World Literature Book Club via West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
World Literature Book Club meets each week for a spirited and engaging discussion of the world’s best short stories!
This month’s selections are:
November 6: Fever Flower by Shirley Ann Grau
November 13: The Suicides of Private Greaves by James Moffett
November 20: Inez by Merle Hodge
November 27: A New Window Display by Nicholosa Mohr
We meet every Monday morning (excluding holidays).
RSVP:
For the Zoom link, please e-mail wvally@lapl.org with “World Literature” in the subject line.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 10 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/world-literature-book-club-18
NaNoWriMo Write-in with Robertson Writers’ Group at Robertson Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
November is National Novel Writing Month. Come write from 10-11 with the option to share up to ten pages of your work with the Robertson Writers’ Group from 11-12:30. Adults only, please.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Robertson Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 10 am – 12:30 pm
Address: 1719 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/nanowrimo-write-robertson-writers-group
Memoir Writing at Venice Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Memoir Writing: Paint Your Portrait with Words is a workshop for adults.
Your life is your legacy. Whether writing short clips for your family archives or a full-fledged memoir for publication, this workshop will help you get started. You’ll learn different methods for writing entries that will help you paint your portrait and invaluable feedback on style and content. Registration required. Email venice@lapl.org or call the branch.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Venice Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: 501 S. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/memoir-writing-paint-your-portrait-words-0
How Sweet the Sound: B.I.G EVENT: Dante Mitchell with Mike Sonksen at Woodbury University – In-Person Event
The Black Intellectual Groundworks led by Professor Rossen Ventzislavov, Chair of INDS and faculty in Philosophy, will host a discussion between Dante Mitchell, an award-winning spoken-word poet, DJ, and community activist in Los Angeles, and our own Professor Mike Sonksen. Donuts and coffee will be served.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Woodbury University, Architecture Complex, Ahmanson Main Spece
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 5 am – 6:30 pm
Address: 7500 N. Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank, CA 91504
Website: https://woodbury.edu/event/how-sweet-the-sound-b-i-g-event/
NaNoWriMo “Write-ins” at the Fabulous Central Library, LAPL– In-Person Event
November is National Novel Writing Month. Celebrate National Novel Writing Month with weekly “Write-In” sessions in the Literature & Fiction department’s large study room. This cozy conference-style room features wi-fi, outlets, comfy chairs, and whiteboards. Light refreshments will be served along with literary inspo. What more could an aspiring novelist ask? Come Write In!
RSVP:
Space is limited, so email fiction@lapl.org to register today.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Literature & Fiction Study Rooms
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 6 am – 8 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/nanowrimo-write-ins-fabulous-central-library-0
Book Talk & Signing: William Alsup, with Howard Matz, & The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
William Alsup, in conversation with Howard Matz, will discuss his book The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald.
From newspaper clippings to the Warren Report, The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald is based on real and complicated history. Readers with a passion for the procedural will relish the details Alsup provides behind the scenes of a prosecution, demonstrating just how much time and effort goes into even cases that seem cut and dry.
William Alsup is a senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Alsup received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Mississippi State University in 1967, a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1971, and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1971.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-talk-william-alsups-the-trial-of-lee-harvey-oswald-tickets-715674611027?aff=oddtdtcreator
John Freeman and Contributors & Freeman’s: Conclusions (Freeman’s #12) at Book Soup – In-Person Event
John Freeman and contributors will discuss Freeman’s: Conclusions (Freeman’s #12) which how do we write and tell stories in a time that can feel like end times?
Contributors Rachel Khong, Xuan Juliana Wang, Héctor Tobar and Matt Sumell will talk through these and other big questions about why or how we need conclusions, how life and art resists the need, and the way form both comforts us in this anxiety and feeds it.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/john-freeman
At Skylight: Aparna Nancherla & unreliable narrator at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Aparna Nancheria will present and discuss her book, unreliable narrator: me, myself, and imposter syndrome. hilarious and insightful collection of essays exploring impostor syndrome, from the inside and out, by the most successful fraud in comedy.
This book is a collection of essays that uses Aparna’s signature humor to illuminate an interior life, one constantly bossed around by her depression (whom she calls Brenda), laced with anxiety like a horror movie full of jump-scares, and plagued by an unrepenting love-hate relationship with her career as a painfully shy standup comedian. But luckily, crippling self-doubt comes with the gift of keen self-examination.
Aparna Nancherla is a superstar comedian on the rise—a darling of Netflix and Comedy Central’s comedy special lineups, a headliner at comedy shows and music festivals, a frequenter of late-night television and the subject of numerous profiles. She’s also a successful actor who has written a barrage of thoughtful essays published by the likes of the New York Times. If you ask her, though, she’s a total fraud. She’d hate to admit it, but no one does impostor syndrome quite like Aparna Nancherla.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 7 pm
Where: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-aparna-nancherla-presents-unreliable-narrator
Book Launch: Jeffrey Vallance, with Guests, & Voyage to Extremes at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Stories presents the book launch for A Voyage of Extremes: Selected Spiritual Writings, with a reading by author Jeffrey Vallance and a panel discussion with Dave Shulman, Daniel Rolnik, and Doug Harvey.
Collecting published and unpublished essays, articles and fragments ranging from 1990 to 2022, A Voyage to Extremes offers an illustrated survey of the seemingly limitless breadth of Jeffrey Vallance’s esoteric writings.
Jeffrey Vallance is an American contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for projects that blur the lines between object-making, installation, performance, curation, and anthropological study.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
Monday Night Fiction Workshop at Beyond Baroque – Online Zoom 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 6th
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-749134019017
Live Talks LA Presents: John Stamos, with Josh Peck, & If You Would Have Told Me at Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre, New Roads School – In-Person & Virtual Hybrid Event
John Stamos, in conversation with Josh Peck, will present and discuss his memoir,If You Would Have Told Me.
This memoir is a universal story about friendship, love, loss, and the courage to embrace love once more, John Stamos’s memoir is filled with some of the most memorable names in Hollywood, both old and new. Funny, deeply poignant, and brutally honest, If You Would Have Told Me is a portrait of a boy who went from believing in Disney magic to a man who learns that we have to create our own magical moments in life.
John Stamos is a two-time Emmy Award-nominated television, film, and Broadway theater actor, as well as a producer. He rose to stardom in General Hospital, and his career includes performances on Big Shot, Grandfathered, ER, You, Full House, and Fuller House, and on the stage in Cabaret, Bye Bye Birdie, and Nine. He is also a musician, having toured, recorded, and collaborated with The Beach Boys for over thirty years. Stamos is an ambassador for Childhelp.
Josh Peck is an actor, writer and podcast host. TV and film credits include: Oppenheimer, Hulu’s How I Met Your Father, iCarly on Paramount+, 13: The Musical on Netflix, the Disney+ reboot of Turner & Hooch and the upcoming film Summer Camp alongside Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates, and Alfre Woodard. His memoir Happy People are Annoying was published in 2022 and he co-hosts the podcast, Good Guys with Ben Soffer.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Ann and Jerry Moss Theatrevat New Roads School, Herb Alpert Educational Village
Date: Monday the 6th (Virtual event on November 11th)
Time: 8 pm
Address: 3131 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404
(Free Parking available at the venue)
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/john-stamos/
Under Mic Influence: Featured Readings & Open Mic at LB Unified – In-Person Event
If you need an open mic, beautiful people, tasty eats, dope inspiration, good libations, and good vibrations, we have you covered!
Join host Kuahmel Alyeeus KuahAllah and @djkevjam for poetry, Open Mic, rare grooves, cocktails, tasty bites.
In the tradition of Funkmosphere, Monday Night Delight, Melodic Mondays, Project Blowed, Griot Cafe, and Lady Basco’s Speakeasy, we come to light things right back up and take the poet & the MC to new heights. Every 1st and 3rd Monday, you will be Under Mic Influence. Come level up with carefree, high-caliber spitters, and leave ready to get the bars up & come back for more!
Featured guest TBA.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: LB Unified
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm (Doors at 7:30 pm)
Address: 2222 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, CA 90804
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mic-influence-tickets-595266617477
Iron Flame Midnight Release Party at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
The Ripped Bodice LA location is hosting a midnight release party for Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros on November 6th! We’ll have a night filled with trivia games and other surprises from 10:30 pm-12 am midnight.
The entry ticket will include the LIMITED FIRST PRINT RUN—featuring spray-painted edges with gorgeously detailed map endpapers. This breathtaking first edition is only available for a limited time, guaranteed for this event. One book per person attending the event.
In Iron Flame (The Empyrean #2), everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 10:30 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Andy Griffiths & The 156-Story Treehouse: Holiday Havoc! (The Treehouse Books #12) at Children’s Book World – In-Person Kids Event
Comedic author Andy Griffiths will present and celebrate the newest book in his Treehouse series, The 156-Story Treehouse: Holiday Havoc! (The Treehouse Books #12)
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Children’s Book World
Date: Tuesday the 7th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 10580 1/2 W. PIco Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Fierce Reads: Finding Love in Hopeless Times: Unconventional Love Stories via The Ripped Bodice – Online Event
The Ripped Bodice LA location is partnered with Fierce Reads for a virtual panel event. Finding Love in Hopeless Times: Unconventional Love Stories will be moderated by Amanda McCrina and feature a discussion with authors: Jennifer Mathieu, Nadia Mikail, and Linda Cheng.
Pre-order panelists’ books to support indie bookstores at site:
Down Came the Rain by Jennifer Mathieu;
At the End of the World by Nadia Mikail;
Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng;
I’ll Tell You No Lies by Amanda McCrina.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Tuesday the 7th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Feminist Book Club: When Women Were Dragons at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Feminist Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, When Women Were Dragons: A Novel, by author Kelly Barnhill.
In the first adult novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Ogress and The Orphans, Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of.
In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small—their lives and their prospects—and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.
Kelly Barnhill has written several middle grade novels, including New York Times bestsellers The Ogress and The Orphans and The Girl Who Drank the Moon, which won the 2017 John Newbery Medal. She is also the recipient of the World Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for the SFWA Andre Norton Nebula Award and the PEN America Literary Award. She lives in Minneapolis with her family.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 7th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/feminist-book-club-when-women-were-dragons
Book Launch & Signing: Michael Connelly, with Josh Mankiewicz, & Resurrection Walk at The Ebell Theatre – In-Person Event
Michael Connelly, in conversation with Josh Mankiewicz, will discuss his book, Resurrection Walk.
Bestselling author Michael Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller returns in his newest book, Resurrection Walk, and enlists the help of his half-brother, Harry Bosch, to prove the innocence of a woman convicted of killing her husband.
Where: The Ebell Theatre of Los Angeles, with Chevalier’s
Date: Tuesday the 7th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 741 S Lucerne Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90005 (Parking is limited, so allow extra travel/prep time.)
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 at Google Classroom (app or web). Registration code: kdcmthg.
For more information: DSTLArts.org/conchasycafezine.
Where: DSTL Arts
Date: Tuesday the 7th (through 12/19/23)
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw0cb1GLt-6/
Jennifer Graeser Dornbush & Last One Alive at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Jennifer Graeser Dornbush will present and discuss her novel, Last One Alive.
Dr. Emily Hartford is back in Chicago, ready to move forward and leave the past behind, until an unexpected request for help sends her deep into an investigation—and into the path of a killer. Seventeen months after the Parkman case, Dr. Hartford has returned to Chicago to finish her surgical residency. But when she is contacted out of the blue by Solange McClelland, the only survivor of a decade-old triple homicide, Emily is compelled to dig deeper.
Jennifer Graeser Dornbush is a screenwriter, author, international speaker, and forensic specialist. She is developing multiple projects for TV and film, while also penning mysteries, thrillers, and short stories.
NOTE: RSVP, guidelines, and details at site.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore (in the Courtyard)
Date: Tuesday the 7th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Jennifer-Graeser-Dornbush-November-7-Author-signing
L.A. Political Economy Reading Group: City of Segregation at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
L.A. Political Economy Reading Group participants will discuss this month’s selection, City of Segregation: One Hundred Years of Struggle for Housing in Los Angeles by author Andrea Gibbons.
City of Segregation documents one hundred years of struggle against the enforced separation of racial groups through property markets, constructions of community, and the growth of neoliberalism. This movement history covers the decades of work to end legal support for segregation in 1948; the 1960s Civil Rights movement and CORE’s efforts to integrate LA’s white suburbs; and the 2006 victory preserving 10,000 downtown residential hotel units from gentrification enfolded within ongoing resistance to the criminalization and displacement of the homeless. Andrea Gibbons reveals the shape and nature of the racist ideology that must be fought, in Los Angeles and across the United States, if we hope to found just cities.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Tuesday the 7th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 6040 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90042
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Melinda Palacio – Online Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and guest Melinda Palacio.
Melinda Palacio is the new Santa Barbara Poet Laureate who was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. She is the author of the novel, Ocotillo Dreams (ASU Bilingual Press 2011), for which she received the Mariposa Award for Best First Book at the 2012 International Latino Book Awards and a 2012 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. Her first full-length poetry collection, How Fire Is a Story, Waiting, (Tia Chucha Press 2012) was a finalist for the Milt Kessler Award, the Paterson Prize, and received First Prize in Poetry at the 2013 International Latino Book Awards. In 2015, her work was featured on the Academy of American Poets, Poem-a-Day Program. Melinda’s latest poetry collection is Bird Forgiveness, 3Taos Press in 2018.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 7th
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 7th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 3301 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405
Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups or https://www.facebook.com/events/213407634459999/?active_tab=discussion
Da Poetry Lounge Open MIc at Greenway Court – In-Person Event
The nation’s largest weekly Open Mic event is 25 years strong. They hold open mic nights. At an open mic, all are welcome to share their poetry or sit in their audience.
Every Tuesday (except for 3rd Tuesdays and special events) they hold open mic nights.
NOTE: See sign-ups, 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 7th
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
Mystery Book Club: The Cartographers at West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Mystery Book Club participants will discuss The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd.
From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, this book is a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.
RSVP:
Please email wvally@lapl.org with “Mystery Book Club” in the subject line for information on the title to be discussed and the Zoom link.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 10:30 am
Address: 19036 Vanowen St., Reseda, CA 91335
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-15
Wilmington Book Club: Shalako at Wilmington Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Wilmington Branch Library Book Club participants will discuss Shalako: A Novel by Louis L’Amour.
RSVP:
Questions? Please contact Kathleen Larson at klarson@lapl.org.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Sylmar Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 1300 N. Avalon Blvd., Wilmington, CA 90744
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/wilmington-book-club-7
Write Your Novel Event at Platt Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
The Platt Branch Library invites you to write your novel at their library.
Is writing, completing a book, on your bucket list? Whether you shouted an emphatic yes or mumbled a hushed maybe to either of those questions, our new novel writing support group is for you. This new group will be a place to learn, practice, and receive support from other writers. We will use LinkedIn Learning courses available on lapl.org to guide us through the novel writing process one step at a time. With weekly goals and the encouragement of your peers, you can spend the year working your way toward a completed novel.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Platt Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 8th
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
Graphic Novel Workshop Series at Will & Ariel Durant Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Graphic Novel Workshop Series is an opportunity to plan, write, and design your own graphic novel during this multi-week program. Each week, participants will explore diverse graphic novels and comics in our collection, complete shorter activities in design and creation, and work on a longer project to author their own pieces. Materials provided.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Will & Ariel Durant Branch Library
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 7140 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90046
Website:https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/graphic-novel-workshop-series
Gina Chung at OTIS Visiting Writers Series via OTIS College of Art and Design – Online Zoom Event
Gina Chung is a Korean American writer. Born in Queens and raised in New Jersey, she is now based in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of the novel Sea Change and a forthcoming collection of short stories titled Green Frog. A recipient of the Pushcart Prize, she is a 2021-2022 Center for Fiction/Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellow and holds an MFA in fiction from The New School’s Creative Writing Program. Chung’s work appears or is forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Catapult, Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, and Idaho Review among others. She is an alumnus of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Sevilla Writers House, The Center for Fiction, Kweli, and Tin House.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: OTIS College of Art & Design, Visiting Writers Series
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://www.otis.edu/calendar/gina-chung-visiting-writers-series
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 8th (& 15th)
Time: 5 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Event (via Zoom)
Website: https://www.thepoetrylab.com/feedback
Creative Writing Workshop with Tony DuShane at Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a free 90-minute writing workshop presented by UCLA instructor Tony DuShane, screenwriter of the film Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk, based on his novel of the same name.
This workshop is open to adults only.
Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 1874 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/creative-writing-workshop-tony-dushane-24
Book Talk & Launch: Raj Towney, with Claudia Forestieri, & Colorful Palate at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Raj Towney, in conversation with Claudia Forestieri, will discuss his book, Colorful Palate.
In Colorful Palate, author Raj Tawney shares his coming-of-age memoir as a young man born into an Indian, Puerto Rican, and Italian-American family, his struggles with understanding his own identity, and the mouthwatering flavors of the melting pot from within his own childhood kitchen.
Raj Tawney is a born-and-raised New Yorker whose writing is largely influenced by his Indian, Puerto Rican, and Italian American heritage. He has contributed popular personal essays to The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Guardian, and many other publications around the world. His debut memoir Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Mixed American Experience will be available October 3 from Empire State Editions/Fordham University Press. He’s currently completing a Middle Grade novel for Paw Prints Publishing/Baker & Taylor that is scheduled for a fall 2024 release.
Claudia Forestieri is the Creator and Executive Producer of HBOMax’s GORDITA CHRONICLES, a family comedy inspired by her childhood. As a Miami-raised, Dominican American girl, she’s dedicated her entire career to telling stories about Latines like herself. Her career kicked off at Telemundo where she served as a news reporter and producer for stations in Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles. She is currently developing new shows under her newly launched Mamalu Productions banner.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Reading in Bed with Jessica via Los Angeles Poet Society – Online Event
Reading in Bed with Jessica is offered every Wednesday from 6 pm – 8 pm at 101.5FM, where host Jessica Wilson Cardenas hosts literary and performance artist guests in conversation.
Guests TBA
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: www.radioollin.org
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Book Club: The Murmur of Bees via Pacoima Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Pacoima Book Club participants will discuss The Murmur of Bees, by author Sofia Segovia.
This astonishing novel―Segovia’s first to be translated into English―about a mysterious child with the power to change a family’s history in a country on the verge of revolution. Set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution and the devastating influenza of 1918, The Murmur of Bees captures both the fate of a country in flux and the destiny of one family that has put their love, faith, and future in the unbelievable.
RSVP:
Please email pcoima@lapl.org for participation details.
Where: Pacoima Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/pacoima-book-club-1
Liz Moody & 100 Ways to Change Your LIfe at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Liz Moody will present her book, 100 Ways to Change Your Life: The Science of Leveling Up Health, Happiness, Relationships & Success.
Liz Moody is the host of top wellness and lifestyle podcast, The Liz Moody Podcast. Liz and her world-class expert guests share fun, actionable, research-backed advice about gut health, hormone health, longevity, finances, relationships, mental health, and more. Moody is also a bestselling author of Healthier Together: Recipes for Two—Nourish Your Body, Nourish Your Relationships and Glow Pops. A regular speaker, panelist, and podcast guest, Liz shares her own deeply personal anxiety journey that led her to where she is now as well as actionable, fun, and science-based ways for everyone to live their best lives.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore (in the Courtyard)
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Liz-Moody-November-8-Author-signing
Deanne Stillman, with Tom Teicholz & American Confidential: A Novel at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Deanne Stillman, in conversation with Tom Teicholz, will present and discuss her novel, American Confidential, a mother-son noir tale that plays out across the Wild West of mid-twentieth century America, delving into Oswald’s nomadic boyhood, and the world of his restless and disillusioned mother, who passed along a legacy of class resentment and a clamorous need to matter.
Was Lee Harvey Oswald—as he himself claimed—a patsy? A hired gunman? In this account, Deanne Stillman suggests that there was indeed a conspiracy behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy—that of Oswald and his mother, Marguerite, who were locked in a desperate pursuit of fame and recognition.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/deanne-stillman
Barb Morrison, with Pati Dubroff, & Bottoming for God at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Barb Morrison, in conversation with Pati Dubroff, will present and discuss her book Bottoming for God.
Barb Morrison, platinum record producer and author, in conversation with makeup artist Pati Dubroff will discuss her story about gender euphoria, sobriety, old skool NYC, true love, past lives and coming home.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Wednesday the 8th
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-lntoq7zw
At Skylight: Emily Robinson, with Kate Flannery, & Consumed at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Emily Robinson, in conversation with Kate Flannery, will discuss her debut novel, Consumed, a gritty, subversive tale of love, loss, and psychoses in the digital age.
Amber is a young New York native embarking on a journey of psychotherapy, self-exploration and sexual awakening, and maybe, a little bit of cannibalism. Seizing the opportunity to escape to Italy she meets the seductive and intriguing Natalia. Bound together in youthful carnality, they find themselves pulled down, into a pit, or pot, of despair.
Emily Robinson is a writer, actor, and director. She earned her BA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, where she developed her debut novel, Consumed. Her other work has been featured in publications such as Teen Vogue, Hello Giggles, and Dry River. Emily now lives a short drive—or a long walk—away from here.
Kate Flannery was born and raised in Northeastern Pennsylvania. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Bryn Mawr College and currently works for the Emmy Award-winning RuPaul’s Drag Race. She is the lead singer and frontwoman for LA’s premier Little Richard tribute band, Big Dick. Strip Tees is her first book.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 7 pm
Where: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-emily-robinson-presents-consumed-w-kate-flannery
Book Launch: Mary Rechner, with Beth Littleford, & Marrying Friends at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Stories presents the book launch release of Marrying Friends, by author Mary Rechner, in conversation with Beth Littleford.
Mary Rechner is the author of the story collection Nine Simple Patterns for Complicated Women, named to the long list for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and the novella The Opposite of Wow, published in the Hong Kong Review. Her fiction has appeared in publications such as New Letters, Harvard Review, Gettysburg Review, New England Review, Kenyon Review, and Washington Square. Her criticism and essays have appeared in Litro, The Believer, Oregon Humanities, and The Oregonian.
Beth Littleford won widespread notoriety as the first female correspondent on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (for which she received a Peabody award) and host of her on half-hour interview specials for Comedy Central. She has co-starred in films like Crazy Stupid Love with Steve Carell and has been published in New York Magazine, Believer Magazine, and Paper Magazine, as well as in the anthologies That Time of the Month and Best Laid Plans. Beth lives in Los Angeles with her two children and their dog. She does not live with her partner of eight years, but that’s working out just fine.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
WeHo Reads x Literary Death Match at West Hollywood City Council Chambers – In-Person Event
WeHo Reads presents Literary Death Match, partnering with WeHo Reads and the City of West Hollywood for what promises to be a blazingly-bright night of lit, wit, silliness and belly laughs, to boot. Our brilliant lineup is set to ensorcel and inspire with judges Rasheed Newson (TV writer, showrunner and author of My Government Means to Kill Me, a Lambda Literary Award Finalist) and Pickle (West Hollywood’s Drag Laureate), and readers R.K. Russell (former NFL player and author of The Yards Between Us), Melissa Chadburn (activist and author of A Tiny Upward Shove), Jessamyn Violet (drummer and author of Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar) and Kyle Siebel (veteran and short story scribe). There will be a special bonus reading by West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng, and other talent to be announced.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: West Hollywood City Council Chambers
Date: Wednesday the 8th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.weho.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/27297/15
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: V Kali Birthday Celebration;
- 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 the8th
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 8th
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-750716411997
Live Talks LA Presents: Schuyler Bailar, with Dylan Mulvaney, & How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters at Gloria Kauffman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar – In-Person & Virtual Hybrid Event
Schuyler Ballar, in conversation with Dylan Mulvaney, will present and discuss his memoir,How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters.
Anti-transgender legislation is being introduced in state governments around the United States in record-breaking numbers. Trans people are under attack in sports, healthcare, school curriculum, bathrooms, bars, and nearly every walk of life. He/She/They addresses fundamental topics, from why being transgender is not a choice and why pronouns are important, to more complex issues including how gender-affirming healthcare can be lifesaving and why allowing trans youth to play sports is good for all kids.
Schuyler Bailar (he/him) is an educator, author, and advocate. He is also the first transgender athlete to compete in any sport on an NCAA Division 1 men’s team. His work has earned him numerous honors including NYC Pride Grand Marshall, the Out 100, LGBTQ Nation’s Instagram Advocate of the year, and the Harvard Varsity Director’s Award. In addition to being one of the top LGBTQ+ educators and advocates, Schuyler is a leading DEI speaker and advisor. Schuyler also hosts the podcast “Dear Schuyler” on gender and culture and is the creator of the LaneChanger.com gender literacy online learning series. He holds a degree in Cognitive Neuroscience and Evolutionary Psychology from Harvard, and works in four research labs focusing in clinical psychology and public health.
Dylan Mulvaney (she/they) is a trans actress, comic, and content creator of the viral TikTok series “Days of Girlhood,” which raised $200,000 for The Trevor Project to support LGBTQIA+ teens in crisis. Winner of the 2022 “TikTok Trailblazer” award, Queerty “Groundbreaker Award,” THEM “Now Award,” a Webby “Special Achievement Award,” and many others, Mulvaney was invited by President Joe Biden to speak at the White House about trans rights. Pre-pandemic, Dylan played Elder White in the “Book of Mormon” Broadway musical. She now lives in LA where she works to bring trans stories to the mainstream.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Gloria Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar
Date: Wednesday the 8th (Virtual event on November 14th)
Time: 8 pm
Address: 3200 Motor Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90034
(Free Parking available at the venue)
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/schuyler-bailar/
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg & Guest Derrick Engoy 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 Derrick Engoy. The format is to welcome a featured artist for an individual reading, as well as an Open Mic reading.
Derrick Engoy is a poet, writer, pastor, and coffee enthusiast who believes words are meant to bring truth and life to people, rather than being used to destroy one another. He’s been writing and reciting Spoken Word poetry since 1995, and has performed in front of, both, small and large audiences. He’s also hosted many Open Mic nights, including The Definitive Soapbox Open Mic. But the one aspect of my art that he’s most proud of is teaching the next generation of poets the craft of creative writing.
$4 cover fee, cash only.
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday the 8th
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://allevents.in/north%20tustin/derrick-engoy-at-the-ugly-mug/200025304937856
Mystery Book Club: Wife of the Gods via Venice Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Venice Mystery Book Club participants will discuss Wife of the Gods, by author Kwie Quartey.
Kwie Quarty will join us LIVE online!
Copies are available at the front desk. New members welcome.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Venice Abbot Kinney Branch Memorial Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-35
NaNoWriMo Write-in Sessions at Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
November is National Novel Writing Month! NaNoWriMo’s challenge is to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days.
Join fellow writers from the community as we write our novels. This is all about writing, so no reading or editing during the month. These Write-In events are all about giving you the time and space to write!
Writers of all ages are welcome. Sessions are held in the library’s community room upstairs. There will be writing sprints (short, focused time to write) and plenty of encouragement for you.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Brentwood Branch Memorial Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 1820 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/nanowrimo-write-sessions
North Fig Birthday Bash: Celebrationat North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Join us for North Fig’s first birthday party on Thursday, November 9th from 5-9pm. We’ll have special guests, drinks and snacks, new merch, galley giveaways, author appearances, and lots more!
Members will receive 20% off EVERYTHING ALL DAY!
Come and party with us!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 5 pm – 9 pm
Address: 6040 N Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-lo4ztgsg
Open Mic NIght at Vroman’s Hastings Ranch – In-Person Event
Share your talent! Acts must be 2-3 minutes, family friendly (appropriate for a 5-year-old), and all kinds of performances accepted! Dance, Acting, Poetry, Music, Magic, 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. 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 tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s Hastings Ranch
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 3729 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA., 91107
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Open-Mic-Night-at-Vromans-Hastings-Ranch-November-2023
Book Launch Party: Gretchen Woelfle & How Benjamin Franklin Became a Revolutionary in Seven (Not So Easy) Steps at Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join local author Gretchen Woelfle’s celebration of the launch of her new book, How Benjamin Franklin Became a Revolutionary in Seven (Not So Easy) Steps.
The program will include a reading from the book, followed by a Q&A with the audience. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Refreshments will be provided.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 12006 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
Not So Secret Society Book Club: Suddenly a Murder, with Special Guest Lauren Muñoz at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Not So Secret Society Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, Suddenly a Murder, by author Lauren Muñwho will join us virtually!
Seven friends throw a 1920s–themed party, where it’s all pretend—until one of them is murdered. One of Us Is Lying meets Knives Out in this glamorous locked-room mystery.
Lauren Muñoz is a writer, lawyer, and former teacher living in Southern California. She received her J.D. from Northwestern University in Chicago, where she frequently skipped class to commune with her sun lamp. When she’s not reading, she can be found knitting, crocheting, and collecting recipes for things she’ll never bake. Suddenly a Murder is her debut novel.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/laurenmunoz
Book Talk & Signing: Ed Begley, with Jere Burns, & To the Temple of Tranquility…And Step On It! at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Ed Begley, in conversation with Jere Burns, will discuss his book, To the Temple of Tranquility…And Step On It!
Begley’s unmistakable voice is honest and revealing in a way that only a comic of his caliber can accomplish. Behind all the stories, Begley has wisdom to impart. This is a book about family, friends, addiction, failure, and redemption.
Ed Begley Jr. is a Golden Globe and seven-time Emmy nominee who can currently be seen on the CBS series Young Sheldon. From an appearance on My Three Sons to a notable role in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman to starring in St. Elsewhere—as well as films with Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and mockumentarian Christopher Guest—Begley has worked with just about everyone in Hollywood. His “green” bona fides date back to 1970, and have been the topic of two books, a reality show, countless media appearances, and even repeated spoofs on The Simpsons.
Jere Burns is an American actor who has appeared in theatre productions and on television. He played the roles of ladies’ man Kirk Morris on the television series Dear John, DIA psychiatrist Anson Fullerton on the television series Burn Notice, Jack on the sitcom Something So Right, and Dixie Mafia middle-man Wynn Duffy on Justified.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
ALOUD Reading Series Presents: Tracy K. Smith & To Free the Captives at Mark taper Auditorium, Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Tracy K. Simth, two-time U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, in conversation with Morgan Parker, will present and discuss her new book, To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul.
In 2020, heartsick from consistent assaults on Black life, Tracy K. Smith found herself soul-searching and digging into the historical archive for help navigating the “din of human division and strife.” Bearing witness to the terms of freedom afforded her as a Black woman, a mother, and an educator in the twenty-first century, Smith etches a portrait of where we find ourselves four hundred years into the American experiment.
Smith will be in conversation with poet, essayist, and novelist Morgan Parker.
Tracy K. Smith is a librettist, a translator, and the author of five acclaimed poetry collections, including Life on Mars, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Her memoir, Ordinary Light, was a finalist for the National Book Award. From 2017 to 2019, she served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States. She lives in Massachusetts.
Morgan Parker is a poet, essayist, and novelist. She is the author of the young adult novel Who Put This Song On?; and the poetry collections Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night, There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé, and Magical Negro, which won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, winner of a Pushcart Prize, and a Cave Canem graduate fellow. She lives in Los Angeles.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lfla.org/event/to-free-the-captives-a-plea-for-the-american-soul/
Alejandra Campoverdi & First Gen: A Memoir at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Alejandra Campoverdi will present and discuss her memoir First Gen.
Alejandra Campoverdi retraces her trajectory as a Mexican American woman raised by an immigrant single mother in Los Angeles. Foregoing the tidy bullet points of her resume and instead shining a light on the spaces between them, what emerges is a powerful testimony that shatters the one-dimensional glossy narrative we are often sold of what it takes to achieve the American Dream. Alejandra draws from her own experiences to name and frame the challenges First and Onlys often face.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/alejandra-campoverdi-discusses-first-gen-memoir
Book Launch: Peter Jesperson & Euphoric Recall at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Stories presents the book launch of Euphoric Recall: A Half Century as a Music Fan, Producer, DJ, Record Executive, and Tastemaker,byauthor Peter Jesperson
Record executive, producer, band manager, club DJ, booking advisor, record store manager—few people had as deep an impact on the Twin Cities alternative and indie rock scene as Peter Jesperson.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
Trenches Full of Poets Reading Event: Ingrid Calderon-Collins & Susan Hayden at Page Against the Machine – In-Person Event
This month’s event features two SoCal poets, plus an Open Mic segment (sign-ups in-person at the event).
Ingrid Calderon-Collins is a poet, collagist, and tarot reader. She is the author of twenty-seven poetry books and the hostess of serpentine, (a monthly open reading/open mic) at North Figueroa Bookshop. She lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband, painter John Collins.
Susan Hayden is a multigenre writer. Her work has been published in numerous anthologies including Los Angeles in the 1970s: Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine (Rare Bird Books), The Black Body (Seven Stories Press) and Beat Not Beat (Moon Tide Press). Hayden is the creator/producer of Library Girl, now in its 15th year at Ruskin Group Theatre. In 2015, she was the recipient of the Artist In the Community/Bruria Finkel Award from Santa Monica Arts Foundation. Her debut memoir, Now You Are a Missing Person, was published in June by Moon Tide Press. The proud mother of singer-songwriter Mason Summit, she lives in Santa Monica, CA with her husband, music journalist Steve Hochman.
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.
The event is free and open to the public.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Page Against the Machine
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 2714 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/6627686494005522
Sarah James, with Kemper Donovan, & Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Sarah James, in conversation with Kemper Donovan, will discuss her novel, Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen.
Perhaps the best place in 1943 Hollywood to see the stars is the Hollywood Canteen, a club for servicemen staffed exclusively by those in show business. Murder mystery playwright Annie Laurence, new in town after a devastating breakup, hopes to rub elbows with the right stars. Maybe then she can get her movie made…
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA., 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Sarah-James-discusses-Last-Night-at-the-Hollywood-Canteen
November Poetry Nightat Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
In November, Village Well is bringing back our monthly curated poetry series! Stop in to sip a glass of wine and hear performances from some of the best and boldest voices from around Culver City and Los Angeles.
Featured poets:
Emma Gazley is interested in learning about grief and how to cope with it, as well as passionate about finding joy in the day to day. Her debut art show was in September of 2015, and she has been playing her own music live since 2012. Her poetry has been featured live and online, as well as privately published since 2009.
Kate Bonnici is the author of the collection Night Burial (Colorado Prize for Poetry), in which she mourns her mother’s death from ovarian cancer by tracing the composition, decomposition, and recomposition of the maternal body.
Laura Reece Hogan is the author of Butterfly Nebula (Backwaters, University of Nebraska Press, forthcoming October 2023), winner of the Backwaters Prize in Poetry, Litany of Flights (Paraclete Press, 2020), winner of the Paraclete Poetry Prize, the chapbook O Garden-Dweller (Finishing Line Press, 2017), and the award-winning nonfiction spiritual theology book I Live, No Longer I (Wipf & Stock, 2017). She is one of ten poets featured in the anthology In a Strange Land (Cascade Books, 2019).
Julian Delacruz is a New Jersey native. He has interned at The Paris Review and PEN American Center and is currently finishing his study of poetry at Bennington College in Vermont.
Kate Burns writes trauma healing poetry for women. Her first three books of poetry are a trilogy of healing from the pain of sexual assault, rape, and betrayal at the hands of men she knew and trusted: The first book is titled all my favorite men are dead,
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/31567
Live Talks LA Presents Sheila Johnson, with Lee Daniels, & Walk Through Fire at Gloria Kaufman Performing Arts Center – In-Person & Virtual Hybrid Event
Sheila Johnson, in conversation with Lee Daniels, will present and discuss her memoir,Walk Through Fire: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Triumph.
Cofounder of BET and first African American woman billionaire Sheila Johnson shares her personal journey through love and loss, tragedy, and triumph—an story of overcoming toxic influences, discovering her true self, and at last finding happiness in her work and life.
Sheila Johnson is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, cofounder of BET, founder and CEO of Salamander Hotels & Resorts, and the only African American woman to have a principal shareholder stake in three professional sports teams.
Lee Daniels is an Academy Award® nominated filmmaker whose credits include MONSTER’S BALL, making Daniels the first African American producer of an Academy Award®-winning and nominated film PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE; THE BUTLER and THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY. His next film is THE DELIVERANCE (Netflix) which he wrote and directed and produced. TV credits include EMPIRE.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Gloria Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar
Date: Thursday the 9th (Virtual event on November 15th)
Time: 8 pm
Address: 3200 Motor Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90034
(Free Parking available at the venue)
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/sheila-johnson-with-lee-daniels/
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 10th
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/spectacular-story-time-56
Self-Care Book Club: Staring at the Sun at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Self-Care Book Club participants will discuss this month’s selection, Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death, by author Irvin D. Yalom.
Staring at the Sun is about the universal issue of mortality. Dr. Yalom helps us recognize that the fear of death is at the heart of much of our anxiety. Such recognition is often catalyzed by an “awakening experience”—a dream, or loss (the death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job or home), illness, trauma, or aging. Once we confront our own mortality, Dr. Yalom writes, we are inspired to rearrange our priorities, communicate more deeply with those we love, appreciate more keenly the beauty of life, and increase our willingness to take the risks necessary for personal fulfillment.
Irvin D. Yalom is a highly regarded psychiatrist and the author of numerous books including the New York Times best-selling Love’s Executioner and the international best-selling novel When Nietzsche Wept.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Friday the 10th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/self-care-book-club-staring-sun
Circe Moskowitz, Ryan Douglass & Brent C. Lambert present: All These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Circe Moskowitz, Ryan Douglass & Brent C. Lambert will present and discuss the book, All These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology.
From haunted and hungry Victorian mansions, to temporal monster-infested asylums, and ravaging zombie apocalypses, to southern gothic hoodoo practitioners and cursed patriarchs in search of Black Excellence, All These Sunken Souls features the chilling creations of acclaimed bestsellers and hot new talents.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/moskowitz-douglass-lambert
2 Trans 2 Furious Book Release at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
North Figueroa Bookshop is thrilled to host the 2 Trans 2 Furious Release! Tuck Woodstock and Tre’vell Anderson will be in conversation with readings from Tuck and Mckenzee Griffler.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Friday 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-ln80wc9k
Kristen M. Long, with Hope Hariri, & Theif of Sorrows at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
The Ripped Bodice hosts an in-store event with author and Booktok influencer Kristen M. Long, in conversation with Booktok creator Hope Hariri to discuss Thief of Sorrows.
There will be a book signing to follow. This is a ticketed event that includes a copy of the book.
Thief of Sorrows asks, what if Robin Hood was a female assassin, with deadly powers, who not only steals from the rich and corrupt…she kills them too.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Friday the 10th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
At Skylight: Bryan Washington, with Aja Gabel, & Family Meal at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Bryan Washington, in conversation with Aja Gabel, will discuss his novel, Family Meal about two young men, once best friends, whose lives collide again after a loss, from the bestselling, award-winning author of Memorial and Lot.
When secrets and wounds become so insurmountable that they devour us from within, hope and sustenance and friendship can come from the most unlikely source. Spanning Los Angeles, Houston, and Osaka, Family Meal is a story about how the people who know us the longest can hurt us the most, but how they also set the standard for love. With his signature generosity and eye for food, sex, love, and the moments that make us the most human.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Friday the 10th
Time: 7 pm
Where: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-bryan-washington-presents-family-meal-w-aja-gabel
Scott Eyman & Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Biographer and film historian Scott Eyman tells the story of Charlie Chaplin’s fall from grace. In the aftermath of World War Two, Chaplin was criticized for being politically liberal and internationalist in outlook. He had never become a US citizen, something that would be held against him as xenophobia set in when the postwar Red Scare took hold.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, options, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Friday the 10th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E, Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA., 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Scott-Eyman-discusses-Charlie-Chaplin-vs-America
Maximum Return: 3 Writers / 3 Generations: Exene Cervantes, Kim Rosenfield, Jack Skelley at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Live YouTube Hybrid Event
Beyond Baroque hosts 3 writers, 3 generations, all who got their start at Beyond Baroque…join us for a reading featuring Jack Skelley, Kim Rosenfield, and Exene Cervanka. They will be reading from newly published works!
Kim Rosenfield is a poet and psychotherapist. She is the author of several books of poetry, including Good Morning—Midnight—(Roof Books 2001), Tràma (Krupskaya 2004), re:evolution (Les Figues Press 2009) Lividity (Les Figues Press, 2012) and USO: I’ll Be Seeing You (Ugly Duckling Presse 2013). Her latest book, Phantom Captain (Fence Books 2023) won the Fence Books Ottoline Prize in 2023. Her work has been included in the anthologies Against Expression (Northwestern University Press), The Gurlesque (Saturnalia), I’ll Drown My Book (Les Figues Press), and The Unexpected Guest: Art, writing and thinking on hospitality (Liverpool Biennial, ART/BOOKS). She is a recipient of a Fund For Poetry grant and is an original member of the international artist collective, Collective Task http://collectivetask.magnetberg.de. Rosenfield lives and practices in Brooklyn, NY. For more information, click here: http://www.kimrosenfield.com
Jack Skelley is the author of the novel The Complete Fear of Kathy Acker, Semiotext(e), 2023. Other books by Jack: Interstellar Theme Park (BlazeVOX books), Dennis Wilson and Charlie Manson (Fred & Barney Press) and Monsters (Little Caesar Press). Jack’s psychedelic surf band Lawndale has a 2022 album, Twango, and 2 albums on SST Records.
Exene Cervenka is best known as the co-lead singer and songwriter of the band X. She is also a singer/ songwriter in The Knitters. Exene has released numerous solo recordings and toured extensively across the US, Europe, South America, and Canada. Her literary career began in 1976 when she moved from Florida to Venice, CA and began working at Beyond Baroque. She lived in the upstairs apartment above the BB Small Press Library. She met John Doe at the Wednesday Night Poetry workshop. They began writing songs together, and started their band, X. Exene has also written four poetry books, released many solo word poems and collaborated and toured with many other poets. “Twin Sisters”, a live spoken word recording with Wanda Coleman, was released in the mid 80’s. Exene owes a lot to Beyond Baroque and is grateful it still stands and flourishes.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Friday the 10th
Time: 8 pm – 9:30 pm (Doors at 7:30 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90291
Vroman’s Hastings Ranch Presents: Victoria Roth & Eva and the Impossible Tin Can Telephone – In-Person Kids Event
Victoria Roth was born in Montevideo, Uruguay and grew up in Orange County, California. Her childhood experiences as an immigrant have influenced the stories she tells. She is driven by a desire to see Latino culture represented in children’s books. Victoria graduated from the University of Michigan with master’s degrees in both Education and Spanish. She currently resides in Redondo Beach with her husband, daughter and dog, Stitch. When she’s not typing away on her computer, she can be found at the local dance studio or on her phone talking to friends and relatives in Uruguay.
In Eva and the Impossible Tin Can Telephone, after moving from her home country, Eva begins to grow impatient with the time it takes to send and receive letters from her best friend. Her father claims international phone calls are too expensive, yet it feels like an eternity for letters to reach her! Eva soon discovers the magic behind tin can telephones and their infinite conversation abilities. Will she be able to gather enough string for her tin can telephone to reach her best friend, who is now thousands of miles away?
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Vroman’s Hastings Ranch
Date: Saturday the 11th
Time: 10:30 am
Address: 3729 E Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Vromans-Hastings-Ranch-presents-Victoria-Roth
Kids Storytime with Anne Broylesat Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Anne Broyles is the award-winning author of Arturo and the Bienvenido Feast, Arturo and the Navidad Birds, Priscilla and the Hollyhocks, and Shy Mama’s Halloween. I’m Gonna Paint: Ralph Fasanella, Artist of the People will be published by Holiday House in October, 2023. Also coming in 2024 by Holiday House, a middle grade nonfiction book, Eating to Save the Planet.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 11th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/31621
Vroman’s Special Storytime: Sasha Meyer & Squash, the Cat – In-Person Kids Event
Sasha Mayer is an illustrator and writer with a background in children’s entertainment. She is a former brand designer for Mattel and was one of the creators of the billion dollar doll brand Monster High. She lives in Los Angeles with her boys, husband, and Maltipoo. Sasha wishes she could have a cat too, but her husband is allergic. So, she wrote about one instead. Squash is her debut picture book.
Squash, who looks a lot like the vegetable, is an early-breakfast, lots-of-naps kind of cat. Maggie is a wake-up-late, wild-playdate kind of girl. Despite their differences, they are the best of friends. That is until one day Squash confuses Maggie’s new toy for a dangerous beast and makes a terrible mistake. An unbelievably BIG MISTAKE. Now Squash is a can’t-face-Maggie kind of cat, and Maggie is a wishes-she-had-her-toy kind of girl. But the thing about best friends is, one way or another, they always a way back to each other.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Vroman’s Main Store
Date: Saturday the 11th
Time: 11 am
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Vromans-Special-Storytime-Sasha-Mayer-Squash-the-Cat
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 11th
Time: 12 pm – 2 pm
Address: 3900 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501
Brown & Down Book Fair at Coyote Studios – In-Person Event
The Bown & Down Book Fair is free and will offer authors, readings, zines, booksellers, & publishers, with appearances by Myriam Gurba, Marisa Norte, Sesshu Foster y mas.
More info TBA.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Coyote Studios
Date: Saturday the 11th
Time: 12 pm – 7 pm
Address: 1412 Spence St., East Los Angeles, CA
Website: https://reartela.com/pages/calendar-of-events
Author G.Z. Schmidt Joining the Kids Book Club IN-PERSON at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Kids Book Club will be joined by middle-grade author G.Z. Schmidt to discuss her book, The Curious Vanishing of Beatrice Willoughby!
Join us at 1:00 pm for a discussion before G.Z. hops in.
The Curious Vanishing of Beatrice Willoughby is set in the town of Nevermore, where since the disappearance of some of the town’s children, sone are tasked with solving the mystery before the statute of limitations runs out at midnight. Delightfully frightening with a locked door mystery feel, this is the book to tingle your spine and set your hair on edge.
G. Z. Schmidt was born in China and immigrated to the United States when she was six. She grew up in the Midwest and the South where she chased fireflies, listened for tornado warnings, and pursued a love of reading. In the third grade, she began writing stories in a spiral-bound notebook, and never looked back. She is the author of No Ordinary Thing and The Dreamweavers, which was named a New York Public Library Best Book of the Year and a CCBC Choice book. She currently lives in California with her husband and their tuxedo cat.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 11th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/GZSchmidtKidsBookClub
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 points and/or lines for Four Feathers Press online edition: Points & Lines by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59pm, November 17th).
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday the 11th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Think Like Water: Poetry Writing Workshop at Vroman’s, Pomona – In-Person Event
Free monthly Poetry Workshops are offered by Los Angeles Poet Society every 2nd Saturday of the month, with guest teacher Janette Valenzo.
Youth are welcome Journals and pens are provided.
Register at losangelespoetsociety@gmail.com
Where: Café con Libros, Pomona
Date: Saturday the 11th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 280 W. 2nd St., Pomona, CA 91766
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Julie Tieu, with Jayci Lee & Suzanne Park, & Fancy Meeting You Here at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Julie Tieu, in conversation with Jayci Lee and Suzanne Park, will discuss her book launch of Fancy Meeting You Here.
There will be a book signing to follow. This is a ticketed event that includes a copy of the book and limited art print.
Opposites attract when an always-the-bridesmaid florist and a grumpy caterer mix business with pleasure in this swoony romantic comedy in the vein of 27 Dresses from Julie Tieu, author of The Donut Trap and Circling Back to You.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Saturday the 11th
Time: 5 pm – 6:30 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Los Angeles Press Vol. 9: The Gold Issue Launch Party & Readersat Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Los Angeles Press Vol. 9 Anthology presents a launch party and reading featuring numerous contributors and poets, including:
Brian Sonia Wallace, the 4th Poet Laureate of the City of West Hollywood, is just one in a string of unlikely poetic residencies ranging from Amtrak to the Mall of America. He’s been writing poems for strangers on the street since 2012 and is the author of The Poetry of Strangers and his new poetry collection Maze Mouth.
Donato Matinez was born in in small pueblo, Garcia de la Cadena, Zacatecas, Mexico and immigrated into the USA at six years old. He teaches English Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at Santa Ana College. He has also taught classes in Chicano Studies. He has been a co-coordinator of the Puente Program for 25 years. His debut poetry collection is Touch the Sky El Martillo Press, 2023).
Matt Sedillo has been described as the “best political poet in America” as well as “the poet laureate of the struggle” by academics, poets, and journalists alike. He has appeared on CSPAN and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. He has spoken at Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba, at numerous conferences and forums such as the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education, and at over a hundred universities andcolleges, including the University of Cambridge and many others. He’s the author of the poetry collections Mowing Leaves of Grass (FlowerSong Press, 2019) and City on the Second Floor (FlowerSong Press, 2022).
Jen Cheng is the current Poet Laureate of West Hollywood and a multi-disciplinary storyteller, weaving her skills as a poet, writer, musician, improvisor, and artist. She helps create your story and amplify under-represented stories. Her latest book is Braided Spaces.
Natalie Marino is a poet, writer and practicing physician living in California. Her creative work appears in Gigantic Sequins, Pleaides, Salt Hill, South Florida Poetry Journal and elsewhere. She is the author of the chapbook Under Memories of Stars (Finishing Line Press, June 2023).
Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl is a multilingual and multidimensional Xicana, Indigenous, MeXicana poetiza. She is a seasoned language arts educator with a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in Cross-Cultural Education, as well as a Level 1 Kundalini Yoga Instructor and a student of Nahualísmo. Diosa X has been writing since her preteen years, first publishing her poems in her high school’s bilingual literary magazine, Las Voces. She is the author of the poetry collections A Church of My Own (2001), Hechizera: Sus Sultry Spells (2022), and West of the Santa Ana & Other Sacred Places (Riot of Roses Press, 2023).
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 11th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: N/A
Evelyn McDonnell, with Mike Sonksen, & The World According to Joan Didion at Page Against the Machine – In-Person Event
Evelyn McDonnell, in conversation with Mike Sonksen, will discuss and sign her book, The World According to Joan Didion.
In The World According to Joan Didion, Evelyn McDonnell provides an intimate exploration of the life, craft, and legacy of the influential California writer Joan Didion. McDonnell talks to those who knew and were inspired by Didion, travels to the places Didion lived and documented, and digs through archives and dives deep into her writing.
Evelyn McDonnell has written or coedited multiple books, including Women Who Rock: Bessie to Beyonce, Girl Groups to Riot Grrrl and Queens of Noise: The Real Story of the Runways. She has been a pop culture writer at the 𝘔𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘪 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘥 and a senior editor at the 𝘝𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘝𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦. Her writing has appeared in anthologies and publications, including the 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯, 𝘓𝘰𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘔𝘴., and 𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥. She teaches journalism at Loyola Marymount University and lives in San Pedro, California. Her blog can be found at https://populismblog.wordpress.com/
Mike Sonksen aka Mike the PoeT is a Long Beach-born, 3rd-generation Southern Californian poet, professor, journalist, historian, and tour-guide who currently teaches at Woodbury University. His over 500 published essays and poems have appeared in numerous publications including 𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘢, 𝘞𝘢𝘹 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘘𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺, 𝘓𝘈 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺, 𝘖𝘊 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺, 𝘓𝘈 𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘓𝘰𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘓𝘈 𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘰, 𝘓𝘈 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵, and others. He is the editor and author of several books, most recently the revised second edition of Letters to My City, published in May 2023 by Writ Large Press.
Where: Page Against the Machine
Date: Saturday the 11th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/6927927857268203
Obsidian Tongues Open Mic at Café con Libros, Pomona – In-Person Event
Pomona Poet Laureate Ceasar Avelar hosts and welcomes special guests on every 2nd Saturday of the month.
Open Mic is for everyone-play a song on your guitar, read a poem, or share a story. The spoken word is celebrated!
Where: Café con Libros, Pomona
Date: Saturday the 11th
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 TBA at Shades of Africa, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Sistah Shy & Samuel Rain host the Griot Café Open Mic & Poetry event every Saturday evening at Shades of Africa in Long Beach. See site to subscribe for reminders, etc.
Featured guest TBA.
Where: Griot Café at Shades of Africa
Date: Saturday the 11th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 1001 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://shadesofafrika.com/griot-cafe-open-mic-poetry/
History of Race and Psychology in the US with Ben-Oní X at The Pop Hop – In-Person Event
Ben-Oní X of BLACK NEURODIVERSITY dives deep into the intertwined history of race and psychology, exploring its impact on theories, research, and practices. As COVID disproportionately affects Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, it’s vital to understand this complex past. Join us to celebrate trailblazing Black psychologists and uncover often overlooked aspects of psychology’s racial context.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Pop Hop
Date: Sunday the 12th
Time: 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: 5002 York Blvd., Los Angeles, CA., 90042
Website: https://www.thepophop.com/calendar/2023/11/12/98egy99bcmjtbbxja1m13ljgnsyrc0
Cellar Door Book Club: When Women Were Dragons at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Cellar Door Book Club participants will discuss the book When Women Were Dragons: A Novel, by author Kelly Barnhill.
In the first adult novel by author, Alex Green, a young girl is in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of.
Kelly Barnhill has written several middle grade novels, including New York Times bestsellers The Ogress and The Orphans and The Girl Who Drank the Moon, which won the 2017 John Newbery Medal. She is also the recipient of the World Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for the SFWA Andre Norton Nebula Award and the PEN America Literary Award. She lives in Minneapolis with her family.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 12th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/cellar-door-book-club-when-women-were-dragons
Palabras Reading Series: Olga García Echeverría at Latinx with Plants – In-Person Event
Enjoy an afternoon with Palabras, a BIPOC-centered literary salon, co-hosted by the new West Hollywood Poet Laureate Jen Cheng with Latinx with Plants, in the open-air patio in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles!
This event will feature the inspiring writer, Olga García Echeverría, author of Falling Angels: Cuentos y Poemas. She was born and raised in East Los Angeles. Her work has been published in The Sun Magazine, Imaniman: Poets Writing on the Anzalduan Borderlands, Lavandería: A Mixed Load of Women, Wash, and Words, U.S. Latino Literature Today, Telling Tongues: A Latin@ Anthology on Language, among others. She has worked with queer and feminist presses in the U.S. and abroad to help bring to fruition projects like the republishing of de la tierra’s For the Hard Ones: A Lesbian Phenomenology (Sinister Wisdom 2018) and most recently Redonda y radical: antología poética de tatiana de la tierra (Sincronía Casa Editorial 2022). Olga has been an educator in the literary arts for over 25 years and currently teaches literature in the Chicanx Latinx Studies Department at California State University of Los Angeles.
Invited readers include a diverse roster of poets and includes writers from Pride Poets. Confirmed readers list subject to change. This salon features new work by poets and writers.
This salon’s theme is “mitologías,” inspired by our featured reader’s work. Myths as cultural knowledge, myths with feminist interpretations, myths as political influence. Excerpt of poems from Olga:
“Perhaps life begins again and again / in a giant molcajete / in the cradle of Earth / in the weathered stone passed down / in the hands that pulverize and feed”
This event is volunteer-run and grassroots-driven. Please kindly help us with your early RSVP here to attend and join in the facilitated discussion. Last event, tix sold out! (Please join the waitlist if the RSVPs are full – people do cancel!) We are asking for RSVPs for priority entry due to limited capacity in the back greenhouse patio. Everyone is welcome and your donations help us get a headcount and pay for chair rentals and reception for this outdoor event. If you would like to bring cash donation to our event or send other payment, we gladly appreciate your support. *If you’re challenged with limited funds and want to attend, please RSVP and join us.
NOTE: Please arrive by 1:45pm as we would like to start at 2pm. Drop-ins are welcome. Please budget for time to get your street parking in the neighborhood. ***Please message us if you would like to reserve seating for disabilities or other needs. There is a small ramp to get to the patio.
NOTE: See site for Mobile eTicket, guidelines, and details.
Where: Latinx with Plants
Date: Sunday the 12th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 2208 Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/palabras-at-latinx-with-plants-tickets-716979263277
Marcia and Kori Withers & Grandma’s Hands at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Marcia and Kori Withers will present and discuss Grandma’s Hands, a children’s book based on the music of Bill Withers.
Bill Withers was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is known for such hit songs as “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lean on Me,” “Just the Two of Us,” “Lovely Day,” and more. He received numerous awards in his lifetime and won three GRAMMY Awards. In 2005, Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2015, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Marcia Withers is the wife of the late music icon singer/songwriter Bill Withers. She oversaw Bill’s career management and as head of Withers Entertainment and the Mattie Music Group in Los Angeles, she controls the family’s publishing companies, and its worldwide sub-publisher representatives. She has been instrumental in the placement of Bill’s songs in countless films, television programs and other media, and played a creative role in many of Bill’s recording compilations. She is the co-producer of The Essential Bill Withers and a tribute show at Carnegie Hall in 2015.
Kori Withers is a singer-songwriter and the daughter of Bill Withers. As a guest of her father, she has performed with legends Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Hal David, and Charles Fox, as well as with contemporary artists Aloe Blacc, Gregory Porter, Eric Benét, and Ed Sheeran. A few personal highlights for Kori were performing with her father at his Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction (2006) and at Oprah Winfrey’s “Legends Who Paved The Way Gospel Brunch” (2015). Kori currently serves on the board of FreeHorse Arts, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating nature-based arts education for people with diverse abilities.
R. Gregory Christie is a multi award-winning illustrator and author for numerous children’s books. His passion for art has presented him the NAACP Image Award, Caldecott Honor, Sibert Honor, an Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award nomination, three New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year Award, and six Coretta Scott King Honor Awards in Illustration. He is the owner of GAS Art Gifts, an online children’s bookstore that sells books, art and stationery connected to his published titles.
NOTE: RSVP, guidelines, and details at site.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 12th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Withers-Grandmas-Hands-Event
Slow Lightning: Astonished Poetry: Anthology Release, Celebration & Performance by Peggy Dobreer at Red Hen Press– In-Person Event
Peggy Dobreer will host Kate Gale, Richard Modiano, Shannon Phillips, Ryan Cutrona and Don Preston, plus members of the Slow Lightning Lit Community to celebrate the release of SLOW LIGHTNING: ASTONISHED POETRY. Poetry! Music! Performance Surprises!
Slow Lightning readers include: Celia Chavez, Loraine Despres, Colleen O’Mara Diamond, Ruthie Marlenée, Simon Petty, Elena Secota, Nancy Spiller, and Nancy Lynée Woo. You are invited to join us after the show for refreshments and book signing.
Reservations are FREE. However, any donation is gratefully accepted to cover expenses, and show our appreciation to Red Hen Press for the use of their beautiful performance space. Reserve your book here as well for $15.00.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Red Hen Press
Date: Sunday the 12th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Where: 1540 Lincoln Avenue Pasadena, CA 91103
At Dynasty Typewriter: Eric André & Dan Curry present DUMB IDEAS – In-Person Event
Eric André & Dan Curry will present and discuss Dumb Ideas: A Behind-the-Scenes Expose on Making Pranks and Other Stupid Creative Endeavors (and How You Can Also Too!).
This book comes from the brilliantly demented minds behind The Eric Andre Show and Bad Trip, an insane illustrated compendium about the art of pranking. In their very first book, Eric and Dan reveal the secret fuel behind their surrealistic prank machine. Get ready to gorge your thirsty peepers on epic stories of shame, redemption, and glory behind pranks so dumb they’re brilliant…and beyond the realm of criticism.
Eric André is the creator, host, and cowriter of the Adult Swim series The Eric Andre Show. As a stand-up comedian, he has toured the world. He cowrote and starred in the film Bad Trip, which debuted at #1 on Netflix. His other acting credits include The Righteous Gemstones, The Lion King, and The Mitchells vs. the Machines.
Dan Curry is the head writer and executive producer of The Eric Andre Show and cowriter of the film Bad Trip
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight at Dynasty Typewriter
Date: Sunday the 12th
Time: 4 pm
Where: 2511 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/dynasty-typewriter-eric-andr%C3%A9-dan-curry-present-dumb-ideas
Wildflower Communications Presents: A Canva Workshop Series with Arkayla via Sims Library of Poetry – Online Zoom Event
Have you heard of Canva? If not, it is a new, user-friendly design app that makes it super easy for anyone to design flyers, websites, social media graphics and more. In this workshop, you will learn the basics using Canva for all of your design needs. Once you understand the functions of Canva’s two main toolbars, the opportunities are endless.
At the end of the first 1.5 hour workshop, you will understand:
1. The basics of graphic design
2. How to use Canva templates to make your own branded content
3. How to download and publish your designs
Arkayla’s storytelling philosophy is most closely related to wildflowers– embracing freedom and steady, unending growth, by any means necessary.
From using stories to secure funding for air quality monitors in key neighborhoods so organizers can “own the data” to building relationships through her personal story at direct actions in the streets of St. Louis, MO, Arkayla learned many facets of powerful storytelling. From creating community education around direct action first aid, to door-knocking to get the first Black female mayor, expressive, engaging and impactful stories have been her art, and super-power, in movement building.
As a queer Black woman, she is a natural-born storyteller. Her spirituality, professional career and lifestyle enhance my creative flow. Combined with her bachelor’s degree in public relations from Kent State University, she is confident in her ability to tell stories powerfully.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry
Date: Sunday the 12th
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Where: Online Zoom Event
Second Sunday Poetry Series: Richard Modiano and Hélène Cardona at The Studio Theatre at St. Denis Building– In-Person Event
Richard Modiano and Hélène Cardona will feature at Second Sunday Poetry Reading Series, hosted by Alex Frankel.
While a resident of New York City Richard Modiano became active in the literary community connected to the Poetry Project where he came to know Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, William S. Burroughs, and Ted Berrigan. Modiano served on the board of directors of Valley Contemporary Poets from 1995 until 2001. In 2001 he was a programmer at Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center, joined the Board of Trustees in 2006, and from 2010 to 2019, he served as Executive Director. He produced and curated hundreds of literary events, and with Henry Morro, Suzanne Lummis and Liz Camfiord co-founded and named Beyond Baroque Books’ sub-imprint The Pacific Coast Poetry Series. In 2019 he was elected Vice President of the California State Poetry Society. In 2023 Modiano joined the board of directors of the Los Angeles Poetry Society. The Huffington Post named him as one of 200 people doing the most to promote poetry in the United States. Modiano is the winner of the 2022 Joe Hill Prize for labor poetry and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. His collection The Forbidden Lunch Box is published by Punk Hostage Press. Richard is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World and a member of the National Writers Union.
Hélène Cardona is a poet, actor, translator, and linguist, the author of Life in Suspension called “a vivid self-portrait as scholar, seer and muse” by John Ashbery, and Dreaming My Animal Selves, described as “liminal, mystical and other-worldly” by David Mason. She has authored 5 translations, including The Abduction by Maram Al-Masri, winner of an Albertine and FACE Foundation Prize.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Studio Theatre at St. Denis Building
Date: Sunday the 12th
Time: 5 pm
Where: 3433 Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90068 (Near Universal Studios)
Website: https://www.secondsundaypoetry.com/
Fantasy Romance Book Club: Polaris Rising at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
November’s Fantasy Romance Book Club participants will discuss Polaris Rising, by author Jessie Mihalik. This novel is about a space princess on the run and a notorious outlaw soldier who become unlikely allies in a sexy space opera adventure—the first in an exciting science fiction trilogy.
Bookseller Taylor C. leads this fantasy and paranormal romance book club!
This event meets at the store on the 2nd Sunday of the month at 7:15pm.
No membership is necessary, feel free to show up!
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 12th
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 