Join us to welcome back children’s book author, Sandra Feder!

Please join us for storytime and celebrate Sandra’s release of Shy Me, the third book in her Emotions and Me series. Signed copies of her books will be available on the day of her visit and she will be happy to personalize them.

In this compassionate exploration of shyness, a child describes feeling shy in a variety of home, social and school situations. These include meeting a new person, being in a crowded place and being on stage for a class performance. Sometimes the child feels shy with friends or when trying to make a new friend.

When feeling shy, the child tries to be brave and identify what might help in each situation. Sometimes it helps to go slowly, find a quiet place or practice for a performance. And sometimes what helps is finding a buddy or noticing that other children feel shy too.

Sandra V. Feder is the author of seven acclaimed and beloved books, including four picture books and three early chapter books.

Where: pages, a bookstore

Date: Monday the 14^th

Time: 10:30 am

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

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-07-14/kids-storytime-special-guest-sandra-feder

Robertson Writers Group at Robertson Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Writing a book, poem, or screenplay? Need deadlines? Want constructive feedback? Then this is the place for you.

Bring 5 – 10 double spaced typed pages to read. Everyone will get a chance to read.

RSVP:

This group mostly meets in person, but email rbrtsn@lapl.org if you’d prefer to join via Zoom.

Where: Robertson Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 14^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 1719 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035

Write to prompts, share (if you want), connect with fellow seniors in the neighborhood, hone your writing skills, and find your story.

RSVP:

An RSVP to studio@lapl.org is recommended but not required. If you RSVP we will send you a welcome packet, guidelines, and a reminder the day before the meeting.

Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 14^th

Time: 1 pm

Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/senior-writing-group-2

Book Club: Table for Two at Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event

Join us for a lively book discussion. We meet online via Google Meet.

July: Table for Two by Amor Towles

RSVP:

Please email ebarrera@lapl.org.org for the link.

Where: Simi Valey Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 14^th

Time: 4:45 pm – 5:30 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sun-valley-branch-book-club-4

Evening Book Club: Empress of the Nile at Manhattan Beach Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Participants can enjoy a facilitated discussion of fiction and nonfiction titles. A limited number of titles are available for attendees at the library. For adults.

July Selection: Empress of the Nile by Lynne Olson.

In the 1960s, the world’s attention was focused on a nail-biting race against the international campaign to save a dozen ancient Egyptian temples from drowning in the floodwaters of the gigantic new Aswan High Dam. But the coverage of this unprecedented rescue effort completely overlooked the daring French archaeologist who made it all happen. Without the intervention of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, the temples, including the Temple of Dendur, now at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, would currently be at the bottom of a vast reservoir.

Where: Manhattan Beach Library, LACL

Date: Monday the 14^th

Time: 5 pm – 6 pm

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

The Little Friend is a gripping Southern Gothic novel set in Mississippi, where the Cleve family remains haunted by the unsolved murder of their son, Robin, twelve years prior. At just twelve years old, Robin’s younger sister, Harriet, takes it upon herself to find her brother’s killer, convinced that a local troubled boy is the culprit.

Embarking on a dangerous amateur investigation with her friend, her pursuit of justice will uncover the family secrets and class tensions that hide in plain sight at the heart of their seemingly quaint Southern town, forcing Harriet to face the true face of evil.

Let’s discuss the darkness that hides within all of us.

NOTE: Register at website.

Where: Chevalier’s

Date: Monday the 14^th

Time: 5 pm – 6:30 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2025-07-14/fiction-book-club-july

YA for Adults Book Club: A Reaper at the Gates at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes #1) by Sabaa Tahir.

Beyond the Martial Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger.

Helene Aquilla, the Blood Shrike, is desperate to protect her sister’s life and the lives of everyone in the Empire. But she knows that danger lurks on all sides: Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable and violent, while Keris Veturia, the ruthless Commandant, capitalizes on the Emperor’s volatility to grow her own power—regardless of the carnage she leaves in her path.

Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer. But in the hunt to bring him down, Laia faces unexpected threats from those she hoped would help her, and is drawn into a battle she never thought she’d have to fight.

And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. But in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that demands his complete surrender—even if that means abandoning the woman he loves

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Monday the 14^th

Time: 6 pm

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

Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/ya-adults-reaper-gates

Robertson Raders Book Club: Me Before You at Robertson Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for book club at Robertson Branch. We will discuss the book and share other interesting books we have been reading. New members are welcome!

Print copies of each book will be available for checkout in the branch beginning three weeks prior to the book club meeting date, while supplies last.

July 14: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.

Where: Robertson Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 14^th

Time: 6:30 pm

Address: 1719 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/robertson-readers-book-club-6

Memoir Launch: Candi Milo, with Trey Galloway, & Surviving the Odd at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us for the launch of Candi Milo’s memoir Surviving the Odd!

The artist, author, and actor will engage in a reading and Q&A with screenwriter Trey Callaway as she discusses a childhood on the edge with trademark humor and resilience.

Reserve your seat on EVENTBRITE!

Surviving the Odd is a rare and deeply personal glimpse into a childhood spent in the halls of one of California’s first homes for the mentally ill. With humor and an unflinching eye, Candi recounts growing up amidst psychiatric patients, a father who ran the care home like a nightclub, and a world where madness and laughter often blurred together. As she navigates through the chaos, she unearths a story of resilience, love, and the determination to find her own voice amidst the clamor of mental illness and societal disregard in the Bay Area during the 1970s.

This book is an unforgettable exploration of what it means to survive in a world that often feels on the edge, wrapped in the bittersweet absurdity of a life lived between punchlines and lithium prescriptions.

Candi Milo is an author, Behind the Voice Actor Award–winner, and three-time Annie Award–nominated voice artist, singer, and comedian. Raised in San Jose, she now lives in Los Angeles.

Trey Callaway is an award-winning writer and television showrunner. Callaway wrote the screenplay for the hit horror film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and was the executive producer and showrunner of both the Fox Television crime procedural APB and the CW fantasy drama The Messengers.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Monday the 14^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

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 14^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Morgan Pager, in conversation with Traci Thomas, will discuss The Art of Vanishing.

A stunningly original love story between a museum employee and the man in a masterpiece hanging on the walls—a breathtaking debut about time, art, and the enduring power of love.

Something magical is happening inside this museum.

Jean’s life is the same day in and day out. Frozen in time by his painter father, the legendary Henri Matisse, Jean observes the ebb and flow of museum guests as they take in the works of his father and other masters like Renoir, Picasso, and Modigliani. But his world takes a mesmerizing turn when Claire, a new museum employee, enters his life.

Night after night, Claire moves through the gallery where Jean’s painting hangs, mopping the floors, talking softly to herself to stem her loneliness, and gazing admiringly at the masterpieces above. The alluring man in the corner of the Matisse—is he watching her? Why does she feel a deepening pull to him, like he can see her truest self, her most profound secrets? Did he just move?

In an extraordinary twist of fate, Claire discovers she can step through the frame of Jean’s painting and into a bygone era, a lush, verdant snapshot of family life in France in the throes of the First World War. She and Jean begin a seemingly impossible affair, falling in love against the backdrop of the gallery’s other paintings come to life—glittering parties, exhilarating horse races, and windswept beach bluffs—which they can move through together and where Claire is seemingly the only outside visitor, alone in possession of this gift.

But as their happiness is threatened by challenges both inside and outside the museum, Claire and Jean find themselves in a fight to preserve the love they’ve hardly dared to dream of. Will their extraordinary connection defy the confines of reality, or will the forces conspiring against them shatter their carefully curated happiness?

Morgan Pager is a publishing professional and the content creator behind NYC Book Girl. A graduate of Duke University, Pager lives on the Upper West Side with her husband and their cat. The Art of Vanishing is her first novel.

Traci Thomas is the creator and host of the critically acclaimed literary podcast, The Stacks. She is a passionate champion of books and a deeply curious interviewer. Traci is a monthly contributor on NPR’s Here & Now, a columnist for shereads.com, the creator of the LAist live literary series, One for the Books. She also hosts and moderates literary events, book festivals, and author talks nationwide.

Where: Skylight

Date: Monday the 14^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

General manager Taylor C. will lead this book club.

No membership is necessary, but RSVP is required.

NOTE: See site for link and details.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Monday the 14^th

Time: 7:15 pm – 9 pm

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

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

Monday Night Fiction Workshop via Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – Online Zoom Event

This free Monday Night Community Writing Workshop led by Raquel Baker is a workshop in which participants are asked to bring copies of 2-3 pages of fiction to read, and to use for critique and discussion. Registration is required.

Raquel Baker earned a PhD in English Literary Studies from the University of Iowa and an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Postcolonial and Transnational Literatures at California State University Channel Islands, teaching courses on creative writing and contemporary African literatures. Raquel has published poetry in Africology and The Arrow; fiction in Enculturation, The Daily Palette, The Womanist, and Crux; and non-fiction in Little Village; and has done readings with the Ventura County Poetry project. Raquel 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 14^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)

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 paperback. https://www.francescaliablock.com/

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 10 am – 11 am

Join us weekly on Zoom on Tuesday mornings at 11AM for the Virtual Book Club. In July we will be discussing The River Is Waiting, a novel by Wally Lamb. For adults.

Each week we read and discuss 1/4 of the book. Please see the weekly discussion breakdown below.

Week 3: July 15: Part 3: Chapters 22 – 31 Pages 205 – 319

Week 4: July 22: Parts 3 & 4 Page 321 to the end of the book.

Week 5: July 22: Wrap-up discussion of The River is Waiting & discussion of recommendations for other books, movies, etc.

Corby Ledbetter is struggling. New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown his marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that’s before he causes the tragedy that tears the family apart. Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to frightful acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness and elemental kinship with a prison librarian who sees his light and some of his fellow offenders, including a tender-hearted cellmate and a troubled teen desperate for a role model…

Where: Virtual Event, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 15^th – Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Join us to celebrate with author Meg Waite Clayton and hear about the publication of her new novel, Typewriter Beach at The Hook & Plow Manhattan Beach on Tuesday, July 15th at 11:30 am.

Ticket includes a signed hardcover copy of Typewriter Beach and a three-course luncheon. [$100]

Set in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Hollywood, Typewriter Beach is an unforgettable story of the unlikely friendship between an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and a young actress hoping to be Alfred Hitchcock’s new star.

1957. Isabella Giori is ten months into a standard seven-year studio contract when she auditions with Hitchcock. Just weeks later, she is sequestered by the studio’s “fixer” in a tiny Carmel cottage, waiting and dreading.

Meanwhile, next door, Léon Chazan is annoyed as hell when Iz interrupts his work on yet another screenplay he won’t be able to sell, because he’s been blacklisted. Soon, they’re together in his roadster, speeding down the fog-shrouded Big Sur coast.

2018. Twenty-six-year-old screenwriter Gemma Chazan, in Carmel to sell her grandfather’s cottage, finds a hidden safe full of secrets—raising questions about who the screenwriter known simply as Chazan really was, and whether she can live up to his name.

In graceful prose and with an intimate understanding of human nature, Meg Waite Clayton captures the joys and frustrations of being a writer, being a woman, being a star, and being in love. Typewriter Beach is the story of two women separated by generations—a tale of ideas and ideals, passion and persistence, creativity, politics, and family.

Meg Waite Clayton is the New York Times bestselling author of eight previous novels, including the Good Morning America Buzz Pick and New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice The Postmistress of Paris, The Last Train to London, and The Wednesday Sisters. Her books have been published in twenty-four languages, and have been finalists for the Bellwether Prize (now the PEN Bellwether), the National Jewish Book Award, and the Langum Prize. She also writes for major newspapers and magazines, mentors in the OpEd Project, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the California bar. She lives in California and Connecticut.

Where: pages at The Hook & Plow

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 11:30 am – 1 pm

Address: 425 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-07-15/special-author-luncheon-meg-waite-clayton

July 15: Solito, Javier Zamora

Where: Venice – Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 12:30 pm

Address: 501 S. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291

Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters.

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.

Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.

 Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 1 pm

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

Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/ban-book-club-i-know-why-caged-bird-sings

Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/author-talk-elaine-franklin

On a foggy summer night, a private jet heading to New York crashes into the ocean. The only survivors are an unknown painter, Scott Burroughs, and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul’s family. Was it by chance that so many important people died on the flight? Or was something more sinister at work? Amid trauma and chaos, the fragile relationship between Scott and the young boy grows and glows at the heart of this novel, raising questions of fate, morality, and the inextricable ties that bind us together.

Where: Pico Rivera Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 9001 Mines Ave., Pico Rivera, CA 90660

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13539925

Attendance is limited, and advance registration is required. Please register every individual in your party. This will be used to save your spots in the program. We cannot guarantee availability for any unregistered attendees.

Where: Norwood Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 4550 Peck Rd., El Monte, CA 91732

Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 6400 Playa Vista Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90024

In this early serial killer novel, Ellery Queen stalks a mass murderer through the streets of 1940s New York.

In the dog days of August, it is no surprise to see New Yorkers perspire. But this summer, a killer called the Cat gives the city a new reason to sweat. He selects his victims seemingly at random and strangles them, then escapes without leaving a clue. As the death toll climbs and the press whips the public into a horrified frenzy, Gotham teeters on the edge of anarchy.

Ellery Queen, the brilliant amateur sleuth, has gone into retirement when the Cat begins to kill. As his father, a seasoned homicide detective, leads the investigation into the murders, Ellery tries to avoid getting involved. When Queen discovers a clue that could hold the secret to untangling the puzzling crimes, he pounces on the opportunity to crack the case. But unfortunately for him—and for the citizens of 1940s New York City—he’s barely scratched the surface.…

Ellery Queen was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty-two years writing the greatest puzzle-mysteries of their time, gaining the duo a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age “fair play” mystery.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 6 pm

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

WINNER of the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Baby-faced teen Giovanni Macedo is desperate to find belonging in one of LA’s most predatory gangs, the Columbia Lil Cycos—so desperate that he agrees to kill an undocumented Mexican street vendor. The vendor, Francisco Clemente, had been refusing to give in to the gang’s shakedown demands. But Giovanni botches the hit, accidentally killing a newborn instead. The overlords who rule the Lil Cycos from a Supermax prison 1,000 miles away must be placated and Giovanni is lured across the border where, in turn, the gang botches his killing. And so, incredibly, Giovanni rises from the dead, determined to both seek redemption for his unforgivable crime and take down the gang who drove him to do it.

With The Rent Collectors, Jesse Katz has built a teeth clenching and breathless narrative that explicates the difficult and proud lives of undocumented black market workers who are being extorted by the gangs and fined by the city of LA—in other words, exploited by two sets of rent collectors.

Jesse Katz is a former Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles magazine writer whose honors include the James Beard Foundation’s M. F. K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award, PEN Center USA’s Literary Journalism Award, a National Magazine Award nomination, and two shared Pulitzer Prizes. His writing has appeared in the anthologies Best American Magazine Writing, Best American Crime Writing, and Best American Sports Writing. As a volunteer with InsideOUT Writers, he has mentored incarcerated teenagers at Central Juvenile Hall and the former California Youth Authority. His first book, The Opposite Field, was set in LA’s immigrant suburbs.

Antonia Cereijido is the host of Imperfect Paradise, a weekly narrative series from LAist. Previously, she served as Executive Producer at LAist Studios and was the host of the LAist podcast Norco ’80. She was a producer for six years on NPR’s Latino USA and hosted her own segment, The Breakdown. She has hosted podcasts for Mic and Slate. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, NPR’s Code Switch, and All Things Considered.

NOTE: Register at website.

Where: Chevalier’s

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

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

At the age of twenty, college student Ben Weissenbach went north to Arctic Alaska armed with little more than inspiration from his literary heroes and a growing interest in climate change. What met him there was a world utterly unlike the 21st century Los Angeles in which he grew up—a land of ice, rock, and grizzlies seen by few outside a small contingent of scientists with big personalities.

There’s Roman Dial, the larger-than-life ecologist with whom Ben walks and rafts a thousand miles across Alaska’s Brooks Range. There’s Kenji Yoshikawa, the reindeer-herding permafrost expert who leaves Ben alone for eleven days to care for his off-grid homestead, where temperatures drop to -49 degrees Fahrenheit. And there’s Matt Nolan, the independent glaciologist who flies him to the largest glaciers in the American Arctic.

As these scientists teach Ben to read Alaska’s warming landscape, he confronts the limits of digital life and the complexity of the world beyond his screens. He emerges from each adventure with a new perspective on our modern relationship to technology and a growing wonder for our fast-changing—ever-changing—natural world.

Ben Weissenbach is a writer from Los Angeles. He studied under John McPhee at Princeton University and was awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue a PhD in Polar Studies. His work has appeared in the L.A. Times, National Geographic, Scientific American, and Smithsonian, among other publications.

Dean Kuipers is a writer on the environment, farming, politics, and culture. He is the author of eight books and most recently of a memoir, The Deer Camp, which was a Michigan Notable Book. He and his wife, Lauri Kranz, co-own a community grocery store in Glassell Park, LA HOMEFARM, work a small flower farm there, and have other farm and garden projects together as Edible Gardens LA. Together they are co-authors of the how-to book, A Garden Can Be Anywhere. Dean’s 2007 nonfiction book, Burning Rainbow Farm, is about the FBI shooting of two gay libertarian pot activists in Michigan, and 2009’s Operation Bite Back follows the FBI manhunt for animal activist Rod Coronado and the use of domestic terrorism charges against US environmentalists. He was an editor at the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles CityBeat, Spin and Ray Gun, and his work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Orion, Wired, Mother Jones, The Nation, Playboy, The Guardian, Outside, The Atlantic and many other publications.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

From the acclaimed author of Parakeet, Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is a wise, tender novel about a woman who doesn’t feel at home on Earth.

At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Adina Giorno is tiny and jaundiced, but she reaches for warmth and light. As a child, she recognizes that she is different: She possesses knowledge of a faraway planet. The arrival of a fax machine enables her to contact her extraterrestrial relatives, beings who have sent her to report on the oddities of Earthlings.

For years, as she moves through the world and makes a life for herself among humans, she dispatches transmissions on the terrors and surprising joys of their existence. Then, at a precarious moment, a beloved friend urges Adina to share her messages with the world. Is there a chance she is not alone?

Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is a novel of startling originality about the fragility and resilience of life on our Earth and in our universe. It is a remarkable evocation of the feeling of being in exile at home, and it introduces a gentle, unforgettable alien for our times.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

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

Free event. 21+

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: The Aftermath Bar

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 7 pm – 10 pm

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

Gerald Petievich will present and discuss 13 Hillcrest Drive

13 Hillcrest Drive is a gripping thriller that peels back the layers of Hollywood’s glitz to reveal the raw, unfiltered human drama underneath. In a city where image is everything, the truth can be the most dangerous revelation of all.

Thom Mount will present and discuss Rafferty Returns.

Rafferty Returns is a razor-sharp neo-noir that plunges into the shadows cast by the spotlight. It’s a riveting plunge into the hidden underbelly of the dream factory, leading Jon Rafferty and the studio to the precipice of murder and heartbreak.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/gerald-petievich-thom-mount

North Fig Book Club: Stoner at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event

Join participants to discuss Stoner by John Williams.

From Amazon:

Discover an American masterpiece. This unassuming story about the life of a quiet English professor has earned the admiration of readers all over the globe.

William Stoner is born at the end of the nineteenth century into a dirt-poor Missouri farming family. Sent to the state university to study agronomy, he instead falls in love with English literature and embraces a scholar’s life, so different from the hardscrabble existence he has known. And yet as the years pass, Stoner encounters a succession of disappointments: marriage into a “proper” family estranges him from his parents; his career is stymied; his wife and daughter turn coldly away from him; a transforming experience of new love ends under threat of scandal. Driven ever deeper within himself, Stoner rediscovers the stoic silence of his forebears and confronts an essential solitude.

John Williams’s luminous and deeply moving novel is a work of quiet perfection. William Stoner emerges from it not only as an archetypal American, but as an unlikely existential hero, standing, like a figure in a painting by Edward Hopper, in stark relief against an unforgiving world.

Where: North Figueroa Bookshop

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 7 pm

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

Pickleball rivalry? Sure. Falling for your fake boyfriend? Now that’s a surprise.

Facilitated by Lisa Becker.

Where: pages: a bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-07-15/romance-book-club

At Skylight: Kashana Cauley, with Rufi Thorpe, & The Payback at Skylight – In-Person Event

Kashana Cauley, in conversation with Rufi Thorpe, will present and discuss The Payback.

When Jada Williams is relentlessly pursued by the Debt Police, she is left with no choice but to take down her student loan company with the help of two mall coworkers—from the author of The Survivalists.

Jada Williams is good at judging people by their looks. From across the mall, she can tell not only someone’s inseam and pants size, but exactly what style they need to transform their life. Too bad she’s no longer using this superpower as a wardrobe designer to Hollywood stars, but for minimum wage plus commission at the Glendale mall.

When Jada is fired again, she is forced to outrun the newly instated Debt Police who are out for blood. But Jada, like any great antihero, is not going to wait for the cops to come kick her around. With the help of two other debt-burdened mall coworkers, she hatches a plan for revenge. Together the three women plan a heist to erase their student loans forever and get back at the system that promised them everything and then tried to take it back.

Kashana Cauley is the author of The Payback and The Survivalists, which was named a best book of 2023 by the BBC, Today, Vogue, and more. Cauley is also a television writer, having worked on The Great North, Pod Save America on HBO, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and more. Find out more at KashanaCauley.com.

Rufi Thorpe is the author of four novels, most recently Margo’s Got Money Troubles, which was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and is soon to be an AppleTV series starring Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfieffer and Nicole Kidman. Her 2020 novel, The Knockout Queen, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award. A native of California, she currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two sons, and extremely poorly behaved dog.

Where: Skylight

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 7 pm

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

Murder, movie stars, and mystery await those who climb aboard this cross-country train, inspired by the real-life history of the Hollywood Victory Caravan.

Hollywood, 1942. Jacqueline Love’s acting career is flailing. Suddenly on the wrong side of 40, parts are drying up, directors are calling her “difficult,” and Humphrey Bogart has stopped taking her calls. Desperate to cling to stardom, Jackie takes the only gig that will have her: the Hollywood Victory Caravan, a train full of movie stars crossing the country to fundraise for the war effort. Jackie wouldn’t call herself patriotic, but with her life’s work on the line, she’ll do anything.

When a fellow star dies on board, everyone assumes the death was a tragic accident-but Jackie isn’t so sure. Stuck in Chicago’s Union Station, Jackie enlists the help of Grace, one of the few women in the police force, to investigate. But “difficult” outside of a movie set is dangerous, and when the pair fall into a homegrown Nazi scheme, Jackie must ask herself what’s more important: her career, or her country?

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 7 pm

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

The new focus of the Continuing the Story Book Club is The Twilight Saga.by Stephanie Meyer.

General manager Taylor C. will lead this book club.

No membership is necessary, but RSVP is required.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 7:15 pm – 9 pm

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

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

The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert hosts Dan Mahoney – Online Zoom Event

Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert welcomes featured guest Dan Mahoney.

Dan Mahoney is a writer and translator and editor in chief of Bateau. He is the author of the chapbook Quantum Entanglement (Birds Piled Loosely, 2017) & Sunblind Almost Motorcrash, a book and cassette project out from Spork Press in 2015.

Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event

Date: Tuesday, the 15^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Whew we’re already halfway through the season! We have a beautiful show coming up. @animator_haneen is so generous to let us screen a few stop-motion animation shorts made by her students, all children in Gaza. Her team continues these workshops against the violence of the genocide. We’ll have ways for you to donate to that work. We might have a bake sale as well? TBD. Come through.

Vendor: @seastarya

DJ: @waxstyles

Want to perform for our Open Mic? Make sure to sign up for our lottery by 6:40 pm, there will only be 3 spaces available, two performances per performer per season please! We may ask to review your content. Please read the rules at https://www.tuesdaynightproject.org/how-to-perform

As a reminder, masking is required in our space, 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: Union Center for the Arts

Date: Tuesday, the 15^th

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 15^th

Time: 9 pm – 11 pm

Come write with us!

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.

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/

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Wednesday the 16^th

Time: 8:30 am – 9:30 am

Join participants to discuss The Names: A Novel by Florence Knapp.

“Insightful… [this] debut novel has “book club” written all over it. It is guaranteed to make readers reflect about their own lives—how they compare to the characters’ lives, how they might have gone differently if a few circumstances were changed, how they’ve been shaped by the choices we and others made.”

—Minneapolis Star Tribune

Facilitated by Linda McLoughlin Figel.

Where: pages: a bookstore

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 10 am

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

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-07-16/coffee-time-book-club

Book Club: Before We Were Innocent at Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us for a lively discussion of the thriller Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman.

Where: Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 16^th

Time: 1:30 pm – 3 pm

Address: 10640 Petit Ave., Granada Hills, CA 91344

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-we-were-innocent

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 16^th

Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: On-air Event (live)

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

Write-In Event at Canoga Park Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Come and write in the company of others! Any writer knows that working alone can be difficult—the loneliness, the temptation of distractions, and the lack of accountability make it easy to lose motivation. Just sitting in a room with other writers while you work can be a surprisingly effective tool for keeping yourself on task and hitting your daily word count. Bring your laptop or notebook and enjoy some soothing background music, and camaraderie. Hang around afterward to chat with your fellow writers or share a bit of your work.

RSVP:

Optional: email katie.wright@lapl.org to RSVP.

Where: Canoga Park Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 16^th

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: 20939 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, CA 91303

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/write

Middle Grade Book Club at pages: a bookstore – In-Person MG Event

Meets monthly, generally on the third Wednesday of each month at 4:30 pm.

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

Please RSVP to amy@pagesabookstore.com

Where: pages: a bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 16^th

Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

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

Back in 1953, Roya was a 17-year-old schoolgirl, raised in a progressive home in Tehran, where she meets Bahman at university. Bahman’s emotionally volatile mother refuses to accept their engagement, because she has already chosen the daughter of a man closely allied with the shah for her son. When Bahman and his family disappear, Roya can only turn to Mr. Fakhri for help. Mr. Fakhri offers to exchange secret letters between the lovers. The plan works, and the two even plan to elope, but Bahman does not show up. Sixty years later, Bahman’s confession will finally expose the secrets that cast shadows over the lovers so long ago. A sweeping romantic tale of thwarted love.

Where: San Fernado Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 16^th

Time: 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Address: 217 N. Maclay Ave., San Fernando, CA 91340

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13671465

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 16^th

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

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

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

Fiction Book Club: James at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us on the third Wednesday of every month for our long-running book club for adults!

July 16 (7/16): James by Percival Everett

Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 16^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604

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

Ben Yalom, with Gabe Kahn, & Hour of the Heart, at Diesel, A Bookstore – In- Person Event

Ben Yalom, in conversation with Gabe Kahn, will present and discuss Hour of the Heart: Connecting in the Here and Now.

Psychotherapist Benjamin Yalom joins us to discuss Hour of the Heart, the memoir written in collaboration with his father and one of the most prominent psychotherapists of our time, Irvin Yalom.

Hour of the Heart shows us how to relate to each other better in the moment, with more honesty and vulnerability. That hour of connection, occurring during a time of isolation and grief for so many, helped to sustain both patient and therapist, and enriched Yalom’s vision of what psychotherapy can do.

Facing memory loss at age ninety-three as well as the fallout from a global pandemic that moved much of daily life online, legendary psychotherapist and bestselling author Irvin D. Yalom was forced to vastly reconsider the shape of his sessions with patients. Rather than throw in the towel in the face of change, Dr. Yalom considered head-on the limitations imposed by these new realities and revolutionized his practice. Turning his focus to what might be achieved in a one-hour, one-time-only meeting between patient and practitioner, Dr. Yalom employed an even more concerted use of his “here and now” approach.

Yalom recounts some of these intense, life-changing sessions, exploring an array of human predicaments and his own late-career development as a therapist. In recounting these consultations, he shows how a therapist’s willingness to be open helps patients let down their own guards, leading to a deeper and more immediate connection—one necessary to achieving profound realizations in just sixty minutes. This vulnerability led Yalom to disclose details about his personal life that he might previously have kept hidden from patients. Throughout, he pushes the boundaries of self-revelation as a therapeutic tool.

Benjamin Yalom is a psychotherapist, creative coach, theater maker, and writer. His therapy and coaching focus on understanding and aligning one’s values with one’s living, and unlocking creative approaches to work and life. He is a longtime writing collaborator with his father, Irvin D. Yalom. Prior to his current doctoral studies in Marriage and Family Therapy, Benjamin was the visionary force behind foolsFURY theater, which helped transform San Francisco’s performing arts scene in the early 2000s. He is also an award-winning fiction writer, and holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He lives with his wife, Dr. Anisa Yalom, and their three children in San Diego.

Gabriel Kahn has worked as a newspaper correspondent and editor for three decades, including 10 years at The Wall Street Journal, where he served as Los Angeles bureau chief, deputy Hong Kong bureau chief, and deputy Southern Europe bureau chief, based in Rome. He has reported from more than a dozen countries on three continents. His work has appeared in Slate, Mother Jones, Salon, The New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, Pacific Standard, The National Law Journal, The American Prospect, and other publications. He has been a guest on the BBC World Service, CNN, CNBC, and C-Span, as well as on numerous international news programs.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 16^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

From the Alex Award-winning and Edgar-nominated author of How Lucky, this twisty, funny, and ultimately uplifting novel follows a father in a race against time to provide for his child.

Lloyd McNeil has just learned he has months to live. He also learns that his twenty years as a beat cop in Atlanta haven’t earned him enough money to take care of his teenage son, Bishop, after he’s gone. But when Lloyd discovers his police benefits will increase exponentially if he dies in the line of duty, he comes up with a plan.

Lloyd begins to throw himself into one life-threatening situation after another to try to get himself killed and to provide for his son…but he keeps failing—and surviving. To his shock, his accidental heroics make him an inspirational icon in the community. But time is still running out for Lloyd to get his affairs in order, to teach Bishop the lessons he needs to be a good person, and to say goodbye.

Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride is a surprising, unforgettable blend of suspense, humor, and compassion. It is a novel about what we leave behind and what we learn along the way, a bighearted and stirring story about the depths of a father’s love for his son.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 16^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/will-leitch-conversation-jeff-garlin-discusses-signs-lloyd-mcneils-last-ride

Creativity in the Age of Mass Incarceration: Abolition Feminism in Art and Action at Page Against the Machine – In-Person Event

The exhibit will be accompanied by readings by formerly incarcerated poets Asia Johnson and Ra Avis, followed by a panel discussion with Megumi on their shared personal experiences of navigating the age of mass incarceration, the importance of expression and in creating art in both dark and joyful times, the power of art to change narratives, and abolition feminism praxis to defeat hierarchies and forces of oppression.

Where: Page Against the Machine

Date: Wednesday the 16^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 2714 E 4^th St., Long Beach, CA 90814

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 16^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

From 831 Stories, the highly anticipated next book in the Big Fan series by Alexandra Romanoff, an enemies-to-lovers romance in which tabloid fodder mixes with a long-brewing rivalry.

Cassidy is done moving through her life as the headline-making other woman. She’s paid for what she did as a young campaign intern in spades.

After five years of working on anti-bullying initiatives in D.C., she returns to her hometown, Berkeley, to recalibrate—and she quickly falls into bed with her high-school nemesis Leon, the slacker to her try-hard. It’s just a one-night thing. That is, until they both find themselves helping their mutual friend Willa open her new ceramics studio and Cassidy sees Leon in a new light. If everyone’s misjudged her, is there a chance she’s underestimated him, too?

831 Stories is a modern romantic fiction company that prioritizes pleasure reading and celebrates the genre’s joyful, enthusiastic fans.

Alexandra Romanoff is a journalist, a cultural critic, and the author of three novels (under Zan Romanoff), most recently LOOK, which O: The Oprah Magazine called “one of the LGBTQ books that will change the literary landscape.” She also co-hosts the podcast On the Bleachers, which examines the intersection of sports and pop culture. Her favorite member of One Direction is Louis Tomlinson. She lives and writes in L.A.

Traci Thomas is the creator and host of the book podcast. Traci is a monthly contributor on NPR’s Here & Now, a columnist for shereads.com, the creator of the LAist live literary series, One for the Books.

Where: Skylight

Date: Wednesday, the 16^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-alexandra-romanoff-presents-square-waves

Banned Books Club (July): The Undocumented Americans at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event

Our Banned Books Club pick for July 16th is The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio.

You can pick up a copy in store or keep supporting Underdog by purchasing the audiobook through us on Libro.fm

Banned Books Club meets every third Wednesday in store and online to discuss a new banned or challenged book each month. We’re also now on the BookClubsHQ app!

 RSVP: bit.ly/readbannedbooks

RSVP at website.

Where: Underdog Bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 16^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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. Hosted by Jessica Gallion aka “Yellawoman.”

Dr. V is a professor known for her engaging teaching style and dedication to social justice, particularly in the fields of sociology and education. She is also an author and activist, contributing to discussions on identity and equity through her work. She is the author of Womxn (World Stage Press, 2025).

• 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm — Formal workshop;
• 8:30 pm – 9:00 pm — Dr. V book release;
• 9:05 pm – 10:00 pm — Open mic.

Date: Wednesday, the 16^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm

Address: 4321 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008

Website: https://www.instagram.com

Story Salon: Theme Oops I Did It Again at Art Parlor in Valley Village – In-Person Event

Join us for a night of storytelling, with the theme: Oops I Did It Again!

Storytellers coming soon!

Where: Art Parlor

Date: Wednesday the 16^th

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

Address: 5302 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Valley Village, CA 91607 

Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop with Jose Hernandez Diaz 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.

Jose Hernandaz Diaz is a 2017 NEA Fellow. He is the author of The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020) Bad Mexican, Bad American (Acre Books, 2024) The Parachutist (Sundress Publications, 2025) and Portrait of the Artist as a Brown Man (Red Hen Press, 2025). He has been published in Bennington Review, The Yale Review, The London Magazine, The Southern Review, Poetry Ireland Review, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2011, and in The Best American Poetry 2025. He has taught creative writing at the University of California at Riverside. Currently, he is the Visiting Writer in Residence at the University of Tennessee.

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

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Wednesday, the 16^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wednesday-night-poetry-workshop-tickets-1480973755369

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 16^th

Time: 8 pm – 9:45 pm (Doors at 7:30)

Host Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry welcome featured guest Sarah Thursday.

Sarah Thursday is a poet, arts advocate, and music lover. She has been published in many fine journals and anthologies, interviewed by Poetry LA, and received a 2017 Best of the Net nomination. She has two full-length collections, All the Tiny Anchors and Conversations with Gravel.

$4 cover fee, cash only See less.

$4 cover fee

Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange

Date: Wednesday, the 16^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

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

Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/the-ugly-mug/sarah-thursday-at-the-ugly-mug/2293691671028164/ 

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.

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/

Tuesdays & Thursdays @10AM | $15

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 10 am – 11 am

Explore the intricate world of Legend with Marie Lu as she encourages readers to look beyond the surface and reveal hidden secrets. Explore the depths of deceit, battle for power, and the lengths characters will go to unmask the Truth.

Legend is a dystopian novel where two unlikely characters, June and Day, cross paths in search for the Truth. Can they set aside their differences and preconceptions for the greater good? Readers will devour Marie Lu’s words as they are challenged to think critically about the world around them and reminded to never judge a book by its cover. Register now for an event you don’t want to miss!

About the Author: Marie Lu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Legend trilogy and The Young Elites trilogy. She graduated from the University of Southern California and jumped into the video game industry, working for Disney Interactive Studios as a Flash artist. Now a full-time writer, she spends her spare time reading, drawing, playing Assassin’s Creed, and getting stuck in traffic. She lives in Los Angeles, California (see above: traffic), with one husband, one Chihuahua mix, and two Pembroke Welsh corgis.

Where: Virtual Program, LACL

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 1 pm – 2 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

July 17:Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Where: Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 1:30 pm – 3 pm

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

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-discussion-1

Book Club for Adults: Dream Count at Chet Holfield Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Whether you like historical fiction, sci-fi, romance, or memoirs, this book club reads it all. This month, join us for a discussion of Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. For Adults.

Pick up a copy of the book at the information desk today!

Where: Chet Holfield Library, LACL

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: 1060 S. Greenwood Ave., Montebello, CA 90640

Attendees should bring their own poetry to share, a notebook, and a pen.

Where: Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 6 pm

Address: 2411 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039

For this special Summer Reading Challenge version of our meeting bring your response to the prompt: Setting, a very hot day in LA. Story, open to share.

If you are unable to join us in person, you are welcome to join us virtually.

RSVP:

Contact us at ayosco@lapl.org to request the meeting link.

Where: Arroyo Seco Regional Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 6 pm

Address: 6145 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 900342

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/arroyo-writing-group-special-meeting

Mystery Book Club: The Hunter at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join participants to discuss The Hunter: A Novel by Tana French.

It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.

Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.

Tana French is the New York Times bestselling author of eight previous books, including In the Woods, The Likeness, and The Searcher. Her novels have sold over eight million copies worldwide and won numerous awards, including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Dublin with her family.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 15^th

Time: 6 pm

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

Featured poets:

Teresa Mei Chuc was born in Sài Gòn, Việt Nam shortly after the Việt Nam War and grew up in Pasadena and Altadena, California on unceded Tongva Territory. Altadena Poet Laureate, Editor-in-Chief from 2018 to 2020 and Pasadena Rose Poet since 2016, Teresa Mei Chuc is the author of three books of poetry, Invisible Light (Many Voices Press, 2018), Keeper of the Winds (FootHills Publishing, 2014) and Red Thread (Fithian Press, 2012). Her recent poetry chapbook, Incidental Takes, was published by Hummingbird Press in 2023. Teresa is a public school English teacher in Los Angeles in her twentieth year teaching. Teresa sits on the Beyond Baroque Board of Trustees (Secretary) and is the Youth Engagement Committee Chair. Teresa also sits on the Board of Directors for the San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust.

Joseph Nicks has divided his waking hours between his “day job” and his nocturnal writing. The diurnal component has varied from manual laborer to water quality lab technician, assistant science advisor to a museum exhibits development team, technical writer, public school biology teacher, and field biologist. He holds a B.S. in terrestrial zoology and two teaching credentials (multiple subject and biological sciences) and currently resides in the rural Mojave Desert. Recent publications include Tales From The Otherground (2014), Songs From The Dirt (2015), and Can’t Forget The Motor City… (2018).

Where: SPARC Centre Gallery 

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 5 pm – 7 pm

Address: 1000 Freemont Ave., Suite 120, South Pasadena, CA (Enter from back parking lot)

Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DK-Ph4sSfTf/

Bel Canto Book Club hosted by Union @ Compound, Long Beach – In-Person Event

Join us or the Bel Canto Book Club hosted by Union @ Compund (1395 Coronado Avenue, Long Beach CA 90804). We’ll meet every third Thursday of the month at 6:30 pm to discuss a book of contemporary fiction or non-fiction handpicked by bookstore owner Jhoanna Belfer of Bel Canto Books.

July – On Golden Hill by Jaclyn Moyer

Free to attend; RSVP requested. Drink/food purchase recommended. Find their full dinner menu at website. RSVP required.

Where: Union @ Compound 

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 6:30 pm

Address: 1395 Coronado Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90804

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bel-canto-book-club-2025-hosted-by-union-compound-tickets-1106488349439?aff=oddtdtcreator

John Tsilimparis, with Meghan Judge, & The Magic in the Tragic at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

John Tsilimparis, in conversation with Meghan Judge, will discuss and sign The Magic in the Tragic: Rewriting the Script on Grief and Discovering Happiness in Our Darkest Days – A New Approach to Resilience, Grieving, and Healing.

What if you could flip the script on the pain in your life and learn how to cultivate purpose and joy—not after grief but during it, not despite hardship but because of it? What if you could find a type of magic in your tragedy? A way to understand your emotions and reframe your grief that opens you up rather than shuts you down?

Drawing on his own story, scientific and philosophical evidence, the soothing effects of the arts and nature, and three decades of experience as a psychotherapist and grief counselor, John Tsilimparis offers a new take on adversity in The Magic in the Tragic. In these uncertain times.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Thursday, the 17^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2025-07-17/john-tsilimparis

Sarah Hawthorne & You Wanna Be on Top?: A Memoir of Makeovers, Manipulation, and Not Becoming America’s Next Top Model at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Sarah Hawthorne will discussYou Wanna Be on Top?: A Memoir of Makeovers, Manipulation, and Not Becoming America’s Next Top Model.

In this revealing memoir, a fan favorite America’s Next Top Model contestant pulls back the curtain on the iconic but deeply flawed reality competition show, exposing the manipulation and chaos behind the scenes.

Tyra Banks’s America’s Next Top Model was a cultural phenomenon with more than six million weekly viewers at its peak. Over its fifteen-year run, the show captured the glitz of the early aughts as well as its most toxic attitudes—from the glamorous but often questionable photo shoots to the cutting feedback from its highly respected if out-of-touch judges. But as its fans have grown up and as the next generation discovers ANTM,

Drawing on her experience as well as interviews with other contestants and production crew, Hartshorne answers the questions you always wanted to ask.

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Have you ever felt like there’s a book inside you—waiting to be written? Join us for an inspiring evening with business school alumni who turned that inner spark into a published book—and a powerful platform. In this candid panel, self-published, non-fiction authors will share how they transformed their lived experiences, lessons, and leadership into compelling books that build credibility, grow their businesses, and expand their reach.

Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur, an expert with a message, or simply someone with a long-standing goal to write, this event will give you practical insights and honest reflections.

Participating Authors:

Lindsay Barnett is the author of Working Hell to Working Well, which presents a transformative approach to finding work-life harmony. Leveraging her insider knowledge of how corporations work, Lindsay blends practical tools with holistic insights empowering readers to find a more sustainable and fulfilling approach to work. Through her unique perspective, she demonstrates how mindset shifts and even the smallest steps can help teams thrive and promote overall well-being. Whether you are an individual or leading an organization, this empowering guide will help you find new ways to make your company work for you.

Alison Wolk Campbell is the author of Redefining Success for a Happier, More Authentic & Fulfilling Life. Using specific lessons, exercises, techniques, and examples, she will show you how to define and achieve your goals for greater fulfillment.

Adrianna Martinez is the author of Reclaiming Me: Lessons from a First-Generation Mexican Daughter, an inspiring memoir about a first-generation daughter of Mexican immigrants. Adriana Martínez grew up in the housing projects, made it to Stanford University and beyond, and has spent a lifetime searching for inner peace and happiness on her own terms.

Suzanne Park is the author of One Last Word, a breezy novel asks: What would you say to your meddling parents, your ex-best friend, your toxic boss, or your high school crush if you didn’t have to face the consequences?

Sara Chae is the founder of One Last Word, an app that allows you to send a mes­sage to anyone you want after you pass. Safeguards are in place so the app will only send when you’re definitely, absolutely, 100% dead, but when another Sara Chae dies and her obituary is posted online, Sara discovers that drafted messages she had drunkenly uploaded on one night have been released—one each to her emotionally charged mother, to her former best friend who ghosted her, and to her unrequited high school crush, Harry Shim.

Where: pages, a bookstore

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Doors and reception at 6 pm)

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

Set in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Hollywood, Typewriter Beach is an unforgettable story of the unlikely friendship between an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and a young actress hoping to be Alfred Hitchcock’s new star.

1957. Isabella Giori is ten months into a standard seven-year studio contract when she auditions with Hitchcock. Just weeks later, she is sequestered by the studio’s “fixer” in a tiny Carmel cottage, waiting and dreading.

Meanwhile, next door, Léon Chazan is annoyed as hell when Iz interrupts his work on yet another screenplay he won’t be able to sell, because he’s been blacklisted. Soon, they’re together in his roadster, speeding down the fog-shrouded Big Sur coast.

2018. Twenty-six-year-old screenwriter Gemma Chazan, in Carmel to sell her grandfather’s cottage, finds a hidden safe full of secrets—raising questions about who the screenwriter known simply as Chazan really was, and whether she can live up to his name.

In graceful prose and with an intimate understanding of human nature, Meg Waite Clayton captures the joys and frustrations of being a writer, being a woman, being a star, and being in love. Typewriter Beach is the story of two women separated by generations—a tale of ideas and ideals, passion and persistence, creativity, politics, and family.

Meg Waite Clayton is the New York Times bestselling author of eight previous novels, including the Good Morning America Buzz Pick and New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice The Postmistress of Paris, The Last Train to London, and The Wednesday Sisters. Her books have been published in twenty-four languages, and have been finalists for the Bellwether Prize (now the PEN Bellwether), the National Jewish Book Award, and the Langum Prize. She also writes for major newspapers and magazines, mentors in the OpEd Project, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the California bar. She lives in California and Connecticut.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-07-17/meg-waite-clayton

All Women’s Open Mic at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Village Well is partnering with local trauma-healing poet Kate Burns to provide a platform for female poets, musicians, storytellers, and comedians. While all are welcome to attend, this is an event that aims to amplify women’s voices only.

Acts are limited to 3-5 minutes in length. Sign-ups begin at 6:30 pm and conclude at 7:00 pm!

Also, please note that not all material may be considered “family-friendly” so please use discretion when deciding whether or not to bring children.

Get your tickets at website link.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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 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 18^th

Time: 8:30 am – 9:30 am

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 18^th

Time: 9:30 am

Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020

Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/pajama-story-time-22

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 18^th

Time: 11 am

Where: pages, a bookstore

Date: Friday the 18^th

Time: 3 pm – 4:30 pm

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

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-07-18/special-author-event-jennifer-l-holm-and-matthew-holm

Community in Conversation on Immigration with the ACLU and Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice: Border & Rule (First Half) at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join Cellar Door Bookstore and our local partners with the ACLU for another Community in Conversation, this time focusing on immigration, specifically discussing Silky Shah’s book Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition in two parts, and then Border & Rule by Harsha Walia in two parts. Benjamin Wood and Eddie Torres from the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice will lead these monthly book discussions here at Cellar Door Bookstore. Below are the dates and times for the meetings on each book on immigration. The third meeting about the first half of Border & Rule will be on Friday, July 18th at 6:00 pm.

Here are all of the meeting dates and times for the two books being discussed:

Unbuild Walls, first half: Thursday, May 22nd at 6:00 pm

Unbuild Walls, second half: Thursday, June 12th at 6:00 pm

Border & Rule, first half: Friday, July 18th at 6:00 pm

Border & Rule, second half: Thursday, September 4th at 6:00 pm

You can purchase your copy of Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition and/or Border & Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism online by adding them to your cart below, or you can buy over the phone at 951-787-7807. We’d love to see you in-store to purchase your book(s) as well!.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Friday the 18^th

Time: 6 pm

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

Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/self-care-book-club-platonic-how-science-attachment-can-help-you-make-and-keep-friends

Open Mic Night Every Friday Night at The Den Café, Santa Ana – In-Person Event

See you NEXT WEEK for a night of local talent, food, coffee and cocktails at The Den Cafe. A stage that’s been a home for OC’s artist since 1999.

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 18^th

Time: 6 pm (Doors at 5:30 pm)

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

Beyond Baroque and 826LA welcome you for an evening to showcase your talents on stage! Youth and community members will have a chance to share their poetry, music, storytelling, and creative energy at Beyond Baroque’s prolific Wanda Coleman Theater housed in the historic original Venice City Hall building!

Students from 826LA’s summer writing workshops will be featuring new work, so be sure to come join them on the mic or support our future creatives! The event will be MC’ed by Ariadne Makridakis Arroyo.

This is an all-ages event geared towards teens and young adults, please be respectful of the space, crowd, and fellow performers. All participants on the open mic have 5 minutes to share. Sign-ups start at 5:45 pm on-site!

Light refreshments will be provided.

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Friday the 18^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 9 pm

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

The event is free to attend. However, for the safety of our guests and customers, registration is required in advance; no walk-ins. Guests may also attend this talk virtually via Zoom. To request this accommodation, please email events@chevaliersbooks.com.

An undocumented activist and a social scientist come together to tally of the structural costs of undocumented life.

An inhumane math pervades this country: even as our government extracts labor and often taxes from undocumented workers, it excludes these same workers from its social safety net. As a result, these essential workers struggle to get their own basic needs met, from healthcare to education, from freedom of association to the ability to drive to work without looking for ICE in the rearview mirror.

Antero Garcia is an associate professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University and vice president of the National Council of Teachers of English. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books about schooling in America. He co-edits the Substack La Cuenta.

Alix Dick is an artist and storyteller living in Los Angeles. Her contributions as a producer and filmmaker have screened at film festivals across the globe. She co-edits the Substack La Cuenta, an online publication centering the voices and perspectives of individuals labeled undocumented in the US.

Julissa Arce is a bestselling author, sought-after speaker, producer, and public thinker whose writing interrogates the myths of the American Dream and the cost of assimilation. Her acclaimed books, including My (Underground) American Dream, Someone Like Me, and You Sound Like a White Girl, blend memoir, social critique, and cultural analysis to reframe conversations around immigration, identity, and what it means to truly belong. Her work has made her a leading voice in the national dialogue on race, belonging, and the power of reclaiming one’s roots.

NOTE: Register at website.

Where: Chevalier’s

Date: Friday the 18^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2025-07-17/cost-being-undocumented-author-talk-alix-dick-antero-garcia-and-julissa-arce

L.A. Book Event: Kalie Cassidy, with Rachel Gillig, & In the Veins of Drowning at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event

Kalie Cassidy, in conversation with Rachel Gillig, will discuss her romantasy In the Veins of Drowning.

A book signing will follow. RSVP.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Friday the 18^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

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

Open Mic Night (July) at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event

We host an Open Mic Night at Underdog Bookstore on the third Friday of every month to showcase and celebrate the creative talents of our local community, including poetry, music, and more!

While walk-in sign-ups are welcome on the night, if you’d like to be listed as a featured performer and guarantee your spot, you can apply at website link.

RSVP at website.

Where: Underdog Bookstore

Date: Friday the 18^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Tickets at Eventbrite.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center

Date: Friday, the 18^th

Time: 8 pm – 12 am

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

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

Third Fridays Rapp Saloon Reading Series & Open Mic with host Elena Scoto 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 18^th

Time: 8 pm – 11 pm

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

Bel Canto Graphic Novel Book Club: DUCKS via Bel Canto Books, Long Beach – Online Zoom Event

Join us every third Saturday of the month online to discuss a new graphic novel or memoir.

Participants will discuss the July selection Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton.

Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, northern lights, and boreal forest. Her first full length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.

Where: Bel Canto Books 

Date: Thursday the 17^th

Time: 10 am

Address: Online event(see site)

Where: Bel Canto Books, KUBO Long Beach 

Date: Saturday the 19^th

Time: 12 am – 1:30 pm

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

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/storytime-craft-activity-with-christine-alemshah-tickets-1400441350779?aff=oddtdtcreator

Sisters in Crime Los Angeles: LA Noir at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us as we welcome authors from Sisters in Crime Los Angeles, Shaina Steinberg and DC Frost, as they delve into their fictional worlds of life – and death – in Los Angeles, followed by a Q&A with the audience. For adults.

Copies of the authors’ books are available to checkout through the library.

Attendance is limited, and advance registration is required. Please register every individual in your party. This will be used to save your spots in the program. We cannot guarantee availability for any unregistered attendees.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 19^th

Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13985624

Ticketed Event: Chiquis & The Girl Who Sings to Bees/ La nina que les canta a las abejas at Vroman’s Off-site at Pasadena Presbyterian Church – In-Person Event

New York Times bestselling author and Latin Grammy Award-winner CHIQUIS shares a heartwarming story inspired by her journey about overcoming bullying and self-doubt and finding strength in a mother’s everlasting love.

Janney and her mom always sang together to help the flowers in Abuelita’s garden grow. But now her mom is gone, and Janney’s song is stuck, somewhere deep inside. Bullies at school don’t help.

Every day, Janney watches one particular bee in Abuelita’s garden. Working harder than the others—focused and unafraid—the tiny bee doesn’t give up. Janney begins to feel inspired by the hardworking bee as the seasons change, until one afternoon, a melody escapes her lips, and Janney’s song once again fills the air in the garden.

And when the music begins, her mom’s songs sing through her heart, giving Janney the strength to overcome her fears and sing loudly and proudly to the bees…and beyond.

Where: Vroman’s Off-site at Pasadena Presbyterian Church

Date: Saturday the 19^th

Time: 1 pm – 2 pm

Address: 585 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-07-19/chiquis-girl-who-sings-bees

L.A. Themed Reading Club: Elsewhere at Malabar Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Come join the L.A. themed Reading Club participants to discuss Elsewhere by Dana Johnson.

When Avery’s brother is threatened by gangs, their parents decide to move to the suburbs. Avery eagerly prepares for the “long journey” to West Covina from South Central. This average life, filled with school, trips to 7-Eleven to gawk at Tiger Beat magazine, and family outings to Dodger Stadium, is soon interrupted by a past she cannot escape, personified in the guise of her violent cousin Keith. When Keith moves in with her family, he triggers a series of events that will follow Avery throughout her life: to her studies at USC, to her burgeoning career as a painter and artist, and into her relationship with a wealthy Italian who sequesters her in his glass-walled house in the Hollywood Hills.

Pick up your copy at the service desk.

Where: Malabar Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the19^th

Time: 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: 2801 Wabash Ave., Los Angeles, Ca 90033

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/services-programs-events-locations-hours-get-involved-about-lapl-la-themed-reading

Book Club for Adults: Long Bright River at Live Oak Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Participants will read and discuss Long Bright River by Liz Moore.

Synopsis:

In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don’t speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.

Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey’s district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit—and her sister—before it’s too late.

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters’ childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.

Where: Live Oak Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 19^th

Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14027262

Obsidian Tongues Event: Pomona Poetry Anthology at Barnes & Noble, Montclair – In-Person Event

Hosted by Ceasar K. Avelar and Cory “Besskepp” Cofer.

Pomona’s second poet laureate Ceasar K. Avelar and the host of Pomona’s longest running poetry venue Cory “Besskepp” Cofer join forces as editors of an anthology collecting poetry and essays about the people and places of Pomona. Poets who have read and performed over the decades at poetry venues based in Pomona: A Mic and Dim Lights and Obsidian Tongues, explore themes of grief, memory, injustice, trauma, and healing. This collection features work by Michael Torres, Matt Sedillo, Judah 1, Tamara Blue, Kat Magill, Alex Tha Great, Natalie Sierra and more.

With Dim Lights & Obsidian Tongues

Edited by Ceasar K. Avelar and Cory “Besskepp” Cofer

Poets featured in the collection: David “Judah 1” Oliver, Natalie Sierra, Michael Torres, Tamara Blue, Kat Magill, Brian “SuperB” Oliva, Alex Tha Great, Matt Sedillo, Romaine Washington, Ceasar K. Avelar, James Coats, Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl, Donato Martinez, Lisbeth Coiman, Peter Lechuga, Samantha “Sammy” Herrera, Carlos Ornelas, Daniel Hees, J.T. Shannon, Jesse Tovar, Anonymous1, Joshua Swodeck, Dionne Williams, Mary Tawadros, David A. Romero, Antonio Okira Martinez, Lee Ballinger, Nino Villagi, and Carlos Mares.

Where: Barnes & Noble

Date: Saturday the 19^th

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

Address: 5183 N. Montclair Plaza Lane, Montclair, CA 91763

Website: https://www.elmartillopress.com/events-1/barnes-noble-montclair-hosts-with-dim-lights-obsidian-tongues

Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series and Open Mic at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us in-person or via Zoom for Expressions L.A. Poetry Reading Series, featuring poetry readings and open poetry mic.

RSVP:

Please email studio@lapl.org for participation details.

Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 19^th

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

Address: 12611 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/expressions-la-poetry-reading-series-and-open-mic

Waiting for Britney Spears with Author Jeff Weiss and Rosecrans Baldwin at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us in celebrating the release of Jeff Weiss’ Waiting for Britney Spears: A True Story, Allegedly with a book talk and signing.

In the mid-2000s, Jeff Weiss was a young reporter working at a B-list tabloid. His “allegedly true” rendering of that bygone and misunderstood era is a story of fame, journalism, and the death of the millennial American dream—told from the trenches, gazing at the stars.

Weiss will be joined by Rosecrans Baldwin, author of 2021’s Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles.

Where: Central Library, LAPL, Art Department

Date: Saturday the 19^th

Time: 3 pm – 4 pm

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

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/waiting-britney-spears-author-jeff-weiss-and-rosecrans-baldwin

Where: Lamanda Park Library, Pasadena

Date: Saturday, the 19^th

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

Address: 140 S. Altadena Dr., Pasadena, CA

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

Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book Club: Floating Hotel at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join participants to discuss Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis.

This cozy science fiction novel tells a story of misfits, rebels, found family—and a mystery that spans the stars

Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. All year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury—and an absolute magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby inbox? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver’s conference? And perhaps most pertinently—who is driving the ship?

Each guest has a secret, every member of staff a universe unto themselves. At the center of these interweaving lives and interlocking mysteries stands Carl, one time stowaway, longtime manager, devoted caretaker to the hotel. It’s the love of his life and the only place he’s ever called home. But as forces beyond Carl’s comprehension converge on the Abeona, he has to face one final question: when is it time to let go?

Grace Curtis is a free-roaming writer from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Her debut novel Frontier, a queer space western about climate change (really), came out in March 2023. When she’s not dreaming up stories, Grace can usually be found up a hill somewhere, climbing or hiking or lolling idly in the grass. Floating Hotel is her second novel. There will be more!!!

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 19^th

Time: 5 pm

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

Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/sci-fi-fantasy-book-club-floating-hotel

The LIT Show at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us for the 18th annual LIT SHOW! L.A.’s Diva Deluxe Suzy Williams and pianist/composer Brad Kay lead an unforgettable celebration of literature-inspired songs, featuring new pieces based on Tennyson, Joyce, Zelda Fitzgerald, and more, alongside past favorites based on Whitman, Pynchon, and Hughes. With a stellar band and special guests, this beloved event blends music, wit, and the written word.

Seating is first come, first serve (arrive early!). Admission: $20. Free parking available. For more info visit laughtears.com or reach out to Gerry Fialka at 310-306-7330 or pfsuzy@aol.com.

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Saturday the 19^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/index.html

Somos Chicanos Book Tour at Casitas Bookstore, Long Beach – In-Person Event

Join Riot of Roses Press for the Somos Chicanos Book Tour, featuring:

Erika Ayon emigrated from Mexico when she was five years old and grew up in South Central, Los Angeles. She attended UCLA and graduated with a B.A. in English. In 2009 she was selected as a PEN Emerging Voices Fellow. In 2014 her poem “Hibiscus Skies,” was selected as a top ten poem from the Poetry in the Windows VI project sponsored by the Arroyo Arts Collective. Erika has taught poetry to middle and high school students across Los Angeles. She was a 2016-2017 Community Literature Initiative Scholar. Her debut collection of poetry Orange Lady was published by World Stage Press in March 2018. Orange Lady won honorable mention for poetry at the 21st International Latino Book Awards.

Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl is a multilingual and multidimensional, 3x slam/spoken word champion and international poetiza and workshop presenter. She is a seasoned language arts educator with a Bachelor’s in English and Master’s in Cross-Cultural Teaching. Diosa X is a proud member of Tesoro, an international women’s poetry troupe, Circulo de poetas and Writers, California Poets in Schools, as a teacher-in-training, CABE and Inlandia. Diosa is the author of West of the Santa Ana and Other Sacred Places published by (Riot of Roses Publishing). Her other collections include: A Church of My Own (2021) and Hechizera: Sus Sultry Spells (Editorial Raíces, 2022). You can find all of her pertinent information at https://linktr.ee/DiosaX

Brenda Vaca is a Xicana poet, author, and independent publisher from Sejatnga, Unceded Tongva Territory, known as South Whittier, CA. She earned her B.A. in English at U.C. Berkeley with a Minor in Creative Writing and later earned a Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Biblical Languages at the Pacific School of Religion/Graduate Theological Union. Riot of Roses is her debut collection of poetry published by her indie house, Riot of Roses Publishing House. She founded Riot of Roses Publishing House to amplify historically silenced voices and narratives. Writing and publishing are her joyful rebellion.

Where: Casita Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 19^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 1440 E. 4^th St., Long Beach, CA 90802

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

Comedic Poetry Book Launch: David Meyer & Five Minutes from a Meltdown at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Author David Meyer gives a short presentation on how his new comedic poetry collection, Five Minutes from a Meltdown, came about, with select poems read from the book. There will be a Q&A to follow, where David will answer all of the presumably hard-hitting questions from the LA comedic, poetic, and literary communities.

Beloved by most, David Meyer is an aspiring adult and a proud Chicagoan. Dedicated to having the most interesting obituary possible (eventually), David strives to accrue life experiences and believes sharing stories and laughter is what life is all about. David currently lives in Los Angeles with his loving TV. David loves talking about himself in the third person.

About the book:

If laughter is the best medicine, call this book penicillin.

Get ready to laugh out loud with this collection of awkward encounters, groan-worthy puns, clever turns of phrase, and hilarious cartoons. Through David Meyer’s perspective, the world becomes a place of laughter and idiosyncrasies. This collection of quick-witted, quick reads can be devoured in a single sitting or at a poem-a-day quota (to keep the doctor away).

The book is a perfect gift for a friend who likes to laugh, an enemy who hates to laugh, or a family member who needs a laugh (and to pay you back that money they borrowed).

Get your tickets at website link.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Saturday the 19^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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 20^th

Time: 10 am – 5 pm (market); 11 am – 5 pm (poets on demand)

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

Every Sunday at 11am, bring your little one to enjoy some reading from your local booksellers, special guests, or local volunteers!

Contact us if you would like to be a volunteer reader, and we will see you at the bookstore!

Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2025-07-20/storytime-reading-ronnie

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

Stop by for Gustavo Hernández’s office hours and get some extra advice on your recent works!

RSVP

Where: LibroMobile

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 12 pm – 2 pm

Where: 1150 S. Bristol St., Santa Ana, CA 92704

Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/oc-poet-laureate-office-hours-with-gustavo-hernandez-2

Roots to Belonging: Free Community Arts Workshop with James Coats at Riverside Art Museum – In-Person Event

Join us for a community mural project and Sci-Fi Writing Workshop led by poets and writers James Coats and Diosa X.

RSVP

Where: Riverside Art Museum

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 1 pm – 4 pm

Where: 3425 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA., 92501

Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLnkOwKBQW7/

Banned Books Reading Group at West Los Angeles Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

The banned books reading group reads and discusses materials that have been historically challenged or are on the American Library Association’s “Banned and Challenged Books” lists. For current titles, please contact the West LA library at westla@lapl.org or 310-575-8323.

Where: West Los Angeles Regional Branch Library, LAPL.

Date: Sunday, the 20^th

Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm

Address: 11360 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/palabras-at-latinx-with-plants-july-2025-edition-tickets-1426260626929

Palabras at Latinx with Plants (July 2025 edition) with Caesar K. Avelar at Latinx with Plants – In-Person Event

Come enjoy an afternoon with Palabras Literary Salon, a BIPOC-centered literary community event co-hosted with Latinx with Plants, in the open air greenhouse in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles.

Our July edition features Ceasar Avelar and his book, God of the Air Hose.

Jen Cheng hosts a guest readers circle, a curated invited list of diverse BIPOC poets, writers, playwrights, creators to read 3-minutes of writing to celebrate the theme of “witness.” All are welcome to attend and learn from this intercultural space.

Date: Sunday, the 20^th

Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm

Address: 2208 Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90033

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/palabras-at-latinx-with-plants-july-2025-edition-tickets-1426260626929

Bucket List Book Club: Like Water for Chocolate at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join participants to discuss Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies by Laura Esquevel.

This classic love story takes place on the De la Garza ranch, as the tyrannical owner, Mama Elena, chops onions at the kitchen table in her final days of pregnancy. While still in her mother’s womb, her daughter to be weeps so violently she causes an early labor, and little Tita slips out amid the spices and fixings for noodle soup. This early encounter with food soon becomes a way of life, and Tita grows up to be a master chef, using cooking to express herself and sharing recipes with readers along the way.

Laura Esquivel won international acclaim for Like Water for Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate), originally published in 1990. The film based on the book, with a screenplay by Laura Esquivel, swept the Ariel awards of the Mexican Academy of Motion Pictures, winning eleven in all, and went on to become the largest grossing foreign film ever released in the United States. In 1994 Like Water for Chocolate won the prestigious ABBY award, which is given annually by the American Booksellers Association. The book has been translated into thirty languages and there are over three million copies in print worldwide. Ms. Esquivel lives in Mexico.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 3 pm

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

Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/bucket-list-book-club-water-chocolate

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Café con Libros, Pomona

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 4 pm – 6 pm

Address: 280 W. 2^nd St., Pomona, CA 91766

Website: https://www.sofiaaguilar.com/events/2025/7/20/the-amor-book-tour-caf-con-libros-press

Roar Shack Event: Readings & Open Mic at Echo Park Time Travel Mart – In-Person Event

David Rocklin will host July’s Roar Shack Reading and welcome an astounding line-up of talent.

Special guests: Alex Simon, Gerda Govine, Kolleen Carney Hoepfner, Bridgette Bianca, Carla Rachel Sameth, and Lynne Thompson. Don’t miss this one!

Alex Simon is a sports digital strategist and editor for Bay Area News Group. He’s been in journalism for years as an editor, reporter, and adjunct professor. Alex is a 2017 graduate of Elon University with a BA in journalism and a 2019 graduate of Arizona State University with a MA in journalism. He enjoys weekend adventures and loves In-N-Out Burger a bit too much.

Gerda Govine Ituarte is the author of three poetry collections: Poetry Within Reach in Unexpected Places, 2018; Future Awakes in Mouth of NOW, 2016; Alteration/Thread Light Through Eye of Storm, 2015; Oh, Where is My Candle Hat? 2012 in English and Spanish. She is the Editor and Contributor of the Pasadena Rose Poets Poetry Collection 2019: Reflection. Resistance. Reckoning. Resurrection. which launched November 15, 2019. Her work appears in numerous anthologies, and she reads in poetry venues in Southern California and in international events.

Kolleen Carney Hoepfner is a Boston-born, Burbank-based poet with an undergraduate degree in English from Salem State University and an MFA in Poetry from Antioch University Los Angeles. She served thrice as an assistant editor and once as the co-editor of poetry for Lunch Ticket, as well as assistant poetry editor for Paper Nautilus and Soundings East. She also served as both the managing editor and social media coordinator for Zoetic Press, as well as an assistant poetry editor; she is the editor-in-chief and social media coordinator for Drunk Monkeys and Cherry Dress Chapbooks; she formerly served as the social media coordinator for The Citron Review and Five:2:One Magazine. She was a poetry reader for Los Angeles Review.

bridgette bianca is a poet and professor from South Central Los Angeles. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Howard University and her Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Otis College of Art & Design. bridgette bianca has performed her poetry all around Southern California. She is author of the collection be/trouble.

Carla Rachel Sameth is the 2022-2024 co-Poet Laureate for Altadena, CA for 2022-2024 and was selected as a 2023 Poet Laureate Fellow with the Academy of American Poets. Her award-winning memoir, One Day on the Gold Line, was initially published July 2019 and is a 2021 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in the category of Memoir. The book was reissued December 2022 by Golden Foothills Press. Her essay, “If This Is So, Why Am I” (which is included in her memoir) was selected as a Notable in Best American Essays 2019. “Mother’s Day Triptych” and “This Is What I Want You to Know” were selected as Notables in Best American Essays 2020 and 2021, respectively. Her chapbook, What Is Left, was published December 2021 by dancing girl press. Her debut full-length collection, Secondary Inspections, was published January 23, 2024 by Nymeria Publishing.

Lynne Thompson was the fourth Los Angeles Poet Laureate. The daughter of Caribbean immigrants, her poetry collections include Beg No Pardon (2007), winner of the Perugia Press Prize and the Great Lakes Colleges Association’s New Writers Award; Start With A Small Guitar (2013), from What Books Press; Fretwork (2019), winner of the Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize; and Blue on a Blue Palette (2024). Thompson’s honors include the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Award (poetry) and the Stephen Dunn Prize for Poetry as well as fellowships from the City of Los Angeles, Vermont Studio Center, and the Summer Literary Series in Kenya.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Time Travel Mart

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 4 pm – 6 pm

Address: 1714 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026

Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/echo-park-time-travel-mart/roar-shacks-july-show/1470666207701090/

Vroman‘s Local Author Day: Carlos Vasquez, S.L. Cook, Scott Coon at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Carlos Vasquez presents Warrior in the Garden: 7 Rules for Men

This work is an exploration of masculinity penned by an author who unearthed the essence of true manhood under harrowing circumstances in prison serving a 20-year sentence. Vasquez’s work reveals how the rules he learned for survival and integrity behind bars are equally vital for men in the free world.

S.L. Cook presents A Snow Leopard Names Midas

After his girlfriend is kidnapped, brutalized, and left drugged in a filthy hotel, Midas McNight is forced to return to a persona he buried years before: A ruthless and lethal black bag operator known to a chosen few as The Snow Leopard.

But that was a long time ago, and Midas is not the same man. This wary and aging soldier now has no choice but to face a small army of former associates who want to eliminate him and everyone he cherishes.

A Snow Leopard Named Midas goes to the heart of the anxiety and unease now pervasive throughout not only the United States but beyond its borders as well. Told through flawed survivors committed to a war against apathy and fear, as well as enemies which, due to sheer numbers and organization, can never truly be overcome.

Those trying to make incremental improvements in a world where wrong people inevitably win.

Scott Coon presents Godless Armageddon

Thom dies in World War II and enters a godless afterlife where souls are clouds upon a golden ocean around the Earth.

He blames himself for ending his family name. He doesn’t know why he never married because he’s buried it too deep: Thom is gay.

To help him, Thom’s dad reaches out from inside a soul well-a monster made of captured souls. But all Thom sees is his father apologizing for something while dying in World War I. Determined to rescue his father, Thom teaches himself how to fight the soul wells with weaponized memories.

Others want Thom to stop the soul wells before they unleash Earth’s Armageddon and consume all souls, living and dead. But Thom just wants to atone for ending his family name.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-07-20/vromans-local-author-day-introducing-carlos-vasquez-sl-cook-and-scott-coon

Disability Pride Author Panel at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event

We are so excited to welcome this fantastic panel of authors to Underdog Bookstore in celebration of Disability Pride Month!

Leanne “L. A.” Schwartz has spent about half her life at either the library or the theater, where she played Mrs. Paroo in her local production of The Music Man, as well as a dozen other mothers over the years. When this autistic author and English teacher hasn’t got her nose in a book, she can be found baking pizzelle, directing scenes for the student Shakespeare festival, and singing along to showtunes. She is also the author of the young adult fantasies A Prayer for Vengeance and To a Darker Shore, and lives in California with her family.

Tiffany Yu is the CEO & Founder of Diversability, a 3x TEDx speaker, and the author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto: Smashing Stereotypes, Forging Change, and Building a Disability-Inclusive World. She started her career at Goldman Sachs and was named to the 2025 Forbes Accessibility 100 List. At the age of 9, Tiffany became disabled as a result of a car accident that also took the life of her father.

Nicolette Andrews lives in San Diego with her husband, youngest child, cat and dog. A lover of rom-com K-Dramas, stabby heroines, and brooding heroes. She’s best known for twisty-turny romantic fantasy and angsty plots. When she’s not torturing her creations, she enjoys cooking, camping, and cozy videos games.

They’ll be featuring each author and their work throughout July so you can learn more about their stories before the panel. Bring your books for signing or shop in store with us on the day!

RSVP at website.

Where: Underdog Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm

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

Where: North Figueroa Bookshop

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 5 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-mabtzxoz-1751846400

Solar: A Summer Literary Salon at Compound, Long Beach – In-Person Event

Join us for brief readings, lively conversation, and an opportunity to mingle and connect!

SOLAR is a literary salon that brings together writers across genres to perform and discuss their work.

Hosted by Evan Chelsee, this summer reading series follows sun themes to connect the work and guide the conversation.

SOLAR is for anyone interested in hearing work from local writers & artists, getting a peek into the creative process, and immersing themselves in a literary community.

SOLAR Summer Series Themes:

July 20: SUN-KISSED

August 17: SUNBURN

September 20: SUNSET

Join the Salon!

Where: Compound, Long Beach

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 5:30 pm – 7 pm

Address: 1395 Coronado Ave., Long Beach, CA 90804

Website: https://compoundlb.org/event/solar-literary-salon/

Mobile Data Mag Open Mic Poetry + Feature Series (Year 2) at HI Los Angeles Santa Monica Hostel – In-Person Event

Mobile Data Mag is a digital literary journal that showcases writers from California and beyond.

This is the 3^rd event in the 2025 Summer Series at HI Santa Monica Hostel in Santa Monica.

Open Mic Portion is for all genres! No hate speech/problematic rhetoric or you will be immediately booted! Please note there is a max of 13 open mic slots per Rapp Saloon. You can only sign up the day of. No early sign-ups!

Featuring:

Maestro Gamin is a facilitator with King Trade Supreme, a role he has held since September 2012. He is also a writer, emcee, producer, and spoken word poet. Prior to King Trade Supreme, he was involved with LURKMUSIC from June 2004 to November 2012 as a writer, recording artist, and online media personality.

Where: HI Los Angeles Santa Monica Hostel

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm

Focus on Craft Book Club meets on the 3^rd Sunday of the month, and participants read across the genre from a writer’s viewpoint. Everyone is welcome.

RSVP required.

This month’s selection is Only for the Weekend by Natasha Bishop.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Sunday the 20^th

Time: 7:15 pm – 9 pm

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

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