by Nardine Saad
FROM: The L.A. Times
The 25th Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Stories & Ideas has completed its table of contents for the literary celebration’s 2020 pandemic edition.
Continue reading “First-ever virtual L.A. Times Festival of Books Lineup Includes Natalie Portman, Jerry Brown”
By Julia Escobar
FROM: The Argonaut
Since the late 1970s, the percentage of 12th graders who said they read a book or magazine almost every day for pleasure has dropped from 60% to 16%, according to a study published by the American Psychology Association.
Continue reading “Santa Monica’s Teen Readers Society is Busy Building The Next Generation of Bookworms”
By Brian Dunlap
Last year Fresno native and L.Á. based poet and UC Riverside professor, Sara Borjas, published her debut collection Heart Like A Window, Mouth Like A Cliff,” from Noemi Press, to critical acclaim. It’s a poetry collection about her chicanx heritage, immediate family, and personal journey, in terms of love, chicanx gender rolls and expectations and, as she calls herself, of being a “Pocha.”
Continue reading “Poet Sara Borjas Wins Prestigious Award”
By Brian Dunlap
During the Coronavirus pandemic, poet Angelina Sáenz revised her monthly open mic, La Palabra, and made it a weekly series for 10 weeks: 10 Poets in 10 Weeks. One poet a week was featured. They ranged from Jenise Miller to Willie Perdomo to Octavio Quintanilla. She’s been the host of the Highland Park-based open mic for just over two and a half years.
Continue reading “News From Poet Angelina Sáenz”
by Kristen Farrah Naeem
FROM: Signal Tribune
Jhoanna Belfer, owner of Bel Canto Books, has lined its shelves with the stories she didn’t see as a young reader, featuring main characters of color that the children of Long Beach can see themselves in.
Continue reading “Bel Canto Books in Long Beach Has Stories For Everyone”
By Brian Dunlap
It’s been five years since “Dryland: A Literary Journal Born in South Central Los Angeles,” published its first issue. Since Founding Editor-in-Chief, Viva Padilla, set out to publish “the best poetry, fiction, and nonfiction of the Los Angeles literary underground, and to prioritizing Black and POC artists, writers, and poets,” as it states on the journal’s website.
Continue reading “Dryland Expands Its Mission”
FROM: L.A. County Library Library Staff Step Into New Roles We’ve always been dedicated to serving the communities of LA County, but now more than ever, with doors to our buildings closed to the public since mid-March, Library staff have met the challenges LA County faces head-on, using their unique and diverse skills to step into new roles to bring essential services to communities during … Continue reading Community Service During COVID-19
Asha Grant was always a bookworm. As a little girl growing up in Inglewood, she spent hours poring over stories like Debbie Allen’s “Dancing in the Wings,” Sandra Cisneros’ “The House on Mango Street” and Veronica Chambers’ “Marisol and Magdalena.” Her parents were delighted, but also frustrated by how challenging it was to find stories about young Black children.
Continue reading “She Dreamed of a Black-Owned Bookstore in Inglewood. Now, She’s Going to Run One”
An open letter to the white members of Writers Blok:Continue reading “Why You Should Ask Writers Blok if Black Lives Matter”
On June 23, author Carmen Maria Machado announced she had canceled her virtual event with Tattered Cover, Denver’s oldest independent bookstore. “Unlike the owners,” she wrote, “I know that choosing neutrality in matters of oppression only reinforces structural violence.”
Continue reading “L.A.’s Independent Bookstores Reckon With Diversity (or the lack of it)”
Los Angeles Literature 