Los Angeles Literature Events: 12/11/23 – 12/17/23
Book Club: Cutting for Stone at Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
This monthly Book Club meets on the Google Meet app and participants will discuss the novel Cutting for Stone, by acclaimed author Abraham Verghese.
This story is an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, and exile and home.
RSVP:
Please email ebarrera@lapl.org for the Google Meet link and participation details.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 11th
Time: 4:45 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sun-valley-branch-book-club-0
Author Conversation: Julie F. Skolnick, with Sharon Duncan, & Gifted and Distractable at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Julie F. Skolnick, MD, JD, in conversation with Sharon Duncan, will answer questions about her new book, Gifted and Distractible: Understanding, Supporting, and Advocating for Your Twice Exceptional Child.
Julie Skolnick, M.A., J.D., founder of With Understanding Comes Calm LLC, has passionately guided thousands of parents of gifted and distractible children around the world, mentors twice exceptional adults, and advises educators and professionals on how to bring out the best and raise self-confidence in their twice-exceptional students and clients. She serves as secretary to the Maryland superintendent’s State Advisory Council for Gifted and Talented Students and produces virtual conferences and other engagement opportunities for the twice exceptional community.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Monday the 11th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/32226
Meditation Mondays: with Alex Petunia & LAPS – Online Event
Every 2nd Monday of the month L. A. Poet Society presents Meditation Monday hosted by Alex Petunia.
This event is held via Zoom.us
NOTE: See site for details. Submit RSVP at site link.
Where: L.A. Poet Society
Date: Monday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Alexis Soloski, with Paula L. Woods, & Here in the Dark at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Alexis Soloski, in conversation with Paula L. Woods, will present and discuss her novel, Here in the Dark.
Gripping, propulsive, and shot through with menace and dark glamor, Alexis Soloski’s Here in the Dark takes us behind the scenes of New York theater, lifting the curtain on the lies we tell ourselves and each other.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/alexis-soloski-conversation-paula-l-woods-discusses-here-dark
Andrew Shtulman & Learning to Imagine at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Andrew Shtulman will present and discuss his book, Learning to Imagine: The Science of Discovering New Possibilities.
Imagination is thought to be the province of childhood—the stuff of free play and unrestrained ideas. Then comes the dull routine of adulthood, stifling creativity. In fact, the opposite is true. Andrew Shtulman shows that imagination is not inherited at birth, nor does it diminish with age. It grows as we do, through education and reflection.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Monday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Andrew-Shtulman-discusses-Learning-to-Imagine
Jason McBride & Eat Your Mind: The Radical Life and Work of Kathy Acker at Poetic Research Bureau – In-Person Event
Jason McBride will present and discuss his book, Eat Your Mind: The Radical Life and Work of Kathy Acker.
The Poetic Research Bureau and Stories present the Los Angeles launch of Jason McBride’s Eat Your Mind: The Radical Life and Work of Kathy Acker.
This event will feature a reading from the new paperback release of the book, a conversation with Anahid Nersessian, and a presentation of Kathy Acker’s desk by Matias Viegener, the executor of her estate, upon its donation to The Poetic Research Bureau.
Acker was not just a singular writer, she was also a titanic cultural force who tied together disparate movements in literature, art, music, theatre, and film. A feat of literary biography, Eat Your Mind draws on exclusive interviews with hundreds of Acker’s intimates as well as her private journals, correspondence, and early drafts of her work, offering a thrilling account and a long-overdue reassessment of a misunderstood genius and revolutionary artist.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Poetic Research Bureau
Date: Monday the 11th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 2220 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90057
Website: https://www.poeticresearch.com/events/jason-mcbride-on-kathy-acker
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 11th
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-772319106237
So Emotional Book Club: I Want a Better Catastrophe at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
So Emotional Book Club participants will discuss I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor, by author Andrew Boyd.
With gallows humor and a broken heart, Boyd steers readers through their climate angst as he walks his own. From storm-battered coastlines to pipeline blockades and “hopelessness workshops,” he maps out our existential options, and tackles some familiar dilemmas: “Should I bring kids into such a world?” “Can I lose hope when others can’t afford to?” and “Why the fuck am I recycling?”
He finds answers that will surprise, inspire, and maybe even make you laugh in this insightful and irreverent guide for achieving a “better catastrophe.”
Andrew Boyd is a writer, humorist, activist, and CEO (Chief Existential Officer) of the Climate Clock, a global campaign that blends art, science, and grassroots organizing to get the world to #ActInTime. He also co-created the grief-storytelling ritual the Climate Ribbon and led the 2000s-era satirical campaign Billionaires for Bush. His previous books include Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution, Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe, and Life’s Little Deconstruction Book: Self-Help for the Post-Hip.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/so-emotional-book-club-i-want-better-catastrophe
Poetry Open Mic with Wyatt Underwood via Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Share a poem you wrote or a poem you love! You are also welcome to just listen and enjoy. Emceed by Wyatt Underwood.
RSVP:
To receive a Zoom invitation, please contact wwood@lapl.org.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-open-mic
L.A. Times Book Club with California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick via Los Angeles Times – Online Event
California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick, who celebrates his home state in the poem “My California,” will be in conversation Dec. 12 with Times editor Steve Padilla.
Herrick joins book club readers to discuss his first year on the road as California’s poet-in-chief and his approach to telling stories that capture the state’s vitality and diversity.
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed the Fresno writer and professor to be the state’s 10th poet laureate in November 2022. “Each poet laureate, typically, is asked to advocate for poetry, educate and bring poetry to as many communities as he or she or they can,” Herrick said at the time. “That can take the shape of readings or talks…in everything from a grade school to a university to a prison to a book club—and everything in between.”
Herrick is the author of three poetry collections, including Scar and Flower, a finalist for the 2020 Northern California Book Award. He also has written Gardening Secrets of the Dead and This Many Miles From Desire.
Born in South Korea, Herrick was adopted when he was 10 months old by parents from Northern California. Formerly Fresno’s poet laureate, he teaches at Fresno City College and in the MFA program at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: L.A. Times Book Club
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 6 pm – 7:15 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
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 12th (through 12/19/23)
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw0cb1GLt-6/
Ben Apatoff, with Heidi Siegmund Cuda, & Body Count’s Body Count (33 1/3) at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Ben Apatoff, in conversation with Heidi Siegmund Cuda, will present and discuss his book, Body Count’s Body Count (33 1/3).
Drawn from years of research and dozens of new interviews, this is the story of a band of high school friends who revolutionized modern music, brought explosive live performances, and raised questions America’s lawmakers didn’t want to answer, overcoming some of the country’s most powerful forces to reshape the world’s cultural conversation.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/ben-apatoff
Adult Book Group: & The Diamond Eye at Once Upon a Time – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
The Adult Book Group meets on the 2nd Tuesday of the month, and December’s participantswill discuss, The Diamond Eye: A Novel; by author Kate Quinn.
This story is an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/adult-book-group-diamond-eye-kate-quinn-hybrid
Merrill Joan Gerber & Revelation at the Food Bank at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Merrill Joan Gerber will present and discuss her book, Revelation at the Food Bank.
These powerful essays share critical moments of a writer’s life: scenes from sixty years of passionate married love; suicides faced and suicide contemplated; trauma at the DMV; a night lost searching for a harpsichord in the mountains of Florence, Italy; the tale of a beloved cousin whose plane is shot down by Japanese Zeros; and a precious friendship between two women writers derailed by the poisons of religion and politics. In the titular essay (included in Best American Essays 2023) a food bank, assuaging the pandemic’s terrors with gifts of food and prayers, becomes a portal for intimate confidences entrusted to us by a voice of unspoiled authenticity and perennial vigor.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Merrill-Joan-Gerber-presents-Revelation-at-the-Food-Bank
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Leslie Sainz – Online Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and guest Leslie Sainz.
Leslie Sainz is a first generation Cuban American, born and raised in Miami, Florida. A 2019 National Poetry Series Finalist, she holds degrees in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Carnegie Mellon University. Her poems have appeared in AGNI, jubilat, Narrative, Black Warrior Review, Ninth Letter, Hayden’s Ferry Review, the Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. She’s received scholarships, fellowships, and honors from CantoMundo, the Miami Writers Institute, the Adroit Journal, and the Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts at Bucknell University, where she was a 2018-2019 Stadler Fellow. She is currently working on her first collection of poems.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: http://poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar
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 12th
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 12th
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: God Rest Ye Royal Gentlemen at West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Mystery Book Club participants will discuss God Rest Ye Royal Gentlemen by author Rhys Bowen.
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 13th
Time: 1:30 pm
Address: 19036 Vanowen St., Reseda, CA 91335
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-15
Mystery Book Club: Damaged at Sylmar Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Mystery Book Club participants will discuss Damaged by author Lisa Scottline.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Sylmar Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 14561 Polk St., Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-34
Adrian De Leon & BUNDOK at Bel Canto Books KUBO LB – Online Event
Bel Canto Books is honored to host “Celebrating BUNDOK: A HINTERLAND HISTORY OF FILIPINO AMERICA” with writer and public historian Adrian De Leon.
Combining the breadth of global history with the intimacy of biography, Adrian De Leon follows the people of Northern Luzon across space and time in BUNDOK: A HINTERLAND HISTORY OF FILIPINO AMERICA, advancing a new vision of the United States’s Pacific empire that begins with the natives and migrants who were at the heart of colonialism and its everyday undoing. From the emergence of Luzon’s eighteenth-century tobacco industry and the Hawaii Sugar Planters’ Association’s documentation of workers to the movement of people and ideas across the Suez Canal and the stories of Filipino farmworkers in the American West, De Leon traces “the Filipino” as a racial category emerging from the labor, subjugation, archiving, and resistance of native people.
Adrian De Leon is a writer and public historian at New York University. He is the author of several books: Rouge (2017), barangay: an offshore poem (2021), and Bundok: A Hinterland History of Filipino America (2023). He is the co-host of A People’s History of Asian America and Historian’s Take, both with PBS Digital Studios. Prior to joining NYU, he taught at the University of Toronto, the University of Southern California, and Simon Fraser University.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Bel Canto Books @ KUBO LB
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/adrian-de-leon-bundok-tickets-759354639167
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 13th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: www.radioollin.org
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Gabrielle Korn, with Ruth Madiesvky, & Yours for the Taking at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Gabrielle Korn, in conversation with Ruth Madiesvky, will present and discuss her novel, Yours for the Taking.
The year is 2050. Ava and her girlfriend live in what’s left of Brooklyn, and though they love each other, it’s hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world. Soon, it won’t be safe outside at all. The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world.
When Ava is accepted to live Inside and her girlfriend isn’t, she’s forced to go alone. But her heartbreak is quickly replaced with a feeling of belonging: Inside seems like it’s the safe space she’s been searching for…most of the time. Other times she can’t shake the feeling that something is deeply off.
At once a mesmerizing story of queer love, betrayal, and chosen family, and an unflinching indictment of cis, corporate feminism, Gabrielle Korn’s Yours for the Taking holds a mirror to our own world, in all its beauty and horror.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/gabrielle-korn
Book Signing: Mercury Stardust & Safe and Sound at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Mercury Stardust, AKA The Trans Handy Ma’am, will present and sign her book, Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair.
Don’t panic—Mercury Stardust, AKA The Trans Handy Ma’am is here to help!
Safe and Sound includes:
Guidance for over 50 simple home maintenance projects, such as replacing your showerhead and troubleshooting a faulty garbage disposal.
Chapters covering basic and handy repairs for your plumbing, electrical, carpentry, and safety needs.
Advice tailored to renters to minimize permanent changes.
Helpful illustrations and QR code links to videos to help you on your journey.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-lllhemo5
Story Salon: Holiday Mix Tape at The Art Parlor – In-Person Event
Join Story Salon for an evening of community & storytelling in a casual environment. Vaccines or negative test required to go maskless. Doors at 7!
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: The Art Parlor
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 5302 Laurel Canyon Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 91607
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/story-salon-holiday-mix-tape-tickets-768586712547?aff=erelexpmlt
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 — TBA; (Check to verify)
- 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 the13th
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 13th
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-773705783827
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg & Guest Feature Emma Gazley at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Host Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at the Ugly Mug on Wednesday Nights offers a Reading & Open Mic, with featured guest Emma Gazley.
Emma Gazley performed her first poetry as a teen, but she was on mic singing as a child and wrote her first songs before she could spell her own last name. Featured in online magazines like “Voca Femina” since 2007, she debuted as a visual artist in 2015 with the art show “Abide”, has appeared in various film projects, and completed her first mural collaboration in 2021. Currently based in LA, she has recently published her first book, “For Those Who Cannot Live or Die” with GoldScriptCo, as well as releasing the poetry and performance film project “GOOD//EVIL”. You can normally find her meticulously examining the ingredients on every package in the health food section, writing and reading, at an art museum, or working out with her tattoo artist husband.
$4 cover fee, cash only.
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday the 13th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/people/Two-Idiots-Peddling-Poetry/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/702066851900273
Mystery Book Club: My Name Is Red via Venice-Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Mystery Book Club participants will discuss My Name Is Red, by author Orhan Pamuk.
In this novel by the Nobel Prize winning Turkish author, is also a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art. In it, the Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a great book celebrating the glories of his realm. Their task: to illuminate the work in the European style. But because figurative art can be deemed an affront to Islam, this commission is a dangerous proposition.
Note: See site for free tickets, RSVP, and details.
Where: Venice-Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-35
Community Reading and Discussion on Palestine at Casa Zamora, El Monte – In-Person Event
A Community Reading and Discussion on Palestine will be moderated by Steve Valenzuela, writer-in-residence, who will be in conversation with Lara Deeb, Arab American scholar, educator and activist. They will discuss the book, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, by Mosab Abu Toha.
For a free download of the book visit City Lights Publisher’s website.
Note: See site for details.
Where: Casa Zamora
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 3820 Penn Mar, El Monte, CA
Website: N/A (FACEBOOK Flyer)
Diverse Romance Book Club: To Catch a Raven at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Diverse Romance Book Club participants will discuss To Catch a Raven: Women Who Dare, by author Beverly Jenkins.
This book in the Women Who Dare series features a fearless grifter who goes undercover to reclaim the stolen Declaration of Independence. Lying and cheating may be sins to some people, but for Raven Moreaux, it is a way of life. She comes from a long line of grifters and couldn’t be prouder…Until she’s forced to help the government.
A former Confederate official is suspected of stealing the Declaration of Independence, and Raven, posing as his housekeeper, is tasked with getting it back. Her partner is the too handsome Braxton Steel. Masquerading as a valet/driver, Brax is also supposed to be her “husband.” He has his own reasons for doing this job, but when their pretend marriage ignites into fiery passion, they’ll have to put everything—including their hearts—on the line.
Beverly Jenkins is the recipient of the 2018 Michigan Author Award by the Michigan Library Association, the 2017 Romance Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the 2016 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for historical romance. She has been nominated for the NAACP Image Award in Literature, was featured in both the documentary Love Between the Covers and on CBS Sunday Morning. Since the publication of Night Song in 1994, she has been leading the charge for inclusive romance. Visit her at http://www.BeverlyJenkins.net.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/diverse-romance-book-club-catch-raven
Sci-Fi Short Story Club: Concrete Island via Mark Twain Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Sci-Fi Short Story Club participants will explore JG Ballard’s chilling 1974 novella Concrete Island with sci-fi lovers from across the universe via Zoom, as selected by guest Joanne McNeil, upon the occasion of the release of her debut novel Wrong Way. Available in print and eBook from LAPL.
RSVP:
For the Zoom link, please email christopher.taylor@lapl.org.
Note: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Mark Twain Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sci-fi-short-story-club-concrete-island-special-guest-joanne-mcneil
Writing Workshop: Writing the Unsentimental Love Poem with Nicelle Davis – Online Event
A believable love poem is awkward, ugly, sad, jealous, and gross; this class will help us write into “true” love.
It is important to avoid sentimentality in poetry because it can undermine the artistic and aesthetic qualities of a poem. Sentimentality refers to excessive or exaggerated emotions that lack depth or genuine feeling. When poets rely too heavily on sentimental language or themes, it can result in clichéd, trite, or overly saccharine expressions. This can detract from the overall impact and authenticity of the poem.
This series of five monthly generative workshops will help us get snotty, smelly, and weird with our writing.
This class consists of 5 workshops, over 5 months.
Nicelle Davis spent a decade writing awkward love poems for her new collection, The Language of Fractions. Using this as inspiration, she offers a 5-workshop course on writing unsentimental love poems. See nicelledavis.net.
Where: Online link has costs and other details.
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://allevents.in/online/writing-the-unsentimental-love-poem/10000687544322577 or https://www.facebook.com/events
Lucretia Tye Jasmine & ‘70s Teen Pop (Genre: A 33 1/3) at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Lucretia Tye Jasmine will present and discuss her book, ‘70s Teen Pop (Genre: A 33 1/3).
During the 1970s, teen pop sometimes worked subversively, challenging the status quo it seemed to represent. Teen pop reinforced aspects of the counterculture it absorbed as the music kept playing-and playing back.
Although it’s very difficult to attain and maintain social progress and play it forward-there are so many tragedies- ’70s Teen Pop examines how liberation and a true counterculture can be possible through music.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/lucretia-tye-jasmine
Everything Joan: Marilyn McDonnell & Steffie Nelson Discuss Joan Didion & Their Books: The World According to Joan Didion and Slouching Towards Los Angeles: Living and Writing by Joan Didion’s Light at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Evelyn McDonnell, the acclaimed journalist, essayist, critic, feminist, native Californian, and university professor who regularly teaches Didion’s work, is attuned to interpret Didion’s vision for readers today. Inspired by Didion’s own words—from her works both published and unpublished—and informed by the people who knew Didion and those whose lives she shaped, The World According to Joan Didion is an illustrated journey through her life, tracing the path she carved from Sacramento, Portuguese Bend, Los Angeles, and Malibu to Manhattan, Miami, and Hawaii. McDonnell reveals the world as it was seen through Didion’s eyes and explores her work in chapters keyed to the singular physical motifs of her Snake. Typewriter. Hotel. Notebook. Girl. Etc. One of the first books to be published after the revered writer’s death in 2021.
L.A.-based writer and editor Steffie Nelson recently edited the essay collection, Slouching Towards Los Angeles: Living and Writing by Joan Didion’s Light, published in February 2020 by Rare Bird Books. She also co-authored Judson: Innovation in Stained Glass, published in March 2020 by Angel City Press. Throughout her career as a style and culture journalist, Steffie has contributed to The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, L.A. Review of Books, W Magazine, and many others, bringing a curious mind and a refined eye to her subjects.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-lonew1pm
Trenches Full of Poets Series: Sutichai Savathasuk, Don Kingfisher Campbell, and Stefanie Gilmore at Page Against the Machine – In-Person Event
Sutichai Savathasuk, or Mr. Chai Tea, is an autistic 3rd-generation Thai American spoken-word artist from LA. With a background in Mechanical Engineering from California State University, Northridge, he blends comedy and poetry, captivating audiences with laughter and inspiration. A Sunday Jump and Palms Up Academy regular, Chai promotes empathy through his unique experiences as a nerd and adventurer, reminding us to find joy in our passions and seek connection. His first published book, How Chai Tea Is Made, chronicles stories of his life through poetry. You can find him at local boba shops and on Instagram: @mr.chai_tea.
Don Kingfisher Campbell earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles and has taught Writers Seminar at Occidental College Upward Bound for 36 years. He has been a coach and judge for Poetry Out Loud, a performing poet/teacher for Red Hen Press Youth Writing Workshops, L.A. Coordinator and Board Member of California Poets In The Schools, poetry editor of the Angel City Review, publisher of Four Feathers Press, and host of the Saturday Afternoon Poetry reading series in Pasadena, California.
Stefanie Gilmore is affectionately called Beach City Poetress in the spoken word community. She is a self-mastery/self-love coach and five-time self-published author. Her worldwide audience was primarily curated over the internet when the world closed down one year after her spoken word debut in 2019. She then became host to one of the first open mics on Instagram & zoom. During 2020-21 she also hosted an on-air poetry show at a local radio station in Inglewood CA.
Trenches Full of Poets is a monthly poetry series created, curated, and hosted by Los Angeles-based poets and editors, Nikolai Garcia and Mauricio Andres Moreno with the goal of supporting published SoCal authors and the local independent bookstores that carry their works.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Page Against the Machine
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 2714 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1045217403458345
Matt Coyle and Tim Maleeny Present Latest Books: Odyssey’s End and Hanging the Devil at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Matt Coyle will present and discuss his new book, Odyssey’s End.
San Diego private investigator Rick Cahill’s past comes back to haunt him when he’s at his most vulnerable. His wife Leah has fled with their daughter, Krista, to her parents’ home in Santa Barbara. She fears Rick’s violent outbursts brought on by his potentially fatal brain disorder, CTE—and she doesn’t trust that he’ll ever be able to tame his manic desire to bring his own brand of justice to an unjust world.
Tim Maleeny will present and discuss his new book, Hanging the Devil.
When a helicopter crashes through the skylight of the Asian Art Museum, an audacious heist turns into a tragedy. The only witness to the crash is eleven-year-old Grace, who watches in horror as her uncle is killed and a priceless statue stolen by two men and a—ghost? At least that’s how the eerie, smoke-like figure with parchment skin and floating hair appears to Grace. Scared almost to death, she flees into the night and seeks refuge in the back alleys of San Francisco’s Chinatown.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Matt-Coyle-Tim-Maleeny-discuss-Odysseys-End-and-Hanging-the-Devil
All Women’s Open Mic with Kate Burns at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Village Well is partnering with local poet and author Kate Burns to provide a platform for female poets, musicians, storytellers, and comedians. While all are welcome to attend, this is an event that aims to amplify women’s voices only.
Acts are limited to 3-5 minutes in length. Sign-ups begin at 7 pm and conclude at 7:30 pm!
Also, please note that not all material may be considered “family-friendly” so please use discretion when deciding whether or not to bring children.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/30981
Velvet Guerilla Cabaret & Open Mic on Zoom – Online Event
Velvet Guerilla Cabaret & Open Mic presents poetry, performance, creative expression, and beyond, online at Zoom, every 2nd Thursday of the month.
Share your works or others in a welcoming environment.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Velvet Guerilla Cabaret & Open Mic
Date: Thursday the 14th
Time: 8 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=7323755097658249&set=a.1794555390578275
Bookman Open Mic at Bookman Book Store, Orange – In-Person Event
Poetry Reading and Spoken Word events are held every 3rd Friday of the month, but will be held one week earlier due to the holiday schedule for two months (Nov & Dec).
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Bookman Book Store
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 6 pm – 7;30 PM
Address: 320 E. Katella, Suite M, Orange, CA 92867
Website: https://www.facebook.com/p/Bookman-Book-Store-100057313695880/
Melissa Newman & Head Over Heels: Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman: A Love Affair in Words and Pictures at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Melissa Newman will discuss her book, Head Over Heels:Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman: A Love Affair in Words and Pictures.
This book is an invitation to the private world of Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, one of America’s most iconic couples, in a lavishly illustrated oversize photo book affectionately curated by their daughter Melissa Newman.
Their love story is the stuff of Hollywood legend. Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman became not only movie stars and stage actors, but also artistic collaborators, political activists, and philanthropists whose legacies are expansive and enduringly modern.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA., 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/melissa-newman
N8NOFACE Poetry Zine Launch at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Join our friends from Serpentine Open Mic for a very special poetry showcase featuring the first poetry zine by N8NOFACE! N8NOFACE is an experimental synth punk solo artist based in Long Beach, California.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-lpa7tcnc
Book Launch: Victor M. Valle, with Patricia Escárcega, & The Poetics of Fire: Metaphors of Chile Eating in the Borderlands at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & YouTube Live Hybrid Event
Celebrate the launch of Victor Valle’s book, The Poetics of Fire: Metaphors of Chile Eating in the Borderlands.
In The Poetics of Fire: Metaphors of Chile Eating in the Borderlands, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Chicano author Victor M. Valle posits the chile as a metaphor for understanding the shared cultural histories of Chicanx and Latinx peoples from preconquest Mesoamerica to 20th-century New Mexico. Valle uses the chile as a decolonizing lens through which to analyze preconquest Mesoamerican cosmology, early European exploration, and the forced conversion of Native peoples to Catholicism as well as European and Mesoamerican perspectives on food and place. Assembling a rich collection of source material, Valle highlights the fiery fruit’s overarching importance as evidenced by the ubiquity of references to the plant over several centuries in literature, art, official documents, and more to offer a new eco-aesthetic reading—a reframing of culinary history from a pluralistic, non-Western perspective.
Victor M. Valle is a professor emeritus at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Chicano author, he writes extensively on urban politics, economy, and food for a variety of media outlets, including Los Angeles Times and Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies. He is the author of Recipe of Memory: Five Generations of Mexican Cuisine.
Following the reading, food journalist Patricia Escárcega will be joining the author for a brief conversation on The Poetics of Fire in The Wanda Coleman Theater. The evening will conclude with a tasting of delicious Mexican cuisine dishes crafted by the Oaxacalifornia restaurant Mercado La Paloma. San Fernando Valley-based producer, El Keamo will be selecting an atmospheric mezcla of cumbia rhythms and textures for the evening.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 7:30 pm (Doors at 7 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Third Fridays Rapp Saloon Reading Series, with host Elena Secota, via Rapp Saloon – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Third Fridays at Rapp Saloon Open Mic & Featured Readers is an event offered every 3rd Friday of the month, curated by host Elena Secota.
RSVP at site.
Featured guest poets and artists this month: Peggy Dobreer plus Astonished Poetry, a Slow Lightening Poetry Anthology, and its contributors.
Share your voice at the Open Mic, where there is a time limit of 4 minutes max. Sign-ups are: 8 pm – 8:30 pm.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Rapp Saloon at HISUA
Date: Friday the 15th
Time: 8:30 pm – 11 pm
Address: 1436 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90401 (Zoom link in bio)
Website: https://www.facebook.com
Graphic Novel Book Club: I Must Be Dreaming via Bel Canto Books – Online Event
Graphic Novel Book Club participants will discuss I Must Be Dreaming, by author and illustrator Roz Chast.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Bel Canto Books
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/graphic-novel-book-club-hosted-by-bel-canto-books-tickets-492235929917
Holiday Market: Day 1 at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Presenting the annual Village Well Holiday Market! Featuring local vendors, authors, and artists, the event will take place in the Village Well Parking Area over two days.
Come on by and join us as we celebrate all winter Holidays, including Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and Yule!
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 10 am – 4 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/32103
Book Club for Middle Grade Readers via Palisades & Sun Valley Branch Libraries, LAPL – Online MG Event
Middle grade readers are invited to participate in our fun monthly book discussions.
This month we will be reading: The Candymakers by Wendy Mass.
RSVP:
For participation details, please e-mail akagan@lapl.org or gkim@lapl.org or please e-mail Ms. Ashley at akagan@lapl.org or Ms. Gail at gkim@lapl.org for the Zoom login information.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, links, and details.
Where: Palisades Branch Library & Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Address: Online Event (sees sites)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-middle-grade-readers-14 or https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-middle-grade-readers-19
Jane West Bakerink & Piney the Lonesome Pine: A Holiday Classic at Vroman’s Hastings Ranch – In-Person Kids Event
Piney the Pine Tree has only ever wanted to be one thing: a special Christmas tree for a little girl named Georgie who planted him as a seed on her Grandpa Sid’s Christmas tree farm. Finally, the winter arrives when Piney is ready to make his dream come true, but he is accidentally loaded onto a truck and whisked away from the tree farm! Thus begins Piney’s adventure to find Georgie’s house and to become her Christmas tree.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s Hastings Ranch
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 10:30 am
Address: 3729 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Vromans-Hastings-Ranch-Jane-Bakerink-Piney-the-Lonesome-Pine
Poetry Workshop: Allison Hedge Coke & Unfolding Through Signatured Time at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Unlock your knowns and forget fear of your unknowns to permit yourself to delve deep into the music your mettle moves to.
A workshop in letting go by gaining hold of the sincere self. Considering musical genres, influences, and elements that develop our knowledge of structure and momentum and our musical ear, we infuse our poetry, our literary offerings with lyricism, sound, and rhythm. In this session, we will explore how playing with cadence, tone, and sonic delivery creates memorable lines and infuses and sustains dynamic movement while intentionally opening up to possibilities, trusting the visceral chord, and laying aside fear and doubt to unlock and unfold our sincere depths.
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke’s 18 authored and edited books include Look at This Blue (2022, National Book Award Finalist), Burn Streaming, Blood Run, and Effigies III. Following former fieldworker retraining in Santa Paula and Ventura in the mid-1980s, she began teaching and is now a Distinguished Professor at UC Riverside.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unfolding-through-signatured-time-tickets-744308505777
Get Lit Creative Lab Pathways at Get Lit – Words Ignite Office – In-Person Teen Event
Get Lit Creative Lab invites teens to help launch this pilot program. Take your talent to the next level, be mentored by creative giants, and explore creative career pathways.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Get Lit – Words Ignite
Date: Saturday the 9th
Time: 11 am – 4 pm
Address: 672 S. La Fayette Park Pl #10 Los Angeles 90056
Website: https://www.getlit.org/events
Kim-Hoa Ung & A Gift for Nai Nai at Vroman’s Main Store – In-Person Kids Event
Kim-Hoa Ung will read her children’s book, A Gift for Nai Nai.
Lyn Lyn’s beloved Nai Nai has a birthday party approaching! All Lyn Lyn wants to do is make a lucky hat for her very special grandma, but her crochet skills are not nearly as refined as Nai Nai’s.
So Lyn Lyn hatches a plan for the best crocheter she knows to help her make the perfect lucky hat for Nai Nai!
Through perseverance and their special bond, Lyn Lyn comes to realize that the perfect gift for Nai Nai comes from within.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 11 am
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Kim-Hoa-Ung-presenting-A-Gift-for-Nai-Nai
Poetry Workshop at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join this inclusive, in-person poetry workshop where poets of all levels can come together, share their work, and foster a vibrant poetry community. Participants are invited to bring a poem, no longer than one page, to read and receive valuable feedback from fellow poets. Engage in thoughtful discussions and provide your own insights on the work of others. Whether you’re a seasoned poet or just starting out, this workshop offers a supportive environment to refine your craft, connect with like-minded individuals, and celebrate the power of words.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Literature & Fiction Study Rooms
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 11 am – 1 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-workshop-0
GLP Practice at Get Lit – Words Ignite – In-Person Teen Event
Get Lit Players Practice sessions every Saturday afternoon.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Get Lit – Words Ignite
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: info@getlit.org or 213-388-8639
Website: https://www.getlit.org/events
Expressions Poetry Reading, Features & Open Mic at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us in-person or via Zoom for Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series, featuring poetry readings and open poetry mic.
Features for this event are: traci kato-kiriyama (Navigating Without Instruments) and Teresa Mei Chuc (Incidental Takes).
RSVP:
Please email studio@lapl.org for participation details.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St.,Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/expressions-la-poetry-reading-series-and-open-mic-1
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Poetry Readings – Online Zoom Event
Poetry Readings led and hosted by DKC & JRT, featuring: JENNIFER BAPTISTE, INGRID CALDERON COLLINS & ESTEPHANIE SEIS + Poets published in Four Feathers Press online edition: Pantoum Festival
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Stephanie Mendez & Ill in the Head: A Zine at LibroMobile, Santa Ana – In-Person & IG Live Hybrid Event
Stephanie Mendez, in conversation with Candace Hansen, will present her book, Ill in the Head: A Zine.
Stephanie Mendez is an award-winning journalist and producer whose work has been featured on ABC News, TODAY, E! News, Los Angeles Times. SPIN, and more. She is a first-generation Mexican American descent and grew up in Santa Ana, CA.
Where: LibroMobile Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 1150 S. Bristol St., A3, Santa Ana, CA 92704
Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/ill-in-the-head-by-stephanie-mendez
Pages on Stages: Celebrating Voth’s Book Release: Dieagnosis at Sims Library of Poetry – In-Person Event
Pages on Stages celebrates the book release of Dieagnosis, by Voth, with guests: Soul on Fire, Anastasia Fenald, Alex Petunia, and Juan Amador and hosted by Karo Ska.
About the Poets:
As a Community Literature Initiative alum, Alex Petunia released her first poetry collection Tending My Wild in 2021 through World Stage Press. She’s performed throughout Los Angeles, New York, Paris and at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. She enjoys typing poems on demand for community and tabling with her handmade creative joys. When she’s not in nursing scrubs or on the mic, she hosts Meditation Monday and Writers in the Wild with the Los Angeles Poet Society. Her favorite self-care activity is reading poetry to her garden with her furry babies and cuddly python.
Juan Amador is an actor and spoken-word artist from South Central LA. He’s excited to release his first poetry book titled Pimping My Trauma with Riots of Roses Publishing. He cannot wait to see it in everyone’s hands in Fall 2024.
Anastasia Helena Fenald (b.1992) is a second generation Ukrainian-Hispanic-American poet from California’s windy High Desert. She has a B.A. in Global Studies from the University of Riverside, California (2014) and an M.A. in Globalization and Development from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom (2015). Known for her energetic attitude and poignant poems, she spends most of her free time devouring fanfiction, performing at open mics, and forgetting to drink water until bedtime.
Mauricio Moreno aka Soul on Fire, is a 1st generation Colombian-American artist and writer. His debut poetry collection Anatomy of a Flame was released by Los Angeles Poet Society Press on July 16th of 2023. He is their first single author to release a poetry book. Just like his name, he himself is an elemental spirit guiding people on their travels to discover their own raw power and potential. If you are in darkness, allow his words to be your flame.
VOTH | Voice of the Harbor:
Latinx, Gay, passion for horror, nature, crystals, love, coffee, and tea by the sea. VOTH dedicates himself to embracing the truth within. He released his first book Dieagnosis on November 19th of 2023 with Riot of Roses Publishing House. By using his lighthouse energy, he embraces harmony and guides lost travelers to a place called home. He is the Host of One Mic One Globe and Coffee, Waffles + Poetry. He’s performed throughout Los Angeles, Long Beach, and New York, and has been on 101.5FM. He celebrates differences to bring together a community built on trust, honesty, and mental freedom.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 2702 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043
SOMOS and INNER LINKS Exhibit Openings at Art Share L.A. – In-Person Event
Art Share L.A. presents SOMOS, a new exhibition curated by Fabian Debora, Executive Director of Homeboy Art Academy.
Featuring MC Matthew Cuban, DJ Larry Carlin, artist/poet Obed Silva and more!
Where: Art Share LA
Date: Saturday the 16th
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 801 East 4th Place Los Angeles, CA 90013
Holiday Market: Day 2 at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Presenting the annual Village Well Holiday Market! Featuring local vendors, authors, and artists, the event will take place in the Village Well Parking Area over two days.
Come on by and join us as we celebrate all winter Holidays, including Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and Yule!
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Sunday the 17th
Time: 10 am – 4 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/32104
Burning Issues Book Club: Hope in the Dark via Bel Canto Books – Online Event
Burning Issues Book Club participants will discuss Hope in the Dark, by author and illustrator Rebecca Solnit.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Bel Canto Books
Date: Sunday the 17th
Time: 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com
An Afternoon of Poesia at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Presenting a welcoming home event celebrating L.A. poeta Ruben Quesada’s literary legacy and advocacy for diversity in literature. This event also features Chicano Poetas: Matt Sedillo, Sonia Gutierrez, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Adrian Ernest Cepeda, and Jean Pierre Rueda.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 17th
Time: 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 12687 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: https://www.tiachucha.org/
L.A. Made: Strong Words Holiday Show at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Strong Words returns to LA Made with an all-new Holiday show filled with stories and music that celebrate all your favorite holiday feels. You’ll laugh, you’ll tear up, and you’ll feel the love that only comes this time of year. Strong Words, hosted by Larry Dean Harris, is celebrating its 12th year as the favorite “Storytelling for Grown-Ups” show of Silver Lake and Atwater Village.
Featured speakers include Kevin Chamberlin, Barbara Clark, Vicki Juditz, Cara Lopez Lee and Jonathan Tipton Meyers.
Reservations are not required but highly encouraged. To reserve your seat, please go to this link. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Mark Taper Auditorium
Date: Sunday the 17th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/la-made-presents-strong-words-holiday-show
I Can Speak: Live Poetry Show at Tomorrow Today – In-Person Event
I Can Speak is a live poetry show by Marina Kazakova and Sara Maino.
Opening Poetry by: Matt Sedillo, Linda Ravenswood, Susan Hayden, Veronica Jauregui.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Tomorrow Today
Date: Sunday the 17th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 937 Sun Moon Way., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: N/A (FACEBOOK flyer)
Focus on Craft Book Clubat The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
December’s Focus on Craft Book Club participants will discuss Wrapped with a Beau, by author Lillie Vale.
This novel is about two people who are opposites in every way. But as the two grow closer, they realize the growing spark between them may just be what the season calls for.
No membership is necessary, feel free to show up!
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 17th
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
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