By Gabriel San Román
FROM: Los Angeles Times OC
Above the din of cumbias and a nearby vegan food fest, Dr. Natalie J. Graham’s poetic cadence soothed the crowd that gathered last month in downtown Santa Ana to hear her read. Seated in front of LibroMobile’s garage entrance, she began with works of other poets before turning to poems of her own.
Continue reading “Orange County’s First-Ever Pair of Poet Laureates Make Their Debut”
Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS
Shannon Hale & LeUyen Pham & Friends Forever at Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Join us to meet children’s authors Shannon Haleand and LeUyen Pham, as they present their book, Friends Forever.
Shannon Haleand is the New York Times best-selling author of over thirty children’s and young adult novels, including graphic novel memoirs Real Friends and Best Friends, and multiple award winners The Goose Girl, Book of a Thousand Days, and Newbery Honor recipient Princess Academy.
LeUyen Pham is a children’s book illustrator and author. She has illustrated and written more than 80 books. In 2020, she won a Caldecott Honor for her illustrations in the book Bear Came Along.
This is a meet and greet event to sign books and visit with fans of all ages. Graphic novel readers will enjoy the third book in the Friendship series, and picture book readers will be thrilled with the cuteness of Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn.
NOTE: See site for details and guidelines for this event.
Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore – In-Person Kids Event
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 11 am
Where: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/friends-forever
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 09/06/21 – 09/12/21”
FROM: La Bloga
Alejandro Morales debut collection, Zapote Tree, includes 34 poems reflecting upon childhood, family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, historical figures, mythical beings, metaphysical entities, serpents, ghosts, heroes, villains, and the dispossessed. Weighty topics, like autocracy, racial injustice, and artificial intelligence, mix with good-humored, witty portraits of his wine-drinking dog, overachievers, and slacker repairmen. Zapote Tree‘s pathos and gritty depictions of social outcasts are balanced by Morales’ joyful celebrations of loyalty, love, and resilience.
Continue reading “Zapote Tree By Alejandro Morales”
Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS
Vroman’s Live: Local Author Day with David W. Reed & Lin Nelson Benedek via Vroman’s – Online Event
Join us to hear local authors David W. Reed & Lin Nelson Benedek discuss their new books: Uphill and into the Wind and Singing Lessons, respectively.
David W. Reed’s Uphill and into the Wind is set in 1973, when our nation was torn apart by the Vietnam War, and the massacre of unarmed students at Kent State. Disenchanted with his future, he author set out with two new friends to cross the United States with just their bicycles and cameras to truly see America. They get more than they bargained for, with menacing animals, extreme weather, and astonishing encounters. Through it all they are changed forever, in ways they did not expect, by their long journey into the unknown.
Lin Nelson Benedek’s Singing Lessons is a poetic collection that is both grand and intimate. Michelle Bitting calls it a “…sumptuous repast for ear and imagination as Benedek pulls us in close to her contemplated world of things and sings us through.”
NOTE: See Site for details and registration.
Where: Vroman’s – Online Event
Date: Monday the 30th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 08/30/21 – 09/05/21”
By Christopher Soto
FROM: LARB
TONGVA PEOPLE HAVE LIVED in the Los Angeles Basin since time immemorial. As someone raised in the outskirts of Los Angeles, I knew very little about Tongva history or culture until my mid-20s, even though I had to study California history in the public schools here. The first Tongva person whose name I learned was Toypurina. I read about her online, while browsing articles about settler colonialism and histories of Indigenous resistance in Southern California. Since then, I have come to recognize her face in murals and on a poster inside one of my favorite venues — the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice. Toypurina was born in 1760 and is best known for leading a rebellion against colonization by Spanish missionaries.
Continue reading “Tongva Writers Today: The Past, Present, and Future are Unfolding Simultaneously”
By Brian Dunlap
There is a new open mic in El Sereno. It’s on Wednesdays at 7:30pm at MOBAR, located on Huntington Drive South. This past Wednesday was the first edition.
Continue reading “New Open Mic in El Sereno”
By Brian Dunlap
Alivio Open Mic in Bell announced a week and a half ago on Instagram that they are going on hiatus. They said, “due to the spread of Delta in our community, Alivio and Nightfire have decided to postpone our live YouTube episodes until further notice. Thank you for all your love and support.”
Continue reading “Alivio Postponed Until Further Notice”
Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS
Benjamin Rosenbaum, with Cory Doctorow, & The Unraveling via Book Soup – Online Event
Join us to hear Benjamin Rosenbaum, in conversation with author Cory Doctorow, discuss his book, The Unraveling.
In the distant future, somewhere in the galaxy, a world has evolved where each person has multiple bodies, cybernetics has abolished privacy, and individual and family success are reliant upon instantaneous evaluations of how well each family member conforms to the rigid social system. Then two new friends of two gendered types unintentionally wind up at the center of a scandalous art spectacle, which turns into a multilayered Unraveling of society, and a test of personal crises having global significance.
NOTE: See Site for details and registration.
Where: Book Soup – Online Event
Date: Monday the 23rd
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online (see site)
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/benjamin-rosenbaum-conversation-cory-doctorow-discusses-unraveling
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 08/23/21 – 08/29/21”
Local mystery writer Naomi Hirahara’s new novel is a historical mystery, about Japanese resettlement after their world War II internment. Continue reading What Came After Japanese American Internment? A Mystery Novelist Holds the Key
By Brian Dunlap
Over the course of the past year and a half, with organizations, museums, and theaters, among other venues, having to move their events online due to the pandemic, they have connected with so many friends old and new, who are not local to their physical event space.
Continue reading “Update: Local Open Mics Two Idiots Peddling Poetry and SHOUT! the Open Mic Have Teamed Up”
Los Angeles Literature 