Come write with us!

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: Monday the 1^st

Time: 8:30 am – 9:30 am

Join us for an engaging discussion on some of the world’s best short stories! This year’s selections are from 100 Great Short Stories edited by James Daley and The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction. This month’s selections (from 100 Great Short Stories) are:

December 1: The Pope’s Mule by Alphonse Daudet

December 8: Journalism in Tennessee by Mark Twain

December 15: The Luck of Roaring Camp by Bret Harte

December 22: Bill Nations by Bill Arpe

December 29: A Jersey Centenarian by Bret Harte

RSVP:

For the Zoom link and weekly story to be discussed, email wvally@lapl.org with “World Literature” in the subject line.

Where: West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 1^st

Time: 10 am

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/world-literature-book-club-12

Cider Monday Sale at Once Upon a Time, Montrose – In-Person Event

Take a bite out of Cyber Monday!

In-store deals:

FREE hot cider and treats in store, while supplies last.

Complimentary gift wrapping

Online Only Deals

FREE gift with online purchase

20% off featured titles – browse the discounted titles!

FREE shipping with purchase of $50 or more

Two FREE audiobooks with a new Libro.fm membership

$5 or less audiobooks through Libro.fm – no code needed, valid 11/25 – 12/1.

Where: Once Upon a Time

Date: Monday the 1^st

Time: 10 am – 6 pm

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 1^st

Time: 11 am

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

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/robertson-writers-group-2

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

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

December selection: Time of the Child by Niall Williams

Doctor Jack Troy was born and raised in Faha, but his responsibilities for the sick and his care for the dying mean he has always been set apart from the town. His eldest daughter, Ronnie, has grown up in her father’s shadow, and remains there, having missed one chance at love—and passed up another offer of marriage from an unsuitable man. But in the Advent season of 1962, as the town readies itself for Christmas, Ronnie and Doctor Troy’s lives are turned upside down when a baby is left in their care. As the winter passes, father and daughter’s lives, the understanding of their family, and their role in their community are changed forever.

Where: Manhattan Beach Library, LACL

Date: Monday the 1^st

Time: 5 pm

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

All Write Nights will be donation-based and, as with all our events, we do not tolerate bigotry or harassment in any form.

*please note that we host a second Write Night each month for QTBIPOC (Queer, Transgender, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) writers only, to create a safe and dedicated space for all members of our community*

Where: Chevalier’s

Date: Monday the 1^st

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2025-12-01/open-write-night-december

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 1^st

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501

Website: https://www.facebook.com

Todd James Pierce & Making Mary Poppins at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Join Todd James Pierce to hear him present and discuss Making Mary Poppins: The Sherman Brothers, Walt Disney, and the Creation of a Classic Film.

Making Mary Poppins reveals the extraordinary true story behind the creation of one of the most beloved films of all time—and the two little-known songwriters who helped make it possible.

Long before Mary Poppins danced across the rooftops of Edwardian London and into the hearts of millions, Robert and Richard Sherman were struggling songwriters in Los Angeles, trying to find their voices—and their futures. In this vivid and deeply researched narrative, author and Disney historian Todd James Pierce traces the unlikely path that brought the Sherman brothers to Walt Disney’s attention, and how their personal history, musical genius, and emotional lives shaped the film’s unforgettable songs and surprising storyline.

From their early days writing novelty tunes to the high-stakes drama of working with P. L. Travers and Walt Disney himself, the Sherman brothers’ story is rich with behind-the-scenes intrigue, creative breakthroughs, and quiet triumphs. Their work on Mary Poppins not only launched their careers—it transformed Disney’s live-action division and influenced an entire era of musical filmmaking.

Filled with never-before-published details and backstage portraits, Making Mary Poppins is a story of art, ambition, and resilience. It’s also a story of family—of the bond between two brothers whose brilliance gave the world “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “Feed the Birds,” and a vision of magic that still resonates today.

NOTE: See website for further details and guidelines.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Monday the 1^st

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2025-12-01/todd-james-pierce

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!

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: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

Website: https://villagewell.com

Tuesday Tales: A Travelin’ Storytime, Session 1 at Pico 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: Pico Branch Library, SMPL

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 10:30 am – 11 am

Address: 2201 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405

Website: https://www.santamonica.gov/events 

Virtual Book Club: The Listeners 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 The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater. 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.

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

Week 5: December 2: Part 4: Chapters 23 – Epilogue, Pages 283 – to end of book.

January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa is where high society goes to see and be seen. Located deep in the West Virginia mountains, where healing sweetwater flows, the hotel is managed by a local, June Hudson, whose skills were noted by the wealthy Guilfoyles who own the place. War has begun, and June is trying to shield the Avallon from it, but when the owner’s son makes a deal with the State Department to house dozens of Axis diplomats, June must convince her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to battle—to offer luxury to Nazis for the war effort. Peacefully.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Tucker Minnick is searching for a spy among the detainees. He has his own history with West Virginia and would have done anything to avoid coming back, but this mission is an exile that he can’t escape unless he earns it. As tension grows between locals and the detainees, Tucker’s spy games disturb the peace, and the eerie sweetwater proves more dangerous than once thought. June’s future at the Avallon hangs in the balance—but who is she without the hotel? And what is it without her? Maggie Stiefvater makes her adult fiction debut in this mesmerizing portrait of an unlikely heroine, a hotel—and a world—in peril, and the love that can bloom even in such unlikely circumstances.

Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14602518

Author Talk: Sue Hincenbergs & The Retirement Plan via Virtual Program, LACL – In-Person Event

Buckle up for a wild ride as Sue Hincenbergs discusses her debut novel The Retirement Plan. When the only thing standing between 3 best friends and a beachfront retirement condo are their husbands, they plan to collect on some life insurance policies.

After thirty years of friendship, Pam dreams of her perfect retirement with Nancy, Shalisa, Marlene, and their husbands—until their husbands pool their funds for an investment that goes terribly wrong, and their dreams of beachfront condos and a sunny, carefree retirement vanish. The golden years are looking as dreary as their marriages.

But when one husband dies in a freak accident, the other three women are shocked to see his widow rebound with a huge life insurance payout and a new life in Florida. In the aftermath, the women discover that their husbands have identical, seven-figure life insurance policies. A new dream forms, and this time, it involves a hitman. Meanwhile, their husbands have a secret retirement plan of their own.

You won’t want to miss this darkly humorous debut by Sue Hincenbergs, filled with both laugh-out-loud and genuinely tense moments as our headstrong wives pursue their dream retirement at all costs. Register today to take part in the fun!

Sue Hincenbergs is a former television producer who has worked on multiple award-winning programs ranging from sitcoms to lifestyle. She oversaw the content on two national daily shows, including Canada’s longest running morning show before turning her talents to live music specials, and eventually to writing. Sue lives in Toronto with her (very much alive) husband, her scruffy, middle-aged rescue dog Kramer, and the rooms full of the stuff her three sons left behind when they moved out.

Where: Virtual Program, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 25^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/150380

Tuesday Tales: A Travelin’ Storytime, Session 2 at Pico 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: Pico Branch Library, SMPL

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 11:30 am – 12 pm

November’s Book Pick is Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart. Copies available at the library. For adults.

Mark was the most dangerous killer-for-hire in the world. But after learning the hard way that his life’s work made him more monster than man, he left all of that behind, and joined a twelve-step group for reformed killers.

When Mark is viciously attacked by an unknown assailant, he is forced on the run. From New York to Singapore to London, he chases after clues while dodging attacks and trying to solve the puzzle of who’s after him. All without killing anyone. Or getting killed himself. For an assassin, Mark learns, nonviolence is a real hassle.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14816036

Iacobani Book Club: Olive Kittredge at Angelo M. Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for our monthly book club! This month we’ll be discussing Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. 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 through Libby.

Where: Angelo M. Iacoboni Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 4990 Clark Ave., Lakewood, CA 90712

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14707453

Women and Books Book Club: Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us for a hybrid (in-person and online) discussion of Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro. For adults.

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

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14318384

Book Event: The Legacy of a Disney Legend at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion of Xavier “X” Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend.

About the book:

From apprentice animator on Pinocchio to the lyricist behind “Yo Ho, Yo Ho A Pirates Life for Me,” Xavier “X” Atencio’s Disney career was diverse and spectacular.

Now for the first time his talent, humor, and creativity come to life in a book celebrating the body of work and the legacy of one of Walt’s original and most versatile Imagineers.

Xavier “X” Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend depicts the life, art, and lasting legacy of X, detailing how he put himself into his work and used his talents, passion, humor, and creativity to inspire generations. It is the most comprehensive look to date at the one of Walt’s original and most versatile Imagineers.

Featuring previously unpublished artwork and photographs from X’s personal collection, this book grants readers the unique opportunity to discover the true depths of influence X attained on his life journey. For while it was rare to become a Disney Imagineer, it was even rarer to end a career at Disney with as diversified a resume as X’s—from “small-town Colorado boy” to art school attendee, Disney animator, attraction scriptwriter, lyricist, voice-over artist, and finally Disney Legend.

Set against the historic and cultural evolutions of The Walt Disney Company, Xavier “X” Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend provides a deeply personal perspective into the life and career of a Disney Legend whose story, until now, had remained largely untold.

About the authors:

Tori Atencio McCullough is X’s eldest daughter and followed in their father’s footsteps, with her own forty-year career at Walt Disney Imagineering in the interior design department. Tori retired in 2016 and later co-authored Women of Walt Disney Imagineering: 12 Women Reflect on Their Trailblazing Theme Park Careers.

Kelsey McCullough is X’s first granddaughter. Following in the family footsteps, she started her Disney career working in technology for Disney Parks in 2013 and has since moved over to working on technology innovation at Walt Disney Studios.

Bobbie Lucas could most closely be defined as X’s “grandchild-in-law.” She is a writer, producer, and film professor in Los Angeles. In the Atencio family tradition, she’s spent part of her career at Disney, where she worked in television development.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Join us for a discussion with tow authors and their novels. Barbara Demick will discuss her novel Daughters of the Bamboo Grove and Lisa See will discuss her novel The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane.

Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, A True Story of Abduction, Adoption and Separated Twins by Barbara Demick

An unbelievable true story about Chinese-born identical twins separated after one was confiscated by government officials from a family too poor to pay the fines for violating the one-child policy. Demick tracked down the missing twin in Texas, where she had been adopted by evangelical Christians, and eventually brought her to China to meet her birth family. Through these genetically identical young women, one Chinese and one American, the book explores the genetic, cultural and political influences that shape the human experience. A best book of 2025 by The New York Times. “This story packs a wallop.”

Barbara Demick is a prize-winning author and former foreign correspondent, who spent seven years as Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times. Previous books include Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town and the bestselling Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. Her writing has won the UK’s top nonfiction prize, been shortlisted for the Pulitzer, National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle award, and has won many journalism awards, including from the Asia Society and Overseas Press Club. She also contributes to The New Yorker.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, a moving story about tradition, tea farming, and the enduring connection between mothers and daughters.

In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced in ritual and routine, life goes on as it has for generations—until a stranger appears at the village gate in a jeep, the first automobile any of the villagers has ever seen.

The stranger’s arrival marks the first entrance of the modern world in the lives of the Akha people. Slowly, Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, begins to reject the customs that shaped her early life. When she has a baby out of wedlock—conceived with a man her parents consider a bad match—she rejects the tradition that would compel her to give the child over to be killed, and instead leaves her, wrapped in a blanket with a tea cake tucked in its folds, near an orphanage in a nearby city.

As Li-yan comes into herself, leaving her insular village for an education, a business, and city life, her daughter, Haley, is raised in California by loving adoptive parents. Despite her privileged childhood, Haley wonders about her origins, and across the ocean Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. Over the course of years, each searches for meaning in the study of Pu’er, the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for centuries.

A powerful story about two women separated by circumstance, culture, and distance, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and a celebration of the bonds of family.

Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, The Island of Sea Women, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, Shanghai Girls, China Dolls, and Dreams of Joy, which debuted at #1. She is also the author of On Gold Mountain, which tells the story of her Chinese American family’s settlement in Los Angeles. See was the recipient of the Golden Spike Award from the Chinese Historical Association of Southern California and the Historymaker’s Award from the Chinese American Museum. She was also named National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

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

Mark was the most dangerous killer-for-hire in the world. But after learning the hard way that his life’s work made him more monster than man, he left all of that behind, and joined a twelve-step group for reformed killers.

When Mark is viciously attacked by an unknown assailant, he is forced on the run. From New York to Singapore to London, he chases after clues while dodging attacks and trying to solve the puzzle of who’s after him. All without killing anyone. Or getting killed himself. For an assassin, Mark learns, nonviolence is a real hassle.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14816041

Creativity Book Club: Finger Exercises for Poets at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Do you think of yourself as creative, or wish that you were? Do you get inspired by a book of reflections, or do you prefer an actual workbook with tasks and prompts? Do you wish you had more people to talk with about painting, poetry or pottery?

Here is the time and the place; you just need to be here with us. Be a part of the start—and let 2025 be your most creatively satisfying year yet!

Our selection this December is Finger Exercises for Poets by Dorianne Laux.

From “a poet of immense insight and masterful craft” (Kwame Dawes), Finger Exercises for Poets is an engaging and inspiriting invitation to practice poetry alongside one of its masters. With wide-ranging examples from classic and contemporary poets, Dorianne Laux demystifies the magic of language that makes great poetry and offers generative exercises to harness that magic. She explores the syllable and the line, the use of form, poetic responses to contemporary events and personal experiences, the imaginative leap, and the power of a distinct voice. As she writes in the introduction, “My instrument is the immensity of language…There are eighty-eight keys on a piano, six hundred thousand words in the English language. The patterns, sequences, and permutations of both are endless. For me, language is another kind of music…I practice poetry. This book invites you to practice along with me.”

Throughout, Laux reminds us that poetry is a practice as much as an art and that poets must hone their language as a musician practicing an instrument.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

WeHo Reads Three presents three groundbreaking trans authors who expand the horizons of speculative fiction, journalism, and cultural commentary.

How do writers harness their imaginations to create new worlds, reshape realities, and advocate for justice? How can their stories help us envision more inclusive futures?

This event brings together three groundbreaking trans authors whose work expands the horizons of speculative fiction, journalism, and cultural commentary. Through their novels, anthologies, and advocacy, these writers transform personal and collective experiences into bold acts of creativity and resistance.

The event will feature: Charlie Jane Anders, award-winning author of Lessons in Magic and Disaster, a new novel about a trans witch who teaches her mother magic; M. M. Olivas, a trans, Xicanxfuturist, author of Sundown in San Ojuela, and alumna of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop and the Lambda Literary Workshop; and Tuck Woodstock, host of the celebrated Gender Reveal podcast and the editor of both the Lambda Literary Award-winning 2 Trans 2 Furious: An Extremely Serious Journal of Transgender Street Racing Studies and the upcoming anthology Sex Change and the City.

The event is free. WeHo Reads is a literary series presented by the City of West Hollywood. For more information and events, visit http://www.weho.org/wehoreads. The 2025 season is produced by BookSwell, a literary media company amplifying historically excluded voices. Additional support is provided by media partnerships with Book Soup and Los Angeles Review of Books.

Attendees are advised that the program may include mature language and themes.

Where: City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

Address: Online Zoom & YouTube Event

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

Free event. 21+

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: The Aftermath Bar

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 7 pm – 10 pm

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

Website: https://www.instagram.com

Celebrating DEATH AND DINUGUAN with Mia P. Manansala and Tracy Badua at Bal Canto Books Off-site at Ambitious Ales, Long Beach – In-Person Event

Bel Canto Books is delighted celebrate Death and Dinuguan, the final installment in the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Myster Series with author Mia P. Manansala, in conversation with Tracy Badua (GHOUL SUMMER).

Love is in the air for the citizens of Shady Palms, but Cupid’s arrow isn’t the only thing striking the town—not with another killer on the loose. Things are looking up for the Brew-ha Cafe, and Lila Macapagal can’t think of anything that could break the spell, especially with Valentine’s Day coming up—she can’t wait to celebrate with her boyfriend, Jae Park. Adding to the lovey-dovey atmosphere is Hana Lee, Shady Palms’s newest resident. She’s also Jae’s beloved cousin and chocolatier at Choco Noir, the latest addition to the town’s culinary offerings. Everything is coming into place for Hana, who left her old life in Minnesota behind to work at Choco Noir, owned by her best friend. Unfortunately, beneath the sweet surface of Shady Palms runs a bitter undercurrent, as a series of attacks against women-owned businesses in the area escalates from petty theft to assault and murder when Hana is found knocked unconscious inside Choco Noir, and the chocolate shop owner is put out of business—for good. With Hana left in a coma, a murderer hiding amongst them, and the safety of the women entrepreneurs of Shady Palms at risk, the Park brothers team up with the Brew-ha crew to put a stop to the villain before they strike again.

Mia P. Manansala (she/her) is a writer from Chicago who loves books, baking, and bad-ass women. She is the author of the multi-award-winning Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series and the YA novel Death in the Cards. She uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness, and her love for Millennial pop culture.

A lover of all things geeky, Mia spends her days procrasti-baking, playing RPGs and otome games, reading cozy mysteries and diverse romance, and gazing lovingly at her dog.

Tracy Badua is a Filipino American author of books full of humor, magic, and young people with sunny hearts in a sometimes stormy world. By day, she is an attorney who works in national policy and programs, and by night, she squeezes in writing, family time, and bites of her secret candy stash. She lives in San Diego, California, with her family and photogenic Maltese.

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: Bel Canto Books at Ambitious Ales

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 4019 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90807

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrating-death-and-dinuguan-with-mia-p-manansala-and-tracy-badua-tickets-1588214053989?aff=oddtdtcreator

Ticketed In-Store Signing: Annie Lennox & Retrospective at Book Soup – In-Person Event (SOLD OUT)

Annie Lennox will sign her book Retrospective.

NOTE: See website for details and guidelines.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2025-12-02/ticketed-store-signing-annie-lennox-signs-retrospective

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

Meets monthly, generally on the First Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm. We read speculative fiction, fantasy, science fiction, alternative history, horror, and their intersections.

Participants will discuss the Works of Vermin, by Hiron Ennes.

He was sent to kill a pest. Instead, he found a monster.

Enter the decadent, deadly city of Tiliard, a metropolis carved into the stump of an ancient tree. In its canopy, the pampered elite warp minds with toxic perfume; in its roots, gangs of exterminators hunt a colossal worm with an appetite for beauty.

In this complex, chaotic city, Guy Moulène has a simple goal: keep his sister out of debt. For her sake, he’ll take on any job, no matter how vile.

As an exterminator, Guy hunts the uncanny creatures that crawl up from the river. These vermin are all strange, and often dangerous. His latest quarry is different: a centipede the size of a dragon with a deadly venom and a ravenous taste for artwork. As it digests Tiliard from the sewers to the opera houses, its toxin reshapes the future of the city. No sane person would hunt it, if they had the choice.

Guy doesn’t have a choice.

HIRON ENNES is the British Fantasy Award-winning and World Fantasy Award-nominated author of Leech. In their spare time they’re a rogue harpist, mad doctor, and avid dog-petter.

Facilitated by Leo Lukin

Where: pages: a bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 2^nd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Date: Tuesday, the 2^nd

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert welcomes featured poet José A. Alcántara.

José A. Alcántara is a former construction worker, baker, commercial fisherman, math teacher, and studio photographer. He currently works in a bookstore in Aspen, Colorado. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry Daily, The Southern Review, Spillway, Rattle, Beloit Poetry Journal, and 99 Poems for the 99%. He is the author of The Bitten World: Poems (Tebot Bach, 2021).

Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event

Date: Tuesday, the 2^nd

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

The nation’s largest weekly spoken word Open Mic event is 26 years strong. DPL is a community space for every poet to be heard. They provide a platform to celebrate poetry while using it as the foundation for creativity, innovation, and expression across an array of media outlets.

$10 suggested donation. Pay what you can. Do NOT line up prior to 7:30 pm Free parking adjacent to the theater.

Masks are encouraged.

Where: Ora Café

Date: Tuesday, the 2^nd

Time: 9 pm – 11 pm

Address: 4331 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park, CA 90008

Website: https://www.instagram.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 3^rd

Time: 8:30 am – 9:30 am

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

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com

Book Club: We Begin at the End at Chatsworth Branch, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us for a discussion about the book We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker.

Where: Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 1:30 pm – 3 pm

Address: 21052 Devonshire St., Chatsworth, CA 91311

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

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: KPFK 90.7 FM

Date: Wednesday, the 3^rd

Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: On-air Event (live)

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

Iacobani Book Club: Olive Kitteridge at Angleo M. Iacobani Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a lively discussion of the book Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

Where: Angleo M. Iacobani Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 3 pm – 4 pm

Address: 4990 Clark Ave., Lakewood, CA 90712

Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 4 pm

Address: 5027 Caspar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90041

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

Zibby’s Book Club: Susan Orlean, with Zibby Owens, & Joyride via Zibby’s Bookshop – Online Event

Join us online to hear Zibby and Susan Orlean discuss her new memoir Joyride.

RSVP

Where: Zibby’s Bookshop

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: Online Event

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zibbys-book-club-with-susan-orlean-tickets-1323621319999

Classics Book Club: Dubliners at East Los Angelesl Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss Dubliners by James Joyce. For adults.

Where: East Los Angeles Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm

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

Please RSVP to amy@pagesabookstore.com

Where: pages, a bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

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

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-12-03/2nd-3rd-grade-book-club

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

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

Workshop is free: name your own price.

NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.

Where: Online Event

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

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

NOTE: See website for details and guidelines.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

This book is the extraordinary story of John Gunther, H. R. Knickerbocker, Vincent Sheean, and Dorothy Thompson. In those tumultuous years, they landed exclusive interviews with Hitler and Mussolini, Nehru and Gandhi, and helped shape what Americans knew about the world. Alongside these backstage glimpses into the halls of power, they left another equally incredible set of records. Living in the heady afterglow of Freud, they subjected themselves to frank, critical scrutiny and argued about love, war, sex, death, and everything in between.

Plunged into successive global crises, Gunther, Knickerbocker, Sheean, and Thompson could no longer separate themselves from the turmoil that surrounded them. To tell that story, they broke long-standing taboos. From their circle came not just the first modern account of illness in Gunther’s Death Be Not Proud—a memoir about his son’s death from cancer—but the first no-holds-barred chronicle of a marriage: Sheean’s Dorothy and Red, about Thompson’s fractious relationship with Sinclair Lewis.

Deborah Cohen is the author of The War Come Home, Household Gods, and Family Secrets. She is also the Richard W. Leopold Professor of History at Northwestern University, focusing on modern Europe.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Amy Meyerson is the author of the internationally bestselling The Bookshop of Yesterdays, The Imperfects, and The Love Scribe. Her books have been translated into eleven languages and are frequently chosen for best-of lists, including lists from Good Morning America, Publishers Weekly, The Christian Science Monitor, Library Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Texas Library Association’s Lariat List, among others. Amy teaches in the writing department at the University of Southern California, where she completed her master’s degree in creative writing. Her fourth novel, her first work of domestic suspense, will be published by Thomas & Mercer on January 1, 2026. Originally from Philadelphia, she currently lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband and two children.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-12-03/author-qa-amy-meyerson

WeHo Reads: Going Dark to Bring Light via Virtual Program, LACL – In-Person Event

Heading into the winter season, we explore dark themes in fiction to shed light on humanity’s capacity for grace and terrible crimes. For adults.

Featuring: Jennifer Chow, Lefty-Award nominee and author of the Magical Fortune Cookie novels, L.A. Night Market Mysteries, and Sassy Cat series; Tori Eldridge, author of Kaua’i Storm and the Lily Wong Thrillers—nominated for the Anthony, Lefty, and Macavity Awards and winner of the 2021 Crimson Scribe for Best Book of the Year; Nicholas George, author of the A Walk Through England mystery series; and Georgia Jeffries, USC School of Cinematic Arts professor and award-winning author of The Younger Girl, a Midwest noir based on a true crime of family murder and betrayal that crosses three generations. Co-sponsored by the West Hollywood Library.

The program is online Via Zoom and YouTube www.youtube.com/wehoarts

Registration required via Eventbrite.

Where: East Los Angeles Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

Address: Online Event

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15023545

Adult Book Club: A Christmas Carol at Littlerock Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. For adults.

Where: Littlerock Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: htps://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14827205

Mindset Workshop for Creatives at Espresso Social Club – In-Person Event

Join host Khanh Nguyen for Mindset Workshop for Creatives: Dismantling Perfectionism.

This is an Introspective workshop to tackle perfectionism, what it looks like internally and tools to navigate procrastination, negative self-talk, etc.

Where: Espresso Social Club

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 7 pm – 10 pm

Address: 1859 W. Adams, Los Angeles, CA. 90018

For nearly five decades after the Second World War, the Iron Curtain divided Europe, forming the longest and most heavily guarded border on earth. No physical combat would take place along this frontier: the risk of nuclear annihilation was too high for that. Instead, the war was fought psychologically. It was a battle for hearts, minds, and intellects. Few understood this more clearly than George Minden, head of a covert intelligence operation known as the “CIA book program,” which aimed to undermine Soviet censorship and inspire revolt by offering different visions of thought and culture.

From its Manhattan headquarters, Minden’s “book club” secretly sent ten million banned titles into the East. Volumes were smuggled aboard trucks and yachts, dropped from balloons, hidden aboard trains, and stowed in travelers’ luggage. Nowhere were the books welcomed more warmly than in Poland, where they would circulate covertly among circles of like-minded readers, quietly making the case against Soviet communism. Such was the demand for Minden’s texts that dissidents began to reproduce them in the underground. By the late 1980s, illicit literature was so pervasive in Poland that censorship broke down: the Iron Curtain soon followed.

Charlie English narrates this tale of Cold War spycraft, smuggling, and secret printing operations for the first time, highlighting the work of a handful of extraordinary people who fought for intellectual freedom—people like Mirosław Chojecki, who suffered beatings, imprisonment, and exile in pursuit of his clandestine mission. The CIA Book Club is a story about the power of the printed word as a means of resistance and liberation. Books, it shows, can set you free.

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2025-12-03/nonfiction-book-club

RECESS Open Mic 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.

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

Where: SIPA HQ

Date: Wednesday, the 3^rd

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

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

Website: https://www.palmsupacademy.com

Anansi Writers Workshop at The World Stage – In-Person Event (Cancelled this date Only)

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 3^rd

Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm

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

Website: https://www.instagram.com

Story Salon at Art Parlor: Freestyle Fa La La 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!

Tickets can be purchased early with the link in bio or at storysalon.com.

Theme: Freestyle Fa La La.

Where: Art Parlor

Date: Wednesday the 3^rd

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

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

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/story-salon-urgent-care-tickets-1909776074649?aff=Socials

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 3^rd

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Join host Ben Trigg and guest poet and author Steven Reigns for a reading and open mic every Wednesday of the month.

Steven Reigns is a Los Angeles poet and educator and was appointed the first Poet Laureate of West Hollywood. Alongside over a dozen chapbooks, he has published the collections Inheritance and Your Dead Body is My Welcome Mat. Reigns holds a BA in Creative Writing from the University of South Florida, a Master of Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, and is a sixteen-time recipient of The Los Angeles County’s Department of Cultural Affairs’ Artist in Residency Grant. He edited My Life is Poetry, showcasing his students’ work from the first-ever autobiographical poetry workshop for LGBT seniors.

Reigns has lectured and taught writing workshops around the country to LGBT youth and people living with HIV. Currently he is touring The Gay Rub, an exhibition of rubbings from LGBT landmarks, and is the board president of the Anaïs Nin Foundation. His collection A Quilt for David was published by City Lights and is the product of over ten years of research regarding dentist David Acer’s life.

His newest collection Outliving Michael is a memorial memoir in poetry, chronicling Reigns’s profound friendship with Michael Church, who died of AIDS in 2000.

$5 cover fee, cash only

Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange

Date: Wednesday, the 3^rd

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

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

Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/710423488826459

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 4^th

Time: 10 am – 11 am

Come enjoy creativity and community in a nonjudgmental environment. Discover the bounty of stories that lies within!

For seniors.

Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Thursday the 4^th

Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm

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

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/saved-story-senior-writing-workshop-1

Open Mic Event, featuring Sofia Aguilar at Central Library, Anaheim – In-Person Event

Join us every first Thursday of the month from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. for Open Mic Night at the Anaheim Central Library. Poets, singers, songwriters, storytellers, writers, comedians, dancers, supporters, and listeners are welcome! Each event includes a featured performance by a published poet or musician. Sofia Agilar will feature and sign copies of her book Queer Latine Heroes: 25 Changemakers from Latin America and the U.S. from History and Today.

Performer sign-ups begin at 4:15 p.m. The event is held in the multi-purpose room on the basement level. Hope to see you there! Visit Anaheim.net/APLADA or call 714-765-1700 at least 72 hours in advance if ADA accommodations are needed.

Where: Anaheim Central Library

Date: Thursday the 4^th

Time: 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Address: 500 W. Broadway, Anaheim, CA 92805

Whether you’re testing new material, debuting a poem, or just want to cheer on local talent, everyone’s welcome. No registration required to attend as an audience member. In-person performer registration opens at 4:50 pm on the day of the event and is first come, first served for up to 12 participants.

Light refreshments provided by the Friends of the West Hollywood Library.

Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL

Date: Thursday the 4^th

Time: 5 pm – 7 pm

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

This one and a half hour workshop is suitable for adults, and the group is limited to a maximum of 12 participants.


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

RSVP:

Email eaglrk@lapl.org to reserve a place in the class.

Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Thursday the 4^th

Time: 6 pm

Address: 5027 Capar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90041

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-workshop-martin-jago-0

Writer’s Block: Writing Showcase at Octavia’s Bookshelf, Pasadena – In-Person Event

Our beloved Writers Block group of writers is hosting their first showcase. Join them as they share their works.

Where: Octavia’s Bookshelf

Date: Thursday the 4^th

Time: 6 pm – 6 pm

Address: 1353 North Hill Ave., Pasadena, CA 91104

For more than two centuries, the United States Constitution has given us the right to a society where church and state exist independently. But Christianity has been hijacked by far-right groups and politicians who seek to impose their narrow views on government, often to justify oppressive and unequal policies. The extremists who weaponize the Bible for earthly power aren’t actually on the side of Jesus—and historically they never have been. How do we fight back against those acting—literally—in bad faith?

Comedian and broadcaster John Fugelsang finally offers the answers. In this informative, perspective-shifting book, Fugelsang takes readers through common fundamentalist arguments on abortion, immigration, LGBTQ rights, and more—exposing their hypocrisy and inaccuracy through scripture, common sense, and deeply inappropriate humor. It offers practical tips on how to debate your loved one, coworker, or neighbor on the issues that divide us using that Bible they claim to follow.

But Fugelsang’s message is about more than just taking down hypocrites. It’s about fighting for the love, mercy, and service that are supposed to make up the heart of Christianity. Told with Fugelsang’s trademark blend of radical honesty, comedy, and deep political and religious knowledge, Separation of Church and Hate is the book every American needs today. It’s a rallying cry for compassion and clarity for anyone of any faith who’s sick of religion being used as a cloaking device for hate.

NOTE: See website for details and guidelines.

Where: Beverly Hills Public Library

Date: Thursday the 4th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 444 N. Rexford Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2025-12-04/john-fugelsang

Date: Thursday the 4^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 130 E. 4^th St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Date: Thursday the 4^th

Time: 7 pm

Join us at Underdog Bookstore during the full moon each month for a guided meditation and writing group. We meet at 7 pm in store and will also be streaming via Zoom for those joining virtually.

All are welcome and encouraged to write and share or listen and reflect during this peaceful meditative time. You are welcome to bring your own mats, writing supplies, spiritual tools etc. Whatever you need to feel comfortable and enjoy the evening!

Limited space so RSVP soon!

Date: Thursday the 4^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://www.underdogbookstore.org/events/full-moon-writing-meditation-2-drgnz-9n2yg-l7rel-dgxhk-6cxd4-xf6dc-ep4bj

Suzanne Weerts & Champagne Girl in a Budweiser Family at Vroman’s, Pasadena – In-Person Event

Join us to hear Suzanne Weerts present and discuss Champagne Girl in a Budweiser Family: A Memoir in Stories.

In a Southern town in the 1970s, the rules for girls are simple: look pretty, behave politely, marry well. But for this rebel-in-the-making, life beyond suburban America beckons. Before she can escape, however, she’ll have to navigate extreme diets, feathered hair, and a mother who insists on hanging her bras on the clothesline in full view of the boys next door. Will she ever find a life that fits and a beverage that suits her champagne dreams?

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Thursday the 4^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-12-04/suzanne-weerts

Book Celebration: Poets of Place: Something Small of How to See a River by Teresa Dziegelwicat Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center– In-Person & Online YouTube Hybrid Event

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Thursday the 4^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poets-of-place-body-tickets-1962607933160

LiveTalks LA Presents: Nazanin Boniadi & Googosh at Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us to hear Nazanin Boniadi present and discuss her memoir Googosh: A Sinful Voice.

Before there was Madonna or Beyoncé, there was Googoosh. For the first time, one of the world’s biggest pop stars of the 20th century tells her remarkable story in her new memoir, “Googoosh: A Sinful Voice”—her rise to fame in pre-revolution Iran, her arrest and imprisonment, her twenty-year exile, and finally, her triumphant return to the global stage.

Born Faegheh Atashin in 1950, Googoosh is Iran’s first and biggest popstar. She lives in Los Angeles.

In this lyrical and moving memoir, she takes us through her difficult upbringing in Iran’s tumultuous 1950s and ’60s to her stardom in the ’70s—and what it was like to reach the peak of her career during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Seemingly overnight, she went from being on magazine covers, at film premieres and fashion shows, and constantly on the radio, to targeted by religious clerics. What followed is a harrowing tale of oppression, intimidation, and exile.

Now, inspired by the brave women of Iran on the front lines fighting for their freedoms, Googoosh finally tells her full story, and with it, the story of a country once again on the brink.

Nazanin Boniadi is an Iranian-born actress and renowned human rights advocate. Her television credits include Homeland, How I Met Your Mother, and Counterpart. On the big screen, she won acclaim for her memorable role in Bombshell and her leading role in Hotel Mumbai. As an activist, she has partnered with various charitable organizations to campaign for the rights of disenfranchised populations across the world, with a focus on the unjust conviction and treatment of Iranian youth, women and prisoners of conscience. Her thought leadership has been featured in major global media outlets, and her advocacy work has taken her to the halls of power around the world.

Where: Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Centerat Vista Del Mar

Date: Thursday the 4^th

Time: 8 pm

Address: 3200 Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034

Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/googoosh/

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 5^th

Time: 8:30 am – 9:30 am

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

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.

Date: Friday, the 5^th

Time: 9:30 am

Join our monthly book club for an engaging discussion of our latest selection, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelly Van Pelt. For adults.

Find a copy of Remarkably Bright Creatures 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

Date: Friday, the 5^th

Time: 10:30 am

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15142824

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 5^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

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

No frills. No prompts. Just write.

Drop in and stay a while.

Where: Heavy Manners Library

Date: Friday the 5^th

Time: 1 pm – 3 pm

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

Website: https://heavymannerslibrary.com/events/writing-gets-lonely-open-writing-studio-12-5

Small Press Showcase: Magra Books Reading at North Fig Bookshop – In-Person Event

Come enjoy an intimate reading for three fabulous Magra personae!

Readers:

Dennis Phillips, reading from The Cartographer’s Lament.

Paul Vangelisti, reading from Traveling.

Jessie McCarty is an Irish-American writer from Shreveport, Louisiana. Their poetry, in English and Gaeilge, uses images of the Louisiana South and Midwest as memory tools. Their poems can be read in Dublin’s Bog Bodies Press, Sarka Journal, The Minnesota Review, Charm School, The Documentarian, Don’t Submit Lit, Thick Press, and more.

Jessie’s writing has been published as research chapbooks for the following theatrical productions: The Sarcoma Cycle (11:11 Press, 2024), the Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions: A Homo-Turgy ode to Larry Mitchell (Jack Bowes, 2024), and Perforated Play (Dir. Miles Sennett, 2022). They have taught writing at Index Space, The Center for Fiction, and more. Previous collections include The Bovine Huff (Track and Field Studios, 2021) and the self-published artist book, Our Fairy Diary (2023). Their poem, “Loving you is ordinary heaven,” was featured in Only Poems Daily under Best New Poems in August 2025. They were nominated as Best New Poetry Book by a Chicagoan and Best New Poet for the Chicago Reader’s Best of Arts and Culture in 2022, for their work, The Bovine Huff.

Where: North Figueroa Bookshop

Date: Friday the 5^th

Time: 5 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-6f6a8443-00e7-4c29-98e8-f42ddda33e2b

Queer Joyride: An Open Mic for LGBTQ+ Writers at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Queer writers of all ages, particularly people of color and folks with disabilities who want to create a place for shared expression and connection. Our crowd is Book-Toking, snapping fingers at private salons, and reading IG poetry accounts. This open mic brings everyone together IRL to share collective joy and creativity. We foster community for LGBTQ+ writers, comics, screenwriters, and poets who want to try out new material and make friends. Allies are welcome in the audience. Writers sign in an hour before the open mic at an outside table for a 7-minute slot.

About the organizers:

Writers Ismenia Monchez @TheSalviMom on TikTok, Sonora Chase @sonorachase on Substack & Bluesky, and Jay Hagans @JayEatsStuff on Substack write memoirs and essays about the motherland, queer and trans life, travel and culinary delights, and navigating this complicated time while creating queer joy.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Friday the 5^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com

Katrina Brownlee & And The Came the Blues: My Story of Survival on Both Sides of the Badge at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Katrina Brownlee will discuss and sign her book And The Came the Blues: My Story of Survival on Both Sides of the Badge.

In the United States, an average of twenty-four people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner, and one in three women have experienced some form of domestic violence. One of those women was Katrina Brownlee, who as a twenty-two-year-old mother of two experienced hell at the hands of her then-fiancé. He was a law enforcement officer—a group two to four times more likely than the general population to be abusive, and who are known for protecting their own. During his dangerous outbursts, Brownlee would call the police for help, only to see the cops turn their backs on her when her abuser flashed his badge. On a cold January morning in 1993, her fiancé shot her ten times and left her for dead.

Brownlee could have been just one more of the eleven females killed per minute worldwide by a loved one. Instead, miraculously, she survived. Through hard work, faith, and perseverance, she recovered from her injuries and found a path through her trauma. She decided to become a police officer to help others in her situation, to be the “good cop” who had not been there for her when she had needed saving.

In 2021, she retired from a highly decorated twenty-year career with the NYPD. As the founder of a support group for at-risk young women, Young Ladies of Our Future, Brownlee decided that the time had come to tell her story—the whole story—of self-empowerment, of healing generational trauma, and of turning pain into hope for herself and her community.

NOTE: See website for details and guidelines.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Friday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

¡PÓNK! follows Moose, an alienated academic and lead guitarist for Pipebomb!, as he navigates through spaces in and out of Southeast Los Angeles: punk clubs, college classrooms, family gatherings, street protests, and euphoric backyard shows. Oscillating between autofiction, memoir, and lyric, Clayton blurs genres while articulating the layered effects of racism, trauma, immigration, policing, Black hair, performance, and toxic academic language to uncover how one truly becomes an “ally.” Borrowing from the spatial lyricism of Claudia Rankine, the genre-bending storytelling of Alexander Chee, and the racial musings of James Baldwin, ¡PÓNK!’s narrative takes back punk rock and finds safe space in the mosh pit.

Marcus Clayton is a multigenre Afrolatino writer from South Gate, CA, with an M.F.A. in Poetry and PhD in Literature and Creative Writing, focusing on intersections between Latinx literature, Black literature, Decolonization, and Punk Rock. Through Glass Poetry Press, he has a poetry chapbook, Nurture the Open Wounds. Current and forthcoming publications include Indiana Review, Apogee Journal, Passages North, Black Punk Now!, and The Oxford Handbook of Punk Rock.

RSVP

Where: LibroMobile

Date: Friday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/a-book-conversation-with-richard-t-rodriguez

Senior Fish Open Mic with L.A. Poet Society at Senior Fish, Eagle Rock -Person Event

Catch the next Fresh Friday Open Mic each 1st Friday of the month, 7 – 10 pm at Señor Fish Eagle Rock.

Date: Friday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 4803 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90041 

Alex Dimitrov is the author of four books of poems, including Love and Other Poems, as well as the chapbook American Boys. His work has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and Poetry. He was the former senior content editor at the Academy of American Poets, where he edited Poem-A-Day and American Poets. He has taught creative writing at Princeton University, Columbia University, and Barnard College, among other institutions. With Dorothea Lasky, he is the co-author of Astro Poets: Your Guides to the Zodiac. Dimitrov lives in New York City.

Where: Stories Books & Café

Date: Friday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

What can Leonardo DiCaprio, Bernie Sanders, Greta Thunberg, and Elon Musk all agree on? That Tom Toro’s cartoons belong in their social media feeds. Now, with this debut collection by one of The New Yorker’s contemporary stars, everybody can enjoy the timeless witticism and thigh-slapping wisecracks of Toro’s cartoons without needing to go online.

In Tom Toro’s hilarious world, the Grim Reaper binges television while Superman shops for health insurance. The collection features original chapter art that sets the perfect tone for these brilliant cartoons and what they reveal about the absurdity of modern life, all drawn in the author’s wry and winsome style.

Showcasing hundreds of Toro’s greatest hits from his fifteen-year career at the New Yorker, as well as previously unpublished cartoons that we shouldn’t shy from calling “undiscovered masterpieces,” this book is sure to delight readers—if not outright corrupt them.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Friday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-12-05/tom-toro-presents-signs-and-think-we-started-book-club

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 5^th

Time: 8 pm – 12 am

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

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

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

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

First Friday: Cynthia Alessandra Briano

Second Friday: Russell Greene

Third Friday: Elena Secota

Fourth Friday: Jim Bolt

Fifth Friday: James Evert Jones

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

Our featured guest poets and artists this month TBA.

NOTE: See site or flyer for details.

Where: Rapp Saloon at HISUA

Date: Friday, the 5^th

Time: 8 pm – 11 pm

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

Please email eaglrk@lapl.org for the writing prompt.

Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 6^th

Time: 10 am

Address: 5027 Caspar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90041

Independent publishers from Los Angeles to Tijuana, special book signings and reading, and an open mic highlight this special literary event at Media Arts Santa Ana’s MasArte Gallery and TVGB Digital Maker Space, located at 1666 N Main in Santa Ana (at 17th & Main across from Norms). Conveniently located near the 5 freeway via the 17th St exit in Santa Ana.

Invited presses include:

• El Martillo Press (Los Angeles)
• Hinchas Press (Los Angeles)
• Daxson Publishing (Los Angeles)
• Editorial Halfbreed (Tijuana)
• Second Sutter (LA/SF)
• Moon Tide Press (Whittier)
• Paleta Press (Santa Ana)

Plus Open Mic!

Invited Authors include: Herbert Sigüenza, Darren J. DeLeon and Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl.

Special conversation with Herbert Sigüenza and signing for his new book Anthology of Latino Plays: El Henry & 5 Others, plus readings by Darren J. DeLeon (Los Delicados, The Hoops and Crosses of Mt Vernon) and Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl (West of the Santa Ana & Other Sacred Places)

NOTE: See further details at site!

Where: MasArte Gallery, Santa Ana

Date: Saturday the 6^th

Time: 10 am – 7 pm

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 6^th

Time: 11 am -12:30 pm

Address: 19036 Vanowen Street, Reseda, CA 91335

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

Saturday Morning Book Club: 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 available in print, and as ebooks on hoopla & Libby.

December 6: City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles by Mike Davis

Thanks to our Friends of the Library for providing light refreshments!

Where: Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday, the 6^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 2920 Overland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90064

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/saturday-morning-book-discussion-0

Book Club: Wandering Stars at Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join the discussion of Wandering Stars, a novel by Tommy Orange.

Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday, the 6^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 1874 Hillhurst Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-37

Book Club: Wandering Stars at Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join the discussion of Wandering Stars, a novel by Tommy Orange.

Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday, the 6^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 1874 Hillhurst Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027

The team behind the acclaimed book Caves returns with an enchanting exploration of one of Earth’s most familiar ecosystems—Forests!

So much to see, to smell, to hear, to taste, to feel. So much to find… in the forest.

Using evocative storytelling, Nell Cross Beckerman leads readers on an exciting adventure through the magic of forests! From kelp forests on the ocean floor to the wonders of the Amazon, Beckerman guides readers through these tree-filled ecosystems using dramatic, poetic language. Nonfiction text on every page allows for a deeper understanding of the topic.

Join us for a story time and book signing in celebration of Nell Cross Beckerman’s new book, Forests!

Nell Cross Beckerman writes books for children, inspired by the magic of free play and exploration in nature. Her books include Down Under the Pier, illustrated by Rachell Sumpter, When the Sky Glows, illustrated by David Litchfield, Caves and Volcanoes, both illustrated by Kalen Chock, and From Park to Playa, illustrated by Sophie Diao. Today, she lives in Culver City, CA with her two daughters and husband, and her Maltipoo, Teddy.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Saturday the 6^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

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 6^th

Time: 12 pm – 1 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14386409

Magra Books Inaugural Reading & Book Signing at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Celebrating 9 years of Magra Books with readings and discussions by poets and editors of the press

A definitive departure from its series of 29 chapbooks published between 2016 and 2025, Magra’s first three full-length book projects—Dennis Phillips’ The Cartographer’s Lament, Bruce Boyd’s Toward Morning (edited by Bill Mohr), and Jessie McCarty’s Pretty Punks: Poems, Portrait & Play—are featured in this inaugural presentation.

Having published chapbooks by notable American and European poets such as Martha Ronk, Amelia Rosselli, Martial, Ray Di Palma, Corrado Costa, Gillian Conoley, Robert Crosson, Milli Graffi, Neeli Cherkovski, Douglas Messerli, David Lloyd, Art Beck, Paul Celan, Avery Burns, Amy Allara, Lorenzo Mari, and Gianluca Rizzo, Magra now embarks on a new course of independent publishing.

The press plans to release four to five titles a year, primarily poetry and other forms of innovative writing. As stated on the back cover of its chapbook series: “unique works by important writers.” Or, as its statement of purpose reaffirms, Magra presents writers committed to producing books that strive to make “news that stays news”—writers passionate about language, language that knows no borders.

The series will debut at Beyond Baroque and will feature readings and discussion by Dennis Phillips, Bill Mohr, and Jessie McCarty, along with introductory remarks by Magra editors S. E. Pessin and Paul Vangelisti.

Books will be available for signing by the authors following the readings in The Wanda Coleman Theater.

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Saturday, the 6^th

Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm

Address: 681 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90291

A lavish train ride unfolds into a stylish & suspenseful mystery. Murder on the Orient Express tells of thirteen stranded strangers & one man’s race to solve the puzzle before the murderer strikes again.

If you have this on your TBR, here’s your reason to pick it up!

Please RSVP by emailing fiction@lapl.org.

Where: The Open Book, Woodland Hills

Date: Saturday, the 6^th

Time: 2 pm

Calling all writers of fiction, screenplays, poetry, etc. Get feedback on your writing in a fun, supportive environment! The Central Library Creative Writing Group meets every other Saturday for fellowship, feedback, and snacks. Meetings start out with a short writing prompt exercise, then writers are invited to share up to five pages of their work for feedback from the group. Whether you are just starting out or well on your way to glory, join us and banish (at least temporarily) those Lonely Writer Blues!

Upcoming Meeting:

Saturday, December 6, 2025

RSVP:

Please RSVP by emailing fiction@lapl.org.

Where: Central Library, LAPL, Meeting Room B

Date: Saturday, the 6^th

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

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

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/creative-writing-group

Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Poetry Writing Workshop with Sharon Williams – Online Zoom Event

Poetry Writing Workshop led by Sharon M. Williams (Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines including the subject of or at least mentioning look or out for Four Feathers Press online edition: Look out by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59 pm, December 26th)

See site for details.

Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.

Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)

For practical purposes (we promise it’s not just to confuse you), this Second Saturday Stroll will actually take place on the FIRST Saturday of the month.

Time: 4 pm – 7 pm

Address: 6259 W, 87th St. (87^th Street in the Westchester Triangle), Los Angeles, CA 90045

Website: https://www.instagram.com

Book Club Social at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event

Calling all book club leaders and members! On Saturday, December 6th at 5:00 pm, all book club folks are invited to a special evening filled with gratitude, food, and lots of other book nerds! The store will be open only for our book club participants. Join us for shopping and great conversations about your favorite and not-so-favorite books of the year! Also, be on the lookout for our book clubs’ favorite books of the year!

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Time: 5 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/BookClubSocial2025

Author Event: Judith Pacht, with David St. John and Holaday Mason, & Precarious at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Beyond Baroque welcomes Judith Pacht, David St. John, & Holaday Mason for an afternoon of poetry in The Wanda Coleman Theater. The authors will be reading new and selected works in celebration of Pacht’s PRECARIOUS, a poetry collection published by Giant Claw.

About the authors:

Judith Pacht’s Summer Hunger won the 2011 PEN Southwest Book Award for Poetry. Recent poetry books are Infirmary for a Private Soul and A Cumulus Fiction. A three-time Pushcart nominee, Pacht was first-place winner in the Georgia Poetry Society’s Edgar Bowers competition. Her poem “KIN” was published recently on Verse Daily, and her work appears in numerous anthologies and journals such as Ploughshares, Runes, Nimrod and Phoebe. Her poetry has been translated into Russian and published in Foreign Literature, Moscow, Russia. Pacht reads at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, at Charleston’s Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and she has read and taught Political Poetry at Denver’s annual LitFest at the Lighthouse, at UCLA Extension, and at Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles.

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

Holaday Mason is author of six collections—Towards the Forest, Dissolve, (New Rivers Press) The Red Bowl: A Fable in Poems,(Red Hen Press) The “ She” Series: A Venice Correspondence (What Books Press, with Sarah Maclay), The Weaver’s Body (Tebot Bach Press), As If Scattered ( Giant Claw Press) & two chapbooks—Interlude & Light Spilling From its Own Cup. Nominated for several Pushcarts, widely published, she served as co-editor for Beyond Baroque’s anthology Echo 681 where she sometimes leads writing workshops. Currently, she is poetry editor for online art & poetry magazine, Furious Pure. http://www.holadaymason.com holadaymasonphotography.com & Instagram @holadaymasonphotography

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Saturday, the 6^th

Time: 5 pm – 6:30 pm (Doors at 4:30 pm)

Address: 681 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90291

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/judith-pacht-david-st-john-holaday-mason-tickets-1970802074056?aff=oddtdtcreator

Benefit Reading for Echo Park Mutual Aid at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event

Join us to raise funds for Echo Park Mutal Aid.

$5 – $25 sliding scale donation

Where: North Figueroa Bookshop

Date: Saturday the 6^th

Time: 5 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://www.instagram.com

First Saturday Monthly Open Mic at LibroMobile, Santa Ana – In-Person Event

Reggie Peralta hosts LibroMobile’s monthly Open Mic.

Whether you’re a poet, musician, storyteller, or just here to listen, this space is for you. Step up to the mic or come support local voices!

RSVP

Where: LibroMoblle Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 6^th

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

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

The workshop will have a brief presentation designed to inspire YOU to make the project that is constantly plaguing your thoughts. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A with late blooming creator Geovanni Botticella about how he made his zine and how you can do the same. Zines will be available for purchase and signing.

Geovanni Botticella is a short story author based out of Los Angeles. He has a degree in Journalism from Cal State Northridge that he abandoned to pursue his creative writing dreams. @geo_quartz

RSVP: $25 with a copy of the zine.

Where: The Pop Hop

Date: Saturday, the 6^th

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://withfriends.co/event

Streaming the Sandman: Separating the Art from the Artist at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us for a conversation on Streaming the Sandman, edited by Tara Prescott-Johnson, and what it means to separate the art from the artist.

RSVP

A panel discussion with audience participation around the Netflix series The Sandman, with contributors from Streaming The Sandman, both celebrating what we love about the comics / series / sci fi / fantasy and discussing the challenges in light of the recent allegations against the creator Neil Gaiman. What do we do when authors of works we love do bad things? Can we “separate the art from the artist”?

After 30 years, the beloved award-winning comic book series The Sandman has finally been adapted to the screen. This is the first book to explore the Netflix series, examining the ways that the show honors its comics and fantasy roots while also updating the original story for a modern audience.

In 11 essays, scholars, psychologists, artists and fans look at the show’s inclusive, diverse casting, masterful storytelling, and impact on viewers. With overviews of the original comics, engaging scholarship, fresh points of view, and an episode guide, this collection is the definitive resource for fans as well as people encountering the Endless for the first time.

Dr. Tara Prescott-Johnson, Lecturer in Writing Programs at UCLA, editor of Streaming The Sandman, Neil Gaiman in the 21st Century, and Feminism in the Worlds of Neil Gaiman, lives in Culver City.

Nicole Tossou, Executive Producer of Netflix’s The Night Agent, Head of TV at Project X Entertainment, co-host of the podcast We Are Out of Office, lives in Culver City.

Dr. Drea Letamendi, psychologist at UCLA, co-host of The Arkham Sessions podcast, author of a chapter in Streaming the Sandman, lives in Valley Village.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Saturday the 6^th

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

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

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com

Elena Brower, with Jen Pastiloff, & Hold Nothing at Vroman‘s – In-Person Event

Join Elena Brower, in conversation with Jen Pastiloff, to discuss Hold Nothing: An Invitation to Let Go and Come Home to Yourself.

Hold Nothing is a distinctive, artful, contemplative guide for self-discovery and self-inquiry, with wisdom, encouragement, and thought exercises by the best-selling author of Practice You. Includes 45 practices and full-color pieces of artwork by the author.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Saturday, the 6^th

Time: 6 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-12-06/elena-brower-conversation-jen-pastiloff-discusses-signs-hold-nothing-invitation

Griot Café Open Mic with Tommy Domino 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” at 1001 E 4th St. Long Beach CA 90802.

Featuring: Amara Jackson is a poet born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, currently living in Downtown Los Angeles. She is currently pursuing her educational Masters at the National University and attends multiple open mics in the LA area. She is currently looking for a home for her manuscript The Absence of Light which is a beautiful interpretation of her survival of trauma, heartbreak, racism, poverty, abortion, therapy, and silence. She walks through her truth unapologetically and her book perfectly captures the rage, grief, survival, and most importantly, joy of getting to write one’s resilience. Jackson describes herself as: bold, reflective, and rooted. Her social medias are: INSTAGRAM [@quietleader]

Doors open at 7:30 pm; ends at 10 pm

$10.00 Cash ONLY & bring a friend!

Where: Shades of Afrika

Date: Saturday, the 6^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm (Doors at 7:30 pm)

Address: 1001 E. 4^th 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 for Poetry on Demand 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 7^th

Time: 10 am – 5 pm (market); 12 pm – 5 pm (poets on demand)

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

There will be a short reading, a discussion about the book, a Q&A, and a chance to get your book signed. Hope to see you there!

Reserve your seat on EVENTBRITE.

All Rapunzel wants is to explore, but she can’t set foot outside her tower without triggering her curse. At least, that’s what her mother tells her, and she has no reason not to listen to her mother, right? But when Rapunzel suddenly winds up in a sea witch’s lair, she wonders if this could be her chance: not only to see the world, but also to break the curse that’s always hung over her…

Kim Bussing is a New York Times-bestselling author of fairy tales for children and adults, including the critically-acclaimed Princess Swap series. She has an MFA from the University of Arizona, where she taught creative writing. She’s obsessed with Phantom of the Opera, gluten-free croissants, and rainy days. Kim currently lives in Los Angeles.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Sunday the 7^th

Time: 3 pm – 4 pm

Book release and celebration of World Matters, including:

Guy Zimmerman | Andrew Nicholls | Rita Williams | John Garrett Andrews | Bill Ratner | Janet Fitch | Merdith Meyer | Peggy Dobreer | Simon Petty | Celia Cahvez | Mandy Rae Hartz | June Stoddard | Art Diane Sherry

Where: Private Location in S.M.

Date: Sunday the 7^th

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

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!

Where: North Figueroa Bookshop

Date: Sunday the 7^th

Time: 5 pm – 6 pm

Address: 3422 N. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90031

Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-mabtzxoz-1765155600000

The Feminist Press Fundraiser with Michelle Tea at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us for a special evening fundraiser supporting the Feminist Press, a nonprofit focused on lifting up marginalized voices from around the world to build a more just future. Featuring renowned author Michelle Tea, author of Little F, in conversation with FP board member Laura Duane.

Reserve your seat on EVENTBRITE!

About the author:

Michelle Tea is the author of over a dozen books of memoir, fiction, poetry and children’s lit—including her latest, Knocking Myself Up. Her memoir Valencia won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction, even though it was obviously all true. It was also made into a sprawling, feature-length art film using nearly 20 different directors and different Michelles. Her recent-ish essay collection, Against Memoir, was awarded the PEN/America Diamonstein-Speilvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. She is also the recipient of the legendary Rona Jaffe Awards, and a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow.

About The Feminist Press:

The Feminist Press publishes books that ignite movements and social transformation. Celebrating our legacy, we lift up insurgent and marginalized voices from around the world to build a more just future.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Sunday the 7^th

Time: 5 pm – 6:30 pm

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

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com

Chanelle Galant, with Guests & Migrant Sex Workers Fighting for Justice at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event

Join us for a conversation with Chanelle Gallant and Dr. Kim Soriano to learn about migrant sex workers fighting back, centered around the publishing anniversary of Not Your Rescue Project. With a special performance by Xochii de la Noche!

Not Your Rescue Project is a landmark abolitionist primer on migration, sex work, policing, and the “anti-trafficking industry”—and a powerful argument about who is really leading the way toward justice: migrant sex workers themselves.

Chanelle Gallant is the eldest daughter of a poor single mother. She has been building movements that can protect the lives and liberation of poor and working class women and queers for 25 years. Chanelle is a movement writer, organizer, strategist, and consultant whose writing has appeared in over a dozen books and publications. She co-founded the Migrant Sex Workers Project, SURJ-Toronto and has provided training and advocacy on sex work and racial justice, from city hall to the United Nations. Chanelle sits on the national board for Showing Up for Racial Justice and Catalyst Project and has helped to move millions into organizing through donor advising and grassroots fundraising. She holds an MA in Sociology and was a Lambda Literary Fellow.

Dr. Kim Soriano is a brilliant queer Oaxacan professor, sex work organizer and activist, born and raised in LA.

Xochii de la Noche is a multi-passionate creative; they are a performer, flow artist dancer, DJ, glitch artist, and producer just to name a few. Currently in sunny Long Beach, CA, Xochii is on a mission to bring and inspire more pleasure and joy into the world through art and magick.

Where: Stories Books & Café

Date: Sunday the 7^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://www.storiesla.com/events

Parakeet 2025: Pandemonium Reading with Antonia Crane at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event

Pandemonium Reading will feature readings from:

Amanda Verwey is a queer WGA writer living in Los Angeles, California. In 2016, Amanda co-wrote with performance artist Jibz Cameron the full-length one-women show Good Morning Evening Feelings, which premiered at The Kitchen, NYC and was later turned into a web series by JASH Productions (awarded Audience Choice Best Experimental Short Film.

Carly Milne started writing professionally at age 14. Two years later, she was hired by The Calgary Herald, as a columnist for “20 Below”, which was geared to discussing teen issues. She contributed to several Canadian teen magazines; and at 19, she became the entertainment editor for Canada’s first teen e-zine Spank! Youth Culture Online. has contributed to several books, including Virgin Territory: Stories from the Road to Womanhood (2004), Best Sex Writing 2005 (2005), The Sexual Revolution 2.0: Getting Connected, Upgrading Your Sex Life, and Finding True Love—or at Least a Dinner Date—in the Internet Age (2005), and Hooking Up: You’ll Never Make Love in This Town Again Again (2006) Her first book, Naked Ambition (2005), is a behind-the-scenes look into the frontlines of today’s woman-owned and supported adult entertainment industry.

CL Smith N/A

Emily Tomson studied Experimental Theatre at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts before getting her degree in cultural Anthropology from Rutgers University in New Brunswick. She has been directing and writing for film since 2013, focusing primarily on original narrative shorts and feature-length scripts.

Gabby Levine is an interactive artist and hardware designer interested in the relationship between technology and ecology. Gabriella currently works as a Senior Hardware Engineer at Google[x], prototyping, designing, consulting, and fabricating in X’s Design Kitchen. She teaches at various New Media institutions, and has presented at Open Hardware Summit 2011, LucidNYC, and Exploratorium. Her work has been written up in CNN, Scientific American, InHabitat, Wired, NY1, and VICE.

Jennifer Romolini is the chief content officer of Shondaland.com, a site founded by producer Shonda Rhimes. She was previously the editor-in-chief of HelloGiggles, the editor-in-chief of Yahoo Shine, and oversaw all editorial operations for Yahoo’s Lifestyles sites, including Yahoo Health and Yahoo Food.

Kanchi Wichmann is a British writer/director based in Los Angeles. Her debut feature Break My Fall (UK, 2011) was theatrically released in the UK and Germany and has sold to over 20 territories via Paris-based sales outfit Reel Suspects.

Mandy Kaiser creates original paintings in watercolor and oil and take photographs. These works are usually portraits and figurative art. I find the process of making art fascinating, magical and surprising, which is partly why she finds so much joy in it.

Mariah Garnett is an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego. Garnett examines how film locates and systematizes definitions of identity, through a deeply personal lens, sometimes explicitly weaving her own subjectivity as a queer filmmaker into the fabric of the narrative as a performer/actor.

Her 20-minute 16mm film Encounters I May or May Not Have Had with Peter Berlin (2012) is equal parts self-portrait and biopic.

Rachel Foullon is an American artist and curator. Foullon has exhibited her works in galleries and museums nationally and internationally in addition to organizing and curating multiple exhibitions across the United States. She is also the Director of Operations at Monkeypaw Productions.

Scottie Harvey is a writer, performer, and animator from Los Angeles. She received her BFA (Film & Television) & MFA (Dramatic Writing) from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she found animation’s unlikely twin in theatre. Her work revolves around the specific formalities of time-based mediums, be it through plays about ethically dubious depictions of violence on stage or painstakingly animated cartoons set to stream-of-consciousness babbling.

Seth Bogart is an American multidisciplinary artist. As a musician, he is known for his solo work and as a member of the bands Hunx and His Punx and Gravy Train!!!!

Steffie Nelson explores the places where art, style, culture and history intersect. She has been published in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Alta Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books, and many others. Her Red Canary Magazine profile of the artist Lauren Bon won the 2022 Feature Reporting award from the Society of Professional Journalists. She is the editor of the essay collection Slouching Towards Los Angeles: Living and Writing by Joan Didion’s Light, and coauthor of Judson: Innovation in Stained Glass.

Where: Stories Books & Café

Date: Sunday the 7^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Participants will discuss The Holiday Rap by Roan Parrish.

Everyone is welcome.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Sunday the 7^th

Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm

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

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

Dazed and Confused Poetry Club 2025 at The Glendale Room – In-Person Event

December’s Dazed and Confused Poetry Club is hosted by Fernando Funes and features booked performers and an Open Mic.

Where: The Glendale Room

Date: Sunday the 7^th

Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 127 Artsakh Ave., Glendale, CA 91206 

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