideas and write.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Palisades Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 861 Alma Real Drive, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/nanowrimo-national-novel-writing-month
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Writing Workshop Led by G.T. Foster – Online Only Event
Saturday Afternoon Poetry presents a Deep Critique Writing Workshop led by G.T. Foster
(Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines for Spectrum online edition: Open Window by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59pm, November 12th)
All events are curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event Only (see site)
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
At Skylight: AIDS Activism Group Reading Event & AIDS and the Distribution of Crises at Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event
Using AIDS activism as a case study, this panel of AIDS activists and scholars argue that bodies are sites of pleasure, joy, and collective care even in the deadliest of plagues. At a time when people of color, queer, and trans bodies are policed because of suspicion of contagion, our bodily autonomy has been key to our defiance as well as community and movement building.
Join us for a reading and discussion about what AIDS activism can teach us about the current and future pandemics.
Dr. Jih-Fei Cheng is an associate professor and the chair of the Department of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Scripps College and the Co-Editor of AIDS and the Distribution of Crisis
Keiko Lane is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She’s a Contributor, Between Certain Death and a Possible Future: Queer Writing on Growing Up with the AIDS Crisis and the Author of Blood Loss: A Love Story of AIDS, Activism, and Art (forthcoming). Her website is: http://www.keikolanemft.com.
Eric C. Wat is the author of Love Your Asian Body: AIDS Activism in Los Angeles, and the novel SWIM, about a gay Asian American man and a meth user who has to stay sober while planning his mother’s funeral. Website: http://www.ericwatbooks.com.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-aids-activism-group-reading-event
Cheryl E. Klein, with Wendy Russell, & Crybaby at Page Against the Machine – In-Person Event
Cheryl E. Klein, in conversation with Long Beach author and publisher Wendy Russell, will present and discuss her book, Crybaby: Infertility and Other Things That Were Not the End of the World, recently published by Brown Paper Press.
A self-described crybaby who sees the end of the world lurking around every corner, Cheryl E. Klein has relied on planning and hard work to reach her goals and avoid catastrophe. But when she finds her wish for a baby dashed over and over—first by infertility, then by miscarriage, and finally by breast cancer—her carefully structured life, marriage, friendships, and belief system begin to crumble. Adding a detour through the fickle world of open adoption seems like the last thing she should do, but where she lacks control, she finds adventure. 𝘾𝙧𝙮𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙮 is an empathetic, candid, and refreshingly humorous story of what happens when a failed perfectionist and successful hypochondriac is forced to make room in her life for grief and joy, fear and hope, all at the same time.
Cheryl E. Klein is a Southern California writer, columnist, blogger, and a co-editor for 𝘔𝘜𝘛𝘏𝘈 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦. She is the author of two previous books, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, a story collection published by City Works Press, and 𝘓𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘤 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴, a novel published by Manic D Press.
Wendy Russell is the founder of the Long Beach independent publishing house, Brown Paper Press. She is the author of 𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘹, 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘎𝘰𝘥: 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘒𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, and the co-author of 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵: 𝘛𝘦𝘯 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘺 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘒𝘪𝘥𝘴.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Page Against the Machine
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 2714 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA
Book Launch: Norman Zelaya, with F. Douglas Brown & Gente, Folks at Re/Arte Centro Lierario – In-Person Event
Norman Antonio Zelaya, in conversation with poet and educator F. Douglas Brown, will present a book launch and reading of his new book, Gente, Folks.
Norman Antonio Zelaya was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. He has published stories in ZYZZYVA, NY Tyrant, 14 Hills, Cipactli, Apogee Journal, among others, and he was a 2015 Zoetrope: All-Story finalist. He is a founding member of Los Delicados, and has performed extensively throughout the US with them. Zelaya has appeared on stage, in film and in the squared circle as luchador, Super Pulga. Currently, he lives and works in San Francisco’s Mission District as a special education teacher. Orlando & Other Stories was his first published book. Gente, Folks is from Black Freighter Press.
F. Douglas Brown is a poet, writer and educator, who has taught African American Poetry & Studies and English at Loyola High School for over 25 years. He is a Black and Filipino Poet and the author of ICON (2018) and Zero to Three (2014), winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize in 2013, among other publications.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Re Arte Centro Literario
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 2123 East Cesar Chavez Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/CkhF-giPweC/?hl=en
Obsidian Tongues Open Mic with Cesar Avelar at Café con Libros, Pomona – In-Person Event
Cesar Avelar hosts and welcomes special guests as well as Open Mic readers on every 2nd Saturday of the month. This is for everyone: play a song, read a poem, or share a story.
Where: Café con Libros
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm
Address: 280 W. 2nd St., Pomona, CA 91766
Obsidian Tongues Open Mic with Cesar Avelar at Café con Libros, Pomona – In-Person Event
Cesar Avelar hosts and welcomes special guests as well as Open Mic readers on every 2nd Saturday of the month. This is for everyone: play a song, read a poem, or share a story.
Where: Café con Libros
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm
Address: 280 W. 2nd St., Pomona, CA 91766
Website: https://cafeconlibrospress.org/event-calendar/
Griot Café Open Mic with Sistah Shy & Samuel Rain at Shades of Africa, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Sistah Shy & Samuel Rain host the Griot Café Open Mic & Poetry event every Saturday evening at Shades of Africa in Long Beach. See site to subscribe for reminders, etc.
Where: Griot Café at Shades of Africa
Date: Saturday the 12th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 1001 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://shadesofafrika.com/griot-cafe-open-mic-poetry/
Sunday Series: Devotional Verse Writing Workshop with Jos Charles at The Poetry Lab – In-Person Event
Sunday Series presents a one-session Devotional Verse online writing workshop, led by poet Jos Charles.
This workshop will explore devotional threads across various poetries, traditions, being guided by an orientation to the beyond—that a poem as having might have an address or charge beyond its author and readers. We’ll consider what the uses of such a beyond are for both religious and ‘secular’ contexts and identify techniques we might use, and likely already are, in our own writing. In addition to reading examples and discussion, we will generate new work within the workshop as well.
Jos Charles is author of the poetry collections a Year & other poems (Milkweed Editions, 2022), feeld, a Pulitzer-finalist and winner of the 2017 National Poetry Series selected by Fady Joudah (Milkweed Editions, 2018), and Safe Space (Ahsahta Press, 2016). She currently teaches as a part of Randolph College’s low-residency MFA program. Charles has an MFA from the University of Arizona and is currently a PhD student at UC Irvine. She resides in Long Beach, CA.
NOTE: See site for registration, and further details.
Where: The Poetry Lab
Date: Sunday the 13th
Time: 1 pm – 4 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://www.thepoetrylab.com/register/sunday-series/joscharles
Cecilia Woloch, Carine Topal & Collin Kelley at VCP Poets – Online Event
VCP Poets is offered at a different time this month to host Cecilia Woloch, Carine Topal and Collin Kelley for a reading of their works.
Cecilia Woloch is the author of several poetry collections, including Tsigan: The Gypsy Poem (2018, 2002), Carpathia (2009), Late (2003), and Sacrifice (1997). Her poetry has been translated into several languages and included in numerous anthologies, such as An Introduction to the Prose Poem (2009), Best American Erotic Poems: From 1800 to the Present (2008), and 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day (2005). Former US poet laureate Ted Kooser has included her work in his syndicated newspaper column, American Life in Poetry.
Carine Topal is a transplanted New Yorker, and lives in the Southern California desert. Her work has appeared in numerous journals throughout the U.S. and Canada such as The Best of the Prose Poem, Scrivener Creative Review, Caliban, Greensboro Review, and many others. She won the 2007 Robert G. Cohn Prose Poetry Award from California Arts and Letters, from which a special edition chapbook, “Bed of Want,” was published. Her 3rd collection of poetry, In the Heaven of Never Before was published in December, 2008 by Moon Tide Press. In the same year she was honored with the Excellence in Arts Award from the City of Torrance, California. In 2014 Carine won the Briar Cliff Review Poetry Contest and her new chapbook, Tattooed, won 1st prize in the Palettes and Quills 4th Biennial Chapbook Contest.
Collin Kelley is the author of the poetry collections Midnight in a Perfect World (Sibling Rivalry Press), Better To Travel (Poetry Atlanta Press), Slow To Burn (Seven Kitchens Press), and Render (Sibling Rivalry Press), chosen by the American Library Association for its 2014 Over the Rainbow Book List. He is also the author of The Venus Trilogy of novels – Conquering Venus, Remain In Light and Leaving Paris–also published by Sibling Rivalry Press. Kelley is also the author of the short story collection, Kiss Shot (Amazon Kindle Exclusive). His poetry, reviews, essays, and interviews have appeared in magazines, journals and anthologies around the world. Wonder & Wreckage: New & Selected Poems will be published in 2023.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: VCP Poets
Date: Sunday the 13th
Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm (change from regular time)
Address: Online Event
Website: https://www.vcpsocal.org/schedule.html
Cellar Door Book Club: Klara and the Sun at Cellar Door Books – In-Person Event
The Cellar Door Book Club will discuss its monthly selection, Klara and the Sun, a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun is about the bond between Klara, an Artificial Friend, and Josie, her human companion.
In this book, its themes of loyalty, friendship, and sacrifice run deep, and it asks us, what does it mean to love?
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Books
Date: Sunday the 13th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., Riverside CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/cellar-door-book-club-klara-and-sun
Book Signing Party: Shiho Pate & Animated Science: Rocks and Minerals at Bel Canto Books – In-Person Kids Event
Bel Canto Bookstore will host a book signing with illustrator Shiho Pate,to present her book Animated Science: Rocks and Minerals.
Rocks and minerals come alive in the next Animated Science book, an outstanding comic series illustrated by Shiho Pate.
From gemstones to fossils and beyond, Animated Science: Rocks and Minerals is the definitive guide to rocks and minerals for grade school readers. In this book, readers will explore the substances that make up our Earth through comic illustrations and hilarious characters.
Shiho Pate started her career as an artist for several indie gaming studios in NYC. In her 10-plus years in that industry, she published many social games and mobile games, but her passion has always been children’s book illustration. She is the illustrator of 2 Pirates + 1 Robot, written by Henry Herz. Support and inspiration comes from her daughter, husband, and her Jack Russell Terrier. characters.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Bel Canto Books at The Hangout
Date: Sunday the 13th
Time: 3 pm – 4:30 pm
Address: 2122 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://shopthehangout.com/products/bcb-author-event-shiho-pate-11-13-3-4-30pm
Dora Levy Mossanen & Love and War In the Jewish Quarter at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Dora Levy Mossanen will present and discuss her book, Love and War In the Jewish Quarter.
This book is a breathtaking journey across Iran where war and superstition, jealousy and betrayal, and passion and loyalty rage behind the impenetrable walls of mansions and the crumbling houses of the Jewish Quarter.
Against the tumultuous background of World War II, Dr. Yaran will find himself caught in the thrall of the anti-Semitic Governor General, the most powerful man in the country. Dr. Yaran falls in love with the Governor General’s defiant wife, Velvet, upending not only the life of the doctor’s beloved daughter, but the entire community. In his quest to save everything and everyone he loves, Dr. Yaran will navigate the intersections of magic, science, lust, and treachery. His sole ally is the Governor General’s servant, an exotic eunuch, who will do anything to aid his mistress in her dangerous quest to attain forbidden love.
Dora Levy Mossanen is an internationally acclaimed bestselling novelist, a writer for Huffington Post, and book reviewer for the Jewish Journal. Born in Israel, Dora moved to Iran at the age of nine, and has lived in Los Angeles since the onset of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Her widely acclaimed novels Harem, Courtesan, The Last Romanov, and Scent of Butterflies have been translated into numerous languages and distributed worldwide.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Diesel Bookstore (in the Courtyard)
Date: Sunday the 13th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Dora-Levy-Mossanen-Author-signing
Slow Lightening Lit Poetry Reading & Open Mic: Lynne Thompson & David Judah Oliver at The Book Jewel – In-Person Event
Slow Lightening is a monthly Literary Reading and Open Mic event, held every 2nd Sunday, and led by poet Peggy Dobreer at The Book Jewel Bookstore in Westchester
This month’s event will be the last in-person event of Slow Lightening of the year 2022, and will feature two Poet Laureates of Southern California:
Lynne Thompson is the current Los Angeles Poet Laureate and recently honored the poets of L.A. at a large group reading at the Central Library. She is the author of three books: Beg No Pardon (2013), Start with a Small Guitar (2013), and Fretwork (2019).
David Judah Oliver is the Inaugural poet Laureate of Pomona, and the author of two books of poetry. Founder of LionLike MindState Poetry Series and Director of LionLikeINC (501c3), Judah 1 has shared his talent, heart and knowledge by Teaching Art and Expression at every level and degree of Education, from 1st Graders to University Workshops, even behind bars and boundaries.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: The Book Jewel Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 13th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 6259 W. 87th St., Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082729274263
One Book, One City Reads Miracle Country by Kendra Atleework at Assistance League of Flintridge – In-Person Event
La Cañada Flintridge One City, One Book invites the local community to read Miracle Country: A Memoir of a Family and a Landscape by Kendra Atleework. Kendra will be available to answer questions and sign books. This book has won The Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award and the Women Writing the West Willa Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction.
Kendra Atleework grew up in the Owens Valley of the Eastern Sierra Nevada in California, where annual rainfall averages five inches and in drought years measures closer to zero.
Her parents taught their children to thrive in this beautiful but harsh landscape prone to wildfires, blizzards, and gale-force winds. Above all, the Atleework children were raised on unconditional love and delight in the natural world. But when Kendra’s mother died when Kendra was just sixteen, her once-beloved desert world came to feel empty and hostile, as climate change, drought, and wildfires intensified. The Atleework family fell apart, even as her father tried to keep them together. Kendra escaped to Los Angeles, and then Minneapolis, land of tall trees, full lakes, water everywhere you look.
Kendra Atleework received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota. An essay that formed the basis for a chapter of Miracle Country was selected for The Best American Essays 2015. She is the recipient of the Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award and the AWP Intro Journals Project Award.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore at Assistance League of Flintridge
Date: Sunday the 13th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 4607 Oakwood Ave. La Canada, CA 91011
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/miracle-country
Fantasy Romance Writing Workshop at The Ripped Bodice Bookstore – In-Person Event
The Fantasy Romance Writing Workshop is open to all experience levels.
Whether you’re an aspiring author or well-established in publishing, we want to help you write your fantasy romance! Whether you’re writing about vampires, shapeshifters, angels, or other fantastic creatures, how do you know how to build the paranormal elements of the book without overpowering the romance? How much is too much?
They will cover the essentials of writing fantasy romance—how not to write yourself into a corner and how to smoothly develop the worldbuilding so your reader doesn’t get bogged down and distracted from the romance!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice at The Actors’ Gang
Date: Sunday the 13th
Time: 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Address: Main St. at Venice Blvd., Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Village Poets of Sunland & Tujunga Feature Katerina Canyon at Bolton Hall Museum – In-Person Event
The Village Poets of Sunland & Tujunga return to Bolton Hall Museum for a first in-person reading in three years, featuring Katerina Canyon, Poet Laureate No 2 (2001-2004).
Katerina Canyon is a 2020 and 2019 Pushcart Prize Nominee. Her stories have been published in the New York Times and Huffington Post. From 2000 to 2003, she served as the Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga. During that time, she started a poetry festival and ran several poetry readings. She was featured in the Los Angeles Times and was awarded the Montesi Award from Saint Louis University in 2011, 2012, and 2013. She has published multiple chapbooks and an album.
While living in Sunland-Tujunga, she was active in the local community, coaching girls basketball, teaching writing classes through the McGroarty Arts Center, and organizing both the Sunland-Tujunga Poetry Festival and local poetry slams. She also hosted the Eccentric Moon Poetry Reading Series at Tujunga Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library.
She has been a featured poet in multiple venues across the country, including Beyond Baroque, Nuyorican, The Bowery Poetry Club and Chance Operations. She teaches poetry workshops to children and at universities. Her latest book, Surviving Home, was a Heartland Review finalist. She currently lives in Seattle, Washington, where she can often be found writing poetry near Pier 55.
More information on her website: https://www.poetickat.com/
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Bolton Hall Museum
Date: Sunday the 13th
Time: 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Address: 10110 Commerce Ave., Tujunga, Los Angeles, CA 91042
Website: http://villagepoets.blogspot.com/
Second Sunday Poetry Series & Open Mic with Alex M. Frankle at The Studio Theatre at St, Denis Building – In-Person Event
The Second Sunday Series is hosted by Alex M. Frankle and here great poets perform their work, sell and sign books, plus mingle with audience members and open mic participants.
This month’s feature is Jason Jenn, who creates site-specific immersive experiences that illuminate, educate, and entertain participants. He is an interdisciplinary multimedia artist and arts administrator. His works vary in roles as performer, writer, visual artist, director, producer, designer, curator, and filmmaker – creating for exhibition on stage, on screen, on the page, in galleries, and at site-specific locations. In addition to performing dramatic, staged interpretations of other queer poets’ work, he frequently writes and performs his own. The aim of his art is to engage the mind conceptually and perhaps tickle the heart, often mixing humor with tragedy and beauty with pain. Works frequently contain sociopolitical and queer-empowered themes. There is keen interest in reexamining familiar archetypes and universally appealing topics, infusing them with a fresh, revelatory perspective. Visuals often take on a dream-like quality, evoking fantastical events and suggesting strange narratives, pulling viewers in for an unexpected and inspiring journey. View a selection of visual and written work at JasonJenn.com
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.
Where: The Studio Theatre at St. Denis Building
Date: Sunday the 13th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 3433 Cahuenga Blvd. West, 1st Floor. Los Angeles, CA 90068 (near Universal Studios)
Website: https://www.secondsundaypoetry.com/index.html
Library Girl Presents: 13th Anniversary & Everything In New Orleans Is a Good Idea, with James Combs Curating at Ruskin Group Theatre – In-Person Event
Celebrating 13 Years of this Show!!
SUNDAY NIGHT, NOVEMBER 13th Schedule is: Party 6 PM. Words + Music 7 PM.
Featuring: Paul Body, James Combs, Elizabeth Hangan + Eric Garcia, Steve Hochman, I See Hawks In LA, Bernadette McComish, Steve Postell, and Conney Williams.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, tickets, guidelines, and event details.
Where: Ruskin Group Theatre
Date: Sunday the 13th
Time: 6 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 3000 Airport Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Los Angeles Literature 