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 29th
Time: 11 am
Address: 1719 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/robertson-writers-group-2
Fiction Book Club: The Price of Salt: AKA Carol at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s own life, The Price of Salt AKA Carol is a captivating story of obsession and asks us; what price we would pay for love.
Therese Belivet is an artistic stage director, trapped in a soul sucking day job at a department, whose life is forever changed by the introduction of Carol, an alluring customer who is stuck in a loveless marriage. As Therese begins to stalk Carol and love blossoms between these two women, starved for attention but will blackmail and a PI threaten their first true moment of happiness?
Join us on Monday, 9/29 at 5 pm to discuss this long unrecognized masterpiece.
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Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Monday the 29th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2025-09-29/fiction-book-club-september
Under the Tree We Dream Monthly Writing Circle – In-Person Event
An invitation to write with generative prompt stations and creative community. All writing levels welcome. Hosted by poet Alex Petunia.
Entrance requires a drink purchase.
Where: Holy Grounds Coffee & Tea
Date: Monday the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 5371 Alhambra Ave., Los Angeles, 90032
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Rupo Open Mic at Back to the Grind in Riverside – In-Person Event
RUPO Open Mic is every Monday Night at Back to the Grind in Riverside.
Every Monday 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 29th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://www.facebook.com/backtothegrind
J. Hoberman, with John Powers, & Everything Is Now at Book Soup – In-Person Event
J. Hoberman, in conversation with John Powers, will discuss Everything Is Now: The 1960s New York Avant-Garde—Primal Happenings, Underground Movies, Radical Pop.
A groundbreaking cultural history of 1960s New York, from the legendary writer on art and film
Like Paris in the 1920s, New York City in the 1960s was a cauldron of avant-garde ferment and artistic innovation. Boundaries were transgressed and new forms created. Drawing on interviews, memoirs, and the alternative press, Everything Is Now chronicles this collective drama as it was played out in coffeehouses, bars, lofts, storefront theaters, and, ultimately, the streets.
The principals here are penniless filmmakers, jazz musicians, and performing poets, as well as less classifiable artists. Most were outsiders at the time. They include Amiri Baraka, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Carolee Schneemann, Jack Smith, Andy Warhol, and many more. Some were associated with specific movements (Avant Rock, Destruction Art, Fluxus, Free Jazz, Guerrilla Theater, Happenings, Mimeographed Zines, Pop Art, Protest-Folk, Ridiculous Theater, Stand-Up Poetry, Underground Comix, and Underground Movies). But there were also movements of one. Their art, rooted in the detritus and excitement of urban life, was taboo-breaking and confrontational.
As J. Hoberman shows in this riveting history, these subcultures coalesced into a counterculture that changed the city, the country, and the world.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2025-09-29/j-hoberman
At Skylight: Jason Diamond, with Matthew Specktor, & Kaplan’s Plot at Skylight – In-Person Event
Jason Diamond, in conversation with Matthew Specktor, will discuss Kaplan’s Plot: A Novel.
Elijah Mendes was hoping for a more triumphant return to Chicago. His mother, Eve, is dying of cancer, his business flamed out, and he has nowhere else to go. So, he returns to Chicago feeling listless and shattered, worried about how he’s going to help his mother despite their chilly relationship. He finds some inspiration when he discovers that their family owns a Jewish cemetery and that a man he’s never heard of, his great-uncle Solomon Kaplan, is buried in a plot there. With a new sense of purpose—and an excuse to talk more deeply with his mother—Elijah begins pursuing a family mystery of extraordinary proportions.
Elijah discovers his grandfather Yitz, Eve’s father, was a powerful gangster in the 1920s. She was ashamed and never spoke about him to Elijah. As secrets unravel, the past and present become intertwined, and Yitz’s story forces Elijah and Eve to bond in ways they never have before and begin to accept each other, not as who they wish they were but as they both are.
Kaplan’s Plot is an astonishing balancing act between the ruthless and the tender, the superficial and the truth, by a writer with tremendous promise.
Jason Diamond is the author of Searching for John Hughes, The Sprawl and co-author of New York Nico’s Guide to NYC (with Nicolas Heller). His work has been published by the New York Times, Esquire, The New Yorker, GQ, The Paris Review, and many other outlets. He publishes the newsletter The Melt, was born in Skokie, Illinois, and currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter. Kaplan’s Plot is his first novel.
Matthew Specktor is the author of the memoirs The Golden Hour and Always Crashing in the Same Car, and of the novel American Dream Machine. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, GQ, The Paris Review, and numerous other periodicals and anthologies. He is a founding editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Where: Skylight
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-jason-diamond-presents-kaplans-plot
Joss Richard, with Elissa Sussman, & Signs Its Different This Time at Vroman‘s – In-Person Event
Joss Richard, in conversation with Elissa Sussman, will discuss her novel Signs Its Different This Time.
In her small Montana hometown, Lauren Parker has assumed a few different roles: teenage hell-raiser, sister of superstar Gabe Parker, and most recently, tragically widowed single mother. She’s never cared much about labels or what people thought of her, but dealing with her grief over the loss of her husband, Spencer, has slowly revealed that she’s adrift in her own life.
Then she meets the devilishly handsome actor Ben Walsh on the set of her brother’s new movie. They have instant chemistry, and Lauren realizes that it has been far too long since someone has really and truly seen her. Her rebellious spirit spurs her to dive headfirst into her desire, but when a sexy encounter becomes something more, Lauren finds herself balancing old roles and new possibilities.
There’s still plenty to contend with: small-town rumors, the complications of Ben’s fame, and her daughter’s unpredictable moods. An unexpected fling seemed simple at the time. So when did everything with Ben get so complicated? And is there enough room in his life for the woman Lauren wants to be? Alternating between Lauren’s past with Spencer and her present with Ben, Totally and Completely Fine illuminates what it means to find life-changing love and be true to oneself in the process.
Elissa Sussman is the bestselling author of Once More with Feeling, Funny You Should Ask, and three young adult novels. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their many pets.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Monday, the 29th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-09-29/joss-richard
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 29th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)
Website: https://beyondbaroque.org
LiveTalks LA Presents: An Evening with Jason Blum & Horror’s New Wave: 15 Years of Blumhouse at Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre at New Roads School – In-Person Event
Celebrate legendary horror studio Blumhouse’s legacy with this lavishly illustrated visual compendium that takes you behind the scenes of the films that have reshaped the horror genre, from The Exorcist to the Paranormal Activity and Halloween franchises.
This definitive “Blumhouse book” delves into the behind-the-scenes processes that shaped Blumhouse’s iconic films and is perfect for cinephiles, pop culture enthusiasts, and lovers of horror. Featuring an introduction from CEO and founder Jason Blum, it also includes interviews with key filmmakers and writers like M. Night Shyamalan, Leigh Whannell, James Wan, and Mike Flanagan; actors, such as Allison Williams, Ethan Hawke, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Octavia Spencer; and Blumhouse executives like head of film Couper Samuelson and head of casting Terri Taylor. This book also includes film stills, on-set photographs, storyboards, creative briefs, and title treatments—giving you a true backstage pass to the making of your favorite films.
Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse, is a three-time Academy Award®-nominated, two-time Primetime Emmy Award-winning and three-time Peabody Award-winning producer. Blumhouse, is a film, television and gaming company regarded as the driving force in horror, having produced iconic franchises. Following Blumhouse’s merger with James Wan’s Atomic Monster in January 2024, the combined companies are responsible for nearly $10 Billion in worldwide box office, and have represented approximately 50% of the horror market in the last ten years. Together they have produced nearly 250 movies and television series, including the most successful horror franchise in history with the Conjuring Universe, making Blum and Wan the most prolific and successful independent producers of the last decade. Blum has been recognized by TIME magazine’s 100 list of the world’s most influential people. He is on the Board of The Public Theater in New York, the Sundance Institute, Vassar College, the American Cinematheque and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Last year, Blum donated $10M to Vassar, the largest gift ever given to the college by a male alum.
With Blumhouse celebrating its 15th anniversary throughout 2025, Horror’s New Wave captures the company’s journey to become a powerhouse in the horror and thriller film genres—taking you through the process of conception to premiere for films like Five Nights at Freddy’s, Sinister, Split, Get Out, M3GAN, now-classic franchises like The Purge, and along with iconic films from cinematic visionaries including Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash and Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman and much more.
Where: Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre at New Roads School
Date: Monday the 29th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 3131 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/jason-blum/
Tuesday Tales: A Travelin’ Storytime, Session 1 at Montana Branch Library, SMPL – In-Person Kids Event
This fun and engaging weekly series, featuring stories, songs, and rhymes, travels to a different library location each week. Limited space; free tickets available. For ages 3 – 5.
Where: Montana Branch Library, SMPL
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 10:30 am – 11 am
Address: 1704 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90403
Website: https://www.santamonica.gov/events
Virtual Book Club: Isola via La Crescenta Library, LACL – Online Event
Join us weekly on Zoom on Tuesday mornings at 11 am for the Virtual Book Club. In September we will be discussing Isola by Allegra Goodman. For adults.
Please contact Marta Wiggins at mwiggins@library.lacounty.gov for your invite to join the Zoom discussion and other details about the Virtual Book Club. You can pick up your copy of Isola at the La Crescenta Library Customer Service Desk. Below is the breakdown for the weekly discussion.
Tuesday, September 30: Final discussion of Isola and free flow discussion for book, movie, video recommendations
France, 1531. Orphaned by the age of five, Marguerite de la Rocque was heir to a chateau with its own village and lands. But her guardian, Jean Francois de la Rocque de Roberval, sells Marguerite’s property to embark on an expedition to New France, bringing Marguerite and her maidservant with him. Aboard the ship, the women are limited to the company of the captain, the navigator, Roberval, and his secretary—a man whose musical talent, literary knowledge, and dark eyes intrigue Marguerite. It isn’t long before the two of them are meeting secretly to declare their love for one another. When Roberval discovers this transgression, he is furious, seeing their affection as betrayal. As punishment, he maroons them on a small island off the coast, condemning them to certain death
Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/events?n=30&r=range&start=2025-09-30
Tuesday Tales: A Travelin’ Storytime, Session 2 at Montana Branch Library, SMPL – In-Person Kids Event
This fun and engaging weekly series, featuring stories, songs, and rhymes, travels to a different library location each week. Limited space; free tickets available. For ages 3 – 5.
Where: Montana Branch Library, SMPL
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 11:30 am – 12 pm
Address: 1704 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90403
Website: https://www.santamonica.gov/events
Bestsellers Book Club: The Secret Book of Flora Lea at Stevenson Ranch Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us and enjoy a lively book discussion and an art project. All supplies will be provided. For adults.
Participants will discuss The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry.
In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own.
Where: Stevenson Ranch Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 11:30 am – 1 pm
Address: 25950 The Old Rd., Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14411709
Kids Book Club: The Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark at Fairfax Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Kids Event
Join us for a Kid’s Book Club. This book club is designed for students in grades 2-4.
We will pass out copies of The Magic Tree House Dinosaurs Before Dark at the first book club meeting.
Where: Fairfax Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 161 S. Gardner St., Los Angeles, CA 90036
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/kids-book-club
Book Club: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde at El Monte Branch Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Bibliophiles are welcomed! Join us each month for a facilitated discussion of fiction and non-fiction titles. A limited number of copies are available for book club attendees at the library. Light refreshments will be served. For adults.
September’s Book Pick is A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams.
Ricki Wilde, the artistic black sheep of a prominent Atlanta family, leaves behind wealth and expectations to pursue her dream of opening a flower shop in Harlem. One February evening, she meets a mysterious musician whose connection to her goes beyond simple romance. Set against the vibrant past and present of Harlem—including flashbacks to the Jazz Age—this is a modern fairytale rich with magic, music, and deep emotion. With witty charm, soulful prose, and lush historical detail, Tia Williams crafts a love story that feels both timeless and electrifying
Where: El Monte Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 1224 Tyler Ave., El Monte, CA 91731
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14432694
Iacobani Book Club: The Women’s March at Angelo M. Iacoboni Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for our monthly book club! This month we’ll be discussing The Women’s March by Jennifer Chiaverini. Copies of the book will be available at the customer service desk. This program is for adults.
This title is also available in e-book and e-audio formats on Hoolpa.
Where: Angleo M. Iacobani Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 4990 Clark Ave., Lakewood, CA 91712
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14033932
LGBTQ+ Book Club: I Might Be in Trouble at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join the LGBTQ+ Book Club for a hybrid (in-person and online) discussion of I Might Be in Trouble by Daniel Aleman. For adults.
This is a hybrid event and will be hosted in-person in the West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room as well as on Zoom. Please register at the link below to receive the link to the meeting via email.
https://library-lacounty-gov.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pd-Goqz4uGNNbzVuW720zsRrGxTK1VeLG
West Hollywood Library’s LGBTQ+ Book Club meets on the last Tuesday of the month to discuss literary works of relevance and interest to the LGBTQ+ community.
Please contact the library to borrow a print copy of the book. eBook and eAudiobook are available through Libby app/OverDrive.
Summary provided by the publisher:
A few years ago, David Alvarez had it all: a six-figure book deal, a loving boyfriend, and an exciting writing career. His debut novel was a resounding success, which made the publication of his second book—a total flop—all the more devastating. Now, David is single, lonely, and desperately trying to come up with the next great idea for his third manuscript, one that will redeem him in the eyes of readers, reviewers, the entire publishing world…and maybe even his ex-boyfriend. The issue is, good ideas are hard to come by, and the mounting pressure of a near-empty bank account isn’t helping. But when David connects with a sexy stranger on a dating app, he figures a wild night out in New York City may be just what he needs to get his creative juices flowing.
Lucky for him, his date turns out to be handsome, confident, and charming—everything David’s been looking for, really—not to mention the perfect distraction from yet another evening staring at a blank screen. After one of the best nights of his life, David wakes up hungover but giddy—only to find prince charming dead next to him in bed. Horrified, completely confused, and suddenly faced with the implausible-but-somehow-plausible idea that he may have actually killed his date, David calls the only person he can trust in a moment of crisis: his quirky literary agent, Stacey. Together, David and Stacey must untangle the events of the previous night, cover their tracks, and spin the entire misadventure into David’s career-defining novel—if only they can figure out what to do with the body first.
Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13703019
Inlandia Workshop: Speculative Fiction with RM Ambrose – Online Zoom Event
(INT-ADV)
Alternating Tuesdays, 9/16, 9/30, 10/14, 10/28, and 11/11, 6:00-8:00 pm PT, on ZOOM.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Fall2025CWW
In this workshop participants submit prose for critique and receive feedback from other participants in a modified “Milford” format. Submissions may be short stories or excerpts of longer works. Instructor may provide brief lectures and exercises on various topics, both pre-planned and based on stories critiqued, such as how to give and receive feedback, character, worldbuilding, endings, use of violence, novel “plot breaking,” “verb poetry,” flash fiction, “The 10% Solution,” and the genre fiction industry. The instructor may also recommend short stories or novels by living authors that tie into lectures or participants’ stories.
RM Ambrose received his MFA in Creative Writing with concentrations in Popular Fiction and Scriptwriting from Stonecoast at University of Southern Maine. He attended the Taos Toolbox workshop with Hugo-winning instructors Walter Jon Williams, Nancy Kress, and George R. R. Martin. He edited Inlandia book Vital: The Future of Healthcare, including one Best American SFF story and two award-winners for disability representation in Speculative Fiction. He guest-edited the medical issue of Future SF Digest, including two Years Best SF reading list stories. He was Assistant Fiction Editor at the Hugo-winning StarShipSofa Podcast. His story, “Olive Branch,” appears in Friends Journal.
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/fall-2025-writing-workshops/
Scott Campbell & Cabin Head and Tree Head, Book 1 at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
HELLO, READER HEADS! Jump headfirst into the wonderfully off-the-wall world of renowned creator Scott Campbell, in this goofy, good-natured graphic novel series featuring a best friend duo like no other! It’s Frog and Toad meets Bill and Ted for a new generation of readers–and best buddies of all ages.
Book 1 includes 6 laugh-out-loud adventures in a universe where everyone has something on their head! Includes bonus content: Storytime with Library Head, Pool Party with Pool Head and Drawing Time with Box of Crayons Head.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Walter Mosley & Gray Dawn: An Easy Rawlins Mystery at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Walter Mosley will discuss Gray Dawn: An Easy Rawlins Mystery.
Free seating is limited. To reserve a seat, please purchase one copy of a book for one seat.
In this thrilling mystery from “master of craft and narrative” Walter Mosley, Detective Easy Rawlins has settled into the happy rhythm of his new life when a dark siren from his past returns and threatens to destroy the peace he’s fought for.
The name Easy Rawlins stirs excitement in the hearts of readers and fear in the hearts of his foes. His success has bought him a thriving detective agency, with its first female detective; a remote home, shared with children and pets and lovers, high atop the hills overlooking gritty Los Angeles; and more trouble, more problems, and more threat to those whom he loves. In other words, he’s still beset on all sides.
A number of below-the-law powerbrokers plead with Easy to locate a mysterious, dangerous woman—Lutisha James, though she’s gone by another name that Easy will immediately recognize. 1970s Los Angeles is a transient city of delicate, violent balances, and Lutisha has disturbed that. She also has a secret that will upend Easy’s own life, painfully closer to home.
Walter Mosley is one of America’s most celebrated writers. He was given the 2020 National Book Award’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, and honored with the Anisfield-Wolf Award, a Grammy, a PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award, the Robert Kirsch Award, numerous Edgars, and several NAACP Image Awards. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages. He has published fiction and nonfiction in The New Yorker, Playboy, and The Nation. As an executive producer, he adapted his novel The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey for AppleTV+. He co-wrote the adaptation of his novel The Man in My Basement to stream on Hulu, and he served as a writer and executive producer for FX’s Snowfall. He divides his time between Brooklyn and Santa Monica.
Where: Deisel (in the Courtyard)
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2025-09-30/walter-mosley-gray-dawn-easy-rawlins-mystery
Romance Book Launch: Jamie Varon & Charlie Quinn Lets Go at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Jamie Varon will celebrate the launch of Charlie Quinn Lets Go.
Jamie (Main Character Energy) will be joined by journalist Laura Marie Meyers to discuss this exciting work of second chances and self-discovery.
Reserve your tickets on EVENTBRITE!
About the book:
An irresistible novel about second chances and the magic of relinquishing control.
Charlie Quinn has spent her life playing by the rules. But when, on her thirtieth birthday, she is laid off, her boyfriend leaves her because their life is too “predictable” and she spends the night with violent food poisoning, she hits rock bottom at a stunning velocity, and her carefully constructed world unravels.
She has no choice but to return to her childhood home in LA, where her little sister strikes up an idea: Can control freak Charlie go a whole month saying yes to anything her free-spirited sister requests? Charlie agrees, if only to prove that living by one’s whims will result in nothing but disaster and disappointment.
But when a serendipitous encounter with her high school crush leads to a month of steamy no-strings romance, Charlie starts questioning her monotonous existence. Can she learn to loosen her grip, to let go of past heartbreak, to finally say yes to a messy, bold and exciting life?
About the participants:
Jamie Varon is an author and novelist living in Calabasas, CA. She writes uplifting, heartwarming books with depth. Her writing has been read millions of times across the internet and she has been featured in POPSUGAR, Fortune, Forbes, HuffPo and many others.
Laura Marie Meyers is an author and journalist whose work is focused on books, trends, and pop culture. As an interviewer and event moderator, she’s led conversations with actors, experts, and bestselling authors. Originally from Chicago, she lives in Northern California with her husband, two sons, and far too many concert t-shirts. Laura’s debut novel, The Mash-Up, will be published in 2026 by Putnam Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd.,1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
Open Mic Readings Every Tuesday at the Aftermath Bar, Sherman Oaks – In-Person Event
CALLING ALL WRITERS! Every Tuesday we’ll be having Open Mic Readings open to the public! Read your poems, fiction, and spoken word at our open mic reading EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT from 7 pm – 10 pm!
Read your poetry, fiction, spoken word, or lyrics.
Free event. 21+
Note: Please RSVP at site.
Where: The Aftermath Bar
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 14537 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Ticketed Event: Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman & The Art of Bob’s Burgers at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman will discuss and sign The Art of Bob’s Burgers.
“The long-awaited The Art of Bob’s Burgers™ showcases the creativity and humor that make up the beloved Emmy Award–winning series. Loren Bouchard – the series’ creator – takes you behind the scenes, revealing the inner workings of the animation process for Bob’s Burgers, from its earliest designs all the way to the modern day. A treasure trove for new and longtime fans alike, this book features many never-before-seen designs, as well as art from Loren Bouchard’s personal archives and artwork through Bob’s Burgers history of collaborations. Including insight from Supervising Director Bernard Derriman, The Art of Bob’s Burgers™ is a celebration of everything Bob’s Burgers and a tribute to the artistry that goes into making the show a fan favorite.”
Event Guidelines:
This is a ticketed event and will take place at Book Soup. You must purchase a ticket through Eventbrite in order to be in the signing-line.
You will receive your copy of The Art of Bob’s Burgers when you check-in for the event.
We will queue a line for the book signing. Please dress comfortably and for the given weather conditions on the day of the event. A portion of the line may be outside of the store.
You must be present to get your book signed. We will do our best to get signed stock for orders not picked up night-of, but we cannot guarantee that.
No additional memorabilia, please.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2025-09-30/loren-bouchard-bobs-burgers
Oxy Live! Presents: A Conversation with Roxane Gay – In-Person Event
Writer, professor, editor, and social commentator Roxane Gay will appear on Sept. 30, 2025, in conversation with visual artist and cultural collaborator Alexandra Grant.
Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and the New York Times bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television and film projects. She also has a newsletter, The Audacity and once had a podcast, The Roxane Gay Agenda.
NOTE: Reserve your tickets at website link.
Where: Occidental College, Thorne Hall
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 1600 Campus Road, Los Angeles, California 90041
Website: https://www.oxy.edu/oxylive/upcoming-events/oxy-live-presents-conversation-roxane-gay
Book Launch Event: Tahereh Mafi & Every Spiral of Fate at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Tahereh Mafi will discuss Every Spiral of Fate.
This is the author’s fourth novel in the Woven Kingdom romantasy series. A book signing will follow the discussion.
RSVP: Ticketed event
This event is Sold Out, but you may be added to the wait list.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodice.com/events-and-tickets
Dark Olympus Book Club: Dark Olympus at Underdog Bookstore Off-site at Mt. Lowe Brewing Co. – In-Person Event
Join us for book talks and brews as we read our way through Dark Olympus!
Katee Robert’s Dark Olympus series is a spicy collection of standalone dark romance books inspired by different Greek mythology tales.
Whether you read all, some, or none of the books, all are welcome!
Grab your books from Underdog Bookstore or support the store online:
https://libro.fm/playlists/10184
Find the full meeting schedule and reading order at website.
RSVP
Where: Underdog Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 150 E. Saint Joseph St., Arcadia, CA 91006
Website: https://www.underdogbookstore.org/events
At Skylight: Ali Gordon & We Have Reached the End of Our Show at Skylight – In-Person Event
Ali Gordon will discuss We Have Reached the End of Our Show.
An announcement blares over the TV: twenty-five days until the end of the world.
Quiet, caring Josie and rebellious performer Gabe have been together six years when they hear the news: a world-ending asteroid is set to hit Earth in twenty-five days. This is devastating news for humanity, but for Gabe, it’s simply speeding up what his diagnosis had already set in motion. The world is thrown into chaos around them, and when Gabe’s young, carefree cousin Lisi shows up with a car and a plan, the three begin a journey none of them ever expected: a road trip through the end of the world.
Profound, moving, and delicate, We Have Reached the End of Our Show is a crystalline depiction of the best of humanity, of the invincible good we can do in the bleakest of times. Gabe, Josie, and Lisi take turns driving us through a story about real love, real family, and the real purpose we find when the careful map of our life is ripped from under us, laying bare the unexpected nexus of ties that connect us to each other, to the very end.
Ali Gordon is a writer, performer, and educator living in Los Angeles. A New York City native, Ali spent many years in New York working as a musical theater actor as well as performing comedy at the renowned Upright Citizens Brigade theater. She holds a double major in musical theater and English from the University of Michigan. Ali also writes musicals and has performed and taught comedy all over the world. She promises she is quite funny despite the subject matter of this, her debut novel.
Where: Skylight
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-ali-gordon-presents-we-have-reached-end-our-show
Sip n Up: Sunless Sea Poetry Series & Open Mic Show at Qusqo Bistro and Gallery – In-Person Event
The Sunless Sea Poetry and Spoken Word Show is an open mic event offered on the First Tuesday of the month and performed at Qusqo Bistro on Santa Monica Blvd, near Barrington, in West Los Angeles. Our concept of poetry is broad and collaborative, so we are open to musicians, comedians, visual artists and creatives in any other medium and genre. We encourage everybody to share their art and influences here and in person at the show. We also encourage promotion, networking, and collaboration. Enjoy!
Where: Qusqo Bistro and Gallery
Date: Tuesday, the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 11633 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025
Website: https://www.instagram.com or https://www.instagram.com/the_sunless_sea_poetry_show/?hl=en
Word Blossom Writing Event with Alma Rosa Azul at Barrio Fuerza – In-Person Event
Alma Rosa Azul will facilitate a Word Blossom Writing Workshop for all levels.
This is a meditative workshop, offering tea and light refreshments.
Cost: $5 – $10; no one turned away for lack of funds.
Where: Barrio Fuerza, San Bernardino
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 395 N. E. St., suite 102, San Bernardino, CA 92401
Website: https://www.instagram.com
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert hosts Walker Valdez – Online Zoom Event
Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert welcomes featured guest: Walker Valdez.
Walker Valdez is a Bolivian American spoken word poet, performance artist, and educator who resides in Falls Church, Virginia. His storytelling will often contain themes of identity and is blended with humor and wordplay to speak on the Latin American experience.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.poetrysuperhighway.com
Muse on Fire Open Mic: Rick Lupert hosts Walker Valdez – Online Zoom Event
Philosophy hosts Muse on Frie Open Mic at the Wicked Wolf in Long Beach. Join us for spoken word music, and storytelling.
The Muse on Fire is a masterful open mic with an outstanding selection of cocktails, an incredible decor, and a phenomenal atmosphere. Meet and greet and sign-up’s start at 7 pm show start sharp as a harpoon at 7:30 pm.
Where: Wicked Wolf, Long Beach
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm (Meet & Greet 7 pm)
Address: 2332 Pacific Ave., Long Beach, CA 90806
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Da Poetry Lounge: Women + Femmes Open Mic Night at Ora Café in Leimert Park – In-Person Event
Every 5th Tuesday of the month Women + Femmes Night!
Priority is given to women and femmes on the mic.
Hosted by Yesika Salgado and Jasmine Williams.
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: Ora Café
Date: Tuesday, the 30th
Time: 9 pm – 11 pm
Address: 4331 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park, CA 90008
Website: https://www.instagram.com/ or https://www.dapoetrylounge.com/
Lit Angels: Morning Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
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 1st
Time: 8:30 am – 9:30 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
Book Party Book Club: The Art Thief at San Dimas Senior Center, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of the book The Art Thief by Michael Finkel. Copies are available for check out at the circulation desk. For Adults.
For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly ten years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion. In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them to his heart’s content.
Where: San Dimas Senior Center, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 1st
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Address: 201 E. Bonita Ave., San Dimas, CA 91773
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/13473085
Afternoon Book Club: Real Americans at Westlake Village Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us as we discuss Real Americans by Rachel Khong. For adults.
Books available for check-out at the library. New members are always welcome!
Where: Westlake Village Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 1st
Time: 12 pm – 1 pm
Address: 31220 W. Oak Crest Dr., Westlake Village, CA 91361
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14511634
Poets Café via KPFK 90.7 FM – Live On-Air Event
Poets Café celebrates Poetry. This program is a weekly half-hour literary arts discussion and reading program featuring guest authors and their works.
Poetry From Around the World is a segment of this series offered monthly on the 2nd Monday of the month on KPFK Los Angeles 90.7 FM.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: KPFK 90.7 FM
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: On-air Event (live)
Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/
Classics Book Club: Gilead at East Los Angeles Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a book discussion of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. For Adults.
As the Reverend John Ames approaches the hour of his own death, he writes a letter to his son chronicling three previous generations of his family, a story that stretches back to the Civil War and reveals uncomfortable family secrets.
Copies of the book will be available at the circulation desk. The program will take place in the Chicano Resource Center. Space is limited to ten participants, so pick up your copy soon!
Light refreshments provided courtesy of Los Amigos of East Los Angeles Library.
Where: East Los Angeles Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 1st
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: 4837 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90022
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14606093
Social Justice Book Club: Lola Out Loud at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us to discuss Lola Out Loud by Jennifer Torres.
RSVP:
Please register here and for more information, email cquinn@lapl.org.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/social-justice-book-club
2nd & 3rd Grade Book Club: Hurricane Heist at pages, a bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Join us to discuss Hurricane Heist (The Sherlock Society #2) by James Ponti.
We read new releases of early grade fiction. Book selection is done by voting at each meeting for the following month’s meeting.
Where: pages, a bookstore
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-10-01/2nd-3rd-grade-book-club
Be the Change: Social Justice Writing Workshop with James Coats – Online Event
Be the Change, a Social Justice Writing Workshop, is held every 1st Wednesday of the month and led by poet and author James Coats.
Workshop is free: name your own price.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 1st
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event Zoom ID: 826 5843 0669 Password: justice
Website: https://www.instagram.com
History Book Club: American Midnight at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis by Adam Hochschild.
From legendary historian Adam Hochschild, a “masterly” (New York Times) reassessment of the overlooked but startlingly resonant period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when the foundations of American democracy were threatened by war, pandemic, and violence fueled by battles over race, immigration, and the rights of labor.
The nation was on the brink. Mobs burned Black churches to the ground. Courts threw thousands of people into prison for opinions they voiced—in one notable case, only in private. Self-appointed vigilantes executed tens of thousands of citizens’ arrests. Some seventy-five newspapers and magazines were banned from the mail and forced to close. When the government stepped in, it was often to fan the flames.
In American Midnight, award-winning historian Adam Hochschild brings alive the horrifying yet inspiring four years following the U.S. entry into the First World War, spotlighting forgotten repression while celebrating an unforgettable set of Americans who strove to fix their fractured country—and showing how their struggles still guide us today.
Adam Hochschild is the author of eleven books. King Leopold’s Ghost was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, as was To End All Wars. His Bury the Chains was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and PEN USA Literary Award. He lives in Berkeley, California.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 1st
Time: 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/history-book-club-american-midnight
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 1st
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: On-air Event (live at 101.5 FM)
Website: https://www.lapoetsociety.org/events
Poetry Club: I Do Know Some Things at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join us for the newest book club at Village Well: The Poetry Club!
Each month, members will read the chosen poetry book and bring their favorite selections to share and discuss. Participation is free; just come with an open mind! Whether poetry is daunting or your passion, we’d love to have you!
Our selection for October is I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken.
About the book:
I Do Know Some Things is a brave book, both in content and method.
It is brave to write about childhood scars and the heartbreak the dead leave behind. It is brave to reconfigure one’s life in the aftermath of a stroke. Richard Siken presents these subjects directly, without ornament, and with nothing to hide behind, confronting the fact that he can no longer manipulate the constructions of form, or speak lies that tell the truth. In spite of these limitations, Siken chooses to write these poems and release them into a dangerous world. Each image, each sentence, is as direct as the American artist Jasper Johns’s shooting targets. Each poem is like a small room in a house, a room where you will be punched in the throat. As he claws himself back into a self, into a body, Siken has written a book that is unsettling and autobiographical by necessity, and its seventy-seven prose poems invite the reader to risk a difficult intimacy in search of yet deeper truths.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 1st
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://villagewell.com/events/3605120251001
Seth Neblett & Mothership Connected: The Women of Parliament-Funkadelic at Book Soup – In-Person Event
An oral history with the women of Parliament-Funkadelic, from forming the band to landing the mothership.
Parliament-Funkadelic is perhaps the greatest funk band ever assembled. Yet at the time of the group’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, none of the women who helped create the sound and performed in P-Funk were invited to the ceremony and their contributions have been largely overlooked.
Mothership Connected tells the story of Mallia Franklin, Lynn Mabry, Dawn Silva, Debbie Wright, and Shirley Hayden, all of whom were instrumental in making Parliament-Funkadelic, as well as the spin-off groups Parlet and the Brides of Funkenstein, into the legends they are today. Assembled by Seth Neblett, son of the “Queen of Funk” Mallia Franklin, and filled with the voices of funk icons like George Clinton, Sly Stone, Bootsy Collins, and the women themselves, this oral history makes clear why these “architects” at the “core” of P-Funk were both essential—and erased. From Franklin introducing Bootsy Collins to Clinton, to the Brides’ top-10 hit “Disco to Go,” to the drugs that helped destroy the group, this book reveals the hidden lives and uncomfortable truths of life in P-Funk. More than sex, drugs, and rock and roll, Mothership Connected is about Black women navigating a tumultuous era and industry to become musical pioneers. Now, after decades in the shadows, these genre-defining women are finally telling their story.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2025-10-01/seth-neblett-parliament-funkadelic
Book Event: Iva-Marie Palmer, with Elissa Sussman, & Christmas People at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Iva-Marie Palmer, in conversation with Elissa Sussman, will discuss Christmas People.
A book signing will follow the discussion.
RSVP: Ticketed event
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Wednesday the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodice.com/events-and-tickets
RECESS Open Mic is at SIPA HQ, Palms Up Academy – In-Person Event
RECESS Open Mic is at SIPA HQ on Wednesdays.
This dynamic open mic is the most accessible public program in the Palms Up Academy curriculum and manifests their mission statement in a physical (and digital) space.
Join them at the intersection of Historic Filipino town & The World: Search to Involve Pilipino Americans.
NOTE: See site for RSVP, cost, guidelines, and details.
Where: SIPA HQ
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm; Open Mic at 8 pm)
Address: 3200 W. Temple St., Ste. 100, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.palmsupacademy.com
At Skylight: Jodi-Ann Burey, with Laura Warrell, & Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work at Skylight – In-Person Event
Join is to hear Jodi-Ann Burey, in conversation with Laura Warrell, discuss Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work.
A bold call to rethink authenticity at work.
Workplace dynamics in recent years have been a dizzying storm of broken promises. Companies that once encouraged employees to “come as you are” and bring your full, authentic self to work are now shutting down initiatives, part of an ongoing cycle of trading on our identities when it’s convenient and profitable.
Jodi-Ann Burey, writer and critic known for her TED talk “The Myth of Bringing Your Full, Authentic Self to Work,” delves into the dangers of disclosure in environments that aren’t built for our well-being. With insights from pop culture, academic research, and interviews with other professionals of color, Burey argues that we deserve better than shallow ploys for representation.
Our physical and emotional health are at risk, and too much is sacrificed—for ourselves and for collective progress—when our full potential is blocked by racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism. Authentic is a powerful reckoning—and now is the time to reclaim our agency. Even at work.
Jodi-Ann Burey is a writer, critic, and sought-after speaker on race, culture, and health equity. Her essays appear in various arts, business, and literary publications. Jodi-Ann created and hosts the prose and poetry salon Lit Lounge: The People’s Art and the Black Cancer podcast. She was born in St. Catherine, Jamaica; lives in Seattle, Washington; and will always call New York City home.
Laura Warrell is the author of Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, and long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Lit Hub, Oprah Daily, Los Angeles Review of Books, Huffington Post, and other publications. Laura has attended residencies at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Tin House Writer’s Workshop. She lives in Los Angeles and teaches at the low-residency MFA program at Pacific University.
Where: Skylight
Date: Wednesday the 1st
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-jodi-ann-burey-presents-authentic-w-laura-warrell
Anansi Writers Workshop at The World Stage – In-Person Event
The Anansi Writers Workshop was founded in 1990 by Kamau Daáood, Akilah Oliver, Nafis Nabawi and Anthony Lyons. In 1993, Michael Datcher initiated the development of a three-part format for the workshop. Our tradition of a community workshop began in the late 1960s at the Watts Writers’ Workshop, where World Stage co-founder Kamau Daáood started his writing career. Hosted by Jessica Gallion aka “Yellawoman.”
- 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm — Formal workshop;
- 8:30 pm – 9:00 pm — TBA;
- 9:05 pm – 10:00 pm — Open mic.
Suggested: $10.00 Donation via PayPal: The World Stage Gallery.
NOTE: See site for further details and any change in the schedule. Contact on Instagram @ _yellawoman
Where: The World Stage (use left rear entrance)
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4321 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Story Salon: Theme: Everything Was Great Except for That One Thing at Art Parlor in Valley Village – In-Person & Virtual Hybrid Event
Los Angeles’s longest running storytelling venue is now a hybrid event!
An alternative to stand-up clubs + self-conscious performance spaces
Story Salon challenges you all to tell stories in 90 seconds! Can you do it? If you can, join us Wednesday 9/17!
Tickets can be purchased early with the link in bio or at storysalon.com
Theme: You All Are Perfect. Except For That One Thing.
Where: Art Parlor
Date: Wednesday the 1st
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm (Doors at 7 pm)
Address: 5302 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Valley Village, CA 91607
Website https://www.instagram.com
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 1st
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg and guest Micah Bournes at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Host Ben Trigg and Two Idiots Peddling Poetry welcomes featured guest Micah Bournes.
Micah Bournes is a Black American musician and poet from Long Beach, California. His work is full of personal narratives touching on themes of culture, justice, and faith. Over the past decade he’s performed at concerts, conferences, and universities around the world. He is the author of two collections of poetry, Stay, and Here Comes This Dreamer, the co-editor of the Fight Evil With Poetry anthology, and has released albums in multiple genres including hip hop, blues, folk, and spoken word.
$5 cover fee, cash only
$5 cover fee, cash only.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday, the 1st
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1019645023629459
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 2nd
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://villagewell.com
Book Club: The Demon of Unrest at Hermosa Beach Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of The Demon of Unrest by Eric Larson. For Adults.
This book is a saga of hubris, heartbreak, and heroism at the dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson. Books are available for check out at the library. For adults.
Where: Hermosa Beach Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 2nd
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Address: 550 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14497051
Author Talk: Nuestra América Stories of 30 Inspiring Latinas/Latinos Who Have Shaped the USA via LACL – Online Event
Smithsonian professionals Adrián Aldaba & Emily Key will discuss Nuestra América and highlight inspiring stories of Latinos throughout history and their incredible contributions to the cultural, social, and political character of the United States.
The stories in Nuestra América cover each figure’s cultural background and childhood, and their accomplishments or contributions to American history. A glossary of terms and discussion question-filled reading guide, created by the National Museum of the American Latino, encourages further research and exploration. The museum has featured twenty-three of these stories in its exhibition ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States, the first exhibition to feature U.S. Latino history at the national level.
Featuring beautifully illustrated portraits by Gloria Félix, this is a book that children (and adults) will page through and learn from again and again. A must have for every school and home library to help students understand the American story!
Register today to learn more about the rich history of Nuestra América!
Where: Virtual Program, LACL
Date: Thursday the 2nd
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14568141
Hispanic Heritage Month: Teen Book Club: Brownstone – In-Person Teen Event
Discuss the Printz Award-winning graphic novel Brownstone by Samuel Teer. The story follows a girl who goes to live with her estranged father and learns about her Guatemalan heritage and the importance of community.
Limited copies will be available at the Main Library while supplies last. For ages 13 – 18.
Where: Main Library, SMPL, Youth Activity Room
Date: Thursday the 2nd
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Website: https://www.santamonica.gov/events
Writer’s Block: Creative Writing and Meaningful Connection at Octavia’s Bookshelf – In-Person Event
If you would like to connect with other writers and have dedicated time for creative writing (poetry, short stories, novels, songs, screenplays, etc.), this is for you! We are holding space for writers to free-write, share and receive positive feedback, and make meaningful connections. All levels are welcome. This space is offered freely!
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR, ZAHIDA:
Zahida Sherman is a proud Seattle native and poet who made her way to Southern California by way of everywhere. Her previous writing has centered on culture, belonging, and wellness for Bustle, Healthline, Well and Good, Afropunk, and Blavity, among others.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Octavia’s Bookshelf
Date: Thursday the 2nd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 1353 North Hill Ave., Pasadena, CA 91104
Author & Book Event: Roots to Belonging at The Cheech Museum, Riverside – In-Person Event
The Roots of Belonging project is having its culminating event on October 2, 6 pm at The Cheech is downtown Riverside. There will be an artist talk with some of the workshop instructions as well as an anthology release that will showcase the project. This is a free community event highlighting local artists and celebrating Latino heritage month. Please RSVP so you can receive a copy of the anthology.
James Coats will host featured artists: Cesar Gracia Agua, Rosy Cortez, Lupita Limon-Burbaj & Cosme Cordova.
This event is funded by the California Arts Council and collaboration with California Poets in the Schools and The Cheech.
Where: The Cheech Museum, Riverside
Date: Thursday the 2nd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 3581 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOwV6OIkjMZ/
At Skylight: Martin Cahill & Audition for the Fox at Skylight – In-Person Event
Martin Cahill will discuss Audition for the Fox.
In this stellar debut fantasy, a trickster Fox god challenges an underachieving acolyte to save herself by saving her own ancestors. But are Nesi and her new friends from the past prepared to defeat the ferocious Wolfhounds of Zemin?
Nesi is desperate to earn the patronage of one of the Ninety-Nine Pillars of Heaven. As a child with godly blood in her, if she cannot earn a divine chaperone, she will never be allowed to leave her temple home. But with ninety-six failed auditions and few options left, Nesi makes a risky prayer to T’sidaan, the Fox of Tricks.
In folk tales, the Fox is a lovable prankster. But despite their humor and charm, T’sidaan, and their audition, is no joke. They throw Nesi back in time three hundred years, when her homeland is occupied by the brutal Wolfhounds of Zemin.
Now, Nesi must learn a trickster’s guile to snatch a fortress from the disgraced and exiled 100th Pillar: The Wolf of the Hunt.
Martin Cahill has published short fiction in venues including Fireside, Reactor, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, and Nightmare. Cahill’s stories “The Fifth Horseman” and “Godmeat” were respectively nominated for the Ignyte Award and included in The Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy 2019. He was also one of the writers on Batman: The Blind Cut and a contributor to Critical Role: Vox Machina – Stories Untold. Cahill, who works at Erewhon Books, lives just outside New York City.
Where: Skylight
Date: Thursday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-martin-cahill-presents-audition-fox
Book Event: La Bamba: A Visual History with Merrick Morton at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
In the 1987 box office hit La Bamba, director Luis Valdez, considered the father of Chicano cinema, tells the story of Ritchie Valens, the first Latino rock ’n’ roll idol, whose short but influential life changed the face of music history forever.
La Bamba: A Visual History, is a limited-edition book revisiting this classic 1987 film through the camera lens of Los Angeles-based photographer Merrick Morton. Hired by producer Taylor Hackford to shoot special stills (unrelated to the work of the studio’s publicity photographer), Merrick brought his experience as a documentary street photographer to the production. La Bamba was his first film; he has since earned over 90 screen credits.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Thursday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events
Red Light Lit at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Red Light Lit comes to Village Well for the very first time! A one-of-a-kind performance series at the crossroads of literature, love, sexuality, and rock ’n’ roll. Join us for a powerful evening of spoken word, live music, and song—featuring Celia DaPoet, Jennifer Lewis, Kwyn Townsend, Linda Ravenswood, Tee, and Jessamyn Violet, with a live score by Flying Mountains.
About the participants:
Celia DaPoet is a writer, spoken word artist, and multidisciplinary creative passionate about storytelling in all its forms. Through poetry, short stories, and performance, Celia explores themes of love, identity, and self-expression, centering Black queer experiences with depth and authenticity. Beyond the page and stage, they craft handmade candles designed to inspire creativity and relaxation. Whether through words or art, Celia’s mission is to ignite emotion, spark connection, and create spaces where stories come alive.
Jessamyn Violet is a writer out of Venice Beach, CA. Originally from Massachusetts, she graduated with a BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College. She went on to earn an MFA in Creative Writing from California College of the Arts. Her poetry book Organ Thieves was published by Gauss PDF. She’s placed short fiction in Ploughshares, Lit Angels, 805 Art + Lit, Adelaide, and more. Her debut novel Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar was published by Three Rooms Press in April 2023. Her sophomore adult novel Venice Peach was published by Maudlin House in June 2025.
Kwyn Townsend Riley (“Kwynology”) is a poet, speaker, and organizer from Chicago whose work addresses racialized violence, womanism, gentrification, womanhood, and homophobia. She has performed internationally and appeared as a speaker on CBS, WBEZ, Windy City Live, and the Late Night Tammi Mac Show. Kwyn is the author of And She Wrote and And She Will.
Tee (she/her) is a queer, Black poet from Inglewood, California, whose art centers reclamation, liberation, and socio-economic equity. She is a slam champion (Da Poetry Lounge, OC Slam, Berkeley Slam, and others) and author. She is also the highest selling performer in the history of The Poetry Brothel, where she is the resident character, Chaos Count! She has been published in several anthologies and mobile magazines. Her first book is being published by @thelosangelespress in fall 2025. You can find her in LA organizing poetry events for community mobilization, information, and mutual aid.
Linda Ravenswood (BFA, MA, MA, PhD abd) is a Los Angeles–based poet and performance artist, and the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Los Angeles Press (@thelosangelespress / @bespokepoets). She is the author of Cantadora—Letters from California (2023), The Stan Poems (2022), and more. Her honors include the Oxford Prize in Poetry, the Edwin Markham Prize (selected by former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera), the Gloucestershire Prize, and the Arthur Smith Prize.
Jennifer Lewis is a writer, editor, and the publisher of Red Light Lit. Her debut short story collection, The New Low (Black Lawrence Press), was an SPD Bestseller. She is the winner of the Nomadic Press Bindle Award and The Los Angeles Review Flash Fiction Award, and her work has appeared in Cosmonauts Avenue, Midnight Breakfast, The Los Angeles Press, CRAFT, The Rumpus, The Creative Independent, and Alta Journal.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 2nd
Time: 8 pm – 9 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://villagewell.com
Lit Angels: Morning Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Many people believe that morning writing practice is key to finding your voice, your story and, in this case, your community! At the Village Well!
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 8:30 am come join acclaimed author and writing instructor Francesca Lia Block for a brief intro and 40 minutes of free writing on any topic without judgement. Afterwards, you will be able to share a bit about your process and ask Francesca questions about your writing.
About the instructor:
Francesca Lia Block is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association, and from the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, and PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY. Currently she teaches creative writing at UCLA Extension, Antioch University, Pocket MFA, and numerous workshops across the country. Francesca also edits LIT ANGELS, a literary journal available on Substack. Her latest novel is HOUSE OF HEARTS now out in paperback. https://www.francescaliablock.com/
Come make some magic at the Village Well! All genres and levels are welcome!
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Friday the 3rd
Time: 8:30 am – 9:30 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://villagewell.com
Weekly Pajama Storytime at Once Upon a Time, Montrose – In-Person Kids & Family Event
Our most popular story time is ready to delight and dazzle! This is also the prime time to see Pippi Longstocking, our bookstore cat in action.
There is a large FREE parking lot off Florencita Dr. as well as metered parking along Honolulu Ave. and Montrose Ave.
Free to attend.
NOTE: Free to attend.
Where: Once Upon a Time, Montrose
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/2025-10-03/weekly-pj-story-time
Book Club: Libby Lost and Found at Claremont Helen Renwick Library, LACL– In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Libby Lost and Found by Stephanie Booth. For adults.
Find a copy of Libby Lost and Found in the library catalog here. A limited number of copies will be located at the Claremont Library. Please contact the library at 909.621.4902 with any questions.
Where: Claremont Helen Renwick Library, LACL
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Address: 208 N. Harvard Ave., N., Claremont, CA 91711
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14520442
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 3rd
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://villagewell.com/events/2070820251003
First Fridays Book Club at Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a lively book discussion. Each month, we select a different title to read and discuss.
Call the Memorial Branch at 323-938-2732 to find out the month’s featured title.
Where: Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Friday the 3rd
Time: 1 pm
Address: 4626 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/first-fridays-book-club-1
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 3rd
Time: 6 pm (Doors at 5:30 pm)
Address: 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, CA 9270
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Book Event: Dr. Wendy Johnson, MD & Kinship Medicine at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Author Wendy Johnson, in conversation with Dr. Alma Zaragoza-Petty, joins us for a discussion on her debut novel, Kinship Medicine, exploring themes of environmental justice, community organizing, mutual aid, and more.
For fans of Braiding Sweetgrass, The Future We Choose, and The Blue Zones, here is a book about the effect our relationship to nature has on our well-being and health. In Kinship Medicine Dr. Wendy Johnson makes the case that wellness is rooted in interdependence.
It’s a perspective she’s come to through 30 years working as a family physician and public health expert, supporting patients with HIV, treating communities in environmentally harmed areas, and advocating for mothers suffering from addiction. Through all of her work, she’s seen how connection to the natural world and each other are essential to our health, and we can’t be fully well when the environments and systems we’re living with are sick and suffering.
The antidotes to many of the causal factors of poor health—loneliness, industrial diets, systemic inequality, fear of death, profit-based healthcare—are relational, both with each other and with the living earth. Through evidence from public health, sociology, anthropology, human ecology, and medicine, Dr. Wendy Johnson offers readers a clear vision of what a new society might look like and provides concrete examples and methods for caring for our collective health together.
About the participants:
Dr. Wendy Johnson is a family physician, public health professor, activist, and writer who has spent her life advocating for a world where everyone can live long lives in equitable communities. Her career includes stints scaling up HIV treatment in Mozambique, overseeing an urban public health department, and, most recently, directing a community clinic in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has a Master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins and holds faculty appointments at the University of Washington and the University of New Mexico. Dr. Johnson has been a vocal activist on many progressive issues both locally and globally and is a two-time TEDx speaker.
Dr. Alma Zaragoza-Petty (she/her) is an educator, speaker, and author deeply rooted in the immigrant experience of Los Angeles. Raised between Acapulco and East L.A., she is a proud first-generation college graduate who brings over 20 years of experience in education, social justice, and community healing. A passionate advocate for equity and liberation, Dr. ZP is recognized for her powerful voice in spaces that center on first-generation, working-class, and Latina experiences. Her recent book, Chingona: Owning Your Inner Badass for Healing and Justice, is a personal and political call to action—reclaiming cultural identity and transforming generational pain into leadership and collective healing. Whether in the classroom, on a stage, or within grassroots spaces, Dr. Zaragoza-Petty remains committed to reimagining a future where justice, education, and radical healing are accessible to all.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Friday the 3rd
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/3640220251003
Philip Fracassi, with Brian Evenson, & The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Philip Fracassi, in conversation with Brian Evenson, will discuss The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre.
Brimming with dark humor, violence, and mystery, The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre is a blood-soaked slasher sure to keep readers guessing until the very last page.
Rose DuBois is not your average final girl.
Rose is in her late 70s, living out her golden years at the Autumn Springs Retirement Home.
When one of her friends dies alone in her apartment, Rose isn’t too concerned. Accidents happen, especially at this age!
Then another resident drops dead. And another. With bodies stacking up, Rose can’t help but wonder: are these accidents? Old age? Or something far more sinister?
Together with her best friend Miller, Rose begins to investigate. The further she digs, the more convinced she becomes: there’s a killer on the loose at Autumn Springs, and if she isn’t careful, Rose may be their next victim.
Brian Evenson is the author of a dozen and a half books of fiction, most recently the story collection Good Night, Sleep Tight (2024). His collection Song for the Unraveling of the World (2019) won the Shirley Jackson Award and the World Fantasy Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times’ Ray Bradbury Prize. His novel Last Days won the American Library Association’s RUSA award for Best Horror Novel of 2009. His novel The Open Curtain was a finalist for an Edgar Award and an International Horror Guild Award. His 2003 collection The Wavering Knife won the International Horror Guild Award for best story collection. He is the recipient of three O. Henry Prizes, an NEA fellowship, and a Guggenheim Award. His work has been translated into two dozen languages. He lives in Los Angeles and teaches at CalArts.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2025-10-03/philip-fracassi
LARB Presents: Launch Reading for The Center for California Literature at Giovanni’s Room – In-Person Event
The Launch Reading for The Center for California Literature features:
Viet Thanh Nguyen is a Vietnamese-born author and academic who immigrated to the United States as a refugee in 1975 and is now a Pulitzer Prize-winning author living in Los Angeles. He is best known for his novel The Sympathizer and his nonfiction book Nothing Ever Dies, which explore the legacy of the Vietnam War from the perspective of refugees and those affected by conflict. Nguyen is also a professor at the University of Southern California and his work, including his recently published memoir A Man of Two Faces, focuses on themes of refugeehood, memory, and the complexities of representing war and identity.
Aja Monet is a Brooklyn-born poet, author, and lyricist of Cuban and Jamaican descent, known for her political and socially conscious work, winning the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam in 2007 and authoring the collection My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter. She is a community organizer, co-founded Smoke Signals Studio, and served as the Artistic Creative Director for V-Day. Monet’s poetry explores themes of race, gender, migration, and spirituality, often highlighting Black joy and the struggles and resilience of women and people of color.
Ryan O’Connell is an Emmy-nominated actor, writer, director, and producer known for creating and starring in the Netflix series “Special,” which is based on his memoir I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves. A prominent figure in LGBTQ+ and disability advocacy, he also wrote for shows like Will & Grace and Awkward, and starred in the Queer as Folk reboot. He is also the author of the novel Just by Looking at Him, which is being adapted into a film.
Roxane Gay is an American writer, professor, and cultural critic known for her best-selling essay collection Bad Feminist and memoir Hunger. Her work, which often explores themes of race, gender, and identity, includes essays, novels, short stories, and contributions to The New York Times. Gay is also a professor and was the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University.
Restricted access event.
Where: Giovanni’s Room
Date: Friday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: See site for full address. RSVP
Website: https://lareviewofbooks.org/event/launch-reading-the-center-for-california-literature/
Comics O’Clock: A Comic Reading at Heavy Manners Library – In-Person Event
Join features: Kaitlin Haeun Yoo, Mimi Pond, Jose Pimienta, Cathy Mayer, Rachel Hastings, Rob Gilliam, Toff Mazery.
Comics O’Clock is a comics reading featuring live readings by local cartoonists hosted by Mikey Heller. This event will be pay what you want, with donations going to Heavy Manners Library.
For more work by the readers visit:
Sam Grinberg (https://www.instagram.com/samgrinberg/)
Adam Muto (https://x.com/MrMuto)
Sydney Agans (https://www.instagram.com/sydzdrawingz/)
Luz Díaz (https://www.instagram.com/benditagarlopa/)
Chris Liao (https://www.artofchrisliao.com/)
Rebecca Rose (https://www.instagram.com/becatbat/)
Dav Yendler (https://www.instagram.com/davyendler/)
Jackie Files (https://www.instagram.com/jackiefiles/)
RSVP at website (Pay what you want donation)
Where: Heavy Manners Library
Date: Friday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1200 N. Alvarado St. Unit D, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://heavymannerslibrary.com/events/comics-o-clock-a-comic-reading-10-3
At Skylight: Brian K. Vaughan & Spectators at Skylight (signing) – In-Person Event
Join us for a signing with author Brian K. Vaughan of his graphic novel, Spectators.
A gripping and provocative graphic novel that takes a hard look at sex and violence, and the very different ways we obsessively watch both.
Hundreds of years in the future, New York City is haunted by many ghosts, including a voyeuristic woman who died in our present day and a mysterious gun-toting man from the distant past. Normally solo travelers, these two specters meet and travel around the world together, bearing witness to society’s forward march toward decay.
Readers won’t be able to look away as they watch with dark fascination how Spectators explores the fine line between living and watching others live. Explicitly sexy and shockingly violent, this lavishly hand-painted epic is a thought-provoking, metaphysical masterpiece and the most ambitious collaboration yet between Pride of Baghdad artist Niko Henrichon and Saga writer Brian K. Vaughan.
Brian K. Vaughan is the Eisner and Hugo Award-winning writer/co-creator of multiple critically acclaimed series including Saga, Paper Girls, and Y: The Last Man, as well as the upcoming graphic novel Spectators with artist Niko Henrichon, who he last collaborated with on Pride of Baghdad. Vaughan lives with his family in Los Angeles, where he occasionally dabbles in film and television, though he’s always happiest making comics.
Where: Skylight
Date: Friday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-brian-k-vaughan-presents-spectators-signing
Tia Chucha’s Open Mic at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join featured hosts Xitlalic Guijosa & Frank Escailla at Tia Chucha’s monthly open mic.
Spoooooky Open Mic.
Xitlalic Guijosa-Osuna has facilitated numerous creative writing workshops with Street Poets, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting youth in juvenile halls. Printing workshops and journaling workshops with different organizations in the Los Angeles area. She is from the Maywood area.
Frank Escamilla is a poet, storyteller, educator, facilitator and luminary born and raised in Boyle Heights. He is known in the streets, on stages and in communities around the world as “Bus Stop Prophet” for he propensity to use words to conjure up deep and intentional spaces in unexpected ways.
No registration necessary, sign-ups at the door. All art forms and talents are welcome.
Where: Tia Chucha’s Open Mic
Date: Friday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/DPCUAr-Eq–/?hl=en&img_index=1
Book Launch: Kevin Young & Night Watch at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
Beyond Baroque welcomes Kevin Young, Poetry Editor of The New Yorker and host of The Poetry Podcast. Join us for an evening of poetry in The Wanda Coleman Theater at Beyond Baroque celebrating the release of his most recent collection, Night Watch (Knopf, 2025) followed by a reception and book signing.
From the award-winning poet at the height of his career, Night Watch is a book of personal and American experiences, both beautiful and troubling, touching on the generative cycle of loss and renewal.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach Los Angeles, CA 90291
SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music Event at Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center – In-Person Event
SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music is offered every 1st & 3rd Friday of the month and hosted by Loranzo Frank.
Featured guests: TBA
Tickets at Eventbrite.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center
Date: Friday, the 3rd
Time: 8 pm – 12 am
Address: 4305 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.depoet.info/swaam
First Fridays Rapp Saloon Reading Series & Open Mic with host Cynthia Alessandra Briano at Rapp Saloon, Santa Monica – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Frist Fridays at Rapp Saloon: Open Mic & Featured Readers, will be this week, and is offered every 1st 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 3rd
Time: 8 pm – 11 pm
Address: 1436 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://www.facebook.com/RappSaloonReading or https://www.instagram.com/rappsaloon/?hl=en
Western Edge Writers at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Writers and aspiring writers, join us for a group that supports writing endeavors of all genres: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and memoir.
Please email eaglrk@lapl.org for the writing prompt.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 10 am
Address: 5027 Caspar Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90041
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/western-edge-writers-1
Persian Book Club at West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
RSVP:
تماس بگیرید roya.rahimi@lapl.org برای اطلاعات بیشتر با ایمیل
Description:
:کتاب خود ا به اشتراک بگذارید
کتابی را که خواندید به دیگران هم معرفی کنید
تحلیل کتاب/ بحث و گفتگوی دوستانه
Where: West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm
Address: 19036 Vanowen St., Reseda, CA 91335
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/farsi-book-club
Saturday Morning Book Discussion: Colored Television at Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
We continue reading off of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2024. Drop by for great conversation, good company, and coffee! Copies are available in print, and as ebooks on hoopla & Libby.
October 4: Colored Television by Danzy Senna.
Thanks to our Friends of the Library for providing light refreshments!
Where: Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 11 am
Address: 19036 Vanowen St., Reseda, CA 91335
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/saturday-morning-book-discussion-0
Author Storytime with Maritere R. Bellas – In-Person Event
Don’t miss Bellas’ story Tío Ricky story about the power of family supporting one another and embracing your bilingual superpower.
Maritere R. Bellas is a Puerto Rican award-winning author, speaker, writer, podcast host and bilingual and multicultural parenting mentor. For over two decades, she has provided education, information, resources and support to families engaging in a multilingual, multicultural lifestyle.
Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 11 am
Address: 1440 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-35
Book Club: The Cemetery of Unknown Stories at Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join the discussion of The Cemetery of Untold Stories, a novel by Julia Alvarez.
Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 11 am
Address: 1874 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-35
Middle School Book Club: Graciela in the Abyss at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person MG Event
Join us to discuss Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina. For ages 11 – 14.
In the deepest recesses of the ocean, Graciela—once an ordinary girl—now makes sea glass and assists her friend, Amina, as she welcomes newly awakened sea ghosts from their death sleep. Though Graciela’s spirit is young, she has lived at the bottom of the ocean for more than a hundred years. Meanwhile, in the mortal world on land, twelve-year-old Jorge Leon works in his family’s forge. He’s heard of the supernatural spirits living beneath the ocean’s waves—tales that do nothing to quell his fear of the water. But when Jorge discovers a hand-wrought harpoon with the power to spear a sea ghost, he knows he must destroy it any way he can. When the harpoon is accidentally reunited with its vengeful creator, unlikely allies Graciela and Jorge have no choice but to work together to keep evil spirits from wreaking havoc on both the living and the dead.
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14447920
Drag Story Hour at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a fun drag storytime with our fabulous reader Tony Soto sharing stories that promote diversity and inclusion! Co-sponsored by the City of West Hollywood through WeHo Arts. For children of all ages.
Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14717778
Book Launch & Storytime: Matthew Diffee & Zip Zap Wickety Wack at Once Upon a Time, Montrose – In-Person Kids & Family Event
New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee will be launching his debut picture book, Zip Zap Wickety Wack: Story About Sharing with a story time and book signing. One of Maureen’s favorite books of the year, this will make story time fun and noisy! Best for ages 4+.
If you can’t make it to the event, you can order signed books in advance at website.
Matthew Diffee has been contributing cartoons to The New Yorker since 1999. His work has also appeared in Time, The Huffington Post, The Believer, and Texas Monthly. He is the editor of three volumes of The Rejection Collection: Cartoons You Never Saw and Never Will See in The New Yorker, and has also worked as a freelance illustrator. Diffee is a recipient of the Silver Reuben Award for gag cartooning, and was recently named Chairman of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society. He grew up in Texas, and now lives in Los Angeles.
NOTE: Free to attend.
Where: Once Upon a Time, Montrose
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 11 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/zip-zap-wickety-wack
Real-Life Spooky Stories for Kids: Heather Alexander & Haunted USA at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Kids Event
Join us for a special Halloween-themed spooky storytime this October!
Heather Alexander (Wallace and Grace) returns to the store to read from her newest picture book full of real-life haunts all around the country!
Haunted USA is a Halloween treasury that draws on fact, folklore, and urban legend to shine a light on ghosts, ghouls, cryptids and even a haunted carousel. Meet a chocolate-loving ghost in Iowa, a spectral blue dog in Maryland, Vermont’s tap-dancing phantom, and a headless pirate skeleton in Mississippi!
With scares from all 50 states, Haunted USA is perfect for cozy evenings around Halloween, summer road trips, sleepover parties–and the really, really brave.
Born in New York and now based in sunny California, Heather Alexander is the author of numerous books for children, both fiction and nonfiction, including Only In America, Eat Bugs: Project Startup, A Child’s Introduction to the Nutcracker, A Child’s Introduction to Egyptology, and the Wallace and Grace early chapter book series.
Reserve your seat on EVENTBRITE.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/3666220251004
Writers Supporting Writers at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Looking for a place to connect with fellow writers and grow your craft? Join Writers Supporting Writers! For adults.
Writers Supporting Writers is a monthly library writing group that meets on the first Saturday of every month for writing exercises, thoughtful discussions of attendees’ works-in-progress, and engaging analysis of published works. We offer an inclusive and supportive environment for writers of every background and experience level to create, share, and grow.
Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 12 pm – 1 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14386414
Heavy Manners Comics Fair (Day 1 of 2) at Heavy Manners Library – In-Person Event
Join us for a two-day long book fair featuring cartoonists from around LA selling their comics and goods. Each day will feature a different line up of exhibitors. The event is free and open to the public.
SAT 10/4:
1. Alayna Cabral
2. Arlin Ortiz
3. Bea Ritter
4. Christine LeSantos
5. Cram Books
6. Dave Baker
7. D.R.Y.
8. Eunsoo Jeong
9. John F. Malta
10. John Pham
11. Kaylynn Kim
12. Keiji Ishida
13. Kelly Ficarra
14. Kris Mukai
15. Lili Todd
16. Nick Winn
17. Nicolette Wood
18. Phylicia Fuentes
19. Rae Dukes
20. Robert Goodin
21. Siobhan Gallagher
22. LCAD Illustration and Comic Arts
RSVP at website.
Where: Heavy Manners Library
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 12 pm – 6 pm
Address: 1200 N. Alvarado St. Unit D, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://heavymannerslibrary.com/events/heavy-manners-comics-fair-fall-2025
Kids Graphic Novel Book Club: Coven at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Coven: A Graphic Novel by Soman Chainani and Joel Gennari.
Hester, Anadil, and Dot are legendary across the Endless Woods as vigilante detectives and protectors of the peace. The famed trio are not only talented witches but also ride-or-die friends who’ve never left a case unsolved.
That is, until the Coven answers a call for help from a mysterious new world—Red Isle, where the Light and Dark Lands are on the brink of all-out war, each blaming the other for a grim spree of deaths. Now the Coven must work together and unmask the killer before Red Isle tears itself apart. Little do they know: The real enemy might be hiding in plain sight…
From New York Times bestselling author Soman Chainani and artist Joel Gennari comes a bold graphic novel experience that explores how, even in our darkest moments, the truest of friends can bring us back into the light.
Soman Chainani’s six novels in the School for Good and Evil series each debuted on the New York Times bestseller list. The series has sold over 4.5 million copies, has been translated into 33 languages, and has been adapted into a film by Netflix that debuted at #1 in over 80 countries. His collection of retold fairy tales, Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales, was also an instant New York Times bestseller and is in development to be a television series from Sony 3000.
Soman is a graduate of Harvard University and received his MFA in film from Columbia University. Every year, he visits schools around the world to speak to kids and share his secret: that reading is the path to a better life.
Joel Gennari has illustrated over forty educational children’s books, textbooks, and the educational comic book series Power Coders. In addition to his career as an illustrator, he is also an Emmy-winning puppet builder for the Jim Henson Company. He has worked on such shows as Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock and even built puppets for the HBO hit series We’re Here.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 1 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/kids-graphic-novel-book-club-coven
Inlandia Presents: Manga Magic: A Storytelling Workshop into the Creative World of Manga with Sebraé Harris at Riverside Main Library – in-Person Event
(All Ages)
Alternating Saturdays, 9/20, 10/4, 10/18, 11/1, and 11/15, 1:00-3:00 pm PT, at Riverside Main Library Carnegie Room.
Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Fall2025CWW
This creative workshop introduces participants to the inner workings of the Japanese comic medium, Manga. Explore the terminology, story, character design, and paneling you need to create your own one shot or series! Art supplies will be provided. Presented by animator and mangaka, Sebraé Harris.
Sebraé Harris – AKA “StarLite Crystal” – is an African American artist, entrepreneur, and professional mangaka. He started drawing at the age of four and began taking art seriously when he was eight. Sebraé is a graduate of Riverside City College with degrees in Fine & Applied Arts, Animation, and Business & Entrepreneurship. The Vermillion Speedateer is his first manga/comic series. He also created Citrus Belle for the Raincross Gazette and the recent Riversider feature for Animation & Manga arts.
Where: Riverside Main Library, Carnegie Roo1
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Address: 3900 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://inlandiainstitute.org/fall-2025-writing-workshops/
Our Streets! Zine Fest at Skid Row History Museum & Archive – In-Person Event
Read a mini library of zines created by Skid Row residents and collborators over the last few years. Zinesters in the collection include @nickpaulartist and @tcypark.
Tablers:
@aetnastreetsolidarity
Doodles Press / Skid Row Zine
@johndishwasher
@ku__wrld
@la.spoonie.collective
Mars
Queen Mama Tabia
@virtuesignullandvoid
And more!
Zine Making table hosted by LA Public Library!
Musical performances by
@chellacoleman @y.g.s.l.r.h_s.t.f.u.t
@adamofthesmiths
All within @lapovertydepartment, surrounded by art and archival material from the last 40 years in the Skid Row Neighborhood. An exhibition curated by @doodleswithoutborders
Masks req’d & provided!
Free admission!
Wheelchair accessible entrance & bathroom!
Where: Skid Row History Museum & Archive
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 1 pm – 6 pm
Address: 250 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Book Club for Adults: The God of the Woods at Live Oak Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join our book club for an engaging discussion of our latest selection, The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. Copies of the book will be available at the Customer Service Desk. For adults.
Synopsis:
Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found. As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds.
Where: Live Oak Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 22 W. Live Oak Ave., Arcadia, CA 91007
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14605927
Author Event: Chip Jacobs, with Gustavo Arrellano, & Later Days at Arvida Book Co., Tustin – In-Person Event
Join us to hear author Chip Jacobs, in conversation with Gustavo Arrellano, discuss Later Days, followed by a Q&A and book signing.
About Later Days:
As their elite, all-boys prep school turns coed, transforming from suburban Lord of the Flies to gender-roiled soap-opera, two unlikely friends—Luke Burnett and Denny Drummond—alternate rescuing each other from self-destruction amid troubled home lives. Eager to maximize their era as invincible seniors at Stone Canyon Prep, they and their pals commandeer Bob’s Big Boy, explore the secret world beneath Caltech, stumble into a possibly-supernatural lab animal, and grapple with near-ODs at a playoff game. Just as our heroes manage to graduate, their bond is shattered by a wild gunshot that’ll haunt them for decades.
Twenty years later, Luke is a high-powered journalist with a nosediving career, while Denny, a visionary software engineer, is socked by a terminal diagnosis. Desperate to make amends for that coyote shot, Denny guilts his estranged friend into helping him, all climaxing with a Hail Mary bid to demystify mortality, with an assist from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, while reconnecting with what matters most.
Chip Jacobs is a genre-crossing author and prize-winning journalist. His first novel, Arroyo, about Pasadena, California’s mysterious Colorado Street Bridge, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller, CrimeReads most anticipated book and Independent Book Publisher Award honoree. Among his other books are the international bestselling Smogtown, which he co-wrote with William J. Kelly and is under development for a streaming series, the acclaimed black-comedy, true-crime story, The Darkest Glare, and the Indies Book of the Year Finalist, Strange As It Seems. Jacobs’ reporting and subjects have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Marketplace, CNN, LA Weekly, and the Los Angeles Daily News and elsewhere.
Where: Arvida Book Co.
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 116 W. Main St., Tustin, CA 92780
Website: https://withfriends.co/arvida_Book_Co/events
Three Women, Coast to Coast at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
A Reading with poets from New York to Los Angeles reading new and selected works, Three Women, Coast to Coast brings together poets Deborah Landau, Suzanne Lummis, and Jessica Goodheart for an afternoon of readings. Each poet will share selections from their recent collections—Landau’s Skeletons, Lummis’ Crime Wave, and Goodheart’s Earthquake Season—as well as new and upcoming work.
The event offers a chance to hear three distinct voices from across the country, each bringing their unique perspective and style to the stage.
Suzanne Lummis received her MA in English with a focus in poetry from FSU Fresno, then Fresno State, during its legendary era. She has been associated with the Los Angeles-based Stand-up Poetry movement of the 90s and also with the “poem noir.” NPR’s All Things Considered profiled her in “Writing Noir Poetry with L.A. as a Backdrop.” In 2024, she guest-edited a special issue of the international literary journal, Pratik, giving it a Noir focus, Darkness in Style. Suzanne co-founded and directed The Los Angeles Poetry Festival (active 1989 – 2016). For 30 years she was an influential teacher in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and has been honored with Beyond Baroque’s George Drury Smith Award for Excellence in Poetry, and as a 2018/19 COLA (City of Los Angeles) Fellow. Suzanne’s fourth collection, Crime Wave, will be published by Giant Claw, an imprint of What Books, in 2025.
Jessica Goodheart first began writing poetry in the 1990s at Beyond Baroque’s Thursday night workshop. In 2023, she edited Poets on the Beat, a multimedia collaboration between Beyond Baroque and the nonprofit newsroom Capital & Main. Her work has appeared in Rattle, The Antioch Review, Poetry Goes to the Movies, Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, First of the Month, The Best American Poetry, and other journals and anthologies. Her poetry collection, Earthquake Season, was published by Word Press. By day, Jessica is a senior editor at Capital & Main, an award-winning Los Angeles-based publication focused on social, economic, and political issues. Her reporting on low-wage work, housing, and politics has been recognized by the California Journalism Awards, Best of the West, and the Los Angeles Press Club, among others. She lives in Pasadena, California.
Deborah Landau is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Skeletons, which was named one of The Guardian’s best recent books of poetry and one of The New Yorker’s “Best Books of 2023.” Her other books include Soft Targets (winner of The Believer Book Award), The Uses of the Body, and The Last Usable Hour, all Lannan Literary Selections from Copper Canyon Press, and Orchidelirium, selected by Naomi Shihab Nye for the Robert Dana Anhinga Prize for Poetry. In 2016 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
The Uses of the Body was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, and included on “Best of ″ lists by The New Yorker, Vogue, BuzzFeed, and O, The Oprah Magazine, among others. A Spanish edition, Los Usos Del Cuerpo, was published by Valparaiso Ediciones in 2017. UK editions of her books include Soft Targets (Bloodaxe, 2020) and Skeletons (Corsair, 2024).
Landau was educated at Stanford University, Columbia University, and Brown University, where she was a Javits Fellow and received a Ph.D. in English and American Literature. She is a Professor at NYU, where she directs the Creative Writing Program.
Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, New York Review of Books, The Nation, American Poetry Review, Poetry, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Yale Review, and The New York Times, and included in anthologies such as The Best American Poetry, Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation, Not for Mothers Only, Resistance, Rebellion, Life: 50 Poems Now, The Best American Erotic Poems, and Women’s Work: Modern Poets Writing in English.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach Los Angeles, CA 90291
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/three-women-coast-to-coast-tickets-1612685097539?aff=oddtdtcreator%22
HWA Takes Over at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event
Just in time for spooky season, Horror Writers Association (HWA) & friends take over @underdogbookstore! Support indie bookstores while coming out and getting stuff signed and pick (not eat) the brains of this wonderful group of authors! Kick off Halloween right. See you there.
Where: Underdog Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 312 South Myrtle Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016
Website: https://www.instagram.com
3rd Annual Long Beach Poetry Festival (Day 1 of 2) at Helen Borgers Theatre, Long Beach – In-Person Event
The 3rd Annual Long Beach Poetry Festival is October 4 and October 5 (2 p.m. to 4 p.m. both days) at The Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic in Long Beach.
Director of the Long Beach Shakespeare Company – Holly Leveque Taylor; Curator of the Long Beach Poetry Festival – Linda Ravenswood.
For tickets and scheduled list of performers, see flyer at IG link.
Tickets: www.lbshakespeare.org/events
Where: Helen Borgers Theatre, Long Beach
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 4350 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach CA
Website: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPFyggokWOq/
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Poetry Writing Workshop via Zoom Event – Online Event
DKC leads a poetry Writing Workshop via Zoom online. (Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines including the subject of or at least mentioning too or hot for Four Feathers Press online edition: Too Hot by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59 pm, October 24th)
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com
Middle Grade Book Launch: Matt Lieberman & Mr. Grieves and the Grievous Deeds at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person MG Event
Join us for a book launch event with Matt Lieberman and Mr. Gieves and the Grievous Deeds.
Reserve your spot at website!
When Victoria and Ozzy’s mom, the famous child behavioralist Anna Gray, leaves without a word, Victoria can’t help but think it’s all her fault. So, Victoria commits herself to being perfect in the hope that her excellent behavior will win her mother back. And Victoria knows the best way to show her mom just how good she’s become is to get into the extra-elite Wheaton Prep School. Then Mom will have to return!
Victoria’s plan feels foolproof—until Mr. Grieves arrives. Donning a bowler hat and accompanied by a lock-picking capuchin monkey named Kevin, Mr. Grieves is anything but your usual babysitter. He has the most backward ideas about right and wrong, drives a van that’s anything but street legal, listens to music designed to make your ears bleed, and can convince anyone to do anything in the blink of an eye.
Matt Lieberman has had seven screenplays produced by major studios, including Free Guy, The Christmas Chronicles and its sequel, and The Addams Family. Originally from New Jersey, Matt is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
Nicholas Buccola & One Man’s Freedom: Goldwater, King, and the Struggle Over an American Ideal at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Nicholas Buccola will present and discuss One Man’s Freedom: Goldwater, King, and the Struggle Over an American Ideal.
From the acclaimed author of The Fire Is upon Us, the dramatic untold story of Barry Goldwater and Martin Luther King Jr.’s decade-long clash over the meaning of freedom—and how their conflicting visions still divide American politics,
In the mid-1950s, Barry Goldwater and Martin Luther King Jr. emerged as the leaders of two diametrically opposed freedom movements that changed the course of American history—and still divide American politics. King mobilized civil rights activists under the banner of “freedom now,” insisting that true freedom would not be realized until all people—regardless of race—were empowered politically, economically, and socially. Goldwater rallied conservatives to the cause of “extremism in defense of liberty,” advocating radical individualism. In One Man’s Freedom, Nicholas Buccola tells the compelling story of Goldwater and King’s dramatic decade-long debate over the meaning of an all-important American ideal.
Part dual biography, part history, One Man’s Freedom traces the actions and words of Goldwater and King over a crucial and eventful decade, from their dizzying rise through 1964, which ended with Goldwater’s landslide defeat in the presidential election and King’s Nobel Peace Prize. The book chronicles why Goldwater and King, who never met in person, came to view each other as perhaps the greatest threat to freedom in America. It explains how their ideas of freedom could be so vastly different, yet both so deeply rooted in American history and their times. And it shows how their disagreement continues to shape and explain politics today, when the bitter divisions between Republicans and Democrats often come down to the question of what kind of freedom Americans want—the one defined by Goldwater or by King?
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-10-04/nicholas-buccola
Drag Queen Storytime: HALLOWEEN…But Make It Cute! at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
The Queens are back for the CUTEST Drag Queen Storytime on Saturday, October 4th at 3:30 pm!
Our wonderful, hilarious, sparkling Drag Queens—Scalene OnyxXx, Athena Monet Kills, and Kelly K—are coming to Cellar Door Bookstore (in Halloween style!) to read picture books and have fun with all of us. We would love to see you in your Halloween costumes, too!
Tickets are required to attend our Drag Queen Storytime. All ticket sales are donations. By purchasing tickets, you agree to comply with our code of conduct.
Proceeds will be split evenly between our Drag Queens for the joy, laughter, and love they bring to our Cellar Door community!
One (1) $11.49 minimum ticket admits one (1) adult, and attending children will be admitted free. There is also a DONATION option for those of you who would prefer to donate but won’t be able to make it to the event.
By purchasing a ticket you agree that:
No unapproved video or audio recording of any kind will be permitted.
No unapproved photography of any kind will be permitted.
No hate speech or disruptive behavior will be permitted.
No refunds will be given; all ticket sales are considered a donation.
CELLAR DOOR BOOKS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE OR ADMITTANCE TO ANYONE, INCLUDING PERSONS WHO HAVE PURCHASED A TICKET. PERSONS ENGAGING IN DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR WILL BE ASKED TO LEAVE THE PREMISES.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 3:30 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://www.cellardoorbookstore.com/event/drag-queen-storytime-halloween-make-it-cute
Comics & Zine Release: if I was in LA at The Pop Hop – In-Person Event
Join us on Saturday, October 4 from 5 – 8 pm for “if I was in L.A.”, a comics/zine/reading/release party!
Come support local cartoonists and zine makers as they read from their most recent work. You may also purchase their books at the event. Light refreshments will be served.
Featuring:
Chiquita Dineyanti has “a page for my comics and other projects I make for my amusement. Dari Jakarta, based in Pomona, CA. Always up for trades. DM for trades or requests😊
Andrew Greenstone has an IG for comics and process work from cartoonist Andrew Greenstone. More at comicsareforkids.com
Sam Grinberg @samgrinberg: “I’m a Cartoonist I work on The Simpsons Los Angeles New Jersey New York I make comics and band flyers. You can get that stuff atwww.samgrinberg.com.
Matt MacFarland N/A
Mary Shyne is a comic artist living in the North Bay Area. She works for Snoopy by day and draws her own stories by night. She’s been previously published by The Nib and Electric Literature. When she’s not at the drafting table, she’s walking her pug dog Homer, stapling zines, or fussing over her carnivorous plants.
Stacey Zhu, an illustrator and designer from the San Gabriel Valley has always been interested in art. Find her illustrations and design at staceyzhu.com.
This event is FREE but please RSVP!
Where: The Pop Hop
Date: Saturday the 4th
Time: 5 pm – 8 pm
Address: 5002 York Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://withfriends.co/event
Un Trip: raúlrsalinas & The Poetry of Liberation, Screening, Flor Y Canto at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
Join us at Beyond Baroque for an evening celebrating Chicano poet raúlrsalinas with contemporary Chicanx poets and special guests.
Chicano poet raúlrsalinas, whose words and activism continue to resonate across generations. In partnership with The Global Latinidades Center, this free and public program brings together film, poetry, and conversation to celebrate raúlrsalinas’ profound contributions to art, liberation, and community. Before and after the screenings, guests are invited to a reception in the Poets’ Garden.
The evening will feature UN TRIP: raúlrsalinas and the Poetry of Liberation, a 25-minute documentary by Anne Lewis and Laura Varela based on Raúlrsalinas’ landmark 1969 poem Un Trip through the Mind Jail, written during his incarceration at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. The film highlights his transformation through political education and the collective power of resistance, while also drawing connections to contemporary issues such as imprisonment, gentrification, and the preservation of cultural memory.
Following the screening, filmmaker Laura Varela will join a panel conversation moderated by Professor Ben Olguín (UCSB). Luis J. Rodriguez, Josiah Luis Alderete, Iris de Anda, and soledad con carne will also perform in the spirit of flor y canto. Special guests Michael Sedano, founding editor of La Bloga, and Abel Salas, founding editor of Brooklyn & Boyle, will accompany us for a night reflecting on Chicanx literary and cultural traditions.
About the filmmaker:
Laura Varela is a San Antonio–based filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist whose work bridges cultures, languages, and borders, shaped by her upbringing on the U.S./Mexico border in El Paso, TX. A Producer/Director/Writer committed to social justice storytelling, her award-winning documentaries include “As Long As I Remember: American Veteranos” (PBS, 2010–2016) and “Un Trip: Raúlrsalinas and the Poetry of Liberation” (co-directed with Anne Lewis). She is currently developing Queen of the Accordion, about musician Eva Ybarra, and Rebecca Flores: Under the South Texas Sun. Varela has produced projects funded by Latino Public Broadcasting, ITVS, NALAC, Humanities Texas, and others, and her work has screened widely at universities, cultural centers, and festivals, including the upcoming SXSW 2025 premiere of American Sons. An alumna of the University of Texas and multiple leadership institutes, she is also a Producer for VoxFem Network and a former faculty member at UT San Antonio, with residencies in the U.S. and Germany.
About the authors:
Luis J. Rodriguez is former Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. He has 17 multi-genre books, including eight poetry collections. He’s best known for the bestselling memoir Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. and its sequel, It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions & Healing. In 2022 he received a California Legacy Fellowship and the Robert Kirsch Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Times.
soledad con carne is an intergalactic Chicanx punk poet and co-founder of Cucatlicue Collective. They are a poet of the root that cracks the concrete on occupied Fernandeño-Tataviam land: otherwise known as the San Fernando Valley. Their debut chapbook, SFV OR DIE, Foo’, was published with Lilac Press and featured in articles from San Francisco Chronicle’s Datebook, KALW’s Sights and Sounds, L.A. Taco’s “Best 38 books of 2024,” and The Latinx Project’s “La Treintena 2025” out of NYU.
Josiah Luis Alderete is a full-blooded Spanglish speaking Pocho y left-handed callejero de Aztlán who has been part of the Bay Area’s spoken word scene for over twenty years. He is the curator and host of the long running monthly Latine reading series Speaking Axolotl and is the author of two books of poetry Baby Axolotls & Old Pochos (Black Freighter Press 2021) and the chapbook Fuchi Faces de los Estados Jodidos (For The Pueblo 2023). In 2023 he was the Poetry Center’s Mazza Writer in Residence at San Francisco State. In 2024 his work was translated in Spanish by the Universidad Autónoma De Nuevo León, as part of Hablando en Lenguas, a literay project that paired Mexican and Xicanx poets. Along with his bookstore sister Tân Khanh Cao, Josiah tends the portal known as Medicina Para Pesadillas Bookstore y Galeria on 24th Street in San Pancho, Califas.
Iris De Anda A Guanaca Tapatia poet, speaker & musician who has been featured with KPFK & KPFA Pacifica Radio, organized with Academy of American Poets, performed at Los Angeles Latino Book Festival, Feria del Libro Tijuana, Mexico, Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba and is named one of Today’s Revolutionary Women of Color. Author of Codeswitch: Fires from Mi Corazon with Los Writers Underground Press 2014 & Roots of Redemption: You have No Right to Remain Silent with Flowersong Press 2022.
Ben V. Olguín is the Robert and Liisa Erickson Presidential Chair in English and Director of the Global Latinidades Center at UC Santa Barbara. Originally from Houston, he earned his B.A. at the University of Houston and his M.A. and Ph.D. at Stanford, and has taught at Cornell, UT San Antonio, and held visiting posts at UT Austin. His interdisciplinary work spans Chicanx and Latinx Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, American and Latin American Studies, postcolonial theory, speculative literature, human rights, medical humanities, and creative writing. Author of La Pinta (UT Press, 2010) and Violentologies (Oxford, 2020), he has also co-edited award-winning collections including Altermundos (2017) and Latina/os and WWII (2014), with several major editorial projects forthcoming. A published poet and Macondo Writers Workshop member, Olguín’s creative and scholarly work is grounded in community engagement, with long-standing service-learning projects in schools, prisons, and immigrant detention centers in the U.S. and abroad.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 6 pm – 9 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach Los Angeles, CA 90291
Our Community Speaks: Open Mic, One Community, One Mic, A Stage for Stories Rooted in San Bernardino – In-Person Event
Got something to say—poetry, song, or story? This is your chance to share your voice and be part of our community mic!
A huge thank you to our community partner, The Garcia Center for the Arts, for sponsoring the auditorium!
Estudio Aire Happenings are shaped by each resident artist’s artistic practices with the intention to foster communities of belonging.
Light refreshments provided.
Where: The Garcia Center for the Arts – Auditorium
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: Doors open at 6 pm; open mic sign-ups 6:30 pm
Address: 536 W. 11th St., San Bernardino, CA 92410
Website: https://www.instagram.com/
Poetry & Prosecco with Kevin Young, with Kim Dower, & Night Watch at Chevaliers Books – In-Person Event
Join us at Chevalier’s Books for a rare West Coast appearance by Kevin Young, Poetry Editor of The New Yorker.
Young will read from his new book, Night Watch, and discuss A Century of Poetry in The New Yorker, which he edited.
The evening will be introduced by Kim Dower, former City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood.
Poetry, conversation, and prosecco—don’t miss it!
Where: Chevalier’s
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2025-10-04/poetry-prosecco-kevin-young-kim-dower
Griot Café Open Mic & Poetry: Tommy Domino Book Launch: Closer in the Rear View at Shades of Afrika, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Come and support our host Brother Tommy Domino! Every 1st Saturday inside “Shades Of Afrika LB” 1001 E 4th St. Long Beach CA 90802. Doors open at 7:30 pm.
This month Tommy Domino will launch his book Closer in the Rear View.
Guest host: Philosophy.
Open mic, spoken word, poetry & music.
$10 cash ONLY
Where: Shades of Afrika, Long Beach
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 1001 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://shadesofafrika.com/griot-cafe-open-mic-poetry/
Melrose Trading Post: L.A. Poet Society at Greenway Arts Alliance at Melrose Trading Post at Fairfax H.S. – In-Person Event
The Melrose Trading Post is a pioneering arts-based marketplace held every Sunday at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, CA with 275 local creative small business vendors, delicious food booths and local live music.
MTP was founded in 1997 with a mission to champion small businesses, art, and community. The market funds Greenway Arts Alliance’s arts education programming and provides employment and leadership development opportunities for students at Fairfax High School.
JOIN us in space R18 each Sunday, from 11 am – 5 pm.
All poems are donation-based, so you name your price.
NOTE: Check every Sunday for story time and reading events
Where: Melrose Trading Post, Greenway Main Stage at Fairfax HS
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 10 am – 5 pm (market); 11 am – 5 pm (poets on demand)
Address: 7850 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046
Website: https://www.instagram.com
October Sunday Storytime at Chevaliers Books – In-Person Kid Event
Join us for Storytime at Chevalier’s Books; 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.
As always, our storytime events are always free to attend, but we strongly recommend you RSVP so that we can accommodate all who wish to attend.
Where: Chevalier’s
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2025-10-05/october-sunday-storytime
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at Underdog Bookstore!
Participating authors:
Aaron H. Aceves is a bisexual, Mexican American writer born and raised in East Los Angeles. He graduated from Harvard College and received his MFA from Columbia University. His fiction has appeared in jmww, Epiphany, and them., among other places.
Sofia Aguilar is a Chicana writer, editor, teaching artist, community organizer, and library professional based on the traditional homelands of the Tongva, Kizh, and Chumash peoples (Los Angeles, California). Her work has appeared in the L.A. Times, Latino Book Review, and New Orleans Review, among other publications. She is the author of zine and chapbook publications including STREAMING SERVICE: golden shovels made for tv (2021) and STREAMING SERVICE: season two (2022), both self-published; LOS ANGELES: the zine (2025) and MONARCA: the zine (2025), both co-edited with poet Paula Macena; CHISMOSA: the zine and CHILLONA: the zine (forthcoming November 2025), She is the debut author of Queer Latine Heroes: 25 Changemakers from Latin America and the U.S. from History and Today (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2025).
Angelica Aquiles pretends to be a responsible adult; by night, she crafts tales of adventure, romance, and humor on the page. Her obsession with books began in childhood and has only worsened with age.
Annette Chavez Macias is a Mexican-American author who writes stories focusing on love, family, and pursuing dreams. Her work incorporates her cultural heritage, traditions, and experiences. In addition to her mainstream fiction, she writes romance novels under the pen name Sabrina Sol. She is the author of Everything We Never Knew, among others.
Frank Mundo is a writer, poet, and the author of Touched by an Anglo (Kattywompus Press 2017), The BruburyTales (foreword by Carolyn See), a modern version of The Canterbury Tales, set in Los Angeles just after the 1992 riots, among other publications.
Isabel Quintero is an award-winning writer and the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She proudly lives and writes in the Inland Empire of Southern California. Gabi, A Girl in Pieces (Cinco Puntos Press), her first YA novel, was the recipient of multiple awards including the Tomas Rivera Award, California Book Award Gold Medal, and the Morris Award for Debut YA Novel. She is the author of the chapter books, Ugly Cat and Pablo (Scholastic, Inc.) and Ugly Cat and Pablo and the Missing Brother (Scholastic, Inc.). In 2016 Isabel was commissioned by The J. Paul Getty Museum to write a non-fiction YA graphic biography, Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide (Getty Publications), which went on to be awarded the Boston Globe Horn Book Award. Most recently, My Papi Has a Motorcycle (Kokila), earned the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Award, Pura Belpré Illustration Honor Award, the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, among others.
Participating vendors: Mexica Empire and Handcrafted by Mel
Where: Underdog Bookstore
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 11 am – 1 pm
Address: 312 N. Myrtle Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Storytime + Activity with Erica Lee Schlaikjer & Sky Luck at Bel Canto Books Retro Row. Long Beach – In-Person Event
Join us to hear children’s book author Erica Lee Schlaikjer, present Sky Luck for a Storytime + Activity at Bel Canto Books Retro Row.
As friends gather to look for shooting stars, one boy discovers how to pay attention to what’s here, not what’s missing. From an Own Voices Award winner comes a magical picture book celebrating abundant thinking.
A dark night. Friends have gathered. One by one they point out flames streaking across the sky. All but one boy. He sees an airplane, the Milky Way, a full moon, but no shooting stars. Frustrated by his bad luck, he gives up and goes inside.
His uncle sees things differently. He asks…
What if we open our hearts to all the wonders in the sky? The bright and the quiet, the everyday and the once-in-a-lifetime. What if nature’s gifts are all around, ready for us to recognize them? What if sky luck is infinite, and everywhere, for everyone?
Crisp, evocative text and lush, cinematic illustrations deliver an invitation to be mindful of our planet’s never-ending treasures. A final spread reminds readers of the abundance of celestial surprises all of us are lucky to delight in.
Erica Lee Schlaikjer grew up as a mixed-race “Third Culture Kid” in a Foreign Service family, living in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and the United States. Her mother is Falangaw Amis, indigenous to Taiwan. Her father is White American. She writes stories about the joy of belonging, the beauty of fleeting moments, and the wonders of nature. She currently lives with her husband in Los Angeles, the ancestral lands of the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh, and Chumash Peoples.
RSVP
Where: Bel Canto Books Retro Row
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 12 pm – 1:30 pm
Address: 2106 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90814
Heavy Manners Comics Fair (Day 2 of 2) at Heavy Manners Library – In-Person Event
Join us for a two-day long book fair featuring cartoonists from around LA selling their comics and goods. Each day will feature a different line up of exhibitors. The event is free and open to the public.
SUN 10/5:
1. Alec Robbins
2. Anatola Howard
3. Andy Busc
4. C. Daniela Shapiro
5. Casey Nowak
6. Company Car
7. Corinth Boone
8. Dashawn Mahone
9. David Kantrowitz
10. Eunsoo Jeong
11. Fifi Martinez
12. Harper Brown
13. Heidy Lopez
14. Julie Fiveash
15. Lucy Xue
16. Maurice Buckley
17. Mikey Heller
18. Miranda Harmon
19. Quinn Scott
20. Trenyce Tong
21. Ty Goodwin
22. LCAD Illustration and Comic Arts
Flyer designed by Christine LêSantos
RSVP at website.
Where: Heavy Manners Library
Date: Sunday the 5th
Time: 12 pm – 6 pm
Address: 1200 N. Alvarado St. Unit D, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://heavymannerslibrary.com/events/heavy-manners-comics-fair-fall-2025
3rd Annual Long Beach Poetry Festival (Day 2 of 2) at Helen Borgers Theatre, Long Beach – In-Person Event
The 3rd Annual Long Beach Poetry Festival is October 4 and October 5 (2 p.m. to 4 p.m. both days) at The Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic in Long Beach.
Director of the Long Beach Shakespeare Company – Holly Leveque Taylor; Curator of the Long Beach Poetry Festival – Linda Ravenswood.
For tickets and scheduled list of performers, see flyer at IG link.
Tickets: www.lbshakespeare.org/events
Where: Helen Borgers Theatre, Long Beach
Date: Saturday, the 4th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 4350 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach CA
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Storytime & Booksigning: Chris Van Dusen & If I Built a Town at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Event
Join us for an event with Chris Van Dusen & If I Built a Town.
Build with your imagination!
With bright and dynamic illustrations, Chris Van Dusen’s new picture book If I Built a Town invites readers to create and explore. Chris will read his book, do a drawing demonstration, and then be available to sign books. Best for ages 4+.
If you can’t make it to the event, you can order signed books in advance at website.
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Sunday, the 5th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/if-i-built-town
Lauren Gallegos & Just Keep Going at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Illustrator Lauren Gallegos will read and sign Just Keep Going.
When Mouse sets out on his adventure, he discovers that brave isn’t something you are—it’s something you do!
Mouse’s day is full of big moments and bigger feelings. But with each step forward—jumping to shake off fear, accepting a friend’s comforting hug, or simply pausing to breathe—he builds his courage toolkit. Because taking a brave journey doesn’t mean you have to be fearless. It means you know how to just keep going.
in her first book for children, former news anchor Lynn Smith, now a media consultant and host of the parenting podcast Strollercoaster, was inspired by her experience coaching Fortune 500 executives. She realized the fears that hold back CEOs aren’t that different from what stops a child from raising their hand in class. That’s why she wrote Just Keep Going—because resilience shouldn’t be a C-suite secret.
Lauren Gallegos earned her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration from Cal State Fullerton in 2009 and has been illustrating ever since. 15 years in and she has illustrated over 30 books including several series, board books, historical fiction, biographies, licensed characters, and educational. She lives in Southern California with her husband and 2 young children where she loves to tend to her edible and flower garden, play piano, and hike in the California mountains.
Where: Deisel
Date: Sunday the 5th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2025-10-05/lauren-gallegos-just-keep-going
Writing Group at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Bring paper and a pen, bring your laptop, bring a prompt to share, bring a project to work on or just come prepared to free write among other writers, and perhaps exchange projects and feedback!
Offered every first Sunday of the month.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Sunday the 5th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Sunday Jump Open Mic at Pilipino Workers Center – In-Person Event
We invite everyone to celebrate Filipino American History Month with Sunday Jump Open Mic at the Pilipino Workers Center in Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles! 🇵🇭🥳 On October 5th from 5-7 pm, we’ll be celebrating FAHM with special performances, open micers, and good vibes. You definitely won’t want to miss it! Open mic sign-ups start at 4:30 pm and will be a lottery based system to ensure fair chances for all.
Our theme this season is: Time Check ⏱️ Living for the day is a call to be present. We define the meaning of who we are by seizing the gift of today. Opportunities come and go and sometimes pass by without us acting on it. While tomorrow is not promised, this moment is yours to make.
@bataanmarciano, musician
@10percentfairy / @clevergirl.band, band
@eastlosmusubi, food
@halo_hafu, drink
@buildingpress.co, resident merch vendor
@historicfilipinotown.la, community spotlight
@djwonbp, sound selection
@emg_oftheday, host
Where: Pilipino Workers Center
Date: Sunday the 5th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 153 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.instagram.com/
Book Event: Anna Grifty, with Anna Malaika Tubbs, & The Double Tax at Reparations Club – In-Person Event
Join Rep Club in celebrating The Double Tax: How Women of Color are Overcharged & Underpaid, with author Anna Gifty and moderator Anna Malaika Tubbs.
The “pink tax” has gained widespread recognition in recent years, but what happens when you look at the costs that define a woman’s entire life, especially across racial lines?
In The Double Tax, Harvard researcher Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman summarizes the disparities that women face as they navigate life’s biggest moments. Not only do the numbers reveal that women incur higher costs than men, but also that Black and white women lead vastly different lives, marked by dramatic gaps in job opportunities, salaries, housing costs, childcare access, and generational wealth. She coins this gap as the “double tax,” the compounded cost of racism and sexism.
Through rigorous research and interviews with women across the country, Opoku-Agyeman calculates the extra money, time, and effort that women are expected and forced to pay at every stage of their life.
While the evidence may be discouraging, The Double Tax offers actionable solutions for how everyday people, local communities, and global leaders alike can help relieve women of these costs for good. Only by understanding where the gaps are and where the double tax arises can we begin to even the playing field for all.
Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman is a doctoral candidate at Harvard Kennedy School studying public policy and economics. She is a doctoral fellow for the National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation, Center for Black Entrepreneurship, Russell Sage Foundation, Roosevelt Institute, and Stone Program in Wealth Distribution, Inequality & Social Policy, and a graduate affiliate at Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Center and the Institute for Quantitative Science.
Her first book, The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System (2022), is the first trade publication to exclusively feature Black scholars and experts across economics, education, health, climate, criminal justice, and technology. She also co-founded #BlackBirdersWeek in 2019 and The Sadie Collective in 2018—the first non-profit addressing the underrepresentation of Black women in economics and related fields.
The youngest recipient of the CEDAW Women’s Rights Award from the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women—an honor previously given to Vice President Kamala Harris—her writing and commentary appear in TIME, Bloomberg, NPR, and The New York Times. In 2023, she was selected to be part of the inaugural Forbes 30 under 30 Boston cohort. Her forthcoming book, The Double Tax, will be published by Penguin/Portfolio in September 2025. The book is the first to explore the costs women face and shows why the bill runs higher for women of color.
Anna Malaika Tubbs is a 2x New York Times bestselling author and multidisciplinary expert on current and historical understandings of race, gender, and equity. With a Ph.D. in Sociology and a Master’s in Multidisciplinary Gender Studies from the University of Cambridge, in addition to a Bachelor’s in Medical Anthropology from Stanford University, Anna translates her academic knowledge into stories that are clear and engaging. Her articles have been published by TIME Magazine, New York Magazine, CNN, The Guardian, and others.
Her first book, The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of MLK Jr, Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation, came out in 2021; her second book, Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden From Us, came out in May of this year. Anna’s storytelling also takes form in her talks, including her TED Talk that has been viewed 2 million times, as well as the scripted and unscripted screen projects she has in development. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their three kids.
Where: Reparations Club
Date: Sunday the 5th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm)
Address: 3054 S. Victoria Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90016
October Queer Romance Book Club: Camp Damascus at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Queer Romance Book Club is led by bookseller Elizabeth. It reads widely across the romance genre featuring LGBTQIA authors.
Participants will discuss Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle.
Chuck Tingle’s debut, Camp Damascus, is a searing and earnest horror debut about the demons the queer community faces in America, the price of keeping secrets, and finding the courage to burn it all down.
Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold.
Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective” gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy.
And they’ll scare you straight to hell.
Everyone is welcome.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 5th
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodice.com/events-and-tickets
Poetry Suite – In-Person Event
Sometimes an intimate vibe, where vulnerability lives, is all your soul needs! Meet us at Poetry Suite!
Next show is up & as always, we CANNOT WAIT, to share space with you.
The art, the community, the love, all of it is always so profound. So, grab your people or come & find your people, either way, BE THERE. Make sure to come hungry, best vegan provided by @cafeliv_pasadena A TIME WILL BE HAD!
DM us directly to purchase tickets & avoid eventbrite fees. Also, BRING YOUR OWN CHAIR or rent one for $2 while supplies last. See y’all on the mic!
Where: N/A
Date: Sunday the 5th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: DM to purchase ticket
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Dazed and Confused Poetry Club 2025 | Every 1st Sundayat The Glendale Room – In-Person Event
Fernando Funes presents the Dazed and Confused Poetry Club monthly, and this is a special presentation of: Black Sapphic Sonnets hosted by Tee, 6x slam champion.
Tee (she/her) is a queer, black poet from Inglewood California whose art centers reclamation, liberation, and socio-economic equity. She is a slam champion (Da Poetry Lounge, OC Slam, Berkeley Slam, and others) and author. She is also the highest selling performer in the history of The Poetry Brothel where she is the resident character, Chaos Count! She has been published in several anthologies and mobile magazines. Her first book is being published by The Los Angeles Press this fall 2025. You can find her in LA organizing poetry events for community mobilization, information, and mutual aid.
Kwyn Townsend Riley “Kwynology” is a poet, speaker, and organizer from the Southside of Chicago. She has been writing for as long as she could remember, first performed on the mic in high school and has been in love ever since. Her writing helps others heal as well as herself. As a black woman, she has experienced many poems to preach on; racialized violence, womanism, gentrification and womanhood, homophobia and more. She has performed all across the world from Germany to California. As a speaker, she has interviewed for CBS, WBEZ, Windy City Live and the Late Night Tammi Mac Show. As an organizer, she is passionate about justice for all black people, especially black queer and gender nonconforming folks.
Kwyn is an author of two books “And She Wrote” and “and She Will”. Kwyn loves her family, Chicago and french fries.
Jenari is a Sacramento poet. She’s performed across the country in cities such as Washing D.C. Jenari has a poem called “I Saw Myself in All of You.”
Malachi (She/They) is a Los Angeles-based poet, world-class spoken word artist, and winner of Secret Spot DTLA March 2023 QTBIPOC Open Mic.
Celia DaPoet is a writer, spoken word artist, and multidisciplinary creative passionate about storytelling in all its forms. Through poetry, short stories, and performance, Celia explores themes of love, identity, and self-expression, centering Black queer experiences with depth and authenticity. Beyond the page and stage, they craft handmade candles designed to inspire creativity and relaxation. Whether through words or art, Celia’s mission is to ignite emotion, spark connection, and create spaces where stories come alive.
Booked poets and Open Mic.
$5
Where: The Glendale Room
Date: Sunday the 5th
Time: 8:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 127 Artsakh Ave., Glendale, CA 91206
Los Angeles Literature 