L.A. Zine Club with Zine Maker Christine Wong Yap via Palisades Branch Library, LAPLA – Online Event
The L.A. Zine Club will hear from Zine Maker Christine Wong Yap. In this virtual program, Christine will highlight the international zine exchange that is part of Wellcome’s Mindscapes initiative, which also included a residency with the Los Angeles Public Library that resulted in the Belonging at LAPL zine and banners featured in the Something in Common exhibition.
Christine Wong Yap (she/they) is a visual artist and social practitioner working in community engagement, drawing, printmaking, publishing, and public art to explore psychological well-being, belonging, and resilience. She has developed participatory research and public art projects in partnership with Times Square Arts, the Wellcome Trust, For Freedoms, the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, and more. She lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area after a decade of living in New York City.
Streaming live on the library’s YouTube channel.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, details.
Where: Palisades Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 3rd
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/la-zine-club-zine-maker-christine-wong-yap
Story Writing Club: Teen Eventat Jefferson Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Teen Event
Join the Story Writing Club for Teens. Draw, learn the art of storytelling, and discover your ideas with other teens. For ages 11 – 18.
This event is scheduled for every Monday and Thursday, 4:30 – 5:30 pm.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Jefferson Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 3rd (and Thursday the 6th)
Time: 4:30 – 5:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/story-writing-club
Creative Writing Workshop with Tony DuShaneat Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a 90-minute writer’s workshop. This free Creative Writing Workshop is presented by UCLA instructor Tony DuShane, screenwriter of the film Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk, based on his novel of the same name. Adults only.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 3rd
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 1874 Hillhurst Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/creative-writing-workshop-tony-dushane-16
History Book Club: The Invention of Nature at Cellar Door Books – In-Person Event
The History Book Club will discuss this month’s selection, The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World, by author Andrea Wulf.
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was the most famous scientist of his time, a visionary German naturalist and polymath whose discoveries forever changed the way we understand the natural world. Among his most revolutionary ideas was a radical conception of nature as a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone. In North America, Humboldt’s name still graces towns, counties, parks, bays, lakes, mountains, and a river. And yet the man has been all but forgotten.
In this illuminating biography, Andrea Wulf brings Humboldt’s extraordinary life back into focus: his prediction of human-induced climate change; his daring expeditions to the highest peaks of South America and to the anthrax-infected steppes of Siberia; his relationships with iconic figures, including Simón Bolívar and Thomas Jefferson; and the lasting influence of his writings on Darwin, Wordsworth, Goethe, Muir, Thoreau, and many others. Brilliantly researched and stunningly written, The Invention of Nature reveals the myriad ways in which Humboldt’s ideas form the foundation of modern environmentalism—and reminds us why they are as prescient and vital as ever.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Monday the 3rd
Time: 6 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/history-book-club-invention-nature
Naira de Garcia & The Last Cold Place: A Field Season Studying Penguins in Antarctica at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Naira de Garcia will discuss her new book, The Last Cold Place: A Field Season Studying Penguins in Antarctica.
Naira de Gracia’s The Last Cold Place offers a dramatic, captivating window into a once-in-a-lifetime experience: a season living and working in a remote outpost in Antarctica alongside seals, penguins, and a small crew of fellow field workers. In one of the most inhospitable environments in the world (for humans, anyway), Naira follows a generation of chinstrap penguins from their parents’ return to shore to build nests from pebbles until the chicks themselves are old enough to head out to sea.
In lively and entertaining anecdotes, Naira describes the life cycle of a funny, engaging colony of chinstrap penguins whose food source (krill, or small crustaceans) is powerfully affected by the changing ocean. Weaving together the history of Antarctic exploration with climate science, field observations, and her own personal journey of growth and reflection, The Last Cold Place illuminates the complex place that Antarctica holds in our cultural imagination–and offers a rare glimpse into life on this uninhabited continent.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/Naira-de-Garcia
Meditation Monday: Self Care for the Writer with Alex Petunia via L. A. Poet Society – Online Event
Meditation Monday: Self Care for the Writer is a workshop led by poet, writer, and author Alex Petunia, and includes breathing meditation self-care check-in, writing prompts, and affirmations.
The mission of the L. A. Poet Society is to create a bridge, fusing the communities of Los Angeles & Southern California Poets.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: L.A. Poet Society
Date: Monday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online Event, Zoom: 840 2975 5764
Website: https://www.facebook.com/LosAngelesPoetSociety/
Jess Row, with Jonathan Lethem, & The New Earth at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Jess Row, in conversation with Jonathan Lethem, will present and discuss his book, The New Earth: A Novel.
For fifteen years, the Wilcoxes have been a family in name only. Though never the picture of happiness, they once seemed like a typical white Jewish clan from the Upper West Side. But in the early 2000s, two events ruptured the relationships between them. First, Naomi revealed to her children that her biological father was actually Black. In the aftermath, college-age daughter Bering left home to become a radical peace activist in Palestine’s West Bank, where she was killed by an Israeli Army sniper.
Now, in 2018, Winter Wilcox is getting married, and her only demand is that her mother, father, and brother emerge from their self-imposed isolations and gather once more. After decades of neglecting personal and political wounds, each remaining family member must face their fractured history and decide if they can ever reconcile.
Assembling a vast chorus of voices and ideas from across the globe, Jess Row “explodes the saga from within–blows the roof off, so to speak, to let in politics, race, theory, and the narrative self-awareness that the form had seemed hell-bent on ignoring” (Jonathan Lethem). The New Earth is a commanding investigation of our deep and impossible desire to undo the injustices we have both inflicted and been forced to endure.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Monday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/jess-row-new-earth
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 an Assistant Professor of Postcolonial and Transnational Literatures at California State University Channel Islands, teaching courses on creative writing and contemporary African literatures. Raquel has published poetry in Africology and The Arrow; fiction in Enculturation, The Daily Palette, The Womanist, and Crux; and non-fiction in Little Village; and has done readings with the Ventura County Poetry project. Raquel lives for talking about all things about the craft and social meanings of literature!
Where: Beyond Baroque – Online event
Date: Monday the 3rd
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)
Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/monday-night-fiction-workshop-tickets-601427033447
Under the Mic Influence & Open Mic: Featuring Besskepp – In-Person Event
Join host Kuahmel Alyeeus KuahAllah and DJ Kev Jam for poetry, Open Mic, rare grooves, cocktails, tasty bites.
Featured guest: Besskepp.
L.A. poetry legend and longtime host of A Mic and Dim Lights, Cory Cofer AKA BessKepp, is ready to mind-massage with a hot new book you need to give a look: Dreaming Under Polka Dot Stars.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, cost, and details.
Where: LB Unified Bar & Lounge
Date: Monday the 3rd
Time: 7:30 pm; Mic at 8 pm
Address: 2222 E. Anaheim, Long Beach, CA 90804
Website: https://www.facebook.com/photo/ or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mic-influence-tickets-595266547267?aff=ebdssbcitybrowse
Manga & Graphic Novel Club: Crier’s War via Tarzana Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Teen Event
The Manga & Graphic Novel Club will review your favorites and join discussions with other teen fans. Attend monthly zoom meetings, write reviews, draw art for our monthly newsletter, and select your favorite manga or graphic novels to add to our teen collection.
Please email ecalla@lapl.org for the meeting zoom link.
Where: Tarzana Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 4th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/manga-graphic-novel-club
Rainbow Reads Book Club: Crier’s War at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Teen Event
The Rainbow Reads Book Club is a Teen LGBTQIA+ Book Club for ages 13+ and participants will discuss this month’s selection, Crier’s War, by author Nina Varela.
Rainbow Reads Book Club celebrates diversity in Young Adult books as we read books featuring various identities and stories. This is a safe space welcome to teens of all identities and allies! Join Iz and Apollo for our proud book club.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details. Limited space. No drop-ins.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 4th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/rainbow-reads-book-club-criers-war-nina-varela
National Poetry Month Reading: Angela Peñaredondo & Vickie Vertiz Present New Booksat Altadena Main Library – In-Person & YouTube Online Hybrid Event
The Altadena Library will host a special reading to celebrate National Poetry Month.
Poet Laureate Carla Sameth will welcome poets Vickie Vertiz and Angela Peñaredondo will read from and discuss their new books: nature felt but never apprehended and Auto/Body, respectively.
Angela Peñaredondo (she/they) is a queer, nonbinary Filipinx writer and author of nature felt but never apprehended (Noemi Press, March 2023), All Things Lose Thousands of Times (winner of the 2016 Inlandia Institute’s Hillary Gravendyk Book Prize) and the chapbook Maroon (Jamii Publishing). An interdisciplinary writer, artist and educator, their work can be found or forthcoming in The Academy of American Poets, Pleiades, Apogee Journal, Michigan Quarterly and elsewhere. They are a recipient of fellowships to Hedgebrook, Kundiman, Macondo and others. They are an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at California State University, San Bernardino. http://www.angelapenaredondo.com
Vickie Vértiz is the oldest child of an immigrant Mexican family. Her poetry and essays are featured in the New York Times magazine, Huizache, the Los Angeles Review of Books, KCET Departures, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among many publications. Her second book, Auto/Body, won the 2023 Sandeen Poetry Prize from the University of Notre Dame. She is a recipient of fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference, VONA, CantoMundo, and Macondo. Vértiz teaches writing at UC-Santa Barbara. She lives in Los Angeles. vickievertiz.com
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Altadena Main Library, Community Room
Date: Tuesday the 4th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 600 E. Mariposa St., Altadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.altadenalibrary.org/programs/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D165647531
Feminist Book Club: Americanized at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
The Feminist Book Club will discuss this month’s selection, Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card, by author Sarah Saedi.
At thirteen, bright-eyed, straight-A student Sara Saedi uncovered a terrible family secret: she was breaking the law simply by living in the United States. Only two years old when her parents fled Iran, she didn’t learn of her undocumented status until her older sister wanted to apply for an after-school job, but couldn’t because she didn’t have a Social Security number.
Fear of deportation kept Sara up at night, but it didn’t keep her from being a teenager. She desperately wanted a green card, along with clear skin, her own car, and a boyfriend.
Americanized follows Sara’s progress toward getting her green card, but that’s only a portion of her experiences as an Iranian-“American” teenager. From discovering that her parents secretly divorced to facilitate her mother’s green card application to learning how to tame her unibrow, Sara pivots gracefully from the terrifying prospect that she might be kicked out of the country at any time to the almost-as-terrifying possibility that she might be the only one of her friends without a date to the prom. This moving, often hilarious story is for anyone who has ever shared either fear.
Sarah Saedi was born in Tehran, Iran smack-dab in the middle of a war and an Islamic Revolution. She received a B.A. in Film and Mass Communications from the University of California, Berkeley and began her career as a creative executive for ABC Daytime. She’s penned three TV movies for ABC Family and a pilot for the Disney Channel, won a Daytime Emmy for What If…, a web series she wrote for ABC, and worked as a staff writer on the FOX sitcom The Goodwin Games. She is also the author of a YA duology, Never Ever and The Lost Kids, published by Viking. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and pug, where she writes for the hit CW show iZombie.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 4th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/feminist-book-club-americanized
Book Talk: Lilah Fitzgerald with Miia Harris, & Stars & Swashbucklers at Chevalier’s Bookstore – In-Person Event
Lilah Fitzgerald, in conversation with Miia Harris, will present and discuss her debut novel, Stars & Swashbucklers.
Monsters eat dreams.
Yes or no?
Far in the future, earth has split apart into thousands of islands dangling between the stars. Privateers search for relics, artifacts, and manuscripts that were lost when the earth split, ships sail the stars like they once sailed oceans, and banished Olde Beingslurk in the Mysts between the islands.
Welcome to the broken world.
Stuck in steerage on the maiden voyage of the luxury airship the Halthow, sixteen-year-old Anya Marcox is determined to make her brother happy by accepting the fate their dead father used to recite to her like a prayer: average lives for average girls. But when an encounter with a dashing stranger lands Anya in the middle of a cutthroat race to find a relic that could change the fate of the islands, average is no longer an option.
Compelled by the whispering of the stars that have always promised her something more, Anya finds herself secretly working as a privateer—and falling for her partner in crime. But her treasure hunt through the stars soon turns deadly: the nightmares are getting worse . . . and Anya is beginning to wonder if they’re more than just dreams.
Lilah Fitzgerald is a 19-year-old actress best known for roles in Lucky Hank, Seventh Son, Every Thing Will Be Fine, and Nickelodeon’s live action Monster High franchise. Lilah has also danced professionally as a ballerina in The Nutcracker, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Stars & Swashbucklers is Lilah’s debut novel, and the first installment in The Last Montmorency Saga. Lilah believes that fairy tales save people.
Miia Harris is known for Just Beyond (2021), Monster High: The Movie (2022) and Monster High the Movie Sequel.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 4th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angele, CA 90004
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-talk-lilah-fitzgeralds-stars-swashbucklers-tickets-559202689297
At Skylight: Matthew Zapruder, with Victoria Chang, Story of a Poem at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Matthew Zapruder, in conversation with Victoria Chang, will discuss his new book, Story of a Poem.
Matthew Zapruder had an idea: to write a poem as slowly and intentionally as possible, to preserve its drafts, and record the painstaking, elusively transcendent stuff of its construction. It would be the capstone to a new collection of poetry, and a means to process modern American life in a time of Covid, mega fires, and sobriety.
What Zapruder didn’t anticipate was that this literary project would trigger a deeply personal aspect as well: a way to resolve the unexplored pain and unexpected joys he was confronting in the wake of his son’s diagnosis with autism. The result is a remarkable piece of writing, one that explores not just what it means to be a poet, but also what it means to be alive during the Anthropocene–to be on this planet–during this extraordinary time.
Ultimately, the poet asks us to join him in the search for a crucial answer. In his words: “What world can we imagine, and then make, where we all can live?” With Story of a Poem celebrated poet Matthew Zapruder offers a personal, deeply unguarded examination of a poet’s eternal struggle to transform a moment of feeling into verse, as well as a subtle and enthralling roadmap to the practice of poetry and finding its threads in everyday life.
Matthew Zapruder is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Father’s Day, from Copper Canyon, as well as Why Poetry, a book of prose. He is editor at large at Wave Books, where he edits contemporary poetry, prose, and translations. From 2016-7 he held the annually rotating position of Editor of the Poetry Column for the New York Times Magazine. He teaches at Saint Mary’s College of California and served as guest editor for Best American Poetry 2022. He currently lives in Northern California’s Bay Area.
Victoria Chang’s forthcoming book of poems, With My Back to the World will be published in 2024 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and Corsair Books in the U.K. Her most recent book of poetry, The Trees Witness Everything was published by Copper Canyon Press and Corsair Books in the U.K. in 2022 and was named one of the Best Books of 2022 by the New Yorker and The Guardian.
Her nonfiction book, Dear Memory (Milkweed Editions), was published in 2021 and was named a favorite nonfiction book of 2021 by Electric Literature and Kirkus. OBIT (Copper Canyon Press, 2020), her most recent poetry book, was named a New York Times Notable Book, a Time Must-Read Book, and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN/Voelcker Award. It was also longlisted for a National Book Award and named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize. She has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Chowdhury Prize in Literature.
She lives in Los Angeles and is a Distinguished Professor within Antioch’s low-residency MFA Program.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Tuesday the 4th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 V. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-matthew-zapruder-presents-story-poem-w-victoria-chang
Mary Otis, with Meg Howry, & Burst at Vroman’s Bookstore – In-Person Event
Mary Otis, in conversation with Meg Howry, will discuss her book, Burst.
This arresting debut novel that explores the relationship complexities between mothers and daughters, the desire to escape, and the longing to connect. Burst is a powerful story about how we become–and unbecome–our mothers, how we absorb the past, and how we burst into our own futures.
Viva has always found ways to manage her mother’s impulsive, eccentric, and addictive personality. She’s had to–for her entire life, it has always been Viva and Charlotte against the world. After accidentally discovering an innate ability for dance, Viva chases her new passion with the same fervor with which her mother chases the bottle. Over the years, Viva’s talent becomes a ticket to a life of her own, and as she moves further away from home to pursue her dream, Charlotte struggles to make peace with her own past as a failed artist and the effects of her addiction. When tragedy strikes, Viva begins a downward spiral and must decide whether she will repeat her mother’s mistakes or finally take control of her life.
Told from interwoven perspectives with lyrical writing as deft as a choreographed dance, Burst excavates a mother-daughter relationship to reveal its gorgeous beating heart (in paperback).
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 4th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/mary-otis-conversation-meg-howry-discusses-burst
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic with Jon Wesick via Online Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and guest Jon Wesick.
Jon Wesick is an author of numerous books and a regional editor of the San Diego Poetry Annual. He’s published hundreds of poems and stories in journals such as the Atlanta Review, Berkeley Fiction Review, New Verse News, Paterson Literary Review, Pearl, Pirene’s Fountain, Slipstream, Space and Time, and Tales of the Talisman.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 4th
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 4th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 3301 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405
Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1699147113818899
Da Poetry Lounge Open Mic Night at Greenway Court – In-Person Event
The nation’s largest weekly Open Mic event is 25 years strong. They hold open mic nights. At an open mic, all are welcome to share their poetry or sit in their audience.
Every Tuesday (except for 3rd Tuesdays which is Slam Night) we hold open mic nights. At an open mic, all are welcome to share their poetry or sit in our audience.
TIME LIMIT: Each artist has 3 minutes at the mic, and if you go over, our DJ will scratch you. Please be respectful of the time limit as we try to accommodate as many people as possible.
$10 donation. Do NOT line up prior to 7:30 p.m. Free parking adjacent to theatre.
See sites for details.
$10 donation. Do NOT line up prior to 7:30 p.m. Free parking adjacent to theater.
Masks are encouraged. All ages are welcome.
Where: Greenway Court Theatre and YouTube Live Stream
Date: Tuesday the 4th
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/events/open-mic-night
New Neverspeak Tuesdays Open Mic at DiPiazza’s – In-Person Event
The New Neverspeak Tuesdays Open Mic at DiPiazza’s with Shy But Flyy, will feature guest poets + an open mic.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: DiPiazza’s Pizza
Date: Tuesday the 4th
Time: 9 pm
Address: 5205 E. Pacific Coast Hwy., Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-mic-w-shy-but-flyy-music-poetry-tickets-533965133087
Wilmington Book Club & Orchid Beach at Wilmington Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
The Wilmington Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, Orchid Beach, by author Stuart Woods.
Orchid Beach is Book #1 in the Holly Baker series. Smart, attractive, and fiercely independent, Major Holly Barker, the army-brat daughter of a master sergeant, has been forced into early retirement at the age of thirty-seven as the result of a scandalous sexual harassment case. With the help of her dad she makes the move to civilian life, becoming deputy chief of police in Orchid Beach, Florida. But below the calm, sunny surface of this sleepy, well-to-do coastal island town lies a web of evil and deceit that escalates when a colleague and another associate are brutally gunned down. Alone, an outsider with no clues to go on, finding the killers won’t be easy for Holly, and her seemingly low-key new career soon thrusts her into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Surrounded by a staff of officers she neither knows nor trusts, Holly finds help in a most unexpected source–Daisy, a Doberman of exceptional intelligence and loyalty who quickly becomes her inseparable companion and protector.
Questions? Please contact Kathleen Larson at klarson@lapl.org.
All are welcome!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Wilmington Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 5th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 1300 N. Avalon Blvd., Wilmington, CA 90744
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/wilmington-book-club-0
Washington Irving Book Club Big Read & Interior Chinatown at Washington Irving Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
The Washington Irving Book Club participants will discuss the Big Read for this month’s selection; Interior Chinatown, by author Charles Yu.
Interior Chinatown is a finny, ambitious Hollywood satire, and a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.
For more information, please call 323-734-6303.
All are welcome!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Washington Irving Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 5th
Time: 12 pm
Address: 4117 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90018
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/big-read-book-discussion-4
Write Your Novel Event at Platt Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
The Platt Branch Library invites you to write your novel at their library.
Is writing one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2023? Is completing a book on your bucket list? Whether you shouted an emphatic yes or mumbled a hushed maybe to either of those questions, our new novel writing support group is for you. This new group will be a place to learn, practice, and receive support from other writers. We will use LinkedIn Learning courses available on lapl.org to guide us through the novel writing process one step at a time. With weekly goals and the encouragement of your peers, you can spend the year working your way toward a completed novel.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Platt Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 5th
Time: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Address: 23600 Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/write-your-novel
NAPOWRIMO Special: Wednesday Edits Workshop with Peggy Dobreer – Online Event
Wednesday Edits Workshop with author and poet Peggy Dobreer will be offered live on Zoom on four Wednesdays in April from 4pm-6pm. Her four-part editing process will include prompted writing, and time for generating and polishing your work.
Limited to six poets, the price is $20 per session or $60 for the series. (Register at Paypal).
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Slow Lightening Lit
Date: Wednesday the 5th
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=51001714 or https://www.facebook.com/peggy.dobreer/ or https://www.paypal.com
Page Turners Book Club: This Is Not a Personal Statement at pages: a bookstore – In-Person MG Event
The Page Turners Book Club for 8th & 9th graders will discuss this month’s selection, This Is Not a Personal Statement, by author Traci Badua.
In This Is Not a Personal Statement, Badua writes a gripping, incisive tale of acceptance, self-discovery, and the infinite possibilities that await when we embrace our imperfections.
At sixteen, Perla is the youngest graduating senior of the hypercompetitive Monte Verde High. Praised—and not-so-quietly bashed—as “Perfect Perlie Perez,” Perla knows all the late nights, social isolation, and crushing stress will be worth it when she gets into the college of her (and her parents’) dreams: Delmont University.
Then Perla doesn’t get in, and her meticulously planned future shatters. In a panic, she forges her own acceptance letter, and next thing she knows, she’s heading to Delmont for real, acceptance or not.
But as her guilty conscience grows and campus security looms large, Perla starts to wonder if her plan will really succeed—and if this dream she’s worked for her entire life is something she even wants.
Tracy Badua is a Filipino American author from Southern California, whose books include Freddie vs. The Family Curse and This Is Not a Personal Statement. By day, she is an attorney who works in national housing policy and programs, and by night, she squeezes in writing, family and pup time, bites of her secret candy stash, and sometimes sleep. She currently lives in San Diego, California.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, details.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 5th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/nonfiction-book-club-4
Feedback Circle Workshop via The Poetry Lab – Online Event
The Feedback Circle Writing Workshop offers a new way to workshop.
The next session of this 4-week workshop begins April 5, 2023.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: The Poetry Lab
Date: Wednesday the 5th (Start of a 4-week class)
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.thepoetrylab.com/register/feedback-circle
Reading in Bed: Jessica Wilson Cardenas with guest TBA via L. A. Poet Society – Online Event
The Reading in Bed with Jessica Series is held live on Wednesdays at www.radioollin.org and features oldies, interviews, performances, live in-studio.
The mission of the L. A. Poet Society is to create a bridge, fusing the communities of Los Angeles & Southern California Poets. Jessica Wilson Cardenas is a poet, writer, event curator and founder of the L.A. Poet Society. She is the author of the collection Serious Longing.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: L.A. Poet Society
Date: Wednesday the 5th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/losangelespoetsociety/?hl=en
Slam Night: Poetry Slam Competition at Micky’s West Hollywood – In-Person Event
The Slam Night Poetry Competition at Micky’s is hosted by Nate Lovell & Brian Sonia-Wallace, with special guest judges.
Twelve poets will compete for a cash prize. The event will feature special guest performances and YOU!
Sign-ups and tickets to attend are available at site link,
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details. $10 admission.
Where: Micky’s West Hollywood
Date: Wednesday the 5th
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm (doors at 6pm; slam starts at 6:30pm)
Address: 8857 Santa Monica, West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.mickys.com/tc-events/the-mic-slam-night-at-mickys-april-5th/
At Barnsdall Gallery Theatre: Alison Roman & Sweet Enough at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Alison Roman will discuss her new cookbook, Sweet Enough.
Sweet Enough is a simple, stylish cookbook full of desserts that come together faster than you can eat them—from the New York Times bestselling author of Dining In and Nothing Fancy.
Alison Roman is a New York–based cook, writer, and author of the New York Times bestselling cookbooks Nothing Fancy and Dining In. She is the host and producer of CNN’s (More Than) A Cooking Show with Alison Roman, the creator of a bi-weekly YouTube series called Home Movies, and the author of a bi-weekly newsletter titled A Newsletter.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books at Barnsdall Gallery Theatre
Date: Wednesday the 5th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 4814 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/barnsdall-gallery-theatre-alison-roman-presents-sweet-enough
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.
- 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm — Formal workshop;
- 8:30 pm – 9:00 pm — Workshop Wednesday;
- 9:05 pm – 10:00 pm — 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 5th
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 at Beyond Baroque – Online Zoom Event
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. Please be prepared to share one poem. This workshop will be hosted via the Zoom video-conferencing platform. Please sign up for each workshop session at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting, and you will be contacted with instructions on how to join the meeting.
The new facilitator for this workshop is Tom Laiches, author of Three Hundred Streets of Venice California (FutureCycle Press, 2023), Sixty-Three Photographs from the End of a War (3.1 Press, 2021), and Empire of Eden (The High Window Press, 2019). His recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in Salt, Jabberwock, Blue Unicorn, Softblow, Disquieting Muses Quarterly, Stand, and elsewhere. He lives in Venice, California.
Please spend some time before the workshop learning how to share documents via Zoom. It will keep the session moving if you’re able to make your poem viewable quickly and easily. Here’s an instructive video that might help.
The workshop can sometimes reach high levels of attendance, which means not everyone will get a chance to read every session.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Wednesday the 5th
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-603693803417
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg & Matthew Feinstein at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Join host Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at the Ugly Mug on Wednesday Night for our Reading & Open Mic, with feature Matthew Feinstein.
Matthew Feinstein is a poet and writer who holds a BA in English – Creative Writing from CSU Long Beach and is currently an MFA candidate at Randolph College. His poems have appeared, or are forthcoming in, Poetry Online, HAD, Heavy Feather Review, Inflectionist Review, Kissing Dynamite, and elsewhere.
The format is to welcome a featured poet for an individual reading, as well as an Open Mic reading.
$4 cover fee, cash only.
NOTE: See site for further details, guidelines & information.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday the 5th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Two-Idiots-Peddling-Poetry/
Poetry Day 2023: Jose Hernandez Diaz, Adolfo Guzman-Lopez & K.E. Ogden at Pasadena City College – In-Person Event
Celebrate the English and Language Studies Division’s 2023 Poetry Day, featuring:
Jose Hernandez Diaz was born in Anaheim. He is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow and studied English and creative writing at Cerritos Community College, the University of California at Berkeley, and Antioch University, Los Angeles. He is the author of The Fire Eaters (Texas Review Press, 2020) and the forthcoming, Bad Mexican, Bad American (Acre Books, 2024).
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez grew up in Tijuana and San Diego. He’s been a reporter at Southern California Public Radio in Los Angeles for 22 years. In 1994, he co-founded The Taco Shop Poets and curated the Spine of Califas reading series in the early 2000s. His poetry appears in Huizache, Geography of Rage and other journals.
K.E. Ogden is a Professor of English at Pasadena City College and a chair of the Creative Writing program at PCC. Her new book of poems is What the Body Already Knows available at www.kirstenogden.com.
Sponsored by the Pasadena Festival of Women Authors and the Student Services Fund.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, details.
Where: Pasadena City College, Circadian
Date: Thursday the 6th
Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: 1570 E Colorado Blvd., Pasadena CA, 91106
Website: https://pasadena.edu/academics/divisions/english-languages-esl/index.php or https://pasadena.edu/calendars/event.php?eventid=14420my_key_0
Open Mic: Besos y Puñales at Re/Arte Centro Literario – In-Person Event
Viva Padilla will host the Re/Arte Open Mic of musica, poesia, comedia, lectura every Thursday.
Sign up at the door.
NOTE: See site for guidelines, and details.
Where: Re/Arte Centro Literario
Date: Thursday the 6th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 2123 E. Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://reartela.com/events%2Feventos
April Poetry Reading: Angela Peñaredondo Book Launch & Guests at Poetic Research Bureau – In-Person Event
Author Angela Peñaredondo, with special guest readers, will present her new collection, nature felt but never apprehended.
Celebrate Poetry with author Angela Peñaredondo, Jessica Abughattas, Jos Charles, Jen/Eleana Hofer, and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, reading from new and selected works.
Angela Peñaredondo is a queer, nonbinary Filipinx writer and author of nature felt but never apprehended (Noemi Press), All Things Lose Thousands of Times (winner of an Inlandia Institute’s Hillary Gravendyk Book Prize) and the chapbook Maroon (Jamii Publishing). An interdisciplinary writer, artist and educator, their work can be found in The Academy of American Poets, Pleiades, Apogee Journal, Michigan Quarterly and elsewhere. They are a recipient of fellowships to Hedgebrook, Kundiman, Macondo, the Community of Writers and others. They are an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at California State University, San Bernardino. More information: @domainedenarhwal, www.angelapenaredondo.com.
Jessica Abughattas grew up in Southern California. She is the author of Strip (University of Arkansas Press, 2020), which was selected by Fady Joudah and Hayan Charara for the 2020 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. Her short poetry film “Dinner Party” premiered at Mizna Twin Cities Film Festival in 2021, was a finalist for Palette Poetry’s Brush and Lyre Prize and appeared at RAWI Fest. From 2020 to 2022, she was the Poet Laureate of Altadena, California and editor of Altadena Poetry Review. She’s writing a second poetry collection in LA.
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 is visiting faculty for UC RIverside’s Creative Writing Department and teaches as a part of Randolph College’s low-residency MFA program. She resides in Long Beach, CA.
Jen/Eleana Hofer is a poet, translator, social justice interpreter, teacher, facilitator, and urban cyclist. They live on unceded Tongva land in Los Angeles, where they teach writing and translation, work as Sins Invalid’s Language Justice Coordinator, and do language justice advocacy and organizing. They have received support from many entities, including CantoMundo, the Academy of American Poets, the City of Los Angeles, the NEA, and PEN American Center. Jen/Eleana publishes with numerous small independent presses and in various DIY/DIT incarnations. Excerpts from their most recent project, unremembering are at Map Magazine. More information: https://www.channeltransmitrepeat.com.
Jason Magabo Perez serves as San Diego Poet Laureate 2023-24. Perez is the author of Phenomenology of Superhero (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2016) and This is for the mostless (WordTech Editions, 2017). Perez’s work has also appeared in Witness, The Feminist Wire, Entropy, Marías at Sampaguitas, Interim, among others. VONA alumnus, previous recipient of a NEA Challenge America Grant, previous Artist-in-Residence at the Center for Art and Thought, Perez has been a featured performer at notable venues such as the National Asian American Theatre Festival, International Conference of the Philippines, San Francisco Public Library, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, and La Jolla Playhouse. Perez is an Associate Editor of Ethnic Studies Review, Community Arts Fellow at Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies, and a core organizer with The Digital Sala. Currently, and is an Associate Professor and Director of Ethnic Studies at California State University San Marcos.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and further information.
Where: Poetic Research Bureau
Date: Thursday the 6th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057
Website: https://www.poeticresearch.com/events/new-amp-selected-works
Book Launch: Ana Carrete & Blush & Blink at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Ana Carrete will present and discuss her new book, Blush & Blink.
Ana Carrete will celebrate this collection with featured guest readers: Kate Durbin, Morgan Parker, Elaine Kahn, and Sarah Yanni.
Ana Carrete is a poet and writer and the author of Blush & Blink. Her other collections include: make-believe-love-making, Baby Babe, and Why Fi. She lives in San Diego and spends time with her family in Tijuana. She’s a bilingual poet who is hard to describe, since sexual double-entendre is typical and she has a grim sense of humor.
Kate Durbin is a writer and artist from Los Angeles. Her books include Hoarders (Wave Books), E! Entertainment (Wonder), The Ravenous Audience (Akashic Books) and ABRA (1913 Press). ABRA is also an iOS app that is “a living text,” which won the 2017 international Turn On Literature Prize for electronic literature, and an NEA Expanded Artists’ Book Grant from Columbia College Chicago. In 2015, and again in 2020, she was the Arts Queensland Poet-in-Residence in Brisbane, Australia.
Morgan Parker is a poet, essayist, and novelist. She is the author of the young adult novel Who Put This Song On? and the poetry collections: Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night, There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé, and Magical Negro, which won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award. Parker’s debut book of nonfiction is forthcoming from One World. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, winner of a Pushcart Prize, and has been hailed by The New York Times as “a dynamic craftsperson” of “considerable consequence to American poetry.”
Elaine Kahn is a poet, musician, and artist from Evanston, IL, living in Los Angeles. She is the author of five poetry books, including: A Voluptuous Dream During an Eclipse (2012),the City Lights Spotlight Women In Public (2015), and I Told You I Was Sick: A Romance (2017).
Sarah Yanni is a Mexican-Egyptian writer, researcher & educator in Los Angeles. She was a Finalist for BOMB Magazine’s Poetry Contest, Poetry Online’s Launch Prize, the Hayden’s Ferry Review Inaugural Poetry Contest, & the Letras Latinas Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. A Best of the Net nominee, she is the author of the chapbook ternura / tenderness (Bottlecap Press) and her work can be found in SPECTRA Poets, Mizna, Pom Pom Lit, feelings, and others. She currently serves as Managing Editor of TQR, Poetry Editor of The Dry River, and hosts a bi-weekly radio show called Portals.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Thursday the 6th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
Clancy Martin & How Not to Kill Yourself at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Clancy Martin will discuss his new book, How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal MInd.
The last time Clancy Martin tried to kill himself was in his basement with a dog leash. It was one of over ten attempts throughout the course of his life. But he didn’t die, and like many who consider taking their own lives, he hid the attempt from his wife, family, coworkers, and students, slipping back into his daily life with a hoarse voice, a raw neck, and series of vague explanations.
In How Not to Kill Yourself, Martin chronicles his multiple suicide attempts in an intimate depiction of the mindset of someone obsessed with self-destruction. He argues that, for the vast majority of suicides, an attempt does not just come out of the blue, nor is it merely a violent reaction to a particular crisis or failure, but it is the culmination of a host of long-standing issues. He also looks at the thinking of a number of great writers who have attempted suicide and detailed their experiences (such as David Foster Wallace, Yiyun Li, Akutagawa, Nelly Arcan, and others), at what the history of philosophy has to say both for and against suicide, and at the experiences of those who have reached out to him across the years to share their own struggles.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 6th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91011
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/clancy-martin-discusses-how-not-kill-yourself
Spectacular Storytime at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Spectacular Storytime is a weekly time to have fun with books with enthusiastic troubadour, Maddi!
Free to attend.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Friday the 7th
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event
Sarah Mlynowski & Stuart Gibbs Present: The Sister Switch and Spy Camp at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids & MG Event
Sarah Mlynowsi and Stuart Gibbs will present and discuss their new books, The Sister Switch and Spy Camp: The Graphic Novel, respectively.
In Sarah Mlynowski’s Sister Switch, Addie Asante of Columbus, Ohio, feels stuck in the middle. Her big sister, Sophie, bosses her around while her little sister, Camille gets whatever she wants.
When Addie receives a mysterious package with a magical bracelet, she makes a wish to no longer be in the middle and–POOF–she’s transformed into her big sister!
With friendships–and grades–on the line, and a sneaky stranger determined to get her hands on the magic bracelet, can Addie and her sisters find a way to switch back before it’s too late?
Stuart Gibbs’ Spy Camp the Graphic Novel, the second book in the New York Times bestselling Spy School series continues in graphic novel form as aspiring spy Ben Ripley must spend his summer in top-secret training–and is thrown back into danger.
Ben Ripley is a middle schooler whose school is not exactly average–he’s spent the last year training to be a top-level spy and dodging all sorts of associated danger. So now that summer’s finally here, Ben would like to have some fun and relax. But that’s not going to happen during required spy survival training at a rustic wilderness camp, where SPYDER, an enemy spy organization, has infiltrated the spies’ ranks. Can Ben root out the enemy before it takes him out–for good?
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Friday the 7th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91011
Heather Hendershot, with Pat Thomas, & When the News Broke at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Heather Hendershot, in conversation with Pat Thomas, will discuss her book, When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America.
In When the News Broke, Heather Hendershot revisits TV coverage of those four chaotic days in 1968–not only the violence in the streets but also the tumultuous convention itself, where Black citizens and others forcefully challenged southern delegations that had excluded them, anti-Vietnam delegates sought to change the party’s policy on the war, and journalists and delegates alike were bullied by both Daley’s security forces and party leaders. Ultimately, Hendershot reveals the convention as a pivotal moment in American political history, when a distorted notion of “liberal media bias” became mainstreamed and nationalized.
At the same time, she celebrates the values of the network news professionals who strived for fairness and accuracy. Despite their efforts, however, Chicago proved to be a turning point in the public’s trust in national news sources. Since those critical days, the political Right in the United States has amplified distrust of TV news, to the point where even the truest and most clearly documented stories can be deemed “fake.” As Hendershot demonstrates, it doesn’t matter whether the “whole world is watching” if people don’t believe what they see. (University of Chicago Press)
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday the 7th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/Heather-Hendershot
Arielle Estoria, with Ashley Blaine Featherson-Jenkins, & The Unfolding at Reparations Club Bookstore – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
This book launch event is to celebrate Arielle Estoria, who will be in conversation with actress, singer and producer Ashley Blaine Featherson-Jenkin, to discuss her newest collection of poetry The Unfolding.
Arielle Estoria is a poet, speaker, and actor. She self-published two collections of poetry, Vagabonds and Zealots and Write Bloody Spill Pretty, and has shared her work through spoken word and keynote talks with companies such as Google, Lululemon, Apple, and more. She has emceed conferences such as the Yellow Conference and led writing and self-acceptance workshops. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband.
Ashley Blaine Featherson-Jenkins is an actress, singer, and producer who starred in the critically acclaimed Netflix Original Series, DEAR WHITE PEOPLE for four seasons. A force of talent on screen, Ashley brings that same level of passion and energy to her off-screen messages of empowerment, hard work, and self-discovery and acceptance. Though she notes that positivity does not come easily, especially as a Black actress, her positivity is infectious and is felt in every interaction with her. She attributes her confident outlook on life due to divine alignment with her purpose: Changing the world through her artistry and serving as a resource for women of color.
Ashley is currently recurring on NBC’s comedy series GRAND CREW and she was last seen opposite Lena Waithe and Vanessa Williams in the film BAD HAIR which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. However, it is her starring role as ‘Joelle Brooks’ in the critically acclaimed Netflix Original Series, DEAR WHITE PEOPLE that she is perhaps best known.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, link, and details.
Where: Reparations Club Bookstore
Date: Friday the 7th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3054 S. Victoria Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90016
Website: https://rep.club/products/april-7-unfolding
Open Mic Night at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – In-Person Event
Tia Chucha’s Open Mic Night occurs on Friday, April 7th from 7 pm – 9 pm.
Free to attend.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore
Date: Friday the 7th
Time: 7 pm 9 pm
Address: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: https://www.tiachucha.org/calendar_of_events
Book Release Party/”Free Jazz (SUNY Jazz styles)” with Jeff Schwartz, Charles Sharp, and Cheryl Banks-Smith at Village Well Café & Books – In-Person Event
Culver City author/musician Jeff Schwartz celebrates the paperback release of Free Jazz, the first volume in SUNY Press’ Jazz Styles series. He will read a short section, then discuss the work with invited scholar/performers and attendees.
Jeff Schwartz plays the bass, primarily in improvised and experimental music. His other publications include Free Jazz: A Research and Information Guide (Routledge 2018) and contributions to numerous journals and anthologies. He works at the Santa Monica Public Library, where he created and runs the Soundwaves concert series (soundwavesnewmusic.com).
Cheryl Banks-Smith is a dancer/choreographer and Professor of Dance at Pasadena City College. A long-time member of Dianne McIntyre’s Sounds in Motion and the Sun Ra Arkestra, she has also performed with Cecil Taylor, Lawrence “Butch” Morris, Peter Kowald, and other creative musicians. Documentation of her work has recently been shown at the Hammer and Broad Museums.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Village Well Books & Cafe
Date: Friday the 7th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/24614
Serpentine Monthly Poetry Showcase+ Open Reading with Ingrid M. Calderon Collins at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
The next installment of Serpentine Poetry & Open Mic will feature: Estefani Schubert and Mauricio Andres Moreno aka Soul on Fire. The event is curatedby Ingrid Calderon Collins.
Estefani Schubert is a Jewish Uruguayan American poet, visual artist, and event planner based in Southern California. Their work explores themes of love, death, rebirth, mysticism, anticapitalism, and ancestral wisdom through written and visual mediums. They are fascinated and fueled by absurdism and surrealism in all forms.
Mauricio Moreno is a 1st generation Colombian American artist and writer, originally from Elizabeth, New Jersey. He moved to California to fulfill his life mission of being a writer and sharing the stories of others to bring readers closer together and heal the world. His work has been published in Conchas Y Café, a Los Angeles-based quarterly zine published by DSTL Arts, and is also featured as part of the Summer Literature exhibition in Intercultural Press. He is currently working on a novel and is also in the process of publishing his first collection of poetry. When he is not writing poetry, he can be found throwing axes at deadwood, being a fur dad, and dissecting governments with his revolutionary fiancée.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Friday the 7th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa Ave., Los Angeles 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/events/47-serpentine-monthly-poetry-showcase/
Social Justice Book Club & One Plastic Bag at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
The Social Justice Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of Gambia, by author Miranda Paul.
Email cquinn@lapl.org for the meeting link.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 10 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/social-justice-book-club
Westwood Book Club & The Color of Water at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
The Westwood Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, The Color of water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, by author James McBride.
This meeting will be via Zoom, this month only. Contact wwood@lapl.org for the link.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 1246 Glendon Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-3
A Workshop with bridgettte bianca: Poems Are Where I Tell the Truth: Being Honest at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Beyond Baroque hosts poet and author bridgett bianca, who will lead her writing workshop, Poems Are Where I Tell the Truth: Being Honest.
In this three-hour intensive workshop, we will say the things we never thought we would, There’s something about poetry that begs you to be honest. Unsure of yourself as an adult? Feeling like a badass? In a complicated relationship with food delivery services? Still have love for your ex? Haunted by those bangs you had in high school? Manifesting a life of abundance? Not sure how you feel about toppling the prison industrial complex? No matter how silly or serious the subject, join us for a workshop where we will say the things we never thought we’d say through poetry.
Poems are where we tell the truth…sometimes. But the art of performance or awareness of the reader or just plain fear can sometimes dull the sharp edges of our honesty. We’ll look at poems from folks who are good at being honest about what hurts and heals them, what makes them smile fondly or wince dramatically, and what makes them lay awake at night in wonder. And then we will dig into our own truths and tuck some of them into poems….if only to be honest with ourselves.
This workshop is for all ages.
bridgette bianca is a poet and professor from South Central Los Angeles. Her first book of poetry, be/trouble, was released by Writ Large in 2020. She is one half of two literary curating teams, Making Room for Black Women and South Central Spits Fire. Find her online discussing poetry, teaching, and her new romance novel obsession at @bridgettebianca on instagram and bridgettebianca.com.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Saturday Morning Book Discussion & The Ten Thousand Doors of January at Felipe de Neve Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
The Saturday Morning Book Discussion participants will discuss this month’s selection, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by author Alix E. Harrow.
In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.
In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.
Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure, and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.
Donuts and coffee will be served. For more information, email sfukushima@lapl.org.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Felipe de Neve Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 11:30 am
Address: 2820 W. 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90057
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/saturday-morning-book-discussion-ten-thousand-doors-january
Generating Ideas Writing Workshop with Brian Dunlap at Uptown Plants/Casa Verde, Whittier – In-Person Event
Writing Is Not a Luxury: A Generative Workshop is facilitated by Brian Dunlap, and inspired by the words of poet Audre Lourde.
This workshop provides a safe space for students and writers to discuss difficult and important themes, ideas, and topics that each individual finds essential to write about. Participants will be pushed to confront these topics in a nurturing environment, exploring why and how to write about them openly and honestly.
NOTE: No registration. $20 upon arrival.
Where: Uptown Plants, Casa Verde
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 12 pm – 2 pm
Address: 12909 Philadelphia St., Whittier, CA 90601
Website: N/A
“New” Kids Book Club: The Marvellers at Cellar Door Books – In-Person Kids & MG Event
The “New” Kids Book Club will discuss this month’s selection, The Marvellers, by author Dhonielle Clayton, Khadijah Khatib (Illustrator).
Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds where Marvellers from around the world practice their cultural arts, like brewing Indian spice elixirs and bartering with pesky Irish pixies.
Despite her excitement, Ella discovers that being the first isn’t easy—some Marvellers mistrust her magic, which they deem “bad and unnatural.” But eventually, she finds friends in elixirs teacher, Masterji Thakur, and fellow misfits Brigit, a girl who hates magic, and Jason, a boy with a fondness for magical creatures.
When a dangerous criminal known as the Ace of Anarchy escapes prison, supposedly with a Conjuror’s aid, tensions grow in the Marvellian world and Ella becomes the target of suspicion. Worse, Masterji Thakur mysteriously disappears while away on a research trip. With the help of her friends and her own growing powers, Ella must find a way to clear her family’s name and track down her mentor before it’s too late.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/new-kids-book-club-marvellers
Queering the Arts Workshop Series: Character & Dialog with Abe Zapata, Jr. – Online Event
Time to finesse those scripts, with some character and dialogue work. Whether your characters are based in reality, or in the most fantastical spaces, dialogue can be tricky when pushing a story forward. Whether you’re writing for TV, Film, or the stage, this workshop is meant for everyone.
Cost: $20.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Queering the Arts
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 1 pm – 4 pm
Address: 5471 Huntington Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90032
Website: https://form.jotform.com/230816208725152
Santa Monica Review: Readings by Contributors at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Join Beyond Baroque for a reading with the writers of the Santa Monica Review, featuring the work of four contributors.
West Coast lit mag Santa Monica Review celebrates its spring 2023 issue with readings by four contributors: short story writers Kristen Leigh Schwarz and Gregory Tower, poet and novelist Kareem Tayyar, and writer, critic and fiction writer Yxta Maya Murray. SMR editor Andrew Tonkovich emcees. Free copy of the journal with admission.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 3 pm – 4:30 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-reading-with-the-santa-monica-review-tickets-551856145587
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Deep Critique Writing Workshop by G.T. Foster – Online Event Only
Saturday Afternoon Poetry presents a Deep Critique Writing Workshop led by G.T. Foster.
All events are curated by: Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Allusion & Imagery in Creating Your Personal Mythology with Rebecca Ocean via Sims Library of Poetry – In-Person Event
In this writing workshop, we will examine the symbolism of life through musical poetry, then utilize these devices for our own poetry.
We’ll examine poems and song lyrics that use allusion and imagery to clearly communicate an aspect of the poet’s life without ever stating it outright. After looking through and analyzing the examples, we will identify key types of these devices and specific memories or relationships in our lives to write our own poems.
Rebecca Ocean is an LA-based poet who performs, writes, and enjoys community as a member of The Poetry Club by Shelby Leigh and Openheart Spoken Word. She was a Fall 2021 Artist-in-Residence at St. Joseph’s Home for Artisans in Boston, MA, where she co-ran the weekly Rooftop Open Mic in the North End. She has performed her work live in LA, OC, Boston, Nashville, and Reno, and is the author of her upcoming debut poetry collection Leaving La La Land.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details. FREE.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 3:30 pm
Address: 2702 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043
OpenHeart Spoken Word III: via Sims Library of Poetry – In-Person Event
Writers, Authors, Poets welcomed to sign up and share. Come join for a special night of story, emotion, and community building.
Join our third OpenHeart Open Mic on Saturday April 8th, at Sims Library of Poetry, CA from 6-9pm.
Features include: Brenda Vaca, Tommy Domino & Alex Petunia. Also a secret feature.
Brenda Vaca is the author of Riot of Roses and the founder of Riot of Roses Press LLC. She is host of various literary events, including open mic events in Pomona and Whitter, and special poetry events at the 2023 Boca de Oro Festival,
Tommy Domino is a spoken blues poet in Southern California.In 2012, he joined the Still Waters Writers Collective at Vibrations in Inglewood. There his work was first published in the 2013 poetry anthology Sounds From the Waters. In 2015, his work was published in the anthology Poets and Allies for Resistance, and he performed at the 50th Anniversary of the Watts Writers Workshop “Passing the Magic”. In 2016, he was accepted to the Community Literature Initiative (4th module) Program at USC. In 2018, he performed at the Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) Spoken Word Festival. In February 2018, he released his first collection of spoken blues: Switches, Hot Wheel Tracks & Extension Cords on World Stage Press. Later he was a Panelist/Performer at the Pasadena LitFest and became a member of the Never Speak Poets from Long Beach, who host monthly shows in the Arts District. In 2019, he became a member of the PAFF Spoken Word planning committee. He is an author, play writ and photographer.
Alex Petunia is the author of the poetry collection Tending My Wild. She is a faculty member of Community Literature Initiative (CLI) and hosts Meditation Mondays every week through LA Poet Society.
Featured Poets book signing and sale.
Open Mic begins at 6:15 pm; Feature list begins at 7 pm.
Hosted by: Andrew Zaragoza Jr, time author and spoken word artist rooted in community: and Anthony Crespo, OpenHeart organizer and spoken word poet.
If you’re a poet, or writer looking for a platform to share your work, come check us out and perform!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details. $5.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 6 pm – 9 pm
Address: 2702 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043
Jane Engleman Presents “Dancing in Poetry” at The Pop Hop – In-Person Event
LA/New Mexico author, poet, and choreographer Jane Engleman (@blancabear2feet) guides an insightful journey into the connection between poetry, dance, and wellness, and reads from her newest book Snow Dancing with the Aurium of the Falls. This one is going to be really special!
Jane Engleman writes in rhythms, the steady beat of the Southwest, the pounding of the colors in theater, the night throb of the drum. As a poet, she struggles with the language of the heart to celebrate the dance of the whole from a little nest between Albuquerque and Pasadena, California. She is currently at work on another book, Enemy Born of Me, a novel viewpoint of her life growing up as a missionary kid on the Navajo Checkerboard Reservation in New Mexico. Engleman’s primary adventure is the choreography of poetry in large groups, particularly theater and choric recitation.
Where: The Pop Hop
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 6:30 pm – 830 pm
Address: 5002 York Blvd. Los Angeles CA
Website: https://www.thepophop.com/calendar/2023/4/8/dancing-in-poetry-with-jane-engleman
My California: A Reading with the CA Poet Laureate Lee Herrick & Guests at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Beyond Baroque welcomes the recently appointed California Poet Laureate, Lee Herrick for a reading with poets Amy Uyematsu, F. Douglas Brown & Michelle Brittan Rosado.
Last year Herrick was appointed California Poet Laureate by Governor Gavin Newsom. He is the author of poetry books Scar and Flower, Gardening Secrets of the Dead, and This Many Miles from Desire. A Fresno native, Herrick is a professor at both Fresno City College, and University of Reno, Lake Tahoe. As Poet Laureate he plans to improve access to poetry and the arts in communities where people might not have ready access to them.
Amy Uyematsu is a sansei (third-generation Japanese American) poet and teacher from Los Angeles. She has six published collections–the most recent being That Blue Trickster Time (What Books Press, 2022). Her first poetry collection, 30 Miles from J-Town, won the 1992 Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize. Amy taught high school math for LA Unified Schools for 32 years. Active in Asian American Studies when it first emerged in the late 60s, she penned “The Emergence of Yellow Power in America” and was co-editor of the widely-used UCLA anthology, Roots: An Asian American Reader.
F. Douglas Brown is the author of two poetry collections, ICON (Writ Large Press, 2018), and Zero to Three (University of Georgia, 2014), winner of the 2013 Cave Canem Poetry Prize selected by US Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith. He also co-authored with poet Geffrey Davis, Begotten (URB Books, 2016), a chapbook of poetry as part of the Floodgate Poetry Series. Brown, an educator for over 20 years, currently teaches English and African American Poetry at Loyola High School of Los Angeles, an all-boys Jesuit school. He is both a Cave Canem and Kundiman fellow and was selected by Poets & Writers as one of their ten notable Debut Poets of 2014. His poems have appeared in the Academy of American Poets, The PBS News Hour, The Virginia Quarterly (VQR), Bat City Review, The Chicago Quarterly Review (CQR), The Southern Humanities Review, The Sugar House Review, Cura Magazine, and Muzzle Magazine. He is co-founder and curator of un::fade::able – The Requiem for Sandra Bland, a quarterly reading series examining restorative justice through poetry as a means to address racism.
Michelle Brittan Rosado is the author of Why Can’t It Be Tenderness, which won the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry selected by Aimee Nezhukumatathil and published by University of Wisconsin Press in November 2018. Her chapbook, Theory on Falling into a Reef, was the winner of the inaugural Rick Campbell Prize (Anhinga Press, 2016). Her poems have been published in Alaska Quarterly Review, Indiana Review, Poet Lore, and The New Yorker, as well as the anthologies Time You Let Me In: 25 Poets Under 25, Only Light Can Do That: 100 Post-Election Poems, Stories, & Essays, and Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from California State University, Fresno, and recently completed a PhD Literature & Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. She lives in Long Beach.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, link, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd. Venice, CA 90291
Obsidian Tongues Open Mic: Featured Reading & Open MIc with Cynthia Guardado & Cenizas at Café con LIbros Press – In-Person Event
Obsidian Tongues Open Mic Night is offered every 2nd Saturday of the month, and is hosted by Pomona Poet Laureate Ceasar Avelar.
Cynthia Guardado will feature and read from her new collection, Cenizas, which is an arresting portrait of a Salvadoran family whose lives have been shaped by the upheavals of global politics. She is the author of two collections, Cenizas and Endeavor, and her poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, U.S. Latinx Voices in Poetry, and The Wandering Song. She is a Los Angeles-born Salvadoran poet and professor of English at Fullerton College, and the Editor-in-Chief of LiveWire, an online literary magazine.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Café con Libros, Pomona
Date: Saturday the 8th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm
Address: 280 W. Second St., Pomona, CA
Website: https://cafeconlibrospress.org/event-calendar/
Griot Café Open Mic with Sistah Shy & Samuel Rain & Featured Guest TBA 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 8th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 1001 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://shadesofafrika.com/griot-cafe-open-mic-poetry/
Cellar Door Book Club: How High We Go in the Dark at Cellar Door Books – In-Person Event
The Cellar Door Book Club will discuss this month’s selection, How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel, by author Sequoia Nagamatsu.
This story is a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague—a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice.
In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus.
From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resilience of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe.
Sequoia Nagamatsu is a Japanese American writer and managing editor of Psychopomp Magazine, an online quarterly dedicated to innovative prose. Originally from Hawaii and the San Francisco Bay Area, he holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Southern Illinois University and a BA in Anthropology from Grinnell College. His work has appeared in such publications as Conjunctions, The Southern Review, ZYZZYVA, Fairy Tale Review, and Tin House. He is the author of the award-winning short story collection Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone and teaches creative writing at St. Olaf College and the Rainier Writing Workshop Low-Residency MFA program. He currently lives in Minnesota with his wife, cat, and a robot dog named Calvino.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 9th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 5225 Canyon Crest Dr., #30A, Riverside, CA 92507
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/cellar-door-book-club-how-high-we-go-dark
Readings at Sunset:A Queer Poetry Night & Open Mic at The Plant Chica – In-Person Event
Cuties Los Angeles Presents Readings at Sunset: A Queer Poetry Night. Readings at Sunset is a live poetry night happening every 2nd Sunday at The Plant Chica. This month we’re bringing you a lineup of 20+ Black queer + trans poets and the theme is Tenderness.
To read, you don’t need to purchase a ticket and you can sign up at site! Signing up to read includes free entrance for you +1!
Doors open at 4:00 pm and poetry will begin promptly at 4:45 pm! Please arrive early to grab a seat, order food, check out the plants & meet other Cuties. Food by Chef Chardae & Dear Mama LA, coffee & tea from Aunties LA, with sounds by Cat Jones. Hosted by the amazing and wonderful Adrianne D.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Plant Chica
Date: Sunday the 9th
Time: 4 pm – 7 pm
Address: 4522 W. Jefferson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA CA 90016
Library Girl & Shonda Buchanan Present:Feeling Good – A Tribute to Nina Simoneat Ruskin Theatre Group – In-Person Event
Susan Hayden, creator of the Library Girl theatre show is collaborating/co-curating with writer Shonda Buchanan, author of Black Indian to present a tribute to Nina Simon, read by writers, and poets. and Nina’s songs sung by singer-songwriters. Presented at the 42 seat, Ruskin Group Theatre, so tickets are limited.
Featuring readings by: Lynne Thompson, Peter J. Harris, Pam Ward, Steve Hochman, F Douglas Brown and Shonda Buchanan.
Lynne Thompson is the Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, and the author of three books of poetry: Beg No Pardon, Start with a Small Guitar, and Fretwork. Her work has been widely anthologized and has another book forthcoming. A lawyer by training, Thompson sits on the boards of the Los Angeles Review of Books and Cave Canem and is the Chair of the Board of Trustees at Scripps College, her alma mater. She facilitates private workshops, most recently for Beyond Baroque, Poetry By the Sea Conference, Moorpark College Writers Festival, and Central Coast Writers’ Conference. Thompson is a native of Los Angeles, California, where she resides.
Peter J. Harris is the founder of The Black Man of Happiness Project, and is the author of the book, The Black Man of Happiness. Since the 1970s, Harris has published his work in a wide variety of publications, including: Voices from Leimert Park Redux, edited by Shonda Buchanan; Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, edited by Suzanne Lummis; Altadena Poetry Review: Anthology, edited by Thelma T. Reyna, poet laureate of Altadena; and Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes & Shifts in Los Angeles, edited by Neelanjana Banerjee, Daniel A. Olivas, and Ruben J. Rodriguez. Since 1992, he’s been a member of the Anansi Writers Workshop at the World Stage.
Pam Ward recently released her first poetry book, between good men & no man at all, World Stage Press. Pam is the author of two novels, Want Some Get Some, Kensington, chronicling a heist after the ’92 riots and bad girls burn slow, Kensington, a tale of a mother working funeral homes. A UCLA graduate and recipient of a “California Arts Council Fellow” and a “Pushcart Poetry Nominee,” she edited the first anthology of Los Angeles black women poets entitled, The Supergirls Handbook. While operating a design studio and teaching at Art Center College of Design, she merged writing and graphics to produce “My Life, LA” documenting Black Angelinos in poster/stories. Pam’s literary showcase, “I Didn’t Survive Slavery For This!” a multi-media poetic riff on life post emancipation, featured a collective of poets of The World Stage.
Steve Hochman has covered popular and unpopular music for more than 33 1/3 years, for many publications, and was a music critic for two popular radio shows: KPPC’s Take Two, and KQED’s The California Report. In recent years he is writing with a more personal poetic approach for wife Susan Hayden’s literary series, Library Girl.
F Douglas Brown is a Black and Filipino poet and the author of ICON (Writ Large Press, 2018); and Zero to Three (University of Georgia Press, 2014), winner of the 2013 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. He has taught and serves as director of equity and inclusion at Loyola High School of Los Angeles.
Shonda Buchanan is the author of five books, including the award-winning memoir, Black Indian. An award-winning poet, fiction, nonfiction writer and educator, Shonda has been a journalist for 25+ years, publishing widely. President of Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, she is also the newest fiction faculty member in Alma College’s MFA Program.
Featuring music by: Willie Aron, Jason Luckett and Lisa Sanders & Brown Sugar “Karen Hayes.”
NOTE: See site for RSVP, tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Ruskin Group Theatre
Date: Sunday the 9th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 3000 Airport Ave., Santa Monica, CA. 7 pm
Website: https://lisasanders.com/event/ or https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?actions=10&p=1
Fantasy Romance Book Club: Magic Bites at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
The Ripped Bodice presents the Fantasy Romance Book Club, to discuss the selected book, Magic Bites, by author Ilona Andrews. This is Book #1 in the Kate Daniels series.
Bookseller Taylor C. leads our fantasy and paranormal romance book club! If witches, vampires, ghosts, and other worlds are your jam, please join us!
When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.
Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles.
The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shape-changers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate’s guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she’s way out of her league—but she wouldn’t have it any other way…
Ilona Andrews is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team, Gordon and Ilona. They currently reside in Texas with their two children and numerous dogs and cats. The couple are the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors of the Kate Daniels and Kate Daniels World novels as well as The Edge and Hidden Legacy series. They also write the Innkeeper Chronicles series, which they post as a free weekly serial. For a complete list of their books, fun extras, and Innkeeper installments, please visit their website at www.ilona-andrews.com.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 9th
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Los Angeles Literature 