Book Club: at Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
We welcome all readers to our book club; no sign up is required.
For each month’s title, please contact the branch. Copies of the book are available at the Reference Desk for check-out.
Participants will discuss The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.
Please note that the Mar Vista Book Club meets in person.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 28th
Time: 6 pm
Address:12006 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mar-vista-book-club-books-and-communi-tea
LGBTQ+ Book Club: Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the novel Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything by author Justine Pucella Winans.
Murder most fowl? In this sardonic and campy YA thriller, an anxious, introverted nonbinary teen birder somehow finds themself investigating a murder with their neighbor/fellow anime lover, all while falling for a cute girl from their birding group…and trying not to get killed next.
Justine Pucella Winans is a queer and nonbinary writer who resides in Los Angeles with their husband and cats. When not writing, they try their best at Brazilian jiu-jitsu, read an alarming amount of manga, and try to make pasta even a fourth as good as their nonna’s. They are the author of Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything, and you can find them at justinepucellawinans.com.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Monday the 28th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/lgbtq-book-club-bianca-torre-afraid-everything
Writing for Children Workshop with José Chávez via Inlandia Institute – Online Event
(All Levels)
Alternating Mondays, 9/16, 9/30, 10/14, 10/28, and 11/11/24, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom.
$50. Registration required. To register: https://tinyurl.com/Fall2024CWW
This workshop is designed to meet the needs of those who wish to write or are writing for children. We’ll explore the writing voice for children, define a “picture book,” story arc, story introductions, appropriate vocabulary, children’s poetry, and more. There will be time to flex our writing muscles and develop the beauty and strength of our “voice” for children.
José Chávez is a retired bilingual teacher who dedicates his life to writing. His poetry has been published in the Multilingual Educator Journal, Acentos Review, and the Inlandia anthology, and he is the author of two award-winning bilingual poetry books for children. José lives in Riverside, California, is married, and has three grown children.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Inlandia Events
Date: Monday the 28th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/my-calendar/?mc_id=2354
Moving towards Life: An Editors’ Salon with Marina Magloire at Los Angeles Review of Books, LARB – Online Zoom Event
Los Angeles Review of Books announces the second installment in our Editor’s Salon series! An exclusive for LARB members, Editors’ Salons offer a deeper look into some of the magazine’s most exciting new pieces through conversations between LARB’s own editors and a range of leading experts and voices in their fields. Don’t miss out on our next salon, Moving Towards Life, coming up on October 28 at 6 p.m. PST over Zoom.
This event will focus on the works of June Jordan, Audre Lorde, and Palestine.
Editors’ Salons are open to all members of the Los Angeles Review of Books. Join today for as little as $10 a month.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: LARB at the Granada Building
Date: Monday the 28th
Time: 6 pm – 7 PM
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://lareviewofbooks.org/event/moving-towards-life-an-editors-salon/
Book Club: The Cemetery of Untold Stories at Sherman Oaks Martin Pollard Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Participants will discuss The Cemetery of Untold Stories by author Julia Alvarez.
Alma Cruz, the celebrated writer at the heart of The Cemetery of Untold Stories, doesn’t want to end up like her friend, a novelist who fought so long and hard to finish a book that it threatened her sanity. So, when Alma inherits a small plot of land in the Dominican Republic, her homeland, she has the beautiful idea of turning it into a place to bury her untold stories—literally. She creates a graveyard for the manuscript drafts and the characters whose lives she tried and failed to bring to life and who still haunt her.
The Cemetery of Untold Stories asks: Whose stories get to be told, and whose buried? Finally, Alma finds the meaning she and her characters yearn for in the everlasting vitality of stories. Julia Alvarez reminds us that the stories of our lives are never truly finished, even at the end.
Please email shrmno@lapl.org for the Zoom link.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Sherman Oaks Martin Pollard Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 28th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sherman-oaks-book-club-cemetery-untold-stories-julia-alvarez
Betsy MItchell & More Than Medals at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Betsy MItchell will present and discuss her book in paperback, More Than Medals.
Are sports good for kids? Does participation in athletics improve a person’s life? Yes, according to Betsy Mitchell, a collegiate athletic director and two-time Olympian, medalist, world champion, record holder, and seven-time NCAA champion swimmer. But according to Mitchell, amateur sports are only beneficial when the focus remains on acquiring skills, developing sportsmanship, and having fun. From her journey competing in sports, she learned many lessons that she applies in her daily life and career. In this inspirational memoir, Betsy writes a love letter to amateur athletes, revealing how the joy and challenges of sports shaped her life and sharing twelve pivotal lessons she learned along the way.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday, the 28th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/betsy-mitchell
One Book One Block with Danzy Senna & Colored Television at Chevalier’s Off-site at The Ebell of Los Angeles – In-Person Event
Danzy Senna will present and discuss her novel, Colored Television, as part of Chevalier’s One Book One Block community reading program.
Jane has high hopes that her life is about to turn around. After a long, precarious stretch bouncing among sketchy rentals and sublets, she and her family are living in luxury for a year, house-sitting in the hills above Los Angeles. The gig magically coincides with Jane’s sabbatical, giving her the time and space she needs to finish her second novel—a centuries-spanning epic her artist husband, Lenny, dubs her “mulatto War and Peace.” Finally, some semblance of stability and success seems to be within her grasp.
But things don’t work out quite as hoped. Desperate for a plan B, like countless writers before her Jane turns her gaze to Hollywood. When she finagles a meeting with Hampton Ford, a hot producer with a major development deal at a streaming network, he seems excited to work with a “real writer,” and together they begin to develop “the Jackie Robinson of biracial comedies.” Things finally seem to be going right for Jane—until they go terribly wrong.
Danzy Senna is the bestselling author of six previous books, including Caucasia, New People, and most recently Colored Television. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, she teaches writing at the University of Southern California.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Chevalier’s at The Ebell of Los Angeles
Date: Monday, the 28th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 741 S. Lucerne Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90005
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/event/2024-10-28/one-book-one-block-danzy-senna
R.U.P.O. Open Mic at Back to the Grind in Riverside – In-Person Event (Check to Verify)
RUPO Open Mic is every Monday Night at Back to the Grind in Riverside.
Every Monday at: 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 28th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://www.facebook.com/backtothegrind or https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10160567770498117&set=a.10156396767508117
Monthly Writing Circle: Under the Tree We Dream at Holy Grounds – In-Person Event
This new Monthly Writing Circle with Alex Petunia is titled Under the Tree We Dream. It’s an invitation to write and dream with generative prompts and creative community.
Join the writing circle held every last Monday of the month at: 7pm to 9 pm. All writing levels are welcome.
Entrance requires a drink purchase.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Holy Grounds
Date: Monday the 28th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 5371 Alhambra Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90032
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DA_1ldSzNfI/
At Skylight: Caroline Choe, with Joanne Lee Molinaro, & Banchan at Skylight – In-Person Event
Caroline Choe, in conversation with Joanne Lee Molinaro, will present her cookbook, Banchan.
Banchan, the shared side dishes that accompany a Korean meal, are often the real stars of the table, and it’s time we celebrate them. This first-of-its-kind cookbook showcases the wide world of banchan, from traditional staples to modern Korean American renditions, with 60 recipes from the kitchen of chef Caroline Choe.
Highlighting this underrepresented aspect of Korean cuisine, Banchan offers 60 mouthwatering recipes for classic and modern banchan dishes to home cooks everywhere.
Where: Skylight
Date: Monday, the 28th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-caroline-choe-presents-banchan-w-joanne-lee-molinaro
Paola Mendoza & Solis at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Paola Mendoza will present and discussher speculative fiction novel Solis, a companion to her previous book, Sanctuary.
The year is 2033, and in this near-future America where undocumented people are forced into labor camps, life is bleak. Especially so for seventeen-year-old Rania, a Lebanese teenager from Chicago. When she and her mother were rounded up by the Deportation Force, they were given the brutal job of digging in the labor camp’s mine searching for the destructive and toxic, but potentially world-changing chemical, aqualinium. With this chemical the corrupt and xenophobic government of the New American Republic could actually control the weather—ending devastating droughts sweeping the planet due to climate change. If the government succeeds, other countries would be at their mercy. Solidifying this power comes at the expense of the undocumented immigrants forced to endure horrendous conditions to mine the chemical or used in cruel experiments to test it, leaving their bodies wracked in extreme pain to the point of death. As the experiments ramp up, things only get worse. Rania and her fellow prisoners decide to start a revolution; if they don’t, they know they will die.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Monday the 28th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2024-10-28/paola-mendoza-discusses-solis
Monday Night Fiction Workshop via 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 28th
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-1054862083889
LiveTalks LA Presents: An Evening with Bethany Joy Lenz & Dinners for Vampires at Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar – In-Person & YouTube Hybrid Event
Bethany Joy Lenz will discuss her book, Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While also in an Actual Cult!).
A deliciously witty and inspiring memoir by One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Lenz about her decade in a cult and her quest to break free.
Bethany Joy Lenz starred in the hit TV series One Tree Hill. Her other acting credits include Guiding Light, Grey’s Anatomy, Charmed, Felicity, Suits, Dexter, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She is also a recording artist who has released several albums. Lenz currently cohosts the podcast Drama Queens and is the founder/editor-in-chief of the broadsheet newspaper Modern Vintage News.
In the early 2000s, after years of hard work and determination to breakthrough as an actor, Bethany Joy Lenz was finally cast as one of the leads on the hit drama One Tree Hill. Her career was about to take off, but her personal life was slowly beginning to unravel. What none of the show’s millions of fans knew, hidden even from her costars, was her secret double life in a cult.
An only child who often had to fend for herself and always wanted a place to belong, Lenz found the haven she’d been searching for in a Bible study group with other Hollywood creatives. However, the group soon morphed into something more sinister—a slowly woven web of manipulation, abuse, and fear under the guise of a church covenant called The Big House Family. Piece by piece, Lenz began to give away her autonomy, ultimately relocating to the Family’s Pacific Northwest compound, overseen by a domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons and steadily drained millions of her TV income without her knowledge. Family “minders” assigned to her on set, “Maoist struggle session”–inspired meetings in the basement of a filthy house, and regular counseling with “Leadership” were just part of the tactics used to keep her loyal.
Written with powerful honesty and dark humor, Dinner for Vampires is an inspiring story about the importance of identity and understanding what you believe.
NOTE: See site for tickets, and details,
Where: Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar
Date: Monday, the 28th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 3200 Motor Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90034
(Free Parking available at the venue)
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/bethany-joy-lenz/
Virtual Book Club: Wandering Stars via La Crescenta Library, LACL – In-Person Tween Event
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.
For Native American Heritage month we will be reading Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange. Three generations of a family are affected by the real-life Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, in which more than 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people were killed by the US Army in Colorado. The novel follows the son of a survivor of the attack, a boy who is send to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and taught a curriculum designed to erase Native American history.
We will meet on Tuesdays October 29, November 12, 19 & 26 to discuss Wandering Stars. Please note that we will not be meeting on November 5—Election Day
NOTE: See site link to register.
Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 2809 Foothill Blvd., La Crescenta-Montrose, CA 91214
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11752109
Bilingual Beginning Readers Book Club: Pete the Cat at South El Monte Library, LACL – In-Person Kids Event
Let’s read together! This book club is for children who are beginning to read, want to practice reading aloud and improve their reading comprehension skills. Children will discuss the story and create an art activity.
Books will be provided at the program. For ages 4 – 12 with a parent or caregiver.
NOTE: See site link to register.
Where: South El Monte Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 1430 North Central Ave., South El Monte, CA 91733
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11831487
Writers Workshop with Jasmyne Boswell at Santa Monica Main Library, SMPL – In-Person Event
Learn to overcome writer’s block, structure your outline, and start writing your next story with author, writing coach, and editor Jasmyne Boswell.
Limited seats available. Email library@santamonica.gov for reservation.
NOTE: See site link to register.
Where: Santa Monica Main Library, Multipurpose Room
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Website: https://www.santamonica.gov/events/
LGBTQ Book Club: Confidence at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join the LGBTQ Book Club for a hybrid (in-person and online) discussion of Confidence by Rafael Frumkin. For adults.
At seventeen, Ezra Green doesn’t have a lot going on for him: he’s shorter than average, snaggle-toothed, internet-addicted, and halfway to being legally blind. He’s also on his way to Last Chance Camp, the final stop before juvie. But Ezra’s summer at Last Chance turns life-changing when he meets Orson, brilliant and Adonis-like with a mind for hustling. Together, the two embark upon what promises to be a fruitful career of scam artistry. But things start to spin wildly out of control when they try to pull off their biggest scam yet—Nulife, a corporation that promises its consumers a lifetime of bliss.
NOTE: See site link to register.
Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11526845
Iacoboni Book Club: Frankenstein at Iacoboni Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join participants to discuss Frankenstein by author Mary Shelley.
You can check out an eBook or audiobook version of this title on Libby or Hoopla.
Where: Angelo M. Iacoboni Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 4990 Clark Ave., Lakewood, CA 90712
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11763340
Persian Poetry Forum: Partow Noori Alain Conversation at Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
The Persian Poetry Forum of Los Angeles (PerPForm LA) is a library-founded, library-centered programming framework for people of all backgrounds to come together to learn about Persian poetry. The emphasis of the group is to build bridges, engender dialogue, and create a sense of community and well-being in the Los Angeles area by sharing an interest in Persian poetry. We encourage the understanding, interpretation, and discussion of the deeper meanings of Persian poetry in day-to-day life for the development of a community, promotion of mental and enhancement of emotional health and well-being. Our forum promotes a platform to share and discuss both classical and modern Persian poetry and encourages both well-versed and amateur poets to also come and share their poetry. Our programs are mostly presented in the Persian language.
For more information, please email Persian@lapl.org.
When Partow Noori Ala wrote A Share of the Years as a teenager, she may not have anticipated or fully contemplated the future that would turn her writing into a beacon in the realm of Persian poetry and diaspora literature. Over the years, Partow has indeed played a significant role in shaping the diasporic Persian literature paradigm, whether through her poems, stories, critiques, speeches, or through her unique positionality and becoming.
Please join us for a conversation that explores her contributions, her poetry, her memoir-writing project, and her share in shaping the years to come.
Where: Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 12006 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/los-angeles-persian-poetry-forum and https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/a-share-of-years-conversation-partow-noori-ala
Sharing True Stories at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Tell us about one of your adventures, or just listen and enjoy. The stories can be funny, sad or simply slice-of-life. This is your opportunity to express yourself.
RSVP:
To receive a Zoom invitation, please contact wwood@lapl.org
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sharing-true-stories
The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry with Romaine Washington via Inlandia Institute – Online Event
(All Levels)
Alternating Tuesdays, 9/17, 10/1, 10/15, 10/29, and 11/12/24, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom.
$50. Registration required.
To register: https://tinyurl.com/Fall2024CWW
Discover the art and craft of writing poetry with generative prompts and other forms of poetic inspiration. Brief group feedback will help you uncover images and language that resonate for you and for your audience.
Romaine Washington, M. Ed., is the editor of These Black Bodies Are…A Blacklandia Anthology and the author of Purgatory Has an Address and Sirens in Her Belly. She has been published in various anthologies and periodicals. Ms. Washington is a graduate fellow of The Watering Hole, South Carolina, and the Inland Area Writing Project at the University of California, Riverside. She was a public school educator for over twenty years. The proud mother of two sons, Romaine Washington is a native Californian from San Bernardino who resides in the Inland Empire.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Inlandia Events
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/my-calendar/?mc_id=2374
Conchas y Café Zine Workshop with DSTL Arts – Online Event
Be a part of a new fall bilingual writing workshop series with DSTL Arts online.
2024 – 2025 Publishing Year
Conchas y Café Zine; Vol. 10
Series/Issue 1: 9/3/24–12/17/24
Theme: Life’s Paths/Los caminos de la vida
Google Classroom Enrollment Code: rvdizwy
See links for details.
Where: DSTL Arts
Date: Tuesday, the 29th (through 12/17/24)
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Google Classroom Event (see site)
Website: https://www.dstlarts.org/calendar or https://www.dstlarts.org/conchasycafezine
Amanda Jane Jones and Jennifer Hernandez & Mother/Founder: 68 Women on the Trials and Triumphs of Starting a Business and Raising a Family at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Jane Jones and Jennifer Hernandez will discuss their book,Mother/Founder: 68 Women on the Trials and Triumphs of Starting a Business and Raising a Family.
Starting a business can be daunting, scary, and exciting, all at once; so too can starting a family. But they can coexist—as the incredible roster of women in this book demonstrate, entrepreneurship can be both a sustainable and fulfilling model for working motherhood.
Filled with first-person stories of designers, makers, CEOs, farmers, pastry chefs, artists, lawyers, educators, and more, Mother/Founder captures with unprecedented candor the unique challenges and joys of what it means to launch and run a business while being just as fiercely dedicated to raising children.
Amanda Jane Jones was the co-creator and founding designer of Kinfolk, and is now a freelance graphic designer, illustrator, and children’s book author. She has been featured by Architectural Digest, The New York Times, and Martha Stewart Living, as well as online publications that include Mother Mag, Cup of Jo, Domino, Wit & Delight, Oh Joy!, VSCO, Gap, and Click Magazine. Her product collaborations include Opinel, Revival Rugs, Solly Baby, and Schoolhouse Electric. She is a recent transplant to the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, after having all of her children (Jane, Miles, and Wes) on the south side of Chicago. Her kids were the inspiration for her books Yum Yummy Yuck, The Hair Book, Fuzzy Furry Ouch, and Decorate the Tree. Find her at amandajanejones.com and @amandajanejones.
Jennifer Fernandez is a former magazine and digital editor who has written aboutdesign, travel, and food for nationwide publications that include The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, Travel + Leisure, Esquire, Departures, House Beautiful, Elle Décor, Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes & Gardens, and Domino. She currently resides in New Jersey with her husband and two young daughters, Sophie and Maren.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Tuesday, the 29th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., # 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Amanda-Jane-Jones-Jennifer-Fernadez-October-29-Author-signing
Joel Brokaw & Driving Marilyn: The Life and Times of Legendary Hollywood Agent Norman Brokaw at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Joel Brokaw will discuss his book, Driving Marilyn: The Life and Times of Legendary Hollywood Agent Norman Brokaw.
Norman Brokaw was CEO and Chairman of the William Morris Agency from 1989 to 1997, but his legacy may lie in his ascent from mail room clerk to Marilyn Monroe’s personal driver to agent for some of Hollywood’s most iconic figures of the late 20th Century: Marilyn Monroe, Kim Novak, Elvis (and Colonel Parker), Natalie Wood, Loretta Young, Clint Eastwood, Danny Thomas, Dick Van Dyke, Berry Gordy, Bill Cosby, Donna Summer, Brooke Shields plus many more.
This book is a star-studded biography of Brokaw’s remarkable life and influence on Hollywood.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday, the 29th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/joel-brokaw
Book Event: Paola Mendoz, with Chase Straglo, & Solis at Rep Club Off-site at Democracy Center at the Japanese American Museum – In-Person Event
Author Paola Mendoza, in conversation with Chase Stranglo,will present and discuss her debut novel, Solis.
From the author of Sanctuary comes a haunting near-future companion tale about undocumented immigrants subjected to deadly experiments in a government labor camp and the four courageous rebels who set into place a daring plan to liberate them.
The year is 2033, and in this near-future America where undocumented people are forced into labor camps, life is bleak. Especially so for seventeen-year-old Rania, a Lebanese teenager from Chicago. When she and her mother were rounded up by the Deportation Force, they were given the brutal job of digging in the labor camp’s mine in search of the destructive and toxic—but potentially world-changing—mineral aqualinium. With this mineral, the corrupt and xenophobic government of the New American Republic could actually control the weather—ending devastating droughts sweeping the planet due to climate change. If the government succeeds, other countries would be at their mercy. Solidifying this power comes at the expense of the undocumented immigrants forced to endure horrendous conditions to mine the mineral or used in cruel experiments to test it, leaving their bodies wracked in extreme pain to the point of death. As the experiments ramp up, things only get worse. Rania and her fellow prisoners decide to start a revolution; if they don’t, they know they will die.
Told by four narrators—Rania, Jess (a former teenage Deportation Force officer), Vali, and Vali’s mother, Liliana—Solis is about the courage and sacrifice it takes to stand and fight for freedom.
Paola Mendoza is an author, film director, activist, and artist working at the leading edge of human rights. A co-founder of the Women’s March, she served as its artistic director. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Huffington Post, Glamour, Elle and InStyle. Paola is a co-founder of The Resistance Revival Chorus, The Soze Agency and The Meteor.
Called a “beacon of hope for transgender people around the country,” Chase Strangio is Deputy Director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project and a nationally recognized expert on transgender rights. Chase litigates extensively in federal and state courts across the country and defends the rights of LGBTQ people before state legislative bodies.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Democracy Center at the Japanese American Museum
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 100 North Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Book Launch: E.B. Asher, with Guests & This Will Be Fun at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Join us for the launch of E.B. Asher’s romance novel This Will Be Fun.
The author will be in conversation with Bridget Morrissey, Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka.A book signing will follow the event.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3806 Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
At Skylight: Jeff Vandermeer, with Sarah Rose Etter, & Absolution at Skylight – In-Person Event
Jeff Vandermeer, in conversation with Sarah Rose Etter, will discuss his novel Absolution, the surprise fourth volume in his Southern Reach series in one of the most popular speculative fiction series.
Structured in three parts, each recounting a new expedition, Absolution is a brilliant, beautiful, and ever-terrifying plunge into unique and fertile literary territory. There are some long-awaited answers here, to be sure, but also more questions, and profound new surprises. It is the final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time.
Jeff Vandermeer is the author of Hummingbird Salamander; the Borne novels (Borne, The Strange Bird, and Dead Astronauts); and the Southern Reach series (Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance , and Absolution), the first volume of which won the Nebula Award and the Shirley Jackson Award and was adapted into a movie by Alex Garland. He has spoken at MIT, Columbia, Yale, and Vanderbilt, and gave the 2024 John Hersey Memorial Address at the Key West Literary Seminar. Environmental nonfiction by VanderMeer has appeared in Time, The Nation, and Esquire, among other publications. VanderMeer founded the Sunshine State Biodiversity Group nonprofit in 2023. He lives in Florida with his wife, Ann, and cat, Neo.
Sarah Rose Etter is the author of Ripe, the chapbook Tongue Party, and The Book of X, winner of a Shirley Jackson Award for best novel. Her work has appeared in Time, Guernica, BOMB, the Bennington Review, The Cut, VICE, and elsewhere. She has been awarded residences at the Jack Kerouac House, the Disquiet International program in Portugal, and the Gullkistan in Iceland. She earned her BA in English from Pennsylvania State University and her MFA in fiction from Rosemont College. She lives in Los Angeles. For more info, visit SarahRoseEtter.com.
RSVP
Where: Skylight
Date: Tuesday, the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-jeff-vandermeer-presents-absolution
Basketball Book Launch: Mirin Fader, with Mirjam Swanson, & Dream at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
It’s now the norm for NBA and collegiate teams to have international players dotting their rosters. That all started with Hakeem “the Dream” Olajuwon. He was the first international player to win the MVP, which is hard to believe now considering the last time an American‑born player won it was in 2018.
In Dream, award-winning hoops journalist Mirin Fader explores this phenomenal shift through the lens of what Olajuwon accomplished throughout the 1980s and ‘90s. Dream ignites nostalgia for Phi Slama Jama and “the Dream Shake,” while also exploring the profound influence of Olajuwon’s commitment to Islam on his approach to life and basketball, and how his devotion to his faith inspired generations of Muslim people around the world.
Olajuwon’s ongoing work with NBA Africa, his status as an international ambassador for the game, and his consultations with today’s brightest stars, from LeBron James to Giannis Antetokounmpo, brings the story right up to the present moment, and beyond. Synthesizing hundreds of interviews and in-depth research, Fader provides the definitive biography of Olajuwon as well as a crucial understanding of his pivotal impact on the ever-shifting game.
Get your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
It’s now the norm for NBA and collegiate teams to have international players dotting their rosters. The Olympics are no longer a gimme for Team USA. Both via fans streaming from all over the globe and leagues starting in countries throughout the world, the international presence of the game of basketball is a force to be reckoned with.
That all started with Hakeem “the Dream” Olajuwon. He was the first international player to win the MVP, which is hard to believe now considering the last time an American‑born player won it was in 2018. Award-winning hoops journalist Mirin Fader explores this phenomenal shift through the lens of what Olajuwon accomplished throughout the 1980s and ‘90s. Dream ignites nostalgia for Phi Slama Jama and “the Dream Shake,” while also exploring the profound influence of Olajuwon’s commitment to Islam on his approach to life and basketball, and how his devotion to his faith inspired generations of Muslim people around the world.
Olajuwon’s ongoing work with NBA Africa, his status as an international ambassador for the game, and his consultations with today’s brightest stars, from LeBron James to Giannis Antetokounmpo, brings the story right up to the present moment, and beyond. Synthesizing hundreds of interviews and in-depth research, Fader provides the definitive biography of Olajuwon as well as a crucial understanding of his pivotal impact on the ever-shifting game.
Mirin Fader is a senior staff writer for The Ringer. Her first book, Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA Champion, was a New York Times Bestseller, Los Angeles Times Bestseller, Wall Street Journal Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller. She has profiled some of the NBA’s biggest stars, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, DeMar DeRozan, and LaMelo Ball, telling the backstories that have shaped some of our most complex, most dominant, heroes. Fader wrote for Bleacher Report from 2017 to 2020 and the Orange County Register from 2013 to 2017. Her work has been featured in the “Best American Sports Writing” series and honored by the Pro Basketball Writers Association, the Associated Press Sports Editors, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, the Football Writers Association of America, and the Los Angeles Press Club. She lives in Los Angeles.
Mirjam Swanson is a sports columnist for the Southern California News Group. Last year she was recognized by APSE as one of the top 10 sports columnists in the country. She’s covered everything from the NBA to the NFL, golf to action sports, city government to schools, and even the occasional bear in a backyard.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. 1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1339720241029
Sarah Anderson and Hannah Hillam Present: Adulthood is a Gift: A Celebration of Sarah’s Scribbles, and Cat People: A Comic Collection at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Sarah Anderson will discuss her book Adulthood is a Gift: A Celebration of Sarah’s Scribbles.
With 100 comics, 15 essays, and dozens of photos and sketches, the fifth Sarah’s Scribbles book offers a rare look behind the creative process of one of the most original and beloved comic artists of a generation. A comedic companion to her first book, the bestselling Adulthood is a Myth, the artwork and writing in Adulthood is a Gift! is a celebration of the many experiences and life lessons the author has picked up in her decade of making viral, relatable, and award-winning comics and books. This book also includes a sticker sheet.
Hannah Hillam will discuss her book, Cat People: A Comic Collection.
The first collection from comic artist Hannah Hillam poses the question: What if our cats were responsible for taking care of us for a change?
Following an unwitting human who finds herself in a world where humans’ and cats’ roles have reversed, Cat People examines the special and inscrutable relationship we have with our feline companions, revealing the delightful absurdities of both species along the way.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Poetry Event: Forrest Gander & Mojave Ghost at The Hammer Museum – In-Person Event
Join us to hear the poetry of Forrest Gander, presented and hosted by poet, literary critic, and UCLA Distinguished Research Professor Stephen Yenser. Cosponsored by the UCLA Department of English and UCLA Recreation.
The delicate, undaunted, disconcerting power of Forrest Gander’s work springs from the view that dimensions of experience, too often neatly segregated, intersect. He will read from Mojave Ghost, which a subtle subtitle designates A Novel Poem and which unfolds from desert walks during which he discovers the reticulations of past and present, actual and recalled, physical and spiritual—xeric and eldritch. The cover’s simple image shows a great saguaro cactus casting the shadow of a human.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Hammer Museum
Date: Tuesday the 29th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2024/poetry-forrest-gander
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert & Guest Pamela Hobart Carter – Online Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic with host Rick Lupert presents guest reader Pamela Hobart Carter and an open mic.
Pamela Hobart Carter is the author of the poetry chapbooks Behind the Scenes at the Eternal Everyday, Her Imaginary Museum, and Held Together with Tape and Glue. She is a teacher, multi-genre writer, and artist who trained as a geologist. Her plays have been read and produced in Seattle (her home), Montreal (her childhood home), and Fort Worth.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday, the 29th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt
Da Poetry Lounge Open Mic Night: Fright Night at Greenway Court – In-Person Event
The nation’s largest weekly Open Mic event is 25 years strong. At an open mic, all are welcome to share their poetry or sit in their audience.
In celebration of Halloween and good fun, on the last Tuesday of October, we encourage performers and audience members to dress up in Halloween costumes for an exciting night full of poems, costumes, and prizes! Please note that there is no specific poetry theme for this night—it functions as a regular open mic night. All ages welcome.
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 29th
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/fright-night
Storytime: How Do Dinosaurs Trick or Treat at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
Being a dinosaur for Halloween may be cool; but it’s NOT COOL to rampage through the neighborhood without any consideration for fellow trick-or-treaters! Fortunately, How Do Dinosaurs Trick Or Treat?—the latest addition to the popular How Do Dinosaurs…? series about manners and life lessons—is here to help! In addition to useful advice, we will have stickers, tattoos, activity sheets, and branded trick-or-treat bags to help li’l dinos remember to dot their Iguanodons and cross their T-Rexes as they stomp from door-to-door.
Storytime will follow a few SONGS WITH MISS MARIE!
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday the 30th
Time: 11 am
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2024-10-30/how-do-dinosaurs-say-trick-or-treat-storytime
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 30th
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: On-air Event (live)
Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/
Scary Stories for Teens at Culver City Julian Dixon Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids/Teen Event
Have a hauntingly good time at the library as you listen to scary stories from different parts of the world and make luminaria. For grades 6 – 12.
Where: Culver City Julian Dixon Branch Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 4975 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11695840
Halloween Storytime: Tami Fitzkoff & Be the Grapes at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Kids Event
Join us every Wednesday and Saturday for a storytime amongst the cozy bookstacks of Village Well! But this time it’s our special, festive Halloween edition!
Author Tami Fitzkoff will present her children’s book Be the Grapes.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Wednesday the 30th
Time: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. 1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1340720241030
Good Trouble Reading Group: No Sweetness Here at Edendale Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Participants will discuss a selection of stories from No Sweetness Here by author Alma Ata Aidoo.
Join Dr. Andrea Liss on Zoom for our next Good Trouble Reading Group. We’ll be discussing a selection of stories from No Sweetness Here by Ghanaian author and poet Ama Ata Aidoo
In this collection, Aidoo explores postcolonial life in Ghana with her well-known honesty and humor. Tradition wrestles with new urban influences as her characters try to sort out their identity in a changing culture, expressing themselves through distinct voices and speech. If there is no sweetness, there is still the salt essential to life, even if it comes from tears—and the strength that comes from a history of endurance.
RSVP:
Email eden@lapl.org and we’ll send you a link to read the story selection online, as well as the Zoom link to attend.
Where: Edendale Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Sci-Fi Book Club: Childhood’s End at Van Nuys Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join our Science Fiction Book Club where Childhood’s End by author Arthur C. Clarke will be discussed. Copies of this novel are available at the library.
Synopsis: The mysterious alien Overlords have brought peace and utopia to Earth but at what cost?
Where: Van Nuys Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 6250 Sylmar Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91401
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sci-fi-book-club-childhoods-end-arthur-c-clarke
Adult Book Club: The Great Divide at Sorenson Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Adult Book Club participants will discuss the novel The Great Divide by author Cristina Henríquez. Books are available for checkout at the library. For adults.
Where: Sorenson Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6934 Broadway Ave., Whittier, CA 90606
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11811228
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio & CATALINA at Chevalier’s – In-Person Event
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio will discuss her National Book Award Longlisted novel Catalina.
When Catalina is admitted to Harvard, it feels like the fulfillment of destiny: a miracle child escapes death in Latin America, moves to Queens to be raised by her undocumented grandparents, and becomes one of the chosen.
But nothing is simple for Catalina, least of all her own complicated, contradictory, ruthlessly probing mind. Now a senior, she faces graduation to a world that has no place for the undocumented; her sense of doom intensifies her curiosities and desires. She infiltrates the school’s elite subcultures—internships and literary journals, posh parties and secret societies—which she observes with the eye of an anthropologist and an interloper’s skepticism: she is both fascinated and repulsed.
Craving a great romance, Catalina finds herself drawn to a fellow student, an actual budding anthropologist eager to teach her about the Latin American world she was born into but never knew, even as her life back in Queens begins to unravel. And every day, the clock ticks closer to the abyss of life after graduation. Can she save her family? Can she save herself? What does it mean to be saved?
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is the author of the National Book Award finalist, The Undocumented Americans. Her work, which focuses on race, culture, and immigration, has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, Elle, n+1, The New Inquiry, Interview, and on NPR.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Chevalier’s
Date: Wednesday the 30th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 133 N, Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles , CA 90004
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/event/2024-10-30/karla-cornejo-villavicencios-catalina
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 30th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: On-air Event (live at 101.5 FM)
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Mystery & Thriller Book Club: The Golden Gate at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss the novel The Golden Gate by author Amy Chua. Books are available for checkout at the library. For adults.
RSVP:
Please email studio@lapl.org for details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 9160
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-thriller-book-club-1
Writing and Presenting Poetry in American Sign Language with Ryan Fingerle via Inlandia Institute – Online Event
(All Levels)
Alternating Wednesdays, 9/18, 10/2, 10/16, 10/30, and 11/13/24, 6:30-8:30 PM PT, on Zoom.
ASL Poetry is a FREE community enrichment workshop open to all.
Registration required. To register: https://tinyurl.com/Fall2024CWW
This introductory course is especially created for poetry lovers who want to learn how to write and present poetry in American Sign Language. It will also enhance your appreciation of poetry in both English and ASL! All are welcome–d/Deaf, HOH, and hearing–and an interpreter and closed captioning will be available. Gain confidence as a poet–and get the support and resources you need to write and present poetry in ASL.
Ryan Fingerle is a Deaf writer, poet, and educator whose love of words has no boundaries. One of her works, “Stuck in the Middle,” was published in the 2021 MUSE Literary Magazine. She presented her English poem “Connected” in ASL in front of a live audience for a National Deaf History and Poetry Month event. Ryan teaches English at Riverside City College, and her passion is helping adult students and their families enjoy the merits of both ASL and the English language.
Where: Inlandia Institute
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: Online Event
Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/my-calendar/?mc_id=2379
ALOUD Reading Series: André Aciman, with David Ulin, & Roman Year at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
André Aciman, in conversation with David Ulin, will discuss his book Roman Year.
New York Times and worldwide bestselling author of Call Me by Your Name, André Aciman comes to the ALOUD stage for the first time. Aciman will discuss his new book Roman Year with editor, book critic, and novelist David Ulin.
Roman Year is a deeply romantic coming-of-age memoir of Aciman’s time in Rome while on the cusp of adulthood, after his family is expelled from Egypt.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: ALOUD at Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lfla.org/event/roman-year/
Kate Axelrod, with Lauren Bans, & How to Get Along Without Me at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Kate Axelrod, in conversation with Lauren Bans, will discuss her book of stories How to Get Along Without Me.
How to Get Along Without Me is a collection that summons the perversity and poignance of twenty-something dating lives from a bracingly wry and honest new literary voice. In a world designed for couples, the protagonists of these interconnected stories have easy access to acquaintances with benefits but no paths to emotional intimacy.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/kate-axelrod
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 the Palms Up Academy curriculum and manifests their mission statement in a physical (and digital) space.
Join them 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 30th
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
Romance Book Club with Special Guest Kate Stayman-London at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
Information TBA.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/2024-10-30/romance-book-club-special-guest-kate-stayman-london
At Skylight: Luis Jaramillo, with Liz Brown, & The Witches of El Paso at Skylight – In-Person Event
Luis Jaramillo, in conversation with Liz Brown, will discuss his novel, The Witches of El Paso.
In this book a lawyer and her elderly great-aunt use their supernatural gifts to find a lost child in this richly imagined and empowering story of motherhood, magic, and legacy in the vein of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina and La Hacienda.
If you call to the witches, they will come.
1943, El Paso, Texas: teenager Nena spends her days caring for the small children of her older sisters, while longing for a life of freedom and adventure. The premonitions and fainting spells she has endured since childhood are getting worse, and Nena worries she’ll end up like the scary old curandera down the street. Nena prays for help, and when the mysterious Sister Benedicta arrives late one night, Nena follows her across the borders of space and time. In colonial Mexico, Nena grows into her power, finding love and learning that magic always comes with a price.
Luis Jaramillo is the author of The Witches of El Paso and the award-winning short story collection, The Doctor’s Wife. His writing has appeared in LitHub, BOMB Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, and other publications. He is an assistant professor of creative writing at The New School. He received an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and an MFA from The New School. Find out more at LuisJaramillo.com.
Liz Brown is the author of Twilight Man: Love and Ruin in the Shadows of Hollywood and the Clark Empire. Her writing has appeared in Bookforum, Elle Decor, London Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, New York Times Book Review, Slate, T Magazine, and elsewhere.
Where: Skylight
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-luis-jaramillo-presents-witches-el-paso-w-liz-brown
Marina Diamonds, with Ashley Uzer, & Eat the World at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Marina Diamonds, in conversation with Ashley Uzer, will discuss her collection of poems, Eat the World.
For the first time, platinum-certified singer-songwriter Marina shares her singular observations of the human heart through poetry.
Marina’s talent for powerful, evocative song lyrics finds a new outlet in her poetry. Each poem resonates with the same creative melodies and emotional depth that have made her an artistic sensation. Hailed by The New York Times for “redefining songs about coming of age, and the aftermath, with bluntness and crafty intelligence,” Marina delves even further into trauma, youth, and the highs and lows of relationships in these profound, autobiographical poems to form a collection that transcends the boundaries of music and literature.
MARINA is an award-winning, platinum-selling singer-songwriter who burst on to the scene in 2009. She has since released five acclaimed albums including The Family Jewels (2010), Electra Heart (2012), which debuted at Number 1 on the UK’s Official Charts, Froot (2015), Love + Fear (2019), which debuted Top 5 in the UK and Top 10 on the U.S. Albums chart, and most recently Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land (2021), which featured the Ivor Novello-nominated hit “Man’s World.” Each of Marina’s records have been accompanied by global sell-out headline tours with shows at some of the most prestigious venues and festivals worldwide. Marina has amassed 4 billion worldwide streams and over 700 million video views. A socially engaged figure, she has given an address at the Oxford Union and has an incredibly passionate global fan base with an online following in excess of 7 million. Marina’s talent for powerful, evocative song lyrics is undeniable—for the first time she will share her observations of the human heart through poetry in Eat the World: A Collection of Poems, out October 29, 2024.
Ashley Uzer is a formerly LA-based, but currently nomadic journalist who focuses on music, sex, and other things that make people happy. Her writing has been published in Vice, DC Magazine, Bustle, Hello Giggles, and elsewhere. She previously worked as an editor at Galore Magazine.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Vroman’s at The Ebell Theatre
Date: Wednesday the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 4401 West 8th St., Los Angeles, CA 90005
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 30th
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 Event
The West Coast’s longest-running free poetry workshop is offered by Beyond Baroque 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 be prepared to share one poem.
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. An instructive video is available at the site.
The workshop can sometimes reach high levels of attendance, which means not everyone will get a chance to read every session.
The workshop facilitator this quarter is Arthur Kayzakian.
Arthur Kayzakian is the finalist for the 2024 Kate Tufts Award, and the winner of the 2021 inaugural Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series for his collection, The Book of Redacted Paintings. He is also a recipient of the 2023 creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
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-1058133839799
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg and Guest Bryn Wickerd & Fable Book Launch at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Host Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at the Ugly Mug on Wednesday Nights will feature Bryn Wickerd.
Bryn Wickerd will celebrate the launch of her book Fable.
Bryn Wickerd (They/Them) is a Poet, Preschool teacher, trained domestic violence advocate, collector of vintage books, and self-proclaimed San Fernando Valley rat. They are a co-director of the VCP SoCal Poets volunteering to curate poetry readings and festivals. Bryn is the new author of a poetry collection entitled Fable, published by Moon Tide press. Their poetry has been displayed in an ekphrastic art gallery at Whittier College, as well as being featured at numerous popular readings across Los Angeles. Bryn hopes the times are treating you gently.
$4 cover fee, cash only
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday, the 30th
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/825496823070036
Lit Angels: Morning Pages (Halloween Edition) with Melissa Pleckham at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Lit Angels offers classes that provide just that—a fun and freeing way to work out the creative muscles and eliminate the stumbling blocks that might be holding you back, not only in your writing, art, or performance projects, but in all areas of your life—uplifting and refreshing your mind and soul, improving relationships, work, and your outlook on the future. Taught by top-level working professionals, Lit Angels classes cultivate community and connection, something we all desperately need in these challenging times.
Come make some magic at the Village Well! All genres and levels are welcome!
Melissa Pleckham lives in Los Angeles with her lovely husband and their two beautiful cats, who have helped show her the true meaning of body horror with their various homicidal and scatalogical exploits. Her work has appeared in Lit Angels, Pyre Magazine, Tales from the Moonlit Path, 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.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Get your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday, the 31st
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. 1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1338220241031
Kick-Off Event for National Novel Writing Month at Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Writers assemble!
National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with a first draft. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.
We will be hosting a series of: Come Write In Drop In Spaces throughout the month of November.
Beginning the first week in November, our Community Room will be open most Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1 – 2 p.m. to provide a quiet space, water bottles and light snacks for writing your future novel.
Where: Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 31st
Time: 1 pm
Address: 21052 Devonshire St., Chatsworth, CA 91311
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/nano-come-write-kick-event
Writing Group at Donald Bruce Kauffman Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
This group offers time to focus on your writing while providing accountability and encouragement to help you keep moving forward with your projects. We are looking for writers to bring their experience and skills to the table to help other writers flourish through the challenges that come with any writing project, big or small. We welcomes writers of all genres, styles, and experience levels.
Where: Doanld Bruce Kauffman Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 31st
Time: 5:30 pm
Address: 11820 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/brentwood-writing-group-0
Nervous Ghost Press Open Mic at Brewjeria Co. Pico Rivera – In-Person Event
Nervous Ghost Open Mic will feature community guest emcee Azucena Gutierrez and a Costume Contest.
Sign up today at ghosts@nervousghostpress.org
Where: Brewjeria Co.
Date: Thursday, the 31st
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 4937 Durfee Ave., Pico Rivera, CA 90660
Website: https://www.nervousghostpress.org/openmic
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 1st
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event
First Fridays Book Club at Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Call the Memorial Branch at 323-938-2732 to find out the month’s featured title.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Friday, the 1st
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Address: 4625 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/first-fridays-book-club
Fire Open Mic Night at Los Angeles LGBT Center – Center South – In-Person Event
Calling all talented individuals all around LA!
Get ready to shine at our Lit Life Fire Open Mic Night!
Join us on the first Friday of the month from 5pm to 7pm for an unforgettable evening of self-expression, laughter, and amazing performances.
Whether you’re a poet, singer, comedian, or have a hidden talent waiting to be unveiled, this is your chance to take the stage and show the people what you got!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Los Angeles LGBT Center – Center South
Date: Friday, the 1st
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 2313 West Martin Luther King Junior Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fire-open-mic-nights-tickets-807399181687
Darrell McNeill, with Michael Mabern, & The Isley Brothers’ 3+3 (33 1/3) at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Darrell M. MacNeill, in conversation with Michael Mabern, will discuss his book, The Isley Brothers’ 3+3 (33 1/3).
The Isley Brothers’ 3+3, dissects The Isleys’ 50-year-old undisputed masterwork, an album that firmly established their music dynasty on a global scale, as well as heralding the boldest run of genre-defiant albums of their 67-year career.
The book looks at the album from all angles: from The Isleys’ early career to their influence on rock and rollers both Black and White, from the twists and turns of having national hits without national recognition, on to their decision to form T-Neck Records and the group’s challenges navigating a music industry that racially codified music and hampered Black artists from universal acclaim and compensations. Finally, a summation of the decades follows The Isleys’ run and its ups and downs, with a fast-forward to where the group is now after 67 years.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday, the 1st
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/darrell-mcneil
At Skylight: Poupeh Missaghi presents The Sound Museum at Skylight – In-Person Event
Poupeh Missaghi will discuss her book, The Sound Museum.
Join us for a combination of fiction and documentation as a Sound Museum fearlessly interrogates state-sanctioned violence and the psychology—and banality—of evil.
In Iran, a curator has gathered foreign journalists for a VIP tour of her latest creation. As the guests sit to listen to her initial remarks, she shares the struggles she’s faced in bringing together this exhibition—especially the gender inequity she’s battled for her entire career.
But the Sound Museum is no ordinary institution. It is a museum of torture, wrought from the audio recordings pulled from interrogation rooms and prison cells. And the curator—her unbroken monologue drifting through fieldwork examples, case studies, archives, philosophy, and dreams—is only too happy to share her part in this globe-spanning industry.
With sensuous and lyrical prose, Sound Museum bears witness while calling into question the act of witnessing, underlining complicities in systems of power and drawing the reader into the uncomfortable position of confronting one woman’s psyche: evil, yet completely blind to her own depravity.
Poupeh Missaghi is a writer, editor, and translator (between English and Persian). Her debut novel trans(re)lating house one was published in 2020 (Coffee House Press). Her translations include I’ll be Strong for You by Nasim Marashi (Astra House, 2021) and In the Streets of Tehran by Nila (Ithaka Press, 2023), as well as forthcoming Boys of Love by Ghazi Rabihavi (University of Wisconsin Press, 2024). She is currently an assistant professor of English and Literary Arts at the University of Denver, and a faculty mentor at the Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, OR.
Where: Skylight
Date: Friday, the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-poupeh-missaghi-presents-sound-museum
Tia Chucha’s Monthly Open Mic Night at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – In-Person Event
Tia Chucha’s Open Mic Night is held every first Friday of the month, 7pm – 9pm.
Contact info: Zacarias@TIACHUCH.ORG 818-939-3433 or www.tiachucha.org.
Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore
Date: Friday, the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBKHMPtzOnO/?hl=en&img_index=1
M.T. Anderson & Nicked at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Celebrated author M.T. Anderson will present and discuss his new book Nicked.
From the award-winning and bestselling author of Feed comes a raucous and slyly funny adult fiction debut. Based on a bizarre but true quest to steal the mystical corpse of a long-dead saint, Nicked is a fantastical, genre-defying, and delightfully queer historical romp.
The year is 1087, and a pox is sweeping through the Italian city of Bari. When a lowly monk is visited by Saint Nicholas in his dreams, he interprets the vision as a call to serve the sick. But his superiors, and the power brokers they serve, have different plans for the tender-hearted Brother Nicephorus.
Enter Tyun, a charismatic treasure hunter renowned for “liberating” holy relics from their tombs. The seven-hundred-year-old bones of Saint Nicholas are rumored to weep a mysterious liquid that can heal the sick, Tyun says. For the humble price of a small fortune, he will steal the bones and deliver them to Bari, curing the plague and restoring glory to the fallen city. And Nicephorus, the “dreamer,” will be his guide.
What follows is a heist for the ages, as Nicephorus is swept away on strange tides, and alongside even stranger bedfellows, to commit sacrilegious theft. Based on real historical accounts, Nicked is a swashbuckling saga, a medieval novel noir, a meditation on the miraculous, and a monastic meet-cute, filled with wide-eyed wonder at the world that awaits beyond our own borders.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Friday the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2024-11-01/mt-anderson-discusses-nicked
Children’s Literature Council of Southern California Awards Ceremony 2024 at Once Upon a Time Off-site at Luminares Restaurant, Monrovia – In-Person Event
Join Children’s Literature Council of Southern California in celebrating the 2024 CLCSC Award Winners.
Congratulate our 2024 Award Winners:
Excellence in Picture Book:
In Every Life by Marla Frazee
Excellence in Juvenile Fiction:
The Fire, the Water, and Maudie McGinn by Sally J. Pla
Delicious Middle Grade Novel to Devour:
The Takeout by Tracy Badua
Peggy Miller Award for Young Adult Literature:
Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian
Distinguished Body of Work:
Dan Santat
Dorothy C. McKenzie Award for Distinguished Service to the Field of Children’s Literature:
MiJa Books – Stephanie Moran Reed and Muammar Reed
Books by the award winners will be available for preorder through Once Upon a Time Bookstore. The last day to pre-order books is Tuesday, October 29th. The shop will have a VERY limited number of additional books available at the event. After awards presentation and winners’ speeches, the creators will be signing their books. You may also bring their books that you already own. For book order questions, please email Maureen@onceupona.com.
A brunch menu will be served, and any vegan/vegetarian meal requests need to be communicated to the venue by October 20, 2024, so please register to ensure your request is included by that date.
Proceeds from the silent auction will benefit Children’s Literature Council of Southern California, a 501(c)3 organization.
Free parking is available in the restaurant lot.
NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Saturday, the 26th
Time: 10 am – 12 pm
Address: 3500 W. Ramona Blvd., Monterey Park, CA 91754
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/CLCSC-awards-ceremony-2024
Storytime with Jocelyn Chung & When Love Is More Than Words at Southeast Branch Library, Torrence – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Join us as we celebrate National Picture Book Month with a special visit from local author Jocelyn Chung!
Jocelyn Chung’s debut picture book, When Love is More Than Words, is a wonderful story about a family who shows their love in a multitude of ways. This all-ages family program is presented in partnership with Bel Canto Books.
More information coming soon!
Where: Bel Canto Books at Southeast Library
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 10 am
Address: Southeast Branch Library, 23115 Arlington Ave., Torrance, CA 90501
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events
Celebrate Dia de Los Muertos at Children’s Book World – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Join us to celebrate Dia de Los Muertos with a bilingual dance party with a concert by Baila Baila with Isabel Brazon and a wide selection of books about Dia de Los Muertos from ABC Children’s Group Best Books for Young Readers.
Where: Children’s Book World
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 10:30 am
Address: 10580 1/2 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Website: https://www.childrensbookworld.com/event/baila-baila-isabel-brazon-mini-concert
Middle School Book Club: No Place Like Home at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person MG Event
Join Middle School Book Club participants to discuss No Place Like Home by author James Bird. For ages 11 – 14.
When home is a car, life is unpredictable. School, friends, and three meals a day aren’t guaranteed. Opin, his brother Emjay, and their mother are trying to get to Los Angeles, where they hope an uncle and a new life are waiting. Emjay has taken to disappearing for days, slowing down the family’s progress and adding to their worry. Then Opin finds a stray dog who needs him as much as he needs her, and his longing for a stable home intensifies, as his brother’s reckless ways hit a new high. Opin makes a new friend in the shelter, but shelters don’t allow dogs. Will anything other than a real home ever be enough?
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 11 am
Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11779399
Saturday Book Discussion: Same Bed Different Dreams at Palms – Ranch Park Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us every first Saturday of the month for wide-ranging conversations. Copies are available at reference and as ebooks. This is our second year reading off of the New York Times “100 Notable Books” of the year.
November 2: Same Bed Different Dreams by author Ed Park.
Where: Palms Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 11 am
Address: 2920 Overland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/saturday-book-discussion
Book Club: The Wager at Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join the discussion of The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, a nonfiction title by David Grann.
Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 11 am
Address: 1874 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-12
Kids Storytime with Dan McCauley & Thank You World at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Kids Event
Designed for ages 4-9, this shorter version of the Thank You, World workshop uses scaffolded black-and-white scenes where children can draw themselves and their families into the environment, color it in, and reflect on what they are grateful for. By the end, each child will have created a beautiful scene filled with things they appreciate in nature—whether it’s trees, oceans, or the night sky.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., 1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1343120241102
Lost in Translation: The Impact of the Hollywood Production Code on Literature at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
From the 1930s-1960s, the Hollywood Studio System was unmatched in taking literary works and creating timeless images on celluloid. However, because of the stringent moral Production Code and Hollywood’s obsession with a happy ending, the source material for many of these films was often diluted and manipulated, rendering the finished film far less interesting than a story’s original incarnation. Join us as we explore the source material for three iconic Hollywood films, whose content was dialed down for the Silver Screen by the constraints of the Production Code.
Works to be discussed are A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote.
The program will be presented by Christina Rice, Senior Librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection and author of Ann Dvorak: Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel (2013, University Press of Kentucky) and Mean…Moody…Magnificent! Jane Russell and the Marketing of a Hollywood Legend (2021, University Press of Kentucky).
RSVP:
Reservations not required. Seating is first-come, first-serve
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Art Department
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 2 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/lost-translation-impact-hollywood-production-code-literature
Sawtelle Inspired Zine Workshop at West Los Angeles Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a celebration of independent voices and the Sawtelle Neighborhood. At this hands-on workshop, you will learn how to make your own zine while also learning about the Sawtelle neighborhood. While the workshop is open to anyone interested in making zines, this special workshop will highlight the rich history and local community of the Sawtelle neighborhood. We welcome people to bring photos and stories about their experiences in the community. Maybe it’s your favorite restaurant on Sawtelle; maybe it is a story about growing up in the neighborhood; maybe it is pulling off your first Ollie at the Courthouse. At the end of this collaborative workshop, you will have the opportunity to add your zine to our Library collection.
Where: West L. A. Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 11360 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sawtelle-inspired-zine-workshop
Author Talk: Susan H. Kamei & When Can We Go Back to America? Voices of Japanese American Incarceration During World War II at Rosemead Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Susan H. Kamei joins us for a discussion of her powerful book When Can We Go Back to America? Voices of Japanese American Incarceration During World War II. A Q&A will follow Susan’s presentation.
Through her compelling narrative, Susan H. Kamei explores the personal stories of incarcerees who endured life in desolate detention camps, foregrounding the resilience and strength of the Japanese American community during a dark chapter in U.S. history. Join us to not only honor their voices but to reflect on the enduring lessons of injustice and the importance of safeguarding civil liberties for all.
Recognized as one of our country’s most prominent scholars on the Japanese American incarceration, Susan H. Kamei is the author of the award-winning book When Can We Go Back to America? Voices of Japanese American Incarceration during World War II, published by Simon & Schuster. She has appeared in broadcasts by NPR, C-SPAN, BBC, France 24, and NBC, and her articles have been published in the Los Angeles Times and in more than 50 newspapers in syndication. She created and teaches a popular undergraduate course on the relevance of the incarceration today at USC, where she is adjunct professor (teaching) of history and the managing director of the USC Spatial Sciences Institute.
For Teens and Adults.
Where: Rosemead Library, LACL
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 8800 Valley Blvd., Rosemead, CA 91770
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11984814
Reading Series: Literature Is Community: Shonda Buchanan, Sakae Manning, Suhasini Yeeda at NoHo First UMC – In-Person Event
Join us for the 3rd NoHoFUMC Courtyard Reading Series
This season’s theme is gratitude, family, and ancestors and features poet and writers Shonda Buchanan (Black Indian), Suhasini Yeeda (essayist, writer), and Sakae Manning (Making Waves: An Anthology of Writings by and about Asian American Women).
At the end all are invited to stay to buy books from the readers, shop with BookEnds Pop-Up Book store, and enjoy some light refreshments and fellowship. This event is free and all are welcome!
Where: NoHo First UMC Courtyard
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 3 pm
Address: 4832 Tujunga Ave., N. Hollywood, CA 91601
Website: https://nohofumc.org/event/literature-is-community/
Author Talk: John Y. Fernandez & Towards Unity & Political Empowerment for US Mexicans, Chicanos, Latinos, Chicano Resource Center, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us with Author Dr. John Y. Fernandez as he discusses his guidebook which addresses the underrepresentation U.S. Mexican, Chicanx and Latinx communities in the U.S. political sphere.
Where: Chicano Resource Center, LACL
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 4837 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90022
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11864336
Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series and Open Mic at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us in-person or via Zoom for Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series, featuring poetry readings and open poetry mic.
RSVP:
Please email studio@lapl.org for participation details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address:12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/expressions-la-poetry-reading-series-and-open-mic-2
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Poetry Writing Workshop with Gia Civerolo – Online Event
Poetry Writing Workshop led by Gia Civerolo (Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines including the subject of or at least mentioning dead or days for Four Feathers Press online edition: Dead Days by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59pm, November 15th).
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Words…A Literary Reading & Open Mic with Erica Blumfield at The Glendale Room – In-Person Event
Come hear LA’s finest writers share their words. Fiction, Nonfiction, Memoir, Poetry. featured Spot + 10 Open Mic Spots (6 mins).
Where: The Glendale Room
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 3:30 pm – 5 pm
Address: 127 Artsakh Ave., Glendale, CA 91206
Website: https://www.theglendaleroom.com/calendar
Pond Water Society Event: Rick Lupert & Courtney Montgomery & Surprise Guest at Private Residence – In-Person Event
We paint, we write, we read, we create things, we talk, we listen.
We want to bring like-minded people together for mutual benefit, support and to entertain each other in general.
Hosted by Joanne Qualey Baines, this reading will feature: Rick Lupert and Courtney Montgomery and a surprise guest!
Where: Pond Water Society
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 5 pm – 9 pm
Address: 16504 E. Masline St., Covina, CA 91722
Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PondWater/
Celebrating 56 Years: The Beyond Gala Event & Fundraiser with Beyond Baroque at Playa Studios, Culver City – In-Person & Livestream Hybrid Event
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center celebrates its 56th Anniversary and will host its Gala event at Playa Studios in Culver City.
About the MC:
Beth Lapides is best known as the host and producer of the legendary and long-unning UnCabaret. She has shepherded UnCabaret through projects with Comedy Central, Amazon, HBO’s Comedy Art Festival, The Skirball Center, Just for Laughs, and many more.
About the Honorees:
George Drury Smith Award
Sesshu Foster – Poet, Novelist
Sesshu Foster, one of the most significant “poets of place” of our time, rooted in East Los Angeles, will receive the George Drury Smith Award for an astonishing body of work, including City Terrace Field Manual, World Ball Notebook, and City of the Future.
Distinguished Service Award
Ashaki M. Jackson – Writer; Publisher, The Offing; Cofounder, Women Who Submit
Douglas Messerli – Writer; Founder & Publisher, Green Integer Books, Sun & Moon Press
Ashaki M. Jackson and Douglas Messerli will each receive a Distinguished Service Award for their extraordinary contributions to the Los Angeles literary community. Jackson, a major force in promoting writers of color, co-founded L.A. literary nonprofit Women Who Submit and is the publisher of The Offing magazine. Douglas Messerli, a leader of the avant garde in world literature over the last 40 years, is the founder and publisher of Green Integer Books and Sun & Moon Press.
Special Recognition Award
Exene Cervenka & John Doe – Poets; Cofounders of the band X
Exene Cervenka & John Doe, currently on tour in support of X the band’s final studio album, “Smoke & Fiction,” will each receive a Special Recognition Award for their impact on poetry and music. This recognition marks a coming-home moment for both Cervenka and Doe, who first met in Beyond Baroque’s renowned Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop before cofounding the seminal Los Angeles rock band.
Cocktail Reception & Silent Auction
Our cocktail reception will welcome you to our evening of impact with delicious craft cocktails courtesy of NEFT Vodka and wine from our curation of local wineries. This year’s Silent Auction will feature contemporary art, exclusive packages, and other exciting items and will go live prior to the Gala! Follow us on social media at @bblitarts for updates and auction item previews!
Awards Dinner & Music Performances
The evening will feature our 2024 honorees, including a performance by Exene Cervenka & John Doe of X.
Step Inside Our Own Pop-Up Bookstore!
For one evening only, The Beyond Gala welcomes you into our pop-up bookstore featuring rare titles from our own, famed Scott Wannberg Bookstore in Venice Beach, curated by our own Beyond Baroque staff, as well as works from our 2024 honorees. Need to stock up on stocking stuffers for the holidays? We’ll also have our fun Beyond Baroque signature merchandise available at our pop-up bookstore!
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Playa Studios
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 6 pm | Cocktails, Silent Auction
7 PM | Awards, Dinner, Performances
Address: 11260 Playa Ct., Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://givebutter.com/c/beyondgala
Georgia Jeffries, with Terry Shames, & The Younger Girl at The Book Jewel – In-Person Event
Georgia Jeffries, in conversation with Terry Shames, will discuss her book The Younger Girl: A dark Labyrinth of family betrayal.
Based on a true crime, The Younger Girl combines historical fiction and supernatural suspense to unravel a thrilling tale of family betrayal and redemption.
Where: The Book Jewel
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6259 W. 8th St., Westchester, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://georgiajeffries.com/events/
Jazz Revolutionary: In Conversation with Jonathon Grasse at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Jonathon Grasse, in conversation with Jeff Schwartz, will discuss his new book, Jazz Revolutionary.
Author and composer Jonathon Grasse will discuss his new book Jazz Revolutionary in conversation with musician and writer Jeff Schwartz. The duo will discuss their collective connection to jazz legend Eric Dolphy and his under-sung history. Don’t miss the launch of the first biography of jazz’s first true multi-instrumentalist.
Reserve your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday, the 2nd
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd., 1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1343120241102
Lit Lit 2024: (little Literary Fair) at Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB) at The Pit – In-Person Event
Los Angeles Review of Books announces the return of LITLIT (the Little Literary Fair), a free celebration of independent publishers from all over the West Coast. On November 2 at The Pit in Glendale, LITLIT will return with small presses and vendors from all over Los Angeles and the West Coast. Shop local presses, enter our raffle giveaways, and enjoy refreshments from local vendors. LITLIT will also feature four panels throughout the day, spotlighting authors, publishers, and other folks involved in literary work on the West Coast.
Panels include:
Writing for Your People at 11:30 am: Featuring:
Liliana Anguiano, Sabrina B.L. Ellis, Ren Heintz, Anna Jensen, Dr. Bidhan Cahndra Roy, and moderated y Summer Kim Lee.
Bodies & The Literary Landscape at 1 pm: Featuring:
Sarah Rose Etter, Sarah La Brie, Emma Specter, Allison Miriam Woodruff, and moderated by Paul Thompson.
On Adaptation at 4:30 pm; Featuring:
Viet Thanh Nguyen, Anna Dorn, Jane Hu, Jonathan Ames, and moderated by Paul Thompson.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: LARB at The Pit LA
Date: Saturday the 2nd
Time: 10 am – 6 pm
Address: 3015 Dolores St., Los Angeles, CA 90065
Website: https://lareviewofbooks.org/event/litlit-2024/
Melrose Trading Post Event by Greenway Arts Alliance at Melrose Trading Post at Fairfax H.S. – In-Person Event
The Melrose Trading Post is a pioneering arts-based marketplace held every Sunday at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, CA with 275 local creative small business vendors, delicious food booths and local live music.
MTP was founded in 1997 with a mission to champion small businesses, art and community. The market funds Greenway Arts Alliance’s arts education programming and provides employment and leadership development opportunities for students at Fairfax High School.
NOTE: Check every Sunday for story time and reading events
Where: Melrose Trading Post, Greenway Main Stage at Fairfax HS
Date: Sunday, the 2nd (Every Sunday)
Time: 10 am – 5 pm
Address: 7850 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046
Website: https://melrosetradingpost.org/tickets/
Lit Angeles – Mindful Mornings: Journaling Workshop at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Growth Club is a dynamic community for high achievers redefining success on their terms.
Join us for a weekly journaling event to reflect, write, and connect with our inner selves and each other. Designed for those who seek to slow down and find clarity in the chaos of everyday life.
We’ll guide you through prompts that inspire deep introspection and personal growth. Whether you’re a seasoned journaler or new to the practice, this event is a safe haven to express your thoughts, set intentions and uncover the wisdom within.
Bring your favorite journal and a pen and be ready to dive into an enriching experience that nurtures your mind, body, and soul.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Get your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Sunday, the 2nd
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. 1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events
Julie Schnieders & A Hunt for Bugs at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
Julie Schnieders will present her children’s book A Hunt for Bugs.
What is Charlie to do on a rainy day after his iPad no longer works? Bored, Charlie wants magic, adventure, and even to slay a dragon When a rainbow suddenly appears, Charlie steps outside to take a sensory journey through his neighborhood discovering the sights, sounds, and smell of nature. On his walk, Charlie learns much more about the world around him than he would have just playing video games.
Julie Schnieders grew up in South Pasadena, California, where her family settled over 100 years ago. As a child her parents took her hiking in the local mountains and on vacation at the beach where she collected seashells by the dozens. Her dad owned an ice cream business and candy shop—a child’s dream! Her early childhood memories fostered in her a love of nature, exploration, and of course, a sweet tooth!
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Sunday, the 2nd
Time: 12 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2024-11-03/julie-schnieders-discusses-hunt-bugs
Mystery Book Club: TBA at West L.A. Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
We meet on the first Sunday of each month to discuss a mystery, thriller, or suspense book picked by the group. For current titles, please contact the West LA Library at westla@lapl.org or 310-575-8323.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: West L.A. Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Sunday the 3rd
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 11360 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-32
La Palabra Reading Series at Avenue 50 Studios – In-Person Event
La Palabra Reading Series event was moved this month from the last/ 4th Sunday of the month to this date to account for Thanksgiving.
Details TBA.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Avenue 50 Studios
Date: Sunday the 3rd
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 131 N. Avenue 50, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://avenue50studio.org/monthly-event-calendar
Personal Finance Workshop: Save My Cents at Bel Canto KUBO – In-Person Event
Participants will enjoy a personal finance workshop with Shang Saavedra of Save My Cents.
Learn more about Wealth is a Mindset by Shang Saavedra. More event information coming soon!
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Bel Canto Books, KUBO LB
Date: Sunday the 3rd
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events
Sunday Jump: Reading Series & Open Mic at the Pilipino Workers Center – In-Person Event
Sunday Jump is an arts organization at Pilipino Workers Center in LA’s Historic Filipinotown. Open mics are 1st Sundays, 5-7 pm. May – Nov. This is the last meeting of 2024.
Our theme for this season is HiFi IS NOW because the community is as vibrant and diverse as ever. This is your invitation to be a part of the neighborhood’s history today.
Arrive early for pre-show activities and vendors. Open mic lottery sign-up starts at 4:30 PM. We stream LIVE on YouTube and Twitch with stage and audience views. Hop onto the chat from anywhere and connect.
Join the longest running Filipino/a/x-founded open mic series in Historic Filipinotown. Our two community guidelines are express, not impress, and free speech, not hate speech. All are welcome.
NOTE: See sit for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Pilipino Workers Center
Date: Sunday, the 3rd
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 153 Glendale Blvd., 1st Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sunday-jump-open-mic-series-tickets-879264984237
Queer Romance Book Club: Triple Sec at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Join us for October’s Queer Romance Book Club to discuss Triple Sec by author TJ Alexander.
Everyone is welcome.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 3rd
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 3806 Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
The Dazed and Confused Poetry Club: AKoldPiece at The Glendale Room – In-Person Event
Fernando Funes presents The Dazed and Confused Poetry Club & Open Mic on the 1st Sunday of the month.
And this is an extra special show because we’ll be celebrating the birthday of AKoldPiece, a great LA poet and community fixture!
AKoldPiece—It was his dad who told him to write what he wanted to say down because he noticed when AKoldPiece read aloud he didn’t stutter. It was on that day that he became a writer. He began to write everything down. AKoldPiece started studying the dictionary & reading everything that he could get his hands on. He learned that the two had to go together so he could know how to use the words that he was memorizing out of the dictionary.
Featuring:
AKoldPiece (headliner)
Yano Rose
Maestro Gamin
RHiPS
And we got an open mic!
Everyone is welcome.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Glendale Room
Date: Sunday the 3rd
Time: 8:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 127 N. Artesia Ave., Glendale, CA 91206
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dazed-and-confused-poetry-club-2024-tickets-815625045467
Los Angeles Literature 