World Literature Book Club via West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us for an engaging discussion on some of the world’s best short stories! This year’s selections are from 100 Great Short Stories edited by James Daley and The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction.
This month’s selections are from The Scribner Anthology:
March 10: The School by Donald Barthelme
March 17: Story by Rick Bass to be announced
March 24: The Fireman’s Wife by Richard Bausch
March 31: Library closed, Cesar Chavez Day
We meet every Monday morning (excluding holidays).
RSVP:
For the Zoom link and weekly story to be discussed, email wvally@lapl.org with “World Literature” in the subject line.
Where: West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 10 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/world-literature-book-club-0
Author Discussion: Viet Thanh Nguyen, with illustrator Minnie Phan, & SIMONE via IG live in collaboration with @theconsciouskid – Online Event
Join us to discuss Join the creators of SIMONE, author @viet.thanh.nguyen.writer and illustrator @minnie_phan on Monday, 3/10 at 11 am PT / 2 PM
Where: IG live in collaboration with @theconsciouskid
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 11 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/
Big Read Discussion: The House on Mango Street via Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us to discuss the Big Read Book of 2025, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.
Where: Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 4:45 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sun-valley-book-clubs-big-read-discussion-house-mango-street
Evening Book Club: Long Island at Manhattan Beach Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants may engage in a facilitated discussion of fiction and nonfiction titles.
March Selection: Long Island by Colm Tóibín.
Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony’s parents, a huge extended family. One day, when Tony is at work an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but instead deposit it on Eilis’s doorstep.
Where: Manhattan Beach Library, LACL
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 1320 Highland Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12045245
YA for Adults Book Club: Rick Riordan Presents: A Drop of Venom at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Rick Riordon Presents: A Drop of Venom by author Sanji Patel.
This unapologetically feminist retelling of the Medusa myth is steeped in Indian mythology, a YA epic fantasy addition to the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.
All monsters and heroes have beginnings. This is mine.
Sixteen-year-old Manisha is no stranger to monsters—she’s been running from them for years, from beasts who roam the jungle to the King’s army, who forced her people, the naga, to scatter to the ends of the earth. You might think that the kingdom’s famed holy temples atop the floating mountains, where Manisha is now a priestess, would be safe—but you would be wrong.
Seventeen-year-old Pratyush is a famed slayer of monsters, one of the King’s most prized warriors and a frequent visitor to the floating temples. For every monster the slayer kills, years are added to his life. You might think such a powerful warrior could do whatever he wants, but true power lies with the King. Tired after years of fighting, Pratyush wants nothing more than a peaceful, respectable life.
When Pratyush and Manisha meet, each sees in the other the possibility to chart a new path. Unfortunately, the kingdom’s powerful have other plans.
Sajni Patel is an award-winning author of women’s fiction and young adult books. Her works have appeared on numerous Best Of the Year and Must Read lists from Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, Apple Books, AudioFile, Tribeza, NBC, Insider, and many others.
Where: Cellar Door Books
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/ya-adults-book-club-drop-venom
Robertson Readers Book Club: Land of Milk and Honey at Robertson Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Land of Milk and Honey, by C. Pam Zhang.
Print copies of each book will be available for checkout in the branch beginning three weeks prior to the book club meeting date, while supplies last.
Where: Robertson Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 1719 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/robertson-readers-book-club-5
Author Talk: James T. Bartlett & The Alaskan Blonde at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
James T. Bartlett discusses his award-winning true crime book The Alaskan Blonde, which looks at the unsolved murder of Cecil Wells in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1953, by searching the FBI and police files—and some unpublished diaries—to reexamine the case against his wife, Diane.
Blonde, glamorous, and 20 years younger than Cecil, Diane said two men had broken into their downtown apartment and killed Cecil before attacking her—but police were immediately suspicious, and an anonymous tip-off led the investigation toward her alleged lover, Black musician Johnny Warren. In the book, interviews with the people close to Cecil, Diane, Johnny, and the mysterious “Third Suspect,” Guatemalan dance instructor William Colombany, finally reveal “the most notorious and baffling murder in the history of Fairbanks”—and the tragic Hollywood ending to the case.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/author-talk-alaskan-blonde
Mics and Mugs Open Mic: Every Monday Night at Equator Coffees – In-Person Event
Mics and Mugs Open Mic is offered every Monday Night at Equator Coffees Culver City.
See site for details.
2 Item purchase per person.
Where: Equator Coffees
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 8900 Venice Blvd. #105, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Meditation Monday with Alex Petunia via L.A. Poet Society – Online Event
Meditation Monday events are led by Alex Petunia and are held every second Monday of the month via Zoom.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: L.A. Poet Society Zoom Event
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event ID: 840 2975 5764
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
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 10th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://www.facebook.com/backtothegrind
Ira Resnick and Raissa Bretaña & Moxie: The Daring Women of Classic Hollywood at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Ira Resnick and Raissa Bretaña will sign and discuss Moxie: The Daring Women of Classic Hollywood.
Lauren Bacall, Louise Brooks, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Kay Francis, Lillian Gish, Gloria Grahame, Katharine Hepburn, Veronica Lake, Carole Lombard, Myrna Loy, Ida Lupino, Barbara Stanwyck, Anna May Wong—and more!
This gorgeous volume profiles some fifteen leading ladies who had moxie to spare. It is illustrated with more than two hundred film stills, publicity photos, and lobby cards from the collection of Ira M. Resnick—many published here for the first time. Together these captivating images reveal how the stars of the Golden Age used pose and performance, fashion and glamour to shape their images both onscreen and off. Moxie will dazzle and seduce all devotees of classic Hollywood.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/ira-resnick-raissa-breta%C3%B1a
At Skylight: Anders Nilsen & Tongues at Skylight – In-Person Event
Anders Nilsen will present and discuss his book, Tongues.
From the three-time Igantz award-winning artist and author of Big Questions comes a fascinating graphic novel retelling of the Greek myth of Prometheus.
Set in a version of modern Central Asia, Tongues is a retelling of the Greek myth of Prometheus. It follows the captive god’s friendship with the eagle who carries out his daily sentence of torture and chronicles his pursuit of revenge on the god that has imprisoned him.
Prometheus’s story is entwined with that of an East African orphan on an errand of murder, and a young man with a teddy bear strapped to his back, wandering aimlessly into catastrophe (a character readers may recognize from Nilsen’s Dogs and Water). The story is set against the backdrop of tensions between rival groups in an oil-rich wilderness.
Tongues is both an adventure story and a meditation on human nature in our present fraught, historical moment.
Anders Nilsen is the artist and author of ten books including Big Questions, The End, and Poetry is Useless as well as the coloring book A Walk in Eden. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Poetry Magazine, Kramer’s Ergot, Pitchfork, Medium and elsewhere. His comics have been translated into several languages overseas and his painting and drawing have been exhibited internationally. Nilsen’s work has received three Ignatz awards as well as the Lynd Ward Prize for the Graphic Novel and Big Questions was listed as a New York Times Notable Book in 2011. Nilsen grew up in Minneapolis and Northern New Hampshire. He studied art in New Mexico and lived in Chicago for over a decade. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their two cats.
Where: Skylight
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-anders-nilsen-presents-tongues
RESCHEDULED: Brittany Friedman, with Prof. Jody Armour, Moderated by Zane One, & Carceral Apartheid: How Lies and White Supremacists Run Our Prisons at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Brittany Friedman, in conversation with Prof. Jody Armour, and moderated by Zane One, will discuss her book, Carceral Apartheid: How Lies and White Supremacists Run Our Prisons.
It is impossible to deny the impact of lies and white supremacy on the institutional conditions in US prisons. There is a particular power dynamic of racist intent in the prison system that culminates in what Brittany Friedman terms carceral apartheid. Prisons are a microcosm of how carceral apartheid operates as a larger governing strategy to decimate political targets and foster deceit, disinformation, and division in society.
Among many shocking discoveries, Friedman shows that, beginning in the 1950s, California prison officials declared war on imprisoned Black people and sought to identify Black militants as a key problem, creating a strategy for the management, segregation, and elimination of these individuals from the prison population that continues into the present day. Carceral Apartheid delves into how the California Department of Corrections deployed various official, clandestine, and at times extralegal control techniques—including officer alliances with imprisoned white supremacists—to suppress Black political movements, revealing the broader themes of deception, empire, corruption, and white supremacy in American mass incarceration. Drawing from original interviews with founders of Black political movements such as the Black Guerilla Family, white supremacists, and a swath of little-known archival data, Friedman uncovers how the US domestic war against imprisoned Black people models and perpetuates genocide, imprisonment, and torture abroad.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
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 10th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/monday-night-fiction-workshop-tickets-1268779687199
No Pulp Open Mic at Work Evolution Laboratories, Long Beach – In-Person Event
No Pulp Open Mic is held every 2nd and 4th Monday of the month.
All ages.
More info at https://www.instagram.com/nopulp_media/
Where: Work Evolution Laboratories
Date: Monday the 10th
Time: 8:30 pm – 11 pm
Address: 235 E. Broadway, Suite 800, Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://www.lbpoetry.com/
Lit Angels: Healing Through Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Let Francesca help you with all aspects of your writing!
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 paper ack. https://www.francescaliablock.com/
Note: Please RSVP at site.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1885820250304
Virtual Book Club: The Queens of Crime at La Crescenta Library, LACL – Online Event
Join us for a weekly discussion on Zoom of The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict.
Marie Benedict, author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie returns with a thrilling story of Christie’s legendary rival Dorothy Sayers, the race to solve a murder, and the power of friendship among women. London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy L. Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France who may have connections leading to the highest levels of the British establishment. May Daniels, a young English nurse on an excursion to France with her friend, seemed to vanish into thin air as they prepared to board a ferry home. Months later, her body is found in the nearby woods. The murder has all the hallmarks of a locked room mystery for which these authors are famous: how did her killer manage to sneak her body out of a crowded train station without anyone noticing?
Please contact Marta Wiggins at mwiggins@library.lacounty.gov for more information and the link to the Zoom Meeting.
Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13068980
Nonfiction Book Club: Griffin Dunne’s The Friday Afternoon Club at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Griffin Dunne’s The Friday Afternoon Club. For adults.
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12790960
Big Read Book Club: The House on Mango Street at Vermont Square Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Please join the Teen/Adult Book Club to discuss The Big Read Book of 2025, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, and create a zine version of the book.
Where: Vermont Square Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 1201 W. 48th. St., Los Angeles, CA 90037
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/big-read-book-club-house-mango-street-5
Poetry Lab Workshop: Poetry As Testimony: Healing Through the Written Word via The Poetry Lab – Online Event
Poetry As Testimony: Healing Through the Written Word is a Braintrust Workshop offered online with Keimahney. This session will explore healing through the written word, offering a space to turn experience into poetry.
NOTE: Sliding scale: $4–$38
Where: The Poetry Lab
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 5:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DG-xrSDzutD/
Poetry Open Micat Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Share a poem you wrote or a poem you love. You are also welcome to just listen and enjoy. Emceed by Wyatt Underwood.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-open-mic-0
World Cultures Reading Circleat Westchester – Loyola Village Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
In honor of Women’s History Month, please join the World Cultures Reading Circle to discuss Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez.
New members welcome!
Where: Westchester – Loyola Village Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 7114 W. Manchester Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/world-cultures-reading-circle-12
Graphic Novel & Comic Book Club for Adults on Zoom via Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us each month for a graphic novel and comic book discussion. We read a little bit of everything, ranging from capes and cowls to independent titles. A great starting point for new or devoted fans of the genre. Physical copies are available at the Information Desk and online as ebooks through hoopla and/or Libby/Overdrive.
March 11: It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (2022) by Zoe Thorogood.
RSVP:
This program meets on Zoom. Please preregister in advance to receive the meeting link.
Where: Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/comic-book-graphic-novel-book-club-adults-zoom
Nonfiction Book Club: The Friday Afternoon Club at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – Online Event
Participants meet virtually to discuss Griffin Dunne’s The Friday Afternoon Club. For adults.
To attend this meeting virtually, contact Nina Hull at 818-889-2278 or email nhull@library.lacounty.gov.
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12791059
Book Club Tuesday: This Time Tomorrow at Hollydale Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants meet virtually for a facilitated discussion of This Time Tomorrow by author Emma Staub. For adults.
Copies of the current title are available to check out at the customer service desk while supplies last. New members are always welcome!
Where: Hollydale Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 12000 Garfield Ave., South Gate, CA 90280
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13068680
Book Launch: Kate Maruyama, with Toni Ann Johnson, & Alterations at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Join author Kate Maruyama, in conversation with Toni Ann Johnson, to celebrate and discuss her novel Alterations.
Adriana gets a job sewing for Edith Head at Paramount’s costume department in the early 1940s. Adriana falls in love with a bit player named Rose and the two move in together. Living with a woman goes unnoticed as most people presume they are only roommates. But as Adriana’s career blossoms, society and life start to interfere and Adriana makes decisions that affect three generations of her family.
1998: Adriana’s granddaughter Laura has left LA on the heels of a failed relationship and a subsequently failed career in film development. She moves in with her grandmother in Baltimore to find some time and space to think. The problem is she always spent time here with her dearest friend and cousin Becca, who died suddenly in a car crash, leaving her 13-year-old daughter, Lizzie. Adriana, in her eighties and wrestling with the past is now suddenly responsible for Laura and Lizzie. In this compelling literary family drama, three lives twine together in the past and the present to take a closer look at how family, wanted or not, makes up who we are.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://www.instagram.com/treeladytoniann/
Ella Alexander, with E.P. Tuazon, & The Sleeping Land at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Ella Alexander, in conversation with E.P. Tuazon, will discuss The Sleeping Land.
Less than two years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, three junior archeologists and their gloryhound advisor arrive at a remote cave in the heart of the Siberian wilderness to carry out the first extensive Western dig on Russian soil since the execution of the Czar.
Surrounded by a looming forest with eerie silences and flickering shadows, Valerie, Kit, and Mark begin their dig under the eccentric and charismatic guidance of the venerable George Auberon. The excavation yields fascinating discoveries, and excitement grows among the team, but George’s true motivations soon reveal themselves to be much less noble than he originally let on.
As each member of the party grapples with the complexities and the challenges of the dig, going deeper into the cave, a strange feeling sets in. Are they really alone out there? Or has George’s paranoid ambition gotten to them?
A powerful debut with vast imaginative range, The Sleeping Land introduces a cast of memorable characters who must face a terrifying question: who controls the past when it comes back to life?
Ella Alexander is a writer from Los Angeles, currently living in Berlin. The Sleeping Land is her debut novel.
E. P. Tuazon is a Filipino American writer from Los Angeles. They have work in several publications such as The Rumpus, Lunch Ticket, Peatsmoke, and Five South. His work was chosen by ZZ Packer as the winner of the 2022 AWP Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction. They are currently a member of Advantage Press and The Blank Page Writing Club at The Open Book, Canyon Country. In their spare time, they like to go to Filipino seafood markets to gossip with the crabs.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Ella-Alexander-The-Sleeping-Land-Author-signing
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.”
Days and Times: Tuesdays (weekly); 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
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 11th (through May 6, 2025)
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event
Website: https://www.dstlarts.org/calendar
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 11th
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 14537 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDniBCVy64L/
Mark Feldman & Space Piracy: Preparing for a Criminal Crisis in Orbit at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Mark Feldman will discuss his book, Space Piracy: Preparing for a Criminal Crisis in Orbit.
This book is a forward-thinking resource that considers, analyzes, and provides solutions to the influence of the ignoble side of humanity in the realm of outer space, where potential for crime, corruption, piracy, and war increases as the exploitation of space as a commercial resource continues to develop. This book blends the authors’ knowledge with that of subject matter experts to deliver a holistic understanding of criminality in space and help readers broaden their horizons beyond their own area of specialization.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/marc-feldman-hugh-taylor
Open Mic Poetry at Library Coffee House, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Open Mic Poetry is hosted by Chad Brian.
Sign-ups at 6:45 pm.
All ages.
Where: Library Coffee House
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3418 E. Broadway, Long Beach, CA 90803
Website: https://www.lbpoetry.com/
Adult Book Group: The Art Thief at Once Upon a Time – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join our discussion of The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by author Michael Finkel.
Whether you loved it, hated it, or haven’t finished it, we want to see you at our Adult Book Club that has been going strong for 40+ years at America’s Oldest Children’s Bookstore!
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/adult-book-group-art-thief-michael-finkel-hybrid
Mystery Book Club at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
Mystery Book Club meets every other month, generally on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm. We read new release mysteries. Book selection is done by email voting prior to each meeting so that the following month’s book will be available at the preceding month’s meeting.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 11th at 7:00 pm (In-Person meeting)
Book: TBA.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-03-11/mystery-book-club
At Skylight: Mayukh Sen, with Carla Valderrama, & Love, Queenie at Skylight – In-Person Event
Mayukh Sen, in conversation with Carla Valderrama, will discuss Love, Queenie.
A beautiful reclamation of a pioneering South Asian actress captures her glittering, complicated life and lasting impact on Hollywood.
Merle Oberon made history when she was announced as a nominee for the Best Actress Oscar in 1936. Hers was a face that “launched a thousand ships,” a so-called exotic beauty who the camera loved and fans adored. Her nomination for The Dark Angel marked the first time the Academy recognized a performer of color. Almost ninety years before actress Michelle Yeoh would triumph in the same category, Oberon, born to a South Asian mother and white father in India, broke through a racial barrier—but no one knew it. Oberon was “passing” for white.
In the first biography of Oberon (1911–1979) in more than forty years, Mayukh Sen draws on family interviews and heretofore untapped archival material to capture the exceptional life of an oft-forgotten talent.
Born into poverty, Queenie Thompson dreamt of big-screen stardom. By sheer force of will, she immigrated to London in her teens and met film mogul Alexander Korda, who christened her “Merle Oberon” and invented the story that she was born to European parents in Tasmania. Her new identity was her ticket into Hollywood. When she was only in her twenties, Oberon dazzled as Cathy in Wuthering Heights opposite Laurence Olivier. Against the backdrop of Hollywood’s racially exclusionary Golden Age and the United States’s hostile immigration policy towards South Asians in the twentieth century, Oberon rose to the highest echelons of the film-world elite, all while keeping a secret that could have destroyed her career.
Tracing Oberon’s story from her Indian roots to her final days surrounded by wealth and glamor, Sen questions the demands placed on stars in life and death. His compassionate, compelling chronicle illuminates troubling truths on race, gender, and power that still resonate today.
Mayukh Sen is the James Beard Award-winning author of Taste Makers. He is a 2025 Fellow at New America, and has written on film for the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and the Criterion Collection. He teaches journalism at New York University and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Carla Valderrama is an author, Hollywood historian, and the creator of the Instagram account @thiswashollywood. Her first book, This Was Hollywood, was released in November 2020. She has appeared on Turner Classic Movies and been featured in Vogue, CNN, the AV Club, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, and LAist, among others. She is currently working on her second book, an L.A. true crime investigation. She lives in Los Angeles, where she can be seen wearing heart-shaped sunglasses and heard laughing anywhere within a five-mile radius.
Where: Skylight
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Kim Fay, with J. Ryan Stradal, & Kate & Frida: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Books at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Kim Fay, in conversation with J. Ryan Stradal, will discuss her book Kate & Frida: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Books.
From the author of instant national bestseller Love & Saffron, this bright and comforting novel follows the surprising friendship between two young women in 1990s Seattle and Paris, illuminating the power of books to change our lives.
Sometimes a book can change your life…
Twenty-something Frida Rodriguez arrives in Paris in 1991, relishing the city’s butter-soaked cuisine and seeking her future as a war correspondent. But then she writes to a bookshop in Seattle and receives more than just the book she requests. A friendship begins that will redefine the person she wants to become.
Seattle bookseller Kate Fair is transformed by Frida’s free spirit, spurred to believe in herself as a writer, to kiss her handsome coworker, and to find beauty even in loss. Through the most tumultuous years of their young lives—personally and globally—Kate and Frida sustain and nourish each other as they learn the necessity of embracing joy, especially through our darkest hours.
This mouthwatering oasis of a novel is a love letter to bookshops and booksellers, to the passion we bring to life in our twenties, and to the last precious years before the internet changed everything.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
World Stage Press Book Release: David Maruyama & Taiko Quartz Beat at 88 Keys & Zoom Hybrid Event – 88 Keys & Online Zoom Hybrid Event
Join us for the book release of Taiko Quartz Beat by David Maruyama.
An evening of storytelling, poetry, and conversation. Free admission. RSVP and order your copy at link in bio!
Where: World Stage Press at 88 Keys
Date: Tuesday, the 11th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 4836 Paramount Blvd., Lakewood, CA 90712
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DG3vUAaNOK4/
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert & Guest Keith Mar – Online Zoom Event
Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert welcomes guest Keith Mar to read and discuss his work.
Keith Mar is a Chinese American spoken word poet, psychotherapist, and professor who uses poetry to ask questions about race, identity, self-love, and social justice. He has used his poetry and personal stories to enhance the cultural sensitivity of his graduate students. Keith believes that the spoken word can comfort, heal, and confront the past, build bridges between communities, help celebrate roots, and inspire a sense of social connection at a time when our culture is urgently in need of it.
Keith has been a featured poet on television and radio programs, literary readings, Open Mics, storytelling events, and at venues including NYU, Pacifica Graduate Institute, UCSB Multicultural Center, Antioch University, Santa Barbara Community College Center for Equity, and the Chicago Literary Complex. He has co-hosted an annual Asian American, Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month poetry celebration for the last 5 years. He also co-hosts a monthly virtual open mic, Yellow, centering Asian voices.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday, the 11th
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 ORA – In-Person Event (NOTE NEW MARCH LOCATION)
The nation’s largest weekly spoken word Open Mic event is 26 years strong. DPL is a community space for every poet to be heard. They provide a platform to celebrate poetry while using it as the foundation for creativity, innovation, and expression across an array of media outlets.
Hosted by Edwin Bodney.
NOTE: DPL’s home, The Greenway Court Theatre is currently being renovated and they will return there next month.
$10 donation. Do NOT line up prior to 7:30 pm Free parking adjacent to the theater.
Masks are encouraged. All ages are welcome.
Join us at new location for March 4th March 11th, March 18th & March 25th!
Where: Greenway Court Theatre at ORA
Date: Tuesday, the 11th
Time: 9 pm – 11 pm
Address: 4332 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park, Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChLUBSRPCFb/ or https://www.dapoetrylounge.com/events/
Mystery Book Club: Murder by Degrees at West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for engaging discussions at our monthly Mystery Book Club meeting! Here’s our upcoming selection:
March: Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji.
Where: West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 10:30 am – 12 pm
Address: 19036 Vanowen St., Reseda, CA 91335
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-2
Author Talk: Dan Heath & Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working via Virtual Program, LACL – Online Event
Are you ready to for a revolutionary guide to fixing what’s not working—in systems and processes, organizations and companies, and even in our daily lives? Join author Dan Heath as he talks about his new book, Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working.
Where: Virtual Program, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12604717
Wednesday Book Club: Normal People at Westchester – Loyola Village Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Please join the Wednesday Book Club to discuss Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney.
New members welcome!
Where: Westchester – Loyola Village Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 12 pm
Address: 7114 W. Manchester Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90045
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/wednesday-book-club-16
Artesia Book Club: Bad City at Artesia Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a book discussion. The book for March is Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels by Paul Pringle.
Books are available for checkout at the library. Some titles are available as free downloadable eBooks or digital audiobooks from LA County Library at lacountylibrary.org.
All interested are welcome and invited to attend.
Where: Artesia Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 1 pm – 2 pm
Address: 18801 Elaine Ave., Artesia, CA 90701
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13126263
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 2nd Monday of the month on KPFK Los Angeles 90.7 FM.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: KPFK 90.7 FM
Date: Wednesday, the 12th
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: On-air Event (live)
Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/
YA Book Club: Scythe at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person YA Event
Do you like going on adventures outside of your assigned reading?
Have you read Scythe or has it been on your TBR for a while?
Participants of Village Well’s new YA Book Club will read Scythe by Neal Shusterman.
Introducing Village Well’s YA Book Club, a place for you to explore new reads and old favorites!
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 3:30 pm – 5 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1981620250312
Tell a Story: Zine Making Workshop with Darrell Fusaro at Felipe de Neve Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Teens Event
Have you ever wanted to be an author, but didn’t know how to get started?
Learn how to create a do-it-yourself eight-page zine that you can mass-produce with a copy machine! Working with original and appropriated images and/or text, you can share ideas, inspire others, engage your creative self, and make connections.
Zine topics include poetry, cartoons, short stories, top 10 lists, and how-to guides. At the end of this workshop, Darrell will show participants how to submit a copy of their zine to the Los Angeles Public Library’s Zine Collection. This means that your published work will be available for checkout at the library!
Artist and Author Darrell Fusaro has worked as a model builder creating special effects for the motion picture industry, and was a producer of the Emmy-nominated Local Edition on CNN. His latest self-illustrated zine was released as a book, Step out Boldly: The Hidden Meaning of the Statue of Liberty and became a #1 New Release on Amazon. His other self-illustrated books include What If Godzilla Just Wanted a Hug? Leading with the Heart Instead of the Chin, and Break Out of Your Box: Be Your Heroic Self.
All ages welcome; under 12 with adult supervision. Bilingual assistance available during the program.
Where: Felipe de Neve Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 4th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 2820 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90057
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/tell-story-zine-making-workshop-w-darrell-fusaro
Graphic Novel Club: Hikaru in the Light! by Mai Matsuda at Once Upon a Time, Montrose – In-Person Kids Event
Celebrate our shared love of graphic novels and visual creativity! Iz and Apollo host our ever-popular book club.
Our selection for this meeting is Hikaru in the Light! by Mai Matsuda.
Best friends compete for the once-in-a-lifetime chance to become pop stars in this funny, feel-good manga series perfect for fans of K-On!, The Tryout, and The Baby-Sitters Club.
Middle-school student Hikaru Ogino is known as the songbird of her family’s bathhouse in Tokyo. Her beautiful singing echoes from room to room as she cleans up after school, but she dreams of holding a microphone, not a mop! When her best friend, Ran—a former girl group idol—Invites her to try out for a pop star survival camp together, it’s the chance of a lifetime to put her talents to the test. Can Hikaru outshine the competition and make her stage debut, or will she fall flat?
Reader expectations:
Best for ages 8+.
This is a discussion-based club. Participants should come prepared to share their thoughts about that meeting’s book choice.
Limited space. No drop-ins. Purchase of book from Once Upon A Time required for RSVP.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time, Montrose
Date: Wednesday, the 12th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/graphic-novel-club-hikaru-light-mai-matsuda
2nd & 3rd Grade Book Club: Inside the Park at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Join the 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.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 12th at 4:30 pm (In {pages} Courtyard)
Book: Inside the Park by Andrea Williams
Please RSVP to amy@pagesabookstore.com
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-03-12/2nd-3rd-grade-book-club
Malibu Library Book Club: Table for Two at Malibu Library, LACL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Participants will be discussing Table for Two by Amor Towles, a collection of six stories based in New York City and a novella set in Golden Age Hollywood. Copies of the book will be available at the customer service desk. This program is for adults.
The Malibu Library Book club is now available on Zoom. Participate from the comfort of home! Contact the librarian at cfischer@library.lacounty.gov or call 310.456.6438 to be added to Zoom participation.
Where: Malibu Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 5 pm – 6:30 pm
Address: 23519 West Civic Center Way, Malibu, CA 90265
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13083800
Author Event: Grant Kirkpatrick, Duan Tran and Erik Evens of KAA Design Celebrate 2 Books: Residing with Nature and Shaping the World as a Home at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
Architects, Grant Kirkpatrick, Duan Tran and Erik Evens of KAA Design in celebration of publication of TWO beautiful new books on Wednesday, March 12th at 5:30 pm. This is a free event but RSVPs are appreciated and we hope you will consider purchasing copies of these books from {pages}.
More about Residing with Nature: The Houses of KAA Design & Shaping the World As A Home:
Residing with Nature: The Houses of KAA Design is a highly anticipated monograph of recent houses and features one-of-a-kind homes, crafted in sensuous materials and dramatically sited to enhance views, sunlight, and nature in California, Nevada, and Colorado. Grant Kirkpatrick and Duan Tran of KAA Design share their process for creating personal environments that are tailor-made to each client’s unique lifestyle and setting. All the designs inform a dynamic connection to nature that links indoors and outdoors, an extraordinary attention to craftsmanship, an enduring use of local materials, a striking balance between geometry and whimsy, and an exhilarating sense of levitation.
Shaping the World As A Home: The Houses and Gardens of Erik Evens is the first book on the precisely detailed, sumptuous architecture of one of the finest firms working in traditional styles in California. Evens has long been considered one of the country’s leading contemporary architects who aspires to create the complete living environment, in the same vein as Gil Schafer, Bobby McAlpine, Ray Booth, and Stanley Dixon. His inspiration is drawn from classical traditions and informed by contemporary indoor-outdoor life—in this case the indoor-outdoor life of California.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 5:30 pm – 7 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
The Big Read: The House on Mango Street at Exposition Park Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
In celebration of Women’s History Month in March and the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read, join us for a captivating discussion of Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street.
This coming-of-age novella, narrated by a young Latina girl named Esperanza, explores themes of identity, community, and the power of dreams. As we delve into Esperanza’s poignant stories, we’ll examine the challenges and triumphs of growing up in a marginalized neighborhood and the enduring hope that sustains her.
Please pick up a free copy of The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros in the months of February and March and meet us at the library on March 12 to share how we enjoyed the book and what we learned from it.
Where: Exposition Park Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 3900 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90062
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/big-read-exploring-house-mango-street-sandra-cisneros
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 12th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: On-air Event (live at 101.5 FM)
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Rainbow Reads Book Club: Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliott McLemore at Once Upon a Time, Montrose – In-Person LGBTQIA+ Teen Event
Our Rainbow Reads Book Club celebrates diversity in Young Adult books as we read books featuring various identities and stories. This is a safe space welcome to teens of all identities and allies! Join Iz and Apollo for our proud book club.
Our selection for discussion at this meeting is Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliott McLemore
Best for ages 13 and up.
This is a discussion-based club. Participants should come prepared to share their thoughts about that meeting’s book choice.
Limited space. No drop-ins. Purchase of book from Once Upon A Time required for RSVP.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time, Montrose
Date: Wednesday, the 12th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Book Launch: Kurt Baumeister, with Christine Sneed, & Twilight of the Gods at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person YA Event
Join us for a fantasy book launch for Kurt Baumeister’s new novel Twilight of the Gods!
Baumeister and fellow author Christine Sneed engage in an energizing conversation about Baumeister’s fantastical satire, a tale of fallen gods and failing humanity, of love lost and found, of parents and children, magic and sex, art and lies, good, evil, and the end of Fate. This is the story of Loki—and Baumeister—in their own words.
This is not your comic book trickster. Twilight of the Gods is satire and alternate history on an operatic, cinematic, and cosmic scale, with a cast that transcends time and space. The grinding of The Wheel of Fate is heard in Valhalla, as it is in Berlin and Boston. Can Odin’s many schemes be undone? Who can rewire the robotic nightmare of politics and write a brighter future for humanity? Only humanity’s champion, the long misunderstood, supposed force of evil, Loki. Tis is a tale of fallen gods and failing humanity, of love lost and found, of parents and children, magic and sex, art and lies, good, evil, and the end of Fate. This is the story of Loki. In his own words.
Kurt Baumeister’s writing has appeared in Salon, Guernica, Electric Literature, Rain Taxi, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, The Weeklings, and other outlets. An acquisitions editor with 7.13 Books, Baumeister holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College. Twilight Of The Gods is his second novel.
Christine Sneed is the author of the novels Please Be Advised: A Novel in Memos, Little Known Facts, and Paris, He Said, and the story collections Portraits of a Few of the People I’ve Made Cry and The Virginity of Famous Men. She is also the editor of the short fiction anthology, Love in the Time of Time’s Up. Her seventh book, Direct Sunlight, a short story collection, was published in June 2023.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1982620250312
Book Club: James at Exposition Park Library, LAPL – Online Event
This is an online, mostly fiction book club. We select book titles throughout the year. March’s book is James by Percival Everett.
RSVP:
Email pcoima@lapl.org to receive the Zoom link.
Where: Pacoima Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/pacoima-book-club
Wiseburn Library Book Club: The Maid at Wiseburn Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a book discussion and light refreshments! This month, we will read and discuss The Maid by Nita Prose. Copies of the books are available at the library. For ages 18+.
Refreshments generously provided by the Friends of the Hawthorne and Wiseburn Libraries.
Molly Dunn’s orderly life is turned on its head the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself very dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s odd demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect and she finds herself in a web of subtext and nuance she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, a medley of friends she didn’t realize she had refuses to let her be charged with murder—but will they be able to discover the real killer before it’s too late?
Where: Wiseburn Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 6:45 pm – 7:45 pm
Address: 5335 W. 135th St., Hawthorne, CA 90250
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12899289
Poetry at DiPiazza’s, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Poetry at DiPiazza’s is hosted by Tamara Madison.
Sign-ups at 6:45 pm.
Ages 21+
More info at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/6336205699747317/posts/6607748369259714/
Where: DiPiazza’s
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 5205 Pacific Coast Hwy., Long Beach, CA 90804
Website: https://www.lbpoetry.com/
ALOUD Reading Series Presents: An Evening with Willa Cather at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us experience a 150-year anniversary celebration of Willa Cather—a peer of Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and Wharton—and one of the most treasured American writers of the early 20th century. Cather’s groundbreaking fiction (My Ántonia, One of Ours, The Professor’s House, Death Comes for the Archbishop) set a new standard in American literature. This evening of selections from her work bring to life the uniquely American prose of this Pulitzer Prize-winning author. They also provide insight into Cather’s identity and affirm her place as one of our greatest writers.
Curated by Peter Cipkowski of the National Willa Cather Center, this program will feature readings from actors Linda Bisesti (The Conners) and Matthew Reidy (Billy Comes Home), punctuated by art songs of Clara Schumann and Franz Schubert performed by Christine Li (mezzo-soprano) and Sean Stanton (baritone) with pianist Timothy Wong.
RSVP at site.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Mark Taper Auditorium
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 630 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lfla.org/event/willacather/
Vanda Krefft, with Cathy Curtis, & Expect Great Things!: How the Katharine Gibbs School Revolutionized the American Workplace for Women at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Vanda Krefft, in conversation with Cathy Curtis, will discuss and sign her book, Expect Great Things!: How the Katharine Gibbs School Revolutionized the American Workplace for Women.
A fun and fascinating social history of the famed Katharine Gibbs School, which from the 1910s to the 1960s, trained women for executive secretary positions but surreptitiously was instilling the self-confidence and strategic know-how necessary for them to claim equality, power, and authority in the wider world.
Katharine Gibbs was one her own success stories. She started her school when, as a 46-year-old widow, she was left near-broke with two young sons. The school taught typing and stenography but Gibbs also hired accomplished professors from elite colleges to teach academic subjects—it was a well-rounded education that produced early feminists ready to tackle the sexism of their era.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/vanda-krefft
Book Event: Norma Wong & When No Thing Works at Café con Libros, Pomona – In-Person Event
Experience a thought-provoking book reading and Q&A with Norma Wong Roshi, an esteemed Zen and Indigenous Hawaiian teacher, as she shares insights from her new book, When No Thing Works.
When No Thing Works offers a spiritual and community-based approach to navigating change, fostering collective care, and visioning sustainable futures. Wong explores deep questions, such as:
- What leaps must we take in times of collective transformation?
- How can we move beyond discord and polarization toward collective action?
- What practices and strategies can help us build sustainable futures?
- How can we step out of urgency and tend to crises with wisdom and care?
Norma Ryūkō Kawelokū Wong Roshi is an emerging kupuna (elder) from Hawai’i, known for her deep insights on strategy, politics, and spiritual activism.
NOTE: See site for RSVP & details.
Where: Café con Libros, Pomona
Date: Wednesday, the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 280 W. 2nd St., Pomona, CA 91766
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGJQeWlSmiA/?img_index=1
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 12th
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
At Skylight: Haley Mlotek, with Aiden Arata, & No Fault at Skylight – In-Person Event
Haley Mlotek, in conversation with Aiden Arata, will discuss No Fault,
An intimate and candid account of one of the most romantic and revolutionary relationships: divorce
Divorce was everything for Haley Mlotek. As a child, she listened to her twice-divorced grandmother tell stories about her “husbands.” As a pre-teen, she answered the phones for her mother’s mediation and marriage counseling practice and typed out the paperwork for couples in the process of leaving each other. She grew up with the sense that divorce was an outcome to both resist and desire, an ordeal that promised something better on the other side of something bad. But when she herself went on to marry—and then divorce—the man she had been with for twelve years, suddenly, she had to reconsider her generation’s inherited understanding of the institution.
Haley Mlotek is a writer, editor, and organizer. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Nation, Bookforum, The Paris Review, The Columbia Journalism Review, Vogue, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Hazlitt, and n+1, among others. She is a founding member of the Freelance Solidarity Project in the National Writers Union, teaches in the English and Journalism departments at Concordia University, and is the editorial lead at Feeld. Previously, Haley was the deputy editor of SSENSE, the style editor of MTV News, the editor of The Hairpin, and the publisher of WORN Fashion Journal.
Aiden Arata is a writer and artist whose writing has been published in BOMB, The Rumpus, Hobart, The Fanzine, and other publications, as well as NDA: An Autofiction Anthology (Archway Editions 2022). Arata’s visual and video work has been featured on platforms including Vice, The Cut, Harper’s Bazaar, Mashable, and The Washington Post. Her first essay collection, You Have a New Memory, is forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing (July 2025). She lives in Los Angeles and on the internet as @aidenarata.
Where: Skylight
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-haley-mlotek-presents-no-fault-w-aiden-arata
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 — Jaha Zainabu will feature, with artwork & ebooks for sale;
- 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 12th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4321 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.instagram.com or https://www.facebook.com
Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop with Tom Laichas 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.
Tom Laichas is author of four books of poetry, including Three Hundred Streets of Venice California (FutureCycle Press, 2023) and the forthcoming Landscapes From An American Afterlife (The Los Angeles Press, 2025). His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Plume, BarBar, The Los Angeles Times, the Irish Times, The High Window Review (UK), and elsewhere. He is the winner of poetry prizes from Jabberwock Review, Puerto del Sol, and Prime 53, and has been shortlisted in competitions sponsored by The Moth (Ireland), Aesthetica, Arts & Letters, New Letters and Gunpowder Press. He lives with his family in Venice, California.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Wednesday, the 12th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wednesday-night-poetry-workshop-tickets-1272505220369
Poetry Nights with East Los Soul at East Los Angeles Rising Youth Club – In-Person Event
East Los Soul presents Poetry Nights every Wednesday from 8 pm – 9:45 pm at East L.A. Rising Youth Club. Poetry starts at 8:15 pm.
Every 2nd Wednesday will be a poetry contest with a $200 prize for the poet winner, via unanimous vote.
Every 4th Wednesday will be an art contest with a $200 prize for the artist winner, via unanimous vote.
$2 entrance fee
Where: East Los Angeles Rising Youth Club
Date: Wednesday, the 12th
Time: 8 pm – 9:45 pm
Address: 324 N. McDonnell Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90022
Website: https://www.bgcela.org/
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg and Guest Melissa Violet 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 Melissa Violet.
Melissa Violet is a singer/songwriter/poetess who began writing and singing at the age of 4. Hailing from the rust belt city of Buffalo, NY, she dove into SoCal five years ago and has since been enjoying the sunshine, wild parrots, and eclectic art scene. Melissa is highly passionate about gender issues and social justice and is currently hosting the Kindling Salon Circle Art Series at Hellada Gallery. When not performing, Melissa can be found shaking it on the dance floor, traveling, staging photo shoots of her cat, Mr Tweakers, or in her kitchen, where she loves creating culinary art.
$4 cover fee, cash only
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday, the 12th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA
Website: https://www.instagram.com/poetryidiots/
Lit Angels: Heal Through Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Let Francesca help you with all aspects of your writing!
Do you want to write professionally or for personal satisfaction and healing but aren’t sure where to start and need some inspiring tips and support? Do you have a project that needs revision? Are you feeling stuck creatively? Join acclaimed author and writing instructor Francesca Lia Block for a discussion of her 12 Questions followed by free writing and Q&A. Come be a part of the supportive Lit Angels writing community and consider writing a story to share at our Valentine’s event on 2/7 for possible submission in Lit Angels Journal.
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 paper back. 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!
Reserve your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/all-events
Book Club: This Must Be the Place at Hermosa Beach Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss This Must Be the Place by author Maggie O’Farrell. For Adults.
Where: Hermosa Beach Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Address: 550 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12868967
Big Read Book Club (ESL/ELL- Low Intermediate) With Leah: The House on Mango Street at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The House on Mango Street, by author Sandra Cisneros.
Are you an English language learner and interested in practicing your reading? This book club is for ESL/ELL adults who want to work on vocabulary, grammar, and reading skills. Read selections from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros in class with other learners. Books will be provided. For more information, please call 213-228-7037 ext. 0 or email singleton@lapl.org.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Singleton Adult Literacy Center
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 1 pm – 2:20 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/big-read-book-club-house-mango-street-0
Mystery Book Club: The Moonstone at Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The Moonstone by author Wilkie Collins. For Adults.
Attendance is limited, and advance registration is required. Please register every individual in your party, including kids. This will be used to save your spots in the program. We cannot guarantee availability for any unregistered attendees.
The Moonstone, a yellow diamond looted from an Indian temple and believed to bring bad luck to its owner, is bequeathed to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday. That very night the priceless stone is stolen again and when Sergeant Cuff is brought in to investigate the crime, he soon realizes that no one in Rachel’s household is above suspicion. Hailed by T. S. Eliot as “the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels,” The Moonstone is a marvelously taut and intricate tale of mystery, in which facts and memory can prove treacherous and not everyone is as they first appear.
Where: Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 3:30 am – 4:30 am
Address: 4975 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12664839
Teen Book Club: March of the Suffragettes at Manhattan Beach Library, LACL – In-Person Teen Event
Participants will discuss March of the Suffragettes: Rosalie Gardiner Jones and the March for Voting Rights by author Zachary Michael Jack. For ages 12- 18.
Where: Manhattan Beach Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 1320 Highland Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12870579
Writing Now Series: Vanessa Angélica Villarreal at CalArts School for Critical Studies – In-Person Event
Vanessa Angélica Villarreal’s latest book MAGICAL / REALISM: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders crosses borders in multiple registers, blending cultural criticism and memoir in innovative ways that have been heaped with excited praise.
“An energetic, paradigm shifting book,” says Carmen Maria Machado. “A stunning, provocative, and essential book that lights up the mind. Villarreal’s ferocious imagination is matched only by a roving intellect and so much heart that these essays will stay with you for a long time after reading” says Jeff VanderMeer.
Villareal is also the author of the poetry collection Beast Meridian, winner of a 2019 Whiting Award. Born in the Rio Grande Valley, she is the child of Mexican immigrants. She lives with her child in Los Angeles.
This in-person event will take place in BB#4. Reading begins at 6pm. Reception to follow.
Where: CalArts, Butler Building #4
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 24700 McBean Pkwy., Valencia, CA 91355
Website: https://creativewritingseriesvanessaan.splashthat.com/
Diverse Romance Book Club: The Truth According to Ember at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The Truth According to Ember by author Danica Nava.
A Chickasaw woman who can’t catch a break serves up a little white lie that snowballs into much more in this USA Today bestselling rom-com by critically acclaimed author Danica Nava.
Ember Lee Cardinal has not always been a liar—well, not for anything that counted at least. But her job search is not going well and when her resumé is rejected for the thirty-seventh time, she takes matters into her own hands. She gets “creative” listing her qualifications and answers the ethnicity question on applications with a lie—a half-lie, technically. No one wanted Native American Ember, but white Ember has just landed her dream accounting job on Park Avenue (Oklahoma City, that is).
Accountant Ember thrives in corporate life—and her love life seems to be looking up as well: Danuwoa Colson, the IT guy and fellow Native who caught her eye on her first day, seems to actually be interested in her too. Despite her unease over the no-dating policy at work, they start to see each other secretly, which somehow makes it even hotter? But when they’re caught in a compromising position on a work trip, a scheming colleague blackmails Ember, threatening to expose their relationship. As the manipulation continues to grow, so do Ember’s lies. She must make the hard decision to either stay silent or finally tell the truth, which could cost her everything.
Danica Nava is an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and works as an Executive Assistant in the tech industry. She has her MBA from USC Marshall School of Business. She currently lives in Southern California with her husband and daughter. The Truth According to Ember is her debut novel. You can find her on Instagram at the handle @danica_nava.
Where: Cellar Door Books
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/diverse-romance-book-club-truth-according-ember
Book Talk: Angelica Baker & When We Grow Up at Chevalier’s Bookstore – In-Person Event
Angleica Baker will present and discuss When We Grow Up.
This novel is about six longtime friends whose tropical vacation is interrupted by an unexpected crisis, forcing them to ask how strong their bonds really are.
Clare is supposed to be the grown-up one. Married to the love of her life, with a major deal for her first novel, she has everything she thought she wanted. So then why does it all feel so wrong? When she agrees to a weeklong vacation in Hawai’i with five of her oldest friends as they each approach thirty, she is hoping for an escape with the people who know her best. There is Jessie, who won’t stop talking about her new boyfriend; Mac, trying to pretend he hasn’t outgrown the group; Kyle, the eternal peacemaker; and Renzo, who brought them all together but keeps picking fights. And then, of course, there’s Liam, who Clare has barely seen since high school but somehow can’t get out of her head—or her bed.
But when a terrifying news alert shatters their peace, it becomes harder to ignore how much the world has changed since they were teenagers. As the resentments and tensions that have always simmered just beneath the surface begin to boil, Clare must ask if their shared history is enough to sustain their friendships, or if growing up might mean letting go.
With crackling wit and emotional fearlessness, When We Grow Up is a provocative portrait of friendship in a world that feels ever more unrecognizable and a searing exploration of what it means to be a good person.
About the author: Angelica Baker is the author of the novels Our Little Racket and When We Grow Up. Her essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Vogue, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Literary Hub. She lives in Eugene, Oregon, with her husband and two sons.
Where: Chevalier’s
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/event/2025-03-13/book-talk-angelica-bakers-when-we-grow
Thrival Open Mic at Hot Java, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Thrival Open Mic is an all arts community open mic. All ages.
More info on Instagram @thrivalopenmic
Where: Hot Java
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 2101 E. Broadway., Long Beach, CA 90803
Website: https://www.lbpoetry.com/
Lit Angels: Crime Time Workshop with Daniel Weizmann at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Daniel Weizmann is the author of the critically acclaimed Pacific Coast Highway Mystery series.
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!
Reserve your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/2070520250313
Vroman’s ED: Romance Writing Class with Amy Spaulding (8 Weeks) at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Please note, this class has been moved from January 9th. (Please note: this 8-week class will be held on Thursdays, 6:30-8:30pm – *3/13, 3/20, 3/27, 4/3, 4/10, 4/17, 4/24 and 5/1)
Have you always wanted to write your own HEA (that’s a happily-ever-after)? This class is for anyone interested in writing a romance novel—or who’s started one but feels like they need some help getting to that happy ending! In this 8-week course, bestselling author Amy Spalding will teach you the fundamentals of romance novels.
From Meet Cute to HEA: Writing the Modern Romance Novel will focus on structure, with specialized lectures each week to learn more about each beat, from the setup to the meet-cute, all the way through to that glorious HEA. Topics covered will include genre conventions (yes, like tropes!), dialogue/banter, building tension (sexual and otherwise!), inclusivity/diversity in storytelling, common pitfalls, and more.
Classes will be mostly lecture/discussion, with time set aside each week for writing exercises and brainstorming. The goal is for each writer to leave class with a full outline of their romance novel, as well as some example scenes and exercises they may be able to use in the manuscript as well.
Students will also leave class with resources: each week’s presentation will be sent out to all students, as well as additional links for further examples/education.
Amy Spalding is the author of several adult and YA novels, including the bestselling romance For Her Consideration, We Used to Be Friends and YA romance The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles), which was named a best book of 2018 by NPR, the Boston Globe, Kirkus Reviews, and more. She is a recipient of the 2023 Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award for the authentic, funny, and diverse representation of the LGBTQ+ community in her books.
Amy grew up in St. Louis and now lives in Los Angeles. She has a B.A. in Advertising & Marketing Communications from Webster University and an M.A. in Media Studies from The New School. Amy studied longform improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.
Questions? Email@vromansbookstore.com or call (626)449-5320
NOTE: See site for cost and details.
Where: Vroman’s Meeting Room, In the Atrium
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 709 E. Colorado Blvd., Suite 120, Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-03-13/vromans-ed-romance-writing-class-amy-spalding-8-weeks
What Alliances Do We Need in Perilous Times? at ASU California Center – In-Person & Online YouTube Hybrid Event
What new alliances do we need to forge to rebuild our scarred communities after the unthinkable strikes? Join us on Thursday, March 13 at 7 p.m. PT at ASU California Center Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles for “What Alliances Do We Need In Perilous Times?”
Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano will moderate the first panel, featuring a discussion about how alliances are rebuilding Los Angeles in the wake of January’s fires. And Zócalo columnist and Democracy Local founder Joe Mathews will moderate the second panel, featuring a discussion about state, national, and global governance as a new U.S. administration takes power.
This event is co-presented by Zócalo Public Square, ASU Mechanics of Democracy Lab, UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, California Humanities, Los Angeles Local News Initiative, LA2050, and Los Angeles Times. Register for free to attend in person or online here: https://zps.la/alliances.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: ASU California Center Broadway
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 9:15 pm
Address: 1111 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Website: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1524673498396876&id=100025627220429&set=a.1148748469322716
Colleen Oakley, with Taylor Jenkins Reid, & Jane & Dan at the End of the World at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Date night goes off the rails in this hilariously insightful take on midlife and marriage when one unhappy couple find themselves at the heart of a crime in progress, from the USA Today bestselling author of The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise.
Jane and Dan have been married for nineteen years, but Jane isn’t sure they’re going to make it to twenty. The mother of two feels unneeded by her teenagers, and her writing career has screeched to an unsuccessful halt. Her one published novel sold under five hundred copies. Worse? She’s pretty sure Dan is cheating on her. When the couple goes to the renowned upscale restaurant La Fin du Monde to celebrate their anniversary, Jane thinks it’s as good a place as any to tell Dan she wants a divorce.
But before they even get to the second course, an underground climate activist group bursts into the dining room. Jane is shocked—and not just because she’s in a hostage situation the likes of which she’s only seen in the movies. Nearly everything the disorganized and bumbling activists say and do is right out of the pages of her failed book. Even Dan (who Jane wasn’t sure even read her book) admits it’s eerily familiar.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/colleen-oakley-taylor-jenkins-reid
Trenches Full of Poets Reading Series at Page Against the Machine, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Join us for Our March monthly dive into the Trenches Full of Poets Reading Series! March comes in like a lioness with readings by four California poets: Jennifer “Miss B” Baptiste, Chale, Tauri, and Aideed Medina. An open mic opportunity will follow the featured readers.
Jennifer “Miss B” Baptiste (she/her) is a writer, actor, librarian ad illustrator from Texas living in California. She creates lyrical introspective pieces to promote healing and curiosity and has been published in journals including the 𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘢 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸, 𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘡𝘪𝘯𝘦, and 𝘓𝘰𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘵 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺. Her favorite color is pink, she is a vegan foodie and enjoys day trip adventures with loved ones. Follow her at @WheresMsB to explore her zines, literary related line art stationery collection, and upcoming poetry events.
Chale is a writer untangling memories, walking down dark avenues in her mind of all the hoods she’s lived through, Girlhood, womanhood, and motherhood. Overcoming traditions of silence.
Tauri (they/she) is a botanist, mycologist, and poet from East Los Angeles and the I.E. They are an editor of Cucatlicue Press, along with their homie, Sol. Tauri spends most of their days hiking in Joshua Tree National Park and eating quesabirrias—their most current obsession.
Aideed Medina (she/her) is a poet, and playwright. Her work has appeared in Fresno State’s Club Austral Literary Magazine, Chicano Writers and Artists Association Journal, La Bloga, Poets Responding, Art of the Commune, Split This Rock. Nueva York Poetry Review, Di-Liio Revista Literaria, Ativista Anthology, The Common, Farmworkers Portfolio, Issue #26 Amherst College, and Somos Xixanas Anthology (Riot of Roses Publishing House), as part of a collection of original art songs composed for The Opera Remix, Fresno Grand Opera, and as part of Eclectic Collective plays: Encounter Intuitive, and Artista Invisible. Her poetry has been included as part of three municipal murals of the 559 Mural Project. She is the author of 31 Hummingbird (Editorial Xingao), Segmented Bodies (Prickly Pear Press), and Selected Poems from Segmented Bodies/Salmos de la Sierra Madre, with Aziz Cordova, (Universidad Autónoma Nuevo León, México).
Trenches Full of Poets is a monthly poetry series created, curated, and hosted by Los Angeles-based poets and editors, Nikolai Garcia and Mauricio Andres Moreno 𝗠𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗼 with the goal of supporting a diverse array of published SoCal authors and the local independent bookstores that carry their works.
NOTE: See site for guidelines and details.
Where: Page Against the Machine
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 2714 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/2777945892378821
At Skylight: Jeremy Gordon, with Ruth Madievsky & See Friendship at Skylight – In-Person Event
Jeremy Gordon, in conversation with Ruth Madievsky, will discuss See Friendship.
Culture critic Jeremy Gordon makes his literary debut with this whip-smart novel about a young man who learns the devastating truth behind his friend’s death, propelling him on an odyssey of discovery into the nature of grief in the digital age, the limits of memory, and the meaning of friendship.
Amid the ongoing decimation of media, Jacob Goldberg, a culture writer in New York, knows what will save him: a podcast. And not just any podcast, but something that will demonstrate his singular thoughtfulness in an oversaturated, competitive market. When Jacob learns the true, tragic circumstances behind the mysterious death of Seth, one of his best friends from high school, his world is turned completely upside down. But when the dust settles, he realizes he has an idea worth digging into.
Of course, it’s not so simple. Learning the truth—or at least, the beginning of it—sends Jacob spiraling. His increasing obsession ultimately leads him back home to Chicago, where he tracks down Lee, a once up-and-coming musician who probably knew Seth best at the end of his life. As his investigation deepens, Jacob’s drive to find out the truth—and whether there’s a deeper story to be told about the fault lines of our memories, life and death on the internet, and the people we never forget—grows into a desperation to discover whether it even matters.
A poignant and funny novel about grief, loneliness, memory, and the unique existential questions inherent to the digital age, See Friendship introduces a new voice in fiction—a writer known for his pitch-perfect cultural criticism, with a depth of literary talent.
Jeremy Gordon’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, Pitchfork, The Atlantic, and GQ. He was born in Chicago, and currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Jen. See Friendship is his first novel.
Ruth Madievsky is the author of the national bestselling novel, All-Night Pharmacy, winner of the California Book Award and the National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction, and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Her work appears in The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, The Cut, Harper’s Bazaar, and elsewhere. Originally from Moldova, she lives in Los Angeles, where she works as a clinical pharmacist.
Where: Skylight
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-jeremy-gordon-presents-see-friendship-w-ruth-madievsky
Mallory O’Meara & Daughter of Daring: The Trick-Riding, Train-Leaping, Road-Racing Life of Helen Gibson, Hollywood’s Frist Stuntwoman at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Mallory O’Meara will discuss and sign her book Daughter of Daring: The Trick-Riding, Train-Leaping, Road-Racing Life of Helen Gibson, Hollywood’s Frist Stuntwoman
This book is the story of America’s first professional stuntwoman, Helen Gibson, who rose to fame during a time when women ruled Hollywood.
Helen Gibson was a woman willing to do anything to give audiences a thrill. Advertised as “The Most Daring Actress in Pictures,” Helen emerged in the early days of the twentieth-century silent film scene as a rodeo rider, background actor, stunt double, and eventually one of the era’s biggest action stars. Her exploits on motorcycles, train cars, and horseback were as dangerous as they were glamorous, featured in hundreds of films and serials—yet her legacy was quickly overshadowed by the increasingly hypermasculine and male-dominated evolution of cinema in the decades that would follow her.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/book/9781335007933/
Live Talks LA Presents: Scott Turow, with Steph Cha, & Presumed Guilty at Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Scott Turow, in conversation with Steph Cha, will discuss the writing life and his novel Presumed Guilty.
Scott Turow, a writer and former practicing lawyer, is the author of thirteen bestselling works of fiction, including Presumed Innocent and most recently, Suspect. Turow has also published two nonfiction books, including One L, about his experience as a law student. His books have been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, and have been adapted into movies and television projects. He has frequently contributed essays and op-ed pieces to publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic.
Rusty is a retired judge attempting a third act in life with a loving soon-to-be wife, Bea, with whom he shares both a restful home on an idyllic lake in the rural Midwest and a plaintive hope that this marriage will be his best, and his last. But the peace that’s taken Rusty so long to find evaporates when Bea’s young adult son, Aaron, living under their supervision while on probation for drug possession, disappears. If Aaron doesn’t return soon, he will be sent back to jail.
Aaron eventually turns up with a vague story about a camping trip with his troubled girlfriend, Mae, that ended in a fight and a long hitchhike home. Days later, when she still hasn’t returned, suspicion falls on Aaron, and when Mae is subsequently discovered dead, Aaron is arrested and set for trial on charges of first-degree murder.
Steph Cha is the author of Your House Will Pay, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the California Book Award, and the Juniper Song crime trilogy. She’s a critic whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, where she served as noir editor, and is the current series editor of the Best American Mystery & Suspense anthology.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 3200 Motor Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90034
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/scott-turow-2/
Velvet Guerilla Cabaret & Open Mic at Velvet Guerilla – Online Zoom Event
Velvet Guerilla Cabaret & Open Mic is held every 2nd Thursday of the month via Zoom.
Share your or others’ poetry, writing, story, theatrical monologue, performance, vocals, music, or other art. For link or questions email Michael Louis at velvetguerilla@gmail.com. Join in the fun. We’d love to see you! For some details about the gathering, go to https://www.facebook.com/61555510798732/posts/122097318554183693/?mibextid=cruh
Ask for link at velvetguerilla@gmail.com.
Where: Velvet Guerilla
Date: Thursday the 13th
Time: 8 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DF9BAxvy4Tu/
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 14th
Time: All Day (see site)
Address: 21800 Copley Dr., Diamond Bar, CA 91765
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event
Pajama Storytime at Once Upon a Time, Montrose – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Our most popular story time is ready to delight and dazzle! This is also the prime time to see Pippi Longstocking, our bookstore cat in action.
Open to all ages. Free to attend.
There is a large FREE parking lot off Florencita Dr. as well as metered parking along Honolulu Ave. and Montrose Ave.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Once Upon a Time, Montrose
Date: Friday, the 14th
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/pajama-story-time-5
Current Events Nonfiction Book Club at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us on the second Friday of every month for the current events nonfiction book club.
Upcoming meetings:
March (3/14): Unfinished Love Story: a personal history of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Friday, the 14th
Time: 12 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/current-events-nonfiction-book-club
Writing Group for Seniors by Saved By a Story at Venice – Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
We write prompts to spark creativity, share stories and build community. We write to surprise ourselves and discover the bounty of stories that lie within.
Seniors come together and write, choose to share (or not, you decide), listen and write some more.
In later groups, we will draft stories and workshop them. Creativity and community in a non-judgmental environment. For welcome materials contact: kathleenkatims@gmail.com from Saved By A Story.
Where: Venice – Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Friday, the 14th
Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: 501 S. Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90291
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/writing-group-seniors-saved-story
Big Read: Film Screening and Book Discussion at Little Tokyo Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Film Screening followed by book discussion for Big Read Book of 2025, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. A limited number of free copies will be available. Be sure to grab yours while supplies last!
Where: Little Tokyo Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Friday, the 14th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 501 S. Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90291
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/big-read-film-screening-and-book-discussion
Stranger Than Fiction Book Club: She Persisted: Deb Haaland at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Kids Event
The Stranger Than Fiction Book Club will read and discuss the book, She Persisted: Deb Haaland by Laurel Goodluck. For ages 7 – 12.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Friday the 14th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/12893047
Self-Care Book Club: On Our Best Behavior at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss On Our Best Behavior: the Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good by author Elise Loehnan.
We congratulate ourselves when we resist the donut in the office breakroom. We celebrate our restraint when we hold back from sending an email in anger. We feel virtuous when we wake up at dawn to get a jump on the day. We put others’ needs ahead of our own and believe this makes us exemplary. In On Our Best Behavior, journalist Elise Loehnen explains that these impulses—often lauded as unselfish, distinctly feminine instincts—are actually ingrained in us by a culture that reaps the benefits, via an extraordinarily effective collection of mores known as the Seven Deadly Sins.
In On Our Best Behavior, Loehnen reveals how we’ve been programmed to obey the rules represented by these sins and how doing so qualifies us as “good.” This probing analysis of contemporary culture and thoroughly researched history explains how women have internalized the patriarchy, and how they unwittingly reinforce it. By sharing her own story and the spiritual wisdom of other traditions, Loehnen shows how we can break free and discover the integrity and wholeness we seek.
Elise Loehnen is the host of Pulling the Thread. She has co-written twelve books, five of which were New York Times bestsellers. She was the chief content officer of goop, and she co-hosted The goop Podcast and The goop Lab on Netflix. Previously, she was the editorial projects director of Condé Nast Traveler. Elise lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.
Where: Cellar Door Books
Date: Friday the 14th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/self-care-book-club-our-best-behavior-eliser-loehnan
Swing Set Open Mic at The Center, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Swing Set Open Mic is calling all poets, musicians, comedians, storytellers for another magical night. Performers and artists of all kinds, come through!
Swing Set isn’t just about performance—it’s about real connection and finding mirrors in the people all around you. We’re so excited to share space with y’all again.
RSVP via the Eventbrite link in our bio. See you at 6:30pm. Performance sign-ups (and vibes) start at 6!
Swipe and visit Eventbrite for more information. Feel free to DM us any questions.
SIGN UP: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/swing-set-open-mic-64793621533
Where: The Center Long Beach
Date: Friday the 14th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 2017 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://www.lbpoetry.com/
Thrival Open Mic at Confidential Coffee, Long Beach – In-Person Event
All arts community open mics & community plugs. All ages. More info on Instagram @thrivalopenmic.
Where: Confidential Coffee, Long Beach
Date: Friday the 14th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 137 W. 6th St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://www.lbpoetry.com/
Bruce Vilanch & It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Bruce Vilanch will present and sign his book, It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time.
Bruce Vilanch is known as a go-to comedy writer for award shows, sitcoms, and top-heavy variety specials, but he has also been responsible for quite a few of the worst shows ever put on television—legendarily bad productions.
Some of his work lives in infamy—The Star Wars Holiday Special, The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, Rob Lowe dancing with Snow White at the Oscars, and The Brady Bunch Variety Hour. How did these ever seem like a good idea?
Well, everyone has screwed up a few times, or had their work screwed up by others. It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time is a lifetime reflection of what Vilanch has experienced, learned, forgotten, dismissed, and embraced in decades of working in show business, specifically the south forty acres known as comedy. It involves very famous people and people who were not very famous but should have been.
And it explains to the person in the audience who says to himself, once he has gotten his jaw off the floor, “’How did this ever get made?”
Don’t we all want to know?
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/bruce-vilanch
LionLike MindState Open Mic at Fairplex, Millard Sheets Art Center, Pomona – In-Person Event
Come join us for an evening filled with incredible talent and good vibes at LionLike OPEN Mic! This in-person event will take place on Friday, March 14, 2025 at 7 p.m. Hosted at the Millard Sheets Art Center, this gathering promises a night of creativity, laughter, and unforgettable performances.
Whether you’re a seasoned performer or a first-timer, this event welcomes all forms of expression. Step up to the mic and showcase your talents in music, poetry, comedy, or any other art form you excel at! We encourage you to bring your friends and family to cheer you on as you take the spotlight.
At LionLike OPEN Mic, we believe in fostering a supportive and inclusive community. Our aim is to provide a platform for artists of all backgrounds to shine. So, if you’re looking for an opportunity to share your voice, connect with fellow creatives, or simply enjoy an entertaining evening, mark your calendars for this exciting event!
Join us at LionLike OPEN Mic at Fairplex and let your creativity roar!
Where: Millard Sheets Art Center
Date: Friday, the 14th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona, CA 91768
Website: https://fairplex.com/event/lionlike-mindstate-open-mic-7/
L.A. Book Launch: Chaya Y. Chowder, with Christina Greer, & Intersectional Solidarity at Reparations Club – In-Person Event
Author Chaya Y. Chowder, in conversation with Christina Greer, will discuss her book Intersectional Solidarity: Black Women and the Politics of Group Consciousness.
In Intersectional Solidarity, Chaya Y. Crowder looks at the question of what prompts people to prioritize issues that affect Black women, and when? In particular, she challenges the notion that racial or gender consciousness alone shape political preferences and instead argues that intersectional group consciousness shapes political behavior. Crowder contends that a combination of race, gender, sexuality, and class-based consciousness influences political behavior, particularly when it comes to issues that affect individuals at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. Further, she introduces an “intersectional solidarity index” (ISI), informed by work in social psychology, political science, and Black feminist theory. Crowder applies her four-item scale to capture group consciousness at the intersection of race, gender, class and sexuality, but she uses it particularly to explore what groups demonstrate solidarity with Black women, and why.
Chaya Y. Crowder is an Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University in the Department of Political Science and International Relations. She received her PhD from the Department of Politics at Princeton University where she also received certificates in African American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Dr. Crowder’s research and teaching interests include political behavior, race and ethnicity politics, social media and American politics as well as gender and American politics. She uses an intersectional approach in her research to explore the ways that attention to race, gender and sexuality have differential effects on political behavior.
Christina Greer is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Fordham University, Lincoln Center (Manhattan) campus. Her research and teaching focus on American politics, Black ethnic politics, campaigns and elections, and public opinion. She is the author of How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams, Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream and co-editor of Black Politics in Transition: Immigration, Suburbanization, and Gentrification.
Greer writes a weekly column for The Amsterdam News and is a frequent political commentator on several media outlets. She is the co-host of the New York centered podcast FAQ-NYC.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: Reparations Club
Date: Friday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3054 S. Victoria Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90016
L.A. Book Event: Nikita Bell & The Bombshell Devil’s Advocate at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Author Nikita Bell will discuss her novel The Bombshell Devil’s Advocate with host Brianna Vesley.
There will be a book signing to follow. This is a ticketed event.
Everyone is welcome. RSVP required.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Friday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3806 Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
At Skylight: Candy Clark, with Sam Sweet, & Tight Heads at Skylight – In-Person Event
Candy Clark, in conversation with Sam Sweet, will discuss Tight Heads.
After interviewing actress Candy Clark for his All Night Menu Questionnaire in 2022, writer Sam Sweet asked her for a Los Angeles memento to be posted with the piece—a keepsake of the city in the form of an object or image. Candy casually mentioned that she had some Polaroids she’d taken when she arrived in Hollywood. She promptly shared a set of 18 strikingly beautiful close-up photographs taken with her Polaroid SX-70 camera. The faces represented the major directors, actors, writers, and producers of 1970s American cinema. Beyond that, the photos reveal a wider circle of artists, writers, musicians, and singular characters from a golden time in Los Angeles.
This discovery has led to Tight Heads, a hardcover photo book of 78 images culled from her file cabinets, where they had sat unnoticed for 50 years. Looking back on the Polaroids evoked a range of memories from Candy; these remembrances are included in the book alongside her images. Taken as a whole, this collection offers a fresh and disarmingly intimate glimpse of 1970s Hollywood, a time that forever altered the movies.
Candy Clark grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and fell into acting by accident. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Debbie Dunham in George Lucas’s American Graffiti (1973), which was only her second time on screen. Since then, she’s appeared in over 80 movie and television projects, including The Man Who Fell To Earth, At Close Range, Zodiac, and Twin Peaks: The Return. She lives in the San Fernando Valley.
Sam Sweet’s writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, The Paris Review, the Los Angeles Times, Harper’s, and the Baffler. In 2014, he started All Night Menu, a series of short books documenting the lost heroes and microhistories of Los Angeles. The project has since expanded into a range of publications, conversations, and archival projects. He lives in Highland Park.
Where: Skylight
Date: Friday the 14th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-candy-clark-presents-tight-heads-w-sam-sweet
Open Mic Night at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
This all-inclusive event will create space for local artists of any medium to share their talents with the community. Come hang out, as an audience member, or a performer, and meet some talented locals! Sign-ups for performers are at the door, day of, 30 minutes prior to the event. Sets are limited to 5-10 minutes. All performances must be family friendly. We will provide two microphones and two mic stands. Please bring any other equipment you will need. This event is free, no registration is required!
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Friday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/1342820250314
Hyena: An Anthology Honoring Women in Surrealism at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Edited by Cindy Rehm and Adrienne Walser, Hyena (Hexentexte, 2024) includes texts and images that look to the legacy of women’s surrealism, explorations of identity, inner-life, corporeality, ritual, eroticism, animality, and mortality. Join us in The Wanda Coleman Theater for a reading with contributors to the anthology, including Thérèse Bachand, Adele Bertei, Sara Ellen Fowler, Deborah Meadows, Larkin Maureen Higgins, Robert Nashak, Danielle VonLehe, hosted by editor Cindy Rehm.
Inspired by Leonora Carrington, Hyena is the emblem of the publication, given her feral and ravenous nature, her ability to provoke gender and identity mix-ups, and her proclivity for habitation in matriarchal clans. Hyena offers visions of possibility as the book shapeshifts through surrealist renderings by over eighty contributors working in text and image.
Filled with rebellious voices, Hyena is awash with mutations and transformations. The Alchemy of Toyen honors “the dissolution of prescribed boundaries that come about in the life of an unshackled mind of Toyen,” an artist who exemplified the surrealist spirit. The liberated queer minds and bodies of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore float across Revolutionary Dreaming, “trying to picture a world of mutual and total liberation.”
Thérèse Bachand is a poet, social policy advocate, and literacy tutor living in Los Angeles, Ca. Some of her publications include the artist’s project “being in a very small place”, from Make Now Books, 2020, SANCTUARY, Locofo Chaps/Moira Books, 2017, Mercury in Retrograde (in collaboration with Michele Costa), Mindmade Books, 2012, luce a cavallo, Green Integer Book, 2009, and many online venues. She has been included in anthologies and online and print magazines. As a translator, she worked on Régis Bonvicino’s book Beyond the Wall: New Selected Poems, Green Integer, 2017.
Adele Bertei is a storyteller. A founding member of musical insurrectionists the Contortions and personal assistant to Brian Eno, Bertei was lead singer for the Bloods, the first out, queer, all women-rock band. She played a lead character in Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames, and films of Bertei reading her poetry (The Ragazzi Manifesto) and The Offenders belong to MOMA’s permanent collection. As vocalist and songwriter, she has worked with Tears for Fears, Thomas Dolby, Culture Club, Scritti Politti, Whitney Houston.
Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Sheena Easton, Oleta Adams, Lydia Lunch, and Sophie B. Hawkins. Published works include the compilation The New Fuck You: Adventures in Lesbian Reading by editor Eileen Myles, Peter and the Wolves (memoir, Smog Veil), Why Labelle Matters (University of Texas Press). and Twist: Tales of a Queer Girlhood (memoir, ZE Books). Upcoming books are Sinead O’Connor’s Universal Mother (Bloomsbury), and No New York (Faber & Faber).
Sara Ellen Fowler is the author of Two Signatures (University of Utah Press, 2024), winner of the 2023 Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry, as selected by Joan Naviyuk Kane. A recipient of a 2023 California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship, Sara holds a BFA in Fine Art from Art Center College of Design and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Riverside. Her writing can be found in The Offing, X-TRA Contemporary Art Journal, Gigantic Sequins, and Cream City Review, among others.
Deborah Meadows is an Emerita faculty member with California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, lives with her husband in Los Angeles ’Arts District/Little Tokyo, and has published over a dozen books of poetry most recently Neo-bedrooms (Shearsman), and Lecture Notes: A duration poem in twelve parts, (BlazeVOX [books]). A new collection titled Bumblebees is forthcoming from Roof Books (NY) www.deborahmeadows.com
Larkin Maureen Higgins is a poet/artist/professor emerita whose poetic & hybrid works can be found in Diagram, Notre Dame Review, Eleven Eleven, Chant de la Sirène Journal, Otoliths, elsewhere. Mindmade Books published her Of Traverse and Template (poems and logographic drawings). With Dusie Press she has two poetry chapbooks, Of Materials, Implements and c o m b – i n g m i n e – i n g s , plus the broadside “Soil Culture, Frankenstein—Grafted.” Additionally, her poems have been anthologized by University of Iowa Press & Tebot Bach. Higgins ’visual poetry is included in the Avant Writing Collection/The Ohio State University Libraries & has been exhibited at Counterpath Gallery (Denver), Otis College of Art & Design, others. Over the years, she has exhibited her artist’s books/objects & created text-driven performance art for venues such as Highways Performance Space, Counterpath, BC Space, & Rogue Machine Theatre at The Matrix.
Robert Nashak is a Los Angeles based writer and digital media creator. He is co-facilitator with Cindy Rehm of the long-running Cixous Reading Group, which explores écriture féminine in contemporary women’s writing. His most recent publication “Museum as Interface Metaphor” was published in the New York Review of Architecture. A Fulbright Fellowship in the Netherlands during graduate work sparked a lifelong interest in Dutch history and culture. He teaches at the University of Southern California and the University of Pennsylvania.
Danielle VonLehe is a landscape designer at TERREMOTO and writer based in Los Angeles, CA. She holds graduate degrees in Aesthetics & Politics from California Institute of the Arts and in Landscape Architecture & Urbanism from University of Southern California. She grew up on a multi-generational family wheat farm in eastern Washington State.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Friday, the 14th
Time: 8 pm – 9:30 pm (Doors at 7:30 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Rooted in Reflection Author Reading w/Cynthia Perez at Casitas Books, Long Beach – In-Person Kids Event
Join Cynthia Perez for a Rooted in Reflection author reading.
Where: Casitas Books
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 9 am
Address: 1449 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGrK9UwyLVC/
Graphic Novel Book Club: Brittle Joints at Bel Canto Books, Long Beach – Online Event
Graphic novel fan or graphic novel curious? Join us as we read and discuss a new graphic novel or memoir on the 3rd Saturday of each month at 10 am PT | 1 pm ET.
Participants will discuss Brittle Joints by author Maria Sweeney.
This is an evocative and heartfelt graphic memoir about the challenges of living with a progressive disability.
When Maria Sweeney was young, she kept count of her broken bones. As she grew older, she stopped. Living with Bruck syndrome, a rare progressive condition that gives her very brittle bones and joint abnormalities, meant that those numbers climbed and climbed. Today she struggles every day, living in an often-inaccessible world. As an ambulatory wheelchair user, ordinary actions like entering a building, sitting at a café, or holding a cup of tea can be drastically different for her than for others.
With lush illustrations, Maria tells the story of her lifelong struggle to obtain care in an increasingly complicated and disinterested US healthcare system. But for every step that presents a struggle, there’s also beauty, friendship, art, and growth. She documents the relief she’s found in alternative therapies, particularly medical marijuana; in loving community and chosen family; and in nature and her creative practice. A powerfully understated critique of our modern world, Brittle Joints offers a generous, expansive look at how to live and love amidst the challenges of survival.
Maria Sweeney is a queer artist who was born in Moldova and grew up in New Jersey. She got her BFA from Moore College of Art and Design. Maria currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and when she’s not reading or sketching comics, she’s snuggling with her tiny dog, Bambi. This is her debut graphic novel.
Where: Bel Canto Books
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events
Author Event: Natasha Kahn Kazi & Moon’s Ramadan at Children’s Book World – In-Person Kids Event
Join us in person at Children’s Book World for a joyful celebration with author Natasha Khan Kazi of Ramadan and the many global traditions watched over lovingly by the Moon. Plus, Natasha will guide kids in a special introductory art activity. Using colorful crayons, they’ll learn to turn curves and lines into simple drawings while boosting their creativity and drawing skills.
Moon’s Ramadan, a debut picture book, is a modern holiday classic that captures the magic and meaning of one of the world’s most joyful and important celebrations. It’s Ramadan, the month of peace, and Moon watches over Ramadan traditions with excitement and longing in this sweetly illustrated debut. In Egypt, India, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates, in Somalia, New Zealand, and Indonesia, in Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States, children and their families do good deeds in honor of those who have less. Cleverly blending glimpses of different countries’ celebrations with the corresponding phases of the moon, Moon’s Ramadan makes Ramadan, one of the world’s most widely celebrated traditions, accessible and exciting for all readers. Includes robust and easy-to-understand manner.
Natasha Khan Kazi is an author-illustrator who draws from her first-generation immigrant experience (pun intended). Born in Bangladesh, she moved to the United States when she was five. Her debut picture book, Moon’s Ramadan, was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and a School Library Journal Best Picture Book of the Year selection, among other honors. Natasha shares her art with the world through her blogs, IslamiMommy and Art with Miss Natasha. She lives in Los Angeles with her family. Visit her at natashakhankazi.com.
Order your personalized copy for signing at the event or shipping anywhere in the U.S.
Where: Children’s Book World
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Address: 10580 1/2 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Caffeinated Verse: Poetry Open Mic at Malibu Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join Malibu Poet Laureate Nathan Hassall to hear readings of original pieces written by local poets and bring a poem of your own to read during the open mic. For adults.
This event is part of the City’s free poetry workshops in partnership with Malibu Library, the Malibu Poet Laureate Committee, the Malibu Arts Commission, and the Friends of the Malibu Library, offering community members engaging, educational opportunities to find expression through poetry with a renowned local poet.
Where: Malibu Library, LACL
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm
Address: 3836 Cross Creek Rd., Malibu, CA 90265
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13094139
The Prose Poem: A Marriage Between Heaven and Hell: A Workshop with William Archila at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Join us for a workshop on dissecting and creating prose poems with William Archila!
In this workshop students will attempt to write prose poems, a marriage between the lyric and narrative between the image and discourse. To paraphrase William Blake, contraries need each other to exist, just like the narrative and the lyric need each other in the prose poem. They will look at examples of Baudelaire, Simic & Forche, to name a few, and focus on its economy and surprising element. The class will then close their circle of prose and poetry by generating their own prose poems.
William Archila is the winner of the 2023 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry for his collection S is For. His first collection The Art of Exile was awarded the International Latino Book Award, an Emerging Writer Fellowship Award from the Writer’s Center and was selected for The Fifth Annual Debut Poets Round Up” in Poets & Writers. The Gravedigger’s Archaeology, Archila’s second book, received the Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize.
He has been awarded the Alan Collins Scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Fighting Fund Fellow Award from the University of Oregon. He was also awarded the 2023 Jack Hazard fellowship. His work has been published in Poetry Magazine, The American Poetry Review, AGNl, Copper Nickle, Colorado Review, The Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Missouri Review, Pleiades, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, Indiana Review, TriQuarterly and the anthologies Latino Poetry: The Library of American Anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, and The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States. He has work forthcoming in Ploughshares. He is a PEN Center USA West Emerging Voices fellow and has received an MFA in poetry from the University of Oregon.
He is an associate editor at Tía Chucha Press. He lives in Los Angeles, on Tongva land.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and details.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-prose-poem-a-workshop-with-william-archila-tickets-1243032637079
Meet and Greet NY Times Bestselling Author Tabitha Brown at BSAP Black Family Reunion at Malik Books Off-site at Pierce College – In-Person Event
Join EMMY Award–winning host of Tab Time and multiple NAACP award winner, #1 New York Times bestselling author, and vegan food star Tabitha Brown in celebration of her first children’s book, Hello There, Sunshine at Pierce College.
Inspired by Tabitha’s childhood adventures, Hello There, Sunshine pays homage to the community and neighborhood that have influenced who Tabitha is today. With themes of kindness, curiosity, and joy, Hello There, Sunshine follows young Tabitha, who wakes up ready to greet the sun but gets a little worried when she realizes it’s missing. Not one to dwell on the negative, Tabitha embarks on an adventure through her neighborhood, lending a helping hand and asking everyone if they’ve seen the big star. When the sun is still nowhere to be found, Tabitha remains positive, looks a little deeper, and findsthe sun in the most unlikely place.
Event is sponsored by BSAP (Black Student Achievement Program/LAUSD) and hosted by Malik Books. This event is fun for the whole family. Lots of activities for the children. Free Food and other many giveaways and educational materials provided.
Tickets to this event include access to a live event with Tabitha and a copy of Hello There, Sunshine (published by HarperCollins Children’s Books) We have a limit amount of 1000 books which will be given out free on the first come, first serve bases. Ticket does not guarantee book. Come early to see Tabitha Brown, take a photo op and get a signed book.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Malik Books at Pierce College
Date: Saturday the 15th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 6201 Winnetka Ave., Woodland Hills, CA 91371
Storytime: Shawn Harris & Let’s Be Bees Parade, Storytime, and Book Signing at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Kids Event
Welcome Caldecott Honoree Shawn Harris with a Be a Bee Parade! Attendees are encouraged to come dressed as bees to parade down the block together. Then the hive will return to the bookstore for Shawn to read his new picture book, Let’s Be Bees, do a simple craft, and then sign books. Best for ages 3+.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Once Upon a Time, Montrose
Date: Saturday the 15th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/lets-be-bees
Storytime: Rima Fakih Slaiby and Theresa Alhayek & Brave Buzzy Bee at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
From Miss USA 2010, Rima Fakih Slaiby, and debut author Theresa AlHayek comes a story about a brave little bee who never gives up.
Buzzy Bee is excited to participate in the Colony’s upcoming race. There’s just one problem: he isn’t very fast! But Buzzy is not a quitter, so he practices tirelessly to get better and better. But on the day of the race, things don’t exactly go as expected. Can Buzzy save the day and win the race?
Told in beautiful bouncing rhyme with gorgeous illustrations by Angela Li, Brave Buzzy Bee provides a lesson for young readers about the true meaning of bravery, featuring a character that audiences can’t help but fall in love with.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 15th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-03-15/rima-fakih-slaiby-theresa-alhayek-read-brave-buzzy-bee
Sisters in Crime Los Angeles: The Fabric of Murder at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us as we welcome authors from Sisters in Crime Los Angeles, Betty Hechtman and Dorothy Howell, as they delve into their mysteries in the world of sewing and fabric, followed by a Q&A with the audience. For adults.
Copies of the authors’ books are available to check-out through the library.
Attendance is limited, and advance registration is required. Please register every individual in your party. This will be used to save your spots in the program. We cannot guarantee availability for any unregistered attendees.
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 1 pm – 2 pm
Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13069265
Author Talk: Susan Chavez & Littleshoes at Chicano Resource Center, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us as author and illustrator Susan Chavez discusses her book Littleshoes. This nonfiction children’s picture book tells the story of a little girl’s joy, determination, cousins, a man in a suit, vulnerability and how it all impacted her life. The book is a testament that anyone, at any age, can heal from the scary things that sometimes happen to us when we are children.
Where: Chicano Resource Center, LACL
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 4837 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90022
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13143151
Celebrate Women’s History Month with Mallory O’Meara at West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us as we celebrate Women’s History Month by welcoming back award-winning and bestselling author Mallory O’Meara!
Mallory O’Meara will talk about her new book: Daughter of Daring: The Trick-Riding, Train-Leaping, Road-Racing Life of Helen Gibson, Hollywood’s First Stuntwoman.
We will also watch an episode of Helen Gibson’s serial The Hazards of Helen.
Friends of the West Valley Library are providing copies of Daughter of Daring to be given away at this program. Quantities are limited! Books will be given away on a first come-first served basis.
Mallory will be available to sign them after her talk.
Where: West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 19036 Vanowen St., Reseda, CA 91335
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/celebrate-womens-history-month-mallory-o-meara
Author Event: Paul Haddad & Inventing Paradise at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
In Paul Haddad’s latest book Inventing Paradise: The Power Brokers Who Created the Dream of Los Angeles, the opening sentence is, “Los Angeles is a city that should not exist.”
It’s an observation shared by scholars and historians. The city boasts no natural features that could sustain its current population of about four million people, let alone 18 million in Greater L.A. And yet it not only exists, it thrives as one of the world’s greatest metropolises.
Join Paul Haddad for an engaging visual lecture that traces the improbable rise of Los Angeles from 28 square miles to its current 468 square miles, with special emphasis on the six visionaries who supercharged its growth: Phineas Banning, Harrison Gray Otis, Henry Huntington, Harry Chandler, William Mulholland, and Moses Sherman.
Where: Central Library, LAPL. Art Department
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 630 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/los-angeles-city-should-not-exist
Voice in the Well Presents: Lost & Found at The Fox Venice at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
A variety show with performances by local Venice artists.
Voice in the Well presents a variety show in the spirit of Venice, paying homage to the historic Fox Theater on Lincoln Blvd. This installment reminisces on classic movie memories at this beloved location when it operated as a movie theater!
Featuring, Brad Kay reading Groucho Marx Letters to the Warner Bros; Charlie Chaplin’s Speech to all Mankind from The Great Dictator; Suzy Williams sings “Blame It On The Bossa Nova”; Frank Strasser Remembers The Great Gatsby; and Christina Linhardt sings “As Time Goes By” from Casablanca; a special performance by Jenny Zepp, and more performers TBA!
Produced & Hosted by Eric Vollmer.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and details.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 2 pm –42 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Virtual In-Conversation with Jessica Pishko, author of The Highest Law in the Land via Cellar Door Bookstore – Online Event
Following our four-part conversation about The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy, author Jessica Pishko will be joining Cellar Door Bookstore and our community virtually to discuss her book with us on Saturday, March 15th at 2:00pm. We invite everyone to come to our store for the meeting so that we can gather as a community and hear what Jessica Pishko has to say about her book!
A leading authority on sheriffs investigates the impunity with which they police their communities, alongside the troubling role they play in American life, law enforcement, and, increasingly, national politics.
How did a group of law enforcement officers decide that they were “above the law?” What are the stakes for local and national politics, and for America as a multi-racial democracy?
Blending investigative reporting, historical research, and political analysis, author Jessica Pishko takes us to the roots of why sheriffs have become a flashpoint in the current politics of toxic masculinity, guns, white supremacy, and rural resentment, and uncovers how sheriffs have effectively evaded accountability since the nation’s founding.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 15th
Time: 2 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/kids-book-club-max-house-spies
Sci-Fi Fantasy Book Club: Thistlefoot at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Thistlefoot: A Novel by author Gennarose Nethercott.
In the tradition of modern fairy tales like Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver comes an immersive fantasy saga, a debut novel about estranged siblings who are reunited after receiving a mysterious inheritance.
The Yaga siblings—Bellatine, a young woodworker, and Isaac, a wayfaring street performer and con artist—have been estranged since childhood, separated both by resentment and by wide miles of American highway. But when they learn that they are to receive an inheritance, the siblings agree to meet—only to discover that their bequest isn’t land or money, but something far stranger: a sentient house on chicken legs.
Thistlefoot, as the house is called, has arrived from the Yagas’ ancestral home outside Kyiv—but not alone. A sinister figure known only as the Longshadow Man has tracked it to American shores, bearing with him violent secrets from the past: fiery memories that have hidden in Isaac and Bellatine’s blood for generations. As the Yaga siblings embark with Thistlefoot on a final cross-country tour of their family’s traveling theater show, the Longshadow Man follows in relentless pursuit, seeding destruction in his wake. Ultimately, time, magic, and legacy must collide—erupting in a powerful conflagration to determine who gets to remember the past and craft a new future.
Gennarose Nethercott is a writer and folklorist. Her first book, The Lumberjack’s Dove, was selected by Louise Glück as a winner of the National Poetry Series, and whether authoring novels, poems, ballads, or even fold-up paper cootie catchers, her projects are all rooted in myth—and what our stories reveal about who we are. She tours widely, performing strange tales (sometimes with puppets in tow), and researches/writes for the podcast Lore. She lives in the woodlands of Vermont, beside an old cemetery. Thistlefoot is her debut novel.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 15th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/sci-fi-fantasy-book-club-thistlefoot
Henry Lien & Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Discussions in the West around diversity in the arts often focus on the identities of characters and creators. Speculative fiction author and writing instructor Henry Lien makes the pathbreaking argument that diversity is about more than just plopping different faces into stories that are 100 percent Western in spirit; it can—and should—encompass diverse structures, themes, and values.
Using examples ranging from Parasite to The Thousand and One Nights to the Mario video game franchise, Lien shows how storytelling staples in the West, such as the three-act structure and themes of empowerment and change, are far from universal. He introduces the East Asian four-act structure (kishotenketsu), as well as circular and nested structures, and explains how Eastern value systems such as collectivism can dictate form. Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird is essential reading for any writer or reader who wants to broaden their understanding of how to tell a satisfying story.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 15th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series and Open Mic at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us in-person or via Zoom for Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series, featuring poetry readings and open poetry mic.
RSVP:
Please email studio@lapl.org for participation details.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/expressions-la-poetry-reading-series-and-open-mic
Creative Writing Group at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Calling all writers of fiction, screenplays, poetry, etc. Get feedback on your writing in a fun, supportive environment! The Central Library Creative Writing Group meets every other Saturday for fellowship, feedback, and snacks. Meetings start out with a short writing prompt exercise, then writers are invited to share up to five pages of their work for feedback from the group. Whether you are just starting out or well on your way to glory, join us and banish (at least temporarily) those Lonely Writer Blues!
Please RSVP by emailing fiction@lapl.org.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Meeting Room B
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 630 W, 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/creative-writing-group
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Poetry Readings by Alicia Viguer-Espert & Lida Parent Harris + Poets published in Four Feathers Press online edition: Sky Key, Pasadena – Online Zoom Event
Join us for poetry readings by featured guests Alicia Viguer-Espert & Lida Parent Harris plus poets published in Four Feather Press.
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Priming for Poetry at Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL – In-Person Event
In this generative poetry workshop, local poet Cesca Brenner will offer guidance and inspiration designed to push the inner critic out of the way so you can find your creative self. For adults.
This workshop aims to help you build confidence and skills by opening your eyes to observation, drawing on sensory details to enhance and express experiences, and exploring word choice to create musicality and surprising imagery.
Attendance is limited and advance registration is required.
Where: Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: 4975 Overland Ave., Culver City CA 90230
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13069980
Author Pop Up with consuelo de verano at Ontario Art Walk – Online Event
Mobile Data Mag & Systemic Dreaming are disseminating pieces all March long to celebrate 2 years of Mobile Data Mag.
Read the pieces on Substack and Threads. Not all pieces will be announced on IG stories. Not all email notifications will be sent out. If you wish, attend the events celebrating 2 years of the magazine Cinnamoroll works on. Send $ 💜 for libations. Donate to the Emergency Fund!
Where: Ontario Art Walk
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online Event, on Substack & Threads
Website: https://www.instagram.com/authorpopups/p/DGbQ8_xSghA/
Obsidian Tongues Poetry & Open Mic at Lopez Urban Farm, Pomona – In-Person Event
Join Pomona Poet Laureate emeritus and host Ceasar K. Avelar (God of the Air Hose)for an evening of poetry readings and an Open Mic, offered every 2nd Saturday of the month.
NOTE: Change in Location
Featuring:
Carlos Ornelas is a Mexican American poet and author from Los Angeles. He believes in unity and empowerment through the written word. He has published two poetry books, Ketchup: Sopa De Gato and Villain’s Vernacular (Riot of Roses Publishing House, 2024).
Donato Martinez was born in a small pueblo, Garcia de la Cadena, Zacatecas, Mexico and immigrated into the USA at six years old. He teaches English Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at Santa Ana College. He has also taught classes in Chicano Studies. He has been a co-coordinator of the Puente Program for 25 years. His debut poetry collection is Touch the Sky (El Martillo, 2023).
Erick Aguinaldo is a Father, Brother, Fighter, Lover, Spoken Word Poet & Ethnic Studies Profeis.
Where: Lopez Urban Farm, Pomona
Date: Saturday, the 15th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1034 W. Mission Blvd., Pomona, CA 91766
Website: https://www.instagram.com/ceasarkavelar/
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.
All poems are donation based, so you name your price.
NOTE: Check every Sunday for story time and reading events
Where: Melrose Trading Post, Greenway Main Stage at Fairfax HS
Date: Sunday, the 16th (Every Sunday)
Time: 10 am – 5 pm (market); 11 am – 5 pm (poets on demand)
Address: 7850 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046
Website: https://www.instagram.com
NOWRUZ: The Festival of Spring Event at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us in celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, and the respective cultural heritage of the Persian community of Los Angeles. This festival includes:
Dance to Liberty Show featuring performances by community members and a folk dance ensemble, with storytelling by Shally Zomorodi*
Author events for children, teens, and adults in English
Mina Javaherbin is an award-winning children’s picture book author. She emigrated from Iran to the US over forty years ago. An architect by training, Mina has written several children’s books exploring the cultures around the world inspired by Persian Literature, sports, and her childhood in Iran.
Mina’s books have been translated into seventeen languages and sold around the world. Her book The Secret Message, originally published by Disney and now published by Scholastic, is enjoyed by one million students every year since 2012 when it became a part of 4th grade literature textbooks across the USA.
Sara Saedi was born in Tehran and relocated with her family to the Bay Area after the Islamic revolution, and during the Iran-Iraq War. She was making up stories before she could read or write, and by eight-years-old, declared that she was going to be a screenwriter. This was likely due to her mom taking her to see the movies Cocktail and Rain Man in the theater as a mere second-grader. After a few left turns and an abandoned career path as a creative executive, Sara made the leap to paid writer. Saedi lives in Los Angles and her most recent novel, I Miss You, I Hate This was published by Little Brown/Poppy.
Porochista Khakpour is an Iranian American novelist, essayist, and journalist. A refugee from Iran whose family fled the Iran-Iraq War and the Islamic Revolution, Khakpour grew up in the Greater Los Angeles area before moving to New York to attend Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of five books, including her 2007 debut novel Sons and Other Flammable Objects and her most recent novel Tehrangeles: A Novel. Her nonfiction essays have been published in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Guernica, CNN, The Paris Review, Slate, Elle, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal.
Author events for adults in Persian (Farsi)
Homa Sarshar, is an Iranian-American author, activist, media personality, and award-winning journalist. She was a columnist for Zan-e-Ruz magazine and the Kayhan daily newspaper between 1964 and 1978.
Dr. Mandana Zandian, is a poet, literary critic, and social activist living in California.She is the author of An Eyeful of Earth, An Eyeful of Ocean: Selected Love Poems of Mandana Zandian (2024), among other books.
Mazyar Ghavidel was born in Borujerd city, Iran in 1952. He is a researcher of Shahnameh and Iranian culture. Mazyar studied in National University of Iran and Tehran University. He currently lives in Sweden where he trained and worked in the field of ecology and environment until his retirement. He has been teaching and researching in Iranian mythology for more than thirty years, and has published 42 books so far based on research, education, history, and culture; specializing in the field of the Shahnameh and Iranian culture. Included in these publishings are educational resources for grades one to nine students and story telling mythology books for young minds.
Dr. Amir Ali Fallahian is the author of Ardeshirnameh.
Leila Nikan is the author of Anthony Shay and Persian Dance in Los Angeles
Persian book fair
Nowruz games and crafts
Workshops in pottery and mosaic tiles
Poetry reading in English and Persian (Farsi)
Persian musical instrument demos with pop-up singing and dancing
Reptiles from Persia
Traditional Haft Seen display
* Free tickets available at the festival while supplies last.
For more information, please contact us: 310-390-3454, persian@lapl.org.
Where: Central Library, LAPL, Mark Taper Auditorium
Date: Sunday the 16th
Time: 1:15 pm – 4:15 pm
Address: 630 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/nowruz-festival
Banned Books Reading Group at West Los Angeles Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss materials that have been historically challenged or are on the American Library Association’s “Banned and Challenged Books” lists. For current titles, please contact the West LA library at westla@lapl.org or 310-575-8323.
Where: West Los Angeles Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Sunday the 16th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 11360 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/banned-books-reading-group-0
When We Write, We Win: A Conversation with Four Women Writers at North Hollywood Amelia Earhart Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us at the library when writers Ryane Nicole Granados (middle grade fiction), traci akemi kato-kiriyama (poetry and memoir), Kate Maruyama (science fiction and literary fiction), and Lisa Morton (horror and the supernatural) sit down together to discuss their fiction and nonfiction writing, the challenges women confront in publishing, their victories and disappointments, and how they work to help other writers.
Copies of some of their books will be available to borrow with a library card. In addition, bring your own books for them to sign.
Where: North Hollywood Amelia Earhart Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Sunday the 16th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 6211 Tujunga Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91601
Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/when-we-write-we-win-conversation-four-women-writers
Journal + Mingle: Featuring KUBOANDLUCY at Bel Canto Books, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Join Bel Canto Books for another Journal + Mingle community journaling event, with special popup guest KUBOANDLUCY, at KUBO LB!
Bring your favorite journaling supplies to share and swap. Light refreshments served.
Support our event by making a purchase at Bel Canto Books + KUBOANDLUCY and be entered into our journaling giveaway!
Where: Bel Canto KUBO, Long Beach
Date: Sunday, the 16th
Time: 3 pm – 6 pm (Doors at 2:45 pm)
Address: 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807
Bucket List Book Club: Love in the Time of Cholera at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Love in the Time of Cholera by author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs—yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born in Colombia in 1927. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. He is the author of many works of fiction and nonfiction, including One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love In The Time Cholera, The Autumn Of The Patriarch, The General In His Labyrinth, and News Of A Kidnapping. He died in 2014.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 16th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/bucket-list-book-club-love-time-cholera
March Focus on Craft Book Club: Bombshell at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
March’s participants will discuss Bombshell by author Sarah MacLean.
Developmental editor and teacher Jeanne De Vita will lead this discussion on examining popular romance novels from a writer’s viewpoint. Please join us.
Everyone is welcome. RSVP required.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines, and details.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 16th
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 3806 Main Street, Culver City, CA 90323
Website: https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets
March of Rhymesat PoetikLA at the Hyperion – In-Person Event
2nd Annual March of Rhymes event with PoetikLA will support the health of newborns, with proceeds for March of Dimes.
Iamaustinalexander@poetikla presents 2nd annual MARCH OF RHYMES
Charitable proceeds from this event support the health of newborns with @marchofdimes.
NOTE: ALL THEMES ARE MERELY SUGGESTIONS
This is an all-skill level donation-based event held for the community by our collective.
$10 donaltion.
Please DM us at @poetikla if you’d like to sign up.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: PoetikLA
Date: Sunday the 16th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 2930 Hyperion, Silverlake, CA 90027
Website: https://www.instagram.com/
Los Angeles Literature 