Something Has To Be Done About This
by Michael Sedano
From: labloga.blogspot.com
I have watched in recent years the diminishing promise of the Los Angeles Latino Book and Family Festival. The September 10 seventeenth iteration of the LBFF brought dozens of people to Olvera Street and LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. No one can be happy at this sparse attendance for the invariably worthwhile event.

Attendance has been dramatically greater; 22,000 in 2012. Then, the event featured county fair ambience, a warren of tents shading displays by bookstores, individual authors, vendors of ethnic merchandise and art. Accomplished entertainers took the stage. In the meeting rooms, gente could choose from a rich schedule of panels where writers read and signed their books. Public performance from the stage, microphone and everything, should be a writer’s best reward.

Continue reading “LAtino Book & Family Fest.”

Tween Book Club at Fairfax Branch Library–Children’s Event

Tween Book Club is for ages 9 to 12, or 4^th grade and up. This month we will discuss The War That Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. This moving historical novel set during World War II is about a nine-year-old girl with a foot deformity who has never been allowed to leave her London apartment. But as children are sent to the countryside to escape the war, Ada sneaks out along with her brother who is being sent away. Does the war hold potential for Ada to live a better life?

We will have copies available at the branch, and talk about the book in a relaxed environment. Refreshments will be provided.

Where: Fairfax Branch Library

Date: Monday the 12^th         

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

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

Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/tween-book-club-war-saved-my-life

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 9/12/16 – 9/18/16”

To anyone who has not already submitted to one of Angel City Reviews first 3 issues submissions are open until Halloween. Remember as it says on the review’s website, Angel City is “a literary journal that…aim[s] to present a diverse range of both writers and genres that run the gamut from experimental narratives to grittier fiction with a literary air. We are neither afraid of, … Continue reading Angel City Review Now Open For Submissions

Aphasia Book Club of Mid Valley

Aphasia is a language impairment, usually due to stroke, that affects individuals’ ability to speak, understand speech, read and write.

The Mid-Valley Branch is proud to offer a book club designed especially for adults with aphasia, and provides its members with supportive materials to improve their comprehension and ability to discuss complex topics. A single book will be discussed over a period of several weeks.

Our first book will be Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. For more information or to register call Sarah Catheart at (818) 677-4856 or email her at sarah.catheart@csun.edu.

Where: Mid-Valley Regional Library

Date: Monday the 5^th         

Time: 1 pm – 3 pm

Address: 16244 Nordhoff St., North Hills, CA 91343

Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/aphasia-book-club-mid-valley

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 9/05/16 – 9/11/16”

By Diego Renteria

From: Tell Your True Tale

As a teenager, I was part of a mariachi group with high school friends. We performed at birthday parties, masses, quinceañeras, and weddings around Southern California, each time becoming part of someone’s special occasion.

We always hesitated about taking gigs after December 15th because members traveled with their families for the holidays. In 2006, however, almost all our members stayed in our town of South Gate for Christmas, so that year we accepted a Christmas Eve gig because it was a one-hour performance in our hometown.

Continue reading “Song For The Living”

by Victoria Kim

From: Los Angeles Times

Standing in the heart of Koreatown, novelist Krys Lee is turned around.

Was this the direction to the Korean market to which her family made a pilgrimage every weekend, and her mother would rent her cache of Korean videotapes? Which way was the tofu restaurant she and her pastor father walked to countless times, after her mother died and there was no one to cook him Korean food?

And where was her father’s final apartment, where he lived, broken and lost, until he suffered a heart attack mid-sermon at the pulpit?

Continue reading “Raised in California and living in Seoul, novelist Krys Lee wrestles with Korean identities”

Patrick Duffy at Book Soup

Please join us to hear Patrick Duffy discuss and sign 
When TV unveiled the series “Man from Atlantis” no one knew the how, where and why of Mark Harris. Over time the show’s star, Patrick Duffy, formulated his own version of the history of Mark and his people. Here is the book that gives every reader and fan of the show the life and mythology of Atlantis, who they were and where they came from.

See event guidelines on website.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Monday the 29^th         

Time: 7 pm

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

Website: http://www.booksoup.com/event/patrick-duffy-discusses-and-signs-man-atlantis

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 8/29/16 – 9/04/16”

By Melissa Chadburn

From: The Rumpus

I should tell you that although I haven’t known him too long, I became instantly fond of Ben. I live in a small area of Los Angeles along the LA River between Echo Park and Glendale. The river covered in ducks and shopping carts and other long necked birds whose name I don’t know. There is a banner strung between two trees on the island in the center of the LA River that reads ‘River Thug.’ Thursdays is laundry day for the people who live on the island. The River Thug and other squatters ride bikes and the women are mostly toothless and shy. One morning when walking along the river I came across two young homeless women with two adorable dogs. I asked them if they needed dog food and they stayed looking forward as if they hadn’t heard me. The next day on my walk I noticed a sign:

One of the guys who lived in the river had ridden by my house and made kissy faces at me, at the time I was on the phone with an editor, and so I flicked him off and the guy responded by riding around in slow circles and telling me exactly what he would do with my finger that was flicking him off, where he would put it and how long it would take.

I had the matter of the dog food—when thinking of who I knew who would possibly be willing to go down to the homeless encampment in the river to deliver the dog food—it was no contest—Ben!

Continue reading “THE RUMPUS INTERVIEW WITH BEN EHRENREICH”

Uptown Word & Arts is back in September with a writer’s workshop for women. Their mission is to create spaces where writers, artists, and the community can engage. To foster literacy development, a passion for literature and the arts, and creative expression. To feature and support authors and artists from underrepresented groups. Promote the community, including small businesses and non-profit organizations. To stay informed of any … Continue reading Upcoming Uptown Word & Arts Event

L.A. Public Library Authors at Chevalier’s Bookstore
Please join us to hear photographer Arnold Schwartzman and architectural historian Stephen Gee discuss and sign . As the Library celebrates its 90^th anniversary, its beautiful building, paintings, murals, sculptures, décor and storied tile work are captured by the lens of Arnold Schwartzman, and its remarkable history is chronicled by Stephen Gee. Many of the colorfully restored artwork and historic images and blueprints were never published before.

Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore

Date: Monday the 22^nd        

Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm

Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004

Website: http://chevaliersbooks.com

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 8/22/16 – 8/28/16”