Sun Valley Book Club: Tom Lake via Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL Online Event
Book Club participants will discuss the novel. Tom Lake, by author Ann Patchett.
Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics.
Where: Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 8th
Time: 4:45 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/sun-valley-branch-book-club-3
Pasadena Rose Poets: Weave Poetry into Life’s Tapestry via Pasadena Public Library – Online Zoom Event
Members of Pasadena Rose Poets will read on the theme of Weave Poetry into Life’s Tapestry in honor of National Poetry Month.
Where: Pasadena Public Library
Date: Monday the 8th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/pasadenalibrary
WeHo Reads Event: Asian Pacific Diaspora Talk Story at West Hollywood Library – In-Person Event
Hear a panel of poets and writers during Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month as they share their stories, connect across the diaspora, and discuss what it means to be from the Asian-Pacific diaspora. Musical guest Jett Kwong opens this event celebrating the panel of Asian/Pacific American authors:
Ryka Aoki is a poet, composer, teacher, and novelist. Her latest novel, Light From Uncommon Stars (Tor 2021) was awarded the 2022 Alex and Otherwise Awards, and was a finalist for the 2022 Hugo, Locus, and Ignyte Awards. She is the 2023 recipient of Lambda Literary’s Jim Duggins Award for Outstanding LGTBQ Mid-Career Novelist. Ryka has been honored by the California State Senate for “extraordinary commitment to the visibility and well-being of Transgender people.” She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University and is professor of English at Santa Monica College.
Curtis Chin is co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Chin served as the non-profits’ first Executive Director. He went on to write for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in sixteen countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appetit, the Detroit Free Press, and the Emancipator/Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant was published by Little, Brown in Fall 2023. His essay in Bon Appetit was just selected for Best Food Writing in America 2023 and he just produced an episode of America’s Test Kitchen’s podcast, Proof.
Jasmin Iolani Hakes was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii. She has received support from Writing x Writers, Community of Writers, Hedgebrook, VCCA, and Storyknife. Her essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee. She is the author of Hula, named a must-read book by Oprah Daily, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and others.
Angela Peñaredondo is a queer Filipinx, interdisciplinary writer and educator. They are the author of nature felt but never apprehended (Noemi Press), All Things Lose Thousands of Times (Inlandia Institute, Winner of the Hillary Gravendyk Regional Book Prize) and Maroon (Jamii Publications). Their work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets, Pleiades, Michigan Quarterly Review, Southern Humanities Review and elsewhere. They’ve received fellowships and awards from Hedgebrook, Kundiman, Macondo, TinHouse, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown among others. They are an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at California State University San Bernardino. Currently, Peñaredondo lives in Los Angeles with their partner and many cramped plants.
Fariha Róisín is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. As a Muslim queer Bangladeshi, her work has pioneered a refreshing and renewed conversation about wellness, contemporary Islam, degrowth and queer identities. She is the author of books Like a Bird, How to Cure a Ghost, Who is Wellness For?: An Examination of Wellness Culture and Who it Leaves Behind, and her latest collection of poetry, Survival Takes a Wild Imagination.
Hosted by West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng, the author of Braided Spaces, and a multidisciplinary storyteller who amplifies under-represented voices. Jen is the founder of Palabras Literary Salon, celebrating BIPOC poets and writers, and a 2023 California Arts Council Fellow. Jen blends East-West cultural influences in a new form, Feng Shui Poetry. With stories for tween audiences, mystery detective fans, and queer love, Jen is a cross-pollinator. She is a filmmaker with a documentary project celebrating LGBTQ Elders.
This event is free to attend, and RSVPs are requested at http://www.weho.org/wehoreads.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: West Hollywood Library, Community Room
Date: Monday the 8th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.weho.org/Home/Components/News/News
ALOUD Reading Series: Tommy Orange & Wandering Stars at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
ALOUD Reading Series presents author Tommy Orange, in conversation with Bobby Wilson, to discus is new book, Wandering Stars.
Tommy Orange, the Pulitzer Prize-finalist and author of the breakout bestseller There There, returns to ALOUD with one of TIME Magazine’s most anticipated books of 2024, Wandering Stars, which traces the legacies of the Colorado Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations of a family. Orange’s new novel is piercing in its poetry, sorrow, and rage, and is a devastating indictment of America’s war on its own people.
Orange will be in conversation with Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota actor, writer, poet, visual artist, and comedian Bobby “Dues” Wilson.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines and details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Mark Taper Auditorium
Date: Monday the 8th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wandering-stars-registration-790549443667
Anna Schechtman & The Riddles of the Sphinx at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Anna Schechtman will present and discuss her book, The Riddles of the Sphynx.
The indisputable “queen of crosswords,” Anna Shechtman published her first New York Times puzzle at age nineteen, and later, spearheaded The New Yorker’s popular crossword section.
In this fascinating work—part memoir, part cultural analysis—she excavates the hidden history of the crossword and the overlooked women who have been central to its creation and evolution, from the “Crossword Craze” of the 1920s to the role of digital technology today. As she tells the story of her own experience in the CrossWorld, she analyzes the roles assigned to women in American culture, the boxes they’ve been allowed to fill, and the ways that they’ve used puzzles to negotiate the constraints and play of desire under patriarchy.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/anna-schechtman
Meditation Monday: Alex Petunia via Los Angeles Poet Society – Online Event
L.A. Poet Society hosts Alex Petunia and Meditation Monday writers’ workshop via Zoom online.
NOTE: See site for Zoom link and details.
Where: Los Angeles Poet Society
Date: Monday the 8th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: Online Event
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/
Book Launch: James Acker, with Adam Sass, & Teenage Dirtbags at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
James Acker, in conversation with Adam Sass, will launch and discuss his novel, Teenage Dirtbags.
Teenage Dirtbags is a novel, both unflinching and hilarious, about an unlikely group of teens coming together to get revenge on the person who wronged them.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Monday the 8th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
R.U.P.O. at Back to the Grind in Riverside – In-Person Event
RUPO Open Mic is back every Monday Night at Back to the Grind in Riverside.
Every Monday at a new time- 7pm to 9pm. Sign-ups are at 6:30pm and in person only, $4 cash admission. See you then!
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Back to the Grind, Riverside
Date: Monday the 8th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Sign-ups at 6:30 pm)
Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://www.facebook.com/backtothegrind
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 8th
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-875935776487
Virtual Book Launch & Reading: Author Naomi Hirahara & Illustrator Sarah Demonteverde & A Child’s Intro to AAPI History via Bel Canto Bookstore – Online Event
Author Naomi Hirahara and illustrator Sarah Demonteverde will present their book, A Childs’ Intro to AAPI History.
The perfect primer for kids ages 8-12, A Child’s Introduction to Asian American and Pacific Islander History is packed with remarkable stories, groundbreaking events, and inspirational people, that have made a lasting impact on the history and culture of the United States.
Featuring charming illustrations and a lively design, as well as a pull-out poster, A Child’s Introduction to Asian American and Pacific Islander History is much-needed addition every home library and classroom.
Naomi Hirahara is the author of Mary Higgins Clark and Edgar award-winning mysteries and history books for both adults and children. TERMINAL ISLAND, a nonfiction book co-written by her and Geraldine Knatz, will be reissued in hardcover by the Los Angeles Public Library (Angel City Press) in March. She has also written one middle-grade novel, 1001 CRANES.
Sarah Demonteverde is a Filipino-American Illustrator and Designer based in the Greater Los Angeles Area. Combining her love for the vividness of life and unique stories, she enjoys illustrating nature, culture, fantasy, history, and other enjoyable subject matter – especially when it comes to creating artwork that children and adults alike can enjoy. It is her passion to create impactful stories and products – be it through design for digital content, children’s books, stationery, and more.
Where: Bel Canto Books, Long Beach
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Poetry Open Mic Event 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.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Event (see sit
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-open-mic
So Emotional Book Club: A Human History of Emotion at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
So Emotional Book Club participants will discuss A Human History of Emotion: How We Fell Built the World We Know, by author Richard Firth -Godbehere, PhD.
Richard Firth-Godbehere, PhD, one of the world’s leading experts on disgust and emotions, is an independent researcher and consultant in the history, language, science and philosophy of emotions, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of the Emotions, Queen Mary University of London. He received a first-class degree from the University of London, during which time he won two awards for academic excellence, alongside a Masters (MPhil) from the University of Cambridge and a PhD From Queen Mary, University of London, where he was a Wellcome Trust Scholar.
His award-winning interdisciplinary research walks the line between history, psychology, linguistics, and futurism. He examines how understandings of emotions change over time and how these changes can influence the wider world.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/so-emotional-book-club-human-history-emotion
Book Talk & Signing: Ros Ben-Moshe, with Dani Klein Modisett, & The Laughter Effect at Chevalier’s Bookstore – In-Person Event
Ros Ben-Moshe, in conversation with Dani Klein Modisett, presents and discusses her book, The Laughter Effect
In this body-mind guide, the author provides a roadmap to tap into the lighter side of life with laughter therapy. Ben-Moshe shares tips and tools to achieve an intentional state of being she calls the Laughter Effect-a way to elevate mindfulness, gratitude, and self-compassion. When used regularly, it enhances resilience to stress, enabling you to respond to adversity and bounce forward with humor, levity, and grace.
Ros Ben-Moshe is a Laughter, Wellbeing and Positivity author and academic. She is Adjunct lecturer at the School of Public Health and Psychology at La Trobe University, Melbourne and coordinator of the pioneering Laughter, Resilience and Wellbeing online short course for professionals. Ros is author of The Laughter Effect – How to Build Joy, Resilience and Positivity in Your Life (2023) and Laughing at cancer – How to Heal with Love, Laughter and Mindfulness, (2017) blending memoir and healing guide, written following a shock diagnosis of colon cancer. She is a regular on the airwaves, has made multiple TV appearances, and written for many publications including The Canberra Times, Huffington Post and the Herald-Sun. More at: https://ros-benmoshe.com
Dani Klein Modisett is the Founder/CEO of Laughter On Call. She is also a comedian and author of the book, Take My Spouse, Please. (Shambhala Press, 2015) a part-memoir, part how-to for creating shared laughter to keep marriage happy and healthy. In 2018, Dani launched Laughter on Call to break through feelings of isolation for those facing Alzheimer’s disease. Since then the company has grown and now runs shared laughter workshops and training for over 550 companies around the world boosting morale, supporting team-building and teaching communication skills.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 133 N Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Conchas y Café Zine Writing Workshop via DSTL Arts – In-Person Event
Conchas y Café is a DSTL Arts bilingual community writing workshop series for adults that produces a biannual zine by the same name, featuring artwork and creative writing produced by our community and program participants.
The goal of Conchas y Café is to bring together our community under the arts, building skills and arts-literacy, so that more adults may appreciate the cultural and economic value the arts bring to our lives. The content taught through this workshop series is primarily for new and emerging poets and writers, or people returning to creative writing after a long-term absence from the craft.
The Conchas y Café workshop series spans 15 weeks, and is an ongoing program offered every trimester. Our program participants write on a new theme for their zine every trimester and celebrate its release with a public reading.
Enrollment via Google Classroom required for workshop participation and full access to session handouts.
For any questions regarding Conchas y Café, feel free to contact us directly by email at Info@DSTLArts.org.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: DSTL Arts
Date: Tuesday the 9th (through April the 30th)
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.dstlarts.org/conchasycafezine
Patric Gagne, with Betsy Beers, & Sociopath: A Memoir at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Patric Gagne, in discussion with Betsy Beers, will discuss and sign Sociopath: A Memoir.
In college, Patric finally confirmed what she’d long suspected. She was a sociopath. But even though the disorder had been identified a century earlier, sociopathy had been neglected by mental health professionals for decades. She was told there was no treatment, no hope for a normal life. She found herself haunted by sociopaths in pop culture, madmen and evil villains who are considered monsters. Her future looked grim.
But when Patric reconnects with an old flame, she gets a glimpse of a future beyond her diagnosis. If she’s capable of love, it must mean that she isn’t a monster. With the help of her sweetheart (and some curious characters she meets along the way) she embarks on a mission to prove that the millions of Americans who share her diagnosis aren’t all monsters either. This is the inspiring story of her journey to change her fate and how she managed to build a life full of love and hope.
Patric Gagne is a writer, therapist, and advocate for people suffering from sociopathic, psychopathic, and anti-social personality disorders. She earned a PhD in clinical psychology with a dissertation that examined the relationship between sociopathy and anxiety. This research became the groundwork for her continued studies on sociopathic disorder, as well as the foundation for her memoir. Today she is working to expand the definition of sociopathy to include its status as a spectrum disorder. She did her undergraduate work at UCLA and earned her masters and doctorate at California Graduate Institute, Los Angeles.
Betsy Beers is a groundbreaking producer and the longtime producing partner of Shonda Rhimes. Under the Shondaland banner, they have developed and produced some of the most industry-leading series in television. Through Shondaland’s unprecedented exclusive deal with Netflix, Beers serves as executive producer on “Bridgerton,” one of the most watched series debut in Netflix history, “Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker” following legendary choreographer Debbie Allen, “Inventing Anna” inspired by the story of Anna Delvey and most recently, “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” which debuted at No.1 on Netflix’s English TV List and in the Top 10 in 91 countries.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Patric-Gagne-April-9-Author-signing
Book Club: The Sheltering Sky at Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss The Sheltering Sky by author Paul Bowles.
Where: Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 2411 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/silver-lake-book-club-6
Big Read Book Discussion: Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? at Westchester-Loyola Village Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Book Discussion participants will discuss Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by author Roz Chast.
Where: Westchester- Loyola Village Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 7114 W. Manchester Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/big-read-book-discussion-22
Poetry Reading: Armenian Heritage Month Event at Pasadena City College – In-Person Event
Five award winning Armenian American published poets will read original poetry that emphasizes immigrant and diasporic identities. Appetizers + Refreshments served. Doors open at 5:30pm, Event begins at 6pm.
Please RSVP by Apr 5.
Where: Pasadena City College, Westerbeck Recital Hall
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 1570 E Colorado Blvd., Pasadena CA, 91106
Website: https://pasadena.edu/faculty-and-staff/jan/index.php
David Martine + Susan Straight & Bones Worth Breaking at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
David Martinez, in conversation with Susan Straight, will discuss his memoir, Bones Worth Breaking.
This memoir is a portrait of the unbreakable bond between mixed race brothers growing up in a Mormon community in Idaho, and a reckoning with the global forces that shaped them.
David Martinez earned his MFA from UC Riverside Palm Desert and previously taught English and creative writing at Glendale Community College in Arizona. He is a dual citizen of the United States and Brazil and has lived all over both countries as well as in Puerto Rico. His work has appeared in The Coachella Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Broken Pencil, and Automata Review. He lives in Glendale, Arizona. Bones Worth Breaking is his first book.
Susan Straight is the author of several novels, including the national bestseller Highwire Moon, a finalist for the National Book Award, and A Million Nightingales, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, as well as 2022’s Mecca, for which she was named “an essential voice in American writing and in writing of the West” by The New York Times. She is the recipient of the Edgar Award for Best Short Story, the O. Henry Prize, the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and her stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, Granta, Harper’s, and elsewhere. She was born and continues to live in Riverside, California, with her family, where she serves as Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Tuesday the 9th
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-ltji4m8b
Adult Book Group: Crying in H Mart at Once Upon a Time – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Adult Book Group participants will discuss Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by author Michelle Zauner.
From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American—“in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself” (NPR).
Whether you loved it, hated it, or haven’t finished it, we want to see you at our Adult Book Club that has been going strong for 40+ years at America’s Oldest Children’s Bookstore!
NOTE: Email to Request Zoom Meeting Invite.
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/adult-book-group-crying-h-mart-michelle-zauner-hybrid
Mystery Book Club: Listen for the Lie at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
Mystery Book Club participants will discuss Listen for the Lie: A Novel by author Amy Tintera.
What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn’t matter?
Amy Tintera is the New York Times bestselling author of several series for young adults. She earned degrees in journalism and film and worked in Hollywood before becoming an author. Raised in Austin, Texas, she frequently sets her novels in the Lone Star State, but she now lives in Los Angeles, where there’s far less humidity but not nearly enough Tex-Mex. Listen for the Lie is her adult debut..
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/mystery-book-club-21
Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg & For Times Such as These at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Join Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg for a reading and discussion of For Time Such As These: A Radical’s Guide to the Jewish Year. With a chapter for each month of the Hebrew calendar, For Times Such As These offers spiritual practices and holiday rituals rooted in movements for racial justice, decolonization, feminism, and queer and trans liberation. The book dives into core questions of leftist Jewish life in this time, which we will explore together at this event.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-maggie-thrash-presents-rainbow-black-w-suzy-exposito
Environmentalist Book Club: “H” Is for Hawk at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join the new Village Well book club offshoot, Environmentalist Book Club, where participants will be led in conversation by The Central Group and West LA Group of the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter.
This meeting will host a discussion of “H” Is For Hawk by author Helen Macdonald.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/34842
Yulin Kuang, with Candice Lim, & How to End a Love Story at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Yulin Kuang, in conversation with Candice Lim, will discuss her new novel, How to End a Love Story.
Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever. Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well liked around town as a screenwriter.
When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet… the key to making peace with their past—and themselves—might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.
Candice Lim is the co-host of ICYMI, Slate’s podcast about internet culture. She comes to Slate from NPR, where she was an assistant producer and occasional panelist on Pop Culture Happy Hour. She graduated from Boston University and hails from Orange County, California.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 7 pm
Address:695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Yulin-Kuang-with-Candice-Lim-discusses-How-to-End-a-Love-Story
Tuesday Night Café: Featured Guests & Open Mic at Tuesday Night Project – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Tuesday Night Project is back every 1st & 3rd Tuesday in the courtyard! Join us at the Union Center for the Arts on April 9th, 2024 at 7:30 pm for art, music, community, friends, and fun!
– Update! – As we consider the ongoing pandemic and want to make the space as available to our community as possible, masking is required in our courtyard and inside the UCA lobby. We will have masks available on site. If you can’t join us in-person, we will continue to stream our shows on YouTube.
Where: Union Center for the Arts
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 120 Judge John Aliso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: https://www.tuesdaynightproject.org/
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic + Featured Reader CP Maze – Online Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature an Open Reading and featured guest CP Maze.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 9th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.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. Check to Verify.
Where: Unurban Coffee House
Date: Tuesday the 9th
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 SLAM and special events) they hold open mic night. In a standard slam, there are five judges that are selected. Before the competition begins, the host may bring up a sacrificial poet who is not competing in the slam but is scored by the judges in order for them to calibrate their scoring.
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
Date: Tuesday the 9th
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: Angels Flight at West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Mystery Book Club participants will discuss the mystery novel, Angel’s Flight, by author Michael Connelly.
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.
Where: West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 10:30 am – 12 pm
Address: 21052 Devonshire St., Reseda, CA 91335
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-43
Field Trip to the Cheech: Cellar Door by Day Group via Cellar Door Bookstore Off-site Event – In-Person Event
Cellar Door by Day Group participants will take a field trip to The Cheech museum in Riverside.
If you are interested in joining us, please email us at info@cellardoorbookstore.com. We’ll contact you to give you further instructions.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore Off-site; meeting at the store
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 11:30 am
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/fieldtriptothecheech
Wednesday Morning Book Club: The Heart of a Woman at Westchester-Loyola Village Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Wednesday Morning Book Club participants will discuss The Heart of a Woman, by author Maya Angelou.
Where: Westchester-Loyola Village Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 11:30 am
Address: 7114 W. Manchester Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/wednesday-morning-book-club-4
Washington Irving Adult Book Club: The Secret Life of A.J. Fikry at Washington Irving Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Washington Irving Adult Book Club participants will discuss The Secret Life of A.J. Fikry, by author Gabrielle Zevin.
Copies are available in the branch to check out. E-book copies are also available.
Where: Washington Irving Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 12 pm
Address: 4117 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90018
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/washington-irving-adult-book-club-3
Mystery Book Club: The Devil’s Cave at Sylmar Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Mystery Book Club participants will discuss The Devil’s Cave, by author Martin Walker.
You can pick up your copy at the circulation desk or download it on the Libby or hoopla Apps.
Where: Sylmar Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 14561 Polk St, Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-59
Poets Café: Poetry Event via KPFK 90.7 FM – Live On-Air Event
Poets Café celebrates National Poetry Month and hosts poets in discussion. It’s aired weekly on KPFK.
This program is offered weekly on KPFK Los Angeles 90.7 FM.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: KPFK 90.7 FM
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: On-air Event (live)
Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/oe
2nd & 3rd Grade Book Club: Ferris at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
2nd & 3rd Grade Book Club participants will discuss Ferris by author Kate DiCamillo.
The beloved author of Because of Winn-Dixie has outdone herself with a hilarious and achingly real love story about a girl, a ghost, a grandmother, and growing up.
Kate DiCamillo is one of America’s most beloved storytellers. She is a former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and a two-time Newbery Medalist. Born in Philadelphia, she grew up in Florida and now lives in Minneapolis.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: pages: a bookstore (in the Courtyard)
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/2nd-3rd-grade-book-club-4
Silent Book Club of Death at The Book Jewel – In-Person Event
The Silent Book Club of Death invites you to read in public and meet new bookish friends.
The schedule is: 5 pm: Mingling; 5:30 pm: Silent Reading; 6:30 pm: Further Mingling.
Where: The Book Jewel
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6259 W. 87th St., Westchester, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://www.thebookjewel.com/events
Feedback Circle Workshop via The Poetry Lab – Online Event
The Feedback Circle workshop is appropriate for writers who have at least 5 poems ready for revision. Participants will have opportunities for feedback in small groups, large groups, and one-on-one settings. Much attention will be paid to giving feedback to others compassionately and equitably. Craft-focused feedback will be strongly encouraged, and a review of elements of craft will be made available to facilitate this focus.
Maximum class size: 12 people
NOTE: See site for RSVP, cost, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Poetry Lab
Date: Wednesday the 10th (Six weeks: continues on April 17th, and 24th)
Time: 5 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://www.thepoetrylab.com/feedback
Reading in Bed with Jessica: L.A, Poet Society via 101.5 FM – Live On-Air Event
Reading in Bed with Jessica hosts poets and writers in conversation and is aired weekly on 101.5 FM.
Jessica Wilson Cardenas is the founder of Los Angeles Poet Society.
Guests TBA
This program is offered weekly on radioollin Los Angeles 101.5 FM.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: L.A. Poet Society via www.radioollin.com 101.5 FM
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: On-air Event (live at 101.5 FM)
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Elijah Wald & Jelly Roll Blues at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Elijah Wald will present and discuss his book, Jelly Roll Blues: Censored Songs and Hidden Histories.
This book takes readers on a journey into the hidden and censored world of early blues and jazz, guided by the legendary New Orleans pianist Jelly Roll Morton. Morton became nationally famous as a composer and bandleader in the 1920s, but got his start twenty years earlier, entertaining customers in the city’s famous bordellos and singing rough blues in Gulf Coast honky-tonks. He recorded an oral history of that time in 1938, but the most distinctive songs were hidden away for over fifty years, because the language and themes were as wild and raunchy as anything in gangsta rap.
Revelatory and fascinating, these songs and stories provide an alternate view of Black culture at the turn of the twentieth century.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/elijah-wald
Fariha Róisín & Survival Takes a Wild Imagination at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Fariha Róisín will discuss and read poems from her collection, Survival Takes a Wild Imagination.
In the powerful follow up to her critically acclaimed debut collection, poet and activist Fariha Róisín is writing, praying, clawing, and scratching her way out of the grips of generational trauma on the search for the freedom her mother never received and the kindness she couldn’t give.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Wednesday 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-ltniz6bz
Passover Event: On All Other Nights: Passover Stories with Authors Chris Baron, Joshua S. Levy, and Naomi Milliner at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Event
Authors Chris Baron, Joshua S. Levy, and Naomi Milliner will be sharing the tradition of Passover with stories and an interactive seder presentation. These gifted writers from different Jewish traditions and backgrounds will gather around the seder table and invite everyone to join them. After the presentation, the authors will be available to sign books. Best for ages 8 and up.
Masks are recommended for our events. If you can’t make it to the event, you can order signed books in advance at site.
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/on-all-other-nights-passover-stories
RECESS Open Mic Is Back at SIPA HQ, Palms Up Academy – In-Person Event
RECESS Open Mic Is Back at SIPA HQ on Wednesdays.
This dynamic open mic is the most accessible public program in our curriculum and manifests our mission statement in a physical (and digital) space.
Join us at the intersection of Historic Filipinotown & The World: Search to Involve Pilipino Americans.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, cost, guidelines, and details.
Where: SIPA
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm (Doors at 6:30; Open Mic at 8 pm)
Address: 3200 W. Temple St., Ste. 100, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.palmsupacademy.com https://www.instagram.com/p/C3blXIZJERV/
Matt Strassler & Waves in an Impossible Sea at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Matt Strassler will present and discuss his book, Waves in an Impossible Sea: How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean.
Physicist Matt Strassler tells a startling tale of elementary particles, human experience, and empty space. He begins with a simple mystery of motion. When we drive at highway speeds with the windows down, the wind beats against our faces. Yet our planet hurtles through the cosmos at 150 miles per second, and we feel nothing of it. How can our voyage be so tranquil when, as Einstein discovered, matter warps space, and space deflects matter?
The answer Strassler reveals, is that empty space is a sea, albeit a paradoxically strange one. Much like water and air, it ripples in various ways, and we ourselves, made from its ripples, can move through space as effortlessly as waves crossing an ocean.
Accessible and profound, this book is the ultimate guide to our place in the universe.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Matt-Strassler-discusses-Waves-in-an-Impossible-Sea
Hype Book Club: The Hurricane Wars at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
April’s Hype Book Club is led by bookseller Paola and participants will discuss The Hurricane Wars by author Thea Guanzon.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 7:15 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
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;
- 9:05 pm – 10:00 pm — Open mic.
Suggested: $5.00 Donation via PayPal: The World Stage Gallery.
NOTE: See site for further details, and any change in the schedule. Contact kaliflowers@gmail.com or call (323) 293-2451
Where: The World Stage
Date: Wednesday the 10th
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
Beyond Baroque’s longest-running free poetry workshop is offered on Zoom and welcomes 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 L.A. Johnson, the author of the chapbook Little Climates (Bull City Press, 2017). She holds an MFA from Columbia University and a PhD from the University of Southern California, where she is currently a Mellon Humanities and University of the Future postdoctoral fellow. The winner of the 2022 Mississippi Review Poetry Prize, the 2022 Greensboro Review Poetry Prize, the 2021 Arts & Letters Rumi Poetry Prize, her poems appear in The Atlantic, Poetry Magazine, and The Slowdown. She’s received support for her writing from Vermont Studio Center, Community of Writers, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and elsewhere. Find more about her at http://www.la-johnson.com
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. There’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 10th
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-877335192177
An Evening of Poetry: Tayi Tibble & Harryette Mullen at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – Online Zoom Event
Join us for a night of powerful poetry from New Zealand poet Tayi Tibble and L.A. author Harryette Mullen.
Tayi Tibble’s second collection, Rangikura is a coming-of-age and elegy to the traumas born from colonization that asks readers to think about our relationship to desire and exploitation. Moving between hotel lobbies and all-night clubs, these poems chronicle life spent in spaces that are stalked by transaction and reward. Written with Māori moteatea, purakau, and karakia (chants, legends, and prayers) in mind, her work explores the way the past comes back, even when she tries to turn her back on it. “I was forced to remember that,/wherever I go,/even if I go nowhere at all,/I am still a descendent of mountains.”
Harryette Mullins’ latest chapbook Open Leaves / poems from earth (Black Sunflowers Poetry Press) unwraps in lush haiku and poetic prose savoring the abundance of a flourishing landscape, with concern for the fragility of the land on which life depends. Harryette’s verdant and troubling poetry is paired with Tiffanie Delune’s sensuous, pulsating artwork.
Book signing & reception with light refreshments will follow after the readings.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Wednesday the 10th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm (Doors at 7:30 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd. Venice, CA
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg and Featured Guest Steven Hendrix 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 Steven Hendrix.
Steven Hendrix received his M.A. in Comparative Literature from CSULB. He co-hosted the pop-up bookstore and reading series Read On Till Morning in San Pedro, CA and is author of the poetry collection Leave With More Than You Came With (Arroyo Seco, 2019) and the chapbook Every Breath Matters Most (Beach Chair Press, 2023). His work has appeared in Chiron Review, Slouching Beast Journal, Alien Buddha Press, Drunk Monkeys, and Pocket Lint, among others. He currently lives in San Francisco with his partner Erin and his sons Langston and Paxton.
$4 cover fee, cash only See less
$4 cover fee, cash only
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday the 10th
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/orange/steven-hendrix-at-the-ugly-mug/200026015786253#google_vignette
Not So Secret Society Book Club: A Drop of Venom at Cellar Door Bookstore Off-site Event – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss A Drop of Venom by author Sajni Patel.
Circe goes YA in this unapologetically feminist retelling of the Medusa myth steeped in Indian mythology, a YA epic fantasy addition to the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.
Sajni Patel is an award-winning author of women’s fiction and young adult books. Her works have appeared on numerous Best Of the Year and Must Read lists from Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, Apple Books, AudioFile, Tribeza, NBC, Insider, and many others.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/not-so-secret-society-book-club-drop-venom
Robertson Readers Book Club at Robertson Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us on the second Thursday of every month for book club. We will discuss the book and share any other interesting books we have been reading. New members are welcome! Each book will be available for checkout at the circulation desk beginning three weeks prior to the book club meeting date.
Participants in this meeting will discuss Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by author Gabrielle Zevin.
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: Robertson Branch Library
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 1719 S. Robertson Blvd., CA 90035
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/robertson-readers-book-club-0
Mystery Book Club via Venice-Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us on Zoom for a suspenseful discussion of mystery books. New members are always welcome. Copies of each month’s selection are available for checkout at the circulation desk.
RSVP:
For the Zoom link, please email venice@lapl.org.
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: Venice-Abbot Kinney Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-45
Diverse Romance Book Club: Once Ghosted, Twice Shy at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss Once Ghosted, Twice Shy: A Reluctant Royals Novella) by author Alyssa Cole.
While her boss the prince was busy wooing his betrothed, Likotsi had her own love affair after swiping right on a dating app. But her romance had ended in heartbreak, and now, back in NYC again, she’s determined to rediscover her joy—so of course she runs into the woman who broke her heart.
Alyssa Cole is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers and romance (historical, contemporary, and sci-fi). Her books have received critical acclaim from Library Journal, BuzzFeed, Kirkus, Booklist, Jezebel, Vulture, Book Riot, Entertainment Weekly, and various other outlets.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/diverse-romance-book-club-once-ghosted-twice-shy
Visiting Speakers Series: Marie Lu & Maurene Goo at Flintridge Preparatory School – In-Person YA Event
Bestselling authors Marie Lu and Maurene Goo will be discussing writing and publishing as part of Flintridge Preparatory School’s visiting Speaker Series. RSVP to the event is requested. Books can be purchased to be signed at the event. Best for teens ages 12+ and adults.
Marie Lu is the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Legend series, The Young Elites, Warcross, Skyhunter, Batman: Nightwalker, and The Kingdom of Back. Stars And Smoke is her latest novel. She graduated from the University of Southern California and jumped into the video game industry, where she worked as an artist. A full-time writer, she spends her spare hours reading, drawing, playing games, and getting stuck in traffic. She lives in Los Angeles with her illustrator/author husband, Primo Gallanosa, and their son.
Maurene Goo is the author of several acclaimed books for young adults, including I Believe in a Thing Called Love and Somewhere Only We Know. She’s also written for Marvel’s Silk series. She lives and writes in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and cats.
If you can’t make it to the event, you can order signed books in advance at bookstore website.
NOTE: See site for details. RSVP at Eventbrite link.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore Off-site at Flintridge Preparatory School
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 4543 Crown Ave., La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/marie-lu-and-maurene-goo
Ticketed Event: Ronda Rousey & Our Fight at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Ronda Rousey will present and discuss her memoir, Our Fight, a chronicle of loss, resilience, and finding meaning on life’s journey.
Rousey explores the greatest challenge of her life and, ultimately, how she rebuilt her life into something better in the aftermath. She recounts how she replaced her pursuit of perfection with the pursuit of happiness and found an opportunity in disguise amongst the wreckage. Following Rousey’s relatable journey, OUR FIGHT is a courageous narrative of career changes, marriage, motherhood, and facing your fears.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ronda-rousey-presents-our-fight-a-memoir-tickets-839639423117
Speech Bubble: Comics Book Clubat North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Participants at this event will discuss On a Sunbeam, by author Tillie Walden.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Thursday the 11th
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-ltnj1ri4
Trenches Full of Poets Reading Series: Jesse Tovar, Sandra E. De Anda, Daryl Gussinat Page Against the Machine – In-Person Event
Trenches Full of Poets is a monthly reading 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.
Tonight’s features include:
Jesse Tovar is the founding editor of Mobile Data Mag on Substack and Systemic Dreaming on Threads. Tovar is a reviewer, interviewer, and writer of prose and poetry. His writing can be found in the Zzyzx Writerz Podcast and in literary journals and anthologies such as 𝘚𝘺𝘻𝘺𝘨𝘺, 𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘡𝘪𝘯𝘦, and others.
Sandra E. De Anda is an award-winning Santa Ana-based writer and immigrant rights advocate. She received her BA in English from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Her work has been featured in the LA Times,
Voice of OC, Citic Acid, The Ear, and the late OC Weekly, where she co-founded a weekly column titled, “Deport This.”
Daryl Gussin is a writer and musician who has been awkwardly standing around at punk shows for the last twenty-something years. Thankfully at some point in his late teens he decided to become a little more productive, and has been working on zines, setting up shows, and playing in bands consecutively since then. In 2006, he became integrally involved in 𝘙𝘢𝘻𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘬𝘦 fanzine where he is currently the managing editor. His writing revolves around the honest, bittersweet, and ultimately triumphant aspects of counterculture and its flavorful inhabitants. The heartbreaks, the implosions, and the defiant victories. Community over commercialism, create and destroy.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Page Against the Machine
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 2712 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/408954105168933
Book Launch: Kate Golden, with Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegermund-Broka, & A Promise of Peridot at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Kate Golden, in conversation with Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegermund-Broka, will launch and discuss her novel,A Promise of Peridot.
A Promise of Peridot is about Arwen Alendale, who is sailing for the mysterious kingdom of Citrine after the battle of Siren’s Bay. Reeling from shocking revelations and her newfound powers, Arwen directs her pain and rage toward the man who betrayed her, King Kane Ravenwood.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
At Skylight: Alvina Chamberland, with Jarett Kobek & Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou, & Love the World or Get Killed Trying at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Alvina Chamberland, in conversation with Jarett Kobek & Antigoni Tsagkaropoulo, will discuss her bookLove the World or Get Killed Trying.
Join us for the English language debut from novelist Alvina Chamberland.
Through playful poetic prose, sharp social commentary and self-deprecating gallows humor LOVE THE WORLD OR GET KILLED TRYING dives into the mind of Alvina, a trans woman on the eve of turning 30. The reader is invited to follow her journey through the breathtaking wilderness of Iceland and busy city boulevards of Berlin and Paris as she probes questions of eternity, sexuality, longing, death, love, and how hard it is to remain soft when you’re a ceaseless target of straight men’s secret lust and open disgust. This novel tackles universal issues through a trans woman’s specific lens – insisting on these experiences speaking to far more than just issues of sexuality and gender.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Skylight
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Book Release: Leela Corman, with Vanessa Davis, & Victory Parade at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Leela Corman presents her latest graphic novel at this book release event featuring a conversation with illustrator Vanessa Davis.
The author of the Eisner-nominated graphic novel Unterzakhn now gives us a heart-wrenching, phantasmagorical tale of love, loss, and trauma both personal and global, set during World War II in Brooklyn, New York, and in the newly liberated Buchenwald concentration camp.
Victory Parade paints a deeply affecting portrait of how individuals and civilizations process mass trauma. Magnificently drawn by Leela Corman, it’s an Expressionist journey through the battlefields of the human heart and the mass graves of genocide.
Leela Corman is a painter, educator, and graphic-novel creator, working in the realm of diaspora Ashkenazi culture and third-generation restorative work. Her books include Unterzakhn, which was nominated for an Eisner Award, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and Le Prix Artémisia; won the 2015 Romics Prize for Best Anglo-American Comic; and received a 2023 MoCCA Arts Festival Award of Excellence, and the short comics collections You Are Not a Guest and We All Wish for Deadly Force. Her work has appeared in many publications, including The Believer, Nautilus, and The Nib. She is a founding instructor at Sequential Artists Workshop and an instructor at Rhode Island School of Design.
Vanessa Davis is an American illustrator, humorist, and cartoonist of alternative comic books. She is best known for the autobiographical graphic novel Make Me A Woman and minicomic Spaniel Rage, published by Drawn & Quarterly.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
Thriller Book Launch: Sarah Langan & A Better World at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join Sarah Langan, author of GOOD NEIGHBORS, as she presents her brand new release, A BETTER WORLD.
Sarah Langan, a Columbia MFA graduate and three-time recipient of the Bram Stoker Award, is the author of several novels including A Better World and Good Neighbors. She grew up on Long Island and she currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughters. Find out more at SarahLangan.com.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/35458
Darcie Little Badger & Sheine Lende at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Darcie Little Badger will discuss her new book, Sheine Lende: a Prequel to Elotsoe.
Shane works with her mother and their ghost dogs, tracking down missing persons even when their families can’t afford to pay. Their own family was displaced from their traditional home years ago following a devastating flood – and the loss of Shane’s father and her grandparents. They don’t think they’ll ever get their home back.
Then Shane’s mother and a local boy go missing, after a strange interaction with a fairy ring. Shane, her brother, her friends, and her lone, surviving grandparent – who isn’t to be trusted – set off on the road to find them. But they may not be anywhere in this world – or this place in time.
Darcie Little Badger’s Elatsoe launched her career and in the years since has become a beloved favorite. This prequel to Elatsoe, centered on Ellie’s grandmother, deepens and expands Darcie’s one-of-a-kind world and introduces us to another cast of characters that will find readers’ hearts..
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 11th
Time: 7 pm
Address:695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Yulin-Kuang-with-Candice-Lim-discusses-How-to-End-a-Love-Story
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!
Open to all ages. Free to attend.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Friday the 12th
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event
A Special Luncheon with Téa Obreht & The Morningside at pages: off-site at Slay Italian Kitchen – In-Person Event
New York Times bestselling author Téa Obreht, in conversation with her agent and friend Seth Fishman, will discuss The Morningside, a magical novel of mothers and daughters, displacement and belonging, and myths both old and new.
There’s the world you can see. And then there’s the one you can’t. Welcome to the Morningside.
After being expelled from their ancestral home in a not-so-distant-future, Silvia and her mother finally settle at The Morningside, a crumbling luxury tower in a place called Island City where Silvia’s aunt Ena serves as the superintendent. Silvia feels unmoored in her new life because her mother has been so diligently secretive about their family’s past, and because the once-vibrant city she lives in is now half-underwater. Silvia knows almost nothing about the place where she was born and spent her early years, nor does she fully understand why she and her mother had to leave. But in Ena there is an opening: a person willing to give the young girl glimpses into the folktales of her demolished homeland, a place of natural beauty and communal spirit that is lacking in Silvia’s lonely and impoverished reality.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: pages: a bookstore at Slay Italian Kitchen
Date: Friday the 12th
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 1001 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/special-luncheon-obreht-conversation-seth-fishman
Current Events Nonfiction Book Club: Beaverland at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss Beaverland: how one weird rodent made America by Leila Philip.
RSVP:
Please email studio@lapl.org for participation details.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Friday the 12th
Time: 12 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/current-events-nonfiction-book-club-1
Your Author Series: Charlotte Cheng & ROAR-CHOO! via Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Your Author Series presents Charlotte Cheng to read and discuss her children’s book ROAR-CHOO!
Everyone knows that dragons are fierce, capable of taking on the world! But this dragon can’t stop sneezing long enough to get a roar out. Even with friendly Phoenix insisting that Dragon get some rest, this powerful creature refuses to stop for any orange ginger tea or a drop of bone broth soup. It’s only when Dragon realizes Phoenix has caught the same cold that they are both able to take the break they so badly need. This tale of helping your friends and valuing differences is a sure-thing for story time.
Participants viewing the program will have an opportunity to win a free copy of Roar Choo!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL
Date: Friday the 12th
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/your-author-series-charlotte-cheng
Self-Care Book Club: The Will to Change at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by author bell hooks.
From the New York Times bestselling author of All About Love, a brave and astonishing work that challenges patriarchal culture and encourages men to reclaim the best part of themselves.
Everyone needs to love and be loved—even men. But to know love, men must be able to look at the ways that patriarchal culture keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch with their feelings, from loving.
bell hooks was a cultural critic, a feminist icon, and the renowned author of more than twenty books, including the enduring classic New York Times bestseller All About Love, Rock My Soul, The Will to Change, Sisters of the Yam, and When Angels Speak of Love. A charismatic speaker, she divided her time between teaching, writing, and lecturing around the world. She passed away in 2021.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Friday the 11th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/self-care-book-club-will-change
Tricia Romano, with Joy Press, & The Freaks Came Out to Write at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Tricia Romano, in conversation with Joy Press, will present and discuss her book, The Freaks Who Came Out to Write.
You either were there or you wanted to be. A defining New York City institution co-founded by Norman Mailer, The Village Voice was the first newspaper to cover hip-hop, the avant-garde art scene, and Off-Broadway with gravitas. It reported on the AIDS crisis with urgency and seriousness when other papers dismissed it as a gay disease. In 1979, the Voice’s Wayne Barrett uncovered Donald Trump as a corrupt con artist before anyone else was paying attention. It invented new forms of criticism and storytelling and revolutionized journalism, spawning hundreds of copycats.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday the 12th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/tricia-romano
Michael Serra-Arevelo, with Brittany Friedman, & The Danger Imperative at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Michael Serra Arevelo, in conversation with Brittany Fiedman, will discuss his book, The Danger Imperative: Violence, Death, and the Soul of Policing.:
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Friday the 12th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-ltnj5gy1
Simone Gorrindo, with Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, & The Wives: A Memoir at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Simone Gorrindo, in conversation with Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, will discuss her new book The Wives: A Memoir.
When her new husband joins an elite Army unit, Simone Gorrindo is uprooted from New York City and dropped into Columbus, Georgia—a town so foreign she might as well have landed on the moon. With her husband frequently deployed, Simone is left to find her place in this new world, alone—until she meets the wives.
Gorrindo gives us an intimate look into the inner lives of a remarkable group of women and a tender, unflinching portrait of a marriage.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Friday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Simone-Gorrindo-with%20Cynthia-DAprix-Sweeney-discusses-The-Wives
Translating Latin American Poetics: English and Spanish Readers at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us for a bilingual reading in English and Spanish, featuring translations and original work by poets across the Americas and the Caribbean, including Frank Báez (Dominican Republic), Margarita Pintado Burgos (Puerto Rico), Chicana poet Gloria E. Alvarez (Los Angeles), and Carlo Acevedo (Colombia). After the readings, poet and translator Anthony Seidman will moderate a conversation with the group followed by a Q&A with the audience and book signings.
Frank Báez (Dominican Republic, 1978) has published six books of poetry, a short story collection, and three nonfiction books. In 2017 he was selected for the Hay Festival as a member of Bogotá39, the list of the best Latin American writers under forty years of age. His last poetry book is The End of the World Came to My Neighborhood.
Margarita Pintado Burgos (Puerto Rico) is a poet, literary critic, and scholar. She is the author of the poetry collections Ficción de venado (2012), Una muchacha que se parece a mí (2016; winner of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña Poetry Award), Proyecto inacabado de la ruina (2018), Simultánea, la marea (2022), and Ojo en Celo/ Eye in Heat (2024), for which she won the Ambroggio Award in 2023. In 2022 she was awarded the Letras Boricuas Fellowship (Mellon Foundation), which seeks to promote and elevate the voices of emergent and established Puerto Rican writers. Pintado Burgos holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from Emory University and is a professor of Language and Literature at Point Loma Nazarene University, in San Diego,California. She co-directs the poetry website Distropika.
Gloria E. Alvarez: Chicana poet/intermedia artist, literary translator, and curator, presently teaches creative writing and works as a consultant in public schools, universities, libraries, museums, and art centers. Her literary/artistic efforts have been recognized by the CAC, National Endowment for the Arts, Cultural Affairs Department, City of L.A., COLA Award and Poets & Writers, Inc., among others. She has published and read widely in the U.S., Latin America and Europe. Her books of poetry in English and Spanish include La Excusa/The Excuse and Emerging en un Mar De Olanes, spoken word albums include Centerground and Between Epiphanies. Her poetry has been published in various anthologies and numerous periodicals.
Carlo Acevedo (Barranquilla, 1988) is the author of Fortuna del día (Day’s Fortune | Pre- Textos, 2019), which won the fortieth “Arcipreste de Hita” (Archpriest of Hita) Poetry Prize. He holds a master’s degree in Creative Writing in Spanish from the University of Iowa. His poems have appeared in different national and international anthologies. The translation of his first collection of poems won the Sundial Literary Translation Award 2024. Day’s Fortune will be published in 2024 and will be distributed by Columbia University Press. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student in the Interdisciplinary Humanities program at the University of California, Merced.
NOTE: See site for guidelines & details.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Friday the 12th
Time: 7:30 pm (Doors at 7 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90291
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/translating-latin-american-poetics-tickets-868728950677?aff=oddtdtcreator
Virtual Showcase: Community Literature Initiative – Online Event
CLI Alumni Chapter presents a Virtual Showcase featuring:
Lisa Montagne, Creta Sesheta, Antionette Payne, Shirley McGill, Erica Castro, Aurea Altomaurano, Troy Legette, Jasmine Lan, Milan Eathon.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: CLI Online: ID: 856 5998 6325
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 9 am PT / 12 pm ET
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/photo
Creative Lab: Community Open Mic via Get Lit Players – In-Person Teen Event
Creative Lab: Community jam day. All 4 pathways in one space working together. Followed by an open mic with 20 slots for kids who sign up and a headlining performance from GLPS. This event is for current Get Lit Players and Creative Lab students.
NOTE: See site for Zoom details.
Where: Get Lit Office
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Address: 672 S. La Fayette Pl., #10, Los Angeles, CA
Website: https://www.getlit.org/events
Book Club at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss Empire of Pain by author Patrick Radden Keefe.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the13th
Time: 11 am
Address:1246 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-3
2024 North East LA Poetry Fest at Los Angeles College Prep Academy (Day 1 of 2) hosted by VCP So Cal Poets – In-Person Event
Join the poetry community for a vibrant weekend celebrating poetry, community, and local talent! Admission is free!
Enjoy poetry and poetry workshops facilitated by local poets from all around Los Angeles County. Open mic as well!
Featured poets include: Matt Sedillo, A.K. Toney, Brenda Vaca, Gerda Govine Ituarte, Raffi Wartanian, Mike Sonksen, traci kato-kiriyama, Chiwon Choi, Ash Wang and Sara Harris Ben Ari.
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: L.A. College Prep Academy
Date: Saturday the13th(and Sunday the 14th)
Time: 11 am – 5 pm
Address: 625 Coleman Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://allevents.in/south%20pasadena/2024-nela-poetry-fest/200026319386707 or https://www.instagram.com/regenerativecollective/p/C48NCzhryEf/
Storytime & Signing: Alexandra Adlawan, at Bel Canto Books, Retro Row – In-Person Event
Bel Canto Books is delighted to host a Storytime Reading + Signing with Alexandra Adlawan, SUB JOURNEY.
Join these two best friends as they dive into the ocean depths in their submarine. Scuba with Maddie and Albert as they swim with the dolphins, cuddle sea otters, and explore the colorful coral reef.
Alexandra Adlawan is a writer and illustrator from Long Beach, CA and creator of the Amazing Artists publishing company. A naturally gifted visual arts and written word communicator in reaching children, Alexandra enhanced her skill set by graduating from a professional digital arts & animation studio for artists with Autism. Alexandra’s children’s book series includes The Adventures of Maddie and Albert, Wild Imagination, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Flying the Imaginary Skies, and Backyard Jungle.
Where: Bel Canto Book Retro Row
Date: Saturday the13th
Time: 12 pm
Address: 2106 E 4th St Long Beach, CA 90814
Sarah Mlynowski in Conversation at Children’s Book World – In-Person Kids Event
Join beloved & bestselling author Sarah Mlynowski to talk with kids about writing her books and collaborating with her author friends.
Order your personalized books at our website link for event pickup or shipping anywhere in the U.S.
About the author: Sarah Mlynowski is the New York Times bestselling author of the Whatever After series, the Best Wishes series, Gimme a Call, the Upside-Down Magic series and many more wonderful books. Originally from Montreal, Sarah now lives in Los Angeles with her family. Visit Sarah online at sarahm.com and find her on Instagram, Facebook, and X at @sarahmlynowski.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Children’s Book World
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 12:30 pm
Address: 10580 1/2 W, PIco Blvd.,, Los Angeles, CA 90064
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 Zoom details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Literature & Fiction Study Rooms
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 630 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-workshop-1
Kids Book Club: The Unforgettable Logan Foster at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Book club participants will discuss The Unforgettable Logan Foster #1 by Shawn Peters.
Packed with superheroes, supervillains, and epic showdowns between good and evil, The Unforgettable Logan Foster from debut author Shawn Peters shows that sometimes being a hero is just about being yourself.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/kids-book-clubthe-unforgettable-logan-foster
Ticketed Event: George Lopez & ChupaCarter and the Screaming Sombrero at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
George Lopez does it again in his next laugh-out-loud ChupaCarter adventure! Jorge and his chupacabra chum Carter are hot on the trail of the legendary El Dorado gold…but so are some wicked treasure hunters who will stop at nothing to find it!
A cursed Aztec dagger. A five-hundred-year-old witch’s riddle. And a…screaming sombrero?
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the13th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/George-Lopez-signs-ChupaCarter-and-the-Screaming-Sombrero
Interview with Author Michael Sierra-Arévalo & The Danger Imperative at Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Michael Sierra-Arévalo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Associate Director of the Liberal Arts Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin. His new book, The Danger Imperative: Violence, Death, and the Soul of Policing, shows how policing’s preoccupation with danger shapes police culture and violence in the United States.
Sierra-Arévalo’s research is published in leading journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Criminology, Law & Society Review, and the Annual Review of Law and Social Science. His writing and research are widely featured in media, including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Times Higher Education, Slate, GQ and NPR. From 2020 to 2023, he served on the City of Austin’s Public Safety Commission. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University and his B.A. in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 2411 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/interview-author-michael-sierra- arevalo
To the Pacific: Inaugural Linds J. Albertano Poetry Fellow Readings at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
Beyond Baroque presents readings and a celebration of the Linda Albertano Poetry Fellowship. The winner of the fellowship will be announced at the event. To celebrate her legacy and the inaugural celebration of the annual fellowship, we present readings by a set of dynamic poets from Los Angeles: Frank Lutz, alongside poets Brendan Constantine, S.A. Griffin and members of the Nearly Fatal Women performance-troupe Laurel Ann Bogen and Suzanne Lummis.
Laurel Ann Bogen is the author of 11 books of poetry and short fiction, the most recent of which is Psychosis in the Produce Department: New and Selected Poems, from Red Hen Press. A native of Los Angeles, she was an instructor of poetry and performance at the Writers Program at UCLA Extension from 1990 – 2021, where she received an Outstanding Instructor of the Year Award. Well-known for her lively readings and a founding member of the acclaimed poetry performance troupe Nearly Fatal Women, Bogen has read/performed in venues as diverse as Cornell University, The Savannah College of Art and Design, The Knitting Factory (NYC), The DA Center for the Arts, The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro-Rail), The Museum of Contemporary Art, and LACE. Her work has appeared in more than 100 literary magazines and anthologies including The Misread City, California Poetry From The Gold Rush to the Present, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, Stand-Up Poetry: An Expanded Anthology, The Maverick Poets, Poetry Loves Poetry, Wide Awake, Gargoyle, Rattapallax, Pearl, Solo, Bakunin, Yellow Silk, Mississippi Mud, and Jacaranda Review, and has been translated into Italian, German, French and Spanish.
Brendan Constantine is a poet based in Los Angeles. He is the author of five full-length collections and his work as appeared in many standards including Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, and Poem-a-Day. A popular performer, Brendan has presented his work to audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe, also appearing on NPR’s All Things Considered, TED ED, numerous podcasts, and YouTube. He currently teaches creative writing at the Windward School and at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Since 2017, he has been developing poetry workshops for people with aphasia and traumatic brain injuries.
S.A. Griffin drives too fast, sleeps too little and thinks too much. A co-editor of Beat Not Beat, his second book from Punk Hostage Press, Pandemic Soul Music, features drawings by his late sister Robin Lynne Griffin. In 2010 he created and toured with Elsie the Poetry Bomb; a Vietnam era practice bomb converted into an art object filled with over 900 poems from around the world, all in an effort to inspire civil disagreements. Father, husband, cat lover, left-handed lefty, and Vietnam era veteran.
NOTE: See site for further details, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Cellar Door Book Club: Night of the Living Rez at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss Night of the Living Rez, by author Morgan Talty.
Set in a Native community in Maine, Night of the Living Rez is a riveting debut collection about what it means to be Penobscot in the twenty-first century and what it means to live, to survive, and to persevere after tragedy.
In twelve striking, luminescent stories, author Morgan Talty—with searing humor, abiding compassion, and deep insight—breathes life into tales of family and a community as they struggle with a painful past and an uncertain future. A boy unearths a jar that holds an old curse, which sets into motion his family’s unraveling; a man, while trying to swindle some pot from a dealer, discovers a friend passed out in the woods, his hair frozen into the snow; a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s projects the past onto her grandson; and two friends, inspired by Antiques Roadshow, attempt to rob the tribal museum for valuable root clubs.
Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation. His debut short story collection, Night of the Living Rez, won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Sue Kaufman Prize, the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the New England Book Award, the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Honor, and was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, and The Story Prize. His writing has appeared in The Georgia Review, Granta, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, Narrative, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. Talty is an assistant professor of English in Creative Writing and Native American and Contemporary Literature at the University of Maine, Orono, and he is on the faculty at the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing as well as the Institute of American Indian Arts. He lives in Levant, Maine.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/cellar-door-book-club-night-living-rez
Transformation Book Release Party: Contributors Reading at Plummer Park – In-Person Event
Women Who Submit & WeHo present a cel3bararion and reading of the new Transformation anthology by Women Who Submit. Hosted by Angela Franklin.
Readings by:
liz gonazalez is a literary and arts activist, author of the creative nonfiction chapbook The Original OLG: San Bernardino’s First Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, (Los Nietos Press forthcoming); the multigenre book Dancing in the Santa Ana Winds: Poems y Cuentos New and Selected (Los Nietos Press 2018); and the poetry collection Beneath Bone (Manifest Press 2000). Her writing appears in various journals and anthologies, including Inlandia: A Literary Journey, HTI Open Plaza, Air/Light, Poets & Writers Magazine, and the anthology San Bernardino Singing.
Erica Ayon immigrated from Mexico at age five, grew up in South Central Los Angeles, and has taught poetry to middle and high school students across L.A.Her debut collection, Orange Lady, was published by World Stage Press in 2018.
Lisa Cheby’s poems and reviews have appeared in various journals including The Rumpus, The Citron Review, Tidal Basin Review, A cappella Zoo, and TAB: Journal of Poetry and Poetics. Her work appears in two anthologies, Drawn to Marvel, The Burden of Light, Coiled Serpent, and Full. Her two Buffy-inspired chapbooks are available from Dancing Girl Press. She is a former teacher and is now the Education Librarian at Cal State Northridge.
Sandy Yang N/A
Aruni Wijesinghe is a Sri Lankan-American writer. A project manager, ESL teacher, erstwhile belly dance instructor, and occasional sous chef, she has been published in anthologies and journals both nationally and internationally. Her first full-length collection, 2 Revere Place, is available now from Moon Tide Press. She also co-authored The Undulating Line (Picture Show Press, 2021; available on Amazon.com). Aruni has new poetry collections forthcoming with Picture Show Press and Arroyo Seco Press. A native New Yorker, she was born in the Bronx and raised in Rockland County, New York, and Orange County, California.
Monona Wali has taught writing and literature at SMC Emeritus since 2008. She is an award-winning filmmaker and writer. Her debut novel, My Blue Skin Lover, won the 2015 Independent Book Publishers award for multicultural fiction.
Music by: DJ Lanosta
The party will include catering from a local, women-owned restaurant and an expo of LA literary orgs and booksellers.
This is a free event and open to all!
Where: Plummer Park
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 2 pm – 5 pm
Address: 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046
Website: https://womenwhosubmitlit.org/
Get Lit Practice via Get Lit Players – In-Person Teen Event
This event is for current Get Lit Players.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Get Lit Office
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 672 S. La Fayette Pl., #10, Los Angeles, CA
Website: https://www.getlit.org/events
Book Launch: Adam Borba, with David Soren, & This Again at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Event
Author Adam Borba, in conversation with David Soren, will present his MG novel, This Again?
How far would you go to have the best day of your life? This funny and thrilling time travel adventure tackles questions of fate and free will.
At the local bowling alley, Noah runs into someone most unexpected: himself. The look-alike is him from nine days in the future, and he insists that if Noah does every ridiculous thing he says—from quacking like a duck in science class to painting himself green—they can achieve their dream of perfection. However, fate may have other plans, and Future Noah may not be entirely honest about what he’s doing there.
Adam Borba is a writer and filmmaker from California who has developed and produced movies for Walt Disney Studios. He is the author of the middle grade novels The Midnight Brigade, Outside Nowhere, and This Again.
David Soren wrote and directed the Annie Award nominated Turbo and directed the critically acclaimed Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie based on Dav Pilkey’s beloved series. Most recently, David directed and co-wrote Under the Boardwalk for Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon movies. Earlier in his career, David worked as a story artist at DreamWorks Animation on such hit films as Shrek, Chicken Run, Shark Tail, and Over the Hedge.
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/this-again
Jade S. Sasser, with Linda, & Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
UCR Associate Professor Jade S. Sasser’s newest book, Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question (out on April 9th), tackles issues of climate anxiety and how that has influenced millennials’ decision not to have children. Who better to be in-conversation with than our very own Linda, whose adult children have decided not to have children in great part because of the climate crisis? Join Jade and Linda as they explore the implications of these decisions from both the academic and personal perspectives.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore&
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/jadessasser
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Deep Critique Workshop – Online Zoom Event
Poetry Writing Workshop led by DKC (Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines including the subject of or at least mentioning remember or when for Four Feathers Press online edition: Remember When by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59pm, April 19th) Deep Critique Workshop led by DKC (Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines including the subject of or at least mentioning remember or when for Four Feathers Press online edition: Remember When by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59pm, April 19th)
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Book Signing: Dr. Linda Watson & Dr. Linda’s Comedy Marriage Boot Camp at The Book Jewel – In-Person Event
Dr. Linda Watson will present and discuss her book, Dr. Linda’s Comedy Marriage Boot Camp.
From A to Z, this book offers tried and true methods for keeping a marriage great or improving one.
Wine and hors d’oeuvres!
Where: The Book Jewel
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 6259 W. 87th St., Westchester, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://www.thebookjewel.com/events
Thriller Book Launch: Ben Tanzer & The Missing at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join Chicago author and Emmy Award-winner Ben Tanzer, in conversation with Yogi Roth, to share his latest novel, The Missing, a deeply psychologicalportrait of a marriage under duress that Kirkus Reviews calls “a taut, incisive look at two lives as they slowly implode.”
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/35459
Lauren Graham & Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember at Cellar Door Off-site at Fox Performing Arts Center – In-Person Event
Bestselling author and actress Lauren Graham will celebrate and discuss her book Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember
Tickets available at link at site.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Dorr at the Fox Performing Arts Center
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 3801 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/laurengrahamatthefox
(Re)Membering: Armenian Writers Against Commemoration at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
Beyond Baroque presents a reading featuring Armenian writers on the act of commemoration.
April traditionally marks the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. With the recent ethnic cleansing of Artsakh Armenians in September 2023 repeating a pattern of genocide, these Armenian writers, with roots stretching across Los Angeles, New England, Beirut, Artsakh, and Armenia, will reframe remembering, reading works that “member” the audience – to welcome, honor, and include every listener. We will celebrate our current connections an.d diversity while resisting genocide and advocating for the most vulnerable.
Featuring Nancy Agabian,Carene Rose Mekertichyan, Gina Alexandra Srmabekian, and Raffi Joe Wartanian.
Nancy Agabian is a writer, teacher, and literary organizer who works in the intersections of queer, feminist, and Armenian American identity. She is the author of The Fear of Large and Small Nations, a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, recently published by Nauset Press. Her previous books include Princess Freak (Beyond Baroque Books), a collection of poetry and performance art texts, and Me as her again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter (Aunt Lute Books), a memoir honored as a Lambda Literary Award finalist for LGBT Nonfiction and shortlisted for a William Saroyan International Prize. In 2021 she was awarded Lambda Literary Foundation’s Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction. A longtime writing professor at several universities, she has also led creative writing workshops in community settings, including at Beyond Baroque from 1994 to 1999. She currently serves on the board of the International Armenian Literary Alliance. For more info: nancyagabian.com
Carene Rose Mekertichyan is an artist, organizer, educator, and proud Angelena. As a Black Armenian woman, she is drawn to storytelling that centers marginalized narratives and believes true art exists to create empathy and social change. Her identity and upbringing in Los Angeles informs both her art and intersectional activism. She has guest lectured and facilitated programming at USC, UCLA, PCC, Pomona College, and Boston College and is currently a Teaching Artist with CTG, Creative Acts, and About Productions. She serves as the Artistic Associate for Social Justice at Independent Shakespeare Co., Program Coordinator at Support Black Theatre, and is co-author of the LA Anti-Racist Theatre Standards and a Blklst Contributor. In 2021 she was selected as an Arts for LA Activate Delegate. She has performed with numerous theater companies and her plays and spoken word have been produced at Edinburgh Fringe, MeetCute LA, Company of Angels, Independent Shakespeare Co., and “We the People Theater Action”. She is also an essayist, with work published by University of Texas Press, LAist, The Armenian Weekly, HyeBred Magazine, and Kooyrigs. She is Cofounder of Yerazad, an organization centered on coalition building and transnational solidarity. She received her training from Dartmouth College and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
Gina Alexandra Srmabekian is a writer whose work grapples with transgenerational trauma, memory, and identity. She writes toward her own freedom and toward the freedom of all displaced peoples from Artsakh to Palestine and beyond. She writes about grief and in times of grief because it is the most powerful articulation of love. She is the winner of Ninth Letter’s 2023 Literary Award for Creative Non-fiction and was a 2024 Words of Witness Fellow at Under the Volcano in Tepotzlán. She is a lecturer at California State University, Northridge and lives in Los Angeles with her dog, Bailey.
Raffi Joe Wartanian is a writer, musician, and educator who teaches writing at UCLA and serves as the inaugural Poet Laureate in the City of Glendale, California. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, University of Texas Press, No Dear Magazine, and elsewhere. As a musician, Raffi has released two albums of original compositions: Critical Distance (2019) and Pushkin Street (2013).
Hosted by Arthur Kayzakian and Tanya Kossian of the Los Angeles IALA Chapter, who will facilitate a Q and A.
NOTE: See site for further details, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
L.A. Get Down Festival: Wordsmith Achievement Award – In-Person Event
LA Get Down, a month long celebration of Hip Hop & Spoken Word in honor of National Poetry Month, takes place every April at Greenway Court Theatre.
Saturday’s event presents the Wordsmith Achievement Award, honoring Gil Scott-Heron.
The event features Gia Scott-Heron, Gil Scott-Heron’s daughter and Max Payne. Other features include James Coats and Ron Dowell, World Stage Press authors.
Gil Scott-Heron was an American jazz poet, singer, musician, and author known for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson fused jazz, blues, and soul with lyrics relative to social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles. He is most famous for the poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” delivered over a jazz-soul beat and is considered a major influence on hip hop music.
$10 admission.
Where: The Greenway Court Theatre
Date: Saturday the 13th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 544 North Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036
Website: https://greenwaycourttheatre.org/lagetdown2024/
2024 NELA Poetry Fest at Los Angeles College Prep Academy (Day 2 of 2) – In-Person Event
Join us for a vibrant weekend celebrating poetry, community, and local talent! Admission is free!
Enjoy poetry and poetry workshops facilitated by local poets from all around Los Angeles County. Open mic as well!
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: L.A. College Prep Academy
Date: Sunday the 14th (Day 2)
Time: 11 am – 5 pm
Address: 625 Coleman Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://allevents.in/south%20pasadena/2024-nela-poetry-fest/200026319386707 or https://www.instagram.com/regenerativecollective
Holy Pepperoni Reading Hourat North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Kids Event
Join us for our monthly children’s storytime, hosted by Pants and Jacket, the stars of the new children’s TV show, Holy Pepperoni!
Pants and Jacket will read some of their favorite picture books followed by a fun and magical activity.
The Holy Pepperoni Reading Hour is free and open to kids of all ages!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-lr6thisx
Storytime & Signing: Michael Martinez & Composting for Community, at Bel Canto Books, Retro Row – In-Person Event
Bel Canto Books is delighted to host a Storytime Reading + Signing with Michael Martinez, for his book, Composting for Community.
Mateo’s father is a composter, but when the class falls silent during his career day presentation, he sets out to learn more about not only his father’s job, but about composting itself. His dad’s seemingly ordinary job unveils a world of interconnectedness, family heritage and environmental stewardship that changes Mateo’s perspective. Guided by his family, Mateo delves into the science of composting and witnesses the transformation of trash into nourishing compost that provides life for our planet.
Michael Martinez is a father, a former elementary school teacher, and the founder of LA Compost. Growing up in Los Angeles he was amazed at the ways in which his family could repair and restore everyday items that he assumed were destined for the trash. He loves riding his bike, eating tacos, and “staycations” with his family. He is fascinated with life within the soil, and honored to know so many people who are cultivating joy above it.
Where: Bel Canto Book Retro Row
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 12 pm
Address: 2106 E 4th St Long Beach, CA 90814
ALOUD Reading Series: Amor Towles, with Maggie Shipstead, & Table for Two at Library Foundation, LAPL Off-site at Wallis Annenberg Center – In-Person Event
The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles joins ALOUD for the first time to discuss his new book, Table for Two. Comprised of six short stories and a novella that centers around beloved character Evelyn Ross from The Rules of Civility, Table for Two’s stories take place around the year 2000, examining the fateful consequences that can spring from brief encounters and the delicate mechanics of compromise that operate at the heart of modern marriages.
Amor Towles is the author of the New York Times best-sellers The Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility. His novels have collectively sold millions of copies and have been translated into more than 35 languages. Towles lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.
Maggie Shipstead is the New York Times-bestselling author of three novels and a short story collection. Her novel Great Circle was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Women’s Prize. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize and the L.A. Times Book Prize for First Fiction. She lives in Los Angeles.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 9390 N Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Website: https://lfla.org/event/amor-towles/
Graphic Novel Launch: Tatiana Hill & Bood City Rollers at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Kids Event
Explore girl powered graphic novel adventure with Tatiana Hill’s Blood City Rollers.
Local creator Tatiana Hill is launching her graphic novel with Once Upon A Time and will share a part of the story with the audience, answer any questions, and then sign books. Best for ages 8+.
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave.., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/blood-city-rollers
Paul Cummins & A Family of Stars and Mud at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Paul Cummins will discuss and sign his book A Family of Stars and Mud.
A Family of Stars and Mud presents Paul Cummins’ most recent collection of poems, from 2022-2023, and represents his, by now, characteristic diversity of themes, forms, moods, and voices. From deeply personal, to politically satirical, to lyrical these poems engage, are accessible, and often reach beyond, to mystery.
Paul Cummins’ poems have appeared in numerous publications including The New Republic, Poetry LA, Whole Notes, Exquisite Corpse, Coracle, Black Buzzard Review, Rattle, Cooweescoowee, Cloudbank, Rockhurst Review, South Loop Review, Absoloose, Perfume River and The Bluebird Word. Also he has won several poetry prizes and has appeared in many anthologies.
In addition, Cummins is an educator, writer, and social entrepreneur. From Stanford (B.A.) to Harvard (M.A.T.) to USC (Ph.D.) to classroom teaching 1960-71, he went on to the founding and co-founding of six schools — including independent schools Crossroads School and TREE Academy, plus Camino Nuevo Public Charter School. From the creation of educational outreach programs such as P.S. Arts and The Coalition for Engaged Education to all his groundbreaking and innovative ventures, Cummins has been a champion f or quality education, especially for at-risk, foster, and incarcerated youth.
His publications include an autobiography, Confessions of a Headmaster, three other books on education, two children’s books, four collections of essays, a biography of a holocaust survivor, Dachau Song, and three volumes of poetry.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Paul-Cummins-Author-signing
National Poetry Month Workshop with A.K. Toney at Elysian Valley Arts Collective – In-Person Event
Poetry Book Rhythms: A Start to Finish Writing Art Performance Class Series is free and is led by A.K. Toney.
Join poet, spoken word performer and educator A.K. Toney for a journey into learning poetry, creating your own poetry art book, making rhythms to accompany your poetry and performing at a spoken word show in the heart of Frogtown.
A.K. Toney, a modern-day Griot, has dedicated his life to writing, performing and teaching poetry to young people. With over twenty years of experience in education and writing workshops, Toney has taught workshops and performed at some of our city’s most revered spaces including Angel’s Gate Cultural Center, LA County Museum of Art, The Natural History Museum and has worked as an educator with LAUSD and Vista Americorps, Watts Learning Center K-5 Charter School.
NOTE: See WEBSITE for RSVP and details.
Where: Elysian Valley Arts Collective
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 1901 Blake Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039
Website: https://www.evartscollective.com/event-details/
Second Sunday Poetry Series & Open Mic with Alex Frankel: John Fitzgeraldat The Studio Theatre – In-Person Event
Second Sunday Poetry Series is hosted by Alex M. Frankel, and the feature this month is John Fitzgerald.
Great poets perform their work, sell and sign books, plus mingle with audience members and open mic participants.
John FitzGerald is a poet, writer, editor, and attorney in Los Angeles. A dual citizen of the U.S. and Ireland, he attended the University of West Los Angeles School of Law, where he was editor of the Law Review. The recipient of the 2022 Naji Naaman Literary Prize, he is the author of four books, more recently Favorite Bedtime Stories (Salmon Poetry), finalist for the Julie Suk Book Award, and The Mind (Salmon Poetry) semifinalist for the Alice James Book Award.
Other works include Primate, a novel and screenplay, and the non-fiction For All I Know.
He has contributed to many anthologies, notably The Plume Anthology of Poetry, Even the Daybreak: 35 Years of Salmon Poetry, Human and Inhuman Monstrous Poems, Rubicon: Words and Art inspired by Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis, From the Four-Chambered Heart: In Tribute to Anais Nin, Dogs Singing: A Tribute Anthology, and Poetry: Reading it, Writing it, Publishing it.
Other publications include World Literature Today, The Taos Journal of Poetry and Art, December Magazine, The Los Angeles Review, Margie, Plume, The Warwick Review, From the Fishouse, Barnwood Mag, and The American Journal of Poetry.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Studio Theatre at St. Denis Building
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 3433 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Los Angeles, CA 90068
Website: https://www.secondsundaypoetry.com/
Plant Book Clubat North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Join us for our first meeting of Plant Book Club, a new book club focusing on gardening, nature, and permaculture!
For our first meeting, we’ll be discussing THE ONE-STRAW REVOLUTION by Masanobu Fukuoka.
Books are in stock now and members receive 20% off book club selections!
Call it “Zen and the Art of Farming” or a “Little Green Book,” Masanobu Fukuoka’s manifesto about farming, eating, and the limits of human knowledge presents a radical challenge to the global systems we rely on for our food. At the same time, it is a spiritual memoir of a man whose innovative system of cultivating the earth reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balance of the natural world. As Wendell Berry writes in his preface, the book “is valuable to us because it is at once practical and philosophical. It is an inspiring, necessary book about agriculture because it is not just about agriculture.”
Trained as a scientist, Fukuoka rejected both modern agribusiness and centuries of agricultural practice, deciding instead that the best forms of cultivation mirror nature’s own laws. Over the next three decades he perfected his so-called “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-ltni8i9n
Library Girl Reading Series: Words with Wings: Matt Sedillo, Dan Navarro, and David A. Romeroat Ruskin Theatre Group – In-Person Event
David A. Romero willmoderate a conversation between Matt Sedillo + Dan Navarro at Palabras con Alas – Words with Wings- at Library Girl at the Ruskin!
Dan Navarro is a Los Angeles based vocalist, guitarist and voice actor best known as half of the duo Lowen & Navarro. He is first cousins with Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Lowen & Navarro had a long career and gave their final live performance on June 6, 2009, in Alexandria, VA. A week later, Navarro appeared at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Los Angeles accompanied by the band Stonehoney, launching his solo career. His performances and albums are numerous.
David A. Romero is a Mexican American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA + co-founder + editor-in-chief of El Martillo Press. Romero is the author of My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press). Romero’s poetry deals with family, identity, social justice issues, + Latinx culture.
Matt Sedillo has been described as the “best political poet in America” as well as “the poet laureate of the struggle.” His work has drawn comparisons in print to Bertolt Brecht, Roque Dalton, Amiri Baraka, Allen Ginsberg, Carl Sandburg, and various other legends of the past. Sedillo was the recipient of the 2017 Joe Hill Labor Poetry award, a panelist at the 2020 Texas book festival, a participant in the 2012 San Francisco International Poetry Festival, the 2022 Elba Poetry Festival, and the recipient of the 2022 Dante’s Laurel. Sedillo has appeared in many publications and spoken at numerous events and forums, and at over a hundred universities and colleges, including the University of Cambridge. Matt Sedillo is the author of Mowing Leaves of Grass (FlowerSong Press, 2019) and City on the Second Floor (FlowerSong Press, 2022). Both of which are taught at universities throughout the country. Sedillo is the current literary director of The Mexican Cultural Institute of Los Angeles.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Ruskin Theatre Group
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3000 Airport Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90405
Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/288785622940/ or https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=220942
Fantasy Romance Book Club: Faebound at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
April’s Fantasy Romance Book Club participants will discuss Faebound: A Novel, by author Saara El-Arifi. Bookseller Taylor C. leads this book club. Please join us.
In Faebound, two elven sisters become imprisoned in the intoxicating world of the fae, where danger and love lie in wait. Faebound is the first book in an enchanting new trilogy from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Final Strife.
No membership is necessary, feel free to show up!
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Poetik LA: Community Art & Poetry at Poetik LA in Silverlake – In-Person Event
April’s Poetik LA event is titled “Speak What You Sow.”
Poetik LA is held every 2nd Sunday of the month.
NOTE: See site for details. $10 donation.
Where: Poetik LA
Date: Sunday the 14th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 2930 Hyperion, Silverlake, CA 90323
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5PrJnlrExc/ or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hope-mic-tickets-582403573767
Los Angeles Literature 