Book Discussion: Family Family at Sorensen Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Come read and discuss the novel, Family Family by Laurie Frankel. Pick up a copy for checkout at the Customer Service Desk today. For Adults.
India Allwood is a successful actress whose new film is about adoption. When she gives her opinion of the movie based on her experience as an adoptive parent, she finds herself in a media controversy. The novel explores and challenges common perceptions of adoption and what it means to be a family.
Where: Sorensen Library, LACL
Date: Monday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6934 Broadway Ave., Whittier, CA 90606
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15145039
The Canyon Readers Collective Book Club: James at Topanga Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of James by Percival Everett, a novel that transforms a classic, told through the eyes of Jim-revealing a sharp, darkly funny, and deeply human perspective on race, freedom, and survival in America. For adults.
Where: Topanga Library, LACL
Date: Monday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 122 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, CA 90290
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15709303
Queer Book Club: Last Night at the Telegraph Club at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo.
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the feeling took root—that desire to look, to move closer, to touch. Whenever it started growing, it definitely bloomed the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. Suddenly, everything seemed possible.
But America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.
Meticulously researched, emotionally stirring, and startlingly brave, Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a standout work of historical fiction that has taken the world by storm.
Malinda Lo is the New York Times bestselling author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, winner of the National Book Award, the Stonewall Book Award, and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, as well as Michael L. Printz and Walter Dean Myers honors. Her debut novel Ash, a Sapphic retelling of Cinderella, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Lambda Literary Award. Malinda’s short fiction and nonfiction has been published by The New York Times, NPR, Autostraddle, The Horn Book, and multiple anthologies. She lives in Massachusetts with her wife and their dog.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Monday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-02-23/queer-book-club-last-night-telegraph-club
Book Club: James at Sherman Oaks Martin Pollard Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
A Pulitzer Prize Winner, #1 New York Times Best Seller, and National Book Award Winner, James by Percival Everett, is a brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.
When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.
Please email shrmno@lapl.org for the Zoom link.
Where: Sherman Oaks Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 23rd
Time: 6”30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/sherman-oaks-book-club-james-percival-everett
Rupo Open Mic at Back to the Grind in Riverside – In-Person Event
RUPO Open Mic is every Monday Night at Back to the Grind in Riverside.
Every Monday from 7 pm to 9 pm. Sign-ups are at 6:30 pm and in person only, $4 cash admission. See you then!
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Back to the Grind, Riverside
Date: Monday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://www.facebook.com
At Skylight: Amy Spalding, with Celia Laskey, & In Her Spotlight at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Amy Spalding, in conversation with Celia Laskey, will discuss In Her Spotlight (Out in Hollywood #4) (paperback).
Hollywood actor Tess Gardner is not the kind of famous she set out to be. She’s ready to show she’s more than Princess Platinum of the Vindicators series, a pretty face with CGI superpowers that literally sparkle. Tess wants to prove herself as an actor and that means theatre—the true calling of her thespian heart. But just when Tess lands a part working with an acclaimed stage director, a brewing scandal forces him out. His replacement? None other than hip, buzzy director Rebecca Frisch. The same Rebecca Frisch whose heart a firmly closeted Tess broke over a decade ago during summer stock.
As Tess wrestles with her lingering guilt and attraction to Rebecca, she also finds herself struggling to rein in her superstar status backstage. When things unexpectedly reignite with Rebecca, Tess bristles even more against the walls of her A-list life. Since the industry’s made it clear that girl-next-door superheroes can’t also be gay, coming out isn’t realistic for Tess. And ultimately, Rebecca will head back to New York and likely seek out a less complicated relationship anyway.
Will the curtain close on her chance for happiness or will Tess finally take a leading role in her own life?
Amy Spalding is a Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award-winning author of authentic, funny, and diverse novels representing the LGBTQ+ community, including For Her Consideration, At Her Service, We Used to Be Friends, and (and The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles), which was named a best book of 2018 by NPR, The Boston Globe, Kirkus Reviews, and more. She has a B.A. in Advertising & Marketing Communications from Webster University and an M.A. in Media Studies from The New School. She also studied longform improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Raised in St. Louis, she now lives in Los Angeles and can be found online at TheAmySpalding.com.
Celia Laskey is the author of Cover Story (available March 25, 2025), So Happy for You, and Under the Rainbow, a finalist for the 2020 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Her other work has appeared in Catapult, Guernica, The Minnesota Review, and elsewhere. She has an MFA from the University of New Mexico and currently lives in Los Angeles with her dog Whiskey.
NOTE: See site for link and details.
Where: Skylight
Date: Monday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-amy-spalding-presents-her-spotlight-w-celia-laskey
Michelle Maryk, with Amy Landecker, & The Found Object Society at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Michelle Maryk, in conversation with Amy Landecker, will discuss The Found Object Society.
An atmospheric speculative suspense novel following a mysterious society offering its members the chance to relive the death of another person—and the self-destructive woman determined to uncover its secrets.
This ambitious, genre-bending debut is perfect for fans of time-travel fiction including Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library and Gareth Brown’s The Book of Doors.
For twenty years, Greta Davenport has lived with the guilt of surviving the accident that killed her parents. She’s tested the limits of her own mortality ever since, but little gives her the dopamine rush she craves. Not until the night she almost drunkenly crashes her car into a tree, and a peculiar blank card slides under her front door—an invitation to the Found Object Society. What she discovers there is beyond comprehension: an opulent, subterranean playground filled with aisles of objects from different eras and regions of the world. Pick an object and go on a voyage to relive the final moments of the person who died holding it, along with an unparalleled, irreplicable high. Greta’s hooked, but she can’t quiet her questions about the society and its enigmatic creators, the answers to which have implications far beyond her growing dependence on the voyages. Death is addictive, and what she uncovers will put her entire life into question.
A fever dream of a novel with episodic, time-traveling chapters told from multiple points of view, The Found Object Society examines the depraved whims of the ultrarich and the breadth of unresolved trauma—all while asking how grief and the choices we make in its aftermath can change the course of our lives. Michelle Maryk’s wholly original and ambitious debut opens an impeccably wrought speculative world of greed, power, and destiny.
*This is a non-ticketed event, free RSVP event. Please note: an RSVP does not guarantee seating if we reach capacity. Please plan on arriving early.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Monday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Monday Night Fiction Workshop with Raquel Baker at 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 23rd
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)
Website: https://beyondbaroque.org
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: Tuesday the 24th
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 24th
Time: 10:30 am – 11 am
Address: 1704 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90403
Website: https://www.santamonica.gov/events
Virtual Book Club: Amity by Nathan Harris via La Crescenta Library, LACL – Online Event
Join us weekly on Zoom for the Virtual Book Club. In February we will be discussing Amity by Nathan Harris. 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 4: February 24: Chapters 11 – Epilogue — Pages 221 – to the end of the book
New Orleans, 1866. The Civil War might be over, but formerly enslaved Coleman and June have yet to find the freedom they’ve been promised. Two years ago, the siblings were separated when their old master, Mr. Harper, took June away to Mexico, where he hoped to escape the new reality of the post-war South. Coleman stayed behind in Louisiana to serve the Harper family, clinging to the hope that one day June would return. When an unexpected letter from Mr. Harper arrives, summoning Coleman to Mexico, Coleman thinks that finally his prayers have been answered. What Coleman cannot know is the tangled truth of June’s tribulations under Mr. Harper out on the frontier. And when disaster strikes Coleman’s journey, he is forced on the run with Mr. Harper’s daughter, Florence. Together, they venture into the Mexican desert to find June, all the while evading two crooked brothers who’ll stop at nothing to capture Coleman and Florence and collect the money they’re owed. As Coleman and June separately navigate a perilous, parched landscape, the siblings learn quickly that freedom isn’t always given—sometimes, it must be taken by force.
Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
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 Library SMPL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 11:30 am – 12 pm
Address: 1794 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90403
Website: https://www.santamonica.gov/events
Author Talk: Tom Crouch & Smithson’s Gamble The Incredible History Behind the World’s Largest Museum – Virtual Program, LACL – Online Virtual Event
Smithsonian Curator Emeritus Tom Crouch a veteran of almost 45 years, paints a robust picture of a unique American establishment and its lasting legacies in his book Smithson’s Gamble.
Follow the fascinating growth and development of the world’s largest museum and research complex during its first 60 years. Told in rich detail, Smithson’s Gamble reveals how, as it defined a role rooted in curiosity and exploration, the Smithsonian helped to shape the nation’s developing identity.
The Smithsonian evolved from a small, narrowly focused organization into an institution leading the way in fields from astrophysics to zoology. Smithsonian researchers, and the hundreds of citizen scientists who they recruited, created a collection that documented the natural and human history of a continent. The American conservation movement and a national weather service are rooted at the Smithsonian. Smithson’s Gamble is filled with fascinating characters, twists and turns, and moments of triumph and tragedy, complete with political machinations, a bit of backstabbing, accusations of murder, and the occasional scandal.
Register now to take part in the conversation and learn about the trials, errors, and incredible legacy of the Smithsonian’s foundation.
Tom Crouch joined the Smithsonian in 1974 and has served both the National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of American History.
Dr. Crouch has won several major writing awards, including a 1989 Christopher Award, a literary prize recognizing “significant artistic achievement in support of the highest values of the human spirit,” for The Bishop’s Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright. His book, Wings: A History of Aviation From Kites to the Space Age, won the AIAA Gardner-Lasser Literature Prize for 2005.
In the fall of 2000, President Clinton appointed Dr. Crouch to the Chairmanship of the First Flight Centennial Federal Advisory Board, an organization created to advise the Centennial of Flight Commission on activities planned to commemorate the 100th anniversary of powered flight.
Where: Virtual Program, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15598055
Bestsellers Book Club: Good Night, Irene at Stevenson Ranch Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us and enjoy a lively book discussion on this bestseller book selection: Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea. For Adults.
In 1943, Irene Woodward abandons an abusive fiancé in New York to enlist with the Red Cross and head to Europe. She makes fast friends in training with Dorothy Dunford, a towering Midwesterner with a ferocious wit. Together they are part of an elite group of women, nicknamed Donut Dollies, who command military buses called Clubmobiles at the front line, providing camaraderie and a taste of home that may be the only solace before troops head into battle. Taking as inspiration his mother’s own Red Cross service, Luis Alberto Urrea has delivered an overlooked story of women’s heroism in World War II. With its affecting and uplifting portrait of friendship and valor in harrowing circumstances, Good Night, Irene powerfully demonstrates yet again that Urrea’s “gifts as a storyteller are prodigious” (NPR).
Where: Stevenson Ranch Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 12 pm – 1 pm
Address: 25950 The Old Rd., Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15642653
Agoura Readers Book Club: Emperor of Gladness at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us in person to discuss Ocean Vuong’s Emperor of Gladness. For adults.
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15408531
Teen Book Club: Persepolis at Malabar Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Teen Event
Join us for our monthly Teen Book Club in where we will be reading Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi.
In Persepolis, Satrapi tells the coming-of-age story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq.
No registration required and you can join us even if you didn’t read the book!
Where: Malabar Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 3:30 pm
Address: 2801 Wabash Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90033
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/teen-book-club-persepolis-story-childhood-marjane-satrapi
Zoom Book Club: Long Island at Venice – Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – Online Zoom Event
Join us on the last Tuesday of the month for a lively discussion of our current selection.
Feb. 24: Long Island, Colm Toibin
Where: Venice – Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/zoom-book-club-1
Blockbuster Book Club: Hidden Figures at Clifton M. Brakensiek Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a new, two-part book club for books that have made it to the screen! Ages 18+
This second meeting we will celebrate African American and Black History Month and watch the film adaptation of Hidden Figures (2016). Film is rated PG. This program is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Clifton M. Brakensiek Library.
Where: Clifton M. Brakensiek Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 9945 Flower St, Bellflower, CA 90706
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15593828
LGBTQ+ Book Club: Here for It at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us for a hybrid (in-person and online) discussion of Here for It; Or, How to Save Your Soul in America: Essays by R. Eric Thomas. For adults.
This is a hybrid event and will be hosted in-person in the West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room as well as on Zoom. Please register at the link below to receive the link to the meeting via email.
https://library-lacounty-gov.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pd-Goqz4uGNNbzVuW720zsRrGxTK1VeLG
West Hollywood Library’s LGBTQ+ Book Club meets on the last Tuesday of the month to discuss literary works of relevance and interest to the LGBTQ+ community.
Please contact the library to borrow a print copy of the book. eBook and eAudiobook are available through Libby app/OverDrive.
Summary provided by the publisher:
R. Eric Thomas didn’t know he was different until the world told him so. Everywhere he went—whether it was his rich, mostly white, suburban high school, his conservative black church, or his Ivy League college in a big city—he found himself on the outside looking in.
In essays by turns hysterical and heartfelt, Thomas reexamines what it means to be an “other” through the lens of his own life experience. He explores the two worlds of his childhood: the barren urban landscape where his parents’ house was an anomalous bright spot, and the Eden-like school they sent him to in white suburbia. He writes about struggling to reconcile his Christian identity with his sexuality, the exhaustion of code-switching in college, accidentally getting famous on the internet (for the wrong reason), and the surreal experience of covering the 2016 election for Elle online, and the seismic changes that came thereafter. Ultimately, Thomas seeks the answer to these ever more relevant questions: Is the future worth it? Why do we bother when everything seems to be getting worse? As the world continues to shift in unpredictable ways, Thomas finds the answers to these questions by reenvisioning what “normal” means and in the powerful alchemy that occurs when you at last place yourself at the center of your own story.
Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15317492
Iocabani Book Club: The Hidden Life of Bees at Angelo M. Iacoboni Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for our monthly book club! This month we’ll be discussing The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Copies of the book will be available at the customer service desk. This program is for adults.
This title is also available in e-book format through Libby.
Where: Iacobani Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 4990 Clark Ave., Lakewood, CA 90712
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15537995
Lomita Book Club: Everything is Tuberculosis at Angelo M. Iacoboni Library, LACL – In-Person Event
This month we’ll explore Everything is Tuberculosis, by John Green. This nonfiction book explores how tuberculosis (TB), a curable bacterial infection, remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease. For adults.
Blending history, science, and personal reflection, Green shows how TB has shaped culture, medicine, and public health while also revealing how it continues to thrive where poverty, stigma, and unequal access to care exist.
For adults 18+.
Where: Lomita Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 24200 Narbonne Ave., Lomita, CA 90717
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/1539186
Hooked on Books Book Club: Happiness Falls at Quartz Hill Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us as we dive into Happiness Falls by Angie Kim. Copies are available at the Customer Service desk and newcomers are always welcome! For adults
“We didn’t call the police right away.” When Mia’s father doesn’t come home from a walk in the local nature reserve, she doesn’t think much of it. He must’ve turned off his phone. Or his battery died. Or he probably stopped for an errand-but doing what exactly? Soon more questions arise and it becomes clear to Mia and her family that he is missing. Or is he?
Where: Quartz Hill Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 5040 W. Ave M 2, Quartz Hill, CA 93536
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15481644
Pys-Sci Book Club: Eager at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb.
In Eager, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb reveals that our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is wrong, distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out millions of beavers from North America’s lakes and rivers. The consequences of losing beavers were profound: streams eroded, wetlands dried up, and species from salmon to swans lost vital habitat. Today, a growing coalition of “Beaver Believers”—including scientists, ranchers, and passionate citizens—recognizes that ecosystems with beavers are far healthier, for humans and non-humans alike, than those without them. From the Nevada deserts to the Scottish Highlands, Believers are now hard at work restoring these industrious rodents to their former haunts. Eager is a powerful story about one of the world’s most influential species, how North America was colonized, how our landscapes have changed over the centuries, and how beavers can help us fight drought, flooding, wildfire, extinction, and the ravages of climate change. Ultimately, it’s about how we can learn to coexist, harmoniously and even beneficially, with our fellow travelers on this planet.
Ben Goldfarb is an award-winning environmental journalist who covers wildlife conservation, marine science, and public lands management, as well as an accomplished fiction writer. His work has been featured in Science, Mother Jones, The Guardian, High Country News, VICE, Audubon Magazine, Modern Farmer, Orion, World Wildlife Magazine, Scientific American, Yale Environment 360, and many other publications. He holds a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and is a 2018 North American Congress for Conservation Biology journalist fellow.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-02-24/phy-sci-book-club-eager
Local Authors Meet-upat Underdog Bookstore, Monrovia– In-Person Event
At Underdog Bookstore we love supporting local authors on the shelves and at our signings and panels, but sometimes you just want to turn off the book selling brain and enjoy each other’s company instead.
We hope that these meetups will provide an opportunity to connect, collaborate, and spend time in community. Whether you’re self-published and new to the industry, or have trade tales to share from your experience in indie or major publishing—all writers are welcome here.
Our space is food, drink, and pet friendly, so feel free to bring your favorite refreshments and animal companions!
RSVP at website.
Where: Underdog Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 312 South Myrtle Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016
Mystery Book Club: Deal Breaker at Playa Vista Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben. All are welcome!
Where: Playa Vista Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 6400 Playa Vista Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90094
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-54
Triple Book Launch: Molly Davis Moon, Duncan Macleod, and Ingrid Clayton Present Their Books at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-PersonEvent
Join us to welcome Molly Davis Moon, Duncan Macleod, and Ingrid Clayton to present, sign, and discuss their books:
The Great All: A Parable of Hope, by Molly Davis Moon, is a guided tour of the highs and lows of human history, the awakening of the heart, and the promise of change. Through powerful, hand-drawn illustrations and allegorical storytelling, The Great All will show you the path for your own personal healing and serve as a guide to collective transformation. Along the way, this tale reflects the confusion of our times while pointing toward a deeper truth: that within each of us lies both the wound and the way forward. Follow the unfolding of love, struggle, and the dawning of hope in these illuminating pages.
Money Magic: Easy and Surprising Ways to Not Be Broke, by Duncan Macleod,
Fawning: Why the Need to Please Makes Us Lose Ourselves—and How to Find Our Way Back by Ingrid Calyton, a powerful guide introducing fawning, an often-overlooked piece of the fight-flight-freeze reaction to trauma, explains what it is, why it happens, and how to help survivors regain their voice and sense of self.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Sci-Fi Fantasy Book Club: Nettle & Bone or The Memory Police at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join us the Sci-fi Fantasy Book Club! To the Tolkien nerds, SJM stans, and R.F. Kuang enjoyers, this group is for you! On the fourth Tuesday of every month, we will come together and discuss a story that falls within the realms of either science fiction or fantasy (or sometimes both!). To join our emailing list, reach out to events@villagewell.com. Hope to see ya there!
NOTE: Check to verify book selection for discussion.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Tuesday the 24th
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 24th
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 14537 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Andrew Yang, with Rainn Wilson, & Hey Yang at Book Soup Off-site at Beverly Hills Library – In-Person Event
Andrew Yang, in conversation with Rainn Wilson, will discuss Hey Yang,Where’s My Thousand Bucks?: And Other True Stories of Staggering Depth.
In this candid, often hilarious collection of true stories, political trailblazer Andrew Yang examines America’s breakdown through the lens of his unexpected journey from entrepreneur to presidential candidate. Part political memoir, part comedy, and part interior monologue, Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks? captures the man’s unique ability to make complex ideas accessible and entertaining.
Check-in begins at 6 pm. Please arrive early for a good seat.
Note: Please RSVP at Eventbrite for this free event.
Where: (Book Soup Off-site) at Beverly Hills Public Library
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 444 N Rexford Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-02-24/andrew-yang-rainn-wilson
Dr. Marshall Runge & The Great Healthcare Disruption at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Dr. Marshall Runge, author of The Great Healthcare Disruption: Big Tech, Bold Policy and The Future of American Medicine, will speak about his new book.
Runge serves as Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Michigan. He recently retired as CEO of Michigan Medicine and has published widely in over 250 publications. He holds five patents for novel approaches to health care.
In The Great Healthcare Disruption, Dr. Marschall Runge—cardiologist, researcher, and CEO of Michigan Medicine—offers a gripping, insider’s look at the forces rapidly reshaping American healthcare. From artificial intelligence and retail medicine to revolutionary gene therapies and next-generation obesity drugs, this is your essential guide to the most significant transformation in medical care since the discovery of antibiotics.
Note: Please RSVP at site.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-02-24/dr-marshall-runge
Nonfiction Book Club at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
Our Nonfiction book club meets monthly, generally on the Fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm. We read nonfiction. Book selection is conducted via email prior to each meeting so that the following month’s book will be available at the preceding month’s meeting.
Facilitated by Maik Polak
Note: Please RSVP at site.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2026-02-24/nonfiction-book-club
The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert presents Ellen Webre – Online Zoom Event
Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert welcomes featured poet Ellen Webre.
Ellen Webre was born in Hong Kong and raised in Orange County. She has a Masters in Teaching for Secondary English from UCI, and has a BA in screenwriting at Chapman University. Ellen is a social media specialist and videographer for Moon Tide Press, the Two Idiots Peddling Poetry Reading in Orange, and The Definitive Soapbox in Long Beach. Her poetry largely explores the celestial and supernatural, myth, and folklore. She was published in Moon Tide Press’ DARK INK: A Horror Anthology and El Martillo Press anthology Look What I Did About Your Silence. She is the author of A Burning Lake of Paper Suns (Moon Tide Press).
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday, the 24th
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.
Semi-Finals Bout #2, DPL SLAM Team
Featuring: Sumbodies Mama: Jesica “Sumbodies Mama” Blando
$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 24th
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.
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 25th
Time: 9 am – 10 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
Mystery Book Group: Raven Black at Once Upon a Tume, Montrose – In-Person Event
Start your morning with a lively discussion of Ann Cleeves’s Raven Black!
This book was the basis for the hit series “Shetland” now airing on PBS.
Winner of Britain’s coveted Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award, Ann Cleeves’s Raven Black introduces a dazzling suspense series to U.S. mystery readers.
It is a cold January morning and Shetland lies beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter’s eye is drawn to a splash of color on the frozen ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbor, Catherine Ross.
The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man—loner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when detective Jimmy Perez and his colleagues from the mainland insist on opening out the investigation, a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherine’s neighbors nervously lock their doors, while a killer lives on in their midst.
Ann Cleeves is the multi-million copy bestselling author behind three hit television series—Shetland, starring Douglas Henshall, Vera, starring Academy Award Nominee Brenda Blethyn, and The Long Call, starring Ben Aldridge—all of which are watched and loved in the United States. All three are available on BritBox.
Whether you loved it, hated it, or haven’t finished it, we want to see you at our Mystery Book Group at America’s Oldest Children’s Bookstore!
We will be meeting to discuss the book outside of the shop in the circle bench in front of Star Cafe, as weather permits.
Books are available in print in-store or online, and when possible as an e-book and a digital audiobook.
We also recommend grabbing a tea or coffee with sweet cream from Black Cow Cafe.
Note: Please RSVP at site.
Where: Once Upon a Time, Montrose
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 9 am – 10 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/2026-02-25/mystery-book-group-raven-black-ann-cleeves
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 25th
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: On-air Event
Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/
Iacobaoni Book Club: The Secret Life of Bees at Iocaboni Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us in reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Copies of the book will be available at the customer service desk. This program is for adults.
This title is also available in e-book format through Libby.
Where: Iocoboni Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 4990 Clark Ave., Lakewood, CA 90712
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15537997
Good Trouble Reading Group: Earth Prayers at Edendale Branch Library, LAPL – Online Zoom Event
This month we’ll discuss a selection of poems from the anthology Earth Prayers: Encounters in Poetry with the Natural World, edited by former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Carol Ann Duffy.
These hundred poems span from past centuries to the present day, and even the earliest ones reveal a concern for the welfare of our planet. From John Clare to Lucille Clifton to Kathleen Jamie, these poets speak as stewards and ambassadors of the earth, in anger at those who would exploit nature, or to question their own part in its decline. And the earth speaks back: in Stephanie Pruitt’s ‘Mississippi Gardens’ the soil bears witness to the worst of human history, while in ‘Poem’ Jorie Graham relays the earth’s plea: ‘remember me’. Duffy brings poets from ages past into conversation with contemporary voices writing into the environmental crisis, and through this dialogue sounds the call to cherish and defend the planet while we can.
Email eden@lapl.org for the reading selection and the Zoom link to attend.
Where: Edendale Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/good-trouble-reading-group-earth-prayers
Sci-Fi Book Club: 1984 by George Orwell at Van Nuys Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join our Science Fiction Book Club where author George Orwell’s 1984 will be discussed. Copies are available from the Library Cybernaught.
Synopsis: Big Brother is watching you. The Party rules supreme. What happens when Winston Smith, a civil servant working for the Ministry of Truth, begins a forbidden love affair and questions the supremacy of Big Brother?
Where: Van Nuys Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 6250 Sylmar Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91401
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/sci-fi-book-club-1984-george-orwell
Book Club: Maid for Each Other at El Monte Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Bibliophiles are welcomed! Join us each month for a facilitated discussion of fiction and non-fiction titles. A limited number of copies are available for book club attendees at the library. Light refreshments will be served. For adults.
Our Book Club meets on the last Wednesday of every month.
February’s Book Pick is Maid For Each Other by Lynn Painter
A broke college student takes a job as a maid and ends up working for a guy who annoys her as much as he intrigues her. As their clashing personalities lead to unexpected chemistry, they’re pushed into a situation where they have to rely on each other—whether they like it or not.
A small number of copies will be available for checkout on January 28, 2026
Where: El Monte Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 3224 Tyler Ave., El Monte, CA 91731
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15165996
Book Club: The Guncle at Valley Plaza Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a lively literary discussion at our book club for adults! New members are always welcome. You may check out the book (or e-book) for free with your library card. Copies are also available at the Valley Plaza Library Circulation Desk.
February 25: The Guncle by Steven Rowley
Where: Valley Plaza Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 12311 Vanowen St., North Hollywood, CA 91605
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-9
Mystery & Thriller Book Club: First Lie Wins at Studio City Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us on the last Wednesday of every month for our Mystery & Thriller book club!
Upcoming meeting:
February (2/25) – First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-thriller-book-club
Romantasy Book Club: Wooing the Witch Queen at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis. Copies available at Customer Service. For adults.
After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, Saskia only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the empire next door. For that, she needs to spend time experimenting with her spells. She definitely doesn’t have time to bring order to her chaotic library of magic. When a mysterious dark wizard arrives at her castle, Saskia hires him as her new librarian on the spot. “Fabian” is sweet and a little nerdy, but he’s getting the job done. And if he writes her flirtatious poetry and his innocent touch makes her skin singe, well…Little does Saskia know that the “wizard” she’s falling for is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise, with no magical training whatsoever. On the run, with perilous secrets on his trail and a fast growing yearning for the wicked sorceress, he’s in danger from her enemies and her newfound allies, too.
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15481666
Blair Glaser, with Suzanna Weiss, & This Incredible Longing at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-PersonEvent
Join us to welcome Blair Glaser to the store to discuss and sign This Incredible Longing. Joining her in conversation will be Suzannah Weiss.
This Incredible Longing: Finding My Self in a Near-Cult Experience is a memoir about devotion, discernment, and the complicated beauty of spiritual seeking.
Blair Glaser thoughtfully stepped onto a path promising peace and purpose when she found Siddha Yoga, a movement led by a charismatic Indian guru and shaped by a community that would later be called a high-control group. Within the ashram’s structure, she discovered confidence, calm, and belonging she’d never known.
But when the guru returned to India, cracks began to show. Blair’s depression resurfaced. Hypocrisies emerged. A looming exposé of the heinous truths about Gurumayi and her teacher, her parents’ intervention, and a flicker of envy sparked by a “Friends” episode created a reckoning she could no longer ignore.
This Incredible Longing is a story about the willingness to seek, and how looking for oneself by idealizing another human is simultaneously thrilling and dangerous. It is a story of awakening without bitterness that explores the fine line between transformation and entrapment, and the strength it takes to walk away with both eyes open.
Blair Glaser, MA, is a writer and executive leadership consultant with bylines in the Los Angeles Times, Longreads, Quartz, The Times of Higher Ed, and HuffPost and others, as well as literary magazines such as Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, Brevity, and The Mantlepiece. Glaser lives with her husband and dog-ter, Vanna White, in Venice.
Suzannah Weiss is a sexologist, psychotherapist, and author of Subjectified: Becoming a Sexual Subject and Eve’s Blessing: Uncovering the Lost Pleasure Behind Female Pain.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore (in the courtyard)
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-02-25/blair-glaser-discusses-and-signs-incredible-longing
Shut Up and Write in Los Feliz at Big Bar, The Alcove – In-Person Event
Join Los Feliz writers again every Wednesday to WRITE | HANG | REPEAT at Big Bar, The Alcove in Los Feliz, every Wednesday evening in February (on the 4th, 11th, 18th & 25th).
All writing levels and forms are welcome.
Where: Big Bar, The Alcove
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 6:45 pm – 8:15 pm
Address: 1929 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz, CA 90027
Website: https://www.instagram.com
RECESS Open Mic: PUA Turns 8 at SIPA HQ, Palms Up Academy – In-Person Event
RECESS Open Mic is at SIPA HQ on Wednesdays.
Come celebrate 8 years of RECESS Mic! There wit be a roster of special performances this year in #HistoricFilipinotown.
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 25th
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
At Skylight: Toni Ann Johnson, with Karen Grigsby Bates, & But Where’s Home? at Skylight – In-Person Event
Toni Ann Johnson, in conversation with Karen Grigsby Bated, will discuss But Where’s Home?
It’s 1963 in the small town of Monroe, New York. The Arringtons, a Black family, buy a house in a picturesque, all-white neighborhood. Some residents are welcoming, but many react to Dr. Philip Arrington, his wife Velma, and their daughters Livia and Maddie by conspiring against their success in both big and small ways. Amid this mix of hostility and shaky acceptance, the Arringtons must navigate their careers, deal with a volatile marriage, and raise their daughters.
But Where’s Home?, Toni Ann Johnson’s new collection of linked short stories explores the sometimes painful and often humorous experiences of the Arringtons as an upper-middle-class Black family in a predominantly white, working-class community. This book follows Johnson’s previous collection, Light Skin Gone to Waste, which won the 2021 Flannery O’Connor Award. Through multiple perspectives and moments in time, from the 1960s to 2022, readers are invited into the lives of the eldest daughter, who longs for her father’s affection while striving for independence; the youngest daughter, who seeks to overcome childhood pain through music and love; a father practicing psychology while engaging in affairs with the white women of the town; and a mother dealing with infidelity while raising her daughters in a place that rejects them.
Deeply emotional, funny, and unflinchingly honest, But Where’s Home? lays bare the realities of Black life in America, challenging readers to confront racism, classism, colonized thinking, narcissism, abuse, and troubled parent-child relationships. Johnson’s complex and interwoven characters create a kaleidoscope of truths about human nature and race relations in the United States.
Toni Ann Johnson won the Flannery O’Connor Award for her linked story collection, Light Skin Gone to Waste, which was selected for the prize and edited by Roxane Gay. The book was also a finalist for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work and a finalist for the Saroyan Prize. Homegoing, Johnson’s first book about the Arrington family, from Light Skin Gone to Waste, was released in 2021 after winning Accents Publishing’s inaugural novella contest, judged by Katerina Stoykova. Her new linked collection, a continuation of the Arringtons’ story, But Where’s Home? was selected by Crystal Wilkinson as the winner of the 2024 Screen Door Press Prize for fiction.
Karen Grigsby Bates is a founding member of Code Switch, NPR’s award-winning podcast on race and identity. She’s also the co-author of Basic Back: Home Training For Modern Times, a best-selling etiquette book, and two mystery novels. She’s currently writing a third novel about Black college students in the 1970s.
Where: Skylight
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Antiko: Year of the Woman Magazine Release at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event
Celebrate our first issue of Antiko; Year of the Woman Magazine.
Where: Stories Books & Café
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1716 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://storiesla.com/events/4648120260225
Vroman’s Fiction Reading Group: Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta at Vroman’s, Pasadena – In-Person Event
The Vroman’s Fiction Reading Group explores contemporary fiction—long and short—from a diverse selection of writers. Enjoy lively discussions at our one-hour meetings. Our Fiction Reading Group is free and inclusive—there are no requirements nor criteria to join. We announce upcoming titles 3-6 months in advance and choose titles that are available in paperback. Drop by our next meeting!
February’s pick is Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham.
Fiction Reading Group meetings are held inside Vroman’s Bookstore on the second floor in the event space.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E, Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-02-25/vromans-fiction-reading-group
Fundraiser Event: Monsters Against Ice at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Join Romantasy Deep Dives co-hoss Natalie Jean and Jackie Zebrowski for their show Monsters Against Ice.
Proceeds form this show will be donated to Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and include a voucher for Ripped Bodice merch.
SEE SITE FOR TICKETS & FUTHER DETAILS.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Wednesday the 25th
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodice.com/events-and-tickets
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 — Art.Us Mansoir;
- 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 25th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 4321 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Story Salon at Art Parlor: California in Valley Village – In-Person & Virtual Hybrid Event
Los Angeles’s longest running storytelling venue is now a hybrid event!
An alternative to stand-up clubs + self-conscious performance spaces
Story Salon challenges you all to tell stories in 90 seconds! Can you do it? If you can, join us!
Tickets can be purchased early with the link in bio or at storysalon.com.
Theme: TBA
Where: Art Parlor
Date: Wednesday the 25th
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 25th
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 Guest Giovanni Boskovich at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Host Ben Trigg welcomes Giovanni Boskovich for a reading and open mic.
Giovanni Boskovich is a poet and educator born and raised in San Pedro, California. He holds an MA in Literature from California State University Dominguez Hills where he published a thesis on Emily Dickinson. His work has appeared in California Quarterly, Arteidolia Press, the Santa Barbara Literary Journal, Big Windows Review, POETICA REVIEW, Broken Lens Journal, Blue Press UK (forthcoming), and Five Nine (forthcoming). His first full-length poetry collection, The Tautology of Water, is now available via Moon Tide Press. In his free time, he surfs anywhere from Cabrillo Beach to Topanga.
$5 cover fee, cash only
$5 cover fee, cash only
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday, the 25th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: https://www.facebook.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.
Francesca Lia Block is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association, and from the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, and PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY. Currently she teaches creative writing at UCLA Extension, Antioch University, Pocket MFA, and numerous workshops across the country. Francesca also edits LIT ANGELS, a literary journal available on Substack. Her latest novel is House of Hearts now out in paperback. https://www.francescaliablock.com/
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
Afternoon Book Club: Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History at Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for this community led book discussion of Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History by Moudhy Al-Rashid. For adults.
In Between Two Rivers, thousands of years ago, in a part of the world we now call ancient Mesopotamia, people began writing things down for the very first time. What they left behind, in a vast region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, preserves leaps in human ingenuity, like the earliest depiction of a wheel and the first approximation of pi. But they also capture breathtakingly intimate, raw, and relatable moments, like a dog’s paw prints as it accidentally stepped into fresh clay, or the imprint of a child’s teeth. In Between Two Rivers, historian Dr. Moudhy Al-Rashid reveals what these ancient people chose to record about their lives, allowing us to brush hands with them millennia later. We find a lullaby to soothe a baby, instructions for exorcising a ghost, countless receipts for beer, and the messy writing of preschoolers. We meet an enslaved person negotiating their freedom, an astronomer tracing the movement of the planets, a princess who may have created the world’s first museum, and a working mother struggling with “the juggle” in 1900 BCE.
Where: Culver City Julian Dixon Branch Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 12 pm
Address: 4975 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15353753
Marina Del Rey Book Club: Remarkably Bright Creatures at Lloyd Taber Marina Del Rey Library, LACL – In-Person Event
This month, we’ll explore Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. The story follows Tova Sullivan who works the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium and forms a remarkable friendship with a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus. For adults,
Where: Marina Del Rey Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 4533 Admiralty Way, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15516301
Eagle Rock Book Club: Red at the Bone at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
The Eagle Rock Book Club explores both acclaimed newer books and rediscovered classics of the past.
The selection for February is Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson. This book tells the story of two families from different social classes who are joined together by an unexpected pregnancy and the child that it produces. Moving forward and backward in time, this novel uncovers the role that history and community have played in the experiences, decisions, and relationships of these families and in the life of this child.
The library will have copies to check out or check our e-media page for electronic access on Libby and hoopla.
Please bring book suggestions for future meetings.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 5027 Caspar Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90041
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/eagle-rock-book-club-7
An Evening of Poetry: Book Launch of Susan Briante’s13 Questions for the Next Economy at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Join us for an evening of poetry with: Susan Briante, Raquel Guitierrez, and Gabrielle Civil, to celebrate the launch of Susan Briante’s new book 13 Questions for the Next Economy.
Susan Briante is the author most recently of Defacing the Monument, a series of essays on immigration, archives, aesthetics and the state, winner of the Poetry Foundation’s Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism in 2021. In a starred review, Publisher’s Weekly calls the collection “a superb examination of the ethical issues facing artists who tell others’ stories” and a “dazzlingly inventive and searching text.” Her newest collection, 13 Questions for the Next Economy, gathers selections from her three previous books of poetry—Pioneers in the Study of Motion, Utopia Minus, and The Market Wonders—as well as new poems, prose, and images.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Raquel Gutiérrez is a critic, essayist, poet, performer, and educator. Gutiérrez’s first book Brown Neon (Coffee House Press) was named as one of the best books of 2022 by The New Yorker and listed in The Best Art Books of 2022 by Hyperallergic. Brown Neon was a 2023 Finalist for the Lambda Literary Prize for Best Lesbian Biography/Memoir, a 2023 Finalist for the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses’ Firework Award in Creative Nonfiction and Recipient of The Publishing Triangle Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction. They are a 2025 recipient of the United States Artist Fellowship and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Fellowship in Poetry. Their first poetry collection, Southwest Reconstruction, was published December 2, 2025, on Noemi Press. Gutiérrez has lived on unceded lands of the Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui people since 2016.
Gabrielle Civil is a black feminist performance artist, originally from Detroit, MI. She has premiered over 40 original solo and collaborative performance works around the world.
Recent works include “…hewn & forged…” at the Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival (2016); “_______ is the thing with feathers” at “Call & Response: Experiments in Joy” (2014); “Say My Name” (an action for 270 abducted Nigerian girls)” (2014); and “Fugue (Da, Montréal),” at the Hemispheric Institute Encuentro (2014). Her writing has appeared in Small Axe, Obsidian, Asterix, Rain Taxi, and other publications. Her performance memoir, Swallow the Fish was published by Civil Coping Mechanisms Press in 2017 and her second book Experiments in Joy was released February 15, 2019.
RSVP at website.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-02-19/new-year-new-books-2026-pen-america-members-event
Between the Lines Book Club: The Berry Pickers at Castaic Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us as we harvest insights from Amanda Peter’s The Berry Pickers. Copies are available at the Customer Service desk and newcomers are always welcome! For adults
A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a mystery that will haunt the survivors, unravel a family, and remain unsolved for nearly fifty years.
Where: Castaic Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 27971 Sloan Canyon Rd., Castaic, CA 91384
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15481682
Marina Del Rey Book Club: Remarkably Bright Creatures at Lloyd Taber Marina Del Rey Library, LACL – In-Person Event
This month, we’ll explore Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. The story follows Tova Sullivan who works the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium and forms a remarkable friendship with a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus. For adults,
Where: Marina Del Rey Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 4533 Admiralty Way, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15516302
Story Crafters Book Club: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks at South Whittier Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Ready to bring your favorite stories to life? Join our unique book club where we turn literary inspiration into tangible art! For Adults.
Dive into a compelling new book each month and join us for a lively discussion and social chat about the plot, themes, and characters. While we talk, we’ll complete a fun, themed art or craft project inspired by the book. No experience necessary—just come ready to chat and create! All materials will be provided.
Check-out your copy of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot at the Reference Desk.
Where: South Whittier Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 11543 Colima Rd., Whittier, CA 90604
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15607653
ADAPTATION Book Club: Emma Book and Film Discussion at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss Emma by Jane Austin, the 200th Anniversary Annotated Edition.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 24th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-02-26/adaptation-book-club-emma-book-and-film-discussion
LA Poet Society Presents: Live Poetic! via Online Zoom Event
LA Poet Society offers a new Live Poetic! event every 4th Thursday of the month at 6 pm via Zoom online.
Features guests:
Pogo Saito is a performer, writer and visual artist who spent 18 years as a touring storyteller with the Los Angeles based, We Tell Stories and is an Associate Artist with Theater Movement Bazaar. Ms. Saito was honored by The Pacificus Foundation for her plays and poems and was most recently published in The Coiled Serpent anthology of Los Angeles Poets.
Sean Hill is the author of Dangerous Goods and Blood Ties & Brown Liquor, and the forthcoming collection, The Negroes Send Their Love. His poems have appeared in Callaloo, Harvard Review, The Oxford American, Poetry, Tin House, and numerous other journals, and in several anthologies including Black Nature and Villanelles. Hill lives in southwestern Montana with his family and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Montana.
AC N/A
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event Zoom: 81025552763
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Writer’s Block: Creative Writing & Meaningful Connection at Octavia’s Bookshelf, Pasadena – In-Person Event
CALLING ALL CREATIVE WRITERS!!
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: Thursday the 26th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1353 North Hill Ave., Pasadena, CA 91104
Cookies & Comics Graphic Novel Book Club: Absolute Batman Vol. 1 via Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event
Do you love graphic novels? Then this is the club for you!
This month’s title is Absolute Batman Vol. 1 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta. A gang of masked killers terrorizes the streets of Gotham. A vigilante fights for his city, but he’s not the Batman you know. The Absolute Universe, born out of the Justice League’s apocalyptic battle with Darkseid, ushers in a set of brand-new realities that reimagine your favorite heroes as you’ve never seen them before. In Absolute Batman, meet a young Bruce Wayne with no Wayne Manor, no Alfred by his side, and a different axe to grind as the Dark Knight.
You can grab this title on hoopla with your library card.
RSVP:
To request the meeting link and be added to the monthly mailing list, email wwood@lapl.org.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/cookies-comics-graphic-novel-book-club-0
Book Launch: Sew Nostalgic by Kelsey Swarthout at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join us for the launch of viral designer Kelsey Swarthout’s Sew Nostalgic!
A book signing and audience Q&A with Sew Nostalgic author Kelsey Swarthout! Kelsey will chat about her creative journey, share behind-the-scenes stories from her viral designs (like designing for Dancing with the Stars!), and answer audience questions about turning nostalgia into wearable art. She can bring in several designs as well, including ones from the book and her most viral pieces.
Get your tickets at website!
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://villagewell.com
Scott Meslow & A Place Both Wonderful and Strange at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Scott Meslow will discuss A Place Both Wonderful and Strange: The Extraordinary Untold History of Twin Peaks.
For the first time, the complete history of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks—from the landmark, original cult series that changed the course of television to its 25-years-in-the-making sequel—is told through fascinatingly detailed reporting and exclusive interviews with the show’s cast and creators.
From its start, when studio executives drafted a plan to recoup costs after what they predicted would be the series’ inevitable failure, to the 1992 prequel movie that earned scathing reviews at Cannes, to its unexpected and acclaimed return some twenty-five years later, Twin Peaks garnered millions of devoted fans who refused to let it die.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 8818 W. Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-02-26/scott-meslow
Kim Samek, with Steph Cha, & I Am the Ghost Here at Skylight – In-Person Event
Kim Samek, in conversation with Steph Cha, will discuss I Am the Ghost Here.
Twelve women confront the mounting existential terrors of modern life in this absurd, wryly hilarious debut story collection.
A woman’s limbs disappear into “the cloud” during wildfire-induced power outages. A lonely DoorDasher accidentally becomes the star of someone else’s reality show, forced to resolve her fraught relationship with her immigrant mother for the narrative. Succumbing to a widely denied pandemic, a gymnastics coach must carry her heart around in a Mason jar, using her disability to become an influencer. Two chronically single, chronically ill people become soulmates, only to discover their meeting was algorithmically orchestrated by ad tech. Other dramas unfold as icebergs melt and island-sized trash heaps burn.
Threaded with sharp social commentary, these stories question the engineering of human connection through technology, social media, and reality television. Warm, endlessly strange, and filled with dark yet hopeful humor, I Am the Ghost Here casts familiar crises of contemporary life in a wholly unique light, offering a pathway towards our shared humanity even as reality comes crumbling down.
Kim Samek is a half-Thai Emmy-nominated writer and television producer whose credits include MTV’s Catfish and PBS’s WordGirl. She studied German literature and creative writing at Stanford University. Her stories have appeared in Guernica, Ecotone, Electric Literature, North American Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, swamp pink, Gulf Coast, Southern Humanities Review, The Threepenny Review, Story, and ZYZZYVA. Her short fiction has won a Pushcart Prize. A native of Seattle, she lives in Los Angeles.
Steph Cha is the author of four novels, including Your House Will Pay, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the California Book Award, and the Juniper Song Mysteries. She’s a critic whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, where she served as noir editor, and she is the current series editor of the Best American Mystery and Suspense anthology. She also writes for television and is the co-creator of the series Butterfly.
Where: Skylight
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-kim-samek-presents-i-am-ghost-here-w-steph-cha
Tia Chucha’s Book Club: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us for the first two book club sessions of 2026! On February 26th, we will be meeting to discuss Omar El Akkad’s One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This.
On March 26th, we will be meeting to discuss Stealing Home: Los Angeles, The Dodgers, And The Lives Caught In Between.
Feel free to stop by and join us in person! No registration is required & having finished the book is not required to join the session!
Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Unquiet: A Night of Creative Resistance: Poetry & Art Show at The Glendale Room – In-Person Event
A night of poetry and art that confronts, resists silence and reimagines the world.
Where: The Glendale Room
Date: Thursday the 26th
Time: 8 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 127 Artsakh Ave., Glendale, CA 91206
Website: https://www.theglendaleroom.com/calendar
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 27th
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 27th
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/2026-02-27/weekly-pj-story-time
Horror Book Club: One of Us at Compton Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss One of Us by Dan Chaono. To borrow a print copy of the books, please contact the Compton Library directly. For Ages 18+
Do you find yourself attracted to the strange and unusual? Do you enjoy what others may find frightening? If so, join the Horror Book Club where each month, we’ll provide you with diverse horror authors and titles to discuss with people who enjoy the same genre as you.
Follows orphaned, telepathic twins, Bolt and Eleanor, fleeing their murderous, con-man uncle in 1915 America, finding refuge and a strange family within the fantastical, traveling “Emporium of Wonders” circus run by Mr. Jengling, while exploring themes of identity, belonging, and the blurred lines between the normal and the monstrous as they navigate their unique bond and the cruel, wondrous world of sideshows and the afterlife.
Attendance is limited, and advance registration is required. This will be used to save your spot in the program. We cannot guarantee availability for any unregistered adult. To sign up, see library staff, or register online.
Where: Compton Library, LACL
Date: Friday the 27th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 240 W. Compton Blvd., Compton, CA 90220
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15607660
WeHo Sci-Fi Book Club: Dawn at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Are you a fan of robots, aliens, dystopian worlds, or science gone astray? If so, join the WeHo Sci-Fi Book Club! We’ll supply copies of the book a month in advance, meet every month, and dive deep into discussion about the reading! For adults.
For this month’s meeting, we’ll be reading: Dawn (book one of Lilith’s Brood; aka The Xenogenesis Series) by Octavia E. Butler.
Please contact the library to get a print copy of the book. No registration required.
For adults.
Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL
Date: Friday the 27th
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: 625 N San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15519051
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 27th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://shop.villagewell.com
Poetry Reading And Spoken Word Open Mic at Bookman Bookstore, Orange – In-Person Event
Poetry readings and spoken word are offered at an Open Mic event held every 4th Friday of the month at Bookman.
All are welcome.
Where: Bookman Bookstore
Date: Friday the 27th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 320 E. Katella Ave., Suite M, Orange, CA 92867
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Black Lit Book Club: This Motherless Land at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us to discuss This Motherless Land: A Novelby Nikki May.
Quiet Funke is happy in Nigeria. She loves her art teacher mother, her professor father, and even her annoying little brother (most of the time). But when tragedy strikes, she’s sent to England, a place she knows only from her mother’s stories. To her dismay, she finds the much-lauded estate dilapidated, the food tasteless, the weather grey. Worse still, her mother’s family are cold and distant. With one exception: her cousin Liv.
Free-spirited Liv has always wanted to break free of her joyless family. She becomes fiercely protective of her little cousin, and her warmth and kindness give Funke a place to heal. The two girls grow into adulthood the closest of friends.
But the choices their mothers made haunt Funke and Liv and when a second tragedy occurs their friendship is torn apart. Against the long shadow of their shared family history, each woman will struggle to chart a path forward, separated by country, misunderstanding, and ambition.
Moving between Somerset and Lagos over the course of two decades, This Motherless Land is a sweeping examination of identity, culture, race, and love that asks how we find belonging and whether a family’s generational wrongs can be righted.
Born in Bristol and raised in Lagos, Nikki May is Anglo-Nigerian. Her critically acclaimed debut novel Wahala won the Comedy Women In Print New Voice Prize, was longlisted for the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award and the Diverse Books Award and is being turned into a major BBC TV drama series. Nikki lives in Dorset with her husband, two standard Schnauzers and way too many books. She should be working on her next book but is probably reading.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Friday the 27th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-02-27/black-lit-book-club-motherless-land
Romance Book Club: Ne’er Duke Well at Chevalier’s Books – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti.
In this steamy Regency romp, Lady Selina is determined to find the Duke of Stanhope the perfect wife—the only problem is she’s starting to think that might be her.
Peter Kent—newly inherited Duke of Stanhope and recently of New Orleans, Louisiana—must become respectable. Between his radical politics and the time, he interrupted a minor royal wedding with a flock of sheep—not his fault!—he’s developed a scandalous reputation at odds with his goal of becoming guardian to his half siblings. For help, he turns to the cleverest and most managing woman of his acquaintance, Lady Selina Ravenscroft.
Selina is society’s most proper debutante, save one tiny secret: she runs an erotic circulating library for women. When Peter asks for her help, she suggests courtship and marriage to a lady of unimpeachable reputation. (Which is to say, definitely not herself.)
But matchmaking doesn’t go according to plan. Peter’s siblings run rampant on Bond Street. Selina ends up in the Serpentine. And worst of all, the scorching chemistry between Peter and Selina proves impossible to resist. For the disreputable duke and his unpredictable matchmaker, falling in love just might be the ultimate scandal.
Alexandra Vasti is a British literature professor by day and USA Today bestselling romance writer by night. After finishing her PhD at Columbia University, she moved to New Orleans with her family. Her books have been featured in The New York Times, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, and elsewhere.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Friday the 27th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-02-27/romance-book-club
Paperback Book Launch: Erin Crosby Eckstine & Junie at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join us for the paperback launch of Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine, in conversation with Linda H. Codega.
Reserve your spot at website!
In Junie, sixteen years old and enslaved since she was born, Junie has spent her life on Bellereine Plantation in Alabama, cooking and cleaning alongside her family, and tending to the white master’s daughter, Violet. Her daydreams are filled with poetry and faraway worlds, while she spends her nights secretly roaming through the forest, consumed with grief over the sudden death of her older sister, Minnie.
When wealthy guests arrive from New Orleans, hinting at marriage for Violet and upending Junie’s life, she commits a desperate act—one that rouses Minnie’s spirit from the grave, tethered to this world unless Junie can free her. She enlists the aid of Caleb, the guests’ coachman, and their friendship soon becomes something more. Yet as long-held truths begin to crumble, she realizes Bellereine is harboring dark and horrifying secrets that can no longer be ignored.
With time ticking down, Junie begins to push against the harsh current that has controlled her entire life. As she grapples with an increasingly unfamiliar world in which she has little control, she is forced to ask herself: When we choose love and liberation, what must we leave behind?
Erin Crosby Eckstine is an author of speculative historical fiction, personal essays, and anything else she’s in the mood for. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Eckstine grew up between the South and Los Angeles before moving to New York City to attend Barnard College. She earned a master’s in secondary English education from Stanford University and taught high school English for six years. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their cats.
Linda H. Codega is a writer, author, and award-winning entertainment journalist who has written about science fiction and fantasy media for nearly ten years. In 2024 they co-founded the tabletop roleplaying game news site Rascal News. They are the author of Motheater (2025) and Pasha the storm (June 2026). They were the writers’ assistant for Interview with the Vampire Season 3/The Vampire Lestat. They currently live in Los Angeles with their dog, Zigzag, after ten years in New York (but not in the city). They are transgender and nonbinary and use they/them pronouns.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Friday the 27th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://villagewell.com
Triptych: Reading Series by Shy Watson at Stories Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Join us for the Triptych Rading Series with Shy Watson.
Where: Stories Books & Coffee
Date: Friday the 27th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1716 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.storiesla.com/events/4256220260227
Michiko Aoyama & Hot Chocolate on Thursday at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Michiko Aoyama will discuss and sign Hot Chocolate on Thursday.
Across a bridge in a quiet neighborhood in Tokyo, a seasonal cherry blossom sits on the river. Nearby is the Marble Cafe, where a woman writes in a notebook and a young waiter prepares her favorite hot drink. Both wonder about each other and about the other lives of the clientele who frequent this charming little cafe behind the trees.
Without even realizing it, we may touch and change someone else’s life.
Taking a walk along the river, cooking the best tamagoyaki, ordering hot chocolate, forgetting to remove our nail polish…The small, everyday acts that we do can lead to unexpected encounters, reverberate far beyond our own circle, and ultimately make a difference in the world around us.
Hot Chocolate on Thursday is a tapestry of slice-of-life moments that each open and close with a woman ordering her regular hot chocolate at the mysterious Marble Cafe. What happens in between will touch and swell your heart, as we connect with a community of untold unfolding lives.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Friday the 27th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-02-27/michiko-aoyama
Woke in a World: Poetry Performance by Alyesha Wise, featuring Muki Brewster & My Older Brother, A Famous Rapper at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us for a curated poetry performance by the author, poet, educator, and speaker, Alyesha Wise. Woke in a World is a never-before-seen showcase of storytelling and select poems from Wise’s latest collection, My Older Brother, A Famous Rapper.
My Older Brother, A Famous Rapper is a “memoir in verse” that uses hip-hop as a framework to discuss pain, resilience, and the search for connection, blending personal narrative with social commentary on issues like justice reform and toxic masculinity. It explores themes of family, identity, and healing through raw, personal stories inspired by her relationship with her older brother.
Alyesha Wise is an award-winnning, published poet, educator and speaker from Camden, N.J. Currently residing in LA, she is the Director of Programming for Street Poets, Inc., an organization mostly serving injustice-impacted youth with mentorship and arts programming. Alyesha has been featured on platforms and in publications such as OWN TV, BET, LA Times, Bustle, Afropunk, PBS, Buzzfeed and more. Other collabs include the ACLU, The Shabazz Center, The Nantucket Project, Brave New Films and the Google Interstellar Project. Ron Howard once wrote about Alyesha’s work, “Very Powerful.” My Older Brother, A Famous Rapper, is Alyesha’s latest book of poetry, released in fall 2025 by El Martillo Press.
Muki Brewster is a musician, singer, and songwriter.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Friday, the 27th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Event Launch: Semillas Open Mic: Featuring Ceasar K. Avelar & Monica Salazar at La Colmena Co-Op, Santa Ana – In-Person Event
Join us for the first Semillas Open Mic at La Calmena in Santa Ana, Come and join us for a noche de poesía with community.
An open mic for expression of English, Spanish, or Spanglish nature.
Ceasar K. Avelar is the author of God of The Air Hose And Other Blue Collar Poems, published by El Martillo Press, and served as the 2nd Poet Laureate of the City of Pomona. Avelar is also the founder and host of Obsidian Tongues, a community-rooted open mic that helps poetry thrive in Pomona.
Monica Salazar is a writer and journalist interested in amplifying stories from immigrant and marginalized communities. For the past two years she has volunteered for the Portland based nonprofit The Immigrant Story, and is working as writer and producer for its podcast, Many Roads to Here.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: La Calmena Co-Op
Date: Friday, the 27th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 1901 W. Walnut St., Santa Ana, CA 92703
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Monthly Reading Series at Heavy Manners Library, Los Angeles – In-Person Event
This Friday is a monthly reading series hosted by Los Angeles writers Ruby Zuckerman and Evan Laffer. Conceptualized as a literary, non-denominational Sabbath, This Friday brings writers and readers across disciplines to gather around a table, share bread and wine, and consider the week in light of the eternal.
Chris Kraus is a writer and critic. She studied acting and spent almost two decades making performances and experimental films in New York before moving to Los Angeles where she began writing. Her novels include Aliens & Anorexia, I Love Dick, Torpor, and Summer of Hate. She has published three books of cultural criticism—Video Green: Los Angeles Art and the Triumph of Nothingness, Where Art Belongs, and Social Practices. I Love Dick was adapted for television and she is also the author of the literary biography After Kathy Acker. A former Guggenheim Fellow, Kraus held the Mary Routt Chair of Writing at Scripps College in 2019 and was Writer-in-Residence at ArtCenter College between 2020–2024. She has written for various magazines and has been a coeditor of the independent press Semiotext(e) since 1990. Her work has been praised for its damning intelligence, vulnerability, and dazzling speed and has been translated into seventeen languages. She lives in Los Angeles.
Born in Rabat, Morocco, Hedi El Kholti moved to Los Angeles in 1992, working in the film industry for several years before earning a BFA degree at Art Center College of Design. Over the years he developed an intimate collage practice that materialized in a series of books and smaller fanzines.
Taylor Lewandowski N/A
David Trinidad is a poet and the author of Pavane, published in 1981. The Los Angeles Times Book Review noted that Trinidad’s “voice has assurance and integrity.” In the early 1980s, Trinidad was one of a group of poets who were active at the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice, California. Other members of this group included Dennis Cooper, Bob Flanagan, Amy Gerstler, Jack Skelley, and Ed Smith.[2] As editor of Sherwood Press, he published books by Cooper, Flanagan, Gerstler, Tim Dlugos, Alice Notley, and others.[3] In 1988, Trinidad relocated to New York City. He received his Master of Fine Arts from Brooklyn College in 1990. He taught at Rutgers University and The New School. In 2002, Trinidad moved to Chicago to teach at Columbia College. His personal papers are archived at Fales Library at New York University.
Payson Whitwell is known as an Actor and Writer. Some of their work includes Harpies.
Sophia El Fraga is an interdisciplinary artist known for her experimental approach to language. She has exhibited or performed at the MOCA, Los Angeles, CA; MoMA PS1’s “Greater New York,” New York, NY; Camden Arts Center, UK; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, CH; and PERFORMA15.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Heavy Manners Library
Date: Friday, the 27th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 1200 N. Alvarado St. Unit D, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://heavymannerslibrary.com/events/this-friday-2-27
Book Club for Middle Grade Readers: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia via Palisades Branch Library, LAPL – Online MG Event
The book for February is One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia.
Please email gkim@lapl.org for the Zoom login information.
Where: Palisades Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 10 am
Address: Online Event
Mystery Book Club: The Siberian Dilemma at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Read the book and join our lively discussion!
The February meeting will take place on Zoom. Please contact wwood@lapl.org for the link.
February 28: The Siberian Dilemma by Martin Cruz Smith (Zoom)
Please email gkim@lapl.org for the Zoom login information.
Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 11 am
Address: Online Event (this month only)
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-14
View Park Library Book Club: Their Eyes Were Watching God at View Park Bebe Moore Campbell Library, LACL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Zoom Event
We will read and discuss Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. For adults.
The View Park Library Book Club meets monthly on a Saturday, 11 – 12:30 pm, in person at View Park Bebe Moore Campbell Library or via Zoom. Please visit the library, call, or email cray@library.lacounty.gov to be added to the email list.
Where: View Park Branch Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 2211 W. Jefferson Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90018
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-assata-autobiography
South Asian Book Club: The Eleventh Hour at The Samosa House – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss The Eleventh Hour by Salmon Rushdie. Free parking available.
Discussion group will be located in one of the large dining tables on the left side of Samosa House.
Where: The Samosa House, West Los Angeles
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 11510 Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
SGV Phoenix Poets Workshop with Teresa Mei Chuc at Eaton Fire Collaboratory, Altadena – In-Person Event
Teresa Mei Chuc will lead a San Gabriel Valley Phoenix Poets Writing Workshop at the Eaton Fire Collaboratory,
Free and open to the public.
Where: Eaton Fire Collaboratory
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Address: 540 W. Woodbury Rd., Altadena, CA
Website: https://www.sgvphoenixpoets.org/workshops
Pop Up Book Making at The International Printing Museum, Carson – In-Person Event
Paper folding techniques used for pop-up books with Selena Matranga.
Make It Pop! In this workshop, participants will learn five introductory styles that are foundational for exploring more complicated paper engineering. We’ll also add a “wow” factor by using color to enhance the shapes and shadows formed by paper dimensionality!
Beginners welcome.
All materials provided.
See site for cost and details.
Where: The International Printing Museum
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 12 pm – 4 pm
Address: 315 W. Torrance Blvd., Carson, CA 90745
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pop-up-book-making-sat-feb-28-2026-tickets-1971480416998
Black Resource Center Book Club: Red Clay via Virtual Program, LACL – Online Event
Join us to discuss Red Clay by Charles B. Fancher. For adults.
In 1943, when a frail old white woman shows up in Red Clay, Alabama, at the home of a Black former slave—on the morning following his funeral—his family hardly knows what to expect after she utters the words “…a lifetime ago, my family owned yours.” Adelaide Parker has a story to tell—one of ambition, betrayal, violence, & redemption—that shaped both the fate of her family & that of the late Felix H. Parker. But there are gaps in her knowledge, & she’s come to Red Clay seeking answers from a family with whom she shares a name & a history that neither knows in full. In an epic saga that takes us from Red Clay to Paris, to the Côte d’Azur & New Orleans, human frailties are pushed to their limits as secrets are exposed & the line between good & evil becomes ever more difficult to discern. Please attend via Zoom.
For ages 18 +
Where: Virtual Program, LACL
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 1 pm – 2 pm
Address: Online Event
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15379334
Dare to Struggle Reading Event at HiFi Kitchen – In-Person Event
Sunday Jump and host Eddy M. Gana present Dare to Struggle: The Art of Protest, a reading event featuring performers:
Luivette Resto@lulubell.96, poet
Pam Concepcion@pamconcep5, poet
K.E.E.P.E.R.S.@keepers_poets_1, high school poetry club
Soultree @soultreesmusic, emcee and singer
@balisongxla, photography exhibit
DH Won, sound selection
@emg_ofthe4day, host
As a community art space, we center protest art as a tool for resistance and storytelling. In honor of the 40th anniversary of the People Power Movement, we are uplifting the many ways people continue to organize and speak out through the arts today. This special showcase serves as a fundraiser for the Community Safety Patrol of the quarterly festival, @kanto.corner, in Historic Filipinotown. In response to the violent ICE raids, we keep each other safe. Proceeds will go towards supplies such as high visibility vests, walkie talkies, and meals for volunteers.
$15 includes cost of admission and a veggie or pork lumpia dish. Admission only $10 without lumpia. Purchase your tix online through link in bio.
Sponsored by @hifikitchen and @fanhslosangeles ✊🏽
When one rises, we all rise. Isang bagsak.
Where: HiFi Kitchen,
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Address: 1667 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Meet the Author: Trivia Thomas & We Won’t Forget at The Open Book, Pasadena – In-Person Event
Meet the author Trivia Thomas and get a signed copy of her amazing book, We Won’t Forget. Trivia will be hosting a reading followed by a Q&A
This stunning coffee-table book is a tribute to the visionaries, the poets, and the patriots who shaped America, one act of courage at a time. This collection brings to life the stories of Black legends past and present, leaders, artists, healers, warriors, and dreamers whose lives remind us that history is not distant. It is living. And it is ours.
With rich, narrative portraits told in spoken-word, each one-page profile honors a single individual, from Claudette Colvin to Katherine Johnson, Benjamin Banneker to Aretha Franklin, Martin Luther King Jr. to Justin Jones. Every word is intentional. Every line is designed to spark reflection, conversation, and pride.
Follow us on Instagram for event updates!
Where: The Open Book, Pasadena
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Address: 300 E Colorado Blvd #161, Pasadena, CA91101
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meet-the-author-trivia-thomas-at-the-open-book-pasadena-tickets-1980590662989?aff=ebdsoporgprofile or https://www.instagram.com
Bilingual Poetry Reading: Alicia Viguer-Espert and Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for an afternoon of poetry and conversation with poets Alicia Viguer-Espert and Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl.
The poets will read their poetry in both English and Spanish and will share the meaning and significance of their poems. A Q&A with the audience will follow.
Alicia Viguer-Espert, a native of Valencia, Spain, was born into a Castilian/Valencian bilingual family. After marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles, Alicia learned English quickly. She has a Master’s in Psychology and studied creative writing in English. Her writing has been published in journals, anthologies, and her three chapbooks.
Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl is a multilingual poet with a B.A. in English and M.Ed. in Cross-Cultural Teaching. As an educator of English learners and immigrants, Diosa X defends human rights and linguistic rights, especially of marginalized groups. Her work has appeared in both English and Spanish in various publications, and she has authored seven poetry collections.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 5027 Caspar Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90041
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/bilingual-poetry-reading
Poetry Reading & Open Mic: Rooted in Us: Celebrating Black Writers and the Legacy of S. Pearl Sharp at Loma Alta Park, Altadena – In-Person Event
Join us for an afternoon of poetry with poets V. Kali, Beverly Lafontaine, Dorothy Randal-Gray, Lynne Thompson, Pam Ward, Conney Williams, emerging poets + Open Mic
A gathering of poetry, remembrance, and celebration as we honor Black writers whose words have expanded the landscape of literature. We will also recognize the lasting influence of S. Pearl Sharp, whose vision and dedication continue to guide and inspire.
V. Kali, artist and performer from The World Stage, is a content creator, and the author of HYMN (World Stage Press).
Beverly Lafontaine is a Los Angeles-born poet and playwright. As a collaborative artist she has worked with composer Tom Flaherty to create The Cellist of Sarajevo, a chamber music piece. She was commissioned to create six poems that were incorporated into the sculptural work of Walk a Mile in My Shoes, a public art project dedicated to Martin Luther King.
Dorothy Randal-Gray is a certified life coach and best-selling author of Soul Between the Lines: Freeing Your Creative Spirit Through Writing (Avon/HarperCollins). In addition to six books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, periodicals, and theater productions.
Lynne Thompson served as the 2021-22 Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles and received a Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets in 2022. She received her BA from Scripps College and a JD from Southwestern School of Law.
Pam Ward is the author of Between Good Men & No Man at All, World Stage Press, which received honorable mention for the Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award. She’s authored two novels, Want Some Get Some, and Bad Girls Burn Slow, is a UCLA graduate, California Arts Council Fellow, Pushcart Poetry Nominee and founding member of the Leimert Park Book Fair. Her YA novel is entitled, Stoves Don’t Cry and her just completed novel, I’ll Get You My Pretty, is based on her aunt’s role in the Black Dahlia murder.
Conney Williams became the Artistic Director at the World and co-founder of The World Stage Press, and past facilitator of the Anansi Writers Workshop. He is author most recently of The Distance of Observation.
Where: Loma Alta Park, Altadena
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 3330 N. Lincoln Ave., Altadena, CA 91001
Storytime & Book Signing: Celebrate Nowruz! with Zohreh Ghahremani at Once Upon a Time, Montrose – In-Person Even
Celebrate the Persian New Year!
Welcome spring and a new day with Celebrate Nowruz! written by Zohreh Ghahremani. Zohreh will read her story and then sign books. Best for ages 4+.
Zohreh Ghahremani is an author and poet whose work is influenced by her experiences as a Middle Eastern immigrant. Formerly a children’s dentist and professor, her love of literature led her to write award-winning novels, Sky of Red Poppies and The Moon Daughter. Born in Iran, Zoe now lives, writes, and prepares an elaborate haftseen each year in San Diego, California. Her debut picture book, Memory Garden, was also illustrated by her daughter Susie Ghahremani.
Where: Once Upon a Time, Montrose
Date: Saturday the 28tht
Time: 2 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com
Miriam’s Garden Poetry Readings: Ivan Salinas, Mike Sonksen & Shirley Iicken at Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for “Miriam’s Garden,” a poetry reading series highlighting poets living and working in Los Angeles.
This month we feature Iván Salinas (@el_ivanooo), Mike Sonksen (@mikethepoetla) and Shirley Ilcken. Come through and spend the afternoon with us in our garden!
Hosted by Yago Cura.
Where: Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Address: 2205 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/miriams-garden-1
Creative Writing Group at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Calling all writers of fiction, screenplays, poetry, etc. Get feedback on your writing in a fun, supportive environment! The Central Library Creative Writing Group meets every other Saturday for fellowship, feedback, and snacks. Meetings start out with a short writing prompt exercise, then writers are invited to share up to five pages of their work for feedback from the group. Whether you are just starting out or well on your way to glory, join us and banish (at least temporarily) those Lonely Writer Blues!
RSVP:
Please RSVP by emailing fiction@lapl.org.
Where: Central Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 630 W. 5th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/creative-writing-group
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Jose Enrique Medina & Beth Paulson – Online Zoom Event
Readings by published authors and featured poets Jose Enrique Medina and Beth Paulson and Poets published in Four Feathers Pres online edition: Turtle Island Poetry.
Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.
Where: Lamanda Park Library
Date: Saturday, the 28th
Time: 3 pm – 4:30 pm
Address: 140 S. Altadena Dr., Pasadena, CA
Website: https://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
The Manuscript Lab Reading at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event Come celebrate the work of both this and last year’s Manuscript Lab cohort!
Join us in celebrating the completion of the 2026 cycle of The Manuscript Lab at Beyond Baroque! Participants from this year’s cohort will give readings in The Wanda Coleman Theater highlighting the work they have accomplished this cycle. Participants from last year’s cohort will join them to present what they’ve achieved since completing the Lab. Featured readers are Julián Delacruz, Tracy Grikscheit, Elizabeth Leister, AJ Luxton, I. Mesko, SR Montevirgen, Kristina Ortega, Hannah Schoettmer, Yan Sham-Shackleton, Fabrizzio Torero, and Melanie Zoey Weinstein.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday, the 28th
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-manuscript-lab-reading-tickets-198304147944
Ticketed Event: Elizabeth Day, with Amanda De Cadenet, & One of Us at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
When Fliss, the eccentric grown daughter of the powerful Fitzmaurice clan, is found dead on beach in Bali, what seems like a tragic accident stirs more suspicion than closure for those who’ve traded favors with—and within—her family for decades.
There is Ben, Fliss’s brother, eager to minimize his sister’s passing, since it’s suddenly clear he’s next in line to be Prime Minister. And Martin—Ben’s erstwhile best friend—who is just happy that Fliss’s memorial gives him the chance to re-enter the Fitzmaurice orbit, seeking revenge and acceptance. He can’t help but notice that Ben’s wife, Serena, seems to have discovered in middle age that her privileged existence is more like a gilded cage. Or that Ben and Serena’s daughter Cosima has become an environmental activist fighting against everything her parents seem to stand for—a pivot her late aunt would’ve applauded. Where does Richard Take—Ben’s disgraced colleague, determined to make his big comeback, fit in? And circling them all is Andrew Jarvis and his money: Has he been their loyal hero, or the one who has thrown his weight around just to keep them all in check?
Delivering incisive commentary on the hypocrisies of the elite, this juicy ensemble drama about old friends and dazzling wealth perfectly captures the uneasy balance between personal ambition and collective responsibility. One of Us is a page-turner with teeth, a mash-up of The Wedding People and Succession—darkly comic and cutting, as well as unexpectedly hopeful.
RSVP. This ticketed event is FREE and will take place at Vroman’s Bookstore, located at 695 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91101.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-02-28/elizabeth-day
The People’s Mic at All Power Books – In-Person Event
Join us for The People’s Mic Open Mic at All Power Books.
Invited guests and Open Mic. Refreshments provided.
$5 donation. No one turned away.
Where: All Power Books
Date: Saturday, the 28th
Time: 5 pm
Address: 4749 West Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
Website: https://allpowerbooks.org/pages/calendar-1
Historical Fiction Book Club: Conjure Women at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Conjure Women: A Novel by Afia Atakora.
Conjure Women is a sweeping story that brings the world of the South before and after the Civil War vividly to life. Spanning eras and generations, it tells of the lives of three unforgettable women: Miss May Belle, a wise healing woman; her precocious and observant daughter Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a midwife; and their master’s daughter Varina. The secrets and bonds among these women and their community come to a head at the beginning of a war and at the birth of an accursed child, who sets the townspeople alight with fear and a spreading superstition that threatens their newly won, tenuous freedom.
Magnificently written, brilliantly researched, richly imagined, Conjure Women moves back and forth in time to tell the haunting story of Rue, Varina, and May Belle, their passions and friendships, and the lengths they will go to save themselves and those they love.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-02-28/historical-fiction-book-club-conjure-women
Writing the Golden State: A Party with California Authors at Claremont Graduate University – In-Person Event
Writing the Golden State is a special event that includes a book fair, publishers, readings, and musical set.
Readings by Myriam Gurba (Poppy State), Susan Straight (Sacrament), and Samina Najmi (Sing Me a Circle) from 7:00 – 7:30.
Musical set by George Sánchez Tello – and friends.
RSVP: Contact Diana Correa at diana.correa@cgu.edu for the full address and to attend.
Where: Claremont Graduate University
Date: Saturday, the 28th
Time: 5 pm – 8:30 pm (NOTE: Readings at 7 pm)
Address: 831 N. Dartmouth Ave., Claremont, CA 91711
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Wisdom & Beauty: A Poetry Reading, at South LA Café – In-Person Event
South Central Spits Fire presents Wisdom & Beauty: A Poetry Reading. Featuring:
Benin Lemus is a poet, educator, and librarian. She is the author of the collection Dreaming in Mourning.
Rhonda Mitchell N/A
Jenise Miller is a Pushcart-nominated poet, writer, and urban planner with over fifteen years of experience in community-based research and planning. She is a California Arts Council Artist Fellow and recent PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow. She is the author of The Blvd.
GusTavo Guerra Vasquez is a poet, artist. and humanist. He is the author of Guatamala Angelino.
Birdsong tha Poet N/A
bridgette bianca is a poet and professor from South Central Los Angeles. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Howard University and her Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Otis College of Art & Design. bridgette bianca has performed her poetry all around Southern California. She is the author of be/trouble.
October Blu is a poet known for her candid and unapologetic writing style. Her poetry often reflects on her experiences as a black woman, including her role as a single mother, survivor of abuse, and convicted felon. October BLU’s work promotes resilience, self-care, and the beauty of the Black community, urging her audience to stand tall, call out injustices, and love unconditionally. Her poetry is a celebration of triumph over adversity, offering readers insight into her life and the struggles she has faced. She is the author of #InMySpaceOfHonesty and Other Hashtags.
Where: South LA Café
Date: Saturday, the 28th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 1700 Browning Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90047
Website: https://www.instagram.com/
Open Mic via Nervous Ghost Press – Online Event
The Nervous Ghost Press Open Mic Night is held online every 4th Saturday of the month.
Where: The Nervous Ghost Press
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 5 pm Arts; Open Mic at 6:30 pm
Address: Nervous Ghost Online Event
Website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uix0MhtSrcg
Heartbeats Circle Open Mic: Dorian, Jacob Teran, Lucas Rivera at The Libros, Lincoln Heights
L A Poet Society presents Heartbeats Circle Open Mic and featured readers every 4th Saturday of the month.
Host: Mariana Franco
Dorian N/A
Jacob Teranis is a writer and a college professor of English and Critical Thinking, with an emphasis on Chicano Studies.
Lucas Rivera is a multidisciplinary Afro-Puerto Rican artist and innovative entertainment management executive.
Where: The Libros, Lincoln Heights
Date: Saturday the 28th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 3422 N. Broadway, Lincoln Heights, CA 90042
Website: https://www.instagram.com
ILL Poetry and Art Anthology Reading: Vol. 3 Cosecha (Harvest) at Page Against the Machine. Long Beach – In-Person Event
Poets and authors reading from the ILL Poetry and Art Anthology: Vol 3 Cosecha (Harvest) include:
Sofia Aguilar is a Chicana writer, editor, teaching artist, community organizer, and library professional based on the traditional homelands of the Tongva, Kizh, and Chumash peoples (Los Angeles, California). Her work has appeared in the L.A. Times, Latino Book Review, Acentos Review, and New Orleans Review, among other publications. She is the author of Queer Latine Heroes: 25 Changemakers from Latin America and the U.S. from History and Today.
Tim Lewis is the Director of Debate at Hebron High School in Lewisville, TX. Tim was formerly an assistant coach at Damien High School in La Verne, CA. Tim has a BA in Critical Theory and Social Justice from Occidental College. Tim also has an MA in Social Justice in Higher Education Administration from the University of La Verne. Tim writes about Georges Bataille, concrete poetry, critical identity studies, and critical university studies.
Jesus Cortez is an undocumented writer and poet from West Anaheim, California. His work is inspired by his upbringing in the city during the 1990’s, raised by a single mother. Jesus’ work has appeared in Harvard Palabritas, Tule Review, the Acentos Review, and Dryland literary journal.
Melineh Yemenidjian is a Pushcart-nominated poet, memoirist, and educator based in Gardena, California. She is recognized for her debut poetic memoir, The Split Pomegranate (Daxson Publishing, 2025), which explores themes of heritage, mental health, and resilience.
Carlos Ornelas is a MesoAmerican poet and author from Lynwood, California. Member of Cal Poet Teachers In The Schools, Community Literature Initiative, Sims Library of Poetry, Chicano Renaissance, WordWorks. He is the author of Ketchup: Sopa de Gato and Villain’s Vernacular: Poems & Stories.
Lara Foy N/A
James Hull is a poet and writer who often publishes on IG.
Angelica M. Yanez is a professor, poet, and dedicated advocate for Indigenous wisdom and cultural education. She holds a doctoral degree in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego and is an advisor to several student groups such as M.E.Ch.A and a spoken word and writing group on her college campus. A traditional Aztec Dancer, she honors the legacies of her Indigenous ancestors through dance and ceremony, bridging academic and cultural spaces with her work.
Davis Moses Diaz is a writer and educator living in Los Angeles, who holds an MFA from CSU Long Beach. His poetry has been published by Tia Chucha Press, San Pedro River Review, Querencia Press, and Tiny Splendor, and his freelance journalism can be found in Locale Magazine and L.A. Taco.
Jesenia Chavez, a bilingual, Spanish teacher, believes in community schools and creating shared spaces of learning and opportunity. She is also a poet and writer who recently graduated with her MFA in creative writing. She was the poetry editor for The Coachella Review for one year and has published poems with Acentos Review, Yellow Arrow Publishing, and DSTL Arts and with LA Poets Society. She is the author of This Poem Might Save You (me) and you can find it at bookshop.org.
Peter Lechuga is a writer, poet, and musician who writes about nature, beauty, and social injustice. He rhymes under the pseudonym 4Tell as a member of the Pilgrimms art collective, which collaborates with artists to create visual art while making conscious, avant-garde hip-hop.
Julian Ibanez N/A
Hope Cerna is a poet and the author of Sentimental Garden (Daxson Publishing, 2025), a poetry collection that takes readers onto a bare-faced, unflinching journey through illness, grief, love, and the quiet strength found in the spaces between
Where: Page Against the Machine
Date: Saturday, the 28th
Time: 6 pm
Address: 2714 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90814
Website: https://www.instagram.com
Melrose Trading Post: L.A. Poet Society at Greenway Arts Alliance at Melrose Trading Post at Fairfax H.S. – In-Person Event
The Melrose Trading Post is a pioneering arts-based marketplace held every Sunday at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, CA with 275 local creative small business vendors, delicious food booths, and local live music.
MTP was founded in 1997 with a mission to champion small businesses, art, and community. The market funds Greenway Arts Alliance’s arts education programming and provides employment and leadership development opportunities for students at Fairfax High School.
JOIN us for Poetry on Demand in space R18 each Sunday, from 11 am – 5 pm.
All poems are donation-based, so you name your price.
NOTE: Check every Sunday for story time and reading events
Where: Melrose Trading Post, Greenway Main Stage at Fairfax HS
Date: Sunday, the 1st
Time: 10 am – 5 pm (market); 12 pm – 5 pm (poets on demand)
Address: 7850 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046
Website: https://wwFEatures.instagram.com
Jenine Pastores and Josh Jackson & The Adventures of Tubby Nugget at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
Jenine Pastores and Josh Jackson will presentThe Adventures of Tubby Nugget: Escape from Nuggetville #1: A Graphic Novel.
Welcome to Nuggetville, a quaint town on Planet Nüg that the adorable and ever-optimistic Tubby Nugget calls home. Life there is sweet, filled with playful friends, delicious snacks, and endless creativity.
But when the time comes for Tubby to take part in the customary Dunking ceremony to become a golden nugget—and say goodbye to the life he’s always known as a little nug—he realizes that he yearns for something different. Can his heart feel at home somewhere new? Join Tubby on a daring journey as he bravely defies tradition to stay true to himself.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Sunday the 1st
Time: 2 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-03-01/jenine-pastores-josh-jackson
Book Event: Ellen Carol Dubois, with Brenda E. Stevenson, & Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to welcome Ellen Carol Dubois, in conversation with Brenda E. Stevenson, to the store to discuss and sign Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life.
Free seating is limited. To reserve a seat, please purchase one copy of a book for one seat.
The definitive biography of American suffragist and women’s rights pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton, from a preeminent historian of women’s suffrage
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a singular leader, thinker, and organizer whose fight for women’s emancipation stretched from the 1840s to her death in 1902, a full fifth of America’s history. Yet her legacy has been marked by controversy. In this landmark biography, eminent historian Ellen Carol DuBois paints a fresh portrait of this complex crusader whose tireless work made contemporary feminism possible.
Born in 1815 into a family deeply marked by the tumult of the American Revolution and surging evangelicalism, Stanton was captivated by Enlightenment ideas about individual freedom and transformed by early experiences in what she called “the school of antislavery.” Though most remembered for her fight for the vote, she was also an early crusader for women’s reproductive autonomy and reforming the institution of marriage, and against Christianity’s subordination of women. Her rifts with Black reformers and embrace of nativist ideas tarnished her reputation, but her words still have the ability to move and agitate people today.
Ellen Carol DuBois is distinguished professor of history at UCLA. Her pioneering works on the US woman suffrage movement include Feminism and Suffrage: The Emergence of an Independent Women’s Movement in America, 1848–1869, Harriot Stanton Blatch and the Winning of Woman Suffrage, and Suffrage: Women’s Long Battle for the Vote. She lives in Los Angeles.
Brenda E. Stevenson is an internationally recognized scholar of race, slavery, gender, family, and racial conflict. Her specific intellectual interests center on the comparative, historical experiences of women, family, and community across racial and ethnic lines. Race and gender—the ways in which these two variables interact, intersect, collide with, emphasize, run parallel to and sometimes isolate one another—are at the center of her work. Her book length publications include: The Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimke (Oxford 1988); Life in Black and White: Family and Community in the Slave South (Oxford 1996); The Contested Murder of Latasha Harlins: Justice, Gender and the Origins of the L.A. Riots (Oxford 2013); and, What is Slavery? (Polity 2015).
Where: Deisel, A Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 1st
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Writing Group at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Bring paper and a pen, bring your laptop, bring a prompt to share, bring a project to work on or just come prepared to free write among other writers, and perhaps exchange projects and feedback!
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Sunday the 1st
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
March Queer Romance Book Club: The Isle in the Silver Sea at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Bookseller Elizabeth leads our Queer Romance Book Club.
Participants will discuss The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri.
No membership is necessary, but RSVP is required.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 1st
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232
Website: https://www.therippedbodice.com/events-and-tickets
Dazed and Confused Poetry Club 2026 at The Glendale Room – In-Person Event
Dazed and Confused Poetry Club, with featured poets and an open mic, is held every 1st Sunday of the month and hosted by Fernando Funes
Get tickets. View us on LinkedIn.
Where: The Glendale Room
Date: Sunday the 1st
Time: 8:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: 127 Artsakh Ave., Glendale, CA 91206
Los Angeles Literature 