Where: Encino – Tarzana Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 2^nd

Time: 1:30 pm

Address: 18231 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, CA 91356

Where: Jefferson – Vassie D. Wright Memorial Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 2^nd

Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Address: 2211 W. Jefferson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90018

A book signing will follow the event.

The color of magic was gold. Aurelia Schwartz always tried carefully to Balance her human life with her secret magical one. But her gift for green magic has begun to fade. Reluctantly she needs the help of a fellow witch – and dreadfully arrogant classmate: Theodore Ingram.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Monday the 2^nd

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232

Every Monday from 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 2^nd

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501

Website: https://www.facebook.com/backtothegrind

At Skylight: Adam Roberts, with Chelsea Peretti, & Food Person at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Adam Roberts, in conversation with Chelsea Roberts, will discuss Food Person.

A delectable comedy of manners about cooking, ambition, and friendship set in the food world as a young and socially awkward writer takes a job ghostwriting the cookbook for a famous (and famously chaotic) Hollywood starlet.

Isabella Pasternack is a food person. She revels in the beauty of a perfectly cooked egg, she daydreams about her first meal at Chez Panisse, and every inch of her tiny apartment teems with cookbooks, from Prune to Cooking by Hand to Roast Chicken and Other Stories. What Isabella is not, unfortunately, is a gainfully employed person. In the wake of a disastrous live-streamed soufflé demonstration, Isabella is summarily fired from her job at a digital food magazine and must quickly find a way to keep herself in buckwheat and anchovy paste. When offered the opportunity to ghostwrite a cookbook for Molly Babcock, the once-beloved television actress now mired in scandal, Isabella warily accepts. Unfortunately, Molly quickly proves herself to be a nightmare collaborator: hungover, flaky, shallow, and—worst of all—indifferent to food. But between Molly’s bizarre late-night texts, goofy confessions, and impromptu road trips, Isabella reluctantly begins to see Molly’s charms. Can Isabella corral Molly out of the gossip rags and into the kitchen? Can she find the key to Molly’s heart and stomach? Or will Isabella’s devotion to her culinary idols and Molly’s monstrous ego send the entire cookbook—and both of their careers—up in flames?

A mouthwatering, hilarious debut peppered with insider food world detail—the real writers behind celebrity chef cookbooks, the hot restaurants that run on the backs of their sous-chefs, the secret to perfect blinis à la Russe—Adam Roberts’s Food Person is a literary soufflé—a deceptively light, deliciously rich, showstopping confection.

Adam Roberts is the author of The Amateur Gourmet, Secrets of the Best Chefs, and Give My Swiss Chards to Broadway. He started his food blog The Amateur Gourmet in 2004 and also hosts the podcast Lunch Therapy. Roberts has also written for The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, and for film and television. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband and their dog Winston. Food Person is his first novel.

Chelsea Peretti is a multifaceted creative known for her contributions as an actor, stand-up, writer, and producer. Peretti garnered widespread recognition for her portrayal of ‘Gina Linetti’ in the critically acclaimed comedy series, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”

Where: Skylight

Date: Monday the 2^nd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

A MacArthur “Genius” shares her inspiring story, from undocumented newcomer to leader in a powerful immigrant youth movement.

**This is a non-ticketed event, but an RSVP is recommended to guarantee seating.

There will be an option to purchase Dreaming of Home when you check out and you will receive it the afternoon of the event.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Monday the 2^nd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/upcoming-events

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 is passionate about discussing everything related to the craft and social significance of literature!

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – Online event

Date: Monday the 2^nd

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)

A preorder from pages, is required for attendance.

This epic new novel is set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program and the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilots Hank Redmond and John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including Carrie Soto Is Back, Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their daughter.

Where: pages: a bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 10 am – 12 pm

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

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-06-03/special-release-day-celebration-taylor-jenkins-reids-atmosphere

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 ack. https://www.francescaliablock.com/

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

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

The Darkest Hour Book Club: The Passengers at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss The Passengers by John Marrs. Copies available at the library. For adults.

Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide. When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course. The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife – and parents of two – who are travelling in separate vehicles, and a suicidal man. Now the public must judge who should survive, but are the passengers all that they first seem?

Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13437908

Drag Queen Storytime at Atwater Village Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person LGBTQIA Event

It’s just what it sounds like! Join us for an extra sparkly storytime with Pickle. She’ll bring humor and play to storytime and read inclusive children’s books to delight families and kids of all ages. We’re excited to celebrate diversity and individuality and invite you to be yourself and bring your imagination! Post-storytime photos with the performer are encouraged.

Celebrate LGBTQIA Pride Month.

Where: Atwater Village Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: 3379 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/share-your-joy-pickle-reads-stories-0

Women and Books: To Name the Bigger Lie at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us to discuss To Name the Bigger Lie: A Memoir in Two Stories by Sarah Viren. For adults.

Please contact the library to borrow a print copy of the book. eBook and eAudiobook are available through Libby app/OverDrive.

Summary provided by the publisher:

Sarah’s story begins as she’s researching what she believes will be a book about her high school philosophy teacher, a charismatic instructor who taught her and her classmates to question everything—in the end, even the reality of historical atrocities. As she digs into the effects of his teachings, her life takes a turn into the fantastical when her wife, Marta, is notified that she’s been investigated for sexual misconduct at the university where they both teach. Based in part on a viral New York Times essay, To Name the Bigger Lie follows the investigation as it upends Sarah’s understanding of truth.

Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13020663

Feminist Book Club: Dowry of Blood at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Cellar Door welcomes participants to discuss Dowrey of Blood by S.T. Gibson.

In this dark, fantasy sensation, S. T. Gibson spins the gothic, seductive tale of Dracula’s first bride, Constanta.

This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession…

Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things.

Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband’s dark secrets. With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.

S. T. Gibson is an author and village wise woman in training. A graduate of the creative writing program at the University of North Carolina at Asheville and the theological studies program at Princeton Seminary, she currently lives in New England with her partner, spoiled cat, and perfume collection.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 6 pm

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

Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/phy-sci-book-club-mind-bee

The Darkest Hour Book Club: The Passengers at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – Online Event

Join us to discuss The Passengers by John Marrs. Copies available at the library. For adults.

Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide. When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course. The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife – and parents of two – who are travelling in separate vehicles, and a suicidal man. Now the public must judge who should survive, but are the passengers all that they first seem?

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

Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Perfect the art of entertaining with 101 modern twists on classic recipes from entertaining expert Beth Le Manach

For more than a decade, Beth Le Manach’s YouTube channel, Entertaining with Beth, has been the go-to for anyone looking for creative and practical entertaining advice. Beth is an expert hostess who has figured out the solution to entertaining success, every time. Not only do her recipes look and taste great, but they also offer a practical twist or a killer tip that saves you time, money, or effort! Because let’s face it, whipping up your favorite weeknight meal is one thing, but add a few guests to the mix and it becomes a whole other ball game.

Beth’s first book, Entertaining 101 is the culmination of years of hosting experience, a comprehensive guide that will make entertaining a breeze for both the first-time host and the seasoned dinner party veteran. This book has the answers to all of your questions: What’s an easy dinner I can serve to impress my visiting in-laws? (Frenzy-Free Chicken Pot Pie); What’s a great egg dish I can make for Christmas morning? (Puffy Egg Bake); What’s the easiest drink to serve at my Mother’s Day brunch? (Bloody Mary Bar)—and so much more.

Beth is determined to make entertaining easier because she has seen how much joy it can add to our lives. So, she’s taken it upon herself to compile the top 101 recipes she believes everyone should know how to make! It’s her hope that this book will be the answer to all of your entertaining questions, a true manual for the beginner or an easier approach for the seasoned host. Welcome to Entertaining 101!

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/beth-le-manach-author-signing

Memoir Launch: Dylan Park-Pettiford & Roadside at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us for the launch of Dylan Park-Pettiford’s memoir Roadside: My Journey to Iraq and the Long Road Home.

Dylan will take us through his childhood, his military service, his challenges back home, and the future in this highly informative and important discussion. Joining Dylan is actor and activist Jeremy Tardy.

Reserve your seat on EVENTBRITE!

A military memoir by a biracial child of refugees and survivors, Roadside is about life and death, about family lost and gained, and about America, as a dream and a reality. It’s about the roads one takes to leave home and find it again.

As a half-Black, half-Korean kid in Campbell, California, Dylan Park-Pettiford never really fit in, so he and his little brother Rory became joined at the hip. But after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, swept up in patriotism, Dylan enlisted in the US Air Force and was sent to Iraq, and the brothers were separated.

There Dylan’s days alternated between boredom and terror, and rare moments of levity and learning came thanks to an Iraqi boy named Brahim. Like Rory, Brahim was wise beyond his years, and he and Dylan bonded as much over rap music as about life. Over the following year, Dylan would bring Brahim food and toiletries to keep him going; Brahim would bring intel to keep Dylan and his friends alive. When they said goodbye at the end of Dylan’s tour of duty, he knew it was for the last time.

Or was it?

Dylan returned to a world that had moved on without him. He would go through a soul-crushing divorce, a bout of homelessness, and struggles with prescription drugs, alcohol, and his own mental health. Eventually, he caught a few breaks and overcame the odds—until the violence Dylan thought he’d left in the Middle East followed him home.

Just when his life was at its darkest, fate intervened again, but this time to orchestrate an impossible reunion. In a world marred by a seemingly endless wave of negativity, this story of love, loss, and brotherhood may offer a faint glimmer of hope as we face an uncertain future.

Dylan Park-Pettiford is a writer/director from the San Francisco Bay Area. His work includes writing for a forthcoming spinoff of the popular detective series Bosch, the courtroom drama All Rise, and the Ron Howard-produced military comedy 68 Whiskey. He’s a former AMC Network writing fellow and a participant/mentor in the Writer’s Guild of America Veterans Writing Project. Dylan was a contributing author in the New York Times bestselling books The Moth Presents: Occasional Magic and How to Tell a Story. He’s also penned several Marvel comics. Following his military service, Dylan returned to school and received his BA in film from Arizona State University before attending the University of Southern California for graduate school. He now calls Los Angeles home.

Jeremy Tardy is an actor, director and musician from Milwaukee, WI. Jeremy got his start working with First Stage Children’s Theater where he performed in several plays and musicals, making a name for himself in the Milwaukee area. Jeremy went on to study in Oxford, England at the British American Dramatic Academy. He received his BFA in Drama at The Juilliard School. Now residing in Los Angeles, he enjoys a career with TV/Film credits including: Paramount Network’s 68 Whiskey, HBO’s Ballers, Netflix’s Dear White People, The Mindy Project, 10 Days in the Valley, Castle, Prey, Voodoo Macbeth, War Dogs, and more. As an artist and activist, Jeremy has worked with the NAACP and ACLU and he strives to make a positive impact in the lives of others.

Reserve your seat on EVENTBRITE!

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 6:30 pm

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

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

Free event. 21+

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: The Aftermath Bar

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 7 pm – 10 pm

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

Live from London!

From the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of Gay Bar comes a rule-breaking, sweat-soaked, genre-busting story of outlaw love.

It’s 1996, and Jeremy Atherton Lin has met the boy of his dreams—a mumbling, starry-eyed Brit—just as, amid a media frenzy, US Congress prepares the Defense of Marriage Act, denying same-sex couples federal rights including immigration. The pair steals away to remote forests and vast deserts, London fashion shows and Berlin sex clubs, dinner parties, back alleys, East Village hotel rooms, and San Francisco dives. Finding no other way to stay together, they shack up illicitly among unlikely allies in a “city of refuge.”

With Atherton Lin’s inimitable blend of tenderness and wicked humor, Deep House moves through the couple’s string of rented apartments while unlocking doors to a lineage of gay men who have come before—smuggling a foreign partner through national checkpoints or going public to stand up for the right to get down in the privacy of their own homes. They include hapless criminals, sexpot bartenders, friars, pirates, government workers who subverted the system, activists who went all the way to the Supreme Court, and the celebrated artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: Online Event via Crowdcast (see site)

A book signing will follow the event.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232

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

Book Release: People’s Choice Literature with Tom Comitta and George Chen at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event

What do Americans truly want in a novel? What would it look like if their preferences and aversions materialized in book form? In People’s Choice Literature, Tom Comitta has taken up this challenge, writing two groundbreaking novels based on a nationwide poll about literary taste—one featuring the story elements Americans most desire and another containing everything Americans despise.

Tom Comitta is the author of People’s Choice Literature: The Most Wanted and Unwanted Novels (Columbia University Press), and two supercut novels from Coffee House Press: The Nature Book and Patchwork. Their fiction and essays have appeared in WIRED, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Believer, and BOMB.

George Chen is a writer and performer from the San Francisco Bay Area now based in Los Angeles. He runs the label ZUM, produces the Sup Doc documentary podcast, and hosts the variety comedy show Talkies.

Where: Stories Books & Café

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026

Website: https://storiesla.com/events

Local Authors Meetup at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event

At Underdog Bookstore we love supporting local authors on the shelves and at our signings and panels, but sometimes you just want to turn off the book selling brain and enjoy each other’s company instead.

We hope that these meetups will provide an opportunity to connect, collaborate, and spend time in community. Whether you’re self-published and new to the industry or have trade tales to share from your experience in indie or major publishing—all authors are welcome here.

Our space is food, drink, and pet friendly, so feel free to bring your favorite refreshments and animal companions!

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: Underdog Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 3^rd

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 312 South Myrtle Avenue, Monrovia, CA 91016

Website: https://www.underdogbookstore.org/events/local-authors-meetup

Tuesday Night Café: Features & Open Mic at Tuesday Night Project, Aratani Courtyard/Union Center – In-Person & YouTube Hybrid Event

Tuesday Night Cafe is a flagship free public arts and performance series. Launched in 1999, TNC has since become one of the longest-running free arts series in Downtown LA and is the oldest Asian American mic series in the country.

The series runs on the 1st & 3rd Tuesday of each month, April through October, and features a curated program of multidisciplinary visual and performing art as well as an open mic section.

Features include:

@alicebheony N/A

Mylo Lam (@mylolololol) is a writer, author, producer, performer and poet. He is the author of All the Lovely, Lonely Things.

@hereismysecret is a director, artist and game designer.

@thedremagix is a magician.

Masato Kurushima (@masato_magik) is an artist. “I’m Just an actor pretending to be a magician.”

@storm3.3.3 They/them.

Caroline (DJ @thatflypinay) is a queer Pinay from Los Ángeles. Here for the music and community.

Want to perform for our Open Mic? Make sure to sign up for our lottery by 6:40 p.m., there will only be 3 spaces available. We may ask to review your content.

As a reminder, masking is required in our courtyard and inside the UCA lobby, and we will have masks available on site. If you can’t join us in-person, we will continue to stream our shows on YouTube in our link in bio!

Where: Tuesday Night Café

Date: Tuesday, the 3^rd

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DKNrxwgBB0T/?hl=en

The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert & Guest John Dorroh – Online Zoom Event

Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert welcomes guest John Dorroh.

John Dorroh is taught high school science for several decades, He is the author of Swim at Your Own Risk and Personal Ad Poetry.

Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event

Date: Tuesday, the 3^rd

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

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.

$10 donation. Do NOT line up prior to 7:30 pm Free parking adjacent to the theater.

Masks are encouraged.

Where: Greenway Court Theatre

Date: Tuesday, the 3^rd

Time: 9 pm – 11 pm

Come write with us!

Many people believe that a morning writing practice is key to finding your voice, your story and, in this case, your community! At the Village Well!

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 8:30 am come join acclaimed author and writing instructor Francesca Lia Block for a brief intro and 40 minutes of free writing on any topic without judgement. Afterwards, you will be able to share a bit about your process and ask Francesca questions about 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: Wednesday the 4^th

Time: 8:30 am – 9:30 am

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

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

Afternoon Book Club: The Backyard Bird Chronicles at Westlake Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss The Backyard Bird Chronicles by author Amy Tan.

New members welcome!

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Westlake Village Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday, the 4^th

Time: 12 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13662685

Book Club: Horse at Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us to discuss Horse by author Geraldine Brooks.

The book is based on the true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred, Lexington, who became America’s greatest stud sire. Horse is a gripping multi-layered reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America. Have fun and meet new friends.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday, the 4^th

Time: 1:30 pm

Address: 21052 Devonshire St., Chatsworth, CA 91311

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/chatsworth-book-club-horse-geraldine-brooks

Poets Café via KPFK 90.7 FM – Live On-Air Event

Poets Café celebrates Poetry. This program is a weekly half-hour literary arts discussion and reading program featuring guest authors and their works.

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

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: KPFK 90.7 FM

Date: Wednesday, the 4^th

Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: On-air Event (live)

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

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

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, June 4th at 4:30 pm

Book: Opal Watson: Private Eye by Brittany J. Thurman.

Please RSVP to amy@pagesabookstore.com

Where: pages: a bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 4^th

Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

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

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-06-04/2nd-3rd-grade-book-club

Be the Change: Social Justice Writing Workshop with James Coats – Online Event

Be the Change, a Social Justice Writing Workshop, is held every 1^st Wednesday of the month and led by poet and author James Coats.

Workshop is free: name your own price.

NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.

Where: Online Event

Date: Wednesday the 4^th

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event Zoom ID: 826 5843 0669 Password: justice

Website: N/A

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 4^th

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

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

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

History Book Club: By the Fire We Carry at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Cellar Door welcomes participants to discuss Dowrey of By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle.

A powerful work of reportage and American history that braids the story of the forced removal of Native Americans onto treaty lands in the nation’s earliest days, and a small-town murder in the 1990s that led to a Supreme Court ruling reaffirming Native rights to that land more than a century later.

Rebecca Nagle is an award-winning journalist and a citizen of Cherokee Nation. She is the writer and host of the podcast This Land. Her writing on Native representation, federal Indian law, and tribal sovereignty has been featured in the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Guardian, USA Today, Indian Country Today, and other publications. She is a Peabody Award nominee and the recipient of the American Mosaic Journalism Prize, Women’s Media Center’s Exceptional Journalism Award, and numerous honors from the Native American Journalist Association. Nagle lives in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Indigenous communities deserve the same standard of journalism as the rest of the country, but rarely receive it from non-Native media outlets. Nagle’s journalism seeks to correct this.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 4^th

Time: 6 pm

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

Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/history-book-club-fire-we-carry

Rucker Moses, with Zeno Robinson, & Encounter at Owl Rock at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Rucker Moses, in conversation with Zeno Robinson, will discuss Encounter at Owl Rock.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Wednesday the 4^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

​​​​​​​ National Book Award finalist Karen E. Bender returns with stunning speculative stories of parents and children, together and apart, surviving near-future dystopias that feel all-too-possible—and realities that can be even stranger. Grounded in both the contemporary United States and a variety of dystopias, the celebrated author’s otherworldly collection examines the evolving dynamics of the nuclear family during adolescence, motherhood, the empty nest, and caring for an aging parent.

Karen E. Bender is the author of the story collection Refund, which was a Finalist for the National Book Award Finalist, Shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Story Prize and Longlisted for the Story Prize, and The New Order, which was Longlisted for the Story Prize. She is also the author of the novels Like Normal People and A Town of Empty Rooms. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope, Ploughshares, Story, Harvard Review, The Yale Review, The Iowa Review, and other magazines. Her stories have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, Best American Mystery Stories, New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best, and have won three Pushcart prizes.

Hope Edelman is the author of eight nonfiction books, including the bestsellers Motherless Daughters and Motherless Mothers. Her books have been published in 17 countries and 11 languages, and her articles and essays have been published in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Psychology Today, Parade, Real Simple, and CNN.com. Hope is also certified coach with training in narrative therapy and trauma support services. As the founder of Motherlessdaughters.com, she creates and leads online support groups and in-person retreats that reach thousands of women each year.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 4^th

Time: 6:30 pm

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

Delve into this twisty historical mystery with author Kristen L Berry and moderator Lauren Ling Brown. The two will discuss the writing process, the influence of the historical South, publishing a debut novel, and more. Plus, stick around for an audience Q&A and a signing!

Reserve your tickets on EVENTBRITE!

A dedicated journalist unearths a generations-old family secret—and a connection to a string of missing girls that hits way too close to home—in this gripping debut novel.

In the wake of her grandmother’s passing, Sydney Singleton finds a hidden photograph of a little girl who looks more like Sydney than her own sister, or mother. She soon discovers the mystery girl in the photograph is her aunt, Carol, who was one of six local North Carolina Black girls to go missing in the 1960s. For the last several decades, not a soul has talked about Carol or what really happened to her. With her grandmother gone and Sydney looking to start a family of her own, she is determined to unravel the truth behind her long-lost aunt and the sinister silence surrounding her.

Unfortunately, this is familiar territory for Sydney. Several years prior, working the crime beat as a journalist on the case of another missing girl, her obsession eventually led to a psychotic break. And now, in the suffocating grip of fertility treatments and a marriage that’s beginning to crumble, Sydney’s relentless pursuit might just lead her down the same path of destruction. As she delves deeper into Carol’s fate, her own troubled past resurfaces, clawing its way to the surface with a vengeance. The web of secrets and lies entangling her family leaves Sydney questioning everything—her fixation on the missing girls, her future as a mom, and everyone she’s come to trust.

Kristen L. Berry is a writer and communications executive. Born and raised in Metro Detroit, Kristen graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature. She has provided PR and communications expertise to leading consumer brands for nearly twenty years, all while writing in her spare time. When she isn’t reading or writing, Kristen can be found lifting heavy at the gym, hiking in Malibu, eating her way through Los Angeles with her partner, or shouting at the latest Formula 1 race. We Don’t Talk About Carol is her debut novel.

Lauren Ling Brown is the author of Society of Lies, a Reese’s Book Club Pick and national bestseller. She received a BA in English literature from Princeton University and an MFA in film production with a focus in screenwriting from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where she works as a film editor.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Wednesday the 4^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

Each month, members will read the chosen poetry book and bring their favorite selections to share and discuss. Participation is free; just come with an open mind! Whether poetry is daunting or your passion, we’d love to have you!

Our inaugural selection is Something Bright, Then Holes by Maggie Nelson.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Wednesday the 4^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

In this work of hybrid historiography, Sam Creely modulates the English sentence to map the ways anglophone imperial self-fashioning moves in and out of social coherence, investigating how syntactic requirements reflect colonial history and how the rules of language structure thought. Through scenes including intimate encounters with dye, fabric, and garments, Creely reveals the sexual and racial grammars of empire.

Inventorys takes as its point of departure the voyage, shipwreck, and eventual excavation of the Spanish trade vessel El Nuevo Constante. Animated by the image of sixty thousand pounds of dye bleeding into the Gulf of Mexico, this six-part poetic documentation follows the wreckage of the Constante linguistically, moving among early modern lexicography, and ultimately toward enmeshed histories of catalog, fabrication, and revision. Inventorys is the winner of the 2022 Omnidawn Open Poetry Contest, selected by Shane McCrae.

Where: Poetic Research Bureau

Date: Wednesday the 4^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057

Nicle Maines, Tim Sheridan, Maya Houston, Josh Trujillo, Sam Maggs, Derek Charm.

See details & bios at website.

Ticket purchase at website.

A book signing will follow the event.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Wednesday the 4^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232

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

RECESS Open Mic is at SIPA HQ, Palms Up Academy – In-Person Event

RECESS Open Mic is at SIPA HQ on Wednesdays.

This dynamic open mic is the most accessible public program in the Palms Up Academy curriculum and manifests their mission statement in a physical (and digital) space.

Join them at the intersection of Historic Filipino town & The World: Search to Involve Pilipino Americans.

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

Where: SIPA HQ

Date: Wednesday, the 4^th

Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm; Open Mic at 8 pm)

Address: 3200 W. Temple St., Ste. 100, Los Angeles, CA 90026

Website: https://www.palmsupacademy.com

Anansi Virtual Writers Workshop at The World Stage – In-Person Event

The Anansi Writers Workshop was founded in 1990 by Kamau Daáood, Akilah Oliver, Nafis Nabawi and Anthony Lyons. In 1993, Michael Datcher initiated the development of a three-part format for the workshop. Our tradition of a community workshop began in the late 1960s at the Watts Writers’ Workshop, where World Stage co-founder Kamau Daáood started his writing career. For general information and booking, contact V. Kali, the Anansi Writers Workshop Coordinator, at vkaliflowers@gmail.com.

• 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm — Formal workshop;
• 8:30 pm – 9:00 pm — TBA;
• 9:05 pm – 10:00 pm — Open mic.

Suggested: $10.00 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 4^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm

A night of storytelling in a friendly and comfortable environment with light refreshments.

Story Salon is an opportunity for Los Angeles area storytellers to get on stage and share!

Each week is filled with 5-7 minute stories on a variety topics and themes. Laugh, cry, and sigh along with us as we go along with each story teller on stage.

It’s summer—let’s swap places Freestyle!

Storytellers for this week are coming soon!

Where: The Art Parlor

Date: Wednesday, the 4^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: 5302 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 91607

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/story-salon-freaky-freestyle-summer-tickets-1382963624429

Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop with Tom Laichas via 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 on 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 4^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

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.

Featuring theme: TBA

Hosted by John White, with vibes by DJ Hennytee.

Where: East Los Angeles Rising Youth Club

Date: Wednesday, the 4^th

Time: 8 pm – 9:45 pm (Doors at 7:30)

$4 cover fee

Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange

Date: Wednesday, the 4^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

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

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.

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

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 5^th

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

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

Chicano Revolt 1969-1971: Chicano Movement Symposium Series at Pasadena City College – In-Person Event

This event features free public screenings with rare footage from former US Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herera.

Featuring Speakers: Anthony Ortega, Ralph Ramirez & John Sermeno

Poets: Diosa Xochiquetzalcoatl, Natalie Rivas

Music by: Jesus Chuy Perez

Where: Pasadena City College, Room R-122

Date: Thursday the 5^th

Time: 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Address: 1570 East Colorado Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106

Poets, singers, songwriters, storytellers, writers, comedians, supporters, and listeners are welcome! The event will include a featured reading or musical performance by a published poet or musician.

Performer sign-ups begin at 4:15 p.m. The event is held in the multi-purpose room on the basement level of the Anaheim Central Library, 500 W. Broadway, Anaheim CA 92805 (near the corner of Broadway & Harbor). Hope to see you there!

Where: Anaheim Central Library

Date: Thursday the 5^th

Time: 4:30 pm

Address: 500 West Broadway Anaheim, CA 92805

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-mic-night-at-anaheim-central-library-tickets-699278188887?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Bridget Crocker, with Christina Haag, & The River’s Daughter at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome Bridget Crocker, in conversation with Christina Haag, to discuss The River’s Daughter.

A vivid and propulsive memoir about finding courage and meaning in a life outdoors, by a world-class whitewater rafting guide.

After Bridget Crocker’s parents’ volatile divorce, she moved with her mother from Southern California to Wyoming. Her life was idyllic, growing up in a trailer park on the banks of the Snake River with a stepfather she loved, a new baby brother, and the river as her companion—until her mother suddenly took up a radical new lifestyle, becoming someone Bridget barely recognized. The one constant in her life—the place Bridget felt whole and fully herself—was the river. When she discovered the world of whitewater rafting, she knew she’d found her calling.

On the river, Bridget learned to read the natural world around her and came to know the language of rivers. One of the few female guides on the Snake River, she then traveled to the Zambezi River in Africa, some of the most dangerous whitewater in the world, where she faced death and learned to conquer her fears—both on the water and off. The river taught her how to overcome years of betrayals and abuse, to trust herself, and, finally, how to help heal her family from generational cycles of trauma and poverty.

Bridget Crocker is a trailblazer in women’s empowerment within the outdoor industry. A leading whitewater rafting guide, she has led remote river expeditions down many of the world’s greatest river canyons. She is a contributing author to Lonely Planet guidebooks and The Best Women’s Travel Writing series, and her work has been featured in magazines including Men’s Journal, National Geographic Adventure, Trail Runner, and Outside, as well as Patagonia’s blog, The Cleanest Line. She lives in Malibu, California.

Christina Haag is an award-winning actress and the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir, Come to the Edge. Kirkus called her book, “spellbinding,” and the Washington Post said it “lyrically and precisely captures the frenetic ecstasy of early love.” Her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Variety, and Hamptons Magazine, and was anthologized in The Brown Reader. She is currently writing a novel and is adapting her memoir, which chronicles her long friendship and 5-year love affair with John Kennedy Jr., for the screen.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Thursday the 5^th

Time: 6:30 pm

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

Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2025-06-05/bridget-crocker-author-signing

Queer Fantasy Book Launch: Bonnie Solomon & Pearly Gates at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person LGBTQIA Event

Join us at Village Well Books & Coffee for the launch of Bonnie Solomon’s debut novel Pearly Gates!

At a time when LGBTQ+ voices are being silenced, Pearly Gates offers a bold, affirming, and heartfelt story that champions diverse perspectives and celebrates the resilience, creativity, and inclusiveness of the queer community—just in time for Pride Month. So come celebrate Pride Month with Bonnie and pals, and dive into Pearly Gates.

A dead drag queen. A cozy café. A shady deal—and an unexpected family.

Deceased drag queen Pearly Gates has the worst job in the afterlife: cosmic sanitation worker. When her soulmate leaves her, claiming she’s incapable of growth, Pearly hatches a plan to win him back. By striking an illicit bargain to take over the caseload of a burnt-out spirit guide, she’ll prove she’s worthy of love—and a second chance.

Her mission takes her to Thunderbolt Books & Coffee, a small-town bookshop café haunted by a 1920s burlesque dancer. Tasked with guiding a grieving widow, a terminally ill college graduate, and a struggling trans woman, Pearly uses wit, charm, and a touch of magic to help them heal and find love. Then she discovers the café’s owner is her soulmate reincarnated.

As one of Pearly’s charges falls for the café owner, she faces a dilemma: be the good guide she promised to become or sabotage the relationship. Between saving the café, dodging bumbling afterlife detectives, and surviving a lip-sync battle with her own body double, Pearly must decide what matters most. If she fails, she risks losing everything—her job, her soulmate, even her soul.

Pearly Gates is an uplifting LGBTQ+ fantasy celebrating queer identity, found family, new love, and second chances—even after life’s final curtain call.

Bonnie Solomon is a novelist and screenwriter with a passion for crafting humorous, uplifting stories in magical settings. Cozy fantasy and hopepunk are her favorite genres.

A Midwest native and seasoned Hollywood professional, Bonnie brings a wealth of experience in feature film development with industry giants like Walden Media and DreamWorks Animation. Her notes have gone into many DWA movies, including Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and The Wild Robot. As a creative consultant, she’s written film and TV treatments/scripts, edited novels, and coached writers from outlines through final drafts.

As a queer writer, Bonnie is committed to authentic and aspirational LGBTQ representation – which she believes is even more important in our current political/cultural climate. When she’s not writing, you can find her cuddling the cat, shaking it loose on the dance floor, or finding the best latte in LA.

Reserve your tickets on EVENTBRITE!

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday the 5^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

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

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90254 

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrating-the-ambition-trap-by-amina-altai-tickets-1329140718669?aff=oddtdtcreator

Howard Smith & My Friend Johnny: The Last 20 Years of a Beautiful Life with Johnny Carson and Friends at Book Soup – In-Person Event

For two decades, Howard Smith shared an extraordinary friendship with Johnny Carson—not as the legendary Tonight Show host, but simply as John. A neighbor turned close companion, Howard entered John’s private world far from the spotlight.

In My Friend Johnny, Smith paints an intimate portrait of the man behind the iconic desk: funny, kind, and generous, yet deeply complex. From tennis matches to quiet moments, their bond lasted until John’s passing.

With a foreword by Jay Leno, this book also includes 20 pages of never-before-seen candid photos of celebrities, capturing unforgettable moments from Smith’s extraordinary life journey.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Thursday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/howard-smith-discusses-signs-my-friend-johnny-last-20-years-beautiful-life-johnny-carson-and

Special Author Event: Emma Pattee & Tilt at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event

We welcome Emma Pattee to an evening event celebrating the publication of her new book, Tilt. This novel is set over the course of a single day, following one woman’s journey across a transformed city, carrying the weight of her past and a fervent hope for the future.

Last night, you and I were safe. Last night, in another universe, your father and I stood fighting in the kitchen.

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, there’s nothing to do but walk.

Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. If she can just make it home, she’s determined to change her life.

Emma Pattee is a climate journalist and fiction writer. Her work has been published in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and elsewhere. She lives in Oregon.

Where: pages: a bookstore

Date: Thursday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm

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

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Black press provided a blueprint to help Black Americans transition from slavery and find opportunities to advance and define African American citizenship. Among the vanguard of the Black press was Jefferson Lewis Edmonds, founder and editor of The Liberator newspaper. His Los Angeles-based newspaper championed for women’s rights, land and business ownership, education, and civic engagement, while condemning lynchings and other violent acts against African Americans. It encouraged readers to move westward and build new communities, and it printed stories about weddings and graduations as a testament to the lives and moments not chronicled in the White-owned press.

Edmonds took this fierce perspective in his career as a journalist, for he himself was born into slavery and dedicated his life to creating pathways of liberation for those who came after him. Across the pages of his newspaper, Edmonds painted a different perspective on Black life in America and championed for his community—from highlighting the important work of his contemporaries, including Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, to helping local readers find love in the personal ads section. The Liberator, along with a chorus of Black newspapers at the turn of the century, educated an entire generation on how to guard their rights and take claim of their new American citizenship.

Written by Jefferson Lewis Edmonds’ great-great granddaughter, We Now Belong to Ourselves chronicles how Edmonds and other pioneering Black publishers documented the shifting tides in the advancement of Black liberation.

Where: Reparations Club

Date: Thursday the 29^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3054 South Victoria Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90018

There will be a book signing to follow the discussion.

NOTE: RSVP for this ticketed event.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Thursday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232

Valencia is a fast-paced account of one girl’s search for love and high times in the dyke world of 1990s San Francisco.

Michelle Tea is the author of over a dozen books, including Modern Tarot, Knocking Myself Up, and Against Memoir. She is the founder and former executive director of the literary nonprofit RADAR Productions, where she pioneered the first Drag Queen Story Hour. Valencia received the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction and was adapted into a feature film.

Featuring performances inspired by the book and era from:

Sam Cohen

MJ Corey

Anna Dorn

Clement Goldberg

Miguel Gutierrez

Amanda-Faye Jimenez

Ali Liebegott

Kamala Puligandla

Topiary

Where: Stories Books & Café

Date: Thursday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026

Theater Kid is a coming-of-age tale from Jeffrey Seller one of the most successful theatrical producers of our time– the only producer to have mounted two Pulitzer Prize–winning musicals—Hamilton and Rent.

Jeffrey Seller produced the Tony Award–winning musicals Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights, and Hamilton. His shows have won twenty-two Tony Awards, including four for Best Musical, and his Broadway productions and tours have grossed over $4.6 billion and reached more than 43 million attendees. Jeffrey is the only producer to have mounted two Pulitzer Prize–winning musicals—Hamilton and Rent. He also revolutionized theater accessibility with the $20 ticket lottery for Rent, making theater affordable for all.

Singer, songwriter, actor, and philanthropist Josh Groban possesses one of the most outstanding and instantly recognizable voices in music. He has sold over 35 million albums worldwide, headlined legendary venues on multiple continents, and has also entertained audiences with acclaimed film and television appearances. A Tony, Emmy, and five-time Grammy nominee, he has packed arenas around the world and made his Broadway debut in 2016. This spring, he’ll release a career-spanning collection of songs and play The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in an exclusive run. His Find Your Light Foundation helps enrich the lives of young people through arts, education and cultural awareness.

Before he was producing the musical hits of our generation, Jeffrey was just a kid coming to terms with his adoption, trying to understand his sexuality, and determined to escape his dysfunctional household in a poor neighborhood just outside Detroit. Musical theater and a move to New York allowed him to find his voice and make his way on Broadway.

In this memoir, he pulls back the curtain on the joyous and gut-wrenching process of making new musicals, finding new audiences, and winning a Tony Award—all the while finding himself. Theater Kid is a gripping memoir about fighting through a hardscrabble childhood to make art on one’s own terms, chasing a dream against many odds, and finding acceptance and community.

Where: Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre at New Roads School

Date: Thursday the 5^th

Time: 8 pm

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

Many people believe that morning writing practice is key to finding your voice, your story and, in this case, your community! At the Village Well!

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 8:30 am come join acclaimed author and writing instructor Francesca Lia Block for a brief intro and 40 minutes of free writing on any topic without judgement. Afterwards, you will be able to share a bit about your process and ask Francesca questions about your writing.

About the instructor:

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

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Friday the 6^th

Time: 8:30 am – 9:30 am

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

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

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.

There is a large FREE parking lot off Florencita Dr. as well as metered parking along Honolulu Ave. and Montrose Ave.

Free to attend.

NOTE: Free to attend.

Where: Once Upon a Time, Montrose

Date: Friday, the 6^th

Time: 9:30 am

Join us to read and discuss the novel James, by Percival Everett.

To borrow a print copy of the books, please contact the Compton Library directly. For Adults.

Where: Claremont Library, LACL

Date: Friday the 6^th

Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Address: 208 N. Harvard Ave N., Claremont, CA 91711

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13715293

Bilingual Storytime at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Bilingual Storytime! Exposing your children to multiple languages is highly beneficial for their learning and development, and what better way to do it than through this fun activity where we will read a wonderful story in both English and Spanish.

¡Hora de cuentos bilingüe! Exponer a tus hjijos a varios idiomas es de gran beneficio para su aprendizaje y desarrollo, y qué mejor que hacerlo en esta divertida actividad en donde leeremos un maravilloso cuento en inglés y en español.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Friday the 6^th

Time: 11 am

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

Call the Memorial Branch at 323-938-2732 to find out the month’s featured title.

Where: Memorial Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Friday the 6^th

Time: 1 pm – 2 pm

Address: 4626 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019

No frills. No prompts. Just write.

Drop in and stay awhile.

Where: Heavy Manners Library

Date: Friday the 6^th

Time: 1 pm – 3 pm

Address: 1200 N. Alvarado St. Unit D, Los Angeles, CA 90026

For teens only, ages 12-18 (rising junior high and high school students; graduated high school seniors OK to attend!). No registration required but supplies are limited.

Meet in the Teen Lounge.

Where: Anaheim Central Library

Date: Friday the 6^th

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

Address: 500 West Broadway Anaheim, CA 92805

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-low-commitment-book-club-for-teens-at-central-library-tickets-1364781511239

Book Talk: Todd Purdum, with Sam Wasson, & Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television at Chevalier’s – In-Person & Event

Join us to hear Todd Purdum, in conversation with Sam Wasson, discuss Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television.

An illuminating biography of Desi Arnaz, the visionary, trailblazing Cuban American who revolutionized television and brought laughter to millions as Lucille Ball’s beloved husband on I Love Lucy, leaving a remarkable legacy that continues to influence American culture today.

Desi Arnaz is a name that resonates with fans of classic television, but few understand the depth of his contributions to the entertainment industry. In Desi Arnaz, Todd S. Purdum offers a captivating biography that dives into the groundbreaking Latino artist and businessman known to millions as Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy. Beyond his iconic role, Arnaz was a pioneering entrepreneur who fundamentally transformed the television landscape.

His journey from Cuban aristocracy to world-class entertainer is remarkable. After losing everything during the 1933 Cuban revolution, Arnaz reinvented himself in pre-World War II Miami, tapping into the rising demand for Latin music. By twenty, he had formed his own band and sparked the conga dance craze in America. Behind the scenes, he revolutionized television production by filming I Love Lucy before a live studio audience with synchronized cameras, a model that remains a sitcom gold standard today.

Despite being underestimated due to his accent and origins, Arnaz’s legacy is monumental. Purdum’s biography, enriched with unpublished materials and interviews, reveals the man behind the legend and highlights his enduring contributions to pop culture and television. This book is a must-read biography about innovation, resilience and the relentless drive of a man who changed TV forever.

Todd S. Purdum is a veteran journalist and author. In a career of more than forty years, he has written widely about politics and culture, starting at The New York Times, where he spent twenty-three years, covering politics from city hall to the White House, later serving as diplomatic correspondent and Los Angeles bureau chief. He has also been a staff writer at Vanity Fair, Politico, and The Atlantic. He is the author of Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution and An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers, with whom he has two grown children.

Sam Wasson is the author of the New York Times bestseller Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M .: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman and two works of film criticism. He is a visiting professor of film at Wesleyan University.

Where: Chevalier’s

Date: Friday the 6^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004

Sign-ups start at 5:30 with @rodharrison66

Music starts at 6 pm

Spoken word and poetry are welcome!

Where: The Den Café

Date: Friday the 6^th

Time: 6 pm (Doors at 5:30 pm)

Address: 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, CA 9270

Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHuMOcESB9H/?hl=en

Candy Clark & Tight Heads at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Candy Clark will discuss Tight Heads.

When a Polaroid was taken, everyone stopped and watched it develop. It was true magic to see it happen. Instant pictures. Unheard of. —Candy Clark

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 led to Tight Heads, a hardcover photo book with 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.

When it came to photography, Candy says she always liked the descriptive words “tight heads,” which she first heard during her modeling years. It was a term for close-ups, but could just as easily be code for dear friendships or inflated egos; it might allude to secrets or resentments; or an overaccumulation of memories. It’s just right for a set of photos in which layered histories lie beneath a casual surface.

Candy Clark grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and fell into acting by accident. While working as a model and extra in New York City, she was convinced to try out for a part in John Huston’s Fat City (1971). That role led to her Oscar-nominated performance as Debbie Dunham in George Lucas’s American Graffiti (1973), which was only her second time on screen. After moving to Los Angeles, she immediately started documenting her growing circle of friends with a Polaroid SX-70. 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 currently 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 microhistories of Los Angeles. The project began with five books, each based on specific addresses. Since then, it has expanded into a range of publications, conversations, and archival projects. Candy Clark first shared her photo collection during an interview for Sweet’s All Night Menu Questionnaire, an ongoing interview series that explores personal histories of Los Angeles through 24 questions about sense memories of place.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Friday the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

From the acclaimed author of Yes, Daddy; It’s Not the End of the World is a terrifying climate thriller, a vicious takedown of the uber-wealthy, and a queer family saga that isn’t afraid to punch back.

It’s 2044 and life is bleak for many Americans, but not for Mason Daunt. Safe in his Los Angeles mansion, Mason can remain blissfully unaware of the relentless wildfires engulfing California, the proliferation of violent right-wing militias, and the rampant authoritarianism destroying American society. He’s so rich, in fact, that he and his partner Yunho Kim are throwing a 100-person, $100,000 baby shower to celebrate their newborn-on-the-way. When a potentially apocalyptic event hits Los Angeles on the day of their celebration, though, the wealthy gay couple refuses to cancel their party. Surely it’s not the end of the world? But as Mason runs a few last-minute errands, a staggering twist thrusts him into the mounting chaos and threatens the lives of everyone he holds dear.

Shot through with biting wit, brutal gore, primal sex, and unexpected catharsis, It’s Not the End of the World is a nerve-shredding roller coaster of a novel that will leave readers shocked, heartbroken, and inspired to question their most firmly held convictions. What happens when our current battles with climate change, capitalism, and white supremacy are pushed to their breaking points? And how can we find hope?

Jonathan Parks-Ramage is a Los Angeles based novelist, playwright, screenwriter and journalist, and the co-creator of the original musical The Big Gay Jamboree. His critically acclaimed debut novel YES, DADDY (HarperCollins) was named one of the best queer books of 2021 by Entertainment Weekly, NBC News, The Advocate, Lambda Literary, Bustle, Goodreads and more. YES, DADDY was also optioned for television by Amazon Studios. He is an alumnus of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and his work has been featured in Vice, Slate, Out and Elle, among other outlets. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Ryan O’Connell is the Emmy-winning creator, writer, and star of Netflix’s Special, which is based on his memoir, I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves. He is the author of the novel Just By Looking At Him. He’s also written for other TV shows like Will & Grace, Awkward, and Peacock’s Queer as Folk revival, which he also stars in.

Where: Skylight

Date: Friday the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

From the beloved internet humorist, a debut novel that introduces an unforgettable investigator to the drowned streets of L.A. in a hugely imaginative and heartfelt blend of noir and cyberpunk.

In a mostly underwater near-future Los Angeles, aging combat-drone veteran Orr Vue now lives a simple and small life, trading snippets of what’s become the most valuable currency: information. So when the cops show up at his door looking for data on a murder he’s not even aware has happened, things get interesting for the first time in 25 years.

At first, Orr is happy to exchange whatever he knows about the demise of InfoDrip’s top exec to buy booze and pay rent on his memory storage, but that plan goes to hell when Orr’s old boyfriend, Auggie Wolf, shows up as the number one suspect. Forced to stretch his atrophied spy skills and take his illegal horde of drones out of retirement alongside his busted knees, Orr finds himself in the crosshairs of the militarized police, a family of megarich corporate heirs, a clan of emancipated AIs, and a cult. Barely avoiding getting killed with every clue he collects, Orr realizes he’s uncovered not just a murder, but a conspiracy that threatens Auggie’s very existence. Ahh, the things we do for love…

But in a world where memories can be bought and sold, how can you truly know who anyone is—or what you yourself are capable of? Fast paced, funny, and shockingly romantic, Two Truths and a Lie is Raymond Chandler reinvented for the 22nd century.

Cory O’Brien is the author of Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes and George Washington Is Cash Money. He has written for numerous award-winning video games, including Monster Prom and Holovista, and designed multiple tabletop games, including Inhuman Conditions and Hand to Hand Wombat. He lives in Chicago.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Friday the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-06-06/cory-obrien-discusses-signs-two-truths-and-lie

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

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

Featured guests: TBA

Tickets at Eventbrite.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center

Date: Friday, the 6^th

Time: 8 pm – 12 am

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

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

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

Frist Fridays at Rapp Saloon: Open Mic & Featured Readers, will be this week, and is offered every 1^st Friday of the month.

First Friday: Cynthia Alessandra Briano

Second Friday: Russell Greene

Third Friday: Elena Secota

Fourth Friday: Jim Bolt

Fifth Friday: James Evert Jones

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

Our featured guest poets and artists this month TBA.

NOTE: See site or flyer for details.

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

Date: Friday, the 6th

Time: 8 pm – 11 pm

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

Where: Downtown San Bernardino

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 10 am – 6 pm; Afterparty Show at 7 pm!

Address: 385 N. E St., Suite102, San Bernardino, CA 92401

Website: https://www.instagram.com/ieanarchistbookfair/

Time: 10:10 am –  11:30 am

Location: Taper Auditorium

A panel of scholars of Octavia E. Butler will discuss the meaning of her work, with an emphasis on Parable of the Talents.

Tyree Boyd-Pates, an impactful author, historian, curator, writer, DJ, social entrepreneur, and international speaker. He explores Black culture through a contemporary lens and actively mobilizes communities of color using journalism, social media, education, and historical advocacy.

Ashley Blakeney, an arts healing facilitator and cultural leader with more than a decade of experience working in arts organizations and education. As the Executive Director at the Crenshaw Dairy Mart, Blakeney works to help communities of color imagine new systems for a more equitable world.

Location: Meeting Room B

Created by Angeleno game masters, this interactive role-playing adventure inhabits the world of Octavia Butler’s Parable series—a world afflicted by similar social, political, and environmental challenges we face. This gaming space allows players to co-create their understanding of the hope, creativity, and resilience that shaped Octavia’s novel, Parable of the Talents, while the openness of tabletop gaming allows expansion upon characters, creation of new stories, and finding new possibilities.

Join LA Commons and artist Aiysha Sinclair in a zine-making workshop inspired by the legacy and work of Octavia Butler. Explore themes of race, resilience, and climate as we collage our visions of the past, present, and future!

Where: Central Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 10 am – 12 pm

Address: 630 W. 5^th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071

Celebrate Asian American-Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

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

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-31

Persian Book Club at West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join participants to discuss the June selection for the Persian Book Club.

Details at site.

Where: West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm

Address: 19036 Vanowen St., Reseda, CA 91335

This novel that examines a school shooting. Copies of the book are available at the branch.

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm

Address: 2211 W. Jefferson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90018

Tom Comitta based the two halves of People’s Choice Literature on a nationwide poll of the elements that Americans claim to prefer most in a novel, as well as those they like least. Giving the people exactly what they want, The Most Wanted Novel is a fast-paced thriller evoking page-turners by Dan Brown and David Baldacci, in which a California woman teams up with a hunky FBI agent (with a tragic past) to solve her brother’s kidnapping, getting drawn ever deeper into a tech tycoon’s apocalyptic ambitions. Then, in an epic synthesis of what nobody wants, The Most Unwanted Novel is an epistolary Christmas novel set on a near-future Mars, where elderly aristocratic tennis players scour the globe for lost love, venturing from arctic wastelands to the dark caverns of the macabre, featuring sentient robots, talking animals, and a hundred-page collection of horror stories along the way.

Since 1991, British artist Vicki Bennett has been working across the field of audio-visual collage, repurposing pre-existing footage to craft audio and video collages under the name People Like Us, with an equally dark and witty take on popular culture. She sees collage as folk art sourced from the palette of contemporary media and technology, with all of the sharing and cross-referencing incumbent to a populist form. Using collage as a compositional tool, Bennett opens up endless opportunities to experience results that are more than the sum of the parts. Embedded in her work is the premise that all is interconnected and that claiming ownership of an “original” or isolated concept is both preposterous and redundant.

RSVP:

Email eden@lapl.org for the Zoom link to attend.

Where: Edendale Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 2011 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026

June 7: Dead in Long Beach, California by Venita Blackburn

Where: Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 2920 Overland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064

“As a history teacher I am often asked by my students how the study of history can benefit their lives. And maybe as poets you might wonder something similar: what exactly can history do for my poem? Well quite a bit actually! In this workshop we will explore how history as a subject can act as a valuable toy chest filled with stories footnotes and biographies waiting to be discovered and incorporated into our work. Through our time together we will examine work from poets such as Wisława Szymborska Eavan Boland and Roger Reeves to see just how expansive poetry can be when infused with history. Participants will leave this workshop with several drafts and methods to incorporate into their writing process to help them from anywhere to initiating a poem to discovering a poem’s next turn.”

Andrew Navarro was born and raised in the Inland Empire and teaches world history in the city of Moreno Valley. His poetry has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Poet Lore, Michigan Quarterly Review, Zyzzyva, Air/Light, Shenandoah, and Best New Poets. He holds degrees in English and creative writing from California State University, San Bernardino, and the University of California, Riverside.

NOTE: Ticket purchase at website.

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 11 am – 2 pm

Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90291

Where: Exposition Park Regional Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm

Cellar Door welcomes participants to discuss Parachute Kids: A Graphic Novel by Betty C. Tang.

Feng-Li can’t wait to discover America with her family! But after an action-packed vacation, her parents deliver shocking news: They are returning to Taiwan and leaving Feng-Li and her older siblings in California on their own.

Suddenly, the three kids must fend for themselves in a strange new world—and get along. Starting a new school, learning a new language, and trying to make new friends while managing a household is hard enough, but Bro and Sis’s constant bickering makes everything worse. Thankfully, there are some hilarious moments to balance the stress and loneliness. But as tensions escalate—and all three kids get tangled in a web of bad choices—can Feng-Li keep her family together?

Betty C. Tang is the creator of Parachute Kids, a 2023 National Book Awards Longlist title and an ALA Asian/ Pacific American Award Honor Book, among its many distinctions. She illustrated the New York Times bestselling Jacky Ha-Ha series of graphic novels by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein. Before becoming a full-time graphic novelist, Betty worked for various Hollywood animation studios, including Disney TV and DreamWorks Animation, and codirected an animated feature called Where’s the Dragon? She is also a fourth-degree black belt in aikido. Betty immigrated to California as a parachute kid when she was ten and currently lives in Los Angeles. Learn more about her work at bettyctang.com.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 1 pm

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

Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/kids-graphic-novel-book-club-parachute-kids

San Pedro Library Book Club: Dead in Long Beach, California at San Pedro Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

The San Pedro Library Book Club will be discussing Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Please come and participate in a lively discussion of the novel.

Where: San Pedro Regional Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: 931 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro, CA 90731

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/san-pedro-library-book-club

Kids Book Club: Dear Mothman at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person LGBTQIA Kids Event

Cellar Door welcomes participants to discuss Dear Mothman: A Novel in Verse by Robin Gow.

Robin Gow’s acclaimed middle grade novel in verse about a young trans boy dealing with the loss of his friend by writing to his favorite cryptid, Mothman.

Moving and lyrical, Dear Mothman is a story about finding belonging and hope in the most unexpected places.

A few months ago, Noah’s best friend and the only other trans boy in his school, Lewis, passed away in a car accident. Feeling lost and alone, Noah starts writing letters to Mothman, Lewis’s favorite cryptid, wondering if he would understand how Noah feels.

At first, Noah isn’t sure whether he actually believes in Mothman—not like Lewis did. But when strange things start to happen around his wooded home, Noah wonders whether there might be something to the stories.

Robin Gow is a poet, educator, and witch from rural Pennsylvania. It is the Director of the Education Institute at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center and author of critically acclaimed books for children and young adults including Dear Mothman, Ode to My First Car, and A Million Quiet Revolutions.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 2 pm

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

This illustrated collection of heartfelt letters is about the many beautiful hopes and dreams that fathers have for their children. A perfect gift for any dad!

Masks are recommended for our events. If you can’t make it to the event, you can order signed books in advance at website.

Where: Once Upon a Time

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 2 pm

Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020

RSVP:

Please email studio@lapl.org for participation details.

Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

Address: 12511 Moorpark Street, Studio City, CA 91604

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Weckler is an atmospheric fairy tale takes us into the heart of immigrant communities in 1899 New York City. The two title creatures, swept along by the tides of history, form an unlikely bond as they reckon with the trauma of their past and build a life for themselves in a new world.

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.

See site for details.

Where: Lancaster Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 3 pm – 4 pm

Address: 601 W. Lancaster Blvd., Lancaster, CA 93534

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13711526

Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Poetry Writing Workshop with DKC – Online Zoom Event

Poetry Publishing Workshop with Don Kingfisher Campbell (Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines including the subject of or at least mentioning stone or worlds for Four Feathers Press online edition: Stone Worlds by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59 pm, June 20th)

Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.

Where: Zoom Online, Saturday Afternoon Poetry

Date: Saturday, the 7^th

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

Website: https://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/

Punch Card Workshop at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event

Set yourself a summer reading goal and keep track with your very own punch card!

Want to read the rainbow, diversify your reading lists, or just need some extra encouragement to read more books this summer? Join us for crafting and community with your fellow book lovers.

We will have punch card crafting supplies available in store, and welcome donations if you would like to bring extras to share.

This will also be the launch of our Summer Read-a-Thon Fundraiser, with participants invited to use their newly created punch cards to track their progress while raising support for Underdog Bookstore. Stay tuned for more information coming soon!

Where: Underdog Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 4 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/punch-card-workshop

Mike de la Rocha & Sacred Lessons: Teaching My Father How to Love at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

In Sacred Lessons: Teaching My Father How to Love, Mike de la Rocha explores how inherited definitions of manhood profoundly impacted his ability to connect with his father, his family, and ultimately himself, inviting readers on a transformative journey of self-discovery, forgiveness, and love.

Sacred Lessons is a deeply moving and inspiring memoir for those seeking self-love and healing. Intensely personal, this memoir delves into the struggle men face in connecting with themselves and others, offering tools for personal growth and ways to build meaningful and authentic relationships in their lives.

Through his story, Mike de la Rocha reflects on his father’s legacy as a beloved professor who impacted tens of thousands of students yet struggled to teach his own son how to be emotionally vulnerable. Reflecting on the most important relationships in his life, Mike explores the difficulty in communicating with his father and loved ones—a byproduct of a toxic culture that prohibits men from truly expressing themselves and purposely doesn’t teach men how to give and receive love. Through these stories, we see how trauma is passed on intergenerationally and how to find ways to stop the cycle of harm. In the end, both Mike and his father teach each other the greatest lesson of all: the sacredness of the love between a father and a son.

Told with raw emotion and vulnerability, Sacred Lessons is the human story of the impact that history and culture have upon us all. This is a book for those of us seeking community in a time when too many of us feel alone, as well as a testimony to the legacy of a brilliant father, a brutal indictment of patriarchy, and an affirmation of the transformative power of love.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 4 pm

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

We paint, we write, we read, we create things, we talk, we listen.

Joanne Qualey Baines hosts this event, Features TBA

Where: Private Residence

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 5 pm

Address: 16504 E. Masline St., Covina, CA

Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PondWater/

Book Launch: Susan McCabe, with David St. John and Anna Journey, & I Woke a Lake at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join poet Susan McCabe for a reading from I Woke a Lake, a lyrical and layered exploration that traverses deep time and personal history—moving from the Ice Age to ancient, pre-human Los Angeles, from Sweden’s 377-million-year-old Siljan lake to the eerie hush of a melting ice hotel. The poems ripple across haunted terrains: abandoned mines, blasted orchards, a Veterans’ Cemetery, a cryopreservation site, and Elizabeth Bishop’s childhood home. With dreamlike reverie and sharp elegy, I Woke a Lake tunes into what remains, what is vanishing, and what can still be overheard.

She will be joined in The Wanda Coleman Theater by scholars and authors, David St. John, and Anna Journey.

Susan McCabe is a professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, teaching poetics, modernism, ecology, and creative writing. She is the author of two books of poetry, Swirl, a Lambda Literary finalist, and Descartes’ Nightmare; two critical books, Elizabeth Bishop: Her Poetics of Loss, and Cinematic Modernism; and a dual bi-biography, H.D & Bryher: An Untold Love Story of Modernism. Her poetry reviews have appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books, Kenyon Review, and Denver Quarterly, and elsewhere.

David St. John is the author of twelve collections of poetry as well as a prose volume, Where the Angels Come Toward Us. He is University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at The University of Southern California.

Anna Journey is the author of the poetry collections The Judas Ear (2022), The Atheist Wore Goat Silk (2017), and Vulgar Remedies (2013), all from LSU Press, and If Birds Gather Your Hair for Nesting (University of Georgia Press, 2009), which was selected by Thomas Lux for the National Poetry Series. She’s also published the essay collection An Arrangement of Skin (Counterpoint, 2017). Her poems appear in American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry, FIELD, The Georgia Review, The Kenyon Review, The New Yorker, Poetry, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. Her essays have been published in AGNI, The Believer, The Southern Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Utne Reader. Journey teaches creative writing and literature as an associate professor of English at the University of Southern California.

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90291

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/la-book-launch-i-woke-a-lake-by-susan-mccabe-tickets-1366453572419

Monthly First Saturday Open Mic with Reggie Peralta and LibroMobile at The Frida Cinema Outdoor Entrance & Patio, Santa Ana – In-Person Event

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

Address: 305 E 4th St #100, Santa Ana, CA 92701

Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/libromobiles-monthly-open-mic-2025-06-07-18-00

Poetry Reading: James Ragan & Howling at the Moon at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

James Ragan will be reading from his 13th and recent book of poetry Howling at the Moon, an exploration of survival, unity, and the enduring power of hope. Rooted in a global sensibility, the book seeks to unite and bridge divides through shared experience, illuminating the beauty of our collective humanity and the promise of new beginnings, inspiring a communal trust in the moral compass of an enlightened world.

James Ragan is the author of 13 books of poetry, 2 plays staged in U.S, Moscow, Beijing, and more. Appearing in 36 anthologies, he has performed in 34 nations, and for the U.N., Carnegie Hall, CNN, PBS, BBC and seven Heads of State including Mikhail Gorbachev (w/ Bob Dylan). Honors: 2 Fulbright Grants, Emerson Poetry Prize, NEA, Swan Foundation Humanitarian Award, 9 Pushcart nominations & more. See web: jamesragan.com

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

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

TICKETED EVENT: Taylor Jenkins Reid, with Laura Dave, & Atmosphere: A Love Story via Book Soup (Ticketed Offsite Event) – In-Person Event

Taylor Jenkins Reid, in conversation with Laura Dave, will discuss Atmosphere: A Love Story.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love—this time among the stars.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

Where: First Congregational Church

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/ticketed-taylor-jenkins-reid-atmosphere

Book Launch: aja monet, with Robin D.G. Kelley, & Florida Water at Rep Club Off-site at Tree People – In-Person Event

Author aja monet, in conversation with Robin D.G. Kelley, will discuss Florida Water during an evening under the trees.

About Florida Water

Inspired by the cleansing water often used in spiritual baths, Florida Water is an ode to the myriad ways a poem can rinse, reflect, reveal, and unravel us.

An honest meditation on migrating to South Florida for love, connection, and community, these poems lay bare the challenging dance between the role of the artist, lover, and organizer. aja monet confronts the interpersonal truths of community organizing while also uncovering the state’s fraught history with racial prejudice, maroon communities, and natural disasters. This intimate collection of lyrical poems are the artifacts of her search for belonging and healing as she wades through the rising tides of climate change, heartbreak, and systemic violence.

Grammy-nominated poet aja monet is a surrealist blues poet, storyteller, and organizer born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She won the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam poetry award title in 2007 and aja monet follows in the long legacy and tradition of poets participating and assembling in social movements. Her first full collection of poems is titled My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter, from Haymarket Books. Her poems explore gender, race, migration, and spirituality. In 2018, she was nominated for a NAACP Literary Award for Poetry and in 2019 was awarded the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award for Poetry for her cultural organizing work in South Florida. aja monet co-founded a political home for artists and organizers called Smoke Signals Studio. She facilitates “Voices: Poetry for the People,” a workshop and collective in collaboration with Community Justice Project and Dream Defenders. aja Monet also serves as the new Artistic Creative Director for V-Day, a global movement to end violence against all women and girls.

Robin D. G. Kelley is the Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in US History at UCLA. His books include Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression, and Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, recently released in a new twentieth anniversary edition. His essays have appeared in several publications, including The Nation, New York Times, and Boston Review, for which he also serves as contributing editor.

NOTE: Ticket purchase at website.

Where: Tree People

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 7 pm (Doors at 6 pm)

Address: 12601 Mulholland Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launch-florida-water-w-aja-monet-robin-d-g-kelley-tickets-1339366323729?aff=oddtdtcreator

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

Griot Café Open Mic & Poetry is held every Saturday and hosted by Tommy Domino.

Features TBA.

Watch on YouTube.

NOTE: See site for tickets and details.

Where: Shades of Afrika

Date: Saturday the 7^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

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

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

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 8^th

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

Where vibration meets verse, this is a journey through sound and self-expression!

See site for details and schedule.

Where: Barnsdall Art Park

Date: Sunday the 8^th

Time: 12 pm – 1 pm

Address: 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Let’s Talk About Abortion is a groundbreaking, nonjudgmental, and gender-inclusive resource designed to help parents, caretakers, and providers compassionately discuss abortion with children ages 6 to 12.

Where: Chevalier’s

Date: Sunday the 8^th

Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2025-06-08/lets-talk-about-abortion-author-talk

Nicole Wong & Mahjong: House Rules from Across the Asian Diaspora at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

A step-by-step guide to Mahjong for new and seasoned players alike.

For many third-culture kids in the Asian diaspora, the sight and sound of clacking mahjong tiles conjures deep-seated memories. Some learned to play alongside elders, while others watched from afar. Maybe you only distantly know of the game through movies or articles about pop-up mahjong nights. Whether you are looking to reconnect with the game, pick up a new hobby, or introduce others to a favorite pastime, Mahjong is a step-by-step guide for new and seasoned players alike.

With vibrant photography and detailed instructional diagrams, author Nicole Wong walks you through gameplay, just how her grandfather would have. In addition, Mahjong delves into the strategy, history, and design of the game and discusses various popular styles of play (American mah-jongg, Japanese riichi mahjong, and more). A bonus essay also breaks down the mahjong hands in the pivotal scene from the 2018 hit film Crazy Rich Asians, and snippets of the author’s family history are sprinkled throughout, telling a story of diaspora through mahjong and showcasing mahjong culture, past and present.

With Mahjong as your guide, learn the history and evolution of this beautiful game while you connect with friends, family, and culture. You may even write your own house rules—just don’t forget the snacks!

Nicole Wong is a writer and audio producer based in Oakland, California. She started The Mahjong Project in 2019—part instructional guide, part oral history project, to document her family’s house rules and place them in the broader history and diaspora of the game itself.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 8^th

Time: 4 pm

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

Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2025-06-08/nicole-wong-author-signing

Let’s Talk About Abortion: How to Talk to Kids About Abortion at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event

We invite parents, educators, caregivers, and abortion providers to an important and thought-provoking event featuring Carly Kol and Emulsify, the authors of Let’s Talk About Abortion. This book is a groundbreaking resource that provides a compassionate and age-appropriate approach to discussing abortion care with kids. It serves as a guide for adults looking to navigate conversations about reproductive health with children and young people in a supportive and nonjudgmental way.

In this event, both authors who are experienced abortion doulas, will share how their work in the field informed the creation of the book and why it is crucial to have these open discussions. The event will include an interactive reading of the book, followed by a Q&A where attendees can engage with the creators on approaching these topics with children and how caregivers, can create spaces for healthy, empathetic dialogue.

Where: North Figueroa Bookshop

Date: Sunday the 8^th

Time: 5 pm – 6 pm

Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042

Featured poets:

Mani Suri is a veteran of the Poetic License crowd in L.A. He is the author of three chapbooks: Poetry My Wife Hates and the Mistresses I Could Have Had Would Have Loved, Reflection: More Poetry My Wife Hates or the Mistresses I’ll Never Have Who Might Have Loved It, and Poetry My Wife Hates: Third in a Series. Mani has been published in several anthologies, and has been featured locally, and as far away as Berkeley, Austin, and London.

Jeanne Marie Spicuzza is the founder of Seasons & a Muse entertainment conglomerate, comprised of the first fully woman-owned corporate collective, motion picture studio and membership steaming platform. An award-winning actress, writer, director, and producer, she is also a visual artist, composer and master herbalist, an internationally acclaimed poet and performance artist, published in numerous anthologies, the author of four books, and a member of the Alliance of Women Directors, Film Fatales and Cinefemme.

The grand-niece of post-impressionist painter Francesco Spicuzza, Jeanne Marie attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and psychology. As part of her self-styled Master of Arts degree program, she studied art history and philosophy in Italy, Greece, Germany, Holland and England.

Jeanne Marie has served as guest director at Grok Acting Studios and About the Work Studios in Hollywood, and has studied with Diane Salinger of The Actors’ Studio, Marjorie Ballentine of Stella Adler Studios, Timothy West at Theatre Royal Haymarket and Alan Langdon of Circle in the Square on Broadway. She has received awards, placings and nominations with The Pushcart Prize, Shepherd Express, Fade-In Magazine, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Vatican Division of Arts and Culture and others. She is published in esteemed publications like Shepherd Express, Quill and Parchment, and A Gathering of Tribes. Her paintings and illustrations appear in David Barnett Gallery, Children’s Theatre School, Blue Fifth Review and more.

Jeanne Marie’s award-winning premiere genre-bending, female-led feature thriller “The Scarapist” was dubbed “The New Noir” by publicist Jeremy Walker. It has spawned over a dozen movies and television series like “Get Out,” “Unsane,” “Gypsy” “Split,” “Greta,” “Hypnotic,” and so many more. Jeanne Marie is the recipient of the New York Independent Cinema Awards for Best Actress and Best Female Director for her sophomore feature, “Night Rain,” based on real events surrounding the Black Dahlia murder, which was one of four features selected by the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society for their Women In Film Festival and screening series. It was selected by and won awards in over thirty-eight festivals worldwide.

Jeanne Marie was nominated ‘Woman of the Year’ in 1998 through the National Organization for Women. Segments from her first screenplay “Breath of God” may be found the Brooklyn Museum, as part of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party. She is the first and only screenwriter to have been selected for permanent museum exhibition.

Where: The Studio Theatre at St. Denis Building

Date: Sunday the 8^th

Time: 5 pm – 7 pm

Address: 3433 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Los Angeles, CA 90068

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

Fantasy Romance Book Club: This Is How You Lose the Time War at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event

General Manger Taylor will lead this book club discussion of This Is How You Lose the Time War by author Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.

If witches, vampires, ghosts, and other worlds are your jam, please join us!

No membership is necessary, but RSVP is required.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Sunday the 8^th

Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232

Where: PoeTik LA

Date: Sunday the 8^th

Time: 8 pm

Address: 2930 Hyperion, Silverlake, CA

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