Los Angeles Literature Events: 9/21/26 – 9/27/26

Middle Grade Book Talk: The Grimlore Game by Kalyn Josephson, with Autumn Krause, at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person MG Event

Join us for a conversation with Kalyn Josephson, author of the brand new middle grade fantasy The Grimlore Game!

Kayln will be joined by author Autumn Krause (The Gods Will Sing Our Song) for a discussion.

A brand-new cozy gothic series that’s The Inheritance Games for middle grade readers—filled with family curses, talking cats, and clever clues!

SOLVE THE PUZZLES. SURVIVE THE GAME.

Orphan Kit Devlin knows two things for sure about her scheming relatives:

1. They’re cursed, with someone doomed to croak every three years like clockwork.

2. They only care about one thing: themselves.

When wealthy Grandpa Amos dies, all the Devlins come running to his manor for their piece of the inheritance—only to find a mysterious magical game instead. Whoever solves the riddles will win his fortune. But everything is not what it seems, like the misfit cousin with secrets to hide and the crimson-eyed cat who only talks to Kit. As the clues stack up, Kit learns there’s more to the family curse—and her connection to it—than she ever suspected. If she wants answers, she has to survive the game…and win.

Kalyn Josephson is a New York Times bestselling author, sometimes-baker, and full-time consumer of too much tea. She lives on the California coast with two tiny black cats in a house in constant need of repair. She is the author of several fantasy series for kids, teens, and adults, as well as the owner of The Cove Books.

Autumn Krause was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her grandfather, his three siblings, and her great-grandmother were interned at Gila River Camp in Arizona during WWII, while her great-grandfather fought in the 442nd, the only all-Japanese regimental combat team. She writes: “The internment was knit into my life, a deep injustice never talked about with any theatrics, but always present, a memory living beyond the confines of its dates to form the backdrop of mine.” Autumn lives in Orange County, California, with her husband and children. She is a critically acclaimed author of Before the Devil Knows You’re Here, an Amazon and Kirkus Best Book of the Year.

Reserve your seat at website link!

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Monday the 21^st

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Book Club for Adults: Private Rome at Vermont Square Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Please join us for a conversation about Private Rome, by James Patterson.

In this fast-paced thriller, investigators from Private, the world’s most exclusive detective agency, are drawn into a series of dangerous cases across Rome, where murder, corruption, and hidden conspiracies collide. Together, we’ll explore the novel’s themes of justice, loyalty, deception, and the pursuit of truth in a warm, welcoming, and inclusive space where all perspectives are encouraged and respected.

Where: Vermont Square Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 21^st

Time: 5 pm – 6 pm

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

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

Laufey Book Club: Kitten at Chevalier’s – In-Person Event

Please join us for our first meeting where we will be discussing Kitten: A Novel by Stacy Yu.

An enchanting debut novel about a young woman whose growing obsession with her boyfriend’s cat opens new possibilities for her life—but not without threatening to unravel it.

Where: Chevalier’s

Date: Monday the 21^st

Time: 5 pm – 6 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-09-21/laufey-book-club

Philosophical Horror Book Club: Molka at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Please join us for a conversation about Molka by Monika Kim.

From the award-winning author of The Eyes Are the Best Part, praised by The New York Times Book Review as “violent, smart, gruesome and wildly original,” a provocative journey into a perilous world of voyeurism, scandal, female rage, and vengeance…pursued with a very sharp kitchen knife.

Molka: an abbreviation of molrae-kamera, a “sneaky camera” hidden to capture covert images and videos for voyeurs.

In an unassuming Seoul workplace, IT technician Junyoung’s network reaches throughout the entire building. He sees every entrance. Every lobby. Every bathroom. The women in this building may be cold and dismissive, but he can always pull up his favorite images of them and remember who holds the real power. Until one, Dahye, sets herself apart from the rest.

Monika Kim is an acclaimed, Sunday Times bestselling author of horror novels. Her debut, The Eyes Are the Best Part, was a TIME Magazine, New York Times, B&N, and Kobo Best of the Year, as well as a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist and a Bram Stoker Award nominee. A second-generation Korean American, she learned about eating fish eyes and other Korean superstitions from her mother, who immigrated to California from Seoul in 1985. She lives in Los Angeles’s Koreatown and can be found online at Monika-Kim.com.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Monday the 21^st

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 6675 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA 92506

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-09-21/philosophical-horror-book-club-molka

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 pm – 8 pm at Bar Alcove & Bakery

All writers and all experience levels are welcome!

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

Hosted by @literarypixie!

RSVP at link in bio.

Where: Sidewalk Grill

Date: Monday the 21^st

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!

Where: Back to the Grind, Riverside

Date: Monday the 21^st

Time: 7 pm

Address: 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA 92501

Website: Facebook Page

Lynette Rice, with Ellen Crawford, & ER: The Oral History at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Lynette Rice, in conversation with Ellen Crawford, will discuss ER: The Oral History, a deep dive into the show that began the modern medical drama phenomenon, and it contains new interviews with over 60 people, including John Wells and Noah Wyle (showrunner and star of the original ER, respectively, and executive producers of HBO’s The Pitt), Eriq LaSalle, Laura Innes, Ming-Na Wen, Paul McCrane, Rick Rossovich, and Goran Visnjic.

As the efficient Nurse Lydia Wright on the NBC series ER, Ellen Crawford had the distinction of uttering its first line. Her character went on to marry Sgt. Al Grabarsky, played by her real-life husband, Mike Genovese. Nurse Lydia was on staff at fictional County General Hospital for ten seasons, then returned for the series finale in an homage to the first scene of the pilot. Ellen received four SAG Awards for Best Ensemble and the TVLand Icon Award for ER. She was reunited with George Clooney as her director in Suburbicon, and is known for her role in the indie cult hit, The Man From Earth. Other television work includes The Rookie, Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, CSI and Boston Legal.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Monday the 21^st

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Mona Awad & We Love You, Bunny: A Novel at Skylight – In-Person Event

Mona Awad will discuss We Love You, bunny: A Novel, the highly anticipated follow-up to the viral sensation Bunny, a brilliantly written and delirious literary horror novel set in the Bunny-verse—a world that Margaret Atwood declared “soooo genius.”

In the cult classic novel Bunny, Samantha Heather Mackey was first ostracized and then seduced by a clique of creepy-sweet rich girls in her New England MFA program who call themselves “Bunny.” An invitation to the Bunnies’ Smut Salon leads Samantha down a dark rabbit hole (pun intended) into the violently surreal world of their off-campus workshops.

When We Love You, Bunny opens, Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it’s her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies’ side of the story in this “dark, twisted satire of academia” (The New York Times).

We Love You, Bunny is both a prequel and a sequel, and a darkly comic and totally complete stand-alone novel that “feels like Han Kang’s The Vegetarian meets the 80s film Heathers” (People).

Mona Awad is the bestselling author of the novels Rouge, All’s Well, Bunny, and 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl. She is a three-time finalist for a Goodreads Choice Award, the recipient of an Amazon Best First Novel Award, and she was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Bunny was a finalist for a New England Book Award and was named a Best Book of 2019 by Time, Vogue, and the New York Public Library. It is currently being developed for film with Bad Robot Productions. Rouge is being adapted for film by Fremantle and Sinestra. Margaret Atwood named Awad her “literary heir” in The New York Times’s T Magazine. She teaches fiction in the creative writing program at Syracuse University and is based in Boston.

Where: Skylight

Date: Monday the 21^st

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-09-21/mona-awad-we-love-you-bunny

The Personals: a night of privacies made public at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event

Hosted by Lilly Langford

Features:

Reshma Meister is an independent artist based in Los Angeles. She focuses on devised theatre, comedy, and mutual aid.

Dallas Havoc is a performer, craftsperson, and fabricator living and working in Los Angeles.

Jordan Myers N/A

Claire Milligan is a wildlife and nature artist.

Annie Inflammatory N/A

Owen Reese is Molecule Man, a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Fantastic Four #20 in November 1963 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. An enormously powerful entity, he is often portrayed as a supervillain, but sometimes takes the role of a reformed outlaw or reluctant hero.

Mystery Guest

Where: Stories Books & Café

Date: Monday the 21^st

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://storiesla.com/events/6122020260921

Ticketed: Leigh Bardugo, with Rebecca Roanhorse, & Dead Beat at Vroman’s Off-site at Zipper Hall @ Coburn School – In-Person Event

Leigh Bardugo, in conversation with Rebecca Roanhorse, will discuss Dead Beat (Ninth House Series #3), the highly anticipated, explosive conclusion to the Ninth House trilogy from #1 New York Times bestselling author.

Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

Alex Stern made it to hell and back more than once, but this time she left the door open behind her. Demons are creeping through the streets of New Haven and the Yale campus, feeding on the souls of the living, terrifying the dead. Alex and her allies can hunt them, but it’s only a matter of time before the gates to the underworld open and they face a war they cannot win. To stop it, they’ll have to reach deep into the secrets of Yale and its societies, and discover the truth hidden in Alex’s own blood.

While she struggles to hold onto the dream of a future Yale once offered, Alex must contend with the machinations of a corrupt Lethe Board and a deadly vampire with his own connection to the societies. But for the first time in her life, she won’t have to face the fight alone. Dawes, Turner, Mercy, and even Tripp will have a role to play, none more so than Alex’s mentor Darlington, the golden boy who lived so long in her head, now back in the flesh and cursed with dangerous powers of his own. Hell itself is stalking the delegates of Lethe House, and they’re all about to learn that demons don’t play by human rules.

Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Familiar, The Invisible Parade, and the Ninth House trilogy. She is also the creator of the Grishaverse (now a Netflix original series) which spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the King of Scars duology—and much more. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies, including The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Los Angeles and is an associate fellow of Pauli Murray College at Yale University.

Where: The Coburn School, Zipper Hall

Date: Monday the 21^st

Time: 7 pm

Address: 200 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-21/leigh-bardugo

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 21^st

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: Zoom Online Event (see site)

Website: Beyond Baroque Event Page

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

Do you want to find creative inspiration and overcome writer’s block in a supportive and peaceful community setting? Are you interested in writing professionally or for personal growth and healing but unsure where to begin?

Come join acclaimed author and writing instructor Francesca Lia Block for a brief intro and 40 minutes of free writing on any topic without judgement. Afterwards, you will be able to share a bit about your process and ask Francesca questions about your writing.

Francesca Lia Block is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association, and from the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, and PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY. Currently she teaches creative writing at UCLA Extension, Antioch University, Pocket MFA, and numerous workshops across the country. Francesca also edits LIT ANGELS, a literary journal available on Substack. Her latest novel is House of Hearts now out in paperback. https://www.francescaliablock.com/

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

Website: Event Page

La Crescenta Library Virtual Book Club: Keeper of Lost Children by via La Crescenta Library, LACL – Online Event

Join us 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 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 Program, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16886933

Before the Ban Book Club: You Only Live Once, David Bravo at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Please join us for a conversation about You Only Live Once, David Bravo by Mark Oshiro.

Middle school is the worst, especially for David Bravo. He doesn’t have a single class with his best (okay, only) friend, Antoine. He has to give a class presentation about his heritage, but he’s not sure how—or even if—he wants to explain to his new classmates that he’s adopted. After he injures Antoine in an accident at cross-country practice, he just wishes he could do it all over.

He doesn’t expect his wish to summon a talking, shapeshifting, annoying dog, Fea, who claims that a choice in David’s past actually did put him on the wrong timeline, and she can take him back to fix it.

But when their first try (and the second, and the third) is a total disaster, David and Fea are left scrambling through timeline after timeline—on a quest that may lead them to answers in the most unexpected places.

Coco meets Sliding Doors in this laugh-out-loud, heartwarming middle grade novel that explores how our choices make us who we are.

Mark Oshiro is the award-winning author of the young adult books Anger Is a Gift (Schneider Family Book Award) and Each of Us a Desert as well as their middle grade debut, The Insiders. They are also the coauthor (with Rick Riordan) of the #1 New York Times bestselling novel The Sun and the Star. When not writing, they are trying to pet every dog in the world. Visit them online at markoshiro.com.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 1 pm – 2 pm

Address: 6675 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA 92506

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-09-22/ban-book-club-you-only-live-once-david-bravo-weekday-meeting

Book Club Chit Chat: Lessons in Chemistry at West Covina Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Copies available at Customer Service. For adults.

Set in 1960’s California, this hilarious, and uplifting story of a female scientist whose career is constantly derailed by the idea that a woman’s place is in the home, only to find herself starring as the host of most beloved TV cooking show.

Where: West Covina Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

Address: 1601 W. Covina Pkwy., West Covina, CA 91790

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16999405

Nonfiction Book Club: 1873 at Agoura Hills Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion of 1873: The Rothchilds, the First Great Depression and the Making of the Modern World, by Liaquat Ahamed. There are copies available at the Customer Service upon request. For Adults.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17015060

Echoes of the Titanic: Dr. Fereidun Shokatfard Presentation at San Pedro Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Come learn about the sinking of the Titanic and see how this tragedy has affected generations of people since 1912. Dr. Fereidun Shokatfard has published several books on the Titanic, and is an expert on the subject. He also is an educator and writer of children’s books. This presentation is geared to all ages, and children will receive materials they can take home with them.

Where: San Pedro Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm

Address: 931 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro, CA 90731

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/echoes-titanic

Hooked on Books Book Club: Trouble Is What I Do at Quartz Hill Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion of Trouble Is What I Do, by Walter Mosley. There are copies available at the Customer Service upon request and newcomers are welcome. For Adults.

Where: Quartz Hill Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 6 pm – 7:15 pm

Address: 5040 W. Ave M 2, Quartz Hill, CA 93536

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17015066

Phy-Sci Book Club: Cultish at Cellar Door Bookstore – Online Zoom Event

Please join us online for a conversation about Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell.

What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? In this captivating work of nonfiction cultural commentary, Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has.

Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.” But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to the specific language of fanaticism. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day.

Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,” revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, cult fitness classes, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish” everywhere.

Amanda Montell is a New York Times-bestselling author and iHeart Radio Award-winning podcaster. Her nonfiction books Wordslut, Cultish, and The Age of Magical Overthinking have been praised by the Atlantic, the Economist, NPR, and others. Along with hosting two top-charting podcasts, Sounds Like A Cult and Magical Overthinkers, Amanda’s writing has been published in the New York Times, the Guardian, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, and elsewhere. Amanda holds a degree in linguistics from NYU and lives in California.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-09-22/phy-sci-book-club-cultish

Ticketed: Melissa Villaseñor & Cat and Lola: School Picture Day at Vroman’s – In-Person Kids Event

Melissa Villaseñor will present and discuss Cat and Lola: School Picture Day.

The comedian and Saturday Night Live alum presents her laugh-out-loud debut children’s book about friendship and being yourself.

Illustrated by Mexican artist Jimena Sánchez Sarquiz, Cat and Lola: School Picture Day blends offbeat humor with genuine heart. This standout early reader graphic novel is perfect for kids who love funny stories and characters who don’t always agree, but always care.

Melissa will be in conversation with Vroman’s Assistant Promotional Director Gilbert Martinez.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 6 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-22/melissa-villasenor-discusses-signs-cat-and-lola-school-picture-day

La Crescenta Library Book Club: My Name Is Emielia Del Valle at La Crescenta Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion of My Name Is Eilia Del Valle by Isabel Allende to honor Hispanic Heritage Month. Find your copy and discussion questions at the Book Club Corner across from the Customer Service Desk. For adults.

In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman. To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of seventeen, she begins to publish pulp fiction using a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds can no longer satisfy her sense of adventure, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at The Daily Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan. As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, as does Eric, and while there, she meets her estranged father and delves into the violent confrontation in the country where her roots lie. As she and Eric discover love, the war escalates and Emilia finds herself in extreme danger, fearing for her life and questioning her identity and her destiny.

Where: La Crescenta Library, LACL

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm

Address: 2809 Foothill Blvd., La Crescenta-Montrose, CA 91214

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17015069

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

Join for a discussion of The Carpool Detectives by Chuck Hogan. All are welcome!

Where: Playa Vista Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/mystery-book-club-24

Mystical Dramatic Writing: Adult Writing Classes with Josefina Lopez at Casa 101 Theater – In-Person Event

The Mystical Dramatic Writing Adult Class with Josefina Lopez is held Tuesdays, Sept 22 – Dec 15, 2026, from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm.

Cost per class: $250/10 sessions.

Calss Locaiton: Private Residence in Silver Lake

Register at Casa0101.org.

Where: Casa 101 Off-site

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd (through Dec 15^th}

Time: 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: Private Residence in Silver Lake

Website: Instagram Page

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Club: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow at Village Well Bookstore – In-Person Event

The Village Well Book Club offshoot, the Sci-fi Fantasy Book Club! To the Tolkien nerds, SJM stans, and R.F. Kuang enjoyers, this group is for you! On the fourth Tuesday of every month, we will come together and discuss a story that falls within the realms of either science fiction or fantasy (or sometimes both!). To join our emailing list, reach out to events@villagewell.com.!

This September’s pick is The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow.

From Alix E. Harrow, the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, comes a moving and genre-defying quest about the lady-knight whose legend built a nation, and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part–even if it breaks his heart.

Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters—but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten.

Centuries later, Owen Mallory—failed soldier, struggling scholar—falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives—and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs.

But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend—if they want to tell a different story—they’ll have to rewrite history itself.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: Event Page

ALOUD Reading Series: Panel Discussion Event: Ted Widmer, with Pico Iyer, Héctor Tobar, Youngmi Mayer, Gary Tyler, Edward “Ted” Ladd Widmer, + musicians & The Living Declaration: A Biography of America’s Founding Text at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person & Livestream Hybrid Event

Ted Widmer, with Pico Iyer, Héctor Tobar, Youngmi Mayer, Gary Tyler, Edward “Ted” Ladd Widmer, + musicians will present a discuss inspired by his book The Living Declaration: A Biography of America’s Founding Text

Is “happiness” still an essential human right? 250 years after the Declaration of Independence was written, we are looking closely at what the “pursuit of happiness” means today. Does the promise still hold up in 2026? ALOUD and the Library of America present a program inspired by The Living Declaration: A Biography of America’s Founding Text written by historian and former presidential speechwriter Ted Widmer.

We are bringing together a dynamic line-up of artists, activists, writers, and historians to explore the past, present, and future of this American ideal. The evening will feature live readings and be book-ended by a blues medley curated by Rob Stone, featuring world-renowned musicians.

Pico Iyer is the author of 18 books, translated into 23 languages, including such much-loved works as The Lady and the Monk, The Global Soul, and The Art of Stillness. Four of his books have been national best-sellers, and his five talks for TED have received more than 12 million views so far. His writing has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Robert Kirsch Lifetime Achievement Award from The Los Angeles Times and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His new book, The Messenger in White, comes out in January.

Héctor Tobar is the author of six books, including The Barbarian Nurseries, winner of the California Book Award for fiction. His book Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” won the Kirkus Prize, and his nonfiction Deep Down Dark was a New York Times bestseller. As a journalist, he was a foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and has been an op-ed writer for the New York Times and a contributor to The New Yorker, Harper’s, National Geographic, and other publications. He has received a Guggenheim fellowship and a Harvard Radcliffe fellowship.

Youngmi Mayer is an author, stand-up comedian, activist, podcast host, and social media influencer. She is the author of I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying and co-host and host of Feeling Asian and Hairy Butthole, podcasts that highlight the Asian American experience.

Gary Tyler is an artist and spokesperson for justice. As a teenager, he was framed for shooting a white youth and sentenced to death by an all-white jury. In more than four decades at Angola Prison, he became head of the Drama Club, a hospice volunteer and quilt artist. His work is at HNOC and the National Museum of African-American History and Culture in D.C. Gary won the 2024 Frieze LA Impact Prize and fellowships from Galaxy Gives and Right of Return. He holds an honorary doctorate from MassArt. His memoir Stitching Freedom won a Nautilus silver award.

Edward “Ted” Ladd Widmer is an American historian, writer, librarian, and musician who served as a speechwriter in the Clinton White House. He serves on boards of the Harvard Lampoon, Massachusetts Historical Society, and The New England Quarterly.

Award-winning harmonica player and vocalist Rob Stone cut his teeth on the Chicago blues scene, performing alongside many of the genre’s most celebrated masters. Stone’s critically lauded albums have topped international blues radio charts, and he has headlined tours and festivals throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, while opening major shows for B.B. King, Etta James, and Robert Cray.

Guitarist and vocalist Chris James and his longtime collaborator, bassist Patrick Rynn, are renowned bluesmen who have recorded and toured the world with a virtual who’s who of blues legends. A professional musician since age 13, James is a multi-instrumentalist and guitar virtuoso with a deep command of traditional regional blues styles, Rynn is a 12-time Blues Music Award nominee for Bass Player of the Year. Together, their albums and songwriting have earned an impressive array of awards and nominations internationally.

Powerhouse drummer Vincent Fossett Jr., currently touring with Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel, has performed with artists ranging from Natalie Cole to Slash. Together, these four acclaimed musicians deliver a hard-driving, soulful performance steeped in the timeless sound and spirit of the blues.

RSVP

Where: Mark Taper Auditorium, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://lfla.org/event/the-pursuit-of-happiness-1945-to-today/

Unsoupervised Readers Club: Trespasses at Book Soup – In-Person Event

UNSOUPERVISED READERS SEPTEMBER EDITION WILL BE:

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a shattering novel about a young woman caught between allegiance to community and a dangerous passion.

Amid daily reports of violence, Cushla lives a quiet life with her mother in a small town near Belfast, teaching at a parochial school and moonlighting at her family’s pub. There she meets Michael Agnew, a Protestant barrister who’s made a name for himself defending IRA members. Against her better judgment, Cushla lets herself get drawn in by him and his sophisticated world, and an affair ignites. Then the father of a student is savagely beaten, setting in motion a chain reaction that will threaten everything, and everyone, Cushla most wants to protect.

Louise Kennedy is the internationally bestselling author of Trespasses, which was a finalist for the Women’s Prize, and the story collection The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac. Before starting her writing career, she worked as a chef for almost thirty years. She lives in Sligo, Ireland.

Hosted by Book Soup Supervisor, Clara!

Where: Book Soup

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 7 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: Event Page

Downbeat 720: Santa Monica Teen Talent Incubator at Miles Memorial Playhouse – In-Person Event

Downbeat 720, a high school performing arts collective sponsored by the city of Santa Monica’s Recreation and Arts Department, celebrates its 25th anniversary with the start of a new season in September, to be held every 2^nd & 4^th Tuesday of the month: Tuesday, Sept. 8 and Thursday Sept. 22.

The free open mic night for high school students is hosted by comedian Joe Hernandez-Kolski and beatboxer Joshua Silverstein, with music by DJ Jedi. It takes place on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at the Miles Memorial Playhouse, 1130 Lincoln Blvd. Doors open at 7 p.m., with the first performance at 7:20 p.m. All performance-based genres are welcome, and no advance RSVP is required. Teens may perform or attend as audience members, and adults may attend when accompanying a teen performer.

The program invites students to perform music, poetry, comedy or art for fellow participants and professional artist mentors, who offer feedback to help strengthen their skills and provide a space for self-expression.

“Santa Monica is proud to celebrate 25 years of Downbeat 720 and the remarkable young artists who have made this program a creative home,” Recreation and Arts Department Director Jenny Rogers said. “By giving teens a welcoming stage to share their voices, build their skills and connect with professional artists, Downbeat 720 continues to strengthen our community through the power of the arts.”

Downbeat 720 was created in 2001 by Justin Yoffe, Ameenah Kaplan, Hernandez-Kolski and DJ Jedi. Professional artists who have performed for students include Grammy Award-winning musicians Aloe Blacc and Raul Pacheco of Ozomatli, comedian Craig Robinson of “The Office,” Akil the MC of Jurassic 5, poet and actress Amber Tamblyn of “Joan of Arcadia” and a host of HBO’s “Def Poetry.” Alumni include singer-songwriter Jules Paymer and actor and singer Owen Thiele of Hulu’s “Adults.”

The program was held at the Miles Memorial Playhouse until 2020, when it moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic. It returned to in-person sessions at the Virginia Avenue Park Teen Center while the playhouse in Reed Park was revitalized. It returned to the Miles Memorial Playhouse in October 2025, months after the space reopened during Santa Monica’s 2025 State of the City.

For more information, visit santamonica.gov/programs/downbeat-720.

Where: Miles Memorial Playhouse

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 7 pm

Address: 1130 Lincoln Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90403

Website: https://www.smdp.com/downbeat-720-celebrates-25th-anniversary-with-new-season/

Coyotes Fiction Book Club: Hyperion by Dan Simmons at Skylight – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos #1) by Dan Simmons.

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the reach of galactic law, waits a creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.

On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.

If you’ve made it to this page, it means you’re interested in books and literature and sharing your reading experiences with fellow readers—that’s awesome! We’d love to have you at our meetings. And it’s free to come! The group is open to the public, there’s no need to sign up, and no mandate to come.

If you’d like to get on the Discord and receive book club updates from us, email info@skylightbooks.com. If not, check in here for information about this month’s book and meeting.

To join the mailing list, contact us!

Coyote members save 15% on each month’s pick. Mention that you’re a member at the register or in the order comments field.

Where: Skylight

Date: Tuesday the 22^nd

Time: 7:30 pm

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

Website: https://live-skylight1737733057.pantheonsite.io/coyotes

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

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

Jared M. Campbell is a poet and lawyer living in Overland Park, Kansas. Known for sharing thoughtful, sometimes contrarian perspectives on the world, his poetic style frequently balances wit with technical form.

Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event

Date: Tuesday, the 22^nd

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

Website: Event Page

LiveTalks LA Presents: Ke Huy Quan, with Octavia Spencer, & Never Say Die at Bezdek Center for the Performing Arts at Cross Roads School – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Ke Huy Quan, in conversation with Octavia Spencer, will discuss Never Say Die.

The Oscar-winning star of Everything Everywhere All at Once, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and The Goonies tells the story of his journey from Vietnamese refugee to 80s child star to the most inspiring comeback in Hollywood history.

Ke Huy Quan is an Oscar-winning actor who immigrated to the United States as a child and grew up in Los Angeles. Discovered at an open casting call with no acting experience, he was cast at age 12 as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, followed by his role as Data in the beloved adventure classic, Goonies. As opportunities became limited, he stepped away from acting to study at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, graduating in 1999, and later worked behind the scenes as an action choreographer and assistant director. After more than two decades away from acting, he returned to the screen in Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Academy Award–winning Everything Everywhere All At Once, earning widespread acclaim along with the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and SAG Award for Best Supporting Actor. He has since appeared in Season 2 of the Disney+ series Loki, starred in Universal’s Love Hurts, and voiced Gary De’ Snake in Disney’s animated film Zootopia 2.

Since winning the Academy Award for her role as Minny in The Help, actress Octavia Spencer has been nominated for an Oscar twice more. The film Green Book, on which she served as executive producer, was awarded both a Golden Globe and an Oscar for best picture. The second season of her Lost Women franchise recently premiered on Investigation Discovery and HBO Max. Among her many other credits, she has is co-author of an interactive mystery series for children called Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective.

Ke Huy Quan’s Hollywood adventure began when he was twelve years old, a mere five years after his family escaped Communist Northern Vietnam and settled down to a relatively peaceful life in L.A.’s Chinatown. After attending an open call audition on a whim, he was unexpectedly swept up in the wild world of filmmaking: learning to swim from Harrison Ford on the set of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, receiving trucks full of toys from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas for his birthday, meeting Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker, and making lifelong friends on the set of The Goonies.

A star of two of the most beloved movies of the ‘80s, there appeared to be no limit to Ke’s rise. But just a few years later, the roles had dried up and it seemed like Hollywood no longer had a place for him. He eventually left acting to work odd jobs behind the scenes for directors like Wong Kar Wai. His confidence was badly shaken, but his love of performing never abated. It wasn’t until decades later, when he was 49 years old, that he stepped back in front of the camera to star in a strange little indie film called Everything Everywhere All at Once, which surprised everyone with its incredible box-office and awards season success. To call Ke’s Oscar-winning performance a triumphant return would be an understatement.

In this moving, inspirational memoir, Ke paints a vivid self-portrait, telling both heart-wrenching and funny stories of his early rise, slow fall from the spotlight, the resilience that kept him going through his darkest times, and his eventual resurrection on one of the biggest stages in Hollywood. Never Say Die is the story of Ke’s extraordinary life, a love letter to the movies and people that shaped him, and a powerful testament to never giving up on your dreams.

NOTE; Ticketed Event, see site for details.

Where: Bezdek Center for the Performing Arts at Cross Roads School

Date: Tuesday, the 22^nd

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

Address: 1736 22^nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90404

Website: LiveTalks Event Page

DiPiazza’s Open Mic at Di Piazza’s Pizza – In-Person Event

Open Mic Every Tuesday! Signups 8:30 pm, late-night happy hour, live music, pizza & cocktails.

Host: Tamara Madison

Features: TBA

Often follows Trivia Night at 6 pm for a full evening of fun.

No cover mentioned—come early to grab a spot!

Step up to the mic and shine!

Where: Di Piazza’s

Date: Tuesday, the 22^nd

Time: 8:30 pm

Address: 5205 Pacific Coast Hwy., Long Beach, CA

Website: Instagram Page

Da Poetry Lounge Open Mic at Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center – In-Person Event

The nation’s largest weekly spoken word Open Mic event is 28 years strong. DPL is a community space for every poet to be heard. They provide a platform to celebrate poetry while using it as the foundation for creativity, innovation, and expression across an array of media outlets.

Hosted by Ashley August, with DJ Faucet.

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

Masks are encouraged. See website link for details.

Where: The Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center

Date: Tuesday, the 22^nd

Time: 9 pm – 11 pm (Doors at 8:15 pm)

Address: 4305 Degnan Blvd. #101, Los Angeles, CA 90008

Website: Instagram Page

Adult Mystery Book Group: The Bones of the Story by Carol Goodman at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Event

Start your morning with a lively discussion of Goodman’s The Bones of the Story!

Whether you loved it, hated it, or haven’t finished it, we want to see you at our Mystery Book Group at America’s Oldest Children’s Bookstore!

We will be meeting to discuss the book outside of the shop in the circle in front of Star Cafe, as weather permits.

The twisty locked-room mystery from two-time Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning author Carol Goodman, about a group of former classmates trapped on their college campus—with a murderer among them.

One by one, their pasts will reveal the deadly truth.

It’s been twenty-five years since the shocking disappearance of a female student and the distinguished Creative Writing professor who died while searching for her. The Briarwood College community has never forgotten the double tragedy. Now, the college President is bringing together faculty, donors, and alumni to honor the victims from all those years ago.

On a cold December weekend after the fall semester has ended, guests gather on the vacant campus for the commemoratory event. But as a storm descends, people begin to depart, leaving a group of alumni who were the last ones taught by the esteemed professor. Recriminations and old rivalries flare as they recall the writing projects they shared as classmates, including chilling horror stories they each wrote about their greatest fears.

When an alumna dies in a shockingly similar way to the story she wrote, and then another succumbs to a similar fate, they realize someone has decided at long last to avenge the crimes of the past. Will the secret of what they did twenty-five years ago be revealed? Will any of them be alive at the end of the weekend to find out?

Carol Goodman’s rich and prolific career includes novels such as The Widow’s House and The Night Visitor, winners of the 2018 and 2020 Mary Higgins Clark Award. Her books have been translated into sixteen languages. She lives in the Hudson Valley, NY.

Where: Once Upon a Time

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 9 am

Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020

Website: Once Upon a Time Event Page

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 9 am – 10 am

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

Website: Event Page

Classics Book Club: The Sun Also Rises at Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us as we discuss The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.

Where: Granada Hills Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 1:30 pm – 3 pm

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

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/classics-book-club-sun-also-rises

Comedic Storytelling Night at Chevalier’s – In-Person Event

After a successful run last summer, the Comedic Storytelling Night returns to Chevalier’s Books, hosted by Larchmont Village resident Michèle Haines.

Join us for an evening of engaging true stories with a comedic thread, shared by seasoned storytellers and first-time performers alike.

If you have a story to tell, sign up at the event or contact producer and host Michèle Haines on Instagram: @cheleonearth.

Come laugh, connect, and celebrate the art of storytelling with the Larchmont Village community! It’s Free.

Where: Chevalier’s

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 5:30 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-09-23/comedic-storytelling-night

Let’s Read Los Angeles Book Club: San Fernando Valley, America’s Suburb at North Hollywood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss The San Fernando Valley: America’s Suburb, which shines a spotlight on an incredible amount of history spread over a 260 square mile area. The book’s author, Kevin Roderick, goes beyond the epic floods and devastating earthquakes (though he covers those too) and shares the stories of town builders, movie people, car clubs, the disappearance of the Valley’s once thriving agricultural scene, and at least one cult.

Where: North Hollywood Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 5211 Tujunga Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91601

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/lets-read-los-angeles-book-club-san-fernando-valley-americas-suburb

Author Event: Angela Bourassa, with Ilana Wolpert, & Never Lasting at Good Girl Books – In-Person Event

Join us to celebrate Never Lasting by Angela Bourassa, in conversation with Ilana Wolpert.

This event is free to attend, but we kindly ask that you RSVP so that we can get an accurate headcount.

A scorching-hot romance about what happens when you break a golden rule: Don’t get hooked on your hookup.

When Lucy, a recent NYU law grad with plans to work abroad, and James, a caterer who dreams of opening a small-town restaurant, indulge in a summer fling, they know there’s an expiration date: They’ll be moving to opposite sides of the planet in six weeks. But is their fantasy sexcapade screwed when real feelings get in the way? Or do they let whatever is blossoming between them trump their career ambitions?

Angela Bourassa is a screenwriter, mom, 2020 Black List writer, PAGE Gold Prize winner, and two-time Austin Film Festival finalist. Never Lasting is her debut novella.

Ilana Wolpert wrote the runaway hit rom-com, ANYONE BUT YOU, starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, which was released theatrically by Sony. She’s currently writing a feature for Universal called BETAS and developing Ella Enchanted as a series for Disney+, with Miramax and Somewhere Pictures (Anne Hathaway). Ilana previously wrote for TV series such as THE RUNAROUNDS (Amazon) and HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: THE MUSICAL: THE SERIES (Disney+). She lives in Los Angeles with her fiancé and their rescue dog,

Where: Good Girl Books

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 12444 Venice Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90066

Website: https://goodgirlbooks.com/event/2026-09-23/author-event-angela-bourassa-ilana-wolpert

Romantasy Book Club: When the Tides Held the Moon at North Hollywood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us to discuss When the Tides Held the Moon by Vanessa Vida Kelley.

The Shape of Water meets The Greatest Showman in this beautifully illustrated queer historical cozy fantasy, as a young Puerto Rican immigrant goes through a journey of love and self-discovery after capturing a merman for a Coney Island sideshow act in turn-of-the 20th century New York.

Where: Agoura Hills Library, LACL

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 29902 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills, CA 91301

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17015117

Dramatic Writing: All Levels: Adult Writing Classes with Josefina Lopez at Casa 101 Theater – In-Person Event

The Dramatic Writing Adult Class with Josefina Lopez is held Wednesdays, Sept 23 – Dec 16, 2026, from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm.

Cost per class: $250/10 sessions.

Class Location: Casa 101 theater

Register at Casa0101.org.

Where: Casa 101 Theater

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd (through Dec 16^th)

Time: 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: 2102 E. 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90033 (in Boyle Heights)

Website: Instagram Page

WeHo Reads: Reimagining History; Kate Maruyama, Steven Reigns, Mike Sonksen, Désirée Zamorano, with Jen Cheng at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Four Los Angeles writers return to the past, through fiction and poetry, to understand where we came from.

Why do we keep returning to history? And what changes when we recover what was buried, silenced, or forgotten?

WeHo Reads returns in September with four acclaimed Los Angeles writers whose work reaches back into personal, political, and civic histories, reshaping how we see them. Through historical fiction and poetry, they explore why the past still shapes the present, and what we can learn from seeing it through new lenses. In an evening of reading and discussion, they ask how memory, imagination, and the craft of writing become tools for reimagining where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going.

Kate Maruyama, a professor of writing and an author of realist and fabulist novels, short stories, and essays.

Steven Reigns, a poet and educator who was the inaugural City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood and author of A Quilt for David, which explores the life of David Acer, a Florida dentist wrongfully vilified during the height of the HIV/AIDS panic, and Outliving Michael, which received the ‘Best in Literature’ 2025 Poz Award.

Mike Sonksen, aka Mike the PoeT, a poet, professor, journalist, historian, and tour guide with work in the publications and websites of the Academy of American Poets, Alta, PBS, Poetry Foundation, and Westways.

Désirée Zamorano, author of the historical fiction novel Dispossessed and the collection of short stories, Amarisa’s Cooking Pot.

West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng will open the event with the reading of a poem.

Please be advised that this and all other WeHo Reads events may contain explicit language or content.

Free, RSVP Requested

Where: West Hollywood Library, Community Room

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 6:30 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: Eventbrite Page

Los Feliz Writers: Shut Up and Write (2 sessions) in Los Feliz at Bar Alcove – In-Person Event

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

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

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

All writers and all experience levels are welcome!

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

Hosted by @literarypixie!

RSVP at link in bio.

Where: Bar Alcove & Bakery

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 6:45 pm – 8 pm

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

Website: Instagram Page

Randee St. Nicholas, with Michael Walker, & From Without…and From Within: In the light We Deserve (Photographs 1979-2025) at Book Soup – In-Person Event

From legendary photographer Randee St. Nicholas, a sweeping visual anthology uniting music legends, Hollywood icons, and cultural trailblazers.

For over four decades, Randee St. Nicholas has captured the world’s most famous figures in her uniquely raw, magnetic, and poignant photographs. Now, for the first time, her best work-some celebrated, others yet-unseen-is brought together in one stunning collection. From without…and from within invites readers into moments both intimate and iconic, bringing to life:

The timeless elegance of Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross

The electrifying edge of Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper

The charisma of Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey

The emotional depth of Prince and Stevie Nicks

The book features hundreds of full-color photographs, paired with behind-the-scenes stories and reflections from St. Nicholas that reveal the poise, passion, beauty, and humor of these remarkable artists. A must-have keepsake for any music fan, film junkie, or pop culture enthusiast, from without…and from within transcends genre, takes readers on a visual journey, and offers an unparalleled look at the celebrities and artists we can’t get enough of.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 7 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: Event Page

David Ulin, with Ivy Pochoda, & American Flash Fiction: An Anthology at Skylight Books – In-Person Even

Editor David Ulin, in conversation with Ivy Pochoda, will discuss American Flash Fiction: An Anthology.

The biggest and best collection of American flash fiction ever assembled reveals the very big imaginative possibilities of very short stories

Featuring 100 genre-spanning and form-bending stories, spanning 160+years; includes literary fiction, speculative fiction, noir, satire, surrealism, humor, horror, parables, fables, and more.

This landmark Library of America anthology presents the best of a century and a half of American storytelling and literary innovation—in 100 bite-sized pieces, from 100 wildly diverse and distinguished authors.

Celebrating the artful brevities of flash fiction from Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, and Zora Neale Hurston to Donald Barthelme, Lydia Davis, and Diane Williams, it recovers some of the little-understood history of the very short story before “flash fiction” was invented, and it gathers the brilliant work of a score of emerging contemporary writers, too.

Introduced by acclaimed writer, critic, and anthologist David L. Ulin, who explores the origins and creative range of the form, the collection also includes notes on the stories and contributors, and an index.

David L. Ulin is a professor of English at the University of Southern California, where he edits the journal Air/Light. He is the former book editor and book critic of the Los Angeles Times. A 2015 Guggenheim Fellow, he is the author or editor of more than twenty books, including Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, The Lost Art of Reading: Books and Resistance in a Troubled Time, and, most recently, the novel Thirteen Question Method. For Library of America, he has edited Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology and The Joan Didion Collection.

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.

Where: Skylight

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-09-23/david-ulin-w-ivy-pochoda-american-flash-fiction

Triptych: Reading Series with Shy Watson at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event

Shy Watson hosts the Triptych Reading Series with featured guests TBA.

Where: Stories Books & Café

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://storiesla.com/events/4256220260923

Vroman’s Fiction Reading Group: Remarkably Bright Creatures at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

The Vroman’s Fiction Reading Group explores contemporary fiction -– long and short -– from a diverse selection of writers. Enjoy lively discussions at our one-hour meetings. Our Fiction Reading Group is free and inclusive – there are no requirements nor criteria to join. We announce upcoming titles 3-6 months in advance and choose titles that are available in paperback. Drop by our next meeting!

September’s pick is Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.

Fiction Reading Group is held every 4^th Wednesday of the month and meetings are held inside Vroman’s Bookstore on the second floor in the event space.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-23/vromans-fiction-reading-group

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

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

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

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

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

Where: The World Stage (use left rear entrance)

Date: Wednesday, the 23^rd

Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm

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

Website: Instagram Page

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

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

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

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

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

Theme: Freestyle Hoedown.

Where: Art Parlor

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

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

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

Website: Instagram Page

Writers Bloc & LARB Present: End Times Fascism & The Fight for The Living World: Naomi Klein, Astra Taylor, with Robin D.G. Kelley at Writers Guild Theater – In-Person Event

Writers Bloc and LARB welcome Naomi Klein, Astra Taylor, with Robin D.G. Kelley to discuss: End Times Fascism & The Fight for The Living World.

What do the religious right, big tech, and end-times survivalists, have in common? What could possibly link these three strange bedfellows, these components of American politics?

Leading writers on political trends, Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor explore the common threads of end-timers who see apocalyptic doom all around them. In their new book, End Times Fascism, Klein and Taylor show how ultra rich survivalists wield political power and lay waste to the environment—at the cost of humanity.

Klein and Taylor want to create a movement with momentum. They have solutions for fighting back—from protesting the energy suck of massive data centers to organizing as communities, as did Minneapolis, to protect our cities from destructive forces.

Klein and Taylor are not only optimistic, they’re adamant in their belief that the planet—and the future—is ours to save.

Naomi Klein is the internationally renowned bestselling author of such books as The Shock Doctrine, and Doppelganger.

Astra Taylor is a writer, activist, and documentarian and the author of The People’s Platform, which won the American Book Award, and Democracy May Not Exist But We’ll Miss It When It is Gone.

In conversation with Robin D.G. Kelley, widely acclaimed for his work on African American history, culture, and politics. He is the Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA. His books include: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original; Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination; and Making a Killing: Capitalism, Cops, and the War on Black Life (forthcoming 2027). His essays have appeared in The Nation, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Hammer & Hope, Black Scholar, Journal of American History; and Boston Review, for which he is a contributing editor.

Sponsored by LAist.

Where: Writers Guild Theater

Date: Wednesday the 23^rd

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

Address: 135 S. Doheny Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Website: Eventbrite 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 23^rd

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 JustAlex at The Ugly Mug – In-Person Event

Host Ben Trigg guest poet JustAlex to share her work

JustAlex (or Alexandra Kokos if she’s in trouble with her mother or the government) is an Orange County poet, literature student, mom, and reformed gifted kid. Her work explores womanhood, parenthood, and personhood through the eyes of a fabulous and deeply frustrated neurodivergent woman white-knuckling her way through this wild world. She writes about messy love, grief, mental illness, abuse, and the complicated joy in rebuilding yourself, again and again.

Where: The Ugly Mug, Orange

Date: Wednesday, the 23^rd

Time: 8 pm – 10 pm

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

Website: Facebook Page

11th Edition: LéaLA Spanish Book Fair & Literary Festival at LA Plaza de la Cultura y las Artes – In-Person Event

The 2026 LéaLA Spanish Book Fair & Literary Festival returns this fall at one of Los Angeles’ most iconic venues, LA Plaza de la Cultura y las Artes. For four days they will have the most important voices of their language in dialogues open to the public.

Events begin at 9:30 am on Thursday. They range from readings and performances on the Main Stage to workshops and pannels at the UDG Lounge and the Alternate Forum. They include: Josué Storyteller at the Main Stage, the workshop “Workshop: Who are you? Who am I?” taught by Rodrigo Morlesin, the Pannel “The stories we inherited” featuring Mónica Lavín, Tamara Trottner and Antonio Ortuño and “Poetry: Central Venezuelan Voices” featuring Beverly Pérez and Santiago Acosta.

Featured writers include: Iván Salinas, Yesika Salgado, Jesús Ramírez-Bermúdez, Mónica Lavín, William Archia and Mónica Nepote.

Where: LA Plaza de la Cultura y las Artes

Date: Thursday the 24 – 27

Time: 9:40 am – 6 pm

Address: 501 N. Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Website: https://lea-la.com/

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

Website: Event Page

Storytelling Class With Megha on Zoom via Wilmington Branch Library, LAPL – Online Zoom Event

Stories inspire! Stories teach! Stories make us laugh! Research shows that listening and telling stories helps us understand and remember information better. Participants will have an opportunity to practice English, develop vocabulary, build confidence, have fun, and make new friends. Everyone is welcome. Please email wilmingtonliteracy@lapl.org to receive the zoom link.

Where: Wilmington Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 10:30 am – 12 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/storytelling-class-megha

“Saved by a Story” Seniors Writing Group at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Join us for “Saved by a Story” Seniors Writing Group, monthly on the fourth Thursday, 1 pm – 2:30 pm until Thu, Oct 22, 2026,

Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 1 pm – 2:30 pm

Address: 1246 Glendon ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/saved-story-senior-writing-workshop-1

Marina del Rey Book Club: The Vanishing Half at Marina del Rey Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join Marina del Rey Book Club to discuss The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett. For adults.

A story about identical twin sisters growing up together in a small, southern black community and then running away at sixteen years old. For adults 18+.

Ten years later, their lives are polar opposites; one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape, and the other sister secretly passes for white with her white husband that knows nothing about her past.

Where: Marina del Rey Library, LACL

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

Address: 4933 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17035438

Eagle Rock Book Club: A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son’s Memoir of Gabriel García Márquez and Mercedes Barcha at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

The Eagle Rock Book Club explores both acclaimed newer books and rediscovered classics of the past.  

The selection for September is A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son’s Memoir of Gabriel García Márquez and Mercedes Barcha by Rodrigo Garcia. This intimate portrait provides insight to the final years of the author’s famous parents’ lives, and serves as a loving farewell letter.

The library will have copies to check out, or check our e-media page for electronic access on Libby and hoopla.

Please bring book suggestions for future meetings.

Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 3 pm – 4 pm

Address: 5027 Caspar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90042

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/eagle-rock-book-club-13

Notable Fiction Book Group: What We Can Know at Santa Monica Library – In-Person Event

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

The titles include:

September 24, 2026: What We Can Know by Ian McEwan.

Where: Ocean Park Branch Library, SMPL

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 5:30 pm – 7 pm

Address: 2601 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405

Website: Santa Monica Library Event Page

Teen Book Group: The Memory Police at Montana Branch Library, SMPL – In-Person Event

Teens and tweens, discuss the first half of The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder, on September 10 and the second half of the book on September 24. For ages 12 – 17.

Where: Montana Branch Library, SMPL

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 1704 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90403

Website: Santa Monica Library Event Page

Allensworth: Buffalo Soldier Settlement via Virtual Program, LACL – Online Event

Join us to learn about Allensworth. This settlement was the first in the state to be exclusively founded, financed, & governed by African Americans. Presented by Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. This program is virtual register to attend.  

Where: Virtual Program, LACL

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: Online Program (see site)

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16854247

Marina del Rey Book Club: The Vanishing Half at Marina del Rey Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join Marina del Rey Book Club to discuss The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett. For adults.

A story about identical twin sisters growing up together in a small, southern black community and then running away at sixteen years old. For adults 18+.

Where: Marina del Rey Library, LACL

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 4933 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17035438

Adaptation Book Club: BlackKklansman, Book and Film Discussion at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

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

The extraordinary true story and basis for the Academy Award winning film BlacKkKlansman, written and directed by Spike Lee, produced by Jordan Peele, and starring John David Washington and Adam Driver.

When detective Ron Stallworth, the first black detective in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department, comes across a classified ad in the local paper asking for all those interested in joining the Ku Klux Klan to contact a P.O. box, Detective Stallworth does his job and responds with interest, using his real name while posing as a white man. He figures he’ll receive a few brochures in the mail, maybe even a magazine, and learn more about a growing terrorist threat in his community.

Black Klansman is an amazing true story that reads like a crime thriller, and a searing portrait of a divided America and the extraordinary heroes who dare to fight back.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: 6675 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA 92506

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-09-24/adaptation-book-club-blackkklansman-book-and-film-discussion

Book Event: Jerry Stahl, With Marc Maron, & Gonzo Neurotic at Stories Books & Café – In-Person Event

Jerry Stah, in conversation with Marc Maron, will discuss Gonzo Neurotic.

Award-winning novelist, journalist, and screenwriter Jerry Stahl is the author of eleven books, including the best-selling novel I, Fatty and the narcotic memoir Permanent Midnight, made into a movie starring Ben Stiller. His most recent work, Nein, Nein, Nein!: One Man’s Tale of Depression, Psychic Torment, and a Bus Tour of the Holocaust, was included in Kirkus Reviews 100 Best Non-Fiction Books of 2022 and optioned by Robert Downey. His much-anthologized journalism and fiction have appeared in a variety of venues, including Esquire, The Believer, VICE, The New York Times, and the Pushcart Prize Anthology. Stahl has written an eclectic roster of TV and film—including multiple episodes of Maron, on the Sundance Channel, as well as ALF, Twin Peaks, the most-watched episode of CSI: Las Vegas, and Showtime’s Escape at Dannemora, for which he received an Emmy nomination. Film credits include HBO’s Hemingway & Gellhorn, with Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman, which was nominated for a WGA award; Bad Boys 2, with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence; and Urge, starring Pierce Brosnan; along with the cult classics Dr. Caligari and Café Flesh, co-written with the director Stephen Sayadian. Flesh replaced Pink Flamingoes on the midnight movie circuit, and both films continue to play underground festivals in the US and Europe.

Where: Stories Books & Café

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 6 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://storiesla.com/events/6183620260924

Romance Book Club: When Hearts Remember at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss When Hearts Remember by Victoria Lum.

She doesn’t remember her first love. But her brother’s best friend never forgot her.

Two love stories unfold-one in the past, full of stolen moments and reckless devotion, and one in the present, where fate has given them a second chance.

RSVP at website – suggested donation $5-25 or donate a gently used book by a Queer, BIPOC or Disabled author.

Join us on the Bookclubs app for meeting notifications and updates!

Where: Underdog Bookstore

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

Address: 310 S. Myrtle Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016

Website: https://www.underdogbookstore.org/events/romance-book-club

Nigel Dick, with David Schulps, & Music Video Mischief: Ozzy to Britney, Oasis to Gn’r, McCartney to Cher: A Lifetime of Rock and Chaos at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Nigel Dick, in conversation with David Schulps, will discuss Music Video Mischief: Ozzy to Britney, Oasis to Gn’r, McCartney to Cher: A Lifetime of Rock and Chaos.

In this boisterous and entertaining memoir, Nigel Dick recounts his wild ride from record company motorcycle messenger to one of the world’s leading music video directors.

After a brief stint busking in the Paris Metro, Nigel Dick got his start in the music business at London’s upstart Stiff Records in the late ’70s, working with Graham Parker, Ian Dury, Devo and the Go-Go’s. From helping out on a Madness video, he began a career as a music video director; he went on to work with hundreds of stars, including Oasis, Ozzy Osbourne, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Guns n’ Roses, Cher, Toto, Britney Spears, Yes, Nickelback, Celine Dion, Alice Cooper, Alice in Chains and Tears for Fears. If you’ve ever watched MTV, you’ve seen his work.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: Event Page

Fiction Book Club: Shark Heart at Good Girl Books – In-Person Event

Join us on Thursday, September 24, from 7 pm – 8 pm. We’ll be discussing Shark Heart by Emily Habeck. The discussion will be moderated by a GGB staff member. This event is free, but we kindly ask that you RSVP, as it helps us plan for seating and staffing. Walk-ins are always welcome ❤️

We have signed copies of the book available in store. You can come grab a copy in person, or order online for in-store pick up or shipping.

For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect, but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist’s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams.

At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis’s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with her college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds. Woven throughout this novel is the story of Wren’s mother, Angela, who becomes pregnant with Wren at fifteen in an abusive relationship amidst her parents’ crumbling marriage. In the present, all of Wren’s grief eventually collides, and she is forced to make an impossible choice.

A sweeping love story that is at once lyrical and funny, airy and visceral, Shark Heart is an unforgettable, gorgeous novel about life’s perennial questions, the fragility of memories, finding joy amidst grief, and creating a meaningful life. This daring debut marks the arrival of a wildly talented new writer abounding with originality, humor, and heart.

Emily Habeck is an alumna of SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, where she received a BFA in theatre, as well as Vanderbilt Divinity School and Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. She is from Ardmore, Oklahoma. Shark Heart is her first novel.

Where: Good Girl Books

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Address: 12444 Venice Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90066

Website: https://goodgirlbooks.com/event/2026-09-24/fiction-book-club-shark-heart-emily-habeck

Kelly Lytle Hernandez, with Gustavo Arellano, & Racist by Design at Skylight – In-Person Event

Kelly Lytle Hernandez, in conversation with Gustavo Arellano, will discuss Racist by Design.

A revolutionary new history that exposes the “whites-only” roots of the American immigration regime.

In Racist by Design, award-winning historian Kelly Lytle Hernández reveals how generations of lawmakers and law enforcers built the American immigration system to encourage white immigrants while targeting nonwhite migrants for exclusion, punishment, and removal. The goal, often explicitly stated by the system’s architects, was to create a permanent caste of undocumented and criminalized workers to provide cheap labor for the American economy.

Many Americans’ understanding of the immigration system begins with the Chinese Exclusion Act of the late nineteenth century. Lytle Hernández expands that history by a full century, showing how the Haitian Revolution of the 1790s inspired not only America’s first immigration bans (to prevent news of a free Black republic from reaching our shores) but also its first refugee resettlement program (to welcome and support Haiti’s evicted enslavers.) She explains how Chinese Exclusion led the Supreme Court to disconnect immigration laws from the constitution. She reveals how eugenicists and Jim Crow segregationists built much of our current immigration regime as expressly “whites-only,” and shows how during the Civil Rights Movement, Congress amended this system but never abolished it, leaving many of the regime’s racist rules and rituals intact today.

Lytle Hernández calls Racist by Design “an act of sabotage,” a book that will expose the blueprints of the system, so it can be dismantled. A nuanced, concise, and brilliant work that will outrage and inflame readers, Racist by Design is a major work by one of our most important historians.

Kelly Lytle Hernández is the Thomas E. Lifka Endowed Chair in History at UCLA. She is a MacArthur “genius grant” recipient and the author of Racist by Design, Bad Mexicans, and several other award-winning books about race, immigration, policing, and the carceral state. She lives in Los Angeles.

Gustavo Arellano is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, covering Southern California everything and a bunch of the West and beyond. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Opinion Writing in 2026 and Commentary in 2025. He was also a finalist in 2025 for the Mike Royko Award for Commentary and Column Writing and was part of the team that won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News for reporting on a leaked audio recording that upended Los Angeles politics. Arellano previously worked at OC Weekly, where he was an investigative reporter for 15 years and editor for six, wrote a column called ¡Ask a Mexican! and is the author of Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He’s the child of two Mexican immigrants, one of whom came to this country in the trunk of a Chevy.

Where: Skylight

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-09-24/kelly-lytle-hernandez-w-gustavo-arellano-racist-design

Tia Chucha’s Book Club: Forest Euphoria at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian.

No registration necessary. All are welcome to sit in and listen in on the discussion or be part of it!

Forest Euphoria is available for purchase at Tia Chucha’s, in store or online at http://www.tiachucha.org

We’re open Tuesday-Friday 2 pm – 9 pm, Saturdays 12 pm – 8 pm.

Where: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342

Website: Instagram Page

Nadia Bowers, with Stephnie Wittles Wachs, & Their Books, Dear Dealer: A Memoir, and Last Day: How to Stop Losing Our Loved Ones to the Opioid Crisis at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Nadia Bowers, in conversation with Stephnie Wittles Wachs, will discuss Their Books, Dear Dealer: A Memoir, and Last Day: How to Stop Losing Our Loved Ones to the Opioid Crisis.

This gripping memoir explores addiction, grief, and family trauma as one woman goes in search of her sister’s killer.

In the summer of 2015, Nadia Bowers’s beloved older sister, Sasha—a social worker and Ivy League graduate—was found in her car in a restaurant parking lot in their hometown outside New Haven, Connecticut, dead from a fentanyl overdose. Plunged into grief, equipped with Sasha’s phone, and just weeks from giving birth to her first child, Nadia began to investigate her sister’s shadow life: who sold Sasha the drugs that killed her? Did they know each other well? Did the dealer have any idea who Sasha was, outside of addiction?

Expanding on her viral 2018 This American Life essay of the same name—a letter to this imagined dealer—Bowers’s memoir is a love letter, a diary, and a quest in search of the dealer’s identity, as well as her own. Who is she without her sister? Who is she because of her sister? And what now? Bowers reflects on her shifting roles as sister and mother, examining how loss has reshaped her sense of self. Her letters to the faceless dealer are interwoven with rage, reflection, and even moments of humor as she recounts their intertwined lives alongside memories of charismatic and complex Sasha.

Rooted in unflinching honesty and poetic prose, Dear Dealer is a richly compelling account of one woman’s search for meaning, forgiveness, and hope in the aftermath of tragedy.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs is cofounder and CEO of Lemonada Media, an award-winning podcast network on a mission to “make life suck less.” She created and hosts Last Day, Lemonada’s Webby, Gracie, and Third Coast Award–winning flagship show. Its first season focused on the opioid crisis, which took the life of her brother, writer-producer-comedian Harris Wittels (Parks and Recreation, Master of None). Wittels Wachs is also the author of the bestselling memoir Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful: A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love, and Loss, which Kirkus Reviews hailed as a “a powerful debut.” Wittels Wachs serves as an executive producer across Lemonada’s slate of chart-topping podcasts, including Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, which was named Apple’s Best Podcast of the Year. She lives on California’s central coast with her husband, two kids, two dogs, and an ungodly amount of houseplants.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Thursday the 24^th

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-24/bowers-wittels-wachs

Skulls & Stairs: Osmani Ochoa, Poeta del Río, Rosa Christina, Pam Concepcion at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person & Online Hybrid YouTube Event

Beyond Baroque presents the September installment of our reading series in the staircase of the BB building!

Skulls & Stairs is a reading series at the infamous staircase of the original Venice city hall building featuring poets writing with grit, punk, and goth attitudes, among other experiments. This installment features L.A. based poets: Osmani Ochoa, Poeta del Río, Rosa Christina, and Pam Concepcion.

osmani ochoa, a queer Mexican-Xicano poet based in San Antonio, Texas, channels hope through the collective power of imagination and dreaming. His writing uplifts activist communities courageously engaged in the radical act of world-building, envisioning futures rooted in reciprocity and reparation: “It comes down / To our vision versus theirs / Our dreams versus theirs.”

Blending science fiction, politics, vulnerability, pop culture, and alternate histories, osmani’s work often reads like a cosmic manifesto. His poems navigate landscapes of survival, resistance, and hope, aching for full and unhindered liberation. They tackle wealth inequality, capitalism, migration, climate destruction, racism, colonization, and empire, while offering counter-narratives of resilience grounded in family, love, and community.

El término “el poeta del río” se asocia principalmente al célebre escritor argentino Juan Laurentino Ortiz (conocido popularmente como Juan L. Ortiz o “Juan L.”). También puede hacer referencia al documental La poeta del río, basado en la vida de la escritora afrocolombiana Mary Grueso Romero.

Cristine Rose (also credited as Christine Rose) is a famous American actress best known for playing Angela Petrelli on the television series Heroes. [1] (https://www.female.com.au/celebrities/cristine-rose.htm).

Pam Concepcion is a poet and a multimedia artist from Metro Manila, Philippines. Her work has been published in Mobile Data Mag, Systemic Dreaming, Shooting Stars at the Sky Anthology, 20ToLife Mag, Monarca Zine, and De La Salle University’s Malate Literary Folio. She has featured in readings at North Figueroa Bookshop, Beyond Baroque, Avenue 50 Studio, Libros, The Last Bookstore, The Index, Fresno LitHop Festival, San Francisco’s Flor y Canto Festival, and more. She is also an alumnus of Community Literature Initiative’s (CLI) Season 11 poetry publishing program.

She loves to write social melodramas on how political, social, and economic issues can intimately affect our relationships with ourselves, friends, lovers, family, and everyone around us.

Her first book, Unbecoming, a coming-of-age collection of poetry, photos and collages, is published by Riot of Roses in June 2026. She is currently the host of Avenue 50 Studio’s poetry reading and mic series La Palabra.

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Thursday the 24^th

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

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

Website: Beyond Baroque Event Page

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Friday the 25^th

Time: 9 am – 10 am

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

Website: Event Page

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

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

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

Free to attend.

NOTE: Free to attend.

Where: Once Upon a Time

Date: Friday, the 25^th

Time: 9:30 am

Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020

Website: Once Upon a Time Event Page

Afternoon Book Club: Wild Dark Shore at La Mirada Library Library , LACL – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaughy.

This novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears. For adults.

Where: La Mirada library, LACL

Date: Friday, the 25^th

Time: 10:30 am

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17375049

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 25^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Afternoon Book Club: The Collected Regrets of Clover at Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss The Collected Regrets of Clover by Nikki Brammer.

Summary provided by the publisher:

From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead during a dramatic telling of Peter Rabbit, Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. After the beloved grandfather who raised her dies alone while she is traveling, Clover becomes a death doula in New York City, dedicating her life to ushering people peacefully through their end-of-life process. Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a trip across the country to uncover a forgotten love story––and perhaps, her own happy ending. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she really wants, and whether she’ll have the courage to go after it.

Where: Culver City Julian Dixon Library, LACL

Date: Friday, the 25^th

Time: 3 pm – 4 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17092762

The 2026 LéaLA Spanish Book Fair & Literary Festival and the Pannel: Entre Volcanes y Verso: Yesika Salgado at LA Plaza de Cultura Y Artes – In-Person Event

The Entre Volcanes y Verso pannel is apart of The 2026 LéaLA Spanish Book Fair & Literary Festival taking place at one of Los Angeles’ most iconic venues, LA Plaza de la Cultura y las Artes. For four days the Literary Festival features important Latinx voices in dialogues open to the public. This pannel discusses the power of Central American poets, moderated by Cynthia Gonzalez.

Yesika Salgado is a Los Angeles-born Salvadoran poet who writes about her family, her culture, her city, and her fat body. Salgado is a two-time National Poetry Slam finalist, a Macondo fellow and the recipient of the 2020 International Latino Book Award in Poetry. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, Univision, CNN, NPR, and many other platforms. She is an internationally recognized body-positive advocate, writer of the columns Suelta for Remezcla, and Relaciones for R29’s Latine platform Somos. Yesika is the author of the best-sellers Corazón, Tesoro, and Hermosa, published with Not a Cult. Her newest collection Mentirosa is forthcoming with Primer Sueño Press. @yesikastarr

Vanessa Tahay (@vanessa_tahay) is a Guatemalan born Mayan poet, spoken word artist, and advocate whose work explores identity, culture, language, and resilience. Through powerful performances that weave together English, Spanish, Spanglish, and K’iche’, she celebrates her heritage while amplifying the voices of underrepresented communities. Her work has been featured by organizations and publications including Get Lit, Vogue, NPR, and The Huffington Post, and she continues to inspire audiences through storytelling that fosters connection, empowerment, and cultural pride.

Reggie Myles (@reggiemyles_) is an Afro-Salvadoran and African American spoken word poetry artist, community organizer, and cultural worker from Pasadena, CA. His writing centers the Black experience through themes + concepts of joy, healing, resistance, identity, and spirituality. Reggie is the author of D.E.N.A B.O.Y and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA in Sociology and African American Studies. Lastly, he is the founder of Elijahs Roses, an artistic platform and creative brand that showcases his multidisciplinary projects and poetry.

and moderated by Cynthia Gonzalez @soycyngonzalez ✨

Conversation will be followed by a live poetry reading by each participant.

✨FREE

✨All ages

Language: Bilingual (Eng/Spa)

RSVP ON PROFILE LINK

This is a powerful gathering for educators, book lovers, students, writers, and anyone passionate about uplifting Central American voices, and keeping our culture alive.

Don’t miss this opportunity to experience Central American literary programming at @festival_literario_leala

Where: LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes

Date: Friday, the 25^th

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: 501 N. Main St., Los Angeles, CALA Plaza de Cultura y Arts

Website: Instagram Page

Speculative Fiction Book Club: Adulthood Rites at West Hollywood Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler.

Are you a fan of science fiction or fantasy? If so, you should join our Speculative Fiction Book Club! We’ll supply copies of the book a month in advance, meet every month, and dive deep into discussion about the reading! For adults.

Where: West Hollywood Library, LACL

Date: Friday, the 25^th

Time: 5 pm – 6 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17217517

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

Participants participate in a poetry reading and spoken word event every last Friday of the month, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm.

Where: Bookman Bookstore

Date: Friday, the 25^th

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., Orange, CA 92867

Website: Instagram Page

Black Lit Book Club: I Eat the Stars at Cellar Door Bookstore – Online Zoom Event

Join us online to discuss Ghostroots: Stories by ’Pemi Aguda.

A debut collection of stories set in a hauntingly reimagined Lagos where characters vie for freedom from ancestral ties

In this beguiling collection of twelve imaginative stories set in Lagos, Nigeria, ’Pemi Aguda dramatizes the tension between our yearning to be individuals and the ways we are haunted by what came before.

In “Manifest,” a woman sees the ghost of her abusive mother in her daughter’s face. Shortly after, the daughter is overtaken by wicked and destructive impulses. In “Breastmilk,” a wife forgives her husband for his infidelity. Months later, when she is unable to produce milk for her newborn, she blames herself for failing to uphold her mother’s feminist values and doubts her fitness for motherhood. In “Things Boys Do,” a trio of fathers finds something unnatural and unnerving about their infant sons. As their lives rapidly fall to pieces, they begin to fear that their sons are the cause of their troubles. And in “24, Alhaji Williams Street,” a teenage boy lives in the shadow of a mysterious disease that’s killing the boys on his street.

These and other stories in Ghostroots map emotional and physical worlds that lay bare the forces of family, myth, tradition, gender, and modernity in Nigerian society. Powered by a deep empathy and glinting with humor, they announce a major new literary talent.

’Pemi Aguda is the author of One Leg on Earth and Ghostroots, a finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Trained as an architect in Lagos, Nigeria, she lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Friday the 25^th

Time: 6 pm – 7 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-09-25/black-lit-book-club-ghostroots

Sci-Fi Book Launch: Ava Lauren Grayson, with Mika Leshā, The Stargazers at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us for the launch of Ava Lauren Grayson’s novel The Stargazers!

Ava will be joined by author Mika Leshā to discuss this debut tale of teenage astronauts and intergalactic adventure.

Reserve your seats by clicking link at website!

On Earth, you live. On Luella, you survive.

Attending an elite NASA training program, the American Space Academy, in 1999, Julia Mastroff, Ky Nolan, Natalie Díaz, and Milo Fry become the newest members of The Stargazers Project, a top secret program that creates working teenage astronauts.

On a test mission, The Stargazers’s space shuttle is sucked into a portal and they crash on a magical planet with a past of its own. Now stranded somewhere in the universe and threatened by fae hunters, unidentified creatures, and secrets beyond their imagination, they must find a way to survive or a way to get back home.

But it gets even more complicated when Julia is saved by a Luarian hunter and she discovers she has magical abilities she did not possess before. With love entanglements and betrayals, The Stargazers must survive the creatures hunting them and unravel the mystery of the truth behind The Stargazers Project. Julia can’t and won’t leave Luella until she finds out exactly what her destiny is.

As a writer, Ava Lauren Grayson has had four stories published by Havok Publishing, was published in the Crowns: A Heartbrooks Anthology by Quill and Flame Publishing House in December 2023, the Once Upon a Valentine’s Anthology from Azala Press in February 2024, and the Creatures, Crowns, and Curses Anthology from Quill and Flame Publishing House in October 2024. Grayson recently signed a two-book deal with Quill and Flame Publishing House for her debut YA space fantasy duology. Her third book Ravenspire comes out in 2028. If she’s not writing or creating, you can probably find her rewatching Lord of the Rings, getting a tattoo, or feeding her cat. :3

Mika Leshā is a Los Angeles-based author and Pennsylvania native whose work is rooted in imagination, emotional depth, and the wonder of childhood. As a children’s author, she creates thoughtful, beautifully crafted stories that explore identity, belonging, courage, and self- discovery, while honoring the complexity of a child’s inner world. Her storytelling carries a distinctly cinematic and lyrical sensibility, creating books that inspire young readers to imagine more, feel deeply, and see themselves reflected in the stories they encounter.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Friday the 25^th

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Open Mic Night at The Untold Story Bookstore & Café – In-Person Event

Join us for an incredible open mic night. Showcase your talent to the community and fellow artists in a safe and welcoming environment, or be part of our amazing audience!

Where: The Untold Story Bookstore & Café

Date: Friday the 25^th

Time: 6:30 pm

Address: 301 N. Anaheim Blvd., Ste. D, Anaheim CA, 92805

Website: Instagram Page

Lisa Cheek, with Samantha Dunn, & The Big Day: Saying I Do Only to Discover I Didn’t – Another Mostly True Memoir at Book Soup – In-Person Event

Lisa Cheek, in conversation with Samantha Dunn, will discuss The Big Day: Saying I Do Only to Discover I Didn’t – Another Mostly True Memoir.

For years, Lisa Cheek believed commitment wasn’t in her genes. Her dating patterns were clear—date a lot and widely, but never settle down. When anyone wanted to marry her, she backed away. So even she is surprised when, at forty-nine, she finally says “yes” to a proposal and commits fully to her boyfriend, Big Johnson. But when she finds out on their wedding day, after the vows, that they aren’t actually married, she hesitates. Should she take this as a sign to run while she still can?

In The Big Day, Lisa Cheek invites us to witness her wedding day, with all its hilarity, chaos, and unexpected turns. Throughout, she reviews both her past relationships and the marriages of her family and friends, analyzing the choices of others and reliving the biggest ups and downs of her own love life. Ultimately, she must decide once and for all whether she’s just not marriage material—or if she’s finally found a love worth staying for.

Lisa Cheek is an author and former film and television editor known for her humorous, candid writing about relationships and identity. Her debut memoir, Sit, Cinderella, Sit, was a People Magazine pick, an Amazon bestseller, and a Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist, and was named one of Zibby Media’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025. Her latest memoir, The Big Day, is a funny, unflinching look at love, marriage, and the complicated question of whether to stay or walk away. You can find her musings at One Minute Thoughts From A Pink Head on Substack. She lives in Los Angeles with two dogs, two cats, and her husband, Big Johnson, where she has several scripts in various stages of development while working on her next memoir.

Samantha Dunn is a senior editor at the Southern California News Group, which publishes the Orange County Register and the LA Daily News, among area newspapers. For the news group, she also produces the virtual program BOOKISH about authors, thinkers, and the literary life. The author of several books, including the novel Failing Paris, the bestselling memoir, Not By Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life, and Faith in Carlos Gomez, Sam’s writing has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in journalism, the PEN Award in fiction, and has won numerous journalism awards. You can find her work anthologized in a number of places, including the short story anthology, Women on the Edge: Writing from Los Angeles, which she co-edited. A well-known instructor of writing, she teaches creative nonfiction at Chapman University, privately, and through the literary nonprofit Writing By Writers with Pam Houston.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Friday the 25^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: Event Page

Medicina Open Mic at Colectivo Cihuateotl Centro Cultural – In-Person Event

“Centering Creativity as a Means for Collective Healing and Radical Imagination”

Medicina is a healing space co-created in community with the intention of coming together to honor and uplift a featured artist along with the BIQTPOC and or Womxn of Color community members who choose to share their gifts. Furthermore, Medicina invites all to engage in dialogue in order to radically imagine a new world by carving out time for collective reflection and collaborative building. Conversations of inspiration, process, and connectivity are strengthened by the vulnerability and support present in the space. Thus, the conscious decision to hold this event in a small intimate group setting was made in order to create a brave space in which members feel seen and held.

Art is medicine. A powerful and transformative force. As creative beings, our spirit longs for this mode of release, re-membering, and envisioning. When practiced and shared, it provides a portal for self-discovery through which we can reflect, heal, and envision a new world.

Sliding scale donations, no one turned away due to lack of funds.

Where: Colectivo Cihuateotl Centro Cultural

Date: Friday the 25^th

Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm

Address: 4100 City Terrace Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90063

Website: Eventbrite Page

Saravi Salon with Jessica Saravia– Online Zoom Event

Join us for my end of the month digital art show, Saravia Salon, a themed multimedia event from 7 pm – 9 pm.

Where: Online Zoom Event

Date: Friday the 25^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: Facebook Page

The Definitive Soapbox Open Mic: Rudy Francisco & Kito Fortune at The Nest – In-Person Event

Join us for our 17^th Anniversary event for TDSB open mic.

We are honored to welcome Rudy Francisco (@rudyfrancisco) to the TDSB stage as a featured artist for our 17th Anniversary show. Rudy’s work has touched countless lives across the world. His words carry a rare balance of humor, honesty, and emotional gravity—reminding us why we come to the mic in the first place: to tell our truths and be witnessed.

We are honored to welcome Kito Fortune (@kitofortune) to the stage as one of our featured artists for our 17th Anniversary show. Kito brings a voice rooted in legacy, purpose, and relentless passion. He writes to honor where he comes from, to speak truth to where he is, and to leave space for all of us to feel a little more seen.

17 years of poetry, fellowship, and brave space.

Since 2009, this community has been a sanctuary for truth-tellers, storytellers, and seekers. What started as a spark in Long Beach has grown into a deep, enduring home here in Bellflower. Through every season, every poem, and every shared silence, you’ve helped build a space where voices belong and soft hearts can land.

On Friday, September 25, we gather to celebrate the journey, the art, and the people who make The Definitive Soapbox what it is. Whether you’ve been rocking with us since day one or you’re stepping into the room for the very first time, your presence is a part of this story.

Come early. Grab a drink from our gracious hosts at The Nest. Settle in, grab a seat, and let’s celebrate seventeen years of being witnessed together.

Where: The Nest – A Brunch Joint

Date: Friday the 25^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm)

Address: 16916 Bellflower Blvd., Bellflower, CA 90706

Website: Instagram Page

Clarissa Redwine and JS Tan & Against Tech Oligarchy at Skylight – In-Person Event

Clarissa Redwine and JS Tan will discuss Against Tech Oligarchy.

As tech bosses fall in line with the right, tech workers are fighting back. This is the rousing inside story of their movement—and the way it spawned an anti-worker backlash now reshaping the industry.

After Donald Trump’s election in 2016, the tech industry sprang into action to oppose his right-wing agenda, with workers and CEOs alike joining mass mobilizations against the new president’s anti-immigrant policies. But it wasn’t long before the tech bosses started to fall in line with the new administration.

In response, tens of thousands of tech workers protested against their own employers for betraying the progressive values that once defined the industry—including organizing against military contracts, walking out to protest sexism, and even launching a wave of union drives. By the early 2020s, these workers had sparked what observers were calling the tech worker movement, one that seemed capable of checking the industry’s reckless growth and reactionary drift.

But as their struggle grew, so did the employers’ backlash. A new class consciousness took root among tech’s billionaire owners. Hell-bent on stamping out any and all dissent, tech executives embraced Trumpism, fired organizers, and began lashing out against the “woke” ideology they blamed for turning their once loyal employees against them—and replacing the good tech jobs of the 2010s with incessant layoffs, grind culture, and a management style that treats workers as disposable.

Against Tech Oligarchy provides a gripping account of this inspiring workers’ movement and the rise of the hostile labor politics that define Silicon Valley today.

JS Tan is a PhD candidate at MIT and a former Microsoft employee. His work has been featured in The New York Times and MIT Technology Review, among other outlets, and his writing has appeared in Dissent, Jacobin, Foreign Policy, The Baffler, and The Guardian.

Clarissa Redwine is a tech worker and labor activist. She helped organize the industry’s first wall-to-wall union at Kickstarter in 2019 and, as a Fellow at NYU Law, she produced a beloved oral history that chronicles the historic win. In 2023, she co-founded Circuit Breakers, the world’s first labor conference dedicated to organizing the tech industry. Her work in the labor movement has been featured in The New York Times, the BBC, The Guardian, The Verge, TechCrunch, and many other news outlets.

Where: Skylight

Date: Friday the 25^th

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: https://skylightbooks.com/event/2026-09-25/clarissa-redwine-js-tan-against-tech-oligarchy

Banned Books Club: The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School – In-Person Event

Banned Books Club meets every third Wednesday at Underdog Bookstore to discuss a new banned or challenged book each month.

For those wishing to join virtually, a Zoom link will be shared with all attendees prior to the event.

Our pick is: The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonido Reyes

A sharply funny and moving debut novel about a queer Mexican American girl navigating Catholic school, while falling in love and learning to celebrate her true self.

You can pick up a copy in store or keep supporting Underdog by listening to the audiobook from our libro.fm or downloading the ebook from our bookshop.org.

RSVP at website link – Suggested donation $5-20 or donate a gently used banned book

Where: Underdog Bookstore

Date: Friday the 25^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: https://www.underdogbookstore.org/events/banned-books-club-september

Double Book Launch: Poetry & Baseball: Henry Schipper & Teddy Tannenbaum at Beyond Baroque – In-Person & Live Online YouTube Hybrid Event

Join us for the double book launch for Henry Schipper’s The Ball Dreams of The Sky and Teddy Tannenbaum’s The Dreamlife of Teddy Baseball.

Join us for a celebration of two collections on the sport of baseball. Both memoir and homage in love of the game, the poets meditate on their experiences as baseball players in the field while navigating their own personal lives. Henry Schipper and Teddy Tannenbaum will read in The Wanda Coleman Theater followed by a book signing & reception.

Henry Schipper’s The Ball Dreams of the Sky compiles autobiographical poems that translates life—all nine innings—into the language and metaphor of the game. Everything from childhood trauma, to early stardom, love, sex, creativity, meditation, midlife crisis, God and more is batted around, lofted high, and tenderly caught like a ball in a glove. Even the ghosts of the Holocaust sometimes haunt the all-embracing field of play. At once memoir, homage, and all-out celebration of the game, this book explores baseball as a mother tongue of the heart that seems capable of wrapping itself around everything.

In Teddy Tannenbaum’s The Life of Teddy Baseball, poetry, paradox, bodhisattvas and the sutras all collide in this first collection of baseball musings written over the past several decades. A combination of studied observations, personal experiences on the field and the whimsy that baseball unabashedly provides are scattered throughout.

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

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Friday, the 25^th

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

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

Website: Eventbrite Page

Grand Opening Celebration at Moonstone & Mist Bookshop – In-Person Event

Here’s what to expect all day:

Hands-on activities with five local vendors (vendor announcement forthcoming)

Free bookmark bedazzling and silhouette art activity

Author visits all day long! Five new authors will join us every two hours! (Author announcements listed below)

9 am – 11 am

✨HD Scott, Glik’s Fables (Fantasy)

✨ Venessa Yeh, Opol Space (Poetry)

✨ Kelly R. Nelson, The Devil & the Details (Romance/Mystery)

✨ Marcy Mahoney, Archwilde (Fantasy)

✨ Jeannie Choe, They Don’t Know About Us (Romance)

✨ KC Cordell, So You Survived the End of the World (Science Fiction)

11 am – 1 pm

✨ Erica Espejo, The Fangirl Diaries: Finding Community in Anime Fandom of the 90s and 00s (Memoir)

✨ Ed Zalewski, The Hosts of Heaven (Science Fiction)

✨ Bridget Kleinert, The Boy and the Moon (Picture Book)

✨ Chris DelSalvo, The Late Hour Stories (Short Stories)

✨ Rowan Wolf, Hanged by Fate (Fantasy)

✨ Alison Aimes, Trapped (Dystopian Romance)

1 pm – 3 pm

✨ Albert Barron, Love Drive Out of the Linear (Metaphysical Romance)

✨ Matt Harry, Sorcery for Beginners (Middle Grade Fantasy)

✨ Natasha Kahn Kazi, Bela and Lily (Picture Book)

✨ Rachanee Lumayno, Heir of Amber and Fire (Young Adult Fantasy)

✨ Paula Swearingen, Brown Skin, Curly Girl Becomes a Marine Biologist (Picture Book)

✨ Brittany Johnson, Deadly Ever After (Young Adult Romantasy)

3 pm – 5 pm

✨ Gareth Griffiths, The Foopy Song (Picture Book)

✨ Shelly Lyons, Behold, He Scatters His Lightning (Horror)

✨ Carla Fountain, Bicycle Odyssey (Memoir)

✨ Bryana Kappadakunnel, Parent Yourself First (Self-Help/Parenting)

✨ K. Andrew Turner, The Heretic and the Broken Man (Romance)

✨ Dalila Caryn, Battle for the Sky (Fantasy)

5 pm – 7 pm

✨ Julie Seyler, Gluten for Punishment (Memoir with Recipes)

✨ Amanda LaPera, Dare to Dream (Middle Grade Fiction)

✨ Anthony Falleroni, Planet of the Pets (Comics)

✨ Janell Strube, Adelaide: Painter of the Revolution (Historical Fiction)

✨ Cassandra Diviak, The Signature Move (Romance)

✨ Anna Lamson, Minji the Magnificent (Picture Book)

Free Moonstone & Mist Bookshop tote bag for the first 50 shoppers who spend $100+

Free BlendzUP pastries in the morning

9 am: Ribbon Cutting with the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce

4 pm: Afternoon sweet treat

6pm: Instagram live giveaway! Everyone who shops throughout the day will be eligible for prizes.

We hope you’ll join us!

Where: Moonstone & Mist Bookshop19

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 9 am – 7 pm

Address: 1913 S. Catalina Ave., Redondo Beach, CA

Website: Instagram Page

Los Angeles Libros Festival at Central Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Un festival del libro bilingüe para toda la familia.

Los Angeles Libros Festival ofrecerá una entretenida programación con cuentacuentos, conciertos, autores, talleres, libros y comunidad. Entrada gratuita.

A Free Bilingual Book Festival for the Whole Family

Los Angeles Libros Festival will offer a full day of entertainment featuring Spanish-language and bilingual storytelling, musical performances, authors, workshops, books, and community. Free and open to the general public.

Please email Ms. Gail at gkim@lapl.org to request the Zoom login information.

NOTE: See website for complete schedule of events.

Community partner activities take place from 10 a.m.–4 p.m. & include:

Casa 0101: Taper Auditorium Lobby

Center Theatre Group: Lower Level 1

La Plaza de Cultura y Artes: Taper Auditorium Lobby

LA City Clerk’s Office: Children’s Courtyard

LACMA: Art, Music & Recreation, Sports Room

Self Help Graphics & Art: Lower Level 2

Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural: Art, Music & Recreation, Sports Room

Where: Central Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 10 am – 4 pm

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

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/los-angeles-libros-festival-0

Book Club For Middle Grade Readers: Beyond the Bright Sea via Central Library, LAPL – Online MG Event

Middle-grade readers in grades 4-7 are invited to join our engaging monthly book discussions. This month, we will be reading Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk.

Please email Ms. Gail at gkim@lapl.org to request the Zoom login information.

Where: Central Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 10 am

Address: Online Event, LAPL

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/book-club-middle-grade-readers-beyond-bright-sea-lauren-wolk

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 10 am – 11 am

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

Website: Event Page

Fall in Love with Poetry! Week 4 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 last 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 26^th

Time: 10:30 am – 1:30 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/16827607

Book Club: A Gentleman in Moscow at Gardena Mayme Dear Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion of A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towels. For adults.

Copies of the book are available at the customer service desk and on Libby/Overdrive.

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol hotel. Rostov lives in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Where: Gardena Mayme Dear Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: 1731 W. Gardena Blvd., Gardena, CA 90247

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17157616

Author Storytime: Laura De La Cruz & Lowrider for Sale at Casita Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us to hear author Laura De La Cruz present Lowrider for Sale, a touching story of tradition, family, and learning how to say goodbye to precious items while keeping the fond memories close.

Laura De La Cruz lives in the Texas Hill Country with her husband, a horse named Dolly, and two dogs, Rico and Eddie. She was born and raised in Southern California, then spent about twenty years in the Bay Area after moving north. She has three kids. After years of working as a software engineer, a Spanish preschool teacher, a receptionist, a translator, and wearing a few other hats along the way, De La Cruz finally found the job of her dreams as a children’s book author. She is the author of Lowrider for Sale (Disney Hyperion, 2026).

Where: Casita Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: 272 Redondo Ave., Long Beach, CA 90803

Website: Instagram Page

Book Fiesta: Rhode Montijo’s Halloween & Dia De La Muertos Book Fiesta & Skully’s Best Dia Ever! at Children’s Book World – In-Person Kids/Family Event

Join author & illustrator Rhode Montijo for an audience participating Halloween & Dia de los Muertos Book Fiesta as we join Skully for another hilarious Skeletown adventure in his newest picture book, Skully’s Best Día Ever!

Skeletown dressup is encouraged.

Come on a rambunctious adventure and explore a vibrant Día de los Muertos-inspired town alongside Skully the skeleton, who sets out on a hilarious quest to have the perfect day! It’s a beautiful day in Skeletown, and Skully has a mission: He is going to have the best. Day. EVER! Inhaling the sweet scents of fresh-baked goodies at the panaderia…rescuing a gatito from a tree…and getting the best seat to watch lucha libre. But wherever Skully goes, trouble always follows close behind. Will Skully still find the fun in Skeletown, or will he lose his head? Rhode Montijo’s newest story set in Skeletown offers a fun read-aloud narrative packed with laughs and bold, vibrant colors popping on every page.

Rhode Montijo is the creator of Sí. ¡No! Más. ¡Menos!, and Hola. ¡Adiós!, the first three books set in Skeletown, a fun, imaginative world inspired by Día de los Muertos. He is also the author and illustrator of the Gumazing Gum Girl! chapter book series, as well as the picture books Cloud Boy and The Halloween Kid. Rhode received a BFA in illustration from California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts) and lives near Los Angeles.

Where: Children’s Book World

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Address: 10580 1/2 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064

Website: https://childrensbookworld.com/event/2026-09-26/rhode-montijos-halloween-dia-de-los-muertos-book-fiesta-skullys-best-dia-ever

Mystery Book Club: Beyond the Bright Sea at Westwood Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Read the book and join our lively discussion!

September 26: The IT Girl by Ruth Ware.

Where: Westwood Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 1246 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024

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

View Park Library Book Club: The Great Mann at View Park Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Read the book and join our lively discussion!

September 26: The Great Mann by Kyra Davis Lurie.

Where: View Park Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17243009

Hispanic Heritage Month: Book Discussion & Art for Adults: The House of Broken Angels at Hawthorne Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion of the historical-fiction novel, The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea. During the discussion, we will also create a decorative “Milagro Heart” in honor of Latin American Catholic traditions. For ages 18+.

The House of Broken Angels is a sprawling and epic family saga helmed by patriarch Big Angel. The novel gathers together the entire De La Cruz clan, as they meet for the final birthday party Big Angel is throwing for himself, at home in San Diego, as he nears the end of his struggle with cancer and reflects on his long and full life. But when Big Angel’s mother, Mama America, approaching one hundred, dies herself as the party nears, he must plan her funeral as well. There will be two family affairs in one weekend: a farewell double-header. Among the attendants is his half-brother and namesake, Little Angel, who comes face to face with the siblings with whom he shared a father but not, as the weekend proceeds to remind him, a life. This story of the De La Cruzes is the story of what it means to be a Mexican in America, to have lived two lives across one border.

Physical copies of this book are available at the customer service desk- while supplies last. E-book and e-Audiobook versions are also available via electronic devices.

Where: Hawthorne Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Address: 12700 Grevillea Ave., Hawthorne, CA 90250

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17035279

City of Glendale Poet Laureate Program: Inward, Outward, Together: A Poetry Workshop-Reading & Jewel City Review Volume 3 Anthology Launch at Glendale Central Library – In-Person Event

Calling all writers! The Glendale Poet Laureate Program invites you to the next installment of our workshop-reading series. We’ll develop poems and explore craft alongside featured poets Kim Shuck (Poet Laureate of San Francisco, 2017-2021), Rhonda Mitchell (Poet Laureate of Altadena), Tina Demirdjian (Poet Laureate of Glendale). And we will celebrate the launch of Volume 3 for Jewel City Review. This workshop is free and open to the public, and all levels of experience and language backgrounds are welcome!

Learn more at glac.info/poet-laureate.

Where: Glendale Central Library, Auditorium

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 11 am – 2 pm

Address: 222 E. Harvard St., Glendale, CA 91205

Website: Glendale Public Library Event Page

Storytime Celebration: Yoojin Grace Wuertz & Habbi’s Treasures at Once Upon a Time – In-Person Kids Event

Honoring family memories!

Chuseok is a Korean mid-autumn celebration honoring ancestors. Keeping the intention of the holiday, Once Upon A Time is excited to welcome author Yoojin Grace Wuertz to share her picture book Habbi’s Treasures. Grace will read her book and then be available to sign books. Best for ages 3+.

During a game of hide-and-seek at his grandfather’s house, Caleb finds something unexpected—a box full of unknown treasures. Inside are old clothes: a worn school uniform, a polished naval jacket, a folded tuxedo, and a pair of grass-stained jeans. One by one, Habbi shares the story behind each treasure, passing down his life’s journey to Caleb. Inspired by her own family’s history, acclaimed novelist Yoojin Grace Wuertz makes her picture book debut with this poignant, intergenerational story about resilience, gratitude, and the wisdom we pass down.

A heartfelt ode to family, memory, and the stories that live in the everyday things we hold dear.

Yoojin Grace Wuertz is the author of Everything Belongs To Us, which was selected as a New York Times Editors’ Choice, longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and included on Kirkus Reviews’ Best Fiction of 2017. She is the author of two picture books, Habbi’s Treasures (September 2026) and Somi’s Star Da (September 2027), both from RISE x Penguin Workshop. Her debut young adult novel, Welcome Home, Stranger, is forthcoming from FSG Books For Young Readers in May 2027. Grace’s writing has appeared in Guernica, ArtReview, The Times Literary Supplement, and The Los Angeles Review of Books, among others. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Brattleboro Literary Festival.

Grace was born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to the United States at age six. She holds a BA in English from Yale University and an MFA in fiction from New York University. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with her family.

Dung Ho is the illustrator of several bestselling picture books, including Eyes That Kiss in the Corners, Eyes that Speak to the Stars, and many more. She studied graphic design at the Hue University College of Arts and then worked in the design and advertising industry before pivoting to illustration. She lives and works in Vietnam.

The Korea Cultural Center of Los Angeles will generously provide complimentary copies of Habbi’s Treasures for event child attendees, while supplies last.

If you can’t make it to the event, you can order signed books in advance at website.

Where: Once Upon a Time

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020

Website: Once Upon a Time Event Page

Latina Fest: Arte, Libros y Cultura at Wilshire & Fairfax – In-Person Event

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with us at LATINAFest x Metro! 🎉✨

Join us for Arte, Libros y Cultura—a day filled with vibrant culture, amazing local vendors, community vibes, and inspiring voices.

📚 Special Guest Alert: We are so excited to announce that Alegría Publishing (@alegriapublishing) will be there! Stop by to explore incredible stories, meet authors, and connect with the community.

Event Details:

🗓 Date: Saturday, September 26th

⏰ Time: 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm

📍 Location: Wilshire & Fairfax Blvd.

What to Expect:

💃 Folklorico Dancers

📖 Author Readings

🛍️ Local Marketplace

✨ Community & Culture

Bring your friends and family—you won’t want to miss this! Tap the link in bio for more details.

Where: Latina Fest: Arte, Libros y Cultura

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 12 pm – 5 pm

Address: Wilshire & Fairfax Blvd.

Website: Instagram Page

Open Mic Poetry at Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person Event

Share your original poems, lyrics, spoken word, or just enjoy listening. Each poet will have five minutes to read an original work. If you wish to read, sign up when you arrive.

Where: Eagle Rock Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 1 pm

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

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/open-mic-poetry-9

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

For many writers, creating a memoir or any novel is complex, a deeply personal process, and an emotional undertaking. Balancing events, relationships, and complications with reflection can make the task daunting task. Get to the heart of the story you want to tell and your purpose for telling it. Explore a narrative approach where the basics still matter: story and character arcs, POV, show not tell, and varied plot pacing. And once the manuscript is finished, then what?

Join GLAWS and award-winning author Amanda LaPera as she takes us through the challenges, pitfalls, and triumphs of writing, as well as the varied options for publication.

Where: Venice Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 2 pm – 5 pm

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

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/greater-los-angeles-writers-society-1

Book Club: Mean Moms: A Novel at Carson Library, LACL – In-Person Event

Join us for a discussion of Mean Moms: A Novel by Emma Rosenblum. For adults.

Where: Carson Library, LACL

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

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

Website: https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/event/17216444

Book Launch: Paul Vangelisi & Vincent Katz at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Canter – In-Person & Online Hybrid Event

Join us for an afternoon with poets Vincent Katz and Paul Vangelisti. Katz will present Daffodil, published by Alfred A. Knopf, as well as Accounts, his collaborative book with painter Richard Bosman, published by Karma Books. Vangelisti will read from his recent book Traveling, published by Shearsman Books in the U.K.

Paul Vangelisti and Vincent Katzs read from their new collections

Both poets are prolific writers and translators whose work has been influential in contemporary poetry and the arts.

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 2 pm – 4 pm

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

Website: Beyond Baroque Event Page

Fourth Saturdays Poetry Reading Series at Claremont Helen Renwick Library – In-Person Event

Join us this month for poetry by Maurya Simon and Adam O. Davis.

Maurya Simon’s twelfth poetry volume, The Blue Bridge, was released in 2026. Her penultimate volume, La Sirena: A Novella in Verse, was a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize nominee. The Wilderness: New & Selected Poems received the 2019 Independent Booksellers Association’s Gold Medal in Poetry. A Fulbright Senior Research Fellow (South India), NEA Poetry Fellow, and Poetry Society Lucille Medwick Memorial and Cecil Hemley Memorial Awardee, Simon’s served residencies at the American Academy in Rome, Baltic Centre for Writers & Translators, Hawthornden Castle, and MacDowell Colony. Her poems have been translated into Hebrew, French, Spanish, Romanian, Bengali, Greek, and Farsi. She lives in Claremont, California.

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 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.

Fourth Saturdays: Poetry at the Claremont Library is a free monthly poetry reading series organized by local poets Lucia Galloway Dick, Karen Greenbaum-Maya, Genevieve Kaplan, George Hammons and Chloe Martinez.

Where: Claremont Helen Renwick Library

Date: Saturday, the 26^th

Time: 2 pm – 4 pm

Address: 208 Harvard Ave., Claremont, CA 91711

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

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

Join us to hear three featured poets read and discuss their work:

Alicia Portnoy is a writer and activist who embodies the importance of remembrance, justice, and reconciliation: she provides generous insights on exile, solidarity, and the enduring impact of her voice as a witness and survivor of Argentina’s dictatorship. Now as a professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA, she continues to be active in various roles related to human rights advocacy, literature, and education.

Gail Wronsky (@poetwronsky), is a poet who lives in Topanga, California. Her most recent book is Mockingbird’s Proverbs, published in 2025 by White Pine Press.

Ramón García (@rgarciamon) is the author of two books of poetry: Other Countries (What Books Press, 2010) and The Chronicles (Red Hen Press, 2015). He is a professor at California State University, Northridge, and lives in downtown Los Angeles.

All events are curated by Yago Cura.

Where: Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Saturday, the 26^th

Time: 2:30 pm – 4 pm

Address: 2205 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90071

Website: https://www.lapl.org/events/miriams-garden-poetry-reading

Saturday Afternoon Poetry: Calokie’s 92^nd Birthday + Poets Published in Four Feathers Press – Online Zoom Event

Join us online for Calokie’s 92^nd Birthday+ Poets published in Four Feathers Press’ TURTLE ISLAND POETRY # 9 (September 2026 Issue).

All events are curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.

Where: Saturday Afternoon Poetry, Online

Date: Saturday, the 26^th

Time: 3 pm – 4:30 pm

Address: Online SAP Zoom Event

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

Historical Fiction Book Club: The Weaver and the Witch Queen via Cellar Door Bookstore – Online Zoom Event

Participants will discuss online The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec.

The lives of two women—one desperate only to save her missing sister, the other a witch destined to become queen of Norway—intertwine in this spellbinding, powerful Viking Age historical fantasy novel from the acclaimed author of The Witch’s Heart.

Oddny and Gunnhild meet as children in tenth century Norway, and they could not be more different: Oddny hopes for a quiet life, while Gunnhild burns for power and longs to escape her cruel mother. But after a visiting wisewoman makes an ominous prophecy that involves Oddny, her sister Signy, and Gunnhild, the three girls take a blood oath to help one another always.

When Oddny’s farm is destroyed and Signy is kidnapped by Viking raiders, Oddny is set adrift from the life she imagined—but she’s determined to save her sister no matter the cost, even as she finds herself irresistibly drawn to one of the raiders who participated in the attack. And in the far north, Gunnhild, who fled her home years ago to learn the ways of a witch, is surprised to find her destiny seems to be linked with that of the formidable King Eirik, heir apparent to the ruler of all Norway.

Genevieve Gornichec earned her degree in history from the Ohio State University, but she got as close to majoring in Vikings as she possibly could, and her study of Norse myths and Icelandic sagas became her writing inspiration. Her national bestselling debut novel, The Witch’s Heart, has been translated into more than ten languages. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 5 pm – 6 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-09-26/historical-fiction-book-club-weaver-and-witch-queen

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

Welcome to the Nervous Ghost Press ARTS NIGHT!

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

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

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

See you there!

Where: Nervous Ghost Press

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 5 pm

Address: Online Zoom Event

Website: Eventbrite Page

Poesia for the People: Armonía de Latinidad at Stay Arts Studio – In-Person Event

Come check out poets and storytellers from all over California:

Host Jean Pierre Rueda welcomes:

Julia Gaytan is a writer and active presence within the literary landscape of Los Angeles. She organizes and participates in a wide array of cultural gatherings including poetry readings, book festivals, and collaborative writer workshops.

Mauricio Moreno is a 1st generation Colombian-American poet and writer, originally from Elizabeth, New Jersey. His debut poetry collection is Anatomy of a Flame (Los Angeles Poet Society Press, 2023). His works have been published in Conchas Y Café, Intercultural Press, Resurrection Press, No Tender Fences, Rigorous, and others. He is co-host of Trenches Full of Poets Reading Series.

Alexis Jaimes received honorable mention recently for OC Poet Laureate. He is a fourth grade elementary teacher for a Spanish dual immersion school, teaching from a social justice perspective ensuring students are learning the entire history of their country, the United States of America.

Estefania Pulido N/A

Paola Gutierrez is a preschool teacher, currently living in Orange County. In 2022 she self- published her first bilingual children’s picture book, I don’t like broccoli “No me gusta el brócoli”. In 2023 she published her second children’s picture book also bilingual, Yo lloro I cry In 2024 Riot of Roses publishing House published her first poetry collection called La Niña de mis Ojos a love letter to her grandfather Papito José and a message of hope to her inner child. In 2026 She self -published her first bilingual Zine called Resist, Sleep, Repeat.

Juan Amador is a spoken word artist, actor, and aspiring voice actor from South Central Los Angeles. He began writing short scenes for the Imagine Us Free Workshop. At Community Literature Initiative (CLI), he developed his first poetry book titled Pimping My Trauma, which was picked up by Riot of Roses Publishing House LLC. His poetry collection deals with the stigma of being a male sexual survivor raised in a blue-collar hood while struggling with intimacy. He has performed all over LA County and won a Gothic Poetry Slam in 2022.

Juan Verela is an Afro-Colombian poet born and raised in Colombia whose work explores the homelands we come from, the histories we carry, and the healing we seek. His poetry led him to education, spending over twelve years serving communities in and beyond the classroom. He is also co-owner of The Thrift Bus @thethriftbus.la, a sustainable fashion shop rooted in community and expression that reflects his deep commitment to creativity and justice.

Samantha Herrera is a poet, spoken word artist, and zine queen, and loves writing and performing on all stages. She makes art through collages with thrifted magazines and combines poetry with visual art. She is the author of How to Stay Afloat: the Art of Drowning.

David Quiroz began teaching in 2019, pursuing a master’s degree in English with an emphasis on creative writing. He has served as a public-school middle school instructor. Dreamer Paradise, his first book, tells the story of one dreamer, as the DACA/immigrant experience is not universal.

Lizeth De La Cruz is the Poetry Editor at Angel City Review and serves as the TYPL Program Director. She holds an MFA from San Francisco State University, where her poem “The Rio Grande” received the Ann Fields Award. She writes about the frustration of language barriers, learned barriers, and the anxieties of living/loving/birthing/grieving in a Mexican body in the United States.

Alejandra Medina is a writer based in Los Angeles, California. A two-time Best of the Net nominee, her work has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and has been published by LatineLit, the Exposition Review, and the 2023 Best Small Fictions anthology, among other places.

Jimena Dardano N/A

Melina Lovera self-published her first poetry collection, Awakening, in 2024. What was supposed to be a summer project unexpectedly opened the door to networking opportunities and invitations to perform at spoken-word poetry events. Her work was also selected for publication in the Hermosas y Libros festival zines. In late 2025, her second book, Rebirth, was published through the La Poeta Publications.

Alan Alatorre N/A

Where: Stay Arts Studio

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 11140 Downey Ave., Downey, CA 90241

Website: Instagram Page

Music and the Muse: Raffi Joe Wartanian and The Sér Ensemble at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center – In-Person Event

Join is to hear: What happens when music and poetry join the same conversation?

Music and the Muse braids live music, poetry, and projected imagery into an immersive performance. Inspired by the deep connection between composing music and poetry, Raffi Joe Wartanian and the Sér Ensemble move between composed passages, improvisation, and live readings. As the ensemble builds shifting sonic landscapes, poets emerge to read their work against evocative projections, creating unexpected resonances between sound, language, and image.

Throughout the evening, music and poetry intermingle, each revealing new frontiers for the other. An elegy and fugue waltz in a Venice tango bar. Together, these interwoven forms forge a space where sound, language, and image merge toward a single unfolding experience.

Featured poets include Brian Sonia-Wallace, Los Angeles Poet Laureate, Kweku Abimbola, El Segundo Poet Laureate, and Tina Demirdjian, Glendale Poet Laureate.

About the Sér Ensemble: Raffi Joe Wartanian & the Sér Ensemble unite oud, violin, guitar, as a vehicle for original composition, intercultural conversation, and expressive transcendence. Helmed by composer, writer, and educator Raffi Joe Wartanian, the group—featuring guitarist Alexy Yeghikian & violinist Shant Tanielian—explores soundscapes where the Appalachian Mountains slope into the Mediterranean Sea. At its core is the oud—the ancient, fretless ancestor of the guitar—reimagined here as a living, compositional tool. Drawing from Armenian folk, modal jazz, flamenco, rebetiko, and poetry, the ensemble’s music flows through geographic and stylistic borders while reveling in the uprooted groundedness of the diasporic experience. “Sér,” meaning love in Armenian and to be in Spanish, reflects a guiding ethos: compositions as a container of both presence and relation, as in an unfolding practice of community, contemplation, and mutual care.

Brian Sonia-Wallace is the Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. They are a poet, educator, and public artist whose work explores the line between the intimate and the monumental, reimagining public space as a site of memory, care, and dialogue. Over the past decade and a half, he has written poems on-the-spot in public for over 10,000 strangers and their communities, a practice that has unfolded into books including The Poetry of Strangers (HarperCollins) and Maze Mouth (Moon Tide Press), as well as performances and public projects across theaters, galleries, and everyday city spaces. A City of LA Master Artist and former Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, Sonia-Wallace has served as Poet-in-Residence for places as varied as the National Parks, Amtrak, and the Mall of America (yes, really). His work centers on creating art that bridges civic space, public memory, and lived experience, often collaborating with LGBTQ+ communities, youth, and elders to amplify voices that are rarely heard. A Fellow of the Academy of American Poets and LA County, his writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, LitHub, Rattle, and American Poets, and has been performed from Walt Disney Concert Hall to the Kennedy Center. He teaches at UCLA Extension, facilitates the APLA Health Writers’ Group, and leads school outreach for Get Lit – Words Ignite. More @rentpoet.

Born in the Gambia, Kweku Abimbola earned his MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. He is of Gambian, Ghanaian, Sierra Leonean, and Nigerian descent. Abimbola’s first full-length poetry collection, Saltwater Demands a Psalm, was published by Graywolf Press in April of 2023. The début collection received the First Book Award from the Academy of American Poets in 2022. Abimbola is a finalist for the 2021 Brunel International African Poetry Prize and the second-place winner of the Furious Flower 2020 poetry contest. He has work published and forthcoming in Shade Literary Arts, 20.35 Africa, The Common, Obsidian, SUNU Journal, and elsewhere.

Tina Demirdjian is the recipient of numerous grants, including two from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Durfee ARC grant, and the California Council for the Humanities. She is the author of Imprint, her first poetry collection, and a contributor to Birthmark: A Bilingual Anthology of Armenian-American Poetry and recently anthologized in Remain In Light: Visions Of Homeland And Diaspora by UC Regents. Her work has appeared in Moria, High Performance, Texas Observer, The Midwest Poetry Review, and she has performed throughout Los Angeles. She is the owner of POETRY CONSULTS and is a facilitator, team-builder, and producer of events. Through her experience in schools, museums, libraries, and companies for 30 years she believes in the power of building and sustaining partnerships.

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Date: Saturday the 26^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm (Doors AT 6:30 pm)

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

Website: Eventbrite Page

Book Launch: Tananarive Due, with Rachel True, & Mazywood at Reparations Club – In-Person Event

Tananarive Due, in conversation with Rachel True, will discuss Mazywood.

Award-winning author Tananarive Due returns with the follow-up to the multi-award-winning The Reformatory in this generational novel of rage. With flashbacks to Johnny’s grandmother—who brushed shoulders with giants like Lena Horne, Clark Gable, and Hattie McDaniel—this novel explores three generations, beginning with Mazelle Washington’s life as a young actress. Fifty years after Mazelle’s death, Johnny will discover the secret she kept and nurtured since she was a child, when she had a dark wish come true.

A monster lurks outside Mazywood, hidden for generations, and Johnny brought his family to its hunting grounds.

Tananarive Due is an American Book Award and NAACP Image Award–winning author, who was an executive producer on Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror for Shudder and teaches Afrofuturism and Black Horror at UCLA. She and her husband, science fiction author Steven Barnes, cowrote the graphic novel The Keeper and an episode for Season 2 of The Twilight Zone for Paramount Plus and Monkeypaw Productions. Due is the author of several novels and two short story collections, Ghost Summer: Stories and The Wishing Pool and Other Stories. She is also co-author of a civil rights memoir, Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights (with her late mother, Patricia Stephens Due). Learn more at TananariveDue.com.

Where: Reparations Club

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 3054 South Victoria Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90016

Website: Instagram Page

Typewriter Poets On Demand with L.A. Poet Society at Melrose Trading Post – In-Person Event

Poets with L.A. Poet Society participate in providing typewritten poetry on demand for customers each Sunday at Melrose Trading Post.

No cover. Donations appreciated.

Featuring Poets of El Martillo Press at 2 pm – 2:45 pm:

Lorna De Cervantes, Jozer Guerrero, Sonia Gutierrez. Briana Munoz, Roberto Leni,

Where: Melrose Trading Post

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 11 am – 5 pm (times and stage may vary)

Address: 7850 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046

Website: Instagram Page

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

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Local Author Day (Young Readers Edition): Introducing Sara Holst at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

Sara Holst presents Sybil’s Magic Muffins

Sybil can bake her emotions into her food. When she starts kindergarten, her magical treats cause chaos as she learns to understand and manage her big feelings.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 11 am

Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101-2116

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-27/local-author-day-young-readers

La Palabra Poetry Reading Series & Open Mic at Avenue 50 Studio – In-Person Event

Host Pam Concepcion is closing off the summer with another collaboration!

Featuring: KIMBERLY, MICHELLE, FZYON of ZZyZx Writers

“I’ve had the pleasure of reading with @zzyzxwriterz last April, during the South Pasadena Arts & Music Crawl. We read along Mission St., in front of this auto-repair shop I always pass by when I walk to the train station. They brought along a number of great poets who shared with me colorful stories about where they grew up or travelled around. Definitely a memorable bunch to be with! I’m so excited to bring this group, and their poetry to La Palabra.” 💕

Where: Avenue 50 Studio

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 2 pm – 4 pm

Address: 3714 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90065

Website: Instagram Page

Latinx Book Club: Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism by Laura E. Gomez.

In what Booklist calls “an incisive study of history, complex interrogation of racial construction, and sophisticated legal argument,” Gomez “packs a knockout punch” (Publishers Weekly), illuminating for readers the fascinating race-making, unmaking, and re-making processes that Latinos have undergone over time, indelibly changing the way race functions in this country.

Building on the “insightful and well-researched” (Kirkus Reviews) material of the original, the paperback features a new afterword in which the author analyzes results of the 2020 Census, providing brilliant, timely insight about how Latinos have come to self-identify.

Laura E. Gómez is the Rachel F. Moran Endowed Chair in Law at UCLA and also a professor in the departments of sociology and Chicana/Chicano & Central American studies. She is a member of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino scholarly advisory committee and the author of Manifest Destinies, Mapping “Race,” and Misconceiving Mothers, as well as Inventing Latinos (The New Press). She lives in Los Angeles.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

Address: 6675 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA 92506

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-09-27/latinx-book-club-inventing-latinos-new-story-american-racism

Author Event: Gary Goldstein, with Susan Walter, & Canine Custody at Diesel, A Bookstore – In-Person Event

Gary Goldstein, in conversation with Susn Walter, will discuss Canine Custody.

Meet Layla and Franklin Bishop. They’re a married Los Angeles pair in their late thirties, whose twelve-year relationship began like a house on fire—but now all that’s left are the dying embers. When a maddening incident involving a fender bender, a gushing Hydro Flask, and their back-seated dog, Betty, becomes the last straw for the teetering spouses, they impulsively separate.

Money, work matters, and property issues quickly complicate things. But when Layla and Franklin each demand full custody of Betty, the road to divorce gets impossibly bumpy, even with the help of their tough-love mediator, Margo. Parents, friends, and potential new romantic partners are along for the twisty ride, as Layla and Franklin navigate their way apart—all while Betty works, in her mysterious canine way, to reunite her humans. But is she barking up the wrong tree?

Told from the alternating points of view of Layla, Franklin, and Betty, Canine Custody is a funny, candid, sexy, at times bittersweet look at what draws lovers to each other, how those same things can send them packing, and the surprising role our pets can play in life’s major decisions.

Gary Goldstein is an author, screenwriter, and playwright. His previous novels include the romantic comedy The Last Birthday Party, which won an IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for Excellence in Fiction; the family drama The Mother I Never Had; and the coming-of-age dramedy Please Come to Boston. His latest novel, the dogs-and-divorce romcom Canine Custody, will be published Sept. 22, 2026 by Koehler Books.

Gary is also an award-winning writer for film, TV, and the theater, with over thirty screen and stage credits (including more than fifteen telefilms and several theatrical features). A New York native, Boston University graduate, and lifelong dog lover, he resides in Los Angeles. Gary has also been a contributing entertainment writer and film reviewer for the LA Times since 2007.

USA Today bestselling author Susan Walter is a recovering screenwriter and film director, who started writing books to kill people because it was frowned upon in real life. Her first two novels, Good as Dead and Over Her Dead Body, are set in the movie business, but then she discovered there are places that are even more dangerous. She is now murdering people on airplanes, on ski hills, and in safehouses while on the run from organized crime. Her 2026 release, Murder at 30,000 Feet, was chosen as one of NPR’s “Books We Love,” and has made even the heartiest travelers think twice before flying.

Where: Diesel, A Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 3 pm

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

Website: https://dieselbookstore.com/event/2026-09-27/gary-goldstein-canine-custody

Speech Bubble Book Club: Witchcraft at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event – Rescheduled Event

Participants will discuss Witchcraft by author Sole Otero.

Where: North Figueroa Bookshop

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 3 pm

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

Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-6a0b02b0-1c39-4e06-910a-6cc327512ca6

YA Book Talk: H.D. Carver & We Became Wild at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person YA Event

Join us for a visit from H.D. Carver in celebration of her new novel We Became Wild! Carver will be in conversation with author Kate Korsh to discuss her work.

RSVP by clicking link at website!

Seventeen-year-old Lottie Mitchell is a liar. She might also be a horrible person—because someone good wouldn’t have caused the death of her best friend, Val. Messina, Lottie’s other best friend, has her own secrets to worry about—she’s running from her terrifying, abusive stepfather. When the friends learn that Val had planned to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, they set off into the desert with Val’s ashes and her beloved copy of Wild to fulfill her dream.

H.D. Carver lives in Southern California with her family of artists. When she’s not writing, she can be found wandering trails or getting lost in a bookstore.

Kate Korsh is an author of books for children of all ages, from elementary to teens. She has also worked as a marriage and family therapist and a public school teacher. She lives with her husband, her two children, and their two cats in Los Angeles. Kate believes in magic, ghosts, and the healing power of cheese.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Zillenial Book Club: The Devils at Cellar Door Bookstore – In-Person Event

Participants will discuss The Devils by Joe Abercrombie.

Now in paperback, an epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie, featuring a notorious band of anti-heroes on a delightfully bloody and raucous journey.

Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds.

Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Holy City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.

Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it’s a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.

Joe Abercrombie was born in Lancaster, England, studied psychology at Manchester University, and worked as an editor of documentaries and live music before his first book, The Blade Itself, was published in 2006. Two further installments of the First Law trilogy, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings, followed, along with three standalone books set in the same world: Best Served Cold, The Heroes, and Red Country. He has also written the Shattered Sea trilogy for young adults, the Age of Madness trilogy for old adults, and Sharp Ends, a collection of short stories. He lives in Bath, England, with his wife and three children. The Devils is his thirteenth novel.

Where: Cellar Door Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: 6675 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA 92506

Website: https://cellardoorbookstore.com/event/2026-09-27/zillennial-book-club-devils

Local Author Day: M.A. Arana, Esma Ali, Paul J. Ramirez at Vroman’s – In-Person Event

M, A. Arana presents Violet Mystique: Part I

With entrancing violet eyes and telepathic gifts, Jalyn Wilds has spent years hiding from her former mentor, the enigmatic Madam. But when an attempted robbery at Jones’ Store reveals her powers, she becomes the center of a dangerous conspiracy.

Detective Ed Daza senses something otherworldly in Jalyn, and as he follows the trail, he discovers a hidden network of “Others”-individuals with extraordinary abilities targeted by Madam’s shadow organization with deadly plans. Each step pulls Ed deeper into a world of manipulation, betrayal, and supernatural intrigue, where those he trusts may not be who they seem.

Hunted and caught between forces far beyond ordinary law enforcement, Jalyn must navigate a web of psychic danger and hidden agendas to survive. Violet Mystique is an urban fantasy thriller that pulses with suspense, mystery, and supernatural power-a story of gifts, secrets, and the lengths one young woman will go to protect herself and the lives she touches.

Esma Ali presents Was Jesus A Narcissist?: A Muslim’s Defense of Jesus!

Growing pains, adversity, love, sadness, and joy. A broken father preparing his children for the future without him by writing them personal letters from the now abandoned playground they used to play on. A book all should read Please note that purchasing the hardcover helps Paul with his auto-immune treatments.

Where: Vroman’s

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 4 pm

Address: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101-2116

Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-13/marie-miranda-cruz

Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga: Beth Ruscio & Karen Kevorkian & Open Mic at Bolton Hall Museum – In-Person Event

Join us to welcome Beth Ruscio and Karen Kevorkian to read and discuss their poetry.

Hosted by Joe DeCenzo & Alice Pero, there will also be an open mic and poets are invited to participate in the open reading segment of the event.

Beth Ruscio, whose first paying job was detasseling corn, is the daughter of actors. She is a published poet & award winning actor, formerly, a long time mentor at Otis College of Art & Design. Author of Speaking Parts (2020), she is the winner of the Brick Road Poetry Prize, finalist honors for The Wilder Prize, and for her chapbook, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, finalist for The Sunken Garden Poetry Prize, and Two Sylvias Prize. Her recent publications: poems in anthologies: Poetry Goes to the Movies (Pacific Coast Poetry Series); Women in a Golden State (Gunpowder Press); Catching Fire (Three Rooms Press); and forthcoming, A Picture Is Worth a Poet’s Words (Moon Tide Press). Her essay, “In praise of humble ingredients, exalted” and poem “Summer Calling” in Outlaw Theater (Padua Playwrights Press). Other publications: Tupelo Quarterly, Tulane Review, Cultural Weekly, Apeiron Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, Spillway, Malpais Review, and anthologized in Dark Ink: Poetry Inspired by Horror, Beyond the Lyric Moment, 1001 Nights, Conducting a Life: Maria Irene Fornes and The Writing Life. Formerly, a longtime mentor at Otis College of Art and Design. She shares her life with gifted playwright/teacher/actor Leon Martell with whom she co-wrote/co-starred in their play “1961 Eldorado,” and their good dog, Lolita.

Karen Keveorkian has four published poetry collections—Here in My Body It Feels Crowded (Walton Well Press), Quivira (3:A Taos Press), Lizard Dream (What Books Press), White Stucco Black Wing (Red Hen Press). Her latest collection, The Body the Distance Traveled, is forthcoming from University of New Mexico Press.

Her poems are published in many journals, among them—Massachusetts Review, New American Writing, Four Way Review, Volt, Taos Journal of Poetry, Verse Daily, Laurel Review, Denver Quarterly, Michigan Quarterly Review, Poetry International, Quarterly West, Agni, Shenandoah, Texas Poetry Review, Rio Grande Review, Third Coast, Mississippi Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Hambone, Antioch Review, and Witness. And she has reviewed for Colorado Review, Poetry Northwest, LA Times Review of Books, Poetry International, and Virginia Quarterly Review.

In Los Angeles she spent 7 years as board of trustee member for Beyond Baroque literary arts organization (LA’s oldest, founded 1968). She is also a founding member from 2008 of What Books Press, a publishing collective. In addition, she has been a finalist for the Tupelo Dorset award, the Tupelo chapbook awards, the Wisconsin Pollak award, a Discovery (The Nation) award, a New Issues award, the Julie Suk award, and has received several Pushcart nominations.

Over the years she has read her work at Beyond Baroque, Village Well Bookstore, Somos, Geronimo’s Bookstore, Op Cit, Book Soup, Last Bookstore, the Texas Literary Festival, the Ojai Literary Festival, the LA Times Book Festival, Virginia Festival of the Books, Mills College, Intersection for the Arts, Cody’s Books, AWP, Vroman’s Bookstore, the Library of Congress, Loyola Marymount, and many other places.

The Bolton Hall Museum is located at 10110 Commerce Ave, Tujunga, CA 91042. Bolton Hall is a Los Angeles Historical Landmark built in 1913. Our reading starts at 4:30 pm and goes till 6:30 pm. Light refreshments will be served. Free parking is available on the street and also at Elks Lodge 10137 Commerce Ave. Park behind the building and walk a short distance to Bolton Hall Museum across the street and down the block.

Where: Bolton Hall Museum

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 4:30 pm

Address: 10110 Commerce Ave., Tujunga, CA 91042

Website: https://villagepoets.blogspot.com/2026/?m=0

Literary Fiction Book Launch: Aatif Rashid & Grand Tour at Village Well Books & Coffee – In-Person Event

Join us for the launch of Aatif Rashid’s new novel Grand Tour!

Aatif will conduct a reading and Q&A and discuss the inspiration behind this probing work.

Be sure to reserve your seat by clicking link at website!

. “In the summer of 2012, when I was twenty-three, I bought the cheapest one-way ticket to continental Europe that I could find.”

From Aatif Rashid, author of Foreword Indies Winner Portrait of Sebastian Khan, comes a new novel about youth set in the now-nostalgic world of European backpacker hostels. Art history student Amir Rahim, unhappy with his life and uncertain about his future, decides to spend two months traveling Europe. What follows is an odyssey of pleasure seeking and self-discovery, with Amir drifting from city to city, staying at youth hostels and cheap hotels, going to museums and cafes, drinking at bars, hooking up with strangers, and meeting others as lost as he is. Ultimately, as he struggles with his own sense of purpose and what he feels is the profound ugliness of the modern world, Amir finds himself asking the age-old burning question: how does one live a meaningful life?

Aatif Rashid is the author of the novels Portrait of Sebastian Khan (2019) and Grand Tour (forthcoming 2026). His short stories have appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Metaphorosis, Arcturus, Barrelhouse, Triangle House Review, X-R-A-Y, Maudlin House, The Ex-Puritan, Pithead Chapel, and The Adroit Journal, as well as the anthologies New Moons: Contemporary Writing by North American Muslims (2021), Made in L.A. Volume 4 (2022), and Narrating Pakistan: An Anthology of Contemporary Creative Writing (2023). He’s also published nonfiction in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Lit Hub, and Alta and he wrote regularly for The Kenyon Review blog from 2018 to 2021. He teaches creative writing classes through the UCLA Extension Writers program.

Where: Village Well Books & Coffee

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 4:30 pm – 6 pm

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

Website: Event Page

Earthseed Symposium: A Speculative Fiction Book Club: Death of the Author at North Figueroa Bookshop – In-Person Event – Rescheduled Event

Participants will discuss Death of the Author: A Novel by author Knedi Okorafor.

Where: North Figueroa Bookshop

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 5 pm – 7 pm

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

Website: https://northfigbookshop.com/event/#calendar-8a0f87f6-17d6-4f10-9815-04df4c8251ba-event-9f843c3f-00cb-4437-b006-f595592dc512

CUNEIFORM at 25: Celebrating 25 years of Poetry, Typography, & Artists Books: A Retrospective at Poetic Research Bureau– In-Person Event

The Poetic Research Bureau hosts a retrospective for Cuneiform Press, celebrating twenty-five years of poetry, typography, and artists’ books. Featured readings by: Jam Cole, Johanna Drucker, Lorraine Lupo, Paul Maziar and Kit Robinson.

James “Jam” Cole is an American poet, author, neuroscientist, and filmmaker based in Morgantown, West Virginia. He is well-known for writing contemporary poetry that masterfully bridges the gap between scientific observation and raw human emotion. He is currently a professor of neuroscience at WVU.

Johanna Drucker is Distinguished Professor and Breslauer Professor Emerita, Department of Information Studies at UCLA. She is internationally known for her work in the history of graphic design, typography, experimental poetry, fine art, and digital humanities as well as for her artist’s books and experimental typography.

Lorraine Lupo is the author of The Unwanted Sounds (Cuneiform Press), The Greatest Outdoors (Breather Editions), By Way Of (Green Zone), and co-creator of Dust Exchange (Slacks Books) and the video series GUY – A Fast Paced Sad Story (watch here: https://bit.ly/2LJJRQI), both collaborations with the artist and architect Max Jacobson. She edits the Periodic Postcard series, and as Slack Books she occasionally publishes chapbooks. As Poet-In-Residence at the Creative Growth Art Center, she edited their first collections of poetry, The Poem Is Telling Me I Remember and Dear Volcano.

Paul Maziar is a Portland based writer, curator, and small-press editor. His first pamphlet of poems, Little Advantages, was published in 2013, and was followed by three others. His first full-length poetry collection, Opening Night, is forthcoming from BlazeVOX [books]. Paul’s art writings can be read at artcritical, ArtsWatch, and his blog The Works; and certain of his poems can be read at the Brooklyn Rail, and Across The Margin.

Kit Robinson is an Anglo American poet and the author of Quarantina (Lavender Ink, 2022). The recipient of fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and the Fund for Poetry, his papers are collected at The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of two dozen collections of poetry, including Thought Balloon (2019), Leaves of Class (2017), The Crave (2002), and The Dolch Stanzas (1976). A collaborator on The Grand Piano: An Experiment in Collective Autobiography, San Francisco 1975–1980, Robinson worked with poet Lyn Hejinian in the late 1970s to produce In the American Tree: New Writing by Poets, a weekly Bay Area radio show of interviews and readings. Robinson has also performed with the San Francisco Poets Theater.

Founded by Kyle Schlesinger in 2000, Cuneiform at 25: A Retrospective surveys the work of one of the most significant independent publishers in the United States. Cuneiform Press specializes in poetry, typography, and artists’ books, as well as the integration of these genres. Renowned for their masterful design, Cuneiform has published works by the Black Mountain Poets, the New York School, Bay Area poets, Outsider Artists, as well as writers and artists whose work defies categorization.

Where: Poetic Research Bureau

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 5:30 pm – 7 pm (Doors at 5 pm)

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

Website: https://www.poeticresearch.com/events/cuneiform-at-25

Full Moon Writing Meditation at Underdog Bookstore – In-Person Event

Join us at Underdog Bookstore during the full moon each month for a guided meditation and writing group. We meet at 7 pm in store and will also be streaming via Zoom for those joining virtually.

All are welcome and encouraged to write and share or listen and reflect during this peaceful meditative time. You are welcome to bring your own writing supplies, spiritual tools etc. Whatever you need to feel comfortable and enjoy the evening!

Limited space so RSVP soon!

Where: Underdog Bookstore

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

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

Website: https://www.underdogbookstore.org/events/full-moon-writing-meditation-aug-gbmzb

Historical Romance LA Book Club: The Very Definition of Love at The Ripped Bodice – In-Person Event

Orders manager Katie S leads our historical romance book club.

Book for September: The Very Definition of Love by Sophia Benoit.

We meet at 7:15 pm on the fourth Sunday in the store!

No membership is necessary, but RSVP is required.

Where: The Ripped Bodice

Date: Sunday the 27^th

Time: 7:15 pm

Address: 3806 Main Street, Culver City, CA 90232

Website: https://therippedbodice.com/book/9781638933557

Los Angeles Literature

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

Los Angeles Literature Events: 9/21/26 – 9/27/26

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