A Mic and Dim Lights “started as a few friends who felt they needed to open a safe space in the Inland Empire for artists to express themselves.” Continue reading Open Mic, Open Minds, and Dim Lights in Pomona
Aztec Stories at Arroyo Seco Regional Library
Come explore indigenous Mexican instruments, stories and poetry in Aztec Stories with Michael Heralda! Enjoy a feast of music, language and art and learn a few simple phrases of Nahauti, the language of the Aztecs.
Where: Arroyo Seco Regional Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 24th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 6145 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/aztec-stories-michael-heralda-1
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 4/24/17 –4/30/17”
By Brian Dunlap
Cynthia Guardado is a poet who deeply cares about social justice issues. With her perspective as a Salvadorian American poet from Inglewood, California, it’s no surprise. It’s her experiences as a woman of color that drives her to speak out about misogyny, white supremacy and reclaiming her right to her feelings and experiences and to express them, in her poetry.
Continue reading “In Honor of National Poetry Month: Cynthia Guardado”
From: The L.A. Times
In between a Mexican-crafted leather goods shop and an El Pollo Loco in Boyle Heights, works written by the likes of Alice Bag, James Baldwin, Inéz Estrada and Allen Ginsberg are shelved in light-wood bookcases.
Continue reading “A visit with Other Books in Boyle Heights”
Writers Workshops at Baldwin Hills Branch Library
Writing a book and looking for feedback? Need deadlines to help you reach your writing goals? Then this is the group for you!
Each meeting, you bring 5-10 double-spaced pages of writing to share with the group. Every member will have time to present their writing and receive constructive feedback. Please call the information desk at 323-733-1196 with questions, and to RSVP for the workshop.
Where: Baldwin Hills Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 17th
Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm
Address: 2906 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90016
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/writers-workshop-0
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 4/17/17 –4/23/17”
by Daniel A. Olivas
From: La Bloga
Blood, Frogs…
Do you know me, Adonai?
A latecomer to your Seder table?
A visitor waiting for Elijah?
Lunchtime Writing at Grand Park LA
Join us every Tuesday through May 10 for a free spring Lunchtime Writers’ Meetup with food trucks, and feed your spirit with writing exercises, guest speakers, and advice from Grand park’s Writer-in-Residence Traci Kato-Kiriyama.
Themes this year will include love, healing, power, quirks, city and maps, home, dreams, vision, food and nourishment, and many more. Special guests to support and cultivate new writings or nurture existing works. Writing materials will be provided.
Where: Grand Park LA
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Address: 200 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: http://grandparkla.org/event/lunchtime-writers-meetup/?instance_id=93755
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 4/11/17 –4/16/17”
By Brian Dunlap
When the calendar turns to 
April it’s National Poetry month. Around the country the literary community emphasizes poets and poems that too often get left in the shadows of the literary world in favor of novels and memoirs or just narrative writing in general. Here at Los Angeles Literature, I’ve highlighted some talented Angeleño poets for Black History Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Months, etc. along with talented narrative writers.
Since this month celebrates poetry, I’ll be highlighting some of the talented Angeleño poets that capture their L.A., and that speak to the diversity of voices found in Los Angeles Literature. In a city that produced the likes of Charles Bukowski, Luis J. Rodriguez, Amy Uyematsu, Kamu Daaood and Eloise Klein Healy, there are plenty to enjoy and not enough time to highlight them all. Plus, if anyone attends one of the over 30 plus open mics in the Los Angeles area, from Whittier, to Venice, to Sylmar, to Santa Ana and Pomona and all points in-between, one will find that Luis J. Rodriguez’s words ring true. “[Los Angeles] is a great poetry town.”
From: Entropy Magazine
In honor of National Poetry Month, we’re interviewing several poets and asking them a few questions about poetry. Our second featured poet is Chiwan Choi! Stay tuned all month for more featured poets.
Continue reading “NATIONAL POETRY MONTH FEATURED POET: CHIWAN CHOI”
From: Los Angeles Times
Perhaps the great (however obvious) lesson of the last several years — the waves of police violence against black men, the bitter and hate-fueled rise of Trump and worldwide xenophobia — is that we have not transcended and learned from history nearly as well as we might have thought. Maybe we need reminding. In two recent books, “Map to the Stars” by Adrian Matejka and “Voyage of the Sable Venus,” the 2015 debut by Robin Coste Lewis, black poets jog our collective memories, facing the distant and recent history of black Americans, asking us to try to see ourselves in their mirrors.
Continue reading “The challenge and joy of poetry by Robin Coste Lewis and Adrian Matejka”
Los Angeles Literature 