Book Club: The Night Travelers at Fairfax Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a conversation about The Night Travelers, by Armando Lucas.
Berlin, 1931: Ally Keller, a talented young poet, is alone and scared when she gives birth to a mixed-race daughter she names Lilith. As the Nazis rise to power, Ally knows she must keep her baby in the shadows to protect her against Hitler’s deadly ideology of Aryan purity. But as she grows, it becomes more and more difficult to keep Lilith hidden so Ally sets in motion a dangerous and desperate plan to send her daughter across the ocean to safety.
Where: Studio City Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 20th
Time: 11 am
Address: 161 S. Gardner St., Los Angeles, CA 90036
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/book-club-night-travelers
Book Discussion for Adults: Olga Dies Dreaming at Sorensen Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Come read and discuss the novel Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez. For Adults.
Set against the backdrop of New York City in the months surrounding the most devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico’s history, Olga Dies Dreaming is a story that examines political corruption, familial strife, and the very notion of the American dream—all while asking what it really means to weather a storm.
Where: Sorensen Library, LACL
Date: Monday the 20th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16444249
Philosophical Horror Book Club: Chlorine at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Chlorine: A Novel by Jade Song.
Chlorine is a debut novel that blurs the line between a literary dark coming-of-age narrative and an unsettling tale of body horror, told from an adult perspective on the trials of growing up in a society that puts pressure on young women and their bodiea, a powerful, relevant novel of immigration, sapphic longing, and fierce, defiant becoming.
Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life, in the intense world of competitive swimming, starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach is her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school. Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life.
But these are human concerns. These are the concerns of those confined to land, those with legs. Ren grew up on tales of mermaid folklore, of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers. Creatures that called sailors to their doom. That dragged them down and drowned them. That feasted on their flesh. The creature that she’s always longed to become: the mermaid.
And in this gripping psychological horror, Ren aches to be in the water. She dreams of the scent of chlorine, the feel of it on her skin. She will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free. No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill.
Jade Song is an artist and the author of the novels I Love You Don’t Die and Chlorine, which was selected as a New York Times Editor’s Choice, translated into multiple languages, and won the Writer’s Center First Novel Prize and the Alex Award. Song pole dances and lives with too many books.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Monday the 20th
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd. Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-07-20/philosphical-horror-book-club-chlorine
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 20th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501
Website: Facebook Page
David Beard, with Dennis Diken, & All Summer Long at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Join us to hear Davis Beard, in conversation with Dennis Diken, to discuss his new book, All Summer Long.
This unforgettable and in-depth exploration of The Beach Boys’ incredible output during their early to peak years, from 1961 to 1967, interweaves recollections by group members, family, friends, and musical colleagues.
David Beard compiles a wide range of fascinating and eye-opening conversations and original interviews with the group and integral figures in the band’s history, including Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks, Bruce Johnston, Jan Berry, Dean Torrence, Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford, Ginger Blake, and many others. All Summer Long is based on over 30 years of archival interview content and provides a wealth of fresh insights into the personalities, circumstances, and decisions that shaped the music created by one of the most enduring acts in popular music history.
This book covers the early transformative years of 1962 -1963 when Brian Wilson was working at breakneck speed, as well as the influences of Jan & Dean. It looks at Brian and The Beach Boys’ incredible leap forward in music, the changing arc of Brian’s creativity in 1965, the triumph that was Pet Sounds, the synergistic shift with “Good Vibrations” in 1966, and the outcome of the SMiLE recordings. The subjects themselves take center stage in this book, sharing their recollections which allow their emotions to be fully conveyed. Love, laughter, sorrow, and joy are captured along with the history of the groundbreaking and chart-topping recordings. Grab a board and get ready for the ride of your life.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 20th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-07-20/david-beard
Elizabeth Winthrop, with Christie Craig, & Conviction at Chevalier’s Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to hear Elizabeth Winthrop, in conversation with Chrisitie Craig, to discuss her new novel, Conviction.
The story of a young American woman’s misguided journey to join ISIS and the grief of the mother she leaves behind, Conviction is a gripping and thought-provoking exploration of loss, empathy, and hope from the acclaimed author of The Mercy Seat.
Maggie is gone. And her mother, Ann, is reeling. In the aftermathof 9/11, eleven-year-old Maggie’s first instinct was rage. But when her parents took her to an open house at a mosque, she glimpsed a faith of beauty and peace—and over time came to embrace Islam as her own. A decade later, Maggie has left Maine for the life in New York she always dreamed of. Yet her joy is shadowed by images from Syria: civilians starving, children buried under rubble. She feels powerless to help. Then she meets Ahmet, the handsome and headstrong son of a neighborhood baker. Ahmet is enraged by all the same things she is—so much that he leaves his life behind to join a new rebel group emerging in Syria, electrified by its sweeping vision to fight Assad and create a Muslim utopia. The group is ISIS.
Driven by love, Maggie follows him into territory from which she can’t return. Trapped without her passport and cut off from home, she slowly gleans the brutal nature of the group she has joined, one that does not share her vision of Islam.
Back in Maine, Ann is left with silence and half-truths, with the hope that one day her daughter will realize her mistake and come home.
Told in counterpoint between mother and daughter, America and Syria, Conviction is both intimate and global in scope: a portrait of love during war, and a nuanced dive into the horrors of the modern world and the conditions that beget violence.
Where: Chevalier’s
Date: Monday the 20th
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-07-20/conviction-author-elizabeth-winthrop
Chloe Lauter, with Keala Kendall, & The Flayed Man at Skylight Books – In-Person Event
Join us to welcome Chloe Lauter, in conversation with Keala Kendall, to discuss: The Flayed Man.
A complex mother-daughter relationship is taken to a new level in this fresh and propulsive novel of family curses, blood-thirsty ghouls, and budding romance set against the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas
Ellis Karsten spends nights working triage in the ER and days having the same conversation with her mom. The early onset dementia is exhausting, but the real challenge is their curse—Ellis’s family must feed daily on blood, or risk becoming mindless, skinless killing machines. When Ellis’s uncle, who supplies their blood, vanishes, she takes it upon herself to find a new source, aided by a prickly paramedic who’s equal parts unpredictable and intoxicating. But as Ellis fights to balance her bloodthirsty nature with a new relationship, her mom’s impossible demands transform into panicked warnings that a fabled monster, “The Flayed Man,” is stalking them.
As she traverses the desert in search of blood, Ellis risks her safety and her family’s secret, until it becomes clear that her mom is right: something ancient and hungry is hunting them, and it has come for her mom. Blood hunger begins to overtake Ellis, transforming her body into something ghoulish and frightening—exactly what The Flayed Man wants. In the end, she must decide who to trust, what she’s willing to sacrifice, and whether she is worthy of a life, and love, beyond her curse—or if she’s going to succumb to instinct and ravage the world.
Chloe Lauter is an entertainment publicist in Los Angeles.
Keala Kendall is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of How Far I’ll Go and Nobody Gets Left Behind in Disney’s A Twisted Tale series. Her groundbreaking YA horror debut, That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic, was the May pick for Reese Witherspoon’s Sunnie Reads book club and has been featured in BuzzFeed, Parade, Publishers Weekly, and Honolulu Civil Beat, with national syndication across Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN. Hapa Native Hawaiian, Keala is a cofounder of Pacific Islanders in Publishing and a past organizer of the Books for Maui charity auction. Born in Honolulu, raised on Molokaʻi, she now lives as part of the Native Hawaiian diaspora in Los Angeles.
Where: Skylight
Date: Monday the 20th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-07-20/chloe-lauter-w-keala-kendall-flayed-man
Alicia Upano, with Tarra Stevenson, & Everything to the Sea at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Join us to welcome Alicia Upano, in conversation with Tarra Stevenson, to discuss Everything to the Sea.
Everything to the Sea is a breathtaking debut novel spanning years and shores after a sudden tsunami devastates the island of Hawai’i and cuts short a young couple’s budding romance—a deeply moving testament to the catastrophes love can endure.
This is how the story goes: Jane will fall in love. And then all of this will vanish.
Home for one final summer, Jane is working and saving cash for her senior year of college before she leaves her island town behind forever. At first, she doesn’t remember Kenji, but he quickly becomes someone she can’t forget: square jaw, a dimple in his cheek. A Hilo boy. To Kenji, she’s Janie, nose perpetually buried in her old high school sketchbooks. Jane tells herself it’s only a fling—one perfect, carefree summer, on her way to achieving her dream of becoming an architect and moving to the continent.
Then a tsunami sweeps their families out to sea, and their all-consuming affair breaks with the weight of grief, pulling them in opposite directions. Kenji remains in Hawai’i, bound by duty to rebuild their hometown. Jane, shattered by the loss, follows her best friend to California. For seven years, an ocean lies between them, until Jane and Kenji meet on another coast.
In prose that sparkles like sun on the water, Upano’s debut novel tells the unforgettable story of two young people as they come of age, fall in love, forge new families, and try to find their way back together, again and again. Everything to the Sea is a moving portrait of our ability to overcome even the most devastating tragedies, when everything else is washed away.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Monday the 20th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-07-20/alicia-upano
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 20th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)
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 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 21st
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
1926 Book Club for Central 100 at Venice Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Explore Nella Larsen, a Harlem Renaissance writer and librarian. We will read her short stories published in 1926, along with other works, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Central Library. Copies are available for check-out at the front desk.
Where: Venice Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 21st
Time: 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Address: 501 S. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/1926-book-club-central-100
Virtual Book Club: Go Gentle at La Crescenta Library, LACL – Online Event
Join us on Zoom for a weekly discussion of Go Gentle by Maria Semple. Please contact Marta Wiggins via email at mwiggins@library.lacounty.gov for your invitation to join the Zoom Meeting. For adults.
We discuss 1/4 of the book each week. See below for the breakdown of the weekly discussions.
July 21 — Part 4 — Pages179 – 269
July 28 — Part 5 — Pages 273 to the end of the book.
Adora Hazzard has it all figured out. A Stoic philosopher and divorcee, she lives amongst friends and culture on New York’s Upper West Side, and works for the ultra-wealthy and secretive Lockwood family as a private ethics tutor for their tween boys. Her main life hack, and the key to her own enviable happiness, is to desire only what you have. Everything else life throws at you? Don’t just accept it; love it. Amor Fati. Adora believes it so deeply she has it tattooed on her wrist. But when Adora meets Digby, a handsome stranger at the ballet, she finds herself loving fate indeed. But soon, she’s pulled into a world of secret rendezvous, black-market art deals, and international intrigue. Driven by an unexpected and maddening desire, Adora risks reputation, job and hard-won serenity for the feelings Digby has awoken in her.
Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 21st
Time: 1 pm – 2 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16886670
Before the Ban Book Club: Harbor Me at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson.
Six students with diverse backgrounds end up together in a special-needs 5th/6th grade class in Brooklyn. Their perceptive teacher gives them one hour every Friday afternoon to simply talk with each other unsupervised. The results are deep conversations about their individual experiences and a bond formed from mutual respect and empathy. Through her compelling and big-hearted characters, Woodson makes the conversations around immigration, incarceration, police brutality, and class divide age-appropriate and approachable for young people.
Jacqueline Woodson’s first middle-grade novel since National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming celebrates the healing that can occur when a group of students share their stories.
Jacqueline Woodson (www.jacquelinewoodson.com) is the recipient of a 2023 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Children’s Literature Legacy Award. She was the 2018–2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and in 2015, she was named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She received the 2014 National Book Award for her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award, and a Sibert Honor. She wrote the adult books Red at the Bone, a New York Times bestseller, and Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She is the author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include New York Times bestsellers The Day You Begin and Harbor Me; The Other Side, Each Kindness, Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster; and Miracle’s Boys, which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Monday the 21st
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd. Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-07-21/ban-book-club-harbor-me
Your Author Series: Mirelle Ortega & I Am, Yo Soy at Lake View Terrace Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us as we welcome Mirelle Ortega, local author/illustrator of River of Mariposas, Los Angeles Central Library POPS: Celebrating a Century of The Light of Learning and Magic: Once Upon a Faraway Land, for which she received a 2023 Pura Belpré Award Illustration Honor and an International Latino Book Award bronze medal. Mirelle will be sharing the book I Am, Yo Soy.
Where: Lake View Terrace Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Tuesday the 21st
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 12002 Osborne St., Los Angeles, CA 91342
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/your-author-mirelle-ortega-0
Book Club: The Maid at Pico Rivera Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join the Pico Rivera Library Book Club as they discuss the bestselling novel The Maid by Nita Prose. For adults.
Molly Gray is a socially awkward but meticulous hotel maid who becomes the prime suspect in a murder case after finding a wealthy guest dead in his room. Follow Molly as she navigates a web of deception, using her unique skills to uncover the truth with the help of unexpected allies.
Where: Pico Rivera Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 21st
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 9001 Mines Ave., Pico Rivera, CA 90660
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16252041
Adult Book Club: Weather at Baldwin Park Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join the Adult Book Club for a discussion of our latest selection, Weather by Jenny Offill. For Adults.
Lizzie Benson is a librarian at a New York City university who stresses over her dog, husband, son, needy library patrons, religious mom and ex-addict brother. Her bandwidth is stretched further when Sylvia, her former mentor and a successful podcaster, hires Lizzie to answer letters written by the doomsday preppers who listen to her podcast, Hell and High Water. Oh, the 2016 election is taking place too. Offill engagingly portrays a woman mauled by the mundane and monumental.
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.
Attendance is limited, and advance registration is required.
Where: Baldwin Park Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 21st
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 4181 Baldwin Park Blvd., Baldwin Park, CA 91706
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16759242
Evan Marks & Vesper: Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to welcome Evan Marks to discuss Vesper: A Novel.
Fiercely witty and sharply narrated, Vesper is an anti-romance literary novel about independence, love, and self-discovery through the eyes of consultant Vesper. Blending the cultural zeitgeist of Sex and the City with the philosophical depth of Milan Kundera, it’s perfect for fans of Dolly Alderton, Sarah Rose Etter and Adelle Waldman.
Vesper Elsegood is in love. With being single. She can’t understand why any of her friends would want to settle down. Because if she’s learnt anything about New York’s ruthless dating scene, it’s that love is an ever-changing concept, a silly game, and there are rarely any winners. But when Caspian walks into her life, an enigmatic and ambitious entrepreneur with a vision for launching a prestigious global prize to celebrate philosophical thinking, Vesper is momentarily undone. And as the chemistry between them intensifies, she soon finds herself re-examining everything—her relationships, her career, her ability to rewrite her own story.
In this restless city, where everyone seems fixated on either finding themselves or finding their perfect match, Vesper must decide whether she’s met the one she wasn’t looking for, or if she’s the only one she really needs. A bold and unapologetic observation of what it means to be a single woman in New York City, Marks’ debut novel is equal parts emotional portrait, cultural inquiry, and contemporary coming-of-age—a story about subverting gender norms, dismantling inherited narratives, and choosing a life that is wholly one’s own.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 21st
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 225 26th St. Suite #33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-07-21/evan-marks-vesper
Original Book Club: Slouching Towards Bethlehem at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Our longest running book club! We read mostly contemporary fiction with the occasional non-fic thrown in. To join our mailing list, please email events@villagewell.com.
This July’s pick is Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion.
Joan Didion’s first work of nonfiction, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, is considered a masterpiece of American literature and the “foundational text” of her oeuvre (New York Times). First published in 1968, the book remains a defining work about the Sixties, about California, about America.
More than perhaps any other book, this collection of essays by Didion—one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era—captures her focus on time and place at a unique moment in history. Here, Didion explores people and subjects such as John Wayne, Howard Hughes, growing up in California, the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, and the birth of American counterculture. Didion’s work in Slouching has become a totem for readers “who have lost their sense of place or sense of time or sense of self” (The Rumpus). “In her portraits of people,” writes the New York Times, “Didion is not out to expose but to understand.”
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Tuesday the 21st
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 21st
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 14537 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Website: Instagram Page
Cliff Dorfman, with Seth Green, & Crime Family at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Join us to hear Cliff Dorfman, in conversation with Seth Green, to discuss Crime Family: A Novel.
Spanning Hollywood, high fashion, and hidden offshore empires, Crime Family traces an heir adopted through the infamous Louise Wise agency as he confronts the crimes, lies, and generational trauma money was meant to bury.
Chase grew up knowing two truths: that he didn’t quite belong, and that the family who raised him lived by rules the rest of the world could never quite understand. Adopted into a dynasty with roots in organized crime, Chase spends his adult life in Hollywood, trying to build an identity outside the shadow of blood and betrayal trailing behind him.
But when federal prosecutors come knocking, Chase is dragged back into the empire he has spent decades evading. The investigation unravels not just the financial crimes that bound the family together, but a deeper inheritance as well—the secrets passed down like currency, the silence demanded in exchange for protection, and the lies that distort what it means to belong.
Globe-spanning in scope yet intimate at its core, Crime Family blends the immediacy of true crime with the psychological depth of literary fiction. It is a novel about money and memory, loyalty and loss, and the impossible reality of needing to escape the family you never chose.
Cliff Dorfman is a screenwriter, novelist, and director whose work bridges the immediacy of cinema with the depth of literary fiction. He cowrote the acclaimed film Warrior (nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor) and was a WGA Award–nominee for his work on HBO’s Entourage. Born and raised in New York but now residing in Los Angeles, Dorfman has spent his career moving between visual storytelling and the written word. Crime Family is his debut novel.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Tuesday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-07-21/cliff-dorfman
North Fig Book Club: The Hypocrite at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss The Hypocrite: A Novel by Jo Hamya.
August 2020. Sophia, a young playwright, awaits her father’s verdict on her new show. A famous author whose novels haven’t aged as gracefully into the modern era as he might have hoped, he is completely unaware that the play centers around a vacation the two took years earlier to an island off Sicily, where he dictated to her a new book. Sophia’s play has been met with rave reviews, but her father has studiously avoided reading any of them. When the house lights dim however, he understands that his daughter has laid him bare, has used the events of their summer to create an incisive, witty, skewering critique of the attitudes and sexual mores of the men of his generation.
Where: North Figueroa Books
Date: Tuesday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA, 90042
Mystery & Thriller Book Group: All Systems Red via Santa Monica Library – Online Zoom Event
This staff-led, monthly book discussion group meets virtually at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month. This book group discusses domestic and international titles in the mystery and thriller genres. To register, email library@santamonica.gov.
The titles include:
July 21, 2026: All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Where: Santa Monica Library
Date: Tuesday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: Event Page
Book Event: Claire Vaye Watkins, with Matt Sumell, & Yellow Pine at Skylight – In-Person Event
Join Clair Vaye Watkins in conversation with Matt Sumell, to discuss Yellow Pine.
In her homestead deep in the Mojave, Rose has found a way to live “on the other side of the portal,” with an intentionality that’s brought her hard-won peace and freedom. She’s navigating single parenthood, and she’s found a community out at Yellow Pine, where a group of spirited misfits have mounted a stand against the “green energy gold rush” Rose is certain will destroy her beloved desert. When she accepts an overture from Miles, an old flame, their passion proves as intense – and unsteady – as ever. But even as their rekindled romance flickers, it fuels a deeper, more consuming drive in Rose: to birth not only another child but a fuller, more intact way of being in the face of rapacious consumerism, industrialization, and misanthropy. Enlisting her on-again-off-again lover, her fellow activists, and her oddball neighbors, she embarks upon an unorthodox scheme to recover from her rugged individualism, embrace love in all its pain and grace, and come home to the divine.
As furious, bawdy, searching, and searingly original as ever, in Yellow Pine Watkins blazes a trail toward a radically reimagined vision of a good life in a ravaged time.
Claire Vaye Watkins is the author of the story collection Battleborn and the novels Gold Fame Citrus and I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness. She has received the Story Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award, and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, Watkins is a professor at the University of California, Irvine.
Matt Sumell is the author of the critically acclaimed collection Making Nice. A graduate of UC Irvine’s MFA Program in Writing, his short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Paris Review, Esquire, Electric Literature, Noon, McSweeney’s, One Story, Zyzzyva, LitHub, The Guardian, Publisher’s Weekly, and elsewhere.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Tuesday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90027
Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-07-21/claire-vaye-watkins-w-matt-sumell-yellow-pine
Dr. Niki Elliott & Heart-Centered Connections: Seven Essential Skills for Helping Neurodiverse and Marginalized Children Thrive at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Dr. Niki Elliott will present and discuss Heart-Centered Connections: Seven Essential Skills for Helping Neurodiverse and Marginalized Children Thrive.
A transformative guide for anyone working with the child who is left out, left behind, or labeled “difficult.”
Heart-Centered Connections teaches the best practices to support kids who are misunderstood and marginalized—those who are neurodivergent, have a learning disability, or are trauma survivors. They have extraordinary potential waiting to be unleashed.
Heart-Centered Connections is based on decades of groundbreaking research with over 1,000 child-serving professionals—principals, teachers, foster care program directors, social workers, and parents. Dr. Elliott offers seven pillars that will help you create environments where kids can achieve their full potential. Children mirror adults’ emotions, which is why the first pillar is Self-Awareness. What is your state when you engage with the child? Other pillars include Interpersonal Awareness, Neuroinclusive Spaces, Activated Genius, Engaged Learning, Mindful Communication, and Heart-Centered Repair.
RSVP at website link.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 21st
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-07-21/dr-niki-elliott
Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert & Guest Dana Weekes, plus Open Reading – Online Zoom Event
Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert will welcome guest Dana Weekes, plus an Open Reading online.
Dana Weekes (she/her) lives in the swirl of Washington, DC, where she navigates the worlds of law, policy, and politics. Her published and forthcoming works are in A Gathering of the Tribes, Apogee, Callaloo, Inverted Syntax, Obsidian, The Elevation Review, SWIMM, Torch Magazine, and elsewhere. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and was a Rhino Poetry’s Founders’ Prize finalist. Dana is the daughter of Bajan immigrants and is the first in her family to be born in the United States. Say “hello,” to her on Instagram @danatenilleweekes.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday, the 21st
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: Cobalt Event Page
Tuesday Night Café & Open Mic at Union Center for the Arts – In-Person Event
Always free, open to the public, no tickets or assigned seating. Come through, make plans with a friend, like, comment, share, etc. etc.
🎤Want to perform for our Open Mic? Make sure to sign up for our lottery by 7 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.
caroline kuali’i (@hakuxmele) is a poet/creator. She documents her creations: words, art, food. She is uncensored and writes fiction & non-fiction. Assume everything is both.
Sastra Moon (@sastramoonband) is a Southeast Asian 60s & 70s Psychedelic Dance Rock & Folk band for & by SE Asian diaspora & friends. Based in SoCal. Bookings: sastramoonband@gmail.com
arden a (@ardentlya) is a singer, music producer, and songwriter who uses her voice to inspire, to heal, and to remind people.
haku mele (@hakuxmele) is a poet/creator, documenting my creations: words, art, food. 🤙🏽 uncensored / fiction & non-fiction. assume everything is both.
Stray Cats on Sunset – a short film by @aq_doan
DJ Lomo
Vendor @renmaicha
💫 SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER COME TO THE SHOW
Always free, open to the public, no tickets or assigned seating. Come through, make plans with a friend, like, comment, share, etc. etc.
🎤Want to perform for our Open Mic? Make sure to sign up for our lottery by 7 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.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Union Center for the Arts
Date: Tuesday, the 21st
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm (Doors at 7 pm)
Address: 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: Instagram Page
DiPiazza’s Open Mic at Di Piazza’s Pizza – In-Person Event
Open Mic Every Tuesday! Signups 8:30 pm, late-night happy hour, live music, pizza & cocktails.
Host: Tamara Madison
Features: TBA
Often follows Trivia Night at 6 pm for a full evening of fun.
No cover mentioned—come early to grab a spot!
Step up to the mic and shine!
Where: Di Piazza’s
Date: Tuesday, the 21st
Time: 8:30 pm
Address: 5205 Pacific Coast Hwy., Long Beach, CA
Website: Eventbrite Page
Da Poetry Lounge Open Mic at ASTRO – Summer Residency in Arts District – In-Person Event
The nation’s largest weekly spoken word Open Mic event is 28 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. This summer is one of collaboration, through August 25, 2026.
About our sponsor: Humna Khan is the Founder and CEO of ASTRO, an advanced aerospace and manufacturing lab, and a lifelong engineer who has spent more than two decades building the systems and standards that power the modern space economy across NASA, SpaceX, and the U.S. Air Force/Space Force. She spent 13 years as a professor, helping train the next generation of builders and problem‑solvers, and somehow picked up five degrees from universities in the City of Angels along the way. Nearly twenty years ago, she started going to Da Poetry Lounge as a quiet face in the crowd who never got on the mic, but still felt seen. A longtime activist who speaks up about injustice and inequity, she’s honored to host DPL at her facility and help keep that kind of space alive in the city that raised her.
*Educational workshops and all programming outside of Tuesdays will continue in Leimert Park.*
$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. See website link for details.
Where: ASTRO Summer Residency, New ARTS DISTRCT Location
Date: Tuesday, the 21st
Time: 9 pm – 11 pm (Doors at 8:15 pm)
Address: 430 Colyton St., Arts District DTLA, CA
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: Wednesday the 22nd
Time: 9 am – 10 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
Mystery Book Club: The Golden Gate at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Event
Start your morning with a lively discussion of Amy Chua’s The Golden Gate: A Novel.
Whether you loved it, hated it, or haven’t finished it, we want to see you at our Mystery Book Group at America’s Oldest Children’s Bookstore!
We will be meeting to discuss the book outside of the shop in the circle in front of Star Cafe, as weather permits.
Click on the PDF schedule at website!
In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. A rich industrialist with enemies among the anarchist factions on the far left, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of groups. But strangely, Sullivan’s investigation brings up the specter of another tragedy at the Claremont, ten years earlier: the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the Bainbridge family, one of the wealthiest in all of San Francisco. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.
The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now adults: Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth—not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China’s First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings—Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.
Chua’s page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and groundbreaking forensic advances, when race and class defined the very essence of power, sex, and justice, and introduces a fascinating character in Detective Sullivan, a mixed-race former Army officer who is still reckoning with his own history.
Amy Chua is the John M. Duff, Jr. Professor of Law at Yale Law School. She is an internationally bestselling author of several non-fiction titles, including her 2011 memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, which was a runaway international bestseller that has been translated into over 30 languages. Chua graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and cum laude from Harvard Law School. After practicing on Wall Street for a few years, she joined the Yale Law School faculty in 2001. The Golden Gate is her fiction debut.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 22nd
Time: 9 am
Address: 2201 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: Once Upon a Time Event Page
Classics Book Club: Dubliners at Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a lively discussion of the 1914 short story collection Dubliners by James Joyce.
Where: Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 22nd
Time: 1:30 pm – 3 pm
Address: 10640 Petit Ave., Granada Hills, CA 91344
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/classics-book-club-dubliners
Café via KPFK 90.7 FM – Live On-Air Event
Poets Café celebrates Poetry. This program is a weekly half-hour literary arts discussion and reading program featuring guest authors and their works.
Poetry From Around the World is a segment of this series offered monthly on the 2nd Monday of the month on KPFK Los Angeles 90.7 FM.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: KPFK 90.7 FM
Date: Wednesday, the 22nd
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: On-air Event
Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/
Manga Drawing and Connections to Old Japan: Sunny Seki & Hokusai’s Daughter at Hollywood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us to hear Sunny Seki introduce Hokusai, the artist who coined the word “manga.” He will share the origins of his characters – Kappa, Lucky Cat, Daruma, and Kokeshi—and the steps he took to design them for his books. Audience members can draw their own manga characters during the workshop.
This program was made possible with the generous support of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles.
If you are unable to attend in person, please email grnhls@lapl.org for a Zoom invite.
Where: Hollywood Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 22nd
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 1623 Ivar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90028
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/manga-drawing-and-connections-old-japan
Roots to Sky Book Release Celebration: In Honor of /Gustavo Adolfo Guerra Vasquezat The Pop Hop Co-op – In-Person Event
Join us for the ROOTS TO SKY Book Release Celebration!
We’ll gather in celebration of our young writers and the work created through this summer’s creative writing workshop series.
This special event will be held in honor of our beloved teacher and collaborator, Gustavo Adolfo Guerra Vasquez 🤍🕊️
Where: The Pop Hop
Date: Wednesday the 22nd
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 5002 York Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: Instagram Page
Book Club for Adults: Hugo Award Nominees Effie Siebert and Tia Tashiro at Edendale Branch Library, LAPL – Online Zoom Event
Join us for the next gathering of the Sci Fi Story Club. We’ll be discussing two stories from this year’s list of Hugo Award nominees: Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything by Effie Seibert and Missing Helen by Tia Tashiro.
Seibert’s satirical story of future disability activism follows a wheelchair-using protagonist who can shoot laser beams from their eyes – but still can’t get the city to improve accessibility for the mobility-challenged or build more traffic circles, forcing them to resort to outside-the-box tactics. In Tashiro’s near-future scenario, young women needing extra money no longer sell their eggs for IVF, they sell clones of themselves. Helen sold her clone for cash back in her early 20s, then years later married Mark; when their marriage breaks up, Mark moves on to a new romantic interest whose identity hits a little too close to home.
Email eden@lapl.org for the reading selection and for the Zoom link to attend, and to get on the mailing list for this monthly gathering.
Where: Edendale Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 22nd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 2011 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Romantasy Book Club: The Wolf King at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss The Wolf King by Lauren Palphreyman. Copies available at Customer Service. For adults.
Princess Aurora longs to escape the castle and the marriage that has been arranged for her. But on the night before her wedding, at a dog fight where captured werewolves are made to fight for sport, she spares the life of a young wolf. It puts her on the radar of the powerful alpha who was going to kill him. And it changes everything.
Where: Agoura Hills Library,LACL
Date: Wednesday the 22nd
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct, Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16604091
Quick Read Club: Short Story Open Discussion at Good Girl Books – In-Person Event
Join us for our Quick Read Club, which is for anyone who loves the idea of a book club but may not have time to finish a full book each month. Come read, connect, and join the conversation. No pre-reading required, all you need to do is show up!
For July: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
The event is free but we kindly ask that you RSVP at website link so we can get a headcount.
Where: Good Girl Books
Date: Wednesday, the 22nd
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 12444 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
Website: Instagram Page
Los Feliz Writers: Shut Up and Write in Los Feliz at Big Bar, The Alcove – In-Person Event
GATHER | WRITE | REPEAT
Free weekly writing meetups open to anyone who wants to write! Every Wednesday we have our weekly @shutupwrite at @bigbaralcove.
Hosted by @literarypixie!
RSVP at link in bio.
Where: Big Bar, The Alcove (in the back)
Date: Wednesday the 22nd
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1929 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz, CA 90027
Website: Instagram Page
Ticketed Free Event: Andrew Yang, with Maddie Connors, & Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks?: And Other True Stories of Staggering Depth at Beverly Hills Public Library – In-Person Event
Andrew Yang, in conversation with Maddie Connors, will discuss his book, Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks?: And Other True Stories of Staggering Depth.
In this candid, often hilarious collection of true stories, political trailblazer Andrew Yang examines America’s breakdown through the lens of his unexpected journey from entrepreneur to presidential candidate. Part political memoir, part comedy, and part interior monologue, Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks? captures the man’s unique ability to make complex ideas accessible and entertaining.
In a world of bitter division and endless outrage,” says Yang, “this book is my attempt to break through the noise—with humor, honesty, and heart…Think of it as an insider’s guide to smiling during crazy times.
For anyone frustrated with traditional political narratives, curious about the human behind the headlines, or simply looking for a smart, laugh-out-loud exploration of trying to improve life in America, this book promises to enlighten, entertain, and inspire. It’s more than a memoir—it’s a blueprint for generating optimism in an extremely challenging era.
This is a FREE event with an Eventbrite RSVP and will take place at the Beverly Hills Public Library, located at 444 N. Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210.
Where: Beverly Hills Public Library (with Book Soup)
Date: Wednesday, the 22nd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 444 N. Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-07-22/andrew-yang
Book Launch: Romi Cortier & Gates in the Hollywood Hills at Chevalier’s – In-Person Event
Join us for an illustrated book talk with Larchmont’s very own Romi Cortier. LBA members and guests are invited to this special mixer.
Gates in the Hollywood Hills is a photo essay Cortier created 30 years ago when he first moved to Los Angeles and began to discover the beauty and diversity of the city’s historic neighborhoods.
A 25-year salon owner and accomplished artist across multiple mediums, Cortier built a dynamic career blending hairstyling, photography, performance, and visual storytelling.
From early creative pursuits and stage performances to working with top salons and high-profile clients in Seattle and Los Angeles, he immersed himself in the heart of creative culture. His experiences in Hollywood’s artistic landscape, both behind the chair and behind the camera, shaped a distinct aesthetic perspective that later evolved into formal studies in interior design and a deep appreciation for architectural detail. As a published author, his work captures this journey, translating a lifetime of artistic exploration into a refined, visually driven narrative that reflects both personal expression and the cultural fabric of Los Angeles.
Locals know Cortier for his highly successful efforts to beautify Larchmont Village. He serves as President of Larchmont Boulevard Association and represents the business community on the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council.
Where: Chevalier’s
Date: Wednesday, the 22nd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-07-22/gates-hollywood-hills-author-romi-cortier
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 22nd
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
Banned Books Club: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event
Banned Books Club meets every third Wednesday at Underdog Bookstore to discuss a new banned or challenged book each month.
For those wishing to join virtually, a Zoom link will be shared with all attendees prior to the event.
Our June pick is: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – a novel by Mark Haddon about Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old boy with Asperger’s syndrome, who investigates the murder of his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, and uncovers secrets about his own family
You can pick up a copy in store or keep supporting Underdog by listening to the audiobook from our libro.fm or downloading the ebook from our bookshop.org.
RSVP at website – Suggested donation $5-20 or donate a gently used banned book.
NOTE: See site to RSVP.
Where: Underdog Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 15th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 312 S. Myrtle Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016
Website: https://www.underdogbookstore.org/events/banned-books-club-june-czr7e
Vroman’s Fiction Reading Group: The Measure at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
The Vroman’s Fiction Reading Group explores contemporary fiction -– long and short -– from a diverse selection of writers. Enjoy lively discussions at our one-hour meetings. Our Fiction Reading Group is free and inclusive – there are no requirements nor criteria to join. We announce upcoming titles 3-6 months in advance and choose titles that are available in paperback. Drop by our next meeting!
July’s pick is The Measure by Nikki Erlick.
Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.
It seems like any other day. You wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and head out.
But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. The contents of this mysterious box tells you the exact number of years you will live.
From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?
As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge? This compelling book club fiction explores that very question.
The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.
Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is an ambitious, invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.
Nikki Erlick is the author of the instant New York Times bestseller The Measure, which was a Read with Jenna Today show book club pick. The Measure has been translated into twenty-four languages worldwide. She has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree from Columbia University. She lives in Los Angeles.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday the 22nd
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-07-22/vromans-fiction-reading-group
Zibby’s Book Club: Forty Love at Zibby’s – Online Event
Join Zibby and Jane Costello on Zoom to discuss Forty Love.
Join for Zibby’s Book Club Zoom meeting with author Jane Costello, Forty Love. Come with questions that you can ask Jane directly. Zibby Owens will moderate the 30-minute Q&A session! You don’t have to be a “member” of the book club to join. Anyone is welcome! Order your book through Zibby’s Bookshop with 20% off and free shipping using code ZIBBY20 at website link.
RSVP at website link.
Where: Zibby’s
Date: Wednesday the 22nd
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: Eventbrite Page
Anansi Writers Workshop & Book Launch 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 22nd
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: Frosty Freesyle
Where: Art Parlor
Date: Wednesday the 22nd
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 22nd
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: Events Page
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg and guest poet Alysha Wise at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Host Ben Trigg welcomes Alysha Wise to read and discuss her work.
Alysha Wise is an award-winning poet, educator and speaker from Camden, N.J. Currently a resident of Los Angeles, she is the Director of Programming for Street Poets, Inc., an organization mostly serving injustice-impacted youth with mentorship and arts programming. A recipient of a 2025 Los Angeles Preservation Award, Alyesha has been featured on platforms and in publications such as OWN TV, BET, LA Times, Bustle, Afropunk, PBS, Buzzfeed and more. Other collabs include the ACLU, The Shabazz Center, The Nantucket Project, Brave New Films, and the Google Interstellar Project. Ron Howard once wrote about Alyesha’s work, “Very Powerful.” My Older Brother, A Famous Rapper, is Alyesha’s latest book of poetry, released in fall 2025 by El Martillo Press.
$5 cover fee, cash only
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday, the 22nd
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: 261 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
Website: Facebook Page
“Saved by a Story” Seniors Writing Group at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Come enjoy creativity and community in a nonjudgmental environment. Discover the bounty of stories that lies within!
Where: Westwood Branch Library,LAPL
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: 1246 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/saved-story-senior-writing-workshop-1
Teen Book Club: A First Time for Everything at Playa Vista Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Teen Event
Join us as we read and discuss Dan Santat’s graphic novel memoir, A First Time for Everything. This book explores how a single summer trip can change your life. We will also share thoughts on other great graphic novels or comics we’ve enjoyed.
Where: Playa Vista Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Address: 6400 Playa Vista Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90094
Website: https://shoponceuponatime.com/event/ice-cream-social-offside-graphic-novel
Notable Fiction Book Group: Wuthering Heights 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.
The titles include:
July 23, 2026: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë,
Where: Ocean Park Branch Library,SMPL
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 5:30 pm – 7 pm
Address: 2601 Main St., Santa Monica, CA 90405
Website: Event Page
Between the Lines Book Club: Vigil at Castaic Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us as we consider Vigil, George Saunders’ darkly humorous ghost story. Copies are available at the Customer Service desk and newcomers are always welcome! For adults.
Where: Castaic Library, LACL
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 27971 Sloan Canyon Rd., Castaic, CA 91384
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16818388
Inlandia Presents: Nights at the Museum: Readings Celebrating Local Black Culture at Riverside Main Library – In-Person Event
Join us for a brilliantly rich evening of local Black history, poetry, and roots celebration! See you there!
Hosted by Romaine Washington, and featuring:
Richard “Buddy” Jones N/A
Alyce Smith Cooper is known by many as the Golden Brown Fairy Godmother. She is a storyteller, minister, poet and actress. Through her art and ministry, she has been dedicated to social and racial justice. For the past forty years, she has been exciting the imaginations of children of all ages. She was recently recognized out of eleven hundred remarkable applicants as a Legacy Art Fellow by the California Arts Council.
Carloyn Tillman is a retired San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools administrator; managing federal and state funded grants on behalf of SBCSS. During her tenure, she partnered with governmental, local non-profit and faith-based organizations.
Dr. Cathrine Gudis is Associate Professor of History and Director of Public History at University of California, Riverside, where she holds a Pollitt Endowed Term Chair for Interdisciplinary Research and Learning. She also serves as scholar-in-residence at L.A. Poverty Department’s Skid Row History Museum & Archive. The author of Buyways: Billboards, Automobiles, and the American Landscape, her public humanities projects include Climates of Inequality: Stories of Environmental Justice, A People’s History of the Inland Empire, and Play the L.A. River. Her current research is towards a book, Framing LA: Preservation and the Performance of Place.
Jennifer Tilton is a professor of race and ethnic studies at the University of Redlands. Her research focuses on the history of racial segregation in the United States and its impact on the criminal justice system, local politics, and children’s lives. She helps coordinate The Bridges That Carried Us Over Project: Documenting Black History in the Inland Empire and is a co-director of A People’s History of the Inland Empire, a community-based archiving and mapping project.
Tilton’s public history work is featured at the Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California, Black Voice News, and on the A People’s History website.
Romaine Washington is a twice-nominated Pushcart Prize poet whose work has also been nominated for Best of the Net. She is the editor of These Black Bodies Are…A Blacklandia Anthology (Inlandia Institute). Washington is the author of two poetry books, Purgatory Has an Address and Sirens in Her Belly. Her writing has been widely anthologized and she has presented her poetry in many programs, including Inside Socal CBS2/KCSL9, NPR, and KPFK. She has been an educator for over twenty years and is currently editing work for a Black Mental Health anthology. http://www.romainewashington.com.
Where: Riverside Library Community Room
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 3900 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501
Website: Instagram Page
Adaptation Book Club: Muppet Treasure Island (1996) Book and Film Discussion at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
We will be discussing the book and the film we watched the week prior!
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd. Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Live Poetic! Readings & Open Mic via Los Angeles Poet Society – Online Zoom Event
Live Poetic is held online live via Zoom every 4th Thursday of the month via Los Angeles Poet Society.
Hosted by Jessica M. Wilson.
Features TBA.
Where: L.A. Poet Society, Online
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: Online Event; Zoom: 81025552763
Website: Instagram Page
Local Authors Meetup at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event
At Underdog Bookstore we love supporting local authors on the shelves and at our signings and panels, but sometimes you just want to turn off the book selling brain and enjoy each other’s company instead.
We hope that these meetups will provide an opportunity to connect, collaborate, and spend time in community. Whether you’re self-published and new to the industry, or have trade tales to share from your experience in indie or trad publishing—all writers are welcome here.
Our space is food, drink, and pet friendly, so feel free to bring your favorite refreshments and animal companions!
RSVP at Website link.
Where: Underdog Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 312 S. Myrtle Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016
Website: https://www.underdogbookstore.org/events/local-authors-meetup-april-nn85a-hggch
Brad Tolinski, with Michael Walker, & Blow by Blow: The Jeff Beck Story at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Join us to welcome Brad Tolinski, in conversation with Michael Walker, to discuss Blow by Blow: The Jeff Beck Story.
From the house authors of the critically acclaimed oral history on Eddie Van Halen, Eruption, a revealing narrative biography of legendary British guitarist Jeff Beck featuring brand new interviews with the icon himself as well as his famous colleagues, collaborators, and loved ones
With his shag haircut and white Stratocaster guitar, Jeff Beck was an icon known and loved by millions. Yet somehow, he maintained the ineffable low profile cool of a cult hero as he glided through six decades of musical trends with nary a lapse in taste. Not to say he ever played it safe. What other guitarist can lay claim to performing with opera star Luciano Pavarotti, mainstream television personality Kelly Clarkson, and professional degenerates like Guns N’ Roses with equal grace and wit? Or as Beck himself once quipped, “I’m an awkward son of a bitch when it comes to doing the expected.”
In Blow by Blow: The Jeff Beck Story, Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill return to chart the unexplored life of rock’s greatest and perhaps most enigmatic instrumentalist. Culled from approximately 30 hours of interviews with the late guitarist himself, numerous conversations with those closest to him, and extensive research, the book sheds new light on the genius that Jimmy Page once said, “shifted the whole sound and face of electric guitar music.“
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-07-23/brad-tolinski
Book Launch: Suzanne Weerts & Champagne Girl in a Budweiser Family at Chevalier’s – In-Person Event
Join us for a conversation with author Suzanne Weerts about her memoir, Champagne Girl in a Budweiser Family.
In a Southern town in the 1970s, the rules for girls are simple: look pretty, behave politely, marry well. But for this rebel-in-the-making, life beyond suburban America beckons. Before she can escape, however, she’ll have to navigate extreme diets, feathered hair, and a mother who insists on hanging her bras on the clothesline in full view of the boys next door. Will she ever find a life that fits and a beverage that suits her champagne dreams?
Born in Charleston, SC, formed in Raleigh, NC, and reborn in Southern California, Suzanne Weerts’ creative nonfiction essays can be found in The Sun and Good Old Days magazines, and in several anthologies and online publications. Suzanne is a writing teacher, producer, nonprofit fundraiser, and community activist who loves helping people find their voice on paper, on stage, and
in standing up for meaningful causes. Her company JAM Creative has raised tens of thousands of dollars for local non-profits through storytelling events, and she can also be seen on stages across Southern California sharing her own stories including at The MOTH, Story Salon, Revealed and Tales By The Sea.
The mother of two compassionate young adults, Suzanne is mighty grateful that her mother’s repeated warnings of “Just you wait until you have children of your own!” amounted to 98.5 percent amusement, joy, and wonder. A proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, she lives in Burbank, CA with her semi-social husband and their antisocial dog
Where: Chevalier’s
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 133 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-07-23/champagne-girl-budweiser-family-author-suzanne-weerts
Tia Chucha’s Book Club: Open Throat at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us for a conversation to discuss the book Open Throat by Henry Hoke.
Open Throat is about a queer mountain lion living under the Hollywood sign who finds themself in a tricky situation. They are forced to move further into the city and now they face the ultimate question: do they want to eat a person, or become one?
Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: Instagram Page
Brooke Nevils & Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Brooke Nevils will present and discuss Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe,
A powerful and personal examination of our most persistent and dangerous misunderstandings, myths and stereotypes about sexual harassment and assault
In 2017, Brooke Nevils made a confidential HR complaint about one of the most powerful and familiar faces in media. Twenty-four hours later, the highest paid morning news anchor in history was fired, stunning millions of Americans in one of the MeToo era’s defining stories. Demanding answers—and the intimate details of the most personal and painful humiliation of her life—the press soon discovered her identity.
But hers was not the kind of black-and-white story the media knew how to tell. There’d been no explicit threats. She hadn’t screamed, fought, or gone to the police. Instead, she returned to her abuser again and again in a frantic attempt to “fix” an impossible situation that threatened her livelihood and the people closest to her. Yet as MeToo unfolded, Brooke learned that messy stories like hers were far from the exception, and that nearly everything she’d believed about sexual harassment and assault—and how victims react to it—was wrong. She began a yearslong effort to confront and understand her own experience, not simply as a woman reckoning with her past, but as a journalist confronting the critical questions that MeToo asked but ultimately left unanswered.
Through groundbreaking interviews with leading clinicians, forensic professionals, attorneys, and frontline researchers, Unspeakable Things challenges our understanding of consent, power, and the lingering, often misunderstood effects of trauma and shame. Despite its rarefied setting at the height of fame, power, and American media, Brooke’s story serves as a textbook example of an all-too-common scenario that continues to devastate lives and enable abusers. This book is a powerful re-examination of everything we think we know, the start to a new conversation, and—for anyone who has ever felt ashamed, hopeless, alone, and afraid—a light in the dark.
Brooke Nevils joined the NBCUniversal page program in 2008, eventually becoming a longform news producer before leaving the network in 2018. She lives with her husband and children in Maryland. This is her first book.
NOTE: See site to RSVP.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-07-23/brooke-nevils
Beat Poetry & Poetry in Translation: Michael Amitin & Doreen Stock at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Beyond Baroque welcomes Michael Amitin and Doreen Stock, reading new and selected work in The Wanda Coleman Theater in celebration of their most recent books.
International Beat Poet Laureate (2020-2021) Michael Amitin reads from his new collection Rainy Night Paris; described as a noir-soaked chronicle of Amitin’s travels; anti-authoritarian to the bone, the poems burn with jazzy riffs and folk undercurrents for misfits and night owls. Author and translator, Doreen Stock, presents La Cuenta Mundo a bilingual collection of poems originally written in Spanish by Nobel-Prize winning Chilean author Gabriela Mistral with English translations by Stock.
Poet and musician Michael D. Amitin travelled the roads of the American West from California-east through the smoky burgs and train depot diners of Western Colorado, before moving to Paris, France in 2009 where he currently lives. Named International Beat Poet Laureate 2020-2021, Amitin’s poems have been published in California Quarterly, Poetry Pacific, North of Oxford, PoetryontheLake, Love Love Magazine, Litterateurrw, The Dreaming Machine and many others. His first poetry chapbook Shadow Morphine Dress was released with Anxiety Press in spring 2025, and his follow-up full-length book of poems Rainy Night Paris was recently released with Anxiety Press May1, 2026. A collaboration with Parisian photographer Julie Peiffer on the “Riverlights” project can be found on Fb and instagram @riverlights. Amitin’s poetry can also be discovered on FB and Instagram sites bearing his name.
Fairfax, California poet, memoir practitioner and literary translator Doreen Stock, recently launched A Noise in the Garden, Kelsay Books, Feb. 2022 along with Your Excellency Free Will, translations from the Argentine Spanish of Amparo Casabellas Alconada, Prosa Amerian Editores, 2021. Other works include: Bye Bye Blackbird, poems of her mother’s last year, The Poetry Box, May, 2021; Tango Man, a collection of love poems, Finishing Line Press, in August, 2020. My Name is Y, an anti-nuclear memoir, February, 2019, Norfolk Press; Three Tales from the Archives of Love, Norfolk Press, 2018, a work of historical fiction; Talking with Marcelo, Mine Gallery Editions in 2017, a book-length interview of Argentine Journalist Marcelo Holot; In Place of Me, Poems edited and introduced by Jack Hirschman, Mine Gallery Editions, 2015; The Politics of Splendor, Alcatraz Editions, Santa Cruz, 1984, poems and translations from the Russian. An interview and reading of Doreen’s poetry can be viewed online at Marin Poet’s Live! She is a founding member of The Marin Poetry Center. For more information, please visit doreenstock.com.
NOTE: See site to RSVP.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm (Doors at 7 pm)
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: Eventbrite Page
Poetry Diet Open Mic at The Living Room, DTLA – In-Person Event
An intimate open mic night for poets, storytellers, and lovers of the spoken word.
Poetry Diet Mic Night is a weekly open mic, every Thursday, dedicated to language, rhythm, and truth-telling. Set inside The Living Room DTLA, this night creates space for poets, writers, and creatives to share their work in an intimate, supportive atmosphere.
Whether you’re stepping to the mic or just soaking it all in, expect thoughtful performances, real energy, and a room that listens.
Hosted by: Kerm (Jonathan Kermah)
Music by: DJ Stardust
🎤 Open mic sign-ups available
🕯️ Intimate lounge setting
🍸 Bar open
Come listen. Come speak. Come feel.
Where: The Living Room, DTLA
Date: Thursday the 23rd
Time: 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Address: 1014 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA (Door 123)
Website: Instagram 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 24th
Time: 9:30 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: Once Upon a Time Event Page
13 Bookstores in LA Indie Book Crawl Event (Day 1 of 3) – In-Person Event
Visit Diesel as one stop along the LA Indie Book Crawl July 24-26.
Bookstores across the greater Los Angeles area have joined forces to create an unforgettable weekend for LA’s bookish folk!
Visit all 13 stores to win the grand prize! Or just hit as many as you can—the more you visit, the more prizes you accrue, and the more of LA’s diverse and welcoming literary scene you get to explore.
Find a new favorite book, make some friends, and become an LA expert along the way!
Participating stores:
Annabelle’s Book Club LA (Studio City)
The Book Jewel (in the heart of Westchester)
Book Soup, bookseller to the great and famous (West Hollywood)
Chevalier’s Books (Larchmont Village)
Children’s Book World & CBW Teens & Adults (West Los Angeles)
Diesel, A Book Store (Santa Monica)
Malik Books (Culver City)
Once Upon A Time, America’s Oldest Children’s Bookstore (Montrose)
The Ripped Bodice, A Romantic Bookstore (Culver City)
Skylight Books (Hollywood/Los Feliz)
Village Well Books & Coffee (Culver City)
Vroman’s Bookstore (Pasadena)
Where: Diesel, a bookstore (and 12 other stores)
Date: Friday the 24th (through Sunday the 26th)
Time: 10 am – 6 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-07-24/la-indie-book-crawl
Bilingual Storytime at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Bilingual Storytime! Exposing your children to multiple languages is highly beneficial for their learning and development, and what better way to do it than through this fun activity where we will read a wonderful story in both English and Spanish.
¡Hora de cuentos bilingüe! Exponer a tus hjijos a varios idiomas es de gran beneficio para su aprendizaje y desarrollo, y qué mejor que hacerlo en esta divertida actividad en donde leeremos un maravilloso cuento en inglés y en español.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Friday the 24th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
Afternoon Book Club: Persuasion at Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join Culver City Julian Dixon Library’s Afternoon Book Club to discuss Persuasion by Jane Austen. For adults.
Join us in the meeting room for an in-person book discussion.
Summary provided by the publisher:
“Having been persuaded to view the match as imprudent, Anne Elliot broke off her engagement to a naval officer with no prospects. Seven years later, when they meet again, Anne has the chance to recover the happiness she had forgone. This new edition examines Persuasion against the background of the Napoleonic Wars and includes fuller notes and appendices on social rank, dancing, and the Navy.”
Where: Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL
Date: Friday the 24th
Time: 3 pm – 4 pm
Address: 4975 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA 90230
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16703909
Horror Book Club: Horror Movie at Compton Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us to discuss Paul Tremblay’s Horror Movie. 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.
In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror flick.
The weird part? Only three of the film’s scenes were ever released to the public, but Horror Movie has nevertheless grown a rabid fanbase. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big budget reboot.
The man who played “The Thin Kid” is the only surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy. As memories flood back in, the boundaries between reality and film, past and present start to blur. But he’s going to help remake the film, even if it means navigating a world of cynical producers, egomaniacal directors, and surreal fan conventions—demons of the past be damned. But at what cost?
Where: Compton Library, LACL
Date: Friday the 24th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 240 W. Compton Blvd., Compton, CA 90220
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16741250
Speculative Fiction Book Club: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Are you a fan of science fiction or fantasy? If so, you should join our Speculative Fiction Book Club! For this month’s meeting, we’ll be reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
Please contact the library to get a print copy of the book.
No registration required.
For adults
Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL
Date: Friday the 24th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16736883
Book Launch: Naoko Fujimoto & of Women at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Naoko Fujimoto, in conversation with Diana Arterian, Genevieve Kaplan, and Angela Torres, will present and discuss her new book of Women.
Of Women is a collection of translations of Japanese waka-poems from the seventh century to the twelfth century, featuring twenty female poets from this period, when Japanese women’s literature flourished. This book includes poems by famous writers from the era, such as Sei Shonagon (The Pillow Book) and Murasaki Shikibu (The Tale of Genji), and introduces some lesser-known female poets as well.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Friday the 24th
Time: 5:30 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Black Lit Book Club: The Catch at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The Catch: A Novel by Yrsa Daley-Ward.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Friday the 24th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd. Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-07-24/black-lit-book-club-catch
Open Mic Night: Poetry & Spoken Word at Bookman Books – In-Person Event
Join us for poetry night every 4th Friday at the Bookman 🥰.
Beginning at 6 pm until 7:30 pm.
Come early to get your name on the reader’s list. Or come to listen!
Where: Bookman Books
Date: Friday the 24th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 320 E. Katella Ave., Suite M. Orange, CA 92867
Website: Instagram Page
Short Story Write Night at Good Girls Books – In-Person Event
Join GGB and Literati Events for a Short Story Writing Night!
At the start of the evening, we’ll reveal a writing prompt or theme to spark your imagination. You’ll have time to write on-site, although you’re also welcome to bring a pre-written story! Guests will then have the option to share their work and offer feedback. Please bring a journal, paper + pen, or laptop.
This event is free to attend, but we kindly ask that you RSVP so that we can get an accurate headcount! Link in bio.
Where: Good Girls Books
Date: Friday the 24th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 12444 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
Website: Instagram Page
The Definitive Soapbox Open Mic (TDSB) at The Nest – In-Person Event
Join us for TDSB at The Nest in Bellflower for our monthly open mic.
July Theme: Grief.
Grief is a heavy thing to carry alone, so we choose to carry it together.
This month, our collective focus centers on what it means to hold space for the things we’ve lost, the things we’re still processing, and the healing that happens when we refuse to hide our pain. Whether you are right in the thick of a hard season or you’ve been navigating your healing for years, your presence and your process belong here.
We’re gathering on Friday, July 31st at The Nest in Bellflower. Come exactly as you are.
NOTE: See site to RSVP.
Where: The Nest
Date: Friday the 24th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm)
Address: 16916 Bellflower Blvd., Bellflower, CA 90706
Website: Instagram Page
5th Anniversary Celebration: Flash Photography by Genesis Perez at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us in celebrating five years of Flash Photography by former Youth Poet Laureate of Ventura County, Genesis Perez.
Join us in celebrating five years of Flash Photography by Genesis Perez. This debut collection was published by Spit Shine Press at the end of Perez’s time as the Youth Poet Laureate of Ventura County. Flash Photography acts as a time capsule of Perez’s teen years and earliest published writings. Be prepared for angst, cringe, and an honest look into the teen years. Co-features include Ga’agé Taya, Fernando Albert Salinas, and more surprise special guests reading original work and poems from Flash Photography in The Wanda Coleman Theater.
Genesis Perez is queer Chicanx poet and performer from Oxnard, California. From 2019 to 2020 they were the Youth Poet Laureate of Ventura County. They released their debut collection of poetry Flash Photography in 2021. Perez has performed at Paak House, Medicine for Nightmares, Loud & Queer and Da Poetry Lounge. Their work has appeared in Drifter Zine, Muchacha Fanzine, and Mobile Data Mag. Currently they are the Bookstore and Programs Assistant at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice. If you visit them at the bookstore, they will make you tea.
Ga’agé Taya, “Crow Daughter” is a Poet from Ventura County best known for her slam poetry. Her work covers reflections of Indigiqueer life, spanning from retellings of ancestral stories, flowery vignettes, and calls to action. Born, raised, and actively living in Ventura County, Ga’agé Taya has a deep love for the nature around her, much of which can be heard among the settings of her poetry. She can be found online as @crow.babe on Instagram, and at crowquetzal@gmail.com.
Born in Los Angeles County, Fox Hills, California, Fernando Albert Salinas received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Entertainment from F.S.U. and a Bachelor of Arts in English at California State University, Channel Islands. Fernando Albert Salinas has been associated with California Poets in the Schools as a member of the Board of Directors, a Ventura County Area Coordinator, and as a Master Poet-Teacher for over 10 years. Now, he is the Statewide Program Manager for CalPoets. He is also a Professor of English at Ventura College and the Editor-in-chief for Spit Shine Publishing. As Literary Arts Program Coordinator for the Ventura County Arts Council, he focused on enhancing the presence and appreciation of poetry and the literary arts, raising awareness of the power of literature, poetry, and the spoken word. In 2012, Salinas initiated the Groundswell Committee: a small collection of local poets, with the support of the Ventura County Arts Council, and created the County’s poet laureate program. In 2018, he implemented a youth poet laureate program for the county. His written poetry has appeared in several publications, including Askew Poetry Journal, Solo Poetry Journal, Miramar, and Lummox Press. His full-length book of poetry, Toxic Masculinity was published by Flower Song Press. He has performed his spoken word and taught internationally.
NOTE: See site to RSVP.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Friday the 24th
Time: 7:30 pm (Doors at 7 pm)
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: Eventbrite 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: Saturday the 25th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
13 Bookstores in LA Indie Book Crawl Event (Day 2 of 3) – In-Person Event
Visit Diesel, A Bookstore as one stop along the LA Indie Book Crawl July 24-26.
Bookstores across the greater Los Angeles area have joined forces to create an unforgettable weekend for LA’s bookish folk!
Visit all 13 stores to win the grand prize! Or just hit as many as you can—the more you visit, the more prizes you accrue, and the more of LA’s diverse and welcoming literary scene you get to explore.
Find a new favorite book, make some friends, and become an LA expert along the way!
Participating stores:
Annabelle’s Book Club LA (Studio City)
The Book Jewel (in the heart of Westchester)
Book Soup, bookseller to the great and famous (West Hollywood)
Chevalier’s Books (Larchmont Village)
Children’s Book World & CBW Teens & Adults (West Los Angeles)
Diesel, A Book Store (Santa Monica)
Malik Books (Culver City)
Once Upon A Time, America’s Oldest Children’s Bookstore (Montrose)
The Ripped Bodice, A Romantic Bookstore (Culver City)
Skylight Books (Hollywood/Los Feliz)
Village Well Books & Coffee (Culver City)
Vroman’s Bookstore (Pasadena)
Where: Diesel, a bookstore (and 11 other stores)
Date: Saturday the 25th (through Sunday the 26th)
Time: 10 am – 6 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-07-25/la-indie-book-crawl
Book Club for Middle Grade Readers: The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman at Agoura Hills Library, LAPL – Online Zoom MG Event
Middle-grade readers are invited to participate in our fun monthly book discussions. This month, we will be reading The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko.
Please email gkim@lapl.org for the Zoom login information.
Where: Virtual Program, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Graphic Novel Book Club: Skating Wilder via Bel Canto Books – Online Event
Join us online to discuss Skating Wilder by Brandon Dumais and AJ Dungo.
Bel Canto Books Graphic Novel Book Club meets via Zoom on the third Saturday of each month at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET.
Where: Bel Canto Books
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events
Panel and Q&A with Banished Citizens Author Marla A Ramirez at Cellar Door Off-site at Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California – In-Person Event
Our community is still being stalked, threatened, and attacked, our family members, friends, coworkers, acquaintances are being kidnapped, but this isn’t the first time in California’s history that this has happened.
After we hosted two Community in Conversation meetings on Marla A. Ramirez’s more than timely book, Banished Citizens: A History of the Mexican American Women Who Endured Repatriation, the conversation led by Cellar Door friend, journalist, and co-author of the award-winning book, Mexican American Baseball in the South Bay, Ron Gonzales, the Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California is hosting the author of the book, Marla A. Ramirez, as well as one of the families featured in the book, for a panel and Q&A on Saturday, July 25th at 11:00am.
The panel will be from 11:30am to 12:30 pm. And the Q&A will be from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm.
Banished Citizens: A History of the Mexican American Women Who Endured Repatriation is a moving portrait of a grim period in American immigration history, when approximately one million ethnic Mexicans—mostly women and children who were US citizens—were forced to relocate across the southern border. From 1921 to 1944, approximately one million ethnic Mexicans living in the United States were removed across the border to Mexico. What officials called “repatriation” was in fact banishment: 60 percent of those expelled were US citizens, mainly working-class women and children whose husbands and fathers were Mexican immigrants. Drawing on oral histories, transnational archival sources, and private collections, Marla A. Ramírez illuminates the lasting effects of coerced mass removal on three generations of ethnic Mexicans.
Marla Andrea Ramírez is a social historian who specializes in oral history, the Mexican repatriation program, social and legal histories of Mexican migrations, and gendered migration experiences. She is currently assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University. She holds a PhD in Chicana and Chicano studies with an emphasis on feminist studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and previously held a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the Department of Latina/Latino Studies. Her current book project, Contested Illegality: The Mexican Repatriation Program and Prolonged Consequences Across Three Generations, examines the immigration policies of the Great Depression era, focusing on the experiences of Mexican repatriation and banishment of US-citizen children of Mexican descent that tore apart thousands of families across the US-Mexico border. She is the author of “The Making of Mexican Illegality: Immigration Exclusions Based on Race, Class Status, and Gender,” which appeared in New Political Science: A Journal of Politics & Culture in 2018. Her forthcoming article, “The Legacy of Mexican Repatriation: Negotiating Gender, Intimacy, and Family Formation in the Borderlands,” will appear in a special issue on “Gender and Intimacy Across the US-Mexico Borderlands” in Pacific Historical Review.
Where: Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California
Date: Saturday the 24th
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: 3933 Mission Inn Ave. Suite 103, Riverside, CA 92501
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/marlaaramirez
Poetic Storytime: Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer & Pondering at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Kids Event
Join us to hear uncle and nephew creative team Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer, who will be sharing their beautiful new picture book, Pondering: A Story in Cinquains. The two will read their book filled with this uniquely American poetry form and then sign books. Best for ages 4+.
This lyrically written and gorgeously illustrated ode to ponds is crafted in a uniquely American poetic form called American cinquain.
In this glorious celebration of nature, three girls walk an old trail in search of a hidden pond, marveling at treasures they discover along the way—darting dragonflies, croaking bullfrogs, fluttering sycamore leaves, and more. Written in a unique poetic form called American cinquain, the story seamlessly weaves together an invitation to readers to immerse themselves in nature, while also bringing attention to this endangered ecosystem. The info-packed pages at the end of the book include an overview of the pond ecosystem and the current threat to it, as well as an exploration of the cinquain form.
Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer are an uncle-nephew writing team who have collaborated on numerous creative projects over the years with a focus on vibrant, accessible poetry for young readers. Their first picture book, Silver Seeds, received the International Reading Association’s award for Best Children’s Book by first-time authors.
If you can’t make it to the event, you can order signed books in advance at website link.
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Saturday, the 25th
Time: 11 am
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: Once Upon a Time Event Page
Spooky Storytime: Max Braillier & The Dark at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Kids Event
Join us every Saturday for a storytime among the cozy shelves at Village Well!
This July 25th, we’re thrilled to welcome author Max Brallier to the store to read from his new book The Dark and Other Scary Stories!
This scary story collection—from the New York Times bestselling author of the Last Kids on Earth series—will send SHIVERS down your spine!
Read if you dare! This collection of ten terrifying tales by New York Times bestselling author Max Brallier is THE book to share at sleepovers or around a campfire! Each story is illustrated in haunting, full-color artwork by Letizia Rubegni, and told with spare yet scare-inducing text. If you love sleepless nights and monsters that lurk in the dark, then this spine-chilling book is for you!
Max Brallier is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 books for children, including the Mister Shivers early reader series, Galactic Hot Dogs, and The Last Kids on Earth middle-grade series. Under the pen name Jack Chabert, he is the creator and author of the Eerie Elementary series with Scholastic Branches. Max lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 12 pm – 1 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
El Martillo Press Summer Poetry Reading at Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) – In-Person Event
El Martillo Press presents five Chicanx authors for a summer poetry reading at MOLAA!
Artists presenting their sacred and fiery words at MOLAA include:
Lorna Dee Cervantes: Born in San Francisco, raised in San José, Barrio Horseshoe, Lorna Dee Cervantes was a self-taught activist by 15, taught herself how to run her own printing press and was Founding Editor/Publisher of MANGO Publications at 20, and author of the American Book Award winning EMPLUMADA at 24. A XícanIndX poet (Chumash/Purépecha), Cervantes (PhD/ABD, History of Consciousness) was a Professor of English for 20 years at the University of Colorado, Boulder, serving as Director of Creative Writing. Cervantes has held faculty positions at the University of Houston, the University of California, Berkeley, where she has served as a UC Regents Lecturer in the English department, and as a Visiting Writer at Yale, Vassar, and others. Awarded 2 NEA Fellowships, 2 Pushcart Prizes, a Lila Wallace/Readers Digest Award, state arts grants, and numerous awards for 6 books of poetry including her recent, April on Olympia, Cervantes has presented her poetry at 100s of campuses, venues and countries over the past 50 years. Her poems have appeared in 100s of anthologies and publications (Norton, Heath, Penguin, Poetry). Her newest, FIRE: Poems Against Pandemic, is forthcoming from El Martillo Press (2026).
Jozer Guerrero is a poet/ musician based out of Denver, CO. Jozer’s work has been featured on HBO, MTV, Univision, TED Talks, PBS and American Theater Magazine. Jozer’s poetry can be described as a Spanglish roller coaster combining comedy with political commentary, prepare yourself to laugh and cry all in one sitting.
Sonia Gutiérrez is the author of two full-length bilingual poetry collections, Spider Woman / La Mujer Araña (Olmeca Press, 2013) and Paper Birds: Feather by Feather / Pájaros de papel: Pluma por pluma (El Martillo Press, 2024), recipient of an honorable mention for the ILBA’s The Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award—One Author—Bilingual, and the novel, Dreaming with Mariposas (FlowerSong Press, 2020), winner of the Tomás Rivera Book Award 2021, the International Latino Book Awards 2022, and the ILBA Book into Movie Awards 2023. She teaches composition, critical thinking and writing, and creative writing. Sonia Gutiérrez is currently working on her first illustrated book, The Adventures of a Burrito Flying Saucer and Sana Sana Colita de Rana: Poems to Not Perish / Sana sana colita de rana: Poemas para no morir, a bilingual poetry collection. She lives in the Californias. To learn more about Sonia Gutiérrez and her work, visit http://www.soniagutierrez.com.
Donato Martinez was born in in small pueblo, Garcia de la Cadena, Zacatecas, Mexico and immigrated into the USA at six years old. He teaches English Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at Santa Ana College. He has also taught classes in Chicano Studies. He has been a co-coordinator of the Puente Program for 25 years. In 2022, he was awarded the Creative Expression Faculty Award and the Transfer Advocate of the Year. In 2024-2025, he was recognized as the Distinguished Faculty of the Year, the highest honor bestowed on a faculty member. He is nominated for the Orange County Teacher of the Year, for the year 2026. He is also a cast member of papah!, a YouTube show that features Mexican dads sharing their unique perspectives through candid conversations, food reviews, and reactions.
Rey M. Rodríguez is a writer, advocate, and attorney. He lives in Pasadena, California. He is working on a novel set in Mexico City. He attended the Yale Writers’ Workshop multiple times and Palabras de Pueblo workshop once. He participated in Story Studio’s Novel in a Year Program. He received his MFA in fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts in May 2026. His poetry is published in Huizache. His interviews and book reviews can be found at La Bloga, Chapter House’s Storyteller’s Corner, Full Stop, Pleiades Magazine, and the Los Angeles Review. He is a graduate of Cornell, Princeton, and U.C. Berkeley Law School.
Hosted by El Martillo Press co-founders Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero.
Founded by Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero, El Martillo Press publishes writers whose pens strike the page with clear intent; words with purpose to pry apart assumed norms and to hammer away at injustice. El Martillo Press proactively publishes writers looking to pound the pavement to promote their work and the work of their fellow pressmates. El Martillo is the builder of bridges and the destroyer of walls.
RSVP at link at website.
Where: Museum of Latin American Art
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Address: 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://www.elmartillopress.com/events-1/el-martillo-press-summer-poetry-reading-at-molaa
Weekend Book Club: Ten Incarnations of Rebellion: A Novel at Carson Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of Ten Incarnations of Rebellion: A Novel by Vaishnavi Patel.
For adults.
NOTE: See site to RSVP.
Where: Carson Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 151 E. Carson St., Carson, CA 90745
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16726142
Open House Fundraiser at Junior High Inc. – In-Person Event
You’re invited to Junior High’s Open House Fundraiser for new and upgrading members! Meet the team behind Junior High and ask us questions about the Membership Drive. Get a taste of the wide range of events and resources Junior High has to offer. Learn why we need our community’s support to keep our doors open!
First 20 attendees get a goodie bag featuring goodies from Golden Terra Co, Blick Art Materials, Plant Materials, limited edition and out of print Junior High merch, and other surprises! New and upgrading members to our Patreon will receive raffle tickets to win raffle prizes valued over $150, including: Clay Date Passes, original art pieces from past Junior High exhibiting artists, and much much more! Get your hands on some free activities like handbuilding with clay, collaging with Art Club, or bring your own overgrown plant to repot with Club Gay Gardens. Donate to or learn about our Community Pantry.
Get your daily dose of Matcha from Mayumi Matcha, popping up between 2 pm – 6 pm. Join us at 6:30 to enjoy LIVE drag and puppet performances!
Perfect for our North East Los Angeles (NELA) neighbors. Help keep queer and emerging arts alive and flourishing in Glendale!
NOTE: See site to RSVP.
Where: Junior High
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 2 pm – 8 pm
Address: 603 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA 91204 for our Op
Website: https://juniorhighlosangeles.com/calendar/open-house-fundraiser-2026
Book Signing: Dr. Ina J. Creekbaum & A Framework for Getting Back to What Is Real at The Untold Story Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us for a book signing and conversation with Dr. Ina J. Creekbaum for her book A Framework for Getting Back to What Is Real.
Join the conversation!
NOTE: See site to RSVP.
Where: Untold Story Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 18th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 301 N. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim, CA 92805
Website: Instagram Page
Book Club for Adults: The Mirror: The Lost Bridge Trilogy # 2 at Live Oak Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of The Mirror: The Lost Bridge Trilogy # 2 by Nora Roberts.
Copies of the book will be available at the Customer Service Desk.
Synopsis:
When Sonya MacTavish inherits the huge Victorian mansion on the coast of Maine, she has no idea that the house is haunted. The footsteps she hears at night, the doors slamming, the music playing, are not figments of her imagination. In her dreams she sees glimpses of the past. In the present she finds portraits of brides. And when she has visions of an antique mirror, she is drawn to it, sensing it holds dark family secrets.
Then one night the mirror appears and Sonya glides through this looking glass, into the past—and sees a bride murdered on her wedding day, the circle of gold torn from her finger. It is a scene that will play out again and again—a centuries-old curse that must be broken—and a puzzle she must solve if there is any hope of breaking the curse.
Where: Live Oak Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Address: 45 22 W. Live Oak Ave., Arcadia, CA 91007
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16870494
Miriam’s Garden Poetry Series at Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join host and librarian Yago Cura for the Miriam’s Garden Poetry Reading Series at the Hyde Park Library of LAPL.
Dante Mitchell is an accomplished coach, teacher, writer, actor, performer, and recording artist. His published works have been featured in newspapers, magazines, anthologies, commercials, and audio recordings. He takes pride in his role as a community ambassador for Get Lit and strives to be an inspiration for the youth.
Jean Paul Gaudamuz born and raised in Compton. He is real with what he writes and is pretty blunt at times. He’s been published in Cultural Daily.
Mike Sonksen also known as Mike the Poet, is a third-generation Los Angeles native acclaimed for his poetry performances, published articles and mentoring of teen writers. He is known for “I Am Alive in Los Angeles!”, his book Letters to My City and the upcoming Traces, Faces, Places from Hinches Press.
Where: Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Address: 2205 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043
Website: Instagram Page
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Published Book Readings by Jeffrey Jensen + Poets published in Four Feathers Press Turtle Island Poetry #7 (July 2026 Issue) – Online Zoom Event
Join us online to hear Jeffrey Jesen read from his work and hear poets published in Four Fathers Press’ Turtle Island Poetry #7.
All events are curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry, Online
Date: Saturday, the 25th
Time: 3 pm – 4:30 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Zine Workshop at The Open Book, Pasadena – In-Person Event
Make your own Zine! Or learn how to with our workshop!📝✂️
✂️RSVP in our Linktree!
💡All supplies provided, just bring your creative mind!
Where: The Open Book, Pasadena
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm
Address: 300 E. Colorado Blvd., Ste, 161, Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: Instagram Page
Author Event: Rasheed Newson & Gabrielle Korn at Bel Canto KUBO LB – In-Person Event
Bel Canto Books is delighted to host a conversation with Rasheed Newson (THERE’S ONLY ONE SIN IN HOLLYWOOD) and Gabrielle Korn (LONG ISLAND GIRLS).
Rasheed Newson, in conversation with Gabrielle Kornl, will discuss his book There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood.
Rasheed Newson is the author of the national bestseller My Government Means to Kill Me. The novel was a Lambda Literary finalist for Gay Fiction and was named one of the “The 100 Notable Books of 2022” by The New York Times. His forthcoming novel, There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood, is slated for publication by Flatiron in 2026.
Rasheed is also a television drama writer, producer, and showrunner. Along with his screenplay writing partner, T.J. Brady, he co-developed and is an executive producer of Bel-Air. Additionally, Rasheed has worked on The Chi, Animal Kingdom, and Narcos, among other drama series. Rasheed was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a graduate of Georgetown University. He currently lives with his husband and their two children in Pasadena.
Gabrielle Korn is the author of the essay collection Everybody (Else) Is Perfect (Atria, 2021) as well as the novels Yours For The Taking (St. Martin’s Press, December 2023) and The Shutouts (December 2024). Her fourth book, Long Island Girls, came out in June, 2026.
Kindly RSVP so we can plan accordingly. Please stay home if you feel sick.
This event will be held indoors at KUBO LB (3976 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach CA).
Where: Bel Canto KUBO LB
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807
Website: With Friends
Historical Fiction Book Club: I, Medusa: A Novel at Cellar Door Bookstore – Online Zoom Event
Participants will discuss I, Medusa: A Novel by Ayana Gray.
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
Meddy has spent her whole life as a footnote in someone else’s story. Out of place next to her beautiful, immortal sisters and her parents—both gods, albeit minor ones—she dreams of leaving her family’s island for a life of adventure. So, when she catches the eye of the goddess Athena, who invites her to train as an esteemed priestess in her temple, Meddy leaps at the chance to see the world beyond her home.
In the colorful market streets of Athens and the clandestine chambers of the temple, Meddy flourishes in her role as Athena’s favored acolyte, getting her first tastes of purpose and power. But when she is noticed by another Olympian, Poseidon, the course of Meddy’s promising future is suddenly and irrevocably altered.
When her locs are transformed into snakes as punishment for a crime she did not commit, Medusa must embrace a new identity—not as a victim, but as a vigilante—and with it, the chance to write her own story as mortal, martyr, and myth.
Exploding with rage, heartbreak, and love, I, Medusa portrays a young woman caught in the crosscurrents between her heart’s deepest desires and the cruel, careless games the Olympian gods play.
Ayana Gray is a New York Times bestselling author. Her works have been translated into eleven languages across five continents. She currently lives and writes in Arkansas. I, Medusa is her adult debut.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd. Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-07-25/historical-fiction-book-club-i-medusa
Poesia for the People: One-Year Anniversary at Stay Arts Studio – In-Person Event
One year of rhythm. One year of inspiración. One year of raising our voices together in Southeast LA.
It’s hard to believe it’s already been a full year since we first gathered to share our stories, but Poesía for the People is officially turning one!
Hosts Jean-Pierre Rueda and Alegria Zuluagra are bringing back some of your favorite local authors and familiar faces from the past year. Come out to grab some incredible poetry books, prints, and custom merch directly from the creators.
Dr. Hortencia Jimenez is an award-winning sociology professor, speaker, author, health coach, podcast host, and entrepreneur based in the US covering topics on culture, food, identity, health, Latinx issues and immigration.
Monica Salazar is a Latin artist and intuitive poet who has touched the lives of hundreds of people from all over the world with her gift of words. Monica’s unique ability to tap into the most profound emotions of others and translate them into poetry is genuinely inspiring.
Adrian Ernesto Cepeda is the author of six poetry collections, including La Lengua Inside Me. He is a poet who stutters, his parents are Colombian, and he was the only one of his brothers born in the United States. He is an author and editor of the new anthology Anger Is a Gift from FlowerSong Press.
Lupe Monteil is a community leader, writer, filmmaker, and former music industry executive who currently resides in LA County’s South Bay. She works with Girls in Focus, a women-led production company that strives to provide educational mentorship opportunities to young female filmmakers.
Dago Campo N/A
Waldo Is Here N/A
Celeste Alyssa Gomez is an author, poet, and performer, and the author of Besos. Her goal for her book is for people to resonate with her poetry and see the importance of Latinx culture and community.
Dulce Gabriela is a contemporary poet and author originally from Mexico, whose work is celebrated for its deep emotional resonance, vivid imagery, and themes of resilience, healing, and personal liberation.
Jimena Dardano N/A
Adriana Romero N/A
If you’ve never been to a Poesía night, the magic is in the room itself—it’s a warm, inclusive, en inglés y en español collective experience where everyone is family.
Note on Proceeds: Your donations on anniversary night do double duty. A portion goes directly toward keeping Poesía accessible, while 50% directly funds @stayartsorg Stay Arts, a non-profit dedicated to broadening arts access and empowering youth and local artists right here in SELA.
RVSP TODAY through bio in Link @poetatico
Where: Stay Arts Studio
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 11140 Downey Ave., Downey, CA
Website: Instagram Page
Salsa, Sabor & Sonnets: A Salsa & Poetry Fundraiser at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
Help raise funds for Beyond Baroque with a fun night of salsa and poetry!
Beyond Baroque’s summer fundraiser is here! Join us for a night of dancing, poetry, and community as we transform our Poets’ Garden and Wanda Coleman Theater into beat-thumping dance floors! Dj Suena will be taking over our Wanda Coleman Theater and turning it into a Bad Bunny-themed dance room and lounge.
The night will feature a lineup of five dazzling poets, including Holaday Mason, Angela Peñaredondo, James Coats, Whittier Poet Laureate Alejandra Roggero, and Jesenia Chavez.
During the festivities, salsa and bachata lessons will be provided by Dancer University instructors David and Bere. Then, we’ll have solo salsa and bachata performances by Henry Salazar and Vianey Cariño of Solina Entertainment, featuring music by Dj Manny. And to close out the night, a series of off-the-charts dance parties!
We’ll also have food vendor Casa De Lola stationed throughout the night providing Dominican and Boricua cuisine (with vegan options), so that you can keep your energy up to dance all night long. Plus, one free mocktail with the purchase of a $50 ticket!
Holaday Mason’s sixth full length collection of poetry, As If Scattered was published by Giant Claw/What Books Press in 2024; other collections include, Towards the Forest, Dissolve, The Red Bowl: A Fable in Poems, The “She” Series: A Venice Correspondence (with Sarah Maclay), The Weaver’s Body. Her work has appeared in Hotel Amerkia, Spillway, Solo, Pool, Poetry International, The Laurel Review & more. Co-editor for Beyond Baroque’s Echo 68 she is currently poetry editor for Furious Pure. Ms. Mason is also a fine art photographer focusing on the surrealism within nature & the beauty of humans as a part of nature. http://www.holadaymason.com and Instagram: @holaday.mason
Angela Peñaredondo is an interdisciplinary writer, poet, artist and educator. They are the author of nature felt but never apprehended (Noemi Press), All Things Lose Thousands of Times (Inlandia Institute, Winner of Hillary Gravendyk Prize) and Maroon (Jamii Publications). Peñaredondo’s work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets, Pleiades, Michigan Quarterly Review, Southern Humanities Review and elsewhere. Peñaredondo has received fellowships and awards from Storyknife, Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Hedgebrook, Baldwin for the Arts, and Kundiman among others. They are an Associate Professor of Creative Writing.
James Coats is an award-winning author, poet and educator from Southern California. As a creative change agent, he believes the arts can inspire the youth and influence positive change in the world. He is the winner of the 2021 San Gabriel Poetry Slam, and has been featured nationally. You can find him attending poetry readings throughout California or follow his poetry via his Instagram @MrLovingWords. He became the Artist in Residence at The Garcia Center for the Arts in 2022. Additionally, you can take a poetry workshop with him through his organization Lift Our Voices Education which hosts an award-winning workshop monthly called Be The Change: Social Justice Writing Workshop. He is a 2023 Poetry Pushcart Prize nominee.
Alejandra Roggero is a Whittier College graduate and the author of four collections of prose and poetry, including The Town and La Matriarca. She is one of the founders of Poetry for the Masses, a monthly workshop and collective in South Pasadena open to writers of all levels. Her work seeks to soften readers — perhaps even to the point of dissolution. Her forthcoming book, soft serve, is set to be published in 2027. She is the City of Whittier’s first Poet Laureate.
Jesenia Chavez (she/her) 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. She is the author of the poetry collection, This Poem Might Save You (Me), and has an MFA from UCR, Palm Desert. Find more at jeseniachavez.com
Dj Suena, aka Julio, is a Salvadorian dj who loves reggaeton, merengue, cumbias, and all Latin music. His favorite artists are Feid and Bad Bunny to name a few. By day, he’s a day labor center coordinator. He loves playing fútbol, being active in community events and organizing. #fuckice
NOTE: See site for details and tickets.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday the 25th
Time: 6 pm – 11 pm (Doors at 5:30 pm)
Address: 681 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
Website: Eventbrite Page
Monthly Arts & Open Mic Night with Nervous Ghost Press – Online Zoom Event
Join us on every last Saturday of the month online for the Nervous Ghost Press Arts & Open Mic Night.
Where: Nervous Ghost, Online
Date: Saturday, the 25th
Time: 6:30 pm for Open Mic (Arts at 5 pm)
Address: Online Zoom Event
Website: https://www.nervousghostpress.org/artsnight
13 Bookstores in LA Indie Book Crawl Event (Day 3 of 3) – In-Person
Visit Diesel, A Bookstore as one stop along the LA Indie Book Crawl July 24-26.
Bookstores across the greater Los Angeles area have joined forces to create an unforgettable weekend for LA’s bookish folk!
Visit all 13 stores to win the grand prize! Or just hit as many as you can—the more you visit, the more prizes you accrue, and the more of LA’s diverse and welcoming literary scene you get to explore.
Find a new favorite book, make some friends, and become an LA expert along the way!
Participating stores:
Annabelle’s Book Club LA (Studio City)
The Book Jewel (in the heart of Westchester)
Book Soup, bookseller to the great and famous (West Hollywood)
Chevalier’s Books (Larchmont Village)
Children’s Book World & CBW Teens & Adults (West Los Angeles)
Diesel, A Book Store (Santa Monica)
Malik Books (Culver City)
Once Upon A Time, America’s Oldest Children’s Bookstore (Montrose)
The Ripped Bodice, A Romantic Bookstore (Culver City)
Skylight Books (Hollywood/Los Feliz)
Village Well Books & Coffee (Culver City)
Vroman’s Bookstore (Pasadena)
Where: Diesel, a bookstore (and 11 other stores)
Date: Sunday the 26th (last day)
Time: 10 am – 6 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-07-25/la-indie-book-crawl
Solidarity Survivors: Art & Poetry Event at ARC LA Office – In-Person Event
This July, join events in Oakland and Los Angeles spotlighting solitary survivors’ art and poetry! Together we’ll hear solitary confinement survivors’ stories and explore art pieces from incarcerated authors.
Raise up the voices of solitary confinement survivors! We hope to see you there.
#DisabilityRightsCA #CAMandelaCampaign #Oakland #LosAngeles #Solitary
Where: ARC LA Office
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Address: 2107 Bellevue Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: Facebook Page
Long Beach Book Worms at the Bluff – In-Person Event
Join us for Reading with Coffee and support local business.
We’ll party once more on 7/25.
Looking forward to seeing yall around.
Like what we do? Support us on BuyMeACoffee!
Where: At the Bluff
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm
Address: Ocean Avenue & Lindero Avenue
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: Sunday the 26th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
Kids Story Hour at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Kids Event
Join us for Kids Story Hour every Sunday at 12 pm.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 12 pm – 1 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Zine Making: Studio Time at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
All ages are invited to participate in this open studio time dedicated to zine-making.
A zine is pronounced [zeen], and it is short for “magazine.” These handmade books can be easily reproduced using a copy machine and distributed to your community. Rooted in countercultural movements to spread info for social good, zines are low-budget and low-tech ways to spread your message.
We encourage you to stop by Village Well every Sunday in July to celebrate International Zine Month! Bring your big ideas, browse our zine collection for sale, and create a zine of your own.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 12 pm – 2 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
La Palabra Reading Series with Neurodive at Avenue 50 Studios – In-Person Event
La Palabra Poetry Reading Series & Open Mic is hosted by Pam Concepcion every 4th Sunday of the month.
We encourage everyone to come early and browse the new exhibit Vessels & Rhythms of El Corazon
This month they are collaborating with @Neurodive_mic and guest readers:
Lauren Yang @randomactsof haiku is a multifaceted Korean-American poet, artist, and comedian. Experience in theatre, performance art, puppetry, video collage, typewriter poetry, short stories, and more. Highly empathetic and compassionate with varied career experiences.
Mr. Chai Tea @mr.chi\ai_tea is an autistic 3rd-generation Thai-American born and raised in Los Angeles. With a background in Mechanical Engineering, he combines his love for storytelling, comedy, and poetry to promote empathy and share his unique experiences as a nerd and adventurer.
Saki @its.saki is a poet, clown and performer in many venues.
Street parking only.
Where: Avenue 50 Studios
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 3714 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90065
Website: Instagram Page
Latinx Book Club: The Great Divide at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The Great Divide: A Novel by Cristina Henriquez.
A powerful novel about the construction of the Panama Canal, casting light on the unsung people who lived, loved, and labored there
It is said that the canal will be the greatest feat of engineering in history. But first, it must be built. For Francisco, a local fisherman who resents the foreign powers clamoring for a slice of his country, nothing is more upsetting than the decision of his son, Omar, to work as a digger in the excavation zone. But for Omar, whose upbringing was quiet and lonely, this job offers a chance to finally find connection.
Ada Bunting is a bold sixteen-year-old from Barbados who arrives in Panama as a stowaway alongside thousands of other West Indians seeking work. Alone and with no resources, she is determined to find a job that will earn enough money for her ailing sister’s surgery. When she sees a young man—Omar—who has collapsed after a grueling shift, she is the only one who rushes to his aid.
John Oswald has dedicated his life to scientific research and has journeyed to Panama in single-minded pursuit of one goal: eliminating malaria. But now, his wife, Marian, has fallen ill herself, and when he witnesses Ada’s bravery and compassion, he hires her on the spot as a caregiver. This fateful decision sets in motion a sweeping tale of ambition, loyalty, and sacrifice.
Searing and empathetic, The Great Divide explores the intersecting lives of activists, fishmongers, laborers, journalists, neighbors, doctors, and soothsayers—those rarely acknowledged by history even as they carved out its course.
Cristina Henríquez is the author of The Great Divide, The Book of Unknown Americans, The World In Half, and Come Together, Fall Apart: A Novella and Stories. She has been longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Real Simple, The Oxford American, The American Scholar, and elsewhere. She earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Illinois.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd. Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-07-26/latinx-book-club-great-divide
Sugar & Spice Book Club: The Deal: A Novel at The Open Book, Woodland Hills – In-Person Event
Join Book Club participants to discuss The Deal: A Novel by Elle Kennedy.
Where: The Open Book, Woodland Hills
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 6320 Topanga Cyn. Blvd. #1680, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Website: Instagram Page
WORKSHOP: Your Turn To Host with Amber Mayfield Hewett at Reparations Club – In-Person Event
Join Rep Club and event planner and author Amber Mayfield Hewett for a hands-on workshop to help you plan your next party with the support of an expert. Using the framework of her debut party planning book, Your Turn to Host, Amber will help you establish a hosting point of view and practice that is unique to you and special for your community.
Amber will be joined by Sunny Dae, a fellow event planner, prop stylist, and writer, who will share styling tips from the book (and beyond). Experience includes small bites and wines from La Crema.
Where: Rep Club
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 3 pm
Address: 3054 S. Victoria Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90016
Website: Eventbrite Page
Zillennial Book Club: The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf by Kaila Adia Story.
A queer Black feminist debunks the myth of rainbow solidarity, repositioning Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ people at the forefront of queer pasts, presents, and futures
Your favorite Black queer studies professor Kaila Adia Story says the rainbow ain’t never been enough in this introduction to the current state of queer intersectionality, or lack thereof. Story argues that to be queer is to be political, and the carefully glittered façade of solidarity in the pride movement veils dangerous neoliberal ideals of apolitical queer embodiment. The rainbow as a symbol of communal solidarity is a hollow offering when cis white LGBTQ people are allowed to opt out of divesting from white supremacy, misogyny, and transphobia.
The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf fills a necessary gap in our understanding of how racism, transphobia, and antiblackness operate in liberal spaces. Black feminist and queer theorist Kaila Adia Story blends analysis, pop culture, and her lived experiences to explore the silencing practices of mainstream queer culture.
Expanding beyond the classroom, Story utilizes her expertise as a scholar of queer theory to offer readers a comprehensive understanding of how racism operates in these spaces and what we can do to create a more equitable future.
Kaila Adia Story, PhD is an associate professor in the Departments of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Pan-African Studies, as well as the Audre Lorde Endowed Chair at the University of Louisville. She is also the co-creator, co-producer, and cohost of Louisville Public Media’s Strange Fruit: Musings on Politics, Pop Culture, and Black Gay Life, a popular award-winning podcast. Her research examines the intersections of race and sexuality, with special attention to Black feminism, Black lesbians, and Black queer identity. In 2017, Dr. Story was named an LGBTQ+ community leader and change maker by NBC’s inaugural #Pride30. In 2021, she was recognized Michelle Obama’s non-profit organization, Reach Higher for creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students in and out of higher education. Dr. Story was chosen as the 2022 Champion of Pride for the state of Kentucky by The Advocate magazine.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 473 E. Alessandro Blvd. Suite B, Riverside, CA 92508
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-07-26/zillennial-book-club-rainbow-aint-never-been-enuf
One-Year Anniversary Celebration at The Untold Story Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us on Sunday, July 26th at 4:00 pm, as we celebrate our re-grand opening’s first anniversary! Come say “Hi” and show your support.
Join the conversation!
NOTE: See site to RSVP.
Where: Untold Story Bookstore
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 301 N. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim, CA 92805
Website: Instagram Page
Village Poets Series: Beth Paulson & Nicholas Yingling at Bolton Hall Museum – In-Person Event
Join us on Sunday, July 26th at 4:30 pm, as Village Poets welcome features Beth Paulson and Nicholas Yingling to read and discuss their work. Hosted by Joe DeCenzo & Alice Pero, there will also be an open mic and poets are invited to participate in the open reading segment of the event.
Beth Paulson has been widely published in national literary journal and online sites for the past two decades. A former writing teacher at California State University Los Angeles for over 20 years, Beth has most recently taught poetry workshops and facilitated writing events in Ouray County, Colorado where she was named Poet Laureate in 2019. Since early 2025 Beth has lived in Altadena, California. Beth’s poems were nominated for Pushcart Prizes in 2007, 2009, 20ll, and 2016 and for Best of the Net in 2011. Her poems have also been awarded prizes from Cloudbank, Eleventh Muse, Passager, Naugatuck River Review, Third Wednesday, Common Ground Review, and Able Muse Review. Beth Paulson’s poems are included in several anthologies. Her newest book, Postcards from Altadena, was published in 2026.
Nicholas Yingling is the author of The Fire Road (Barrow Street Press, 2024), which was a finalist for the Julie Suk Award. His poems have appeared in Best New Poets, Poetry Daily, Pleiades, Colorado Review, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. In 2023, Bellevue Literary Review adapted one of his poems for their interpretive dance series, “Reading the Body.” He has been a finalist for the Fugue Poetry Prize, Berkshire Prize, Sunken Garden and Snowbound Chapbook Awards; a semifinalist for the Frost Place Chapbook Competition and the Chad Walsh Chapbook Series; and longlisted for the Frontier Chapbook Contest. He received his MA in Creative Writing from UC Davis and lives in the Bay Area, where he teaches ESL.
NOTE: See site to RSVP.
Where: Bolton Hall Museum
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 4:30 pm
Address: 10110 Commerce Ave., Tujunga, CA 91042
Website: https://villagepoets.blogspot.com/
Earthseed Symposium: A Speculative Fiction Book Club: Buffalo Hunter Hunter at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Kids Event
Join us to discuss Buffalo Hunter Hunter: A Novel by Stephen Graham Jones.
This novel tells the story of Etsy Beaucarne, a professor who discovers a manuscript written by her ancestor Arthur. Arthur’s manuscript narrates the story of Good Stab, a Blackfeet Indian with a mysterious past.
In 2012, a worker discovers a manuscript in a parsonage. The manuscript was written by Lutheran pastor Arthur Beaucarne. Etsy Beaucarne, a descendant of the author, transcribes the manuscript.
Beaucarne’s manuscript describes events that take place in Miles City, Montana in 1912. A stranger’s skinless corpse is found in town. Soon after, an Indian man begins attending Beaucarne’s church. The man, Good Stab, asks if he may confess to Beaucarne. Over the following weeks, Good Stab recounts the story of his life.
Good Stab claims that he was born in 1833, despite appearing to be a man in his late thirties. In 1870, Good Stab and his companions encountered a pale-skinned man with large fangs, whom Good Stab calls the Cat Man. Good Stab and his companions are attacked by white soldiers. As Good Stab dies, the Cat Man’s blood drips into his mouth. Good Stab awakens. He kills a soldier and drinks his blood. As Good Stab continues to travel in the wilderness, he learns more about his new condition. He can only consume blood, and he will grow to resemble any creature that he eats. Therefore, if he wishes to retain a human body, he must feed upon humans.
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6040 N. Figuroa St., Los Angeles, CA, 90042
Book Launch: Julia C. Gaytan & Ion Love at Nervous Ghost Press – In-Person Event
Join us to celebrate the launch of Ion Love, a debut collectionby Julia C. Gaytan, from Riot of Roses Publishing.
Julia C. Gaytan is a Xicana poet and math geek who spends her weekdays teaching and her weeknights exploring the city with friends, writing poetry, reading and watching anime. Julia grew up in Nickerson Gardens, a housing project of Watts, and attended inner-city k-12 public schools until attending UCLA as an undergraduate then graduate student. She holds majors in Chicana/o Studies and History with minors in African-American Studies and Political Science. It is in her studies that she fully began to understand her community within a larger world context and develop new frameworks to explore identities and realities outside of her lived experience while simultaneously embracing her identity as a Xicana poet. Her work is published in MALCS Chicana/Latina Studies Journal and The Waiting Room, an anthology by Nervous Ghost Press. Currently, she organizes microcinema screenings for Espiral Collective and participates in various speaking engagements around Southern California.
This event is a book signing and reading.
Where: Nervous Ghost Press
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 2440 S. Hacienda Blvd., #220, Los Angeles, CA
Website: Instagram Page
Lit Girl Presents: The Witching Hour Poetry Show & Open Mic at The Glendale Room – In-Person Event
Come cast a spell!
L(it) Girl Presents – The Witching Hour: Join us for a bewitching evening of poetry.
$10 to watch. $5 to sign up.
Where: The Glendale Room
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Doors 6:30 pm)
Address: 127 N. Artsakh Ave., Glendale, CA 91206
Website: Eventbrite Page
Historical Romance Book Club: Topaz at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Join participants to discuss Topaz: A Novel by Beverly Jenkins.
Historical Romance book club is led by Orders Manager Katie S and meets at 7:15 pm on the fourth Sunday in the main store! We read all historical romance novels, from all eras, both old and new. Everyone is welcome!
No membership is necessary, but RSVP is recommended.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 26th
Time: 7:15 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA, 90232
Website: https://therippedbodice.com/event/2026-07-26/historical-romance-book-club-july-2026
Los Angeles Literature 