Author/Artist Louise Wannier & Tree Spirits at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Please welcome author and artist Louise Wannier to our storytime event to share Tree Spirits, an interactive picture book that encourages creativity, social-emotional intelligence, and seeing the world with fresh eyes.
NOTE: See site for details. NO RSVP required.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 10:30 am
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/authorartist-louise-wannier-joins-pages-storytime
Zine Club with Alice Wynn at Palisades Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Please join us online with guest zine maker Alice Wynne.
Alice Wynne started selling zines at age 14 for 50 cents at Skylight Books. Since then, she has not stopped writing and illustrating perzines, photo zines, comix, poetry zines, and more. In 2020, Alice established the Altadena Zine Library, which is housed in the Altadena Library District. She has tabled at the L.A. Zine Fest and the Albuquerque Zine Fest and, in 2023, collaborated with other zinesters for the American Library Association’s Zine Pavilion in Chicago. Alice’s favorite zines to work on are parodies of lifestyle magazines. Her latest zine, Paper Dolls #2, another attempt at humor and pop culture commentary, is out in January 2024. Find Alice at subconsciouspoetry.wordpress.com or on IG @saltychipspress.
NOTE: See site for details. NO RSVP required.
Where: Palisades Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/january-zine-club-alice-wynne
Your Author Series: Susie Jaramillo at Wilmington Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Spend an afternoon with the talented author and illustrator Susie Jaramillo! Prepare to be enchanted as she reads from her captivating stories and offers a glimpse into the creative journey of writing and illustrating. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to ignite your imagination and explore the magical world of Susie’s storytelling!
Those attending the program will have the opportunity to take home a copy of Los Pollitos. Intended for ages 3 and up.
Susie Jaramillo, an Emmy-nominated director, artist, and entrepreneur, is the creative force behind Encantos, renowned for producing top-tier entertainment brands for children. As Co-founder and CEO, Susie has crafted beloved family favorites like Canticos and Tiny Travelers, while also authoring over 35 children’s books. With her captivating storytelling and charming illustrations, Susie inspires young minds and leaves a lasting impact in the world of children’s entertainment.
NOTE: See site for details. NO RSVP required.
Where: Wilmington Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 1300 N. Avalon Blvd., Wilmington, CA 90744
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/your-author-series-susie-jaramillo
Book Talk & Signing: Elwin Cotman, with Leigh Dana Jackson, & Weird Black Girls at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Elwin Cotman, in conversation with Leigh Dana Jackson, will discuss his collection, Weird Black Girls.
From Philip K. Dick Award finalist Elwin Cotman, an irresistibly unnerving collection of stories that explore the anxieties of living while Black—a high-wire act of literary-fantastical hybrid fiction.
A rural town finds itself under the authoritarian sway of a tree that punishes children. A pair of old friends navigate their fraught history as strange happenings escalate in a Mexican restaurant. A pair of narcissistic friends wreak havoc on an activist community. An aloof young man finds himself living through his lover’s memories. And a day of LARPing takes a cosmic turn.
In each of the seven stories in this collection, characters pursue their obsessions on paths to glory and destruction while around them their worlds twist and warp, oscillating between reality and impossibility. On display throughout is Cotman’s ability to reveal truths about the human experience—about friendship, love, betrayal, bitterness—through whimsy, horror, and fantasy. Elegiac in tone, imaginative and humorous in their execution, the character-driven stories in Weird Black Girls challenge, incite, and entertain.
Elwin Cotman was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the post-industrial landscape greatly influenced his love for myth and adventure. He is the author of three prior collections of speculative short stories: The Jack Daniels Sessions EP, Hard Times Blues, and Dance on Saturday, which was a finalist of the Philip K. Dick Award. Cotman holds a BA from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA from Mills College.
Leigh Dana Jackson is a writer and Executive Producer for the Emmy-nominated series Foundation at Apple TV+. Previously, he wrote and Executive Produced the pilot The Spook Who Sat By The Door for FX and also served as Consulting Producer for their Emmy-nominated series The Old Man, starring Jeff Bridges. At Netflix, he was a writer and Co-Executive Producer for the Emmy-nominated series Raising Dion, starring Michael B. Jordan. In features, he’s currently writing Black Samurai for Netflix with Chad Stahelski directing.
Where: Chevalier’s
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Mar Vista Book Club: Big Read, Books, and Communi-Tea at Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
We welcome all readers to our book club; no sign up is required.
Join us to discuss the Big Read Book of 2024, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast.
Copies of the book are available at the Reference Desk for check-out.
Please note that the Mar Vista Book Club meets in person.
NOTE: See site for details. NO RSVP required.
Where: Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 12006 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-22
Book Club: Lessons in Chemistry at Sherman Oaks Martin Pollard Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Book Club participants will discuss Lessons in Chemistry by author Bonnie Garmus.
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s, and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize-nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.
NOTE: Sherman Oaks Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/sherman-oaks-book-club-lessons-chemistry
Eric Beetner and Terry Shames Present: The Last Few Miles of Road and Perilous Waters at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Eric Beetner and Terry Shames will present and discuss their respective latest releases:
Eric Beetner’s The Last Dew Miles of Road: Carter McCoy learns he hasn’t got long to live, so it’s time to take care of something he has wanted to do for years—kill the man responsible for his daughter’s death. But Carter has no experience killing and isn’t even sure he can do it. With his trusty dog, Chester, at his side, Carter’s last act will be the one that defines who he is.
Terry Shames’ Perilous Waters: Jessie Madison escaped to the Bahamas when she made a terrifying discovery at home and a bad decision got her dismissed from the FBI training program. Three months later, Jessie is ready to return to Virginia to pick up the pieces of her shattered life – until she and a friend are attacked during a boat ride and thrown overboard, with devastating consequences.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/eric-beetner-and-terry-shames
Self-Publishing 101: Writing Workshop at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Join writing instructor Jeanne DeVita for a Self-Publishing 101 seminar at The Ripped Bodice.
Publishing your romance novel can be a confusing process, so join this class to learn the many aspects required to be successful.
This is a ticketed event so see website for details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 3806 Main Street., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
At Skylight: Ethel Rohan, with Alissa Nutting, & Sing I: A Novel at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Ethel Rohan, in conversation with Alissa Nutting, will discuss Sing I: A Novel.
This novel is about one woman’s path to rediscovering herself through music, romance, and a little vigilantism.
Inside Half Moon Bay, a sparkling California coastal town, Ester Prynn is dulled and diminished by struggles with work, money, marriage, her senile father, a troubled teenage son, and old guilt she can’t assuage. When a masked gunman robs the convenience store where Ester works, he upends her fraught life and propels her toward passions buried, like singing; desires discovered, like a same-sex infatuation; and wrongs righted, like bringing the violent assailant to justice. But as the armed robber commits new crimes and continues to evade capture, the trauma from the holdup climbs, threatening Ester’s newfound contentment and forcing her to contend with her burning regrets and what-ifs.
San Francisco-based Irish author Ethel Rohan is an award-winning essayist, novelist, and short story writer. Most recently, In the Event of Contact won the Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize. She has published widely beyond her books, including work in The New York Times, World Literature Today, The Washington Post, The Irish Times, PEN America, Tin House, and Guernica. For her recent foray into playwriting, she received a residency at Pavilion Theatre Studio, Ireland. The dream though is the Big Screen. Sing, I is her second novel.
Alissa Nutting is a novelist, screenwriter, and showrunner, most recently of the Adult Swim & MAX animated series Teenage Euthanasia and the MAX original comedy Made For Love based on her New York Times Editor’s Choice novel of the same name.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1818 Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-ethel-rohan-presents-sing-i-w-alissa-nutting
Ticketed Event: Alua Arthur, with Tembi Locke, & Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life By Getting Real About the End at Vroman’s Off-site at All Saints Church – In-Person Event
Alua Arthur, in conversation with Tembi Locke, will discuss her book, Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life By Getting Real About the End.
For her clients and everyone who has been inspired by her humanity, Alua Arthur is a friend at the end of the world. As our country’s leading death doula, she’s spreading a transformative message: thinking about your death—whether imminent or not—will breathe wild, new potential into your life.
Warm, generous, and funny AF, Alua supports and helps manage end-of-life care on many levels. The business matters, medical directives, memorial planning; but also honoring the quiet moments, when monitors are beeping and loved ones have stepped out to get some air—or maybe not shown up at all—and her clients become deeply contemplative and want to talk. This book is about the power of bearing witness and telling the truth about life’s painful complexities, because they do not disappear when you look the other way. They wait for you.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Vroman’s Off-site at All Saints Church
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Vromans-presents-Alua-Arthur-discussing-Briefly-Perfectly-Human
Monday Night Fiction Workshop at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – 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 29th
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-888289767607
Big Read Book Discussion: Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? at Venice Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Participants will discuss Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by author Roz Chast.
In her first memoir, Roz Chast brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents. Spanning the last several years of their lives and told through four-color cartoons, family photos, and documents, and a narrative as rife with laughs as it is with tears, Chast’s memoir is both comfort and comic relief for anyone experiencing the life-altering loss of elderly parents.
RSVP:
Please email venice@lapl.org for the Zoom link.
Where: Venice Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/venice-book-club-1
Sharing True Stories at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Come share something that happened to you. You can read a piece that you wrote or speak off-the-cuff. You are also welcome to just listen. The stories can be funny, sad, or simply slice-of-life. This is your opportunity to express yourself!
RSVP:
To receive a Zoom invitation, please contact wwood@lapl.org.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/life-stories-open-mic
Author Event: Mary Mallory at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join as we welcome local author and historian, Mary Mallory, as she discusses the history of street names in the Studio City community.
Street names provide a telling story of an area’s development, growth, and history. While some real estate promoters give tract streets aspirational titles, others salute former or famous residents, thereby providing remembrance of those who came before. This presentation will reveal the fascinating backstory of Studio City’s street names and how they demonstrate the evolution of the area from Native American hunting grounds to entertainment power house.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/studio-citys-history-its-street-names
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 their community and program participants.
The goal of Conchas y Café is to bring the community together under the arts, building skills and arts-literacy, so that more adults may appreciate the cultural and economic value the arts bring to their 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. Their 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 DSTL Arts directly by email at Info@DSTLArts.org.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: DSTL Arts
Date: Tuesday, the 30th (last meeting in series; see site for more)
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.dstlarts.org/conchasycafezine
Greg Wren, with Maggie Shipstead, & Mothership at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Greg Wren, in conversation with Maggie Shipstead, will present and discuss his book, Mothership.
Weaving together memoir and cutting-edge science, Mothership is not just a queer coming-of-age story. It’s a deeply researched account of how coral reefs and a psychedelic tea called ayahuasca helped Greg heal from complex PTSD—a disorder of trust, which makes the very act of bonding with someone else panic-inducing. From the tide pools in Florida, where he grew up, to Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago and the Amazon rainforest, this is his search for wholeness when talk therapy and pharmaceuticals did little to help. Along the way, as his ecological conscience wakes up, he takes readers underwater to the last pristine reefs on earth and into the psyche.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/greg-wren
Book Launch: Minh Lê and Dan Santat & Built to Last at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Award-winning author Minh Lê and New York Times bestselling illustrator Dan Santat have paired together to launch their new picture book, Built to Last. For the event, the two will read the book, Dan will do a drawing demonstration, and then the two will open up the presentation to questions from the audience, followed by a book signing. Best for ages 4+.
Playful text by wordsmith Minh Le and dazzling illustrations by artisan Dan Santat showcase their close collaboration in their latest picture book. As merry as it is moving, here is a story that recognizes the friendships in life that are truly built to last.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 2207nHonolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/built-to-last
At Skylight: Callie Siskel, with L.A. Johnson and Armen Davoudian, & Two MInds at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Callie Siskel, in conversation with L.A. Johnson and Armen Davoudian, will discuss her book, Two Minds.
Join us for a piercing and beautiful elegy for the poet’s father, a debut volume investigating the enduring pain and transformative potential of grief.
Does loss define us, or do we define loss? Tracing the duality of grief as it reverberates through a family, Callie Siskel wrestles with questions of identity and inheritance in precise, lucid poetry. Two Minds indulges and therefore exposes the vanity of turning private pain into art and the pursuit of self-revelation. Drawing on ekphrasis, ars poetica, and the prose poem, Siskel expands the elegiac genre as she oscillates between childhood and adulthood, art and mythology, as well as the natural and domestic world. At once cerebral and emotional, Two Minds is an essential meditation on the ways that loss cleaves and doubles our perceptive power.
Callie Siskel is the author of Two Minds, forthcoming from W. W. Norton, and Arctic Revival, selected by Elizabeth Alexander for a Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship. Her poetry appears or is forthcoming in The Paris Review, The Atlantic, and the New York Review of Books.
L. A. Johnson is the author of the chapbook Little Climates (Bull City Press, 2017). She holds 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, The Slowdown, and elsewhere.
Armen Davoudian is the author of the poetry collection The Palace of Forty Pillars (Tin House) and the translator, from Persian, of Hopscotch by Fatemeh Shams (Ugly Duckling Presse). He grew up in Isfahan, Iran, and is a PhD candidate in English at Stanford University.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1818 Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Holly Gramazio, with Taylor Hahn, & The Husbands at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Holly Gramazio, in conversation with Taylor Hahn, will discuss her novel, The Husbands.
When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.
As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start living?
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Holly-Gramazio-discusses-The-Husbands
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic + Featured Reader Ray Jane – Online Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic with host Rick Lupert will feature guest reader Ray Jane.
Ray Jane is a Black female poet born in Brooklyn and raised in Far Rockaway, Queens. She uses her poetry to lift herself and other women of color. Always aiming to strengthen her voice, Ray Jane won the Verb Benders slam poetry team’s inaugural poetry slam (2022) and was invited to perform in Yale Peabody Museum’s Annual MLK Jr. Black History Month Slam (2022, 2023). Ray Jane recently published her first collection of poems, entitled Black Like That.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
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 Co6ee House
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
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: Women & Femmes Night 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 5th Tuesday is Women & Femmes Night, hosted by Jasmine Williams and Yesika Salgado.
Featured Guest: Skyla Hardwick.
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 the theater.
Masks are encouraged. All ages are welcome.
Where: Greenway Court Theatre
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
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/womenfemmes-night
Book Club: The Roaring Days of Zora Lily at Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Book Club participants will discuss The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by author Noelle Salazar.
While preparing “The Hollywood Glamour” Exhibition at the Smithsonian, a conservator discovers another name beneath a label and unearths the story of a poverty-stricken seamstress who realizes her dream of becoming a designer.
RSVP:
Email sstamm@lapl.org for a Zoom link
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Westchester-Loyola Village Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 1:30 pm
Address: 21052 Devonshire St., Chatsworth, CA 91311
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/wednesday-morning-book-club-5
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 1st
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: On-air Event (live)
Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/oe
Social Justice Book Club: Watercross at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Check out the book of the month at your local library and bring your thoughts and feelings to the conversation. Books can transform the way we look at the world. Join children’s librarians from the Los Angeles Public Library to discuss kid-friendly books related to topics of social justice. This is an all-ages book club for the whole family.
Participants will discuss Watercross by author Andrea Wang.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/social-justice-book-club
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 1st
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: On-air Event (live at 101.5 FM)
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Minh Lê and Dan Santat & Bult to Last at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
Author Minh Lê and illustrator Dan Santat will present and discuss their children’s book, Built to Last.
Meet two friends who think they’re building imaginative worlds with blocks but come to realize they’ve been building something far greater—a sturdy, solid friendship—In this picture book by award-winning creators.
Two kids build entire worlds out of blocks, cardboard, and imagination. From boats attacked by a sea creature to a castle crumbling into the ocean. And they don’t mind when these creations break apart and CRASH to the floor. In fact, they think it’s pretty funny! Every time a creation falls apart, they pick up the pieces and keep building bigger and better.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Minh-Le-and-Dan-Santat-present-Built-to-Last
Kristen Van Nest & Where to Nest at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Kristen Van Nest will discuss her book, Where to Nest.
After college and getting her dream job in New York City, Kristen thought she had everything a modern Millennial was supposed to want-a sexy zip code, a boyfriend, and a corporate job. But instead of feeling content, she soon realized she had no idea who she was or what made her happy. Naturally, she did what any sane person would do: hopped on a plane and spent the rest of her twenties living abroad and traveling the world in search of love, adventure, and new and exciting places to eat bread.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/kristen-van-nest
RECESS Open Mic Is at SIPA HQ, Palms Up Academy – In-Person Event
RECESS Open Mic Is 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 1st
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/
At Skylight: Nicolette Polek, with Brian Evenson, & Bitter Water Opera at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Nicolette Polek, in conversation with Brian Evenson, will discuss her novel, Bitter Water Opera, an electrifying debut about art, solitude, family, and faith in a world without it.
In 1967, the dancer Marta Becket and her husband were traveling through Death Valley Junction when they came across an abandoned theater. Marta decided it was hers. She painted her ideal audience on its walls and danced her own dances until her death five decades later.
In the present day, Gia has ended a relationship and taken a leave from her job in film studies at a university. She is sleeping for fifteen hours a night and ignoring calls from her mother. In a library archive, she comes across a photo of Marta Becket and decides to write her a letter. Soon Marta magically appears in her home.
In this story the author describes an individual awakening to faith while exploring our deepest existential questions. How do we look beyond ourselves? Where do words go? What is art for?
Nicolette Polek is the author of Imaginary Museums. Her work has appeared in the Paris Review Daily, BOMB, New York Tyrant, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award and recently completed an MAR at Yale Divinity School.
Brian Evenson is the author of a dozen books of fiction, most recently the story collection The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (2021) and the Weird West microcollection Black Bark (2023). His collection Song for the Unraveling of the World (2019) won the Shirley Jackson Award and the World Fantasy Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times’ Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction, among his many other awards.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1818 Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
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 1st
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 Rooja Mohassessy, an Iranian-born poet and educator. She is a MacDowell Fellow and an MFA graduate of Pacific University, Oregon. Her ekphrastic debut collection, When Your Sky Runs Into Mine (Feb 2023) was the winner of the 22nd Annual Elir Poetry Award. Rooja has been featured on NPR, The Hive Poetry Collective, and other poetry podcasts and radio stations. Her poems and reviews have appeared in Narrative Magazine, Nimrod, Poet Lore, RHINO Poetry, Southern Humanities Review, CALYX Journal, Ninth Letter, Cream City Review, The Adroit Journal, New Letters, The Rumpus, The Journal, Verse Daily, Poetry Daily, and elsewhere. Her work is also anthologized in California Fire & Water, A Climate Crisis Anthology, and Colossus: Body, a compilation of writings by Californians writing on the themes of bodily autonomy and reproductive rights. Rooja is an editorial assistant at the journal Prairie Schooner.
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 1st
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-891066412627
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg and Featured Guest Donato Martinez 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 Micwith featured guest Donato Martinez.
Donato Martinez was born in a small pueblo, Garcia de la Cadena, Zacatecas, Mexico and immigrated to the USA at six years old. He teaches English composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at Santa Ana College. He has also taught classes in Chicano Studies. Also, he has been a co-coordinator of the Puente Program for 25 years and has presented workshop sessions at both the regional and state levels. He has also spoken at many motivational and educational conferences and presented many literary events.
He is influenced by the sounds and pulse of the streets, people, music, and the magic of language. Martinez has a self-published collection with three other Inland Empire poets, Tacos de Lengua. His work has been published by City Works, Eastside Rose, Acentos Review, The San Diego Poetry Annual, Ofrenda Magazine, Mixtape Literary Journal, Latin@Literatures, and La Raiz Magazine. His collection of poetry, Touch the Sky, is available from El Martillo Press. He loves the outdoors and is inspired by music and books and other artistic expressions, and his children, Gabriel and Abigail.
$4 cover fee, cash only
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/804588801016278
Open Mic Night at Anaheim Central Library – In-Person Event
Open to performers and spectators of all ages. Poets, singers, songwriters, storytellers, writers and listeners are welcome! Includes a featured reading by published poet Wendy Van Camp.
Performer sign-ups begin at 4:45 p.m. Please call 714-765-1880 at least 72 hours in advance if ADA accommodations are needed.
Where: Anaheim Central Library, Multipurpose Room
Date: Thursday, the 2nd
Time: 5 pm
Address: 500 W. Broadway., Anaheim, CA 92805
Website: https://www.anaheim.net/Calendar.aspx?EID=36373
Brentwood Writers Workshop at Donald Bruce Kauffman Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Are you a writer looking for creative ways to manifest your story and, most importantly, keep moving forward? Are you interested in collaborating with others to explore:
What makes a story interesting?
Why audiences invest in characters?
How to inject insight into your stories?
How to strengthen story elements?
The Brentwood Writers Workshop is looking for fellow writers to gather, brainstorm, and bring their experience and skills to their fellow writers. We’re here to workshop ideas, coach each other through challenges, and support and inspire one another, all with the goal of making traction on our writing projects.
Where: Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 2nd
Time: 5:30 pm
Address: 11820 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/brentwood-writing-group
Dr. Oriel Maria Siu: A Platica & Book Signing at LibroMobile, Santa Ana – In-Person Event
Dr. Oriel Maria Siu will lead a storytime for educators by presenting and discussing her book, Dismantling Foundational Fairy Tales, One Children’s Book at a Time.
Café and pan dulce will be provided for all educators and students.
Where: LibroMobile
Date: Thursday, the 2nd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1150 S. Bristol, A3, Santa Ana, CA 92704
Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/a-platica-and-book-signing-with-dr-oriel-maria-siu
Jenny Martinez & My Mexican Mesa, Y Listo!: Beautiful Flavors, Family Style at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
From viral TikTok sensation Jenny Martinez, comes a mouth-watering cookbook featuring 100 authentic, homestyle Mexican recipes that are perfect for any occasion: My Mexican Mesa, Y Listo!: Beautiful Flavors, Family Style.
This book features 100 recipes ranging from breakfast and appetizers to tacos, tamales, and taquitos. The main dishes include mole negro, carnitas, chiles rellenos, and enchiladas. Jenny also covers kitchen basics for making tortillas and salsas from scratch. Plus, tasty desserts like churros, paletas, and Mexican bread pudding, and a few cocktails too.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Thursday, the 2nd
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Jenny-Martinez-Author-signing
Robin Finn & Heart. Soul. Pen.: Find Your Voice on the Page and in Your Life at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Robin Finn will discuss her book, Heart. Soul. Pen.: Find Your Voice on the Page.
Step into an extraordinary voyage of self-discovery with Robin Finn’s life-altering guide. Crafted with the female experience at its core, this transformative compendium unlocks the keys to individual expression within all of us.
Inspired by the acclaimed program sharing its name, Heart. Soul. Pen. has already brought about a sea change in innumerable lives. Now, it extends an invitation to anyone on the transformative journey that is unlocking one’s true potential as a writer.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday, the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/robin-finn
Speech Bubble Comics Book Club at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Rescheduled from April 11th!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Thursday, the 2nd
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
Jezz Chung, with Bianca Wilson, & Guide to Personal Transformation and Collective Liberation at Reparations Club – In-Person Event
Artist, poet, and changemaker Jezz Chung, in conversation withartist Bianca Wilson, will discuss y their book, Guide to Personal Transformation and Collective Liberation.
Jezz Chung (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores personal and collective change through the lens of race, gender, disability, and neurodivergence. They’ve been recognized internationally by El País, Público, Teen Vogue, Logo TV, and Made of Millions. You can listen to their podcast with Deem Journal titled Dreaming Different and read their debut collection of poetry, prose, and practices titled This Way to Change: a gentle guide to personal transformation and collective liberation. Jezz lives in the occupied Lenape territory of Brooklyn, New York. You can follow their journey @jezzchung or jezzchung.substack.com.
Bianca Gabrielle Wilson (she/her) is an Artist, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Practitioner and mindful communication facilitator located in occupied Tongva Territory (Los Angeles). As a 6+ year-trained EFT practitioner, she supports Highly Sensitive professionals and creatives to regulate their emotions and heal their nervous systems. Her works teaches the spiritual and tangible tools and practices to protect and manage the energy of highly sensitive people while building a more spiritual and creative life. On an organizational level, she co-creates experiences to explore the healing power of conflict transformation through mindful communication and somatic embodiment.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Reparations Club
Date: Thursday, the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3054 S. Victoria Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90016
Website: https://rep.club/products/event-jezz-chung
At Skylight: Julia Hannafin & Cascade at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Julia Hannafin will present and discuss her novel, Cascade (paperback).
This propulsive novel set on the Farallons—a rugged set of islands off the coast of San Francisco—about addiction, sex, gender, and loss. After her mother’s overdose, Lydia goes to work for her ex-boyfriend’s father, tagging and monitoring great white sharks.
Born and raised in Berkeley, Julia Hannafin now lives in Los Angeles. They have written episodes for television. Cascade is a debut novel.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight
Date: Thursday, the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1818 Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-julia-hannafin-presents-cascade
Book Event: Benjamin Sands & Looking for Love at the Sex Party at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
This reading event features Benjamin Sands in a Q&A with Mark Sebastian, for the presentation of his forthcoming collection of poetry, Looking for Love at the Sex Party.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Thursday, the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
Tonalli Open Mic via Los Angeles Poet Society – In-Person Event
This reading event is held every 1st Thursday of the month by the L.A. Poet Society.
Host and features TBA.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Tonalli Open Mic
Date: Thursday, the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: Online Event: Zoom: 897 1039 1895
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5WidRJOgDp/
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 3rd
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event
First Fridays Book Club at Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids Event
Join us for a lively book discussion. Each month, we select a different title to read and discuss.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 1 pm
Address: 4625 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/first-fridays-book-club
Secrets of Savvy Book Marketing with Allison Miriam Smith of Unnamed Press at Platt Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids Event
Join us to welcome Allison Miriam Smith from Unnamed Press as part of our Secrets to Self-Publishing speaker series.
She will discuss:
The ins-and-outs of marketing and cover design: how to get your book to stand out so people buy it (and read it!)
Working at a traditional small press, marketing books to a national (and global) audience.
What is marketing? Your look, your audience, your pitch, and distribution.
Traditionally published vs. self-published author experiences.
Wondering about Publishing? Allison is here to answer your questions.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Platt Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 1 pm
Address: 23600 Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/secrets-savvy-book-marketing-wit-allison-miriam-smith
Picture Book Author Minh Lê & Built to Last at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Minh Lê will present and read his new children’s book, Built to Last.
In Built to Last, two kids build entire worlds out of blocks, cardboard, and imagination. From boats attacked by a sea creature to a castle crumbling into the ocean. And they don’t mind when these creations break apart and CRASH to the floor. In fact, they think it’s pretty funny! Every time, a creation falls apart, they pick up the pieces and keep building bigger and better. But when their latest masterpiece tumbles down in spectacular fashion, the boys aren’t laughing anymore. Have these two friends reached their breaking point? As merry as it is moving, here is a story that recognizes the friendships in life that are truly built to last.
Minh Lê is the award-winning author of picture books including Drawn Together (winner of the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature), The Blur, Real to Me, and the Eisner-nominated Lift, and graphic novels such as Green Lantern: Legacy and Enlighten Me. In addition to writing books, he is on the faculty of the Hamline MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, serves on the board of We Need Diverse Books, and has been a contributor to a variety of national publications, including NPR, HuffPost, and the New York Times. Outside of spending time with his wonderful wife and children at their home in San Diego, his favorite place to be is in the middle of a good book.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 4 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/minhle
2024 Lit Fest in the DENA: Keynote Presentation: Nikki High, Founder of Octavia’s Bookshelf at Mt. View Mausoleum, Altadena – In-Person Event
2024 Lit Fest in the DENA opens with a keynote presentation by Nikki High, founder and owner of Octavia’s Bookshelf in Pasadena.
Nikki High, in conversation with her friend Natalie Daily, will discuss her discovery of books as an early reader and how authors of color helped her discover herself and what could happen in her life, as well as using her bookstore as a community gathering place.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Mt. View Mausoleum, Old Radiance Hall
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 6 pm
Address: 2300 N. Marengo. Altadena, CA
Website: https://litfestinthedena.org/schedule/
Hazel Hayes & Better By Far at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Hazel Hayes will present and discuss her novel, Better By Far.
This is a genre-bending story about love and loss, hope and heartbreak, and the healing to be found in life’s little limbos, those in-between spaces where you’re no longer who you were and not yet the person you will be.
About her debut, Out of Love, Hazel Hayes said, “The journey from writing horror to writing love stories was a short one. There is nothing more horrific than love.” In her new novel, she sets out to prove it.
Following a breakup, Kate and Finn decide to keep sharing their house until the lease runs out in twelve weeks’ time, alternating week by week so that they are occupying the same space but never at the same time. Practically, the plan makes sense, but coming back each Sunday to a home where Finn has been and gone feels far too much like living with a ghost.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/hazel-hayes
At Skylight: Percival Everett & JAMES: A Novel at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Percival Everett will discuss his new novel, JAMES: A Novel, the brilliant, action-packed reimagining of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
JAMES is both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view;
Pulitzer Prize Finalist Everett, whose novel Erasure is the basis for Cord Jefferson’s critically acclaimed film American Fiction, brings this much anticipated novel to life with electric humor and lacerating observations.
When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.
Percival Everett is a Distinguished Professor of English at USC. His most recent books include Dr. No (finalist for the NBCC Award for Fiction and winner of the PEN/ Jean Stein Book Award), The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much Blue, Erasure, and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. He has received the NBCC Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award and The Windham Campbell Prize from Yale University. American Fiction, the feature film based on his novel Erasure, was released in 2023. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the writer Danzy Senna, and their children.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-percival-everett-presents-james
Book Event: Riley Mac & In This Car at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
This marathon reading event in celebration of In This Car, the debut poetry chapbook from author Riley Mac, features readings from:
Coco Gordon Moore, Tilghman Goldsborough, Montana James Thomas, Lily Lady, Mal Young, Elaine Kahn, Jeanetta Rich, and Ally Davis.
Riley Mac is a New York-based poet from South Jersey.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
Christina Vo, with music by Linda Sao, & My Vietnam, Your Vietnam: A Father Flees. A Daughter Returns. A Dual Memoir at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Christina Vo, with music by Linda Sao, will present and discuss her new book, My Vietnam, Your Vietnam
In this captivating dual memoir, Christina Vo and her father Nghia M. Vo delve into themes of their identity, heritage, and the tragic multi-generational ordeals of war, with intertwined stories that present a multifaceted portrayal of Vietnam and its profound influence on shaping both familial bonds and individual identities across time.
Captivating in its fluid movement and evocative depictions of place, My Vietnam, Your Vietnam offers readers a rich, multilayered exploration of Vietnam through two very distinct voices and perspectives. The memoir’s exploration of healing the trauma suffered by war refugees and their families echoes far beyond the personal experience of the two authors, providing a path to discussion of reconciliation and hope.
Nghia M. Vo left Vietnam in April 1975 with only the clothes on his back, following the US withdrawal of troops and the fall of Saigon. After a harrowing two month journey, he found himself in a refugee camp outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where he began the painful process of reconnecting with his family and rebuilding his life as a medical doctor. Christina Vo, Nghia’s daughter, grew up in the US. As a restless young adult, she felt a longing to connect with her heritage and soon moved to Hanoi in the former North Vietnam—much to her father’s distress—to discover a country that had changed dramatically since the war, yet retained many of the ancient traits experienced by her ancestors.
Quyên Ngô is an actor, facilitator, and trainer based in Los Angeles. She is an Audie-nominated and Earphones Award winning narrator, and narrator of My Vietnam, Your Vietnam. Her narration of Nguyễn Phan Quẽ Mai’s Dust Child was on Library Journal’s list of Best Audiobooks of 2023. She is the co-founder of VìTÂM, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating space for difficult conversations across generations and demographics in Vietnamese communities.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Christina-Vo-discusses-My-Vietnam-Your-Vietnam
Whiskey and Words: Artist Showcase by LionLike MindState at Fuego Cocina & Cantina, Pomona – In-Person Event
Come join us for an evening of whiskey and words at LionLIke MindSate in Pomona, a community open mic held every 3rd Friday of the month for poetry, art and community.
NOTE: See site to verify.
Where: Millard Sheets Art Center (Check to Verify)
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 1101 W. Hinckley Ave., Fairplex Pomona, CA 91766
Website: https://www.instagram.com/lionlikeartcommunity/?hl=en
Katherine Williams and Guests Present: The Devil Cruises Pacific Coast Highway at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center– In-Person Event
Beyond Baroque welcomes poet Katherine Williams to Los Angeles in celebration of her debut collection, The Devil Cruises Pacific Coast Highway (Kelsay Book). The program will feature readings and musical performances by: poet Brendan Constantine, musician and publisher Matthew Mars, and composer Eliot Douglass, with MC of the evening, Philip Littell.
Book signings to follow the performances.
Katherine Williams is a White Southerner who grew up in the Navy and lived in Charleston, SC, as a young adult, then spent twenty years in Los Angeles, and returned to SC twenty years ago. She’s a Pushcart and Best of the Web nominee with poems in Spillway, South Carolina Review, Projector, Measure, Diagram, and elsewhere. She began writing in 1991, published three chapbooks, and studied poetry with Richard Garcia’s Long Table Poets for twenty years. Her first poetry collection, The Devil Cruises Pacific Coast Highway, has just been published by Kelsay Books. Williams has been a research technician at UCLA Medical Center, Hollings Marine Laboratories, and the Medical Univ. of SC; an Apple-certified technician; a college chemistry tutor; and a graphic artist and web developer. As a board member of The Poetry Society of SC, she created the Warrior Poets Series, presenting veteran poets at the Charleston VA Medical Center, and as founding chair of the James Island Arts Council, she created Poetry at McLeod, in which illustrious Black poets interpret the plantation experience—from enslavement to ascendancy—in all walks of American life.
Philip Littell has lived in Los Angeles since 1976, where his first career as an actor led him to work in Shakespeare, avant-garde plays, cabaret, rock bands, and performance art.
Today he is a legendary performer, writer, and director who works in classical and experimental theater, cabaret, performance art, opera, and film. From his beginnings as a mute in The Weba Show, he developed into a singer-songwriter with his own bands, made musical theater works and moved into the opera field, creating librettos for The Dangerous Liaisons (Conrad Susa) and A Streetcar Named Desire (Andre Previn) for The San Francisco Opera. His latest, Girl With A Pearl Earring (Stefan Wirth), for Zurich Opera is was presented in 2022. He is a member of the Gawdafful National Theater, a Los Angeles based art and theater company devoted to creative risk and experimentation. He is the father of modern psychology.
Eliot Douglass is a pianist and composer. From working with Cirque du Soleil and recording music for astronauts on numerous space shuttle missions to vocal coaching Jack Nicholson, he has worked and performed in many avenues over the years. On a personal note, he’ll do just about anything for a dozen raw oysters.
Matthew Mars founded the Sacred Beverage Press, with Amelie Frank, publishing and editing the acclaimed literary journal Blue Satellite as well as books by Ellyn Maybe, the Carma Bums, francEyE, and Erica Erdman, among others. A poet himself, extensively published and anthologized, his four chapbooks include God the Motion Picture (Dance of the Iguana Press). He is the former frontman of alternative pop bands The Clear and Superman Loses the Girl. He has had two solo shows of his photography at Beyond Baroque and his current work can be seen at matthewmarsphotography.com.
Brendan Constantine is a poet based in Los Angeles. He is the author of five collections of verse and his work has appeared in many standards, including Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, and Poem-A-Day. He currently teaches at the Windward School and with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Since 2017, he has been developing workshops for writers living with aphasia and traumatic brain injuries (TBI).
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd Venice Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90291
First Fridays Rapp Saloon Reading Series, with host Cynthia Alessandra Briano, via Rapp Saloon – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
First Fridays at Rapp Saloon: Open Mic & Featured Readers, is offered every 1st Friday of the month by host Cynthia Alessandra Briano.
This is a HYBRID event, live in-person while offering a Zoom option for our performers and guests.
Our featured guest poets and artists this month TBA
We invite you to join us in amplifying and celebrating Black voices by bringing a poem or prose excerpt by a Black author to read alongside your own work. All themes/formats welcome. All languages welcome.
Share your voice at the Open Mic, where there is a time limit of 4 minutes max. Sign-ups are at 8:15 pm. Zoom ID posted 3 hours prior to event.
NOTE: See site for event details.
Where: Rapp Saloon at HISUA – In-Person & Online Event
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Address: 1436 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Website: https://www.facebook.com/RappSaloonReading
Western Edge Writers at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Writers and aspiring writers, join us for a group that supports writing endeavors of all genres: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and memoir.
Please email eaglrk@lapl.org for the writing prompt.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 10 am
Address: 5027 Caspar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90041
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/western-edge-writers-0
Storytime with Stephanie Owens & My First Female President at Flintridge Bookstore – In-Person Event
A young girl named Joy spends the day with her brother CJ, learning about who and what a President is. Realizing that, for the first time in history, a female could win the election. After learning about what a President does and even where they live, Joy also begins to explore all the other things she can grow up to be. This is a story filled with encouragement, aspiration, and inspiration.
Stephanie Owens began writing children’s picture books to inspire and excite little ones as they prepare to face life’s changes. My First Loose Tooth was the debut release from All My Firsts, her series highlighting many childhood milestones. Stephanie is the founder and President of Hayward House Publishing, where she began to self-publish her series.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Flintridge Bookstore
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 10:30 am
Address: 858 Foothill Blvd., La Cañada Flintridge, CA, 91011
Festival of AAPI Books (FAB) Long Beach at Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library, LBPL – In-Person Event
In celebration of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Bel Canto Books and Long Beach Public Library will co-host this day-long event honoring AAPI authors, artists, vendors, and community partners.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
10:00AM – 10:30AM:
FESTIVAL OPENING
10:30AM – 11:30AM:
CHILDREN’S BOOK READINGS (TWEEN SPACE):
Rachell Abalos, Our Nipa Hut
Kaylin Melia George, Aloha Everything
ADULT AUTHORS PANEL #1 (COMMUNITY ROOM):
Pete Hsu, If I Were the Ocean, I’d Carry You Home
Rooja Mohassessy, When Your Sky Runs into Mine
Shadab Zeest Hashmi, Comb
11:30AM – 12:30PM:
MORNING AUTHOR BOOK SIGNING (COMMUNITY ROOM)
12:30PM – 1:30PM:
CHILDREN’S BOOK READINGS (TWEEN SPACE):
Virginia Loh-Hagan, A IS FOR ASIAN AMERICAN
Michelle Lee, MY LOST FREEDOM
TEEN ART WORKSHOP WITH SUSIE YI (TEEN SPACE)
Recall your favorite memory, a funny moment, or even last weekend’s mundane Saturday morning. Now, let’s make that into a simple graphic novel spread! Come learn how to break down a big event into smaller pieces, storyboard using different paneling techniques, and tell a story in graphic novel format. You’ll leave with a graphic novel spread of your own making.
ADULT AUTHORS PANEL #2 (COMMUNITY ROOM):
Lee Herrick, Scar and Flower
Carolyn Huynh, The Fortunes of Jaded Women
Kunthon Meas, Sunsets and Regrets
1:30PM – 2:30PM:
CHILDREN’S BOOK READINGS (TWEEN SPACE):
Jenny Liao, EVERYONE LOVES LUNCH BUT ZIA
YOUNG ADULT PANEL #3 (COMMUNITY ROOM):
Sarah Kuhn, From Little Tokyo with Love
Makiia Lucier, Dragonfruit
Linda Kao, A Crooked Mark
Brandon Hoàng, Gloria Buenrostro Is Not My Girlfriend
PUBLISHING ROUND TABLE (TEEN SPACE):
Agatha Isabel, entrepreneur and author of HOUSEPLANT HOOKUPS
Christina Newhard, author and publisher of Sari-Sari Storybooks
Jhoanna Belfer, founder and owner of Bel Canto Books
Meg J. Mateo, writer and editorial director at Penguin Random House
2:30PM – 3:30PM:
AFTERNOON AUTHORS PANEL #4 (COMMUNITY ROOM)
Kayla Melia Geroge, Aloha Everything
Jenny Liao, Everyone Loves Lunchtime But Zia
Rachell Abales, Our NIPA Hut
Virginia Lo-Hagen, Born Reading
Susie Yi, Cat & Cat
Michelle Li, A Very Asian Guide to Korean Food
3:30PM – 4:30PM:
VIET THANH NGUYEN (A Man of Two Faces) IN CONVERSATION WITH GINA APOSTOL (La Tercera) (COMMUNITY ROOM)
Seating is first come, first served. Please contact FABLongBeach@gmail.com for accessibility accommodations.
4:30PM – 5:30PM
VIET AND GINA BOOK SIGNING (COMMUNITY ROOM)
NOTE: See site for details. Free to attend
Where: Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library, LBPL
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 10 am – 5:30 pm
Address: 5870 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90805
Website: https://www.longbeach.gov/library/events/
Saturday Book Discussion: Crook Manifesto at Palms-Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Book Discussion participants will discuss Crook Manifesto by author Colson Whitehead.
Copies are available at reference and as ebooks. This is our second year reading off of the “100 Notable Books!”
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Palms-Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 11 am
Address: 2920 Overland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/saturday-book-discussion
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 details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Literature & Fiction Study Rooms
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 11 am
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-workshop-1
Book Club: The Mirage Factory at Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles, by author Gary Krist.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 11 am
Address: 1874 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-1
William Archila Workshop: Unlock Your Sonnet: The Restraint of the Fourteen-line Music Box at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center: Official Selection – In-Person Event
Beyond Baroque hosts William Archila, who will lead a generative workshop to attempt to write contemporary sonnets—not traditionally rhymed, metered and structured like a Shakespearean or a Petrarchan sonnet—but those with a vestige of the form, fourteen lines with a volta or turn here and there, maybe some internal rhymes. The class will look at examples by Diane Seuss, Terrence Hayes, Wanda Coleman, and others and pay close attention to how they get inventive with the form.
In conclusion, participants will follow the discussion with creating their own first and strong drafts of sonnets. To go beyond the tradition, writers need to inhabit the ghost of the sonnet. Like the Charles Mingus song, you “better get hit in your” sonnet.
William Archila is the winner of the 2023 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry for his collection S is For. He is the author of The Art of Exile, which was awarded the International Latino Book Award, and The Gravedigger’s Archaeology, which received the Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize. He was also awarded the 2023 Jack Hazard Fellowship. He has been published in Poetry Magazine, The American Poetry Review, AGNl, Copper Nickle, Colorado Review, Kenyon Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Missouri Review, Pleiades, Prairie Schooner, Southern Indiana Review and the anthologies The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, Theatre Under My Skin: Contemporary Salvadoran Poetry, and The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States. In 2010, he was named a Debut poet by Poets & Writers. He is a PEN Center USA West Emerging Voices fellow. He lives in Los Angeles, on Tongva land. He has work forthcoming in Indiana Review, The Georgia Review, Poetry Northwest and Salamander.
NOTE: See site for tickets and further information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Viet Thanh Nguyen and Minnie Phan & Simone at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen and illustrator Minnie Phan present an unforgettable story of a Vietnamese American girl whose life is transformed by a wildfire, in Simone.
When Simone is awakened by her mom as a wildfire threatens their home, it is the beginning of a life-changing journey. On their way to take shelter in a high school gym, the family passes firefighters from a prison unit battling the fire. Simone’s mom tells her that when she was a girl in Viet Nam, she was forced to evacuate her home after a flood.
This powerful tale introduces an unforgettable young heroine who awakens to a new role as a budding artist and in fighting for her community and for the future of the planet.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 11 am
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Viet-Thanh-Nguyen-and-Minnie-Phan-present-Simone
Heavy Manners Literary Fair, Day 1 of 2 at Heavy Manners Library – In-Person Event
Join us for a two-day event celebrating the Los Angeles Literary Community! This fair will include local publishers, writers, and presses, all vending their books upstairs, as well as a two-day-long poetry reading with local poets downstairs.
Features include:
Andra Knox, Ash Ingram, Ashla Chavez-Razzano, Brittany Menjivar, Britt Warner, Elizabeth Burch Hudson. Em Keenan, Erin Satterthwaite, Jared Harvey, Jove Aaron, Karla Lamb, Lauren Kim, Lily Frankel, Marcel Monroy, Nikki Ocho, Reem Ali Adeeb, Rene Kladzyk, Ruby Elliott Zuckerman, Sailor Dinucci-Radley, Victoria Jimenez and more!
We will also be raffling items from our bookstore to raise money for the Downtown Women’s Center!
The fair will be free and open to the public!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Heavy Manners Library
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 12 pm – 5 pm
Address: 1200 N. Alvarado St., Los Angeles, C 90026
Website: https://www.instagram.com/heavymannerslibrary
2024 Lit Fest in the DENA, Day 1 of 2: Books That Make the Neighborhood at Mt. View Mausoleum, Altadena – In-Person Event
2024 Lit Fest in the DENA celebrates the theme: Books That Make the Neighborhood with a series of panels and speakers presenting their works and words at 4 time slots and 3 meeting locations this afternoon:
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm:
Poetry Hall: City of Phantoms: Poetry of Unseen Boroughs:
Readings by Speculative Poets:
Wendy Van Camp, Denise Dumars, Neil Citrin, LK Indigo.
Chapel of the Gardens: Another Southland: BIPOC Writers and Their LA Stories:
Daniel Olivas, Gary Phillips, Jervey Tervalon, Naomi Hirahara.
Old Radiance Hall: Home Is Where the Stories Are:
Tisha Reichle Aguilara, Janita E. Mantz, Noriko Nakada, Ryane Granados,
Cloister Gardens: A Neighbor Like You: Creating Connection in Children’s Literature
Laura Stegman, P.J. Gardner, Ernesto Cisneros
Art Gallery: When a Neighborhood Becomes a Family: Romantasy, Historical, Paranormal, and Contemporary Romance
Leslie Sullivan, Heather McCorkle, Dana Elmendorf, Lizzy Gayle
2 pm – 3 pm:
Poetry Hall: To Pimp a Butterfly: South L.A. Writers Discuss Music, Place, and Literary Style
Pam Ward, AK Toney, A Kold Piece, Hiram Sims
Chapel of the Gardens: Visible Wisdom: Lesbian Poets Over 60, Reading & Conversation
Carla Sameth. Dorothy Randall Gray, Bonnie S. Kaplan, Ronna Magy
Old Radiance Hall: Craft and Creativity:
Scott O’Connor, Kate Maruyama, Jervey Tervalon, giovanni singleton
Cloister Gardens: Mental Illness & Heroic Journey:
Julie H. Parker, Jerry Stahl, Dick Rubin
Art Gallery: The Art of Translating: A Beginner’s Workshop:
Jamie Richards
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm:
Poetry Hall: Notes and Letters:
Bill Cushing, Charles Corbisiero
Chapel of the Gardens: Across the Street, Around the Corner: A Road Home
Mary Lea Carroll
Old Radiance Hall: SoCal Crime Writers:
Holly Watson, Marjorie McCown, Maddie Margarita, Ellen Byron, Nancy Cole Silverman
Cloister Gardens: Cruising the Gayborhood:
Jubi Arreola-Headley, Kelsey Bryan-Zwick, Gustavo Hernandez, Angela Peñaredondo
Art Gallery: Beyond Borders: Readings & Conversations with African American, LGBTQ and other marginalized writers:
Hazel Clayton Harrison, Wayne French, C. Jerome Woods, Karen English, Gary Phillips, Ron Covington, Tricia Alkimia Cochee
5 pm – 6 pm:
Poetry Hall: Zephyr Poets:
Arthur Kayzakian, Alene Terzian-Zeitounian, Shahe Mankerian, Armine Iknodossian, Mary Angelino
Chapel of the Gardens: For the Love of Horror:
Tananarive Due, Jervey Tervalon
Old Radiance Hall: Beyond the Beach: Searching for Community in SoCal Neighborhoods
Mary Camarillo, Caribbean Fragoza, Dana Johnson, Lou Matthews, Victoria Patterson, Mike Sonksen
Cloister Gardens: Stories Now Told: New LA Authors:
Bonnie Armstrong, Madeleine Nakamura, Kathryn Ross, Monica Fernandez
Art Gallery: The Influence of Literature on Songwriting:
Russel Mark + Mike Larson of The Nextdoors, Brad Colerick, David Tokaji, Brandon Jay, Gwendolyn Sanford.
NOTE: See site for details, full bios, and complete schedule.
Where: Mt. View Mausoleum, Old Radiance Hall
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 12:30 pm – 6 pm
Address: 2300 N. Marengo. Altadena, CA 91001
Website: https://litfestinthedena.org/
Kids Graphic Novel Book Club: Ink Girls at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Book Club participants will discuss Ink Girls, by author Marieke Nijkamp and illustrator Sylvia Bi.
This debut middle-grade graphic novel celebrates the power that every person—even those often overlooked—has to create change. In a vibrant city, two girls from very different walks of life join forces to fight censorship and protect the people they love.
Marieke Nijkamp (she/they/any) is the author of the middle grade graphic novel Ink Girls as well as several books for young adults, which include #1 New York Times bestsellers, a critically acclaimed anthology, graphic novels, and comics. She studied philosophy and medieval history, and when she isn’t writing, she loves to garden, roll dice, and daydream. Marieke Nijkamp lives and writes in Small Town, the Netherlands.
Sylvia Bi is an illustrator who loves drawing stories with expansive, vibrant worlds, an undercurrent of chaos, and girls running on rooftops. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she explores and shares diverse stories and experiences through the power of a (digital) pen. She is also a book designer, a frog enthusiast, and an avid earring collector. Sylvia Bi lives in Brooklyn, New York.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/kids-graphic-novel-book-club-ink-girls
Storytime & Signing: René Spencer and Rodolfo Montalvo & Bye Land, Bye Sea at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Author and illustrator team René Spencer and Rodolfo Montalvo will be reading their picture book, Bye Land, Bye Sea. After the story, they will answer questions from the audience, Rodolfo will do a drawing demonstration, and then they will sign books. Best for ages 4+.
Open to all ages. Free to attend.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/bye-land-bye-sea
Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series & Open Mic at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us in-person or via Zoom for Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series, featuring poetry readings and open poetry mic.
RSVP:
Please email studio@lapl.org for participation details.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 27th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/expressions-la-poetry-reading-series-and-open-mic-2
Aut0or Event: Margaret Juhae Lee & Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History at The Book Jewel – In-Person Event
Celebrated author Margaret Juhae Lee will present and discuss her book, Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History.
This book asks: Can we ever separate ourselves from our family’s past—and if the answer is yes, should we?
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: The Book Jewel
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 6259 W. 87th St., Westchester, Los Angeles, CA, 90045
Website: https://www.thebookjewel.com/events
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Poetry Writing Workshop led by Ellyn Maybe & PJ Swift – Online Zoom Event
Poetry Writing Workshop led by Ellyn Maybe & PJ Swift (Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines, including the subject of or at least mentioning historic landmarks for Four Feathers Press online edition: Historic Landmarks by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59pm, May 17th)
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Toad’s Poetry Party: requiem for the toad: selected poems of gerald locklin, with guest readings at Gatsby Books, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Join Gatsby’s to celebrate the publication ofrequiem for the toad: selected poems of gerald locklin, by the revered and long-time professor of creative writing at CSU Long Beach, gerald locklin, with readings from guests:
David Cherin is professor emeritus at CSU Long Beach.
Patricia Cherin N/A
Jeff Epley has taught English Composition at CSULB, Pasadena City College, and Long Beach City College, and in 2003 joined Long Beach City College as a full-time English instructor.
Alexis Rhone Fancher is a poet and photographer and the author of; How I Lost My Virginity to Michael Cohen and Other Heart Stab Poems, Joshua, State of Grace: The Joshua Elegies, Enter Here, and Junkie Wife.
Zachary Locklin, a graduate of the Master’s of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California, currently teaches composition, creative writing, and literature at California State University, Long Beach.
Clint Margrave N/A
Sean Moor N/A
Joan Jobe Smith, Pushcart honoree and Forward Prize finalist, was born in Paris, Texas in 1940. Since age 10, her poetry, prose, art, reviews, essays, and cooking columns have appeared internationally in more than 1000 publications—including a billboard.
Kareem Tayyar is a poet and novelist and the author of Let Us Now Praise Ordinary Things.
Fred Voss is an American poet and novelist who has written about the lives of American machinists working in factories for over forty years.
Ray Zepeda is the author of Tao Driver and Selected Poems.
Where: Gatsby’s Books
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 5535 E Spring St, Long Beach, CA 90808
Website: https://www.gatsbybooks.com/events
LibroMobile Monthly Open Mic Event at LibroMobile, Santa Ana – In-Person Event
Join or an evening of our monthly open mic at LibroMobile, hosted by Local Poet Kunthon “Katon” Meas.
RSVP.
Where: LibroMobile
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1150 S. Bristol St., #A3, Santa Ana, CA 92704
Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/libromobile-monthly-open-mic-2024-05-04-18-00
Pages on Stages Monthly Open Mic Event at Sims Library of Poetry – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Pages on Stages Monthly Open Mic Event is held on the first Saturday of the month and this month the event’s theme is: Mental Health Awareness Month.
This event is hosted by pw and features WSP authors:
Ravina Wadhwani is the author of the collection, Yellow.
Funky Sunshine N/A
Yasmin Safdie is the author of the collectionThe Geology of Being.
Where: Sims Library of Poetry
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 2702 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043
Website: https://events.humanitix.com/wsp-may
Diana Khoi Nguyen, Cindy Juyoung OK, & Taneum Bambrick at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center– In-Person Event
Join us for a night of poetry readings by Diana Khoi Nguyen, Cindy Juyoung OK, and Taneum Bambrick!
Celebrating newly published poetry collections, authors Diana Khoi Nguyen (Root Fracstures, 2024), Cindy Juyoung OK (Root Toward, 2024), and Taneum Bambrick (Intimacies, Received, 2022) will be reading from their latest works at Beyond Baroque! Book signings will follow the readings.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd Venice Beach Los Angeles, CA 90291
Griot Café Open Mic with Sistah Shy & Samuel Rain & Featured Guest at Shades of Africa, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Sistah Shy & Samuel Rain host the Griot Café Open Mic & Poetry event every Saturday evening at Shades of Africa in Long Beach. See site to subscribe for reminders, etc.
Feature: TBA
Where: Griot Café at Shades of Africa
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 1001 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://shadesofafrika.com/griot-cafe-open-mic-poetry/
Third Edition Viet Book Fest at Bowers Museum, Anta Ana – In-Person Event
The Vietnamese American Arts and Letters and Association (VAALA) is presenting this event to celebrate Vietnamese diasporic literature. Admission is free and open to the public.
The Viet Book Fest will include author meet-and-greets, book signings, and a dedicated section to purchase books. This year’s event include:
Picturing Community: Graphic Novels and Picture Books
Time: 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
This panel will feature a lineup of four illustrators, graphic novelists, and authors. Illustrator LeUyen Pham will speak about her book Lunar New Year Love Story, Thien Pham will speak about his graphic narrative Family Style. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen and illustrator Minnie Phan will speak about their story, Simone. In this panel, the creators will explore the art of visual storytelling, capturing diverse communities and fostering intergenerational understanding. The panel will be moderated by UCLA Professor Thuy Vo-Dang, and there will be a book signing/meet-and-greet after the panel discussion.
Unleashed: Young Authors Telling Stories
1 p.m. – 2:30 pm
This panel will explore the unique perspectives and experiences that shape contemporary storytelling from the next generation of Vietnamese diasporic authors. Joining this panel are Brandon Hoàng with his debut novel Gloria Buenrostro Is Not My Girlfriend, Carolyn Huynh with her multi-narrative novel The Fortunes of Jaded Women, Christina Vo and her father, Nghia M. Vo, with their dual memoir, My Vietnam Your Vietnam. The panel will be moderated by Los Angeles Times Community Engagement Editor Anh Do, and there will be a book signing/meet-and-greet after the panel discussion.
Tiếng Việt Còn: Publishing and Preserving Vietnamese-Language Literature
2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m.
In partnership with damau.org, this panel will explore the challenges and opportunities in publishing Vietnamese literature and strategies for preserving its cultural nuances. Authors Đặng Thơ Thơ, Nguyễn Hoàng Nam, and Bùi Vĩnh Phúc will speak about fostering Vietnamese literary and language heritage. The panel will be moderated by UC Irvine Linguistics and Vietnamese Professor Tri C. Tran, and there will be a book signing/meet-and-greet after the panel discussion.
Book Market Event
4 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Six authors will discuss their latest books at the book market event, sharing insights into various genres and themes.
To RSVP for the event, you can visit: http://bit.ly/VietBookFest2024
For more information on Viet Book Fest, you can visit https://vaala.org/viet-book-fest-2024/
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Bowers Museum, Santa Ana
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 10 am – 5 pm
Address: 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana, CA 92706
Website: https://hollywoodfirstlook.com/third-edition-of-viet-book-fest-coming-to-the-bowers-museum-may-5/
Heavy Manners Literary Fair, Day 2 of 2 at Heavy Manners Library – In-Person Event
Join us for a two-day event celebrating the Los Angeles Literary Community! This fair will include local publishers, writers, and presses, all vending their books upstairs, as well as a two-day-long poetry reading with local poets downstairs.
Features include:
Andra Knox, Ash Ingram, Ashla Chavez-Razzano, Brittany Menjivar, Britt Warner, Elizabeth Burch Hudson. Em Keenan, Erin Satterthwaite, Jared Harvey, Jove Aaron, Karla Lamb, Lauren Kim, Lily Frankel, Marcel Monroy, Nikki Ocho, Reem Ali Adeeb, Rene Kladzyk, Ruby Elliott Zuckerman, Sailor Dinucci-Radley, Victoria Jimenez and more!
We will also be raffling items from our bookstore to raise money for the Downtown Women’s Center!
The fair will be free and open to the public!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Heavy Manners Library
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 12 pm – 5 pm
Address: 1200 N. Alvarado St., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.instagram.com/heavymannerslibrary
2024 Lit Fest in the DENA, Day 2: Books That Make the Neighborhood at Mt. View Mausoleum, Altadena – In-Person Event
2024 Lit Fest in the DENA celebrates the theme: Books That Make the Neighborhood with a series of panels and speakers presenting their works and words at 4 time slots and 3 meeting locations this afternoon:
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm:
Poetry Hall: Pasadena Rose Poets:
Hazel Clayton Harrison, Carla Sameth. Gerda Govine and others TBA
Chapel of the Gardens: Libraries that Make the Neighborhood
Kristin Olivarez, Ernesto Covarrubias, Megan Briefman, Derek Mejia, Ashley Watts
Old Radiance Hall: Stories from Kids on the Block:
Morgan Gaskell, Malika Sheshadri, Mya Hernandez. Aster Silverio
Cloister Gardens: Writing Heroes for All Ages: Comic Book Authors:
Cecil Castelluci, Jody Houser, Sherrie L. Smith, Sam Maggs
Art Gallery: Location Location Location: How & Why to Choose a Place to Set Your Story
Sarah Sleeper, Dare DeLano, Ona Russell
2 pm – 3 pm:
Poetry Hall: Embodied Landscapes: Water, Wildlife, and the Geographies that Shape Us:
Sehba Sarwar, Erika Ayon, Olga Garci Echeverria, Jamie Asaye Fitzgerald, Alicia Vogl Saenz.
Chapel of the Gardens: Getting the Word Out
Jessica Wilson Cardenas, Monica Fernandez, Melanie Romero, Holly Watson
Old Radiance Hall: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles: A Discussion of Mike Davis’s City of Quartz
Ivan Salinas, Mike Sonksen, Jonathan Pacheco Bell
Cloister Gardens: The Neighborhood Narrative:
Merrill Feitell, Lori Koziowski, Karin Gutman
Art Gallery: All World Building is Local:
Janet Wertman, Autumn Bardot, Joan Myerson, Zenobia Neil
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm:
Poetry Hall: Altadena Poetry Review:
Thelma Reyna, Carla Sameth, Hazel Clayton Harrison, Sehba Sarwar, Lester Lennon, Pauli Dutton, Don Kingfisher Campbell, Elline Lipkin, GT Foster, Jackie Chou, Victor Cass, Dr. Martha Rivas Maravilla, Sarah Flores, Emily Silich
Chapel of the Gardens: Bookstores That Make the Neighborhood
Mags Gobbo (North Figueroa Bookshop), Viva Padilla (Re/Arte Centro Literario), Stephanie Moran Reed (MiJa Books), Nikki High (Octavia’s Bookshelf), Mary Williams (Skylight Books)
Old Radiance Hall: Punks from Music to Literature: The New Writers
Patrick O’Neil, Keth Morris, Jim Ruland, Iris Berry, and moderator Sean Carswell
Cloister Gardens: Poetry of Preservation: Other Californias & Beyond:
Emily Fernandez, Ruth Nolan, Romaine Washington, Michelle Brittan Rosado
Art Gallery: Pairing Tea & Readers
Biblio Sinensis with Eugene Cordell and Stefani Warner
5 pm – 6 pm:
Old Radiance Hall: CLOSING PANEL: Seeing the World Through a Neighborhood – Three Visions
Thomas E. Backer, PhD, moderator, with: Daniel Olivas, Mike Sonksen, Lisa Teasley
NOTE: See site for details and complete schedule.
Where: Mt. View Mausoleum, Old Radiance Hall
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 12:30 pm – 6 pm
Address: 2300 N. Marengo. Altadena, CA 91001
Website: https://litfestinthedena.org/
Outdoor Lit Book Club: Better Living Through Birding at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper.
In Better Living Through Birding, Cooper tells the story of his extraordinary life leading up to the now-infamous incident in Central Park and shows how a life spent looking up at the birds prepared him, in some uncanny ways, to be a gay, Black man in America today. From sharper senses that work just as well at a protest as in a park to what a bird like the Common Grackle can teach us about self-acceptance, Better Living Through Birding exults in the pleasures of a life lived in pursuit of the natural world and invites you to discover them yourself.
Christian Cooper is a science and comics writer and editor and the host and consulting producer of Extraordinary Birder on National Geographic. One of Marvel’s first openly gay writers and editors, Cooper introduced the first gay male character in Star Trek, in the Starfleet Academy series, which was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. He also introduced the first openly lesbian character for Marvel and created and authored Queer Nation: The Online Gay Comic. Based in New York City, he is on the board of directors for NYC Audubon.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/outdoor-lit-book-club-better-living-through-birding
Gerrie Schipske & LGTBQ+ Long Beach at Gatsby Books – In-Person Event
Celebrated historian Gerrie Schipske will present and discuss her book, LGBTQ+ Long Beach.
Discover more of the vibrant local history of Long Beach when you join us for this author event.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Gatsby Books
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 5535 E. Spring St., Long Beach, CA 90808
Website: https://www.gatsbybooks.com/events
Palabras Literary Salon: Lee Herrick & Jen Cheng at Latinx with Plants – In-Person Event
Celebrated California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick and West Hollywood Poet Laureate Jen Cheng will feature at the monthly Palabras Literary Salon, a BIPOC-centered event co-hosted with Latinx with Plants, in their open-air greenhouse in Boyle Heights.
Lee Herrick (Scar and Flower) will be reading his poetry in conversation with host Jen Cheng (Braided Spaces)
This salon’s theme is “perseverance,” celebrating May as Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
RSVP at site and join in the facilitated discussion. Previous events have sold out, so please join the waitlist and plan to attend if the RSVPs are full—people do cancel! We are asking for RSVPs for priority entry due to limited capacity in the back greenhouse patio.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Latinx with Plants
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 2208 Cesar Chavez, Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/palabras-at-latinx-with-plants-tickets-846828876967
Author Event: Viet Thanh Nguyen & Minnie Phan & Simone at The Cheech Center with Cellar Door Books – In-Person Event
Pulitzer Prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen (The Sympathizer, The Committed) and award-winning illustrator Minnie Phan (The Yellow Áo Dài) will be at The Cheech on May 5th at 3:00 pm to talk about their BEAUTIFUL upcoming picture book, Simone. Minnie will be leading art activities starting at 2:00 pm if you would like to come early and participate! Both Viet and Minnie will sign copies of their book after their presentation.
This is a fantastic opportunity for you and the young ones in your life to meet a bestselling Pulitzer Prize-winning author and a celebrated illustrator, and experience the beautiful wonders of Riverside’s one-of-a-kind Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture all in one trip!
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: The Cheech Center for Chicano Arts & Culture
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 3581 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/simoneatthecheech
Megumi Inouye & The Soul of Gift Wrapping: Creative Techniques for Expressing Gratitude, Inspired by the Japanese Art of Giving at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Megumi Inouye will discuss and sign her book, The Soul of Gift Wrapping: Creative Techniques for Expressing Gratitude, Inspired by the Japanese Art of Giving.
Inouye explores how the act of giving a thoughtfully wrapped gift can be a creative, caring act for both the giver and the receiver. Using recycled and repurposed materials, Inouye’s approach inspires readers to think intentionally about the presentation of every gift.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Megumi-Inouye-May-5-Author-signing
Fairytale Retellings Writing Class at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Fairytale Retellings Writing Class is a workshop encouraging creativity through retelling fairytales, led by Brandie June (Gold Spun, Curse Undone). Please join us.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 5th
Time: 3:30 pm – 5 pm
Address: Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Sunday Jump Inaugural Reading & Open Mic Event: 12th Season at the Pilipino Workers Center – In-Person Event
Sunday Jump is a community arts organization, and the readings and open mic events are held the first Sunday of the month from May through November at the Pilipino Workers Center in DTLA.
We facilitate a safe space for marginalized voices to share stories and create genuine connections through the arts.
See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Pilipino Workers Center
Date: Sunday the 5th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 153 Glendale Blvd., First Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.sundayjump.com/
Los Angeles Literature 
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