Lit Angels: Morning Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Do you want to find creative inspiration and overcome writer’s block in a supportive and peaceful community setting? Are you interested in writing professionally or for personal growth and healing but unsure where to begin?
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: Monday the 19th
Time: 9 am – 10 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
Philosophical Horror Book Club: The Unworthy at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss The Unworthy: A Novel by author Agustina Bazterrica.
From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find—discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of the convent and of pleasing the foreboding Superior Sister. Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe—cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet are nonexistent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape. Inside, the narrator is controlled, punished, but safe.
But when a stranger makes her way past the convent walls, joining the ranks of the unworthy, she forces the narrator to consider her long-buried past—and what she may be overlooking about the Enlightened. As the two women grow closer, the narrator is increasingly haunted by questions about her own past, the environmental future, and her present life inside the convent. How did she get to the Sacred Sisterhood? Why can’t she remember her life before? And what really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the Enlightened?
A searing, dystopian tale about climate crisis, ideological extremism, and the tidal pull of our most violent, exploitative instincts, this is another unforgettable novel from a master of feminist horror.
Agustina Bazterrica was born in Buenos Aires in 1974. She has a degree in art from the University of Buenos Aires, works as a cultural administrator, and has served on the jury for literary competitions such as the Premio Fondo Nacional de las Artes. She writes essays and fiction and has published one short story collection and three novels, including Tender Is the Flesh, which won the Clarín Novel Prize, was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards, and was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post and Vogue. Tender Is the Flesh also became a worldwide bestseller, with more than 600,000 copies sold in the United States alone. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages and has sold over one million copies worldwide.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Monday the 19th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/book
Rupo Open Mic at Back to the Grind in Riverside – In-Person Event
Rupio 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 19th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://www.facebook.com
The Quarterly Report Presents: The Season 1 Box Set (Issues 1-4) with Special Guests at Skylight – In-Person Event
The Quarterly Report is a fully thought-out, half-baked idea by John Herschend and Will Rogan, the people who brought you THE THING Quarterly. Roughly every three months, we will select seven contributors and ask them to provide material of what they are thinking about when they are not working. Each issue will include individuals from a variety of fields, comprised of (but not limited to) artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, designers, scientists, travel show hosts and possibly an auto mechanic. As an added bonus, each printed issue of the publication will be slightly smaller in size than the previous one, so that they can be stacked like a pyramid on your coffee table or night.
Michelle Blade is a visual artist working in painting, sculpture and installation. Using exploration and the human condition as a broad starting point, Blade draws from the theories and visual vernacular of Transcendentalism, Magical Realism and Romanticism.
Lorenzo Diggins Jr. is a multidisciplinary visual artist, creative director, and publisher from South Central Los Angeles, known for using his work in illustration, photography, design, and art books to foster connection and celebrate West Coast culture, often through his ventures like Colour Bloc Creativ and The Essential Man, focusing on storytelling and community building.
Christina Marie Karr is an artist and director based in Los Angeles.
NOTE: Further details at website.
Where: Skylight
Date: Monday the 19th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
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 19th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)
Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/index.html
Lit Angels: Morning Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Do you want to find creative inspiration and overcome writer’s block in a supportive and peaceful community setting? Are you interested in writing professionally or for personal growth and healing but unsure where to begin?
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: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
NEW! Toddler Tuesdays: A Travelin’ Storytime – Session 1 at Montana Branch Library, SMPL – In-Person Kids Event
This fun and engaging weekly series of stories, songs, and rhymes travels to different library locations. Limited space; first come, first served. For ages walking – 3 years.
Where: Montana Branch Library, SMPL
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 10:30 am – 11 am
Address: 1704 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90403
Website: https://www.santamonica.gov/events
Book Club: The Pull of the Stars at Fairfax Branch Library, LAPL – in-Person Event
Join us for a conversation about The Pull of the Stars, by Emma Donoghue.
In Dublin, 1918, a maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu is a small world of work, risk, death, and unlooked-for love, in “Donoghue’s best novel since Room (Kirkus Reviews). In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center, where expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new Flu are quarantined together. Into Julia’s regimented world step two outsiders—Doctor Kathleen Lynn, a rumored rebel on the run from the police, and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney. In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, over three days, these women change each other’s lives in unexpected ways. They lose patients to this baffling pandemic, but they also shepherd new life into a fearful world. With tireless tenderness and humanity, carers and mothers alike somehow do their impossible work. In The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue once again finds the light in the darkness in this new classic of hope and survival against all odds.
Where: Fairfax Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 161 S. Gardner Street, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-pull-stars
Virtual Book Club: Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall 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 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 20th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/
NEW! Toddler Tuesdays: A Travelin’ Storytime – Session 2 at Montana Branch Library, SMPL – In-Person Kids Event
This fun and engaging weekly series of stories, songs, and rhymes travels to different library locations. Limited space; first come, first served. For ages walking – 3 years.
Where: Montana Branch Library SMPL
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 11:30 am – 12 pm
Address: 1704 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90403
Website: https://www.santamonica.gov/events
Before the Ban Book Club: The Witch Boy at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss The Witch Boy: A Graphic Novel (The Witch Boy Trilogy #1) by author Molly Knox Ostertag.
From the illustrator of the web comic Strong Female Protagonist comes a debut middle-grade graphic novel about family, identity, courage—and magic.
In thirteen-year-old Aster’s family, all the girls are raised to be witches, while boys grow up to be shapeshifters. Anyone who dares cross those lines is exiled. Unfortunately for Aster, he still hasn’t shifted…and he’s still fascinated by witchery, no matter how forbidden it might be. When a mysterious danger threatens the other boys, Aster knows he can help—as a witch. It will take the encouragement of a new friend, the non-magical and non-conforming Charlie, to convince Aster to try practicing his skills. And it will require even more courage to save his family…and be truly himself.
Molly Knox Ostertag is the acclaimed ABA Indie and New York Times bestselling graphic novel author-illustrator of The Girl from the Sea and the Witch Boy trilogy: The Witch Boy, The Hidden Witch, and The Midwinter Witch, as well as a writer for animation. A graduate of the School of Visual Arts, Molly was featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30: Media list in 2020. She’s married to fellow writer and artist ND Stevenson, and they live in Los Angeles with two cats and a very cuddly dog. You can find her online at mollyostertag.com.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-01-20/ban-book-club-witch-boy
Writing the Fires: A Poetry Workshop for Teens with Nancy Lynee Woo at El Dorado Library, Long Beach – In-Person Teen Event
Explore your experiences, feelings, thoughts and questions about wildfires, climate change, and our changing world in a supportive, creative space. No poetry experience needed! We’ll read example poems, discuss, write, and share using provided writing prompts.
All teen poems written here are eligible for publication in the future California Poets in the Schools anthology on LA wildfires. Workshop Leader: Nancy Lynée Woo, Poetry Mentor for the Long Beach Youth Poet Laureate program. For ages 13-18. Registration encouraged.
RSVP at website.
Where: El Dorado Library, Long Beach
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Address: 2900 Studebaker Rd., Long Beach, CA 90815
Website: https://www.longbeach.gov/library/events/
Inlandia Workshop: Carlos E. Cortez & So You Want to Write a Novel?: Advice from a Nonagenarian Novice – Online Zoom Event
Join an Inlandia Writing Workshop with Carlos E. Cortez: So, You Want to Write a Novel?: Advice from a Nonagenarian Novice.
Starts Tuesdays, January 20 – March 17, 2026, 6:00 – 8:00 pm PT, on ZOOM.
In this workshop, participants will explore moments from their lives and use research to uncover connections between themselves and the wider world – topics can include nature, science, travel, culture, history – to write personal essays that ring with humanity.
This workshop intensive consists of advice on how to get started on a novel, drawing on Cortés’s experiences writing and publishing his first novel, Scouts’ Honor, at age 91.
The class has two threads. First, between sessions, participants will read sections of Scouts’ Honor and in class will dissect the writing choices. Second, between sessions participants will write one segment of their novel based on the instructor’s prompt and during that session will read a two-to-four-minute selection in order to get responses from the group.
By the end of the workshop, participants will have completed four segments and have a better idea for completing the structure of their novel-in-progress.
$150. Price includes a copy of Scouts’ Honor, signed by Carlos Cortés. Books may be picked up at the Inlandia Institute office in Riverside, or shipped via USPS Media Mail.
(Already have a signed copy? Use your complimentary copy as a gift, or choose another Inlandia book of same or lesser value.)
Registration is first come, first served. Waiting lists may be implemented once capacity has been reached.
https://tinyurl.com/NovelCortes
In Scouts’ Honor, dead bodies hadn’t been all that common at Boy Scout Camp Matulia. Nestled in the rugged, forested, relentlessly hilly southwestern corner of Missouri, it was an accident waiting to happen. Consider the odds. Four hundred and fifty young teenagers arriving every other Monday for a twelve-night camping session. Of course, mishaps occurred. The death of Boy Scout Harry Vincent would wreak havoc on the lives of those who tried to put the death behind them.
Reading Scouts’ Honor is like descending into a Hieronymus Bosch painting that has been repurposed for the mid-twentieth-century United States. The story begins in 1948 with the discovery of a young teenager’s dead body at a Midwestern Boy Scout summer camp. The novel then develops as a raucous coming-of-age story, a perplexing maybe-murder mystery, a carnival of off-beat characters, and a communal cover-up involving, in some cases, reluctant collaborators.
Carlos E. Cortez is the Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside. His books include his memoir, Rose Hill: An Intermarriage before Its Time and an award-winning book of poetry, Fourth Quarter: Reflections of a Cranky Old Man. Cortés served as Cultural Consultant for the Dreamworks film, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and received the 2009 NAACP Image Award for being the Creative/Cultural Advisor for Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer” and “Go, Diego, Go!.” He also travels the country performing his one-person autobiographical play, “A Conversation with Alana: One Boy’s Multicultural Rite of Passage.”
$150 • ENROLL TODAY!
Where: Inlandia Institute
Date: Tuesday the 20th (through March 17)
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://docs.google.com/forms
Naughty Novel Society Romance eBook Club: Quicksilver at Lawndale Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Explore the Romance genre and learn about all the digital resources the library has to offer with this unique book club. We will be primarily utilizing the free digital resources Libby and Hoopla with limited hard copies available. For adults.
January’s Pick: Quicksilver by Callie Hart.
Refreshments will be served.
Where: Lawndale Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 14615 Burin Ave., Lawndale, CA 90260
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15150059
Book Club: The Thursday Murder Club at Pico Rivera Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. Suddenly, a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?
Where: Pico Rivera Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 9001 Mines Ave, Pico Rivera, CA 90660
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/events
Classic Detectives Book Club: The Sign of the Four at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss The Sign of the Four by author Arthur Conan Doyle.
‘How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?’
In London, 1888, the razor-sharp detective skills of Sherlock Holmes are to be put to the test. Mary Morstan reports two seemingly unconnected and inexplicable events: the disappearance of her father, a British Indian Army captain, and the annual arrival of pearls from an unknown sender. Driven on by the complexities of their newest case, Holmes and Watson begin to unravel an intricate web of exotic treasure, secret pacts and mysterious deaths.
First published in 1890, The Sign of the Four follows the most iconic detective duo in English literature who have continued to delight and entertain readers from its time of publication until today.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)was a Scottish physician and writer. He is internationally renowned for his tales of the detective Sherlock Holmes, which have been turned into immensely popular films, comics and TV series. Conan Doyle’s work included mystery, fantasy and science fiction, as well as poetry, stories, plays, novels and non-fiction.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-01-20/classic-detectives-book-club-sign-four
The 3rd Tuesday Book Club: Your House Will Pay at Playa Vista Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha.
Where: Playa Vista Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 6400 Playa Vista Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90094
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/3rd-tuesday-book-club-16
Original Book Club: The Empusium at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Our longest running book club! We read mostly contemporary fiction with the occasional non-fic thrown in. To join our mailing list, please email events@villagewell.com.
This month’s pick is The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk
The Nobel Prize winner’s latest masterwork, set in a sanitarium on the eve of World War I, probes the horrors that lie beneath our most hallowed ideas.
September 1913. A young Pole suffering from tuberculosis arrives at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen in the village of Görbersdorf, a health resort in the Silesian mountains. Every evening the residents gather to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur and debate the great issues of the day: Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women born inferior? War or peace? Meanwhile, disturbing things are happening in the guesthouse and the surrounding hills. Someone—or something—seems to be watching, attempting to infiltrate this cloistered world. Little does the newcomer realize, as he tries to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target.
A century after the publication of The Magic Mountain, Olga Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, with signature boldness, inventiveness, humor, and bravura.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd.,1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://villagewell.com
Open Mic Readings Every Tuesday at the Aftermath Bar, Sherman Oaks – In-Person Event
CALLING ALL WRITERS! Every Tuesday we’ll be having Open Mic Readings open to the public! Read your poems, fiction, and spoken word at our open mic reading EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT from 7 pm – 10 pm!
Read your poetry, fiction, spoken word, or lyrics.
Free event. 21+
Note: Please RSVP at site.
Where: The Aftermath Bar
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 14537 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Website: https://www.instagram.com
David Denby & Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer at Book Soup – In-Person Event
David Denby will discuss Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer.
Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, and Norman Mailer. Brilliant, brash, yet soulful, they were 100 percent Jewish and 100 percent American. They upended the restrained culture of their forebears and changed American life.
They worked in different fields, and, apart from clinking glasses at parties now and then, they hardly knew one another. But they shared a historical moment and a common temperament. For all four, their Jewish heritage was electrified by American liberty. The results were explosive.
As prosperity for Jews increased and anti-Semitism began to fade after World War II, these four creative giants stormed through the latter half of the twentieth century, altering the way people around the world listened to music, defined what was vulgar, comprehended the relations of men and women, and understood the American soul. They were not saints; they were turbulent and self-dissatisfied intellectuals who fearlessly wielded their own newly won freedom to charge up American culture.
Celebratory yet candid, at times fiercely critical, David Denby presents these four figures as egotistical and generous—larger-than-life, all of them, yet vulnerable, even heartbreaking, in their ambition, ferocity, and pride.
David Denby is the New York Times bestselling author of Great Books. His other books include American Sucker and Lit Up. He was a film critic for New York magazine and The New Yorker, where he is now a staff writer. His essays have appeared in The New Republic and The Atlantic. He lives in New York City with his wife, novelist Susan Rieger.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069
Romance Book Group at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
Our new Kiss & Tell romance book club meets monthly to discuss a romance novel and generally takes place on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm. At each meeting we discuss and vote on the next month’s book club selection.
Facilitated by Lisa Becker
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2026-01-20/romance-book-club
Mystery & Thriller Book Group: The Old Success via Santa Monica Library, SMPL – Online Event
Participants will discuss The Old Success by Martha Grimes.
This community-led, monthly book discussion group meets virtually at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month. This book group discusses domestic and international titles in the mystery and thriller genres. To register, email library@santamonica.gov.
Where: Santa Monica Library, SMPL
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event
Website: https://www.santamonica.gov/events
At Skylight: Derrick C. Brown, with Olivia Gatwood, & A Little Grief Break at Skylight – In-Person Event
Derrick C. Brown, in conversation with Olivia Gatwood, will present and discuss A Little Grief Break: The Collected Poems.
A Little Grief Break is a thirty-year retrospective from one of contemporary poetry’s most electrifying voices—a collection that refuses to sit still. Derrick C. Brown has spent three decades honing a singular poetic style that marries devastating emotional precision with sharp humor, bar-stool philosophy with literary craft, and the raw immediacy of performance with the carefully wrought architecture of the page. This 300-page collection gathers the essential poems from Brown’s ten previous books alongside nineteen new works in Night Collapser, creating a portrait of a poet who has never stopped taking risks. Here are poems that detonate with laughter before breaking your heart in the next breath.
Derrick C. Brown is an award-winning poet, storyteller, and president of Write Bloody Publishing. His innovative fusion of poetry and comedy earned Paste Magazine’s Comedy Album of the Year (2023). The New York Times praises his work as “a rekindling of faith in the weird, hilarious, shocking, beautiful power of words.” A former paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne, Brown has authored ten poetry collections and four children’s books, winning the Texas Book of the Year award for Poetry. He serves as the 2025/26 Poet Laureate of Los Feliz, California, and often tours via motorcycle, bringing his explosive performances to venues worldwide.
Olivia Gatwood is a poet, novelist, and screenwriter from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has received international recognition for her poetry, writing workshops, and work as a Title IX Compliant educator in sexual assault prevention and recovery. Her performances have been featured on HBO, HuffPost, MTV, VH1, and the BBC, and more. Her poems have appeared in The Poetry Foundation, Sundance Film Festival, Lambda Literary, and The Missouri Review. She is the author of two poetry collections and one novel. She lives in California.
Where: Skylight
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Natan Last, with Megan Amram, & Across the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Natan Last, in conversation with Megan Amram, will discuss Across the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle.
An entertaining and eye-opening look at the history of the crossword, who constructs them, and why crosswords matter as both a reflection of and influence on our culture.
From Wordle to Spelling Bee, we live in a time of word game mania. Crosswords in particular gained renewed popularity during the Covid-19 lockdown, when games became another kind of refuge. Today, 36 million Americans solve crosswords once a week or more, and nearly 23 million solve them daily. Yet, as longtime New Yorker crossword contributor Natan Last will tell you, the seemingly apolitical puzzle has never been more controversial—or more interesting.
With a critical eye toward the puzzle’s history, Natan Last explores the debates about the future of the crossword and investigates those who are determining its next phase, ultimately asking if the crossword can help us reshape the world. Across the Universe interrogates all the ways words—and the games we make using those words—change our culture, while bringing us into the world of those pushing for the crossword’s much-needed evolution.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 20th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-20/natan-last
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert & Michael Feinstein – Online Zoom Event
Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert welcomes featured poet Michael Feinstein.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday, the 20th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.poetrysuperhighway.com
Da Poetry Lounge: Open Mic Night at COC – COMMUNITY OWNED CENTER 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: COC – COMMUNITY OWNED CENTER, New Leimert Park Location
Date: Tuesday, the 20th
Time: 9 pm – 11 pm (Doors at 8:15 pm)
Address: 4276 Crenshaw Blvd., Leimert Park, CA 90008
PARKING:
Street parking: Crenshaw and Degnan
Parking Lot: 3416 W 43rd St Leimert Park, Los Angeles, 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 21st
Time: 9 am – 10 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
Coffee Time Book Club at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
COFFEE TIME BOOK CLUB: Meets monthly, generally on third Wednesday of each month at 10:00 am
We tend to read new release literary fiction. At each meeting we discuss and vote on what we will read and discuss for the following month.
Facilitated by Linda McLoughlin Figel
RSVP FOR DETAILS
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 10 am
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2026-01-21/coffee-time-book-club
Drag Queen Story Hour at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for an extra sparkly storytime with a drag performer bringing costumes, humor, and play to read inclusive children’s books to delight families and their kids of all ages. We’re excited to celebrate diversity and individuality and invite you to be yourself and bring your imagination! Post-storytime photos with the performer are encouraged. Intended for ages 3-11.
Please note: due to limited space, no adults will be admitted unless accompanied by a child.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Address: 5027 Caspar Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90041
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/drag-queen-story-hour-1
Storytime: Kristin Orliczky & Mona’s Mittens at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event (in the Courtyard)
Join Diesel and Brentwood Country Mart for Storytime with Kristin Orliczky who will read her book Mona’s Mittens.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 11 am
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-01-21/storytime-diesel-and-brentwood-country-mart
Poets Café via KPFK 90.7 FM – Live On-Air Event
Poets Café celebrates Poetry. This program is a weekly half-hour literary arts discussion and reading program featuring guest authors and their works.
Poetry From Around the World is a segment of this series offered monthly on the 2nd Monday of the month on KPFK Los Angeles 90.7 FM.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: KPFK 90.7 FM
Date: Wednesday, the 21st
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: On-air Event
Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/
Book Club for Adults: Greenlights at San Gabreil Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. Copies of this title are available at the Information Desk. For ages 18 and up.
Drawing on the Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey’s journals and diaries from the last 40 years, this memoir presents McConaughey’s unique approach to achieving success and satisfaction. This book is his love letter to life and also a guide to catching more greenlights.
Where: San Gabriel Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 500 S, Del Mar Ave., San Gabriel, CA 91766
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14839342
Good Trouble Reading Group—Poetry of Baja California via Edendale Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Join us to discuss a selection of poems from the anthology Across the Line/Al Otro Lado: The Poetry of Baja California, edited by Harry Polkinhorn and Mark Weiss. Noted Mexican poet and former president of PEN International Homero Aridjis describes it best: “The astonishing range of fifty-three poetic voices, traditional native chants and popular corridos which are generously presented in bilingual format is rooted in a time and place that is both timeless and in constant flux. Baja Californians are a population on the move, alive to change, living on the edge, and the poetry in this lovingly-translated anthology conveys the feel of gritty towns and cities, burning deserts, lonely mountains, a huge sky still crowded with stars, the wind blowing in off the Pacific or the Sea of Cortes, the nearness of gray whales and pelicans, the uncertainties of isolation, the jittery rhythms of urban life, the United States forever looming on the other side of the border. And I am happy to say that these poets value the beauty and importance of Baja California’s fragile ecosystems; in Baja California moonlight still matters.”
Email eden@lapl.org for the reading selection, the Zoom link to attend, and to get on our mailing list for our monthly meetings.
Where: Edendale Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/good-trouble-reading-group-poetry-baja-california
Graphic Novel Book Club: Folk Remedy at Once Upon A Time, Montrose – In-Person Kids & Family Event
These are the *coolest* kinds of books there is—do you think so too? If so, then our fabulous Graphic Novel Club is for you!! Celebrate our shared love of graphic novels and visual creativity! Iz and Apollo host our ever-popular book club.
Let’s marvel at this month’s pick: Folk Remedy by Jem Yoshioka!
Best for ages 8+.
This is a discussion based club. Participants should come prepared to share their thoughts about that meeting’s book choice.
Meeting details:
Meets every 3rd Wednesday of the month @4 pm for 45 minutes.
Limited space. No drop-ins. Purchase of book from Once Upon A Time required for RSVP.
Where: Once Upon A Time
Date: Wednesday, the 21st
Time: 4 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/2026-01-21/graphic-novel-club
Middle Grade Book Club: The Winter of the Dollhouse at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Meets monthly, generally on the third Wednesday of each month at 4:30 pm.
We read new releases of middle grade fiction. Book selection is done by voting at each meeting for the following month’s meeting.
Facilitated by Nedda Lewers. Please RSVP to amy@pagesabookstore.com
Participants will read and discuss The Winter of the Dollhouse by Laura Amy Schultz.
On a gloomy November night, eleven-year-old Tiphany Stokes saves an old lady from collapsing in the street. An antique doll named Gretel watches them, longing for Tiph to rescue her from life in a shop window. Though none of these three characters realizes it, their worlds are about to change: Gretel will no longer be a precious prisoner. The old lady—is she a witch?—will discover the secret hidden in her long-neglected dollhouse. And Tiph—whose parents rejoice that she is “never any trouble”—will become a thief, a dog walker, an actor, and best of all, a friend.
Laura Amy Schlitz is the accomplished author of four previous middle-grade novels—A Drowned Maiden’s Hair, the Newbery Honor Book Splendors and Glooms, The Hired Girl, which won the National Jewish Book Award for Young Adult Literature and the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and Amber and Clay. She was awarded a Newbery Medal for Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. Laura Amy Schlitz lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2026-01-21/middle-grade-book-club
Book Club for Adults: The Comfort of Crows at San Fernando Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion about the book The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renki.
A literary devotional: fifty-two chapters that follow the creatures and plants in the author’s backyard over the course of a year. As we move through the seasons, what develops is a portrait of joy and grief: joy in the ongoing pleasures of the natural world, and grief over winters that end too soon and songbirds that grow fewer and fewer. Along the way, we also glimpse the changing rhythms of a human life. Grown children, unexpectedly home during the pandemic, prepare to depart once more. Birdsong and night-blooming flowers evoke generations past. With fifty-two original color artworks, a moving book from a cherished observer of the natural world.
Where: San Fernando Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Address: 217 N. Maclay Ave., San Fernando, CA 91340
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15216897
Classics Book Club: John Carter: Princess of Mars at Alondra Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion about the book John Carter: Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Copies of this title are available at the Circulation Desk. For ages 18 and up. Registration Required.
Where: Alondra Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 11949 Alondra Blvd., Norwalk, CA 90650
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15480003
Rainbow Reads Book Club: Moonstorm at Once Upon A Time, Montrose – In-Person Teen Event
Our Rainbow Reads Book Club celebrates diversity in Young Adult books as we read books featuring various identities and stories. This is a safe space welcome to teens of all identities and allies! Join Iz and Apollo for our proud book club.
Let’s chat about this month’s pick, Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee, and celebrate all the identities and stories!
Best for ages 13 and up.
This is a discussion based club. Participants should come prepared to share their thoughts about that meeting’s book choice.
Meeting details:
Meets every 3rd Wednesday of the month @6 pm for 1 hour.
Limited space. No drop-ins. Purchase of book from Once Upon A Time required for RSVP.
Where: Once Upon A Time
Date: Wednesday, the 21st
Time: 6 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/2026-01-21/rainbow-reads-book-club
Fiction Book Club: Hello Beautiful at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us on the third Wednesday of every month for our long-running book club for adults!
Upcoming meeting:
January (1/21): Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/fiction-book-club-0
WeHo Stories Book Launch & Conversation at West Hollywood Council Chambers – In-Person LGBTQIA Event
Join the City of West Hollywood and LA County Library for the launch of WeHo Stories: Oral Histories from the First Years of West Hollywood’s Cityhood, a limited-edition coffee table book and companion website that preserves the oral history of West Hollywood through first-person narratives that reflect West Hollywood’s formative years and ongoing evolution.
The publication features portraits and edited oral histories drawn from extensive interviews, offering readers insight into the social, political, and cultural forces that influenced West Hollywood’s development. Together, these narratives contribute to a richer understanding of local history by complementing official records with personal experiences and reflections.
The Book Launch event and conversation will feature an engaging discussion moderated by County Librarian and Director Dr. Skye Patrick with WeHo Stories’ creators and contributors:
Author Barbara Grover
Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath of LA County’s 3rd District
Professor Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein, Co-Director, Santa Monica College Public Policy Institute
The panelists will explore the power of storytelling as a force for community-building, identity, and advocacy, particularly within marginalized communities such as the LGBTQ+ community. Storytelling preserves lived experiences, counters cultural erasure, and reinforces a shared sense of belonging. Through striking portraits and first-person narratives, WeHo Stories documents West Hollywood’s distinctive history and ensures these memories endure.
The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Limited validated parking will be available in the adjacent five-story West Hollywood Park structure.
Where: City of West Hollywood Council Chambers
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15552716
Book Soup & Akashic Books Present: A Celebration of Rick Fröberg at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Join us for a panel discussion with Tijuana Panthers (Daniel, Chad, Phil), Evan Weiss (Sparks, Orville Peck), Sam James Velde, Sohrab Habibion (Obits), Alexis Fleisig (CVSB), and Johnny Temple.
A Short set of Rick’s Music (Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Obits, Pitchfork) will follow.
Rick Fröberg was an accomplished artist and musician born in Southern California who spent most of his early creative years in San Diego before moving to New York, and then back to San Diego toward the end of his life. While juggling both of his creative outlets, he established a meaningful, urgent, vital, and powerful platform. Plenty for All: The Art of Rick Fröberg represents the many chapters and layers of his visual art practice. All of the different bodies of work he made are examined in detail—presenting the viewer with a well-rounded survey of his life’s work, mostly in chronological order.
One of the most compelling and fascinating aspects of this volume is the physical progression of Fröberg’s line work and brushstroke, and his eventual adaptation to digital means. His artwork was often featured on the record covers of his own bands, as well as other groups he met on the road, and much of his early work also appeared on posters, flyers, ads, skateboard graphics, logos, and T-shirt designs, before eventually progressing to illustrations in magazines, books, and newspapers. Fröberg’s paintings, drawings, etchings, and prints were also shown at art exhibitions throughout his career.
Plenty for All is the first look at his visual artwork in book form. It will be of great interest across the globe to his many fans (he played in a range of popular bands, including Pitchfork, Drive like Jehu, Hot Snakes, and Obits). Fröberg’s work has become very influential, and an inspiration to quite a large group of people in both the art and music worlds. He is sadly missed and mourned, but this volume will no doubt further his creative legacy. It includes short essays by curator Rich Jacobs and musician/artist Sohrab Habibion.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-01-21/book-soup-akashic-books-present-celebration-rick-froberg
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.
Host: Lady Basco
NOTE: Only self-sign-ups are allowed.
20 slots available; 15 slots for dinner served; remaining slots for faculty.
See site for further details,
NOTE: See site for RSVP, cost, guidelines, and details.
Where: SIPA HQ
Date: Wednesday, the 21st
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
Such Magic Reading Series & Open Mic: Michellle Brittan Rosado with Nancy Lynee Woo at 12th House Tea Sanctuary, Long Beach – In-Person Event
In the SUCH MAGIC series, we meet at a cozy tea house and enjoy a community poetry circle celebrating one poet and their book.
This winter, we will embrace the award-winning poetry collection, Why Can’t It Be Tenderness? by Long Beach poet Michelle Brittan Rosado. Michelle is not only a brilliant poet, she is also the sweetest person you will meet. This is gonna be cozy vibes and gentle kindness all around.
Theme: tenderness.
Dress your coziest and feel free to bring a comfort item. There will be an open mic for the theme. And we will spend quality time with Michelle reading from the book, with time for questions and discussion. Tea and goodies are included with your ticket.
So, join us and bring your tender heart. 🩵
Link in bio or at bit.ly/magic121
Where: 12th House Tea Sanctuary
Date: Wednesday, the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1950 W. Willow St., Long Beach, CA 90810
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Banned Books Club: Gabi: a Girl In Pieces by Isabel Quintero at Underdog Books, Monrovia – In-Person Event
Banned Books Club meets every third Wednesday at Underdog Bookstore to discuss a new banned or challenged book each month.
For those wishing to join virtually, a Zoom link will be shared with all attendees prior to the event.
Our Banned Books Club pick for January 21st is: Gabi: a Girl In Pieces by Isabel Quintero – who will also be joining the conversation!
You can pick up a copy in store or keep supporting Underdog by listening to the audiobook from our libro.fm or downloading the ebook from our bookshop.org.
RSVP – Suggested donation $5-20 or donate a gently used banned book.
Where: Underdog Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 312 S. Myrtle Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016
Website: https://www.underdogbookstore.org/events/banned-books-club-december-xrzdg
Dr. Maya Ackerman & Creative Machines: AI, Art & Us at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Dr. Maya Ackerman will discuss Creative Machines: AI, Art & Us.
In Creative Machines: AI, Art & Us, world-renowned AI researcher and generative AI pioneer, Maya Ackerman, takes you on a thrilling journey into the rise of creative AI, from its earliest pioneers to the cutting-edge tools shaping music, art, and human imagination today.
Ackerman cuts through the hype, revealing the true capabilities and limitations of generative AI while championing its potential to amplify human creativity rather than replace it. Drawing on psychology, philosophy, and her own cutting-edge research, she reveals how generative AI exposes both the brilliance and the blind spots of human society—our ingenuity, our biases, our assumptions about intelligence and identity.
Perfect for entrepreneurs, tech leaders, developers, ethicists, and creative professionals, Creative Machines offers deep insights, compelling stories, and a visionary perspective on AI’s impact on human society. An essential read for anyone doing their best to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI.
Maya Ackerman, PHD, is an internationally renowned leader in generative AI, pioneering the next chapter of creativity. As CEO and Co-Founder of WaveAI, one of the earliest generative AI startups, she has enabled millions to explore new frontiers in creative expression through AI. An Associate Professor at Santa Clara University, Dr. Ackerman is widely known for her research on AI and creativity. Dr. Ackerman’s insights have been featured in NBC News, NPR, Forbes, and more. Her work champions the role of AI in amplifying—rather than replacing—human creativity.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-21/dr-maya-ackerman
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 21st
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4321 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Story Salon at Art Parlor: Freestyle! Into the Wild! 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: Freestyle! Into the Wild!
Where: Art Parlor
Date: Wednesday the 21st
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 21st
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/index.html
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg and Guests Ian Condon & Said Santos Valladares at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Host Ben Trigg welcomes guests Ian Condon & Said Santos Valladares for a reading and open mic.
Ian Reeve Condon, born and raised in Orange County, California, graduated last June from UCSD with a Bachelors of Arts in Literature: Writing.
Ian’s been writing his whole life but the current period of his work has been mainly focused on Romanticism. Being immersed in nature is a potent inspiration for him and he especially enjoys the calming consistency of the ocean.
His time in San Diego deepened his love and passion for the ocean and reinforced his indulgent style.
Said Santos Valladares is a 921 year old vampire who shares centuries old and new prose written with tears and anguish, poured from a nauseatingly long existence sustained by his heart’s means.
$5 cover fee, cash only
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday, the 21st
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events
Afternoon Book Club: North Woods at Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join Culver City Julian Dixon Library’s Afternoon Book Club to discuss North Woods by Daniel Mason. For adults.
Summary provided by the publisher: “When two young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become the home of an extraordinary succession of human and nonhuman characters alike. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to growing apples. A pair of spinster twins navigate war and famine, envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths an ancient mass grave—only to discover that the earth refuses to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a sinister con man, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle: As the inhabitants confront the wonder and mystery around them, they begin to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.”
Where: Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 22nd
Time: 12 pm – 1 pm
Address: 4975 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14992519
“Saved by a Story” Seniors Writing Group at Westwood Branch 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 Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 22nd
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
Book Discussion: The Director at Sunland – Tujunga Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for this community-led book discussion of The Director by Daniel Kehlmann.
Where: Sunland – Topanga Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 22nd
Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: 7771 Foothill Blvd., Tujunga, CA 91042
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-discussion-14
Mini Zine Lab: Zine Making for Young Writers at Echo Park Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a special zine making workshop with 826LA—everyone will learn how to write and design a short zine (mini magazine)! Perfect for young storytellers who love to create and share their work. Geared towards children and teens but all ages are welcome to attend!
Where: Echo Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 22nd
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 7771 Foothill Blvd., Tujunga, CA 91042
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mini-zine-lab-zine-making-young-writers
Between the Lines Book Club: The Wedding People at Castaic Library, LACL – in-Person Event
Join us as we sail through Alison Espach’s The Wedding People. Copies are available at the Customer Service desk and newcomers are always welcome! For adults.
Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe.
Where: Castaic Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 22nd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 27971 Sloan Canyon Rd., Castaic, CA 91384
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15364351
Adaptation Book Club: Pride and Prejudice at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin.
We will be discussing the book and the film we watched the week prior!
Austen’s most popular novel, the unforgettable story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, now in a collectible Deluxe Edition celebrating the 250th anniversary of the author’s birth.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 22nd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Live Poetic! Online Open Mic with Jessica Wilson via Los Angeles Poet Society – Online Zoom Event
Presenting our newest online open mic experience! It’s LIVE POETIC!
Meeting Thursday January 22 at 6 pm PST
Zoom code on the flyer.
It’s time to raise our voices and join together no matter the distance. Hosted by Jessica M Wilson. We are excited to feature our debut show with the following incredible writers:
Heather Parker is an author and editor from Georgia. She is an editor for two fiction publications, The Kraken Lore and The Fiction Writer’s Den. She writes speculative fiction and poetry and has published 2 books of poetry and hundreds of other stories and poems.
Ideas Aubrey is a Youth Educator, Poet, and Spoken Word artist! Ideas open up his heart on stage and let his audience feel better.
POPCORN N/A
Diosy Reyes is known for Karinyosa (1998), Lakas at pag-ibig (2001) and Kapag kumulo ang dugo (1999).
BIRDMAN31355 or @birdman31355) refers to a poet and artist known for publishing poetry books, chapbooks, and videos, active on platforms like Instagram and Threads, promoting themes of creation, purpose, and growth, with recent projects like the album Questions and single “No More Bad,” connected to the Miami poetry scene and collaborations.
Jasmine Vallejo-Love is a disabled Afro-Puerto Rican American poet, writer, HR leader, coach, and interior design hobbyist raised in the South Bronx and now living in Los Angeles She is a 2025 Lambda Literary Emerging LGBTQ Voices Fellow, was selected for the 2025 PEN America Emerging Voices Workshop, and the 2026 Tin House Winter Workshop. A Diana Woods Memorial Award finalist, her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Pinch Journal, Lunch Ticket, Southland Alibi, Cholla Needles, Inlandia Institute’s Anthology on Black Mental Health, and others.
Our mic is open to all genres. Good vibes and solidarity welcome.
We condone peace and do not tolerate any hate speech towards our guests and attendees.
Here is to a new space to cultivate creativity and make an impact with our art.
DM RSVP to secure your spot on the mic—all genres welcome. 5 minutes each.
Where: Los Angeles Poet Society Online
Date: Thursday the 22nd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event: Zoom 81025552763
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Bel Canto Book Club: Grief Is for People at Bel Canto Books, Retro Row, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Bel Canto Book Club meets in person on the third Thursday of each month at our bookstore (2106 E 4th Street, LB) to discuss a handpicked fav.
Participants will discuss Grief Is for People by Sloane Crosley.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 22nd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 2106 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events
Taleen Voskuni, with Nona Melkonian, & Our Ex’s Wedding at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Taleen Voskuni, in conversation with Nona Melkonian, will discuss Our Ex’s Wedding.
Two people who can’t stand each other must come together to plan their mutual ex’s wedding in this new romantic comedy by Taleen Voskuni, author of Lavash at First Sight.
Ani Avakian was supposed to be the Bay Area’s premier Armenian wedding planner by now. But after a huge blow to her business, she’s determined to redeem herself by taking on the biggest job of her career: a wedding for an indie movie star. The wedding is set at a stunning Armenian-owned winery, and Ani is eager to connect with the owner, who she’ll be working closely with. But then she actually meets him. Sure, Raffi is ridiculously hot and charming, but he’s also insufferably smug. Though the real gut punch comes when Ani meets the happy couple—because the actress’s fiancée is none other than the woman who shattered her heart two years ago: her ex-girlfriend, Kami.
All Raffi Garabedian has ever wanted is to make his father proud. Taking over the family winery should be his dream come true—but its first major event is off to a rocky start, thanks to one irritating(-ly beautiful) wedding planner who challenges him at every turn. He’s shocked to find that they have one thing in common, however: their mutual ex, Kami. Despite the record level of awkwardness, they’ll have to work together to make sure this wedding goes perfectly. But first, they’ll have to deal with the tension sizzling between them—before it turns their ex’s nuptials into a full-blown disaster…or something much more scandalous.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 22nd
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-22/taleen-voskuni
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: Friday the 23rd
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 23rd
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com
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 23rd
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
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 1-3! No frills, no prompts, just write!
Manuscripts, Screenplays, Articles…whatever you’re working on, let’s do it in each other’s company!
Afternoon Writing Session
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Drop in and stay a while!
RSVP: Pay What You Want Donation
Where: Heavy Manners Library
Date: Friday the 23rd
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Address: 1200 N. Alvarado St. Unit D, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://heavymannerslibrary.com/events/writing-gets-lonely-open-writing-studio-1-23
Poet Yahya Ashour, with Viet Thanh Nguyen, & A Gaza of Siege and Genocide at USC, DML 240 – In-Person Event
Yahya Ashour, will be in conversation with Pulitzer Prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen.
Viet Thanah Nguyen will be in conversation with poet Yahya Ashour after his reading at USC this Friday afternoon. From Gaza, he found himself in exile in the United States after October 7. A powerful poet and a dynamic speaker. RSVP with the QR code or link in bio; there will be a reception afterwards.
Yahya Ashour is a poet, mentor, editor, and translator, born and raised in Gaza, who has been in exile in the U.S, since October 2023.
A powerful poet and a dynamic speaker. RSVP with the QR code or link in bio; there will be a reception afterwards.
Where: USC, DML 240
Date: Friday the 23rd
Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm (with reception)
Address: 3551 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Website: https://www.instagram.com/
Storytelling with the Community Writers Group of Los Angeles at Octavia’s Bookshelf – In-Person Event
About the Community Writer’s Group of Los Angeles (CWGLA):
For over a decade, we’ve united writers to share personal narratives that capture untold family histories and moments of resilience. Our stories are expressions of “Blackness”; tales of notable family events that have gone undocumented for far too long. Our mission is to record family history through the medium of personal narratives. The stories are real-life experiences, some funny, some sad, and many deeply personal recollections of incidents of social injustice as experienced by the writers or by their family members. Come and listen to our stories!
NOTE: Free to attend.
Where: Octavia’s Bookshelf
Date: Friday, the 23rd
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: 1353 North Hill Ave., Pasadena, CA 91104
Black Lit Book Club: Blood at the Root at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Willims.
A teenager on the run from his past finds the family he never knew existed and the community he never knew he needed at an HBCU for the young, Black, and magical. Enroll in the debut of a fresh fantasy series unlike anything you’ve seen before.
The first edition paperback of Blood at the Root features custom designed edges with spellbinding art.
Ten years ago, Malik’s life changed forever the night his mother mysteriously vanished and he discovered he had uncontrollable powers. Since then, he has kept his abilities hidden, looking out for himself and his younger foster brother, Taye. Now, at 17, Malik is finally ready to start a new life for both of them, far from the trauma of his past. However, a daring act to rescue Taye reveals an unexpected connection with his long-lost grandmother: a legendary conjurer with ties to a hidden magical university that Malik’s mother attended.
At Caiman University, Malik’s eyes are opened to a future he never could have envisioned for himself—one that includes the reappearance of his first love, Alexis. His search for answers about his heritage, his powers, and what really happened to his mother exposes the cracks in their magical community as it faces a reawakened evil dating back to the Haitian Revolution. Together with Alexis, Malik discovers a lot beneath the surface at Caiman: feuding covens and magical politics, forbidden knowledge and buried mysteries.
In a wholly unique saga of family, history and community, Malik must embrace his legacy to save what’s left of his old family as well as his new one. Exploring the roots and secrets that connect us in an unforgettable contemporary setting, this heart-pounding fantasy series opener is a rich tapestry of atmosphere, intrigue, and emotion.
LaDarrion Williams is a Los Angeles based-playwright, filmmaker, author, and screenwriter whose goal is to cultivate a new era of Black fantasy, providing space and agency for Black characters and stories in a new, fresh, and fantastical way. He is currently a resident playwright/co-creator of The Black Creators Collective, where his play UMOJA made its West Coast premiere in January 2022 and produced North Hollywood’s first Black playwrights festival at the Waco Theater Center. Blood at the Root is his first novel. His viral and award-winning short film based on the same concept, is currently on YouTube and Amazon Prime.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Friday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-01-23/black-lit-book-club-blood-root
Writers Block: Creative Writing and Meaningful Connection at Octavia’s Bookshelf – In-Person Event
If you would like to connect with other writers and have dedicated time for creative writing (poetry, short stories, novels, songs, screenplays, etc.), this is for you! We are holding space for writers to free-write, share and receive positive feedback, and make meaningful connections. All levels are welcome. This space is offered freely!
Zahida Sherman is a proud Seattle native and poet who made her way to Southern California by way of everywhere. Her previous writing has centered on culture, belonging, and wellness for Bustle, Healthline, Well and Good, Afropunk, and Blavity, among others.
Where: Octavia’s Bookshelf
Date: Friday, the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1353 North Hill Ave., Pasadena, CA 91104
Cillian Dunne, comedian Alec Flynn, & How a Dictator Is Built and Broken: The Right Hand Man at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join author Cillian Dunne and comedian Alec Flynn for an inside look at the rise and downfall of dictator Manuel Noriega. In his book, How a Dictator Is Built and Broken: The Right Hand Man, Cillian shares his investigation in Panama, including the months he spent living with the dictator’s right-hand man and uncovering never-before-seen documents, once owned by the dictator.
Cillian Dunne is an Irish American author focused on crime, intelligence, and political power. For The Right Hand Man, he lived in Panama with Noriega’s right-hand man and interviewed Noriega’s family, former intelligence officers, and CIA contacts, documenting hidden Cold War history with firsthand testimony and original files, once owned by the dictator himself.
As the Cold War turns Central America into a battlefield of spies and sabotage, a Panamanian soldier trained by Mossad, the DEA, and Castro’s Cuba becomes the right-hand man to dictator Manuel Noriega and must survive the covert war launched by the very intelligence networks that created him.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Friday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
Ticketed Event: Chris Appleton & Your Roots Don’t Define You at Book Soup – In-Person Event
From world-renowned celebrity hairstylist and TikTok sensation Chris Appleton, a candid and empowering guide to reinventing yourself from the inside out.
We all know that feeling: when you’re stuck in self-doubt, boxed in by the person you’ve been in the past, crippled by fear that you’ll never break free from the lies and insecurities holding you back. But what if you had the chance to reinvent yourself from the ground up?
World-renowned celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton gives us the hard-earned advice to do just this. After years of working with the most badass women on the planet, he’s seen firsthand how transformation is possible at any stage of life, even when society tells you that you’re “too old,” when it feels like the whole world is closing in on you, or when the person you thought you’d spend your life with is now your ex. You don’t have to feel limited by your roots. The comeback you want can be yours.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Friday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 8818 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
At Skylight: Pinko Magazine presents Issue #4 Launch! at Skylight – In-Person Event
The fourth issue of Pinko Magazine is finally here. The only magazine of gay communism in English has returned in print with 100 pages of new essays, analysis, art, interviews and archival material from the sharpest edge of the sexual liberation movement. You will find new essays by Corey Devon Arthur and Bruno Monfort, a conversation between Emma Heaney and Sophie Lewis, interviews with Amal and E.S., queer Palestinians in Gaza, a Q&A with a trans furry hacker, a new transcript from the late Cecilia Gentili, art by Maria Zreiq and Sol Brager, and much more.
Lou Cornum is a double-denim dyke writer, scholar of Native American studies, member of the Navajo Nation and founding editor of Pinko Magazine.
Max Fox is a writer, translator, and a founding editor of Pinko Magazine
RSVP
Where: Skylight
Date: Friday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-pinko-magazine-presents-issue-4-launch
Gabriel Talent & Crux at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Gabriel Talent will discuss and sign Crux: A Novel.
In this story of intense friendship and grit, two down-and-out teens escape their lives and chase a different future through rock-climbing—from the New York Times bestselling author of My Absolute Darling.
Dan and Tamma are two teenagers in their last year of high school in the southern Mojave Desert. One is a gifted golden child, the other a mouthy burnout. Climbing boulders in trash-strewn parking lots during cold desert nights, they seal their unique bond and dream of a life of adventure.
As the year progresses and adult reality looms, they are rocked by change and pulled apart by irreconcilable obligations. Differences of class, talent, and prospects take on new importance; options dwindle, and their decisions grow ever more consequential and perilous. It feels inevitable, finally, that something must give.
With a magnificent gift for nature writing and a joyful appreciation for the redemptive power of friendship, Gabriel Tallent gives readers a rollicking, adrenaline-filled, and soul-searching novel about risking everything to change your life.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Friday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-23/gabriel-tallent
Why Our Words Matter: ¡Gente! A Reading & Panel Discussion with Chicana Authors at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Online Hybrid
Join us for an evening with Chicana authors sharing their stories and insights at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center.
Four writers across literary genres read their work and discuss the impact of words on communities under assault. Featuring Désirée Zamorano, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera, Rosanna Alvarez, and Veronica Gutierrez.
About the authors
Los Angeles native Désirée Zamorano is the author of the groundbreaking, historical fiction novel Dispossessed and the recently republished novel, The Amado Women. An award-winning writer, her work is an exploration of where cultures collide and connect. The University of Nevada is publishing Amarisa’s Cooking Pot: Tales of Life and All Its Wonders, a collection of her stories, in 2026. She is the Senior Fiction Editor of Silk Road Journal. Up until January 7th she had lived in Altadena for 26 years.
Rosanna Alvarez is a Chicana storyteller, educator, Aztec dancer, and visual artist whose work thrives at the intersection of cultura, creativity, and comunidad. A woman of many hats—literally and artistically—her practice spans poetry, performance, publishing, and handcrafted art that honors memory and movimiento. A silver medalist for the Juan Felipe Herrera Best Book of Poetry Award, she is the author of Braided [Un]Be-Longing, a collection that weaves poetry, testimonio, and ancestral echoes into a journey of healing and reclamation. Through every medium, Rosanna invites others to dream, heal, and dismantle fronteras as we co-create a future rooted in dignity, humanidad, and collective joy. She is also the co-founder of Eastside Magazine, the founder of Ocote Libre Press, and an Ethnic Studies educator at West Valley College.
Chicana Feminist and former Rodeo Queen, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera writes so the desert landscape of her childhood can be heard as loudly as the urban chaos of her adulthood. A former high school teacher, she earned an MFA at Antioch University and a PhD at USC. She is the author of a YA novel, Breaking Pattern (Inlandia Books), which received Honorable Mention for First Book of Fiction in English from the International Latino Book Awards, and a prose chapbook, Stories All Our Own (Bottlecap Press). She is a playwright, a Macondista, and works for literary equity through Women Who Submit.
Veronica Gutiérrez is the author of the Yolanda Avila mystery series: As You Look and Buried Seeds (Bella Books). She is a former community organizer, civil rights attorney, and corporate executive. She draws from years of experience in those worlds for her fiction. Veronica was born and raised in Boyle Heights, the Los Angeles neighborhood that her protagonist, Yolanda Avila, calls home. Veronica and her wife Laura split their time between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Both are home bar enthusiasts and avid travelers. They host cocktail-lesson-themed fundraisers—called Mixology on a Mission—to help Los Angeles non-profits grow their donor base. Veronica self-published My Little Black Cocktail Book, a journal to organize her research and help others do the same. Veronica claims she is not as psychic as her protagonist. www.veronicagutierrez.com.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Friday, the 23rd
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm (Doors at 7 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA 90291
The Studio Collaborative: Mixtape Confessions & Wake (the f*ck Up!) with Ravina & Guests at Long Beach Community Theater – In-Person Event
Mixtape Confessions is a story through the beats that broke and built us. A cast of multiple artists, featuring Ravina, will participate on both JANUARY 23RD AND 24TH.
Tickets: $20
Where: Long Beach Community Theater
Date: Saturday the 23rd
Time: 8 pm
Address: 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, CA 90804
Website: https://lbplayhouse.org/event/mixtape-confessions-wake-the-fck-up/
Graphic Novel Book Club: Making Nonfiction Comics via Bel Canto Books, Long Beach – Online Zoom Event
Participants will discuss Making Nonfiction Comics by Eleri Harris and Sarah Mirk
This book is a practical guide for creating nonfiction comics, blending journalism with visual storytelling through prose, infographics, and interviews with creators like Thi Bui and Nate Powell. It serves as a field guide to graphic journalism, covering skills, ethics, and standards for visual storytelling, making it a valuable resource for both aspiring and experienced artists and writers.
Where: Bel Canto Books, Retro Row
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events
View Park Library Book Club: Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service at View Park Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Participants will read and discuss Who is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis. For adults.
Where: View Park Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm
Address: 3854 W. 54th S.t, Los Angeles, CA 90043
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-14
Book Club: The People’s Hospital at Felipe de Neve Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Read the book for January, The People’s Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine by Ricardo Nuila.
If you have any questions or want to sign up, please email felipe@lapl.org or sign up in person at the info desk. Coffee and snacks will be served. For adults.
Where: Felipe de Neve Branch Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 11 am
Address: 2820 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90057
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-discussion-ricardo-nuilas-peoples-hospital
Writing from the Fragments We Keep: A Creative Writing Workshop with Jami Macarty at Beyond Baroque – In-Person Event
Join us for. A generative workshop with award-winning author, Jami Macarty.
Inspired by writers like Ocean Vuong and Victoria Chang, who have made a virtue of assembling writing from the material found in their notebooks, this three-hour generative workshop teaches writers of all genres how to mine their notebooks for golden snippets, images, and ideas to inspire new writing and revision techniques. To our maker-space, bring an already-filled up notebook, a new notebook, and a pen full of ink!
Jami Macarty is the author of The Long Now Conditions Permit, winner of the 2023 Test Site Poetry Prize, The Minuses, winner of the 2020 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award-Poetry Arizona, and four chapbooks, including The Whole Catastrophe, finalist for the 2025 bpNichol Chapbook Award, and Mind of Spring, winner of the 2017 Vallum Chapbook Award. Macarty’s writing is supported by the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the British Columbia Arts Council, and the generous editors of American and Canadian literary magazines such as Colorado Review, Interim, Seneca Review, Vallum, and Volt. Macarty supports other writers as an independent mentor, editor, and reviewer, and as a creative writing teacher at Simon Fraser University. Macarty lives in and learns from the arborescent desert around Tucson, Arizona, and the rain coast of Vancouver, British Columbia.
NOTE: See site for further details, fees, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday, the 24th
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA 90291
Kids Storytime & Screening: Avery Robinson & Bloom In at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Kids Event
Join author Avery Robinson for a storytime and screening of Bloom In.
We will first read the picture book version of the story and then watch the award-winning short film. Afterwards, Avery will lead a group discussion and give an author signing!
Avery Robinson Rouda is an award-winning writer, director, & producer committed to raising global consciousness by engineering the Rainbow Bridge between spirituality & storytelling. Her animated short films have played at the Newport Beach Film Festival, HollyShorts Film Festival, Beverly Hills Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, Comic Con, the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, the Omaha Film Festival and more. Her first film, Dream Catcher, won the Stage 32 Short Film Contest and her second animated short, Bloom In, is the inspiration for her first picture book of the same title. Avery lives with her husband and fur-babies in Los Angeles, CA, dreaming up new worlds in the City of Dreams.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
Storytime: Paula Price & Happiness Is for Everyone at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
Author Paula Price reads from and signs Happiness Is for Everyone.
Teach kids they have the power to choose happiness.
Inspired by the adult non-fiction book, The Quest for Happiness. To Be Happy, or Not to Be Happy. The Choice is Yours, this playful book helps kids ages 3 to 8 discover that happiness is a choice everyone deserves. Through the fun and uplifting poem, children will learn simple ways to create happiness-by being kind, grateful, and finding joy in everyday moments. A heartwarming journey that empowers kids to shine from within!
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 11 am
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-24/paula-price
Special Luncheon Event: Gabriel Tallent & Crux: A Novel at pages Off-site at Barsha Manhattan Beach – In-Person Kids Event
Author Gabriel Tallent celebrates his new novel Crux at a special luncheon event. Crux follows the author’s debut novel My Absolute Darling, and Linda at pages believes his follow-up has been worth the nine-year wait.
In this story of intense friendship and grit, two down-and-out teens escape the hopelessness of their lives and chase a different future through rock-climbing—from the New York Times bestselling author of My Absolute Darling.
Dan and Tamma are two teenagers in their last year of high school in the southern Mojave Desert. One is a gifted golden child, the other a mouthy burnout. Climbing boulders in trash-strewn parking lots during cold desert nights, they seal their unique bond and dream of a life of adventure.
As the year progresses and adult reality looms, they are rocked by change and pulled apart by irreconcilable obligations. Differences of class, talent, and prospects take on new importance; options dwindle, and their decisions grow ever more consequential and perilous. It feels inevitable, finally, that something must give.
With a magnificent gift for nature writing and a joyful appreciation for the redemptive power of friendship, Gabriel Tallent gives readers a rollicking, adrenaline-filled, and soul-searching novel about risking everything to change your life.
Gabriel Tallent is the author of the New York Times-bestselling novel My Absolute Darling. He was born in New Mexico and raised on the Mendocino coast by two mothers. He received his B.A. from Willamette University in 2010, and after graduation spent two seasons leading youth trail crews in the back-country of the Pacific Northwest. Tallent lives in Salt Lake City.
NOTE: Ticketed Event, see site
Where: Barsha Manhattan Beach
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 11:30 am
Address: 917 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2026-01-24/special-author-luncheon-gabriel-tallent
Creative Writing Workshop at Lake View Terrace Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
This Creative Writing Workshop is a great way to get feedback, encouragement, and the ability to look at your own work more objectively. Have you written a short story, a script, or a zine? Bring it to this workshop and let’s write together!
Where: Lake View Terrace Branch Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 12 pm – 1:30 pm
Address: 12002 Osborne St., Lake View Terrace, CA 91342
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/creative-writing-workshop
Altadena Poets Laureate Event: From Ashes to Renewal: Voices of Resilience at Altadena Main Library – In-Person Event
Join us at this special reading event: From Ashes to Renewal: Voices of Resilience.
Featuring Sesshu Foster, Robin D. G. Kelley, Elline Lipkin, Roberta Martinez, Ruth Nolan, Andrew Wessels, Désirée Zamorano, plus emerging poets Emilia Cabrales and Keily Sahagun and an Open Mic.
Hosted by Sehba Sarwar and Lester Graves Lennon.
Join us for an afternoon of poetry, reflection, and renewal as we mark one year since the Altadena fires. Together, we’ll honor the land, the people, and the spirit of rebuilding that continues to shape our community.
Sesshu Foster’s most recent books include City of the Future (Kaya Press), and ELADATL: The History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines (City Lights Books), a novel co-authored with Arturo Ernesto Romo. He is winner of Beyond Baroque’s 2024 George Drury Smith Award.
Robin D. G. Kelley, professor of US History at UCLA, is the recipient of many awards and fellowships, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Freedom Scholar Award. A prolific author, he is currently completing two books, Making a Killing: Cops, Capitalism, and the War on Black Life…
Elline Lipkin is a poet, nonfiction writer, and academic, and is the author of The Errant Thread and Girls’ Studies.
Roberta Martinez, actor, director, playwright, and historian, was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California. Her book: Latinos in Pasadena, is a volume in the Arcadia Publishing: Images of America series 2009; Slow Lightning: Impractical Poetry, 2021 and Slow Lightning: Astonished Poetry, 2023; Gathering: A Women Who Submit Anthology, 2021; Transformation: A Women Who Submit Anthology, 2023. Plays have been produced or read at: CASA 0101, Frida Kahlo Theater, Short & Sweet Hollywood, Amapola Players @ Parson’s Nose Theater.
Ruth Nolan is a Mojave Desert author and college professor living in Palm Springs, California. She is the author of Ruby Mountain (Finishing Line Press) and editor of the critically-acclaimed books No Place for a Puritan: The Literature of California’s Deserts (Heyday Books), and Fire and Rain, among others.
Andrew Wessels is a poet and translator who currently lives in Los Angeles. He has lived in Istanbul, Turkey, where he taught writing at Koç University. His first book of poems, A Turkish Dictionary, was published by 1913 Press in 2017, and Semi Circle, a chapbook of translations of Nurduran Duman’s poems, is available from Goodmorning Menagerie. His poems, translations, and collaborations can be found in VOLT, Witness, Fence, Tammy Journal, Faultline, and Colorado Review, among others.
Désirée Zamorano is the author of The Amado Women and has co-authored with her sister two plays commissioned by southern California’s Bilingual Foundation for the Arts. “Reina” and “Bell Gardens 90201” received Equity productions and toured for a total of eight years.
Audience: Adult (18+ Years Old). Event Type: Literature & Poetry. Performance.
Where: Altadena Main Library
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 600 E. Mariposa Street, Altadena, CA 91001
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Fourth Saturdays Poetry Readings: Patricia L. Scruggs & Eric DeVaughann at the Claremont Library, Claremont – In-Person Event
The 2026 Fourth Saturdays Poetry Reading on January 24 at 2:00 pm will feature Eric DeVaughnn and Patricia L. Scruggs.
Patricia L. Scruggs is the author of Forget the Moon. Born in Denver, Colorado, she grew up in Alberta, Canada before taking root in Southern California, where she has happily lived ever since. A retired high school art teacher, she earned her MFA in poetry from California State University, Fullerton. After her two children were grown, she taught high school Art for 25 years. A recent Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has appeared in numerous publications including Burningword, Crab Creek Review, Comstock Review, Inlandia Journal, Lummox, MacQueen’s Quinterly, ONTHEBUS, Rattle, RipRap, Cultural Daily, qarrtsiluni, and Spillway; as well as the anthologies 13 Los Angeles Poets, So Luminous the Wildflowers, Beyond the Lyric Moment, When a Woman Tells the Truth, Poetry Goes to the Movies, and Darker Ink.
Eric DeVaughnn is a father, author, educator, and poet. He has hosted open mics, facilitated workshops, and is a recurring judge for Poetry Out Loud. He is a cofounder of innateDIVINITYbooks and has three self-published collections. A new title is forthcoming. Eric received two degrees in Kinesiology from California Baptist University and teaches elementary physical education in San Bernardino, California. All his poems are cracked teeth, dusky yellow and receding gum line lying limp on waxy, bright white paper, speckled red. Visit his YouTube videos.
Where: Claremont Helen Renwick Library
Date: Saturday, the 24th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 308 N. Harvard Ave., Claremont, CA 91711
Website: https://www.claremontlibrary.org/monthly-poetry-readings.html
Lisa Yee and Dan Santat & A Sea Monster Conundrum (The Misfits) at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
When there are suspicious sightings around the bay (ghosts?! a sea monster?!)—who’re you gonna call? An elite team of crime-fighting underdogs, that’s who! The Misfits are on the case in the hilarious series from Newbery Honoree Lisa Yee and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat!
Oof! When reports of ghosts arise around an abandoned lighthouse, Olive and her elite team of underdogs are immediately thrust into a brand new case. After all, ghosts don’t exist…right?
Real or not, the ghosts draw quite a crowd at Olive’s beloved Reforming Arts School, or RASCH (not “rash”). Turns out everyone wants a glimpse of the ghosts, including…the nearby marine life?!
Between RASCH’s ghosts and newfound tourism, rumors soon spiral out of control about a sea monster in the bay—snagging unwanted attention from a corrupt mogul. What is going on at RASCH? Does the mythical creature really exist, and can the Misfits save it from being captured? The team will have to dive deep to get to the bottom of San Francisco’s most legendary mystery.
For other Misfit adventures, don’t miss The Misfits #1: A Royal Conundrum and The Misfits #2: A Copycat Conundrum.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-24/lisa-yee-dan-santat
Miriam’s Garden Poetry Seriesat Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library – In-Person Event
Please join us on Saturday, January 25th from 2:30-4:00 pm for the first “Miriam’s Garden” reading of 2025, hosted by Yago Cura.
Featuring: Breanna Cheyney, Angelina Saenz, Lindsey Haley
Brenna Cheyney @bcheyn, Angelina Saenz titi_angela/ @saenzwriter, and Lindsey Haley @lindsey.haley.5 will read their original work in our garden. Come through and spend a Saturday afternoon with us and see what all the fuss is about!
Breanna Cheyney is an intersectional, community-focused, multidisciplinary artist, ecocentric polymath, and lifelong learner, with a passion for social and environmental justice, the intersections of art and science, and compassionate connection with all natural forms. Their work is based in the truth that humans are a part of nature, and in nature, inherent hierarchy is non-existent, there are no individuals, and queerness is innate.
Angelina Sáenz (she/her) is a Los Angeles–based Chicana writer, poet, and award-winning educator. She is a UCLA Writing Project Fellow, an alumna of the VONA/Voices Workshop for Writers of Color, and a Macondo Writers Workshop Fellow. She is the author of the poetry collections Maestra (FlowerSong Press, 2024) and Edgecliff (FlowerSong Press, 2021), as well as the children’s book Waiting for Luna.
Lindsey Haley was raised in Venice. Her family was part of the Chicano wave that set roots in the Westside during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Haley’s formal education ended when she ran away from home at the age of 14. She went to Fresno where she became a farm worker and activist while raising two children. When Haley returned home ten years later, the area had changed and crack cocaine had crept into the streets. Deeply affected by the danger that had evolved, Haley became instrumental in starting the dialogue between the two rival gangs. Now living in Inglewood, Haley is joined by many working-class residents who have relocated from Venice.
Where: Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Address: 2205 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Vibiana Aparicio-Chamberlin & Seasons+ Four Feathers Press Poets at Lamanda Park Library, Pasadena – In-Person Event
Hosted by DKC, readings will feature Vibiana Aparicio-Chamberlin & Seasons plus Poets published in Four Feathers Press’ Turtle Island Poetry.
Vibiana Aparicio-Chamberlin, a painter, poet, and performance artist, has been an arts leader in Los Angeles for over fifty years. Born and raised in Boyle Heights, she advocates for immigrant rights, women’s issues, and peace through her art and poetry. Her book, Chicana On Fire, has been praised for elevating Chicana artist activism within American art history.
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Lamanda Park Library
Date: Saturday, the 24th
Time: 3 pm – 4:30 pm
Address: 140 S. Altadena Dr., Pasadena CA 91107
Website: https://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Slumber Write Workshop: A Generative Writing Marathon Online with Peggy Dobreer – Online Event
Peggy Dobreer invites you to write from twilight to dawn, every three hours, as a vehicle to jump start a new project or wrap up an existing manuscript.
Participants meet at 3 pm, 6 pm, 9 pm, midnight, 3am, and 6am for an hour and a half. Each session will respond to three prompts that build on each other with an assignment to finish during the break.
Cost: Sliding scale $60-180. Via Venmo. Limited to 9. Three spots left at time of mailing flyer. RSVP now if this is for you.
Contact: adhocink@yahoo.com with further questions.
Where: Slow Lightening Lit Workshop, online
Date: Saturday, the 24th
Time: 3 pm & multiple times
Address: Online Event
Website: N/A FLYER
Book Release Celebration: Camille Hernandez & Motherlands at LibroMobile, Santa Ana – In-Person Event
Anaheim’s Poet Laureate Camille Hernandez celebrates the release of her collection, Motherlands.
Join us for a curated community open mic & reading of Motherlands by local poet Camille Hernandez!
Camille Hernandez‘s work explores the fluidity of intimacy in marginalized women’s relationships. It invites readers to reflect on their allegiance to oppressing and exploiting marginalized women. If language is the poet’s jungle, then dignity is Camille’s machete. She is the author of the pervious book The Hero and the Whore: Reclaiming Healing and Liberation through the Stories of Sexual Exploitation in the Bible (Westminster John Knox Press, 2023).
Guest readers include: Oristina Tang Bernas, Karimi Nowica, Peter Lechuga
RSVP
Reading will begin at 4 pm in front of the Bristol Swap Mall Food Court, reception and book signing will inside the LibroMobile bookstore.
Where: LibroMobile, Santa Ana
Date: Saturday, the 24th
Time: 4 pm – 7 pm
Address: 1150 S. Bristol St., #A3, Santa Ana, CA 92704
Historical Fiction Book Club: Mean Spirit at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss Mean Spirit: A Novel by Linda Hogan.
Early in the last century, rivers of oil were found beneath Oklahoma land belonging to Indian people, and beautiful Grace Banket became the richest person in the Territory. But she was murdered by the greed of white men, and the Graycloud family, who cared for her daughter, began dying mysteriously. Letters sent to Washington, D.C. begging for help went unanswered, until at last a Native American government official, Stace Red Hawk, traveled west to investigate. What he found has been documented by history: rampant fraud, intimidation, and murder. But he also found something truly extraordinary—his deepest self and abiding love for his people, and their brave past.
Linda Hogan was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Mean Spirit. Her other honors include an American Book Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives in Tishomingo, Oklahoma.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 246h
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-01-24/historical-fiction-book-club-mean-spirit
Memoir Talk: Taira Soo, with Stella Choe, & Just a Little Buzzed at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join author Taira Soo, in conversation with Stella Choe, for an intimate reading and conversation about her debut memoir, Just a Little Buzzed—a lyrical exploration of identity, belonging, and the beauty of detours. Told with humor and heart, her story reminds us that sometimes the mess is the map.
Just a Little Buzzed is a lyrical memoir about identity, detours, and belonging told through the lens of recovery, reinvention, and the sideways paths that shape us. Blending humor, heart, and honesty, Taira Soo traces how losing her sense of direction became the map to something truer.
Taira Soo is a writer and former dancer and designer rooted in LA’s creative community. She is the author and creative director of split & type, a story studio for winding narratives and sharp turns. Her debut memoir, Just a Little Buzzed, explores risk, heartbreak, and the sideways turns that shape a life.
Stella Choe is an actor, dancer, and storyteller who has worked across film, television, and stage for over 30 years. She is known for the viral video “What Kind of Asian Are You,” which sparked conversations around identity and representation. She is honored to moderate an evening celebrating Just a Little Buzzed.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
Queer Book Club: Making Nonfiction Comics at Bel Canto Books, Retro Row, Long Beach – In-Person Event
Bel Canto Books Queer Book Club meets monthly in person on the third Saturday of each month at LogansLovelyLibrary at our Retro Row location (2106 E 4th Street, LB).
Participants will discuss The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune.
This is a heartwarming fantasy novel about a by-the-book caseworker, Linus Baker, who is sent to evaluate an orphanage for magical children, including the Antichrist, and finds an unlikely family with the caretaker, Arthur Parnassus, challenging his rigid worldview and discovering love and acceptance. The book is known for its cozy, uplifting tone, charming characters, and themes of found family, prejudice, and compassion, often described as a “warm hug.”
NOTE: See guidelines at website.
Where: Bel Canto Books, Retro Row
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 2106 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events
L.A. Book Launch: The Long Now Conditions Permit: Poems by Jami Macarty at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us at Beyond Baroque for a celebration with Jami Macarty as she reads from her new collection, The Long Now Conditions Permit.
Beyond Baroque welcomes Tucson-based poet, Jami Macarty in celebration of The Long Now Conditions Permit, winner of the 2023 Test Site Poetry Prize.
With ethical attention, Jami Macarty’s collection engages the political, ecological, and personal forces that shape and mark our lives, offering an ecofeminist ethic of care as an antidote to extractive capitalism and patriarchal norms. Each poem meditates on power, insists on articulating what is being lost—and what must be saved and reclaimed.
The poet will read alongside Karen Kevorkian, Crystal AC Salas, and Margarita Pintado Burgos. Book signings and reception to follow.
About the authors
Jami Macarty is the author of The Long Now Conditions Permit, winner of the 2023 Test Site Poetry Prize, The Minuses, winner of the 2020 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award-Poetry Arizona, and four chapbooks, including The Whole Catastrophe, finalist for the 2025 bpNichol Chapbook Award, and Mind of Spring, winner of the 2017 Vallum Chapbook Award. Macarty’s writing is supported by the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the British Columbia Arts Council, and the generous editors of American and Canadian literary magazines such as Colorado Review, Interim, Seneca Review, Vallum, and Volt. Macarty supports other writers as an independent mentor, editor, and reviewer, and as a creative writing teacher at Simon Fraser University. Macarty lives in and learns from the arborescent desert around Tucson, Arizona, and the rain coast of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Karen Kevorkian is a native of San Antonio who moved to San Francisco but detoured to the east coast before returning to California and working as an editor for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, teaching poetry and fiction writing workshops at UCLA, and before that at the University of Virginia. Here in My Body It Feels Crowded is her fourth poetry collection. Her poems are recently published in New American Writing, Volt, Four Way Review, Taos Journal of Poetry, and many other journals. She has been awarded fellowships from the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, the Ucross Foundation, the Millay Colony for the Arts, MacDowell, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. In Los Angeles she was a board member for seven years of Beyond Baroque literary arts center and is a founding member of the Glass Table Collective, publisher of What Books Press.
Crystal AC Salas is a Xicanx poet, essayist, educator, and community organizer. Her poetry chapbook Grief Logic is co-winner of the inaugural Alta California Prize, from Gunpowder Press. She has work in Omnium Gatherum Quarterly, Alta Journal, Northwest Review, [PANK] Magazine, World Literature Today, Chaparral Poetry, Acentos Review, and others. A founding member of the BreakBread Literacy Project, which elevates the voices of young creatives under 25, she serves as poetry editor for BreakBread Magazine. She holds an M.F.A. from University of California, Riverside and is the recipient of a 2021-2022 California Arts Council Established Individual Artist Fellowship.
NOTE: See site for further details, fees, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday, the 24th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA 90291
The Studio Collaborative: Mixtape Confessions & Wake (the f*ck Up!) with Ravina Wadhwani & Guests at Long Beach Community Theater – In-Person Event
Mixtape Confessions is a story through the beats that broke and built us. A cast of multiple artists, featuring Ravina Wadhwani, will participate on both JANUARY 23RD AND 24TH.
Ravina Wadhwani is a Los Angeles/Long Beach, CA based spoken word artist, licensed therapist, and published poet. Ravina was born and raised in the U.S. Virgin Islands and embraces her South Asian roots and first gen/ multicultural upbringing. YELLOW is her first collection of published poetry and prose published by World Stage Press in 2021 and recipient of the Long Beach Best Poetry Collection of 2021.
Tickets: $20
Where: Long Beach Community Theater
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, CA 90804
Website: https://lbplayhouse.org/event/mixtape-confessions-wake-the-fck-up/
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 25th
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
This Is a Rep Club Book Club: Tenderhearted at Reparations Club – In-Person Event
This is a Rep Club Book Club. We read Black books and talk about them.
Wanna read more in 2026 and need some accountability partners at your favorite bookstore? We got you. We also got a community of readers who would love to meet you. Join us. Let’s read more.
WHO & WHAT: Rep Club and YOU! Join us monthly or pop-in once. Our reads will span genres and themes, and we’ll be led by Rep Club bookseller extraordinaries Bri & Hannah!
January read: Tenderheaded by Michaela Angela Davis
Get it at Rep Club (duh) for 10% off with code: BOOKCLUB10.
HOW: Suggested $5 ticket (this is non-refundable and goes toward snacks)
Where: Rep Club
Date: Sunday the 25th
Time: 10 am – 11:30 am
Address: 3054 South Victoria Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90016
Local Authors Day: Peggy Hongduc Nguyen & Zodiac Animals for Movers at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
Author Peggy Hongduc Nguyenwillo will present and discuss her book Zodiac Animals for Movers.
Through movement-based concepts and dynamic illustrations, Zodiac Animals for Movers is a children’s book inviting readers to embody the gifts of each zodiac friend. Interact with Nguyễn-Griffin’s reimagining of the Vietnamese and Chinese Lunar calendar by celebrating the creative expression of twelve animals and our collective power to move as one.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Sunday the 25th
Time: 11 am
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-25/local-author-day-young-readers
Burning Issues Book Club: Read This to Get Smarter at Bel Canto Books – Online Event
Bel Canto Books Burning Issues Book Club meets via Zoom on the fourth Sunday of each month at 12 pm PT/3 pm ET.
Participants will discuss Read This to Get Smarter: About Race, Class, Gender, Disability, and More by Blair Imani.
An approachable guide to being an informed, compassionate, and socially conscious person today—from issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation to disability, class, and beyond—from critically acclaimed historian, educator, and author Blair Imani.
Where: Bel Canto Books
Date: Sunday the 25th
Time: 12 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events
La Palabra Reading Series & Open Mic at Avenue 50 Studio, DNTN – In-Person Event
Host Pam Concepcion welcomes special guests and an open mic every 4th Sunday of the month at Avenue 50 Studio.
FIRST LA PALABRA OF THE YEAR ON JAN 25 WITH THE ENCHOLADAS:
IRIS, REBECCA, XITLALIC
Yet another new year starts in turmoil. In times like these we listen to the poets. When we have run out of words to say, we turn to poetry and art to find solace, guidance and hope.
Join us on Sunday, January 25th 2 pm with Iris, Rebecca, and Xitlalic as we reflect on new beginnings, moving forward, and finding hope in the new years, despite ongoing struggles.
After our feature reading, we will have an open mic! We highly encourage our open mic volunteers to come early to sign up and chat with fellow poets. You are welcome to read another poet’s work too 🧡😊
Open mic has no themes, and will be 5 mins max per person.
Where: Avenue 50 Studio
Date: Sunday the 25th
Time: 2 pm –3:30 pm
Address: 3714 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park, CA 90065
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Palabras Literary Salon with Jen Cheng at not there gallery, Chinatown – In-Person Event
Host Jen Cheng welcomes special guests for a BIPIC-centered literary community event.
The January edition features:
Danielle P. Williams to celebrate her new poetry book from Arizona Press, CHAMORRITA SONG, and other writing. Our event has a guest readers circle, a curated list of diverse BIPOC poets, writers, and storytellers to share their writing to celebrate this salon’s theme of “gospel.” All are welcome to attend – especially bring your allies and others curious to hear BIPOC voices.
As Williams describes the theme:
“Gospel” evokes the sacred power of sound to carry memory, testimony, and transformation, honoring the ways our voices enact praise, lament, and resilience.
Our guest readers circle includes award-winning poets and writers: Jen Cheng, José Enrique Medina, Benin Lemus, bloom, Kamala Puligandla, Edwin Bodney, Rey Rodriguez, thabile makue, Abigail Handojo, Deesco Meshell, Domingo Rodriguez, genesis ripley, Christopher Moncayo-Torres, and Melineh Yemenidjian.
Light reception is provided (vegetarian and vegan friendly). RSVP and info:
Bit.ly/jan2026palabras
Where: not there gallery, Chinatown
Date: Sunday the 25th
Time: 2 pm –3:30 pm
Address: 437 Gin Ling Way, Chinatown, CA 90012
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Latinx Book Club: Victim at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss Victim: A Novel by Andrew Boryga.
Javier Perez is a hustler from a family of hustlers. He learns from an early age how to play the game to his own advantage, how his background—murdered drug dealer dad, single cash-strapped mom, best friend serving time for gang activity—can be a key to doors he didn’t even know existed. This kind of story, molded in the right way, is just what college admissions committees are looking for, and a full academic scholarship to a prestigious university brings Javi one step closer to his dream of becoming a famous writer.
As a college student, Javi embellishes his life story until there’s not even a kernel of truth left. The only real connection to his past is the occasional letter he trades with his childhood best friend, Gio, who doesn’t seem to care about Javi’s newfound awareness of white privilege or the school-to-prison pipeline. Soon after Javi graduates, a viral essay transforms him from a writer on the rise to a journalist at a legendary magazine where the editors applaud his “unique perspective.” But Gio more than anyone knows who Javi really is, and sees through his game. Once Gio’s released from prison and Javi offers to cut him in on the deal, will he play along with Javi’s charade, or will it all come crumbling down?
A satirical sendup of tear-jerking trauma plots with a tender portrait of friendship at its core, Victim asks what real diversity looks like and how far one man is willing to go to make his story hit the right notes.
Andrew Boryga grew up in the Bronx and now lives in Miami with his family. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, and been awarded prizes by Cornell University, The University of Miami, The Susquehanna Review, and The Michener Foundation. He attended the Tin House Writer’s Workshop and has taught writing to college students, elementary school students, and incarcerated adults. Victim is his debut novel.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 25th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-01-25/latinx-book-club-victim
John Sayles & Crucible at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to welcome John Sayles to the store to discuss and sign Crucible.
From the Oscar-nominated filmmaker comes a complex and sweeping historical novel about Henry Ford—the Elon Musk of his day—and his attempt to rule not only an automotive empire but the rambunctious city of Detroit. It is an epic tale ranging from the 1920s through the second World War, featuring violent labor disputes, misbegotten jungle expeditions, a tragic race riot, and the gestapo tactics of Ford’s private army…
Already the gateway for illegal Canadian liquor during Prohibition, the Motor City becomes a crucible for American class conflict during the Great Depression, with an army of laid off Ford workers drifting into the ranks of the burgeoning union movement — Henry Ford’s worst nightmare. To keep the hundreds of thousands still employed by him in thrall, the man who was formerly ‘America’s favorite tycoon’ recruits black laborers migrating from the deep South to serve as ‘strike insurance’, and gives Harry Bennett, pugnacious as he is diminutive, free reign over the legion of barroom brawlers and ex-cons who make up the company’s ‘Security Department’.
The Model T mogul has also bought a sizable chunk of Brazil’s Amazonian rainforest, vowing to grow his own rubber for tires, but stubbornly refusing to include a botanist in his troop of would-be jungle tamers. As a series of biological plagues descend on the Fordlandia plantation, the racial melting pot he has created in Detroit begins to boil over, and not even the Sage of Dearborn can control the forces that have been unleashed.
The novel’s cast—Ford workers black and white and their families, young radicals, cynical newsmen, gangsters, Brazilian rubber tappers, cameos from boxer Joe Louis and muralist Diego Rivera—create the tapestry of differing points of view that John Sayles has become famous for, the events portrayed fundamental to the country we live in today.
John Sayles is an independent filmmaker, screenwriter, actor, and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and once for the National Book Award. He has written eight novels, including, most recently, Jamie MacGillivray and To Save the Man.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 25th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-01-25/john-sayles-discusses-and-signs-crucible
Zillenial Book Club: This Is How You Lose the Time War at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss This Is How You Lose the Time War: A Novel by Amal El-Mohtar; Max Gladstone,
This enthralling, romantic novel spanning time and species about two time-traveling rivals who fall in love and must change the past to ensure their future.
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandment finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.
Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?
Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 25th
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-01-25/zillennial-book-club-how-you-lose-time-war
Local Authors Day: Eddie Dovigian C.A. River Present Books at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Author Eddie Dovigi will discuss Scrubber.
Scrubber is a cyberpunk, neo-noir about a young woman, Elly, who is a freelance “scrubber”—a hacker that receives anonymous commissions to illegally delete watermarks on AI-generated media. When her smart device pings with a gig that seems too good to be true, she quickly realizes she may be in over her head.
The book takes place in the alleyways of an urban metropolis, Demos, that hums with neon pink, green, and blue at night. Elly connects with a few characters throughout her mission, including Lance, leader of the werewolf sect, “misanthropic lycanthropes”. Also, the immaculately dressed, Dan Dan, who is like a living and breathing porcelain doll. But Elly isn’t taking any chances or pulling any punches, she is sure to leave a trail of recordings in her wake in case the long arm of the law, or worse, the eyes that seem to lurk in the shadows, threaten to put a stop to her at any moment. In the end, these recordings may be Elly’s only hope.
Author C.A. River will discussSea of Waking Dreams.
It is 2001 when Karina Layne decides it’s the right time for gastric bypass surgery. Losing over one hundred pounds seems like an impossible dream, but she and her husband, Ryan, are ready to have children. Determined to confront the childhood trauma that contributed to her unhealthy relationship with food, Karina returns to her memories to seek healing, and begins undergoing a magnificent metamorphosis of mind and body. Karina and Ryan’s bond is strong and promises a long life of passion and happiness. However, as Karina navigates her new identity, they face unexpected challenges that rock the foundation of their marriage. When Karina and Ryan’s cousin unexpectedly develop a spark a year after her surgery, she finds herself torn between her loyalty to Ryan and her growing feelings for Blake. As she is forced to question her beliefs about love and commitment, she faces an agonizing choice. Will she stay committed to her marriage or take a chance on a different kind of love? And will tragedy derail Karina’s progress toward transformation? In this captivating voyage through love, healing, and self-discovery, a woman’s journey to weight loss leads her to decide what she truly wants-and who she wants to become.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Sunday the 25th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-01-25/local-author-day
Prototype Poetry Show & Open Mic: The Witching Hour at The Glendale Room – In-Person Event
L(it) Girl Presents – The Witching Hour: Join us for a bewitching evening of poetry as we invite the most enchanting poets in LA to spellbind you with their words. Interested in casting a spell of your own? Sign up for our open mic, we’d love to see your magic!
$10 General
Admission, $5 for Open Mic Slots (get to watch the show and perform!)
Come cast a spell.
Where: The Glendale Room
Date: Sunday the 25th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 127 N. Artsakh Ave., Glendale, CA 91206
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-witching-hour-tickets
January 2026 Historical Romance Book Club: Dreaming of You at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
January’s Historical Romance Book Club meets on the fourth Sunday of the month and is led by orders manager Katie S. We read all historical romance novels, all eras.
Participants will discuss Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas.
Everyone is welcome.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 25th
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232
Los Angeles Literature 