Lit Angels Writing Studio Class: Morning Pages at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Come write for one hour with Francesca Lia Block. Prompts will be given.
Get your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
Francesca Lia Block, M.F.A., is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association and from the New York Times Book Review, School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly.
Her work has been translated into Italian, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Portuguese. Francesca has also published stories, poems, essays and interviews in The Los Angeles Times, The L.A. Review of Books, Spin, Nylon, Black Clock, The Fairy Tale Review and Rattle among others. In addition to writing, Francesca is a beloved and devoted teacher. She was named Writer-in-Residence at Pasadena City College in 2014 and in 2018-19 became a Visiting Assistant Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Redlands where she was a finalist for Professor of the Year award. Currently she teaches fiction at UCLA Extension, Antioch University, Otis Extension, Pocket MFA, and privately in Los Angeles where she was born and raised. She is co-editor of Lit Angels journal and runs the Lit Angels Writing Studio at Village Well.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Monday, the 15th
Time: 8 am – 9 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/39979
Summer Kids Book Club at Florence Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Calling children in 1st to 4th grades! Join us for a fantastic afternoon of sharing books and fun activities! For children in grades 1 – 4 with parent or caregiver.
Where: Florence Library, LACL
Date: Monday, the 15th
Time: 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 7807 Compton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90001
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11059498
One Book, One County: L.A Weather at Mark Twain Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón. Teens, Adults, and Seniors are all invited, and treats will be provided.
“One Book, One County” is a community reading program bringing together 18 library districts in Los Angeles County. From June 1 – July 27, all participating libraries will be reading and discussing L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón. This community reading program fosters collaboration, education and conversation across our county and emphasizes the power of connected libraries to create connected communities.
L.A. Weather is available in English in print, eBook, and eAudiobook from LAPL.
Where: Mark Twain Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday, the 15th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 9621 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90003
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/one-book-one-county-book-club-1
Mystery Book Club: The Truth About the Devlins at Lake Los Angeles Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join Mystery Book Club participants to discuss The Truth About the Devlins by author Lisa Scottotine.
Copies of the book are available at customer service desk for checkout. For Adults.
Where: Lake Los Angeles Branch Library, LACL
Date: Monday, the 15th
Time: 6 pm – 57pm
Address: 16921 East Avenue O, Los Angeles, CA 90003
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11078862
Philosophical Horror Book Club: Our Shadows Have Claws at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss Our Shadows Have Claws: P 15 Latin American Monster Stories, by authors Yamile Saied Méndez and Amparo Ortiz.
From zombies to cannibals to star-crossed, shapeshifting lovers, this cross-genre anthology written by superstar YA authors from across the Latin American diaspora offers bold new thrills for every monster fan.
Full contributor list: Chantel Acevedo, Courtney Alameda, Julia Alvarez, Ann Dávila Cardinal, M. García Peña, Racquel Marie, Gabriela Martins, Yamile Saied Méndez, Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite, Claribel A. Ortega, Amparo Ortiz, Lilliam Rivera, Jenny Torres Sanchez, Ari Tison, and Alexandra Villasante.
Yamile Saied Méndez is the author of many books for young readers, including Furia, a Reese’s YA Book Club selection and the inaugural winner of the YA Pura Belpré Award. She was born and raised in Rosario, Argentina. A Walter Dean Myers Grant recipient, she is a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts and a founding member of Las Musas, a marketing collective of Latine authors.
Amparo Ortiz is the author of Blazewrath Games and Dragonblood Ring. She was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and currently lives on the island’s northeastern coast. When she’s not teaching ESL, she’s streaming K-pop videos, vlogging for her eponymous YouTube channel, and writing about worlds both contemporary and fantastical.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Monday, the 15th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/philosophical-horror-book-club-our-shadows-have-claws
Book Talk & Signing: Rachel Zimmerman, with Brooks Barnes, & Us, After at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Rachel Zimmerman, in conversation with Brooks Barnes, will discuss her memoir Us, After.
When a state trooper appeared at Rachel Zimmerman’s door to report that her husband had jumped to his death off a nearby bridge, she fell to her knees, unable to fully absorb the news. How could the man she married, a devoted father and robotics professor at MIT, have committed such a violent act? How would she explain this to her young daughters? And could she have stopped him? A longtime journalist, she probed obsessively, believing answers would help her survive. She interviewed doctors, suicide researchers and a man who jumped off the same bridge and lived. Us, After examines domestic devastation and resurgence, digging into the struggle between public and private selves, life’s shifting perspectives, the work of motherhood, and the secrets we keep. In this memoir, Zimmerman confronts the unimaginable and discovers the good in what remains.
Rachel Zimmerman, an award-winning journalist, has been writing about health and wellness for more than two decades. She currently reports on mental health for The Washington Post. Previously, she worked as a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal and a health reporter for WBUR, Boston’s NPR station, where she co-founded WBUR’s CommonHealth blog, and co-created The Checkup podcast with Slate. Her reporting and essays have appeared in The New York Times; The Atlantic; Vogue.com; O, the Oprah Magazine; New York Magazine’s, The Cut, and Slate, among other publications.
Brooks Barnes is a senior staff writer at the New York Times. He covers the entertainment business—from the serious to the silly—with a particular focus on the Walt Disney Company. He joined The Times in 2007 and lives in Los Angeles with his partner. Prior to The Times, he spent eight years at The Wall Street Journal, starting in 1999 in the newspaper’s Seattle bureau where one of his colleagues was…Rachel Zimmerman.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Monday, the 15th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
One Book. One County Book Club: L. A. Weather at La Crescenta Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a Community discussion of One Book, One County selection L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón. For adults
“One Book, One County” is a community reading program bringing together 18 library districts in Los Angeles County. From June 1 – July 27, all participating libraries will be reading and discussing L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón. This community reading program fosters collaboration, education, and conversation across our county and emphasizes the power of connected libraries to create connected communities.
Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL
Date: Monday, the 15th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 2809 Foothill Blvd, La Crescenta-Montrose, CA 91214
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11116008
Carol Connors, with Steve Bergsman, & Elvis, “Rocky” and Me at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Carlo Connors, with co-author Steve Bergsman, will discuss her memoir. Elvis, “Rocky” and Me.
As an entertainer Carol has done it all with her singer/songwriter talents recognized with two Oscar, five Emmy, one Grammy and two Golden Globe nominations, along with a wall in her home proudly decorated with the gold and platinum records she’s received.
Carol is one of the female pioneers of music for film and television. She made her mark in music at age 16 when she recorded the hit song To Know Him Is to Love Him. The enormous success of that song was the start of a career that is still going strong. She has written music for Dionne Warwick and Billy Preston and has seen her songs covered by Mariah Carey and John Legend. Among Carol’s proudest accomplishments is her co-writing the Oscar-nominated theme Gonna Fly Now for the blockbuster film Rocky.
Carol’s personal life is every bit as fascinating as her show business career. While she never chose to marry, she’s dated such famous names as Elvis Presley, Robert Culp and David Janssen. Today, she continues to lead an active and productive lifestyle with her dedicated charity work and taking time to enjoy even the simple pleasures.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday, the 8th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/carol-connors-and-steve-bergsman
R.U.P.O. Open Mic at Back to the Grind in Riverside – In-Person Event
RUPO Open Mic is back every Monday Night at Back to the Grind in Riverside.
Every Monday at a new time: 7pm to 9pm. Sign-ups are at 6:30pm and in person only, $4 cash admission. See you then!
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Back to the Grind, Riverside
Date: Monday the 15th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://www.facebook.com/backtothegrind
Main Library Book Group: Hamlet at Santa Monica Main Library, SMPL – Online Zoom Event
Participants will meet via Zoom to discuss Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Santa Monica Main Library, SMPL
Date: Monday, the 15th
Time: 7 pm & 8:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://smpl.org/ or https://smpl.org/uploadedFiles/BilingualCalendarOfEvents
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 15th
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-944176385987
Under Mic Influence: Featured Readings & Open Mic at LB Unified – In-Person Event
If you need an open mic, beautiful people, tasty eats, dope inspiration, good libations, and good vibrations, we have you covered!
Join host Kuahmel Alyeeus KuahAllah and @djkevjam for poetry, Open Mic, rare grooves, cocktails, tasty bites.
Every 1st & 3rd Monday of the month.
Featured guest TBA.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: LB Unified
Date: Monday the 15th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm (Doors at 7:30 pm)
Address: 2222 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, CA 90804
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/under-mic-influence-tickets-595248092067
Your Author Series: Ann Chou & My Ong Ngoai’s Garden: Cal’s Guide to Vietnamese Fruits and Culture at Echo Park Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Join us in welcoming Ann Chau, a second-generation Vietnamese American who wants to share her passion for the Vietnamese language and culture with her children and future generations, as she reads from her first book, My Ong Ngoai’s Garden: Cal’s Guide to Vietnamese Fruits and Culture.
Follow Cal as he explores his grandpa’s garden and learns about delicious fruits commonly found in Vietnam. This colorful and heartwarming picture book offers insights about Vietnamese culture and shows how food can help bring people together.
Those attending the program will have the opportunity to take home a copy of My Ong Ngoai’s Garden: Cal’s Guide to Vietnamese Fruits and Culture. Intended for children ages 2-5, but adults can enjoy it too!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Echo Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday, the 15th
Time: 10 am
Address: 1410 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/your-author-series-ann-chau
Tuesday Tales & Traveling Story Time at Montana Avenue Branch Library, SMPL – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Introduce your child to storytime with interactive books, bounces and more. Free tickets available at 10:15. For ages 2-5.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Montana Avenue Branch Library, SMPL
Date: Monday, the 15th
Time: 10:30 am
Address: 1704 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://smpl.org/ or https://smpl.org/uploadedFiles/BilingualCalendarOfEvents
Virtual Book Club: Piglet via La Crescenta Library, LACL – Online Event
The La Crescenta Library Virtual Book Club meets weekly on Tuesdays at 11am on Zoom. Please contact Marta Wiggins at mwiggins@library.lacounty.gov for your Zoom invite to attend the book club. For adults.
In July we will discuss Piglet by Lottie Hazell. For Piglet, getting married is her opportunity to reinvent. And who could blame her, with a childhood nickname like that? Together, Kit and Piglet are the picture of domestic bliss—effortless hosts, a covetable wedding…But if a life looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Today & in the next weeks we will discuss the following sections:
July 16—2 Days through 0 Days—Pages 153 to 215
July 23—Part 2—Pages 217 to 306
July 30—Bonus Week—During this week, we finish any lingering discussion on Piglet and discuss other books we are reading, movies and series we are watching that we might recommend to others.
Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 11 am – 12 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/10782285
Author Talk: Max Brallier & The Last Kids on Earth via L.A. County Library – Online Event
Join New York Times bestselling author Max Brallier for a talk about The Last Kids on Earth book series and the animated series on Netflix. Max will share how he came up with the different monsters as well as the unique ways to beat them.
Max Brallier is the New York Times bestselling author of more than fifty books, including the middle-grade series, The Last Kids on Earth. Under the pen name Jack Chabert, Max is the creator and author of the Eerie Elementary series and author of the New York Times bestselling graphic novel Poptropica: Mystery of the Map. He has also written books for properties including LEGO, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Steven Universe, and Uncle Grandpa. Max has written for adults as well, including the pick-your-own-path series Can YOU Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? and an entry in the zombie anthology Nights of the Living Dead. Max lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.
Where: L.A. County Library
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11040239
Books and Bagels Book Club: Vaster Wilds at Venice Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join for an engaging book discussion of Vaster Wilds by author Lauren Groff.
Copies are available at the reference desk.
Where: Venice Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 12:30 pm
Address: 501 S. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/books-and-bagels
Tuesday Afternoon Book Club: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store at Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join for an engaging book discussion of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by author James McBride.
Copies are available at the reference desk.
Where: Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 2411 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/tuesday-afternoon-book-club-6
Nonfiction Book Club: The Wager at Donald Bruce Kauffman – Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The Wager by author David Grann.
Copies are available at the circulation desk.
Where: Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 11820 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/nonfiction-book-club
Before the Ban Book Club: The Hate U Give at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss the novel The Hate You Give: A Prinz Honor Winner, by author Angie Thomas.
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
Angie Thomas is the author of the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling novels The Hate U Give, On the Come Up, and Concrete Rose as well as Find Your Voice: A Guided Journal for Writing Your Truth. She is also a coauthor of the bestselling collaborative novels Blackout and Whiteout. Angie divides her time between her native Jackson, Mississippi, and Atlanta, Georgia. You can find her online at angiethomas.com
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/ban-hate-u-give
Mysterious Book Club: Mother Daughter Murder Night at Palisades Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss other Daughter Murder Night by author Nina Simon.
Copies are available at the circulation desk. We welcome new members.
Lana Rubicon, a high-powered LA businesswoman is recuperating from cancer treatments in a small town with her daughter and granddaughter. After her granddaughter finds a dead body and becomes a suspect in the murder, her grandmother leaps into action. The three generations’ amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, and the headstrong Rubicon women must learn to do the one thing they’ve always resisted: depend on each other.
Where: Palisades Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 1:30 pm
Address: 861 Alma Real Dr., Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mysterious-book-club
Your Author Series: Gisa Nico & Fish in the Desert at Wilshire Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Children’s author, Adalgisa Nico will be reading from her book, Fish in the Desert: The Untold Story of the Death Valley Pupfish, the first installment in the Bringing National Parks to Life picture book series. Adalgisa “Gisa” loves National Parks and their junior ranger programs and has been an educator for over 25 years.
Get ready to embark on a captivating journey with Adele as she discovers the incredible resilience of pupfish, the tiny creatures that thrive in the scorching heat of Death Valley National Park. This story tells the tale of a young girl’s journey as she deals with personal conflict by finding comfort and wisdom from her adventures with wildlife.
Those attending the program will have the opportunity to take home a copy of Fish in the Desert.
Where: Wilshire Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 149 N. Saint Andrews Pl., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/your-author-series-gisa-nico
One Book, One County: L.A. Weather at Canoga Park Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
One Book, Once County participants will discuss L.A. Weather by Maria Escandón. A free copy of the book will be given to the first five attendees.
This community reading program fosters collaboration, education, and conversation across our county and emphasizes the power of connected libraries to create connected communities.
Where: Canoga Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: 20939 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, CA 91303
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/one-book-one-county-book-club-2
Creative Writing – The Art of Storytelling: Learning Circleat Arroyo Seco Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Explore aspects of creative writing and develop your storytelling skills in our learning circle. We will collectively explore material from the storytelling portion of Khan Academy’s Pixar in a Box course, tackling a new facet each week.
You may attend this learning circle in person or via Zoom.
RSVP:
Email ayosco@lapl.org to enroll and for more information.
Where: Arroyo Seco Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 6145 N. Figuroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/creative-writing-art-storytelling-learning-circle
Classic Detectives Book Club: The Cat Wears a Noose at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss the novel The Cat Wears a Noose: A Rachel Murdock Mystery, by authors Delores Hitchens & Ryys Bowen.
A drunken man is shot dead on his doorstep in this mystery starring the seventy-year-old sleuth.
Walking home wearily from an evening spent poring over the books of the Parchly Heights Methodist Ladies’ Aid searching for a fifty-eight-cent error, Miss Jennifer Murdock becomes witness to a terrible scene: A man, stumbling drunk, arrives home—and just as he fumbles with his keys, gunfire erupts and kills him on the spot.
Jennifer is determined not to tell her sister, Rachel, anything about it. After all, Rachel considers herself a sleuth, or as Jennifer views it, a busybody who pokes her nose in places it doesn’t belong. What she doesn’t know is Rachel has just had a visit from a member of that same household, a meek eighteen-year-old taken in after she was orphaned and treated like a servant. Young Shirley has been alarmed by a series of nasty pranks—and now she’s heartbroken, and even more frightened, after finding her pet bird dead. There’s something awful going on in the house on Chestnut Street, and neither her prim and proper sister nor Det. Lt. Stephen Mayhew can stop Rachel from finding out what it is…
Dolores Hitchens (1907–1973) was a highly prolific mystery author who wrote under multiple pseudonyms and in a range of styles. A large number of her books were published under the D. B. Olsen moniker (under which her “Cat” series was originally published), but she is perhaps best remembered today for her later novel, Fool’s Gold, published under her own name, which was adapted as Band a part by Jean-Luc Godard.
Rhys Bowen is the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty novels, including The Victory Garden, The Tuscan Child, and the World War II-based In Farleigh Field. Bowen’s work has won over twenty honors to date, including multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. A transplanted Brit, Bowen divides her time between California and Arizona.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/classic-detectives-book-club-cat-wears-noose
One Book, One County: L.A. Weather at Norwood Library, LACL – In-Person Event
One Book, One County Book Club participants will discuss L.A. Weather by author María Amparo Escandón. For adults.
Copies of this title are available at the Information Desk.
Published in 2022, L.A. Weather is a New York Times bestseller that follows the Mexican American Alvarado family during a year in Los Angeles “as they wrestle with impending evacuations, secrets, deception, and betrayal, and their toughest decision yet: whether to stick together or burn it all down.”
Where: Norwood Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 4550 Peck Rd, El Monte, CA 91732
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/10881666
3rd Tuesday Book Club: The Man Who Saw Everything at Playa Vista Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The Man Who Saw Everything by author Deborah Levy.
Where: Playa Vista Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 6400 Playa Vista Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90094
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/3rd-tuesday-book-club-11
Adam Sass & Cursed Boys and Broken Hearts at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Adam Sass will discuss his book Cursed Boys and Broken Hearts, a swoony contemporary romance following a boy who is cursed to doom any romantic relationship—and the summer that changes everything.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/adam-sass
North Fig Book Club: Pond at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss Pond by author Claire Louise Bennett.
A deceptively slender volume, Pond captures with the interior reality of its unnamed protagonist, a young woman living a singular and mostly solitary existence on the outskirts of a small coastal village. Sidestepping the usual conventions of narrative, it focuses on the details of her daily experience—from the best way to eat porridge or bananas to an encounter with cows—rendered sometimes in story-length, story-like stretches of narrative, sometimes in fragments no longer than a page, but always suffused with the hypersaturated, almost synesthetic intensity of the physical world that we remember from childhood.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-lxl0l607
Kiss & Tell Romance Book Club: You Should Be So Lucky at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
Romance Book Club participants will discuss the July selection You Should Be So Lucky, by author Cat Sebastion.
An emotional, slow-burn, grumpy/sunshine, queer mid-century romance for fans of Evvie Drake Starts Over, about grief and found family, between the new star shortstop stuck in a batting slump and the reporter assigned to (reluctantly) cover his first season—set in the same universe as We Could Be So Good.
Cat Sebastian writes queer historical romances. Cat’s books include We Could Be So Good and the Turner series, and have received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. Before writing, Cat was a lawyer and a teacher and did a variety of other jobs she liked much less than she enjoys writing happy endings for queer people. She was born in New Jersey and lived in New York and Arizona before settling down in a swampy part of the South.
At each meeting we discuss and vote on the next month’s book club selection.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 16th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/kiss-tell-romance-book-club-2
At Skylight: Jessie Katz, with Mike Sonksen, & The Rent Collectors at Skylight – In-Person Event
Jesse Katz, in conversation with Mike Sonksen, will present and discuss his book, The Rent Collectors.
Join us for Tattoos on the Heart meets Ghettoside in this gripping true story about a botched gang murder set in the invisible economy of LA’s immigrant street vendors
Baby-faced teen Giovanni Macedo is desperate to find belonging in one of LA’s most predatory gangs, the Columbia Lil Cycos—so desperate that he agrees to kill an undocumented Mexican street vendor. The vendor, Francisco Clemente, had been refusing to give in to the gang’s shakedown demands. But Giovanni botches the hit, accidentally killing a newborn instead. The overlords who rule the Lil Cycos from a Supermax prison 1,000 miles away must be placated and Giovanni is lured across the border where, in turn, the gang botches his killing. And so, incredibly, Giovanni rises from the dead, determined to both seek redemption for his unforgivable crime and take down the gang who drove him to do it.
Jesse Katz spent fifteen years at the Los Angeles Times and another nine years at Los Angeles magazine. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, New York magazine, Rolling Stone, GQ, The American Prospect, Pacific Standard, California Sunday Magazine, and in the anthologies Best American Magazine Writing, Best American Crime Writing, and Best American Sports Writing. He teaches at the University of California, Irvine, and has volunteered at both Central Juvenile Hall and the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility. He lives in Los Angeles.
Mike Sonksen, aka Mike the PoeT, is an acclaimed poet, professor, journalist, historian and tour guide. He teaches at Woodbury University, where he serves as the Coordinator of the school’s First Year Experience Program. He has published over 500 essays and poems, most recently two excerpts in Dear California: The Golden State in Diaries and Letters, edited by David Kipen. The second edition of his latest book, Letters To My City was published by Writ Large Press.
Where: Skylight
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N, Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90027
Website https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-jesse-katz-presents-rent-collectors-w-mike-sonksen
Book (Re)Release: Women by Chloe Caldwell at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
The cult-classic novella that intimately explores one young writer’s whirlwind and whiplash affair as she falls deeply in love with a woman for the first time, is back in print for the first time in 5+ years.
Chloe Caldwell is the author of The Red Zone, the essay collection I’ll Tell You in Person, Legs Get Led Astray, and the forthcoming Trying. Chloe’s essays have appeared in the New York Times, Bon Appétit, New York magazine’s The Cut and The Strategist, Buzzfeed, Longreads, Vice, Nylon, and many more, as well as half a dozen anthologies including Goodbye To All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving NYC and Without A Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class, and Sluts. Her essay “Hungry Ghost” was listed as Notable in 2018 Best American Nonrequired Reading. She lives in Hudson, New York.
In conversation with Amanda Montell author of Cultish and The Year of Magical Overthinking.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
Tuesday Night Café Open Mic Eventat Tuesday Night Project, Little Tokyo – In-Person Event
Tuesday Night Project is the longest-running Asian American free public arts series in the country. Their mission is to provide Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander (AANHPI), Little Tokyo, and greater Los Angeles communities with a number of diverse and dynamic public art and culture programs in safe community spaces where people can connect through creative expression and social engagement.
Tuesday Night Project will feature: Rachel Simanjuntak, Lijie, jonnychang, Prinsipe and DJ Waxstyles.
Open mic Lottery sign-ups begin at 6:40pm.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Tuesday Night Project
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 120 Judge John Aliso St., Los Angeles, CA, 90012
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9OSUwKzNkO/
Sarah Lariviere, with Trish Lundy, & Riot Act at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Sarah Lariviere, in conversation with Trish Lundy, will present and discuss Riot Act.
In an alternate 1991, the authoritarian US government keeps tabs on everybody and everything. It censors which books can be read, what music can be listened to, and which plays can be performed.
When her best friend is killed by the authorities and her theater teacher disappears without a trace, Gigi decides to organize her fellow Champaign High School thespians to put on a production of Henry VI. But at what cost?
Sarah Lariviere is an author who lives in Los Angeles. The first book in her new duology, Riot Act, will be published by Knopf on July 16, 2024. Her debut novel, The Bad Kid (Simon & Schuster), was a 2017 Edgar Award finalist. Her novel Time Travel for Love and Profit (Knopf) was designated a 2022 Amazing Audiobook by the American Library Association.
Trish Lundy grew up in Rochester, New York and now calls the West Coast home. Her debut YA thriller, The One That Got Away With Murder, was selected as a Goodreads Reader-Approved Mystery and a Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2024. She received her BA in English from UCLA, where she fell in love with the craft of writing.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Sarah-Lariviere-discusses-Riot-Act
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Luper & Guest Reader Isabella DeSando – Online Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic with host Rick Luper presents guest reader Isabella DeSendi and an open mic.
Isabella DeSando is a Latina poet and educator whose work is published or is forthcoming in POETRY, The Adroit Journal, Poetry Northwest and others. Her debut poetry collection titled Someone Else’s Hunger will be published by Four Way Books in 2025. Her chapbook Through the New Body won the Poetry Society of America’s Chapbook Fellowship and was published in 2020. Recently, she received a Poet’s & Writer’s BIPOC grant, has been named a finalist for the Rattle $15,000 Poetry Prize, Frontier’s Digital Poetry Chapbook Prize, the June Jordan Fellowship, Narrative Magazine’s Annual Poetry Prize, and Palette’s Spotlight Award. She has attended Bread Loaf Writers’ Workshop and will soon attend the Story knife Writers’ Residency in Alaska. Isabella holds an MFA from Columbia University and currently lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.poetrysuperhighway.com
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 Inurbane Coffee House. Hosted by Deforest Wright, all are invited to attend.
Guest poet of the month: Jennifer Kelly, author of Coming to Love My Darkest Places.
NOTE: Details at event link. Check to Verify.
Where: Unurban Coffee House
Date: Tuesday, the 16th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 3301 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405
Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups
Da Poetry Lounge Open Mic 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.
The 3rd Tuesday of the month will be SLAM NIGHT.
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 16th
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
Lit Angels Writing Studio Class: Morning Pages 12 Questions with Tracey Simmons at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Come write for one hour with Tracey Simmons. Prompts from FLB’s “12 Questions Method” will be given! Free!
Get your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
Tracey Simmons has an MFA in Creative Writing, from Antioch University LA. Her writing has been published in Wussy Magazine, Reclamation Magazine, Aunt Chloe: A Journal of Artful Candor, and Lit Angels, and she’s a regular contributing writer for Q Bee App. She leads a writing group called, “The Written Journey ” and is currently finishing her debut novel, Specimen.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 8 am – 9 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/39986
Coffee Time Book Club: Long Island at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the novel Long Island, by Colm Toibin, the sequel to Brooklyn, also made into an acclaimed film.
Facilitated by Linda McLoughlin Figel
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 10 am
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/coffee-time-book-club-30
Book Club: The Measure at Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Participants will meet to discuss the mystery novel The Measure by author Nikki Erlick.
RSVP:
Please email grnhls@lapl.org for the Zoom link.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 1:30 am – 3 pm
Address: 10640 Petit Ave., Granada Hills, CA 91344
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-measure
Poets Café: Celebrating Poetry via KPFK 90.7 FM – Live On-Air Event
Poets Café celebrates Poetry. This program is a weekly half-hour literary arts discussion and reading program featuring guest authors and their works.
NOTE: Poetry From Around the World is a segment of this series offered monthly on the 2nd Monday of the month on KPFK Los Angeles 90.7 FM.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: KPFK 90.7 FM
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: On-air Event (live)
Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/
One Book, One County: L.A. Weather at Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join the largest book club in L.A.! Join Culver City Julian Dixon Library as we discuss this year’s One Book, One County selection L.A. Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon. This program is for adults.
Where: Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 4975 Overland Ave, Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11027386
Children’s Summer Book Club at Sunkist Library, LACL – In-Person Kids Event
Come and join us for our children’s book club as we read together Simon and the Better Bone by Corey Tabor followed by an art activity. For ages 5 – 12 with parent or caregiver.
Where: Sunkist Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Address: 840 Puente Ave, La Puente, CA 91746
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/10798876
Book Club for Adults: None of This Is True at San Fernando Library, LACL – In-Person Event
The Book Club meets the third Wednesday of every month. Copies of the current title are available at the Information Desk. New members are always welcome! For adults.
For the month of July, we’re reading None of This Is True: A Novel by Lisa Jewell.
Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home. But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.
Where: San Fernando Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Address: 217 N Maclay Ave, San Fernando, CA 91340
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/10915883
One Book, One County: L.A. Weather at Martin Luther King Jr. Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join the largest book club in L.A.! Join Martin Luther King Library as we discuss this year’s One Book, One County selection L.A. Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon. This program is for adults.
Where: Martin Luther King Jr. Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Address: 17906 S Avalon Blvd, Carson, CA 90746
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/10929020
Sci-Fi Short Story Club: The Sound-Sweep with Guest Simon Reynolds at Westchester – Mark Twain Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Explore J.G. Ballard’s 1960 novelette The Sound-Sweep with science fiction lovers from across the universe via Zoom, as selected by special guest, music journalist and historian Simon Reynolds, on the occasion of his new essay collection Futuromania.
The Sound-Sweep can be found in print and ebook via LAPL.
Where: Mark Twain Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sci-fi-short-story-club-sound-sweep-guest-simon-reynolds
Mexican Institute of Los Angeles Presents Armando Rosas & Mis mas sinceros bemoles – In-Person Event
The Mexican Institute of Los Angeles presents Armando Rosas to present and discuss his book.
Estan invitados a la presentacion del libro del rockero mexicano Armando Rosas, ¡No se la pierdan!
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: East L.A. Library, Chicano Resource Center
Date: Wednesday the 17th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 4809 E. Civic Center Way, Los Angeles, CA 90022
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events
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 the Los Angeles Poet Society.
Guests TBA
This program is offered weekly on radioollin Los Angeles 101.5 FM.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: 101.5 FM
Date: Wednesday the 17th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: On-air Event (live at 101.5 FM)
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Book Club for Adults: The Measure at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us on the third Wednesday of every month for our long-running book club for adults!
Participants will discuss The Measure by author Nikki Erlick.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-adults-0
Ruth Madievsky, with Greg Mania, & All-Night Pharmacy at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Ruth Madievsky, in conversation with Greg Mania,will discuss her book All-Night Pharmacy, an LA novel about a young woman who commits a drunken act of violence just before her sister vanishes without a trace.
On the night of her high school graduation, a young woman follows her older sister Debbie to Salvation, a Los Angeles bar patronized by energy healers, aspiring actors, and all-around misfits. After the two share a bag of unidentified pills, the evening turns into a haze of sensual and risky interactions—nothing unusual for two sisters bound in an incredibly toxic relationship. Our unnamed narrator has always been under the spell of the alluring and rebellious Debbie and, despite her own hesitations, she has always said yes to nights like these. That is, until Debbie disappears.
Ruth Madievsky is the author of the nationally bestselling novel, All-Night Pharmacy, winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction and a current California Book Award and Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her writing appears in The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, The Cut, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, and elsewhere. Originally from Moldova, she lives in Los Angeles, where she works as an HIV and primary care clinical pharmacist.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/ruth-madievsky
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 HQ
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
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
Late Bloomer: Linda K. Goldman & Breaking Out of Pinewood at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Local author Linda K Goldman leads a reading and discussion about her debut novel Breaking Out of Pinewood!
This story is a wild ride of a 70s coming-of-age tale set in the tiny gossipy mountain town of Pinewood, Colorado. With little guidance from her Mama and Pops, Angela (aka Angel) figures out early on how to fend for herself-from pinching candy in the local store, to dipping into the register while waitressing at the Go Get ‘Em Café. As her desire to escape the small town escalates, she seizes every dicey opportunity with customers and strangers.
Join us for a conversation about the writing process and coming-of-age moderated by Cathy Dreyfuss.
Linda Goldman worked as a disgruntled secretary for years. She opened her own employment agency in her late 30s, graduated UCLA in Sociocultural Anthropology in her 40s, worked as a dispute resolution professional in her 50s, and began writing in her 60s. Breaking Out of Pinewood is her first novel.
Cathy Dreyfuss was first a pianist, cartoonist and hippie traveler, then an attorney and social justice activist, musician and zydeco dancer. She represented indigent defendants in criminal courts from 1984 to 2022, when she left lawyering from a more creative life, writing personal stories and a memoir about the 1970’s.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/40323
Gary Janetti & We Are Experiencing a Slight Delay at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Gary Janetti will present and discuss his book We Are Experiencing a Slight Delay: (tips, tales, travels).
The author has gained a devoted following, with a huge audience on social media, and two bestselling collections of essays under his belt. His new collection will prompt laughter but also delighted recognition as Janetti tackles the absurdity and glory of travel.
Interspersed with recollections of his trips are personal meditations on dining alone as well as journeys to such diverse destinations as Mykonos, Australia, a Noma pop-up, and other glamorous spots.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Gary-Janetti-discusses-We-Are-Experiencing-a-Slight-Delay
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 17th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4321 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.instagram.com/anansiwritersworkshop/ or https://www.facebook.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 17th
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-945583233907
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg and Featured Guest Gahl Liberzon at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Host Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at the Ugly Mug on Wednesday Nights features Ghal Liberzon.
Gahl Liberzon is a writer, educator, and aspiring researcher in Long Beach, California. His work has appeared in The Museum of Americana and The Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks, and he has previously taught and performed throughout southeast Michigan, the greater Chicago area, and the greater Tokyo metropolitan area.
$4 cover fee, cash only See less
$4 cover fee, cash only
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday, the 17th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events or https://www.facebook.com/events/2261781950835980/
Lit Angels Writing Studio Class: Morning Pages 12 Questions with Melissa Pleckman at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Come write for one hour with Melissa Pleckman. Prompts from FLB’s “12 Questions Method” will be given! Free!
Get your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
Melissa Pleckham is a writer, actor, and musician living in Los Angeles with her husband and cats. Her work has appeared in Francesca Lia Block’s Lit Angels Literary Journal, Pyre Magazine, Tales from the Moonlit Path, The Sirens Call eZine, Luna Luna, and a forthcoming issue of Coffin Bell, and her music has been featured on FX’s American Horror Story. She is currently writing her first novel.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 8 am – 9 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/39996
One Book, One County Book Club for All Abilities: L.A. Weather at South El Monte Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants will meet for a short discussion of the novel L.A. Weather by author María Amparo Escandón and a painting activity inspired by this book. For adults.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: South El Monte Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 1430 North, Central Ave, South El Monte, CA 91733
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11117998
One Book, One County Book Club: L.A. Weather at Vermont Square Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Participants will meet to discuss the novel L.A. Weather by author María Amparo Escandón. Free copy of the book for the first five attendees.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Vermont Square Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 1201 W. 48th St., Los Angeles, CA 90037
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/one-book-one-county-book-club
Brentwood Writers Workshopat Donald Bruce Kaufman – 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 do 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.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Donald Bruce Kaufman – Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 5:30 pm
Address: 11820 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/brentwood-writing-group
West L.A. Online Book Club: Dear Committee Members at West Los Angeles Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
The West LA Book Club meets on the third Thursday of each month. We alternate between fiction and nonfiction.
Participants will discuss Dear Committee Members, by author Julie Schumacher.
RSVP:
For the Zoom link, please contact Carrie at cdavies@lapl.org.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: West L.A. Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/west-la-book-club
Comic Book & Graphic Discussion Group: BRZRKR Vol.1 (2021) at Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us each month for a comic book & graphic novel book discussion. We will rotate between indie titles and titles from Marvel & DC. It’s a great starting point for new readers or devoted fans of the genre.
Participants will discuss BRZRKR Vol.1 (2021) by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt Ron Garney.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 2920 Overland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/comic-book-graphic-novel-discussion-group-adults
Book Club for Adults: L.A. Weather at Castaic Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants will meet to discuss the novel L.A. Weather by author María Amparo Escandón. For adults.
L.A. Weather follows the Mexican Jewish Alvarado family during a year in L.A. “as they wrestle with impending evacuations, secrets, deception, and betrayal, & their toughest decision yet: whether to stick together or burn it all down.”
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Castaic Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 27971 Sloan Canyon Rd, Castaic, CA 91384
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/10915998
Mystery Book Club: Razorblade Tears at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the novel Razorblde Tears by author S.A. Cosby.
Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.
The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss.
Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed of his father’s criminal record. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy.
Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.
S. A. Cosby is an Anthony Award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/mystery-book-club-razorblade-tears
Montana Ave. Branch Book Group: L.A. Weather at Montana Avenue Branch Library, SMPL – In-Person Event
Participants will meet to discuss L.A. Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and details.
Where: Montana Avenue Branch Library, SMPL
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 1704 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://smpl.org/ or https://smpl.org/uploadedFiles/BilingualCalendarOfEvents
Deborah Stoll, with Jessie Frietze-Armenta, & Drop In: The Gender Rebels Who Changed the Face of Skateboarding at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Deborah Stoll, in conversation with Jessie Frietze-Armenta, will discuss her book, Drop In: The Gender Rebels Who Changed the Face of Skateboarding.
The author’s meticulous reporting and passion for storytelling and social justice make Drop In a groundbreaking addition to sports literature, pop culture, and gender studies.
Deborah Stoll is a journalist, lyricist, writer and animator. Her work has appeared in The Economist, Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Portland Mercury, San Francisco Chronicle, Punch Drink, Buzz Bands, Ignite and White Hot Magazine. Her short stories have appeared in Slake, Swivel, and Fresh Yarn. Her band, Hot As Sun, has opened for Phantogram, Gotye, and Foster the People, been featured on TV shows like Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Glee, and CSI: Miami, and in the movie For a Good Time, Call and the forthcoming, Space Cadet. Her first book, Unvarnished, was co-written with Eric Alperin. Drop In is her first book as a solo author.
Jessie Frietze-Armenta is an impact-focused entrepreneur and action sports enthusiast working to make sustainability the standard in business. She is focused on building the Circular Economy, closing the loop on waste, and ultimately inspiring people to realize a radically sustainable world. As a competitive skateboarder, Jessie founded Shred Cycle to make sustainability easy and accessible to action sports enthusiasts by up/recycling old skate wheels and scrap waste into circular materials. She has a background in Policy, environmental sustainability, and fair-trade consumer products. She holds an MBA from Loyola Marymount University and a BA from Cal State Fullerton.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., #33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Deborah-Stoll-Jessie-Frietze-Armenta-Drop-In-July-18
Writing Climate Futures: David Wallace-Wells, Jenny Offill, Bharat Venkat, and Jonathan Blake at The Bradbury Building – In-Person Event
Los Angeles Review of Books and The Berggruen Institute present Writing Climate Futures, featuring David Wallace-Wells, Jenny Offill, Bharat Venkat, and Jonathan Blake.
As our planet faces a climate crisis, questions about the role and efficacy of environmental writing assume greater urgency by the day. Through education, envisioning fictitious new worlds, and pushing forward the public discourse, writing holds the power to move the conversation we have around the future of our planet. LARB and The Berggruen Institute are thrilled to be joined by exciting voices in the climate movement from across genres to discuss how writing can enact change.
David Wallace-Wells is a bestselling science writer and essayist on climate change, technology, and the future of the planet. He is the author of The Uninhabitable Earth.
Jenny Offill is the author of the novels Last Things (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a finalist for the L.A. Times First Book Award), and Dept. of Speculation, which was shortlisted for the Folio Prize, the Pen Faulkner Award and the International Dublin Award. She lives in upstate New York and teaches at Syracuse University and in the low residency program at Queens University.
Bharat Venkat is an assistant professor at UCLA’s Institute for Society & Genetics with a joint appointment in the Department of History. He has been conducting ethnographic and historical research in India since 2006 on a range of issues related to science, medicine, and a range of issues related to science, medicine, and the environment. His first book, At the Limits of Cure (Duke University Press), is the winner of the Joseph W. Elder Prize in the Indian Social Sciences.
Jonathan Blake is a Los Angeles-based political scientist, writer, and associate director of programs at the Berggruen Institute, where he leads the Planetary program. I am also the co-author, with Nils Gilman, of Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises, which comes out in April 2024, and the author of Contentious Rituals: Parading the Nation in Northern Ireland, published in 2019.
Join us July 18 at the historic Bradbury Building in Downtown Los Angeles for light snacks, drinks, and conversation. Authors will be signing books on sale from our friends at Skylight Books.
NOTE: Ticket prices: LARB Members $60 | Non-members $75
Where: The Bradbury Building
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 304 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: https://lareviewofbooks.org/event/writing-climate-futures/
Yvie Oddly & All About Yvie: Into the Oddity at Book Soup Off-site at Regent Theatre DTLA – In-Person Event
Book Soup & Spaceland present Yvie Oddly to discuss her book All About Yvie: Into the Oddity. This event will feature a performance by Yvie Oddly and conversation with co-author Michael Bach!
The world’s oddest drag artist
This book is an intimate and in-depth look into the life of Yvie Oddly, winner of season eleven of RuPaul’s Drag Race. It begins with their childhood and then tells of their coming out and coming to terms with their sexuality, gender and how those things impact their journey as an artist. It then follows them through their experience on Drag Race (season 11 and All Stars, All Winners), and their rise to superstardom. It’s a close glimpse into their wonderful and sometimes turbulent relationships with their friends, family, and all the people they met along their journey. And it’s an exploration of Yvie’s unique expression of drag as an art form.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Regent Theatre DTLA
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 448 S. Mian St., Los Angeles, CA 90013
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/book-soup-spaceland-present-yvie-oddly
Russell K. Jack & Is MAGA a Terrorist Movement? at Page Against the Machine, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Russell K. Jack will present and discuss his book, Is MAGA a Terrorist Movement?
Former U.S. Federal Air Marshall and author 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗞. 𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸 presenting, discussing, and signing his debut book, Is MAGA a Terrorist Movement?, recently published by Horizon View Press in March 2024.
Russell Jack uses his decades of experience in detecting, deterring, and defeating terrorism and criminal activity to present factual evidence that the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement is, by definition, a domestic terrorist movement. He offers a textbook analysis of why the January 6 insurrection can be considered a terrorist attack on home soil and examines whether or not Donald Trump himself fits the legal definition of a terrorist. Further, the book deciphers the language used by MAGA and its Christian Evangelical base in their messaging and their “anti-woke” crusade.
This book also offers peaceful actions that can be taken to counteract the MAGA movement and to deal with the ramifications of a possible 2024 Trump reelection.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Page Against the Machine
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 2714 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 91408
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events
At Skylight: Layra van den Berg & State of Paradise at Skylight – In-Person Event
Laura van den Berg will discuss her novel, State of Paradise, a heart-racing fun house of uncanniness hidden in Florida’s underbelly.
Along with her husband, a ghostwriter for a famous thriller author returns to her mother’s house in the Florida town where she grew up. As the summer heat sets in, she wrestles with family secrets and memories of her own troubled youth. Her mercurial sister, who lives next door, spends a growing amount of time using MIND’S EYE, a virtual reality device provided to citizens of the town by ELECTRA, a tech company in South Florida, during the doldrums of a recent pandemic. But it’s not just the ominous cats, her mother’s burgeoning cult, or the fact that her belly button has become an increasingly deep cavern—something is off in the town, and it probably has to do with the posters of missing citizens spread throughout the streets.
Laura van den Berg is the author of the story collections What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, The Isle of Youth, and I Hold a Wolf by the Ears, which was named one the ten best fiction books of 2020 by TIME, and the novels Find Me and The Third Hotel, which was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award and named a best book of 2018 by more than a dozen publications. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Strauss Living Award and a Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Bard Fiction Prize, a PEN/O. Henry Award, and a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and is a two-time finalist for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.
Where: Skylight
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N, Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-laura-van-den-berg-presents-state-paradise
At Vidiots: Caden Mark Gardner & Corpses, Fools and Monsters at Skylight Off-Site – In-Person Event
Caden Mark Gardner presents his book Corpses, Fools and Monsters and also features a screening of Robert Altman’s 1982 gem Come on Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean!
In this book, trans film critics Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay take the reader on a drive down this lost highway, exploring the way that trans people and transness have evolved on-screen.
Starting from the very earliest representations of transness in silent film, through to the multiplex-conquering Matrix franchise and on to the emergence of a true trans-authored cinema, Corpses, Fools and Monsters spans everything from musicals to body horror to avant garde experimental film to tell the story of the trans film image. In doing so, the authors investigate the wider history of trans representation — an exhilarating journey of compromise, recuperation, and potential liberation that they argue is only just the beginning.
Caden Mark Gardner is a freelance trans film critic and researcher on trans film images. He has written for the Criterion Collection, MUBI, Film Comment, Reverse Shot, and other film outlets in the United States.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Skylight at Vidiots
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90041
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/vidiots-caden-mark-gardner-presents-corpses-fools-and-monsters
Poetry Reading Event: Cory Besskepp Cofer, VOTH, Karo Ska, Adrian Fuerte-Campos, Erica Castro, Alex Petunia at The Libros, Lincoln Heights – In-Person Event
The Libros will host a poetry event featuring six gifted readers, including:
Cory Besskepp Cofer is a poet and performance artist who hosted the open mic A Mic and Dim Light in Pomona for 20 years, and the author of Dreaming Under Polka Dot Stars.
VOTH, aka Voice of the Harbor, a native of San Pedro, is the author of the debut collection Dieagnosis.
Karo Ska is the author of gathering grandmother’s bones and her full collection loving my salt-drenched bones.
Adrian Fuerte-Campos is the author of In Solace, poems that chronicle the journey of a young adult trying to navigate his way through his mental health journey.
Erica Castro is the author of The Pain Left Behind: Surviving a Suicide Loss and Creating Peace Through the Grieving Process.
Alex Petunia is a writer and poet, and the author of Tending My Wild.
Where: The LIbros, Lincoln Heights
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 7 am – 9 am
Address: 3422 N. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90031
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9Siu0KP8F4/?g=5&img_index=1
All Women’s Open Mic at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Village Well is partnering with local trauma-healing poet Kate Burns to provide a platform for female poets, musicians, storytellers, and comedians. While all are welcome to attend, this is an event that aims to amplify women’s voices only.
Acts are limited to 3-5 minutes in length. Sign-ups begin at 6:30 pm and conclude at 7:00 pm.
Also, please note that not all material may be considered “family-friendly” so please use discretion when deciding whether or not to bring children.
RSVP on EVENTBRITE!
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 7 am – 9 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/34292
Skulls & Stairs Event: Séamus Isaac Fey, Tara Skurtu, & Arthur Kayzakian at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Beyond Baroque hosts a night of poetry with Séamus Isaac Fey, Tara Skurtu, & Arthur Kayzakian at the staircase of the Venice City Hall!
Readings in the staircase at the historic original Venice City Hall Building aka BB headquarters! Featuring poets embodying the occult and goth, with punk and rebel attitudes, come and see Séamus Isaac Fey, Tara Skurtu, and Arthur Kayzakian.
Séamus Isaac Fey (he/they) is a Trans writer living in LA. Currently, he is the poetry editor at Hooligan Magazine, and co-creative director at Rock Pocket Productions. His debut poetry collection, decompose, is out with Not a Cult Media. His work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Poet Lore, The Offing, Sonora Review, and others. He loves to beat his friends at Mario Party. Find him online @sfeycreates.
Tara Skurtu is the author of the chapbook Skurtu, Romania, the full poetry collection The Amoeba Game, and the upcoming collection Faith Farm. A two-time Fulbright grantee and recipient of a Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship, the Marcia Keach Poetry Prize, and two Academy of American Poets prizes, she is the founder of International Poetry Circle and a former steering committee member of Writers for Democratic Action. Tara is based in Brooklyn, where she coaches writers worldwide.
Arthur Kayzakian is the finalist for the 2023 Kate Tufts Award, and the winner of the 2021 inaugural Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series for his collection, The Book of Redacted Paintings, which was also selected as a finalist for the 2021 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry. He is the recipient of the 2023 creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is also the winner of the Open Chapbook Competition for his chapbook, My Burning City. He has been a finalist for the Locked Horn Press Chapbook Prize, Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Prize, the C.D. Wright Prize, the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize, and the Black River Chapbook Competition. He is a contributing editor at Poetry International and a recipient of the Minas Savvas Fellowship. He serves as the Poetry Chair for the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). His work has appeared in several publications, including The Adroit Journal, Portland Review, Chicago Review, Cincinnati Review, The Southern Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Witness Magazine.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Thursday, the 18th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm (Doors at 7 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Lit Angels Writing Studio Class: Morning Pages 12 Questions with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Come write for one hour with acclaimed author and writing professor Francesca Lia Block. Prompts from FLB’s “12 Questions Method” will be given! Free!
Get your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
Francesca Lia Block, M.F.A is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association and from the New York Times Book Review, School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly.
Her work has been translated into Italian, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Portuguese. Francesca has also published stories, poems, essays and interviews in The Los Angeles Times, The L.A. Review of Books, Spin, Nylon, Black Clock, The Fairy Tale Review and Rattle among others. In addition to writing, Francesca is a beloved and devoted teacher. She was named Writer-in-Residence at Pasadena City College in 2014 and in 2018-19 became a Visiting Assistant Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Redlands where she was a finalist for Professor of the Year award. Currently she teaches fiction at UCLA Extension, Antioch University, Otis Extension, Pocket MFA, and privately in Los Angeles where she was born and raised. She is co-editor of Lit Angels journal and runs the Lit Angels Writing Studio at Village Well.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Friday, the 19th
Time: 8 am – 9 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/39980
Spectacular Storytime at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Spectacular Storytime is our most popular story time and is ready to delight and dazzle! This is also the prime time to see Pippi Longstocking, our bookstore cat in action.
Open to all ages. Free to attend.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Friday, the 19th
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com
Dreaming in Poetry at Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
This is a(through fun, 6-week program to write poetry. Improve your English reading, writing, and presentation skills too! At the end of the program, we will present your poem(s) to an audience. Everyone is welcome; different age groups are encouraged.
For all ages.
Where: Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Friday, the 19th (through August 18)
Time: 3 pm
Address: 7935 Vineland Ave., Sun Valley, CA 91352
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/dreaming-poetry
Stranger Than Fiction Book Club: Tasty: A History of Yummy Experiments at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Participants will discuss the book Tasty: A History of Yummy Experiments by author Victoria Grace-Elliott. For ages 8 – 12 with parent or caregiver.
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Friday, the 19th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct, Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/10922366
Steven Milliken & Late Bloomer Baby Boomer at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Steven Milliken will discuss his memoir/essay collection Late Bloomer Baby Boomer.
What happens when the class clown becomes the teacher? Steve Milliken’s passion for humor takes the reader on a touching and hilarious literary escapade through the decades, chronicling his adventures as a gay baby boomer during his lifelong pursuit of the perfect coming-out story. Spoiler alert: it’s a comedy of errors…
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday, the 19th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/steven-milliken
L.A. Book Launch: Jessica Joyce, with Lavanya Akshmi, & The Ex Vows at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Jessica Joyce, in conversation with Lavanya Akshmi, will discuss her romance novel The Ex Vows, a heart clenching summer romance set in the Napa Valley wine country.
Everyone is welcome!
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Thursday the 19th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 3806 Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
At Skylight: Rick Castro & S/M BLVD at Skylight – In-Person Event
Rick Castro created an archive of portraits using the street hustlers of Santa Monica Boulevard as subjects, form 1986-1999. Nearly all of the subjects in this collection were found on a 20-block stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard loosely between Van Ness Avenue on the east and La Brea Avenue on the west. Some collaborated with Castro on elaborate bondage scenes. Many he knew just long enough to snap a few frames before they disappeared forever.
S/M BLVD collects 33 images with a foreword by Sam Sweet and a map of central Hollywood. A long-form interview between Castro and Sweet traces the backstories behind each figure. The faces in this book represent the final years of the outdoor tradition, before redevelopment and internet commerce changed the boulevard forever. Together, they form an intimate survey of a Los Angeles subculture widely assumed but scarcely documented.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Skylight
Date: Friday, the 19th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-rick-castro-presents-sm-blvd
Wax Poetic vol, 2: Ivan, Ingrid, Maestro, Jared at Sonido Del Valle – In-Person Event
Nikolai Garcia hosts Wax Poetic vol. 2 at Sonido Del Valle (They sell used Vinyl. The largest selection in L.A.)
Ivan Salinas is an undocumented poet born in Ciudad de México, raised in the San Fernando Valley, and educated at Cal State Northridge where he advocated for social justice. His work has appeared in Backlash Lit, Curious Publishing, Drifter Zine, Dryland, and La Raíz Magazine. He is the current Programs Coordinator at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center.
Ingrid Calderon Collins is an immigrant from El Salvador. She studied journalism at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA. Her work has been featured in Drunk Monkeys, Rabid Oak, and Rhythm & Bones Lit, among others.
Maestro began developing his poetry sometime in 2009/2010 after attending Vibrations Writer’s group. He soon began attending open mics across southern Los Angeles and downtown areas, such as Lost Souls Cafe, The Monday Speakeasy, World Stage, DPL, Natural High (flight school), Our Mic, and Freedom of Speech Thursdays. Catch Maestro reading his poetry all across Southern California.
Jared Joseph has been published in Action Books, The Iowa Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Gulf Coast, whereas his book A Book About Myself Called Hell was published with Kernpunkt Press in February 2022. Danny The Ambulance is with Outpost 19.
Music by: DJ K-Spex, Sunshine Nausea
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Sonido Del Valle
Date: Friday, the 19th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 2108 1st St., Los Angeles, CA, 90033
Website: https://www.instagram.com/sonidodelvalle/?hl=en
Book Launch Event: Brent Ameneyro, with Guests, & A Face Out of Clay at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Beyond Baroque hosts a book launch with Brent Ameneyro and his book A Face Out of Clay, with readings by guests: heidi andrea restrepo rhodes, Jose Hernandez Diaz, Francisco Aragón, Nick Martino.
Brent Ameneyro is the author of the collection A Face Out of Clay (The Center for Literary Publishing, 2024) and the chapbook Puebla (Ghost City Press, 2023). His E-Lit has been selected for the 2022 Education and Electronic Literature Conference and Art Festival in Italy, as well as for film festivals in Denmark, Barcelona, Canada, and Los Angeles. He was the 2022-2023 Letras Latinas Poetry Coalition Fellow at the University of Notre Dame. He currently serves as an associate at Letras Latinas and as the poetry editor at The Los Angeles Review.
heidi andrea restrepo rhodes (they/them) is a queer, disabled, brown/Colombian, writer, scholar, educator, and cultural worker. They are author of the poetry collection, The Inheritance of Haunting (University of Notre Dame Press, 2019) and the chapbook, Ephemeral (Ecotheo Collective, 2024). They are a 2023 recipient of the Creative Capital Award, a VONA Alum, and have received poetry fellowships from Zoeglossia, CantoMundo, Radar, and Yale’s Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration. Their poetry and creative non-fiction have been published in American Poetry Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Poetry, and Waxwing, among other places. They currently live in California.
Jose Hernandez Diaz is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. He is the author of The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020) Bad Mexican, Bad American (Acre Books, 2024) The Parachutist (Sundress Publications, 2025) and Portrait of the Artist as a Brown Man (Red Hen Press, 2025). He teaches at UC-Riverside, online at Hugo House, Lighthouse Writers Workshops, and at The Writer’s Center.
Francisco Aragón is the son of Nicaraguan immigrants. His books include, After Rubén (2020), Glow of Our Sweat (2010), and Puerta de Sol (2005). He’s also the editor of, The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (2007). His work has appeared in over twenty anthologies, including the forthcoming Library of America anthology, Latino Poetry. A native of San Francisco, CA, he is on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, where he directs Letras Latinas. He has read his work widely, including at universities, bookstores, art galleries, and the Dodge Poetry Festival. He currently divides his time between South Bend, IN and Mililani, HI. For more information, visit http://franciscoaragon.net
Nick Martino is a poet and teacher from Milwaukee. His work is published or forthcoming from Best New Poets, Narrative, The Southern Review, and Ninth Letter, among others. He is an alumnus of Community of Writers and Sewanee Writers Conference. He holds an MFA from the University of California, Irvine and was the winner of the program’s 2022 Excellence in Poetry Prize. He lives in LA.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Friday, the 19th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm (Doors at 7:30 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music Event at Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center – In-Person Event
SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music is offered every 1st & 3rd Friday of the month and hosted by Loranzo Frank.
Featured guest TBA.
Tickets at Eventbrite.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center
Date: Friday, the 19th
Time: 8 pm – 12 am
Address: 4305 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.depoet.info/swaam or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/swaam-spoken-word-art-music-tickets-935630063707?aff=oddtdtcreator
Third Fridays Rapp Saloon Reading Series & Open Mic, 13th Anniversary, with host Elena Secota at Rapp Saloon, Santa Monica – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
The 13th Anniversary of Third Fridays at Rapp Saloon: Open Mic & Featured Readers, will be this week, and is offered every 1st Friday of the month by host Elena Secota.
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:
Cindy Rinne is an artist, poet, and writer, and the author/creator of numerous chapbooks, novels, collaborative projects and exhibitions. Her themes experiment with form, fabric art, themes of myth, art, song, nature, and many landscapes and traditions.
Steve McCormick, singer/songwriter, has released six studio albums, most recently, Stars and Chandeliers, and his music is based in Americana.
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 details.
Where: Rapp Saloon at HISUA – In-Person & Online Event
Date: Friday, the 19th
Time: 8 pm – 11 pm
Address: 1436 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.facebook.com/RappSaloonReading or https://www.instagram.com/rappsaloon/?hl=en
Graphic Novel Book Club: The Talk via Bel Canto Books – Online Event
Participants will discuss the book The Talk by author Darrin Bell.
This book club meets every 3rd Saturday of the month online via Zoom.
RSVP at link at site.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Bel Canto Books
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 10 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
LGBTQIA Book Group: Lesbian Love Story via Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Participants will discuss the book Lesbian Love Story by author Ameli Possanza.
RSVP:
Email silver@lapl.org for the Zoom link.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Siver Lake Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/lgbtq-book-club
Notable Fiction Book Group: A Long Petal of the Sea via Santa Monica Public Library – Online Event
Participants will discuss the novel A Long Petal of the Sea by author Isabel Allende.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Santa Monica Public Library, SMPL
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://smpl.org
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 20th
Time: 11 am
Address: 630 W, 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-workshop-1
One Book, Ome County: L.A. Weather at Jefferson – Vassie D. Wright Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss L.A. Weather by author María Amparo Escandón. Free copy of the book for the first 8 RSVPs.
“One Book, One County” is a community reading program bringing together 18 library districts in Los Angeles County! From June 1 to July 27, all participating libraries will be reading and discussing L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón. This community reading program fosters collaboration, education, and conversation across our county and emphasizes the power of connected libraries to create connected communities.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Jefferson – Vassie D. Wright Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 1246 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/one-book-one-county-0
One Book, One County: L.A. Weather at Gardena Mayme Dear Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for our One Book, One County discussion of L.A. Weather, by author María Amparo Escandón.
L.A. Weather is a New York Times bestseller that follows the Mexican American Alvarado family during a year in Los Angeles “as they wrestle with impending evacuations, secrets, deception, and betrayal, and their toughest decision yet: whether to stick together or burn it all down.”
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Gardena Mayme Dear Library, LACL
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 1731 W. Gardena Blvd., Gardena, CA 90247
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/10775423
Writing Workshop: Lighten Up: Humor and Wit in Poetry, A Workshop with Luivette Resto at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Get ready to laugh and learn as Luivette Resto teaches us how to infuse humor and wit into our poetry.
The assumption is that poetry is filled with melancholy and morosity. However, poetry is not monolithic just like the poets who write it. Poetry can be political and funny. It can be witty and sad. It can honor our ancestors while making us smile. Humor has a place in poetics, and this workshop will examine some of the best examples of it from poets such as Martín Espada, Dorothy Parker, Nikki Giovanni, to name a few. The workshop will be led by Luivette Resto.
Luivette Resto is an award-winning poet, a mother of three revolutionary humans, and a middle school English teacher. She was born in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico but proudly raised in the Bronx. She is a CantoMundo and Macondo Fellow and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She has three books of poetry: Unfinished Portrait, Ascension, and Living on Islands Not Found on Maps. Her work has been mentioned in the LA Times, Ms. Magazine, and North American Review. She is the associate editor of Tía Chucha Press, and she sits on the boards for Women Who Submit and Beyond Baroque.
NOTE: See site for tickets and further details.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/intensive_workshops.html
2nd Annual Butterfly Festival at Casitas Bookstore Off-site at Friends of Miracle on Fourth Street Park – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Please join us for a variety of activities with a beekeeper and beehive, arts and crafts, storytime, seed planting, and learning about endangered monarchs and the monarch waystation.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Casitas Bookstore at Parque Del Milagro en La Calles 4
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 11 am
Address: 1518 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9GbkNry1xu/
Book Launch: Michelle Markle & Unshakable Eleanor: How Our 32nd First Lady Used Her Voice to Fight for Human Rights at Children’s Book World – In-Person Kids Event
Please join children’s author Michelle Markle for her launch of her new book, Unshakable Eleanor: How Our 32nd First Lady Used Her Voice to Fight for Human Rights.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Children’s Book World
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 11 am
Address: 10580 1/2 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Kids Storytime at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Kids Event
Join Village Well every Wednesday and Saturday for a storytime amongst the cozy bookstacks of Village Well!
NOTE: See site for RSVP link, tickets, and details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/40564
Sour Apple Storytime: Linda Liu & Sour Apple at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Join us to celebrate the launch of Sour Apple, the new picture book by Linda Liu! We’ll have a storytime for all ages and a Q&A with the author.
From the creator of Hidden Gem comes a funny and delightful new picture book about an apple who learns the importance of self-acceptance and patience after being left behind during picking season.
Ever been picked last? Well, this sour apple knows a thing or two about what it feels like to be forgotten. When apple season passes and he’s left on the cold, hard ground, he questions his place in the world.
As his introspection branches out into different ideas of what could have been if he was chosen, he learns some core truths about what it means to be alive.
Linda Liu is an illustrator and a designer based in Southern California with a taste for tactile textures, saucy shapes, and palatable palettes. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and now works freelance and full-time so she can be a girl boss and a girl employee at the same time. She is the author and illustrator of Hidden Gem and Sour Apple.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 11:30 am
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-ly4w4gxg
Book Signing: Jodie Anders & Queer Cheer at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Come join us at Village Well to get your copy of Queer Cheer signed by author Jodie Anders!
Get your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
A positive affirmations book with invaluable information for all queer teens
Inside Queer Cheer, find:
Affirmations and words of wisdom focusing on areas specific to LGBT+ teens
Thought-provoking questions that lead to self-acceptance and encourage positive change
Illustrations and doodles that inspire, empower, and strengthen the hearts and minds of queer teens
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 12 pm – 2 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/40501
Poetry Slam 9: United We Slam: Lifting Our Voices to Change the World at Children’s Book World – In-Person Kids Event
We are looking for young poets and writers ages 7 -14 to share their thoughts, lyrics, and word wisdom with family, friends, and language lovers on Saturday, July 20th at 12:30pm. Every partcipating young poet gets 3 minutes to spit, spout, and spellbind with their poetry at our Poetry Slam with Hope Anita Smith. Every participating young poet at the event gets a CBW gift certificate! This is a positive and friendly experience in a safe space. Sign up at the link at website.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Children’s Book World
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 12:30 pm
Address: 10580 1/2 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Website: https://www.childrensbookworld.com/event/cbw-poetry-slam-back-saturday-july-20th-1230pm
Kids Book Club: The Ghost Job at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Kids & MG Event
Participants will discuss the novel The Ghost Job by author Greg van Eekhout.
A lab accident during science class sends middle school pals into the afterlife before they’re ready! Turns out being dead isn’t all that fun.
NOTE: See site for details. Please notice new date.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/kids-book-club-ghost-job
Storytime + Signing: Fath Kazmi & Box of Dreams at Bel Canto Books – In-Person Event
Bel Canto Books is delighted to host Faith Kazmi, author of the picture book Box of Dreams at KUBO LB.
Kindly RSVP.
This debut picture book from Faith Kazmi and illustrated by Christine Almeda celebrates the dreams that are shared with loved ones back home as a young girl and her mother pack up a special balikbayan box for their relatives in the Philippines.
A little girl watches as her mama fills up a big box, but this is no ordinary package. It has a special name: the balikbayan box.
Together, they pack all sorts of gifts and treats for their family in the Philippines, but the girl has a secret wish to send along inside. A wish to fly with the box to meet her cousins, Lola, and their family and to see and experience all the places where Mama grew up. A wish she hopes one day comes true.
Faith Kazmi and Christine Almeda take readers on a moving journey in this lyrical and poignant picture book that celebrates the dreams that are shared with loved ones back home and the power of love to connect families across oceans and lands.
Faith Kazmi is an educator and author who loved to daydream as a kid (and continues to as an adult). Deeply inspired by her Filipino heritage, she writes stories that celebrate family, culture, and love. By day, Faith works with college students around issues of equity, liberation, and care. She enjoys living in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family and their mini Goldendoodle, Coco. This is Faith’s first picture book, which is truly a dream come true. Visit Faith at faithkazmi.com.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Bel Canto KUBO LB
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/storytime-signing-with-faith-kazmi-box-of-dreams-tickets-907144111457
Author Talk: Viet Thanh Nguyen and Naomi Hirahara at Buena Vista Library, Burbank – In-Person Event
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and USC Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen joins the acclaimed writer Naomi Hirahara for a special afternoon conversation.
The two authors will dive into a discussion of Nguyen’s 2023 memoir, A Man of Two Faces—a formally inventive mix of history, personal reflection, and the story of his family’s forced migration from Vietnam to the United States. With a wry and ironic sense of humor, Nguyen offers us a tender view into his family’s history; the truth, ironies, and lies behind the so-called American Dream; and how he has come to understand his role as a writer at this specific moment in American life.
Viet Thanh Nguyen won the Pulitzer Prize in 2016 for his novel, The Sympathizer. His latest book, A Man of Two Faces, is an unconventional memoir that intertwines his personal narrative as a Vietnamese refugee with broader themes of colonization, war, and perceptions about America.
Naomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award-winning author of multiple traditional mystery series and noir short stories. Her acclaimed Mas Arai mysteries, published in Japanese, Korean, and French, feature a Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor who uncovers crimes amidst the city’s diverse backdrop.
This is a Literary LA event.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Buena Vista Branch Library, Burbank Public Library
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 300 N Buena Vista St, Burbank, CA 91505
Website: https://www.burbankca.gov/calendar/-/calendar/event or https://burbank.libnet.info/event/10572486
The Rainbow of the Chakras with E. Katherine Kottaras and Vanitha Swaminathan at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Take a deep breath and explore the centering practice of yoga with authors E. Katherine Kottaras and Vanitha Swaminathan as they present A Rainbow Inside My Body. The two presenters will read their story and practice some mindfulness exercises with the audience. Best for ages 4+.
With a playful and imaginative approach, children can find energy and better understand their feelings by focusing within. With accessible information about the history of yoga and ayurveda, A Rainbow Inside My Body reveals how when the mind, body, and spirit are balanced, we can make better decisions and respond to stress in a peaceful way.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event
One Book, One County: L.A. Weather Book Discussion – In-Person Event
One Book, One County is a community reading program bringing together 18 library districts in Los Angeles County! From June 1 – July 27, 2024, all participating libraries will be reading and discussing L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón. This community reading program fosters collaboration, education, and conversation across our county and emphasizes the power of connected libraries to create connected communities. To learn more about this year’s book and other participating libraries, visit LACountyLibrary.org/onebook.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Altadena Main Library
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 600 E. Mariposa Ave., Altadena, CA 91101
Website: https://www.altadenalibrary.org/programs/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D174610608
ALD Teens Special Event: Meet at Octavia‘s Bookshelf – In-Person Teen Event
Calling all Teens! Come meet us at Octavia’s Bookshelf & get a special behind-the-scenes tour with Nikki High and learn about her journey as a bookstore owner.
Nikki High is the owner and founder of Pasadena’s only Black Woman Owned Bookstore, Octavia’s Bookshelf.
Octavia’s Bookshelf is dedicated to uplifting BIPOC writers, creating space for community, and passionately encouraging a love for books while celebrating and honoring the words and wisdom of Pasadena hometown legend, Octavia Butler.
Registration is required, each Teen will get one book.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Octavia’s Bookshelf
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 1365 N. Hill Ave., Pasadena, CA 91104
Website: https://www.altadenalibrary.org/programs/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D174616704
Creative Writing Group at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Calling all writers of fiction, screenplays, poetry, etc. Get feedback on your writing in a fun, supportive environment. Meetings include a writing prompt/exercise, snacks, and a rollicking good time! Whether you are just starting out or well on your way to glory, join us and banish (at least temporarily) those Lonely Writer Blues!
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Meeting Room B
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 630 W, 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/writers-group-0
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, offered every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month.
RSVP:
Please email studio@lapl.org for participation details.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 3 pm – 5 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-3
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Poetry Readings by Three Writers – Online Zoom Event
Poetry Readings will be hosted by DKC & JRT, featuring: Gia Civerolo, Anastasia Fenald & Marianne Szlyk + Poets published in Four Feathers Press online edition: Zodiac Energy.
Gia Civerolo is a Los Angeles based poet, producer, educator, and special needs advocate. She has immersed herself into the poetry community for the past two years and is thrilled to have graduated from the CLI Poetry Publishing Class with this first full-length collection titled She Confuses Lovers, Movies, Angels and Poems.
Anastasia Fenald is a second-generation Ukrainian Hispanic American poet from California’s windy High Desert. She has a B.A. in Global Studies from the University of Riverside, California (2014) and an M.A. in Globalization and Development from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom (2015). She is the author of Help Me, I’m Heree: Poems to Myself and The Art of Job Hunting.
Marianne Szlyk is a professor at Montgomery College in Maryland. She recently published her first chapbook, Listening to Electric Cambodia, Looking Up at Trees of Heaven, at Kind of a Hurricane Press: http://barometricpressures.blogspot.com/2014/10/listening-to-electric-cambodia-looking.html. Her poem “Walking Past Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Winter” was nominated for the 2014 Best of the Net.
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Event (See site)
Website: http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Writing Against Asian Stereotypes: Bel Canto Books – In-Person Event
Bel Canto Books is delighted to host Writing Against Asian American Stereotypes with Christine Ma-Kellams, Janie Kim, Sonali Kohli + Karen Yin.
Christine Ma-Kellams is a Pushcart-nominated writer, Harvard-trained cultural psychologist, and college professor who occupies the intersection where storytelling meets an empirical understanding of what makes people tick. Her empirical studies on culture, social perception and relationships have also been widely covered in GQ (Australia), Esquire (Middle East), Boston Globe, Vice News, Elle Magazine (UK), the Atlantic, Yahoo News, MSN News, Fox News, New York Post, and Daily Mail. Her academic textbook, Cultural Psychology: Cross- and Multicultural Perspectives, has been adopted in classes at college campuses across the U.S. and overseas. The Band (Atria/Simon & Schuster) is her first novel.
Janie Kim was born and raised in San Diego, California. She studied molecular biology at Princeton University, went on a Fulbright research grant to Denmark, and is now a biology PhD student at Stanford University. She studies fun-sized sea creatures.
Sonali Kohli is a journalist writing about young people and the futures they are creating. Kohli was an education reporter for the Los Angeles Times for 6 years with a passion for covering youth movements, and in 2020, was named the top education journalist in the nation by the Education Writers Association. She is currently a recruiter at URL Media, where she works with underrepresented folks in journalism and media to find jobs and workplaces that will treat them well. Follow her on her website (sonalikohli.com) and Twitter (Sonali_Kohli).
Award-winning writer and editor Karen Yin is the troublemaker behind ConsciousStyleGuide.com and The Conscious Style Guide: A Flexible Approach to Language That Includes, Respects, and Empowers (2024). She has written several picture books, including Whole Whale and So Not Ghoul, and her short stories for teens, such as My Kinda Sorta Badass Move, have been anthologized. Find her at KarenYin.com.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Bel Canto KUBO LB
Date: Sunday, the 21st
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-against-asian-american-stereotypes-tickets-925423876727
Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book Club: White Cat, Black Dog at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the book White Cat, Black Dog: Stories by author Kelly Link and illustrator Shaun Tan.
Finding inspiration in the stories of the Brothers Grimm, French lore, and Scottish ballads, Kelly Link spins classic fairy tales into original stories of great impact.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/sci-fi-fantasy-book-club-white-cat-black-dog
Exposition Review Launch: POP! at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join Exposition Review to celebrate the launch of Vol. IX: “POP!” Enjoy drinks and snacks and meet the Expo editors as well as our talented contributors who will be reading selected works in all genres.
Vol. IX: “POP!” is the intersection of tradition and trend. Whether satirizing an overused metaphor in poetry or confronting violence in Gaza, these pieces are made relevant both by their immediacy and because they are rooted in the human experience. We hope you’ll find moments that will surprise you, inspire you to think outside of your bubble, or maybe even reference some of your favorite songs.
Exposition Review is an independent, multi-genre literary journal that publishes narratives by new, emerging, and established writers in the genres of fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction, poetry, scripts for stage & screen, film, experimental narratives, visual art, and comics.
For more information and to reserve tickets, visit EVENTBRITE!
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/40298
The 17th Annual Lit Show with Suzy Williams & Brad Kay at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Celebration of song and literature, LA’s Diva Deluxe Suzy Williams & Brad Kay (with a stellar band) perform songs based on words by Kurt Vonnegut, Edna St Vincent Millay, J.D. Salinger, Samuel Beckett, Raymond Chandler, Truman Capote, Vladimir Nabokov, Rudyard Kipling and more at Beyond Baroque. Dorothy Parker wrote a song that Billie Holiday sang. Tennessee Williams wrote a song that Marlon Brando sang as a rambling troubadour in The Fugitive Kind. Lonely House was written by Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes. Jack Kerouac & Allen Ginsberg wrote Pull My Daisy with David Amram. You’ve read the book, now hear the song. Tickets can be purchased at the door. More info at Laughtears.com
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Saturday, the 20th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
Mobile Data Mag Open Mic Poetry Series: 2024 Summer Series at The Pop Hop – In-Person Event
Mobile Data Mag’s Open Mic Poetry, 2024 Summer Series, will feature local poets and is hosted by Jesse Tovar and Jennifer Baptiste.
This event is the third of the Summer Series’ 4 readings offered monthly at The Pop Hop in Highland Park Los Angeles.
This month’s features are Nikolai Garcia and Laura Sermeño.
Nikolai Garcia is a poet and writer and the author of Nuclear Shadows of Palm Trees. He is co-host of the Trenches Full of Poets reading series in Long Beach and hosts Wax Poetic in Boyle Heights.
Laura Sermeño is a poet and writer, part of the Las Lunas Writing Circle and its anthology, and now teaches and resides in Pasadena.
Mobile Data Mag Open Mic+ Feature Series is about celebrating poetry and prose. Mobile Data Mag on Substack and Systemic Dreaming on Threads exists on the internet because the site(s) are for individuals who web surf to stumble across the selection of writers on this digital literary journal. Reading in non-English is always welcome.
The final event of this series will be offered on August 17.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Pop Hop
Date: Friday the 21st
Time: 7 pm
Address: 5002 York Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6pyPUPrtwA/ or https://www.instagram.com/p/C85GK1MST-S/?hl=en
Melrose Trading Post Event by Greenway Arts Alliance at Melrose Trading Post at Fairfax H.S. – In-Person Event
Melrose Trading Post is a reading and spoken word event held every Sunday, rain or shine, at Fairfax High School, and tickets are available online as well as at the ticket booth on Sunday at the event.
NOTE: Check every Sunday for story time and reading events
Where: Melrose Trading Post, Greenway Main Stage at Fairfax HS
Date: Sunday, the 21st (Every Sunday)
Time: 10 am – 5 pm
Address: 7850 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046
Website: https://melrosetradingpost.org/tickets/
Writers Retreat with Paula Macena at Junior High Art Gallery – In-Person Event
A one-day writer’s retreat for writers at any stage, whether you’re a total beginner or you’ve been writing your whole life. Includes yoga, panels, workshops, an open mic, and more. A great opportunity to build community, beat your writer’s block, and have fun while doing it.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Junior High Art Gallery
Date: Sunday, the 21st
Time: 12:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 603 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA
Website: https://dola.com/events/2024/7/21/writers-retreat-with-paula-macena-tickets
Happy Hour y Libros at Casitas Bookstore – In-Person Event
We’ve carefully curated pairings of drinks and books for book lovers and cocktail or mocktail enthusiasts alike! Chat with other bibliophiles and choose one of our paired books to take home, all while enjoying the delicious and expertly crafted creations by @beautiful_poisons.
Enjoy a little bibliotherapy and get to know a few titles from romance to jarring dystopian worlds, guaranteed to pique your interest!
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Casita Bookstore
Date: Sunday, the 21st
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 1440 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9QbVYqyO69/
Bucket List Book Club: It Can’t Happen Here at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the book It Can’t Happen Here by author Sinclair Lewis.
It Can’t Happen Here is the only one of Sinclair Lewis’s later novels to match the power of Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith. A cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, it is an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America.
Written during the Great Depression, when the country was largely oblivious to Hitler’s aggression, it juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a president who becomes a dictator to save the nation from welfare cheats, sex, crime, and a liberal press.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday, the 21st
Time: 3 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/bucket-list-book-club-it-cant-happen-here
Writing Against Asian Stereotypes: Bel Canto Books – In-Person Event
Bel Canto Books is delighted to host Writing Against Asian American Stereotypes with Christine Ma-Kellams, Janie Kim, Sonali Kohli + Karen Yin.
Christine Ma-Kellams is a Pushcart-nominated writer, Harvard-trained cultural psychologist, and college professor who occupies the intersection where storytelling meets an empirical understanding of what makes people tick. Her empirical studies on culture, social perception and relationships have also been widely covered in GQ (Australia), Esquire (Middle East), Boston Globe, Vice News, Elle Magazine (UK), the Atlantic, Yahoo News, MSN News, Fox News, New York Post, and Daily Mail. Her academic textbook, Cultural Psychology: Cross- and Multicultural Perspectives, has been adopted in classes at college campuses across the U.S. and overseas. The Band (Atria/Simon & Schuster) is her first novel.
Janie Kim was born and raised in San Diego, California. She studied molecular biology at Princeton University, went on a Fulbright research grant to Denmark, and is now a biology PhD student at Stanford University. She studies fun-sized sea creatures.
Sonali Kohli is a journalist writing about young people and the futures they are creating. Kohli was an education reporter for the Los Angeles Times for 6 years with a passion for covering youth movements, and in 2020, was named the top education journalist in the nation by the Education Writers Association. She is currently a recruiter at URL Media, where she works with underrepresented folks in journalism and media to find jobs and workplaces that will treat them well. Follow her on her website (sonalikohli.com) and Twitter (Sonali_Kohli).
Award-winning writer and editor Karen Yin is the troublemaker behind ConsciousStyleGuide.com and The Conscious Style Guide: A Flexible Approach to Language That Includes, Respects, and Empowers (2024). She has written several picture books, including Whole Whale and So Not Ghoul, and her short stories for teens, such as My Kinda Sorta Badass Move, have been anthologized. Find her at KarenYin.com.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Bel Canto KUBO LB
Date: Sunday, the 21st
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-against-asian-american-stereotypes-tickets-925423876727
Red Hen Press Author Panel: Moderated by NPR’s Saul Gonzalez at Flintridge Books – In-Person Event
Flintridge Books presents: Punishing Breed by DC Frost, published by Canis Major Books, a division of Red Hen Books,
A Punishing Breed, first in a series of mystery novels, features Latino Detective DJ Arias who pursues a murder investigation at a small private liberal arts college nestled in the heart of Los Angeles. The detective and his partner, Bobby Talbot, discover buried secrets and past misdeeds that overshadow an institution promising social justice, transparency and equity. DJ Arias fights against his own troubled history with the college, his partner, and a failed marriage. Along the way, he finds a modicum of salvation with a murdered man’s dog he names Evidence.
D.C. Frost aka Denise Cecelia Frost is a second-generation Angelino. For almost twenty years, she has worked as a fundraiser for a small private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, and before that PBS and Variety. Denise has published several literary fiction short stories in journals including UCLA’s Westward. She lives in Los Angeles with her family including three rescue dogs who keep life interesting.
Kate Gale, Founder of Red Hen Press and Author of Under a Neon Sun, Three Rooms Press
Unable to afford rent, Mia—a community college student—lives out of her car, cleaning houses of the well-to-do in the LA area to meet her shoestring budget. Then Covid hits and everything changes.
For people living in houses and apartments, with stay-at-home jobs, the pandemic was inconvenient. For Mia and her fellow housekeeper friends—all living in their cars—the pandemic destroys the source of their frugal income.
Fortunately, gutsy, funny Mia is a determined survivor. After weeks of cutting her limited spending even further, missing meals along the way, her wealthy employers become desperate for her services again. This time, she’s determined not to let them take advantage of her as they have in the past. Her newfound confidence gives her new hope, until she discovers a dead body in a room she was assigned to clean. Sally Rooney meets Elizabeth Strout in this gripping page turner debut novel.
Kate Gale is the co-founder and managing editor of Red Hen Press, which has been publishing for thirty years in Los Angeles. She is also the author of seven books of poetry including The Goldilocks Zone and The Loneliest Girl, as well as several librettos including Rio de Sangre with Don Davis—who wrote the music to the Matrix movies. Rio de Sangre premiered at the Florentine opera. Her current opera projects are Che Guevara and Esther. Kate grew up in an intentional community. Since leaving, she has put herself through school, ultimately receiving a Ph.D. in English Literature from Claremont Graduate University. She had no one after she left the Farm to depend on, and spent years writing “No one,” as her emergency contact. When she briefly met her father, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, he asked where she was living. She said, “my car,” and he asked what kind of car. From those beginnings, she has built a press in Los Angeles, raised a family, and lived a life as a writer and publisher on the West Coast. Since 1989, she has taught writing at universities in Los Angeles every semester. She has also taught publishing at Oxford, Columbia University, Harvard University, and USC, and was the President of Pen USA from 2005–2006. Currently, Kate teaches publishing and poetry at Chapman University and lives in Los Angeles.
EP Tauzon, Author of A Professional Lola
A Professional Lola is a collection of short stories that blend literary fiction with the surreal to present the contemporary Filipino American experience and its universal themes of love, family, and identity. A family hires an actress to play their beloved grandmother at a party; a couple craving Filipino food rob a panaderya; a coven of Filipino witches cast a spell on their husbands; a Lolo transforms into a Lola. These are just a few of the stories in the collection that represent its roster of stories beautifully grounded in culture and vividly and meticulously painted to make the absurd seem mundane and the commonplace, sinister. A Professional Lola embodies the joy, mystery, humor, sadness, hunger, and family that inhabit modern-day Filipino American virtues.
E.P. Tauzon is a Filipino American writer from Los Angeles. They have work in several publications such as The Rumpus, Lunch Ticket, Peatsmoke, and Five South. His work was chosen by ZZ Packer as the winner of the 2022 AWP Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction. They are currently a member of Advintage Press and The Blank Page Writing Club at The Open Book, Canyon Country. In their spare time, they like to go to Filipino seafood markets to gossip with the crabs.
Saul Gonzalez, Host of The California Report, KQED/NPR – Moderator.
After short readings by the authors, Saul will lead a conversation with the authors and audience that will focus on how mysteries can explore larger societal issues. He’ll also have the writers discuss starting a writing career later in life.
Saul Gonzalez has been the Los Angeles co-host of public radio’s statewide show, The California Report since 2019, covering such issues as homelessness and housing policy, the state’s response to climate change and the ravages of the Covid pandemic. Whenever possible, Saul tries to report from the field, connecting these issues to the daily lives of Californians.
Before joining KQED, Saul was a correspondent and producer for public broadcasting shows, like the PBS NewsHour. He also hosted the podcast series “There Goes the Neighborhood” about gentrification in L.A.. For his work, Saul has been honored with several Emmys and is a two-time winner of the L.A. Press Club’s Radio Journalist of the Year Award.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Flintridge Books
Date: Sunday, the 21st
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: 858 Foothill Blvd., La Cañada Flintridge, CA, 91011
Short Story Reading: Elizabeth Stix & Things I Want Back From You at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join us for the Los Angeles launch of Elizabeth Stix’s debut story collection, Things I Want Back From You.
Set in the fictional California town of San Encanto—a place where suburban angst coexists with the astonishing—a lonely wife finds her oppressive husband has become a dirigible who follows her from the sky, a neglected boy spends his summer unwinding a parasitic Guinea worm from his little sister’s belly, and an aspiring life coach attends a self-actualization seminar that goes wildly off the rails.
In Things I Want Back From You, Elizabeth Stix’s hilarious and poignant debut of 20 linked stories, hopelessly flawed characters flail against their own insecurities, seeking one true moment of connection, and if they’re lucky, winning that rarest of gifts—a second chance.
Get your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
Bay Area native Elizabeth Stix’s stories have appeared in McSweeney’s, Tin House, Boulevard, The LA Times Sunday magazine, and numerous anthologies. Her work has been performed live at Selected Shorts in NY and the New Short Fiction Series in LA, and her story “Alice” was optioned by Sneaky Little Sister Films. When she’s not writing, she can be found staying up way too late doing the NYT Spelling Bee.
NOTE: See site for RSVP link, tickets, and details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Sunday, the 21st
Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/39753
Focus on Craft Book Club: A Night to Surrender at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
July’s Focus on Craft Book Club is led by editor and teacher Jeanne De Vita, and participants will discuss romance novel A Night to Surrender by author Tessa Dare.
Everyone is welcome!
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 21s
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 3806 Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Los Angeles Literature 