Quantum Book Club & Harrow the Ninth at The Book Jewel – In-Person Event
The Quantum Book Club enjoys reading fantasy, graphic novels, sci-fi and more, and the July selection for discussion by participants is Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb Series, 2), by author Tamsyn Muir.
Bestselling sequel to Gideon the Ninth, this story turns a galaxy inside out as one necromancer struggles to survive the wreckage of herself aboard the Emperor’s haunted space station.
The Locked Tomb is a 2023 Hugo Award Finalist for Best Series!
Where: The Book Jewel
Date: Monday the 31st
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6259 W. 87th St., Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cue4hpXMfac/
Vanguard of Knowledge: A Racial Justice Book Club & Black Skin, White Masks at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join Black Women for Wellness and the Los Angeles Public Library’s Social Science, Philosophy, and Religion Departments for the launch of The Vanguard of Knowledge: A Racial Justice Book Club. Our book of the month is Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon. This book delves into the psychological impact of colonization and racism on Black individuals, exposing the internalized racism and identity challenges faced in a white-dominated society.
Parking is $1.00 with validation if you park at the 524 South Flower Street Garage from 3 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Where: Central LIbrary, LAPL, Meeting Room B
Date: Monday the 31st
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/vanguard-knowledge-racial-justice-book-club
Mar Vista Book Club & Community Tea at Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
This new book club welcomes all readers, and no sign-up is required.
For each month’s title, please contact the branch. Copies of the book are available at the Reference Desk for check-out.
Where: Mar Vista Branch LIbrary, LAPL, Community Room
Date: Monday the 31st
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 12006 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mar-vista-book-club-books-and-communi-tea
Poetry Night Monday Open Mic & Featured Guests at The Platform, DTLA – In-Person Event
Join the Poetry Night Open Mic (Before the Comedy Open Mic) with Featured Guests, offered every Monday of the month at The Platform in DTLA.
Must RSVP on Instagram @ thekaliclub213.
Hosted by Lida Parent.
Featured poets TBA.
NOTE: RSVP required.
Where: The Platform, DTLA
Date: Monday the 31st
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1056 Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90015
Website: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10159766485254891&set=a.263642949890
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 31st
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/monday-night-fiction-workshop-tickets-685783786767
Rise and Shine: A Morning Generative Writing Workshop with Nancy Lynee Woo and Shelley Holder – Online Event
Join this series of Tuesday morning sessions of writing poetry and sharing in a supportive setting. Seasoned writers and beginners are all welcome.
Sessions are offered by donation, to increase access to the arts. Please pay what you are able. Suggested: $5-25 per session.
These workshops meet every Tuesday for 8 weeks. You are welcome to come to one or to all of them. Facilitators are Nancy Woo and Shelly Holder. They will switch off teaching each week, so you may benefit from two different workshop leaders! (You will need to sign up for each session individually.)
Five dates remain:
August 1 – Nancy
August 8 – Shelly
August 15 – Nancy
August 22 – Shelly
August 29 – Nancy
About the Facilitators:
Nancy Lynée Woo is a poet, writer, organizer, and climate activist who harbors a wild love for the natural world. Her debut poetry collection is I’d Rather Be Lightening (GASHER Press, March 2023). Nancy has received fellowships from Artists at Work, PEN America, Arts Council for Long Beach, and Idyllwild Writers Week. Her work has been published in The Shore, Tupelo Quarterly, Stirring, Radar Poetry, and other journals and anthologies. Nancy has an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University and a BA in sociology from UC Santa Cruz. Find her cavorting around Long Beach (Tongva land) in California, and online at nancylyneewoo.com or @fancifulnance on social.
Shelly Holder is a poet, book club and workshop facilitator who is working on founding a library of literary magazines. She is a Women Who Submit chapter lead for the San Gabriel Valley. Her poetry can be found (in various formats) at Iron Horse Literary Review, One Art, and Gyroscope Review, among others, as well as on YouTube. You can follow up by visiting http://www.shellyholder.com or her Facebook profile /shellyholderpoet. Shelly lives in what she calls an “outer-outer-outer” suburb of Los Angeles, where she struggles to get an orange tree to fruit.
Where: Rise and Shine Workshops
Date: Tuesday the 1st (through August 29th)
Time: 8 am – 9:30 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://allevents.in/online/rise-and-shine-a-morning-generative-poetry-class/10000651332241267
CalArts Creates @ the Library: Creative Writing at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Teen Event
Sign up for a free 8-session, 4-week course. Participants will conceptualize and produce individual creative writing projects that will include fiction writing, poetry, zine-making, spoken word performance, and more!
Eligible participants should reside in Los Angeles County and be current high school students. All class meetings will take place at Teen’Scape. All materials will be provided. Class dates are 7/11/23 – 8/3/23.
RSVP at site link.
Check to see if space is still available.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Teen Scape
Date: Tuesday the 1st (and Thursday the 3rd): Week 4 of 4-week class
Time: 10 am – 12 pm
Address: 630 W, 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/calarts-creates-library-creative-writing-0
CalArts Creates @ the Library: Zines at Central Library, LAPL – Online Teen Event
Sign up for a free 8-session, 4-week Zine-Making course. Some of the topics that will be covered in this workshop are image creation, creative writing, comics, world-building, narrative structure, printing and copying techniques, zine binding techniques, and more.
Eligible participants should reside in Los Angeles County and be current high school students. All class meetings will take place at Teen’Scape. All materials will be provided. Class dates are 7/11/23 – 8/3/23.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Teen Scape
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/calarts-creates-library-zines-0
Writing Workshop with Jessica Maison at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids & Teen Event
Join an exciting writing workshop designed for aspiring young writers aged 10-13! Led by the talented published author and comics creator Jessica Maison, these sessions will ignite your creativity and help you explore the world of creative writing.
Please contact: ptuck@lapl.org with any questions regarding this workshop.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 5027 Caspar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90041
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/writing-workshp-jessica-maison
Your Author Series Noor Sofi & Brown Is Beautiful at Wilshire Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids Event
Join local illustrator Noor Sofi as she discusses Brown Is Beautiful, an empowering picture book written by Supriya Kelkar and illustrated by Noor. The story follows a young Indian American girl on a hike with her grandparents, where she notices all the natural things that are also brown. The girl collects these beautiful brown items as souvenirs for a scrapbook she plans to give to her new baby brother. Noor Sofi served as the visual developer and illustrator for the book. She has worked with a variety of professional clients in both the animation and publishing industries.
Where: Wilshire Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 4 pm
Address: 149 N. St. Andrews Pl., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/your-author-series-noor-sofi-0
Center Theatre Group: Los Hombres Lobo Viven En Mi Clóset/ The Werewolves Live In My Closet by Oz Jiménez at Benjamin Franklin Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a live play/performance of the play The Werewolves Live In My Closet.
“Because sometimes people are very blind; we see only with our eyes, and we are afraid of what is different.”—Mamá
Seven-year-old, Farid, goes on an adventure to rescue his older brother, Oscar, who he thinks has been taken by werewolves into the closet. During his search, he meets a hornless minotaur, a sweat-sucking vampire and a broom-hating witch and discovers that to be different is to be unique, and that’s OK, because everybody is special in their own way and should be accepted.
As the Benjamin Franklin Branch Library is currently in a temporary location, play readings will take place outside in the parking lot.
Where: Benjamin Franklin Branch LIbrary, LAPL(parking lot)
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 4 pm
Address: 2200 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Author Talk: Mahnaz Badihian & Women Who Fall in Love with My Heart at Woodland Hills Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Poet Mahnaz Badihian will present and discuss his recently published book, Women Who Fall in Love with My Heart.
Where: Woodland Hills Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 5:30 pm – 7 pm
Address: 22200 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/women-who-fall-love-my-heart-conversation-poet-mahnaz-badihian
Book Releases: Sophia N. Lee & Christine Almeda & Lolo’s Sari-Sari Store via Bel Canto Books – Online Kids Event
Author Sophia N. Lee and illustrator Christine Almeda will present and discuss their book, Lolo’s Sari-Sari Store.
A little girl holds lessons learned in her grandfather’s sari-sari store close while adjusting to a new home in this sweet picture book about the joy of community, connection, and Filipino culture.
Where: Bel Canto Books
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 6 pm PT
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events
When Where You Are From Has a Bad Reputation: Readings by 4 Latina Authors via Latina Writers Conference – Online Event
Washington Heights, The Bronx, Compton, and San Bernardino are often depicted in the media as crime ridden, impoverished, and undesirable. This misrepresentation has become the dominant narrative about these places and the residents. Four Latinas share how they counter the misconceptions of their communities, past and present, and in their writing.
Featuring: Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley, Luivette Resto, Jenise Miller, Liz González.
Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley she/her/ella, is the Chapters Liaison and Long Beach, CA Chapter Lead for Women Who Submit. She creates engaging stories for and about bilingual, bicultural brown girls and women. She is the author of Somewhere We Are Human.
Luivette Resto is on the Board of Directors for Women Who Submit, a non-profit organization in Los Angeles focused on women and nonbinary writers. Some of her latest work can be read on Spillway, North American Review, and the latest anthology, Gathering.Her latest collection Living On Islands Not Found On Maps is published by FlowerSong Press. Her first two books of poetry Unfinished Portrait and Ascension have been published by Tía Chucha Press.
Jenise Miller is a Black Panamanian, Compton-based writer, poet, and urban planner whose work explores art, archives, geographic mapping, and intersectional history. She is a 2021 California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellow and PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow. She coordinates the Compton Arts Oral History Project and co-produced “Reading the City” with Sēpia Collective, a conversation series with artists and cultural producers from Compton. Her words have been published in the Acentos Review, Boom California, Cultural Weekly, KCET Artbound, Los Angeles Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and The New York Times. A Pushcart-nominated poet and Voices of Our Nations Arts (VONA) alumna, she is the author of the poetry chapbook The Blvd.
liz gonzález writes creative nonfiction, poetry, and fiction. She is the author of the historical creative nonfiction chapbook The Original OLG: San Bernardino’s First Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, forthcoming from Los Nietos Press in November 2023; the multi-genre book Dancing in the Santa Ana Winds: Poems y Cuentos New and Selected (Los Nietos Press 2018); and the poetry collection Beneath Bone (Manifest Press 2000). Her work appears in various journals and anthologies, including HTI Open Plaza, Air/Light, Poets & Writers Magazine, International Literary Quarterlythe San Francisco Chronicle, and the anthologies San Bernardino Singing, What They Leave Behind, Puro Chicanx Writers of the 21st Century, and Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California.
Virtual Meeting ID: 832 9435 3052 Passcode: 959221
Where: Online Event
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm PT
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.latinawritersconference.org/
Aimee Trudeau, Emily Nelson, & Mai-Yan Kwan & Dirty Gourmet Plant Power: Food for Your Outdoor Adventures at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Aimee Trudeau, Emily Nelson, and Mai-Yan Kwan will discussDirty Gourmet Plant Power: Food for Your Outdoor Adventures.
From the bestselling authors of Dirty Gourmet: Food for Your Outdoor Adventures, comes a new cookbook! The recipes in Dirty Gourmet Plant Power focus on vegan recipes with a global twist. In the spirit of inclusivity and accessibility, the authors have included snacks and meals that work great for play dates at the local park or picnics on the beach, as well as food-fuel for urban and day hikes and on longer wilderness outings.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/Aimee-Trudeau-Emily-Nielson-Mai-Yan-Kwan
At Skylight: Rebecca Sacks, with Amy Gerster, & The Lover at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Rebecca Sacks, in conversation with Amy Gerstler, will present and discuss her new novel, The Lover.
The author of the acclaimed City of a Thousand Gates returns with an intense, page-turning love story between a twenty-seven year-old Canadian woman and a nineteen-year old Israeli soldier, set in contemporary Israel.
The Lover is a provocative, immersive, gorgeously written love story reminiscent of Marguerite Duras’ classic novel. Both books portray a seductive love affair in a colonial setting, atmospheric and rich with foreign detail, that raises unsettling questions about inequality, conflict, intensity, war, and danger. At once beautiful and disturbing, propulsive and poignant, The Lover will entrance readers and hold them spellbound.
Rebecca “Bee” Sacks (they/she) holds an MFA from the Programs in Writing at the University of California, Irvine. Their debut novel, City of a Thousand Gates, was awarded the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for fiction in 2023. A former journalist, they worked at Vanity Fair for several years before moving to Israel to study sacred Jewish texts. Bee now lives in Los Angeles with their dog, Pupik.
Amy Gerstler has published thirteen books of poems, a children’s book and several collaborative artists books with visual artists. She also writes art criticism, other journalism, and nonfiction. Her most recent book of poems, Index of Women, was published by Penguin Random House. Her work has appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies, including The New Yorker, Paris Review, American Poetry Review, Poetry, several volumes of Best American Poetry and The Norton Anthology of Postmodern American Poetry.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-rebecca-sacks-presents-lover-amy-gerstler
Sunflower Nights Readings at Tabula Rasa Bar – In-Person Event
Sunflower Nights presents poetry and literary readings presented by:
Nikolai Garcia grew up in South Central Los Angeles; currently works with homeless youth in East Hollywood; and has been sleeping in Compton for the last fifteen years. His poems have been published in various journals and anthologies, and his first chapbook, Nuclear Shadows of Palm Trees, was released by DSTL Arts. He is co-curator of Trenches Full of Poets Reading Series, held at Page against the Machine every 2nd Thursday of the month.
Sel Borge N/A
Paasha Motamedi is an Iranian-Indonesian-American artist and poet born on Coronado Island and currently based in New York City. With a diverse background and a multidisciplinary approach, his artistic journey has been shaped by his experiences in poetry, cooking, music, and visual arts.
Payton A Davis is a poet and writer, and the author of her second collection, Outhouse.
Yaz Archer is a poet, storyteller, and youth outreach coordinator at Street Poets Inc.
Rena Patel is a South Asian American writer and producer based in Los Angeles, California. She has been a finalist in various screenwriting and playwrighting competitions. Her short play, The Noise of the Storm, was produced in 2021. While attending The Webb Schools, she was a collaborating author on The Boarding School Survival Guide. As of 2021, she is also the Executive Director of Imaginarium Theatre NY where she serves as a producer for various stage shows and readings. She is currently a law student at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
DJ: Missiondecontrol
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Tabula Rasa Bar
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 5125 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: N/A
Tuesday Night Café at Tuesday Night Project – In-Person & Online Zoom Hybrid Event
Tuesday Night Café & Open Mic is offered every 1st & 3rd Tuesday in April through Octoberand was founded by traci kato-kiriyama.
Tuesday Night Project is an Asian American grassroots and volunteer-based organization fiercely devoted to bridging communities by providing programming and interactive spaces for people to connect through artistic expression and strong, creative, community partnerships. Founded in 1998, it has grown into a community of artists, organizers, activists, professionals, independent business owners, educators, and community members.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Tuesday Night Project
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 120 Judge John Aliso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: http://www.tuesdaynightproject.org/
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic with L Rodriguez – Virtual Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and guest L Rodriguez.
L Rodriguez is a life-long resident of Los Angeles, a writer and musician who enjoys getting inspired by people watching. She has published several poems and short stories and is currently working on her first novel, a horror fiction.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 1st
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 1st
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 3301 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405
Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups or https://www.facebook.com/events/213407634459999/?active_tab=discussion
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.
Masks are encouraged. All ages are welcome.
Where: Greenway Court Theatre and YouTube Live Stream
Date: Tuesday the 1st
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
Neverspeak Tuesdays Open Mic at DiPiazza’s – In-Person Event
The Neverspeak Tuesdays Open Mic at DiPiazza’s with Shy But Flyy, will feature guest poet TBA + an open mic.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: DiPiazza’s Pizza
Date: Tuesday the 1st
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
Book Club: The Rose Code at Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, The Rose Code, by author Kate Quinn.
The Rose Code is about three women from very different walks of life who join the lite Bletchley Park code-breaking team during W.W. II to uncover a spy’s dangerous agenda.
To join us on Zoom, please email Shawn at sstamm@lapl.org.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 1:30 pm
Address: 21052 Devonshire St., Chatsworth, CA 91311
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/chatsworth-branch-book-club-10
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 2nd
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
Your Author Series: Mirelle Ortega with Magic & River of Mariposas at Lincoln Heights Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Mirelle Ortega will read and discuss her children’s books, Magic: Once Upon a Faraway Island and River of Mariposas.
The author’s debut book, Magic: Once Upon a Faraway Island, winner of the Pura Belpré Award Honor for illustration, tells the tale of a young girl who learns the true meaning of magic through experiences of change and transformation, ultimately resulting in a captivating picture book for young readers.
In her newest book, River of Mariposas, a young girl dreams of the land’s historic mariposas amarillas and is determined to re-create their glory, even if her butterflies are made of paper. Based on the author’s own memories of a hurricane that diverted the migration of thousands of butterflies through her hometown near Veracruz, Mexico, this beautiful story captures the essence of imagination and the beauty of the unexpected.
Those attending the program will have an opportunity to win a free book.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Lincoln Heights Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 4 pm
Address: 2530 Workman St., Los Angeles, CA 90031
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/your-author-series-mirelle-ortega
Center Theatre Group Play Reading: Los Hombres Lobo Viven En Mi Clóset de Oz Jiménez at Malabar Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person/In-Spanish Event
The Werewolves Live In My Closet by Oz Jiménez, presented by Off The Tracks Theatre Company
Seven-year-old Farid goes on an adventure to rescue his older brother, Oscar, who he thinks has been taken by werewolves into the closet. During his search, he meets a hornless minotaur, a sweat-sucking vampire, and a broom-hating witch, and discovers that to be different is to be unique, and that’s OK because everybody is special in their own way and should be accepted.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Malabar Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 2801 Wabash Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Be the Change: Social justice Writing Workshop with James Coats via L.A. Poet Society – Online Zoom Event
Join the Be the Change Social Justice Writing Workshop, held every 1st Wednesday of the month and led by poet and author James Coats.
James Coats is a poet, performer, and educator born in Los Angeles and raised in the Inland Empire. He believes that poetry can bring diverse groups together, offering a way to connect through shared challenges, achievements and experiences. He is the winner of the 2021 San Gabriel Poetry Slam. His poetry workshop through his organization Lift Our Voices Education is called Be The Change: Social Justice Writing Workshop. Coats has three self-published poetry collections: If I had Lived published in 2018, All The Ways You Are Wonderful in 2020, and Home Is A Voice in 2022. His newest poetry collection Midnight & Mad Dreams was published by World Stage Press released Aug. 13, 2022
Workshop is free: name your own price.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Lift Our Voices Education – Online
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event Zoom ID: 826 5843 0669 Password: justice
Book Discussion: Karen Knotts & Tied Up in Knotts at Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join an Author Book Discussion online with Karen Knotts to discuss her memoir, Tied Up in Knotts.
Karen Knotts will discuss via Zoom her book Tied Up in Knotts: My Dad and Me, about her famous father, Don Knotts, also known by his TV name “Barney Fife” on The Andy Griffith Show. In her book, Karen provides a full-life narrative of her father: Don’s difficult childhood in an abusive home, his escape into comedic performance, his becoming a household name, his growth as a feature film actor, his failing health, and his family life throughout, leading to touching and hilarious moments that will make the reader laugh and cry.
RSVP:
Registration is required. Please email silver@lapl.org for the Zoom link.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online Event
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/interview-author-karen-knotts
Zoraida Córdova, with Leigh Bardugo, & Kiss the Girl at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Zoraida Córdova, in conversation with Leigh Bardugo, will discussKiss the Girl.
Ariel del Mar is one of the most famous singers in the world. She and her sisters—together, known as the band Siren Seven—have been a pop culture phenomenon since they were kids. On stage, wearing her iconic red wig and sequined costumes, staring out at a sea of fans, is where she shines. Anyone would think she’s the girl who has everything. But at the end of her farewell tour, Ariel crosses paths with Eric Reyes, dreamy lead singer of an up-and-coming band. Unaware of her true identity, Eric spontaneously invites her on the road for the summer. And for the first time in her life, Ariel disobeys her father—and goes with him.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/Zoraida-Cordova
Writing Workshop: Christine Kandic Torresat North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Christine Kandic Torres will present a writing workshop and discuss her book, The Girls in Queens, her first novel.
Christine Kandic Torres was born and raised in New York City. Her Pushcart Prize-nominated short stories have been published in various literary journals, such as Catapult, Kweli, Lunch Ticket, and Cosmonauts Avenue. She has received support for her work from Hedgebrook, VONA, and the Jerome Foundation with an Emerging Artist Fellowship for fiction. For her debut novel, The Girls in Queens, she received a 2020 New Work Grant from the Queens Council on the Arts. Christine currently lives in the suburbs with her family, but still supports writers in her home borough through her work with Newtown Literary, a journal and non-profit organization that serves Queens residents.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/events/82-7pm-writing-workshop-christine-kandic-torres/
At Skylight: Edan Lepucki, with Rufi Thorpe, & Time’s Mouth at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Edan Lepucki, in conversation with Rufi Thorpe, will present and discuss her new novel, Time’s Mouth.
This book is an enthralling saga about family secrets that grow more powerful with time, set against the magical, dangerous landscape of California.
Ursa possesses a very special gift. She can travel through memory and revisit her past. After she flees her hometown for the counterculture glory of 1950’s California, the intoxicating potential of her unique ability eventually draws a group of women into her orbit and into a ramshackle Victorian mansion in the woods outside Santa Cruz. Yet Ursa’s powers come with a cost. Soon this cultish community of sisterhood takes an ominous turn, prompting her son, Ray, and his pregnant lover, Cherry, to flee their home for Los Angeles and reinvent themselves far from Ursa’s insidious influence. But escaping their past won’t be so easy. A series of mysterious events forces Cherry to abandon their baby, leaving Ray to raise Opal alone.
Now a teenager and still heartbroken over the abandonment of the mother she never knew, Opal must journey into her own past to reveal the generations of secrets that gave rise to the shimmering source of her family’s painful legacy. Time’s Mouth is a poignant and evocative excavation of the bonds that bind families together.
Edan Lepucki is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels California and Woman No. 17, as well as the editor of Mothers Before: Stories and Portraits of Our Mothers as We Never Saw Them. Her nonfiction has been published in The New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Esquire Magazine, and The Cut, among other publications. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.
Rufi Thorpe received her MFA from the University of Virginia in 2009. She is the author of three novels, The Girls from Corona Del Mar, Dear Fang, With Love, and her most recent, The Knockout Queen, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award. She lives in California with her husband and two sons.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-edan-lepucki-presents-times-mouth-w-rufi-thorpe
Naomi Hirahara, & Evergreen at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Naomi Hirahara will present and discuss her new novel, Evergreen (A Japantown Mystery #2), the follow=up to Clark and Division.
A Japanese American nurse’s aide navigates the dangers of post-WWII and post-Manzanar life as she attempts to find justice for a broken family in this follow-up to the Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning Clark and Division.
It’s been two years since Aki Ito and her family were released from Manzanar detention center and resettled in Chicago with other Japanese Americans. Now the Itos have finally been allowed to return home to California—but nothing is as they left it. The entire Japanese American community is starting from scratch, with thousands of people living in dismal refugee camps while they struggle to find new houses and jobs in over-crowded Los Angeles.
Aki is working as a nurse’s aide at the Japanese Hospital in Boyle Heights when an elderly Issei man is admitted with suspicious injuries. When she seeks out his son, she is shocked to recognize her husband’s best friend, Babe Watanabe. Could Babe be guilty of elder abuse?
Only a few days later, Little Tokyo is rocked by a murder at the low-income hotel where the Watanabes have been staying. When the cops start sniffing around Aki’s home, she begins to worry that the violence tearing through her community might threaten her family. What secrets have the Watanabes been hiding, and can Aki protect her husband from getting tangled up in a murder investigation? (Soho Crime)
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA., 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Naomi-Hirahara-discusses-Evergreen
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 — Reading: TBA;
- 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@gmail.com or call (323) 293-2451
Where: The World Stage
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4321 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.instagram.com/anansiwritersworkshop/
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 workshop facilitator is James Cushing, who retired in 2020 after thirty-five years teaching literature and creative writing in San Luis Obispo, CA, where he served as the community’s poet laureate in 2008-2010. Cushing’s poems have appeared widely and his collections include The Length of an Afternoon, Undercurrent Blues, Pinocchio’s Revolution, The Magicians’ Union, Solace, and Tangled Hologram, all from Cahuenga Press in Los Ángeles.
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 2nd
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg & Feature Margaret Elysia Garcia 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 featured guest Margaret Elysia Garcia.
Margaret Elysia Garcia is the author of Graft, a collection of short stories published by Tolsun Books (2022), the poetry collection the daughterland published by El Martillo Press (2023), and the poetry memoir chapbook Burn Scars. Together with Dani Burlison, she’s the co-editor of the forthcoming anthology Red Flag Warning: Northern Californians Living with Fire to be published by Heyday Books in 2024. Margaret’s work has been featured in the Akashic Noir Series Santa Cruz Noir, PM Press’ All of Me: Stories of Love, Anger, and the Female Body, and Catamaran Literary Reader, among other places. She’s currently editing a second collection of stories and working on a novel among other projects large and small.
The format is to welcome a featured artist for an individual reading, as well as an Open Mic reading.
$4 cover fee, cash only.
NOTE: See site for further details and to verify.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/people/Two-Idiots-Peddling-Poetry/
CalArts Creates @ the Library: Creative Writing at Central Library, LAPL– In-Person Teen Event
Sign up for a free 8-session, 4-week course. Participants will conceptualize and produce individual creative writing projects that will include fiction writing, poetry, zine-making, spoken word performance, and more!
Eligible participants should reside in Los Angeles County and be current high school students. All class meetings will take place at Teen’Scape. All materials will be provided. Class dates are 7/11/23 – 8/3/23.
Register at https://tinyurl.com/LAPLSummer2023
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 10 am – 12 pm
Address: 630 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/calarts-creates-library-creative-writing
CalArts Creates @ the Library: Zines at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Teen Event
The Los Angeles Public Library is proud to present a free four-week zine making course for teens. Some of the topics that will be covered in this workshop are image creation, creative writing, comics, world-building, narrative structure, printing and copying techniques, zine binding techniques, and more.
Eligible participants should reside in Los Angeles County and be current high school students. All class meetings will take place at Teen’Scape. All materials will be provided. Class dates are 7/11/23 – 8/3/23.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Teen Scape
Date: Thursday the 3rd (week 4 of 4)
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Where: 630 W. 5ht St, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/calarts-creates-library-zines
Your Author Series: Kim Dwinell & Surfside Girls at Wilmington Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids Event
Local author and illustrator Kim Dwinell will discuss her graphic novel (now an Apple IV Things are getting weird in Surfside. Lately, Samantha’s best friend Jade explodes into fits of giggles whenever she sees a boy, and it’s throwing a wrench into the kick-back summer of surfing and hanging out that Sam had planned. But after swimming through a secret underwater cave, Sam starts to… see things. Like ghosts. And pirates. And maybe something even scarier! Can she and Jade get to the bottom of this mystery in time to save their town?
While Kim Dwinell has a fondness for stories that rivals her love for the beach, she has had a career as both a beach lifeguard and an animator, having worked on notable films such as The Swan Princess, Cats Don’t Dance, Hercules, Mulan, and Tarzan. Kim also shares her knowledge by teaching animation at CSU Long Beach. When she isn’t in the classroom or at her desk, you might find her participating in a 10K run, sailing on the ocean in her boat, or riding the waves on her surfboard. series) Surfside Girls.
Those attending the program will have an opportunity to win a free book.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Wilmington Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 3:30 pm
Where: 1200 N. Avalon Blvd., Wilmington, CA 90744
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/your-author-series-kim-dwinell-0
Comic Book/Graphic Novel Creation Workshop at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids Event
This workshop consists of having students develop and write their very own comic books by working with them to write a script and translate it to visual form on various panels provided by Carlos. Once the panels are all drawn in, students will ink in the panels with technical pens, then color in the panels with colored pencils. Finally, they will create their own cover. Carlos will then take all the original art, scan it in, align all pages on Photoshop, print out, and assemble final comic books to be given to all participants.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 3:30 pm
Where: 5027 Caspar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90041
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/we-love-la-book-club-0
Author Event: Christopher Rivas & Brown Enough at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Author and actor Christopher Rivas will share his latest book, Brown Enough. At a time when disinformation, hate crimes, inequality, racial injustice, and white supremacy are on the rise, Brown Enough, part memoir and part social commentary, emerges, asking readers to proudly put their bodies, their identities, into the conversations of race.
From world-renowned actor John Leguizamo: “Brown Enough is a celebration of Brownness and a manifesto about the magic, beauty, and heartbreak that comes with being Brown in America. Brownness is more than our skin color or language or where we grew up; it’s also about the common threads that connect us all. I’m excited to see Christopher’s impact continue to grow as one of the key voices of his generation.”
Christopher Rivas is one of the most sought after multi-hyphenates as an actor, author, and storyteller. His book Brown Enough explores what it means to be Brown in America. The book is part memoir and part social commentary. He also developed two shows with SiriusXM’s Stitcher: Brown Enough, which explores the parallel themes of his book; and Rubirosa, a 10-episode documentary-style investigation of Porfirio Rubirosa, a Dominican diplomat who is believed to be the inspiration for the famous character ‘James Bond.’ On screen, Rivas is known for his work on the Fox series, Call Me Kat.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/28035
Tilly Bridges & Begin Transmission at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Tilly Bridges will present and discus her book, Begin Transmission: the trans allegories of The Matrix, in paperback.
Trans woman and screenwriter Tilly Bridges takes you through the trans allegories of the Matrix franchise, with deep dives into The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Animatrix, The Matrix Revolutions, and The Matrix Resurrections, tracking one person’s transition journey, from Thomas Anderson, to Neo…to Trinity.
Each movie’s allegory is deeply layered, building from movie to movie, and speaks to a different aspect of trans existence. You’ll learn how color is used to convey more than you realize, how Neo’s psyche is personified in the people around him, how no other mass media franchise speaks as truly, deeply, and honestly to the trans experience, and exactly why these movies are beloved and vital to the trans community (and their cis allies). Free your mind and see just how deep the rabbit hole goes.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/Tilly-Bridges
Laura Warrell, with Meg Howry, & Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Laura Warrell, in conversation with Meg Howry, will discuss her book, Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, her first novel.
Delivering a diversity of female voices, Warrell tells a gripping story of passion and risk, fathers and daughters, wives and single women, hope and reconciliation.
Laura Warrell’s writing has been published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Lit Hub, Los Angeles Review of Books, Huffington Post, The Rumpus, The Writer, and other publications. Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm is her first novel.
Meg Howrey is the author of the novels The Wanderers, The Cranes Dance, Blind Sight, and most recently, They’re Going to Love You, which was a New York Times Best Book of the Month and a New Yorker Best Book of 2022. She is also the coauthor, writing under the pen-name Magnus Flyte, of the New York Times Bestseller City of Dark Magic and City of Lost Dreams. Her fiction has appeared in Granta and her non-fiction has appeared in Vogue and The Los Angeles Review of Books. She is a former professional dancer and currently lives in Los Angeles.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/events/83-7pm-laura-warrell/
Book Launch: Courtney Kae & In the Case of Heartbreak at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
The Ripped Bodice presents Courtney Kae to chat about their new romance novel with author Jenny L. Howe.
There will be a book signing to follow. This is a ticketed event that includes a copy of In the Case of Heartbreak.
Can’t attend the event? Signed books are available for in-store pick-up and shipping.
About In the Case of Heartbreak (Fern Falls #2):
With a gorgeous beachfront mansion, salty ocean breeze, steamy nights, and ALL the summertime feels, this funny, sexy queer rom-com is a celebration of summer love, as a cinnamon roll of a pastry chef finds his indie rocker crush suddenly within reach. Perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston, Roan Parrish, Alexandria Bellefleur, Ruby Barrett, and Alexis Hall!
When his hometown crush suddenly returns his affections at a seaside celebration, pastry chef Ben Parrish must find a way to pursue his dream of moving his bakery to San Francisco – without losing the love he’s always wanted…
Ben has been baking his grandma’s cinnamon rolls at the family café for years. He’s been quietly in love with Adam Reed, his musician-slash-mechanic neighbor, for just as long. But Ben’s done waiting behind the pastry case. He’s entered a make-or-break competition to show off his own recipes. He’s going to buy his overprotective family out of the business. And he’s going to ask Adam out. TONIGHT.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
At Skylight: Kyle Dillon Hertz, with Rasheed Newson, & The Lookback Window: A Novel at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Kyle Dillon Hertz, in conversation with Rasheed Newson, will present and discuss his debut novel The Lookback Window: A Novel.
Growing up in suburban New York, Dylan lived through the unfathomable: three years as a victim of sex trafficking at the hands of Vincent, a troubled young man who promised to marry Dylan when he turned eighteen. Years later—long after a police investigation that went nowhere, and after the statute of limitations for the crimes perpetrated against him have run out—the long shadow of Dylan’s trauma still looms over the fragile life in the city he’s managed to build with his fiancé, Moans, who knows little of Dylan’s past. His continued existence depends upon an all-important mantra: To survive, you live through it, but never look back.
Then a groundbreaking new law—the Child Victims Act—opens a new way forward: a one-year window during which Dylan can sue his abusers. But for someone who was trafficked as a child, does money represent justice—does his pain have a price? As Dylan is forced to look back at what happened to him and try to make sense of his past, he begins to explore a drug and sex-fueled world of bathhouses, clubs, and strangers’ apartments, only to emerge, barely alive, with a new clarity of purpose: a righteous determination to gaze, unflinching, upon the brutal men whose faces have haunted him for a decade, and to extract justice on his own terms.
Kyle Dillon Hertz received an MFA in fiction at NYU, where he was the Writer in Public Schools Fellow. He lives in Brooklyn.
Rasheed Newson is a television drama writer, a showrunner, and a novelist. Rasheed–along with his television writing partner, T.J. Brady–is a co-creator and executive producer of the drama series Bel-Air. Rasheed and T.J. have also worked on The Chi, Animal Kingdom, and Narcos, among other drama series. In addition to his work in television, Rasheed is the author of the novel My Government Means to Kill Me. It was named one of “The 100 Notable Books of 2022” by The New York Times, and it is a Lambda Literary finalist for Gay Fiction. Rasheed lives with his husband and their two children in Pasadena, California.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Tonalli Tuesday: Featured Poets & Open Mic via LAPS Online – Online Zoom Event
Please join Tonalli Thursdays every 1st Thursday of the month to hear featured guest poets and Open Mic readers.
This month’s featured poets TBA, and the event will be hosted by Angel Miguel Lopez.
NOTE: See site for link, event details.
Where: Tonalli Thursdays Open Mic – Online LAPS Zoom event
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: Online via Zoom: 897 1039 1895
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Spencer Quinn & Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Spencer Quinn will present and discuss his novel, Mrs. Planksy’s Revenge.
Mrs. Loretta Plansky, a recent widow in her seventies, is settling into retirement in Florida while dealing with her 98-year-old father and fielding requests for money from her beloved children and grandchildren. Thankfully, her new hip hasn’t changed her killer tennis game one bit.
One night Mrs. Plansky is startled awake by a phone call from a voice claiming to be her grandson Will, who desperately needs ten thousand dollars to get out of a jam. Of course, Loretta obliges—after all, what are grandmothers for, even grandmothers who still haven’t gotten a simple “thank you” for a gift sent weeks ago. Not that she’s counting.
By morning, Mrs. Plansky has lost everything. Law enforcement announces that Loretta’s life savings have vanished, and that it’s hopeless to find the scammers behind the heist. First humiliated, then furious, Loretta Plansky refuses to be just another victim.
In a courageous bid for justice, Mrs. Plansky follows her only clue on a whirlwind adventure to a small village in Romania to get her money and her dignity back—and perhaps find a new lease on life, too.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Spencer-Quinn-discusses-Mrs-Planskys-Revenge
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 4th
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event
First Fridays Book Clubat Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
First Fridays Book Club participants will read and discuss the selection for this month.
Call or email us to find out what book we’re reading this month.
RSVP:
E-mail dmatthews@lapl.org for more information.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Friday the 4th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 4625 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/first-fridays-book-club-0
Adam Rex, with Racquel Marie, & A Little Like Waking at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Adam Rex, in conversation with Racquel Marie, will present and discuss his book, A Little like Waking.
Zelda is stuck in a dream. A very strange dream, where people can fly, bears sneeze money, and her childhood cat, Patches, is somehow alive—despite being run over years ago. Things only get stranger when Zelda meets Langston, a sweet if overly timid guy who feels more real to her than anyone she’s ever met.
As Zelda and Langston explore the far reaches of the dreamscape together, they find themselves growing closer and closer. But what they uncover along the way pushes them towards a truth neither of them wants to face. Will it turn out that he’s the guy of her dreams, or is she the girl of his?
Full of mind-bending artwork, Adam Rex’s A Little Like Waking is a tender, insightful read that defies time, space, and expectation that’s perfect for fans of Every Day and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Racquel Marie grew up in Southern California, where her passion for storytelling of all kinds was encouraged by her friends and big family. She received a BA in English with an emphasis in creative writing and a minor in gender and sexuality studies from the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Ophelia After All, You Don’t Have a Shot, and many unfinished first drafts.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Friday the 4th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Adam-Rex-with-Racquel-Marie-discusses-A-Little-Like-Waking
At Skylight: Khashayar Khabushani, with Dave Trejo, & I WILL GREET THE SUN AGAIN at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Khashayar Khabushani, in conversation with Dave Trejo, will present and discuss his debut, I Will Greet the Sun Again, about an Iranian American boy searching for his place in the world.
Growing up in the San Fernando Valley with his two brothers, all K wants is to be “a boy from L.A.,” all American. But K—the youngest, named after a Persian king—knows there’s something different about himself. Like the way he feels about his closest friend, Johnny, a longing that he can’t share with anyone.
When Baba takes the three brothers from their mother back to Iran, K finds himself in an ancestral home he barely knows. Returning to the Valley months later, K must piece together who he is, in a world that now feels as foreign to him as the one he left behind.
Khashayar J. Khabushani was born in Van Nuys, California, in 1992. During his childhood he spent time in Iran before returning to Los Angeles. He studied philosophy at California State University, Northridge, and prior to completing his MFA at Columbia University he worked as a middle school teacher. This is his first novel.
Dave Trejo has been in the education field since 2003. He started as a substitute teacher and is entering his 10th year as a school principal. Dave has helped open 3 schools and leads unapologetically with transparency and love. He is a certified restorative practices trainer and an accomplished public speaker. Dave met a young and exuberant Khashayar when he was fresh out of undergrad and naive enough to take a teaching position for one year at a small charter school next to the Pacoima Projects. Dave is the youngest of 5 to a single immigrant mother who’s living room wall bears the degrees of her children from USC, UCLA, Cal Poly Pomona, Columbia, and Princeton. He is also a husband and a proud father of two. If you speak with him for longer than 5 minutes you will likely hear some cringey dad jokes and definitely see pics of his kids.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Friday the 4th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
2023 Latina Writers Conference: Celebrating Women of Resilience: A Tribute to Activists at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
Beyond Baroque presents Celebrating Women of Resilience: A Photographic Tribute to the Activists, part of the 2023 Latina Writers Conference.
Revolutionary Women of Color will present “Celebrating Women of Resilience: A Photographic Tribute to the Activists,” featuring Claudia D. Hernández, Felicia Montes, Josie Méndez-Negrete, Leticia Hernández-Linares, and Margaret Garcia.
Women, Mujeres, Ixoq: Revolutionary Visions, edited by Claudia D. Hernández, showcases the creativity of women artists committed to social justice. Through photos, videos, and oral histories, this project aims to inspire and transform communities. The book highlights the resilience of women and encourages young people to become role models, emphasizing the importance of nurturing respectful men. It reminds us that every woman has a revolutionary story.
The Latina Writers Conference is a program that gathers Latina creatives from the Southern California region to discuss topics central to their work as writers, performers, agents, editors, publishers, producers, and booksellers. LWC supports the wider representation of Latina voices in publishing, production, and performance, and celebrates all that Latina writers have accomplished, continue to accomplish, and will accomplish in the future. This year’s cross-Los Angeles conference will be held from July 30 to August 5, with a culminating celebration on August 6 at Plaza de la Raza.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Friday the 4th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm (Doors at 7 pm; Panel at 7:30 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90291
SWAAM Reading Series& Open Mic, with host Lorenzo Frank: Anniversary Show – In-Person Event
SWAAM Spoken Word, Art & Music will celebrate its 15th Anniversary show.
Featured artists:
Conney Williams, former World Stage Artistic Director, is the author most recently of The Distance of Observation.
Phil Mabon is an actor, poet, and spoken word artist.
Shaleya Anderson, aka Leya Speaks, is an actress, poet, and entertainer.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center
Date: Friday the 4th
Time: 8 pm – 11 pm
Address: 4305 Degnan Boulevard #101 Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.instagram.com/swaamofficialpage/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/162322976811322
First Fridays Rapp Saloon Reading Series, with host Cynthia Alessandra Briano, via Rapp Saloon – Hybrid In-Person & Online Event
First Fridays at Rapp Saloon: Open Mic & Featured Readers, is offered every 1st Friday of the month by host Cynthia Alessandra Briano.
This event is a HYBRID event, with a return to live in-person events while maintaining at HISUA Zoom option for our performers and guests.
Our featured guest poets and artists this month TBA
Share your voice at the Open Mic, where there is a time limit of 4 minutes max. Sign-ups are at 8:15 pm. Zoom ID posted 3 hours prior to event.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Rapp Saloon at HISUA – In-Person & Online Event
Date: Friday the 4th
Time: 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Address: 1436 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Sounds of Summer Workshops: A DSTL Arts x LAPL Collaboration – Online Event
This new, 8-week series of writing workshops for novice writers and English Language Learners explore the origins of Language across multiple cultures and a variety of poetic tools for creative expression.
This date is the 4th of eight workshops.
Attend one workshop or attend all eight; this series is free and will help you think of Summer in a whole new way.
*Note: this workshop series is offered via Zoom only, and occurs weekly from Saturday, July 8–Saturday, August 26th, at 10:30 AM–12 PM. Handouts will only be provided to workshop attendees.
DSTL Arts invites you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81185877271?pwd=dFRibWhicW1mYVlITFpTZkcyeDBwUT09
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: DSTL Arts & LAPL
Date: Saturday the 5th (until August 26th)
Time: 10:30 am – 12 pm
Address: 2011 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.dstlarts.org/calendar or https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81185877271?pwd=dFRibWhicW1mYVlITFpTZkcyeDBwUT09
Book Discussions: Borders at Palms-Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Book Discussions offers lively discussions of a wide range of books and topics. Copies are available at reference/information desk and on our website as ebooks. Books selected from the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2022.
Aug. 5: The Goodbye Coast (2022) by Joe Ide.
*Special local guest to discuss how L.A. mysteries are portrayed in books vs. how they play out in real time.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Palms-Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 11 am
Address: 2920 Overland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-discussions
Poetry Workshop for Adults at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
This event is an inclusive, in-person poetry workshop for adults, where poets of all levels can come together, share their work, and foster a vibrant poetry community. Participants are invited to bring a poem, no longer than one page, to read and receive valuable feedback from fellow poets. Engage in thoughtful discussions and provide your own insights on the work of others. Whether you’re a seasoned poet or just starting out, this workshop offers a supportive environment to refine your craft, connect with like-minded individuals, and celebrate the power of words.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Literature & Fiction Study Rooms
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 11 am – 1 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-workshop-0
Book Club: Year of the Tiger at Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life, a memoir by Alice Wong.
In Chinese culture, the tiger is deeply revered for its confidence, passion, ambition, and ferocity. That same fighting spirit resides in Alice Wong.
Drawing on a collection of original essays, previously published work, conversations, graphics, photos, commissioned art by disabled and Asian American artists, and more, Alice uses her unique talent to share an impressionistic scrapbook of her life as an Asian American disabled activist, community organizer, media maker, and dreamer. From her love of food and pop culture to her unwavering commitment to dismantling systemic ableism, Alice shares her thoughts on creativity, access, power, care, the pandemic, mortality, and the future. As a self-described disabled oracle, Alice traces her origins, tells her story, and creates a space for disabled people to be in conversation with one another and the world.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL, Literature & Fiction Study Rooms
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 11 am
Address: 1874 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-10
Tia Chucha’s Book Club: Yasmin Ramirez & Andale Prieta at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – Online Event
Book Club will feature Yasmine Ramirez and her book, Andale Prieta.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/tiachuchas/?hl=en
Let Comics Tell Your Tale: Create a Mini-Zine with Mr. Steveat Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
Comics can be like a series of postcards and scrapbook photos that tell a story!
Using no-frills, low-tech tools (i.e., pencils, paper, and maybe few pens), Vroman’s own Mr. Steve will lead you on a trip back in time to the 90s zine scene, where you’ll create a 4-page mini-comic!
When Mr. Steve isn’t reading stories at Storytime, or selling books for Vroman’s Bookstore, he’s writing and editing comics for indie publisher Antarctic Press.
Please make a reservation: rsvp@vromansbookstore.com
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 11 am
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Let-Comics-Tell-Your-Tale-Create-a-Mini-Zine-with-Mr-Steve
Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series & Open Mic at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us every 1st & 3rd Saturday in-person or via Zoom for Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series, featuring poetry readings and open poetry mic.
RSVP:
Please email studio@lapl.org for instructions on how to join the program.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/expressions-la-poetry-reading-series-and-open-mic-0
Creative Writing Group at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Calling all writers of fiction, screenplays, poetry, etc. Get feedback on your writing in a fun, supportive environment. Meetings include a writing prompt/exercise, snacks, and a rollicking good time! Whether you are just starting out or well on your way to glory, join us every other Saturday afternoon from 3:00-5:00 p.m. and banish (at least temporarily) those Lonely Writer Blues!
RSVP:
RSVP to fiction@lapl.org today!
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Literature & Fiction Study Rooms
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 630 W, 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/writers-group-0
Poetry Writing Workshop via Saturday Afternoon Poetry – Online Only Event
Poetry Writing Workshop (Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines in the form of the ghazal for Four Feathers Press online edition: Ghazal Train by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59pm, August 12th).
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Hillary Gravendyk 2021 Poetry Prize Book Launch at Riverside Main Library – In-Person Event
Join the Inlandia Institute to celebrate the publication of two exciting new poetry books:
How to Know You’re Dreaming When You’re Dreaming, Lesson One by Angelica Maria Barraza Tran (National Hillary Gravendyk Poetry Prize, 2021) and Our Lady of Perpetual Desert by Alexandra Martinez (Hillary Gravendyk Regional Prize, 2021) are hot off the press and ready to launch.
And for the first time, both the National and Regional prize winners hail from the Inlandia region! National prize winner Angelica Maria Barraza Tran lives in Redlands, and Regional prize winner Alexandra Martinez is a resident of Yucca Valley. Each has been awarded $1,000 and book publication. Help us celebrate these talented local poets and welcome their beautiful collections into the world with poetry readings, snapping fingers, and summertime refreshments provided by Riverside’s beloved sculpture garden/taqueria, Tio’s Tacos.
Where: Riverside Main Library, Community Room
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 3900 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside 92501
Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/my-calendar/?mc_id=2099
Middle Grade Book Launch: Tom Phillips & John Boarhog and Toadius McGee at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person MG Event
Author Tom Phillips will discuss and share the latest adventures of John Boarhog and Toadius McGee.
Despite a lifelong struggle with dyslexia, Tom Phillips grew up with a passion for storytelling. He writes books that kids can enjoy on their own, but also read aloud and share, including the first book in the Curious League series, Egypt’s Fire. He’s had a long career as a writer and artist for clients such as LeVar Burton Kids, HBO, Disney, and ABC. An armchair Sherlockian, Tom lives in Los Angeles with his lovely wife and his dog, Dr. Watson. Visit him online at TomPhillipsWriter.com.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/27961
Monthly Open Mic: Host and Featuresat LibroMobile – In-Person Event
Join LibroMobile on 1st Saturdays for our open mic series hosted by Local Poet Kunthon “Katon” Meas, he’ll be featuring local writers & hold the mic for all of you!
They hope to keep up with their tradition of prioritizing BIPOC voices as well as honoring a safe space for all.
They’re a community in various stages of our writing & performing experience. We aspire to cultivate a space of empowerment, not a critical feedback or workshop circle.
Keep an eye out for our featured poets!
NOTE: See site for details. RSVP at link.
Where: LibroMobile
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1150 S. Bristol St., A3, Santa Ana, CA 92704
El Martillo Press Author Reading: Margaret Elysia Garcia, Ceasar K. Avelar & Donato Martinezat Midnight Books – In-Person Event
Join El Martillo Press authors: Margaret Elysia Garcia, Ceasar K. Avelar, and Donato Martinez at Midnight Books in Whittier! This event will be hosted by El Martillo Press co-founders Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero.
Authors:
Margaret Elysia Garcia is the author of the short story collection Graft, the chapbook Burn Scars, and the daughterland (El Martillo Press, 2023). She’s the co-editor of the anthology Red Flag Warning: Northern Californians Living with Fire out on Heyday Books in 2024. She writes about family, culture, and surviving climate change disasters.
Ceasar K. Avelar is the current Poet Laureate of Pomona. He is the writer in residence of Cafe con Libros Press, and the founder of Obsidian Tongues open mic. Avelar writes through the sociological lens of a blue-collar worker. He is the author of God of the Air Hose and Other Blue-Collar Poems (El Martillo Press, 2023). Avelar will graduate this summer from Cal Poly Pomona with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology.
Donato Martinez was born in the small pueblo, Garcia de la Cadena, Zacatecas, Mexico and immigrated into the USA at six years old. He teaches English composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at Santa Ana College. He has also taught classes in Chicano Studies. He has a self-published collection with three other Inland Empire poets, Tacos de Lengua. His full collection of poetry, Touch the Sky, was published by El Martillo Press in June 2023.
Co-founders:
Matt Sedillo has been described as the “best political poet in America” as well as “the poet laureate of the struggle.” His work has drawn comparisons in print to Bertolt Brecht, Roque Dalton, Amiri Baraka, Alan Ginsberg, Carl Sandburg, and various other legends of the past.
David A. Romero is a Mexican American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA. Romero is the author of My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press), a book reviewed by Gustavo Arellano (¡Ask a Mexican!), Curtis Marez (University Babylon), and founding member of Ozomatli, Ulises Bella.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Midnight Books
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 7201 Greenleaf Ave., Ste. D, Whittier, CA 90602
Website: https://www.elmartillopress.com/events-1/el-martillo-press-midnight-books
A Reading with Katie Farris & Ilya Kaminsky at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join Beyond baroque for a reading in celebration of Standing in the Forest of Being Alive (Alice James Books) by Katie Farris. She will be reading from her new poetry collection and joined by author Ilya Kaminsky. A book signing will follow after the reading.
A reception with light refreshments will be served before and after the readings.
Katie Farris’s work has been commissioned by MoMA and appears in American Poetry Review, Granta, McSweeneys, The Nation, and Poetry. She is the author of the chapbook A Net to Catch My Body in its Weaving, which won the 2020 Chad Walsh Poetry Award from Beloit Poetry Journal, and boysgirls, a hybrid-form book, as well as co-translator of many books of poetry. She holds degrees from UC Berkeley and Brown University. She is currently Associate Professor in Creative Writing at Georgia Institute of Technology. Standing in the Forest of Being Alive (Alice James Books, 2023) is her first book of poems.
Ilya Kaminsky is the author of Deaf Republic (Graywolf Press) and Dancing In Odessa (Tupelo Press) and co-editor and co-translated many other books, including Ecco Anthology of International Poetry (Harper Collins) and Dark Elderberry Branch: Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva (Alice James Books). His work won The Los Angeles Times Book Award, The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, The National Jewish Book Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, The Whiting Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Metcalf Award, Lannan Fellowship, Academy of American Poets’ Fellowship, NEA Fellowship, Poetry magazine’s Levinson Prize, and was also shortlisted for the National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, Neustadt International Literature Prize, and T.S. Eliot Prize (UK). Deaf Republic was The New York Times’ Notable Book for 2019, and was also named Best Book of 2019 by dozens of other publications.
NOTE: See site for further details, RSVP free tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-reading-with-katie-farris-ilya-kaminsky-tickets-667833085737
Griot Café Open Mic with Sistah Shy & Samuel Rain & Featured Guest 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 5th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 1001 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://shadesofafrika.com/griot-cafe-open-mic-poetry/
Children’s Reading: Charlotte Offsay & Challah Day at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Kids Event
Author Charlotte Offsay will read from her picture book, Challah Day!
This book is about a family that mixes, kneads, and braids bread in a rhyming story about a Jewish holiday food that’s baked with love.
Charlotte Offsay was born in England, grew up in Boston, and currently lives in Los Angeles. Every Friday she bakes challah for Shabbat with her husband and two children. She is the author of four picture books. Challah Day! is her first book for Holiday House. Learn more about Charlotte’s work at CharlotteOffsay.com and follow her on Twitter at @COffsay and on Instagram at @picturebookrecommendations.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/27960
Books & Brews: 1st Annual Adult Scholastic Book Fair at Mt. Lowe Brewing Co., Arcadia – In-Person Event
This event is an adult scholastic book fair, held all afternoon, from 1 pm – 8 pm.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Mt. Lowe Brewing Co., Arcadia
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 1 pm – 8 pm
Where: 150 E. Saint Joseph St., Arcadia, CA 91006
Website: http://www.mtlowebrewing.com/?tribe_events=books-brews-1st-annual-book-fair
Book Talk: Sarah Cate, with Michelle Jocson: Praise and Eyes on Me at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
The Ripped Bodice presents author Sarah Cate, in conversation with Michelle Jocson (aka Nurse Bookie), to discuss her recent releases: Praise and Eyes on Me.
There will be a book signing to follow. Your ticket includes a $20 store credit voucher.
Eyes on Me is about Garrett Porter, who is a voyeur—which means he like to watch. And in his line of work, that’s a gift. As one of the four owners of the Salacious Players’ Club, he’s comfortable on the sidelines. This is what he was made to do, and he works better alone. Until the day he stumbles on a certain cam girl app and finds himself watching the one person he should never have watched—his step-sister…
Praise is about Charlie, who is tired of dating boys who never grow up. So, when she breaks up with her latest boyfriend, she intends to move on in peace. When her ex-boyfriend can’t even get it together enough to send Charlie her half of their apartment deposit, it’s once again her responsibility to be the adult and get her check from Beau’s dad, Emerson. After she accepts a job from him and learns to speak up for what she wants, she decides he’s also the only man who can give her everything she desires.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 30th
Time: 4 pm – 6:30 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
YA Book Launch: Michelle Quach, with Julie Abe & Trinity Nguyen, & The Boy You Always Wanted at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person YA Event
Author Michelle Quach, in conversation with Julie Abe (The Charmed List) and Trinity Nguyen, will discuss her new YA rom-com, The Boy You Always Wanted.
This book is about first love, complicated family dynamics, and Asian girls with plans. The conversation and Q&A will be moderated by Trinity Nguyen (A Banh Mi for Two, available 2024).
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/27725
Political Poetry Panel: Younger Political Poets of SoCal Reading & Discussion at All Power Books – In-Person Event
A panel of Younger Political Poets of SoCal will be featured in readings and a panel discussion hosted by Brian Dunlap and Los Angeles Literature at All Power Books.
Each poet will read from their work and then engage in a panel discussion about their activism, their influences, and their poetry.
Featured poets:
James Coats is a multidisciplinary artist, author, and educator born in Los Angeles and raised in the Inland Empire. He received his BFA from Cal Poly Pomona and his MBA from Cal State San Bernardino. As a creative change agent, he believes the arts can inspire the youth and influence positive change in the world. His first poetry collection If I had Lived was published in 2018. He is the winner of the 2021 San Gabriel Poetry Slam. In 2021 he founded the organization Lift Our Voices Education which hosts an award-winning workshop monthly called Be The Change: Social Justice Writing Workshop. He became the Artist in Residence at The Garcia Center for the Arts in 2022. His newest poetry collection Midnight & Mad Dreams is published by World Stage Press.
Karo Ska (she/they) is a South Asian & Eastern European non-binary femme poet, living on unceded Tongva Land. They migrated here in 1996 from Warsaw, Poland. Their writing focuses on identity, mental health, survivorship and the intersections of trauma and politics. Some of their other work appears in Dryland Lit, Resurrection Magazine, the Intercultural Press, Altadena Poetry Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Cultural Daily, Marías at Sampaguitas, and Ayaskala Magazine. They are a 3-time 2020 Pushcart Prize nominee, a 2020 semi-finalist in the Jack Grapes Poetry Prize, and a 2021 Cal Arts Fellow. Their first chapbook, gathering grandmothers’ bones was released on February 29th, 2020. Their full collection, loving my salt-drenched bones was published through World Stage Press on February 23, 2022.
Andrés Sanchez they/them/he/him), is a trans-masculine poet born in Mexico City, México in Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl. He migrated to the U.S. at the age of 5 and grew up in Southern California and Las Vegas, NV. Andrés moved to Los Angeles, California 6 years ago. It was here that he began to get involved with the poetry community. He has been featured in open mics such as East Side Queer Stories, Alivio Open Mic, The Back Door Reading Series, Influx Collective Reading Series, Tia Chucha’s Open Mic, Resilience for a Poetic Pandemic, One Mic, One Globe Open Mic, Pride Mic, Soapbox Poets Open Mic, and La Palabra. In October 2018, Andrés was accepted into the Community Literature Initiative Program, and became a participant in the 6th cohort of students to publish his finished work. He is the author of the poetry collection, This Body. You can find Andrés on Instagram as @this_poet_travels and as Andrés Sánchez on Facebook, where you can follow his poetry journey along with his travel adventures.
Brian Dunlap is a native Angeleño capturing the city’s stories hidden in plain sight. He’s the author of the chapbook Concrete Paradise (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and a reader for december magazine.He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Los Angeles Literature, a publication that covers the news, books, authors and history of the Los Angeles literary community. His reviews, essays, and other works have been published in numerous journals, magazines and anthologies.
Where: All Power Books
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 4874 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90016
Website: https://www.instagram.com/allpowerbooks/?hl=en
Sunday Jump: Open Mic Seriesat Pilipino Workers Center in LA’s Historic Filipinotown – In-Person Event
This is Sunday Jump’s 11th season!
Marginalized genders are prioritized and encouraged to share on the open mic, but all are welcome to sign up.
Due to the increasing number of participants, open mic-ers have 4 minutes MAX. First ten performers on the list are guaranteed, with the rest on on-call. Marginalized genders are prioritized, and all are welcome to sign up. Order is randomized. For on-call, priority is then given to first timers.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Sunday Jump at Pilipino Workers Center
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 153 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sunday-jump-open-mic-series-tickets-619259450687 or https://www.instagram.com/p/CvLr9W_BB-G/
Book Launch Reading: Nancy Lynée Woo & I’d Rather Be Lightening at Wrigley Coffee Co., Long Beach – In-Person Event
Celebrate the release of Nancy Woo’s debut poetry collection I’d Rather Be Lightning!
Poetry Reading from 6 pm – 7:30 pm. Mingling times before and after the readings.
Nancy Woo will read selections from her book. Featuring special guests Heidi Miller, Terri Niccum, Susannah Lodge-Rigal and Long Beach Youth Poet Laureate Claire Beeli, as well as local activists to share some of the environmental issues happening in Long Beach.
Nancy Lynée Woo will read selections from the book and share her personal journey dealing with the existential threat of the climate emergency.
Local environmental leaders will also be spotlighted, and they will share a little about what is going on in Long Beach – including the fight to end oil drilling and urbanist car-lite initiatives.
About the Book:
I’d Rather Be Lightning is a love song to the earth, celebrating what we stand to lose. These poems are “throwing a tantrum” about the climate crisis, written by a “child / of imperialism whining about freedom / from the bondage of stuff.” Nancy Lynée Woo transmutes anxiety into dynamic and playful poems, writing into the absurdity of the global crises facing humanity with a soft wit, enduring hope, and deep love for the more-than-human world. Eco-feminism moving at lightspeed, I’d Rather Be Lightning captures a Millennial’s despair over environmental destruction with bolts of humor, compassion, and formal experimentation.
About the Author:
Nancy Lynée Woo is a poet, writer, organizer, and climate activist who harbors a wild love for the natural world. Her debut poetry collection is called I’d Rather Be Lightning (GASHER Press, March 2023). Nancy has received fellowships from Artists at Work, PEN America, Arts Council for Long Beach, and Idyllwild Writers Week. Her work has been published in The Shore, Tupelo Quarterly, Stirring, Radar Poetry, and other journals and anthologies. Nancy has an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University and a BA in sociology from UC Santa Cruz. Find her cavorting around Long Beach (Tongva land) in California, and online at nancylyneewoo.com or @fancifulnance on social.
Surprise the Line is a community poetry workshop based in Long Beach, California, that welcomes participants to our virtual meetings from anywhere in the world. We believe that everyone can write, and that the practice of writing allows us to cultivate a deep relationship with our internal self and our external world. Our workshops are nurturing for the soul and stimulating for the mind. It is our mission to spread the joy of creativity everywhere, one line at a time. Website: surprisetheline.com
Heidi Miller is a longtime close friend of the author and professional child caregiver will share some very special selected readings.
Terri Niccum is a longtime patron, friend and poetry peer and will read a selection of poems.
Susannah Lodge-Rigal is a sister pressmate with Gasher Press’s first run of books and will share selections from her book that came out this year.
Claire Beeli is the first ever Long Beach Youth Poet Laureate and will read a selection of poems about environmental issues in Long Beach
See full schedule at site.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Wrigley Coffee Co.
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 5 pm – 8 pm
Address: 437 W. Willow St., Long Beach, CA 90808
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/id-rather-be-lightning-book-launch-reading-tickets-673200038437
Los Angeles Literature 