For every poet in Los Angeles, they know there are too many open mics to keep track of. A poet could go to one every day of the week. On the Westside there are several open Mics, Beyond Baroque’s Soap Box Open Mic, First Sunday Open Reading, the Last Sunday at USVAA Theater in Culver City, Downbeat 720 in Santa Monica dedicated to high school poets and singer-songwriters, but the picking is slimmer than towards Hollywood and Downtown. Continue reading “New Open Mic”

Los Angeles writer, La Puente native, and Fresno State Creative Writing Professor, Alex Espinoza, will be joining the Cal State L.A. faculty for the 2015-2016 academic year as a Visiting Associate Professor and interim director of a new MFA in Bilingual Creative Writing and Creative Media program. In his own words he says:

Continue reading “Cal State Los Angeles to offer a new MFA in Bilingual Creative Writing and Creative Media”

Note: This article appeared earlier this month in L.A. Weekly’s People Issue. John Rechy was the only author to make the list. Enjoy!

The greatest prose writer in L.A. lives among the lizards and lemon trees at the efflorescence of the Hollywood Hills. In a Beachwood Canyon backyard in perennial bloom, you find 84-year-old John Rechy, perpetual hustler in partial hermitage.

The arthritic decay of age is relatively modest. His former Fabian-esque pompadour has softened into an amber tuft. Continue reading “JOHN RECHY WROTE THE MOST INFLUENTIAL GAY NOVEL EVER — AND AT 84 HE’S NOT FINISHED”

By Lilliam Rivera, L.A. Times

LéaLA, the largest Spanish-language literary festival in the United States, marks its

 return to Los Angeles this weekend after a year’s hiatus. With more than 300 literary imprints represented and over 90 book events from May 15-17 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, LéaLA will once again be at the forefront of showcasing Spanish-language books through readings, panel discussions, theater productions and more. Continue reading “Event For Spanish Language Lit Readers and Lovers: Spanish-language Literary Festival Back in L.A. After Year’s Hiatus”

The primary purpose of “Untamed: Cultivating Collaboration in Arts, Activism, and Scholarship,” the launch event for the first edition of bozalta, is to further the formation of a bozalta community. This event will facilitate in-person conversations and encounters among our collective members, contributors, and UCLA readership. The target audience for this event includes UCLA undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty. Continue reading “Event: Untamed: Cultivating Collaboration in Arts, Activism and Scholarship”

Cadence Collective Poetry Party Open Mic + Featured Poets

Come to hear the reading dynamo that is Richard and Robbi Nestor! Husband and wife poetry team are going to enchant us with their words on life’s lessons. You can bring some words of your own and share them in the open reading. Sign ups begin at 6:45. Richard Nester’s poetry has been published in numerous print journals including Ploughshares, Callaloo, Seneca Review, Sycamore Review and on-line in in The Courtland Review. His collection Buffalo Laughter (2014) Alabaster Leaves Press in Riverside. Robbi Nester lives and writes in Southern California. She is the author of a chapbook, Balance(White Violet, 2012) and a collection of poems, A Likely Story (Moon Tide, 2014). Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 5/11/15–5/17/15”

ALL INVOLVED, by Ryan Gattis (Ecco). This novel, set in Los Angeles in 1992, chronicles the six days of riots after the Rodney King verdict. The action takes place on the periphery, outside “active rioting sites” and official casualty counts. Continue reading “The New Yorker Briefly Reviews Ryan Gattis’ novel “All Involved” About Los Angeles’ 1992 Riots”