Author: Brian Dunlap

Brian Dunlap is a native Angeleño capturing the city’s stories hidden in plain sight. He’s the author of the chapbook Concrete Paradise (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and the winner of a Marvin Bell Memorial Poetry Prize from december magazine judged by former Los Ángeles Poet Laureate Luis J. Rodriguez. He's also the Editor-in-Chief of Los Angeles Literature, an independent online magazine covering the Greater Los Ángeles literary community.
Literary Long Beach, Los Angeles Literary Events

Los Angeles Literature Events: 06/20/22 – 06/26/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Cleyvis Natera, with Steph Cha, & Neruda on the Park at Skylight Bookstore – In-Person Event

Cleyvis Natera, iin conversation with Steph Cha (Your House Will Pay), will discuss his new novel, Neruda on the Park, a beautifully layered portrait of family, friendship, and ambition. 

Neruda on the Park weaves a rich and vivid tapestry of community as well as the sacrifices we make to protect what we love most, announcing Cleyvis Natera as an electrifying new voice.

The Guerreros have lived in Nothar Park, a predominantly Dominican part of New York City, for twenty years. When demolition begins on a neighboring tenement, Eusebia, an elder of the community, takes matters into her own hands by devising an increasingly dangerous series of schemes to stop construction of the luxury condos. Meanwhile, Eusebia’s daughter, Luz, a rising associate at a top Manhattan law firm who strives to live the bougie lifestyle her parents worked hard to give her, becomes distracted by a sweltering romance with the handsome white developer at the company her mother so vehemently opposes.

As Luz’s father, Vladimir, secretly designs their retirement home in the Dominican Republic, mother and daughter collide, ramping up tensions in Nothar Park, racing toward a near-fatal climax.

NOTE: See site for tickets, link, and details.

Where: Skylight Bookstore

Date: Monday the 20th

Time: 7 pm – PST

Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-cleyvis-natera-presents-neruda-park-steph-cha

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Literary Long Beach, Los Angeles Literary Events

Los Angeles Literature Events: 06/13/22 – 06/19/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Tween Book Club via Rancho Park Branch Library, LAPL – Online Tween Event

Kids ages 9 to 12 are invited to a monthly book discussion, to share other books they have read and to get new reading recommendations.

In June, we’ll discuss Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick. The book should be read in advance of the meeting. Find a copy to borrow at the library site link.  

NOTE: See site for Zoom link and details. 

Where: LAPL Online event

Date: Monday the13th  

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/tween-book-club  

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Literary Long Beach, Los Angeles Literary Events

Los Angeles Literature Events: 06/06/22 – 06/12/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

World Literature Book Club via West Valley Regional Library, LAPL – Online Event

Join this Book Club for a spirited and engaging discussion of the world’s best short stories! All selections are from The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story (New York, 2021), ed. John Freeman. This month’s selections are:

  • June 6 – The Great Silence by Ted Chiang (2015)
  • June 13 – The Midnight Zone by Lauren Groff (2016)

This group meets every Monday morning (excluding holidays). 

NOTE: See site for Zoom link and details. 

Where: LAPL Online event

Date: Monday the 6th  

Time: 10 am

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website:  https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/world-literature-book-club-40

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Los Angeles Literary Events

Latinx Poets of the World Stage Press

By Brian Dunlap

Latinx Poets and Writers of the World Stage Press descended on Village Well Books and Coffee in Culver City last week. The evening was cool and the restaurants in downtown were crowded with dates, families and friends, conversations rising on top of each other, out over the sidewalk. Inside the bookstore, six authors—Lisbeth Coiman, Cynthia Guardado, Alex Petunia, Poet Astrid, Carolina Rivera Escimilla and Andy Sanchez—graced the mic. Six Latinx writers. Six distinct voices. No monolith here.

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Literary Long Beach, Los Angeles Literary Events

Los Angeles Literature Events: 05/30/22 – 06/05/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Book Talks: Judith Freeman & MacArthur Park, with Barbara Feldon & Getting Smarter via Chevalier’s Bookstore – Online Event

Longtime friends Judith Freeman and Barbara Feldon will discuss their newest books, the novel MacArthur Park and the memoir Getting Smarter, respectively.

Judith Freeman is a novelist and non-fiction writer whose most recent novel, MacArthur Park, is set in Los Angeles and the rural West. Friends Jolene and Verna share complicated ties that have crystallized over time. Beginning when they were girls discovering their needs and desires, their ongoing stories have been inextricably linked. But when Verna marries Vincent, Jolene’s ex-husband, their paths may have finally, permanently diverged. Now, on a trip to their hometown in Utah, they are forced to confront both the truths and falsehoods of their memories of each other and of their early friendship.

Barbara Feldon is best known as “Agent 99” on the 1960’s TV series, Get Smart. She is the author of Living Alone and Loving it! and various essays. Her memoir Getting Smarter relates her dramatic and sometimes zany adventures with a glamorous Frenchman, her initiation into show business, and the fun of working in Hollywood.

NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details. 

Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore

Date: Monday the 30th  

Time: 4 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website:  https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VJDEnKimRl6AwuRjBHEuYA

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Interviews

On How People – Like Fish – Absorb Their Surroundings Through Skin

By Jonah Meyer
FROM: Mud Season Review

An Interview with Christian Hanz Lozada.

“It’s like the dude on the dance floor whose arms are flailing to their own beat. Yeah, we’re looking, but not because they’re cool – it’s because we don’t want to get randomly smacked.”

Christian Hanz Lozada

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