Los Angeles Literature Events: 8/17/26 – 8/23/26

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

If you’re writing a book, poem, or screenplay and need feedback or deadlines, this is the place for you! Bring 5 to 10 double-spaced pages of your work to share with the group. We’re also collaborating on a book project using resources from the Los Angeles Public Library’s Indie Author Project, available to everyone in California.

Meetings are held in-person and on Zoom every Monday, except for holidays. For Zoom login information, contact the Robertson Library at rbrtsn@lapl.org.

Where: Robertson Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 17^th

Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm

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

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/robertson-writers-group-3

Book Club: The Big Sleep at Fairfax Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for a conversation about The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler.

When old man Sternwood, a dying millionaire, hires Philip Marlowe to expose the blackmailer of one of his troublesome daughters, Marlowe finds himself involved with more than simple extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, and seduction are just a few of the complications standing in the way of completing the task at hand. And just as Marlowe feels he’s getting ahold of the situation, he discovers the first body.

Where: Fairfax Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 17^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 161 S. Gardner St., Los Angeles, CA 90036

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/book-club-big-sleep

Philosophical Horror Book Club: The September House at Cellar Door Bookstore – Online Event

Participants will discuss the novel The September House by Carissa Orlando.

A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street…for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.

Margaret is not most people.

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.

Carissa Orlando has a doctorate in clinical-community psychology and specializes in work with children and adolescents. In her “day job,” Carissa works to improve the quality of and access to mental health care for children and their families. Prior to her career in psychology, Carissa studied creative writing in college and has written creatively in some form since she was a child. It was only a matter of time before Carissa, an avid horror fan for much of her life, merged her understanding of the human psyche and deep love for storytelling into a piece of fiction.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Monday he 17^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-08-17/philosophical-horror-book-club-september-house

Los Feliz Writers: Shut Up and Write in Los Felizat Sidewalk Grill – In-Person Event

Looking for some dedicated writing time? Come by our weekly neighborhood meetups:

Mondays @ 6:45 pm – 8 pm at Sidewalk Grill (NEW)

Wednesdays @ 6:45 pm – 8 pm at Bar Alcove & Bakery

All writers and all experience levels are welcome!

We’re starting a Shut Up and Write event on Mondays too, thanks to @jack_andcat.

Hosted by @literarypixie!

RSVP at link in bio.

Where: Sidewalk Grill

Date: Monday the 17^th

Time: 6:45 pm – 8 pm

Address: 1727 N. Vermont Ave. #102, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://www.instagram.com/p/Da-qcm5OOl_/

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 17^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501

Website: Facebook Event Page

Matthew Hild & A Little More Love: The Life and Legacy of Olivia Newton-John at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Matthew Hild will present and discuss A Little More Love: The Life and Legacy of Olivia Newton-John.

Olivia Newton-John was one of the biggest and most iconic global pop stars in history with estimated record sales of over 100 million and starring roles in several films, including Grease and Xanadu. Her hit “Physical” was ranked by Billboard as the most popular single of the 1908s. Behind all of this glitz and glamor was an extremely strong, kind, and resilient person with an unfailing, positive attitude in the face of personal tragedies and setbacks. For decades, she bravely and publicly battle breast cancer while continuing her career and advocated for environmental issues, animal rights, and LGBTQ+ rights.

This biography, based on extensive archival research and original interviews with many of her friends and associates, reveals the real person who was Olivia Newton-John. Matthew Hild provides many never-before-shared insights into the star’s life, including her humanitarianism and personal struggles, and dives deeply into her many famous record and lesser-known work, from her early start in Australia all the way to her last recording—a moving duet of “Jolene” with Dolly Parton.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Monday, the 17^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-08-17/matthew-hild-discusses-signs-little-more-love-life-and-legacy-olivia-newton-john

An Evening of Poetry at Heavy Manners Library – In-Person Event

Join us for an evening of poetry featuring:

Casia Levine, Cameron Roper, Jon Clark, Janira Hernandez, paru frances, Ruby Zuckerman, Helen Donahue, Annie Thu.

This reading will also include a fundraiser with tons of prizes to benefit Heavy Manners Library!

Where: Heavy Manners Library

Date: Monday, the 17^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 2115 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://www.heavymannerslibrary.com/events/an-evening-of-poetry-8-17

Chang-Rae Lee, with Lee Isaac Chung, & A Tender Age at Skylight – In-Person Event

Chang-Rae Lee, in conversation with Lee Isaac Chung, will discuss A Tender Age.

A spellbinding exploration of American masculinity and family dynamics as seen through the confused eyes of a prepubescent child of immigrants, A Tender Age joins the rich tradition of the American bildungsroman. The natural descendent of characters like Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caufield, Korean-American Jeon-Gi is torn between competing ideas of himself. At home, his working-class parents dote on him. Outside, he is part of a roving pack of kids with dominion over a derelict baseball field, weedy parking lot, and rusty jungle gym. Getting into and out of trouble is all-consuming. But the summer he turns eleven, he becomes embroiled in a staggering series of events reverberating far beyond himself and his family.

Devastating in its emotional precision, A Tender Age captures a family and community in striking distance of the American dream, and a young person on the precipice of adult knowledge, looking at his own culpability and looking away—then thinking about it for the rest of his life.

Chang-rae Lee is the author of six other novels, including Native Speaker, winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction, and The Surrendered, winner of the Dayton Peace Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A 2021 winner of the Award of Merit for the Novel from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chang-rae Lee teaches writing at Stanford University.

Lee Isaac Chung is a Korean American screenwriter and director who gained global recognition with “Minari” which won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and nominations for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director). He also directed the global box office hit “Twisters” and episodes of “The Mandalorian” and “Skeleton Crew.” He lives in Pasadena with his wife and daughter.

Where: Skylight

Date: Monday, the 17^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-08-17/chang-rae-lee-w-lee-isaac-chung-tender-age

April Dávila, with Lian Dolan, & Sit Write Here: 6 Mindfulness Practices to Help You Write More and Suffer Less at Skylight – In-Person Event

April Dávila, in conversation with Lian Dolan, will discuss Sit Write Here: 6 Mindfulness Practices to Help You Write More and Suffer Less.

A transformative path to overcome creative blocks and cultivate a joyful, sustainable writing practice through mindfulness.

In Sit Write Here, award-winning novelist and certified mindfulness instructor April Dávila presents a groundbreaking approach to writing that integrates the practice of Insight Meditation. Drawing from her personal journey and professional experience, Dávila reveals how mindfulness can help writers improve their craft and navigate common challenges such as writer’s block, self-doubt, and ubiquitous distractions. Through practical exercises and relatable anecdotes, she demonstrates how cultivating present-moment awareness can enhance creativity and bring greater ease to the writing process.

April Dávila is an award-winning author, speaker, and writing coach. Publishers Weekly called her debut novel, 142 Ostriches, a “vivid, uplifting debut” and the book went on to win the WILLA Award for Women Writing the West. Writer’s Digest listed her blog (at aprildavila.com) as one of the Best 101 Websites for Writers and she is the creator of the Sit Write Here writing coaching program.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Monday, the 17^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-08-17/april-davila

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 17^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)

Website: Free Workshop 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 18^th

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

Website: Event Page

Virtual Book Club: A Far Flung Life via La Crescenta Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us on Zoom for a weekly discussion of ‘A Far-Flung Life’ by M.L. Stedman. 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.

August 18 — Chapters 36 – 59 — Pages 213 – 315

August 25 — Chapter 60 – 82 — Pages 315 – to the end of the book

Remote Western Australia, 1958: here, for generations, the MacBrides have lived on a vast sheep station, Meredith Downs. It is a million acres, an ocean of arid land. On an ordinary day, on a lonely road, under the unending blue sky, patriarch Phil MacBride swerves to avoid a kangaroo. In seconds the lives of the entire MacBride family are shattered. And then, tragedy revisits when a twist of consequences claims the life of one sibling, and leads another to give up everything for the sake of an innocent child. Matt, the youngest MacBride, is plunged into a moral and emotional journey for which there is no map, no guide. The secrets at the heart of this gutting and beautiful story force him to choose between love and duty, sacrifice and happiness.

Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 18^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16632625

Before the Ban Book Club: Out of the Easy at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys.

It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street.

Caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld, Josie is soon lured deeper into a high-profile murder investigation in search of the truth. But with dangling temptation at every turn, will she ever be able to escape her mother’s mistakes and pursue the life that was meant for her? With compelling characters, a standout setting, and an unforgettable storyline, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.

Ruta Sepetys (www.rutasepetys.com) is an internationally acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction published in over sixty countries and forty languages. Sepetys is considered a “crossover” novelist, as her books are read by both teens and adults worldwide. Her novels Between Shades of Gray, Out of the Easy, and Salt to the Sea have won or been shortlisted for more than forty book prizes, and are included on more than sixty state award lists. Between Shades of Gray was adapted into the film Ashes in the Snow, and her other novels are currently in development for TV and film. Winner of the Carnegie Medal, Ruta is passionate about the power of history and literature to foster global awareness and connectivity. She has presented to NATO, to the European Parliament, in the United States Capitol, and at embassies worldwide. Ruta was born and raised in Michigan and now lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee. Follow her on Twitter @RutaSepetys and Instagram @RutaSepetysAuthor.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 18^th

Time: 1 pm – 2 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-08-18/ban-book-club-out-easy-weekday-meeting

Naughty Novel Society Romance Book Club: The Never King at Lawndale Library, LACL – In-Person Event

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

August’s Pick: The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe. Available in Audiobook on Hoopla and Libby.

Refreshments will be served.

Where: Lawndale Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 18^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 14615 Burin Ave., Lawndale, CA 90260

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16857359

Book Club: All American Murder at Pico Rivera Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us as we discuss the New York Times bestselling memoir, All-American Murder: The Rise and Fall of Aaron Hernandez by James Patterson and Alex Abramovich. For adults.

This book examines an NFL player’s rise and fall from the Patriots to prison, recounting the first-degree murder conviction that led to his untimely death—and shocking posthumous CTE diagnosis.

Where: Pico Rivera Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 18^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16252074

Adult Book Club: All the Worst Humans at Baldwin Park Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion of our latest selection, All the Worst Humans by Phil Elwood. For Adults

Elwood unveils how the PR business works, not shying away from the gritty details of his career, and about how the truth gets made, spun, and sold to the public. After nearly two decades in the Washington PR business, Phil Elwood wants to come clean by exposing the dark underbelly of the very industry that’s made him so successful. The first step is revealing to us exactly what he’s been up to for the past 20 years.

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. This will be used to save your spots in the program. We cannot guarantee availability for any unregistered attendees.

Where: Baldwin Park Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 18^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16939184

Book Club Tuesdays: The Henna Artist at Hollydale Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a facilitated discussion of The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi. Copies of the current title are available to check-out at the customer service desk while supplies last. For Adults.

Where: Hollydale Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 18^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16893509

3^rd Tuesday Book Club: The Academy at Playa Vista Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join for a discussion of The Academy by Erin Hildebrand. All are welcome!

Where: Playa Vista Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 18^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 6400 Playa Vista Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90094

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/3rd-tuesday-book-club-8

Author Event: Carinn Jade, with Stephanie Wrobel, & The Dahlia Suite at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome Carrine Jade, in conversation with Stephanie Wrobel, to discuss and sign The Dahlia Suite.

In a riveting new novel from the acclaimed author of The Astrology House, three women come together to investigate a string of haunting disappearances in a tropical paradise.

When Paige arrives at Sueños, the Caribbean’s most exclusive resort on Beck Island, she’s eager to use the time away from her young son to shake off the writer’s block that has stifled her new career as an author.

Hollywood starlet Lindsay Law is on a mission of her own at Sueños: spiraling from a recent Oscar loss, she’s determined to find out why the winner in her category gave thanks to Mara Morgan, the legendary actress who owned Beck Island before her tragic death.

While Paige and Lindsay are drawn together by creative inspiration, Gabby, the resort’s concierge, is torn apart by the loss of a coworker and the mysterious appearance of a man from her past. Gabby still has the power to grant her guests’ most over-the-top requests, but she’s helpless against her own grief and confusion.

As the sun-soaked days of bliss morph into sinister connections, Paige, Lindsay, and Gabby are united by a shocking twist, and must race to untangle the knot of Beck Island’s mysteries before another woman vanishes.

Carinn Jade is a lawyer, writer, and cohost of the Pop Fiction Women podcast. Her debut novel, The Astrology House, was a 2025 International Thriller Writers’ Awards finalist in the category of Best First Novel. The Dahlia Suite is her second novel.

Stephanie Wrobel is the internationally bestselling author of The Hitchcock Hotel, This Might Hurt and Darling Rose Gold, which sold in twenty-one countries and was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Her fourth novel, Revenge Plot, will publish in November 2026. She lives in Los Angeles.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 18^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-08-18/carinn-jade-dahlia-suite

Original Book Club: The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran 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 August’s pick is The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar.

A captivating, polyphonic novel of one family’s flight from and return to Iran.

1979. Behzad, a young communist revolutionary, fights with his friends for a new order after the Shah’s expulsion. He tells of sparking hope, of clandestine political actions, and of how he finds the love of his life in the courageous, intelligent Nahid.

1989. Nahid lives her new life in West Germany with Behzad. With their young children, they spend hour after hour in front of the radio, hoping for news from others who went into hiding after the mullahs came to power.

1999. Laleh returns to Iran with her mother, Nahid. Between beauty rituals and family secrets, she gets to know a Tehran that hardly matches her childhood memories.

2009. Laleh’s brother Mo is more concerned with a friend’s heartbreak than with student demonstrations in Germany. But then the Green Revolution breaks out in Iran and turns the world upside down …

A topical, moving novel about revolution, oppression, resistance, and the absolute desire for freedom.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 18^th

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 18^th

Time: 7 pm – 10 pm

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

Website: Instagram Page

A.P. Thayer, with Justin Key, & Tapeworm: A Vampire Novel at Book Soup – In-Person Event

A.P. Thayer, in conversation with Justin Key, will present and discuss Tapeworm: A Vampire Novel.

The limited edition first printing includes arresting sprayed edges, designed endpapers, and a foil stamped case.

From Dusk Till Dawn meets The Thing in this debut horror novel, where a group of friends must confront questions of identity, aging, and desire during a vampire infestation in an isolated Californian desert.

It needs to feed.

After the recent separation from his wife Trish, Victor hopes his friends’ annual weekend retreat to the Californian desert town of Superstition will loosen him up and reforge the group’s fraying bonds. But something is waiting underneath Superstition, crawling its way into their group, and feeding into their desires.

Victor knows too well what it means to repress his desires. He’s always attempted to be the perfect partner, yet often found himself lacking. With Trish skipping the trip, he begins falling into the wild underbelly of Superstition in new ways. When the leader of the town’s Welcoming Committee approaches him with a romantic, sexually charged offer, Victor wonders if it’s too good to be true.

But the Welcoming Committee expects a price to be paid for its services. One that cannot be fulfilled by willing bodies alone. By the end of the weekend, group bonding will have developed a whole new meaning.

Because something is hungry for Victor and his friends.

A. P. Thayer is a queer, Mexican American author based out of Los Angeles who writes cross-genre speculative fiction. His work has been featured in Dark Matter Magazine, Space Fantasy Magazine, Uncharted Magazine, and several anthologies. He is also a full member of SFWA and HWA.

Justin C. Key is a practicing psychiatrist and a speculative fiction writer. He is the author of the debut novel The Hospital at the End of the World and the story collection The World Wasn’t Ready for You. His stories have appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Escape Pod, Lightspeed, and on Tor.com. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Tuesday, the 17^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-08-18/ap-thayer

Memoir Book Club: Sociopath at Good Girl Books – In-Person Event

Join us for our Memoir Book Club as we discuss Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne. This is a bold, thought-provoking memoir that challenges what we think about empathy, relationships, and human behavior.

Where: Good Girl Books

Date: Tuesday, the 18^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 12444 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066

Website: Instagram Page

Téa Obreht, with Rufi Thorpe, & Sunrise at Skylight – In-Person Event

Téa Obreht, in conversation with Rufi Thorpe, will discuss Sunrise: A Novel.

Three lives, one hundred years, one ghost town: an explosive novel about a mysterious place called Sunrise, where the secrets of the past refuse to stay buried, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s Wife.

In 2024, Nina’s small-engine plane crashes into a lake in the Wyoming mountains. Her boyfriend Ben, who was flying it, is nowhere to be found. Lost and freezing on the shore, Nina is armed with only a few old protein bars, a phone with no service, and a vague hope of rescue. It is up to her to survive in the vast wilderness. But then she stumbles upon Sunrise—a town of the Old West that is strangely well maintained, but seemingly abandoned. A place that holds the missing link to a ghost story one hundred years in the making.

In 2003, Sand Daw’s golden boy Coll is putting the finishing touches on the town’s annual historical reenactment. But when an upstart would-be author comes to him with questions about one of Sunrise’s most beloved figures, it threatens to upend everything he thought he knew about the city—and himself.

In 1902, town founder, gunslinger, and legendary pulp hero Anton Vargas returns to Sunrise and quickly takes charge of a group searching for a missing boy. But who really is Vargas? What does he know about the boy’s disappearance? And why has he returned after such a long absence?

These three strangers are separated by time and circumstance. But Sunrise’s many secrets are like gunpowder: quiet, contained, until they encounter a spark. Magisterial and suspenseful, Téa Obreht’s novel challenges the myths we think we know: of heroes and villains, of the people and places to which we lay claim, and, most of all, of our own lives.

Téa Obreht is the internationally bestselling author of The Tiger’s Wife, Inland and The Morningside. Her novels have won the Orange Prize for Fiction, been a finalist for the National Book Award, won the Southwest Book Award, and won for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Her work has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s, and Zoetrope: All-Story, among many other publications. Originally from the former Yugoslavia, Obreht now resides in Wyoming.

Where: Skylight

Date: Tuesday, the 18^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-08-18/tea-obreht-w-rufi-thorpe-sunrise

James Queally, with Tod Goldberg, & Surviving the Lie: A Russell Avery Novel at Skylight –- In-Person Event

James Queally, in conversation with Tod Goldberg, will discuss Surviving the Lie: A Russell Avery Novel.

From the critically acclaimed author of Line of Sight and All These Ashes comes the exciting final installment of the Russell Avery series, a trilogy of “turnpike noir” that brings the neighborhoods of New Jersey to life.

After the death of his two oldest sources, Russell Avery trades in his life as a former journalist turned private investigator for peace and quiet at home. Aside from the occasional online reporting under the safety of an alias, Russell is enjoying being a normal guy with a normal girlfriend and suburban bliss just within reach. Until his onetime mentor disappears. Russell soon learns that other journalists in the area have gone missing, too, all under mysterious circumstances. Unable to resist the pull of a good story, he quickly finds himself at odds with a violent band of conspiracy theorists and ex-cops convinced that reporters are the “enemy of the people.” Russell sacrificed two careers to the belief in the power of truth. But now, face-to-face with an America where facts are more fluid than Newark’s Passaic River, he must decide if the truth is still worth fighting for.

James Queally is a Pulitzer prize-winning criminal justice reporter for the Los Angeles Times and the author of the Russell Avery series, which has garnered starred reviews and praise from best-selling authors Michael Connelly and S.A. Cosby. His journalism has exposed racist police officers, gotten corrupt law enforcement leaders fired, and put professional wrestling on the front page of a national newspaper (he’s really proud of that last one). He lives in Los Angeleswith his wife, son, and entirely too many half-filled notepads.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Tuesday, the 18^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-08-18/james-queally

Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert & Guest Hermione Beard, plus Open Reading – Online Zoom Event

Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert will welcome guest Hermione Beard, plus an Open Reading online.

Hermione Beard is a Southern California-based writer, producer, and director specializing in stage, radio, digital performance, and film scripts, as well as children’s literature, poetry, and essays. She is also the founder and CEO of New Day Cinema, a creative network supporting socially and environmentally impactful storytelling.

Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event

Date: Tuesday, the 18^th

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

Website: Cobalt Event 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 18^th

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.

Ft: Javon Johnson is an American spoken word poet, writer, and professor. He is the director of African American and African Diaspora Studies in the Department of Interdisciplinary, Gender, and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the author of Killing Poetry: Blackness and the Making of Slam and Spoken Word Communities.

*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 18^th

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Wednesday the 19^th

Time: 9 am – 10 am

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

Website: Event Page

Book Club: Less at Washington Irving Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us in reading Less by Andrew Sean Greer. Copies are available for check out in the branch or on your mobile device as an e-book/e-audiobook.

Where: Washington Irving Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 19^th

Time: 12 pm

Address: 4117 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90018

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

Book Club: The Emperor of Gladness at Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for a lively discussion of the 2025 novel The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong.

If you are unable to attend in person, please email grnhls@lapl.org for a Zoom invite.

Where: Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 19^th

Time: 1:30 pm – 3 pm

Address: 10640 Petit Ave., Granada Hills, CA 91344

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/book-club-emperor-gladness

Café via KPFK 90.7 FM – Live On-Air Event

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

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

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: KPFK 90.7 FM

Date: Wednesday, the 19^th

Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: On-air Event

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

Book Club for Adults: Pachinko at San Gabriel Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for book club as we discuss Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Copies of this title are available at the Information Desk. For Adults

In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant—and that her lover is married—she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son’s powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations.

Where: San Gabriel Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 19^th

Time: 3 pm – 4 pm

Address: 500 S. Del Mar Ave., San Gabriel, CA 91776

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16122091

Book Club for Adults: The Silent Patient at San Fernando Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us as we discuss The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. Copies of the current title are available at the Information Desk. New members are always welcome! For adults

Alicia’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to a fashion photographer. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations―a search for the truth that threatens to consume him.

Where: San Fernando Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 19^th

Time: 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Address: 217 N. Maclay Ave., San Fernando, CA 91340

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16823817

Local Authors Meet-up 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!

Limited space so RSVP soon!

NOTE: See site to RSVP.

Where: Underdog Bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 19^th

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

Address: 312 S. Myrtle Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016

Website: Underdog Bookstore Event

Author Event: Debbi DiMaggio & Mindset in Motion at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome Debbi DiMaggio to discuss and sign Mindset in Motion.

Debbi DiMaggio is a six-time bestselling author, nationally recognized Realtor®, entrepreneur, speaker, mindset coach, and creator of Mindset In Motion™. For more than 35 years, she has helped thousands of people navigate life’s biggest transitions, from buying and selling homes to reinventing themselves through personal and professional change.

A cancer survivor and lifelong believer in the power of possibility, Debbi’s work inspires people to stop waiting for the “perfect time” and begin taking purposeful action today. Her newest book, Mindset In Motion™: Activate Purpose, Power, and Peak Performance, provides a practical framework for turning goals into reality through consistent action, resilience, and intentional living.

Debbi’s journey has taken her from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to Times Square in New York, to stages across the country, with an upcoming TEDx talk, The Marathon Mindset. She is also training to compete in the Great World Race—seven marathons on seven continents in seven consecutive days—to raise awareness and funds for Girls on the Run, proving that extraordinary achievements begin with an ordinary decision to start.

Whether speaking about mindset, reinvention, entrepreneurship, or overcoming life’s unexpected challenges, Debbi leaves audiences with practical tools, renewed confidence, and the belief that it’s never too late to create your next chapter.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Wednesday the 19^th

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-08-19/debbie-dimaggio-mindset-motion-activate-your-purpose-power

Dave Wedge, with Elgin James, Blizzard of Lies at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Dave Wedge, in conversation with Elgin James, will discuss Blizzard of Lies: Karen Read, John O’Keefe, and the Shocking Unsolved Murder in Cop Town, USA.

In January 2022, a Boston police officer turned up dead in the snow, seemingly a victim of a simple hit-and-run.

But Officer John O’Keefe’s death kicked off a scandalous whodunitthat invited federal scrutiny and triggered nationwide outrage.

The explosive story of O’Keefe’s death, and the subsequent accusation and trial of his girlfriend Karen Read, ignited one of the most high-profile true crime mysteries in decades. The apparently open-and-shut manslaughter case quickly devolved into a chaotic mixture of lies, institutional corruption, and police cover-ups that threw the Massachusetts law enforcement scene into turmoil

And Read’s 2025 acquittal left O’Keefe’s death an unresolved mystery, with more questions than answers.

With dramatic twists including a rogue journalist, a mistrial, and polarizing public protests—along with revelations that called several other murder cases into question—Blizzard of Lies is a Boston-area veteran reporter’s detailed and immersive account of one of the most controversial crime stories of his career.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Wednesday, the 19^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-08-19/dave-wedge

Author Event: Regarding Paul Williams, by Photographer Janna Ireland at Chevalier’s – In-Person Event

We are delighted to host award-winning photographer Janna Ireland on the publication of her newest edition of Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer’s View of a Trailblazing Architect, which captures the legacy of the first AIA-certified Black architect west of the Mississippi River.

Hancock Park and Windsor Square feature several Williams’ homes. This is a must-see book talk for anyone who has been fortunate enough to experience a Paul Williams home.

Through Janna Ireland’s lens, Williams’s groundbreaking career comes alive in intimate, sophisticated detail: from municipal buildings and public housing projects to landmark churches and private mansions designed for Hollywood celebrities.

Known as “Hollywood’s Architect,” Paul Revere Williams was a Los Angeles native who built a wildly successful and as an architect decades before the Civil Rights Movement. He designed municipal buildings and private homes as well as banks, churches, hospitals, and university halls. He designed public housing projects and mansions for celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball.

In 1923, Williams became the first Black member of the American Institute of Architects. In 2017, nearly forty years after his death, he became the first Black recipient of the AIA Gold Medal.

Janna Ireland was born in Philadelphia but has chosen Los Angeles as her home. She holds an MFA from the UCLA Department of Art and a BFA from the Department of Photography and Imaging at NYU. Ireland is the 2013 recipient of the Snider Prize, presented by the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago. Her work has been shown in solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Chicago, and in group exhibitions across the United States and internationally. She has been published in Aperture, Harper’s, Art Papers, Vice, and The Los Angeles Times.

Where: Chevalier’s

Date: Wednesday, the 19^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-08-19/regarding-paul-williams-photographer-janna-ireland

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 19^th

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

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

Website: Instagram Page

Danny Ramadan, with Randa Jarrear, & Crooked Teeth at Skylight – In-Person Event

Danny Ramadan, in conversation with Randa Jarrar, will present and discuss his memoir Crooked Teeth.

“Writing this memoir is a betrayal.” So begins this electrifying personal account from Danny Ramadan, a celebrated novelist who has long enjoyed the shield his fiction provides. Now, to tell the story of his life, he must revisit dark corners of his past he’d rather forget and unearth memories of a city he can no longer return to.

Starting with his family’s humble beginnings in Damascus, he takes readers on an epic, border-crossing journey: to the city’s underground network of queer safe homes; to a clandestine party at a secluded villa in Cairo; through Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East, a reckless hoax that threatens the safety of Syria’s LGBTQ+ community, and a traumatic six-week imprisonment; to beaches and sunsets with friends in Beirut; to an arrival in Vancouver that’s not as smooth as it promised to be; and ultimately to a life of hard-won comfort and love.

What emerges is a powerful refutation of the oversimplified refugee narrative—a book that holds space for joy alongside sorrow, for nuance and complicated ambivalences. Written with fearless intimacy, Crooked Teeth is a singular achievement in which a master storyteller learns that his greatest story is his own.

Danny Ramadan is a Syrian-Canadian author and LGBTQ+ refugees advocate. He is the author of The Foghorn Echoes, The Clothesline Swing, and the award-winning Salma children’s series. His work has won the Lambda Literary Award, the Publishing Triangle Award, the Independent Publisher Book Award, and was longlisted for Canada Reads. His books are translated into multiple languages and celebrated worldwide. Since arriving in Canada, he has raised over $300,000 to support queer and trans refugees. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Randa Jarrar is the author of the memoir Love Is An Ex-Country, the novel A Map of Home, and the collection of stories Him, Me, Muhammad Ali. She is a filmmaker and actor who has appeared in independent films and on the A24 TV shows Ramy and #1 Happy Family USA. She is a recipient of a Creative Capital Award, an American Book Award, and others. She lives in Los Angeles.

Where: Skylight Books

Date: Wednesday the 19^th

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-08-19/danny-ramadan-w-randa-jarrar-crooked-teeth

Anansi Writers Workshop: 30 Poems About 30 Poets with Mike Bonifer 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.”

Music by DJ S.O.U.L. -O

Photograph by Eternal Mind and D Hideo Maruyama

7:30 pm – 8:30 pm — Formal workshop;
8:30 pm – 9:00 pm — Mike Bonifer & 30 Poems About 30 Poets;
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 19^th

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: TBA

Where: Art Parlor

Date: Wednesday the 19^th

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 Rooja Mohassessy 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.

Rooja Mohassessy is an Iranian-born poet and educator. Her debut poetry collection, When Your Sky Runs Into Mine, is an Elixir Press Award winner. Her poems and prose appear in Narrative Magazine, Nimrod, Southern Humanities Review, The Rumpus, and The Adroit Journal. Her work is anthologized in Colossus: Body and California Fire & Water: A Climate Crisis Anthology. Poetry media and podcasts that feature Rooja include NPR, The Hive Poetry Collective, and The Slowdown. She is a MacDowell Fellow and serves as a poetry editor for CALYX Journal. Rooja holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Pacific University.

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

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Wednesday, the 19^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

Website: Free Workshop Page

Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg: 26^th Anniversary at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event

Host Ben Trigg welcomes Steve Ramirez and Ellen Webre to join him for their 26^th Anniversary!

Ben Trigg dreams of being Truly Outrageous, striving to be a safe space for all, but especially the queer community. He is one third of Two Idiots Peddling Poetry at the Ugly Mug in Orange, California, a weekly series that has been running since 2000. Ben’s poetry has been described (buy him) as the sweet spot junction of heartfelt, pop culture, and comedy. His collection Kindness from a Dark God came out on Moon Tide Press in 2007. He co-edited the anthology Don’t Blame the Ugly Mug: 10 Years of 2 Idiots Peddling Poetry. When all else fails, Ben goes to Disneyland.

Steve Ramirez has never been captured on film (unless you count the spectral image taken at the infamous 1951 séance). He keeps to himself at the wrong times. While attempting to dance with a drop of rain at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance in Wichita Falls, he discovered a talent for fog. Most nights, he can be found covering the pier. Yesterday morning, he graciously accepted the award for Most Inspired before falling back to sleep. He usually sees at 24 frames per second, but when kissing switches to a high speed camera on a revolving track. Previous occupations include: coal miner, poltergeist, hubcap salesman, medical leech, spatial geographer, and mongoose.

Ellen Webre is a biracial, Taiwanese-American poet, born in Hong Kong and raised in California. She is a social media marketing specialist and videographer for Moon Tide Press, is a co-host of Two Idiots Peddling Poetry, and is an editor of Freezeray Magazine. Ellen’s debut book, A Burning Lake of Paper Suns, was released in October 2021 with Moon Tide Press. Her poem “Metaphors for My Body in Midwinter” has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2021. Ellen’s other poems have most recently been published in A Moon of One’s Own, FreezeRay Press, Sh!t Men Say to Me Anthology in Response to Toxic Masculinity, DARK INK: A Horror Anthology, and Voicemail Poems.

Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange

Date: Wednesday, the 19^th

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

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

Website: Facebook Event Page

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

Website: Event Page

Mystery Book Discussion: A Murder in Paris at Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for an engaging discussion about whodunnits, thrillers, and crime fiction. We meet on the third Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. Copies are available at the reference desk and as e-books.

Aug. 20: A Murder in Paris by Matthew Blake 

Where: Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library,LAPL

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: 2920 Overland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/mystery-book-discussion-2

1926 Book Club: Father Brown at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

In celebration of the Central Library’s centennial, the Eagle Rock Book Club is participating in the 1926 Book Club by selecting a book published 100 years ago.

We will be reading and discussing The Incredulity of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton. This short-story collection follows the mystery-solving priest as he uses logic and his deep understanding of human nature to debunk seemingly supernatural crimes.  

Free copies of the book will be available while supplies last. Print copies will also be available for checkout, or check our e-media page for electronic access on Libby and hoopla. 

Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library,LAPL

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 3 pm – 4 pm

Address: 5027 Caspar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90041

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/1926-book-club-0

Book Club for Adults: Wuthering Heights at Chet Holifield Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Whether you like historical fiction, sci-fi, romance, or memoirs, this book club reads it all. This month, join us for a discussion of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Pick up a copy at the information desk today! For adults

Where: Chet Holifield Library,LACL

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: 1060 S. Greenwood Ave., Montebello, CA 90640

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16882121

Poetry in the Afternoon & Open Mic at Sparc Gallery, Freemont Center Theatre – in-Person Event

Word Workers United presents Poetry in the Afternoon & Open Mic every 3^rd Thursday at Sparc Gallery, Freemont Theatre Center.

Featured poets:

Sharyl Collin is a poet and writer who recently was published in the Altadena Poetry Review Anthology edited by Peter J. Harris.

George Pressley N/A

Open mic signup at 3:50 pm. (Enter SPARC room from rear parking lot.)

Where: Sparc Gallery, Freemont Center Theatre

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 4 pm – 6 pm

Address: 100 Freemont Ave., #120, South Pasadena, CA

Website: Instagram Page

Adaptation Book Club: Women Talking (2023), Film Screening at Cellar Door Bookstore – in-Person Event

Participants will view Film: Women Talking (2023), dir. Sarah Polley. Have Miriam Toews’s Women Talking read before this film screening. The discussion on the book and the film will be the week after on August 27th at 6:00 pm!

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-08-20/adaptation-book-club-women-talking-2023-film-screening

Zibby’s Author Event: Stephanie Wittels Wachs, with Claire Bidwell Smith, & Last Day at Zibby’s – In-Person Event

Join Stephanie Wittels Wachs, in conversation with Claire Bidwell Smith, to discuss Last Day.

Based on the groundbreaking podcast of the same name, Last Day weaves together a heartbreaking story of personal loss and an unflinching investigation of what could have prevented it. Alongside expert voices on opioid addiction, Stephanie Wittels Wachs issues a clarion call for change in an ongoing and overwhelming opioid crisis.

RSVP at website link.

Where: Zibby’s

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 1113 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90402

Website: Eventbrite Page

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #2: Personal Essay Workshop with Tracy Chabala – In-Person Event

Join us for a personal essay writing workshop facilitated by Tracy Chabala!

In this workshop, you’ll learn: (1) what makes a great personal essay, (2) how to pitch your essay to editors at publications, (3) what makes a pitch stand out to editors.

You’ll also write a scene from your personal history!

Tracy Chabala is the former Lifestyle Editor at Shondaland, where she commissioned and edited hundreds of personal essays. She’s authored dozens of personal essays, with bylines in VICE, Salon, and Shondaland, and coaches professional writers one-on-one with their narratives. She holds a BA and MA in creative writing from USC.

RSVP

Please support the local business hosting us by purchasing something as that’s why our event is FREE.

Where: Fred 62

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 1850 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

Book Event: James Spooner, with Brattyxbre, & It Starts with Anger at Reparations Club – In-Person Event

Join Rep Club for a discussion on It Starts with Anger by author James Spooner, in conversation with Brattyxbre.

In 1991, fifteen-year-old James Spooner arrives in New York’s West Village, hopeful that he’s finally escaped the extremist racism of his Southern California desert town. Still, a question looms large over his cross-country move: What will New York City make of this tartan plaid-and-leather-clad, mixed race, Black kid with a mohawk? Will he find his people? Thus begins Spooner’s insider’s account of the nineties downtown New York punk and early aughts pre-Giuliani nightlife scenes. In the city’s legendary rock clubs, squat basements, and DIY art spaces, he finds his way to creating zines, starting a record label, and promoting parties, while falling further in love with punk rock’s distorted guitars and politically progressive lyrics. Happy to have left a world of Nazi skins behind he must still navigate the casual racism and bigotry of a seemingly all-white echo chamber; a world stubbornly resistant to his Black/punk identity.

Intent on carving a space for young, Black, politically radical punk rockers like himself, Spooner undertakes a whirlwind tour of the country, collecting the stories that will become his acclaimed documentary, Afro-Punk, and eventually lead to the wildly successful music festival of the same name. But what begins as a way to chronicle the joys and heartaches of being Black and punk rock soon spirals into a multimillion-dollar corporate endeavor. Spooner is forced to ask himself: In setting out to galvanize an underground movement, has he in fact given rise to the least punk rock thing of all—a brand?

Illustrated with a vibrant mix of comics, spot art, and punk ephemera throughout, It Starts with Anger is at once a coming-of-age story about found family, a compelling capitalist cautionary tale, and a raucous celebration of the indelible, rebellious spirit of Black punks.

RSVP

Where: Rep Club

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 7 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm)

Address: 3054 S. Victoria Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90016

Website: Eventbrite Page

Infinite Summer – Celebrating Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace at 30 at Skylight Off-site at Poetic Research Bureau – In-Person Event

Please join us to celebrate the 30th anniversary of David Foster Wallace’s masterpiece Infinite Jest! Former Los Angeles Times Books editor, David L. Ulin, and David Foster Wallace’s agent, Bonnie Nadell, will kick the night off with a conversation about the publication of Infinite Jest in 1996 and how it resonates with our current moment 30 years later.

Celebrated authors Allie Rowbottom, Ben H. Winters, and Ivy Pochoda, and award-winning journalist Kelly McEvers will read from their favorite passages of Infinite Jest.

Co-presented by Little, Brown and Company and Los Angeles Review of Books.

Allie Rowbottom is the author of Aesthetica (2022), JELL-O Girls: A Family History (2018), and Lovers XXX, published June 2026 in the United States and United Kingdom. Allie’s essays and short fiction can be found in Vanity Fair, Elle, The New York Times, Playboy, The Times, New York Tyrant, Forever Magazine, and elsewhere. Her short story “He Dreams About the Bunny Ranch” was a finalist for the National Magazine Award in fiction; Aesthetica was short-listed for France’s Prix Sade. She holds a PhD in literature and creative writing and lives in Los Angeles.

Ben H. Winters is the Edgar Award winning, New York Times bestselling author of the Last Policeman Trilogy and Underground Airlines, among many other novels. He is also the creator of the TV show TRACKER and, as a comic book writer, the creator of the series BENJAMIN and the forthcoming The Ego Knife. His most recent novel is the sci-fi thriller Big Time. Ben lives in Los Angeles with his family.

Bonnie Nadell represented David Foster Wallace for his entire career starting with his first novel The Broom of the System published in 1987 through the posthumous publication in 2011 of his unfinished novel, The Pale King. Infinite Jest has now been translated and published in twenty five languages including Vietnamese and Croatian.

David L. Ulin is the author or editor of more than twenty books, including the novel Thirteen Question Method and Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, shortlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. He is a Professor of English at the University of Southern California, where he edits the journal Air/Light. In September, Library of America will publish his American Flash Fiction: An Anthology.

Kelly McEvers is a two-time Peabody Award winning journalist and former host of NPR’s flagship daily news magazine, All Things Considered. She is the creator of NPR’s award-winning Embedded podcast–recently named one of Time magazine’s “100 Best Podcasts of All Time.” She currently teaches journalism and storytelling at the California Institution for Women and hosts the Atlas Obscura podcast. She spent much of her career as an international correspondent, reporting from the Middle East, the former Soviet Union, and Asia. She has reported for the BBC World Service, Marketplace, The World, and This American Life. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, Esquire, Foreign Policy, Time, The New Republic, Slate, The Washington Monthly, the Christian Science Monitor, and the San Francisco Chronicle. She began her career at the Chicago Tribune.

Ivy Pochoda is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Wonder Valley, Visitation Street, These Women, Ecstasy, and Sing Her Down which won the LA Times Book Prize. She has also won the Strand Critics Award for Best Novel and the Prix Page America in France, the International Thriller Writers Award, and has been a finalist for the Edgar Award, among other awards. For many years, Ivy has led a creative writing workshop in Skid Row, Los Angeles where she helped found Skid Row Zine. She is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of California Riverside-Palm Desert low-residency MFA program. She lives in Los Angeles.

NOTE: See site to RSVP.

Where: Skylight Off-site at Poetic Research Bureau

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057

Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-08-20/2220-arts-celebrating-infinite-jest-david-foster-wallace-30

All Women’s Open Mic Night at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Village Well is partnering with local trauma-healing poet Kate Burns to provide a platform for female poets, musicians, storytellers, and comedians. While all are welcome to attend, this is an event that aims to amplify women’s voices only.

Acts are limited to 3-5 minutes in length. Sign-ups begin at 6:30 pm and conclude at 7:00 pm!

Also, please note that not all material may be considered “family-friendly” so please use discretion when deciding whether or not to bring children.

Get your tickets at website!

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Rabbit Hole Reading Club at Skylight – In-Person Event

Please join us to participate in a current events reading book club and a non-fiction book subscription. Take part in one or both.

The next Rabbit Hole Reading Club in-person meeting will be Thursday, August 20th at 7:30 pm

If you’re joining the subscription program, sign up by August 6th to get your first book in time!

Check website for details!

NOTE: See site to RSVP.

Where: Skylight

Date: Thursday the 20^th

Time: 7:30 pm

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

Website: https://skylightbooks.com/rhrc

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 20^th

Time: 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm

Address: 1014 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA (Door 123)

Website: Instagram Page

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Friday the 21^st

Time: 9 am – 10 am

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

Website: Event Page

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

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

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

Free to attend.

NOTE: Free to attend.

Where: Once Upon a Time

Date: Friday, the 21^st

Time: 9:30 am

Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020

Website: Once Upon a Time Event Page

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 21^st

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Fund Abortion with Pride Event at The WUUM – in-Person Event

We are so excited to welcome the performing poets for Fund Abortion with Pride 🌈. Meet the amazing poets & the works they selected at website link.

Wahlela Nehanda is a poet, journalist and hybrid scholar, and the author of Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir (2024). @itswalela

M. Quechol is a trans Latina cultural critic, scholar, and writer from Los Angeles, and the author of How I Hold You (2025). @putaadeinglewood

Karla Lamb is a queer Xicana poet with work in Dyke Affair, So to Speak, Hooligan Mag and elsewhere. She hosts Verse4Verse in East Hollywood @vinylowl

21+ event, DJs, craft, community, food, drinks & more!

RSVP 🎫 Tickets available in the bio & http://www.accessrj.org

Where: The WUUM

Date: Friday the 21^st

Time: 5 pm – 9 pm

Address: 202 Bicknell Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90405

Website: Instagram Page

Mystery Book Club: Murder at Gull’s Nest at Cellar Door Bookstore – in-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Participants will discuss Murder at Gull’s Nest: A Novel (Nora Breen Investigates #1) by Jess Kidd.

I believe every one of us at Gulls Nest is concealing some kind of secret.

1954: When her former novice’s dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda’s letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent.

A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests. But when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest it’s time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.

Jess Kidd is the award-winning author of Himself, Mr. Flood’s Last Resort, Things in Jars, The Night Ship, and the Nora Breen Investigates series. She has a PhD in creative writing from St. Mary’s University in London. She grew up in London as part of a large family from Ireland’s County Mayo and now lives in North Yorkshire. Jess is currently developing her own original TV projects with leading UK and international TV producers. Learn more at JessKidd.com.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Friday the 21^st

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-08-21/mystery-book-club-murder-gulls-nest

Book Launch: Felicia Leatherwood, with Issa Rae, & Root Therapy at Reparations Club – In-Person Event

Join Rep Club for a hair experience & discussion on Root Therapy: How to Love Your Hair (And Find Yourself) by author Felicia Leatherwood with a special appearance from Issa Rae.

Guests are invited into an interactive Root Therapy experience that begins before the author conversation. Upon arrival, a select number of attendees (based on timing) can receive a complimentary scalp analysis, capture selfies in the Root Therapy affirmation mirror, and write a personal affirmation directly on the mirror as a reminder of their own healing journey.

The experience continues with the moderated conversation centered on Root Therapy and the history, cultural significance, and emotional connection we have with our hair. Throughout the discussion, Felicia invites guests to share their own hair stories, creating a meaningful and engaging dialogue. The event concludes with an audience Q&A, followed by an opportunity for photos with Felicia and a personalized book signing.

RSVP

Where: Rep Club

Date: Friday the 21^st

Time: 6 pm

Address: 3054 S. Victoria Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90016

Website: Eventbrite Page

LibroMobile’s Weekend Lit Fest Aug. 21-23, 2026 (Day 1 of 3) Local Authors Mixer at LibroMobile Bookstore – in-Person Event

Did you hear we turn 10 this year? Help us stay open by celebrating with us for a whole weekend! From a local authors mixer to announcing our 2027 OC Poets Laureate. It’s going to be LIT—a weekend of literature!

Day 1 of this 3-day event is a Local Authors’ Mixer! Meet and greet our favoritos with beverages & charcuterie bites.

Sponsored by the Frida Cinema, Ron Gonzales, Santa Ana River Brewing, & Common Corners Brewing.

RSVP: Ticketed Event

Where: LibroMobile Bookstore

Date: Friday the 21^st

Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

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

Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/libromobiles-weekend-litfest-aug-21-23-tickets-required-2026-08-21-18-30

Debra Levine, with Bruce Vilanch, & Jazzed; Jack Cole and Twentieth-Century American Dance at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Debra Levine, in conversation with Bruce Vialnch, will discussJazzed; Jack Cole and Twentieth-Century American Dance.

Renowned dancer and choreographer Jack Cole (1911-1974), whose birth name was John Ewing Richter, was a one-of-a-kind artist who initiated a gripping style of theatrical jazz dance that forever vanquished the vaudeville kickline. Cole’s distinctive four-decade career choreographing for stage, screen, and his iconic nightclub act began during the Great Depression. He transformed early modern dance by injecting angularity, syncopation, and body isolations derived from Indian, Latin American, African, and Caribbean dance forms.

At the forefront of Broadway innovation, Cole worked on shows like Ziegfeld Follies of 1943, Kismet (1953), and Man of La Mancha (1965). But his greater renown came as a film choreographer, with quintessential contributions to Gilda (1946), There’s No Business LikeShow Business (1954), Les Girls (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), and Let’s Make Love (1960). In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Cole shepherded Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, who were considered nondancing movie stars, through an array of eye-catching production numbers. He influenced Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Gene Kelly, and Michael Bennett. Yet Cole’s impact on American dance has long been overlooked.

With lucid prose and unmatched research pulled from film and art archives, public events, memoirs, and interviews, Jazzed takes readers on a journey through Cole’s professional and personal transitions. Author Debra Levine not only focuses on Cole’s choreography career at MGM, Columbia Pictures, and Twentieth Century-Fox but also uncovers details of his obsessive training, his struggles with depression and alcoholism, his proclivity for violence, and his encounters with homophobia. Levine winnows fact from fiction to deliver an insightful, entertaining biography of the dance renegade whose unique brand of theatrical jazz dance still resonates in nightclubs, music videos, and musicals today.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Friday, the 21^st

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-08-21/debra-levine

Elaine Hsieh Chou, with Greg Mania, & Where Are You Really From at Skylight – In-Person Event

Elaine Hsieh Chou, in conversation with Greg Mania, will discuss Where Are You Really From.

From the critically-acclaimed author of Disorientation, a multi-genre story collection that explores the limits and possibilities of storytelling

A mail order bride from Taiwan is packed up in a cardboard box and sent via express shipping to California, where her much older husband awaits her. Two teenage girls meticulously plan how to kill and cook their downstairs neighbor. An American au pair moves to Paris to find herself, only to find her actual French doppelgänger. A father reunites with his estranged daughter in unusual circumstances: as a background actor on the set of her film. A writer’s affair with a married artist tests the line between fact and fiction, self-victimization and the victimization of others.

In these six singular stories and a novella that pivot from the terrible to the beautiful to the surreal, Elaine Hsieh Chou confronts the slipperiness of truth in storytelling. With razor-sharp precision and psychological acuity, she peels back the tales we tell ourselves to peer beneath them: at our treacherous desires, our self-deceptions and our capacity for cruelty, both to ourselves and each other. Expansive and provocative, Where Are You Really From is a visionary achievement.

Note: The author will be raffling off one copy of Where Are You Really From and one copy of Disorientation at the event.

Elaine Hsieh Chou is a Taiwanese American author and screenwriter from California. Her debut novel Disorientation was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, NYPL Young Lions Finalist and Thurber Prize Finalist. Her short story collection Where Are You Really From was a California Book Award Finalist and named a Best Book of the Year by Time, NPR and Electric Literature. She has been supported by the Rona Jaffe Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, Sundance Institute and Gotham.

Greg Mania is an award-winning writer whose words have been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Vanity Fair, HuffPost, and elsewhere. He is the author of the celebrated debut memoir, Born to Be Public, which was named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR, O, The Oprah Magazine, Electric Literature, among others. He lives in Los Angeles and is currently working on his debut novel.

NOTE: See site to RSVP.

Where: Skylight

Date: Friday the 21^st

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-08-21/elaine-hsieh-chou-w-greg-mania-where-are-you-really

Open Mic Night at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event

Let’s showcase and celebrate the creative talents of our local community, including poetry, music, and more!

While walk-in sign-ups are welcome on the night, if you’d like to be listed as a featured performer and guarantee your spot, you can apply at our website.

Suggested donation $5-20 or donate a gently used book by an LGBTQIA+, BIPOC or Disabled author.

Where: Underdog Bookstore

Date: Friday, the 21^st

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 312 S. Myrtle Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016

Website: Underdog Bookstore Event

Brian Clune & Legends & Lore Along Route 66: Tales from the Mother Road (American Legends) at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Brian Clune will present and discuss Legends & Lore Along Route 66: Tales from the Mother Road (American Legends).

100 years of cruising from Chicago to Santa Monica.

Opened in 1926, Route 66 was one of America’s original highways. In modern times, the Mother Road is an icon of nostalgia and kitsch, but behind each pit stop is a uniquely human story. From Alberta Ellis, who created safe havens for African American travelers in the first half of the twentieth century to Bob Waldmire and Angel Delgadillo, who worked to preserve the history of the route after the interstates came through, the people behind these places are what truly make them special.

Just off the well-traveled path are places like the Santa Fe Internment Camp, where many Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated during World War II, and the Apache Death Cave near Two Guns, Arizona, said to be the site where many Native Americans lost their lives. Visit the Amboy Crater, a dormant volcano in the Mojave Desert of California that hints at the distant geological past, and the town of Baxter Springs, which was once a major part of America’s Main Street.

Author Brian Clune brings to life the tales that left a legacy along Route 66. Brian has been a paranormal investigator for more than 25 years, documenting the investigations for his team. This led to writing professionally about the history and haunts of California. Brian now gives lectures on paranormal topics around the U.S., teaches a class called Exploring the Paranormal. Under the name The ParaTraveler he guides interested amateurs through investigations so they can see what paranormal investigations are really like. Brian continues to write for The History Press.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Friday, the 21^st

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-08-21/brian-clune

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #3: Poets Are The New Pop Stars – In-Person Event

Join us on Friday, August 21st at 8 pm for a showcase of Los Feliz’ finest musical and literary artists. Two poets, two pop stars, one night only. There are worlds being born. We want you to watch.

Emeline (born Emeline Easton Herreid) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actress, and activist based in Los Angeles and originally from Providence, Rhode Island. Known for her dark-pop sound, raw lyrics, and viral hits like “flowers & sex” and “cinderella’s dead,” she blends personal empowerment with boundary-setting themes.

Almondmilkhunni is the stage name of American pop-R&B and hyperpop singer-songwriter Brandy Schwechler, born on March 30, in New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia. She began singing in a church choir at age 13 and later pursued political science at Rutgers University before dropping out to focus on her music

Gabrielle Civil is a black feminist performance artist, originally from Detroit, MI. She has premiered over 40 original solo and collaborative performance works around the world. Her performance memoir, Swallow the Fish was published by Civil Coping Mechanisms Press in 2017 and her second book Experiments in Joy released in 2019.

Alex Moreno is a writer and visual artist born in New York City and based in Los Angeles. Her work explores emotional processes through surrealism, visceral interiority, and synesthetic play. Sticky Time, her debut poetry book, is out now with Sunflower Station. She is Head Editor of the experimental literary arts magazine Word Art, published with Sunstroke Press, and a Contributing Editor at Zona Motel.

RSVP

Where: The Oxford Project

Date: Friday the 21^st

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: 5426 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music Event at Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music is offered every 1st & 3rd Friday of the month and hosted by Lorenzo Frank.

Featured guests: TBA

Tickets at Eventbrite.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center

Date: Friday, the 21^st

Time: 8 pm – 12 am

Address: 4305 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008

Website: https://www.depoet.info/swaam

Rapp Saloon Reading Series: Third Fridays Open Mic with host Elena Secota at Rapp Saloon, Santa Monica – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Third Fridays at Rapp Saloon is celebrating its 15 Year Anniversary and has an Open Mic & Featured Readers every 3^rd Friday of the month.

Third Friday: Elena Secota, Host

This is a hybrid event, live in-person while offering a Zoom option for our performers and guests.

Featured guest poets and artists this month: TBA

Surprise Guests

Where: Rapp Saloon at HISUA

Date: Friday, the 21^st

Time: 8:30 pm – 11 pm

Address: 1436 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90402

Website: Facebook Event Page

LibroMobile’s Weekend Lit Fest Aug. 21-23, 2026 (Day 2 of 3) A Series of Talks & Workshops at LibroMobile Bookstore – in-Person Event

Did you hear we turn 10 this year? Help us stay open by celebrating with us for a whole weekend! From a local authors mixer to announcing our 2027 OC Poets Laureate. It’s gonna be LIT—a weekend of literature!

Day 2 of this 3-day event is a series of talks and workshops:

9 am – 11 am: Community Arts Forum with Coffee

12 pm – 2 pm: Writing Workshops

3 pm – 5 pm: BIPOC Artists in OC Panel Talks

Plus: A VIP “After Hours” Cocktails & Live Music: Ages 21+, Filipino Bites, RSVP Required

RSVP: Ticketed Event

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: LibroMobile Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 9 pm – 5 pm

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

Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/libromobiles-weekend-litfest-aug-21-23-tickets-required-2026-08-21-18-30

3^rd Annual Los Angeles Street Poetry Festival: Poesia de Resistencia y Amor with LA Poet Society at East LA College – in-Person Event

Join our third annual LA Street poetry festival! We have a great lineup of some real amazing artists and writers, we also want to celebrate you at our Open Mic 4 the People and we will be offering Writer workshops.

Featured: Jag Arreola, Peter Lechuga, Traci Akemi Kato-Kiriyama, Sehba Sarwar, Rey Rodriguez, Open Mic for the People, Writing Workshops.

Jag Arreola is 1/2 of the revolutionary Hip-Hop duo Kozmik Force. He and his family come from a long lineage of workers, educators, and warriors who’ve resisted colonization and the overreaching hand of western imperialism. In December of 2023 he was involved in a high-profile case known to many people as the “Justice 8” case where him and seven other activists were charged with various felonies and incarcerated without bail at the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto. Jaguar was facing five felonies including a conspiracy charge, but secured phenomenal attorney Dan Chambers. Purchase this project as he takes you into his journey fighting the American system of injustice as mass incarceration tries to swallow him.

Peter Lechuga is a writer, poet, and musician who writes about nature, beauty, and social injustice. He rhymes under the pseudonym 4Tell as a member of the Pilgrimms art collective, which collaborates with artists to create visual art while making conscious, avant-garde hip-hop. Their music can be found wherever one streams.

Traci Akemi Kato-Kiriyama, they+she; based on unceded Tongva land in the south bay of Los Angeles)—author of Navigating With(out) Instruments (Writ Large Press)—is an award-winning multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary artist, recognized for their work as a writer/performer, theatre deviser, cultural producer, community organizer, and audiobook narrator.

As a storyteller and Artivist, tkk is grounded in collaborative process, collective self-determination, and art+community as intrinsically tied and a critical means toward connection and healing. She is a performer & principal writer of PULLproject Ensemble, two-time NET recipient; NEFA 2021-22 awardee for their show TALES OF CLAMOR.

tkk is a core artist of Vigilant Love, member of the H.R. 40 Coalition and organizer with the Nikkei Progressives & NCRR joint Reparations Committee, and Director/Co-Founder of Tuesday Night Project (presenter of the Tea & Letterwriting initiative and Tuesday Night Cafe series in Little Tokyo).

Sehba Sarwar, award-winning writer, workshop leader, artist, and community activist tackles gender, displacement and border issues. She served as Altadena’s Poet Laureate for Community Affairs (2024-26) and was awarded the 2025 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.VISIT BLACK WINGS | MY LA PERFORMANCE | ON BELONGING

Rey Rodriguez is a Latino Assistant Director (DGA) known for his work on Will Trent, Ballers, Shameless, Station 19, Moonlight, and Burn Notice. Rey has successfully navigated the IATSE, SAG and DGA protocols of both east and west coast productions. In addition to his work as an Assistant Director, Rey is also known for his Directing/Producing work on the independent films Ifrit (2024), Across the Rails (2018), High Ready (2017), Lyla (2015), One Love (2015) and music videos Cold Summer (2017), Kickback (2018). Rey is also a recipient of a Miami Life Award for his directorial work One Love (Comedy), and a Rincon International Film Festival Excellence Award for his producing/directing work on Lyla (Drama). Since completing his time with the U.S.M.C, filmmaking has been his main focus and passion. Rey will continue to tell his stories through TV and Film.

This is a free event and we hope you come through and visit the LA POET SOCIETY table, stop by and make sure you sign up on our email list and give a little love donation to help continue the work we do for LA County.

Nearly 100 events produced for you at no cost to the Gente.

That is how we do it and we appreciate y’all for attending and participating in our events.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: East LA College, G7 Lecture Hall

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 10 am – 4 pm

Address: 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park, CA 91754

Website: Instagram Page

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

Website: Event Page

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #4: Fall in Love with Your Own Voice Workshop at Los Feliz Market – In-Person Event

Join us on Saturday, August 22at 10 am for the writing workshop Falling in Love with Your Own Voice, facilitated by Aubrey Maine.

Great writers aren’t great because they’re technically perfect. They’re great because their voice is distinct. What makes you distinct?

In this workshop, we’ll explore how to write with greater authenticity, bravery, and depth while celebrating and developing your unique writing style that could not belong to anyone else…not even AI!

Through writing exercises, improv, discussion, and self-reflection, participants will learn practical tools for finding inspiration everywhere, writing beyond clichés, and creating poetry that feels both deeply personal and accessible. You don’t have to be a poet to get something from this workshop, you just need to bring a pen, paper, and a pulse!

RSVP

Where: Los Feliz Market

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 10 am – 11:30 am

Address: 5075 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

Mystery Book Club at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us monthly on the fourth Saturday at 11am where participants will discuss What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan.

Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm

Address: 1246 Glendon Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/mystery-book-club-17

Lisa Johnston Hancock & Santiago and Great Bear: A Friendship Written in the Stars at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event

Join us to hear Lisa Johnston Hancock present Santiago and Great Bear: A Friendship Written in the Stars

Santiago and Great Bear tells the story of a boy who moves from the busy city to the quiet countryside. Surrounded by stars, Santiago feels lonely and misses his friends. When he wishes on Great Bear, the constellation becomes his companion. But Great Bear cannot stay forever. With creativity and courage, Santiago helps his friend return to the sky. Though sad, he discovers resilience, hope, and the joy of new friendships in this lyrical, socially relevant tale.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 11 am

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-08-22/lisa-johnston-hancock

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #5: Sensory Portal Workshop: Writing Through Taste & Scent at Sidecar at Bar Covell – In-Person Event

Join us on Saturday, August 22at 12 pm for the writing workshop Sensory Portal: Writing Through Taste & Scent, hosted by Tayi Sanusi.

This immersive creative writing workshop invites you to explore taste and scent as unexpected catalysts for creative inspiration.

Through a curated series of flavors and aromas, writers will discover how sensory experiences can evoke atmosphere, emotion, character, place, memory, and vivid inner worlds.

RSVP

Where: Sidecar at Bar Covell

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 12 pm – 11:30 am

Address: 4628 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

Black Autonomy Book Fair (BABF) with Black Lantern Books (Day 1 of 2) at Sims Library of Poetry – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome the Black Autonomy Book Fair (BABF) with Black Lantern Books at Sims Library of Poetry this year! This is a two day event, Saturday the 22^nd and Sunday the 23^rd.

Our friends at the poetry library have been leading a fundraiser to keep the doors open so we are excited to host the book fair at their location to keep reading spaces in the neighborhood. Pull up.

Where: Sims Library of Poetry

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 12 am – 7 pm

Address: 2702 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043

Website: Instagram Page

Transformative Comics Event at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Creativity abounds within the transgender and nonbinary community, especially through the medium of comics and graphic novels. Celebrate these stories at TRANSformative Comics! This all-ages event features author talks from celebrated graphic novelists, opportunities to create your own art, a special storytime, visits from community partners, and more.

Author Events & Activities include:

Author Talk With Jose Pimienta

Jose Pimienta (they/them), author of Halfway to Somewhere and this year’s Stonewall Book Award Winner for Children’s Literature, will join us to discuss their inspirations and writing process.

1:00 pm – 1:45 pm

Taper Auditorium

Kids

Author Talk With Shing Yin Khor

Shing Yin Khor (they/them), the author of National Book Award finalist The Legend of Auntie Po, is a multidisciplinary artist who explores the American Dream and Americana. Learn more about their books and creative process.

2:00 pm – 2:45 pm

Taper Auditorium

Teens

Author Talk With Julia Kaye

Julia Kaye (she/her), the author of Super Late Bloomer, is not only a graphic novel creator, but has also worked in the animation industry as a cartoonist, storyboard artist and revisionist. Come learn about her artwork and books.

3:00 pm –3:45 pm

Taper Auditorium

Adults

NOTE: See link for details

Where: Central Library,LAPL, Taper Auditorium, Meeting Room B, Octavia Lab, Children’s Literature

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 1 pm – 4 pm; All Ages

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

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/transformative-comics

Author Book Talk at Little Tokyo Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for an engaging book talk featuring local author Danny Jensen, as he discusses his latest work, Unique Eats and Eateries of Los Angeles: The People and Stories Behind the Food. Jensen is the author of Secret Los Angeles: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and LA Scavenger: The Ultimate Search for Los Angeles’s Hidden Treasures.

Where: Little Tokyo Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 1 pm – 2 pm

Address: 203 S. Los Angeles St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/author-book-talk-unique-eats-and-eateries-los-angeles

Greater Los Angeles Writers Society at Venice Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for the monthly meeting of the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society (GLAWS)! This is a great opportunity for writers of all genres to improve their knowledge and skills in both the craft and business of writing. Stay tuned for updates on the topics we will cover!

Where: Venice Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 2 pm – 5 pm

Address: 501 S. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/greater-los-angeles-writers-society

Weekend Book Club: See One, Do One, Teach One: The Art of Becoming a Doctor by Grace Farris, MD at Carson Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Patrons can join a facilitated discussion of fiction and nonfiction titles. A limited number of titles are available for attendees to pick up at the library.

August’s book: See One, Do One, Teach One by Grace Farris, MD. For adults.

Where: Carson Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

Address: 151 E. Carson St., Carson, CA 90745

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/greater-los-angeles-writers-society

Author Event: Bree Despain, with Kasie West, & The Killing Rules at Annabelle’s Bookshop – In-Person YA Event

Join us in-store to celebrate Bree Despain’s new young adult horror romance, The Killing Rules: A Shaoe-Shifting Horror Romance. Bree will be in conversation with fellow author Kasie West, with a book signing to follow.

Seventeen-year-old Harper Westbrook isn’t afraid of monsters…she is one.

For the past three years, she’s been one of the Blood Bound—girls and women cursed with a bloodlust only satisfied by killing terrible men. Once every three months, she trades in her pom-poms for a lethal throwing axe. Her life is led by a strict set of rules to keep her dark secret as hidden as the bodies she buries.

And her number one rule? Stay away from Grayson Jones.

The boy she was totally falling for until the night her curse manifested, everything went horribly wrong, and she killed his father. It was self-defense. Or at least that’s what she keeps telling herself.

Grayson is an investigative reporter for their school paper, and he’ll stop at nothing to find the truth behind his father’s gruesome death.

As he follows new clues down darker and darker paths—to an unbelievable world of mythical beasts and the men who hunt them—Grayson doesn’t realize he’s on a collision course with Harper’s biggest secrets. Now, she must stop him before he exposes her family to the Hunters, even if it means risking her life and heart.

Because who could ever love a monster like her?

Bree Despain is the award-winning author of the Dark Divine trilogy and the Into The Dark trilogy. Bree rediscovered her childhood love for creating stories when she took a semester off college to write and direct plays for at-risk teens. She writes YA, MG, and dabbles in Picture Books. Her novels have been published in over twenty countries. Bree received her master’s degree in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband, two sons, her three beloved cats, and the world’s most adorable dog. She enjoys stand-up paddle boarding, baking French macarons, and researching cults. readbree.com

Kasie West is the author of 17 young adult books and counting. Her debut adult novel, WE MET LIKE THIS, received a starred review from Kirkus and was an Apple Best Books pick. Kasie’s books have been translated into over 20 languages. When not writing, you can find Kasie visiting her adult children, reading, bingeing television, or taking care of her growing collection of house plants.

Where: Annabelle’s Workshop

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

Address: 12200 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604

Website: Instagram Page

Zine Workshop: The Sound of Gordon Parks at California Museum of African American Museum (CAAM) – In-Person Event

Experience art in new ways! Join passionate and knowledgeable gallery guides on a spirited walkthrough of the exhibition, and then bring its themes to life through a hands-on workshop. Connect with neighbors, engage in creative play, and discover how art reflects and enriches your own story. All ages and abilities are welcome.

Free RSVP is encouraged, but not required. Walk-ins welcome.

RSVP

Where: California African American Museum (CAAM)

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm

Address: 151 E. Carson St., Carson, CA

Website: https://caamuseum.org/programs/talks-and-workshops/zine-workshop-the-sound-of-gordon-parks

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #6: Tarot for Writers Workshop at TBA – In-Person Event

Join us on Saturday, August 22at 2 pm for the writing workshop Tarot for Writers, with Willa. This is an interactive workshop exploring tarot as a tool to unlock self-expression and re-enchant craft for writers and creatives. No prior knowledge of tarot is necessary. Bring your notebooks and an open spirit!

RSVP

Where: TBA

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 2 pm – 3:30 am

Address: In Los Feliz TBA

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

Miriam’s Garden Reading Series: Christian Lozada, Nikolai Garcia, Woodrow Bailey at Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join host Yago Cura at the monthly Miriam’s Garden Reading Series and welcome features:

Christian Lozada is a poet, fiction and non-fiction writer, editor, and educator, and is currently a professor at Los Angeles Harbor College, He is the author of He’s a Color Until He’s Not, co-author of Leave With More Than You Came With, and his work appears in Images in America: Hawaiians in Los Angeles and in numerous journals and publications elsewhere.

Nikolai Garcia grew up in South Central Los Angeles; works in East Hollywood; drinks in DTLA; and has been sleeping in Compton for 15+ years. His poems have been published in Huizache, Cultural Daily, Drunk Monkeys, Sad Girl Review, Razorcake, Sobotka, Latino Book Review and various other journals and anthologies. His two chapbooks, Nuclear Shadows of Palm Trees and All the Sad Music were released by DSTL Arts. He is cohost of Trenches Full of Poets, a reading series in Long Beach.

Woodrow Bailey is the author of Freedom, published by Vagabond Books. Woodrow is a Season 8 CLI alumni and in thisgroundbreaking work, he deconstructs the entire concept of freedom, and challenges us to examine the very meaning of our lives.

Where: Hyde Park Miriam Matthew Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 2:30 pm – 4 pm

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

Website: Instagram Page

Arroyo Book Club – 1926 Edition at Arroyo Seco Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for a Centennial Book Club discussion of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, part of Los Angeles Public Library’s Central 100 celebration.

Published in 1926, this classic mystery follows Hercule Poirot as he unravels a shocking case filled with secrets and twists.

Free copies are available while supplies last.

Email ayosco@lapl.org with questions or for participation details.

Where: Arroyo Seco Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 3 pm

Address: 6145 N. Figueroa St., Venice, CA 90042

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/arroyo-book-club-1926-edition

Community in Conversation, Family Edition: You Only Live Once, David Bravo by Mark Oshiro at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Family Event

Our first Family Edition of Community in Conversation was so much fun that we decided to keep it going! On Saturday, August 22nd at 3:00 pm, we’ll host a discussion about Mark Oshiro’s book You Only Live Once, David Bravo. Buy your copy from Cellar Door, read it, and the whole family—kids, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.!—can join the conversation!

“Move over, Mushu, Fea is in town! And did I mention the town she is in is Riverside?? Yup, Fea has been sent by the Powers that Bee to help David Bravo fix a really bad first day of middle school. But every time he and Fea think they know what’s wrong and go back in time to fix it (forgot to mention, Fea is a shapeshifting, sometimes dog with a story of her own), things turn out worse than before. What would you fix if you could go back in time? David is worried about so many things: his feeling for Antoine, what he should tell kids about his adoption, how he identifies culturally. All of this is told with such a wonderful sense both of the laughter in the world and the intensity of the sadness that you will find yourself crying and laughing within pages. Love, love, love this book!” – Linda

Buy your copy in-store or online by adding it to your cart at website!

Where: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 3 pm – 4 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-08-22/community-conversation-family-edition-you-only-live-once-david-bravo

Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Poetry Reading by Maria A Arana + Poets Published in Turtle Island Poetry – Online Zoom Event

Join us online for published author readings by Maria A Arana + Poets Published in Four Feathers Press’ Turtle Island Poetry.

All events are curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.

Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry, Online

Date: Saturday, the 22^nd

Time: 3 pm – 4:30 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

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

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #7: Writing with Audio Workshop at FRED 62 – In-Person Event

Join us on Saturday, August 22at 4 pm for the writing workshop Writing with Audio, without using AI, facilitated by William J. Meyer. William’s audio storytelling began with his experience in science fiction broadcast radio drama, developed through an award-winning epic-fantasy podcast novel, and continues in single-voice audio fiction and multi-cast dramas.

His independent audio work has been chosen as a Platinum Selection of the HEAR Now Festival, a Showcase Selection of the PodTales Festival, Co-Winner of the Audio Verse Awards’ Writing of a New Spoken Word Production, Geekie Awards Best Narrative Audio Series, and awarded Best Speculative Fiction Story (Long Form) from the Parsec Awards.

He’s from Wisconsin but now lives in Los Angeles. He misses the snow but not the cold. You can find his stories on his website: www.byWilliamJMeyer.com.

RSVP

Where: FRED 62

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 4 pm – 5:30 am

Address: 1850 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

Jamie Parker Stickle, with Dan White, & Take Hart: A Thriller at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Join us to hear Jamie Parker Stickle, in conversation with Dan White, discussTake Hart: A Thriller (Corey in Los Angeles #2).

Between her LAPD consulting gig, fledgling indie news blog, and postpartum panic disorder, former TV journalist Corey Tracey-Lieberman is barely keeping it together. Then a mother named Sonja Hart vanishes in her Highland Park neighborhood, and the case is all but ignored. Sparked by maternal fury, Corey’s investigative instincts come roaring back to life.

To see the truth clearly, Corey must stop taking the meds that keep her anxiety at bay. Forced to confront her own failing marriage, she struggles with her growing feelings for her crime-fighting partner. Strapping her fifteen-month-old son to her chest, she follows a trail that leads from a suspicious house fire to the furtive activities of new neighbors.

The more she digs, the more she uncovers about the secret toll of gentrification—and the closer she comes to the verge of a breakdown. And the horror dawns that the killer she’s been chasing has been watching her all along.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 4 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-08-22/jaime-parker-stickle

Historical Fiction Book Club: BABYLONIA at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Family Event

Participants will discuss Babylonia (Deluxe Edition): A Novel by Cosatanza Casati.

From the author of the bestselling Clytemnestra comes another intoxicating excursion into ancient history, painting the brutal and captivating empire of gods and men, and the one queen destined to rule them all.

A common woman. The governor she married. The king who loved them both.

Babylonia across the centuries has become the embodiment of lust, excess, and dissolute power that ruled Ancient Assyria. In this world you had to kill to be king. Or, in the case of Semiramis, an orphan raised on the outskirts of an empire:

Queen.

In her second novel, Costanza Casati brilliantly weaves myth and ancient history together to give Semiramis, the only female ruler of the Assyrian Empire, a voice, charting her captivating ascent to a throne no one promised her.

Costanza Casati was born in Texas and grew up in a village in Northern Italy, where she studied Ancient Greek, and Ancient Greek literature, under one of the country’s most rigorous academic programs. She is a graduate of the prestigious Warwick Writing MA in the UK, and has worked as a screenwriter and journalist. Her debut novel, Clytemnestra, has sold into 20 territories worldwide, was the winner of the Glass Bell Award, an Indie Next Pick and a nominee for Best Fantasy in the Goodreads Choice Awards. Babylonia, her second novel, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller.

Where: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 5 pm – 6 pm

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

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-08-22/historical-fiction-book-club-babylonia

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #8: Voices of Los Feliz: Radically Human at Barnsdall Art Park – In-Person Event

Join us on Saturday, August 22at 6:30 pm for the reading of Voices of Los Feliz: Radically Human, hosted by Phil Leirness.

Join us to celebrate the Voices of Los Feliz and zine Radically Human.

Bring a picnic, a blanket, and friends, and come meet under the stars at the beautiful Barnsdall Art Park and meet the local writers who live in Los Feliz as they read from our zine.

Official after-party will be at Tabula Rasa after reading! ❤

Free copies of our print zine will be available at the launch party thanks to a grant from the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council!

RSVP

Where: Barnsdall Art Park

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 6:30 pm – 9 am

Address: 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

Poetry Reading: Rogue Astronaut by Mitchell Jacobs, with Friends at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us for a poetry reading featuring Mitchell Jacobs, author of the new book Rogue Astronaut!

Joining the author are poets Ashley Dailey, Bryan Byrdlong, Leila Farjami, and Savannah Manhatta!

Mitchell Jacobs is a PhD candidate at the University of Southern California, where he served as Managing Editor of Ricochet Editions. His poems have won the Iowa Review Prize and the Prufer Prize from Pleiades. His debut book of poems, Rogue Astronaut (University of Arkansas Press, 2026), was selected by Patricia Smith as a finalist in the Miller Williams Poetry Series.

Ashley Dailey is a writer and multimedia artist from Georgia. Her work has received support from the Academy of American Poets and the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and is published or forthcoming in TriQuarterly, Sonora Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Waxwing, and elsewhere. She received her MFA from the University of Tennessee, where she served as the Poetry Editor for Grist. She is currently the Managing Editor of Ricochet Editions. She splits her time between Georgia and Los Angeles, where she is a Dornsife Fellow at the University of Southern California.

Bryan Byrdlong is a Black poet from Chicago, Illinois. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from the Helen Zell Writers Program. He has been published in Guernica Magazine, The Kenyon Review, and Poetry Magazine, among others. Bryan received a 2021 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. He is currently a PhD student in Creative Writing at USC in Los Angeles.

Leila Farjami is an Iranian-American poet, translator, and psychotherapist. She is the author of Daughter of Salt (Trio House Press, July 2026), an Editor’s Selection. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, The Iowa Review Award in Poetry, The Cincinnati Review’s Schiff Award, and a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship. Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, AGNI, The Missouri Review, Pleiades, and elsewhere. She lives in Los Angeles. Her work can be found at leilafarjami.com and on Instagram @leila_poetry.

Savannah Manhattan lives in Los Angeles as an author and a poet. She has two published poetry collections called There’s Something About Theo and The Deadname Triptych. Her work appears in Luna Luna, Lenticular Magazine, MiniMag, Orange Juice, Angel City Review, Salt Lake Revie w, Overgrowth Press, Bacchanalia Magazine, and Pina Magazine.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #9: Voices of Los Feliz After Party at Tabula Rasa Bar – In-Person Event

Join us on Saturday, August 22at 9:30 pm for the Voices of Los Feliz After Party at Tabula Rasa Bar. This is also a post-life birthday party for Allen Ginsberg, Frank O’Hara, and Harper Lee!

All of three would have turned 100 this year!

Happy 100th Birthday!

Our afterparty for the festival honors the lineage of writers who have come before us and who continue to influence our writing and culture.

If there are any other writers you love who would have turned 100 this year, do let us know! We’d love to honor them!

Frank O’Hara was a dynamic leader of the “New York School” of poets, a group that included John Ashbery, Barbara Guest, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler. The Abstract Expressionist painters in New York City during the 1950s and 1960s used the title, but the poets borrowed it. From the beginning O’Hara’s poetry was engaged with the worlds of music, dance, and painting. In that complex of associations, he devised an idea of poetic form that allowed the inclusion of many kinds of events, including everyday conversations and notes about New York advertising signs. Since his death in 1966 at age forty, the depth and richness of his achievements as a poet and art critic have been recognized by an international audience. As the painter Alex Katz remarked, “Frank’s business was being an active intellectual.” He was that. His articulate intelligence made new proposals for poetic form possible in American poetry.

Harper Lee is recognized for her contribution to American literature with her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. A powerful statement of the Civil Rights movement, the novel continues to speak to new generations about tolerance and justice. To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 to highly favorable reviews and quickly climbed the bestseller lists, where it remained for 88 weeks. Since being published, To Kill a Mockingbird has sold more than 30 million copies in 18 languages. In 2007, President George W. Bush bestowed upon Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Allen Ginsberg was an acclaimed poet and a leading figure of the Beat Generation whose radical literary works and advocacy for social change left an indelible mark on American counterculture. Ginsberg first came to public attention in 1956 with the publication of Howl and Other Poems (City Lights Books).

RSVP

Where: Tabula Rasa Bar

Date: Saturday the 22^nd

Time: 9:30 pm

Address: 5125 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

Celebrate the I Want My Hat Back Collection with Jon Klassen at Skylight – In-Person Kids Event

Celebrate the I Want My Hat Back collection with a special morning storytelling time with author and illustrator Jon Klassen, brought to you by Hanna Andersson in partnership with MOTHER.

Enjoy activities and a meet and greet with Jon Klassen!

Jon Klassen is the creator of the #1 New York Times bestselling I Want My Hat Back, which received a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor, and its companions, This Is Not My Hat, which won a Caldecott Medal and a Kate Greenaway Medal, and We Found a Hat, named a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year. He is also the creator of the Your Places and Your Things board book series, as well as the picture books The Rock from the Sky and The Skull. He is the illustrator of How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney?, Extra Yarn, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, and the Shapes Trilogy, all by Mac Barnett. For his contributions to children’s literature, Jon Klassen is a member of the Order of Canada and was named the 2026 recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Jon Klassen now lives in Los Angeles

Where: Skylight

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 11 am – 1 pm

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

Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-08-23/hanna-andersson-presents-bedtime-stories-w-jon-klassen

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #10: Local POC Voices at Sidecar at Bar Covell – In-Person Event

Join us on Sunday, August 23at 12los 12 pm for Local POC Voices, facilitated by Laura Espinoza.

Join local Writers of Color for performances and a conversation about protecting and celebrating your authentic voice. Together, the panel will explore the ways in which POC writers are currently silenced, historical context, and how to make change.

Whether you’re a writer or simply someone who loves storytelling, this session invites you to consider the power of voice, the importance of listening, and how we can build literary spaces that honor diverse perspectives without asking them to conform.

Come participate in an honest conversation between POC, listen to the five artists perform one of their pieces, and celebrate local voices that deserve to be heard. POC allies welcomed!

PANEL

Laura Sermeño, born in Montebello, CA, raised & educated in Sur El Monte, UCLA matriculated. Her roots are indisputably Mexican. She’s written collections of poetry Born to Cry (2023) & Loving You like a Mexican (2025), in her past.

Joshua-John Judah Ivory is a Los Angeles–based first-generation college student, filmmaker, author, producer, musician & community organizer whose work connects creative media with measurable community impact. While completing associate degrees in Film, Television & Electronic Media in addition to Fine Arts & Humanities at Los Angeles City College, he grew a YouTube audience to over 10,000 subscribers, successfully completed a record distribution deal via his independent record label, toured as a performing artist & organized artist development events that provided training, mentorship & professional resources for emerging creatives. Through his films, books, music & community initiatives, he focuses on reducing systemic barriers & building concrete pathways that expand access to education, visibility & career opportunities for underserved & historically underrepresented artists.

Ten-Headed Skeleton (formerly Michael Nhat) is a visionary artist whose groundbreaking, uncompromising hip-hop has been ahead of its time since 2001. Forging an entirely original path that stays fiercely authentic, his raw beats and raspy, world-weary voice deliver a sound that major mainstream artists have only recently begun to echo. As a Vietnam War refugee whose life spans survival through Midwestern racism, teenage delinquency, and Los Angeles homelessness, his music is a powerhouse of raw talent, creative independence, and unmatched originality. He has been awarded for best director, best experimental film, best ensemble cast, and best soundtrack for his film work.

Jacqueline Vitela is an emerging Mexican American poet and visual storyteller exploring grief, identity, and personal experience. Through poetry and art, she reflects on memory, healing, and human connection. She holds a B.A. in Animation from CalState LA and an A.A. in Graphic Design from Los Angeles City College.

Jaimé Korima Rodriguez is a nonbinary, jota and QTBIPOC punk, storyteller, poet and journalist. Their work is rooted in growing up in LA at the intersections of housing instability and homelessness, women of Color punk music, brujería, mental health, Spanglish, cultural rejections, and self-actualization.

Jaimé’s writing has been published in The LA Local, Boyle Heights Beat, their forthcoming book Jota Historias: Poetic Magic published by Riots of Roses Publishing House Is coming in early 2027.

More at: jaimekorimarodriguez.com

RSVP

Where: Sidecar at Bar Covell (access through bookcase)

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 12 pm – 1:30 pm

Address: 4628 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

Black Autonomy Book Fair (BABF) with Black Lantern Books (Day 2 of 2) at Sims Library of Poetry – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome the Black Autonomy Book Fair (BABF) with Black Lantern Books at Sims Library of Poetry this year! This is a two day event, Saturday the 22^nd and Sunday the 23^rd.

Our friends at the poetry library have been leading a fundraiser to keep the doors open so we are excited to host the book fair at their location to keep reading spaces in the neighborhood. Pull up.

Where: Sims Library of Poetry

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 12 am – 7 pm

Address: 2702 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90043

Website: Instagram Page

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 23^rd

Time: 12 pm – 2 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #11: Writer & Activist Mixer at Best Fish Taco – In-Person Event

Join us on Sunday, August 23at 2 pm for a Writer & Activist Mixer at Best Fish Taco.

There will be time to briefly share what issues (and art!) you are working on and/or wanting to get involved in.

Friends, family, dogs welcome. Tacos on Nicole!

RSVP

Where: Best Fish Taco in Ensenada

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm

Address: 1650 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

LibroMobile’s Weekend Lit Fest Aug. 21-23, 2026 (Day 3 of 3) OC Poets Laureate: A Reading & Reception at LibroMobile Bookstore – in-Person Event

Day 3 of this 3-day event is a Celebration of Gustavo Hernandez and an Announcement of the 2027 OC Poets Laureate.

RSVP: Ticketed Event

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: LibroMobile Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 3 pm – 5 pm

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

Website: https://www.libromobile.com/event-details/libromobiles-weekend-litfest-aug-21-23-tickets-required-2026-08-21-18-30

Public Works Improvisational Theatre Co. Presents a Storyphile Event with host Lee Boek & Featured Guests at The Church in Ocean Park, Santa Monica – in-Person Event

Storyphile is an eclectic afternoon of poetry, music, and performances by featured artists, hosted by Lee Boek.

Featured guests include:

Pam Ward’s first novel, Want Some Get Some, chronicles Crenshaw High kids after the ’92 riots. Her second novel, Bad Girls Burn Slow, Kensington, follows a female serial killer. A UCLA graduate and recipient of a “California Arts Council Fellow” and a Pushcart Poetry Nominee, Pam edited the first journal on Los Angeles black women poets entitled, The Supergirls Handbook. While operating a design studio and teaching, she merged writing and graphics, producing “My Life, LA” documenting Black Angelinos in poster/stories. Her literary showcase, “I Didn’t Survive Slavery For This!” was a poetic multi-media riff on life post emancipation. While running her community imprint Short Dress Press, Pam’s third and upcoming novel “Bury My Dress on Central Ave.,” is about a dalliance with her aunt and the prime Black Dahlia suspect. Her latest poetry anthology, Between Good Men & No Man All, World Stage Press, came out in 2022.

Rich Ferguson is an L.A. poet and spoken-word performer and has shared the stage with Patti Smith, Wanda Coleman, Moby, and other esteemed poets and musicians. He is a featured performer in the film, What About Me? featuring Michael Stipe, Michael Franti, k.d. lang, and others. His poetry and award-winning spoken-word music videos have appeared in numerous anthologies and festivals. He is the author of two poetry collections 8th & Agony (Punk Hostage Press), and Everything is Radiant Between the Hates (Moon Tide Press) and the novel New Jersey Me (Rare Bird Books). Ferguson is the lead editor of Beat Not Beat (Moon Tide Press), an anthology of California poets moving the beat tradition. The poet was selected by the National Beat Poetry Foundation, Inc. (NBPF), to serve as California Beat Poet Laureate 2020 – 2022 and U.S. Beat Poet Laureate 2024 – 2025.

Benin Lemus is author of the poetry collection Dreaming in Mourning. Ms. Lemus is a 2022 Inaugural Workshop Fellow with Obsidian Magazine’s O|Sessions: Black Listening–A Performance Master Class and the 2022 Honorable Mention in the Furious Flower Poetry Center’s annual poetry competition. Her work is published online and in print, most recently in Songs From Another Sun: a BIPOC poetry anthology, Mároko: Journal of African Poetry, and TORCH Literary Arts, for which her poetry submission earned a 2022 Pushcart nomination. She served as a Finalist Judge for AWP’s 2024 Intro to Journals competition for poetry.

Kathleen Florence is an interdisciplinary artist working across poetry, film, live performance, and installation. She is author of the poetry collection Prayers With a Side of Cash (Moon Tide Press, 2025), the award-winning play Who Killed the Curator, director of multiple short films selected by LA Indie Fest, and co-director of Poet Film Stage. Her writing has been supported by Ontario and Canada Arts Council grants and a Valparaiso artist residency in Spain. Her work has been exhibited and screened at the Barnsdall Art Gallery, Los Angeles, Folie Culture, Quebec City, SAW Gallery, Ottawa, and is part of the permanent collection at the Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea. Her writing has been published in journals and anthologies, including L.A.’s Cultural Daily, Paris Lit Up, NYC’s Arteidolia and Maintenant issues 10 – 19 (Three Rooms Press). Kathleen has performed at the Henry Miller Memorial Library, Big Sur, NYC’s Poets House, L.A.’s Beyond Baroque, Pasadena’s Lit Fest, and Ottawa’s Versefest. She lives in Los Angeles.

S.A. Griffin is an American poet, actor, and performance artist based in Los Angeles. Best known as the co-editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, he has worked extensively in underground literature, independent publishing, and film and television since the late 1970s. He authored collections including Pandemic Soul Music, Dreams Gone Mad with Hope, and Duckwalking Thru the Apocalypse. Archival Legacy: His contributions to underground poetry and the “Carma Bums” collective are preserved in the UCLA Library Special Collections.

Mike the Poet Sonksen is a 3rd-generation Los Angeles native. Poet, professor, journalist, cultural historian and tour-guide, his book Letters to My City was published by Writ Large Press. He is the author most recently of the collection Trace, Places, Faces from Hinches Press, 2026.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: The Church in Ocean Park

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 4 pm

Address: 235 Hill St., Santa Monica, CA 90405

Website: Facebook Event Page

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #12: Porchfest Open Mic at Vermont Triangle – In-Person Event

Join us on Sunday, August 23at 4 pm for an Open Mic outside at Vermont Triangle pocket park as part of the PorchFestLA’s Sundays Before Sunset!

Sign-ups will start at 3:45 pm, with our mic starting at 4 pm. Each person gets 2 minutes or one piece of writing (whatever comes first!).

This is an open mic, feel free to bring your first drafts, your free writes, your work-in-progresses! This is about sharing your voice and is not a polished performance.

This is about gathering after five days of writing together, and a safe space to share what you wrote.

All types of writing and artforms welcome. Feel free to show a picture, bring an instrument, or read from your journal.

PorchFestLA is looking for performers and porches for their festival in October! If interested, go to https://www.porchfestla.com/ to find out more!

RSVP

Where: Vermont Triangle

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm

Address: 1701 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

Local Author Day: Joe Belk, Dan Joyce, Jason Mahoney at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Join us to hear three local authors present their works:

Joe Belk presents A Fan’s Calendar

A Fan’s Calendar is a fun ride through popular culture throughout the 20th century and up to the present day. The book reflects the enthusiasms of author Joe Belk, who has enjoyed and often written about music, film, and other forms of art and entertainment throughout his life. No matter what your tastes are, you will find areas of overlap with this personally specific yet culturally vast appreciation of a wide variety of cinematic and musical genres and styles.

Dan Joyce presents Have You Taken Your Meds? Part1

Have You Taken Your Meds? Part 1 is an illustrated autobiographical graphic novel by Dan Joyce exploring mental illness, addiction, homelessness, family conflict, and survival with humor, raw honesty, and surreal imagination Through art, storytelling, and dark comedy, Joyce invites readers into a chaotic yet journey understanding, recovery, and hope.

Jason Mahoney presents Song of a Dromedary

Something is terribly wrong with Vernon Rivers, a young boy whose parents have taken him to every specialist they can think of. At the end of their rope, they finally take him to see a priest, who determines the only remedy is an exorcism. Before the big night, his father, Kirk, has his first of many encounters with the paranormal: an encoded message telling him he must intervene in the exorcism, and to his wife’s dismay, Kirk obeys. Throughout his childhood, Vernon, a musical phenomenon, shows signs of demonic possession in benign ways. But as the danger grows more apparent, Kirk engages with his own outrageous and time-distorting obstacles to save him—and discover the unfortunate truth about his prodigious son.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 4 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-08-23/local-author-day

Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 Event #13: The Story of You: Journaling Stroll & Integration at Barnsdall Art Park – In-Person Event

Join us on Sunday, August 23at 6 pm to reflect on your journey through this festival & on the bigger story you’re living with journaling guided by Laura Fuller.

Bring your journal. Paper, pens, and snacks provided.

A sweet integration, landing and closing to the festival.

RSVP

Where: Barnsdall Art Park

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7:45 pm

Address: 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://losfelizlitfest.org/schedule/

Historical Romance LA Book Club: It Happened One Fight at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event

Join participants to discuss It Happened One Fight by Maureen Lee Lenker.

Historical Romance book club is led by orders manager Katie S. and meets at 7:15 pm on the first Sunday in the main store! We read widely across all genres featuring LGBTQIA authors. Everyone is welcome!

No membership is necessary, but RSVP is recommended.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm

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

Website: https://therippedbodice.com/event/2026-08-23/historical-romance-la-book-club-august-2026

BackStory Event: Lady Sings the Blues Readings at The Victory Theatre Cener – In-Person & Online Hybrid Zoom Event

Join us for BackStory, a bi-monthly evening of true stories, poetry, and flights of fancy.

Each BackStory begins with a title—a classic play or film—and ends somewhere unexpected.

August Theme: Lady Sings the Blues

Writers use that title as a jumping-off point. They may tell a personal story sparked by its themes. They may write in the voice of a character and reveal what happened before the curtain rose. Or they may simply riff on the words themselves. Whatever the approach, BackStory has been—consistently—one of the most fascinating and eclectic evenings the Victory has to offer.

Guest Host: Ashton Cynthia Clarke

bridgette bianca is a poet and professor from South Central Los Angeles. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Howard University and her Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Otis College of Art & Design. bridgette bianca has performed her poetry all around Southern California. bridgette bianca’s work as a writer and an educator seeks to serve the people and moments most forget or ignore. Her first book of poetry, be/trouble, was released by Writ Large Press in 2020.

Lynda V.E. Crawford is a Barbadian-born poet and Pushcart Prize nominee based in Southern California. Her work explores the dual influence of her Caribbean childhood and her life in the United States. She authored the poetry collection Washing Water (2024) and has been published in various literary journals.

Erika Blumfield is an artist, researcher and writer who seeks engagement across the arts, sciences, and humanities to cultivate artworks and dialogue exploring the material and poetic origins of our relationship with the natural world. She approaches her work like an ecological archivist, driven by a passion to trace and collect the evidence and stories of connectedness across the cosmos. Examining entanglements between natural phenomena, ecology, geology, astronomy, and cosmochemistry, her work intends to study the notion of an embodied relationship with the cosmos—that we are, in our very chemistry, of and from the stars. An Emerson Collective, Guggenheim and Smithsonian Fellow, Blumenfeld’s studios have included laboratories, observatories, and extreme environments, and she has collaborated with scientists and research institutions.

Del Harrison is an American stand-up comedian from New Orleans. On top of being a comedian, she is also an actress, soul singer, writer, host, and entrepreneur. Her comedy, stage presence and onstage persona have gained her a large following from fans. She has a large following on social media and she designed her own shirt line, which she regularly sells out at her shows.

Stan Sellers began his acting career at the Back Alley Theatre, founded by Naomi Eftis. During that time, he appeared as Otto in “Design For Living,” Omar in “Short Eyes,” and Jr. Balloon in the world premiere of Miguel Pinero’s “The Sun Always Shines For The Cool” under the direction of Frederic Lee. While attending the University of Maryland Stan began performing stand-up comedy at campus events and local clubs. From there he moved to San Francisco where he was a regular at the world famous Holy City Zoo. Other comedy club appearances include Zanies, Laughs Unlimited, the Funny Bone, Giggles, Yuk Yuks, to name a few. After guest starring on two episodes of “Seinfeld,” Stan’s resume began to grow; “ER,” “Friends,” “The West Wing,” “CSI,” and CSI: Miami” along with many others. His most recent television appearances include ABC Family’s “Bunheads,” Nickelodeon’s “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn,” and Judd Apatow’s “Love” on HBO. He continues to perform stand-up comedy clubs and corporate events throughout the US and Canada.

Licia Shearer is an actress whose film credits include appearances in TMI Hollywood; Up All Night; Scrubs; Help Me Help You; Cold Case; House; One on One; Skin (mini-series); What I Like About You; and The Parkers.

RSVP: Tickets; In person at the Theatre or on Zoom

Where: The Victory Theatre Center

Date: Sunday the 23^rd

Time: 7:30 pm

Address: 3326 West Victory Blvd., Burbank, CA 91505

Website: https://thevictorytheatrecenter.org/backstory/

Los Angeles Literature

Online magazine covering L.A.'s vast literary community.

Los Angeles Literature Events: 8/17/26 – 8/23/26

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Published by

Brian Dunlap

Share this:

Related

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Published by

Brian Dunlap