By Brian Dunlap
It was a hot, August Sunday in Boyle Heights. Mid-afternoon, Ceaser Chavez was quieter than usual. It might’ve been due to the Delta variant raging across the county. It might’ve also been due because it was Sunday, the only slow day in L.Á. Still, some stores were open like Boyle Heights Amor, a small store front selling natural medicine.
Continue reading “Book Release: My Name is Romero”
FROM: La Bloga
L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón is due out September 7th from Flatiron Books.
Continue reading “L.A. Weather”
By Brian Dunlap
In 2012 poet Luis Antonio Pichardo founded the arts mentorship organization DSTL Arts. He had ambitious goals. From the start, he wanted to inspire, teach, and hire emerging artists from underserved communities. This idea was born at his house in Glassell Park. Northeast L.Á.
Continue reading “The Future of an L.Á. Arts Mentorship Organization: DSTL Arts”
By Brian Dunlap
As more of the Los Ángeles literary community returns to in-person events, two long-running Orange County open mics, Two Idiots Peddling Poetry and Shout! the Open Mic, are joining forces, as Two Idiots said on Facebook, to “maintain an online reading.” They want to “continue to connect with our extended community beyond the borders of Southern California.”
Continue reading “Two Idiots Peddling Poetry and Shout! the Open Mic Are Joining Forces”
By Carlos Aguilar
FROM: L.A. Times
Spoken word poetry transmits messages through a singular language: deft prose molded into a visceral performance by rhythm, intonation and physicality. The delivery turns words into daggers of truth, for soul-searching or external confrontation.
Continue reading “How ‘Summertime’s’ young L.A. poets transformed ‘Raya’s’ Carlos López Estrada”
By John Penner
FROM: Los Angeles Times
A Cal State Long Beach classroom, 1985 or so. Gerald Locklin looks every bit his nickname “Bear,” with bushy salt-and-pepper hair and beard, thick glasses, rumpled polo shirt, jeans and Birkenstocks with socks. He leans heavily on the lectern, and opens class the way he always did, asking in his Rochester accent, “What’s haaappening?”
Continue reading “Long Beach State’s Gerald Locklin, Bukowski’s Drinking Pal, Left A Lasting Mark On Writing — and Writers”
By Brian Dunlap
Saturday in Boyle Heights. Cesar Chavez Ave. The grand opening for South Central poet and Dryland founder Viva Padilla’s literary arts venue Re/Arte.
Continue reading “Grand Opening of New L.Á. Literary Space”
After a year of pivoting to online sales, virtual readings, gofundme pages and even book mobiles, local bookstores reopen with a little trepidation.
By Dorany Pineda
FROM: L.A. Times
For the first time since the pandemic swept through the United States, Jazzi McGilbert saw glimmers of normalcy last month.
Continue reading “They Tried Every Trick In The Book”
A new Culver City bookstore opened it’s doors in January, as others struggled with COVID-19. Continue reading As Bookstores Struggled With COVID-19, This Culver City Shop Was Just Opening
By Kathryn Barnes
FROM: Greater L.A.
Lynne Thompson is LA’s 2021 poet laureate. The program is a partnership between the Department of Cultural Affairs and the LA Public Library that aims to enhance the city’s appreciation of the literary arts and reach people who have limited exposure to creative writing.
Continue reading “LA poet laureate Lynne Thompson on the ‘kernels of poems’ inside all of us”
Los Angeles Literature 