Where: Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 20^th

Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: 12006 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066 

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

Book Club for Adults: I’m Glad My Mom Died at Vermont Square Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for an engaging Book Club discussion of I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy.

In this candid, darkly funny, and deeply moving memoir, McCurdy reflects on growing up as a child actor, navigating an intense relationship with her parents, and finding her own voice through recovery and self-discovery. Together, we’ll explore themes of family dynamics, identity, boundaries, mental health, and resilience, and discuss how humor and honesty can coexist with grief and healing. All readers are welcome, whether you come ready to share your thoughts or prefer to listen and reflect in a supportive space.

Where: Vermont Square Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 20^th

Time: 5 pm

Address: 1201 W. 48th. Street, Los Angeles, CA 90037

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-adults-8

Book Discussion for Adults: Real Americans at Sorenson Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Come read and discuss the novel Real Americans by Rachel Khong. For Adults.

“How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family, and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?” – Goodreads

Pick up a copy for checkout at the Customer Service Desk today.

Where: Sorenson Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 20^th

When: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 6934 Broadway Ave., Whittier, CA 90606

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/14757598

Philosophical Horror Book Club: William at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss William by Mason Coile.

Psychological horror meets cyber noir in this delicious one-sitting read—a haunted house story in which the haunting is by AI.

Henry is a brilliant engineer who, after untold hours spent in his home lab, has achieved the breakthrough of his career—he’s created an artificially intelligent consciousness. He calls the half-formed robot William.

No one knows about William. Henry’s agoraphobia keeps him inside the house, and his fixation on his project keeps him up in the attic, away from everyone, including his pregnant wife, Lily.

When Lily’s coworkers show up, wanting to finally meet Henry and see the new house, the smartest of smart homes, Henry decides to introduce them to William, and things go from strange to much worse. Soon Henry and Lily discover the security upgrades intended to keep danger out of the house are even better at locking it in.

Mason Coile is a pseudonym of Andrew Pyper, the award-winning author of ten novels, including The Demonologist, which won the International Thriller Writers Award, and Lost Girls, which was a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book of the Year. Both Coile and Pyper lived in Toronto.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside

Date: Monday the 20^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-04-20/philosphical-horror-book-club-william

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 20^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Luke Goelbel will discuss and sign his book Kill Dick.

A fever dream, Kill Dick is a literary thriller that plunges into the chaos of Los Angeles, where addiction, privilege, and corruption combust.

At nineteen, Susie Vogelman should be coasting: she’s an NYU dropout with no responsibilities, endless prescription pills, and a Brentwood estate to waste away in. But Los Angeles has other plans. A string of brutal murders targeting addicts spreads through the city, and Susie’s ivory tower begins to crumble. The headlines point too close to home: her father’s ties to an opioid empire, a sinister secret society, and her own complicity in the systems holding it all together.

Then there’s Peter Holiday, a disgraced professor running a rehab scam so audacious it’s almost admirable. When their lives collide, Susie and Peter are dragged into a web of privilege, corruption, and violence, where every escape leads deeper into the rot.

Dark, satirical, and razor-sharp, Kill Dick is a modern literary thriller that unflinchingly dissects wealth, exploitation, and the perilous line between survival and self-destruction.

Luke Goebel is an acclaimed author and screenwriter celebrated for his unflinching honesty and innovative storytelling. A recipient of the prestigious Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize and the Joan Scott Memorial Fiction Award, his debut novel, Fourteen Stories, None of Them Are Yours, garnered critical acclaim for its innovative and precisely lyrical, profoundly resonant exploration of love, grief, and the restless search for identity. Goebel also co-wrote Eileen, starring Anne Hathaway and McKenzie Thompson, and Causeway, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry (who received an Oscar nomination for his performance). He is known as well as his role as co-editor at The New York Tyrant and work with Tyrant Books. He lives in Pasadena, CA with his wife, fellow author Ottessa Moshfegh.

NOTE: See site for link and details.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Monday the 20^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-04-20/luke-goebel-discusses-signs-kill-dick

Eric Lichtblau, with Claire Spiegel, & American Reich at Chevalier’s – In-Person Event

A deeply reported exploration of the violent resurgence of hatred and white supremacy through the lens of Orange County, California—“ground zero” for racial extremism—and the story of one brutal murder there that revealed the deep roots of violent bigotry as a bellwether for the country.

Author Eric Lichtblau will be in conversation with investigative journalist Claire Spiegel. We are delighted to present this event with Temple Israel of Hollywood, IKAR and Holocaust Museum LA.

One night in early 2018, while he was home from college, an Ivy League student named Blaze Bernstein snuck out of his parents’ house in Orange County. Waiting for him in a car outside was an old high-school classmate: Sam Woodward, someone who Blaze mostly remembered as a brooding, bigoted loner. But that night, after months of flirtatious messaging, Sam had succeeded in coaxing Blaze—a gay, Jewish sophomore at UPenn—out for a rendezvous. No one would ever see him alive again.

In American Reich, veteran investigative journalist Eric Lichtblau uses the story of Blaze’s life and death to shine a light on the epidemic of hate in Southern California and, increasingly, the nation as a whole. Orange County has long been a bastion of the ultra-right: carved out of farmland as a haven for wealthy whites fleeing the diversifying metropolis to the north, it was the birthplace of the far-right John Birch Society, a hub for neo-Nazi recruitment, and a powerful springboard for race-baiting Republican politicians including Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. But in the years leading up to Blaze’s disappearance, Orange County was changing: like the country as a whole, it was rapidly diversifying, to the outrage of many of its white residents. No one was more opposed to the changes than America’s resurgent neo-Nazi groups, one of which had recently gained a new member: Sam Woodward.

Revealing how Orange County has exported racial hatred to the rest of the country and the world, American Reich weaves this tragic tale together with stories from across the nation, showing what this haunted place and the colliding paths of two of its residents reveal about America’s fractured soul and our hope for healing.

Eric Lichtblau is a Washington journalist and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He was a reporter in the Washington bureau of the New York Times for nearly 15 years until 2017, and a reporter for the Los Angeles Times for 15 years before that. He has also written for the New Yorker, TIME, USA Today, and other publications. He is the author of three nonfiction books, including The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler’s Men, a New York Times bestseller; Bush’s Law: The Remaking of American Justice; and Return to the Reich: A Holocaust Refugee’s Secret Mission to Defeat the Nazis. He lives outside Washington, DC.

NOTE: See site for link and details.

Where: Chevalier’s

Date: Monday the 20^th

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-04-20/eric-lichtblau

Paul Fischer, with Drew Mcweeny, &The Last Kings of Hollywood at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Paul Fischer, in conversation with Drew Mcweeny, will discuss and sign The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg, and the Battle for the Soul of America.

The untold, intimate story of how three young visionaries—Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg—revolutionized American cinema, creating the most iconic films in history while risking everything, redefining friendship, and shaping Hollywood as we know it.

In the summer of 1967, as the old Hollywood studio system was dying, an intense, uncompromising young film school graduate named George Lucas walked onto the Warner Bros backlot for his first day working as an assistant to another up-and-coming, largely-unknown filmmaker, a boisterous father of two called Francis Ford Coppola. At the exact same time, across town on the Universal Studios lot, a film-obsessed twenty-year-old from a peripatetic Jewish family, Steven Spielberg, longed to break free from his apprenticeship for the struggling studio and become a film director in his own right.

Within a year, the three men would become friends. Spielberg, prioritizing security, got his seven-year contract directing television. Lucas and Coppola, hungry for independence, left Hollywood for San Francisco to found an alternative studio, American Zoetrope, and make films without answering to corporate capitalism.

Based on extensive research and hundreds of original interviews with the inner circle of these Hollywood icons, The Last Kings of Hollywood tells the thrilling, dramatic inside story of how, over the next fifteen years, the three filmmakers rivalled and supported each other, fell out and reconciled, and struggled to reinvent popular American cinema. Along the way, Coppola directed The Godfather, then the highest-grossing film of all-time, until Spielberg surpassed it with Jaws—whose record Lucas broke with Star Wars, which Spielberg surpassed again with E.T. By the early 1980s, they were the richest, best-known filmmakers in the world, each with an empire of their own. The Last Kings of Hollywood is an unprecedented chronicle of their rise, their dreams and demons, their triumphs and their failures—intimate, extraordinary, and supremely entertaining.

RSVP

NOTE: See site for link and details.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Monday the 20^th

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-04-20/paul-fischer

Aussie Author Night: Emma Grey and Sally Hepworth at Zibby’s Bookshop, Santa Monica– In-Person Event

Join us for an Australian Themed Literary Night with Bestselling Australian Authors Emma Grey and Sally Hepworth at Zibby’s Bookshop!

Complimentary Inspiro Tequila cocktail included with the purchase of a ticket!

Emma Grey’s Start at the End is a powerful, soul-stirring, sliding-doors novel from the bestselling author of The Last Love Note and Pictures of You that explores second chances and unwritten endings.

Audrey and Fraser tumble into a romance for the ages. After an unlikely start, they fall deeply in love and dream of the life they’ll build together—until one tragic moment upends everything. Facing the unimaginable and wrestling with guilt, they’re left haunted by “what ifs,” each asking where they would be if fate had spun a different story.

Start at the End is an unforgettable drama of two soulmates who have to find a way to start over when they had only just begun.

Sally Hepworth’s Mad Mabel is from the New York Times bestselling author of The Soulmate and The Good Sister, and it’s a twist-filled, darkly funny mystery about the two kinds of people no one ever expects to be murderers: little girls and old ladies.

Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She’s lived on her idyllic street, Kenny Lane, for sixty years—longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else’s business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past that she has worked exceedingly hard at concealing. Because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end.

When a new little girl (talkative, curious, nosy) moves into the neighborhood and stops at nothing to befriend Elsie, her carefully constructed life threatens to come crashing down as the secrets in Elsie’s past start coming to light. Who was “Mad Mabel” fifty years ago? Who is Elsie Fitzpatrick today? And if the past has a habit of repeating itself, who has the most to lose?

Told with Sally Hepworth’s twists, humor, charm, and heart, Mad Mabel is novel that weaves past and present together—through the power of justice and redemption, and all the way to its stunning conclusion.

Emma Grey is the author of seven books, including two international bestselling novels, The Last Love Note and Pictures of You, winner of the American Independent Publisher Book Award gold medal. Her adult and young adult novels have been translated internationally, optioned for film, and adapted for the stage. She lives in Canberra, Australia, surrounded by her three children, stepchildren, and grandchildren.

Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including The Good Sister and The Soulmate. Drawing on the good, the bad and the downright odd of human behavior, Sally writes incisively about family, relationships, and identity. Her domestic thriller novels are laced with quirky humour, sass and a darkly charming tone. They are available worldwide in English and have been translated into twenty languages. Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her family and one adorable dog.

Where: Zibby’s Bookshop

Date: Monday the 20^th

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 1113 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90403

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/aussie-author-night-with-bestsellers-emma-grey-and-sally-hepworth-tickets-1982899091561

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 20^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)

Website: Free Workshops Page

Soul Stuf Presents Mixed Fruit: A Poetry & Improv Show at The Living Room, DTLA – In-Person Event

This month’s Mixed Fruit poetry and improv event features:

Lilah Juergens (@fabfoodfairy) is a bipolar and autistic poet that believes in breaking down the stigma to help educate people about neurodiversity! 🎤💫 She is also a chef, scientist, musician, and healer who mixes vulnerable raw honesty with irreverent humor and insightful observations.

Martin Negron N/A

Akbar Asiyahsson (pronounced Uh Sigh Uhs son), was born in Los Angeles, California. He inherited a love for words & storytelling from his parents: Carolyn, whose pen name for her poetry & short stories was Asiyah; and Lawrence, a writer & noted journalist. After growing up with a heavy emphasis on books, reading, & the occasional Mom-created book report assignment. Asiyahsson now looks to deliver words through his singular style of poetry that uplifts, encourages, & provokes thought.

Improv by: Cali Sober Improv

$10

Where: The Living Room, DTLA

Date: Monday the 20^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: 1026 S. Main St., Door 123, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Website: Instagram Page

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 21^st

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

Website: Event Page

NEW! Toddler Tuesdays: A Travelin’ Storytime – Session 1 at Pico 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: Pico Branch Library, SMPL

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 10:30 am – 11 am

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

Website: SMPL Event Page

Virtual Book Club: The Last of Earth by Deepa Anappara via La Crescenta Library, LACL – Online Event

Join us for the Virtual Book Club. In April we will be discussing The Last of Earth by Deepa Anappara. For adults.

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

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

Week 3: April 21: Chapters 10 – 14 — Pages 160 – 241

Week 4: April 28: Chapters 115 – Epilogue — Pages 242 – to the end of the book

1869. Tibet is closed to Europeans, an infuriating obstruction for the rapidly expanding British Empire. In response, Britain begins training Indians-permitted to cross borders that white men may not-to undertake illicit, dangerous surveying expeditions into Tibet. Balram is one such surveyor-spy, an Indian schoolteacher who, for several years, has worked for the British, often alongside his dearest friend, Gyan. But Gyan went missing on his last expedition and is rumored to be imprisoned within Tibet. Desperate to rescue his friend, Balram agrees to guide an English captain on a foolhardy mission: After years of paying others to do the exploring, the captain, disguised as a monk, wants to personally chart a river that runs through southern Tibet. Their path will cross fatefully with that of another Westerner in disguise, fifty-year-old Katherine. Denied a fellowship in the all-male Royal Geographical Society in London, she intends to be the first European woman to reach Lhasa. As Balram and Katherine make their way into Tibet, they will face storms and bandits, snow leopards and soldiers, fevers and frostbite. What’s more, they will have to battle their own doubts, ambitions, grief, and pasts in order to survive the treacherous landscape. A polyphonic novel about the various ways humans try to leave a mark on the world-from the enduring nature of family and friendship to the egomania and obsessions of the colonial enterprise-The Last of Earth confirms Deepa Anappara as one of our greatest and most ambitious storytellers.

Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

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 Pico 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: Pico Branch Library SMPL

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 11:30 am – 12 pm

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

Where: Donald Bruce Kaufman – Brentwood BranchLibrary, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 1 pm

Address: 11820 San Vicente Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90049

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

Tuesday Afternoon Book Club: McTeague at Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join the Tuesday Afternoon Book Club to discuss McTeague by Frank Norris. This club is held both in person in the Community Meeting Room and on Zoom.

For a Zoom link, please email silver@lapl.org. Copies of the book are available at the Reference Desk.

New members are always welcome!

Where: Silver Lake BranchLibrary, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 1 pm

Address: 2411 Glendale Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90039

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

Before the Ban Book Club: Golden Compass, Second Meetingat Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss His Dark Materials: Golden Compass (book 1) by Philip Pullman, second meeting.

A war is brewing in Lyra’s world between those who would keep people in ignorance and those willing to fight for freedom. Lyra is thrust into the middle of the conflict when her uncle Asriel comes to Oxford, fomenting rebellion, and when her best friend, Roger, suddenly disappears.

Lyra learns that Roger was kidnapped by a shadowy organization that is rumored to experiment on children. To find him, she will travel to the cold, far North, where armored bears and witch clans rule—and where Asriel is attempting to build a bridge to a parallel world.

What Lyra doesn’t know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other—and that her actions will have consequences not just in her world, but in all the worlds beyond.

Philip Pullman is one of the most acclaimed writers working today. He is best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass), which has been named one of the top 100 novels of all time by Newsweek and one of the all-time greatest novels by Entertainment Weekly. He is also the author of another trilogy set in the same world, The Book of Dust (La Belle Sauvage, The Secret Commonwealth, and The Rose Field) as well as numerous other much-loved novels, a collection of fairy tales, and a volume of essays and speeches on writing. He has won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread (now Costa) Award, Parents’ Choice Gold Awards, and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Pullman was knighted for services to literature in the New Years Honours 2019. He lives in Oxford, England.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 1 pm – 2 pm

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

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16191596

Naughty Novel Society eBook Club: A Game of Hearts and Heist at Lawndale Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss A Game of Hearts and Heist by Ruby Roe.

Explore the Romance genre and learn about all the digital resources the library has to offer with this unique book club. We will be primarily utilizing the free digital resources Libby and Hoopla with limited hard copies available. For ages 18+.

Where: Lawndale Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 14615 Burin Ave., Lawndale, CA 90260

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15992536

Adult Book Club: A Game of Meet Me at the Museum at Baldwin Park Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson.

After a letter from a farmer’s wife in England – intended for somebody else – ends up in the hands of a Danish curator – a year-long correspondence starts. Polite correspondence gives way to friendship that gives both solace and companionship they are in need of as they share their hearts and lives with one another.

If you would like a copy of the book, please drop by Baldwin Park Library to pick up a copy or check the catalog for a digital copy.

Where: Baldwin Park Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 4181 Baldwin Park Blvd., Baldwin Park, CA 91706

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16013646

Book Club: They Called Us Enemy at Pico Rivera Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join usfor a community reading program of exceptional scope – one book for all of the west coast. This special book club will feature discussion about They Called Us Enemy by George Takei. For adults.

One Book, One Coast brings together library systems across California, Washington State, and Oregon for a shared community reading program that celebrates literacy, learning, community, and civil discourse.

Where: Pico Rivera Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 9001 Mines Ave., Pico Rivera, CA 90660

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16149458

Classic Detectives Book Club: Red Harvest at Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett.

From one of the great pioneers of detective stories, a classic novel reissued with a new introduction by S.A. Cosby.

The steadfast and sturdy Continental Op has been summoned to the town of Personville—known as Poisonville—a dusty mining community splintered by competing factions of gangsters and petty criminals. The Op has been hired by Donald Willsson, publisher of the local newspaper, who gave little indication about the reason for the visit. No sooner does the Op arrive, than the body count begins to climb, starting with his client. With this last honest citizen of Poisonville murdered, the Op decides to stay on and force a reckoning—even if that means taking on an entire town.

Red Harvest is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in the American grain.

Dashiell Samuel Hammett was born in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. He grew up in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Hammett left school at the age of fourteen and held several kinds of jobs thereafter—messenger boy, newsboy, clerk, operator, and stevedore, finally becoming an operative for Pinkerton’s Detective Agency. Sleuthing suited young Hammett, but World War I intervened, interrupting his work and injuring his health. When Sergeant Hammett was discharged from the last of several hospitals, he resumed detective work. He soon turned to writing, and in the late 1920s Hammett became the unquestioned master of detective-story fiction in America. In The Maltese Falcon (1930) he first introduced his famous private eye, Sam Spade. The Thin Man (1932) offered another immortal sleuth, Nick Charles. Red Harvest (1929), The Dain Curse (1929), and The Glass Key (1931) are among his most successful novels. During World War II, Hammett again served as sergeant in the Army, this time for more than two years, most of which he spent in the Aleutians. Hammett’s later life was marked in part by ill health, alcoholism, a period of imprisonment related to his alleged membership in the Communist Party, and by his long-time companion, the author Lillian Hellman, with whom he had a very volatile relationship. His attempt at autobiographical fiction survives in the story “Tulip,” which is contained in the posthumous collection The Big Knockover (1966, edited by Lillian Hellman). Another volume of his stories, The Continental Op (1974, edited by Stephen Marcus), introduced the final Hammett character: the “Op,” a nameless detective (or “operative”) who displays little of his personality, making him a classic tough guy in the hard-boiled mold—a bit like Hammett himself.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-04-21/classic-detectives-book-club-red-harvest

Book Club Tuesdays: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau at Hollydale Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us this month for a facilitated discussion of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. For adults.

Copies of the current title are available to check-out at the customer service desk while supplies last. New members are always welcome!

Where: Hollydale Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 12000 Garfield Ave., South Gate, CA 90280

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16111079

Josie Iselin and Ellen Litwiller & The Mysterious World of the Bull Kelp Forest at Diesel, A Bookstore– In-Person Event

Josie Iselin, author, and illustrator Ellen Litwiller, will discuss The Mysterious World of the Bull Kelp Forest.

A mesmerizing tour of our underwater forests and what they can teach us.

Offshore and out of sight to most beachgoers on the North Pacific coast is a wondrous habitat: the bull kelp forest. Each year, tiny bull kelp saplings explode into sixty-foot “redwoods,” until winter storms tear them loose and fling great tangles of wrack on the shore. While they flourish, these underwater forests harbor abalone, salmon, and rockfish, and they entreat cormorants and murrelets to hunt among their thrumming canopies. Meanwhile, sea otters and sunflower sea stars gorge on spiny urchins who, if left to run rampant, will devour a kelp bed down to barren wasteland.

In The Mysterious World of the Bull Kelp Forest, Josie Iselin profiles thirteen species—with stylish illustrations from Ellen Litwiller—to be our ambassadors to this undersung world. She explores how their interspecies dramas play out in eight coastal regions, from Central California to Alaska, exploring instances of interdependent, compromised, and resilient coastal ecosystems. An array of sea creatures feature in these pages, as well as shorebirds that connect land and sea. Land-dwelling humans are also deeply implicated in this saga—by turns beneficiaries, agents of harm, and stewards of these subtidal sanctuaries.

Josie Iselin is an artist, author, and designer who has been telling seaweed and kelp stories for over a decade. Her two books An Ocean Garden: The Secret Life of Seaweed (2014, 2023) and The Curious World of Seaweed (2019) display her profound understanding of seaweed natural history and her deep connections within the seaweed science community. Iselin directs content development for the Above/Below campaign and is the lead author of the campaign’s web story, The Mysterious World of Bull Kelp (bullkelp.info). She teaches in the School of Design at San Francisco State University and lives in San Francisco. josieiselin.com

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

Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-04-21/josie-iselin-and-ellen-litwiller-mysterious-world-bull-kelp

Original Book Club: Stoner at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Our longest running book club! We read mostly contemporary fiction with the occasional non-fiction choice thrown in. To join our mailing list, please email events@villagewell.com.

This April’s pick is Stoner by John Williams.

Discover an American masterpiece. This unassuming story about the life of a quiet English professor has earned the admiration of readers all over the globe.

William Stoner is born at the end of the nineteenth century into a dirt-poor Missouri farming family. Sent to the state university to study agronomy, he instead falls in love with English literature and embraces a scholar’s life, so different from the hardscrabble existence he has known. And yet as the years pass, Stoner encounters a succession of disappointments: marriage into a “proper” family estranges him from his parents; his career is stymied; his wife and daughter turn coldly away from him; a transforming experience of new love ends under threat of scandal. Driven ever deeper within himself, Stoner rediscovers the stoic silence of his forebears and confronts an essential solitude.

John Williams’s luminous and deeply moving novel is a work of quiet perfection. William Stoner emerges from it not only as an archetypal American, but as an unlikely existential hero, standing, like a figure in a painting by Edward Hopper, in stark relief against an unforgiving world.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: Event Page

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 21^st

Time: 7 pm – 10 pm

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

Website: Instagram Page

Ticketed: Fab 5 Freddy & Everybody’s Fly: A Life of Art, Music, and Changing the Culture at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Fab 5 Freddy will sign Everybody’s Fly: A Life of Art, Music, and Changing the Culture.

An electrifying memoir from the pioneering cultural icon The New Yorker called “the coolest person in New York,” whose fearless creativity reshaped the worlds of art, music, and style.

Fab 5 Freddy doesn’t just have a great story—he is the story. Name a seismic cultural shift, and chances are, he wasn’t just there—he was helping to make it happen. He’s among the first graffiti artists to turn subway tags into fine art, the visionary behind the first hip-hop movie, the bridge between Jean-Michel Basquiat and the downtown new wave scene, the first person to take rap global on MTV, and the opening rhyme of Blondie’s number-one smash hit “Rapture”—”Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody’s fly”—the song that propelled hip-hop from the New York streets to mainstream culture. With a spirit of joyful creativity and a deep capacity for connecting with kindred spirits (Basquiat, Haring, Lee, Flash, Warhol, and the Clash, to name a few), he shattered racial and artistic boundaries, bridging worlds and raising underground movements to pop culture dominance.

Everybody’s Fly is a fast-moving, all-access pass to Fred’s extraordinary life—one that begins in a book—and jazz-filled Brooklyn home and takes us deep into New York’s creative explosions from the 1970s into the 1990s. He didn’t just shape culture, he synthesized it—from highbrow to street, the Bronx to the East Village, punk to rap, Warhol to Wild Style. Whether he’s skipping school to wander New York City’s museums, painting subway cars that became moving masterpieces, or bringing hip-hop to downtown clubs for the first time, Fred’s genius has always been in seeing what others couldn’t—until he made them see it too.

Vibrant, rhapsodic, and compulsively readable, Everybody’s Fly is at once an intimate memoir and panoramic cultural history. It is a love letter to the art of seeing, a fascinating account of an inimitable creative life, and a celebration of what it means to shape culture.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-04-21/ticketed-event-fab-5-freddy-signs-everybodys-fly-life-art-music-and-changing

Danielle Pergament, with Christine Lennon & Dispatches from the Piazza at Chevalier’s Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join Danielle Pergament, in conversation with Christine Lennon, as she celebrates her new book, Dispatches from the Piazza, a witty, sun-soaked love letter to the region where stilettos are standard, aperitivo hour is always, and carbohydrates are never, ever off limits.

Through comedic essays and cheeky observations, Pergament captures the irresistible allure of Mediterranean life — the slower pace, the effortless glamour, the pleasure-first philosophy. The book pairs her sharp humor with tutorials on applying eyeliner like Penélope Cruz, styling a scarf like Grace Kelly, and navigating cobblestone streets in heels, all brought to life with playful illustrations from New Yorker illustrator Mokshini.

Danielle Pergament began her career as Beauty Editor at Allure before relocating to Italy, where she wrote regularly for the New York Times Travel section and New York Magazine. She has contributed to GQ, Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Bon Appétit, and more, and has served as Executive Editor of both Lucky and Allure magazines. She later joined goop as Editor in Chief and founded The C Word, a content company, in 2020.

Christine Lennon is a Los Angeles-based editor and writer whose career spans over 25 years covering fashion, food, travel, entertainment, and design. She began as a beauty editor at W, Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar, and has since contributed to Architectural Digest, Town & Country, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Oprah Daily, and many others. Her work has been featured in “The Best American Food Writing” anthology, and her novel, The Drifter, was published by William Morrow in 2017. She is currently a contributing editor at C, California Style and contributing home and design editor at Sunset magazine.

Where: Chevalier’s

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-04-21/dispatches-piazza-author-danielle-pergament

Book Launch: Chiara Barzini, with Matthew Specktor, & AQUA at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event

Chiara Barzini, in conversation with Matthew Specktor, will discuss AQUA, a hybrid of memoir, travel and cultural history that explores how water altered LA and the history of film.

​Chiara Barzini is an award-winning Italian screen and fiction writer. She lived and studied in the United States where she covered lifestyle and culture stories for numerous American and Italian publications. She writes and translates both in English and Italian and is the author of the short story collection Sister Stop Breathing (Calamari Press, 2012) and the novel Things That Happened Before the Earthquake (Doubleday, 2017) which was a Best Book of the Year for Vogue, Esquire, Elle, Bustle, and the Guardian, and a best summer book for the New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, BBC, and Oprah! magazine. Her fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals. She has a regular column in D Repubblica and is a Literature Advisor at the American Academy in Rome.

RSVP at website!

Where: North Figueroa Bookshop

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Facilitated by Lisa Becker.

RSVP for further information.

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2026-04-21/romance-book-club

The Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Stevie Edwards – Online Zoom Event

Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert welcomes featured poet Stevie Edwards.

Stevie Edwards is an Assistant Professor at Clemson University and Poetry Editor of The South Carolina Review. Stevie’s poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, TriQuarterly, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of The Weather Inside (University of Arkansas Press, 2026), Quiet Armor (Northwestern University Press, 2023), Sadness Workshop (Button Poetry, 2018), Humanly (Small Doggies Press, 2015), and Good Grief (Write Bloody Publishing, 2012). She holds a PhD from the University of North Texas and an MFA from Cornell University. Originally a Michigander, she now lives in South Carolina with her spouse and a small herd of rescue pitbulls. Her work has been supported by Vermont Studio Center, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, SAFTA Firefly Farms, and Buinho Creative Hub.

Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event

Date: Tuesday, the 21^st

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

Website: Event Page

Tuesday Night Café Series & Open Mic: Features. Open Mic & Tribute to S. Pearl Sharp – In-Person Event

Tuesday Night Project presents the National Poetry Month show, including a special tribute to S. Pearl Sharp by Dorothy Randall Gray.

At our third(!) annual National Poetry Month Show where we’re inviting new and old friends to shuffle through their poems live and share across two rounds through the night. We’ll have prompts, pens, and paper for you to write and reflect—or to just take it in!

Always free, open to the public, no tickets or assigned seating. Come through, make plans with a friend, like, comment, share, etc etc.

Aisha Weththasingha is a high school poet in California graduating in 2026. She’s been nationally recognized by the Scholastic Writing Awards.

Jesenia Chavez is a Chicanita, poet, public school teacher, and storyteller. She is inspired by the borderlands, and her parents’ migration to Los Angeles from Chihuahua, México #abolishice. She is the author of the poetry collection, This Poem Might Save You (Me) and has an MFA in creative writing from UCR. Find her at jeseniachavez.com.

Mike Sonksen, known as @lamikethepoet, is a Los Angeles-based poet, literary curator, and cultural historian who documents L.A. culture, literature, and urban history. He is a regular contributor to platforms like Alta Journal and L.A. Taco, specializing in exploring the city’s literary landscape and community resilience.

Sehba Sarwar (@Sehba Sarwar)is a transnational writer, workshop leader, artist and community activist tackling gender, displacement and border issues.

Serena Militante (@sahhhrena_) is a SoCal native who writes poetry, makes ube treats, and is prone to random spurts of dancing. She is passionate about community building and the arts and believes that passion is not something to pursue but something to embody. Her work as a poet and a baker envision a world that is not dictated by greed and corruption but compassion and stewardship.

A special tribute to S. Pearl Sharp presented by Dorothy Randall Gray

DJ LOMO

Tanzila Ahmed (@tazzystar)is an activist, storyteller, and politico based in Los Angeles. Taz was honored in 2016 as White House Champion of Change.

Traci Kato-kiriyama (@traciakemi1)is the author of Navigating With(out) Instruments, PULLEnsemble member, TNP director and co-founder, and activist.

🎤Want to perform for our Open Mic? Make sure to sign up for our lottery by 6:40 pm, there will only be 3 spaces available, two performances per performer per season please! We may ask to review your content. Please read the rules at https://www.tuesdaynightproject.org/how-to-perform

🤿As a reminder, masking is required in our space, and we will have masks available on site. If you can’t join us in-person, we will continue to stream our shows on YouTube in our link in bio.

Masks required/provided.

Where: Tuesday Night Project at Union Center for the Arts

Date: Tuesday, the 21^st

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Website: Instagram Page

LiveTalks LA Presents: An Evening with Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon discussing their book, The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land at Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Meet Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon, two lifelong peace activists and guides to Israel/Palestine, both of whom have lost family in the conflict, take readers on a revealing life-changing journey across this holy, bloodstained land and discover the mythic, political, and personal history that divides but also binds them and their peoples.

Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli Maoz Inon are unlikely peacemakers, dedicated to finding a solution to the bitter war that has decimated historical, ancient land and ended family lines. Despite the losses they have suffered, the resolve of their friendship has taught them that strength and unity are more powerful than the violence of separation. Throughout their travels, they have been constantly asked: In the face of so much pain and suffering on both sides, when there have been so many lives lost and families shattered, how can they ever find hope? Their answer is always the same. One cannot find hope. We must create it.

In The Future Is Peace, Sarah and Inon take readers on their unforgettable weeklong journey across the holy land while exploring each other’s personal and national histories in a land of competing narratives, amid the turbulent push and pull of near constant war, and the recent devastation that has rocked the world. Their mission—to explain the naivete in believing that more violence can bring security and prosperity to either people while in search of a true and lasting peace. Pairing unapologetic candor and inspirational prose, Sarah and Inon are sending a message to humanity that the people have the power to make change. Peace is achievable, not just between the river and the sea, but throughout the world.

Terrence McNally was the longtime host of Free Forum on KPFK. He now hosts a weekly interview show on the Progressive Voices Network on TuneIn and a monthly podcast for a science institute at Harvard. All his podcasts can be found at iTunes and TerrenceMcNally.net

Aziz Abu Sarah is a peace builder, cultural educator, entrepreneur, author, and international speaker. Aziz’s educational and conflict resolution work throughout the world has earned him the titles of National Geographic Explorer and TED Fellow. He has spoken at international organizations and conferences including The United Nations, Nexus, and the European Parliament. He has written opinion pieces for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Al-Quds, Haaretz, and has been published by CNN and Al Arabiya.

Maoz Inon is an Israeli peace activist and entrepreneur. He was honored with the prestigious Franco-German Human Rights Prize and the Shared Living Award from Abraham Initiatives. He has spoken at organizations like Capitol Hill, U.S. universities, and the European Parliaments. He has written pieces for Washington Post, Guardian, Al Jazeera, Haaretz, and more. He has founded several peace-focused initiatives within Israel and the Middle East, including the Jesus Trail, Fauzi Azar Inn, and Abraham Hostel & Tour brands.

“We live next to one another, yet we are segregated by roadblocks and checkpoints. We share the same dream of a better future for our children, but we are so divided by fear and anger that we cannot recognize one another’s humanity. The wounds of our history run deep, but if we are to build a shared future, we must bring down the walls of ignorance and hatred that divide us.”

Watch their TED Talk.

Where: Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar

Date: Tuesday the 21^st

Time: 8 pm

Address: 3200 Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034

Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/aziz-abu-sarah-maoz-inon/

Da Poetry Lounge Open Mic at COC – COMMUNITY OWNED CENTER in Leimert Park – In-Person Event

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

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

Masks are encouraged.

Where: COC – COMMUNITY OWNED CENTER, New Leimert Park Location

Date: Tuesday, the 21^st

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: Instagram Page

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 MWF 9-10 am and TuTh 10 am for a brief intro, discussion of her highly-effective 12 Question method, and 40 minutes of free writing on any topic without judgment. Afterwards you will be able to share a bit about your process and ask Francesca brief 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 22^nd

Time: 9 am – 10 am

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

Website: Event Page

Author Talk: What the Deep Water Knows with Miranda Cowley Heller via Virtual Program, LACL – Online Event

Miranda Cowley Heller takes us on an intimate journey through the life stages of a woman in her new poetry collection, What the Deep Water Knows. Delicate, yet exceedingly raw, these poems will transport you as vividly as any work of fiction.

If I could fly backward, I would.

To the safety of branches, to the time

when my heart still raced for you,

twelve hundred beats a minute.

In poetry that is at once bold and lyrical, affecting and devastatingly frank, Miranda Cowley Heller takes us through childhood, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. Suffused with the natural world and the landscape of Cape Cod, where many of the poems are set, What the Deep Water Knows contemplates love in all the seasons.

Register now to celebrate National Poetry Month with this graceful new poetry collection.

Miranda Cowley Heller was raised in New York City and Cape Cod. Her debut novel The Paper Palace was a number one New York Times bestseller in the US, a Sunday Times bestseller in the UK, and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize. She has worked as a senior vice president and head of drama series at HBO, developing and overseeing such shows as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Deadwood, and Big Love, among others. This is her first poetry collection.

For Adults

Where: Virtual Program,LACL

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

Time: 11 pm

Address: Online Event

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16052938

Book Club Discussion: The Madonnas of Echo Park at Westchester – Loyola Village Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Please join the Loyola Village Book Club in the Community Room to discuss The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse.

New members are welcome.

Where: Westchester – Loyola VillageBranch Library,LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

Time: 12 pm

Address: 7114 W. Manchester Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/loyola-village-book-club-discussion-1

Classics Book Club: Tangledwood Tales at Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for a lively discussion of the 1853 collection, Tangledwood Tales (call no. x 292 H 39-15) by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Where: Granada Hills Branch Library,LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

Time: 1:30 pm – 3 pm

Address: 10640 Petit Avenue, Granada Hills, CA 91344

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/classics-book-club-tanglewood-tales

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

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

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

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: KPFK 90.7 FM

Date: Wednesday, the 22^nd

Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: On-air Event

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

Malibu Library Speaker Series: Bill McKibben at Elkins Auditorium, Pepperdine University – In-Person Event

Bill McKibben is an author, educator, and environmentalist. He will speak about his latest book, Here Comes the Sun. For adults.

The Malibu Library Speaker Series and Pepperdine University present Bill McKibben, speaking as part of Pepperdine’s 2026 Climate Calling Conference. Climate Calling is a conference dedicated to exploring climate change, its consequences, and our moral calling to respond to growing concerns about the future of our planet. The conference is led by a group of Pepperdine faculty members from diverse disciplines.

Bill McKibben first appeared as part of the Malibu Library Speaker Series in 2016. He returns to speak about his latest book, Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization, a call to harness the power of the sun and rewrite our scientific, economic, and political future.

McKibben’s 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change and has appeared in 24 languages. He’s gone on to write 20 books, and his work appears regularly in periodicals from the New Yorker to Rolling Stone. He serves as the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he has won the Gandhi Peace Prize as well as honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the alternative Nobel, in the Swedish Parliament.

McKibben helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, which has organized protests on every continent, including Antarctica, for climate action. He played a leading role in launching the opposition to big oil pipeline projects like Keystone XL, and the fossil fuel divestment campaign, which has become the biggest anti-corporate campaign in history. He stepped down as board chair of 350 in 2015, and left the board and stepped down from his volunteer role as senior adviser in 2020, accepting emeritus status. He lives in the mountains above Lake Champlain with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, where he spends as much time as possible outdoors.

Free parking is available. For parking information and directions to Elkins Auditorium, call Malibu Library at 310.456.6438.

Where: Elkins Auditorium,Pepperdine University Campus

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

Time: 5 pm – 6:30 pm

Address: 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA 90265

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16157750

Book Club for Adults: James at Valley Plaza Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for a lively discussion of James: A Novel by Percival Everett.

New members are always welcome. Copies of the current title are available at the Circulation Desk.

Where: Valley Plaza Branch Library,LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

Time: 6 pm – 7:15 pm

Address: 12311 Vanowen St., North Hollywood, CA 91605

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-adults-10

Kelly Yang, with Alexandra Brown Chang & The Take at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome Kelly Yang, in conversation with Alexandra Brown Chang, to discuss her book, The Take.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the beloved FRONT DESK series comes a provocative, fast-paced novel about two creative women—a young writer fighting to be heard and an older producer clinging to relevancy—and the age reversal treatment that intertwines both of their lives.

Would you sell your youth for $3 million?

Maggie Wang, a broke young Asian American writer, needs a lifeline. Ingrid Parker, a veteran white Hollywood producer with her career on the edge, offers an irresistible deal: $3 million for ten experimental medical sessions to reverse her aging, using Maggie as a transfusion partner, and mentorship.

For Ingrid, it’s a chance to reboot her fading career. For Maggie, it’s access and freedom—money to support her parents and the connections to finally get her novel published.

What starts as a professional transaction exchanging blood quickly becomes a complex psychological dance. As Maggie gains unprecedented access to Ingrid’s hard-earned wisdom, Ingrid sees in Maggie a weapon against an industry that’s been trying to sideline her.

As their relationship intensifies, the rules around aging begin to shift. So does the balance of power between the two women, leaving both questioning who holds the upper hand and what they’re willing to sacrifice to succeed.

Kelly Yang is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Front Desk series, New from Here, Finally Seen, Finally Heard, young adult novels Parachutes and Private Label, and picture books Yes We Will and Little Bird Laila. Her books have earned multiple awards, including the 2019 APALA Award for Children’s Literature and the Strega Prize, and have featured on multiple best of the year lists. Front Desk was named one of the Best Books of the 21st Century by Kirkus Reviews. In addition, Kelly has written screenplays and television pilots for Netflix, CBS Studios, and the CW. Kelly immigrated to the United States when she was six years old and grew up in Southern California. She went to college early and is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School. The Take is her first adult novel.

Alexandra Brown Chang grew up in Los Angeles, in a family of four daughters and four rescue dogs. She graduated from Stanford University, where she majored in Art History. Alexandra is also a member of The Princess Grace Foundation Guild, which champions emerging artists in all fields. By Invitation Only is her debut novel.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

We’re always on the side!

6:45 pm to 7 pm getting settled.

7 pm check in

Write for an hour!

8ish check out!

All writers of all levels welcome!

WRITE | HANG | REPEAT

Where: Big Bar, The Alcove

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

Time: 6:45 pm – 8:15 pm

Address: 1929 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz, CA 90027

Website: Instagram Page

Adam Novak, with Tom Slavkin, & City of Wheels at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Adam Novak, in conversation with Tom Slavkin, will discuss City of Wheels.

Pursued by a deranged stalker, haunted by the serial killer from her past, KTLA weather girl Daisy Diaz signs up for a Valley screenwriting course to tackle her trauma on the page. But when her classmates turn up dead, Daisy falls for the divorced cop assigned to protect her from a B-list of suspects: the lunatic professor, his infamous class speakers, her violent ex-fiancé, the cable guy…until Daisy embraces her inner Final Girl to battle the apex predator in a town where dying is a good career move.

RSVP

Where: Book Soup

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-04-22/adam-novak-conversation-tom-slavkin-discusses-signs-city-wheels

Book Launch: Jordan Ifueko & The Genie Game at Once Upon a Time, Montrose – In-Person Event

Once Upon A Time is thrilled to welcome back New York Times bestselling author Jordan Ifueko, in conversation with Jessica Kim, for the launch of her middle grade novel The Genie Game! Best for ages 10+.

Jordan Ifueko is the New York Times bestselling author of the Raybearer series. She’s a Nebula Award, Ignyte Award, Audie Award, and Hugo Lodestar finalist, and she’s been featured in People magazine, NPR Best Books, NPR Pop Culture Hour, and ALA Top Ten. She writes about magical Black girls who aren’t magic all the time, because honestly, they deserve a vacation.

Jessica Kim writes about Asian American kids finding their way in the world. Before she was an author, Jessica studied education at UC Berkeley and spent ten years teaching third, fourth, and fifth grades in public schools. Jessica lives with her family in Southern California and can’t get enough Hot Cheetos, stand-up comedy, and Korean barbecue.

Where: Once Upon a Time, Montrose

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

Time: 7 pm

Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020

Website: https://shoponceuponatime.com/event/genie-game

Book Event: Eli Erlick, with Rose Montoya, & Before Gender at Page Against the Machine, Long Beach – In-Person Event

Acclaimed activist author Eli Erlick will discuss and signBefore Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 𝟭𝟴𝟱𝟬–𝟭𝟵𝟱𝟬, her debut book published by Beacon Press. She will be joined by fellow transgender activist Rose Montoya in a frank and engaging conversation that will answer your questions about transgender people, past and present.

As trans communities experience unprecedented targeting in the US, Eli Erlick’s new book, 𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, thoughtfully challenges the myths surrounding trans history. She explores 30 vibrant, never-before-heard stories of trans people before the term gender entered our vocabulary. Highlighting influential individuals from 1850 to 1950 who are all but unknown today, Before Gender shares remarkable stories from romance to rebellion and mystery to murder. These narratives chronicle the grit, joy, and survival of trans people whose lives disrupt everything you’ve been told about the trans community.

Organized into four parts, paralleling today’s controversies over gender identity – kids, activists, workers, and athletes—Before Gender introduces figures whose forgotten stories transform the discussion. These ground-breaking histories include two of the first teens to access gender-affirming medical treatment, a countess who instigated an LGBTQ+ riot forty years before Stonewall, and the greatest female billiards player of the 1910s. Bold and visionary, Erlick’s talk uncovers these lost stories from the depths of the archives to narrate trans lives in a way that has never been attempted before.

Eli Erlick is an internationally acclaimed author, activist, and educator. In 2011, she founded Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER), a national organization dedicated to transforming the educational environment for trans students. In the years that followed, Eli has been at the forefront of transgender justice through her organizing, research, and publications. Her work and writing have been featured in hundreds of outlets, including the New York Times, Time Magazine, and The Washington Post. She earned her PhD at UC Santa Cruz and currently serves as the program director of the NYC Trans Archives.

Rose Montoya is a renowned transgender Latina activist, creator, and Senior Digital Strategist for The Christopher Street Project whose work has been featured in 𝘛𝘐𝘔𝘌 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘎𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦, and 𝘝𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘦. She rose to national prominence through her advocacy and storytelling, including consulting with the TSA on policy changes and being named one 18 LGBTQ+ advocates changing the world in the OUT100. Last year she was named Best Activist and Best Influencer in the Los Angeles Blade’s Readers’ Choice Best of LA Awards.

The event is free and open to the public, no tickets or reservations required.

Where: Page Against the Machine

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1288135009908229

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 22^nd

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: Instagram Page

Vroman’s Fiction Reading Group: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store at Vroman’s, Pasadena – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride.

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.

As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.

James McBride is the author of the New York Times–bestselling novel The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, the Oprah’s Book Club selection Deacon King Kong, the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, the American classic The Color of Water, the novels Song Yet Sung and Miracle at St. Anna, the story collection Five-Carat Soul, and Kill ’Em and Leave, a biography of James Brown. The recipient of a National Humanities Medal and an accomplished musician, McBride is also a distinguished writer in residence at New York University.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-04-22/vromans-fiction-reading-group

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

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

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

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

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

Where: The World Stage (use left rear entrance)

Date: Wednesday, the 22^nd

Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm

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

Website: Instagram Page

Story Salon LA at Art Parlor, Valley Village – In-Person & Virtual Hybrid Event

Los Angeles’s longest running storytelling venue is now a hybrid event!

An alternative to stand-up clubs + self-conscious performance spaces

Story Salon challenges you all to tell stories in 90 seconds! Can you do it? If you can, join us!

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

Theme: Freestyle…That’s All

Where: Art Parlor

Date: Wednesday the 22^nd

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

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

Website: Instagram Page

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 22^nd

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

Mark Cid is not actually the poet laureate of Antarctica, but you might hear certain people call him that. He reads and has featured in LA, Long Beach, and the OC. He is working on his first full collection, Your Funeral Sucked, by the Way, and he hopes the next time he has to write a feature bio it will be done.

Christian Perfas is a second generation Filipino-American spoken word poet who speaks on the Song, Truth Universal, and Flow of his own wandering spirit. Originally trained in the art of hip-hop and improv, Christian has learned from legendary spaces such as The Spoken Literature Art Movement at Art-Share LA, The Upright Citizens Brigade on Sunset, and Richard Horvitz’s 5 Steps To Success in North Hollywood. He is the author of the poetry collection Play (World Stage Press, 2022).

$5 cover fee, cash only

Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange

Date: Wednesday, the 22^nd

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

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 MWF 9-10 am and TuTh 10 am for a brief intro, discussion of her highly-effective 12 Question method, and 40 minutes of free writing on any topic without judgment. Afterwards you will be able to share a bit about your process and ask Francesca brief 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 23^rd

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

Website: Event Page

Afternoon Book Club: The Painted Veil at Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join Culver City Julian Dixon Library’s Afternoon Book Club to discuss The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham. For adults.

“Set in England and Hong Kong in the 1920s, The Painted Veil is the story of the beautiful but love-starved Kitty Fane. When her husband discovers her adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic. Stripped of the British society of her youth and the small but effective society she fought so hard to attain in Hong Kong, she is compelled by her awakening conscience to reassess her life and learn how to love.”

Where: Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 12 pm – 1 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16306585

Middle Grade Book Talk: Rex Ogle and Sara Amini Dual Launch at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us for a meaningful and engaging conversation between Rex Ogle and Sara Amini who have both written semi-autobiographical stories set in middle school, exploring the uncertainty of growing up, with themes of friendship, family, sexuality, puberty, and cultural expectations.

Reserve your seat on EVENTBRITE!

Rex Ogle will present and discuss Fruit Cake.

A pitch-perfect middle-grade graphic memoir about crushes, coming out, and finding the courage to be yourself.

Eighth grade isn’t off to a great start. Everyone but Rex seems to be coupling up, and he’s starting to feel like an outsider…until he meets Charlotte. She’s fearless, smart, pretty, and she likes him back. But as great as Charlotte is, there’s someone else Rex can’t stop thinking about. Drew is Rex’s childhood best friend, so when he kisses Rex, all kinds of new feelings begin to stir. Though at school, Drew acts like he doesn’t even know Rex, making those feelings turn really confusing really fast. And with all the strong opinions Rex hears from friends and at church, he questions his own worth and what his affections actually mean. Rex wants to be more like his new friend, Nina, and not care what others think, but being himself seems impossible. When did middle school get so confusing?!

Award-winning author Rex Ogle returns with the heartfelt conclusion to his emotionally resonant and highly relatable Four Eyes trilogy – Fruitcake: A Graphic Novel. After surviving the awkwardness of 6th and 7th grade—puberty, body changes, acne, and everything in between—Rex faces his biggest challenge yet: figuring out who he really is. Fruitcake is the story so many of us needed in middle school: a tender, funny, and fearless exploration of love and fear, crushes and coming out, and learning to embrace exactly who you are. Learn more about Rex and his books at rexogle.com.

Sara Amini will present and discuss Mixed Feelings.

Mixed Feelings chronicles Sara’s identity crisis as a first-generation mixed-race girl, toggling cultural experiences and expectations as a half-Iranian, half-Colombian American tween. Sara showcases a story where navigating life as a mixed-race girl has never been more hilarious or heartfelt, with family, friendship, and fuzz all at the forefront of this laugh-out-loud and painfully relatable middle-school memoir. Through a mix of humor and heart, this charming middle grade graphic memoir explores evolving friendships, puberty mishaps, and finding a place to belong.

Sara Amini is an Iranian-Colombian actress who has starred in various television series, been the face of nearly two dozen commercial campaigns, and voiced characters in both video games and animation. Mixed Feelings is Sara’s graphic novel debut. Learn more about what Sara’s up to at saraamini.com.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 5 pm – 6 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Notable Fiction Book Group: An Island at Ocean Park Branch Library, SMPL – In-Person Event

This community-led, monthly book discussion group returns to in-person meetings on the fourth Thursday of the month at the Ocean Park Branch. This book group discusses prize-winning fiction titles.

April 2026: An Island by Karen Jennings

Where: Ocean Park Branch Library,SMPL, Community Room

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 5:30 pm – 7 pm

Address: 2601 Main St., Santa Monica, CA 90405

Website: SMPL Event Page

One Book, One Coast: They Called Us Enemy at Castaic Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a community reading program of exceptional scope – one book for all of the west coast. This special book club will feature discussion about They Called Us Enemy by George Takei. For adults.

Where: Castaic Library, LACL

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 27971 Sloan Canyon Rd., Castaic, CA 91384

This workshop is designed for adults. Please bring a notebook and a pen.

Where: Silver Lake Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 6 pm

Address: 2411 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039

The panel features six authors in conversation:

Rachell Abalos is a Filipino-American kid-lit writer represented by Sharon Belcastro of the Belcastro Agency. She specializes in contemporary and magical stories about her culture. Born in the United States, she spent her childhood in the Philippines, learning how to speak three different Filipino languages, taking naps, eating ice buko, and smelling fish frying outside her grandmother’s house. She has a BA in Literature and Writing. Our Nipa Hut is her debut picture book.

Lisbeth Coiman is a bilingual writer, educator, cultural commentator, and rezandera from Venezuela. As a bilingual poet, Coiman strives to magnify the voices of the struggle in Venezuela, those who migrate out of despair, and those who stay behind to fight a thousand battles for freedom. Her self-published memoir, I Asked the Blue Heron (Nov 2017), explores the intersection between immigration and mental health. Her bilingual chapbook is titled Uprising/Alzaminento (Finishing Line Press, 2021).

Ellen Phinney writes books for kids, including picture books, chapter books, and middle-grade fiction, as well as articles and stories for grown-ups, too. She is the author of A Dog and His Boy: The Switch.

Brittany Hart Scholten is a former Spanish teacher, study abroad and community engagement administrator, utilizing her passions for community, diversity, and creativity to focus on writing that uplifts community. She is a writer for the Long Beach community magazine, LB908, and writes freelance for other publications such as Om Yoga Magazine, Business Insider, and Winning Her Way. Her Substack: Life in Long Beach focuses on celebrating the diversity and rich cultures that make our community thrive.Her book, Leah’s Long Beach Adventures, is now available in your local Long Beach small business, nonprofit, or her website: http://www.leahslongbeachadventures.com.

Jesus Trejo is an American writer, comedian, and producer. He has released two stand-up specials, Stay At Home Son (2020) and Practicing (2023). He has acted on Mr. Iglesias and This Fool, for which he was also a writer.

Aruni Wijesinghe is a Sri Lankan-American writer. A project manager, ESL teacher, erstwhile belly dance instructor, and occasional sous chef, she has been published in anthologies and journals both nationally and internationally. Her first full-length collection, 2 Revere Place, is available now from Moon Tide Press. She also a co-authored The Undulating Line (Picture Show Press, 2021; available on Amazon.com). Aruni has new poetry collections forthcoming with Picture Show Press and Arroyo Seco Press. A native New Yorker, she was born in the Bronx and raised in Rockland County, New York, and Orange County, California, where she resides.

Where: Signal Hill Library, Zinnia Courtyard

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 1800 Hill St., Signal Hill, CA 90039

We will be discussing the book and the film we watched the week prior!

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-04-23/adaptation-book-club-thin-man-book-and-film-discussion

Poetry in the City: We are Santa Anaat Delhi Community Center, Santa Ana – In-Person Event

Celebrate National Poetry Month with local poets Donato Martinez and Gustavo Hernandez as they share rich stories and poetry cultivated from their neighborhoods. Opens to adults and their families. Contact us at 714-647-5358 for more information.

Donato Martinez teaches English Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at Santa Ana College. He is the author of Touch the Sky and Ten Toes in the Earth.

Gustavo Hernandez is the first Poet Laureate of Orange County and the author of ttw2o books: the poetry collection Flower Grand First (Moon Tide Press, 2021) and bachelor (flower song press, 2025).

Celebra el Mes Nacional de la Poesía con los poetas locales Donato Martínez y Gustavo Hernández, quienes compartirán conmovedoras historias y poemas inspirados en sus barrios. Abierto a adultos y sus familias. Contáctenos al 714-647-5358 para recibir más información.

Hãy cùng chào mừng Tháng Thơ Quốc Gia với các nhà thơ địa phương Donato Martinez và Gustavo Hernandez khi họ chia sẻ những câu chuyện và bài thơ ý nghĩa được vun đắp từ chính khu phố của mình. Chương trình dành cho người lớn và gia đình. Nếu bạn cần thêm thông tin, xin vui lòng gọi chúng tôi theo số 714-647-5358.

Where: Delhi Community Center, Santa Ana

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 505 E. Central Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92707

Website: https://www.santa-ana.org/event/poetry-in-the-city-we-are-santa-ana/

Live Poetic Open Mic: Celebrate National Poetry Month with LA Poet Society – Online Zoom Event

Hey Poets!

Happy National Poetry month! Join us this month for our Live Poetic Open Mic, with our special guest host, Cheyenne! @overcast_eyes

We are so happy to feature Pomona Poet Laureate, Natalie Sierra (@pandorademise), Lynda Crawford (@sacfield2), Carlos Ornelas (@carlosornelaspoetry), and the Usolosopher (@usolosopher)!!!

Natalie Sierra is the Poet Laureate of Pomona and a first-generation Latinx poet & author. Natalie studied journalism at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA. Her work has been featured online and in print, in the Sinister Smile Press horror anthologies, Her Heart Poetry, Fine Print Paper, Ink and Nebula, Quail Bell Magazine, South Broadway Ghost Society, Westwind Magazine, a Journal for the Arts UCLA, and the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of the chapbook Medusa (DSTL Arts, 2020), Charlie, Forever and Ever (FlowerSong Press, 2021) and Beyond the Grace of God (Portable Magic Books, 2025).

Lynda Crawford writes to sneak behind eyes, blow through ears, and stretch voices. She is a poet, born and raised in Barbados. She has lived on both coasts of the US (Connecticut and California). A Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has appeared in national and international online and print journals including Prairie Schooner, ArtsEtc Barbados, The Caribbean Writer, The Galway Review, The Bookends Review, Moonstone Arts Center anthologies (various), Extinction Rebellion Creative Hub, California Quarterly, and Exposition Review. She is a graduate of The University of Connecticut (Bachelors) and Long Island University (United Nations Graduate Certificate) (Masters). She is the author of the poetry collection Washing Water (World Stage Press, 2024).

Carlos Ornelas is a Mexican American poet and author from Los Angeles. He is the author of Ketchup: Sopa De Gato (2013) and Villains Vernacular (2024) and has several poems published in various publications.

Molimau Andrew Fatu also known as The Usolosopher Poet is an author, poet, and spoken word artist from Long Beach, California of Samoan descent. His mission is to ignite the pen for Pacific Islanders worldwide for he feels that they are the minority of the minority and his voice can hopefully spark the ocean flood of Pacific Islander voices. He is the author of Underground Samoan Orator (World Stage Press, 2025), among others.

Join us on Zoom at 6 pm PST (every 4^th Thursday of the month)

Open to all creative artists! Everyone has 5 minutes. Are you writing for NAPOWRIMO? Now is your chance to show off your new work!

Where: LA Poet Society Online

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: Online Event Zoom ID: 81025552763

Website: Instagram Page

Sarah Hoover, with Jordan Moblo, & The Motherload: Episodes from the Brink of Motherhood at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome Sarah Hoover, in conversation with Jordan Moblo (@jordys.book.club) to discuss The Motherload: Episodes from the Brink of Motherhood.

At its core, this “page-turning look at the realities of motherhood and postpartum depression” (Candace Bushnell, New York Times bestselling author) is about learning to forgive yourself. It’s a rejection of the cultural idea of the mother as a perfect being. And it’s a propulsive and whip-smart “welcome moment of truth” (W Magazine) on the vicissitudes of marriage, life, and parenting—a motherhood memoir unlike any other.

Sarah Hoover holds a master’s degree in cultural theory from Columbia and a BA in art history from NYU. Her writing has been featured in Mother Tongue, The Strategist, and Vogue. The Motherload is her first book.

Jordan Moblo, @jordys.book.club, is the creator behind the popular book Instagram account, Jordy’s Book Club, a community of more than 500,000 readers and book lovers. In his spare time when he’s not reading, he is also the Executive Vice President of Creative Acquisitions and IP Management for Universal Studios Group.

RSVP: ticketed event

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

This is the story of a few strange hours in the life of a troubled teenage boy.

You mustn’t do that to yourself Shy. You mustn’t hurt yourself like that.

He is wandering into the night listening to the voices in his head: his teachers, his parents, the people he has hurt and the people who are trying to love him.

Got your special meds, nutcase?

He is escaping Last Chance, a home for “very disturbed young men,” and walking into the haunted space between his night terrors, his past, and the heavy question of his future.

The night is huge and it hurts.

In Shy, Max Porter extends the excavation of boyhood that began with Grief Is the Thing with Feathers and continued with Lanny. But here he asks: How does mischievous wonder and anarchic energy curdle into something more disturbing and violent? Shy is a bravura, lyric, music-besotted performance by one of the great writers of his generation.

WHAT MAKES AN UNSOUPERVISED READER BOOK?⁠

Books that wander a little off the well-lit literary path. Curious, unexpected, and very much not assigned reading.⁠

Each month, a different bookseller picks the book—so the vibe is always changing. Expect titles you won’t see on bestseller lists, books that take risks, bend genres, or quietly blow your mind.⁠

Not your thing one month? No stress. Skip it and come back—the next pick might be exactly your flavor.⁠

Edgy but welcoming. Thoughtful but not precious. A little weird (in a good way).⁠

Where: Book Soup

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

The characters in My Dear You find themselves facing extraordinary choices in scenarios that range from the everyday to the absurd: The U.S. government injects all citizens with a drug that makes them see everyone else as members of their own race and gender. God does away with humans in favor of something much better. A woman adopts a cat who conjures the ghosts of her ex-loves. A factory worker decides to befriend a sex doll she is tasked with selling.

These stories go deep beneath the surface, touching on the particular awkwardness of dating in your thirties and asking: What does it mean to be an Asian woman in America? Or an American? Or a human? Along the way, the characters stop to consider interventions from the supernatural, the earthly, the robotic, and the immortal.

Playful, profane, and yet enveloped with profound compassion for life, however you define it, My Dear You takes on dating, marriage, and the pressures of having or not having children; intimacy, memory, race, and capitalism; living, dying, and being dead. At their very core, they are tales of love in its many forms: being in love when you’re not supposed to be, or not being in love but wishing you were; failing at dating apps or finding yourself in weird but wonderful lifelong friendships; struggling in heaven to remember your loved ones.

Ranging from the sinister to the tender, these witty and expertly paced stories will have you laughing out loud one minute and reaching for your best friend the next.

Rachel Khong is the author of Goodbye, Vitamin, winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction. Real Americans, her second novel, was a New York Times bestseller. In 2018, Khong founded The Ruby, a work and event space for women and nonbinary writers and artists in San Francisco’s Mission District. With friends, she teaches creative writing as The Dream Side. She lives in Los Angeles.

Hrishikesh Hirway is a musician, composer, and podcast creator. He is the host of Song Exploder, an award-winning podcast where musicians break down the creative process behind their songs. Vulture called it “probably the best use of the podcast format ever.” It was also adapted into a TV series for Netflix. He co-created and co-hosted the award-winning podcast Home Cooking, with chef Samin Nosrat; and the first celebrity TV recap podcast, The West Wing Weekly, with actor Joshua Malina. He composed the original score to the 2025 film Companion, and the 2018 Netflix show Everything Sucks! His new album of songs, In the Last Hour of Light, comes out April 24, 2026.

Where: Skylight

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-rachel-khong-presents-dear-you-w-hrishikesh-hirway

Book Event: Gary Stewart: I am from the Honky Tonks, by Jimmy McDonough, at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event

Jimmy McDonough in conversation with Bill Bentley, with a special performance by Margaret Doll Rod of the songs of Gary Stewart.

Gary Stewart: I am from the Honky Tonks is the definitive biography of the honky-tonk legend, based on hundreds of hours of interviews with Gary, his wife, Mary Lou, and stars like Willie Nelson and Tanya Tucker.

Written by Jimmy McDonough, New York Times bestselling author of Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography, widely acclaimed as the definitive account of the rock icon’s life, as well as Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen and Soul Survivor: A Biography of Al Green.

Where: Stories Books & Café

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://storiesla.com/events

Tia Chucha’s Book Club: Land of Milk and Honey at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us for the next three months as we read books that tackle the topic of food and consumption in relation to memory, survival, and violence.

April: Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

Joining our book club is free and no registration is required. Pick up the books at Tia Chucha’s i-store or online at http://www.tiachucha.org. Link in bio.

Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342

Website: Instagram Page

Memoir Talk: Daniela Gerson, with Héctor Tobar, & The Wanderers, at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us to hear Daniela Gerson, in conversation with Héctor Tobar, to discuss her new memoir The Wanderers: A Story of Exile, Survival, and Unexpected Love in the Shadow of World War II!

Daniela will be joined by Héctor Tobar (Our Migrant Souls) to discuss family heritage, how we remember history, and the relevance of refugee stories today.

An immigration journalist and her wife trace their family’s intertwined past to unearth a history of how hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews survived Hitler’s Holocaust at the brutal hands of Stalin—a story that sheds light on the enduring power of hope and love.

Daniela Gerson and her wife, Talia Inlender, met at a picnic in Los Angeles, not knowing that 75 years earlier, their grandparents had left homes only blocks away from each other in a small Polish town, and fled east to Ukraine. The Gersons and the Inlenders would go on parallel odysseys of 5,000 miles to survive the Holocaust—journeys that would, after a deceitful loyalty test from Stalin, put them on cattle cars to a Soviet Gulag, trap them for years in limbo in Central Asia, and would end, after a decade on the run, with new lives built on secrets and lies.

For years, Daniela and Talia simply accepted this painful shared history as a sign that they were b’shert, meant to be. Their families’ refugee past fueled their work: Daniela as an immigration journalist; Talia an immigration attorney. But as Daniela uncovered more, she realized that their grandparents shared this escape path in the Soviet Union with most Polish Jews who survived; a group—sometimes collectively called “the Wanderers”—that is almost entirely absent from popular understanding of World War II. And unlike most Holocaust sagas that focus on the exceptionality of the Nazi genocide, theirs was also a universal story of refugees making impossible decisions when forced to seek safety, protect their children, and find new homes.

This is a story that, to the dismay of the world, remains relevant each time a political upheaval wreaks havoc on individual lives. Part genealogical detective story, part gripping history, part contemporary reporting on war-torn territories, The Wanderers chronicles Daniela’s journey to unearth this past with her wife, and reveal its echoes in still-contested lands from Ukraine to Israel.

Daniela Gerson is an associate professor of journalism at California State University, Northridge and editor-at-large at Zócalo Public Square. She previously worked as a community engagement editor at the LA Times and as a staff immigration reporter for the New York Sun.

Héctor Tobar is the author of six books published in fifteen languages, including, Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of Latino, published by MCD/Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Get your tickets at eventbrite!

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Dual Book Launch: Rhae Lynn Barnes & Darkology and David M. Henkin & Out of the Ballpark at Vroman’s, Pasadena – In-Person Event

Rhae Lynn Barnes will discuss Darkology.

Never before has the disturbing story of blackface and its piercing reflection of American society been so comprehensively told. With Darkology, Princeton historian Rhae Lynn Barnes meticulously unravels the complex, subterranean, and all-too-often expunged history of “Darkology”—the insidious study, commodification, and dehumanization of Black life, through which performers caricatured the enslaved and formerly enslaved for their supposed subservience and happy demeanor.

Given the extraordinary research reflected in Darkology, it’s not surprising that Barnes spent twenty years tracking down “fading photographs, old movies, bureaucratic detritus, moldy scripts, and living witnesses, assembling an impressive archive that allowed her to demonstrate the astonishingly broad reach of blackface minstrelsy” (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich). Painstakingly piecing together these scattered shards of evidence, Barnes reveals the shocking extent to which blackface took center stage in every era of American history.

This was not a fringe activity. By 1830, as political resistance to slavery grew, blackface exploded from a niche performance into a venomous national export. Within a decade, hardly a theater in the country didn’t put on minstrel shows. Following the Civil War, this grotesque entertainment soared, seeping from professional theaters into everyday amateur shows, print, and advertisements. It was everywhere: Elks Clubs, religious institutions, battlefields, universities, and schools. It wasn’t just in the Jim Crow era; it defined it. The very name “Jim Crow” derives from minstrelsy’s founding character.

Darkology dismantles the myth that blackface was a fleeting, post-Civil War phenomenon. Even in eras known for liberal progressivism, it flourished. Barnes unearths the startling fact that four-term president Franklin D. Roosevelt was a devotee who died hours before a blackface show he had commissioned at Warm Springs. It permeated U.S. military bases and was even used in World War II Japanese American concentration camps and German POW camps as a bizarre tool of “Americanization.”

David M. Henkin will discuss Out of the Ballpark.

From America’s Pastime to a global phenomenon—the life of the spectacular game as it is played and celebrated in communities around the world.

All over the world, masses of people watch, follow, document, and obsess over baseball. Everything remarkable about the impact of baseball derives from the game’s history and cultural status as events that draw people together in these ways. Understanding baseball as a cultural phenomenon is therefore less a matter of mastering the vocabulary of the game or merely recollecting its iconic stadiums, players, and stats. While all those details compel insiders and inspire fans, baseball’s peculiar and persistent appeal can only be understood by adopting a wider lens. It requires reckoning with the history of structured competition. The classic backyard game of catch between a father and son draws meaning from its associations with the organized sport and its history. The challenge lies less in finding one perfect spot to look, but rather in identifying the many different places where baseball has accumulated significance.

Out of the Ballpark reconsiders the character, meaning, and delights of the game by exploring both baseball’s unusual features and the sport’s many resonances with other aspects of modern life. To this end, it abandons several assumptions and mythologies that underlie most approaches to histories of baseball: that it is unique among sports and fundamentally different from other kinds of entertainment; that it is specific to the United States; that it has changed fundamentally in recent years; and that the keys to understanding it lie primarily in examining what happens on the field of play.

Instead, the author moves across time and space to examine baseball’s history since the nineteenth century and beyond US borders. He takes readers inside the structures of clubs and leagues, interprets the sacred scripture of rulebooks, and illuminates some of baseball’s rites and rituals that are often associated with honor and manhood. He charts baseball’s significance along the routes of American and Japanese imperial expansion and the shifting maps of race and ethnicity in the US. Baseball is found at negotiating tables that pit capital against labor and in pivotal moments in the history of mass media. Here, we are shown how baseball might offer a complex and capacious space for thinking about such things as spectatorship, success, community, order, and contingency in the modern world.

RSVP

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Thursday the 23^rd

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: Event Page

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 MWF 9-10 am and TuTh 10 am for a brief intro, discussion of her highly-effective 12 Question method, and 40 minutes of free writing on any topic without judgment. Afterwards you will be able to share a bit about your process and ask Francesca brief 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 24^th

Time: 9 am – 10 am

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

Website: Event Page

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 24^th

Time: 9:30 am

Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020

Website: Once Upon A Time Event Page

One Book, One Coast: They Called Us Enemy at La Mirada Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a community reading program of exceptional scope – one book for all of the west coast. This special book club will feature discussion about They Called Us Enemy by George Takei. For adults.

Where: La Mirada Library, LACL

Date: Friday the 24^th

Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Address: 13800 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada, CA 90638

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16145013

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 April 24^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Horror Book Club: Victorian Psycho at Compton Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss Virginia Feito’s Victorian Psycho. 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.

Grim Wolds, England: Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect governess―she’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But long, listless days spent within the estate’s dreary confines come with an intimate knowledge of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family―Mr. Pounds can’t keep his eyes off Winifred’s chest, and Mrs. Pounds takes a sickly pleasure in punishing Winifred for her husband’s wandering gaze. Compounded with her disdain for the entitled Pounds children, Winifred finds herself struggling at every turn to stifle the violent compulsions of her past. French tutoring and needlework are one way to pass the time, as is admiring the ugly portraits in the gallery. Patience. Winifred must have patience, for Christmas is coming, and she has very special gifts planned for the dear souls of Ensor House.

RSVP

Where: Compton Library, LACL

Date: Friday the 24^th

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: 240 W. Compton Blvd., Compton, CA 90220

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16071420

We-Ho Sci-Fi Book Club: Hyperion 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: Hyperion by Dan Simmons.

Please contact the library to get a print copy of the book. No registration required.

Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL

Date: Friday the 24^th

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

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

Free Tickets are required, you can reserve one on Eventbrite.

Where: Santa Monica Main Library

Date: Friday the 24^th

Time: 4 pm – 6 pm

Address: 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA, 90401

Website: https://www.yallwest.com/schedule2026/fiercefriday

Poetry Reading & Spoken Word Series at Bookman Bookstore, Orange – In-Person Event

Poetry reading and spoken word at the Bookman is offered every fourth Friday from 6 pm to 7:30 pm. 320 E. Katella Ave., Orange, CA 92867.

Where: Bookman Bookstore, Orange

Date: Friday the 24^th

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Participants will discuss The Violin Conspiracy: A Novel by Brendan Slocumb.

Ray McMillian is a Black classical musician on the rise—undeterred by the pressure and prejudice of the classical music world—when a shocking theft sends him on a desperate quest to recover his great-great-grandfather’s heirloom violin on the eve of the most prestigious musical competition in the world.

Brendan Nicholaus Slocumb was raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and holds a degree in music education (with concentrations in violin and viola) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For more than twenty years he has been a public and private school music educator and has performed with orchestras throughout the Northeast. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside

Date: Friday the 24^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-04-24/black-lit-book-club-violin-conspiracy

Irena Smith, with Lilya Kaganovsky, & Troika: Three Generations, Three Days, and a Very American Road Trip at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Irena Smith, in conversation with Lilya Kaganovsky, will discuss Troika: Three Generations, Three Days, and a Very American Road Trip.

In this lyrical and artfully woven memoir, a short road trip to California’s Central Coast becomes an epic journey through family history, loss, and connection.

When three generations of women—a Gen X narrator, her seventy-seven-year-old mother, and her twenty-two-year-old Gen Z daughter—set out for a quick trip to California’s Central Coast, what begins as a road trip soon transforms into something far richer: a modern-day Odyssey. Over the course of three days, the three women brave a severe winter storm, encounter ravenous ostriches, walk through an enchanted light exhibit, binge-watch White Lotus, hunt for coffee with plant-based milk, bicker, reconcile, and share stories.

Troika braids the narrative of a three-day road trip with the longer strands of migration, memory, and motherhood, creating a layered meditation on distance traveled—geographic, generational, and emotional. The result is a kaleidoscopic journey that traverses the landscapes of identity and family history and stretches from the horrors of the second world war and an escape from Soviet Russia to adolescence and motherhood in the suburbs of Silicon Valley. As the narrative swerves from heartbreak to hilarity, from Homeric detours and Russian proverbs to internet memes, it weaves together an intimate, poignant, and darkly funny meditation on how we get from where we were to where we are—and what we carry with us along the way.

Irena Smith is a college admissions expert and the author of the award-winning memoir The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays. Born in Soviet Russia and raised in the United States, she weaves her experiences of migration, generational expectations, motherhood, and memory into her writing. Irena lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, a rotating cast of children, and two cats who are working on resolving their differences. You can find more of Irena’s writing on Substack at @irenasmith.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Friday the 24^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

“In my new life, I must learn everything again,” begins Splashed Things, Leigh Lucas’s dark humored and deeply moving debut that examines the chaotic terrain of grief following the suicide of a former boyfriend. With startling honesty and emotional precision, these poems tell the story of a woman in her twenties navigating loss, from the funeral service and her dead-end job, to her therapist’s office and the subways of New York City, revealing the way her beloved’s death infiltrates every corner of her life.

The speaker searches for traces of the departed in unlikely places—the physics of splashes, the history of seasickness, the science of depression—while confronting the limitations of elegy and the futility of trying to contain sorrow in words. Splashed Things is not a neat arc toward healing, but a testimony to the unwieldy shape of mourning and the persistence of love in its wake.

Selected by Maya C. Popa as winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize for its emotional courage, inventive language, and haunting beauty, Leigh Lucas’s Splashed Things marks the arrival of a powerful new voice in contemporary poetry.

Leigh Lucas is a writer in San Francisco. Her poetry collection Splashed Things won the A. Poulin Jr. Prize from BOA Editions. Her chapbook Landsickness (Tupelo Press, 2024) was selected by Chen Chen for the 2023 Sunken Garden Poetry Chapbook Award. Leigh’s writing can be found in Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, Adroit, and elsewhere. She holds a BA from Stanford and an MFA from Warren Wilson.

Brittany Ackerman is a writer from Riverdale, New York. She earned her BA in English from Indiana University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida Atlantic University. She has led workshops for UCLA’s Extension, The Porch, HerStry, Write or Die, Lighthouse Writers, and Stanford. She is a 3x Pushcart Prize Nominee, and her work has been featured in The Sun, MUTHA, Jewish Book Council, Lit Hub, The Los Angeles Review, No Tokens, Joyland, and more. She is the author of the essay collection The Perpetual Motion Machine (Red Hen Press) and the novel The Brittanys (Vintage). She has a forthcoming novel with CLASH Books called The Style of Your Life. Her Substack is taking the stairs.

Where: Skylight

Date: Friday the 24^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-leigh-lucas-presents-splashed-things-w-brittany-ackerman

TDSB (The Definitive Soapbox) Open Mic Event: Featuring Aman K. Batra and Yesika Salgadoat The Nest, Bellflower – In-Person Event

TDSB theme for the month: Origin

Punjabi-American poet, educator, and creative facilitator Aman K. Batra brings a powerful blend of storytelling, craft, and intergenerational healing to the stage. A TEDx speaker and National Poetry Slam finalist, she has performed across the U.S. and internationally, leaving audiences seen, felt, and transformed.

With an MFA in Creative Writing and deep roots in community, Aman’s work lives at the intersection of art and impact. From classrooms to poetry venues, she creates spaces where writers can grow both their voice and their connection to it.

Author of bestselling collections Corazón, Tesoro, and Hermosa, Yesika continues to create work that is raw, honest, and deeply resonant.

Catch her live at The Nest: A Brunch Joint for this month’s TDSB: Origin

This series is held on the last Friday of every month.

Where: The Nest, Bellflower

Date: Friday the 24^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm)

Address: 16916 Bellflower Blvd., Bellflower, CA 90706

Website: Instagram Page

Dave Baker and Nicole Goux & The Heaven & Punk’n Heads at Vroman’s, Pasadena – In-Person Event

This band plays together, lives together…and unfortunately two of them are sleeping together. Whatever, I’m sure it’s fine. Now put on your punk’n mask and let’s rock!

Hannah Lipsky isn’t sure what’s happening. She dreamed of becoming a fine art painter, but after breaking up with her girlfriend, she’s suddenly dropped out of art school, moved into a flophouse, and gotten roped into singing in a campy horror-punk band. With costumes. To make things even more complicated, she might be hooking up with her housemate/bandmate/high school crush, Jerry. Wherever this is leading, it’s going to be messy.

Critically acclaimed, Eisner-nominated creators Nicole Goux (Forest Hills Bootleg Society, Pet Peeves) and Dave Baker (Everyone Is Tulip, Mary Tyler MooreHawk) join forces for a raucous and revealing new graphic novel about making music, making mistakes, facing your past, and choosing your future.

Dave Baker is a writer and illustrator living in Los Angeles. His previous works include Forest Hills Bootleg Society (Simon & Schuster), Everyone Is Tulip (Dark Horse), and Mary Tyler MooreHawk (Top Shelf), among many others. He’s also written for Cartoon Network’s Ben 10 and the live action feature film Alien Warfare. When he’s not working, he’s at home practicing his Bela Lugosi impersonation.

Nicole Goux (she/her) is an Eisner Award nominated illustrator and cartoonist from Los Angeles. She’s the artist of DC’s Shadow of the Batgirl and co-creator of Fuck Off Squad at Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club, Forest Hills Bootleg Society at Simon and Schuster: Atheneaum. She has been published by DC, Dark Horse, IDW, Oni and Avery Hill. Her most recent comic, This Place Kills Me in collaboration with Mariko Tamaki is published by Abrams Fanfare.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Friday the 24^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-04-24/dave-baker-nicole-goux   

10^th Annual LA Get Down Festival: From Shakespeare to K. Dot: Remixing the Classics at Greenway Court Theatre – in-Person Event

The 10^th Annual LA Get Down Festival of spoken word presents From Shakespeare to K. Dot: Remixing the Classics.

Facilitated by: Alex Alpharaoh

Get tickets: https://www.ticketsource.com/greenway-court-theatre/t-oeeqaod

Where: Greenway Court Theatre 

Date: Friday the 24^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: 544 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA

Book Club for Middle Grade Readers: The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye via Palisades Branch Library, LAPL – Online MG Event

Middle-grade readers are invited to participate in our fun monthly book discussions. This month, we will be reading The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye.

Please email gkim@lapl.org for the Zoom login information.

Where: Palisades Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 10 am

Address: Online Event

The fifth edition of the International Poetry Film Festival, Los Angeles, features screenings of 64 poem-based films from around the world, including selections from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom, among other countries. Selected by festival director Lynn Holley and Beyond Baroque, the films will be screened in The Wanda Coleman Theater.

The official schedule for the festival’s program will include a variety of experimental, narrative, documentary, and animated poem-based films. We are thrilled to showcase the work of filmmakers and poets pushing the boundaries of their artistic disciplines to create a whole new experience for lovers of both art forms.

More information about the films showcased this year can be found at poetryfilmfestival.org.

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 11 am – 6 pm

Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA, 90291

Where: Northridge Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 9051 Darby Avenue, Northridge, CA 91325

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/author-talk-jake-and-laurette-mccook-cliffs-schizophrenia-0

Life Lines: An Autobiographical Poetry Writing Workshop with Steven Reigns at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join City of West Hollywood inaugural Poet Laureate Steven Reigns for a one-day workshop focused on autobiographical writing taught by City of West Hollywood Inaugural Poet Laureate Steven Reigns. For adults.

Reality is more interesting than fiction. In this writing workshop you will generate new poems based on your life experiences. You don’t need to like poetry, or writing, or reading. You don’t need to know the rules of grammar, or spelling, or have a large vocabulary. A willingness to try is all that is needed. Please bring a pen/paper or a laptop. Sponsored by the Friends of the West Hollywood Library.

Steven Reigns is a Los Angeles poet and educator and was appointed the first Poet Laureate of West Hollywood. Alongside over a dozen chapbooks, he has published the collections Inheritance and Your Dead Body is My Welcome Mat. Reigns holds a BA in Creative Writing from the University of South Florida, a Master of Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, and is a sixteen-time recipient of The Los Angeles County’s Department of Cultural Affairs’ Artist in Residency Grant. He edited My Life is Poetry, showcasing his students’ work from the first-ever autobiographical poetry workshop for LGBT seniors. Reigns has lectured and taught writing workshops around the country to LGBT youth and people living with HIV. Currently he is touring The Gay Rub, an exhibition of rubbings from LGBT landmarks, and is the board president of the Anaïs Nin Foundation. His collection A Quilt for David was published by City Lights and is the product of over ten years of research regarding dentist David Acer’s life. His newest collection Outliving Michael is a memorial memoir in poetry, chronicling Reigns’s profound friendship with Michael Church, who died of AIDS in 2000.

Attendance is limited, and advance registration is required. This event is now full, but you may join the wait list.

Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 11 am – 1 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15775950

View Park Library Book Club: They Called Us Enemy at View Park Bebe Moore Campbell Library, LACL – In-Person Event

We will read and discuss They Called Us Enemy by George Takei. For adults.

The View Park Library Book Club meets monthly on a Saturday, 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 Bebe Moore Campbell Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm

Address: 3854 W 54th St, Los Angeles, CA 90043

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16074453

Book Discussion of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower at Felipe de Neve Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Please join us for a book club discussion of Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. If you’re interested, please email felipe@lapl.org or sign up in person at the info desk. Coffee and snacks will be served.

Where: Felipe de Neve Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Address: 2820 W. 6th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90057

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-discussion-octavia-butlers-parable-sower

Historical Fiction Book Launch: Judy Batalion, with Melissa Johnson, & The Last Woman of Warsaw at Village Well Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us on Independent Bookstore Day for the LA launch of Judy Batalion’s new book The Last Woman in Warsaw!

Set in the dazzling and sophisticated pre-war capital of Poland, The Last Woman of Warsaw follows two very different young Jewish women – Fanny, a feisty fashion photographer, and Zosia, a political activist. The women are unexpectedly thrown together on a rescue mission and develop an unlikely and powerful friendship as they search for love, freedom, and a sense of home, and, as they grapple with the storm clouds gathering around them.

Judy (The Light of Days) and moderator Melissa Johnson will discuss what led Judy to writing about this forgotten historical period, the transition from writing nonfiction to fiction, and what she hopes readers might take away from the story.

This event takes place in our studio room, so seating is limited! Make sure to reserve your seat HERE and come early!

Judy Batalion is the New York Times bestselling author of several books of award-winning nonfiction, most recently The Light of Days. The Last Woman of Warsaw is her first novel.

Melissa Johnson is an Emmy nominated and Academy Award Shortlisted writer and director based in Los Angeles.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 12 pm

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

G.T Garber, the Myrdle series; 12 pm – 1 pm,

P.J. Jaegar, Civics Quiz Show; 12 pm – 1 pm,

Philip Fracassi, Third Rule, Sarafina, Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre, 2 pm – 3 pm,

Olivie Blake, Gifted & Talented, 3 pm – 4 pm,

Joss Richard, It’s Different This Time, 4 pm – 5 pm,

Kim Samek, I Am the Ghost Here!, 5 pm – 6 pm,

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 12 pm – 6 pm

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

Black Resource Center Book Club: The Filling Station via Virtual Program, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss The Filling Station by Vanessa Miller. There was only one place Black Americans could safely refuel their vehicles along iconic Route 66, a safe haven after escaping the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Join us on Zoom to discuss.

During Jim Crow America, there was only one place Black Americans could safely refuel their vehicles along what would eventually become iconic Route 66. But more than just a place to refuel, it was a place to fill up the soul, build community, and find strength. For two sisters, the Threatt Filling Station became the safe haven they needed after escaping the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Attendance is limited and advance registration is required. Book club discussion is via Zoom to sign up, see library staff, or register online at Visit.LACountyLibrary.org/black-resource-center/

Where: Virtual Program, LACL

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 1 pm – 2 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16016693

Fourth Saturdays Poetry Reading Series: Patty Seyburn & Allison Adelle Hedge Coke at Claremont Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to hear featured poets Patty Seyburn and Allison Adelle Hedge Coke read and discuss their work.

Patty Seyburn has published six collections of poems: Jukebox (What Books Press, Glass Table Collective, 2025); Threshold Delivery (Finishing Line Press, 2019); Perfecta (What Books Press, Glass Table Collective, 2014); Hilarity, (New Issues Press, 2009), Mechanical Cluster (Ohio State University Press, 2002) and Diasporadic (Helicon Nine Editions, 1998). She earned a BS and an MS in Journalism from Northwestern University, an MFA in Poetry from the University of California, Irvine, and a Ph.D. in Poetry and Literature from the University of Houston. She is a professor at California State University, Long Beach, and was a 2024 Fulbright Scholar in Iasi, Romania.

Allison Adelle Hedge Coke ’s acknowledgments include the Thomas Wolfe Prize & Lecture, the AWP George Garrett Award, a Fulbright Scholar Award to Nikšić, Montenegro, the inaugural First Jade Nurtured Sihui Female International Poetry Award for Excellent Foreign Poet, and a California Legacy Artist Award from the CA Arts Council. The author/editor of 18 books, her most recent release is the ASLE, CLMP, and National Book Award Finalist and Emory Elliott Prize-winning book-length poem, Look at This Blue (Coffee House Press, 2022). She teaches at UC Riverside.

Where: Claremont Helen Renwick Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 2 pm – 4 pm

Address: 208 Harvard Ave., Claremont, CA 91711

Website: https://www.claremontlibrary.org/monthly-poetry-readings.html

Read Together Diamond Bar: Meet the Author, Naomi Hirahara at Diamond Bar Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for an afternoon with Naomi Hirahara, the Edgar Award-winning author best known for her Mas Arai mystery series, the bestselling historical mystery Clark and Division, and her deep exploration of Japanese American history. For adults & teens.

She will discuss her prolific career and dive into her moving non-fiction book, Life After Manzanar (co-written with Heather C. Lindquist), which illustrates the lives of former Manzanar internees as they rebuilt after the war. Afterward, she will award the prizes for the winners of the “How a Book Changed My Life” essay contest.

Where: Diamond Bar Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

Address: 21800 Copley Dr., Diamond Bar, CA 91765

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16041316

Blockbuster Book Club: The Devil Wears Prada at Clifton M. Brakensiek Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for our two-part book club for books that have made it to the screen! For ages 18+

This second meeting we will watch the film adaptation of Devil Wears Prada (2006). Film is rated PG-13. This program is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Clifton M. Brakensiek Library.

Where: Clifton M. Brakensiek Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 2 pm – 4 pm

Address: 9945 Flower St., Bellflower, CA 90706

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/15977972

MIriam’s Garden Reading Series at Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join host and librarian Yago Cura to welcome the April 2026 edition of Miriam’s Garden Reading Series, featuring:

Bri Stokes is a writer, editor, curator, cultural worker, producer and poet born, raised and living in Los Angeles, on unceded Tongva land. Her writing has appeared in BuzzFeed, 45th Parallel, Epiphany, the Northridge Review, and elsewhere. Bri is a former poetry editor at the now-disbanded Hecate Magazine and served as the Managing Editor of Issue 04 of SKEW Magazine. Her debut chapbook, A Throat Full of Forest-Dirt, was published in late-2023 by Bottlecap Press. Earlier in 2023, she was longlisted for Thin Air Magazine’s “The Bird In Your Hands” prize for poetry. In 2018, she was awarded “Best Short Story” by the El Camino College Myriad for her speculative fiction piece, “Pr(e)y.” Bri is a 2024 Voodoonauts Fellow and an editorial assistant at HINCHAS Press.

Jaha Zainabu is a storyteller. She writes poetry, fiction, and musings. She has been a member of the Anansi Writers Workshop in Leimert Park since 1993. She is the author of eleven books of poetry and fiction, including: I’m Writing to Tell You. She travels throughout the United States sharing her work. In addition to being a writer she is also a visual artist. On this podcast she shares her journey and weighs in on a few hovering headlines.

MaiJoi N/A

Where: Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 2:30 pm – 4 pm

Address: 2205 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043

Website: Instagram Page

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!

Where: Central Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

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

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

Altadena Poets Laureate 20^th Anniversary Book Festival: After the Fire Series Closing Event at Bob Lucas Memorial Library & Literacy Center, Altadena – In-Person Event

Join us to honor two decades of Poetry, community, and creativity, featuring readings, book displays and appearances by local poets and indie presses.

Featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen and poets published in Altadena Poetry Review 2026.

Where: Bob Lucas Memorial Library & Literacy Center

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 3 pm – 6 pm

Address: 2659 Lincoln Ave., Altadena, CA 91107

Where: LibroMobile, Santa Ana

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

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

Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/an-indie-bookstore-day-event-the-most-spectacular-mistake-by-anatalia-vallez

Luke Goebel, with Caroline Kepnes, & Kill Dick at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Join us to hear Luke Goebel, in conversation with Caroline Kepnes, discuss Kill Dick.

A fever dream, Kill Dick is a literary thriller that plunges into the chaos of Los Angeles, where addiction, privilege, and corruption combust.

At nineteen, Susie Vogelman should be coasting: she’s an NYU dropout with no responsibilities, endless prescription pills, and a Brentwood estate to waste away in. But Los Angeles has other plans. A string of brutal murders targeting addicts spreads through the city, and Susie’s ivory tower begins to crumble. The headlines point too close to home: her father’s ties to an opioid empire, a sinister secret society, and her own complicity in the systems holding it all together.

Then there’s Peter Holiday, a disgraced professor running a rehab scam so audacious it’s almost admirable. When their lives collide, Susie and Peter are dragged into a web of privilege, corruption, and violence, where every escape leads deeper into the rot.

Dark, satirical, and razor-sharp, Kill Dick is a modern literary thriller that unflinchingly dissects wealth, exploitation, and the perilous line between survival and self-destruction.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Saturday, the 25^th

Time: 3 pm – 4 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-04-25/luke-goebel

Brad Neely, with Nic Jaurez, & Creased Comics! at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Join us Hungry bridge trolls, limousine werewolves, and other absurd characters populate these delightfully irreverent gag cartoons from the golden days of webcomics.

Beginning at the dawn of the new millennium, the animator Brad Neely materialized as one of the funnier voices on the internet. Youtube hits like the foul-mouthed George Washington, his demented audiobook retelling of Harry Potter in Wizard People, Dear Readers, and the alarmingly prescient Adult Swim TV show China, IL (starring the voices of both Greta Gerwig and Hulk Hogan) all reveal how Neely captured a kind of freewheeling online spirit that is fading fast.

During this ascent, Neely was also quietly mastering another form, the webcomic, where he spliced together historical figures, fairy tales, wildlife, and absurd gag setups into truly laugh-out-loud cartoons: hungry bridge trolls ready to devour local “chappies”; Caesar’s real killer (Jeffrey); the Boo-Boo Maker; limousine werewolves; superheroes trying and failing to rescue Christ; and more eye-blasting thrills.

Gathered here for the first time along with Neely’s reflections about his work, Creased Comics is a portal into a truly individual creative mind, and a snapshot of some of the best days for webcomics.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Saturday, the 25^th

Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-04-25/brad-neely

Saturday Afternoon Poetry: SAP 30^th Anniversary Reading: Gia Civerolo & The Inner Three + Four Feathers Poets, led by DKC at Lamanda Library – In-Person Event

Join us to hear featured: Gia Civerolo & The Inner Three + Poets published in Four Feathers Press edition: Turtle Island Poetry #4 (April 2026 Issue).

Don Kingfisher Campbell hosts and curates these events.

Where: Lamanda Park Branch Library, Pasadena

Date: Saturday, the 25^th

Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm (NOTE: CHANGE IN TIME)

Address: 140 S. Altadena Dr., Pasadena, CA

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

Historical Fiction Book Club: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Carlota Moreau: A young woman growing up on a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of a researcher who is either a genius or a madman.

Montgomery Laughton: A melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol. An outcast who assists Dr. Moreau with his experiments, which are financed by the Lizaldes, owners of magnificent haciendas and plentiful coffers.

The hybrids: The fruits of the doctor’s labor, destined to blindly obey their creator and remain in the shadows. A motley group of part human, part animal monstrosities.

All of them live in a perfectly balanced and static world, which is jolted by the abrupt arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, the charming and careless son of Dr. Moreau’s patron, who will unwittingly begin a dangerous chain reaction.

For Moreau keeps secrets, Carlota has questions, and, in the sweltering heat of the jungle, passions may ignite.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of the novels Velvet Was the Night, Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, and a bunch of other books. She has also edited several anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award–winning She Walks in Shadows (a.k.a. Cthulhu’s Daughters). She has been nominated for the Locus Award for her work as an editor and has won the British Fantasy Award and the Locus Award for her work as a novelist.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 5 pm – 6 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-04-25/historical-fiction-book-club-daughter-doctor-moreau

Nervous Ghost Press Arts Night & Open Mic via Nervous Ghost– Online YouTube Event

Join us and our communities virtually for stories, poetry, art, and music as we show the world our voices carry strength.

Welcome to the Nervous Ghost Press ARTS NIGHT!

Join us every last Saturday of every month (unless otherwise noted) as we engage in the arts with our communities. The event hosted in East Los Angeles County at our Community Arts workspace. The Open Mic portion is streamed live through YouTube, so no matter where you are, you’re here!

Sign up today to share your work during the open mic portion, or tune in as a member of the audience. You are all welcome, always. Each month, we have a different Community Guest Emcee that runs the show. If you would like to be considered for a future open mic, email us today.

The Arts Night painting and creation aspect is in-person with limited seating so RSVP as soon as possible. We have art supplies provided, but feel free to bring your own.

See you there!

Where: Nervous Ghost Press

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 5 pm

Address: Online YouTube Event (see site)

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-nervous-ghost-press-arts-night-open-mic-tickets-1426094670549

Poesia for the People: Florecer Del Verso at Stay Studio, Downey Beach – In-Person Event

Poesía for the People welcomes our comunidad to Florecer Del Verso (Flowering of the Verse) on Saturday, April 25 @ 5:30 pm. The evening will feature special guest poets, surprise performances, food & drinks. Dress to impress!

In a world that moves fast, poetry is our reminder to breathe, to feel, and to witness. This bilingual showcase celebrates the beauty, the relevance, and urgency of the spoken word.

​Host Jean Pierre Reuda is honored to feature three incredible voices who are cultivating change through their craft:

Whether you speak Spanish, English, or the universal language of the heart, there is a seat at the table for you. Come witness the flowering of the verse.

This is a bilingual open mic night for love, healing, and everything the heart holds.18+

En inglés. En español. For the people.

$15 suggested donation

50% of proceeds benefit Stay Arts, a non-profit organization dedicated to broadening arts access in Southeast LA and empowering local artists and youth.

RSVP on Partiful

Where: Stay Studio, Downey

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 11140 Downey Avenue, Downey, CA, 90241

Website: Instagram Page

LA Poet Society Presents: Heartbeats Circle Open Mic at The Libros, Lincoln Heights – in-Person Event

Come celebrate National Poetry Month with LA poets at The Libros in Lincoln Heights.

Join us for talented features Rosemarine & Lupe Montiel, with 5 min sets for open mic participants.

$10 donation recommended.

Where: The Libros, Lincoln Heights

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 6 pm

Address: 3422 N. Broadway, Lincoln Heights, CA 90027

Website: Instagram Page

Annual LA Get Down Festival: Ink Slam Invitational at Greenway Court Theatre – in-Person Event

The 10^th Annual LA Get Down Festival of spoken word presents The InkSlam Invitational with Ayanna Florence.

Get tickets: https://www.ticketsource.com/greenway-court-theatre/t-oeeqaod

Where: Greenway Court Theatre 

Date: Saturday the 25^th

Time: 8 pm

Address: 544 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036

Website: https://greenwaycourttheatre.org/2026-la-get-down/

Burning Issues Book Club: The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating via Bal Canto Bookstore, Long Beach – Online Zoom Event

Please join us to discuss non-fiction works related to climate change, environmental degradation, environmental and social justice, and implementation of social change movements.

April’s book selection for discussion is The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by author Elisabeth Tova Bailey.

This book is a memoir about the author’s experience being bedridden with a chronic illness, during which she becomes fascinated by a wild snail that lives in a pot plant on her nightstand. The book chronicles her year-long observation of the snail, exploring its anatomy, behavior, and life cycle, which provides her with solace, a sense of wonder, and a deeper understanding of resilience and the natural world, ultimately helping her cope with her own confinement and illness. It’s an intimate story of survival, connection, and finding meaning in the smallest of creatures.

Where: Bel Canto Bookstore, Long Beach

Date: Sunday the 26^th

Time: 12 pm – 1 pm

TIMPLA cookbook club is hosted by ginataan gang, three pinays with a shared love for gardening, storytelling, cooking & food as resistance.

TIMPLA cookbook club is hosted by ginataan gang, a group of three pinays with a shared love for gardening, storytelling, cooking, and food as resistance. Each gathering celebrates a different cookbook, diving into the diasporic recipes, cultural influences, and the histories they carry.

Potluck + discussion.

Participants are invited to share a dish they’ve cooked from the book. More than just a meal, our table is a space for connection—where food serves as a lens into land, home, and migration.

ginataan gang is liza gesuden, thea de borja, dianne que.

Support Indies First.

Our book club is free to attend; we kindly ask that you support our work and our featured authors by buying books from us in-store or online at open_in_newBookshop.org (print, audio, e-book) and open_in_newLibro.fmopen_in_new (audiobook).

Where: KUBO, Long Beach 

Date: Sunday the 26^th

Time: 12 pm – 2 pm

Participants will discuss This Is the Year by Gloria Muñoz.

This dazzling YA cli-fi written in prose and verse will speak to any reader struggling with the state of our world and how to understand their place in it.

“In outer space, no one will know me as the girl with the dead sister.”

Seventeen-year-old self-proclaimed Goth and aspiring writer Julieta Villarreal is drowning. She’s grieving her twin sister who died in a hit-and-run, her Florida home is crumbling under the weight of climate disaster, and she isn’t sure how much longer she can stand to stay in a place that doesn’t seem to have room for her.

Then, Juli is recruited by Cometa, a private space program enlisting high-aptitude New American teens for a high-stakes mission to establish humanity’s first extraterrestrial settlement. Cometa pitches this as an opportunity for Juli to give back to her adopted country; Juli sees it as her only chance to do something big with her life.

Juli begins her training, convinced Cometa is her path to freedom. But her senior year is full of surprises, including new friendships, roller skating, and first love. And through her small but poignant acts of environmentalism, Juli begins to find hope in unexpected places. As her world collapses from the ramifications of the climate crisis, Juli must decide if she’ll carry her loss together with her community or leave it all behind.

Told in gripping prose interspersed with poems from Juli’s writing journal, this genre-bending novel explores themes of immigration, climate justice, grief, and the power of communities.

Gloria Muñoz is the author of Your Biome Has Found You and Danzirly, which won the Ambroggio Prize and the Florida Gold Medal Book Award for Poetry. She is an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate Fellow, a Hedgebrook Fellow, a Macondista, a Highlights Foundation Diverse Verse Fellow, and a part of Las Musas. This Is the Year is her debut novel. Visit her online at gloriamunoz.com and on Instagram @bygloriamunoz.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 26^th

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-04-26/latinx-book-club-year

La Palabra Reading Series & Open Mic at Avenue 50 Studio, Highland Park – In-Person Even

La Palabra Reading Series host Pam Concepcion welcomes featured readers and Open Mic participants to the April 2026 event.

Grace Olguin printed her first chapbook collection of poems in 2009 and was awarded the Powell Grant for “Art In the Public Places” by the City of Santa Fe Springs. Between 2015 and 2020, she volunteered through the Prison Education Project in a variety of Fall semester workshops that focused on creative writing and healing for incarcerated women. A List of Things I Lost is her first book of poetry.

Alejandra Roggero is the author of four collections of prose and poetry, most notably The Town (2015), and La Matriarca (2023), and currently works in TV development. She is the founder of Poetry for the Masses, a collective and poetry workshop series for writers of all levels that takes place every single month in Los Angeles, and the owner of Guerita Vintage. She hopes that her work will make you so soft, you dissolve.

hector son of hector is an Oakland-based poet and child of Mexican immigrants known for work exploring themes of identity, labor, and heritage. He works in a hospital, writes poetry, and is involved in promoting Latinx literature, including work with the “[En Construcción]” series. His writing often features poignant reflections on cultural upbringing, such as in “Notes from the library.”

Where: Avenue 50 Studio

Date: Sunday the 26^th

Time: 2 pm – 4 pm

Address: 3714 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park, CA 90065

Website: Instagram Page

Catching Fire: The Los Angeles Wildfires, January 5 – February 1, 2025: Contributor Readings via LA Poet Society – Online Zoom Event

This Catching Fire anthology reading event is hosted by K.R. Morrison, with MCs S.A. Griffin and Richard Modiano.

Join the tour for Catching Fire, a new anthology released from Rose of Sharon press. Lots of LA writers reflect on the losses after the horrendous month-long fires, January 2025. Join the event on Zoom for reading from many of the contributors, including our very own Jefa de LA Poet Society, Poet Jessica Wilson.

Jeffrey Bryant is a Writer living in Los Angeles. He has been published in the L.A. Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Poetic Diversity Literary Journal and in the 2016 anthology Coiled Serpent: The Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles.

Alexis Rhone Fancher is a photographer and poet and the author of ten published books. Her poem, “when I turned fourteen, my mother’s sister took me to lunch and said:” was chosen by Edward Hirsch for inclusion in The Best American Poetry of 2016. Her poems and flash fiction have been published in over 200 literary magazines and journals.

Kat Georges is a publisher of Three Rooms Press, poet, and designer extraordinaire. Her first collection of poems is titledOur Lady of the Hunger.

Jerry the Priest (Jerry Younkins) is a Detroit-based artist, poet, and actor known as “the first hippie” and a pioneer in performance poetry.

Sarah Maclay is a poet, performer, essayist, and educator. Her new books are The H.D. Sequence—A Concordance andNightfall Marginalia.

Ellyn Maybe has been published in many anthologies, including Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution, Poetry Slam, Another City: Writing From Los Angeles, Poetry Nation, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, and American Poetry: The Next Generation. She was on the 1998 and 1999 Venice Beach Slam teams. She was seen reading her work in Michael Radford’s (Il Postino) film Dancing at the Blue Iguana.

Jim Natal is the author of five poetry collections, most recently Spare Room: Haibun Variations and 52 Views: The Haibun Variations, both written entirely in an intimate updating of the Japanese haibun form, a blending of prose and haiku-like short poems, that dates back to haiku master Bashō in the late 1600s. Natal’s previous full-length lyric collections include Memory and Rain; Talking Back to the Rocks; and In the Bee Trees, which was a finalist for the PEN America and Publisher’s Marketing Association Ben Franklin Awards. He also is the author of four chapbooks and two limited-edition chapbooks.

Puma Pearl is a New York City-based poet, journalist, performer, and producer known for merging spoken word with rock and roll. A prominent figure in the Lower East Side arts scene, she has authored multiple collections, including Birthdays Before and After. She curates “Puma Perl’s Pandemonium” and leads The Puma Perl Band.

Nicca Ray is the author of Curve (Gutter Snob Books) Ray by Ray (Three Rooms Press) and Back Seat Baby, poems (Poison Fang Books).

Where: LA Poet Society, Online

Date: Sunday the 26^th

Time: 2 pm – 4 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: Instagram Page

Ticketed: Jane Smiley & Lidie: The Further Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton: A Novel at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Join us to hear acclaimed author Jane Smiley present and discuss Lidie: The Further Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton: A Novel.

From the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, a rousing novel that follows two young women fleeing a divided America: one running toward a dazzling future and the other running from a troubled past.

Christmas, 1857. America’s future is precarious; civil war looms on the horizon. After her abolitionist husband is murdered in the lawless Kansas Territory, Lidie Newton returns, in mourning, to her hometown of Quincy, Illinois. But her sisters have little comfort to offer, and Lidie is haunted by the memories of her failures—until she takes an interest in her niece, Annie. Beautiful, self-assured, and mischievous, Annie sticks out in Quincy. She becomes an actress at the local theater, and when she is offered the opportunity to perform abroad, she decides to run away. But travel is dangerous for a young unmarried woman, so Lidie, armed with her pistol and her wit, goes with her.

The two women embark on a perilous journey across the Atlantic, rushing toward an unknown future in England. Once they arrive in Liverpool, they vanish into new roles in the household of Annie’s benefactor, Mr. Mallory Cunningham. Annie takes a stage name and finds her way to a career, while Lidie becomes her lady’s maid. But will either of them be content with her new lot in life?

Exuberant and riveting, a sly commentary on truth and beauty and fulfillment that resonates with our times, Lidie delivers a panoramic portrait of a volatile era and the headstrong women trying to live an honest life in it.

NOTE: See website for tickets and guidelines.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Sunday, the 26^th

Time: 2 pm – 4 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-04-26/jane-smiley

Evelina Ruimy & Hop’s Tales: The Kind Bunny at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

Evelina Ruimy will present and discuss Hop’s Tales: The Kind Bunny.

The story follows Hop, a joyful bunny who loves school, learning, and spending time with his friends. However, when a classmate teases him for the very things he enjoys, Hop, hurt and unsure, begins to question himself. With gentle guidance from his mother, Hop learns a powerful lesson that others’ opinions don’t define who we are, and kindness is always the strongest response.

When Hop returns to school, he chooses confidence over fear and compassion over anger. His response leads to an unexpected friendship, showing young readers how empathy can turn difficult moments into meaningful connections.

Written in playful rhyme and paired with beautiful watercolor illustrations, Hop’s Tales: The Kind Bunny explores themes of resilience, kindness, and staying true to oneself, while offering children and caregivers a relatable way to navigate teasing and social challenges with grace.

Evelina Ruimy lives in the leafy Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, with her husband and their two daughters, Scarlett and Ellie Rose. An avid puzzle-solver, cross-stitcher, and lifelong writer, Evelina finds her greatest joy in motherhood, nurturing her girls into kind, curious, and confident young women. Hop’s Tales: The Kind Bunny was inspired by moments from her own life—small truths and gentle lessons she hopes will guide not only her daughters, but children everywhere, toward lives filled with happiness, empathy, and mindfulness.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 26^th

Time: 3 pm

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

Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-04-19/donna-hay-sunshine-lemons-and-sea-salt-celebration-modern

LiveTalks LA Presents: Kate Bowler, with Rainn Wilson, & Joyful, Anyway at Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre, New Roads School – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Spend an evening with Kate Bowler—bestselling author, Duke professor, and expert at telling the truth about being human—in conversation with actor Rainn Wilson. They will discuss joy that doesn’t require us to pretend everything is fine. Expect laughter, honesty, and the rare relief of being told the truth: you can’t always be happy—but you can be joyful, anyway.

You can’t always be happy, but you can be joyful, anyway.

We live in a culture convinced that chasing happiness will optimize our bodies, our minds, our relationships, our lives. But in the meantime, bad news usually stays bad: illness, chronic pain, grief, and disappointment don’t obey our timelines or vision boards. We are left wondering why, if we’re doing everything right, life still feels so hard.

Honest and bracingly tender, Joyful, Anyway proves that experiencing joy does not depend on resolving everything that makes life difficult. Drawing on a decade of living with serious illness and a lifetime studying America’s obsession with progress, Kate Bowler shows why people so busy chasing happiness miss out on actual joy.

Joy isn’t something you can optimize or manufacture—it finds us at the edge of expectation, when life interrupts our scripts. Joyful, Anyway gives language for the ache we all carry and practices for “putting yourself in the way of joy”: loosening control, introducing novelty, choosing charity, and staying open to the surprising, technicolor moments that pull us back into life.

Joy reminds us that no matter what, life is still worth loving. For every time we ask is this it?, joy will answer: There is more.

Kate Bowler is the three-time New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason, No Cure for Being Human, Good Enough, The Lives We Actually Have, Blessed, and The Preacher’s Wife and hosts the popular podcast Everything Happens. A Duke University professor, she earned a master’s of religion from Yale Divinity School and a PhD at Duke University.

Rainn Wilson is an Emmy Award nominated actor, best known for the role of Dwight Schrute in NBC’s The Office. He is the host of the Peacock docu-series Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss in which he travels the world in search of happiness. He is author of the New York Times bestselling Soulpankake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions as well as his comedic memoir, The Bassoon King: My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy. His most recent book is Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution. His diverse career includes television, movies, Broadway, unscripted series, animation, and podcasts.

Where: Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre, New Roads School

Date: Sunday the 26^th

Time: 4 pm – 6 pm

Address: 3131 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404

Earthseed Symposium: The Female Man by Joanna Russ at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event

At this speculative fiction book club meeting, participants will discuss The Female Man by author Joanna Russ.

Where: North Figueroa Bookshop

Date: Sunday the 26^th

Time: 5:30 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-0cfd6845-1b0b-4bf7-9bfa-182265630896

Annual LA Get Down Festival: “Bar for Bar” at Greenway Court Theatre – in-Person Event

The 10^th Annual LA Get Down Festival of spoken word presents “Bar for Bar: A Celebration of Hip Hop & Poetry with host Matt Muse.

Get tickets: https://www.ticketsource.com/greenway-court-theatre/t-oeeqaod

Where: Greenway Court Theatre 

Date: Sunday the 26^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 544 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036

Website: https://greenwaycourttheatre.org/2026-la-get-down/

April 2026 Historical Romance Book Club: The Truth About Lord Stoneville at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event

Orders Manager Katie S leads our Historical Romance Book Club. The meeting is on the 4th Sunday of the month at 7:15 pm.

Participants will discuss The Truth About Lord Stoneville by Sabrina Jeffries.

No membership is necessary, but RSVP is required.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Sunday the 26^th

Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm

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

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