World Literature Book Club at West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event

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

January 5: Wickedness by Ron Hansen

January 12: A Real Doll by A.M. Homes

January 26: How Far She Went by Mary Hood

We meet every Monday morning (except holidays).

RSVP:

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

Where: West Valley Regional Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 5^th

Time: 10 am

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/world-literature-book-club-6

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

Writing a book, poem, or screenplay? Need deadlines? Want constructive feedback? Then this is the place for you. Bring 5 – 10 double-spaced typed pages to read. Everyone will get a chance to read. RSVP:

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

Where: Robertson Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 5^th

Time: 11 am

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

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

Mystery Book Club: Flashlight at Lake Los Angeles Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join our book club as we discuss a different mystery book each month. This month’s selection is Flashlight by Susan Choi. Copies of the book are available at customer service desk for checkout. For adults.

Where: Lake Los Angeles Library, LACL

Date: Monday the 5^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 16921 E. Avenue O #A, Palmdale, Ca 93591

Alternating Mondays, 1/5, 1/19, 2/2, 2/16, and 3/2/26, 6:00 – 7:30 pm PT, on ZOOM.

This workshop is geared for dramatic, fiction, fantasy, and sci-fi authors with an emphasis on world building. How do languages, cultural beliefs, and land shape the story of your characters? All writing can benefit from backstory, but when creating fictional characters in new worlds, there are questions of magic and the possibility of hundreds and thousands of years in a character’s life that help develop a story before it even touches the page. Readers and viewers fill in the blanks with their imaginations and often come close to the real story when there is strong character development. Knowing your characters well helps you to write what they will say and do next. Characters become their own so much that, they are no longer you, they are their own entities.

Gina Rae Duran is an interdisciplinary Xicanx artist, and trauma informed educator. She is Editor of The White Picket Fence anthology, forthcoming FlowerSong Press, author of, “…and so, the Wind was Born,” FlowerSong Press, radio personality of The Collective, and founder of IE Hope Collective, an outreach for disadvantaged youth.

$50 EACH • 5 SESSIONS OVER 10 WEEKS • ENROLL TODAY! https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW

Where: Inlandia Institute

Date: Monday the 5^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW

Books & Brews Book Club: The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery at pages: a bookstore Off-site at Culture Brewing Co. – In-Person Event

Join pages, a bookstore at Culture Brewing Co, for a discussion of The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery by Siddharth Kara and a beer (or soft drink if you prefer).

In late October 1780, a slave ship set sail from the Netherlands, bound for Africa’s Windward and Gold Coasts, where it would take on its human cargo. The Zorg (a Dutch word meaning “care”) was one of thousands of such ships, but the harrowing events that ensued on its doomed journey were unique.

By the time its journey ends, the Zorg would become the first undeniable argument against slavery.

When a series of unpredictable weather events and navigational errors led to the Zorg sailing off course and running low on supplies, the ship’s captain threw more than a hundred slaves overboard in order to save the crew and the most valuable slaves. The ship’s owners then claimed their loss on insurance, a first for slaves who had not been killed due to insurrection or died of natural causes.

The insurers refused to pay due to the higher than usual mortality rate of the slaves on board, leading to a trial which initially found in their favor, in which the Chief Justice compared the slaves to horses. Thanks to the outrage of one man present in court that day, a retrial was held. For the first time, concepts such as human rights and morality entered the discourse on slavery in a courtroom case that boiled down to a simple yet profound question: Were the Africans on board people or cargo?

What followed was a fascinating legal drama in England’s highest court that turned the brutal calculus of slavery into front-page news. The case of the Zorg catapulted the nascent anti-slavery movement from a minor evangelical cause to one of the most consequential moral campaigns in history―sparking the abolitionist movement in both England and the young United States.

NOTE: See site for ticketing information.

Where: Culture Brewing Co.

Date: Monday the 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 327 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2026-01-05/books-and-brews-book-club

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 5^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501

Website: https://www.facebook.com

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

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

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

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Monday the 5^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)

Website: https://beyondbaroque.org

Toddler Time: Storytime at Pico Branch Library, SMPL – In-Person Kids Event

Storytime with interactive books, songs, and more. Limited space; first come, first served For ages walking – 3 years.

Where: Pico Branch Library, SMPL

Date: Tuesday the 6^th

Time: 10:30 am – 11 am

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

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

Virtual Book Club: Broken Country via La Crescenta Library, LACL – Online Event

Join us weekly on Zoom for the Virtual Book Club. In January we will be discussing ‘Broken Country’ by Clare Leslie Hall. For adults.

Please contact Marta Wiggins at mwiggins@library.lacounty.gov for your link to join.

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

Week 2: January 13: Part 2 – Bobby – Pages 107 – 175

Week 3: January 20: Part 3 – Jimmy – Pages 179 – 231

Week 4: January 27: Part 4 – Frank – Pages 235 to the end of the book

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident. As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 6^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15404037

The Darkest Hour OurHourHBook Club: The Elias Network at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss The Elias Network by Simon Gervais. Copies available at the library. For adults.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith meets political thriller in this heart-pounding series debut about two undercover flames whose new mission risks exposing their true identities to the world…and, worse, each other.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 6^th

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15094984

Women and Books Book Club: The Snow Child at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join the book club for a hybrid (in-person and online) discussion of The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. For adults.

This is a hybrid event and will be hosted in-person in the Community Meeting Room at West Hollywood Library as well as on Zoom. Please register at the link below to receive the link to the meeting via email.

https://library-lacounty-gov.zoom.us/meeting/register

Co-sponsored by the City of West Hollywood Women’s Advisory Board, Women and Books Book Club meets on the first Tuesday of the month to discuss literary works by and focused on women.

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

Summary provided by the publisher:

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart—he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season’s first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone—but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.

This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 6^6h

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15060195

Listening Is an Art: Audiobook Club: A Psalm for the Well-Built at Angelo M. Iacobani Library, LACL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us in the meeting room for our Audiobook Club, Listening is an Art! We’ll be listening to the first hour of the cozy Sci-Fi novel, A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers while we work on an art project. For adults.

A variety of materials will be provided. For adults.

Attendance is limited and advance-registration is required. To sign up, see library staff, or register online at Visit.LACountyLibrary.org/Events and filter by location or event date.

Where: Angelo M. Iacoboni Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 6^6h

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 4990 Clark Ave., Lakewood, CA 90712

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15284317

Feminist Book Club: Reservoir Bitches at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us in-store or online to discuss Feminist Bitches: Stories by author Dahlia de la Cerda.

LONGLISTED for the 2025 International Booker Prize

A debut collection of gritty, streetwise, and wickedly funny stories about Mexican women who fight, skirt, cheat, cry, kill, and lie their way to survival.

“Life’s a bitch. That’s why you gotta rattle her cage, even if she’s foaming at the mouth.” In the linked stories of Reservoir Bitches, thirteen Mexican women prod the bitch that is Life and become her. From the all-powerful daughter of a cartel boss to the victim of transfemicide, from a houseful of spinster seamstresses to a socialite who supports her politician husband by faking Indigenous roots, these women spit on their own reduction and invent new ways to endure, telling their own stories in bold, unapologetic voices. At once a work of black humor and social critique, Reservoir Bitches is a raucous debut from one of Mexico’s most thrilling new writers.

Dahlia de la Cerda is a writer and activist based in Aguascalientes, Mexico. She is the author of Perras de Reserva, which won the 2019 Premio Nacional de Cuento Joven Comala, and Desde los Zulos. She is also the cofounder of the feminist organization Morras Help Morras. Reservoir Bitches is her English-language debut. Julia Sanches translates literature from Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan into English. Born in Brazil, she now lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Heather Cleary is an award-winning translator of poetry and prose whose work has been recognized by English PEN, the National Book Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation, among others. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and is the author of The Translator’s Visibility: Scenes from Contemporary Latin American Fiction.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 6^6h

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/events/2026/01

The Darkest Hour OurHourHBook Club: The Elias Network at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – Online Event

Join us to discuss The Elias Network by Simon Gervais. Copies available at the library. For adults.

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

Mr. & Mrs. Smith meets political thriller in this heart-pounding series debut about two undercover flames whose new mission risks exposing their true identities to the world…and, worse, each other.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 6^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: Online Event

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15094985

Creativity Book Club: The Artist’s Way at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Creativity Book Club participants will discuss The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

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 to about painting, poetry or pottery?

Here are 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!

Since its first publication, The Artist’s Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron’s novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery.

The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery—The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors.

A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist’s Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 6^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

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

Free event. 21+

Note: Please RSVP at site.

Where: The Aftermath Bar

Date: Tuesday the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 10 pm

As the nation marks another anniversary of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, Chevalier’s Books is thrilled to host scholar Paul E. Starr, author of American Contradiction: REVOLUTION and REVENGE from the 1950s to NOW, in conversation with local author and esteemed journalist Todd Purdum for a timely conversation about how our country has arrived at this point.

How did Americans come to elect Barack Obama—and then Donald Trump? Those choices capture what Paul Starr calls the American contradiction. The whole truth about America, Starr argues in this new history of the United States since the 1950s, has never been contained in one consistent set of values or interests. Our nation was born in the contradiction between freedom and slavery. Today it is beset by a contradiction between a changing people and a resisting nation, a nation with entrenched institutions that have empowered those who fear the changes and look to restore an old America of their imagining. Starr tells this history from the dual standpoints of the progressive movements that changed the American people and of the movements that emerged in response. Black Americans, he argues, served as a model minority, setting in motion America’s twentieth-century revolutions in gender as well as race and rights. With industry’s decline and the rise of economic inequality, millions of Americans have felt dispossessed and want the old America back. Trump is their revenge. American Contradiction tells the story of how 1950s America became the almost unrecognizable America of the 2020s.

Paul E. Starr is professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and founding coeditor of the American Prospect magazine. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction and Bancroft Prize in American History for The Social Transformation of American Medicine. Over a half-century he has written essays and op‑eds for newspapers and magazines as well as books on America’s institutions, history, and politics.

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

Where: Chevalier’s Books

Date: Tuesday the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-01-06/american-contradiction-author-paul-starr-conversation-todd-purdum

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

OTHER WORLDS BOOK CLUB: Meets monthly, generally on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm.

A new pages bookclub exploring the nooks and crannies of speculative fiction: fantasy, science fiction, alternative history, horror, and their intersections.

Facilitated by Leo Lukin

Where: pages, a bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2026-01-06/other-worlds-book-club

Noel Cook, with Mike Rothschild, & The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Researcher and ethnographer Noelle Cook in conversation with Mike Rothschild, will discuss The Conspiracists, which explores how women are drawn into the world of conspiracy theories and extremism, all the way to the steps of the Capitol and beyond.

How do ordinary women become extremists?

Leafing through photos from the January 6 insurrection, extremist researcher Noelle Cook was struck by how many women looked like her: middle-aged white women in puffy coats. Women were not on the fringes of the extreme right, she realized. They were radicalizing each other, and the pandemic was changing them. So, who were the women of J6? And why did some of them believe in shape-shifting reptilians and the health benefits of colloidal silver?

This is the world scholars call conspirituality, in which New Age religion, online wellness culture, and extremism blend and become laced with antisemitic and racist theories. With acute attention to the emotional lives of women and research on conspiracism, Cook introduces us to Tammy, who believed storming the Capitol would help take down a global cabal of pedophiles. We also meet Yvonne, convinced she is a starseed destined to lead others into the fifth dimension. We visit a trade show where vendors hawk everything from quantum healing devices to government cover-ups and trace the movement’s roots to a nineteenth-century mystical philosophy.

With arresting detail, The Conspiracists draws us into the lives of conspiratorial women to explore how and why women are becoming radicalized. Women are crafting entire worlds, Cook argues, and we ignore these worlds at our own peril. As misinformation spreads and extremism intensifies, The Conspiracists does not seek to excuse women’s conspiracism but rather to understand it. Otherwise, we have no hope of countering its force.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Tuesday the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-06/noelle-cook

The Sunless Sea Spoken Word Show & Open Mic at Qusqo Bistro, West Los Angeles – In-Person Event

The Sunless Sea Poetry Show & Open Mic is hosted every first Tuesday of the month by De Forest Wright.

Where: Qusqo Bistro

Date: Tuesday, the 6^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 11633 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025

Website: https://www.instagram.com

The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert & Jasmine Vallejo Love – Online Zoom Event

Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert welcomes featured poet Jasmine Vallejo Love.

Jasmine Vallejo Love is a disabled Poet, Writer, Coach, and former HR Leader raised in the South Bronx and living in Los Angeles.

Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event

Date: Tuesday, the 6^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

Website: https://www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html

Da Poetry Lounge: Open Mic Night at Ora Café in Leimert Park – In-Person Event

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 6^th

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

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

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/

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

Time: 9 am – 10 am

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

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com

Book Party Book Club: Cannery Row at San Dimas Senior Center, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion about the classic book Cannery Row by John Steinbeck.

This month’s selection is Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. A Penguin Classic Published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, including longtime friend Ed Ricketts, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Dora, Mack and his boys, Lee Chong, and the other characters in this world where only the fittest survive, to create a novel that is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works.

Where: San Dimas Senior Center, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Address: 201 E. Bonita Ave., San Dimas, CA 91773

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15293005

Afternoon Book Club: Colored Television at Westlake Village Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion about the book Colored Television by Danzy Senna. For adults.

All are welcome.

Where: Westlake Village Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

Time: 12 pm – 1 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15191727

Book Club: Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague at Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us to discuss Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague by Maggie O’Farrell (2020 – 305 pages), a novel about the death of Shakespeare’s 11-year-old son, Hamnet (also known as Hamlet). The book is a portrait of a marriage, a family ravaged by grief, and a boy whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays of all time. Email sstamm@lapl.org for Zoom link.

Where: Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

Time: 1:30 pm

Address: 21052 Devonshire St., Chatsworth, CA 91311

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/chatsworth-book-club-hamnet-novel-plague

Afternoon Book Club: Colored Television at Westlake Village Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion about the book Colored Television by Danzy Senna. For adults.

All are welcome.

Where: Westlake Village Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

Time: 12 pm – 1 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15191727

Mystery Book Club: False Witness at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion about the book False Witness by Karin Slaughter. For adults.

All are welcome.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15191733

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

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

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

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: KPFK 90.7 FM

Date: Wednesday, the 7^th

Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: On-air Event

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

Social Justice Book Club for Kids via Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – Online Kids Event

Books can transform the way we look at the world. Join children’s librarians from the Library to discuss kid-friendly books related to topics of social justice. This is an all-ages book club for the whole family. Check out the book of the month at your local library and bring your thoughts and feelings to the conversation.

We will be reading the following book:

January 7 – Swimmy by Leo Lionni

RSVP:

Please register here, and for more information email cquinn@lapl.org.

Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday, the 7^th

Time: 4 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

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

Creative Writing Workshop With Tony DuShane at Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for a free writer’s workshop presented by UCLA instructor Tony DuShane, screenwriter of the film Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk, based on his novel of the same name. This workshop is open to adults only.

Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday, the 7^th

Time: 6 pm

Address: 1874 Hillhurst Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/creative-writing-workshop-tony-dushane-15

Adult Book Club: North of Nowhere at Littlerock Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion of the book North of Nowhere by Allison Brennan.

Start 2026 with a gripping story of survival, family, and danger in the Montana wilderness as Littlerock Library’s Adult Book Club dives into North of Nowhere by Allison Brennan. For adults.

After years in hiding, siblings Kristen and Ryan McIntyre are discovered by their ruthless father, head of a Los Angeles crime family. Fleeing by plane, they crash deep in the snowy mountains and must rely on each other to survive as a deadly storm closes in. With their aunt, a determined rancher, and a hired tracker all racing to find them, every second and every choice could mean the difference between life and death.

Where: Littlerock Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15216793

Sci-Fi Fantasy Book Club: Spinning Silver at Quartz Hill Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. For adults.

Miryem’s hard work and assertiveness may have saved her family’s moneylending business, but she gets into trouble when the wrong person hears her father’s boast that she can “spin silver into gold”. Forced into an impossible task, she must use all of her wits and determination to save herself and preserve a land trapped between ice and fire.

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

Where: Quart Hill Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 5040 W. Avenue M 2, Quartz Hill, CA 93536

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15095001

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 7^th

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

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

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

BYOB Club at Café con Libros, Pomona – In-Person Event

Girls, Gays, and Theys! Bring whatever you’re reading and enjoy conversation and community.

Sign up in the bio.

Where: Café con Libros, Pomona

Date: Thursday, the 7^th

Time: 6 pm – 8:30 pm

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

Websites: https://www.instagram.com

Inlandia Workshop: Renee Gurley & All Genres Workshop – Online Zoom Event

Join an Inlandia Writing Workshop with Renee Gurley: All Genres Workshop.

Alternating Wednesdays, 1/ 7, 1/21, 2/4, 2/18, and 3/4/26, 6:00 – 9:00 pm PT, on ZOOM.

In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for biweekly critiques and receive feedback from other group members. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face. The workshop leader provides biweekly articles and links related to participants’ work, particularly to problems that were discussed in the previous session.

Renee (RJ) Gurley (she/her) is a writer and English teacher with an MA and MFA, and over 20 years of experience. Her work appears in Coping Magazine, Lehigh Valley Woman’s Journal, and Midwifery Monthly. Cállate!, the first chapter of her memoir, Lehigh Valley Woman’s Journal, and Midwifery Monthly. Cállate!, the first chapter of her memoir, was shortlisted in the First Pages Contes.

$50 EACH • 5 SESSIONS OVER 10 WEEKS • ENROLL TODAY! https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW

Where: Inlandia Institute

Date: Thursday the 8^th

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW

Mystery Book Club Virtual: False Witness via Agoura Hills Library, LACL – Online Event

Join us virtually to discuss Karin Slaughter’s False Witness. For adults.

To attend this meeting virtually, contact Nina Hull at nhull@library.lacounty.gov or 818-889-2278.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15191745

Lucas Cantor Santiago & Unfinished at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome Lucas Cantor Santiagoto discuss his book Unfinished: The Role of the Artist in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

Free seating is limited. To reserve a seat, please purchase one copy of a book for one seat.

For most of his career, the Emmy Award–winning composer and producer Lucas Cantor Santiago was a self-described luddite. Technology, he felt, was moving too fast, transforming the world and the arts with no regard for the cost in tradition, hard-won human wisdom, and tried-and-true methods of mastery.

That changed, however, when Cantor Santiago was commissioned by Huawei, one of the largest technology companies in the world, to collaborate with artificial intelligence and finish Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony—a successful experiment that attracted international attention. Creating music in collaboration with a machine led him to question his long-standing assumptions about what music is, what technology does, and how the two have evolved together over the course of human history, from the first bone flute to today’s landscape of constant innovation and change. Drawing on Cantor Santiago’s extensive experience in the arts and tech worlds and his ongoing experiments with AI-powered music-making, Unfinished is an engaging and refreshingly optimistic meditation on the role of technology in music and the arts. What is the current state of the art? How did we get here? Where do we go now? This book provides an informed perspective on what is lost but what we also gain when we bring our machines ever further into the creation of art in its many different forms.

Lucas Cantor Santiago is a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and Emmy Award winner. He has collaborated on projects with Lorde, The Wu-Tang Clan, Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Warner Music, DreamWorks, Disney, NBCUniversal, Fox, Netflix and many others. His music can be heard on the radio, on television, in major feature films, NFL football coverage and on concert stages. His concert works include the final two movements of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony (finished with AI), the Softbank Sinfonia (a data-driven octet), New Composition #38 (a piece written by AI and produced by Cantor Santiago) and 24 Dedications. Cantor Santiago is a TEDx speaker on artificial intelligence and the arts, and a guest lecturer at UCLA, USC and Belmont University.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-01-07/lucas-cantor-santiago-unfinished-role-artist-age-artificial

Barry Hertz, with Phillip Iscove, & Welcome to the Family: the Explosive Story Behind Fast and Furious, the Blockbusters that Changed the World at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Barry Hertz, in conversation with Phillip Iscove, will discuss and sign his book Welcome to the Family: the Explosive Story Behind Fast and Furious, the Blockbusters that Changed the World.

An unauthorized journey into the makings of a cinematic saga unlike any other, Welcome to the Family exposes the stranger-than-fan-fiction journey of the franchise from the ground up. Through rigorous behind-the-scenes reporting and incisive cultural commentary, writer Barry Hertz’s ride-or-die epic details every single twist and turn of Fast & Furious drama, a quarter mile at a time. By the end, you will believe a car can fly.

Phillip Iscove is the co-creator of SLEEPY HOLLOW for FOX and is currently developing a new series for Amazon. Before that he was a writer/producer on the GREY’S ANATOMY spinoff STATION 19 and has developed pilots for CBS, Disney+ and HBO MAX and is also the co-creator and co-host of Podcast Like It’s The 2000s.

NOTE: See website for details and guidelines.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-01-07/barry-hertz

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

RECESS Open Mic is at SIPA HQ on Wednesdays.

Standard mic RSVP, rules and entry apply.

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 7^th

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

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

Website: https://www.instagram.com

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

The Anansi Writers Workshop was founded in 1990 by Kamau Daáood, Akilah Oliver, Nafis Nabawi and Anthony Lyons. In 1993, Michael Datcher initiated the development of a three-part format for the workshop. Our tradition of a community workshop began in the late 1960s at the Watts Writers’ Workshop, where World Stage co-founder Kamau Daáood started his writing career. Hosted by Jessica Gallion aka “Yellawoman.”

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

Suggested: $10.00 Donation via PayPal: The World Stage Gallery.

NOTE: See site for further details and any change in the schedule. Contact on Instagram @ _yellawoman.

Where: The World Stage (use left rear entrance)

Date: Wednesday, the 7^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm

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

Website: https://www.instagram.com

Story Salon at Art Parlor: TBA in Valley Village – In-Person & Virtual Hybrid Event (Check to Verify)

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: TBA.

Where: Art Parlor

Date: Wednesday the 7^th

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

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

Website: https://www.instagram.com

Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop with Martin Jago 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.

Martin Jago is a British American poet based in Los Angeles. Author of Photofit (Pindrop Press, 2023) and a forthcoming chapbook, Black Plastic Blues (Finishing Line, 2026), his writing has appeared widely in literary magazines like Agenda, Acumen, The Moth, LIT Magazine, Presence, The Penn Review, The High Window, The Indianapolis Review, Tupelo Quarterly, and Sierra Nevada Review, among others. He holds a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford where he was an F.H. Pasby Prize finalist.

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

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Wednesday, the 7^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org

Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg and Guest Bido at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event

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

Bido is a Vietnamese artist born and raised in Little Saigon. They graduated from UCI with a masters degree in biochemistry and molecular biology, often incorporating their scientific and medical background into their writing.

They draw influence from auteurs such as Tarkovsky, Lynch, Kar-wai, and Cronenberg—and artists such as Labi Siffre, Jeff Buckley, Stephen Malkmus, and Zelooperz.

Their accomplishments include placing second in the first grade spelling bee and several publications in various independent literary and mixed media journals.

$5 cover fee, cash only

Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange

Date: Wednesday, the 7^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

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

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

Lit Angels: Morning Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Come write with us!

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

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

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday the 8^th

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com/events/3561420260108

Book Club: The Wind Knows My Name at Lawndale Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a facilitated discussion of The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende.

For adults,

Where: Lawndale Library, LACL

Date: Thursday the 8^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: 14615 Burin Ave., Lawndale, CA 90260

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15014136

“Saved by a Story” Seniors Writing Group at Westwood Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

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

Please note that in April, the group meets on the fifth Thursday.

Where: Westwood Library, LAPL

Date: Thursday the 8^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-seniors-writing-group

Meet the Authors: Freddy the Alien at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event

Meet the authors: Jonathan Del Arco and Trisha DiFazio, MAT, for a reading of their heartwarming children’s story about bravery, belonging, and becoming.

Inspired by the real-life journey of actor and activist Jonathan Del Arco, Freddy the Alien is a powerful reminder that being yourself is the bravest thing you can do and that everyone deserves to feel like they belong. This story nurtures empathy, identity, resilience, and self-acceptance-skills that help children thrive both in school and in life.

Freddy the Alien is the story of a young immigrant navigating a new language, a strange city, and a culture that feels light-years away from everything he’s ever known. When Freddy and his family move from Uruguay to New York City, he feels like an alien-confused, isolated, and invisible. But everything begins to change when one caring teacher truly sees him. With a simple act of kindness, she helps Freddy realize something extraordinary: being different isn’t a weakness—it’s a superpower.

Human Rights Campaign Book of the Month January 2026

Jonathan Del Arco is an actor, author, speaker, and award-winning activist for LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights. He’s best known for his role as Hugh Borg on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard. Jonathan immigrated from Uruguay to New York at the age of ten and struggled to feel like he belonged-he often felt like an alien.

Trisha DiFazio, MAT, is an author, screenwriter, and education consultant. A former teacher and professor, she believes in empowering students and families. She is the co-founder of SEL Starts with Us, an organization dedicated to equipping schools and communities with essential Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills to help kids thrive.

Where: Chevalier’s Books

Date: Thursday the 8^th

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-01-08/meet-authors-freddy-alien

Mystery Book Club: Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge at Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge by Spencer Quinn.

Summary provided by the publisher:

Mrs. Loretta Plansky, a recent widow in her seventies, is settling into retirement in Florida while dealing with her 98-year-old father and fielding requests for money from her beloved children and grandchildren.

One night Mrs. Plansky is startled awake by a phone call from a voice claiming to be her grandson Will, who desperately needs ten thousand dollars to get out of a jam.

By morning, Mrs. Plansky has lost everything. Law enforcement announces that Loretta’s life savings have vanished, and that it’s hopeless to find the scammers behind the heist. First humiliated, then furious, Loretta Plansky refuses to be just another victim.

Where: Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL

Date: Thursday the 8^th

Time: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Address: 4975 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA 90230

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14853506

Diverse Romance Book Club: Didn’t See That Coming at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss Didn’t See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto.

Seventeen-year-old Kiki Siregar is a fabulous gamer girl with confidence to boot. She can’t help but be totally herself…except when she’s online.

Her secret? She plays anonymously as a guy to avoid harassment from other male players. Even her online best friend—a cinnamon roll of a teen boy who plays under the username Sourdawg—doesn’t know her true identity. Which is fine, because Kiki doesn’t know his real name either, and it’s not like they’re ever going to cross paths IRL.

Until she transfers to an elite private school for her senior year and discovers that Sourdawg goes there, too.

But who is he? How will he react when he finds out Kiki’s secret? And what happens when Kiki realizes she’s falling for her online BFF?

Jesse Q Sutanto is the author of the YA thrillers The Obsession and The New Girl and the adult rom com Dial A for Aunties. She grew up shuttling back and forth between Indonesia, Singapore, and Oxford and considers all three places her home.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Thursday the 8^6h

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-01-08/diverse-romance-book-club-didnt-see-coming

Inlandia Workshop: Romaine Washington & The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry – Online Zoom Event

Join an Inlandia Writing Workshop with Romaine Washington: The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry.

Alternating Thursdays, 1/8, 1/22, 2/5, 2/19, and 3/5/26, 6:00 – 8:00 pm PT, on ZOOM.

Discover the art and craft of writing poetry with generative prompts and other forms of poetic inspiration. Brief group feedback will help you uncover images and language that resonate for you and for your audience.

Romaine Washington, M. Ed., is a twice Pushcart-nominated poet. She is the editor of These Black Bodies Are…A Blacklandia Anthology and returning guest editor for Cholla Needles. She has authored two books Purgatory Has an Address and Sirens in Her Belly. Ms. Washington is a graduate fellow of The Watering Hole, South Carolina, and the Inland Area Writing Project at the University of California, Riverside. For over twenty years, she taught language arts and now enjoys facilitating workshops. The proud mother of two sons, Romaine Washington, is a native Californian residing in the Inland Empire.

$50 EACH • 5 SESSIONS OVER 10 WEEKS • ENROLL TODAY! https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW

Where: Inlandia Institute

Date: Thursday the 8^th

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: https://docs.google.com/forms

Author Signing: Deborah Presley Brando & Memoirs of a Starseed Child at The Last Bookstore, Studio City – In-Person Event

Join Deborah Presley Brando to hear her discuss her book Memoirs of a Starseed Child: Elvis, Marlon, Christian and Me.

Where: The Last Bookstore, Studio City

Date: Thursday the 8^th

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 4437 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91602

Website: https://www.instagram.com

Cecily Mak, with Trudy Goodman Ph.D. & Undimmed: The Eight Awarenesses for Freedom from Unwanted Habits at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome Cecily Mak to discuss The Eight Awarenesses for Freedom from Unwanted Habits. Joining her in conversation will be Trudy Goodman PH.D.

Many of us are taught to believe that escapist and addictive behaviors are fine as long as they are not “problems” or wholesale addictions. But this binary mindset robs us of a more present life and our ability to make changes before the behavior becomes an unshakeable habit. What you use to dim your life may not be a substance; it might even be something healthy, like exercise, food, or work. And every dimmer exists on a spectrum from use, to heavy use, to potential abuse or worse. It’s not about what you do, but how and why you do it. While leaving her unwanted habits behind, Mak developed the Eight Awarenesses―a set of principles we can use for inspiration and guidance on the path to embodying a clear life.

Undimmed is an invitation to choose freedom from the habits that dim our lives and to embrace the full spectrum of experiences that life has to offer.

Cecily Mak is a mother, investor, advocate, and founder devoted to helping people live dimmer-free—with clarity, courage, and the freedom to change without stigma or shame. She is also the co-founder of Wisdom Ventures, a bold fund investing in a future of deeper human connection and well-being.

Trudy Goodman, PH.D., is the founding teacher of InsightLA and cofounder of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. She has taught at universities and retreat centers worldwide for over 40 years. Trudy has trained in mindfulness and Zen since 1973, holds a graduate degree in developmental psychology from Harvard, and is one of the senior Buddhist teachers in the U.S. She is widely known for her role as the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series “Midnight Gospel”. Trudy is a contributing author: Clinical Handbook of Mindfulness (Springer, 2008); Compassion and Wisdom in Psychotherapy, (Guilford Press, 2011); Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, (Guilford Press, 2013). Learn more about Trudy at TrudyGoodman.com and InsightLA.org.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Thursday the 8^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-01-08/cecily-mak-undimmed-eight-awarenesses-freedom-unwanted-habits

January Trenches Full of Poets: In-Store Readings by Three SoCal Poets & Open Mic at Page Against the Machine, Long Beach – In-Person Event

Join us Join us on 𝗧𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟴𝘁𝗵 at 𝟳:𝟬𝟬𝗽𝗺 for our inaugural 2026 installment of the Trenches Full of Poets Reading Series! We open the new year with featured readings from Arthur Kayzakian, Cynthia Guardardo, and jimmy vega, followed by an open mic opportunity.

Arthur Kayzakian is the finalist for the 2024 Kate Tufts Award, and the winner of the 2021 inaugural Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series for his collection, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘙𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 (Black Lawrence Press, 2023), which was also selected as a finalist for the 2021 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry. He is the recipient of the 2023 creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is a founding member and serves as the Poetry Chair for the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). His work has appeared in several publications, including 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘪𝘵 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭, 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘨𝘰 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸, 𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸, among other journals. Find Arthur on Instagram and X.

Cynthia Guardado /Gwarr-Dah-Doe/ (she/her/hers) is the daughter of Salvadoran born parents, a poet, and Professor of English at Fullerton College. She is the author of two collections of poetry: Cenizas (University of Arizona Press 2022) and Endeavor (World Stage Press 2017). She is also the author of the craft chap 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘞𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘏𝘢𝘥: 𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘌𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 published by Sundress Publications (2023) which is available to all as a free digital download. Her poems have appeared in 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘏𝘶𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦, 𝘜.𝘚. 𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘹 𝘝𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘺, and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘨. She also won the Concurso Binacional De Poesía Pellicer-Frost in 2017 (México) and 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘴 was a finalist for the National Poetry Series in 2019.

jimmy vega is the child of Mexican immigrants, a Chicano Los Angeles poet, educator, and interdisciplinary artist. vega is a pushcart nominated writer and the author of 𝘻𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘢𝘴𝘩 (What Books Press, 2025). He holds a BA from UCLA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing from CalArts. vega’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in 𝘋𝘪𝘰𝘥𝘦, 𝘋𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘹, 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵, and elsewhere. vega is currently the Interim Executive Director of Beyond Baroque Literary / Arts Center. He lives and works in Los Angeles. More @jimmyyvega or jimmy-vega.com

Taking its name from a Clash lyric, Trenches Full of Poets is a monthly poetry series created, curated, and hosted by Los Angeles-based poets and editors, Nikolai Garcia and Mauricio Andres Moreno with the goal of supporting a diverse array of published SoCal authors and the local independent bookstores that carry their works.

The event takes place on the second Thursday of every month and is always free and open to the public, no tickets or reservations required!

Where: Page Against the Machine

Date: Thursday the 8^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

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

From Draft to Deal: Navigating the Publishing World at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us for a panel of industry professionals—including agents, editors, and authors—discuss what it takes to get a book published. The perfect event for any and all aspiring novelists.

Topics will range from querying to getting representation to deals and more.

Reserve your seat at website!

About the participants:

Laura Dail (President, Laura Dail Literary Agency): After studying at Duke University and earning a Masters in Spanish at Middlebury College, Laura’s publishing career began at St. Martin’s Press. She translated several novels and books of nonfiction from Spanish to English and founded the agency in 1996. Laura is focused on representing upmarket and commercial fiction. She is always seeking fresh, diverse voices, and innovative partners. And she recently relocated from NYC to Rustic Canyon.

Jennifer Rofe (Senior Agent, Andrea Brown Literary Agency): Jennifer Rofé wanted to live in the Berenstain Bears tree house when she was a child. Today, she represents the authors and illustrators who create the characters and worlds that inspire young readers. As a senior agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Jennifer works with creators primarily in the middle grade, picture book, and illustration spaces. Her clients range from seasoned, award-winning, and bestselling authors and illustrators to industry newcomers. Jennifer has been on the faculty of many conferences including the Big Sur Writer’s Workshop and numerous SCBWI events, and she is especially known for her The So What? Factor presentation.

Lucy Carson (Senior Agent, The Friedrich Agency): Lucy Carson joined The Friedrich Agency in 2008, and she has since cultivated a list of fiction and narrative non-fiction for the adult trade audience. In addition to brokering domestic publishing deals for her own clients, Lucy also oversees all Film, Television & Dramatic business for the wider agency list. During her 17 years with The Friedrich Agency, Lucy has worked with established bestselling authors such as Sue Grafton, Elizabeth Strout, Ruth Ozeki, Terry McMillan, and Karen Joy Fowler, while launching many debut authors as well, including Leila Mottley, Alison Espach, Rachel Harrison, Silvia Park and Daria Lavelle.

Davin Malasarn (Author, The Outer Country): Davin Malasarn was born and raised in Southern California. After completing his PhD in biology at the California Institute of Technology, he earned his MFA from Bennington College and completed the Queens University of Charlotte Book Development Program. He was a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, a Plympton Writing Downtown Fellow, and a Bennington Alumni Fellow. He co-founded The Granum Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to supporting writers, and hosts The Artist’s Statement podcast. His debut novel, The Outer Country, is forthcoming from One World/Random House in May 2026.

Alicia Clancy (Executive Editor, Ballantine Books): Alicia Clancy is an Executive Editor acquiring a broad range of fiction, with a primary focus on all things romance, including big-hearted rom-coms, lush romantasy, delightfully tropey series of both the spicy and sweet variety, and sweeping romance, in addition to select mystery, suspense, thrillers, women’s fiction, book club fiction, historical fiction, and grounded magical realism/speculative fiction projects. Across all genres, she is particularly drawn to books with a uniquely fresh voice, splashy hooks, jaw-dropping twists, cinematic pacing, and the ability to make her both laugh and cry within a matter of pages. In the decade prior to joining Ballantine Bantam Dell, Alicia worked at Lake Union Publishing (an imprint of Amazon Publishing) and St. Martin’s Press (an imprint of Macmillan Publishers), where she had the honor of working with bestselling authors including Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Elle Cosimano, Maggie Shipstead, Marie Benedict, Sonali Dev, Barbara O’Neal, Julianne MacLean, Glendy Vanderah, Suzanne Redfearn, and Sara Goodman Confino, among others. A converted West Coaster originally from the Southeast, Alicia currently resides in Southern California with her British husband and two Australian Cattle Dogs.

Dan Smetanka (Editorial Director, Catapult Book Group): Dan Smetanka is the Editorial Director of the Catapult Book Group, which is comprised of the imprints Catapult, Counterpoint, Hawthorne, and Soft Skull Press. His authors include Joan Silber, Susan Straight, Dana Johnson, Natashia Deón, Ben Ehrenreich, Karen E. Bender, Tod Goldberg, Gina Frangello, Vanessa Hua, Elizabeth Rosner, Maria Hummel, and Jamie Harrison, among others. He is based in Los Angeles.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday the 8^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com

Daniel Kremer, with Daniel Waters, & Adventures in Auteurism at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Daniel Kremer, in conversation with Daniel Waters, will discuss Adventures in Auteurism.

“Most dyed-in-the-wool film buffs nurture their own private lists of movie directors they feel have been underappreciated, neglected, and/or underrated,” Joe Dante writes in this book’s Foreword. “But very few of us are moved to write an entire book about them.”

Beyond mere appreciation, however, author Daniel Kremer presents a philosophy and a guiding principle for venerating the undervalued or forgotten. He casts an eye toward expanding the auteur theory for a new generation with the novel privilege of wide access, rapid retrieval, and immediate playback. Through 26 full case studies, along with dozens of shorter studies, Kremer hijacks the spotlight to shine a searchlight that becomes a limelight.

Once upon a time, it was difficult to marathon any director’s films, unless one had an inside track at an archive or museum collection,” Kremer writes. “One had to rely on the endorsement of tastemakers with those advantages. Now, almost everything is available and there’s a big, wide world of films and filmmakers right at our fingertips.” But with this embarrassment of riches, how do we effectively look, and then look closer? Adventures in Auteurism is both a treasure map and a manifesto, revealing how overlooked filmmakers can reframe the way we think about cinema.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Thursday the 8^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-08/daniel-kremer

Lit Angels: Morning Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Come write with us!Once

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

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

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Friday the 9^th

Time: 9 am – 10 am

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

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com

Weekly Pajama Storytime at Once Upon a Time, Montrose – In-Person Kids & Family Event

Our most popular story time is ready to delight and dazzle! This is also the prime time to see Pippi Longstocking, our bookstore cat in action.

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

Free to attend.

NOTE: Free to attend.

Where: Once Upon a Time

Date: Friday, the 9^th

Time: 9:30 am

Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020

Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event

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 9^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

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

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com

Nonfiction Book Club at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us on the second Friday of every month for the nonfiction book club.

January (1/9): Total Garbage: how we can fix our waste and heal our world by Edward Humes

Please email studio@lapl.org for participation details.

Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Friday the 9^th

Time: 12 pm

Address: 12511 Moorpark Street, Studio City, CA 91604

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

Writing Gets Lonely: Open Writing Studio at Heavy Manners Library – In-Person Event

Join host Katja Bartholmess for an open writing studio at Heavy Manners Library from 1 pm – 3 pm! No frills, no prompts, just write!

Manuscripts, Screenplays, Articles…whatever you’re working on, let’s do it in each other’s company!

Drop in and stay a while!

RSVP: Pay What You Want Donation

Where: Heavy Manners Library

Date: Friday the 9^th

Time: 1 pm

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

Website: https://heavymannerslibrary.com/events/writing-gets-lonely-open-writing-studio-1-9

Self-Care Book Club: Playful at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss Playful: How Play Shifts Our Thinking Conspires Connection, and Sparks Creativity by Cas Holman.

We’re all born playful. But when we grow up, we learn to suppress this critical, hardwired instinct and our lives become ruled by “getting things done.” As world-famous designer Cas Holman explains, this disconnection from our playful selves is hazardous to everything from our emotional wellbeing to our ability to problem solve and innovate. The emerging science of play shows that it sparks joy, wonder, creativity, and insight at any age.

Here, Holman explains the power of “free play” through open-ended, unstructured activities that we become absorbed in with no obvious goal or purpose. The ways we can play are endless and what recharges us most is unique to each of us: whether it’s a piece of art we create, an entertaining conversation with a stranger, or an experiment to shake up a routine task.

Cas Holman is the founder and chief designer of the toy company Heroes Will Rise and a former Professor of Industrial Design at RISD. Cas travels the globe speaking about early education, the design process, and the value of play in all aspects of life. She has shared her perspective in workshops and seminars with teams at Google, Nike, LEGO Foundation, Disney Imagineering, and more. Some of her designs include toys like Rigamajig and structures at the Highline and the Liberty Science center. Cas lives in New York City and designs from her studio in Brooklyn.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Friday the 9^6h

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-01-09/self-care-book-club-playful

Lovell Holder, with Parvati Shallow, & The Book Luke at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Lovell Holder, in conversation with Parvati Shallow, will discuss The Book of Luke.

Following the car accident that ended his football career and left his body scarred, twenty-two-year-old Luke Griffin joins the cast of Endeavor, a new competition-based reality show that pits the tabloids’ darlings against one another in tasks of endurance and problem solving. At first, he thrives, effortlessly forming friendships and even a romantic relationship that he thinks will last a lifetime. But Luke has aspirations far bigger than the show’s million-dollar prize, and soon a series of betrayals leads to irreversible tragedy, changing the course of his and his fellow contestants’ lives forever.

Ten years later, Luke’s world looks very different: He is now a father of two and the stay-at-home husband to America’s only openly gay senator. When his husband’s serial cheating is exposed, Luke impulsively joins the cast of Endeavor‘s latest season in a desperate bid to earn some fast cash. Back on set, he is confronted with everything he tried to leave in the past: bitter rivalries, shattered friendships, and crushing guilt, all of which threaten to tear down the walls he’s spent a decade building. As Season 20 of Endeavor kicks off, Luke must give everything to the game, even as he finally learns what it means––and what it costs––to face the truth.

Combining the fabulous rivalries of The Traitors with the epic physical stunts of The Challenge, this book offers a grounded portrait of what it means to reinvent yourself when no one will let you forget your past – especially if it’s immortalized on streaming services.

Lovell Holder is a filmmaker who has directed and co-written the feature films Lavender Men and Loserville. As a producer, his movies include The Surrender, Peak Season, Midday Black Midnight Blue, The End of Us, Working Man, and Some Freaks. A graduate of Princeton University and Brown University (MFA), he currently lives in Los Angeles, California and Charlotte, North Carolina. The Book of Luke is his first novel.

Parvati Shallow is a mother, winner and five-time competitor of the hit TV series Survivor, and breakout star of The Traitors on Peacock. She holds advanced certifications in yoga, meditation, and breathwork and is a passionate student of various healing and therapeutic modalities, including structural integration, Somatic Experiencing, acupuncture, nutrition, sound healing, hypnotherapy, IRF, and IFS.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Friday the 9^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-01-09/lovell-holder-conversation-parvati-shallow-discusses-signs-book-luke

Maria Pinto, with Jeff Gordinier, & Fearless Sleepless, Deathless at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event

Maria Pinto, in conversation with Jeff Goridnier, will present and discuss Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless: What Fungi Taught Me about Nourishment, Poison, Ecology, Hidden Histories, Zombies, and Black Survival.

Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless is a beautiful examination of nature and human connection. Naturalist, forager, and educator Maria Pinto offers a stunning debut book that uncovers strange and beautiful fungal connections between the natural and human worlds. She mingles reportage, research, memoir, and nature writing, touching on topics that range from Black farmers’ domestication of the unforgettable aroma of truffles to the possibility that enslaved people wielded mycological poisons against their enslavers.

Pinto brings a new perspective and a distinctive literary voice to this mix of environmental and lived history, and every page sings with her enthusiasm for the networks in which we are embedded: fungal, ecological, ancestral, and communal. Join her in pursuit of beautiful, perplexing, delicious, and deadly mushrooms as she explores this understudied kingdom’s awe-inspiring diversity and discovers how fungi have been used by people, especially those on the margins, for survival, pleasure, revelation, and revolution.

Where: Chevalier’s Books

Date: Friday the 8^9h

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-01-09/maria-pinto-author-fearless-sleepless-deathless

Author Signing: Kee Kee Buckley & Seeking Shama at The Last Bookstore, Studio City – In-Person Event

Join Kee Kee Buckley to hear her discuss her book Seeking Shama. With live music by Eric Trover.

Kee Kee Buckley is an author, filmmaker, on-camera personality, keynote speaker, and rock band manager. Kee Kee is the author of the memoir Seeking Shama: Me, My Dog, and the Road to Inner Peace. In this deeply personal book, she shares her transformative five-month road trip across America with her beloved dog, Yoda, in search of inner peace.

Where: The Last Bookstore, Studio City

Date: Friday the 9^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 4437 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91602

Website: https://www.instagram.com

Monthly Open Mic at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

This all-inclusive event will create space for local artists of any medium to share their talents with the community. Come hang out, as an audience member, or a performer, and meet some talented locals! Sign-ups for performers are at the door, day of, 30 minutes prior to the event. Sets are limited to 5-10 minutes. All performances must be family friendly. We will provide two microphones and two mic stands. Please bring any other equipment you will need. This event is free, no registration is required!

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Friday the 9^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://shop.villagewell.com

Writing Workshop: Kim Dower & Poetry That Speaks Out, week 1 of 4, at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person Event

SOLD OUT: JOIN THE WAIT LIST

Join author and former West Hollywood Poet Laureate Kim Dower for a four-week poetry workshop to kick off 2026 with poems of energy, protest, and empowerment. For adults.

Explore how poets address powerful topics through humor and heart, read diverse modern voices, and spark your own writing through creative prompts. In a supportive, nonjudgmental space, you’ll gain feedback, inspiration, and new poems that reflect your voice while discovering fresh ways to see poetry as a tool for empowerment. Sponsored by the Friends of the West Hollywood Library.

Attendance is limited, and advance registration is required. This will be used to save your spot in the program. We cannot guarantee availability for any unregistered attendees. This is the first of a four-program series that will be held on January 10, 17, 24, and 31. Each program date has its own event page. Please register individually for all of the dates you would like to attend.

Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 10^th

Time: 10:30 am – 1:30 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15060433

Book Club for Adults: The Author’s Guide to Murder at Hacienda Heights Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join our monthly book club for an engaging discussion of our latest selection, The Author’s Guide to Murder by Beatriz William. 

New members are always welcome.  Copies of the Book Club books will be available for pick-up at the Ask Us Desk one month prior to the book club meeting date.

Where: Hacienda Heights Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 10^th

Time: 10:35 am – 11:30 pm

Address: 16010 La Monde St., Hacienda Heights, CA 91745 

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15281138

Book Club: Cutting for Stone at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Read the book and join our lively discussion!

January 10: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 10^th

Time: 11 am

Address:1246 Glendon Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-3m

Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass at Jefferson – Vassie D. Wright Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, is a collection of essays that weaves together the author’s experiences as a botanist and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation to explore the reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world. Pick up a copy at the branch. Electronic formats are available on hoopla.

RSVP: folbookclub@gmail.com

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

Date: Saturday the 10^th

Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm

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

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

Kids Storytime: Ann Whitford Paul & If Animals Kissed Good Night at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Kids Event

Join children’s author Ann Whitford Paul for a storytime featuring her books, including her reading If Animals Kissed Good Night, which School Library Journal calls “charming”; If Animals Went to School; If Animals Celebrated Christmas; If Animals Gave Thanks; and If Animals Tried to be Kind. She lives in Pasadena, California.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Saturday the 10^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

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

Website: https://villagewell.com

Kids Storytime: Chanel N. Grant & Michael Goes to School: The M.O.D.Y Kid’s Collection at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event

Join children’s author Chanel N. Grant for a storytime featuring her reading Michael Goes to School.

When Michael starts a new school, he hopes to make friends and have fun. But the kids aren’t friendly, and the teachers don’t notice when he struggles. With courage and honesty, Michael tells his mom how he feels, and together they find a new school where he feels safe, seen, and happy. A heartfelt story from Chanel N. Grant reminding children that their feelings matter and their voices deserve to be heard.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Saturday the 10^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-10/chanel-n-grant

Book Club for Adults: Mark Twain at Live Oak Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join our book club for an engaging discussion of our latest selection, Mark Twain by Ron Chernow. Copies of the book will be available at the Customer Service Desk. For adults:

Ron Chernow, the highly lauded biographer of Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and Ulysses S. Grant, brings his considerable powers to bear on America’s first, and most influential, literary celebrity, Mark Twain. Chernow draws a richly nuanced portrait of the man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune and crafted his celebrity persona with meticulous care.

Where: Live Oak Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 10^th

Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15353776

Book Launch: Jacqueline Stolos, with Kim Bussing, & Asterwood at Once Upon a Time, Montrose – In-Person Event

Get ready for a magical adventure in the launch of Asterwood by local author Jacquelyn Stolos. Jacquelyn will be in conversation with fellow magical middle grade author Kim Bussing. The two will chat about their writing inspiration, answer questions from the audience, and then sign books. Best for ages 8+.

If you can’t make it to the event, you can order signed books in advance.

Jacquelyn Stolos grew up in Derry, New Hampshire. She loves tromping through the forest and reading good books. Asterwood is her first novel for children. She holds an MFA in fiction from NYU, where she was a Writers in the Public School Fellow. Her short fiction has appeared in Joyland and No Tokens. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.

Kim Bussing writes fairy tales for children and adults and is the author of the Princess Swap series. She has an MFA from the University of Arizona, and her shorter work has appeared in various publications and has received several awards. Kim is obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera and gluten-free croissants. Originally from Seattle, Washington, she currently lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Where: Once Upon a Time, Montrose

Date: Saturday the 10^th

Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm

Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020

Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/asterwood

Cellar Door Book Club: The House of Doors at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person & Online Zoom Hybrid Event

Join us to discuss The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng.

The Zoom link will be provided via email days before this book club.

The “masterful” (San Francisco Chronicle) Booker longlisted novel about love and betrayal, colonialism and revolution, storytelling and redemption.

The year is 1921. Lesley Hamlyn and her husband, Robert, a lawyer and war veteran, are living at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang. When “Willie” Somerset Maugham, a famed writer and old friend of Robert’s, arrives for an extended visit with his secretary Gerald, the pair threatens a rift that could alter more lives than one.

Maugham, one of the great novelists of his day, is beleaguered: Having long hidden his homosexuality, his unhappy and expensive marriage of convenience becomes unbearable after he loses his savings and the freedom to travel with Gerald. His career deflating, his health failing, Maugham arrives at Cassowary House in desperate need of a subject for his next book. Lesley, too, is enduring a marriage more duplicitous than it first appears. Maugham suspects an affair, and, learning of Lesley’s past connection to the Chinese revolutionary, Dr. Sun Yat Sen, decides to probe deeper. But as their friendship grows and Lesley confides in him about life in the Straits, Maugham discovers a far more surprising tale than he imagined, one that involves not only war and scandal, but the trial of an Englishwoman charged with murder. It is, to Maugham, a story worthy of fiction.

A mesmerizingly beautiful novel based on real events, The House of Doors traces the fault lines of race, gender, sexuality, and power under empire, and dives deep into the complicated nature of love and friendship in its shadow.

Tan Twan Eng was born in Penang and lived in various places in Malaysia as a child. His first novel, The Gift of Rain, was longlisted for the Man Booker. His second, The Garden of Evening Mists, was a major international bestseller, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and winner of the Man Asia Literary Prize and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. It was adapted into an award-winning film in 2019 that was directed by Tom Lin. Tan divides his time between Malaysia and South Africa.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 10^6h

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-01-10/cellar-door-bookstore-house-doors

Author to Author: Lorraine Devon Wilke and Ruthie Marlenee Present: Chick Singer and And Still Her Voice at The Last Bookstore, Studio City – In-Person Event

Join Lorraine Devon Wilke and Ruthie Marlenée at The Last Bookstore Studio City in Hollywood, CA for a discussion on their novels. Books will be available for purchase at the event, and for signing following.

Chick Singer and And Still Her Voice feature complex female characters swept into unexpected journeys, compelling them to reinvent and redefine who they are and what matters. While Chick Singer‘s narrative brings readers into the 80s rock scene and a powerful mother/daughter story, And Still Her Voice is immersed in the musical 60s, its intrepid protagonist navigating mystical familial attachments and iconic cultural experiences.

With shared musical throughlines and strong themes of family and identity, these two very unique novels will inspire a fascinating literary conversation.

Where: The Last Bookstore, Studio City

Date: Saturday the 10^th

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

Address: 4437 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91602

Website: https://www.instagram.com

Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Deep Critique Workshop with Don Kingfisher Campbell – Online Zoom Event

Deep Critique Workshop led by DKC (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: WHIRL by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59 pm, January 16th)

See site for details.

Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.

Where: Online Zoom Event

Date: Saturday, the 10^th

Time: 3 pm – 4:30 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)

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

Open Mic Night at The Open Book, Woodland Hills – In-Person Event

Calling all creatives! Don’t miss our first Open Mic Night of the year on Saturday, January 10th, at 7 pm!

Come showcase your talent, whether you’re a musician, poet, storyteller, or actor—everyone’s welcome! Want to perform? Apply via the link in our Linktree! Bring your friends and discover amazing books at great prices while you’re here!

Free event. 5 Minute time slots.

RSVP via Linktree.

Where: Online Zoom Event

Date: Saturday, the 10^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)

Websites: https://www.instagram.com

Obsidian Tongues Open Mic at Café con Libros, Pomona – In-Person Event

Caesar K. Avelar hosts featured readings and performances, plus an Open Mic, rooted in creative expression and collective care.

Presented monthly on the 2^nd Saturday of the month.

Where: Café con Libros, Pomona

Date: Saturday, the 1

Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm

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

Websites: https://www.instagram.com

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 11^th

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

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

Website: https://www.instagram.com

826LA@ at Hammer: I, Me, Mone: First Person Fictional Monologues at Hammer Museum – In-Person Kids Event

Write your own monologue from the perspective of a fictional character! Students will learn to embody a character of their own creation and write from that character’s perspective.

Led by UCLA English and Creative Writing Alum, JP Cavender, whose work is published in The Drift Magazine, Necessary Fiction, and the Westwind Journal of the Arts.

These free collaborative workshops, presented with 826LA, combine writing with creative activities for students ages 8 – 14. Reservations encouraged, spots limited. Visit 826la.org or call 310-915-0200.

Parking: Under the museum, $8 flat rate on weekends. Cash or credit card.

Where: Hammer Museum

Date: Sunday the 11^th

Time: 11 am – 1 pm

Address: 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Website: https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2026/826lahammer-i-me-mine-first-person-fictional-monologues

ZZYZX Writerz Wordaround at South Pasadena Library – In-Person Event

Join us for our first writing workshop of 2026!

All genres welcome! You could feature your work on our ZZyZx SundaZe podcast!

Meet us at 1 pm in the Ray Bradbury Room of the library.

Where: South Pasadena Library, Ray Bradbury Room

Date: Sunday the 11^th

Time: 1 pm

Address: 1100 Oxley St., South Pasadena, CA 91030

Website: https://www.instagram.com

Ticketed: Kadir Nelson & Basketball: The Story of the All-American Game at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids & Family Event

Award-winning creator Kadir Nelson delivers the perfect gift for basketball fans of any age—a beautifully illustrated history of the game and its key players over the years—in this companion to his bestselling We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball.

Basketball has evolved by leaps and bounds since its origin over 125 years ago, but what remains is the passion of the players, the heat of competition, and supreme strategy and athleticism on the court. In this visual tour de force, celebrated artist Kadir Nelson weds his love for the game with showstopping paintings that bring its heart-pounding history to life.

The sage voice of an elder player narrates the journey from the early days of the slow game of “basket ball” to today’s dazzlingly athletic and fast-paced sport. Engaging profiles of revolutionary players—Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry—are featured, along with notable quotes from major figures of the game. With each breathtaking page turn, fans young and old will learn the gripping story of the all-American game and meet its iconic, indomitable heroes.

This is a ticketed event through Eventbrite and will take place at Vroman’s Bookstore, located at 695 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91101

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Sunday the 11^th

Time: 3 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-11/ticketed-kadir-nelson

Poetry Launch: Adelaide Jarnot, with Michael C. Ford, & Trails to the Canyon Floor at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us to hear author Adelaide Jarnot, in conversation with writer and mentor Michael C. Ford, discuss her collection Trails to the Canyon Floor.

“A work of poetry, prose, sentences, and stanza outlining a larger vision of life itself.”

This volume of sentences and stanzas was composed and assembled by Adelaide Jarnot between semesters from 6th Grade through her graduate year in 2025 as student member of the Creative Writing program at Tree Academy – a Southern California Prep School in the private sector. It is a figural compilation freshly transformed into a set of pathways discovered by the author on her journey with words alternately accompanied by a sophisticated and enduring sense of authentic language art. This is the first published collection of her personal work.

Adelaide Jarnot is a nineteen-year-old author born and raised in Los Angeles, California, but studying and living at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. This is her first published book, with works dating from eighth grade, all the way to her senior year of high school, which concluded in June of this year.

Hen House Studios invited Michael C Ford to write a record in 2014 featuring a band of stellar musicians, not the least of which included surviving members of a quartet some of you might remember as The Doors. It was marketed in both CD and vinyl formats, and entitled “Look Each Other in the Ears.”

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Sunday the 11^th

Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

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

Website: https://villagewell.com

Second Sunday Poetry Series at Studio Theatre: Patricia Murphy at St. Denis Building – In-Person Event

Second Sunday Poetry Series is an Open Mic poetry show, hosted by Alex M. Frankel, which is offered on the second Sunday of every month. Great poets perform their work, sell and sign books, plus mingle with audience members and open mic participants. Today’s feature is Patricia Murphy.

Patricia Murphy is a force to be reckoned with. As a native of North Hollywood, California, she understands not only No Ho, but the City of Los Angeles. The actress, singer, dancer, and poet also comprehends the role that Second Sunday in Hollywood plays in spreading the truth about poetry. When she is not busy running her JAFRA business in North Hollywood, the Burbank Boulevard Elementary School and North Hollywood High School graduate attends many local open mikes, where she has become a staple. The SAG/AFTRA member is proof that a poet can make a difference in crossing the divide between spoken and written word. The Native Californian also believes that poetry is the literary bridge to God.

Where: Studio Theatre at St. Denis Building

Date: Sunday the 11^th

Time: 5 pm – 7 pm

Address: 3433 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Los Angeles, CA 90068 (Near Universal Studios)

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

January 2025 Fantasy Romance Book Club: Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event

January’s Fantasy Romance Book Club is led by bookseller Grace. This group reads widely across the romance genre featuring fantasy and paranormal stories.

Participants will discuss Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz.

Everyone is welcome.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Sunday the 11^th

Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm

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