Youth Poetry Workshop, with Matt Sedillo & Ceasar K. Avelar at Pomona Public Library – In-Person Youth Event
The Youth Poetry Workshop is offered every 2nd Monday of the month, and is led by Matt Sedillo, Literacy Director of the Mexican Cultural Institute of L.A., and Ceasar K. Avelar, the Pomona Poet Laureate.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Pomona Public Library
Date: Monday the 9th
Time: 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Address: 625 S. Garey Ave., Pomona, CA 91766
Website: https://www.pomonaca.gov/government
Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration at Barrio Fuerza – In-Person Family Event
Celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day at Barrio Fuereza with activities, food, and special events including:
Textile Weaving Process demonstration by Vero Mendoza at 6 pm.
Spoken Word Poetry at 6 pm, featuring: Estepania Garcia Batista, Okira Martinez, Alma Rosa Rivera & Matt Sedillo.
Kozmik Force at 8 pm.
NOTE: See site guidelines and details.
Where: Barrio Fuerza
Date: Monday the 9th
Time: 6 pm – 9 pm
Address: 395 N. E St., Suite 102, San Bernardino, CA 92401
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyBzUTYPVmD/
Book Talk: Hannah V. Sawyerr & All the Fighting Parts at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Hannah V. Sawyerr will read and discuss her debut novel, All the Fighting Parts.
Sixteen-year-old Amina Conteh has always believed in using her voice as her weapon—even when it gets her into trouble. After cursing at a classmate, her father forces her to volunteer at their church with Pastor Johnson.
But Pastor Johnson isn’t the holy man everyone thinks he is…
Hannah V. Sawyerr was recognized as the Youth Poet Laureate of Baltimore in 2016. Her spoken word has been featured on the BBC’s World Have Your Say program, as well as the National Education Association’s “Do You Hear Us?” campaign. Her written word has been included in Essense, gal-dem, and xoNecole. She holds a BA in English from Morgan State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. Sawyerr is an English professor at Loyola Marymount University and lives in Los Angeles, California.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Monday the 9th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Line Papin, with Muriel Leung, & The Girl Before Her at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
This is French author Line Papin’s English-language debut. Join Papin and writer Muriel Leung (Imagine Us, The Swarm) in a reading and discussion about displacement and the female body.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Monday the 9th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/30420
Josh Barkan, with Peter Ackerman, & Wonder Travels: A Memoir at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Josh Barkan, in conversation with Peter Ackerman, will present and discuss his book, Wonder Travels: A Memoir.
Wonder Travels examines the question of whether we can ever really know another person.
When, after fifteen years of marriage, his wife has an affair with a man she meets on the beach in Morocco, writer Josh Barkan grapples with this question. In this fearless, breathtakingly candid memoir, he maps a painful odyssey from New York to El Paso to the Apache Kid Wilderness to Mexico City, where he falls in love with a painter who begins to heal him.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
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 2nd 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 9th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1056 Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90015
Website: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10159766485254891&set=a.263642949890
At Skylight: Justine Torres, with Angela Flournoy, & Blackouts at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Justin Torres, in conversation with Angela Flournoy, will discuss his novel, Blackouts.
Blackouts mines lost histories—personal and collective.
Out in the desert in a place called the Palace, a young man tends to a dying soul, someone he once knew briefly, but who has haunted the edges of his life. Juan Gay—playful raconteur, child lost and found and lost, guardian of the institutionalized—has a project to pass along to this new narrator. It is inspired by a true artifact of a book, Sex Variants: A Study in Homosexual Patterns, which contains stories collected in the early twentieth century from queer subjects by a queer researcher, Jan Gay, whose groundbreaking work was then co-opted by a committee, her name buried. As Juan waits for his end, he and the narrator trade stories—moments of joy and oblivion—and resurrect lost loves, lives, mothers, fathers, minor heroes. The past is with us, beside us, ahead of us; what are we to create from its gaps and erasures?
Justin Torres is the author of We the Animals, which won the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, was translated into fifteen languages, and was adapted into a feature film. He was named a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35,” a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and a Cullman Center Fellow at the New York Public Library. His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Granta, Tin House, and The Washington Post. He lives in Los Angeles and teaches at UCLA.
Angela Flournoy is the author of the novel, The Turner House, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. She has received fellowships from the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Academy in Berlin. She is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight
Date: Monday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-justin-torres-presents-blackouts-w-angela-flournoy
Monday Night Fiction Workshop at Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online Event
This free Monday Night Community Writing Workshop led by Raquel Baker is a 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 9th
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-731172766427
Celebrate Filipino American Women Authors: Food, Friends, and Fugitives via Bel Canto Books – Online Event
Bel Canto Books celebrates Filipino American Authors: Cindy Fazzi, Mia P. Manansala, and Jamie Lee Sogn, moderated by Jazzie de Leon.
Featuring:
Cindy Fazzi, MULTO
Mia P. Manansala, MURDER AND MAMON
Jamie Lee Sogn, SALTHOUSE PLACE
Biographies:
Cindy Fazzi is a Filipino American writer and former Associated Press reporter. She has worked as a journalist in the Philippines, Taiwan, and the United States. Her contemporary thriller, Multo, will be published by Agora Books, an imprint of Polis Books, on Sept. 26, 2023. Her historical novel, My MacArthur, was published by Sand Hill Review Press in 2018. Her articles have appeared in Electric Literature, Forbes, and Writer’s Digest.
Mia P. Manansala (she/her) is a writer and certified book coach from Chicago who loves books, baking, and bad-ass women. She is the author of the multi-award-winning Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series and uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness, and her millennial love for pop culture. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @mpmthewriter Or check out her website: http://www.miapmanansala.com.
Jamie Lee Sogn is a Filipina American author of adult thriller novels. She grew up in Olympia, Washington, studied Anthropology and Psychology at the University of Washington and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Oregon School of Law. She is a “recovering attorney” who writes contracts by day and (much more exciting) fiction by night. While she has lived in Los Angeles, New York City, and even Eugene, Oregon, she now lives in Seattle with her husband, son, and Boston Terrier.
Jazzie de Leon is an author, former foster child, family black sheep, and advocate for authentic storytelling. Her memoir Brownsheep explores the struggles of growing up as an unseen and underestimated Filipino American in Los Angeles. Recognized as a semi-finalist for the Book Life Award for memoir, Jazzie’s writing has also been featured in the San Francisco Writers Conference Anthology 2022. She received a literary fellowship from Authentic Voices in 2023, contributing an excerpt from her next book for publication in 2024. Jazzie’s journey of resilience and self-discovery inspires others to embrace their true selves. She resides in New Mexico where she finds solace in the company of her two black cats. Find out more about Jazzie at http://www.jazziedeleon.com or on Instagram and Tik Tok @jazzieonthejspot.
This is a virtual event, live-streamed on YouTube.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Bel Canto Books KUBO, LB
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
So Emotional Book Club: Awe at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
So Emotional Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your LIfe, by author Dacher Keltner.
In Awe, Dacher Keltner presents a radical investigation and deeply personal inquiry into this elusive emotion. Revealing new research into how awe transforms our brains and bodies, alongside an examination of awe across history, culture, and within his own life during a period of grief, Keltner shows us how cultivating awe in our everyday life leads us to appreciate what is most humane in our human nature. And during a moment in which our world feels more divided than ever before, and more imperiled by crises of different kinds, we are greatly in need of awe. If we open our minds, it is awe that sharpens our reasoning and orients us toward big ideas and new insights, that cools our immune system’s inflammation response and strengthens our bodies.
Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the faculty director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. A renowned expert in the science of human emotion, Dr. Keltner studies compassion and awe, how we express emotion, and how emotions guide our moral identities and search for meaning. His research interests also span issues of power, status, inequality, and social class. He is the author of The Power Paradox and the bestselling book Born to Be Good, and the coeditor of The Compassionate Instinct.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/so-emotional-book-club-awe
Poetry Open Mic Event via Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Westwood Branch Library invites you to an online Open Mic emceed by Wyatt Underwood.
Share a poem you wrote or a poem you love! You are also welcome to just listen and enjoy.
RSVP:
To receive a Zoom invitation, please contact wwood@lapl.org.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-open-mic
Celebrating Filipino American Women Authors: Food, Friends, and Fugitives via Bel Canto Books – Online Event
Bel Canto Books, FilAm Arts, and WNBA-LA are honored to present “Celebrating Filipino American Women Authors: Food, Friends, and Fugitives,” moderated by Jazzie de Leon and featuring:
Cindy Fazzi, MULTO
Mia P. Manansala, MURDER AND MAMON
Jamie Lee Sogn, SALTHOUSE PLACE
This is a virtual event, live-streamed on YouTube.
Cindy Fazzi is a Filipino American writer and former Associated Press reporter. She has worked as a journalist in the Philippines, Taiwan, and the United States. Her contemporary thriller, Multo, will be published by Agora Books, an imprint of Polis Books, on Sept. 26, 2023. Her historical novel, My MacArthur, was published by Sand Hill Review Press in 2018. Her articles have appeared in Electric Literature, Forbes, and Writer’s Digest.
Mia P. Manansala (she/her) is a writer and certified book coach from Chicago who loves books, baking, and bad-ass women. She is the author of the multi-award-winning Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series and uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness, and her millennial love for pop culture. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @mpmthewriter Or check out her website: http://www.miapmanansala.com.
Jamie Lee Sogn is a Filipina American author of adult thriller novels. She grew up in Olympia, Washington, studied Anthropology and Psychology at the University of Washington and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Oregon School of Law. She is a “recovering attorney” who writes contracts by day and (much more exciting) fiction by night. While she has lived in Los Angeles, New York City, and even Eugene, Oregon, she now lives in Seattle with her husband, son, and Boston Terrier.
Jazzie de Leon is an author, former foster child, family black sheep, and advocate for authentic storytelling. Her memoir Brownsheep explores the struggles of growing up as an unseen and underestimated Filipino American in Los Angeles. Recognized as a semi-finalist for the Book Life Award for memoir, Jazzie’s writing has also been featured in the San Francisco Writers Conference Anthology 2022. She received a literary fellowship from Authentic Voices in 2023, contributing an excerpt from her next book for publication in 2024. Jazzie’s journey of resilience and self-discovery inspires others to embrace their true selves. She resides in New Mexico where she finds solace in the company of her two black cats. Find out more about Jazzie at http://www.jazziedeleon.com or on Instagram and Tik Tok @jazzieonthejspot.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Bel Canto Books
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Alexandra Monir, with Livia Blackburne, & Realms of Wonder at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Alexandra Monir, in conversation with Livia Blackburne, will discuss her book, Realms of Wonder.
Realms of Wonder is a YA fantasy series, Disney’s Princesses grow up—and learn to rule—guided by the magical Queen’s Council. Now, Jasmine must prove that she is the rightful heir to the throne of Agrabah.
Alexandra Monir is the Iranian American author of the internationally best-selling novel The Final Six, which has been translated into numerous languages around the world; the DC Comics superhero novel Black Canary: Breaking Silence, from the New York Times-bestselling DC Icons series; and several other books for young adults. Alexandra spent her teen years as a pop singer before publishing her debut novel, Timeless, and continues to write and record music. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and young son and daughter.
New York Times bestselling author Livia Blackburne wrote her first novel while researching the neuroscience of reading at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since then, she’s switched to full-time writing, which also involves getting into people’s heads but without the help of a three tesla MRI scanner. Her books include Midnight Thief (An Indies Introduce New Voices selection), Feather and Flame, and Clementine and Danny Save the World (And Each other), as well as the picture book I Dream of Popo, which received three starred reviews and was on numerous Best of Year lists. She is Chinese American and lives in southern California with her husband and daughter.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Alexandra-Monir-Livia-Blackburne-Author-signing
Conchas y Café Zine Workshop: Fall Semester Theme: “Out of Place” at DSTL Arts – Online Event
This is a virtual only writing workshop. Register now a tGoogle Classroom (app or web). Registration code: kdcmthg.
For more information: DSTLArts.org/conchasycafezine.
Where: DSTL Arts
Date: Tuesday the 10th (through 12/19/23)
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw0cb1GLt-6/
Rewind the Wild: Generative Eco-Poetry Workshops with Nancy Lynée Woo via Gasher Press – Online Zoom Event.
Join a 4-week generative eco-poetry workshop on Zoom led by Nancy Lynée Woo, author of I’d Rather Be Lightning. Writers of all experience levels are welcome. In this workshop, we will explore our human relationship to nature, messy and complicated and beautiful as it may be during a time of rampant environmental destruction and rapid climate change. During each session, we will read an example poem for inspiration and then spend time writing together to a prompt inspired by the poem. Afterwards, participants will be invited to share their work with the group if they wish to.
Costs are sliding scale, $40-$100.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Gasher Press
Date: Tuesday the 10th (through the 24th)
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.gasherpress.com/events
Nancy Jooyoun Kim, with Carolyn Huynh, & What We Kept to Ourselves at North Figueroa Bookshop off-site at The Line Hotel – In-Person Event
Join a celebration at The LINE Hotel in Downtown LA for the book launch of What We kept to Ourselves, the new novel by Nancy Jooyoun Kim! Nancy will be in conversation with Carolyn Huynh, author of The Fortunes of Jaded Women.
RSVP link to come!
What We Kept to Ourselves is a novel about a family’s search for answers following the disappearance of their mother.
1999: The Kim family is struggling to move on after their mother, Sunny, vanished a year ago. Sixty-one-year-old John Kim feels more isolated from his grown children, Anastasia and Ronald, than ever before. But one evening, their fragile lives are further upended when John finds the body of a stranger in the backyard, carrying a letter to Sunny, leaving the family with more questions than ever about the stranger’s history and possible connections to their mother.
Nancy Jooyoun Kim is the New York Times bestselling author of What We Kept to Ourselves and The Last Story of Mina Lee, a Reese’s Book Club pick. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Carolyn Huynh grew up in Orange County, California, not appreciating the weather enough. She has a BA in journalism from Seattle University and an MS in human centered design from the University of Washington. The youngest daughter of Vietnamese refugees, her writing focuses on her mother’s tall tales, superstitions, the diaspora, and memory (both real and imaginary). She especially loves stories about messy Asian women who never learn from their mistakes. After living up and down the West Coast, she currently resides in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @CarolynKHuynh.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Line Hotel DTLA
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 3515 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-lmzl941f
Arlo Parks, with Lucy Dacus, & The Magic Border at Book Soup off-site at Zipper Hall, The Colburn School – In-Person Event
Arlo Parks, in conversation with Lucy Dacus, will present and discuss her collection, The Magic Border: Poetry and Fragments from My Soft Machine.
Arlo Parks is a British singer, songwriter, and poet. Her debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, was widely acclaimed, earning her the 2021 Mercury Prize as well as Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album. Her sophomore album, My Soft Machine, cements her as one of the most compelling voices of her generation.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Zipper Hall at The Colburn School (located across the street from The Broad and Disney Concert Hall)
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 200 S. Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/arlo-parks
Fred Beshid, with Kelly Delaney, & Free Nancy Esting at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Fred Beshid, in conversation with Kelly Delany, will present and discuss his novel, Free Nancy Esting.
Inside a Pasadena coffee shop, a free-spirited artist model and a reserved astrobiologist entangle themselves in conversation…and the fabric of reality.
Forced to share a table, strangers Nancy and Spencer can’t help but talk to each other, leading to a debate over the pros and cons of scientific objectivity and artistic value. While their philosophical differences are immediately apparent, they eventually discover that they have a common preoccupation: the mysteries of the universe.
Fred Beshid is a novelist, artist, curator, and filmmaker. He is the creator of the award-winning Museum of Fred, an online museum featuring his collection of thrift store paintings, and author of Hero Pizza. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-lmi84qs5
At Skylight: Melissa Broder & Death Valley at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Melissa Broder will present and discuss her darkly funny novel, Death Valley.
Author of Milk Fed and The Pisces, Melissa Broder presents a story about grief that becomes a desert survival story.
Out on the sun-scorched trail, the woman encounters a towering cactus whose size and shape mean it should not exist in California. Yet the cactus is there, with a gash through its side that beckons like a familiar door. So, she enters it. What awaits her inside this mystical succulent sets her on a journey at once desolate and rich, hilarious, and poignant.
Melissa Broder is the author of the novel The Pisces, the essay collection So Sad Today, and four poetry collections, including Last Sext. She has written for the New York Times, Elle.com, VICE, Vogue Italia, and New York magazine’s The Cut. Her poems have appeared in POETRY, the Iowa Review, Tin House, and Guernica, and she is the winner of a Pushcart Prize for poetry. She lives in Los Angeles. Mexico. She is the author of two poetry collections, Life of the Party (The Dial Press, 2019) and New American Best Friend (Button Poetry, 2017). She co-wrote the film The Governesses, which is currently being produced by A24. Her debut novel, Whoever You Are, Honey, is set to be released in Summer 2024.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-melissa-broder-presents-death-valley
Book Reading: Christy Road Carrera, with Guests, & DOPAMINE at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Stories presents a reading with Dopamine author Christy Road Carrera, and readings by Molly Larkey, Gabrielle Korn, Emily Segal, Kamala Puligandla, and Karen Tongson with host Michelle Tea.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 622 N. Hoover St., Silver Lake, CA
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION & Anthology Launch with Guestsat Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Celebrate an extraordinary anthology, 50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION, and engage in a critical conversation with Ms. Consulting digital editor Carmen Rios, author and Ms. contributor Lisa Niver, and Nayereh Tohidi, a member of the Ms. committee of scholars. We’ll explore what the future of feminism and movement journalism demands: vision that is bold, imaginative, and collaborative.
50 YEARS OF Ms. is a remarkable collection – five decades of the magazine’s most startling, audacious, and norm-breaking pieces. Filled with iconic covers, photos, and letters to Ms., it features a foreword from Gloria Steinem and contributions by bell hooks, Alice Walker, Pauli Murray, Eleanor Smeal, Billie Jean King, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Allison Bechdel, Brittney Cooper, Joy Harjo, Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Rita Dove and many more.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E, Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA., 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/The-Feminist-Fight-Forward-Lessons-from-50-YEARS-OF-Ms
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic with Sigrid Saradunn – Virtual Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and guest Sigrid Saradunn.
Sigrid Saradunn is a poet, writer, and artist who lives in Ellsworth, Maine.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 10th
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 10th
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
Tuesday Night Café & Open Mic at Aratani Courtyard, Little Tokyo – In-Person Event
The Tuesday Night Café event series is a free public arts and performance series launched in 1999 and the oldest Asian American mic series in the country. It is held on the 1st & 3rd Tuesdays of each month, April through October.
NOTE: Details at event link.
Where: Aratani Courtyard/Union Center for the Arts
Date: Tuesday the 10th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: https://www.tuesdaynightproject.org/
Sir Patrick Stewart, with LeVar Burton, & Making It So: A Memoir at Robert Frost Auditorium – In-Person Event SOLD OUT
In-Person Event is SOLD OUT, but tickets are available for Virtual event on October 15th (see site).
This book is the long-awaited memoir from iconic, beloved actor and living legend Sir Patrick Stewart.
Sir Patrick Stewart is a distinguished stage and screen actor whose illustrious career spans six decades. A classically trained theater artist who got his start at England’s Royal Shakespeare Company, Stewart’s legendary performances have garnered him three Olivier Awards, Emmy and Tony Award nominations, and a Grammy Award, among countless honors. His beloved screen work, known to audiences worldwide, includes his iconic portrayals of Star Trek’s Jean-Luc Picard and X-Men’s Professor Charles Xavier. Follow him on social media at @SirPatStew.
From his acclaimed stage triumphs to his legendary onscreen work in the Star Trek and X-Men franchises, Sir Patrick Stewart has captivated audiences around the world and across multiple generations with his indelible command of stage and screen. Now, he presents his long-awaited memoir, Making It So, a revealing portrait of an artist whose astonishing life—from his humble beginnings in Yorkshire, England, to the heights of Hollywood and worldwide acclaim—proves a story as exuberant, definitive, and enduring as the author himself.
LeVar Burton is an actor, director, producer, and podcaster whose decades-long body of work includes Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Reading Rainbow. He is the honored recipient of seven NAACP Awards, a Peabody, a Grammy, and 15 Emmys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Inaugural Children’s & Family Emmys.
As a lifelong literacy advocate, Burton has dedicated decades to encouraging children to read. In 2023, Burton premiered his first documentary, The Right to Read, a film that positions the literacy crisis in America as a civil rights issue. He is the author of Aftermath, The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm, and A Kids Book About Imagination. He launched his first book club with Fable, a digital book club community, and partnered with Masterclass, to share the power of storytelling.
NOTE: Details at event link.
Where: Robert Frost Auditorium
Date: Tuesday the 10th SOLD OUT (virtual event only, Oct 15)
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 4401 Elenda St, Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/sir-patrick-stewart/
Da Poetry Lounge: SLAM Night at Greenway Court – In-Person and Online 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 and special events) they hold open mic nights. At an open mic, all are welcome to share their poetry or sit in their audience.
See details and guidelines at website link.
$10 donation. Do NOT line up prior to 7:30 p.m. Free parking adjacent to theatre.
Masks are encouraged. All ages are welcome.
Where: Greenway Court Theatre and YouTube Live Stream
Date: Tuesday the 10th
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
Wilmington Book Club: Shadow Game at Wilmington Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Wilmington Book Club participants will discuss Shadow Game, by author Christine Feehan. All are welcome!
RSVP:
Questions? Please contact Kathleen Larson at klarson@lapl.org.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Wilmington Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 1300 N. Avalon Blvd., Wilmington, CA 90744
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/wilmington-book-club-6
Wednesday Morning Book Club: Redhead by the Side of the Road at Westchester-Loyola Village Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Wednesday Morning Book Club participants will discuss Rehead by the Side of the Road, by author Anne Taylor. All are welcome!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Westchester-Loyola Village Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 11:30 am
Address: 7114 W. Manchester., Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/wednesday-morning-book-club-3
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.
Was 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 group will be a place to learn, practice, and receive support from other writers. They 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 11th
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
Feedback Circle Workshop with Danielle Mitchell via The Poetry Lab – Online Event
The Feedback Circle is a 6-week series and is set up as both a large group and a small group breakout workshop led by Diane Mitchell where participants will take turns giving and receiving feedback on one poem. Then the whole group works together in a “traditional” workshop setting. Each class time, 2-3 people will have a chance to receive feedback on one poem from the entire group, including the workshop facilitator. Every participant will have the opportunity to schedule a 1:1 editorial session with the Feedback Circle facilitator, Danielle Mitchell.
Danielle Mitchell (she/her) is an intersectional feminist, poet, and teaching artist. She is the Founding Director of The Poetry Lab and author of Makes the Daughter-in-Law Cry, winner of the Clockwise Chapbook Prize (Tebot Bach, 2017). Danielle is a survivor of sexual assault, chronic illness, and generalized anxiety disorder. As such, both her writing and her work as a mentor are informed by empathy, equity, and radical self-compassion.
Her poems have appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Vinyl, Four Way Review, Transom, New Orleans Review, Nailed Magazine, and many other journals and anthologies. She holds a dual B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies and Creative Writing from the University of Redlands and is an alumna of the Community of Writers. She is currently working on a manuscript of poems about misogyny and the Internet.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, costs, and details.
Where: The Poetry Lab
Date: Wednesday the 11th (October 18th& 25th and November 1st, 8th, & 15th)
Time: 5 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Event (via Zoom)
Website: https://www.thepoetrylab.com/feedback
L.A. Times Book Club Event: Martin Baron & Collision of Power at USC Wallis Annenberg Hall – In-Person Event
Martin Baron, in conversation with L.A. Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida, will discuss his new book, Collision of Power.
Former Washington Post Editor Martin Baron is the author of Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and The Washington Post, and will join in a live conversation with Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida on Oct. 11.
Collision of Power is an insider’s account of life at the top of the Washington Post, as Baron began work for one of the world’s richest men, dealt with a new president at war with the media, and navigated the newspaper through a challenging financial landscape and changing societal dynamics around gender and race.
A former L.A. Times editor, Baron took charge of the Post newsroom in 2013, after nearly a dozen years leading The Boston Globe. Just seven months into his new job, Baron received explosive news: Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, would buy the Post, marking a sudden end to control by the venerated Graham family that had presided over the paper for 80 years. Two years later, Donald Trump won the presidency.
Kirkus calls the book “an impassioned argument for objective journalism.”
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: USC Wallis Annenberg Hall (at the corner of Watt and Childs Ways, next to the USC Bookstore)
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 6 pm (Doors at 5 pm)
Address: 3630 Watt Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089
2nd Wednesday Book Club: Murmur of Bees at Pacoima Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
The Pacoima Branch Library’s 2nd Wednesday Book Club participants will discuss The Murmur of Bees, by author Sofia Segovia.
This astonishing novel―the author’s first to be translated into English―is about a mysterious child with the power to change a family’s history in a country on the verge of revolution.
The Pacoima Branch Library Book Club reads mostly fiction books. At the end of each meeting, we select our next book.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Pacoima Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/pacoima-book-club-1
Andi Lew & Treasured Chest at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
Andi Lew will present and discuss Treasured Chest and discuss her experience.
Andi Lew began her career 31 years ago at Camp Eden health retreat. She moved to performing arts, TV and radio hosting and then ran and owned a wellness center for 11 years in Australia. Touring nine books across America and Australia on 60 Minutes, New York Live, Sunrise, Good Day DC, CBS LA and Today Shows, led her to work in the U.S where she now resides with her teenage son.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/andi-lew-shares-her-new-book-and-experience
Susan Gravely & Italy on a Plate at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Susan Gravely will discuss and sign Italy on a Plate.
In her debut cookbook, Susan Gravely celebrates 40 years as Founder and Creative Director of VIETRI, a lifestyle brand offering handcrafted Italian tabletop and home and garden accessories. Italy on a Plate is an exploration into what makes Italy so magical: its staggering beauty, unparalleled style, artistic legacy, and incredible food. The close friends Gravely has made during her years of Italian travels have graciously shared their homes and their favorite family recipes, and this book gives a culinary tour of Italy’s flavors with recipes you will enjoy with loved ones for years to come.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore (in the Courtyard)
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Susan-Gravely-Author-signing
ALOUD Reading Series: Santi Elijah Holley, with Dr. Melina Abdullah, & An Amerikan Family at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Award-winning journalist Santi Elijah Holley, in conversation with academic, civic leader, and founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter Dr. Melina Abdullah, will discuss his book, An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created.
An Amerikan Family is the history of the fight for Black liberation in the United States, as experienced by the Shakurs. From Assata Shakur, the popular author and thinker, living for three decades in Cuban exile to the late, great rapper Tupac to roots in the Black Panther movement, and beyond, the Shakurs have been at the forefront of fighting for racial justice in the United States.
Where: Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lfla.org/event/an-amerikan-family-the-shakurs-and-the-nation-they-created/
Cody Smyth & The Strokes: The First Ten Years at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Cody Smyth will present and discuss his book, The Strokes: The First Ten Years.
This book is an intimate and impressionistic narrative of The Strokes’ first ten years, including images of the guys when they were students at the Dwight School in Manhattan and would gather for lunches at their local diner. This is a peerless window into the group through the lens of a close friend who was there before it even began.
The book features hundreds of color and black and white images of the band in public and in private. A truly personal look at the rise of The Strokes—one of the biggest and most enduring bands in the world.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/cody-smyth-2023
Open Mic at Micky’s with Brian Sonia-Wallace and Nate Lovell at Micky’s West Hollywood – In-Person Event
The Mic at Micky’s is a safe space for LGBTQ talents to come and share their gifts with the world. Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to perform and show off your unique skills. Sign up in advance on the provided link to secure your spot and reserve the best view in the house!
You can also enjoy Micky’s $5 happy hour specials on wells, wines, beer & shot of the day, and an unforgettable evening of Queer talent, fun, and great deals!
Hosted by Brian Sonia-Wallace and Nate Lovell.
Featuring special guests, performances & YOU! Sign up at site.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Micky’s West Hollywood
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 8857 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.mickys.com/events-and-news/open-mic/
Bob Eschmann, with Georgia Flowers Lee, & When the Hood Comes Off: Racism and Resistance in the Digital Ageat North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Professor and author of When the Hood Comes Off Bob Eschmann, in conversation with United Teachers of LA’s Georgia Flowers Lee, will present and discuss his book,When the Hood Comes Off.
This comprehensive study examines how racism manifests online and highlights the antiracist tactics rising to oppose it.
From cell phone footage of police killing unarmed Black people to leaked racist messages and even comments from friends and family on social media, online communication exposes how racism operates in a world that pretends to be colorblind. In When the Hood Comes Off, Rob Eschmann uses rigorous research and engaging personal narrative to examine the effects of online racism on communities of color and society, and the unexpected ways that digital technologies enable innovative everyday tools of antiracist resistance.
Rob Eschmann is a writer, educator, filmmaker, and scholar from Chicago. He is a proud product of the Chicago Public Schools and received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 2017.
Georgia Flowers-Lee, an educator with 22 years of experience in the Los Angeles Unified School District, began her career as a substitute teacher and found her passion working with special needs students at Saturn Elementary. Her commitment to social justice and equity led her to become deeply involved in the UTLA union, where she currently serves as the UTLA NEA Vice President, advocating for the most vulnerable in our communities through collective action.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
At Skylight: Oliver Jeffers & Begin Again at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Oliver Jeffers will discuss his book, Begin Again, his first illustrated book created specifically for readers of all ages, as he shares a very brief history of humanity and shares his dreams for where we go from here.
With his art, Oliver Jeffers follows the human path from the dawn of our species through history, sharing profound, sometimes poignant, commentary on our present, and then offers a challenge: Where do we go from here? How can we create new stories and new systems that allow all of humanity to flourish? How can we journey toward a collective and robust future?
Oliver Jeffers makes art and tells stories. His books include How to Catch a Star; Lost and Found, which was the recipient of the prestigious Nestle Children’s Book Prize Gold Award in the UK and was later adapted into an award-winning animated film; and the New York Times bestsellers Here We Are, What We’ll Build, Stuck, This Moose Belongs to Me, and Once Upon an Alphabet. He is also, of course, the illustrator of the #1 smash hits The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home, both written by Drew Daywalt. His fine art is world-renowned and his dip-art exhibitions are much sought-after events.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-oliver-jeffers-presents-begin-again
Daniel Sweren-Becker & Kill Show: A True Crime Novel at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Daniel Sweren-Becker will present and discuss his book, Kill Show: A True Ce Novel.
Sara Parcell disappeared without a trace on a crisp April morning in Frederick, Maryland. Her tragic story was a national obsession and the centerpiece of a controversial television docuseries that followed her disappearance in real time. But is it possible that everyone missed the biggest secret of all?
Daniel Sweren-Becker is a New York-born, Los Angeles-based television writer, author and playwright. He honed his craft at fine institutions like New Horizons Daycare Center, The Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Wesleyan University, and NYU. His handwriting has yet to stop him.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E, Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA., 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Daniel-Sweren-Becker-discusses-Kill-Show
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 — Readings: Eternal MInd;
- 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 11th
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 this quarter is James Fujinami Moore, whose debut poetry collection is indecent hours (Four Way Books, 2022), winner of the GLCA New Writers Award in Poetry and finalist for the Golden Poppy’s Martin Cruz Smith Award & the Lambda Literary Award in Bisexual Poetry. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Barrow Street’s 4×2, The Brooklyn Rail, Guesthouse, Jet Fuel Review, The Margins, the Pacifica Literary Review, and Prelude. He has received fellowships from Poets House, Bread Loaf, and the Frost Place, and received his MFA from Hunter College in 2016. He lives 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 11th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wednesday-night-poetry-workshop-tickets-732777656697
Ed Begley Jr., with Mary Steenburgen & Ted Danson, & To the Temple of Tranquility…at New Roads School – In-Person Event
In his memoir To the Temple of Tranquility…and Step on It! the actor and environmental activist Ed Begley Jr. shares the stories of his improbable life, focusing on his relationship with his legendary father, adventures with Hollywood icons, the origins of his environmental activism, addiction and recovery, and his lifelong search for wisdom and common ground.
Ed Begley Jr. will be in conversation with Mary Steenburgen & Ted Danson.
Ed Begley, Jr. is an actor and environmental activist. He has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He played Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the television series St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988. The role earned him six consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award nomination. Since 1970, Begley has been an environmentalist, well known for his travels in an electric car, reducing trash and recycling, and becoming a vegan.
Mary Steenburgen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning actress best known for her work in the films Melvin and Howard, Parenthood, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Philadelphia, Stepbrothers, and Book Club and television shows Justified, Orange is the New Black, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Last Man on Earth. Most recently, Steenburgen starred for two seasons as Maggie Clarke in NBC’s musical television sensation Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.
Ted Danson is an Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning actor known for an array of performances, most memorably for his portrayal of Boston bartender Sam Malone on NBC’s multi-award winning and iconic comedy Cheers, which ran for 11 seasons and won three Emmys as Best Comedy Series. More recently, Danson starred in the NBC comedy The Good Place, for which he was nominated for his 14th Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor and received a Critics Choice Award for his role as ‘Michael’. Danson played himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm.
NOTE: Details at event link.
Where: Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre at New Roads School, Herb Alpert Educational Village
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 3131 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/ed-begley-jr/
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg & Featured Guest Cynthia Guardado 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 Cynthia Guardadp.
Cynthia Guardado /Gwarr-Dah-Doe/ (she/her/hers) is the daughter of Salvadoran born parents, a poet, and Professor of English at Fullerton College. She is the Editor-in-Chief of LiveWire, an online literary magazine. She is the author of two collections of poetry: Cenizas (University of Arizona Press 2022) and ENDEAVOR (World Stage Press 2017). She is also the author of the craft chap Memories We Never Had: Writing in a Postcolonial Existence published by Sundress Publications (2023) which is available to all as a free digital download. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, Huizache, U.S. Latinx Voices in Poetry, The Wandering Song. She also won the Concurso Binacional De Poesía Pellicer-Frost in 2017 (México) and Cenizas was a finalist for the National Poetry Series in 2019.
$4 cover fee, cash only
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.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday the 11th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/people/Two-Idiots-Peddling-Poetry/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/252677331069398/?ref=newsfeed
Not So Secret Society Book Club: The Last Girls Standing at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Not So Secret Society Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, The Last Girls Standing, by author Jennifer Dugan.
The Last Girls Standing is a queer YA psychological thriller from the author of Some Girls Do, perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, the sole surviving counselors of a summer camp massacre search to uncover the truth of what happened that fateful night, but what they find out might just get them killed.
Jennifer Dugan is a writer, a geek, and a romantic who writes the kinds of stories she wishes she’d had growing up. She’s the author of the graphic novel Coven, as well as the young adult novels Melt With You, Some Girls Do, Verona Comics, and Hot Dog Girl, which was called “a great, fizzy rom-com” by Entertainment Weekly and “one of the best reads of the year, hands down” by Paste magazine. She lives in upstate New York with her family, their dog, a strange kitten who enjoys wearing sweaters, and an evil cat who is no doubt planning to take over the world.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/not-so-secret-society-book-club-last-girls-standing
Mystery Book Club: The Dry at Venice-Abbot Kinney Library, LAPL – Online Event
Mystery Book Club participants will discuss The Dry, an Australian-based mystery.by author Jane Harper.
After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago, when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke’s steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn’t tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Venice-Abbot Kinney Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-35
Open Mic Night at Vroman’s Hastings Ranch – In-Person Event
Open Mic Night at Vroman’s Hastings Ranch features 2-3 minute acts, family friendly atmosphere, and welcomes all forms of dance, acting, poetry, music, magic, and you name it.
Participants can bring their own instruments but please, no dj sets. (It’s a small space.) Amp and mic will be provided. Signups will be through October 12th. The first 25 will be accepted. First come, first served.
To participate: The signup sheet is now available at the Hasting Ranch Info Desk!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s Hastings Ranch
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 3729 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Hastings-Ranch-Open-Mic-October-2023
Diverse Romance Book Club: Red, White, and Royal Blue at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Diverse Romance Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, Red, White, and Royal Blue: A Novel, by author Casey McQuiston.
When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.
Casey McQuiston is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of romantic comedies, including One Last Stop, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, and Red, White & Royal Blue, whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Bon Appetit. Born and raised in southern Louisiana, Casey now lives in New York City with a poodle mix named Pepper.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/diverse-romance-book-club-red-white-and-royal-blue
Author Talk: Ben Caldwell and Robeson Taj Frazier, & KAOS Theory: The Afrokosmic Ark of Ben Caldwell, at Octavia’s Bookshelf – In-Person Event
Ben Caldwell will be in conversation with co-author Robeson Taj Frazier about their new release, KAOS Theory: The Afrokosmic Ark of Ben Caldwell. The student: A Short History.
KAOS Theory: The Afrokosmic Ark of Ben Caldwell tells the story of filmmaker, educator, and community activist Ben Caldwell and KAOS Network, the media-arts center he founded in Los Angeles’s Leimert Park neighborhood. Through illustrations, archival media, and engaging storytelling, KAOS Theory shows how Ben crafted a life centered around the power of fellowship, community, and the use of art and media as a social force.
Where: Octavia’s Bookshelf
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1365 N. Hill Ave., Pasadena, CA 91104
Website: https://www.octaviasbookshelf.com/events/author-talk-legendary-ben-caldwell-and-robeson-taj-frazier
Book Talk & Signing: Michael S. Roth & The Student: A Short History at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Michael S. Roth will present and discuss his book The student: A Short History.
In this sweeping book, Michael S. Roth narrates a vivid and dynamic history of students, exploring some of the principal models for learning that have developed in very different contexts, from the sixth century BCE to the present.
Beginning with the followers of Confucius, Socrates, and Jesus and moving to medieval apprentices, students at Enlightenment centers of learning, and learners enrolled in twenty-first-century universities, he explores how students have been followers, interlocutors, disciples, rebels, and children becoming adults. There are many ways to be a student, Roth argues, but at their core is developing the capacity to think for oneself by learning from others, and thereby finding freedom.
Michael S. Roth is president of Wesleyan University. His books include Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters and Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness on College Campuses. He lives in Middletown, CT.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Dan Sinykin & Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Dan Sinykin, in conversation with Rachel Greenwald Smith, will discuss his new book, Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature.
Dan Sinykin explores how changes in the publishing industry have affected fiction, literary form, and what it means to be an author. Giving an inside look at the industry’s daily routines, personal dramas, and institutional crises, he reveals how conglomeration has shaped what kinds of books and writers are published. Sinykin examines four different sectors of the publishing industry: mass-market books by brand-name authors like Danielle Steel; trade publishers that encouraged genre elements in literary fiction; nonprofits such as Graywolf that aspired to protect literature from market pressures; and the distinctive niche of employee-owned W. W. Norton. He emphasizes how women and people of color navigated shifts in publishing, arguing that writers such as Toni Morrison allegorized their experiences in their fiction.
Dan Sinykin is an assistant professor of English at Emory University with a courtesy appointment in quantitative theory and methods. He is the author of American Literature and the Long Downturn: Neoliberal Apocalypse (2020). His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, Dissent, and other publications.
Rachel Greenwald Smith is Professor of English at Saint Louis University and author, most recently, of On Compromise: Art, Politics, and the Fate of an American Idea
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Dan-Sinykin-Rachel-Greenwald-Smith-Author-signing
Writers Bloc Presents: Amy Schneider, with Guy Branum, & In the Form of a Question at The Ebell Theatre – In-Person Event
Who is the most successful woman to ever compete on Jeopardy!?
Amy Schneider’s impressive forty-game winning streak was accompanied by an even greater prize – the joy of being herself on national television and blazing a trail for openly queer and transgender people around the world. Join Amy as she shares her singular journey that led to becoming an unlikely icon and hero to millions.
In the Form of a Question explores some of the innumerable topics that have fascinated Amy throughout her life—books and music, Tarot and astrology, popular culture and computers, sex and relationships—but they all share the same purpose: to illustrate, and celebrate, the results of a lifetime spent asking, why?
In conversation with writer/actor/producer Guy Branum. Guy starred in the hit series Bros, alongside Billy Eichner, which features an all LGBTQ+ cast. He is a writer and producer of the new Mel Brooks series, History of the World Part II, and was a writer and actor in numerous other shows, including The Mindy Project, and Platonic. He has recorded hit comedy albums, authored a critically acclaimed memoir, and has written on culture and politics for Slate, Vulture, The New York Times, and more.
Where: The Ebell
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 741 S. Lucerne Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90005
Website: https://writersblocpresents.com/main/amy-schneider/
Sunu Chandy, with Amita Swadhin, D’Lo, and Ragni Agarwal, & My Dear Comrades at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Sunu Chandy will launch and discuss her book, My Dear Comrades.
In this poetry collection, Sunu P. Chandy includes stories about her experiences as a woman, civil rights attorney, parent, partner, daughter of South Asian immigrants, and member of the LGBTQ community. These poems cover themes ranging from immigration, social justice activism, friendship loss, fertility challenges, adoption, caregiving, and life during a pandemic.
Sunu P. Chandy is a social justice activist through her work as a poet and a civil rights attorney. She’s a queer woman of color and lives in Washington, D.C. with her family. Sunu is the daughter of immigrants from Kerala, India. Her collection of poems, My Dear Comrades, was selected for the 2021 Terry J. Cox Prize, and published by Regal House in 2023. Sunu’s work can also be found in publications including Asian American Literary Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Poets on Adoption, Split this Rock’s online social justice database, The Quarry, and in anthologies including The Penguin Book of Indian Poets, The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood and This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation. Sunu is also a civil rights attorney and on the board of the Transgender Law Center. Sunu was included as one the 2021 Queer Women of Washington and one of Go Magazine’s100 Women We Love: Class Of 2019.
In 2016, Amita Swadhin leveraged their lived and professional experience to create Mirror Memoirs, a national storytelling and organizing project intervening in rape culture by uplifting the narratives, healing and leadership of Two Spirit, transgender, intersex, non-binary and/or queer Black, Indigenous and of color survivors of child sexual abuse. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Mirror Memoirs has 675+ QTIBIPOC child sexual abuse survivors and 1,000+ accomplices in its membership network. In 2009, Amita co-created Secret Survivors, a theater project featuring child sexual abuse survivors, with Ping Chong + Company. They are also a published writer in several anthologies, including “Dear Sister: Letters from Survivors of Sexual Violence,” “Queering Sexual Violence,” “Pleasure Activism,” and “Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement.”
D’Lo is a queer/transgender Tamil-Sri Lankan-American actor/writer/comedian whose work ranges from stand-up comedy, solo theater, plays, films and music production, to poetry and spoken word. As an actor, he’s been seen on HBO, Amazon, Netflix, and CW. His solo plays have toured nationally. His work has been awarded grants from Center Theater Group, City of Santa Monica, Durfee Foundation, National Performance Network, Ford Foundation and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. As a writer he has been published in various anthologies and academic journals, and he is the creator of the “Coming Out, Coming Home” writing workshop series which have taken place with South Asian and/or Immigrant LGBTQ Organizations nationally, which provide a transformative space for workshop participants to write through their personal narratives and share their truths through a public reading. He is also a Civic Media Senior Fellow through USC’s Annenberg School of Innovation funded by the MacArthur Foundation. His play To T, or not To T? will be published soon via Kaya Press.
Ragni Agarwal is an Indian American multidisciplinary artist. Recognized for transcending the boundaries of traditional art forms, her multidisciplinary approach, as an art director, designer, and artist, allows her to explore the intersection of mental health and art. With a particular focus on neurodivergence, fashion, women, and redefining cultural norms, Ragni’s creations are deeply rooted in personal experience and the emotional nuances of the human condition. Ragni has worked as a designer with numerous high-profile clients such as Hulu, AutoVision, Bombay Sapphire, Always, and Tasveer. As a visual artist, she has collaborated with The Other Art Fair, Palladium, Pollen, Abbott Elementary and others. Driven by bold color palettes and a pop art aesthetic, her art is a testament to her unwavering commitment to raising awareness and starting meaningful conversations about mental health, social justice, and equality.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-llo2x86b
Trenches Full of Poets: Live Readings by Three SoCal Poets at Page Against the Machine – In-Person Event
Trenches Full of Poets Reading Series presents three SoCal Poets who will read and discuss their work in the first Fall edition of the series: Bill Cushing, Kuahmel, and Sofia Aguilar.
Bill Cushing is a poet and educator whose years in the Navy and later as an electrician on oil tankers, naval vessels, and fishing boats, earned him the moniker “blue collar poet” when he returned to college at the age of 37. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies, literary journals, magazines, and newspapers. He is the author of four poetry collections including: A Former Life (Finishing Line Press, 2019), . . .this just in. .. (2021), and Just a Little Cage of Bone, published by Southern Arizona Press in 2023. When not teaching or writing, he facilitates a writing workshop at 9 Bridges Writer’s Community in Eagle Rock, CA.
Kuahmel, Soul Brother No. 7, is a poet, music maker, social commentator, and humorist. He is Admissions Director with the Community Literature Initiative and plays host to a number of open mic series’, including Project Blowed and Under Mic Influence. He has released two albums, Call It an Album! and On the Fly, and is the author of three books: Knowledge of Self, Sounds From the Waters, and Peace in the Pocket (World Stage Press, 2017).
Sofia Aguilar is a Chicana writer and editor based on the traditional homelands of the Tongva and Chumash peoples, now known as Los Angeles, California. She’s an alum of WriteGirl who went on to earn her BA from Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and publications. Her debut children’s picture book spotlighting past and present queer heroes from Latin America and the U.S. is forthcoming from Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Trenches Full of Poets is a monthly poetry series created, curated, and hosted by Los Angeles-based poets and editors, Nikolai Garcia and Mauricio Andres Moreno, with the goal of supporting published SoCal authors and the local independent bookstores that carry their works.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Page Against the Machine
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 2714 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1079848573000686
At Skylight: Lawrence Lindell, with Ezra Clayton Daniels, & BLACKWARD at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Lawrence LIndell, in conversation with Ezra Clayton Daniels, will present and discuss his new book, BLACKWARD.
Tired of feeling like you don’t belong? Join the club. It’s called the Section. You’d think a spot to chill, chat, and find community would be much easier to come by for nerdy, queer punks. But when four longtime, bookish BFFs—Lika, Amor, Lala, and Tony—can’t find what they need, they take matters into their own hands and create a space where they can be a hundred percent who they are: Black, queer, and weird.
The group puts a call out for all awkward Black folks to come on down to the community center to connect. But low attendance and IRL run-ins with trolls of all kinds only rock everybody with anxiety. As our protagonists start to question the merits of their vision, a lifetime of insecurities—about not being good enough or Black enough—bubbles to the surface. Will they find a way to turn it around in time for their radical brainchild, the Blackward Zine Fest?
Lawrence Lindell is an artist, musician and educator from California who works in many artistic disciplines, including comics, music, illustration, and mixed media. He is the co-founder of Laneha House.
Ezra Claytan Daniels is a mixed-race (Black/white) American multidisciplinary artist. Born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa, Ezra is the creator of the award-winning graphic novels Upgrade Soul (Oni Press) and BTTM FDRS (Fantagraphics Books). His work has been featured on the Criterion Channel, at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and is in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum. Ezra currently resides in Los Angeles, where he writes for film and television, including Doom Patrol for HBO Max and Night Sky for Amazon.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Where: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Book Launch: Ivanna Baranova & Continuum at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Stories presents the book launch of Continuum by Ivanna Baranova, her newest collection from Metatron.
Oscillating between existential enormity and the “tiny electronic mess” of the self, Continuum telescopes temporal vastness into sharp utterance. Continuum follows the porous “I” across elastic thresholds of past, present, and future, emphasizing and exalting spontaneous movements in day-to-day consciousness.
Ivanna Baranova is a writer, editor, teacher, and artist currently living in Los Angeles. She is the Creative Communications Coordinator at the Poetry Project and author of Continuum (2023) and Confirmation Bias (2019), both available from Metatron Press. Her work has appeared in Blush Lit, Cixous72, DIAGRAM, Jubilat, Newest York, Peace On Earth Review, and elsewhere.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
Lawrence Leamer & Hitchcock’s Blondes at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Lawrence Leamer will present and discuss his book, Hitchcock’s Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director’s Dark Obsession.
Alfred Hitchcock was fixated—not just on the dark, twisty stories that became his hallmark, but also by the blond actresses who starred in many of his iconic movies.
In Hitchcock’s Blondes, bestselling biographer Laurence Leamer offers an intimate journey into the lives of eight legendary actresses whose stories helped chart the course of the troubled, talented director’s career—from his early days in the British film industry, to his triumphant American debut, to his Hollywood heyday and beyond.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Laurence-Leamer-discusses-Hitchcocks-Blondes
At Dynasty Typewriter: Savannah Brown, with Gabi Abrāo & Fariha Róisín, & Closer Baby Closer at Dynasty Typewriter with Skylight Books – In-Person Event
In Closer Baby Closer the ancient phenomenon of love sits alongside a billionaire’s online pillow talk while a cam girl watches from her bedroom tomb.
In this third collection, poet Savannah Brown holds a magnifying glass to modern intimacy with a lens that burns as often as it illuminates. Moths, ex-lovers, Jeff Bezos, and other supernatural creatures, flit through the pages as Brown charts her own cartographies through London and the world wide web seething in everybody’s pocket.
Savannah Brown is an American writer and poet based in London. She’s the author of two novels and three poetry collections dealing with themes of existence, vulnerability, and intimacy in the digital age. Savannah has acted as a judge for the National Poetry Day competition, patron for the Foyle Young Poets Prize, and has performed for the Oxford Union. She also founded and runs Doomsday Press. i-D called her ‘the poet articulating your deepest existential fears’.
Gabi Abrāo is an artist, writer, and digital creator that was born and raised in West Los Angeles. She is also known under her Internet username, sighswoon. All of her life’s work is devoted to developing a language with the invisible.
Fariha Róisín is a multidisciplinary artist, born in Ontario, Canada. She was raised in Sydney, Australia, and is based in Los Angeles, California. As a Muslim queer Bangladeshi, she is interested in the margins, liminality, otherness, and the mercurial nature of being. Her work has pioneered a refreshing and renewed conversation about wellness, contemporary Islam, and queer identities. Róisín has published a book of poetry entitled How To Cure A Ghost, a journal called Being In Your Body, and a novel named Like A Bird, which was named one of the Best Books of 2020 by NPR, Globe and Mail, Harper’s Bazaar, Upon the book’s release, she was also profiled in The New York Times. Her first work of non-fiction Who Is Wellness For? An Examination of Wellness Culture and Who it Leaves Behind (HarperWave) was released in 2022, and her second book of poetry is Survival Takes A Wild Imagination is out October 17th, 2023.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Dynasty Typewriter
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 7:30 pm
Where: 2511 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057
Poets on the Beat: A Conversation with Shonda Buchanan, Suzanne Lummis, and Lynne Thompson at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
Beyond Baroque presents a night titled Poets on the Beat, presenting a conversation on politically engaged poetry with Shonda Buchanan, Suzanne Lummis, and Lynne Thompson, moderated by Capital & Main series editor Jessica Goodheart.
The panel discussion features poets who will discuss the power of language amidst global challenges like climate change and rising inequality. California poets were commissioned to write short essays that link poetry to contemporary social and political themes. Each article harnesses the poetry of the past and present to provide new perspectives on topics such as climate change, growing inequality, the immigrant experience, and police violence. The series, which launched in June and runs through November, is available at Capital & Main.
Before the readings, enjoy a reception outdoors with light refreshments and live music by The Modern Jazz Syndicate, a quintet based in Los Angeles that fuses traditional jazz with modern composers. Reception starts at 7:00 PM. The main event will take place in Beyond Baroque’s theater at 8:00 PM.
Though three of the commissioned authors will not be present at the event, the essays by former Los Angeles Poet Laureate Luis J. Rodriguez, Sesshu Foster and California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick are or will soon be available on Capital & Main’s website accompanied by a short video by each poet.
Suzanne Lummis was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Her collections include Idiosyncrasies (1984), In Danger (1999), and Open 24 Hours (2014), which received the Blue Lynx Poetry Prize from Lynx House Press. Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, New Ohio Review, Hudson Review, Antioch Review, Plume, and the New Yorker. She is the co-editor of The Pacific Coast Poetry Series from Beyond Baroque Books, and the editor of its first publication, Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond. Lummis was a 2018-19 City of Los Angeles Fellow, an endowment from the Cultural Affairs Department allowing mid-career visual artists and writers to complete major projects.
Award-winning author and educator, Shonda Buchanan has freelanced for the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle, Indian Country Today, Westways Magazine, Sisters of AARP and The International Review of African American Art. Buchanan is also published in Tab Journal, Inlandia Institute’s The Black Experience Anthology, the Mississippi Review, Urban Voices: 51 Poems from 51 American Poets, Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire, Art Meets Literature: An Undying Love Affair, phati’tude Literary Magazine, Red Ink, Strange Cargo: An Emerging Voices Anthology, Step into a World: A Global Anthology of New Black Literature, Arise! magazine, Def Jam Poetry’s Bum Rush the Page, Geography of Rage: Remembering the Los Angeles Riots of 1992 and Rivendell. She is the author of the memoir Black Indian.
Lynne Thompson is Los Angeles’ 2021-22 Poet Laureate and a 2022 Poet Laureate Fellow of the Academy of American Poets. Thompson is the author of three collections of poetry: Beg No Pardon, Start With a Small Guitar and most recently Fretwork, winner of the 2019 Marsh Hawk Poetry Prize. The recipient of multiple awards and fellowships including several Pushcart Prize nominations, Thompson sits on the Boards of Cave Canem and the Los Angeles Review of Books and recently completed her term as chair of the Board of Trustees at Scripps College. Her recent work can be found or is forthcoming in Best American Poetry, New England Review, Black Warrior Review, Massachusetts Review, The Common and Copper Nickel, among others.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Thursday the 12th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm (Reception at 7 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd Venice Beach Los Angeles, CA 90291
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 13th
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event
Current Events Nonfiction Book Club: Con/artist at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Current Events Nonfiction Book Club participants will discuss Con/artis: the life and crimes of the world’s greatest art forger, by author Tony Tetro. All are welcome!
RSVP: Please email studio@lapl.org for participation details.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 12 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/current-events-nonfiction-book-club-0
Self-Care Book Club: Good Morning, I Love You at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Self-Care Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain for Calm, Clarity, and Joy, by authors Shauna Shapiro, PhD and Daniel Siegel, M.D.
This book brings alive the brain science behind why we feel the way we do—about ourselves, each other, and the world—and explains why we get stuck in thinking that doesn’t serve us. It turns out that we are hardwired to be self-critical and negative! And this negativity is constantly undermining our experience of life.
Shauna Shapiro, PhD, is a bestselling author, clinical psychologist, and internationally recognized expert in mindfulness and self-compassion. She is a professor at Santa Clara University and has published over 150 papers and three critically acclaimed books, translated into 16 languages. Dr. Shapiro has presented her research to the king of Thailand, the Danish government, Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Summit, and the World Council for Psychotherapy, as well as to Fortune 100 companies including Google, Cisco Systems, and LinkedIn. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Oprah, NPR, and American Psychologist. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Duke University and a Fellow of the Mind & Life Institute, cofounded by the Dalai Lama. Her TEDx Talk, “The Power of Mindfulness,” has been viewed over 3 million times.
Daniel J. Siegel, MD, currently serves as the director of the Mindsight Institute and co-director of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Dr. Siegel is the author of The Mindful Brain and Parenting from the Inside Out. His internationally acclaimed bestselling text, The Developing Mind, has been utilized by a number of organizations including the U.S. Department of Justice, the Vatican, and more. Dr. Siegel is the founding editor of the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/self-care-book-club-good-morning-i-love-you
Book Talk & Signing: Cliff Sloan & The Court at War at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Cliff Sloan will discuss and sign his book The Court at War, in conversation with Rich Marmaro.
This book is the inside story of how one president (Franklin Roosevelt) forever altered the most powerful legal institution in the country, with consequences that endure today.
Cliff Sloan is a professor of constitutional law and criminal justice at Georgetown University Law Center. He has argued before the Supreme Court seven times. He has served in all three branches of the federal government, including as Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure, and is the author of The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall, and the Battle for the Supreme Court. His commentary on the Supreme Court and legal issues has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, and other publications, and on television and radio networks.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Taylor Lorenz & Extremely Online at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Taylor Lorenz will present and discuss his book, Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet.
For over a decade, Taylor Lorenz has been the authority on internet culture, documenting its far-reaching effects on all corners of our lives. Her reporting is serious yet entertaining and illuminates deep truths about ourselves and the lives we create online. In her debut book, Extremely Online, she reveals how online influence came to upend the world, demolishing traditional barriers and creating whole new sectors of the economy. Lorenz shows this phenomenon to be one of the most disruptive changes in modern capitalism.
Taylor Lorenz is an American journalist. She is a columnist for The Washington Post. She was previously a technology reporter for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and Business Insider, and social media editor for the Daily Mail. She is particularly known for covering Internet culture.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/taylor-lorenz
Devotion: Group Reading with Emma Specter, Grace Byron, E Taylor, Rosie Stockton, Ruth Madievsky, Rax Will and Wyatt Codayat North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
North Figueroa Bookshop presents a group reading with selections by Emma Specter, Grace Byron, E Taylor, Ruth Madievsky, Rax Will and Wyatt Coday!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-lmvf0aa3
At Skylight: David L. Ulin, with Ivy Pochoda, & Thirteen Question Method at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
David L. Ulin, in conversation with Ivy Pochoda, will discuss his book, Thirteen Question Method, his first thriller.
In Thirteen Question Method, a man hides out in a Hollywood apartment from a past he doesn’t want to remember and a present he is desperate to avoid. The summer sky is thick with ash, and across the courtyard, his neighbor won’t stop screaming. When she asks for help in an inheritance dispute with her estranged stepmother, he is drawn into a web of fear and manipulation, until he begins to lose sight of what is real.
David L. Ulin is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, shortlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, and the novel Ear to the Ground. His fiction has appeared in Black Clock, The Santa Monica Review, Scoundrel Time, and Zyzzyva, among other publications. The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, and Ucross Foundation, he is a Professor of English at the University of Southern California, where he edits the journal Air/Light.
Ivy Pochoda is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Wonder Valley, Visitation Street, and These Women. She won the 2018 Strand Critics Award for Best Novel and the Prix Page America in France and has been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Edgar Award, among other awards. For many years, Ivy taught creative writing at Studio 526 in Los Angeles’s Skid Row. She is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of California Riverside-Palm Desert low-residency MFA program. She lives in Los Angeles.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Cleo Wade, with Shiona Turini, & Remember Love: Words for Tender Times at Vroman’s off-site at Pasadena Presbyterian Church – In-Person Event
Cleo Wade, in conversation with Shiona Turini, will present and discuss her book, Remember Love: Words for Tender Times.
This event will kick off an hour early at 6pm with Friendship Hour for Cleo Wade ticketholders!
Come early! Cleo & Bumble For Friends invites you to Friendship Hour! A space for connecting to new people over mocktails & wine before the talk begins!
Friendship Hour will take place in the courtyard in front of the Sanctuary.
Cleo Wade’s first original work for adults since her widely adored Heart Talk, offers the consoling, inspiring voice that so many are craving amid the chaos of modern life. In clear, deep, generous poetry and prose, she urges those feeling confused, lost, or overwhelmed by change to return to what’s essential: love. Time and again, she reminds us that love, particularly self-love, is what saves us, even on our worst days—especially on our worst days. Love, Cleo says, is the sacred birthright of every human being. It’s not a want; it’s a need, and we require its nourishment now more than ever.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Pasadena Presbyterian Church
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 7 pm (6 pm for ticketed workshop)
Address: 585 E, Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA., 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Vromans-presents-Cleo-Wade-discussing-Remember-Love
Alegria Presents: Latin America: A Spoken Word Play at The Hudson Theatre – In-Person Event
Latin América: A Spoken Word Play features 20 Latine/x Artists, poetas & performers in Hollywood at the iconic Hudson Theaters, for three performances on October 13th, 14th & 15th, 2023.
Latin América, A Spoken Word Show is a production showcasing different stories embracing Latino/a/e/x heritage and culture in various forms of spoken word and music. From seasoned performers to new emerging talent, this production will make you laugh and cry.
Produced by Alegria Publishing, this show invites you to reflect on what it means to be an artist of color in today’s world and the beauty and power of embracing our unique stories.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Hudson Theatre
Date: Friday the 13th (& Saturday the 14th & Sunday the 15th)
Time: 8 pm – 9 pm
Address: 6539 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90038
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/latin-america-a-spoken-word-play-tickets-699740080417
LiveTalks LA Event: Arnold Schwarzenegger, with Jamie Lee Curtis, & Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life at Robert Frost Auditorium – In-Person Event
Live Talks LApresents Arnold Schwarzenegger, in conversation with Jamie Lee Curtis, to discuss his new book,Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life.
The seven rules to follow to realize your true purpose in life—distilled by Arnold Schwarzenegger from his own journey of ceaseless reinvention and extraordinary achievement, and available for absolutely anyone.….
Arnold Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-born bodybuilder, actor, businessman, philanthropist, bestselling author, and politician. He served as the thirty-eighth governor of California. The world’s greatest bodybuilder. The world’s highest-paid movie star. The leader of the world’s sixth-largest economy.
Jamie Lee Curtis is an actor, author, activist, producer, and creator. She won both a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award and SAG Award this year for her work in Everything Everywhere All At Once and has received numerous accolades and nominations in a decades long career. Her film debut in Halloween in 1978 brought her to the attention of audiences worldwide. When she reprised that role 40 years later in 2018 its opening weekend was the biggest debut ever, for any movie in any genre, to feature a female lead character over 55 years of age.
NOTE: Details at event link.
Where: Robert Frost Auditorium
Date: Friday the 13th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 4401 Elenda St, Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/arnold-schwarzenegger/
Saturday Class: Writing and Performance Workshop & GLP Practice Event at Get Lit, Words Ignite Office – In-Person Teen Event
Get Lit, Words Ignite is a complete program of working with and sustaining poetic communities inside Los Angeles Schools and their neighborhoods.
Get Lit’s Saturday Class Workshop events are offered every Saturday for teens to expand their poetic and spoken word skills and are followed by GLP Practice sessions.
Free to attend.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Get Lit Office
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 10 am – 2 pm & 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 672 S. La Fayette Park Place #10, Los Angeles, CA 90057
Website: https://www.getlit.org/events
Social Justice Book Club: Phenomenal AOC at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Literature can transform the way we look at the world. Join children’s librarians from the Los Angeles Public Library to discuss kid-friendly books related to topics of social justice. This is an all-ages book club for the whole family. Participants of all ages are welcome.
Today’s participants will discuss Phenomenal AOC: the roots and rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, by Denise Amka.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 10 am
Address: 5027 Caspar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90041
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/social-justice-book-club
Westwood Book Club: All Quiet on the Western Front at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, All Quiet on the Western Front, by author Erich Maria Remarque.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 11 am
Address: 1246 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-3
Poetry Workshop: at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join this inclusive, in-person poetry workshop 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 RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 11 am – 1 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-workshop-0
Allison Hedge Coke Poetry Workshop: Unfolding through Signatured Time at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Beyond Baroque hosts an intensive workshop offered by Allison Hedge Coke, Unfolding through Signatured Time.
A workshop in letting go by gaining hold of the sincere self. Considering musical genres, influences, and elements that develop our knowledge of structure and momentum and our musical ear, we infuse our poetry, our literary offerings with lyricism, sound, and rhythm. In this session, we will explore how playing with cadence, tone, and sonic delivery creates memorable lines and infuses and sustains dynamic movement while intentionally opening up to possibilities, trusting the visceral chord, and laying aside fear and doubt to unlock and unfold our sincere depths.
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke’s 18 authored and edited books include Look at This Blue (2022, National Book Award Finalist), Burn Streaming, Blood Run, and Effigies III. Following former fieldworker retraining in Santa Paula and Ventura in the mid-1980s, she began teaching and is now a Distinguished Professor at UC Riverside.
One scholarship will be awarded to a QTPOC/BIPOC L.A.-residing individual who would like to join but does not have the means to do so. Please email us if interested at info@beyondbaroque.org.
Workshop attendees are expected to participate in a respectful, constructive, and considerate manner. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our workshops, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow participants, or facilitator.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd Venice Beach Los Angeles, CA 90291
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unfolding-through-signatured-time-tickets-714774258047
Kids Graphic Novel Book Club: The Okay Witch at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Kids Graphic Novel Book Club participants will discuss The Okay Witch by author Emma Steinkellner.
Thirteen-year-old Moth Hush and her mom live in Founder’s Bluff, a town with a proud history of witch-hunting, but Moth loves everything witchy! Something, however, is changing. When two bullies who have made Moth’s life miserable since kindergarten suddenly find themselves missing their mouths (which may have appeared in Moth’s hands), and a cute stray cat converses with her, Moth asks her mom about their past.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 11:30 am
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/kids-graphic-novel-book-club-okay-witch
So You Want to Be a Writer: Workshop with James Coats at Riverside Main Library – In-Person Teen Event
Author and writer James Coats will lead a free writing workshop for teens ages 13-19 on Saturdays from September 9 through November 11, 2023.
This fall, Inlandia brings college-level creative writing workshops to teen-aged creatives thanks to a unique partnership with the City of Riverside Library. Led by James Coats, working writers drawn from the area community will lead teens through a ten-week progressive series. The program will be held at the Riverside Main Library on Saturdays beginning September 9, from 12:00 – 2:00 PM.
Workshop leader James Coats, himself an author, poet, and educator, will welcome a new guest writer each week, offering teens the opportunity to learn from professional working writers in a library environment. Topics will include: poetry, and the different modes of poetic expression; memoir and memory; fiction writing including micro fiction, flash, short stories, and long-form fiction; journalism and the newspaper industry; writing for magazines and periodicals; reading and performing your work for an audience; strategies for revising work toward publication; what it’s like to be an editor; and getting published. The final session will be a public reading and discussion.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Riverside Main Library
Date: Saturday the 14th (through November 11th)
Time: 12 pm – 2 pm
Address: 3900 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501
Kids Book Club: Turtles of the Midnight Moon at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Kids Book Club participants will discuss Turtles of the Midnight Moon by author María José Fitzgerald.
When poachers threaten the island they love, two girls team up to save the turtles—and each other. This story is an eco-mystery with an unforgettable friendship story at its heart from a fresh new voice in middle grade.
María José Fitzgerald is a former teacher and current writer of children’s books. Her favorite stories usually include animals, friendship, family, and magic. She grew up snorkeling and hiking in her homeland of Honduras, where nature and culture nourished her soul. Her debut novel, Turtles of the Midnight Moon, was published by Knopf in the spring of 2023. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading, walking her dogs, or maybe out on a family mountain-bike ride.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/kids-book-club-turtles-midnight-moon
Reading and Conversation with liz gonzalez at Feldheym Central Library, San Bernardino – In-Person Event
San Bernardino Native liz gonzalez will be featuring in a reading and conversation on her work and experience as a writer, educator, and author. Her current work explores U.S. Mexican history through the lens of her multigenerational family’s experiences. Please join us for a reading and conversation session with this remarkable author.
She is the author of the collection Dancing in the Santa Ana Winds and The Original OLG, among many endeavors.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Feldheym Central Library, San Bernardino
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 555 W. 6th St., San Bernardino, CA 92410
Website: Felydheym Branch, San Bernardino CIty Library
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 RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL. Literature & Fiction Study Rooms
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/writers-group-0
Free Poetry Workshop: Think Like a Writer at Café con Libros, Pomona– In-Person Event
The Poetry Workshop series for youth, Think Like a Writer is led by guest teacher Janette Valenzo every 2nd Saturday afternoon of the month at Café con Libros Press.
Pens and journals are provided by Los Angeles Poet Society and registration is available at their website link LOSANGELESPOETSOCIETY@GMIAL.COM.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Café con Libros, Pomona
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 280 W. 2nd St., Pomona, CA 91766
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Deep Critique Writing Workshop – Online Zoom Event
Deep Critique Workshop (Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines including the subject of or at least mentioning spirits and/or specters for Four Feathers Press online edition: Spirits and Specters by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59pm, October 20th)
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Kate Golden, with Tina Marshall, & A Dawn of Onyx at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
The Ripped Bodice presents Kate Golden, in conversation with bookstagrammer Tina Marshall, to discuss her new book, A Dawn of Onyx.
The breakout TikTok fantasy romance A Dawn of Onyx, now with special bonus material!
Arwen Valondale never expected to be the brave one, offering her life to save her brother. Now she’s been taken prisoner by the most dangerous kingdom on the continent and made to use her rare magical abilities to heal the soldiers of the vicious Onyx King.
Kate Golden is the bestselling author of viral sensation and debut novel A Dawn of Onyx. She lives in Los Angeles where she works in the film industry developing movies with screenwriters and filmmakers. When she isn’t telling stories, Kate is an avid book reader, movie fanatic, and functioning puzzle addict.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Horror Writer Panel: CJ Leede, Chuck Tingle, Liz Kerin at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Village Well presents a spooky panel of three horror authors!
CJ Leede is a horror writer, hiker, and Trekkie. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, and a BA from NYU’s Gallatin School, where she studied Mythology and the Middle Ages. When she is not driving around the country, she can be found in LA with her boyfriend and four rescue dogs. Alongside Maeve Fly, CJ has two more horror novels coming from Nightfire.
Chuck Tingle is a mysterious force of energy behind sunglasses and a pink mask. He is also an anonymous author of romance, horror, and fantasy. Chuck was born in Home of Truth, Utah, and now splits time between Billings, Montana and Los Angeles, California. Chuck writes to prove love is real, because love is the most important tool we have when resisting the endless cosmic void. Not everything people say about Chuck is true, but the important parts are.
Liz Kerin is the author of Night’s Edge, and a playwright, screenwriter, and graduate of the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She is also the author of The Phantom Forest (2019). She lives in Southern California.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/30425
Book Talk: Editor Shane Hawk & Never Whistle at Night Anthology at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Shane Hawk, one of the incredibly talented editors of Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, will be at Cellar Door Bookstore on Saturday, October 14th at 6:00 pm.
Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief ranges far and wide and takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl and snatch the foolish whistlers in the dark. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear—and even follow you home.
In twenty-seven wholly original and shiver-inducing tales, bestselling and award-winning authors including Tommy Orange, Rebecca Roanhorse, Cherie Dimaline, Morgan Talty, Waubgeshig Rice, and Mona Susan Power introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.
Shane Hawk (enrolled Cheyenne-Arapaho, Hidatsa and Potawatomi descent) is a history teacher by day and a horror writer by night. He entered the horror scene with his first publication, Anoka: A Collection of Indigenous Horror, in October 2020. He lives in San Diego with his beautiful wife, Tori. Learn more by visiting shanehawk.com.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com
Mary Camarillo, with Stacy Russo, & Those People Behind Us at LibroMobile – In-Person Event
Mary Amarillo, in conversation with local writer and librarian Stacy Russo, will discuss her new novel, Those People Behind Us.
In the summer of 2017 in Wellington Beach, California, a suburban coastal town is increasingly divided by politics, protests, and escalating housing prices—divisions that change the lives of five neighbors.
Each character confronts death, betrayal, financial decline, and loneliness as they search for home and community in a neighborhood where no one can agree who belongs.
Mary Camarillo write Southern California stories at a desk in Huntington Beach. I love hearing from readers and talking to book clubs, in person if possible or online. Riley, my 15-pound Flame Point Siamese roommate/manager of marketing might even make an online appearance if he’s in the mood.
RSVP
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: LibroMobile
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1150 S. Bristol St., #A3, Santa Ana, CA 92704
Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/those-people-behind-us-by-mary-camarillo
Music and Poetry JAM, with Tommy Domino at Sims Library of Poetry – In-Person Event
The Music and Poetry JAM is hosted by Tommy Domino and features Meganut and The Front Porch Band.
RSVP at site/link.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 2702 W Florence Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90043
Website: https://www.simslibraryofpoetry.org/event-details/poetry-music-jam-13
The NEW Series: Christopher Soto, Myriam Gurba, and Danny Snelson at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Live YouTube Hybrid Event
Beyond Baroque hosts the first installment this Fall of the NEW Series. Featuring commissioned writings by Christopher Soto, Myriam Gurba, & Danny Snelson.
The NEW Series commissioned writings from nine authors to create original work for a series of readings and performances happening October-December 2023.
Each author featured in the NEW series has created wholly new works on a set theme. For the first installment, writers Christopher Soto, Myriam Gurba, and Danny Snelson perform new work, that has never been published or presented elsewhere, on the theme Deep Fake.
Across three installments, an entirely different set of authors and their performances respond to themes inspired by transformations of meaning in language influenced or perhaps disrupted by uncanny technologies of the 21st century. These meanings, concepts, or “themes” take on a journey in the writers’ minds following their diverse creative processes, backgrounds, and surroundings. Come and hear the latest as each writer’s virtual reality crosses the threshold.
Christopher Soto is the author of Diaries of a Terrorist (Copper Canyon Press, 2022) and the editor of Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color (Nightboat Books, 2018).
Danny Snelson is a writer, editor, and archivist working as an Assistant Professor in the Departments of English and Design Media Arts at UCLA. His online editorial work can be found on PennSound, Eclipse, UbuWeb, Jacket2, and the EPC. Recent books include Elden Poem (Hysterically Real, 2022), Full Bleed: A Mourning Letter for the Printed Page (Sync, 2019), Apocalypse Reliquary: 1984-2000 (Monoskop, 2018), and Radios (Make Now, 2016). See also: dss-edit.com
Myriam Gurba is the author of Creep: Accusations and Confessions, an essay collection described by the Los Angeles Review of Books as “one of the best books of the decade.” Her memoir Mean was a New York Times editors’ choice. Gurba’s writing has been published by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Believer, and many other publications. Along with Roberto Lovato and David Bowles, she is a co-founder of Dignidad Literaria, a grassroots organization that opposes white supremacy in the publishing industry. She lives in California and loves it.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd Venice Beach Los Angeles, CA 90291
Obsidian Tongues Open MIc at Café con Libros, Pomona– In-Person Event
The Obsidian Tongues Open Mic is hosted by Ceasar K. Avelar every 2nd Saturday of the month at Café con Libros Press.
Featured guests: Alex Petunia, Rosalilia M. Mendoza, and Egyptian Princess.
The open mic is for everyone who wants to play a song on their guitar, read a poem, or share a story. The spoken word is celebrated!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Café con Libros, Pomona
Date: Saturday the 14th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm
Address: 280 W. 2nd St., Pomona, CA 91766
Website: https://cafeconlibrospress.org/event-calendar/
Griot Café Open Mic with Sistah Shy & Samuel Rain & 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 14th
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 Storytime with Rebecca Klempner at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
BLAST OFF with author Rebecca Klempner for an out-of-this-world reading of her new picture book, How to Welcome an Alien. Come by for some fun and games, perfect for 4 – 9 year-olds and their families. This is a great opportunity to explore the idea of welcoming others, which can be something kids are thinking about during the start of a new school year.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Sunday the 15th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/30424
Book Signing: Keenan Norris & The Confession of Copeland Cane at North Figueroa Bookshop – In- Person Event
Keenan Norris will present and sign his latest novel The Confession of Copeland Cane, winner of the Northern California Book Award for Fiction.
Copeland Cane V, the child who fell outta Colored People Time and into America, is a fugitive.
He is also just a regular teenager coming up in a terrifying world. A slightly eccentric, flip-phone loving kid with analog tendencies and a sideline hustling sneakers, the boundaries of Copeland’s life are demarcated from the jump by urban toxicity, an educational apparatus with confounding intentions, and a police state that has merged with media conglomerates—the highly-rated Insurgency Alert Desk that surveils and harasses his neighborhood in the name of anti-terrorism.
Set in East Oakland, California, in the near future, The Confession of Copeland Cane introduces us to a prescient and contemporary voice, one whose take on coming of age in America becomes a startling reflection of our present moment.
Keenan Norris holds an M.F.A. from Mills College and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside. A 2017 Marin Headlands Artist-in-Residence and a Yerba Buena Center for the Arts fellow, he teaches American Literature and Creative Writing at San Jose State University and serves as a guest editor for the Oxford African-American Studies Center. Keenan is the editor of the groundbreaking Street Lit: Representing the Urban Landscape. Keenan’s short work, both fiction and non-fiction has appeared in numerous forums, including the Los Angeles Review of Books, Oakland Noir, Literature for Life, popmatters.com, Post-Soul Satire, Inlandia: A Literary Journey Through California’s Inland Empire, Abernathy: A Magazine for Black Men, and BOOM: A Journal of California.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Sunday the 15th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-lmi8jb51
Palabras Literary Salon with Jen Cheng at Latinx with Plants – In- Person Event
Palabras Literary Salon is held every 3rd Sunday of the month and hosted by Jen Cheng, thePoet Laureate-elect of West Hollywood.
This event features poets and writers TBA from the BIPOC literary community and is free to attend, although contributions are accepted.
RSVP as space is limited.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details. Check to Verify.
Where: Latinx with Plants
Date: Sunday the 15th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 2208 Cesar Chavez., Los Angeles, CA 90053
Website: https://latinxwithplants.com/pages/calendar
Bucket List Book Club: Beloved at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Bucket List Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, Beloved: A Novel, by Pulitzer Prize winning author Toni Morrison.
This book transforms history into story and into the abyss of slavery.
Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. Sethe has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.
Toni Morrison is the author of eleven novels, from The Bluest Eye (1970) to God Help the Child (2015). She received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. She died in 2019.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 15th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com
David Levithan, with Rachel Cohn, & Ryan and Avery at Book Soup – In-Person Event
David Levithan, in conversation with Rachel Cohn, will present and discuss his book, Ryan and Avery, a queer love story for the ages—told over the course of a couple’s first ten dates.
When a blue-haired boy (Ryan) meets a pink-haired boy (Avery) at a dance—a queer prom—both feel an inexplicable but powerful connection. Follow them through their first ten dates as they bridge their initial shyness and fall in love—through snowstorms, groundings, meeting parents (Avery’s) and not (Ryan’s), cast parties, heartbreak, and every day and date in between.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Sunday the 15th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/david-levithan
This Is My Poetry: A Metacognitive Kickback for Poets with Tasha Thomas via Sims Library of Poetry – Online Event
Metacognition can be defined as “awareness, contemplation, and understanding of one’s own thought processes.” Metacognitive exercises are the tasks that support awareness, reflection, and exploration of one’s thought processes. Yes, it has some similarity to concepts in Mindfulness, and we’ll tap into that. Metacognitive Theory has been around since about 1970 and it has been continuously researched and widely applied in education and psychology to improve learning outcomes. Check it out, it’s highly Googleable. The simple idea of the kickback is to bring the Metacognitive approach to bear on the task of clarifying and refining our personal process in writing poetry, from conception to presentation. It’s not a workshop or class for learning poetry techniques/devices/ forms. It’s a space for us to identify how we get our unique poetry message out of our spirit and onto the page and stage. When we look at our use of specific techniques, etc., it will be as a means to that end.
Tasha Thomas is a L.A. native and Community Literature Initiative writer. She works for a living like everyone else – some of it a total joy, some of it not so much. Her vision for and service to community is currently JOKOCollective, which is a grassroots self-education program on a mission to generate working class intellectuals who are inspired to spread a gospel of critical thinking & historical and political awareness to address matters of special concern to Black Peoples.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry
Date: Sunday the 15th
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Double Book Launch: Twist and When the World Didn’t End at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Stories hosts a double book launch featuring two memoirists with releases of their new books with an in-person reading and discussion.
Adele Bertei will present her book, Twist: An American Girl.
Guinevere Turner will present her book, When the World Didn’t End: A Memoir.
Adele Bertei’s (@adelebertei) music career began in Cleveland with Peter Laughner of Pere Ubu. She entered New York’s downtown scene of the late 1970s as an organist for the Contortions and went on to form the Bloods, the first out, queer, all women-rock band. In her memoir Twist, Bertei threads together the tapestry of an extraordinary, troubled childhood in the 60s and 70s. It begins with her beautiful mother, whose undiagnosed schizophrenia eventually leads to the removal of her children, and the beginning of young Maddie’s wild journey.
Guinevere Turner (@guinevereturner) is an acclaimed screenwriter and director. She co-wrote the screenplays for American Psycho and The Notorious Bettie Page and, most recently, wrote the screenplay for Charlie Says. In her immersive, spell-binding memoir, Turner tells the story of her childhood growing up with the infamous Lyman Family cult—and the complicated and unexpected pain of leaving the only home she’d ever known.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Sunday the 15th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
Focus on Craft Book Club: Trial of the Sun Queen at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
October’s Focus on Craft Book Club will discuss Trial of the Sun Queen, by author Nisha Tuli.
Developmental editor and teacher Jeanne De Vita leads this book club that focuses on examining popular romance novels from a writer’s viewpoint. But everyone is welcome, you don’t have to be a writer!
In Trial of the Sun Queen there are ten women and a deadly contest. Only one can win the Sun King’s heart.
Lor has endured twelve long years of torment under the Aurora King’s rule. Her only desire is to escape and pay him back for every moment of misery she’s endured.
Nisha J. Tuli is a Canadian author whose books feature kick ass heroines, swoony love interests, and slow burns with plenty of heat. She is the author of the Artefacts of Ouranos series, as well as an e-book/POD fantasy series forthcoming from Bookouture in 2024 and a contemporary romance series being published by Hachette starting in 2025. Find out more at https://nishajtuli.com/
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 15th
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Los Angeles Literature 