Robertson Writers Group at Robertson Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Writing a book, poem, or screenplay? Need deadlines? Want constructive feedback? Then this is the place for you.
Bring 5 – 10 double spaced typed pages to read. Everyone will get a chance to read.
This group mostly meets in person, but email rbrtsn@lapl.org if you’d prefer to join via Zoom
Where: Robertson Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 18th
Time: 11 am
Address: 1719 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/robertson-writers-group-0
Mystery Book Club: Firekeeper’s Daughter at Lake Los Angeles Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Mystery Book Club participants will discuss Firekeeper’s Daughter by author Angeline Boulley.
Copies of the book are available at customer service desk for checkout. For Adults.
Where: Lake Los Angeles Library, LACL
Date: Monday the 18th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 16921 E Ave O, #A, Palmdale, CA 93591
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12061761
Philosophical Horror Book Club: The Wishing Pool and Other Stories at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the classic book The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by author Tananarive Due.
The Wishing Pool and Other Stories includes offerings of horror, science fiction, and suspense―all genres she wields masterfully. From the mysterious, magical town of Gracetown to the aftermath of a pandemic to the reaches of the far future, Due’s stories all share a sense of dread and fear balanced with heart and hope.
Tananrive Due is an award-winning author who teaches Black horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA. Her stories have been featured on LeVar Burton Reads and Realm, and she is an executive producer on Shudder’s documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. Due and her husband/collaborator, Steven Barnes, wrote for Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone and for Shudder’s anthology film Horror Noire. They also cowrote the Black Horror graphic novel The Keeper, illustrated by Marco Finnegan. Due and Barnes cohost a podcast, Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Monday the 18th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event
Book Club: Circe at Robertson Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss November’s selection, Circe by author Madeline Miller.
New members are welcome! Print copies of each book will be available for checkout in the branch beginning three weeks prior to the book club meeting date.
Where: Robertson Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 18th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 1719 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/robertson-readers-book-club-4
Jane Garrett & John Willie: A Bizarre Life at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Jane Garrett will present and discuss her book, John Willie: A Bizarre Life.
With his iconic art and the groundbreaking content of his Bizarre magazine, John Willie is perhaps the person most responsible for introducing fetish style to the mainstream. Illustrated with examples of John’s work, this in-depth exploration puts the spotlight on the man behind the drawings of buxom beauties and the photographs of expertly executed erotic bondage, delving into many defiant and diverse changes.
Ahead of his time, John’s influences can still be seen in the worlds of art and fashion, and he was an advocate for freedom of expression in dress, gender identity, and sexuality—issues that are still hotly debated today. Drawing heavily from John’s extensive interactions with researchers at the Kinsey Institute, Garrett provides a close-up portrait of the artist whose ideas have fed the erotic fantasies of generations of people.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 18th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/jane-garrett
Book Event: Tarah DeWitt, with Falon Ballard, & The Co-op at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Tarah DeWitt, in conversation with Falon Ballard, will discuss her new romance novel The Co-op.
This is a ticketed event and signing. See website for details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Monday, the 18th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodice.com/events-and-tickets
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 Literary Arts Center – Online event
Date: Monday the 18th
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-1080361172349
Under Mic Influence: Featured Readings & Open Mic at LB Unified – In-Person Event
If you need an open mic, beautiful people, tasty eats, dope inspiration, good libations, and good vibrations, we have you covered!
Join host Kuahmel Alyeeus KuahAllah and @djkevjam for poetry, Open Mic, rare grooves, cocktails, tasty bites.
Every 1st & 3rd Monday of the month.
Featured guest TBA.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: LB Unified
Date: Monday the 18th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm (Doors at 7:30 pm)
Address: 2222 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, CA 90804
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/under-mic-influence-tickets-595248092067
LiveTalks LA Presents: Riley Keough, with Taylor Jenkins Reid, & From Here to the Great Unknown at New Roads School – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event – LIVE Event SOLD OUT
Born to an American icon and raised in the wilds of Graceland, Lisa Marie Presley tells her whole story for the first time in this raw, riveting, one-of-a-kind memoir faithfully completed by her daughter, Riley Keough.
Join actor and producer Riley Keough for a one-of-a-kind conversation as she pays tribute to her mother Lisa Marie Presley’s incredible memory. Joined by a special guest, Keough will dive into a legendary tale of celebrity, family ties, the highs and lows of fame, love, grief, and the unbreakable bond between a mother and daughter.
Elvis Presley’s only child spent years recording countless hours of riveting, raw, and breathtakingly vulnerable tape for her memoir. After Lisa Marie died in 2023, her daughter Riley dedicated herself to completing the unfinished work. In From Here to the Great Unknown, Riley’s voice joins with her mother’s to tell a breathtaking story.
Taylor Jenkins Reid is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including Carrie Soto Is Back, Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their daughter
Where: Ann & Jerry Moss Theatre at New Roads School
Date: Monday the 18th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 3131 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404
(Free Parking available at the venue)
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/riley-keough/
At Skylight: Midnight Release Party for The City and Its Uncertain Walls, by Haruki Murakami at Skylight – In-Person Event
Join Skylight Books for a special midnight release party of Haruki Murakami’s The City and Its Uncertain Walls, featuring snacks from Milk Bar, tea from Kettl, special activities and more!
This is a ticketed, in-store event that will begin at 10 PM. Books will begin to be distributed at 12 AM.
The author will not be in attendance, and there will not be signed books available.
From the bestselling author of Norwegian Wood and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World comes a love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, and a parable for these peculiar times.
Haruki Murakami in his first book in six years, revisits a Town his readers will remember, a place where a Dream Reader reviews dreams and where our shadows become untethered from ourselves. A love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, and a parable for these strange post-pandemic times, The City and Its Uncertain Walls is a singular and towering achievement by one of modern literature’s most important writers.
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into more than fifty languages, and one of the most recent of his many international honors is the Cino Del Duca World Prize, whose previous recipients include Jorge Luis Borges, Ismail Kadare, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Joyce Carol Oates.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Monday the 18th
Time: 10 pm – 12 am
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/midnight-murakami
Virtual Book Club: Wandering Stars via La Crescenta Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss November’s selection, Wandering Stars by author 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.
Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 12th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11752111
Celina’s Scribes Workshop with Wil Clarke via Inlandia Institute – Online Event
(All Levels)
Tuesdays, 9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 11/5, 11/12, and 11/19/24, 11:30 AM-1:00 PM PT, on Zoom.
Registration required. To register: https://tinyurl.com/Fall2024CWW
Participants respond to prompts about universal themes related to the human condition and are encouraged to explore all genres of writing. Individual writing is shared with a friendly, supportive group who do their best to encourage each member’s success.
Wil Clarke was born in Africa to missionary parents. He lived a total of 27 years in Africa. He is a career mathematician and enjoys writing memoirs of his various experiences. His motto is, “You only live life once, so you may as well enjoy it the first time around and do all the good you
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Inlandia Events
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 11:30 am – 1 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/my-calendar/?mc_id=2391
NaNo Come Write in Drop-In Space at Chatsworth Branch Library, LAP – 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 in 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: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 21052 Devonshire St., Chatsworth, CA 91311
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/nano-come-write-drop-space
Nonfiction Book Club at Donald Bruce Kauffman Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us on the third Tuesday of each month to discuss a different work of nonfiction. We read a wide variety of styles, genres, and authors, so please make sure to check in with the branch for a list of what we’re reading.
Where: Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 1 pm – 2 pm
Address: 11820 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/brentwood-nonfiction-book-club
Before the Ban Book Club: Ghost Boys at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the book Ghost Boys by author Jewel Parker Rhodes
Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that’s been unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing.
Jewell Parker Rhodes is the author of Ninth Ward, a Coretta Scott King honor book, Sugar, winner of the Jane Adams Peace Association book award, Bayou Magic, and Towers Falling. She has also written many award-winning books for adults.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/ban-book-club-ghost-boys
Mysterious Book Club: The Spy Coast at Palisades Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for this monthly meeting of our curious and incisive group of readers. This month’s book is The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen.
Former spy Maggie Bird was forced to take early retirement in Maine when a mission went bad. When a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends―all retirees from the CIA―to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her and why. This ‘Martini Club’ of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives.
New members are always welcome! Come even if you haven’t read the book – you’ll meet the group and learn the book selection for next time.
Where: Palisades Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 1:30 pm
Address: 861 Alma Real Dr., Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mysterious-book-club-3
Crime Doesn’t Pay Book Club: Bad Cree at Vernon – Leon H. Washington Jr. Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
A monthly, in-person book club celebrating contemporary and classic mysteries, true crime, noir, and thrillers! We will alternate between Mark Twain and Vernon Branches.
Participants will discuss Bad Cree by Jessica Johns.
Where: Vernon – Leon H. Washington Jr. Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: 4504 S. Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90011
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/crime-doesnt-pay-book-club-bad-cree
Eco Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by author Robin Wall Kimmerer.
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers.
Where: Chevalier’s
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/event/2024-11-19/eco-book-club
Storytime & Book Launch: Jennifer Smith and Leo Espinosa & The Creature of Habit Tries His Best at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Author Jennifer Smith and Illustrator Leo Espinosa will present and discuss their children’s book, The Creature of Habit Tries His Best.
The Creature of Habit is back in this humorous picture book that tackles a perennial challenge for every kid – learning to ride a bike! This story celebrates the power of persistence and reminds us that sometimes, it’s not about being the best but about giving it your best try!
Jennifer E. Smith is the author of The Creature of Habit, illustrated by the award-winning Leo Espinosa, and nine novels for young adults, including The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, Windfall, and Field Notes on Love. She earned a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and her work has been translated into thirty-three languages. She lives in Los Angeles.
Leo Espinosa is a New York Times bestselling illustrator and designer from Bogotá, Colombia. His picture books include The Creature of Habit by Jennifer E. Smith, No More Naps and NO is All I Know! by Chris Grabenstein, Islandborn by Junot Diaz, for which he was awarded a Pura Belpre illustrator award, and The New York Times bestseller The World Belonged to Us by Jacqueline Woodson. Leo’s award-winning illustrations have been recognized by American Illustration, Communication Arts, Pictoplasma, 3×3, and the Society of Illustrators. In addition, he has given multiple lectures and workshops at schools and institutions such as Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute as well as serving on the faculty of the Rhode Island School of Design.
Open to all ages. Free to attend.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Tuesday, the 19th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event
Adult Book Club: Heart Berries at Norwood Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join Norwood Library’s Adult Book Club for a discussion of our latest selection Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot. For Adults
Terese Marie Mailhot survived a dysfunctional upbringing on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation only to find herself hospitalized with a diagnosis of PTSD and bipolar II disorder. She is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot’s mother, a story of reconciliation with her father, and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the shadows of shame.
If you would like a copy of the book, please drop by Norwood Library to pick up a copy or get a digital copy. Check the catalog here: https://tinyurl.com/HeartBerries
Where: Norwood Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 4550 Peck Rd., El Monte, CA 91732
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11985477
Book Club: Wandering Stars at Pico Rivera Library, LACL – In-Person Event
For Native American Heritage Month, the Pico Rivera Library Book Club will be discussing Tommy Orange’s novel Wandering Stars, a follow-up to his previous debut novel There, There. For adults.
The author looks back on the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and how these events shaped and shattered the Red Feather family. Tommy also revisits the aftermath of the shooting at the end of the pow-wow in There, There.
Where: Pico Rivera Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 9001 Mines Ave., Pico Rivera, CA 90660
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11516108
Classic Detective Book Club: How Like a God at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the book How Like a God by author Rex Stout.
Unpublished for more than 50 years, How Like a God is the earliest masterpiece by an author who would later be named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and become world famous for creating one of the most enduring characters in the mystery genre.
In the shadowy stairwell of a New York City brownstone, a man stealthily begins to climb. In the pocket of his coat, a loaded revolver. At the top of the stairs, a woman he intends to kill. But who…?
This extraordinary novel by Rex Stout, the legendary creator of Nero Wolfe, is a psychological thriller like none you have ever read. As William Sidney climbs the stairs, you’ll dive deep into his troubled past, uncovering scandalous secrets and deceptions. And all the while, step by creeping step, he draws closer to a shocking act of violence…
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/classic-detective-book-club-how-god
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 19th (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
Georgia Jeffries, with Aimee Liu, & The Younger Girl: A Dark Labyrinth of Family Betrayal at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Georgia Jeffries, in conversation with Aimee Liu, will discuss her book, The Younger Girl: A Dark Labyrinth of Family Betrayal.
In 1933, Chicago tabloids trumpeted the death of twenty-year-old town belle Aldine Younger:
“HEIRESS SLAIN, MARRIED MAN HELD.”
Based on this true crime, The Younger Girl interweaves fact and fiction in a tale of haunting suspense, betrayal, and long-denied redemption.
In the aftermath of Aldine Younger’s tragic death, her grieving brother Owen suspects that their wealthy uncle orchestrated a sinister murder plot to cover up the theft of Aldine’s inheritance. Fast forward to 1996, when an aging Owen, burdened by the weight of the past, is compelled to discover the truth before he dies. His daughter, Joanna, becomes the key to unraveling the family’s twisted history.
Georgia Jeffries is a writer of Emmy Award-winning drama and acclaimed noir fiction. Honored with multiple Writers Guild Awards, Golden Globes, and the Humanitas Prize, her work in film has been praised by the Los Angeles Times as “standing ovation television. “Born in the Illinois heartland, she worked as a journalist for American Film before writing and producing the groundbreaking female-driven dramas Cagney & Lacey, China Beach, and Sisters. Her screenwriting career has been distinguished by extensive field research, from patrolling the mean streets of Rampart with the LAPD to crashing a Vegas bounty hunters’ convention to reporting from a Walter Reed Army Hospital surgical bay. Each investigation was the basis for one of her many docudramas and series pilots for CBS, ABC, NBC, HBO, and Showtime. Her short stories have appeared in national suspense anthologies, including Mystery Writers of America’s Odd Partners and Sisters in Crime’s The Last Resort. She has also written biography and historical profiles.
Aimee Liu is the author of four novels, most recently Glorious Boy, as well as the memoirs Gaining and Solitaire and numerous other nonfiction works. Her books have received a Literary Guild Super Release and Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Aimee earned her MFA at Bennington College and taught for many years in Goddard College’s MFA in Creative Writing Program.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Georgia-Jeffries-Aimee-Liu-November-19-Author-signing
Lit Angels: Getting Unblocked: And Stay in Your Creative Flow with David Brownstein at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Come make some magic at the Village Well! All genres and levels are welcome!
Getting stuck in your writing? Do the roadblocks seem to go forever? This class will give you tools to get moving and keep moving on your creative journey. It happens to everyone at some point. Learn the fun and easy tools to get unblocked.
David Brownstein, PCC, CPCC, is a Creative Career Coach who has helped writers and creatives at all levels of Hollywood do their best work ever. Featured in NYTimes. TedX Speaker. https://hollywoodcoaching.com
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. 1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1342220241114
Book Launch: Déjà vu Prem, with Lavinia Errico, & Beyond the Mountains at Bel Canto Books – In-Person Event
Déjà vu Prem, in conversation with Lavinia Errico, will discuss Beyond the Mountains.
Deja’s memoir provides readers with a profound glimpse into her life’s journey, weaving together healing lessons and universal themes of self-discovery. Besides her work as a writer and filmmaker, she finds joy in dancing, meditation, and connecting with nature—practices that fuel her creativity and keep her grounded. Through her storytelling, Deja dedicates herself to uplifting immigrant voices and celebrating the resilience of the human spirit.
Deja Vu Prem is a filmmaker from the Philippines who lives in the United States. Her memoir, Beyond the Mountains: An Immigrant’s Inspiring Journey of Healing and Learning to Dance with the Universe, chronicles her personal experiences of resilience, cultural transition,
Lavinia Errico, co-founder of Equinox Fitness, founder of the Inside/Out Movement, Principle in First Point Partners and pioneering MoveJoy creator, has spent a lifetime helping women find their voices and expand their potential to lead more authentic, empowered and joyful lives. As a successful and passionate entrepreneur and brand innovator, Lavinia is a highly sought-after speaker who has appeared on numerous podcasts, served on panels at thought-leader conferences throughout the county, and delivered keynote addresses at several business/entrepreneurial seminars and summits. She has inspired countless women of all ages to move forward with their vision and create successful businesses across fitness, wellness, technology, and the sciences.
Where: Bel Canto Books, KUBO LB
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90804
Eric Drooker & Naked City: A Graphic Novel at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Eric Drooker will present and discuss his book, Naked City: A Graphic Novel.
In this long-awaited graphic comedy from an esteemed illustrator and storyteller, three bohemians struggle to answer the question: “Is it possible for an artist to survive in the 21st Century?”
A young singer poses for a painter who has shifted from landscapes to nudes, and both learn a thing or two about the purpose of art and the meaning of success. The original graphic novel Naked City takes us inside the head of native New York artist, Eric Drooker (frequent cover artist for The New Yorker). His award-winning graphic novels—beginning with Flood—have charted new terrain for the form, and Blood Song is soon to be a major motion picture. Don’t miss this epic meditation on art and life.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/eric-drooker
Romance Book Club: Love You a Latke at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
Participantswill discuss Love You A Latke by author Amanda Elliot.
Our new Kiss & Tell romance book club meets monthly to discuss a romance novel and generally takes place on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm. At each meeting we discuss and vote for the next month’s book club selection.
RSVP
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/2024-11-19/romance-book-club
Jack Stewart, with Ray Porter, & Bogey Spades, at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Jack Stewart, in conversation with Ray Porter, will present his third book in the exhilarating Battle Born series. Bogey Spades is perfect for fans of Tom Clancy and Dale Brown.
Enemies. Allies. It’s hard to tell the difference when peace and world order hang in the balance.
Returning home a hero, TOPGUN pilot Colt Bancroft is called on to resurrect a Vietnam-era light attack squadron. Once soaring high, he finds himself on the dark side of special operations in a conflict he never saw coming. At its front lines, NCIS Special Agent Emmy “Punky” King is confronted with the timeless question—is the enemy of her enemy her friend?…
Jack Stewart grew up in Seattle, Washington and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, serving twenty-three years as a fighter pilot. A graduate of TOPGUN, he flew combat missions from three different aircraft carriers, deployed to Afghanistan with an Air Force Tactical Air Control Party, and served on a joint special operations counter-terrorism task force in Africa. He is a captain with a major U.S. airline and lives with his family in Dallas, Texas. immigrant parents, collective memory, language, and family in the San Fernando region of Los Angeles, California. Through a constellation of interweaving persona poems, confessional reflections, imagistic portraits of people and places, and decolonial poetic rituals—braided with a crown of sonnets—a choir of speakers navigate the fraught inheritance of memory frayed by the generational trauma of migration, coloniality, and the exploitative labor of late-stage capitalism.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 19th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert & Guest Richard Grahn – Online Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic with host Rick Lupert presents guest reader Richard Grahn and an open mic.
Richard Grahn is a mixed-genre artist currently living in the city of Evanston, Illinois, the founder and developer of drifting-sands-haibun.org, and an active haibun, tanka prose, haiku/senryu, tanka, and haiga poet. He grew up surrounded by the woods and fields, lakes, and streams of Wisconsin and Maine.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday, the 19th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt
Da Poetry Lounge Open Mic 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 19th
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/
Coffee Time Book Club at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
Meets monthly, generally on third Wednesday of each month at 10:00am
Participants will discuss The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich.
In this stunning novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author Louise Erdrich tells a story of love, natural forces, spiritual yearnings, and the tragic impact of uncontrollable circumstances on ordinary people’s lives.
History is a flood. The mighty red…
In Argus, North Dakota, a collection of people revolve around a fraught wedding.
Human time, deep time, Red River time, the half-life of herbicides and pesticides, and the elegance of time represented in fracking core samples from unimaginable depths, is set against the speed of climate change, the depletion of natural resources, and the sudden economic meltdown of 2008-2009.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 10 am
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/2024-11-20/coffee-time-book-club
NaNoWriMo Write-In (3 of 4) at Lloyd Taber – Marina del Rey Library, LACL – In-Person & Event
Working on your next novel? Join us in the library to work on your book, exchange writing strategies with community members, and learn about the writing resources available to you through the LA County Library. For adults.
Where: Lloyd Taber Marina del Rey Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Address: 4533 Admiralty Way, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11979898
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 20th
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: On-air Event (live)
Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/
Book Club for Adults: Code Talker at San Gabriel Library, LACL – In-Person & Event
Join us for book club as we discuss Code Talker by Chester Nez. Copies of this title are available at the Information Desk. For ages 18 and up.
Although more than 400 Navajos served in the military during World War II as top-secret code talkers, even those fighting shoulder to shoulder with them were not told of their covert function. After the war, the Navajos were forbidden to speak of their service until 1968, when the code was finally declassified. Find out more in the first and only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers of WWII.
Where: San Gabriel Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 500 S. Del Mar Ave., San Gabriel, CA 9177
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11879968
Author Talk: Mona Susan Power & A Council of Dolls at L.A. County Library, LACL – In-Person & Event
Join our conversation with Mona Susan Power as she highlights how her new novel explores Native Rights and Native American culture, using an important symbol that anchors comfort and companionship in Native life: dolls.
Where: Virtual Program, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Event
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11808375
Sci-Fi Book Club: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep at Van Nuys Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Event
Join our Science Fiction Book Club to discuss Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by author Philip K. Dick. Copies of this novel are available at the library.
Synopsis: Following a nuclear war and environmental disaster, Rick Deckard hunts lifelike androids in the urban hellscape of San Francisco.
Where: Van Nuys Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 6250 Sylmar Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91401
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sci-fi-book-club-do-androids-dream-electric-sheep-philip-k-dick
Adult Book Club: Wandering Stars at San Fernando Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a book discussion. The book for November is Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange. For adults.
Where: San Fernando Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 5:30 pm
Address: 217 N. Maclay Ave., San Fernando, CA 91340
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11906185
Adult Book Club: Family Family at Chet Holifield Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Whether you like historical fiction, sci-fi, romance, or memoirs, this book club reads it all. This month, join us for a discussion of Family Family by Laurie Frankel. For adults.
Where: Chet Holifield Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 1060 S. Greenwood Ave., Montebello, CA 90640
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12080144
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 radio in Los Angeles 101.5 FM.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: 101.5 FM
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: On-air Event (live at 101.5 FM)
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Book Launch: Tod Goldberg and Contributors & Eight Very Bad Nights at UC Riverside, Palm Desert – In-Person Event
Contributing writers Tod Goldberg, Ivy Pochoda, Jim Ruland, and Stefanie Leder will discuss this collection of eleven delightful and twisted Hanukkah capers. A book signing will follow.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: UCR Palm Desert, Auditorium
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 75080 Frank Sinatra Dr., Palm Desert, CA 92211
Website: https://events.ucr.edu/event/arts-letters-eight-very-bad-nights
Evening Book Club: A Council of Dolls: A Novel at Carson Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Patrons can join a facilitated discussion of fiction and nonfiction titles. A limited number of titles are available for attendees to pick up at the library.
November’s Book: A Council of Dolls: A Novel by Mona Susan Power. For adults.
Where: Carson Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 151 E. Carson St., Carson, CA 90745
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11979023
WeHo Reads Series: Imagining and Building Restorative Communities via City of West Hollywood – Online Event
Patrons can join a facilitated discussion of fiction and nonfiction titles. A limited number of titles are available for attendees to pick up at the library.
Three notable authors and community leaders are taking a hard look at society IRL and virtually, pinpointing the ways we come up short in connecting with each other.
Featuring: Ryane Nicole Granados (author of The Aves), PJ Manney (author of the bestselling and Philip K. Dick Award nominated Phoenix Horizon trilogy, (R)evolution, (Id)entity, and (Con)science, and Sarah Rafael Garcia (author, community educator, and performance ethnographer and founder of LibroMobile).
WeHo Reads is a literary series presented by the City of West Hollywood. More information and events at http://www.weho.org/wehoreads. BookSwell, a literary events and media company dedicated to lifting up writers from historically excluded communities, is producing the WeHo Reads 2024 season. Additional support is provided by media partnerships with Book Soup and the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Where: City of West Hollywood
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
ALOUD Reading Series: A Conversation Between Writer Susan Minot & Actor/Producer Griffin Dunne at Carson Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Susan Minot and Griffin Dunne will discuss their new books: Don’t Be A Stranger and The Friday Afternoon Club, respectively.
Susan Minot’s Don’t Be a Stranger is the story of a woman swept into a love affair at mid-life. With spellbinding prose, Minot has crafted a luminous novel about erotic obsession, and the hunger for intimacy, communication, oblivion. Don’t Be a Stranger is a gripping, sensual, and provocative work from one of the most remarkable voices in contemporary fiction.
Griffin Dunne’s memoir The Friday Afternoon Club is no mere celebrity memoir. It is, down to its bones, a family story that embraces the poignant absurdities and best and worst efforts of its loveable, infuriating, funny, and moving characters—its author most of all.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Mark Taper Auditorium
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lfla.org/event/dont-be-a-stranger/
Dino Enrique Placentini, with Rod Hernandez & Invasion of the Daffodils at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Dino Enrique Placentini, in conversation with Rod Hernandez, will discuss his bookInvasion of the Daffodils.
Invasion of the Daffodils draws from family lore, California’s historical record, magic realism, and 1950’s horror movie tropes to both reclaim and reimagine the state’s troubled past. While scavenging at a local cove, eleven-year-old Chico Flores comes across a mysterious crate of daffodil bulbs that have washed ashore. When planted, the flowers wreak havoc across the Island, setting in motion a rippling matrix of interpersonal, social, and ecological consequences and exposing and unsettling long-standing rifts around class, sexuality, and race. The novel examines how Chico, his family, his community, and the Island itself resist, manage, or capitalize on the inevitable problem of unexpected change. In doing so, a number of questions are raised—about ‘invasion’ and ‘nativism,’ scapegoating and solidarity, disruption and adaptation, and the nature and intractability of historic and systemic inequities.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday the 20th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/clarice-lam
Abigail Owen, Tracy Wolff & Jayci Lee at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Three L.A. authors will join a panel to discuss their recent romantasy and fantasy releases:
Abigail Owen will present The Games Gods Play.
Tracy Wolff will present Sweet Nightmare.
Jayci Lee will present Nine-Tailed.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Wednesday, the 20th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodice.com/events-and-tickets
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 Filipino town & The World: Search to Involve Pilipino Americans.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, cost, guidelines, and details.
Where: SIPA HQ
Date: Wednesday, the 20th
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
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 20th
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 Literary Arts Center
Date: Wednesday, the 20th
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-1083040596579
Poetry Nights with East Los Soul at East Los Angeles Rising Youth Club – In-Person Event
East Los Soul presents Poetry Nights every Wednesday from 8 pm – 9:45 pm at East L.A. Rising Youth Club. Poetry starts at 8:15 pm.
Every 2nd Wednesday will be a poetry contest with a $200 prize for the poet winner, via unanimous vote.
Every 4th Wednesday will be an art contest with a $200 prize for the artist winner, via unanimous vote.
$2 entrance fee
Where: East Los Angeles Rising Youth Club
Date: Wednesday, the 20th
Time: 8 pm – 9:45 pm
Address: 324 N. McDonnell Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90022
Website: N/A
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg and Guest Leigh White at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Host Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at the Ugly Mug on Wednesday Nights will feature Leigh White.
Leigh White is an unabashed Gen X, marketing strategist, writer, and one of the O.G.’s in the Southern California poetry scene. With a keen insight into those in need as well as harnessing a dark sense of humor, she is a beautiful punch to the gut. Besides many self-published books she has been included in several anthologies and her work is part of the permanent collection of FSU’s Museum of World War II and the Human Experience and been named one of the Poets To Watch in the Los Angeles area. Never one to sit at the cool kids table, Leigh has an original voice all her own.
$4 cover fee, cash only
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday, the 20th
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/393304490458829/
Afternoon Book Club: A Plague of Doves at Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Afternoon Book Club participants will discuss A Olague of Doves by Louise Erdrich. For adults.
Summary provided by the publisher:
“Though generations have passed, the town of Pluto continues to be haunted by the murder of a farm family. Evelina Harp—part Ojibwe, part white—is an ambitious young girl whose grandfather, a repository of family and tribal history, harbors knowledge of the violent past. And Judge Antone Bazil Coutts, who bears witness, understands the weight of historical injustice better than anyone. Through the distinct and winning voices of three unforgettable narrators, the collective stories of two interwoven communities ultimately come together to reveal a final wrenching truth.”
Where: Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 12 pm – 1 pm
Address: 4975 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11968811
Mystery Book Club: Naked in Death at Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Mystery Book Club participants will discuss Naked in Death by J.D. Robb. For adults.
Where: Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Address: 2920 Overland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-discussion-person
Book Discussion: A Confederacy of Dunces at Sunland – Tujunga Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Book Discussion participants will discuss the Oulitzer Prize winning novel, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.
Where: Sunland – Tujunga Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 1 pm – 2 pm
Address: 7771 Foothill Blvd., Tujunga, CA 91042
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-discussion-3
Mar Vista Writing Club at Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Are you passionate about writing or looking for a creative outlet? Our club invites adults of all ages and backgrounds to come together and explore their creativity through writing prompts. Whether you’re an experienced writer or just getting started, our supportive and welcoming environment encourages participants to share ideas, improve their skills, and connect with fellow writers. Meetings are held in the cozy atmosphere of the library, where inspiration flows freely.
Bring your notebook, laptop, typewriter or just your ideas—everyone is welcome!
Where: Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 1:30 pm
Address: 12006 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mar-vista-writing-club
Marina del Rey Book Club: Before We Were Yours at Lloyd Taber – Marina del Rey Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Book Club participants will discuss Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. For adults.
Set against the backdrop of the 1930s and present day, this book dives into Rill Floss’ childhood experiences in a corrupt Tennessee Children’s Home Society during a period of widespread child abduction and trafficking. Years later, Avery Stafford uncovers the truth about her family’s connection to this historical scandal.
Where: Lloyd Taber – Marina del Rey Library, LACL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 4533 Admiralty Way, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11986568
We Love L.A. Club at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the November selection, Lost Hills, by author Lee Goldberg.
This gripping crime thriller follows Deputy Eve Ronin, who is thrust into the spotlight after her arrest of an abusive movie star goes viral. To improve the image of the Sheriff’s department, Eve is promoted to detective, and she must prove her worth to her resentful colleagues as she investigates a brutal murder case.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 3 pm
Address: 5027 Caspar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90041
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/we-love-la-book-club-16
Teen Book Club: Fire Keeper’s Daughter at Manhattan Beach Library, LACL – In-Person Event
For Native American Heritage Month, Book Club participants will discuss Fire Keeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley.
For ages 12 – 18. Registration required.
Where: Manhattan Beach Library, LACL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 1320 Highland Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11802731
Poetry Workshop Series: Generative Grammar with Ivanna Baranova at Poetic Research Bureau – In-Person Event
In this three-session workshop, we’ll explore various experimental grammatical applications in poetry, including abstract meter, parataxis, syntactical turning, punctuation gleams, linguistic refraction, and more. Together, we’ll consider how these modalities can serve as tools for generating new poetic synergies. Through engagement with experimental texts, prompts, and group discussion, participants will develop collaborative analysis and functional writing, expanding their grammatical attunement to initiate both practical and subliminal approaches to creating poems. Potential readings include works by Daniel Borzutzky, Julian Talamantez Brolaski, Larry Eigner, Tilghman Goldsborough, Lyn Hejinian, Ikkyū, Benjamin Krusling, Aaron Kunin, Friederike Mayröcker, Hoa Nguyen, and more.
Ivanna Baranova is a poet and artist from the Pacific Northwest, currently living in Los Angeles and sometimes New York City. Recent books include Threshold (Inpatient Press, 2024) and Continuum (Metatron Press, 2023).
NOTE: See site for cost, details and registration.
Where: Poetic Research Bureau
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057
Website: https://www.poeticresearch.com/events/workshop-generative-grammar
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: Donald Bruce Kauffman Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 11820 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/brentwood-writing-group-1
Cover to Cover Book Club at Mid-Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of the monthly book selection: The Measure by Nikki Erlick,
Where: Mid-Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 16244 Nordhoff St., North Hills, CA 91343
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/cover-cover-book-club
Arroyo Writing Group at Arroyo Seco Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Writers of any level of experience are invited to join our new writing group for practice both writing short pieces across many genres and sharing your writing with others. Each month, we will engage with a different writing prompt, preparing our own short work in response and bringing it to share at our meeting. This November meeting will be our first! Come be instrumental in its establishment.
If you are unable to join us in person you are welcome to join virtually.
RSVP:
Contact us at ayosco@lapl.org for this month’s writing prompt or to request the meeting link
Where: Arroyo Seco Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6145 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/arroyo-writing-group
Sci-Fi Short Story Club: “Headache” by Julio Cortázar With Guest Jeff VanderMeer at Mark Twain Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Explore Julio Cortázar’s 1951 short story Headache with sci-fi lovers from across the universe via Zoom, as selected by special guest Jeff VanderMeer on the occasion of his new novel, Absolution, the fourth installment in his beloved Southern Reach series.
A link to Headache will be sent to participants with an RSVP to the event.
RSVP:
RSVP here or email mtwain@lapl.org for the Zoom link.
Where: Mark Twain Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Hollywood Creative Writing Club on Zoom at Hollywood Regional Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Kick start your New Year’s resolution by joining our new creative writing club and getting the feedback and motivation to finish that masterpiece. Each month, members will meet online to discuss their progress and solicit critique from the group. Those who feel comfortable may share small portions of their work with the group ahead of time. We focus on novels, short stories and narrative non-fiction. Any genre is permitted. The host will also occasionally send literature to the members to facilitate discussion. This may include the work of acclaimed authors or writing advice.
Please email nneata@lapl.org to obtain the Zoom link.
The majority of the meetings will take place on Zoom but we may occasional meet in person at the Hollywood Library.
Where: Frances Howard Goldwyn – Hollywood Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 1623 Ivar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90028 (occasional meetings only)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/hollywood-creative-writing-club-zoom
Mystery Book Club: Only the Wicked at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Only the Wicked by author Gary Phillips.
Private eye Ivan Monk takes on his most personal mystery to date—and chases answers deep into America’s haunted past.
Long ago, Marshall Spears was a hero of the ballpark. In a time when baseball—and the nation—was segregated, he played in the vaunted Negro Leagues. Decades later, Old Man Spears is living out his days as a fixture in a barbershop in South Central.
One afternoon, PI Ivan Monk—a shop regular—learns that Spears’s former teammate was Kennesaw Riles. From family lore, Monk knows Riles is his cousin who was ostracized for the damning testimony he gave during a controversial murder trial in the ’60s—testimony that put a firebrand civil rights leader behind bars. Before Monk can hear more, Old Man Spears drops dead while listening to a ballgame on the radio. Even stranger, the long missing Riles shows up at the Old Man’s funeral services, and dies soon after.
Monk knows the timing is not a coincidence. He follows the mystery to the Mississippi Delta. There, he unravels the truth behind the murder of two civil rights era activists. Eventually Monk zeroes in on a group of shadowy Mississippi businessmen-turned-philanthropists who may not have reformed their ways as they claim. Far from Los Angeles, the tenacious private eye confronts his own family history as well as a brand of hatred thought to have died with Jim Crow.
Gary Phillips has published novels, comics, novellas, short stories and edited or co-edited several anthologies, including the Anthony-winning The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir. Almost 30 years after its publication, his debut, Violent Spring, was named one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. He also was a story editor on Snowfall, an FX show about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central, where he grew up.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 21st
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/book
Graphic Novel Club: Noodle & Bao at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Graphic novels are the coolest kind of book there is—do you think so too? If so, then our fabulous Graphic Novel Club is for you!! Join us to celebrate our shared love of graphic novels and visual creativity! Iz and Apollo will host our ever-popular book club.
Participants will read and discuss Noodle & Bao by author Shaina Lu.
Best for ages 9-12.
This is a discussion based club. Participants should come prepared to share their thoughts about that meeting’s book choice.
Limited space. No drop-ins. Purchase of book from Once Upon A Time required for RSVP.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 5 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event
Book Talk: Casey Michel & Foreign Agents at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Casey Michel, in conversation with Brett Carter, will discuss his book Foreign Agens: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World, an exposé on the impacts of foreign lobbying in the United States.
This book is a stunning investigation and indictment of a segment of the United States’ foreign lobbying industry, and the threat to end democracy.
For years, one group of Americans has worked as foot-soldiers for the most authoritarian regimes around the planet. In the process, they’ve not only entrenched dictatorships and spread kleptocratic networks, but they’ve secretly guided U.S. policy without the rest of America even being aware. And now, some of them have begun turning their sights on American democracy itself.
These Americans are known as foreign lobbyists, and many of them spent years ushering dictatorships directly into the halls of Washington, all while laundering the reputations of the most heinous, repressive regimes in the process. These foreign lobbyists include figures like Ivy Lee, the inventor of the public relations industry—a man who whitewashed Mussolini, opened doors to the Soviets, and advised the Nazis on how to sway American audiences. They include people like Paul Manafort, who invented lobbying as we know it—and who then took his talents to autocrats from Ukraine to the Philippines, and then back to the White House. And they now include an increasing number of Americans elsewhere: in law firms and consultancies, among PR specialists and former lawmakers, and even within think tanks and universities.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Thursday the 21st
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/event/2024-11-21/casey-michels-foreign-agents
Rainbow Reads Book Club: Self-Made Boys at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Teen LGBTQIA+ Event
Rainbow Reads Book Club celebrates diversity in Young Adult books as we read books featuring various identities and stories. This is a safe space welcome to teens of all identities and allies! Join Iz and Apollo for our proud book club.
Best for ages 13 and up.
This is a discussion-based club. Participants should come prepared to share their thoughts about that meeting’s book choice.
Participants will read and discuss Self-Made Boys by author Anna-Marie McLemore.
Best for ages 13 and up.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 6 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event
Cookies & Comics Graphic Novel Book Club at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Teen & Adult Event
Do you love graphic novels? Does your family get tired of having to talk about Watchmen—again? Looking for someone to geek out with you over the new stuff from Brian K. Vaughan? Then this is the club for you!
This month, we’ll discuss Know Your Station by Sarah Gailey and Liana Kangas. The wealthiest people in the solar system abandoned the Earth for a private sanctuary in space, leaving the rest of us to die amidst cataclysmic climate change. But the 1% won’t be safe for long… A murderer is on the loose, specifically targeting the super-rich. Soon Elise, an employee of the billionaire’s space station, is wrapped up in a deadly investigation. Grab this title on hoopla!
The intended audience for this monthly Zoom event is teens aged 16+ and adults. J. Blakemore will continue to lead the lively discussion, just as he has since 2018.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/cookies-comics-graphic-novel-book-club-5
Richard Christiansen with Elise Loehnen, & Flamingo Estate: The Guide to Becoming Alive at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Richard Christiansen, in conversation with Elise Loehnen, discuss and sign Flamingo Estate: The Guide to Becoming Alive
The Guide to Becoming Alive is “part manifesto, part memoir. It includes lessons from the garden, and candid conversations with my heroes and friends including: Jane Goodall, Alice Waters, Jo Horgan, Martha Stewart, Jane Fonda, Terry Tempest Williams, Kelly Wearstler, David Leon, Jobi Manson, Gonzalo Samaranch Granados, Elise Loehnen, Erica Chidi, Ellen DeGeneres, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, David de Rothschild, Dr. Kerry Howells. Together we talk about work ethic, sex, love, purpose, food, exercise, technology, politics, design, plants, and dogs. In a world that feels chaotic, this is a roadmap.”
Richard Christiansen is a gardener, traveler and world-builder. As the founder of Flamingo Estate—a home and garden brand that champions botanical wellness and pleasure from Mother Nature. He believes in the power of green thumbs and middle fingers. He grew up in rural Australia, He lives at Flamingo Estate in Los Angeles with his partner Harvey, his dogs, chickens, goats, and bees.
Elise Loehnen is the author of the New York Times bestseller On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to be Good. She’s also the host of the podcast, Pulling the Thread, where she interviews cultural luminaries about the big questions of today, including people like Joy Harjo, Loretta Ross, Dr. Gabor Maté, and Esther Perel. Elise lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Rob, and their sons, Max and Sam.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Richard-Christiansen-Elise-Loehnen-Author-signing
Brad Klausen, with Erin Osman, & From a Basement in Seattle, the Poster Art of Brad Klausen at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Brad Klausen, in conversation with Erin Osman, will discuss his book, From a Basement in Seattle, the Poster Art of Brad Klausen.
This is an extensive look into the creative process through which artist Brad Klausen generates imagery for rock posters for Pearl Jam, as well as Built to Spill, Queens of the Stone Age, U2, Soundgarden, Explosions in the Sky, MGMT, Mogwai, Faith No More, The Jesus Lizard, Widespread Panic, and others. With introductions from Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam, this expanded hardcover edition also includes new posters from Klausen’s archive.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 21st
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/brad-klausen
Harbor Lights Poetry Night & VOTH aka Gabriel Acosta at Harbor College Arena Theater – In-Person & Online Hybrid Zoom Event
Come join us for LA Harbor Lights Poetry Nights and a Poetry Night with VOTH (Voice of the Harbor) aka Gabriel Acosta, the author of the collection Dieagnosis.
Workshop and Open Mic – Free Poetry Books!
For Details, email: lozadach@laccd.edu
Should you want to join us via zoom, please email lozadach@laccd.edu for link.
Where: Harbor College, Arena Theater or Zoom
Date: Thursday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1111 Figueroa Pl., Wilmington, CA 90744
Website: https://www.lahc.edu/campus-life/events/2024/11/21/harbor-lights-poetry-night
At Skylight: Anna Moschovakis, with Janet Sarbanes, & An Earthquake Is a Shaking of the Surface of the Earth at Skylight – In-Person Event
Anna Moschovakis, in conversation with Janet Sarbanes, will present and discuss her new book An Earthquake Is a Shaking of the Surface of the Earth
Join us for a formidable, uncanny, and utterly unique new work from accomplished novelist and poet, Anna Moschovakis, whose translation of David Diop’s Frêre d’âme (At Night All Blood Is Black, Pushkin and FSG) won the 2021 International Booker Prize
After a seismic event leaves the world shattered, an unnamed narrator at the end of a mediocre acting career struggles to regain the ability to walk on ground that is in constant motion. When her alluring younger housemate, Tala, disappears, what had begun as an obsession grows into an impulse to kill, forcing the narrator to confront the meaning of the ruptures that have suddenly upended her life. The drive to find and eliminate Tala becomes an existential pursuit, leading back in time and out into a desolate, dust-covered city, where the narrator is targeted by charismatic “healing” ideologues with uncertain motives. Torn between a gnawing desire to reckon with the forces that have made her and an immediate need to find the stability to survive, she is forced to question familiar figurations of light, shadow, authenticity, resistance, and the limits of personal transformation in an alienated, alienating world.
Anna Moschovakis is a poet and translator whose most recent novel is Participation (2022, Coffee House Press). Other books include the novel Eleanor, or, The Rejection of the Progress of Love, and poetry books They, We Will Get Into Trouble for This and You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake, winner of the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. She has also translated Albert Cossery’s The Jokers, Annie Ernaux’s The Possession, and various others. She is a member of the publishing collective Ugly Duckling Presse, and co-founder of Bushel Collective, an experimental mixed-use storefront space in Delhi, NY.
Janet Sarbanes is the author of a work of hybrid theory, Letters on the Autonomy Project (punctum books), and two short story collections: Army of One (Otis Books), and The Protester Has Been Released (C & R Press), which was declared a best fiction book of 2017 by Entropy magazine. The recipient of an Andy Warhol Foundation art writer’s grant, she has published art writing and cultural criticism in numerous journals, anthologies, and museum catalogues. She lives in Los Angeles and teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program and the MA in Aesthetics and Politics at CalArts.
Where: Skylight
Date: Thursday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Tia Chucha’s Book Club: The Dangers of Smoking in Bed at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the novel, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by author Maryann Enriquez.
The stories in her new collection are as terrifying as they are socially conscious, and press into being the unspoken—fetish, illness, the female body, the darkness of human history—with bracing urgency. A woman is sexually obsessed with the human heart; a lost, rotting baby crawls out of a backyard and into a bedroom, etc.
Dangers of Smoking in Bed
See site and link for details.
Where: Tia Chucha’s Bookstore
Date: Thursday, the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBr4ELmS9bm/?hl=en&img_index=1
Lit Angels: Writing Graphic Novels: Demystifying the Popular Medium with Sara Phoebe Miller at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Love reading comics and graphic novels? Ever wondered what it takes to write your own? Join Sara Phoebe Miller, editor at DC Comics and writer of YA graphic novels, as she breaks down the process of this beloved medium including what’s needed in a script, how to work with an artist, and other craft tips and tricks you won’t learn anywhere else!
Sara Phoebe Miller is a writer and editor with over a decade’s worth of experience in the comic book industry. She began her career editing original comics for Vertigo, ran the DC Writers and Artists Workshops, and is currently the editor for DC’s line of graphic novels for young readers. Her debut YA graphic novel, You Belong Here, comes out in March 2025 from First Second.
For additional information, and to reserve tickets, visit EVENTBRITE.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. 1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1342520241121
All Women’s Open Mic with Kate Burns at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Kate Burns hosts an All Women’s Open Mic for poets, musicians, storytellers, and comedians.
Sign-ups at 6:30 – 7 pm.
Get your tickets at Eventbrite.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. 1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1398420241114
Sebastian Junger & In My Time of Dying at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Sebastian Junger will discuss his new book, In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife.
A near-fatal health emergency leads to this powerful reflection on death—and what might follow—by the bestselling author of Tribe and The Perfect Storm.
For years as an award-winning war reporter, Sebastian Junger traveled to many front lines and frequently put his life at risk. And yet the closest he ever came to death was the summer of 2020 while spending a quiet afternoon at the New England home he shared with his wife and two young children. Crippled by abdominal pain, Junger was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Once there, he began slipping away. As blackness encroached, he was visited by his dead father, inviting Junger to join him. “It’s okay,” his father said. “There’s nothing to be scared of. I’ll take care of you.” That was the last thing Junger remembered until he came to the next day when he was told he had suffered a ruptured aneurysm that he should not have survived.
In My Time of Dying is part medical drama, part searing autobiography, and part rational inquiry into the ultimate unknowable mystery.
Sebastian Junger is the New York Times bestselling author of Tribe, War, Freedom, A Death in Belmont, Fire, and The Perfect Storm, and codirector of the documentary film monday, which was nominated for an Academy Award. He is also the winner of a Peabody Award and the National Magazine Award for Reporting.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/book/9781668050835
LiveTalks LA Presents: Josh Brolin, with Kaia Gerber, & From Under the Truck at JAMS Performing Arts Center – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Josh Brolin, in conversation with Kaia Gerber, will discuss his memoir, From Under the Truck.
A funny, uncanny, unforgettable and un-celebrity memoir from Josh Brolin.
Weaving a latticework of different strands, moving back and forth through time, Josh Brolin captures a life marked by curiosity, pain, devotion, kindness, humor. He recounts an unconventional childhood far from Hollywood. Raised on a ranch in Paso Robles, California, he was surrounded as a child by the wolves, cougars, and other wild animals gathered by his fearless and explosive mother, Jane Agee Brolin. Her tragic, early death haunts this book, and the force of her unforgettable personality is felt throughout. Grappling with the mysteries of life and death in a way that will catch readers by surprise, From Under the Truck is an audacious and riveting memoir from a born writer.
Josh Brolin was born in 1968 and raised on a ranch in Paso Robles, California. He is a producer, director, writer, and Academy Award-nominated actor. The proud father of four children, he lives with his wife and two youngest in California.
Since the age of 10, Kaia Gerber has worked with the world’s top luxury brands, appearing on numerous international and US magazine covers. In recent years, she’s acted on the big screen and small, including appearances in Laura Dern’s “Palm Royale,” Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” and the upcoming “Outcome “from Jonah Hill. Gerber recently launched her online literature platform, Library Science, which grew out of her platform on Instagram. She splits her time between NYC and LA, which gives her ample time to indulge in her other passion, reading.
Where: JAMS Performing Arts Center
Date: Thursday the 21st
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 1630 Pearl St., Santa Monica, CA 90406
(Free Parking available at the venue)
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/josh-brolin/
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 22nd
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event
Book Club: The Most Fun We Ever Had at La Mirada Library, LACL – In-Person Kids Event
Participants will discuss the novel, The Most Fun We Ever Had by author Claire Lombardo.
When Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson fall in love in the 1970s, they are blithely ignorant of all that’s to come. By 2016, their four radically different daughters are each in a state of unrest. For adults.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: La Mirada Library, LACL
Date: Friday, the 22ndh
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Address: 13800 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada, CA 90638
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12056301
Horror Book Club: I Was a Teenage Slasher at Compton Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the novel, I Was a Teenage Slasher by author Stephen Graham Jones. For ages 18+.
Do you find yourself attracted to the strange and unusual? Do you enjoy what others may find frightening? If so, join the Horror Book Club where each month we’ll provide you with diverse horror authors and titles to discuss with people who enjoy the same genre as you. During this session, we’ll be discussing Stephen Graham Jones’, I Was a Teenage Slasher
1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west-Texas town driven by oil and cotton—and a place where everyone knows everyone else’s business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, and shared sense of unfairness of being on the outside through the slasher horror Jones loves, but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.
Attendance is limited.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Compton Library, LACL
Date: Friday, the 22ndh
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 240 W. Compton Blvd., Compton, CA 90220
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12088629
Black Lit Book Club: Temple Folk at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Temple Folk by author Aaliyah Bilal.
Finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction
A collection portraying the lived experiences of Black Muslims grappling with faith, family, and freedom in America.
In the story collection Temple Folk, Black Muslims contemplate the convictions of their race, religion, economics, politics, and sexuality in America. The ten stories in this collection contribute to the bounty of diverse narratives about Black life by intimately portraying the experiences of a community that resists the mainstream culture to which they are expected to accept and aspire to while functioning within the country in which they are born.
Aaliyah Bilal was born and raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland. She has degrees from Oberlin College and the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. She’s published stories and essays with The Michigan Quarterly Review and The Rumpus. Temple Folk is her first short story collection.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Friday, the 22nd
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/black-lit-book-club-temple-folk
Asian American Politics, Poetics, and Pedagogy with Tony DelaRosa, Beau Sia, and David Ryan Barcega Castro-Harris at Bel Canto Books – In-Person Event
Bel Canto presents a conversation with poet Beau Sia, and founder of Amplify Restorative Justice David Ryan Barcega Castro-Harris at KUBO in Long Beach.
Tony DelaRosa is the author of Teaching the Invisible Race: Embodying a Pro-Asian American Lens in Schools. He is a son of Cavite and Pampangan immigrants. He is a Filipino American anti-bias and anti-racist educator, spoken word poet, and a researcher focused on ethnic studies policy and cross-racial solidarity. He co-founded NYC Men Teach Asian American initiative aimed at supporting and retaining Asian American teachers in the NYC Department of Education. Tony won the 2021 Inspire Award??sponsored by the National Association of Asian American Professionals and the 2023 Community Trailblazer Heritage Hero award sponsored by The Asian American Foundation. His work has been featured in NPR, CBS News, Harvard Education Magazine, Hulu, and elsewhere.
Beau Sia is a Tony Award winning poet and world-renowned performer, featured on all 6 seasons of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry and the winner of two National Poetry Slam championships. He is the author of the poetry books A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge and The Undisputed Greatest Writer Of All Time. As an educator, he has been mentoring youth for organizations such as Youthspeaks, Urban Word, and GetLit. Beau currently lives in Los Angeles, where he is working on his first solo play.
David Ryan Barcega Castro-Harris (all five names for the ancestors) is the son of Bien & DP, grandson of Ruth & Yolando and Ruth & Jesse. As the Founder of Amplify RJ, he is building a platform to team the philosophy, practices, and values of Restorative Justice.
He leans on the training from his elders and his experiences doing Restorative Justice work in Chicago schools, community, and criminal legal settings to share knowledge and create experiences that help folks across the world understand Restorative Justice as a relationship centered-way of being, not merely a program for addressing harm.
His current work includes creating digital media, resources, and coaching, and consulting with schools and organizations seeking to embody restorative justice practices.
Where: Bel Canto Books, KUBO LB
Date: Thursday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90804
Lisa Diane Kastner & Family Pack at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Lisa Diane Kastner will present and discuss her novel Family Pack.
Family Pack is the follow up novel to Cure and continues the tale of Luna Auber as she discovers her own destiny and provides the origins of the two primary lycanthropic organizations, The Lycanthrope Society (TLS) which believe that humans and lycanthropes should exist in harmony while The Righteous Group (TRG) believe that lycanthropes are intended to rule over all other species and Luna’s battle to prevent the decimation of the world as she knows it.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday the 22nd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/lisa-diane-kastner
Abigail Owen, Tracy Wolff & Jayci Lee at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Three L.A. authors will join a panel to discuss their recent romantasy and fantasy releases:
Abigail Owen will present The Games Gods Play.
Tracy Wolff will present Sweet Nightmare.
Jayci Lee will present Nine-Tailed.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Wednesday, the 20th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodice.com/events-and-tickets
Mark Harmon and Leon Carroll Jr. & Ghosts of Panama at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Mark Harmon and Loen Carroll Jr will present and discuss the book Ghosts of Panama.
Panama, 1989. The once warm relationship between United States and Gen. Manuel Noriega has eroded dangerously. Newly elected President George Bush has declared the strongman a drug trafficker and a rigger of elections. Intimidation on the streets is a daily reality for U.S. personnel and their families. The nation is a powder keg.
Naval Investigative Service (NIS) Special Agent Rick Yell has worked the job in Panama since 1986, and lives there with his wife Annya and infant child. Like most NIS agents, he’s a civilian with no military rank with a specialty in working criminal cases. The dynamic changes suddenly when Yell inadvertently develops an intelligence source with unparalleled access to the Noriega regime. Now the agent is thrust into a world of spy-versus-spy, of secret meetings and hidden documents.
NOTE: This is a ticketed in-store event. One ticket = 1 copy of Ghosts of Panama as well as access to the signing line. The authors will not be signing any other merchandise.
Mark Harmon starred as Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS and also served as executive producer of the show. On the new CBS series, NCIS: Origins which explores the early career of Gibbs, Harmon will serve as narrator in addition to executive producer. In other television work, Harmon received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the critically acclaimed The West Wing and for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Special for Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years. Other credits include Reasonable Doubts, for which he received two Golden Globe nominations, Chicago Hope, From Earth to the Moon, St. Elsewhere, and Moonlighting.
Leon Carroll, Jr. co-authored the New York Times bestseller Ghosts of Honolulu. He previously served as technical advisor on the hit drama NCIS for twenty-one seasons and is currently working on the new show NCIS: Origins. Previously, he was a commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps, attaining the rank of Major. Leon then began a twenty-year career as a Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). He served in seven different locations, including tours as a Special Agent Afloat on the USS Ranger (CV-61) and as the Special Agent in Charge of NCIS offices in the Republic of Panama and the Pacific Northwest.
NOTE: See site for tickets and details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Friday the 22nd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event or https://www.eventbrite.com
TDSB Open Mic: Sheila J. Sadir Features at Wrigley Coffee Co, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Join The Definitive Soapbox Open Mic for an evening of powerful poetry with Sheila J Sadr—a celebrated Iranian-American poet, teaching artist, and community advocate. From TEDx to the House of Blues, Sheila’s voice has graced stages and hearts around the world. Don’t miss this unforgettable night!
We’re proud to partner with The Nest: A Brunch Joint as a sponsor for this special TDSB event!
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Nest, A Bruch Joint
Date: Friday, the 22nd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 16916 Bellflower Blvd. Bellflower, CA 90706
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCVSQszxWCE/
L.A. Book Launch: Cynthia Good with Guests & In the Thaw of Day at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person & Livestream Hybrid Event
Cynthia Good presents her new collection In the Thaw of Day, with guest readers.
The author will be reading in the Wanda Coleman Theater alongside poets Kim Addonizio, Dorianne Laux, and Michelle Bitting.
Enjoy a reception before and after the readings. Book signings will follow after the readings.
Cynthia Good is an award-winning poet, journalist and former TV anchor, for years recognizable on Atlanta’s evening news. Also, a known women’s advocate, Cynthia launched two women’s business magazines, Atlanta Woman and the nationally distributed PINK magazine to advance women at work. Both have won awards for editorial and design. Cynthia is the author of eight books, including two collections of poems, What We Do with Our Hands, and In The Thaw of Day published by Finishing Line Press. With a Poetry MFA from NYU, Cynthia’s poems have appeared, or are forthcoming, in numerous acclaimed journals including Book of Matches, Chiron Review, Free State Review, Green Hills Literary Lantern, La Presa, Main Street Rag, Open: Journal of Arts & Letters, Silver Birch Press, Terminus Magazine, Tupelo Quarterly and Waxing & Waning among others. Cynthia lives in Santa Monica and Mexico with her Havanese dog Zuni.
Dorianne Laux’s sixth collection, Only As the Day is Long: New and Selected Poems was named a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her fifth collection, The Book of Men, was awarded The Paterson Prize. Her fourth book of poems, Facts About the Moon, won The Oregon Book Award and was short-listed for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Laux is also the author of Awake; What We Carry, a finalist for the National Book Critic’s Circle Award; Smoke; as well as a fine small press edition, The Book of Women. She is the co-author of the celebrated text The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Ple of Writing Poetry. Her latest collection is Life On Earth.
A fourth generation Angeleno, Michelle Bitting grew up in Los Angeles near the ocean. She studied theatre, wrote poems, danced, played music as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley and went on to study Meisner acting and perform as a modern dancer, including a two year workshop and filming stint with Twyla Tharp for the James L. Brooks movie, I’ll Do Anything. Michelle Bitting was short-listed for the 2023 CRAFT Character Sketch Challenge, the 2020 Montreal International Poetry Prize, and a finalist for the 2021 Coniston Prize and 2020 Reed Magazine Edwin Markham Prize. She is the author of five poetry collections, including Nightmares & Miracles (Two Sylvias Press, 2022), winner of the Wilder Prize and recently named one of Kirkus Reviews 2022 Best of Indie. Her most recently published chapbook is Dummy Ventriloquist. Bitting holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Mythological Studies, emphasis Poetry and Psychology. She is writing a novel that centers around Los Angeles and her great grandmother, stage and screen actor Beryl Mercer, and is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Literature at Loyola Marymount University.
Kim Addonizio is the author of over a dozen books of prose and poetry. Her latest poetry collection is Exit Opera (W.W. Norton). . Her memoir-in-essays, Bukowski in a Sundress, was published by Penguin. She is co-author, with Dorianne Laux, of The Poet’s Companion. Addonizio’s work has been translated into several languages and honored with fellowships from the NEA and Guggenheim Foundation, and her collection Tell Me was a finalist for the National Book Award. She lives in Oakland, CA and teaches poetry workshops on Zoom. https://www.kimaddonizio.com
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Friday, the 22nd
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Book Club for Middle Grade Readers: Mascot via Palisades Branch Library, LAPL – Online MG Event
Middle grade readers are invited to participate in our fun monthly book discussions.
This month we will be reading: Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell.
What if a school’s mascot is seen as racist, but not by everyone? Two BIPOC authors tackle this hot-button issue.
RSVP:
Please e-mail: akagan@lapl.org or gkim@lapl.org for the Zoom login information.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Palisades Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-middle-grade-readers-mascot-charles-waters
Mystery Book Club: Secret Identity at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Secret Identity by author Alex Segura.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 11 am
Address: 1246 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-14
Book Club: Remarkably Bright Creatures at Jefferson – Vassie D Wright Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Remarkably Bright Creatures by author Shelby Van Pelt.
A luminous debut novel about a widow’s unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium—and the truths she finally uncovered about her son’s disappearance thirty years ago. Electronic formats are available on hoopla.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Jefferson – Vassie D Wright Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 2211 W. Jefferson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90018
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-remarkably-bright-creatures-shelby-van-pelt
Critique Workshop: Dorianne Laux & Kim Addonizio at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
Bring a draft of a poem-in-progress (under 2 pages), with copies for all (14 total) for close reading from Kim and Doriane.
We’ll discuss elements like clarity, structure, line, image, and other aspects of craft, talk about what we value in poems, and give you specific ideas about revising your work.
Kim Addonizio is the author of over a dozen books of poetry and prose. Exit Opera is just out from W.W. Norton (September 2024). Other books include Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within, also from Norton; and a memoir-in-essays, Bukowski in a Sundress, (Penguin). Addonizio’s work has been honored with fellowships from the NEA and Guggenheim Foundation, among others, and her work has been translated into several languages. Her collection Tell Me was a finalist for the National Book Award. She lives in Oakland, CA and teaches poetry workshops on Zoom. https://www.kimaddonizio.com
Pulitzer Prize finalist Dorianne Laux’s most recent collection is Life on Earth. She is also author of Only As The Day Is Long: New and Selected, The Book of Men, winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize and Facts about the Moon, winner of the Oregon Book Award, all from W.W. Norton, and recently released a handbook, Finger Exercises for Poetry. She teaches poetry at Pacific University’s low residency MFA Program. Laux is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Book Club: The Seed Keeper at Gardena Mayme Dear Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The Seed Keeper by author Diane Wilson.
A haunting novel spanning several generations, The Seed Keeper follows a Dakota family’s struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Gardena Mayme Dear Library, LACL
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 1731 W Gardena Blvd., Gardena, CA 90247
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11933325
Book Club: Horse at View Park Bebe Moore Campbell Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the novel Horse by author Geraldine Brooks.
For adults.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: View Park Bebe Moore CampbellLibrary, LACL
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 3854 W. 54th St., Los Angeles, CA 90043
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/11986704
Kids Storytime: Alexander & Valentina Cutler’s No Trash Cans in Japan at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Kids Event
Participants will read and discuss the book No Trash Cans in Japan by author Alexander Cutler and Valentina Cutler.
This week we’re proud to present a reading of No Trash Cans in Japan from author Alexander Cutler and illustrator Valentina Cutler.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. 1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events
Book Club: Sisters of the Neversea at Live Oak Library, LACL – In-Person Kids Event
Participants will discuss the novel Sisters of the Neversea by author Cynthia Leitich Smith.
Native American Lily and English Wendy embark on a high-flying journey of magic, adventure, and courage to a fairy-tale island known as Neverland. For ages 8-12.
NOTE: See site or RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Live OakLibrary, LACL
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 12 pm – 1 pm
Address: 22 W. Live Oak Ave., Arcadia, CA 91007
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12084968
Celebrate The Libros One Year Anniversary – In-Person Event
Join The Libros as they celebrate one year celebrating serving Lincoln Heights and all of Los Angeles—a gathering space to promote the love local authors, local voices and stories of the local community. The Schedule of events is:
12 pm Children’s Reading with Danielle Davis
1 pm Poetry On Demand w/ Alex Petunia & Co.
1pm Cosmic Reiki Elements Pop-up
3 pm Reading & Signing w/ Viet Than Nguyen
5 pm Readings w/
Donato Martinez was born in a small pueblo, Garcia de la Cadena, Zacatecas, Mexico and immigrated into the USA at six years old. He teaches English Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at Santa Ana College. He has also taught classes in Chicano Studies. He has been a co-coordinator of the Puente Program for 25 years. His debut poetry collection is Touch the Sky (El Martillo, 2023).
Crystal Salas is a Xicanx poet, essayist, educator, and community organizer. Her poetry chapbook Grief Logic is co-winner of the inaugural Alta California Prize, available in a bilingual edition from Gunpowder Press. She has work in ALTA Journal, Omnium Gathering Quarterly, Northwest Review, [PANK] Magazine, World Literature Today, Chaparral Poetry, and Acentos Review. A founding member of the BreakBread Literacy Project, which elevates the voices of young creatives under 25, she serves as poetry editor for BreakBread Magazine. She holds an M.F.A. from University of California, Riverside, where she also provided arts and storytelling outreach as a Gluck fellow and Along the Chaparral fellow.
Susana Porras is a poet, travel enthusiast, and community organizer. In 2010, she was named one of The Magazine’s 50 Women of Influence for her dedication to effecting innovative ways of rebuilding neighborhoods in her hometown of Pasadena, California.
Ariana Ross Ariana Ross is an artist and writer with a background in the wine industry. She’s celebrating the release of her short treatise, Wine’s Way to Art, and ghostwrites and edits for clients. Her specialty is in distilling complex concepts into relatable human terms, all with a sense of wonder and amusement.
Where: The Libros
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 12 pm
Address: 3422 N. Broadway, Los Angeles, California 90031
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCf42HRJ3Wt/?img_index=1
Anthology Launch: Inlandia: A Literary Journey at Riverside Main Library – In-Person Event
Join us IN PERSON at Riverside Main Library on Saturday, November 23, to celebrate the rich and varied contributions of Inlandia’s workshop writers as we launch the newest edition of the 2023 Writing from Inlandia anthology.
Contributors to Inlandia: A Literary Journey will also share the art and writing they’ve submitted through our online publication. The program runs from 1:00-3:00 PM; doors open at 12:30.
The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Riverside Main Library
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Address: 3900 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/my-calendar/?mc_id=2510
Midnight in America: Open Poetry Reading at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
MIDNIGHT IN AMERICA, an OPEN POETRY READING in response to the election. Come read 5 minutes or less. NOT TO BE MISSED!! Event—and flyer—Created by S.A. Griffin.
Five minutes per person.
The event is free and open to the public.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 2 pm – 5 pm
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCfC9JQT1rN/
Creative Writing Group at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Calling all writers of fiction, screenplays, poetry, etc. Get feedback on your writing in a fun, supportive environment. Meetings include a writing prompt/exercise, snacks, and a rollicking good time! Whether you are just starting out or well on your way to glory, join us and banish (at least temporarily) those Lonely Writer Blues!
RSVP:
Please RSVP by emailing fiction@lapl.org today.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Central Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 3 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/writers-group-0
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Publishing Party – In-Person Event
Publishing Party for HEDY HABRA + Poets published in Four Feathers Press Families of Southern California: Relative Poetry and 4-in-1 Book Nine (DKC, Jackie Chou, Wyatt Underwood, and Patrick Walters)
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Lamanda Park Branch Library, Pasadena
Date: Saturday, the 23rd
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 140 S. Altadena Dr., Pasadena CA
Website: https://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Vroman’s 130th Anniversary Celebration at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Come celebrate 130 years of Vroman’s! We want to say thank you with a celebration. We will be unveiling our limited-edition merch and doing a raffle every 30 minutes for entered participants (must be present to win). Share a Vroman’s Memory with us, read our 1894 trivia around the store, and get a head start on your holiday shopping. Good times to be had for all!
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 23rd
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2024-11-23/vromans-130th-anniversary-celebration
Historical Fiction Book Club: Kindred: The Graphic Novel Adaptation at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Kindred: The Graphic Novel Adaptation.
The graphic novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s bestselling dystopian science-fiction masterpiece Kindred is a #1 New York Times bestseller and the winner of the Eisner Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium.
Frightening, compelling, and richly imagined, Kindred offers an unflinching look at our complicated social history, transformed by the graphic novel format into a visually stunning work for a new generation of readers. Kindred continues to draw in new readers with its deep exploration of the violence and loss of humanity caused by slavery in the United States, and its complex and lasting impact on the present day.
Adapted by celebrated academics and comics artists Damian Duffy and John Jennings, this graphic novel powerfully renders Butler’s mysterious and moving story, which spans racial and gender divides in the antebellum South through the 20th century.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 23rd
Time: 5 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event
Poetry Reading at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Join us at North Fig for an evening of poetry from:
James Norman N/A
Nikolai Garcia grew up in South Central Los Angeles; works in East Hollywood; drinks in DTLA; and has been sleeping in Compton for 15+ years. His poems have been published in Huizache, Cultural Daily, Drunk Monkeys, Sad Girl Review, Razorcake, Sobotka, Latino Book Review and various other journals and anthologies. His first chapbook, Nuclear Shadows of Palm Trees, was released by DSTL Arts in 2019. He is cohost of Trenches Full of Poets, a reading series in Long Beach.
Ingrid M. Calderon is an immigrant from El Salvador. She studied journalism at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA. Her work has been featured in Drunk Monkeys, Rabid Oak, and Rhythm & Bones Lit, among others.
Daryl Gussin is a writer and musician who has been awkwardly standing around at punk shows for the last twenty-something years. Thankfully at some point in his late teens, he decided to become a little more productive and has been working on zines, setting up shows, and playing in bands consecutively since then. He’s been integrally involved in Razorcake fanzine for the last seventeen years.
You won’t want to miss it.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Saturday the 23rd
Time: 5:45 pm – 8 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-m2z2eio5
Celebrate Natalie Sierra as President of Café con Libros Press, Pomona – In-Person Event
Join us to celebrate Natalie Sierra in her new role as President of Café con Libros Press, Pomona.
Many El Martillo Press and FowerSong Press authors will read their work, and many members of the literary community will be in attendance too.
See site for details.
Where: Café con Libros Press, Pomona
Date: Saturday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 280 W. 2nd St., Pomona, CA 91766
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCBDgDOpqnp/
Book Event: Editor Kim Wilson and Contributors, & We Grow the World Together: Parenting toward Abolition at Reparations Club, with Casita Books – In-Person Event
Celebrate the launch of We Grow Together with contributing editor Kim Wilson and co-contributing authors.
Artist, educator, writer, and organizer, Dr. Kim Wilson leads a discussion of a vital anthology exploring the intersections between caregiving and abolition, We Grow Together: Parenting Toward Abolition. Dr. Wilson will be joined in conversation with contributing authors and collaborators, Dylan Rodríguez, Susana Victoria Parras, and Alejandro Villalpando.
NOTE: See website for tickets and details.
Where: Reparations Club (with Casita Books)
Date: Saturday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm)
Address: 3054 S. Victoria Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90016
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 17th (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 24th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. 1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events
Burning Issues Book Club: The Red Deal at Bel Canto Books, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth by The Red Nation.
A powerful guide to Indigenous liberation and the fight to save the planet.
The Red Nation is a coalition of Native and non-Native activists, educators, students, and community organizers advocating Native liberation that formed to address the marginalization and invisibility of Native struggles within mainstream social justice organizing, and to foreground the targeted destruction and violence towards Native life and land. http://www.therednation.org
Where: Bel Canto Books
Date: Sunday the 24th
Time: 12 pm – 1 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Latinx Book Club: Our Migrant Souls at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the book Our Migrant Souls A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” by author Héctor Tobar.
In Our Migrant Souls, the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Héctor Tobar delivers a definitive and personal exploration of what it means to be Latino in the United States right now.
“Latino” is the most open-ended and loosely defined of the major race categories in the United States, and also one of the most rapidly growing. Composed as a direct address to the young people who identify or have been classified as “Latino,” Our Migrant Souls is the first account of the historical and social forces that define Latino identity.
Tobar translates his experience as not only a journalist and novelist but also a mentor, a leader, and an educator. He interweaves his own story, and that of his parents’ migration to the United States from Guatemala, into his account of his journey across the country to uncover something expansive, inspiring, true, and alive about the meaning of “Latino” in the twenty-first century.
Héctor Tobar is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and novelist. He is the author of the critically acclaimed, New York Times bestseller, Deep Down Dark, as well as The Barbarian Nurseries, Translation Nation, and The Tattooed Soldier. Héctor is also a contributing writer for the New York Times opinion pages and an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine. He’s written for The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times and other publications. His short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, L.A. Noir, Zyzzyva, and Slate. The son of Guatemalan immigrants, he is a native of Los Angeles, where he lives with his family.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 24th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/book
Billy Van Zandt, with Bruce Ferber, Because It’s Funny at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Billy Van Zandt, in conversation with Bruce Ferber, will discuss his book, Because It’s Funny.
Often funny, smart, and always thoughtful, Billy Van Zandt’s memoir shares his recollections and insights of his 46-year playwriting partnership with the late Jane Milmore, and the creation of their wildly successful catalog of 23 plays. Follow their comedy adventure of literary talent and luck that begins with a Smith Corona typewriter smuggled onto a studio movie set and over the decades grows into thousands of productions entertaining audiences worldwide. Traveling along on this journey of laughter are the multi-talented NJ casts that premiered each and every play and through the years and performances coalesce into an ensemble company and artistic family. A must read for theatre fans everywhere, and especially for those who have ever been involved in community theatre!
One of the world’s most successful playwrights, New Jersey native Billy Van Zandt met Wyoming-born Jane Milmore at a high school drama competition in Rumson, New Jersey. A month later they were cast together in Neil Simon’s Star Spangled Girl and worked together as playwrights, producers, and actors, for the next forty-six years.
Their 23 plays, all published with Concord Theatricals, have been translated into multiple languages and performed in thousands of theaters around the world. Their Off-Broadway hit You’ve Got Hate Mail ran four and a half years at New York’s Triad Theater and has continued with multiple ongoing productions all over the globe; Billy’s The Property Known as Garland broke house records at the Off-Broadway’s Actors Playhouse; and the classic summer stock perennial Love, Sex, and the IRS is performed somewhere in the world every day of the year. His works have been directed by the likes of Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis, and film icon Burt Reynolds.
Bruce Ferber is the author of the 2022 Foreword Indie winning novel, I Buried Paul, a Beatles- inspired love letter to the power of music. His other novels are Elevating Overman, Foreword Gold Prizewinner Cascade Falls, and the upcoming Diasporama. Ferber also edited the popular non-fiction anthology, The Way We Work: On the Job in Hollywood. A multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominee, his writing and producing credits include Bosom Buddies, Coach, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Home Improvement, where he served as Executive Producer and showrunner.
Where: Deisel, A Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 24th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Billy-Van-Zandt-November-24-Author-signing
“NEW” Zillenial Book Club: The God and the Gumiho at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss the book The God and the Gumiho (Fate’s Thread #1) by author Sophie Kim.
Kim Hani has retired from a life of devouring souls. She is, simply put, too full. Once known as the infamous Scarlet Fox, she now spends her days working in a coffee shop and annoying a particularly irritating, if unfairly handsome, trickster god as often as she can.
Sophie Kim has a penchant for writing stories that feature mythology, monsters, mystery, and magic. Her work includes young adult novels such as the Talons series and books on the adult spectrum such as The God and the Gumiho.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 24th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/new-zillennial-book-club-god-and-gumiho
Historical Fiction Book Club: The Wolf & The Wildflower at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The Wolf & The Wildflower by author Stacy Reid.
Orders manager Katie S leads this event and focuses on examining romance novels from all eras, new and old…Everyone is welcome.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 24th
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 3806 Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
Los Angeles Literature 