Library Book Club: Things You Save in a Fire at Encino-Tarzana Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Good News! The Encino-Tarzana Library Book Club and co-chairs Aliki and Jamie are excited to meet you and share ideas. To get started right away, the book chosen for our February discussion is Things You Save in a Fire—a compelling page-turner.

Limited copies of the books will be available for checkout at the library starting January 2nd. Each month, the library will provide a limited number of copies of the upcoming book for discussion. We look forward to many great reading adventures ahead. Please feel free to bring titles of books you’d like to share with the group, and we’ll compile a list for future meetings.

Where: Encino-Tarzana Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 3^rd

Time: 1:30 pm

Alternating Mondays, 1/6, 1/20, 2/3, 2/17, and 3/3/2025, 6:00-8:00 pm PT, on Zoom.

In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for critique. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face.

James Coats is a poet, performer, and educator born in Los Angeles and raised in the Inland Empire. You can take a poetry workshop with him through his organization Lift Our Voices Education, which hosts an award-winning workshop monthly called Be the Change. He is the author of four poetry collections. His most recent is Midnight & Mad Dreams.

NOTE: See site for link and details.

Where: Inlandia Institute

Date: Monday the 3^rd

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/my-calendar/?mc_id=2464 

Clea Koff & Silent Evidence at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Clea Koff will present and discuss her novel, Silent Evidence.

Every body has secrets.

Jayne and Steelie founded Agency 32/1 with one purpose in mind: using their specialist forensic skills to help police solve crimes.

When a bundle of frozen body parts fall out of a van on a Los Angeles freeway, FBI agent Scott Houston knows just where to go for an off-the-record post-mortem. But to everyone’s horror, Jayne and Steelie quickly determine the parts aren’t from one body. The body parts are from multiple bodies.

A serial killer is on the loose. Worse, Scott’s call has put Jayne and Steelie’s lives in jeopardy, as their unique skills can uncover evidence to unmask the killer. Can they find the killer, before the killer finds them?

Where: Book Soup

Date: Monday the 3^rd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/clea-koff

R.U.P.O. Open Mic at Back to the Grind in Riverside – In-Person Event

RUPO Open Mic is every Monday Night at Back to the Grind in Riverside.

Every Monday at 7 pm to 9 pm. Sign-ups are at 6:30 pm and in person only, $4 cash admission. See you then!

NOTE: See site for link and details.

Where: Back to the Grind, Riverside

Date: Monday the 3^rd

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501

A scholar and activist’s brilliant socio-political examination of Asian Americans who refuse to assimilate and instead build their own belonging on their own terms outside of mainstream American institutions.

In this hard-hitting and deeply personal book, a combination of manifesto and memoir, scholar, sociologist, and activist Bianca Mabute-Louie transforms the ways we understand race, class, citizenship, and the concept of assimilation and its impact on Asian American communities from the nineteenth century to present day.

UNASSIMILABLE opens with a focus on the San Gabriel Valley (SGV), the first Asian ethnoburb in Los Angeles County and in the nation, where she grew up. A suburban neighborhood with a conspicuous Asian immigrant population, SGV thrives not because of its assimilation into Whiteness, but because of its unapologetic catering to its immigrant community.

Bianca Mabute-Louie is an award-winning sociologist, speaker, and activist completing her PhD at Rice University, where she researches the intersections of race, religion, and politics. She is published in top academic journals, including Social Forces and Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, as well as in public outlets like Elle Magazine. Bianca has been featured in CNN, TIME, ABC, LA Times, among other outlets. Over the last decade, Bianca has served Asian American community organizations and taught Asian American Studies. Through her work in academia and the community, Bianca is committed to the praxis of solidarity and collective liberation.

Leo Sheng is an actor and activist known for playing Micah Lee on The L Word: Generation Q. Although he’s currently focused on acting, he remains close to his roots of facilitation and community building. His identities as a Chinese American queer trans man heavily inform his work on screen, and his work behind the scenes.

Where: Skylight

Date: Monday the 3^rd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-bianca-mabute-louie-presents-unassimilable-w-leo-sheng

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 3^rd

Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm

Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)

Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/monday-night-fiction-workshop-tickets-1224885327989

LiveTalks LA Presents: An Evening with Naomi Watts & Dare I Say It at Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre at New Roads School – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Naomi Watts will present and discuss her book Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Menopause

A frank, funny and informative guide to menopause and aging by beloved actress Naomi Watts, one of the leading voices in menopause awareness.

Naomi Watts is a renowned actor and producer. She has Academy Award nominations for her performances in 21 Grams and The Impossible, and is also known for starring in critically acclaimed projects such as Mulholland Drive, King Kong, and, more recently, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans. She is the founder and chief creative officer of Stripes, a company dedicated to raising menopause awareness and providing women with education, community, and solutions for a holistic approach to menopause.

At thirty-six, Naomi Watts had just completed filming King Kong and was trying to start a family when she was told that she was on the brink of menopause. It is estimated that seventy-five million women in the United States are currently dealing with menopause symptoms (dry itchy skin, raging hormones, night sweats), and yet the very word “menopause” continues to be associated with stigma and confusion. With so little information, many women feel unprepared, ashamed, and deeply alone when the time comes.

This is the book Naomi Watts wishes she had when she first started experiencing symptoms. Like sitting down over coffee and having an intimate chat with your girlfriend, Dare I Say It blends funny and poignant stories from Naomi and her friends with advice from doctors, hormone experts, and nutritionists to take the secrecy and shame out of menopause and aging. Answering questions such as: What’s hormone therapy and should I be on it? Will I ever sleep again? Will I get myself back? What happened to my libido? Do I need eighteen serums for my aging skin? Whose body is this anyway? Who am I now? Naomi Watts shares the most up-to-date research on how to manage menopause symptoms and tackle the physical and emotional challenges we encounter as we age.

NOTE: See site for tickets and details.

Where: Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre at New Roads School

Date: Monday the 3^rd

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

Address: 3131 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404

(Free Parking available at the venue)

Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/naomi-watts/

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 3^rd

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm (Doors at 7:30 pm)

Address: 2222 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, CA 90804

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 10 am – 11 am

Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events

Author Talk: Sabrina Sholts & The Human Disease via LACL – LACL Online Virtual Event

Join us for this enlightening presentation with Smithsonian curator Sabrina Sholts as she talks about The Humane Disease and how the very fact of being human increases our pandemic risks—and gives us the power to save ourselves.

The COVID-19 pandemic won’t be our last—because what makes us vulnerable to pandemics also makes us human. That is the uncomfortable but all-too-timely message of The Human Disease: How We Create Pandemics, From Our Bodies to Our Beliefs, which travels through history and around the globe to examine how and why pandemics are an inescapable threat of our own making. Drawing on dozens of disciplines—from medicine, epidemiology, and microbiology to anthropology, sociology, ecology, and neuroscience—as well as a unique expertise in public education about emerging infectious diseases, biological anthropologist Sabrina Sholts identifies the human traits and tendencies that double as pandemic liabilities, from the anatomy that defines us to the misperceptions that divide us.

Weaving together a wealth of personal experiences, scientific findings, and historical stories, Sholts brings dramatic and much-needed clarity to one of the most profound challenges we face as a species. Though the COVID-19 pandemic looms large in Sholts’s account, it is, in fact, just one of the many infectious disease events explored in The Human Disease. With its expansive, evolutionary perspective, the book explains how humanity will continue to face new pandemics because humans cause them, by the ways that we are and the things that we do. By recognizing our risks, Sholts suggests, we can take actions to reduce them. When the next pandemic happens, and how bad it becomes, are largely within our highly capable human hands—and will be determined by what we do with our extraordinary human brains. A presentation you don’t want to miss, register now!

Sabrina Sholts is a biological anthropologist and Curator of Biological Anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). Her research explores intersections of human, animal, and environmental health in the past and present. She received her PhD in Anthropology at UC Santa Barbara and was a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley in Integrative Biology and at Stockholm University in Biophysics and Biochemistry. Sholts has published widely in academic journals including American Journal of Biological Anthropology, Environmental Health Perspectives, JAMA, PNAS, Scientific Reports, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, and Nature Ecology & Evolution, and written for popular audiences in Scientific American and Smithsonian Magazine. She was named as a World Economic Forum Young Scientist in 2019. In addition, she was Lead Curator of the exhibition Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World at the NMNH (2018-2022) and a scientific advisor for the related exhibition Épidémies: Prendre soin du vivant at the musée des Confluences in Lyon, France (2024-2025)

Where: Virtual Event, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 11 pm – 12 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event

Virtual Book Club: Colored Television at La Crescenta Library, LACL – Online Zoom Event

Join us to discuss Colored Television by author Danzi Senna, to celebrate African American & Black History Month. For adults.

Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event

Celina’s Scribes with Wil Clarke via Inlandia Institute – Online Event

(All Levels)

Tuesdays, beginning 1/7/25, 11:30 am – 1:00 am PT, on Zoom.

 Free. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW

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 can.”

Where: Inlandia Institute

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 11:30 am – 1 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/my-calendar/?mc_id=2491

Fiction Book Club at Donald Bruce Kaufman – Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us on the first Tuesday of each month to discuss a different work of fiction. 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: Donald Bruce Kaufman – Brentwood Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 1 pm

Address: 11820 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/brentwood-fiction-book-club 

The Darkest Hour Book Club: The Jigsaw Man at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – Online Zoom Event

Join us to discuss The Jigsaw Man by author Nadine Matheson, to celebrate African American & Black History Month. For adults.

When body parts are found on the banks of the River Thames in Deptford, DI Anjelica Henley is tasked with finding the killer. Eerie echoes of previous crimes lead Henley to question Peter Olivier, aka The Jigsaw Killer, who is currently serving a life sentence for a series of horrific murders. When a severed head is delivered to Henley’s home, she realizes that the copycat is taking an interest in her and that the victims have not been chosen at random. To catch the killer, Henley must confront her own demons—and when Olivier escapes from prison, she finds herself up against not one serial killer, but two.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12859673

Dog Man Celebration at Alma Reaves Woods – Watts Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids Event

Join us to celebrate the new Dog Man movie and books with comics, giveaways and more.

Where: Alma Reaves Woods – Watts Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 3 pm

Address: 10205 Compton Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90002

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/dog-man

Women and Books Discussion: One of Our Kind at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us to discuss One of Our Kind by author Nicola Yoon.

This is a hybrid event. Please register at the link below to receive the link to the meeting via email.

https://library-lacounty-gov.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtcOivqzwpGNDyGiDsipuoB54noYxGsxYg

Summary provided by the publisher:

Jasmyn and King Williams move their family to the planned Black utopia of Liberty, California hoping to find a community of like-minded people, a place where their growing family can thrive. King settles in at once, embracing the Liberty ethos, including the luxe wellness center at the top of the hill, which proves to be the heart of the community. But Jasmyn struggles to find her place. She expected to find liberals and social justice activists striving for racial equality, but Liberty residents seem more focused on booking spa treatments and ignoring the world’s troubles.

Jasmyn’s only friends in the community are equally perplexed and frustrated by most residents’ outlook. Then Jasmyn discovers a terrible secret about Liberty and its founders. Frustration turns to dread as their loved ones start embracing the Liberty way of life. Will the truth destroy her world in ways she never could have imagined?

Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

The award-winning author of The Leavers offers a visionary novel of friendship, art, and ambition that asks: What is the value of a meaningful life?

In the early 1980s, Giselle Chin, Jackie Ong, and Ellen Ng are three teenagers drawn together by their shared sense of alienation and desire for something different. “Allied in the weirdest parts of themselves,” they envision each other as artistic collaborators and embark on a future defined by freedom and creativity.

By the time they are adults, their dreams are murkier. As a performance artist, Giselle must navigate an elite social world she never conceived of. As a coder thrilled by the internet’s early egalitarian promise, Jackie must contend with its more sinister shift toward monetization and surveillance. And as a community activist, Ellen confronts the increasing gentrification and policing overwhelming her New York City neighborhood. Over time their friendship matures and changes, their definitions of success become complicated, and their sense of what matters evolves.

Moving from the predigital 1980s to the art and tech subcultures of the 1990s to a strikingly imagined portrait of the 2040s, Memory Piece is an innovative and audacious story of three lifelong friends as they strive to build satisfying lives in a world that turns out to be radically different from the one they were promised.

Lisa Ko is the author of the nationally bestselling novel The Leavers, which was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Award, and winner of the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Ko’s short fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories and her essays and nonfiction have been published in The New York Times and The Believer.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508

Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/feminist-book-club-memory-piece

The Darkest Hour Book Club: The Jigsaw Man via Agoura Hills Library, LACL – Online Event

Join us online to discuss The Jigsaw Man by author Nadine Matheson.

Copies of the book will be available at the library. This program is for adults.

Please email Adult/Teen Librarian, Katie McGaha, at kmcgaha@library.lacounty.gov for the virtual link.

When body parts are found on the banks of the River Thames in Deptford, DI Anjelica Henley is tasked with finding the killer. Eerie echoes of previous crimes lead Henley to question Peter Olivier, aka The Jigsaw Killer, who is currently serving a life sentence for a series of horrific murders. When a severed head is delivered to Henley’s home, she realizes that the copycat is taking an interest in her and that the victims have not been chosen at random. To catch the killer, Henley must confront her own demons—and when Olivier escapes from prison, she finds herself up against not one serial killer, but two.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event

Conchas y Café Bilingual Writing Zine Workshop via DSTL Arts – Online Event

 Our Conchas y Café bilingual community writing workshop series is a 15-week virtual course that explores skills in poetry and other forms of creative writing. Writers of all skill levels are welcome to join.

The SPRING 2025 SEMESTER will culminate with the publishing of Conchas y Café Zine; Vol. 10, Issue 2.

The theme we will be exploring during this series and zine is the concept: “TBD.”

To enroll in our series, visit: https://classroom.google.com/c/NzAzMDE4NzMyODY4?cjc=ixjqfbg

Nuestra serie de clases bilingües comunitarias de escritura ‘Conchas y Café’ es un curso virtual de 15 semanas que explora técnicas poéticas y otras formas de escritura creativa. Autores de todo nivel técnico son bienvenidos a participar.

Where: DSTL Arts

Date: Tuesday the 4^th (through May 6, 2025)

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

Address: Online Event

Free Play is about the inner sources of spontaneous creation. It is about why we create and what we learn when we do. It is about the flow of unhindered creative energy: the joy of making art in all its varied forms.

An international bestseller and beloved classic, Free Play is an inspiring and provocative book, directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It reveals how inspiration arises within us, how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed or obscured, and how finally it can be liberated—how we can be liberated—to speak or sing, write or paint, dance or play, with our own authentic voice.

Stephen Nachmanovitch, a pioneer in free improvisation, integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity, drawing on unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecdotes, and original metaphors. The whole enterprise of improvisation in life and art, of recovering free play and awakening creativity, is about being true to ourselves and our visions. Free Play brings us into direct, active contact with boundless creative energies that we may not even know we had.

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events

Open Mic Readings Every Tuesday at the Aftermath Bar, Sherman Oaks – In-Person Event

CALLING ALL WRITERS! Every Tuesday we’ll be having Open Mic Readings open to the public! Read your poems, fiction, and spoken word at our open mic reading EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT from 7 pm – 10 pm!

Read your poetry, fiction, spoken word, or lyrics.

Free event. 21+

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: The Aftermath Bar

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 7 pm – 10 pm

Address: 14537 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDniBCVy64L/

Other Worlds Book Club: Nicked at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event

Other Worlds Book Club participants will explore the nooks and crannies of speculative fiction: fantasy, science fiction, alternative history, horror, and their intersections.

Participants will discuss Nicked: A Novel by author MT Anderson.

Facilitated by Leo Lukin.

From the award-winning and bestselling author of Feed comes a raucous, slyly funny, and delightfully queer work of historical fantasy, based on a bizarre but true quest to steal the mystical corpse of a long-dead saint

Where: pages: a bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs unravels a profound mystery from her past in a war-torn nation grappling with its future.

London, 1945: Four adolescent orphans with a dark wartime history are squatting in a vacant Belgravia mansion—the owners having fled London under heavy Luftwaffe bombing. Psychologist and Investigator Maisie Dobbs visits the mansion on behalf of the owners and discovers that a demobilized soldier, gravely ill and reeling from his experiences overseas, has taken shelter with the group.

Maisie’s quest to bring comfort to the youngsters and the ailing soldier brings to light a decades-old mystery concerning Maisie’s first husband, James Compton, who was killed while piloting an experimental fighter aircraft. As Maisie unravels the threads of her dead husband’s life, she is forced to examine her own painful past and question beliefs she has always accepted as true.

The award-winning Maisie Dobbs series has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers, readers drawn to a woman who is of her time, yet familiar in ours—and who inspires with her resilience and capacity for endurance. This final assignment of her own choosing not only opens a new future for Maisie and her family, but serves as a fascinating portrayal of the challenges facing the people of Britain at the close of the Second World War.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Tuesday the 4^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-02-04/jacqueline-winspear-discusses-comfort-ghosts

Sunless Sea Poetry and Spoken Word Open Mic Show at Unurban Coffee House, Santa Monica – In-Person Event

Join DeForest Wright every first Tuesday of the month for Sunless Sea Poetry and Spoken Word Open Mic Show at Unurban Coffee House.

Our concept of poetry is broad and collaborative, so we are open to musicians, comedians, visual artists and creatives, in any other medium and genre. We encourage everybody to share their art and influences here and in person at the show. We also encourage promotion, networking, and collaboration.

Where: Unurban Coffee House

Date: Tuesday, the 4^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm

Address: 3301 Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90405

Valois J. Vera is a poet, author, activist, and disability justice worker at NMD United. He is the author of I The Revolution, a collection of poems that advocates for justice for marginalized people. Vera champions liberation and grapples with identity, chronic pain, community, and how to make the world more accessible for all. Vera concludes that to be disabled is to be revolutionary. This collection ties into social justice movements and shows that crip liberation will come from disabled reckoning. Vera demands access and visibility and understands the movement toward freedom, safety, and equity.

Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event

Date: Tuesday, the 4^th

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.

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 4^th

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/

Book Party Book Club: Never Let Me Go at San Dimas Senior Center, LACL – In-Person Event

Held the first Wednesday of each month at the San Dimas Senior Center, 201 E Bonita Ave. This month’s selection is “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro. Copies are available for check out at the circulation desk. For Adults.

This month’s selection is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

From the acclaimed, bestselling author of The Remains of the Day comes “a Gothic tour de force” (The New York Times) with an extraordinary twist—a moving, suspenseful, beautifully atmospheric modern classic. One of The New York Times’s 10 Best Books of the 21st Century

As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special—and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.

Where: San Dimas Senior Center, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Address: 201 E. Bonita Ave., San Dimas, CA 91773

We present a special bilingual storytime of a Mandarin Immersion book reading for ages 0-4. Expose your child to the sounds of the Chinese language with author Bonnie Yi, who will read from her books Ice Cream Llama and We’re Here.

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events

Afternoon Book Club: The Fox Wife at Westlake Village Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us as participants discuss The Fox Wife by Choo. For adults.

Copies of the book are available for check-out at the library.

Where: Westlake Village Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 12 pm – 1 pm

Address: 31220 Oak Crest Dr., Westlake Village, CA 91361

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event

Book Club: The House on Mango Street at Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros – The L.A. City Big Read selection for 2025. A coming-of-age novel about a young girl, Esperanza, growing up in Chicago and inventing for herself who and what she will become.

Where: Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 1:30 pm

Address: 21052 Devonshire St., Chatsworth, CA 91311

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/chatsworth-branch-book-club-2

Mystery Book Club: The Violin Conspiracy at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us as participants discuss The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb. For adults.

Copies of the book are available for check-out at the library.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event

Poets Café 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.

Poetry From Around the World is a segment of this series offered monthly on the 2^nd Monday of the month on KPFK Los Angeles 90.7 FM.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: KPFK 90.7 FM

Date: Wednesday, the 5^th

Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: On-air Event (live)

Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/

Oliver Chin & The Year of the Snake at La Crescenta Library, LACL – In-Person Kids Event

Author Oliver Chin will discuss The Year of the Snake, from the popular series Tales from the Chinese Zodiac.

Learn about the Lunar New Year. Drawing and coloring activities will follow the presentation. For ages 5 – 12.

Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Address: 2809 Foothill Blvd., La Crescenta-Montrose, CA 91214

For our February book club, and to celebrate African American & Black History Month, we discuss the Man Booker Prize-winning novel by Los Angeles native Paul Beatty, The Sellout.

A biting satire about a young man’s isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court, Paul Beatty’s The Sellout showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. It challenges the sacred tenets of the United States Constitution, urban life, the civil rights movement, the father-son relationship, and the holy grail of racial equality—the Black Chinese restaurant.

Copies of the book will be available at the circulation desk. The program will take place in the Chicano Resource Center. Space is limited to ten participants, so pick up your copy soon!

Where: East Los Angeles Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm

Address: 4837 E. 3^rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90022

Feb. 5: Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book by Tonya Bolden.

RSVP:

Please register here and for more information, email cquinn@lapl.org.

Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 4 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/social-justice-book-club

2^nd & 3^rd Grade Book Club at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Kids Event

2ND & 3RD GRADE BOOK CLUB: Meets monthly, generally on the first Wednesday of each month at 4:30 pm.

We read new releases of early grade fiction. Book selection is done by voting at each meeting for the following month’s meeting.

Please RSVP to amy@pagesabookstore.com

Where: pages: a bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 6 pm

Address: 1874 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/creative-writing-workshop-tony-dushane-5

All Genres Workshop with Victoria Waddle via Inlandia Institute – Online Event

Alternating Wednesdays, 1/8, 1/22, 2/5, 2/19, and 3/5/25, 6:00-9:00 pm PT, on Zoom.

In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for biweekly critiques and receive feedback from other group members. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face. The workshop leader provides biweekly articles and links related to participants’ work, particularly to problems that were discussed in the previous session.

Victoria Waddle is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer, with fiction and nonfiction published in literary journals and anthologies, including in Best Short Stories from The Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest. A collection of her short fiction, Acts of Contrition, is available from Los Nietos Press and her chapbook, The Mortality of Dogs and Humans, is available from Bamboo Dart Press. Her YA novel about a teen escaping a polygamist cult is forthcoming from Inlandia Books. Previously the managing editor of Inlandia: A Literary Journey, she helped to establish a yearly teen issue. In a previous life, she was a high school English teacher and librarian.

NOTE: See site for link and details.

Where: Inlandia Institute

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/my-calendar/?mc_id=2469

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 5^th

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

Address: On-air Event (live at 101.5 FM)

Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events

Ticketed Event: Rebecca Serle, with Iliza Shlesinger, & Expiration Dates via Vroman’s – Online Event

Rebecca Serle, in conversation with Iliza Shlesinger, presents her novel Expiration Dates.

The New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years and One Italian Summer returns with “a romantic gem” (Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author) about a young woman who decides to finally live for herself rather than rely on the universe for answers.

Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake.

But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information that—if he found out—would break his heart.

Rebecca Serle is the New York Times bestselling author of Expiration Dates, One Italian Summer, In Five Years, The Dinner List, and the young adult novels The Edge of Falling and When You Were Mine. Serle also developed the hit TV adaptation Famous in Love, based on her YA series of the same name . She is a graduate of USC and The New School and lives in Los Angeles with her husband. Find out more at RebeccaSerle.com.

Iliza Shlesinger is an award-winning comedian, actor, writer, producer, and author with five Netflix stand-up specials, including Elder Millennial and Unveiled. She can currently be seen selling out theaters around the world on her tour. As an actor, Shlesinger wrote and starred in the hit Netflix rom- con movie Good on Paper. Additionally, she played opposite Mark Wahlberg in the #1 Netflix film Spenser Confidential and appeared in the critically acclaimed indie drama Pieces of a Woman with Vanessa Kirby.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-02-06/ticketed-virtual-event-rebecca-serle-conversation-iliza-shlesinger-discusses

Mystery Book Club: The Violin Conspiracy via Agoura Hills Library, LACL – Online Event

Participants will discuss The Violin Conspiracy, by author Brendan Slocumb.For adults.

To attend this virtual meeting, contact Nina Hull at 818-889-2278 or email nhull@library.lacounty.gov.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event

Christopher Farnsworth & Robert B. Parker’s Buried Secrets (Jesse Stone Novel) at Deisel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome Christopher Farnsworth to discuss his novel Robert B. Parker’s Buried Secrets (Jesse Stone Novel).

Robert B. Parker’s iconic police chief, Jesse Stone, is back in Robert B. Parker’s Buried Secrets, written by beloved crime author Christopher Farnsworth. Putnam is thrilled to publish Farnsworth’s first Jesse Stone novel, and the twenty-second in the series. Chief of Police Jesse Stone is on his way home from a long shift when a call comes in for a welfare check on an elderly resident of the wealthy seaside town of Paradise, Massachusetts. Inside a house packed with junk and trash is a man’s dead body. It’s a sad, lonely end, but nothing criminal…until Jesse finds the photos of murder victims strewn around the corpse, on top of a treasure trove of $2 million in cash.

Jesse takes on the case and finds a trail leading to an aging mobster who will do whatever it takes to keep the past from coming to light. Before long, Jesse has a price on his head as hit men converge on Paradise to take back the cash and destroy any remaining evidence. But the real danger might be coming from inside his own department. Jesse Stone must unearth the truth buried under the wreckage of a dead man’s life…before he winds up in the ground himself.

Robert B. Parker was the author of seventy books, including the legendary Spenser detective series, the novels featuring Chief Jesse Stone, and the acclaimed Virgil Cole/Everett Hitch westerns, as well as the Sunny Randall novels. Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and long considered the undisputed dean of American crime fiction, he died in January 2010.

Christopher Farnsworth worked as a reporter in Arizona and California before selling his first screenplay. He now pens successful crime and thriller novels. His books have been published in a dozen countries, and translated into ten languages, and optioned for film and television. A loyal reader of Robert B. Parker since his high school days, Farnsworth currently resides in Los Angeles with his family.

Note: Please RSVP at site. Seating is limited.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 225 26^th St., #33, Santa Monica, CA 90402

Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Christopher-Farnsworth-Robert-B-Parker-Buried-Secrets-Author-signing

Gianella Ghiglino, with Christina Galeno, & Resting Place of Survival at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Gianella Ghiglino, in conversation with Christian Galeno, reads from her new poetry collection Resting Place of Survival.

What do you do with the survival instinct when it has fulfilled its purpose? Poet Gianella Ghiglino unravels this question over dozens of soul-stirring pages, charting her relationship with her Peruvian roots, her immigrant family, and survivor’s guilt. Equal parts meditation and eulogy, Resting Place of Survival gives grace to the everyday, the ancestral, and the mythic through native and adapted tongues.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/gianella-ghiglino

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 5^th

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

Author Event: A.L. Jackson & Give Me a Reason at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event

Author A.L. Jackson will discuss her first book in the Redemption Hils series, Give Me a Reason, with a TBD guest.

There will be a book signing to follow.

Everyone is welcome. RSVP required.

NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 3806 Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323

Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara, passionate bibliophiles, and hosts of the Reading Glasses podcast are not too shy to admit that the book-lovers community can easily get a bit snobby and pretentious. Many people with the desire to read get lost in the smog of countless sources commanding how much you should be reading and what you must keep on your shelves. Take in a breath of fresh air with The No-Pressure Book Journal. This journal is carefully designed to help people read better by finding and achieving their reading goals without any guilt, shame, or pressure.

Along with plenty of space to track your reading, The No-Pressure Book Journal offers unique prompts, thoughtful essays on reading topics (like how to “dump” a book when you just aren’t feeling it, without a hint of remorse!), and dedicated sections to record all your exciting and insightful reading reflections. This is the perfect journal for readers—from those who speed through their TBR lists on the regular, to those who just thought, what is a TBR list?

Elevate your reading and writing life, on your own schedule and at your own pace, with The No-Pressure Book Journal.

Brea Grant is an award-winning filmmaker, comic book writer, and actor. She most-recently directed the horror thriller Torn Hearts for Blumhouse/Epix/Paramount starring Katey Sagal. She has co-hosted the hit podcast Reading Glasses since 2017.

Mallory O’Meara is an award-winning, bestselling historian and author. Her first book, The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller in hardcover and paperback. She has also co-hosted the hit podcast Reading Glasses since 2017.

Where: Skylight

Date: Wednesday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-mallory-omeara-brea-grant-present-no-pressure-book-journal 

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 5^th

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.

NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information. 

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Wednesday, the 5^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wednesday-night-poetry-workshop-tickets-1227907417139

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 2^nd Wednesday will be a poetry contest with a $200 prize for the poet winner, via unanimous vote.

Every 4^th 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 5^th

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 TBA at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event

Host Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at the Ugly Mug on Wednesday Nights and the feature is TBA.

CHECK TO VERIFY THIS DATE/EVENT

$4 cover fee, cash only

NOTE: See site for further details.

Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange

Date: Wednesday, the 29⁵

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866

Books are available for check-out at the library. For adults.

Where: Hermosa Beach Library, LACL

Date: Thursday the 6^th

Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Address: 550 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12665682

All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello via Inlandia Institute – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Thursdays, 11:15 am – 1:15 pm, In person at the Redlands Community Center, 111 W. Lugonia Ave, Redlands, Ongoing. Meets Weekly. (A Zoom option may be available; contact Inlandia for details.)

This ongoing writing workshop meets weekly at Redlands Community Center. Memoir writing, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writing are all encouraged and welcome. Discover the pure joy of writing and creating with others in a supportive environment.

Mae Wagner Marinello has been a part of Inlandia since a 2008 writing workshop with Ruth Nolan. In 2014, she began facilitating a weekly writing workshop called Joslyn Joy Writers, at the Joslyn Senior Center in Redlands. During the pandemic lockdown, the weekly workshop continued on Zoom; it is now a hybrid class averaging between 10-20 combined participants on Zoom and in-person.

NOTE: All Levels. See site for details.

Where: Inlandia Institute at the Redlands Community Center

Date: Thursday the 6^th

Time: 11:15 am – 1:15 pm

Address: 111 W. Lugonia Ave, Redlands, CA 92374

Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/my-calendar/?mc_id=2502

Author Event: Oliver Chin & The Year of the Snake at Walnut Library, LACL – In-Person Kids Event

Celebrate the Year of the Snake with children’s book author Oliver Chin. This storytime is great for younger readers; special activity sheets and coloring pages will be available for families after the program.

For ages 5 – 12.

Attendance is limited, and advance registration is required.

Where: Walnut Library, LACL

Date: Thursday the 6^th

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: 21155 La Puente Rd., Walnut, CA 91789 

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12832687

Ticketed Virtual Event: Rebecca Serle, with Iliza Shlesinger, & Expiration Dates at Vroman’s – In-Person Ticketed Event

Rebecca Serle, in conversation with Iliza Shlesinger, will discuss her novelExpiration Dates.

Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake.

But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information that—if he found out—would break his heart.

“Daphne’s sometimes heart-wrenching, often heartwarming search for meaningful relationships, both romantic and platonic, is sure to inspire” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) new and longtime fans of Rebecca Serle.

Rebecca Serle is the New York Times bestselling author of Expiration Dates, One Italian Summer, In Five Years, The Dinner List, and the young adult novels The Edge of Falling and When You Were Mine. Serle also developed the hit TV adaptation Famous in Love, based on her YA series of the same name . She is a graduate of USC and The New School and lives in Los Angeles with her husband. Find out more at RebeccaSerle.com.

Iliza Shlesinger is an award-winning comedian, actor, writer, producer, and author with five Netflix stand-up specials, including Elder Millennial and Unveiled. She can currently be seen selling out theaters around the world on her tour. As an actor, Shlesinger wrote and starred in the hit Netflix rom-con movie Good on Paper. Additionally, she played opposite Mark Wahlberg in the #1 Netflix film Spenser Confidential and appeared in the critically acclaimed indie drama Pieces of a Woman with Vanessa Kirby

NOTE: See site for tickets and details.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Thursday the 6^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-02-06/ticketed-virtual-event-rebecca-serle-conversation-iliza-shlesinger-discusses

Unmasking Strength: Rewriting the Rules of Masculinity at Artswalk, Riverside – In-Person Event

In honor of Black History Month, join Blacklandia at the Riverside Main Library Community Room on Thursday, February 6, for a conversation you won’t want to miss! The program begins at 6:30 pm; doors open at 6:00.

In recent years, there has been a growing disillusionment with young men about their role in society – spurred on by unhealthy ideas and social figures. Alienating ideas like “toxic masculinity” and a decrease in social relationships have led to isolation, bitterness, and adverse mental health impacts. African American men – sitting at the intersection of patriarchy, racism and classism – have been deeply affected by this.

Four African American writers – James Coats, Richard Allen May III, Ipyani Lockert, and James Woods – will explore these complex issues, including what masculinity looked like growing up and how it’s changed for them today. They will also delve into the importance of writing and speaking about the topic in their work – and the community efforts they have made to inspire the next generation to develop a healthy sense of masculinity in themselves.

This activity is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at http://www.arts.ca.gov.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Inlandia Institute at the Riverside Main Library

Date: Thursday the 6^th

Time: 6:30 am – 7:30 pm

Address: 3900 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501

Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/my-calendar/?mc_id=2520

Kemper Donovan & Loose Lips (Ghostwriter Mystery) at Deisel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome Kemper Donovan to discuss his novel Loose Lips (Ghostwriter Mystery).

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. So goes the adage, but sometimes, even a first-rate ghostwriter and successful mystery author needs to make a buck. Even if that means setting foot on a cruise ship, something she vowed she’d never do. To top it off, the “Get Lit Cruise” is being organized by Payton Garrett, a very popular, bestselling author—and the ghostwriter’s long-time frenemy from back in their MFA days.

Over the years, Payton has reinvented herself. She gained a wife while ditching her journalist husband—who is also on board. And she’s acquired a rabid following who eagerly snapped up the invitations sent to a select few of her newsletter subscribers. The guests, all female, will receive personalized instruction from experts in five different writing genres, while basking in Payton’s reflected glow.

Between mentoring guests, flirting with Payton’s ex, and taking bets on how long before someone performs a reenactment of Titanic’s “I’m flying!” scene (answer: not long enough), there’s plenty to keep a ghostwriter occupied. But there’s one activity nobody expected: solving a murder.

When an attendee is found dead under suspicious circumstances and several others suffer symptoms of poisoning, there are numerous motives and suspects to choose from. But could it be that the victim wasn’t even the intended target? As the body count rises along with onboard tensions, no one is safe—except, perhaps, for a killer whose scruples have long abandoned ship. And of course, like every well-plotted mystery, this one has an extra twist..

Kemper Donovan is an acclaimed author and host of the “All About Agatha” podcast. A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, he worked at the literary management company Circle of Confusion for a decade before transitioning to writing full-time. He is a member of the New York Bar Association, PEN America, and Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his husband and daughters in Los Angeles.

Note: Please RSVP at site. Seating is limited.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Thursday the 6^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 225 26^th St., #33, Santa Monica, CA 90402

Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Kemper-Donovan-February-6-signing 

Lit Angels: Manifesting Love – Meditation with Jen Becherer & Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Come for a half-hour guided manifestation meditation and then on a piece about love to possibly publish in LIT ANGELS journal! At the end we will share a bit of our work.

About the instructors:

From Entertainment Executive to Mindful Leadership Coach, Jen helps her clients transition from burnout to living a life that’s more abundant, stress free, and on their terms. Through breathing techniques, guided visualization meditation, creative exercises, and group sessions she’s watched her clients’ limiting beliefs and creative blocks dissolve, being replaced with a renewed passion for life and their confident place of leadership within it. http://www.jenniferbecherer.com/

Francesca Lia Block is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association, and from the New York Times Book Review, and Publisher’s Weekly. Currently she teaches creative writing at UCLA Extension, Antioch University, Pocket MFA, and numerous workshops across the country. Francesca also edits LIT ANGELS, a literary journal available on Substack. Her latest novel is House of Hearts now out in paperback. https://www.francescaliablock.com/

About Lit Angels Writing Studio:

There are so many fitness classes available for the body, but what are you doing to exercise your creative mind?

Lit Angels offers classes that provide just that—a fun and freeing way to work out the creative muscles and eliminate the stumbling blocks that might be holding you back, not only in your writing, art, or performance projects, but in all areas of your life—uplifting and refreshing your mind and soul, improving relationships, work, and your outlook on the future. Taught by top-level working professionals, Lit Angels classes cultivate community and connection, something we all desperately need in these challenging times.

Come make some magic at the Village Well! All genres and levels are welcome!

NOTE: See Eventbrite for tickets.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday, the 6^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. 1B, Culver City, CA 90232

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events

Make + Mingle: Writer’s Meetup at Bel Canto Books Retro Row – In-Person Event

More information coming soon.

Where: Bel Canto Books

Date: Thursday, the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 2106 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90814

Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events

L.A Book Launch: On the Edge of Reason: Carine Topal, with Jan Wesley, & Dear Blood at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Carine Topal, in conversation with Jan Wesley, will present and discuss her book Dear Blood, a collection investigating the tension between destruction and creation, reckoning and redemption.

Jan Wesley, author of Only So Much, will be reading selected work from her upcoming collection, It Wasn’t Always Like This. After the readings in the Wanda Coleman Theater, join us for a reception with light refreshments and book signings by this wonderful poetry duo!

Jan Wesley is the author of Only So Much, Living in Freefall, and a couple of published chapbooks. Her poems have been in Askew, Blue Mountain Review, The Iowa Review, Rattle, Spillway, Beyond Words, and two anthologies, titled Angle of Reflection, and newly published, Shared Condition. She worked in post-production in the film business for many years, and after receiving an MFA at Vermont College, she taught writing at The University of Redlands and The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandizing.

Carine Topal, born and raised in NYC, holds a MA from New York University. She has been awarded residencies in the U.S. and Russia, is the recipient of numerous poetry awards and honors, including the Robert G. Cohn Prose Poetry Award, the Briar Cliff Poetry Award, Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize, and others. Her chapbook, Tattooed, won the Palettes and Quills Poetry Chapbook Contest. Over the years, Carine has anthologized the poetry of many special needs children. She participated in the grassroots organization California Poets in the Schools, was the Poet-in-Residence for the City of Manhattan Beach and Poet-in-Education for Manhattan Beach elementary schools. Topal’s 5th collection, In Order of Disappearance was published by the Pacific Coast Poetry Series, an imprint of Beyond Baroque Books. Her new book, Dear Blood, was just published by Ben Yehuda Press. Carine lives in Southern California with her husband— in the desert and by the sea— and teaches poetry and memoir workshops.

NOTE: See site for further information. 

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Thursday, the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm)

Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291

ALICE COLTRANE (1937-2007) was a composer, master of various musical instruments, improviser, spiritual leader, and wife of John Coltrane. Throughout her adult life, she worked within and combined a broad range of musical genres, including gospel, R&B, bebop, free jazz, Indian devotional song, and Western art music. She recorded more than twenty full-length albums for Impulse and Warner Bros. Her music speaks to her experiences as a child playing for church congregations in Detroit; the transcendent and mind-bending avant-garde improvisations she performed with her husband John Coltrane; and her religious pilgrimages to India.

When Monument Eternal was originally published in 1977, Alice Coltrane was living in Southern California and had recently become a swami, building and nurturing an alternative spiritual community. In these pages, she says that the book is “based upon the soul’s realizations in Absolute Consciousness and its spiritual relationships with the Supreme One.” Monument Eternal offers deep insight into Coltrane’s tremendous musical output, and shines a light on her transformation from Alice McLeod, Detroit church organist and bebopper, to sage thought leader Swami Turiyasangitananda. It also reflects the extraordinary fluidity of American religious customs in the mid and late twentieth century.

Akashic’s long-awaited reissue of Monument Eternal includes a new foreword by Ashley Kahn.

Date: Thursday the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90069 

Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/michelle-coltrane

Defrost: An Open Mic Reading Series at The Pop Hop – In-Person Event

Every Thursday until February 6!

Defrost, an open-mic prose series every Thursday January 16th to February 6th. Sign-ups begin at 7 pm. Read aloud festering thoughts, completed pieces, poetry, essays, excerpts, grocery lists, and more. All are welcome. 5 min reading cap encouraged.

Where: The Pop Hop

Date: Thursday, the 6^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 5002 York Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90042

Website: https://withfriends.co/event

At Skylight: Aria Aber, with Maya Binyam, & Good Girl at Skylight – In-Person Event

This event was rescheduled from 1/16.

Join us for an electric debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of self-discovery, “a stunning coming-of-age story” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) and a portrait of the artist as a young woman set in a Berlin that can’t escape its history

Aria Aber, in conversation with Maya Binyam, will discuss her debut novel, Good Girl.

A girl can get in almost anywhere, even if she can’t get out.

In Berlin’s artistic underground, where techno and drugs fill warehouses still pockmarked from the wars of the twentieth century, nineteen-year-old Nila at last finds her tribe. Born in Germany to Afghan parents, raised in public housing graffitied with swastikas, drawn to philosophy, photography, and sex, Nila has spent her adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice as a young woman and artist.

Then in the haze of Berlin’s legendary nightlife, Nila meets Marlowe, an American writer whose fading literary celebrity opens her eyes to a life of personal and artistic freedom. But as Nila finds herself pulled further into Marlowe’s controlling orbit, ugly, barely submerged racial tensions begin to roil Germany—and Nila’s family and community. After a year of running from her future, Nila stops to ask herself the most important question: Who does she want to be?

A story of love and family, raves and Kafka, staying up all night and surviving the mistakes of youth, Good Girl is the virtuosic debut novel by a celebrated young poet and, now, a major new voice in fiction.

Aria Aber was born and raised in Germany and now lives in the United States. Her debut poetry collection, Hard Damage, won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize and the Whiting Award. She is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford and graduate student at USC, and her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, New Republic, The Yale Review, Granta, and elsewhere. Raised speaking Farsi and German, she writes in her third language, English. She recently joined the faculty of the University of Vermont as an assistant professor of Creative Writing and divides her time between Vermont and Brooklyn. Good Girl is her debut novel.

Where: Skylight

Date: Thursday the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-aria-aber-presents-good-girl-w-maya-binyam

Book Launch: How to Be Dateable with Yue Xu and Julie Kratchick at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

In this session, gain a deeper understanding of the impending Love Crisis and how you can escape it. Find out your Dating Archetype (Maverick, Achiever, Thinker, Energizer, Dreamer) that will reveal your unique strengths and watch-outs. And finish with a love letter to your future self. Because love is right around the corner.

Authors Yue Xu and Julie Katchick will present and lead a How to Be Dateable workshop.

Take your dating archetype quiz!

About the book:

How to Be Dateable is a book that takes a sociological look at the impending Love Crisis based on authors Yue Xu and Julie Krafchick’s 10-year-old podcast Dateable. Data shows more people are giving up on dating and love—but their book is here to remind you that love is possible, especially when you rise above the challenges of modern dating.

About the authors:

Julie Krafchick & Yue Xu are active daters turned dating insiders, and top influential voices of modern dating, relationships, and connection in the digital world. They’re the authors of How To Be Dateable: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Person and Falling in Love and the co-hosts of the hit podcast Dateable, which has been named one of the top podcasts about modern dating and relationships by the New York Times, The Huffington Post, Oprah Daily, and more. They’re also the hosts and executive producers of the dating experiment show Exit Interview. Julie brings her background in human-centered design and research, while Yue shares her experience as a dating coach.

About the moderator:

Allison Goldberg is a comedian and creator whose work has been covered by LA Magazine, Good Morning America, The Savage Lovecast, WIRED, NPR, The LA Times, and more.

NOTE: See Eventbrite for tickets.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday, the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. 1B, Culver City, CA 90232

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events

How a Book Changed My Life Student Essay Contest: Letter to an Author at Diamond Bar Library, LACL – In-Person Teen Event

 If you’re a book lover, you’ve likely read something, fiction or non-fiction, classic or contemporary, that has left its mark on you. Now’s your chance to express your appreciation to the author with an essay in the form of a letter.

In this letter, you’ll describe how the author’s work has altered your worldview or personal life. Who knows—the author may even read it!

Don’t miss out on the opportunity.

Three (3) winners will be chosen and will each be awarded $300.

Pick up an entry form at Diamond Bar Library or download a form here. You can submit the completed entry form and essay by dropping it off or mailing it to Diamond Bar Library.

The deadline for submission is April 15, 2025. Winners will be announced on April 26, 2025.

Prizes: $300 (3)

Contest Rules:

* Open to students ages 13-18

* Entries must be 1,000 words or less

* Must be mailed or dropped off at Diamond Bar Library

* All entries become the property of LA County Library

* A completed entry form must accompany all essay submissions

Sponsored by the Diamond Bar Friends of the Library

NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details. 

Where: Diamond Bar Library, LACL

Date: Friday, the 7^th

Time: All Day (see site)

Address: 21800 Copley Dr., Diamond Bar, CA 91765

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event

Book Club: Maus Vol 1 & 2 at Claremont Helen Renwick Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join our monthly book club for an engaging discussion of our latest selection, Maus Vol 1 & 2 by Art Spiegelman. For adults.

Find a copy of Maus Vol 1 & 2 in the library catalog here. A limited number of copies will be located at the Claremont Library. Please contact the library at 909.621.4902 with any questions.

Where: San Dimas Library, LACL

Date: Friday, the 7^th

Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Address: 13800 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada, CA 90638

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event

African American and Black History Month: Empower Through Poetry at Temple City Library, LACL – In-Person Teen Event

In honor of African American and Black History Month, learn how Black and African American writers have used poetry to express themselves. We will review some poems and learn how words can be used to construct images. For teens ages 13 – 17.

Black and African American writers have used poetry to express themselves and affirm their identities throughout American history, dating back to Phillis Wheatley. We will review some poems and learn how words can be used to construct images of who we are.

Where: Temple City Library, LACL

Date: Friday, the 7^th

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: 5939 Golden West Ave., Temple City, CA 91780

Bea’s Bakery has been a much-loved fixture of California life for almost sixty years, providing comfort and nourishment to thousands in what was once a rich tradition of Jewish bakeries in America. Originally opened in 1968 by Sol Litwak and his son Jules, it was named after Sol’s wife Beatrice, known affectionately as “Bea,” and run by the father and son for over fifty years.

In 2023, Jules decided it was time to pass the family business on to dynamic husband and wife Lenny Rosenberg and Adaeze Nwanonyiri. It was bashert—a Yiddish word for something that’s meant to be.

When Lenny, the son of a Hungarian baker who’d survived the Holocaust, married Adaeze, a Nigerian designer from a noble African tribe, it was a marriage made in heaven. As hosts of It’s a Sweet World for Jewish Life Television, they also knew the power of food to bring people together and allow them to be transported back to the traditional tastes and aromas of their childhood, while bringing them up to date with healthy options that cater to all.

This, their first book, is a joyous celebration of the best recipes from Bea’s, including Jewish and Nigerian signature dishes, along with scores of tasty treats from around the globe that will appeal to people of all nations and creeds.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Friday the 7^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

A poignant and enchanting novel about a magical bookstore that transports a trans man through time and brings him face-to-face with his teenage self, offering him the chance of a lifetime to examine his life and identity to find a new beginning.

The In-Between Bookstore is a stunning novel of love, self-discovery, and the choices that come with both, for anyone who has ever wondered what their life might be like if they had the chance to go back and take a bigger, braver risk.

Edward Underhill grew up in the suburbs of Wisconsin, where he could not walk to anything, so he had to make up his own adventures. He studied music in college, spent several years living in very small apartments in New York, and currently resides in California with his partner and a talkative black cat. He is the author of two young adult novels, Always the Almost and This Day Changes Everything, and a book for adults, The In-Between Bookstore. Visit him on Instagram @edwardunderhill.

Emma R. Alban is an author and screenwriter. Raised in the Hudson Valley, she now lives in Los Angeles, enjoying the eternal sunshine, ocean, and mountains. When she isn’t writing books or screenplays, she can usually be found stress baking with the AC on full blast, skiing late into the spring, singing showtunes at the top of her lungs on the freeway, and reading anywhere there’s somewhere to lean. She is the author of Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend and You’re the Problem, It’s You.

Where: Skylight

Date: Friday the 7^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 1818 N Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Our first Open Mic Night of the year is coming Friday, February 7th at 7 pm! No registration required, sign ups at the door. All talents are welcome.

Our first Open Mic of 2025 will be hosted by Mireya Garcia!

Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore

Date: Friday the 7^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342

Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFI_fD6zmGU/?hl=en&img_index=1

TNP’s Lunar New Year Show at The McGroarty Art Center, Tujunga – In-Person Event

Tuesday Night Project and the City of Los Angeles Department of Culture present a Lunar New Year Show, featuring poets and artists: Joyce Kwon, Allan Aquino, and Priska.

Joyce Kwon is a contemporary folk musician of the diaspora, rooted in the Black American Music of John Coltrane and Bessie Smith as well as the Korean traditional music of gayageum player Sung Keum-Yun and her ancestors. And though Joyce can make songs that can register as pop—the folk music of today—the practice has nothing to do with genre. She’s a folk artist in the sense that her practice has been built on a series of discipleships under nurturing musical mentors and culture bearers. Her work is shaped by creating, performing, and teaching as a community-engaged artist

Allan Aquino is an educator at California State University, Northridge. He has taught Asian American Studies classes in Media, Fiction, Contemporary Issues, Immigration, and the Filipino American Experience, and is a purveyor of knowledge to generations of college students. Inspired by them, and surely an influence among them, Allan values witnessing students grow in their knowledge and confidence though their studies. He is an earnest poet (poetry being a life-long passion), is working on a poetry chapbook and performs in art spaces around LA.

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 7570 McGroarty Terrace, Tujunga, CA 91042

Website: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1139758081487761&set=a.738997354897171

Lit Angels Presents: Valentine’s Day Breakup Stories Open Mic at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Sign up to read a breakup story in the Village Well café for 5 minutes. The winner will have their piece published in Lit Angels journal! Email submissions now to litangelssubmissions@villagewell.com or submit at link at site!

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Friday the 7^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232

If pictures are worth a thousand words, what kinds of words might they inspire? What stories would they tell and would they be joyful or sad, elegant or savage?

Snapshots features 36 such meditations from a diverse group of writers, each of whom draws on a photograph from their personal archive to inspire a short essay.

Intimate and powerful, these reflections exhibit a range of sensibilities and experiences, offering unique insight into the lives and interests of both established and emerging authors. Expressing a dynamic array of styles, relationships, landscapes, and preoccupations, Snapshots is an album for our life and times.

Dinah Lenney has served as core faculty for the Bennington Writing Seminars and in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. A longtime nonfiction editor at LARB, she herself has published several books in the genre, including Coffee (as part of the Bloomsbury Object Lessons series), The Object Parade and Bigger than Life, and co-edited Brief Encounters: A Collection of Literary Nonfiction with the late Judith Kitchen. Dinah’s essays and reviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post among many other publications.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Friday the 7^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-02-07/dinah-lenney-conversation-alex-espinoza-lynell-george-susan-straight-and-diana

L.A. Book Launch: Joanna Fuhrman, with Maya Salameh and Deborah Meadows, & Data Mind at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

NYC-based author, Joanna Fuhrman, will read at Beyond Baroque for the launching of her new book, Data Mind

Wrestling with the experience of living online as a non-digital native Joanna Fuhrman didn’t grow up online. Her generation entered the digital age as adults, with optimism about the possibilities it would bring for community building. In the alien landscape of the internet, they indeed found moments of joy and connection, but they also watched in anguish as what had been sold as a utopian space instead magnified the anti-democratic demons of necrocapitalism. In this darkly comic and surreal collection, Fuhrman lets herself fall into the internet wormhole of these conflicting realities. With titles ranging from “You Won’t Believe How Your Favorite Childhood Star Looks Now” to “We’ll Burn That Algorithm When We Get to It,” the feminist prose poems in Data Mind remix the tropes of digital life with the puckishness and embodied urgency for which Fuhrman is celebrated.

The author will be joined by poets Maya Salameh, author of How to Make An Algorithm in the Microwave, and Debrah Meadows, who is celebrating her own new book, Bumblebees, published by Roof Books. After the readings in the Wanda Coleman Theater, be sure to join us for a reception with light refreshments and book signings.

Livestream: If you can’t join us in-person the event will be livestreamed on Beyond Baroque’s YouTube channel at the scheduled time of the event.

Joanna Fuhrman is the author of Data Mind and six previous poetry collections, most recently To a New Era. Her poems have been featured in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series, The Slowdown podcast, and the Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry anthologies. She is an assistant teaching professor in creative writing at Rutgers University and a coeditor of Hanging Loose Press.

Deborah Meadows has published over a dozen books of poetry and her new book titled Bumblebees is from Roof Books (NYC). Other recent titles include Neo-bedrooms (Shearsman), and three from BlazeVOX [books]: Lecture Notes: A duration poem in twelve parts, The Demotion of Pluto: Poems and Plays, and Three Plays. She is an Emerita faculty member with California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, lives with her husband in Los Angeles’ Arts District/Little Tokyo. http://www.deborahmeadows.com.

Maya Salameh is the author of HOW TO MAKE AN ALGORITHM IN THE MICROWAVE (University of Arkansas Press, 2022), winner of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize, and the chapbook rooh (Paper Nautilus Press, 2020). She has served as a National Student Poet, America’s highest honor for youth poets, and received fellowships and support from the Breadloaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, and the President’s Committee for the Arts and Humanities. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in POETRY, The Offing, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, AGNI, and the LA Times, among others. She can be found @mayaslmh or mayasalameh.com.

NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information. 

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Friday, the 7^th

Time: 8 pm – 9:30 pm (Doors at 7:30 pm)

Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/la-book-launch-data-mind-by-joanna-fuhrman-tickets-1204002677419?aff=oddtdtcreator

SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music Event at Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center – In-Person Event

SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music is offered every 1st & 3rd Friday of the month and hosted by Loranzo Frank.

Featured guests: Torre Brannon Reese

Torre draws inspiration from the vibrant soul of his birthplace, New Orleans La., the city that birthed Jazz. He grew up singing in the legendary streets of the French Quarter. Torre is a Poet, guitarist, writer, mentor, educator and social justice advocate. He’s the founder and CEO of Famli Inc,(the Foundation for Arts, Mentoring, Leadership and Innovation) which produces cutting edge programs and curriculums designed to alter the trajectory of young men and women in our communities. He’s also the founder of the I’ve Known Rivers Film Festival. He’s co-founder of the internationally known doo wop group Street Corner Renaissance as well as the leader of his own band Torrance Brannon & Everything with Soul. One of the architects and cornerstones of the Leimert Park Black Arts Village Cultural Renaissance as well as one of the main architects and facilitators of re-naming of Crenshaw Blvd to “Malcolm X Blvd.

Tickets at Eventbrite.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center

Date: Friday, the 7^th

Time: 8 pm – 12 am

Address: 4305 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008

Website: https://www.depoet.info/swaam

First Fridays Rapp Saloon Reading Series & Open Mic with host Cynthia Alessandra Briano at Rapp Saloon, Santa Monica – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Third Friday: Elena Secota

Fourth Friday: Jim Bolt

Fifth Friday: James Evert Jones

This is a hybrid event, live in-person while offering a Zoom option for our performers and guests.

Our featured guest poets and artists this month TBA.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Rapp Saloon at HISUA – In-Person & Online Event

Date: Friday, the 7^th

Time: 8 pm – 11 pm

Address: 1436 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90402

Website: https://www.facebook.com/RappSaloonReading  or https://www.instagram.com/rappsaloon/?hl=en

Women Who Submit Presents: Making a Micropress Workshop – Online Zoom Event

Making of a Micropress features Nikia Chaney (Jamii Press), Cati Porter (Inlandia Books), Micah Tasaka (innateDIVINITYbooks), and moderated by Noriko Nakada (Strikethrough Press). This panel is on Zoom.

Hear from publishers and editors of four micro presses to learn what it takes to independently publish new poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction and what drives them to do this work. Participants will be given submission tips for sending work to these editors and other spaces like theirs.

Nikia Chaney is the author of us mouth and two chapbooks, Sis Fuss and ladies, please. She served as Inlandia Literary Laureate (2016-2018). Her poetry has been published in the Iowa Review, Pearl, Sugarhouse Review, and Vinyl, and her memoir ladybug was published by Inlandia in 2022. Nikia is the founding editor of shufPoetry, an online poetry journal for experimental poetry.

She is also the founder of Jamii Publishing, an independent press for literature based in community projects.

Noriko Nakada is a multi-racial Asian American who creates fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art to capture the stories she has been told not to talk about. She is the author of the Through Eyes Like Mine memoir series. Her work has been published in Hippocampus, Catapult, Linden Ave, and elsewhere. Noriko serves on the board for Women Who Submit, an organization empowering women and non-binary writers to submit their work for publication. Works in progress include Shades of Distance: essays measuring one family’s proximity to whiteness, Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop: My Family’s Struggle with Mental Illness, and Rice Paper Superheroes, a historical novel about a Japanese American family’s incarceration during World War II.

Cati Porter’s latest poetry collection is small mammals (Mayapple Press, 2023). Other recent poetry collections include Novel (Bamboo Dart Press, 2022) and The Body at a Loss (CavanKerry Press, 2019). Cati is the recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the California Arts Council for 2023-24. In 2010, she received her MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in poetry from Antioch University Los Angeles. Cati Porter lives in Inland Southern California where she runs her Poemeleon: A Journal of Poetry and directs Inlandia Institute, a 501(c)(3) literary nonprofit.

Micah Tasaka (田坂舞花) is a queer, nonbinary poet, artist, and reiki master from Colton, California. They are author of Expansions (Jamii Publishing, 2017) and editor at innateDIVINITYbooks. Currently, Micah is an MFA candidate at the University of New Orleans and works for Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance as the Wellness Center Director, providing programming to LGBTQ+ youth in the Inland Empire. http://www.micahtasaka.com @kinokono_inaka

Registration Required.

Where: Women Who Submit Online Zoom Event

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 10 am – 1 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://womenwhosubmitlit.org/workshops/

Book Club for Adults: Leadership in Turbulent Times at Hacienda Heights Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Participants wilk discuss Leadership in Turbulent Times by author Doris Kearns Goodwin.

New members are always welcome. Copies of the Book Club books will be available for pick-up at the Ask Us Desk one month prior to the book club meeting date.

Where: Hacienda Heights Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Address: 16010 La Monde St., Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

Participants wilk discuss The Moon Is Down by author John Steinbeck.

Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 1246 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-3

Adult Book Club: The Bluest Eye at Littlerock Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join Littlerock Library’s Adult Book Club as we discuss our latest selection, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. For adults.

Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, a young Black girl growing up in 1940s Ohio.

Pecola believes that if she only had blue eyes, she would finally be beautiful and accepted. The novel explores the devastating effects of racism and how societal standards of beauty can impact a young girl’s self-worth.

Where: Littlerock Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: 35119 80^th St. E., Littlerock, CA 93543

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event

Club de Lectura: Malinche at Hollydale Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Únete a nosotros para una discusión facilitada sobre Malinche de Laura Esquivel. Para adultos.

Las copias del título actual estarán disponibles para retirar en el mostrador de servicio al cliente hasta agotar existencias. El libro electrónico y el audiolibro se pueden encontrar a través de Libby. El audiolibro también se puede encontrar a través de Hoopla.

Where: Hollydale Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: 12000 Garfield Ave., South Gate, CA 90280

Meet Syrone Harvey who wrote Neecy and Nay Nay and the Tangled, Hairy Mess and Neecy and Nay Nay and the Glitter Girls with her fellow twin collaborator Simone Dankenbring, with illustrations by Maya Henderson! This is your chance to ask an author questions about her books, and you can even get your copies signed!

About Neecy and Nay Nay and the Tangled, Hairy Mess (#1): Neecy and Nay Nay always have the most twin-tastic ideas! Their latest is to open up a salon called Neecy and Nay Nay’s House of Style. They want to style their friends’ hair, paint their nails, and give them facials. But, it turns out, the twins are not as good at being stylists as they think! Can Neecy and Nay Nay work together to fix the hair-raising accidents?

About Neecy and Nay Nay and the Glitter Girls (#2): Neecy and Nay Nay love being part of the Glitter Girls Club. This month, the girls are working toward earning their Make a Difference badges. The twins want to help local resident Mr. Otis by getting him a new pair of dentures so he can enjoy all his favorite foods. But raising money is not as easy as looking under couch cushions! Will Neecy and Nay Nay be able to make a difference for Mr. Otis and earn their badges?

About Syrone Harvey: Syrone Harvey, the youngest of the twin collab team, draws from her eclectic publishing experience and hilarious childhood memories. Her creative ideas come from her quirky imagination, fueled by jawbreakers and Jelly Bellys. Syrone lives in Southern California with her husband, Michael, a chatty parrot named Alex, and Kody, a lively rescue furbaby.

The books both come out on February 4^th and you can preorder your copies below, by calling us at 951-787-7807, or by coming into the store! Preorder your copies now so that you have them for the event with Syrone Harvey!

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508

Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com

Erica Lee Schlaikjer & Wild Greens, Beautiful Girl at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event

Erica Lee Schlaikjer will present and discuss Wild Greens, Beautiful Girl.

On the eastern plains of Taiwan, a young girl and her mother pick wild greens before a rainstorm drenches them and their garden. When she goes to pull at the roots of a spiky, stalky weed, she learns that the plant is not what it seems. A lyrical story that shows young readers how to appreciate the bounty of nature and the beauty of identity.

This event will take place in our outside paseo!

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101

Or dial: (US) +1 203-836-3031 PIN: 556349652#

Where: Southeast Branch Library, Torrance

Date: Saturday, the 8^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: 23115 Arlington Ave., Torrance, CA 90501

Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events

Kids Book Club: The Sherlock Society at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Kids/MG Event

Participants will discuss The Sherlock Society by author James Ponti.

This is book number 1 in The Sherlock Society series.

In the tradition of Nancy Drew, four kids and one grandfather in Miami tackle a decades-old mystery in this first book full of “atmosphere, history, and lively humor” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) in the Sherlock Society middle grade series from New York Times bestselling, Edgar Award–winning author James Ponti!

Siblings Alex and Zoe Sherlock take their last name as inspiration when choosing a summer job. After all, starting a detective agency has to be better than babysitting (boring), lawn mowing (sweaty), or cleaning out the attic (boring and sweaty). Their friends Lina, an avid bookworm, and Yadi, an aspiring cinematographer, join the enterprise, and Alex and Zoe’s retired reporter grandfather offers up his sweet aquamarine Cadillac convertible and storage unit full of cold cases.

The group’s first target is the long-lost treasure supposedly hidden near their hometown Miami. Their investigation into the local doings of famed gangster Al Capone leads them to a remote island in the middle of the Everglades where they find alarming evidence hinting at corporate corruption.

Together with Grandpa’s know-how and the kids’ intelligence—plus some really slick gadgets—can the Sherlock Society root out the conspiracy?

James Ponti is the New York Times bestselling author of four middle grade book series: The Sherlock Society following a group of young detectives; City Spies, about an unlikely squad of five kids from around the world who form an elite MI6 Spy Team; the Edgar Award–winning Framed! series, about a pair of tweens who solve mysteries in Washington, DC; and the Dead City trilogy, about a secret society that polices the undead living beneath Manhattan. His books have appeared on more than fifteen different state award lists, and he is the founder of a writers group known as the Renegades of Middle Grade. James is also an Emmy–nominated television writer and producer who has worked for many networks including Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, History, and Spike TV, as well as NBC Sports. He lives with his family in Orlando, Florida. Find out more at JamesPonti.com.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 1 pm

Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508

Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/kids-book-club-sherlock-society

Author Talk: Ron L. Dowell & Crooked Out of Compton at Compton Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us as author Ron L. Dowell discusses his new book, Crooked Out of Compton, a collection of short stories. For Ages 18+

Mention “California,” and most people think of sun-kissed beaches, star-studded glamour, Hollywood success, or Silicon Valley. However, the stories in Crooked Out of Compton expand the narrative to include stories about othered Californians—each story reveals a different facet of the South [Central] Los Angeles community and its inhabitants. Summary provided by publisher.

A book signing will be available after the discussion with light refreshments. Parents and guardians: Please be aware that refreshments will be served at this program. A list of ingredients will be available.

The author will be selling copies of his book at the program.

Registration is recommended for the event. Please register every individual in your party at Visit.LACountyLibrary.org/events.

Where: Compton Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm

Address: 240 W. Compton Blvd., Compton, CA 90220

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event

Slave Codes & Culture: African American Folktales as Literature & Poetry Reading at Manhattan Beach Library – In-Person Teens & Adults Event

Celebrate African American & Black History Month with a fascinating talk about slave folktales by local historian Dr. Anthony Lee followed by an engaging poetry reading by Mira Costa High School students. For teens and adults.

Where: Manhattan Beach Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 2 pm – 4:30 pm

Address: 1320 Highland Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Synopsis:

An epic novel of the construction of the Panama Canal, casting light on the unsung people who lived, loved, and labored there.

Where: Live Oak Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm

Address: 22 W. Live Oak Ave., Arcadia, CA 91007

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12833033

In Conversation: Courtney B. Vance & The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power. at Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for an afternoon with Emmy and Tony award-winning actor Courtney B. Vance, whose television and film credits include Lovecraft Country, The People vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story and Genius: Aretha as well as Hamburger Hill, The Hunt For Red October and The Preacher’s Wife. He is also the author of The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power.

The event features an Opening Musical Performance with renowned Cellist Adrienne Woods from 2 pm – 3 pm

The book, written by psychologist Dr. Robin L. Smith (known as “Dr. Robin”), is a moving combination of memoir, psychology, and practical tools that offer Black men guidance and support for reclaiming mental well-being and finding the whole, full-hearted living. Early in his career, Vance lost his father to suicide. Recently, his godson met the same fate. Both were quietly at risk, susceptible to the poor mental health outcomes prevalent among the Black community due to institutionalized racism, microaggressions, and stress caused by socioeconomic factors. In The Invisible Ache, Vance seeks to change this trajectory.

With over 100 film and television credits and known by millions as the father of Moesha, the character portrayed by actress and Grammy winner Brandy, William Allen Young, will lead the conversation with Vance. After the discussion, a book signing will follow.

RSVP:

Admission is free. RSVP at Eventbrite to secure your spot!

Where: Central Library, LAPL, Mark Taper Auditorium

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 2 pm – 5 pm

Address: 1874 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90071

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/conversation-courtney-b-vance

L.A. Book Launch: John O’Kane & The Accidental Jesus at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event 

Join us for the Los Angeles launch of John O’Kane’s latest book, The Accidental Jesus (Europe Books, 2024).

After the readings in the Wanda Coleman Theater enjoy a reception with light refreshments and book signing by the author.

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Saturday, the 8^th

Time: 2 pm – 4 pm (Doors at 1:30 pm)

Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/la-book-launch-the-accidental-jesus-by-john-o-kane-tickets-1146479142979?aff=oddtdtcreator

Book Discussion: The Vanishing Half at North Hollywood Amelia Earhart Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join our monthly book discussion! It is held on the second Saturday of each month. The discussion will be led by a different member of our staff and the book of their choice. Pick up the next book a month before the discussion.

Join Ethel this month for a discussion on Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.

The Vignes twin sisters, inseparable in their youth, flee their small southern black community at sixteen. As adults, their lives diverge: one returns to their hometown with her black daughter, while the other passes as white, concealing her past from her white husband. Despite the distance and deception, their destinies remain connected, raising questions about how their daughters’ lives will intersect.

Where: North Hollywood Amelia Earhart Regional Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 3 pm – 4 pm

Address: 6211 Tujunga Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91601

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/february-book-discussion-vanishing-half-brit-bennett

Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Deep Critique Workshop with Don Kingfisher Campbell – Online Zoom Event

Join a Deep Critique Writing Workshop hosted by Don Kingfisher Campbell, online via Zoom. (Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines including the subject of or at least mentioning heart or flame for Four Feathers Press online edition: Heart Flames by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59 pm, February 14th)

Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.

Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry

Date: Saturday, the 8^th

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Where: The Glendale Room

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 3:30 pm – 4 pm

Address: 127 N. Artsakh Ave., Glendale CA 91206 

Website: https://www.theglendaleroom.com/calendar 

Money Talks: Celebrating In the Black: In the Red: Poems of Profit & Loss at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event 

The official launch of the illustrated poetry anthology featuring various poets based in Los Angeles.

Join us for a dynamic celebration featuring some of LA’s most compelling poets: Terri Niccum, Florence Weinberger, Paul Peress, Patti Seyburn, Dorothy Baressi, Anika Paris, Mariano Zaro, Nels Christianson, Suzanne Lummis, Lee Rossi, Greg Bell, Gloria Vando, Lilian Elaine Wilson, and James Ragan.

In the Black: In the Red: Poems of Profit & Loss (2025) is an illustrated anthology of poems about money: the financial crisis we face as individuals, as a nation, and as part of the globe.

This anthology is significant as it marks the final book published by Gloria Vando’s Helicon Nine Editions, concluding 48 remarkable years in the publishing world of poetry, fiction, and magazines. Let’s make this an unforgettable performance and celebration of poetry!

Copies of the anthology will be sold on the evening of the program at Beyond Baroque’s bookstore. Visit Itasca Books for more information about the anthology.

A reception with light refreshments and book signings will follow after the performances.

About the authors:

Terri Niccum is the author of the poetry collection The Knife Thrower’s Daughter (Moon Tide Press) as well as two chapbooks Dead Letter Box (Moon Tide Press) and Looking Snow in the Eye (Finishing Line Press). Niccum was runner-up for the 2020-2021 Steve Kowit Poetry Prize.

Florence Weinberger is the author of six published collections of poetry, most recently These Days of Simple Mooring, winner of the Blue Light Book Award. Six times nominated for a Pushcart, her poetry has appeared in literary magazines, including Nimrod, Poetry East, Rattle, Baltimore Review, Calyx, The River Styx, December, North American Review, The Los Angeles Review, Shenandoah, and numerous anthologies.

Paul Peress, Ambassador for the Author’s Guild, presents bi-monthly zoom interviews of best-selling authors and prominent editors, lawyers, and publishers. Peress is currently writing an international action thriller. His jazz band—the Paul Peress Project—has appeared in over 20 countries. A graduate of Columbia Peress lives in Los Angeles with two amazing daughters.

Patty Seyburn has published five books of poems and all of them have something to offer, but her favorite remains her first, Diasporadic, published by Helicon Nine Editions in 1998. She teaches at California State University, Long Beach.

Dorothy Barresi is author of five poetry books, including The Post-Rapture Diner, American Book Award winner, and What We Did While We Made More Guns (2018, Univ. of Pittsburgh Press), featured on PBS News Hour online. She received an NEA Fellowship and two Pushcart Prizes—one for “Poem to Some of My Recent Purchases.” She is Professor of English at California State Univ., Northridge.

Anika Paris is a songwriter/author/educator. Poems appeared in Poetic Voices without Borders, The Mom Egg, Extreme, Ghost Anthology, Whirlybird Anthology, The Lunar Collections and more. Her co-authored book, Woven Voices (Scapegoat Press), was nominated for the International Latino Poetry Award. She’s authored two educational books (Hal Leonard), teaches songwriting and performance at UCLA and the GRAMMY, and is thrilled to be among 125 poets on the Codex Polaris rocket’s historic mission to the moon in 2025.

Mariano Zaro is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Decoding Sparrows (What Books Press, Los Angeles) and Padre Tierra (Olifante, Zaragoza, Spain). His poems and short stories have been published in anthologies and literary journals in Spain, Mexico and the United States. He is a professor of Spanish at Rio Hondo Community College (Whittier, California). “Street Vendor” is published in Decoding Sparrows (What Books Press, 2019).

Nels Goñi Christianson has poems in Faultline, 88, Onthebus, Song of the San Joaquin, Poetry/LA, UCLA’s Beat, and others. He has judged the Poetry Out Loud competition and is a board member of California Poets in the Schools. He has degrees in Political Science and Hispanic Civilization from UCSB. He uses his mother’s name, Goñi, in order to honor his Basque heritage.

Suzanne Lummis’ poems appeared in Hudson Review, Ploughshares, Plume, The American Journal of Poetry, The New Yorker. Collections include: Open 24 Hours (Blue Poetry Prize, Lynx House Press 2014), In Danger (Roundhouse), diosyncrasies (Illuminati). She edited Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond (Pacific Coast Poetry Series/Beyond Baroque Books), LA Times Ten Best Books of 2015. She’s the recipient of Beyond Baroque’s 5th George Drury Smith Outstanding Achievement in Poetry.

Lee Rossi is a winner of the Jack Grapes Poetry Prize. His latest book is Darwin’s Garden, from Moon Tide Press. Individual poems have appeared in The Southwest Review, Rattle, Spillway, The Chiron Review, The Southern Review, and many other venues. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and a Contributing Editor to Poetry Flash.

Gregory Bell writes because. He’s authored a hybrid poetry book, Looking for Will: My Bardic Quest with Shakespeare, and two award-winning plays. Honors include the 2019 Kowit Poetry Prize & 2023 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Prize. He facilitates the Green Poets Workshop at Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA. He’s most recently published in April 2024400/13 by Scientific American in honor of Earth Day.

Gloria Vando’s books and poems have won numerous awards, including the Poetry Society of America’s di Castagnola Award, Latino Literary Hall of Fame’s Best Poetry Book of the Year, and others. She’s founding publisher/editor of Helicon Nine, which received the Kansas Governor’s Arts Award, a contributing editor to the North American Review, and serves on the boards of the Venice Arts Council and Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles.

Lillian Elaine Wilson (Friman) earned a B.A. from Purdue University. At the Getty Museum, she captured photographs within the archive. Her portraits of Leonard Nimoy are on the cover of I Am Spock, Leonard and in the 2016 Oscars Memoriam. Wilson’s portrait of Perry Botkin, Jr. was in the 2021 Grammys Memoriam. She is Manager of Constituent Research and Management at the Autry Museum. lillianelainewilson.com

James Ragan has authored 10 poetry collections, with poems in 35 anthologies, 15 languages, and 3 plays staged in U.S. Moscow, Beijing, Athens. Honors: performances for 7 Heads of State, NEA Grant, Poetry Society citation, Swan Foundation Humanitarian Award, 9 Pushcart nominations, Houston Film Festival’s Platinum Prize (documentary, Flowers and Roots). Currently Dist. Professor, Prague’s Charles U. jamesragan.com

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Saturday, the 8^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm)

Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291

Join the community and read a poem! #poetrynight #losangelesevents.

Where: The Book Jewel

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 629 W. 87^th St., Westchester, Los Angeles, CA 90045

Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFaxqdPSFu4/?hl=en

Griot Café Open Mic and Poetry at Shades of Afrika, Long Beach – In-Person Event

Join Griot Café Open Mic and Poetry hosted by Sistah Shy and Samuel Rain.

All ages.

$5 cover & bring a friend save $2.

Where: Shades of Afrika, Long Beach

Date: Saturday the 8^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: 1001 E. 4^th St., Long Beach, CA 90802

Website: https://shadesofafrika.com/griot-cafe-open-mic-poetry/ or https://www.lbpoetry.com/

Melrose Trading Post Event & L.A. Poet Society at 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.

JOIN us in space R18 each Sunday, from 11 am – 5 pm.

NOTE: Check every Sunday for story time and reading events

Where: Melrose Trading Post, Greenway Main Stage at Fairfax HS

Date: Sunday, the 9^th (Every Sunday)

Time: 10 am – 5 pm

Address: 7850 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046

Website: https://melrosetradingpost.org/tickets/  or https://www.instagram.com/p/DC7Q7CxSFcj/

The Artist’s Way Event: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, at Bel Canto Books LB – In-Person Ticketed Event

We celebrate the 25^th anniversary of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way with a 12-week class, six guided meetings, at Bel Canto Books KUBO Long Beach.

Ages 18+

See site for costs and details.

Where: Bel Canto KUBO LB

Date: Sunday, the 9^th (through May 3)

Time: 11 am – 4 pm (Doors at 10 am)

Address: 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807 

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-artists-way-12-week-guided-group-tickets-1148945901119?aff=oddtdtcreator

OC Poet Laureate Office Hours with Gustavo Hernandez at LibroMobile – In-Person Event

Orange County Poet Laureate Gustavo Hernández hosts occasional monthly office hours at LibroMobile!

Calling all writers and poets.

OC Poet Laureate, Gustavo Hernández, will be hosting office hours Sunday, December 8th!

Feel free to stop by.

Can’t make it into LibroMobile? Need a zoom link? Email libromobile@gmail.com.

RSVP

Where: LibroMobile

Date: Sunday, the 9^th

Time: 12 pm – 2 pm

Address: 1150 S. Bristol St. A3, Santa Ana, CA 92704 

Neko Case’s songs are gorgeous and thrilling to listen to, although more often than not, the stories therein are tough and revealing. Not to be outdone by the quality of her music and lyrics, Neko has written a memoir, every bit as powerful as her songs.

In The Harder I Fight the More I Love You, Neko reveals her wrenching childhood spent in poverty and parental absence, her profound loneliness growing up, and the salvation that nature provided to her. Don’t despair—if you think Neko’s singing voice is powerful and strong enough to move mountains, her prose writing is equally stunning.

The Harder I Fight the More I Love You is often laugh out loud funny, and ultimately optimistic. It wouldn’t be Neko Case without being edgy, gripping, unambiguously harrowing at times, and impossible to turn away from.

Where: Book Soup Offsite at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles

Date: Sunday the 9^th

Time: 4 pm

Address: 540 S. Commonwealth Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90020

The author will draw critical distinctions between armed propaganda, armed self-defense, and armed struggle. He puts all of this in a global context of anti-war activism, the Cold War, and African liberation.

Where: Black Lantern Books

Date: Sunday the 9^th

Time: 4 pm

Address: 6533 West Blvd., Inglewood, California 90302

James Evert Jones, formerly known as James Maverick, co-hosts the Expressions poetry reading. He’s a familiar figure in the LA poetry scene as well as a prolific writer and a warm-hearted presence at the microphone. His work is funny and wise, wistful and life-affirming. He has featured all over LA and beyond.

Where: The Studio Theatre at St. Denis Building

Date: Sunday the 9^th

Time: 5 pm

Address: 3433 Cahuenga Blvd West, Los Angeles 90068

Website: https://www.secondsundaypoetry.com/

Love Unleashed Event: Romance Author Panel at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us for the Romance Author Panel & Book Signings event, to conclude an afternoon of vendors, a workshop, and children’s activities.

Come get comfy with your loved ones in this inclusive safe space! Pets are welcome!

Where: Underdog Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 9^th

Time: 5 pm

Address: 312 S Myrtle Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016

Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFY1ey0yZQ6/

Library Girl Reading Series: From Venice to Venice Anthology at the Ruskin Theatre Group – In-Person Event

Susan Hayden hosts the re-scheduled anthology reading of From Venice to Venice: Poets of California and Italy.

Come celebrate El Martillo Press and their gorgeous anthology, edited by Mark Lipman and Anna Lombardo. Featuring contributors: Will Alexander, Iris Berry, S.A. Griffin, Susan Hayden, Richard Modiano, Bill Mohr, Harry E. Northup, press founders David A. Romero and Matt Sedillo.

Get your tickets now at ruskingrouptheatre.com. Click SHOWS and look for Library Girl icon. If you purchased tickets for the January show, e-mail nicole@ruskinschool.com to exchange for this event. See you SOON!

NOTE: $20 admission includes dessert.

Where: The Ruskin Theatre

Date: Sunday the 9^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3800 Airport Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90405

General Manager Taylor will lead this discussion on reading fantasy and paranormal in the romance genre.

Everyone is welcome. RSVP required.

NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Sunday the 9^th

Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 3806 Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323

Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets