Lit Angels: Morning Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Do you want to find creative inspiration and overcome writer’s block in a supportive and peaceful community setting? Are you interested in writing professionally or for personal growth and healing but unsure where to begin?
Come join acclaimed author and writing instructor Francesca Lia Block for a brief intro and 40 minutes of free writing on any topic without judgement. Afterwards, you will be able to share a bit about your process and ask Francesca questions about your writing.
Francesca Lia Block is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association, and from the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, and PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY. Currently she teaches creative writing at UCLA Extension, Antioch University, Pocket MFA, and numerous workshops across the country. Francesca also edits LIT ANGELS, a literary journal available on Substack. Her latest novel is House of Hearts now out in paperback. https://www.francescaliablock.com/
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Monday the 31st
Time: 9 am – 10 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
Robertson Writer Group at Robertson Branch Library – In-Person & Online Hybrid 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 31st
Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm
Address: 1719 S. Robertson. Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035
Website: https://www.lapl.org/index%2ephp/events/robertson-writers-group-3
Educator Night: Rex Ogle and Nicole White at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Special Event
Gather at America’s Oldest Children’s Bookstore for an educator exclusive night of giveaways, author event raffle, new books to delight your classroom, and more to start the new school year. The night will feature a presentation by award-winning author, Rex Ogle, about his newest middle grade novel Absent and a book talk from Penguin Random House Kids Rep, Nicole White.
Please invite your colleagues to this very special and informative night. Wine and small bites will be provided for attendees that RSVP. The bookstore will close to the public for this private event.
From award-winning author Rex Ogle, a mixed-format middle grade novel about three boys who skip school, told in verse, prose, and comics.
With a dad in jail and a lack of teachers interested in helping him learn, Manny doesn’t see the point in anything besides skateboarding and writing lyrics. Calvin has so many responsibilities to his father and little brothers that when his bike is stolen, he can’t make it to school on time. And while Liam is studious and wants to become a doctor, he is tormented by bullies and hides out in an unused janitor’s closet instead of going to class. When the boys are thrown together in detention, they realize that they might still have a lot to learn—not just from their teachers, but from each other.
Absent tells the boys’ stories in three distinct voices: Manny’s in verse, Calvin’s as a comic, and Liam’s as a prose journal. Printz Award Honoree and YALSA Nonfiction Award winner Rex Ogle explores school absenteeism in a compelling, entertaining, and utterly distinct novel.
Rex Ogle is the recipient of a Printz Honor and Stonewall Book Award Honor for his YA memoir, Road Home. He is also the author of Free Lunch, winner of the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award; Abuela, Don’t Forget Me, finalist for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award; Punching Bag; and When We Ride, a YA novel-in-verse. His newest book is Absent, a middle-grade novel told in comics, rap lyrics, and journal entries. Rex lives in Los Angeles, California.
RSVP: $5
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Monday the 31st
Time: 5 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: Once Upon a Time Event Page
Mar Vista Book Club: American Struggle at Mar Vista Branch Library. LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of American Struggle by John Meachum.
Where: Mar Vista Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 31st
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 12006 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/mar-vista-book-club
Los Feliz Writers: Shut Up and Write in Los Feliz at 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 – 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 31st
Time: 6:45 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1727 N. Vermont Ave. #102, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: Instagram Page
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 31st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501
Website: Facebook Event Page
Under the Tree We Dream: A Monthly Writing Circle with Alex Petunia at Holy Grounds – In-Person Event
Under the Tree We Dream is a monthly writing circle hosted by Alex Petunia every last Monday of the monthat Holy Grounds Coffee.
This event offers an invitation to write and dream with generative prompts and creative community. All writing levels are welcome.
Entrance requires a drink purchase.
Where: Holy Grounds
Date: Monday the 31st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 5371 Alhambra Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90032
Website: Instagram Page
Adam O. Davis, with Katie Ford, & Pyrrhic Symphony at Skylight – In-Person Event
Adam O. Davis, in conversation with Katie Ford, will discuss Pyrrhic Symphony.
Winner of the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry
In Pyrrhic Symphony, the speaker asks, “Should a poem be the pill or the pharmacy?” And the book replies: Why not both? It ails and wails, blooms and wilts, but always breathes, just as anyone reading this does. Part siren songs, part torch songs, Pyrrhic Symphony sings wry lullabies for apocalypses public, personal, and politic, moving from cruise ships to Krakatoa, from a dentist’s office to a marriage as it explores how love, family, community, and art can function in the face of an increasingly hostile climate. And in lamenting how “all I ever wanted from love / was that it never change,” the feverish speaker goes toe-to-toe with the nurse who watches over him as they encounter and recount a world of late capitalist excess. By turns ecstatic and demonic, tender and terrifying, Pyrrhic Symphony stands as an act of musical witness and cautious hope in this age of corrupted wonder.
Adam O. Davis is the author of Index of Haunted Houses, winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Poetry Prize. He is a recipient of the 2022 Poetry International Prize and the 2016 George Bogin Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. His work has appeared in AGNI, the Believer, the Kenyon Review, the Paris Review, ZYZZYVA, and in The Best American Poetry. Davis is cocreator and host of the podcast Poetry Goes to the Movies, and of its digital collection for the Poetry Foundation.
Katie Ford is the author of four books of poems: Deposition; Colosseum; Blood Lyrics; and If You Have to Go, all published by Graywolf Press. Blood Lyrics was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and the Rilke Prize. Colosseum was named among the “Best Books of 2008” by Publishers Weekly and the Virginia Quarterly Review and led to a Lannan Literary Fellowship and the Larry Levis Prize. International invitations to read and lecture include festivals in Tunis, Morocco, Oslo, and Stockholm. She completed graduate work in world religions, theology and poetry at Harvard University, and, following that, received her M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, The Paris Review, The American Poetry Review, and the Norton Introduction to Literature.
Where: Skylight
Date: Monday, the 31st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-08-31/adam-o-davis-w-katie-ford-pyrrhic-symphony
Sam Quinones & Our Lady of the Angels: The Virgin of Guadalupe on the Walls of Los Angeles at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Sam Quinones will present and sign Our Lady of the Angels: The Virgin of Guadalupe on the Walls of Los Angeles.
On storefronts, alleyways, and street corners across the city, murals of the Virgin of Guadalupe grace the walls of Los Angeles in a tapestry of faith, identity, and culture. Our Lady of the Angels: The Virgin of Guadalupe on the Walls of Los Angeles captures the sacred and everyday presence of Guadalupe murals across the city, offering a poignant lens into the cultural heartbeat of LA neighborhoods. Each image is a testament to community, artistry, and devotion—a visual pilgrimage through urban altars where spirituality meets street art. Whether you’re drawn to religious iconography, Latino culture, or the layered stories of LA itself, this collection invites you to see the city anew—through the lens of its most beloved saint.
En escaparates, callejones y esquinas de toda la ciudad, murales de la Virgen de Guadalupe adornan los muros de Los Ángeles como un tapiz de fe, identidad y cultura. Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles: La Virgen de Guadalupe en los muros de Los Ángeles captura la presencia sagrada y cotidiana de los murales guadalupanos en la ciudad, ofreciendo una mirada conmovedora al pulso cultural de los vecindarios angelinos. Cada imagen es un testimonio de comunidad, arte y devoción: una peregrinación visual a través de altares urbanos donde la espiritualidad se encuentra con el arte callejero. Ya sea que te atraiga la iconografía religiosa, la cultura latina o las historias entrelazadas de Los Ángeles, esta colección te invita a ver la ciudad de una nueva manera: a través del lente de su santa más querida.
Sam Quinones is a journalist, former LA Times reporter, author and storyteller. A reporter for almost 30 years, Quinones lived and worked as a freelance writer in Mexico from 1994 to 2004. He spent time with gang members and governors, taco vendors and Los Tigres del Norte. He wrote about soap operas, and he lived briefly in a drug-rehabilitation clinic in Zamora, while hanging out with a street gang. His previous two acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction about Mexico and Mexican immigration made him, according to the SF Chronicle Book Review, “the most original writer on Mexico and the border.” His first book, True Tales From Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino and the Bronx (Univ. of New Mexico Press, 2001) is a collection of nonfiction stories about contemporary Mexico. His second, Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration (UNM Press, 2007) was called “genuinely original work, what great fiction and nonfiction aspire to be, these are the stories that stop time and remind us how great reading is.” (S.F. Chronicle). In 1998, he received an Alicia Patterson Fellowship, and Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 2008, for a career of excellence in reporting about Latin America.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Monday the 31st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-08-31/sam-quinones
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 31st
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)
Website: Beyond Baroque Event Page
Cecilia Vicuña’s “What Is Poetry to You?” at Poetic Research Bureau Off-site at Human Resources – In-Person Event
Join us to hear Cecilia Vicuña’s What Is Poetry to You?, with readings by Nikki Ochoa, Ivanna Baranova, and Venya Gushchin,
Cecilia Vicuña, What Is Poetry to You? 1980, 23 min.
Vicuña asks passersby on the streets of Bogotá—including fellow artists and poets, sex workers, children, a police officer, and a scientist—the question: “What is poetry to you?” The surprising answers she elicits reveal the richness of oral culture in Colombia.
Nikki Ochoa is an Ancient Baby from Kudzu covered forests. She is a writer and experimental artist. She directs Punitive Worm, an ever changing performance art group interested in liberation from capitalist colonial narratives. She was educated at UCLA and CAL ARTS. She often works with Atlanta based performance art group Tooth Lifeless. From sculpture to sound, her work is rooted in creating poetry that exists in the physical realm by bending time, and touching God. She was the Linda J. Albertano Fellow for Poetry and Performance in 2025. She has performed across North America and will be performing at some parking lot in Detroit soon.
Ivanna Baranova is a poet living in Los Angeles working across language, sound, image, and movement. She is co-director of the Poetic Research Bureau, and her recent books include Continuum (Metatron Press) and Threshold (Inpatient Press). Her next book—Dispatch Momentary Green—is forthcoming from Spiral Editions in 2026.
Venya Gushchin is a poet, literary translator, and assistant professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Southern California. His translation of the Kalmyk poet Dordzhi Dzhaldzhireev is forthcoming from World Poetry Books in 2027. His writing has appeared in The Rumpus; Exchanges; Brooklyn Rail; Broken Lens; and elsewhere.
Cecilia Vicuña is a poet, artist, activist and filmmaker whose work addresses pressing concerns of the modern world, including ecological destruction, human rights, and cultural homogenization. Born and raised in Santiago de Chile, she has been in exile since the early 1970s, after the military coup against the president Salvador Allende. In London, she was a co-founder of Artists for Democracy in l974.
Where: Poetic Research Bureau Off-site at Human Resources
Date: Monday the 31st
Time: 8 pm
Address: 410 Cottage Home St. Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: https://www.poeticresearch.com/events/cecilia-vicuas-what-is-poetry-to-you
Virtual Author Talk: David O. Stewart & The Democracy We Must Keep via Virtual Program, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us on Zoom for a chat with award-winning historian David O. Stewart about his newest work, The Democracy We Must Keep, and the question he explores throughout the book.
What did America’s founders say about democracy, and can we remain true to their vision for America?
Two hundred fifty years ago, passionate men attempted to create something the world had never seen before: a nation built not on kings or armies, but on ideas where the people ruled.
In The Democracy We Must Keep, historian David O. Stewart takes readers inside the nine key documents that shaped the formation of the United States—from Patrick Henry’s thunderous cry for liberty to the carefully crafted design of a government chosen by the people, with limits on all officials holding power under the Constitution.
Through the words of seven visionary founders—Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, and others—Stewart shows how a fragile experiment in self-government took shape.
These men were not saints. They argued passionately. They worried that the new nation might fall apart. Yet together, they forged the principles that must still define American democracy:
Power must be limited.
Leaders must answer to the people.
Individual rights must be protected by law.
As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, The Democracy We Must Keep urges readers to rediscover core ideas that built the nation—and to consider what it will take to protect them.
Register today to gain a deeper understanding of how American democracy started, why it still matters, and the active role each generation must play to uphold it.
David O. Stewart has published eleven award-winning and best-selling books of history and historical novels. In 2023, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Washington Independent Review of Books. His most recent fictional series, the Overstreet Saga, is inspired by family stories his mother told. He lives in Maryland with the light of his life, Nancy Floreen; they have three children and six grandchildren.
Where: Virtual Program, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16914326
Virtual Book Cub: Keeper of Lost Children via Virtual Program, LACL – Online Zoom Event
Join us on Zoom for a weekly virtual discussion of Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson.
Please contact Marta Wiggins at mwiggins@library.lacounty.gov for your link to join the discussion on Zoom. For Adults
This month we will discuss 1/5 of the book each week: See below for the breakdown of the weekly discussions.
September 1: Prologue & Chapters 1 – 11: Pages 1 – 117
September 8: Chapters 12 – 18: Pages 121 – 184
September 15: Chapters 19 – 34: Pages 186 – 283
September 22: Chapters: 35 -46: Pages 287 – 359
September 29: Chapters: 47 – Epilogue: Pages 360 to the end of the book
Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American Officer, is living in Occupied Germany in the 1950s. After discovering a local orphanage filled with the abandoned mixed-race children of German women and Black American GIs feels compelled to help find these children homes. Philadelphia born Ozzie Phillips volunteers for the recently desegregated army in 1948, eager to make his mark in the world. While serving in Manheim, Germany, he meets a local woman, Jelka, and the two embark of a relationship that will impact their lives forever. In 1965 Maryland, Sophia Clark is given an opportunity to attend a prestigious all-white boarding school and escape her heartless parents. While at the school, she discovers a secret that upends her world and sends her on a quest to unravel her own identity.
Where: Virtual Event, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: Online Event (see site)
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16886930
The Darkest Hour Book Club: This Story Might Save Your Life at Agoura Hills Library. LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a lively book discussion of This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum. For adults.
Best friends Benny and Joy like to say they’ve been saving each other’s lives since the moment they met. Until the day Joy disappears, and Benny is suspected of murder.
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm
Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16824054
Women and Books Book Club: Go Gentle at West Hollywood Library. LACL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
Join us to discuss Go Gentle by Maria Semple. For adults.
This is a hybrid event and will be hosted in-person in the Community Meeting Room at West Hollywood Library as well as on Zoom. Please register at the link below to receive the link to the meeting via email.
https://library-lacounty-gov.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtcOivqzwpGNDyGiDsipuoB54noYxGsxYg
Co-sponsored by the City of West Hollywood Women’s Advisory Board, Women and Books Book Club meets on the first Tuesday of the month to discuss literary works by and focused on women.
Please contact the library to borrow a print copy of the book. eBook and downloadable audiobook are available through Libby.
Adora Hazzard has it all figured out. A Stoic philosopher and divorcée, she lives a contented life on New York City’s Upper West Side. Having discovered that the secret to happiness is to desire only what you have, she’s applied this insight to blissful effect: relishing her teenage daughter, the freedom of being solo, and her job as a moral tutor for the twin boys of an old-money family. She’s even assembled a “coven”—like-minded women who live on the same floor in the legendary Ansonia—and is making active efforts to grow its membership. Adora’s carefully curated life is humming along brilliantly until a chance meeting with a handsome stranger.
Soon, her ordered world is upended by black-market art deals, secret rendezvous, and international intrigue…and her past—which she has worked so hard to bury—lands like a bomb in her present. Inflamed by unquenchable desire, Adora finds herself a woman wanting more: and she’ll risk everything to get it.
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 25th
Time: 2 pm – 3 pm
Address: 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16471522
AIRC Book Club: A Council of Dolls at Norwalk Library. LACL – In-Person Event
Explore American Indian/Alaska Native topics and literature with the AIRC Book Club, hosted quarterly by the American Indian Resource Center. This quarter’s book selection is A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power. For ages 18 and up.
Follow three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women born in different eras with special dolls that help them in their journey navigating through trauma, hardships, healing, and love.
Copies of the book are available for checkout at Norwalk Library’s Information Desk and may also be downloaded as an eBook or audiobook at LACountyLibrary.org
Light refreshments will be provided.
Where: Norwalk Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 12350 Imperial Hwy., Norwalk, CA 90650
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16709860
Feminist Book Club: The Hacienda at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas.
Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, a sinister haunting, and the woman pulled into their clutches.
During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security that his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost.
But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.
When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark the doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano?
Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will save her.
Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to fight off the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda and protect the woman for whom he feels a powerful, forbidden attraction. But even he might not be enough to battle the darkness.
Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.
Isabel Cañas is a Mexican-American speculative fiction writer. After having lived in Mexico, Scotland, Egypt, and Turkey, among other places, she has settled (for now) in New York City. She holds a doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and writes fiction inspired by her research and her heritage.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6675 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA 92506
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-09-01/feminist-book-club-hacienda
Author Event: Lauren T. Davila & The Patron Saint of White Menageries at Good Girl Books – In-Person Event
Join us to hear author Lauren T. Davila discuss The Patron Sanit of White Menageries.
Join us in celebrating the new short story collection: The Patron Saint of White Menageries by @laurentdavila! She’ll be in conversation with author @themackenzilee! In this debut magical-realism collection, Davila cracks Los Angeles open to reveal a kaleidoscope of unlikely heroines, talents, and dreams.
Lauren T. Davila is a Pushcart-nominated, Latina author, anthologist, and acquisitions editor. Her debut magical realism short story collection is The Parton Saint of White Menageries (Creature Publishing, 2026). She has edited multiple short story anthologies. including To Root Somewhere Beautiful: An Anthology of Reclamation (Outland Entertainment 2024) and When Other People Saw Us, They Saw the Dead (Haunt Publishing 2022).Davila’s poetry and short fiction have appeared online at Granada Magazine, The Paragon Journal, Ghost Heart Literary Magazine, Peach Velvet Mag, Voyage Journal, Second Chance Magazine, Headcanon Magazine, In Parentheses, and Poets Reading the News.She has an MA in English from Claremont Graduate University and an MFA in Fiction Writing from George Mason University. She lives in the greater Los Angeles area where you can find her swimming, walking her golden retriever, and drinking one too many lattes.
Pre-order today and we’ll have your copy ready for you at the event!
Where: Good Girl Books
Date: Tuesday, the 1st
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 12444 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
Website: Instagram Page
Author Talk: Regina Louise & Unladylike at Octavia’s Bookshelf – In-Person Event
Join us for an evening of poetry and conversation with Regina Louise presenting Unladylike: A Mythopoetic Reclamation of Love.
Where: Octavia’s Bookshelf
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 1353 N. Hill Ave. Suite B, Pasadena, CA 91104
Website: Instagram Page
The Darkest Hour Book Club: This Story Might Save Your Life via Agoura Hills Library. LACL – Online Event
Join us Online for a lively book discussion of This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum. For adults.
Best friends Benny and Joy like to say they’ve been saving each other’s lives since the moment they met. Until the day Joy disappears and Benny is suspected of murder.
Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online Event
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16824054
Author Event: Katerina and Gabrielle Tana & Everybody Came to Tana’s: An American Dream Come True at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to welcome Katerina and Gabrielle Tana to discuss Everybody Came to Tana’s: An American Dream Come True.
Long before his claim to fame as host of the celebrated Hollywood restaurant that bore his name, Dan Tana was Dobrivoje Tanasijević, a typical, soccer-obsessed Serbian kid in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. His father, before being arrested by the Nazis and then again by the Communists, had owned a restaurant and worked sunup to midnight at least. When Dan was a boy, his mother told him: “Dragi moj sine, ne idi u restoranski posao.” Translation: My darling son, do not go into the restaurant business. “Most people don’t choose to go into the restaurant business,” Tana acknowledges. “It finds them. Indeed, it found me. It saved me. And it made me.” How that happened is among the many stories Tana tells, with his signature warmth and humor.
Arriving in Los Angeles, California, in 1956 with no legal papers and only $10 to his name, Dan found work washing dishes at the Villa Capri restaurant and in the shelter above it, sharing the apartment of a fellow ex-pat Yugoslav. He got signed by the California league’s Yugoslavian American team, became a busboy at LaScala, and, to improve his English, began taking acting classes with Natalie Wood, Kim Novak, Angie Dickinson, and Carol Eastman. In 1957, he made his screen debut in the role of a young soldier in The Enemy Below, a submarine thriller starring Robert Mitchum. He fell in love, got married, became a father, made nearly $100,000 co-owning a short-lived dance club called The Peppermint West, and lost most of that money in the stock market and soccer promotion. Then in 1964, with a $1 down and the promise to pay $10,000 after the first year, followed by another $10,000 after the second and third years, he signed on with two partners to buy a hamburger joint on the same block as the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood. How he transformed it into the famous Dan Tana’s—while raising a family and launching youth soccer in the USA—is a story worth reading.
Dan Tana (1935-2025) was a restaurateur, professional soccer player, international soccer executive, film producer, and one of Hollywood’s legendary hosts. Born to Serbian parents in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, he survived World War II before crossing Europe as a teenage soccer prodigy and finding his way to Hollywood. In the 1950s and ’60s, he acted in films alongside Robert Mitchum and Glenn Ford and moved easily among figures such as Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood, and John Wayne. In 1964, while helping pioneer professional soccer in the United States, he opened an eponymous restaurant in West Hollywood that would become an enduring gathering place for artists, athletes, and cultural icons. In 1975, he became chairman of Brentford FC in the United Kingdom. In 2000 he joined the board of Red Star Belgrade, the club he had played for as a teenager. Married twice, he was the father of two daughters, film producer Gabrielle Tana and designer Katerina Tana. Dan passed away on August 16, 2025, at the age of 90, three months after completing Everybody Came to Tana’s.
Gabrielle Tana is among the UK’s most respected independent producers. Her eye for quality and talent has consistently yielded critically acclaimed films: Stephen Frears’ four-time Oscar nominee Philomena, Saul Dibb’s Oscar-winning The Duchess, and Simon Stone’s five-time BAFTA nominee The Dig, among them. She produced Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut, Coriolanus, marking the start of a long-standing partnership which includes The White Crow and The Invisible Woman. Her production company, Magnolia Mae Films, has a track record of high-profile releases, including Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives; Karim Aïnouz’s English-language debut, Firebrand, screened at Cannes in 2023; Motel Destino, screened at Cannes in 2024; and Patrick Dickinson’s debut, Cottontail, winner of Best First Work at Rome Film Festival 2023. Her upcoming projects include Switzerland, an adaptation of Joanna-Murray Smith’s play, directed by Anton Corbijn and starring Helen Mirren as writer Patricia Highsmith. She is currently in post-production for Simon Stone’s Elsinore. She divides her time between London and Brooklyn, NY.
Katerina Tana has had an established Interior and Landscape design business in Venice Beach, CA, for nearly 30 years. She launched her signature textile line, Katerina Tana Collection LOOM, in 2009, and her work has been widely published in books and design magazines. Born in LA and raised in London, she completed her BA in English and French Literature at University of York, England, and trained formally as an actor. She made her stage debut as Arlie in the UK premier of Marsha Norman’s Getting Out and worked with legendary director Fred Zinnemann as Photographic editor on his autobiography, A Life in Movies. She helped set up Snake River Productions and developed Cool Runnings, While You Were Sleeping, Emma (with Gwyneth Paltrow) and The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (with Jonathan Pryce). In 2021 she wrote, acted in, and directed the short film The Tip, based on a story about her father, which won multiple awards and was warmly received on the festival circuit. Most recently, she played the lead of King Henry IV, in Henry IV parts 1 and 2 at the Pacific Residents Theatre in Venice, CA.
Todd Gold has collaborated on nearly 60 books across multiple genres with celebrities and newsmakers, many of them bestsellers, including three titles that reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. These books have also appeared on bestseller lists in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Publishers Weekly. His work includes collaborations with Valerie Bertinelli, Dick Van Dyke, Michael Richards, Penny Marshall, Billy Dee Williams, illy Ray Cyrus, Ann-Margret, Drew Barrymore, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, Mickey Hart, Cedric the Entertainer, Edward Burns, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Burt Reynolds, Richard Pryor, Louie Anderson, Belinda Carlisle, Sharon Rocha, and Elisabeth Kübler Ross.
Recently published books include The Groundbreaker by Silicon Valley pioneer Kanwal Rekhi, Everybody Came to Tana’s: An American Dream Come True with legendary Los Angeles restauranteur Dan Tana, and Valerie Bertinelli’s latest collection of stories, Getting Naked.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Latin American Literature Book Club at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
The Village Well hosts our newest book club: Latin American Literature Book Club! (Bilingual in Spanish and English).
Bienvenidos a nuestro club de lectura más reciente: ¡Club de lectura de Literatura Latinoamericana! (Dictado en Español e Inglés).
This September pick is Tierra fresca de su Tumba by Giovanna Rivero.
This is a bilingual book club meant for those who want to expand their knowledge in Latin American literature, no matter your fluency in Spanish or English. For our next meeting, we’ll be discussing Fresh Dirt from the Grave by Giovanna Rivero on September 1st at 6:30 pm. Hope to see you all there!
Este es un club de lectura bilingüe pensadeo para todas las personas que quieran expandir sus conocimientos en literatura latinoamericana, sin importar su nivel de fluencia en español o inglés. Hablamos de Tierra fresca de su tumba por Giovanna Rivero 1 de septiembre a las 6:30 pm. ¡Esperamos verte ahi!
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Tuesday the 1st
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 1st
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Address: 14537 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Website: Instagram Page
Jonathan Ames, with Jerry Stahl, & A Past Without Pictures at Skylight – In-Person Event
Jonathan Ames, in conversation with Jerry Stahl, will discuss A Past Without Pictures.
An LAPD detective travels to coastal Alabama to investigate the death of the father she hardly knew in this straight-shooting, no-nonsense noir from the author of You Were Never Really Here.
Maria Cole’s life has never been a walk in the park. Raised in foster care and with a history of abuse, her journey to the force was winding and loaded with heartache. When the LAPD detective is involved in a tragic shooting and, soon after, learns that her estranged ex-con father has been murdered, she finds her past surging back in a double-bout of grief.
There is an estate to settle and a funeral to attend, so Maria travels to her father’s rural home in coastal Alabama and starts asking questions about his murder. But the tight-lipped locals don’t take kindly to inquisitive outsiders, and she has to tangle with corrupt small-town officials, bigoted cops, and home-grown criminal conspiracies to get answers. In the process, she uncovers shocking revelations about her father’s life—and her own.
Gripping, tightly plotted, and action-packed, A Past Without Pictures is a twisty noir narrative that condenses its sprawling scope into a forcefully fast-paced novella.
Jonathan Ames is the author of thirteen books, including the Happy Doll series. Two of his books, You Were Never Really Here and The Extra Man, have been turned into films. Ames is also the creator of two television series: Bored to Death and Blunt Talk. Earlier in his life, he was an occasional guest on The Late Show with David Letterman, was a frequent performer with The Moth, and dabbled in boxing, fighting as “The Herring Wonder.” He currently lives in Los Angeles.
Jerry Stahl is the author of twelve books, including the bestsellers I, Fatty and Permanent Midnight. His non-fiction collection, Gonzo Neurotic, will be released September 22, and his new novel, Bad Sex in the Afterlife, drops in early 2027. Stahl has written extensively for TV and film, and his journalism has appeared in Vice, Esquire, and The Believer, among other places.
Where: Skylight
Date: Tuesday, the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-09-01/jonathan-ames-w-jerry-stahl-past-without-pictures
At The Ivory: Meg Howrey & Body Language at Skylight Off-site at The Ivory Hotel – In-Person Event
Meg Howrey will present and discuss Body Language: A Novel.
Sloane, a former actress now working as a therapist, is determined to find a meaningful way through menopause, away from marketing schemes, possibly with the aid of psychedelics. Her sister Laurel is managing her own growing rage and restlessness while engaging in work at an environmental nonprofit and raising teenagers. Nanette, the youngest, has answered a long-delayed religious calling and is living as a novice in a convent. All three lives will be further disrupted when Sloane receives a call summoning her to their mother’s house, Laurel discovers possible evidence of her husband’s infidelity, and Nanette finds herself in the middle of a media frenzy after a spontaneous act of public prayer.
Soon, all three are reunited under their mother’s roof, and no one can seem to agree about anything beyond the obvious: Barbara has dementia, as did her mother and sister before her. Will it be an opportunity for the closed door of their very private mother’s inner life to crack open? A lesson in care; a shared responsibility that will be the making of this family, divided by large age gaps, parental divorce, and temperament? Or will a stunning revelation upend not only their mother’s remaining time, but divide the sisters permanently?
With razor-sharp prose and undeniable humor, acclaimed author Meg Howrey brings an American family in the midst of a painful crisis to unforgettable life, interrogating memory and emotional inheritance, the right of a woman’s autonomy, and the indelible bonds even the most disparate of sisters can share.
Meg Howrey is the author of the novels Blind Sight, The Cranes Dance, The Wanderers, and most recently, They’re Going to Love You, which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice, and a New Yorker Best Book of 2022. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Granta, Harvard Review, Vogue, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She currently lives in Los Angeles.
Where: Skylight at The Ivory Hotel
Date: Tuesday, the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Doors at 6 pm)
Address: 457 S. Mariposa Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90020
Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-09-01/ivory-meg-howrey-presents-body-language
The Sunless Sea Poetry and Spoken Word Show at Qusqo Bistro – In-Person Event
The Sunless Sea Poetry and Spoken Word Show is hosted by De Forest Wright every first Tuesday of the month at Qusqo Bistro.
RSVP for further information.
Where: Qusqo Bistro
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 11633 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025
Website: Instagram Page
Joseph Fink, with Mara Wilson, & The Nudge: A Psychological Thriller at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Joseph Fink. in conversation with Mara Wilson, will present and sign The Nudge: A Psychological Thriller.
A new horror novella from the creator of Welcome to Night Vale and Alice Isn’t Dead featuring original illustrations from Night Vale series artist Jessica Hayworth.
On the open road, evil doesn’t chase you. It waits.
Late one night, a wounded man checks into a remote roadside hotel. He’s running from something he can’t explain or escape. And over the course of a night, he’ll tell the hotel’s proprietor how his life fell apart.
It started with his wife. Subtle changes. Smiles that didn’t belong to her. Then violence—sudden, intimate, almost casual. Therapy offered hope. Recovery seemed possible. Until it wasn’t. He believes a hidden influence has attached itself to him, one that never forces, never commands. It whispers. It suggests. Nudges people toward their worst impulses.
Now the man wanders the country as a fugitive, hoping to break free from the evil that’s wormed its way into him. But as our narrator’s story unfolds, he begins to question whether he’s fled far enough.
Tense, atmospheric, and chilling, The Nudge is a slow-burn tale of suspense that will linger like a whisper in the dark, long after the story is over.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Tuesday the 1st
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-01/joseph-fink
Virtual Cobalt Series & Open Mic: Rick Lupert & Guest Carol Davis, plus Open Reading – Online Zoom Event
Cobalt Poets Reading & Open Mic and host Rick Lupert will welcome guest Carol Davis, plus an Open Reading online.
Carol V. Davis is the author of the poetry collections: Because I Cannot Leave This Body (Truman State Univ. Press, 2017) and Between Storms (TSUP, 2012); Below Zero (Stephan F. Austin State University Press, 2023). She won the 2007 T.S. Eliot Prize for Into the Arms of Pushkin: Poems of St. Petersburg. Her poetry has been read on National Public Radio, the Library of Congress and Radio Russia. Twice a Fulbright scholar in Russia, she also taught in Siberia, winter 2018. She has taught in the English Dept. at SMC since 2000, and for SMC’s Emeritus Program since 2006; and also teaches at Antioch Univ. Los Angeles. She was the 2008 Sandburg-Auden-Stein Poet-in-Residence at Olivet College in MI.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday, the 1st
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: Cobalt Event Page
Tuesday Night Café & Open Mic at Union Center for the Arts – In-Person Event
Tuesday Night Café is offered on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays in the spring and summer months in Little Tokyo.
Featured artists for this event include:
@talktimemusic is a lofi pop band based in MPLS.
@jessicajliu is the author of the poetry collection Minor Flood.
@mskristinawong is a pioneering performance artist, comedian, actor, writer, and former elected official who is the first Asian American woman to be named a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Drama.
@apiriselosangeles Asian Pacific Islander Reentry and Inclusion through Support and Empowerment) is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization supporting currently and formerly incarcerated Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Asian immigrants.
@kyoritheokapi is just your typical K-Rapper but actually Japanese. Hip hop artist, songwriter, producer, and mediocre Super Smash Bros. Melee player.
DJ Lomo • It keeps getting hotter out there but you can come cool down with some cool peeps 🥶 • Always free, open to the public, no tickets or assigned seating. Come through, make plans with a friend, like, comment, share, etc., etc. • 🎤 Want to perform for our Open Mic? Make sure to sign up for our lottery by 7 pm, there will only be 3 spaces available, two performances per performer per season please! We may ask to review your content. Please read the rules at https://www.tuesdaynightproject.org/how-to-perform • 🤿 As a reminder, masking is required in our space, and we will have masks available on site. If you can’t join us in-person, we will continue to stream our shows on YouTube in our link in bio.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets, and information.
Where: Union Center for the Arts
Date: Tuesday, the 1st
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm (Doors at 7 pm)
Address: 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: Instagram Page
DiPiazza’s Open Mic at Di Piazza’s Pizza – In-Person Event
Open Mic Every Tuesday! Signups 8:30 pm, late-night happy hour, live music, pizza & cocktails.
Host: Tamara Madison
Features: TBA
Often follows Trivia Night at 6 pm for a full evening of fun.
No cover mentioned—come early to grab a spot!
Step up to the mic and shine!
Where: Di Piazza’s
Date: Tuesday, the 1st
Time: 8:30 pm
Address: 5205 Pacific Coast Hwy., Long Beach, CA
Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-mic-every-tuesday-tickets-1992296921724
Lit Angels: Morning Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Do you want to find creative inspiration and overcome writer’s block in a supportive and peaceful community setting? Are you interested in writing professionally or for personal growth and healing but unsure where to begin?
Come join acclaimed author and writing instructor Francesca Lia Block for a brief intro and 40 minutes of free writing on any topic without judgement. Afterwards, you will be able to share a bit about your process and ask Francesca questions about your writing.
Francesca Lia Block is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association, and from the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, and PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY. Currently she teaches creative writing at UCLA Extension, Antioch University, Pocket MFA, and numerous workshops across the country. Francesca also edits LIT ANGELS, a literary journal available on Substack. Her latest novel is House of Hearts now out in paperback. https://www.francescaliablock.com/
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 9 am – 10 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
Afternoon Book Club: Replaceable You at Westlake Village Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of the novel Replaceable You by Mary Roach.
Where: Westlake Village Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 12 pm – 1 pm
Address: 31220 W. Oak Crest Dr., Westlake Village, CA 91361
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/eventChatsworth/17176267
Chatsworth Book Club: Wait for Me: Memoir at Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of the memoir Wait for Me by Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire.
The book chronicles Mitford’s life, from roaming the Oxfordshire countryside as a child to marrying Andrew Cavendish, the second son of the Duke of Devonshire. She shares the unexpected turn her life took when Andrew’s older brother died, leading Andrew to inherit both the title and the estate.
Where: Chatsworth Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: 21052 Devonshire St., Chatsworth, CA 91311
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/chatsworth-book-club-1
Café via KPFK 90.7 FM – Live On-Air Event
Poets Café celebrates Poetry. This program is a weekly half-hour literary arts discussion and reading program featuring guest authors and their works.
Poetry From Around the World is a segment of this series offered monthly on the 2nd Monday of the month on KPFK Los Angeles 90.7 FM.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: KPFK 90.7
Date: Wednesday, the 2nd
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: On-air Event
Website: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/poets-cafe/
Classics Book Club: Candide at East Los Angeles Library, LACL – In-Person Event
This month we discuss the classic of world literature, Voltaire’s Candide. For adults.
In Candide, Voltaire whisks his young hero and friends through a ludicrous variety of tortures, tragedies, and a reversal of fortune, in the company of Pangloss, a “metaphysico-theologo-comolo-nigologist” of unflinching optimism. The result is one of the glories of eighteenth-century satire.
Copies of the book will be available at the circulation desk. Space is limited to 10 participants, so pick up your copy soon! The program will take place in the Chicano Resource Center.
Light refreshments provided courtesy of Los Amigos of East Los Angeles Library.
Where: East Los Angeles Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 4837 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90022
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17109466
Creative Writing Workshop with Tony DuShane at Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us for a free creative writing workshop with Tony DuShane.
Tony DuShane is a UCLA instructor and the screenwriter of the film Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk, based on his novel of the same name. For adults only.
Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 1874 Hillhurst Ave, Los Feliz, CA 90027
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/creative-writing-workshop-tony-dushane-18
Canyon Readers Collective Book Club: Creation Lake at Topanga Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a discussion of Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner, a literary thriller that follows an undercover operative whose mission draws her into a mysterious community in rural France. For adults.
Where: Topanga Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 26th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 122 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, CA 90290
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17025647
Be the Change: Social Justice Writing Workshop with James Coats – Online Zoom Event
Be the Change, a Social Justice Writing Workshop, is held every 1st Wednesday of the month and led by poet and author James Coats.
Workshop is free: name your own price.
NOTE: See site for RSVP and details.
Where: Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online Zoom Event Zoom ID: 826 5843 0669 Password: justice
Website: Instagram Page
History Book Club: Positive Obsession at Cellar Door Bookstore – Online Zoom Event
Participants will discuss Positive Obsession by Susan M. Morris.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6675 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA 92506
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-09-02/history-book-club-positive-obsession
An Evening with Authors Danny Boehle and Dan Coonan at pages: a bookstore – In-Person Event
We are pleased to present an evening with co-authors Danny Boehle and Dan Coonan to celebrate the release of their new book, Second to None: A Coach’s Message of Love & Selflessness Propels Tiny El Segundo to a Dramatic Little League World Title on Wednesday, September 2nd at 6 pm.
Danny is the head coach of the 2023 Little League World Champion El Segundo team, a respected South Bay coach, and former co-owner of the legendary Fonz’s Restaurant. Dan is an acclaimed baseball historian and novelist.
Find out how a local Little League All Star team turned a coach’s message of love, family, and selflessness into one of the most unforgettable Little League World Series runs in history
Now you can hear the story from the people who lived it.
Where: pages: a bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://pagesabookstore.com/event/2026-09-02/evening-authors-danny-boehle-dan-coonan
AI Ethics Book Club: Culpability at Ambitious Ales – In-Person Event
Participants will discuss Culpability: A Novel by Bruce Holsinger.
When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver’s seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun. In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work. Yet each family member harbors a secret, implicating them all in the tragic accident.
Where: Bel Canto Bookstore
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 4019 Atlantic Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90807
Website: https://belcantobooks.net/events
Malibu Library Speaker Series: Jeanette Epps at Malibu Library, LACL – In-Person Event
The Malibu Library Speaker Series presents former astronaut Jeanette Epps at Malibu Library on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at 7 pm.
Dr. Jeanette J. Epps is a former trailblazing NASA astronaut, aerospace engineer, and former CIA intelligence officer whose remarkable career embodies leadership and a steadfast commitment to inspiring the next generation. With over 233 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as a mission specialist for SpaceX Crew-8, she has contributed to critical research, maintained complex space systems, and collaborated with international partners to advance human space exploration.
Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2009, Dr. Epps has undergone extensive mission training with both SpaceX and the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Her expertise includes robotics, spacewalk operations, and emergency preparedness, as well as international systems integration and mission control communications. Notably, she served as a Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) for EVA operations, exemplifying her leadership in high-stakes environments. Before joining NASA, Dr. Epps served as an intelligence officer at the CIA, where she rose to branch chief and was entrusted with high-level national security operations, including a deployment to Iraq with the Iraq Survey Group.
Dr. Epps attributes her perseverance and passion for learning to the strength and determination of her mother, who inspired her to dream big and lead by example. As one of only a few African American women to fly aboard the ISS, she understands firsthand the power of representation and uses her platform to mentor young people—particularly girls and underrepresented students in STEM and STEAM fields. Her outreach is grounded in the belief that anyone—regardless of background—can achieve extraordinary goals with curiosity and courage.
RSVPs required. RSVP online or call Malibu Library at 310.456.6438.
Where: Malibu Library, LACL
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 23519 West Civic Center Way, Malibu, CA 90265
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17124034
Ticketed Event: Chloe Benjamin, with Jordan Moblo, & Under Story at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Chloe Benjamin, in conversation with Jordan Moblo, will discuss Under Story.
The New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists returns with an intimate yet epic love story—and a sweeping odyssey of scientific discovery. Under Story invites us to consider the promise of this life, what might lie beyond it, and how far we would go for more time with the people we love, cementing Chloe Benjamin’s place among our best, and most lasting, storytellers.
“We wake up to tomorrow, never yesterday.”
At the edge of the world, biologist Laurel Salter is hiding from everything she’s ever known. For ten hours a day, six days per week, she works as a dishwasher at McMurdo Station, an isolated research base in Antarctica. She tells no one that before she arrived, she was a renowned young scientist with a promising career and family.
But even in this remote outpost, Laurel can’t escape her past. When a strange light appears across the ice—and draws a group of physicists to McMurdo—her former husband, Eli, won’t be far behind. Laurel is captivated by the Arc: its surreal glow; the way it seems almost alive. And though Eli is reluctant to test her wildest theory, Laurel is convinced that the Arc leads down a rabbit hole and into a world they can barely imagine. Can she persuade him to risk everything to fix the burden that hangs between them—to turn back the clock and live their story a second time?
A breathless page-turner and a love letter to our planet, Under Story grapples with the great questions of our time: human hubris, the precarity of the natural world, and the mysterious webs of consciousness that bind us. A modern epic of science and soul, of bravery and redemption, it offers a vision of the future that demands we reckon with what we owe to one another, and to the earth itself.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Wednesday, the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 8818 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
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 2nd
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
Ali Barthwell, with Kristin Chirico, & Reality TV for Snobs at Skylight – In-Person Event
Ali Barthwell, in conversation with Kristin Chirico, will present and discuss Reality TV for Snobs.
Turn skeptics into fans and fans into scholars with this smart, entertaining guide to 20 influential reality shows, from The Real World to The Traitors.
Find out everything you need to know to pass as a reality TV superfan—from fun factoids to insightful analysis—without watching a single show!
Stop scrolling past references to rose ceremonies and confessionals, and take a guilt-free tour through the wacky and wonderful world of reality television. Reality TV for Snobs will turn even the most skeptical viewer into a confident critic, maybe even a fan.
Emmy Award–winning writer and author Ali Barthwell goes beyond recapping and breaks down twenty groundbreaking shows from the past twenty-five years, and in the process reveals why they matter. From The Real World to The Traitors.
Reality TV for Snobs is the second book in the Outsider’s Guide series, which offers highly readable crash courses in major cultural phenomena, so you can catch the references and understand the big deal.
Never get left out of a conversation again!
Ali Barthwell is a writer who has been recapping reality TV shows since 2015. She is an Emmy-winning writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Her work has been featured in the AV Club and Chicago Magazine.
Kristin Chirico is a queer, fat, mixed Native (Cayuga, Seneca) comedian, writer, and YouTuber. Kristin spent nearly seven years as a writer and content creator for BuzzFeed, during which she starred in BuzzFeed’s Ladylike and The Empty Suitcase Show for Facebook Watch. Afterward, Kristin started her own YouTube channel (The Kitchen & Jorn Show) with fellow BuzzFeed alum Jen Ruggirello. Throughout Kristin’s career, her YouTube videos about food and fashion have earned over two billion views and counting.
Where: Skylight Books
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
Time: 7 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90027
Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-09-02/ali-barthwell-w-kristin-chirico-reality-tv-snobs
Andre Hardy, with Mark Sarvas, & Tear the City Down: A Novel at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Andre Hardy, in conversation with Mark Sarvas, will discuss Tear the City Down: A Novel.
This debut novel from a former NFL player is a hard-hitting, heart wrenching crime novel that brilliantly blends elements of jazz, football, and a gritty portrait of a city divided—perfect for fans of S.A. Cosby and Walter Mosley.
Coltrane Davis is at once a knight and a hustler. He has risen to wealth and success, graduating from San Diego’s back alleys to the halls of power through his partnership with Saul Sollman, a crooked kingmaker among the city’s elite. Running multimillion dollar scams with Saul, he has been Saul’s fixer, but now he wants out of the hustle so that he can focus on his teenage daughter’s burgeoning tennis career and finally be the dad he has always wanted to be.
But when the Los Angeles Chargers’ star running back vanishes one evening before a big game, Coltrane is drawn into an investigation of what happened by Saul and his protégé, the player’s agent; the stakes escalate with a gut-punch when the trail leads into San Diego’s underworld of drugs and prostitution and reveals clues to the disappearance of his daughter’s best friend, whose loss has haunted him.
Torn by the unreconcilable demands of the life he can’t seem to quit and the fierce desire he has to protect his own, Coltrane brings himself and his loved ones to the brink of destruction in his quest to free himself once and for all of Saul’s control—and focus on what really matters: family.
Andre Hardy has written across multiple genres, including creative nonfiction, essays and short stories, screenwriting, and long-form narrative. Andre’s essays, interviews, and critical analysis have been published in L.A. Tribe Magazine, Lunch Ticket, Antioch University’s cutting-edge literary and visual arts journal, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. His short story, “Negro in a Hot Tub,” is featured in Made in L.A.: An Anthology of Stories Rooted in the City of Angels, written by Los Angeles-based writers. Andre was the fourth pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1984 National Football League draft. He is a member of the NFL Retired Players Association and the NFL Legends Community, and he earned his MFA through the NFL Players Trust tuition reimbursement program. Andre resides in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife, renowned Buddhist meditation teacher JoAnna Hardy.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Wednesday, the 2nd
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-02/andre-hardy
Anansi Writers Workshop at The World Stage – In-Person Event
The Anansi Writers Workshop was founded in 1990 by Kamau Daáood, Akilah Oliver, Nafis Nabawi and Anthony Lyons. In 1993, Michael Datcher initiated the development of a three-part format for the workshop. Our tradition of a community workshop began in the late 1960s at the Watts Writers’ Workshop, where World Stage co-founder Kamau Daáood started his writing career. Hosted by Jessica Gallion aka “Yellawoman.”
- 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm — Formal workshop;
- 8:30 pm – 9:00 pm — TBA.
- 9:05 pm – 10:00 pm — Open mic.
Suggested: $10.00 Donation via PayPal: The World Stage Gallery.
NOTE: See site for further details and any change in the schedule. Contact on Instagram @ _yellawoman.
Where: The World Stage (use left rear entrance)
Date: Wednesday, the 2nd
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: Story Salon After Dark
Where: Art Parlor
Date: Wednesday the 2nd
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 2nd
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: Beyond Baroque Event Page
Poetry Reading & Open Mic by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry with Ben Trigg & Guest Will Slattery at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event
Host Ben Trigg guest poet Will Slattery to share his work
Slattery’s Wake, William Slattery’s new book-length poem, invites readers to “the party your mother warned you about…. sex, psychedelia, campus politics, fortune-telling, death, quantum physics, poetics, New Jersey Irishry, God, and tequila,” describes poet Tom Laichas. Slattery’s poems and essays have appeared in The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Poetry LA, Santa Clara Review, ONTHEBUS, The Herman Review, The Los Angeles Review of Los Angeles, Antioch Review, and elsewhere.
Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange
Date: Wednesday, the 2nd
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
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 7ooks & Coffee
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
Book Club: Separation of Church and Hate at Hermosa Beach Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a lively discussion of Separation of Church and Hate by John Fuglesang. Books are available for check out at the library. For adults.
Where: Hermosa Beach Library,LACL
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Address: 550 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16912234
Open Mic Night: Wendy Van Camp at Anaheim Central Library – In-Person Event
Join us every first Thursday of the month from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm for Open Mic Night at the Anaheim Central Library. Poets, singers, songwriters, storytellers, writers, comedians, dancers, supporters, and listeners are welcome! This month’s feature is Wendy Van Camp. Performer sign-ups begin at 4:15 p.m. The event is held in the multi-purpose room on the basement level. Hope to see you there!
Wendy Van Camp is Anaheim’s Poet Laureate Emerita. A dynamic voice in speculative poetry, Wendy blends cutting-edge technology, astronomy, and daydreams into her poetry. Her talent has earned her nominations for the Elgin Award, Pushcart Prize, Rhysling, and Dwarf Stars Award. Wendy’s poems, stories, and articles grace journals worldwide such as “Indie Author Magazine,” “Star*Line,” “Scifaikuest,” “Words of IF,” and “San Diego Poetry Annual.”
Where: Anaheim Central Library
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Address: 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim, CA 92805
Website: https://anaheim.libcal.com/event/15552897
Quarterly Open Mic Night at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Step up to the mic and share your voice! Our quarterly Open Mic Night invites stand-up comedians, poets, storytellers, and other spoken or written word artists to perform in a welcoming, creative space. For adults.
Whether you’re testing new material, debuting a poem, or just want to cheer on local talent, everyone’s welcome. No registration required to attend as an audience member. In-person performer registration opens at 4:50 pm on the day of the event and is first come, first served for up to 16 participants performing for a maximum of 7 minutes each.
Beverages provided by the Friends of the West Hollywood Library.
Where: West Hollywood Library,LACL
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16827555
Allspice Book Club: ZOMROMCOM at Cellar Door Bookstore – in-Person Event
Participants will discuss ZOMROMCOM by Olivia Dade.
Teaming up with your neighbor during a zombie outbreak is a no-brainer, but if it turns out he’s a vampire…the stakes couldn’t be higher, in this infectious new paranormal romance from the USA Today bestselling author of Spoiler Alert.
When Edie Brandstrup attempts to save her sweet, seemingly harmless human neighbor from the first major zombie breach in two decades, she’s stunned to be saved by him—and his ridiculously large sword—instead. As it turns out, he’s actually a super-old, super-surly vampire. But for all her neighbor’s newly revealed cynicism and lethality, Gaston “Max” Boucher (yes, Gaston) is unexpectedly protective. He wants her to stay in his safety bunker until the breach is resolved. Edie can’t risk more innocent people getting killed, though—and Max won’t let her save them alone.
Where: Cellar Door Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 6 pm – 7 pm
Address: 6675 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA 92506
Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-09-03/allspice-book-club-zomromcom
Palabra at The Cheech: Donato Martinez & Featured Guests at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, Riverside Art Museum – in-Person Event
Join us September 3, 2026, 6 pm – 9 pm for Palabra at The Cheech, a series that celebrates the wonderful tradition of floricanto, poesía, and the spoken word.
Our open mic poetry series will be co-hosted by Donato Martinez (@donatomartinez1).
Cory Besskepp Cofer (@besskepp_), is a poet with a hip hop mentality. Blending originality and rich heritage into his writings and performances, he gives a classic face to his urban-inspired works. A special education teacher, he also conducts workshops at colleges and universities, is co-founder of A Mic and Dim Lights poetry reading series, and is the author of Dreaming Under Polka-Dot Stars.
Brian Sonia-Wallace (@rentpoet), is the newly appointed Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. He is a Los Angeles–based poet, educator, and public artist whose work lives at the intersection of poetry, civic space, and queer community care. He is the founder of RENT Poet, a project grounded in the belief that poetry can be immediate, personal, and accessible, and which now brings teams of poets to weddings, corporate events, and Pride celebrations, creating one-on-one typewriter poems for thousands each year while generating paid opportunities for artists. The project reflects Brian’s guiding belief that “everyone deserves a poem.”
David Puma is an American poet, screenwriter, and workshop instructor known for his spoken word performances and community literary work in California. He frequently collaborates with the Inlandia Institute, teaching community writing courses such as The Spoken Page: Poetry, Dialogue, Monologue, and Scene at the Riverside Main Library.
Free admission
Open to the public
Where: The Cheech
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 6 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3581 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501
Website: Facebook Event Page
Fresh Grounds Open Mic: Madeline Wojack at Recreational Coffee – in-Person Event
Fresh Grounds #5 is returning to Recreational Coffee on September 3rd, featuring our very own Madeline Wojack!
Sign Ups are on a first come, first served, as is seating. We prioritize original literary work—no comedy, except in prose or verse. Grab a delicious coffee or beverage from our good friends and generous hosts up front before heading through to the inner courtyard.
Madeline Wojack has the privilege to call Long Beach her home for the past nine years. As a teacher and as one of the organizers of Fresh Grounds Open Mic, fostering the literary arts is one of her greatest passions. Most of her own work focuses on the horror of the body, even when she tries to write about other things
Where: Recreational Coffee
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 237 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: Facebook Event Page
Author Event: Margarita Nazarenko, with Claire Khodara, & Unbothered at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to welcome Margarita Nazarenko, in conversation with Claire Khodara, to discussUnbothered; The Art of Letting Go to Find Yourself.
Unbothered is a modern manifesto for the woman who’s done over-functioning in love. It speaks to the heart of a generation of women who are emotionally exhausted from chasing the unavailable, proving their worth, and holding relationships together alone.
After three years studying at London’s Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Margarita Nazarenko started her career in acting, adding appearances on The Bill, Doctors, and Home & Away to her resume, in addition to modelling, which saw her contest the title of Miss Universe. During this time, she discovered a passion for self-development and completed a Diploma in Life Coaching. With a huge following on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, along with her hit podcast Being Her, Margarita talks about everything from women’s confidence to relationships and love. She has carved out a niche for herself thanks to her authentic approach to feminine energy, finding your passion and accountability.
Where: Diesel, A Bookstore
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-09-03/margarita-nazarenko-unbothered
Laurel Woods & Strip Club Heiress at Book Soup – In-Person Event
Join us to hear Laurel Woods present and discuss her memoir, Strip Club Heiress.
When Laurel entered her father’s strip club at nine years old, she was dazzled by the kaleidoscope of lights, the shimmering silver of the disco ball.
After an injury, Laurel’s father, Michael Woods left the California Highway Patrol and took up a new career in high profile adult entertainment, opening the Jet Strip Club and building a successful business with his partner Horace Joseph McKenna Jr. (Big Mac). Their success came quickly, changing both of their lives.
Twelve years, multiple club openings, and millions of dollars later, Mac is found shot to death in his limo outside his ranch and Michael is the prime suspect. For ten years, the case goes unsolved, but Michael remained at the top of the list of suspects the whole time, eventually being arrested and convicted for the murder. Leaving the strip club empire to Laurel to manage, while fighting for her father’s freedom.
In this riveting memoir, Laurel Woods, shares raw memories from her childhood to adulthood exposing how her dad’s work and eventual imprisonment shaped her life in unexpected ways.
The case has been the subject of countless documentaries and whodunnit splashes on blogs. But no one knows the whole story…until now.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Thursday, the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://booksoup.com/event/2026-09-03/laurel-woods
LA Book Event: Stacey Marie Brown, with Meg Smitherman, & White Raven at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
To celebrate White Raven we’re hosting an LA book event with author Stacey Marie Brown on Thursday, September 3rd at 7 pm. Emily will discuss her new fantasy with author Meg Smitherman.
A book signing with the authors will follow.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Thursday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA, 90232
Website: https://therippedbodice.com/event/2026-09-03/stacey-marie-brown-la-book-event-white-raven
Ivy Pochoda, with Sara Gran, & Ecstasy at Skylight – In-Person Event
Join us to hear Ivy Pochoda, in conversation with Sara Gran, discuss Ecstasy.
A deliciously dark horror reimagining of a Greek tragedy, by Ivy Pochoda, winner of the LA Times Book Prize.
Lena wants her life back. Her wealthy, controlling, humorless husband has just died, and now she contends with her controlling, humorless son, Drew. Lena lands in Naxos with her best friend in tow for the unveiling of her son’s pet project—the luxurious Agape Villas.
Years of marriage amongst the wealthy elite has whittled Lena’s spirit into rope and sinew, smothered by tasteful cocktail dresses and unending small talk. On Naxos she yearns to rediscover her true nature, remember the exuberant dancer and party girl she once was, but Drew tightens his grip, keeping her cloistered inside the hotel, demanding that she fall in line.
Lena is intrigued by a group of women living in tents on the beach in front of the Agape. She can feel their drums at night, hear their seductive leader calling her to dance. Soon she’ll find that an ancient God stirs on the beach, awakening dark desires of women across the island. The only questions left will be whether Lena will join them, and what it will cost her.
Ecstasy is a riveting, darkly poetic, one-sitting read about empowerment, desire, and what happens when women reject the roles set out for them.
Ivy Pochoda is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Wonder Valley, Visitation Street, These Women, and Sing Her Down which won the LA Times Book Prize. She won the 2018 Strand Critics Award for Best Novel and the Prix Page America in France 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.
Sara Gran is the author is nine books, including the Claire DeWitt series and Come Closer.
Where: Skylight
Date: Thursday, the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-09-03/ivy-pochoda-w-sara-gran-ecstasy
Open Mic Night at Sons and Daughters Books – In-Person Event
Join us every 1st Thursday of the month for our Open Mic Night.
Perform poetry, music (acoustic only), monologues/scenes, and more!
Mic starts at 7, slots are 5 mins each, signups start at 6:45.
No comedians please. We have a separate night for that.
Where: Sons and Daughters Books
Date: Thursday, the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 7817 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046
Website: Instagram Page
Author Event: Myriam Gurba & Poppy State at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – In-Person Event
Join us to hear Myriam Gurba present and discuss Poppy State: A Labyrinth of Plants and a Story of Beginnings.
Join us on Thursday, September 3, 2026, at 7 pm for an author reading & conversation on the book Poppy State: A Labyrinth of Plants and a Story of Beginnings by Myriam Gurba. Myriam will read from her botanical memoir and facilitate a conversation around some of the book’s themes, including California native plants, susto, and storytelling as medicine.
No RSVP necessary. This is a free event. We’ll see you here!
Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore
Date: Thursday, the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: Instagram Page
Sonali Kolhatkar, with Adela De La Torre & Panel of Guests, & Breaking ICE: Community Defense Against State Terror and MAGA Fascism at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Sonali Kolhatkar, in conversation with Pablo Alvarado and Adela De La Torre, and a panel of activists, will discuss Breaking ICE: Community Defense Against State Terror and MAGA Fascism.
A gripping, on-the-ground account of the growing movement against state violence, featuring interviews with those on the frontlines of the fight for immigrant justice and what it means to belong.
Features a foreword by Salvadoran American journalist and author Roberto Lovato.
A war is being waged on the streets of the United States of America: MAGA’s violent anti-immigration regime is being challenged by a growing national movement dedicated to protecting communities and reversing racist and authoritarian policies. In Breaking ICE, award-winning journalist Sonali Kolhatkar presents her conversations with over a dozen movement organizers, lawyers, artists, labor leaders, and scholars on the frontlines of the fight. Through their courageous stories, Kolhatkar documents the impact of ICE violence, workplace raids, mass surveillance, and intimidation tactics, and how communities from Maine to California are organizing for a better world. Our present actions will not only determine the nature of American demographics from here on out, but also whether the future of the United States will look like an open multiracial democracy or a fascist police state.
Features conversations with: Pablo Alvarado, Nikki Marín Baena, Eduardo Delgado, Adela de la Torre, Shannon Gibney, Ron Gochez, David Huerta, Ibram X. Kendi, Robin D. G. Kelley, Josefina Lopez, Leonardo Martinez, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Favianna Rodriguez, Luis Rodriguez, Ruben Torres, Richard Wallace, Yohuru Williams, and Kent Wong. Foreword by Roberto Lovato.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Thursday, the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-03/sonali-kolhatkar
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 3rd
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
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: Friday the 4th
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 4th
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 4th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
Semillas Open Mic Event at La Colmena – In-Person Event
Semillas Open Mic offers poetry, music, and this month a special screening event.
This month’s open mic, join us for a special screening of La Colmena Sembrando el Futuro.
Doors at 6:45 pm
$3-$5 donation; no one turned away for lack of funds.
Bring your poetry, pros, music, and self!
Can’t wait to see you there!
Where: La Colmena
Date: Friday the 4th
Time: 6:45 pm – 8:45 pm
Address: 1901 W. Walnut St., Santa Ana, CA 92703e
Website: Instagram Page
An Evening of Poetry with Bri Stokes, Daryl Gussin, Land Flowers, Joseph Mosconi, Ivanna Baranova, Jasminne Morataya, and Nikolai Garcia at Heavy Manners Library – In-Person Event
Join us for an evening of poetry featuring:
Bri Stokes is a writer, editor, curator, cultural worker, producer and poet born, raised and living in Los Angeles, on unceded Tongva land. Her writing has appeared in BuzzFeed, 45th Parallel, Epiphany, the Northridge Review, and elsewhere. Bri is a former poetry editor at the now-disbanded Hecate Magazine, and served as the Managing Editor of Issue 04 of SKEW Magazine. Her debut chapbook, A Throat Full of Forest-Dirt, was published in late-2023 by Bottlecap Press. Earlier in 2023, she was longlisted for Thin Air Magazine’s “The Bird In Your Hands” prize for poetry. In 2018, she was awarded “Best Short Story” by the El Camino College Myriad for her speculative fiction piece, “Pr(e)y.” Bri is a 2024 Voodoonauts Fellow and an editorial assistant at HINCHAS Press.
Daryl Gussin is a writer and musician who has been awkwardly standing around at punk shows for the last twenty-something years. Thankfully at some point in his late teens, he decided to become a little more productive, and has been working on zines, setting up shows, and playing in bands consecutively since then. In 2006, he became integrally involved in Razorcake fanzine where he is currently the managing editor. His writing revolves around the honest, bittersweet, and ultimately triumphant aspects of counterculture and its flavorful inhabitants. The heartbreaks, the implosions, and the defiant victories. Community over commercialism, create and destroy.
Land Flowers, a Jamaican-American poet, novelist, and essayist active in the contemporary literary scene, whose work spans across poetry and prose, has been featured in major collaborative anthologies like Catching Fire: The Los Angeles Wildfires published by Three Rooms Press.
Joseph Mosconi is a writer and taxonomist based in Los Angeles. A former Google computational linguist, he is currently the executive director of the Poetic Research Bureau, a co-founder and programmer at 2220 Arts+Archives, and an editor at Make Now Books. He is the author of several books, including Ashenfolk (Make Now Books, 2019), Fright Catalog (Insert Blanc Press, 2013), Demon Miso/Fashion In Child (Make Now Books, 2014), Renaissance Realism (Gauss PDF, 2016), and, with Pauline Beaudemont, an artist book called This Arrogant Envelope (FCAC Geneva, 2017). With Rita Gonzalez he edited the art and poetry journal Area Sneaks. His poems have been selected for the BAX: Best American Experimental Writing anthology for the years 2014 and 2015. With Andrew Maxwell, he curated an exhibition, THIS KNOWN WORLD: Spontaneous Particulars of the Poetic Research Bureau at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2017.
Ivanna Baranova is a poet and artist from the Pacific Northwest living in Los Angeles, working across language, sound, image, and movement. She is Co-Director of The Poetic Research Bureau and former Creative Communications Coordinator of The Poetry Project. Recent books include Threshold (Inpatient Press, 2024) and Continuum (Metatron Press, 2023).
Jasminne Morataya is a first-generation Colombian American and with that alone comes a different way of life here in America. The resilience both my grandparents and parents needed to have to uproot their families and move to a different country without speaking the language or understanding the culture was tremendous. Her own healing journey led to a career as an energy healer, spiritual guide, and grief facilitator.
Nikolai Garcia is a poet from South Central L.A. and has been published in the anthologies, The Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles, (Tia Chucha Press, 2016), & Extreme: An Anthology for Social and Environmental Justice, (Vagabond Books, 2018), and in various literary journals. He is the author of Nuclear Shadows of Palm Trees, released by DSTL Arts in 2019 and All the Sad Music, released by DSTL Arts in 2025. He is cohost of Trenches Full of Poets, a reading series in Long Beach.
This reading will also include a fundraiser with tons of prizes to benefit Heavy Manners Library!
Where: Heavy Manners Library
Date: Friday the 4th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 2115 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: Instagram Page
LA Book Event: Emily Charlotte, with Alyssa Villaire, & Catching Feelings at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
To celebrate Catching Feelings we’re hosting an LA book event with author Emily Charlotte on Friday, September 4th at 7 pm. Emily will discuss her Varsity series with author Alyssa Villaire.
Emily Charlotte is an LA-based author of the Varsity series and other slow-burn romances. By day, she overconsumes iced coffee and teaches English to students who patiently put up with her research questions; by night, she overthinks reality dating shows and admires athletes with far more coordination than she’s ever possessed. Visit her at EmilyCharlotteBooks.com.
A book signing with the authors will follow.
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Friday the 4th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA, 90232
Website: https://therippedbodice.com/event/2026-09-04/emily-charlotte-la-event-catching-feelings
Fresh Friday Open Mic with L.A. Poet Society at Senor Fish, Eagle Rock – In-Person Event
Join L.A. Poet Society at Fresh Friday open mic every 1st Friday of the month at Señor Fish! A great lineup of writers TBA and we hope to see you there.
See site for details.
Where: Senor Fish, Eagle Rock
Date: Friday the 4th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 4803 N. Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
Website: Instagram Page
T.J. English, with Dennis Lehane, & Blood in the Desert at Skylight – In-Person Event
Join us to hear T.J. English, in discussion with Dennis Lehane, discuss Blood in the Desert: The T.J. English Reader.
The world of print journalism may be waning, but the art of reporting is anything but dead. A former New York City taxi driver turned acclaimed chronicler of crime, corruption, and the American underworld, T. J. English has spent four decades practicing a form of literary journalism that is as vital as ever. The author of classic works such as The Westies, Havana Nocturne, and The Corporation, English has earned a place alongside legends like Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamill, and Gay Talese.
Blood in the Desert: The T. J. English Reader collects, for the first time, the finest of English’s published essays and reporting alongside new work, including the haunting title piece, which has never before appeared in print. Spanning subjects as varied as jazz, boxing, police corruption, violence in the desert Southwest, and the comedy of George Carlin, this book showcases a scribe drawn toward the fault lines of American life.
With a foreword by bestselling novelist Dennis Lehane, Blood in the Desert stands as both a celebration of a tireless truth-teller and a reminder that great writing never loses its power.
T.J. English is a veteran journalist and author whose work has chronicled organized crime, boxing, race, music, politics, and American subcultures for more than forty years. Four of his books have been NY Times best-sellers, and four have been nominated for an Edgar Award in the category of Fact Crime. His books have been translated into multiple languages and praised for their combination of rigorous reporting and literary power.
Dennis Lehane is a best-selling author of more than a dozen novels. Four of his books have been adapted into movies: Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood, Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese, and Gone Baby Gone and Live by Night, both directed by Ben Affleck. He also wrote for the highly acclaimed HBO television series The Wire.
Where: Skylight
Date: Friday, the 4th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-09-04/tj-english-w-dennis-lehane-blood-desert
Open Mic Night at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore– In-Person Event
Join our monthly Open Mic Night every 1st Friday at Tia Chucha’s.
Check to verify.
Contact Info: Cecelia@tiachuchas.org 818-930-3433
Where: Tia Chuch’s
Date: Friday, the 4th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd, Sylmar, CA 91342
Website: Instagram Page
Sara Kehaulani Goo, with Averie Huffine, & Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai’i at Vroman’s –- In-Person Event
Sara Kehaulani Goo, with Averie Huffine will present and discuss Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai’i .
Set in one of the world’s most beautiful landscapes, Kuleana is the story of an award-winning journalist’s effort to hold on to her family’s ancestral Hawaiian lands—and find herself along the way.
From an early age, Sara Kehaulani Goo was enchanted by her family’s land in Hawai‘i. The vast area on the rugged shores of Maui’s east side—given by King Kamehameha III in 1848—extends from mountain to sea, encompassing ninety acres of lush, undeveloped rainforest jungle along the rocky coastline and a massive sixteenth-century temple with a mysterious past.
When a property tax bill arrives with a 500 percent increase, Sara and her family members are forced to make a decision about the property: fight to keep the land or sell to the next offshore millionaire. When Sara returns to Maui from the mainland, she reconnects with her great-uncle Take and uncovers the story of how much land her family has already lost over generations, centuries-old artifacts from the temple, and the insidious displacement of Native Hawaiians by systemic forces.
Part journalistic offering and part memoir, Kuleana interrogates deeper questions of identity, legacy, and what we owe to those who come before and after us. Sara’s breathtaking story of unexpected homecomings, familial hardship, and fierce devotion to ancestry creates a refreshingly new narrative about Hawai‘i, its native people, and their struggle to hold on to their land and culture today.
Sara Kehaulani Goo is a journalist and senior news executive who has led several news organizations including Axios, NPR and The Washington Post. She is the former editor-in-chief at Axios, where she launched the company’s editorial expansion into national and local newsletters, podcasts, and live journalism. Before Axios, she led online audience growth as a managing editor at NPR, overseeing the newsroom’s digital news operation. Goo also served as news director at The Washington Post, where she also served as a business editor and reporter. Originally from Dana Point, California, she graduated from the University of Minnesota’s journalism school. She lives in Washington, D.C.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Friday, the 4th
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-04/sara-kehaulani-goo
L.A. Book Launch: Pyrrhic Symphony by Adam O. Davis & Guestsat Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
Join us for a celebration of Adam O. Davis’ second poetry collection.
Beyond Baroque presents a book launch for Adam O. Davis’ award-winning second poetry collection, Pyrrhic Symphony (University of Nebraska Press, 2026) with Blas Falconer, Arthur Kayzakian, and Diana Marie Delgado in the Wanda Coleman Theater.
Pyrrhic Symphony is wild, whip-smart, and irreverent—a maximalist elegy for late capitalism and ecological disaster, set to a beat both comic and catastrophic. It’s part Muriel Rukeyser, part Anne Carson, with a dash of HBO satire and TED Talk dystopia. Its central conceit—a series of poetic ‘dispatches’ from a world breaking under the weight of its own consumption—is sustained across dazzling poems like ‘Future Tense’ and ‘Anthropocene Cool.’”—Rowan Ricardo Phillips, poetry editor for the New Republic and author of Living Weapon
Adam O. Davis is the author of Pyrrhic Symphony (University of Nebraska Press, 2026), winner of the Raz/Shumaker Book Prize, and Index of Haunted Houses (Sarabande, 2020), winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize. The recipient of awards from Poetry International and the Poetry Society of America, his work has received support from the Community of Writers, the New Literary Project, The Prague Summer Program, and Vermont Studio Center. The co-creator and host of the Poetry Goes to the Movies podcast, his poetry has appeared in AGNI, The Believer, The Best American Poetry, The Paris Review, and ZYZZYVA. He lives in San Diego where he teaches English literature at The Bishop’s School. He was also once hit by lightning. It felt, more or less, like you’d expect.
Blas Falconer is the author of five poetry collections, including Rara Avis (Four Way Books 2024), winner of the Thom Gunn Award; Forgive the Body This Failure (Four Way Books, 2018); and The Founding Wheel (Four Way Books, 2012). He is also a co-editor for The Other Latin@: Writing Against a Singular Identity (University of Arizona Press, 2011) and Mentor & Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets (Southern Illinois University Press, 2010). The recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award from Poets & Writers, a Tennessee Individual Artist Grant, the New Delta Review Eyster Prize for Poetry, and the Barthelme Fellowship, he lives in Los Angeles and teaches in the MFA program at San Diego State University where he serves as the editor in-chief of Poetry International Online.
Arthur Kayzakian is the author of The Book of Redacted Paintings (Black Lawrence Press, 2023), finalist for the 2023 Kate Tufts Award and winner of Black Lawrence Press’ inaugural Immigrant Writing Series, and My Burning City (Finishing Line Press, 2023). The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and San Diego State University, he serves as the Poetry Chair for the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). A contributing editor at Poetry International, his work has appeared in several publications, including The Adroit Journal, Portland Review, Chicago Review, Cincinnati Review, The Southern Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Witness Magazine.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Friday, the 4th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm (Doors at 7 pm)
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90291
Website: Beyond Baroque Event Page
SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music Event at Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center – In-Person Event
SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music is offered every 1st & 3rd Friday of the month and hosted by Loranzo Frank.
Featured guests: TBA
Tickets at Eventbrite.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center
Date: Friday, the 4th
Time: 8 pm – 12 am
Address: 4305 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website: https://www.depoet.info/swaam
Rapp Saloon Reading Series: First Fridays Open Mic with host Cynthia Alessandra Briano at Rapp Saloon, Santa Monica – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event
First Fridays at Rapp Saloon is celebrating 10 years and has an Open Mic & Featured Readers every 1st Friday of the month.
First Friday: Cynthia Alessandra Briano, Host
This is a hybrid event, live in-person while offering a Zoom option for our performers and guests.
NOTE: See site or flyer for details.
Where: Rapp Saloon at HISUA
Date: Friday, the 4th
Time: 8 pm – 11 pm
Address: 1436 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Website: Instagram Page
Lit Angels: Morning Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Do you want to find creative inspiration and overcome writer’s block in a supportive and peaceful community setting? Are you interested in writing professionally or for personal growth and healing but unsure where to begin?
Come join acclaimed author and writing instructor Francesca Lia Block for a brief intro and 40 minutes of free writing on any topic without judgement. Afterwards, you will be able to share a bit about your process and ask Francesca questions about your writing.
Francesca Lia Block is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association, and from the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, and PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY. Currently she teaches creative writing at UCLA Extension, Antioch University, Pocket MFA, and numerous workshops across the country. Francesca also edits LIT ANGELS, a literary journal available on Substack. Her latest novel is House of Hearts now out in paperback. https://www.francescaliablock.com/
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 10 am – 11 am
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
Western Edge Writers at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Writers and aspiring writers, join us for a group that supports writing endeavors of all genres: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and memoir.
Please email eaglrk@lapl.org for the writing prompt.
Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 10 am
Address: 5027 Caspar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90041
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/western-edge-writers-1
Saturday Morning Book Discussion: We the People at Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us as we continue discussing the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2025. Enjoy great conversation, good company, and coffee! Copies are available in print as well as ebooks on Hoopla and Libby.
Sep. 5: We the People by Jill Lepore.
Where: Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 10 am
Address: 2920 Overland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/saturday-morning-book-discussion
Fall in Love with Poetry: Week 1 of 4 with Kim Dower at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Join us for a poetry workshop with former West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Kim Dower. For adults.
This September, sharpen your poet’s eye! Former West Hollywood City Poet Laureate (2016-2018) Kim Dower offers a fun, immersive three-hour workshop designed for anyone from poetry beginners to published poets. Awaken your senses, read works by a diverse group of poets, practice fever writing, and take home pieces and ideas you can develop into finished poems. Sponsored by the Friends of the West Hollywood Library.
Attendance is limited, and advance registration is required. This will be used to save your spot in the program. We cannot guarantee availability for any unregistered attendees. This is the first of a four-program series that will be held on September 5, 12, 19, and 26. Each program date has its own event page. Please register individually for all of the dates you would like to attend.
Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 10:30 am – 1:30 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16827593
گروه کتابخوانی فارسی در کتابخانه وست ولی Persian Book Club at West Valley Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
:کتاب خود ا به اشتراک بگذارید
کتابی را که خواندید به دیگران هم معرفی کنید
تحلیل کتاب/ بحث و گفتگوی دوستانه
Where: West Valley Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 11 am – 1 pm
Address: 19036 Vanowen St., Reseda, CA 91335
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/grwh-ktabkhwany-farsy-dr-ktabkhanh-wst-wly-persian-book-club
Book Club: The Personal Librarian at Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
Join us as we discuss The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict.
Where: Los Feliz Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 11 am
Address: 1874 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/book-club-personal-librarian
Pajama Storytime with Caroline L. Perry & A Hug for Punch at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Kids Event
Wear your PJ’s and bring your stuffie to storytime to hear the inspiring story of Punch, the tiny, orphaned monkey who has captured the hearts of millions around the world. Viral social media sensation Punch and his beloved stuffed orangutan have captivated internet users worldwide. Now the heartwarming tale of his search for love and belonging is available for the first time as a picture book: A Hug for Punch.
Caroline L. Perry is the author of The Corgi and the Queen, which was selected as one of VOGUE Magazine’s Best Gifts For Kids. She has also written Messi’s Magic, a Junior Library Guild Gold Medal pick; The Memory Cake; and I Am Not Happy!, which was a Kids’ Indie Next List Pick. I Am Not Grumpy! is forthcoming.
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
Pasadena Conservatory & Musical Storytime featuring All the Ice Cream in the Land by Emmy Kastner at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event
Join us to hear the Pasadena Conservatory & Musical Storytime, featuring All the Ice Cream in the Land by Emmy Kastner.
Caregivers and children ages 3-9 enjoy a story paired with musical accompaniment, interactive musical play, and a mini-concert featuring PCM students!
In the timeless tradition of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, this hilarious cumulative fairy tale introduces a silly cast of all-too-eager loyal subjects, a kingdom’s worth of ice cream, and one baffled princess.
Emmy Kastner is an author and illustrator of children’s books. A former high school teacher, Emmy taught English and science in San Francisco. Upon moving back to Michigan, she cofounded the youth writing center Read and Write Kalamazoo (RAWK). RAWK is devoted to celebrating and amplifying youth voices through the cultivation of reading and writing skills via joy, creativity, equity, and access. Emmy lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with her husband and three kids, their dog, and two cats. She spends most days writing and making art in her studio above her family’s coffee shop.
Get ready to laugh your way through this surprising cumulative tale that’s full of unexpected twists, turns, and more cows than you can count!
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 11:30 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-05/pcm-musical-storytime
Writers Supporting Writers at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person Event
Looking for a place to connect with fellow writers and grow your craft? Join Writers Supporting Writers! For adults.
Writers Supporting Writers is a monthly library writing group that meets on the first Saturday of every month for writing exercises, thoughtful discussions of attendees’ works in progress, and engaging analysis of published works. We offer an inclusive and supportive environment for writers of every background and experience level to create, share, and grow.
Beverages provided by the Friends of the West Hollywood Library.
Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 12 pm – 2 pm
Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16471549
Reading & Opening Reception: X: On the Road & At the Crossroads 1980-2024 at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event
Join us for a celebration of X: On the Road & At the Crossroads 1980-2024: Photographs by Michael Hyatt.
Opening reception: Saturday, September 5, 3:00-5:00 pm
Reading: 2:00 pm
The exhibition, alongside the book published by Perceval Press, features photographs of the legendary Los Angeles punk band X spanning 1980 to 2025. Hyatt first traveled with the band as their photographer during their debut tour in December 1980, continued documenting them on two additional early tours, and reunited with X to photograph four performances in Texas in 2025. The exhibition includes group and solo portraits, live performance photographs, and behind-the-scenes candid images.
Hyatt frames the book as a chronicle of the band traversing the American landscape, inspired by Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. The book also features a foreword by Chris Morris.
In celebration of the exhibition opening, Beyond Baroque will also host a reading in the Wanda Coleman Theater featuring X co-lead singer and poet Exene Cervenka, with S.A. Griffin, Brendan Constantine, Chris Morris, Iris Berry, and mike m mollet. The reading will be emceed by Henry Mortensen.
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
Date: Saturday, the 5th
Time: 2 pm – 5 pm
Address: 681 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90291
Website: Beyond Baroque Event Page
Author Event: Scott Campbell & Cabin Head and Tree Head: Feeling Good at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Event
Get your head in a fun book with the newest Cabin Head and Tree Head graphic novel! Author-illustrator Scott Campbell will share the second book in the series, Feeling Good, with a drawing demo. After the presentation, he will be available to sign books. Best for ages 6+.
Book 2 includes 6 hilarious adventures in a wonderfully off-the-wall universe where everyone has something on their head! Includes bonus content: Storytime with Library Head, Notable Spots with Tour Bus Head and Sandcastle Building with Sandcastle Head.
Cabin Head and Tree Head return for some “sunny day relaxing” and are ready to experience the joys of the beach, alone time, getting in strong shape, rewarding their accomplishments (like breathing) and other important activities (like posing and lying down).
Yes, they are feeling good! And so are their equally unforgettable buddies—Pool Party Head, Little Brick Head, Gym Head—and so many more! Let’s go feel good with all the Heads!
Scott Campbell (sometimes called Scott C.) has hair and occasionally a hat on his head. He creates books, comics, paintings, illustrations, and video games. Scott is the author and illustrator of the Cabin Head and Tree Head series and Hug Machine, and is the illustrator of the Zombie in Love series, among other children’s books. He has worked as an art director on games such as Psychonauts, published numerous comics and is the creator of the Great Showdowns series. His paintings have appeared in galleries and publications around the world. Scott lives in Los Angeles with his Family Heads.
If you can’t make it to the event, you can order signed books in advance at our website.
Where: Once Upon a Time
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 2 pm
Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: Once Upon a Time Event Page
Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Poetry Writing Workshop – Online Zoom Event
Join us online for a Poetry Writing Workshop with DKC. (Submit up to 3 poems totaling no more than 150 lines including the subject of or at least mentioning remote for Four Feathers Press online edition: REMOTE by emailing donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59 pm, September 18th).
All events are curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry, Online
Date: Saturday, the 5th
Time: 3 pm – 4:30 pm
Address: Online SAP Zoom Event
Website: https://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/
Pondwater Society: Features and Open Mic at Private Residence – In-Person Event
Join us for a monthly reading series on the 1st Saturday of the month in Covina.
Check to verify details.
Suggested donation: $10
Where: Pondwater Society
Date: Saturday, the 5th
Time: 5 pm – 8 pm
Address: 16504 E. Masline St., Covina, CA 91722
Website: Instagram Page
Sara Kehaulani Goo, with Averie Huffine & Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai’i at Vroman’s – In-Person Event
Join us to hear Sara Kehaulani Goo, in conversation with Averie Huffine, discuss Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai’i.
Set in one of the world’s most beautiful landscapes, Kuleana is the story of an award-winning journalist’s effort to hold on to her family’s ancestral Hawaiian lands—and find herself along the way.
“A powerful story of land, belonging, loss, and survival that challenges us all to think about what we are responsible for.” —Rebecca Nagle, bestselling author of By the Fire We Carry
From an early age, Sara Kehaulani Goo was enchanted by her family’s land in Hawai‘i. The vast area on the rugged shores of Maui’s east side—given by King Kamehameha III in 1848—extends from mountain to sea, encompassing ninety acres of lush, undeveloped rainforest jungle along the rocky coastline and a massive sixteenth-century temple with a mysterious past.
When a property tax bill arrives with a 500 percent increase, Sara and her family members are forced to make a decision about the property: fight to keep the land or sell to the next offshore millionaire. When Sara returns to Maui from the mainland, she reconnects with her great-uncle Take and uncovers the story of how much land her family has already lost over generations, centuries-old artifacts from the temple, and the insidious displacement of Native Hawaiians by systemic forces.
Part journalistic offering and part memoir, Kuleana interrogates deeper questions of identity, legacy, and what we owe to those who come before and after us. Sara’s breathtaking story of unexpected homecomings, familial hardship, and fierce devotion to ancestry creates a refreshingly new narrative about Hawai‘i, its native people, and their struggle to hold on to their land and culture today.
Where: Vroman’s
Date: Saturday the 5th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-04/sara-kehaulani-goo
The Griot Café Open Mic with Tommy Domino at Shades of Afrika – In-Person Event
Join host Tommy Domino for The Griot Café every first Saturday inside The Shades of Afrika for: good vibes, spoken word, poetry and more!
Feature: @pw.writing
PW is a passionate educator, accomplished published author, and dedicated wordsmith who brings a unique blend of creativity and strategic thinking to every endeavor. With a background in education, a degree in English with an emphasis in technical writing, and a track record of success in guiding aspiring writers, she is committed to fostering transformative learning experiences.
As the founder of Skegee Speaks and a Teaching Assistant for the Long Beach Chapter of Community Literature Initiative, PW seamlessly merges art and education, empowering individuals beyond textbooks. Her published poetry collection, Fever Memory, stands proudly in branches of the Los Angeles Public Library, a testament to her commitment to impactful storytelling.
Music: DJ PW
$10 cash only
Where: Shades of Afrika
Date: Saturday, the 5th
Time: 8 pm
Address: 1001 4th St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: Instagram Page
Lit Angels: Morning Writing with Francesca Lia Block at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event
Do you want to find creative inspiration and overcome writer’s block in a supportive and peaceful community setting? Are you interested in writing professionally or for personal growth and healing but unsure where to begin?
Come join acclaimed author and writing instructor Francesca Lia Block for a brief intro and 40 minutes of free writing on any topic without judgement. Afterwards, you will be able to share a bit about your process and ask Francesca questions about your writing.
Francesca Lia Block is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association, and from the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, and PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY. Currently she teaches creative writing at UCLA Extension, Antioch University, Pocket MFA, and numerous workshops across the country. Francesca also edits LIT ANGELS, a literary journal available on Substack. Her latest novel is House of Hearts now out in paperback. https://www.francescaliablock.com/
Where: Village Well Books & Coffee
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
Zine-Making Workshop 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 6th
Time: 12 pm – 2 pm
Address: 9900 Culver Blvd. #1B, Culver City, CA 90232
Website: Event Page
Mystery Book Club: at West Los Angeles Regional Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event
We meet on the first Sunday of each month to discuss a mystery, thriller, or suspense book picked by the group. For current titles, please contact the West LA Library at westla@lapl.org or 310-575-8323.
Where: West Los Angeles Regional Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Address: 11360 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025
Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/mystery-book-club-21
Writers Group at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event
Bring paper and a pen, bring your laptop, bring a prompt to share, bring a project to work on or just come prepared to free write among other writers, and perhaps exchange projects and feedback!
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 4:30 pm to closing
Address: 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
The Sunday Jump Open Mic: Featuring Jen Cheng at Pilipino Workers Center – In-Person Event
Summer is still in full swing, and we’re bringing the heat to Historic Filipinotown. 🔥
Join us on Saturday, September 6, from 5 pm – 7 pm at the Pilipino Workers Center for an evening of community, powerful performances, open mic, and all the good vibes
This month’s focus is Heat Vision.
Heat Vision is about looking closely at the warmth, urgency, and possibility already living within us and our communities. It’s about seeing through the fire and honoring what calls for our attention while imagining the future we want to build together.
Open mic sign-ups begin at 4:30 pm and will be lottery-based so everyone has a fair chance to take the stage.
@jencvoice, performing feature:
Jen Cheng is a multi-disciplinary storyteller, weaving her skills as a poet, writer, musician, improvisor, and artist. She helps create your story and amplify under-represented stories. Jen is a community curator and cross-pollinator, former Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, curator of Palabras Literary Salon and other events, and author of the collection Braided Spaces.
@youngstorytellers, community spotlight
@paru_frances, food & drink
@mloutheartist, merch
@abi.gailpidazo, host
@djwonbp, sound selection
Where: Pilipino Workers Center
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 4:30 pm – 7 pm
Address: 153 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: Instagram Page
Poetry Open Mic at Chevalier’s – In-Person Event
Come one come all! ⋆˙⟡ free to read or listen.
All short form creative writing welcome!
Sunday, September 6th at 6:30 here at the shop.
Where: Chevalier’s
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 133 Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-09-06/poetry-open-mic
Queer Romance LA Book Club: Futbolista at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event
Bookseller Elizabeth leads our Queer Romance book club.
Queer Romance book club meets on the first Sunday of the month at 7:15 pm. We will read widely across the romance genre featuring LGBTQIA authors.
Everyone is welcome. No membership is necessary, but RSVP is required.
Book for September: Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa.
A classmates-to-friends-to-lovers romance that’s equal parts raunchy, heartfelt, queer, and Mexican-American, perfect for fans of The Prospects and Red, White, and Royal Blue!
Where: The Ripped Bodice
Date: Sunday the 6th
Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 3806 Main St., Culver City, CA, 90232
Website: https://therippedbodice.com/event/2026-09-06/queer-romance-la-book-club-september-2026
Los Angeles Literature 