Creative Writing Workshop at Vermont Square Library

Have you always wanted to write but never had the courage? Would you like to improve your writing? Whether you’re interested in fiction, poetry, memoir, or journaling, come read great examples of these genres and then put pen to paper I a safe and positive environment. (Writing tools provided.)

Where: Vermont Square Branch Library

Date: Monday the 25^th     

Time: 4 pm

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

Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/creative-writing-workshop-3

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 7/25/16 – 7/31/16”

From: Angel city Review

By Teresa Cordova

Zero to Three makes parenting, life, and death relevant to the reader’s life through words that bring the feeling of a moment in time in one’s life in which exists through the dichotomy of one word: fleeting. The words on the page leave a lasting impression, all the while touching upon parts of our lives that we remember as “passing us by so fast.” This book of poems begs us to ask questions such as at what moment are we alive, at what moment do we accept death, and how do we deal with bringing a child into a world where it is in our human fact to falter, to inflict emotional pain on others. This poetry invites us to relish in the beautiful and the ugly, because both foster growth. The words on the page go from “Zero to Three,” that is to say, they journey us through those formative years of life not often spoken of—and in brevity, they bleed on the page up until the “life” beyond ones own grave. They delight in new beginnings and try to capture the emotional enigma of endings, and sometimes vice versa.

Continue reading “Zero to Three”

Shonda Buchanan is editing the next Voices from Leimert Park Anthology.

This is an announcement to all LA poets because she is looking for work from all races, creeds, etc.. anyone who has attended the World Stage Anansi Writer Workshops and/or done any readings in the Leimert Park area.

Continue reading “From Shonda Buchanan: the Next Anthology”

From: Entropy Magazine

By Mike Sonksen

Thanks to the efforts of Los Angeles Poet Laureate Luis Rodriguez, two poetry anthologies published in the last year and a few recently written histories on Los Angeles Poetry, there has been a widespread interest in the legacy of Los Angeles Poetry in the literary world over the last few years. As much as many of these accounts have focused on the Venice Beats, Charles Bukowski, Beyond Baroque and the Watts Writers Workshop, a poet named Thomas McGrath predates all of the above mentioned.

Thomas McGrath is one of the most significant poets in the annals of Los Angeles Literature, but his legacy has almost been forgotten over the last few decades. Born in 1916, the North Dakota-born poet McGrath lived in Los Angeles only for a decade, but during his time in the city from 1950 to 1960, McGrath actively published with several literary journals, taught at Los Angeles State College, now known as California State University Los Angeles for three years and spearheaded a cadre of poets from his home in Elysian Valley, the neighborhood often called “Frogtown,” just east of Atwater Village. McGrath’s legacy is currently being honored in an exhibit in the Cal State LA Library titled, “Holy City Adrift: Thomas McGrath’s Los Angeles.” The exhibit will be up until July 30^th, though there are efforts by a group of students to make it a permanent part of the library.

Continue reading “THOMAS MCGRATH’S LOS ANGELES AND THE PURSUIT OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM”

S.J. Watson and Steph Cha at Chevalier’s Books

Join us for S.J. Watson, best-selling author of the thriller Before I Go to Sleep, in conversation with L.A. author Steph Cha (Dead Soon Enough). With new book Second Life, Watson again delivers a sleek and surprising contemporary thriller that takes readers where they never expected to go. Taught and riveting, Second Life penetrates the heart and mind of Julia, a woman whose investigation her sister’s violent death leads into the darkly alluring world of cybersex.

Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore

Date: Monday the 18^th     

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

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

Website: http://chevaliersbooks.com

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 7/18/16 – 7/24/16”

From: The Los Angeles Times

By Mary Rourke

Carolyn See, an author, teacher
and colorful woman of letters whose scrappy humor and survivor’s wisdom spiced her novels about the disaster-prone fantasyland that was her California, has died. She was 82.

She died Wednesday in Santa Monica of cancer, said her daughter Lisa See.

Continue reading “Carolyn See, award-winning Southern California writer, dies at 82”

From: Los Angeles Review of Books

By Remé-Antonia Grefalda

MOST IMMIGRANT ORAL HISTORY projects are recorded interviews stored on cassette tapes or CDs, and seldom transcribed onto paper, much less published for a general readership. When transcribed, these interviews are compiled, indexed, and filed away to be retrieved only by specialized researchers.

Filipino American oral histories suffer the same fate, with one difference: they are transcribed for organized listening by way of storytelling sessions and, occasionally, included in textbook anthologies. Readings of such personal growing-up-in-the-United-States stories usually find their audiences at ethnic studies conferences, specifically Asian Pacific American academic gatherings.

Continue reading “Carrying Our Neighborhood Back to Back”

Poetry Party at Fox Coffee House

Join us for the Cadence Collective Poetry Party and Open Mic featuring Elder Zamora, at the Fox Coffee House, hosted by Sarah Thursday and Murray Thomas.

Elder Zamora is a writer residing in Southern California. He holds a degree in English and is a curator of the San Gabriel Valley Literary Festival. His work has been published in various journals including Left Hook, Barnstorm, Soundings Review, Libertad and others.

Sign-ups at 6:45 pm. Start time at 7 pm.

Where: Fox Coffee House

Date: Monday the 11^th     

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 437 Willow St., Long Beach, CA

Website: http://www.localendar.com/public/CadenceCollective

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 7/11/16 – 7/17/16”

Here is issue 3 of Angel City Review. So many talented L.A. writers pack issue 3 to the brim. Mike Sonksen, Sarah Thursday, Rebecca Gonzales and Jesse Bliss to name a few. As John Venegas says in the editor’s note, “The Angel City Review exists because we want to see seemingly impossible ideas that threaten our overly comfortable worldviews, because we want to move beyond … Continue reading Angel City Review Issue 3 Release

Afternoon Book Club at Brentwood Branch Library

Join us for a rich discussion of Anita Diamant’s The Boston Girl. Copies of this fiction title may be picked up at the circulation desk. For ADA accommodations, call (213) 228-7430 at least 72 hours prior to the event.

Where: Donald Bruce Kauffman-Brentwood Library, LAPL

Date: Tuesday the 5^th

Time: 1 pm

Address: 11820 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049

Website:  http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/afternoon-book-club-3     

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 7/04/16 – 7/10/16”