A visit to the Floating Library in Echo Park Lake
by Carolyn Kellogg
From: The Los Angeles Times
On this sunny Friday, unseasonably gorgeous even for Los Angeles, I headed to Echo Park Lake to visit the new Floating Library. You don’t need a card to borrow books from the Floating Library, but you do have to reach it.
You can only get there by boat — a pedal boat, specifically — which luckily you may rent at the Echo Park boathouse.
Designed by Minnesota artist Sarah Peters and set loose in the Great Lakes region during the recent summers, the Floating Library is making its first visit to the West Coast. It’s a raft filled with art books and zines, presented by the Machine Project gallery as part of the L.A. Art Book Fair.
Continue reading “A visit to the Floating Library in Echo Park Lake”
The spate of heavy rain exhausted itself and overnight the weather turned Southern California gorgeous. And since it looked like Spring had sprung early and was here to stay, people planned outdoor events, like the publication party for Jésus Salvador Treviño’s Return to Arroyo Grande.
Maylis De Kerangal at Book Soup
PEN Center presents Charles Yu and Salvadore Plascencia at Chevalier’s
Chiwan Choi, Found of L.A. based literary press Writ Large, said the following earlier today about the Grand Park BookFest:
Misha Glenny at Chevalier’s
Radio Imagination celebrates the life and work of Pasadena science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006). Organized by Clockshop, the program centers on ten contemporary art and literary commissions that explore Butler’s archive at the Huntington Library. New work will premiere alongside performances, film screenings, and literary events throughout the year.
On historic Central Avenue near East 45th Street, the Vernon Branch Public Library looks like a jail—tall fences surround the circa 1915 building and a fenced walkway leads up to the doorway. Like the surrounding neighborhood, the library appears worn, beaten down. It’s situated on the edge of the high-crime Central-Alameda reporting area of L.A.P.D.’s Newton District—in the six-month period ending 
Wendy C. Ortiz’ first memoir, Excavation (Future Tense Books 2014), was a compelling book that dealt with the misuse of trust that was perpetrated when her private school teacher embarked on a relationship with her when she was only thirteen. Although she had plenty of publishing credits under her belt prior, this was her first official book, and quite the book it was. One year later, this nonfiction writer, poet, and essayist is presenting us with her latest endeavor Hollywood Notebook, which was published by Los Angeles based Writ Large Press in the summer of 2015.
