This week there will be no list of weekly literary events. Los Angeles Literature is taking its summer break. There are still many literary events to attend and local writers to see read. There are always literary events each and every day of the week in SoCal. Below is a short list of five literary events happening this week that Los Angeles Literature ran across on social media. Check them out and check out local independent bookstores and literary organizations social media pages to find out what else is happening this week. Get out there L.Á. and support your local literary community.

Kristal Zook At Octavia’s Bookshelf – In-Person

Come meet author and journalist Kristal Zook for a table signing of her book The Girl in the Yellow Poncho and to discuss what it means to grow up biracial in America!

Kristal Zookis, born in Los Ángeles, is an American journalist who focuses on race and gender. She is also a professor of journalism, media studies, and public relations at The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University. Zookis is the author of four books including the recently released memoir The Girl in the Yellow Poncho.

Where: Octavia’s Bookshelf

Date: Monday the 14th

Time: 5 pm – 7pm

Address: 1361 N. Hill Ave., Pasadena, CA 91104

Website: https://www.octaviasbookshelf.com/events/kristal-zook

Da Poetry Lounge-Slam! – In-Person & Virtual Event

About: A poetry slam is a competition at which poets perform their own original work and are then judged on a numeric scale by judges preselected by the audience. In a standard slam, there are five judges. Before the competition begins, the host will often bring up a sacrificial poet. A sacrificial poet is not competing in the slam, but is scored by the judges in order for them to calibrate their judging. After each competing poet performs, judges award a score to that poem. Scores generally range between zero and ten. The highest and lowest score are dropped, giving each performance a rating between zero and thirty points. A single round at a slam consists of performances by all eligible poets. Most slams last multiple rounds, and many involve the elimination of lower-scoring poets in successive rounds. A standard elimination rubric might run 8-4-2, with eight poets in the first round, four in the second, and two in the last. Some slams do not eliminate poets at all. Additionally, most slams enforce a time limit of three minutes (and a grace period of ten seconds), after which a poet’s score will be docked according to how long the poem exceeded the time limit.

When: Tuesday the 15th: 9pm – 12pm

Where: Greenway Court Theatre

Address: 544 North Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036

Cost (Donation): $10

Website: https://www.dapoetrylounge.com/events/slam-night

Sonali Kolhatkar on Using Truthful Narratives By and About People of Color – In-Person Event

For Village Well Books & Coffee’s next Volunteer Collective event, they’re welcoming Sonali Kolhatkar for a reading to celebrate her new book, Rising Up: The Power of Narrative In Pursuing Racial Justice.

Tickets on Eventbrite

Sonali Kolhatkar is the host and producer of Rising Up with Sonali, a weekly television and radio program that airs on Free Speech TV and on Pacifica Radio station affiliates around the United States. Winner of numerous awards, including Best TV Anchor and Best National Political Commentary from the LA Press Club, she is currently the Racial Justice editor at Yes! Magazine and a Writing Fellow with the Independent Media Institute. Co-author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence with Jim Ingalls, Kolhatkar is Co-Director of the Afghan Women’s Mission. She resides with her husband and two sons in Pasadena, California.

Robin D.G. Kelley is the Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History and professor of African American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Kelley’s extensive academic career explores the history of social movements in the U.S., the African Diaspora, and Africa; Black intellectuals; music; visual culture; contemporary urban studies; historiography and historical theory; poverty studies and ethnography; colonialism/imperialism; organized labor; constructions of race; Surrealism, Marxism, nationalism, among other things.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday the 17th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/27726

The Post Up 1st Anniversary – In-Person & IG Live Event

Poet and founder and publisher of Riot of Roses Press, Brenda Vaca, is celebrating the one year anniversary of her open mic The Post Up. It’s a safe place where people can express themselves with love and compassion. And to celebrate, they’re featuring Tommy Domino and Ravina Wadhwani.

Ravina Wadhwani is a Clinical Therapist at The Guidance Center & published author of the poetry collection Yellow from World Stage Press. she lives in Long Beach.

Tommy Domino is a spoken blues poet from Northwest Pasadena now residing in Long Beach area. He started preforming at open mics starting with the Griot Café out of Long Beach in 2003. He became a member of the Never Speak Poets from Long Beach, who host monthly shows in the Arts District. Domino is an author, play writ and photographer.

Where: Casa Verde LA

Date: Friday the 18th

Time: 7:30 pm

Address: 12909 Philadelphia St, Whittier, CA 90601

Website: https://www.instagram.com/iambrendavaca/

Pages on Stages – In-Person & Virtual Event

The Sims Library of Poetry’s monthly open mic is back from its summber vacation. This edition of Pages on Stages features members of the international women’s poetry network Tesoro. The features are: Diosa Xochiquetzalcoatl, Sandy Shakes, The Poet RoseGold, Stacy Dyson and Rita Zahir.

Note: $6 presale; $6 virtual; $10 at the door. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Where: Sims Library of Poetry

Date: Saturday the 19th

Time: 6 pm

Address: 2702 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043

Website: For Tickets: simslibraryofpoetry.org/events (in bio) and Instagram