Open Letter To Los Angeles City Council Members From Los Angeles Literary Arts Organizations And Allies
FROM: PEN America
NOTE: Los Angeles Literature stands with PEN America Los Angeles and the L.A. literary comminity. Read on to find out why.
We write as a coalition of Los Angeles-based literary arts organizations and allies committed to supporting this city’s writers and literary professionals struggling amid the COVID-19 epidemic. We support the prioritization of health and safety measures until the crisis subsides, but request that you include writers and the literary community in forthcoming funding decisions related to recovery from the pandemic, recognizing the essential cultural and economic role they play in our city.
The first poem in Anatalia Vallez’s “the most spectacular mistake” is called “bond,” and it’s about honoring the generations of Mexican women who came before her.
Without Lewis MacAdams, an avowed poet, Los Angeles might have completely forgotten the river that birthed the city. “There would not be a movement to save or restore the L.A. river without him,” said Joe Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. “He was able to provide some romance, some poetry, some vision that you didn’t see.”
There are many independent bookstores throughout Southern California. 51 by my last count. From Fullerton to Sylmar to Venice to Boyle Heights to Leimert Park and Pomona and everywhere in-between. They all need our support.
The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced on 
As the weeks of the “stay at home” order pass by, more and more virtual literary events are cropping up from L.A. writers, open mics and literary organizations. The following event is a reading hosted by Saturday Afternoon Poetry, as part of their 2020 San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival, tomorrow. Saturday. Read a poem or two by a poet that has helped you get through this pandemic so far. Or your poet friend or by that poet that inspired you to write. It’s a Zoom reading. Most of all Enjoy interacting with other like minded humans.
During this time of social distancing, many writers in the L.Á. literary community are holding virtual events from workshops to open mics to readings and book clubs in an effort to keep us all connected to each other and our humansess. Below is one such event, hosted by Long Beach poet Nancy Lynée Woo. 
Dear Friends,
We have seen over the last week, artists and musicians posting videos of them singing, performing or reading from their work or livestreaming their performances and readings. It’s a chance to keep people connected to each other during a time of isolation and sickness. It’s also a chance at self care, something to enjoy and take one’s mind off the worries and stress of the Coronavirus and all its effects.
Poets and book lovers braved L.A.’s rush hour traffic. It was a Thursday. February 27th. The destination was Diehl Marcus & Company in Hollywood, a Curio Dealer and Event Space of finely curated antiques, home decor and accessories from around the world. The crowd arrived for Ingrid M. Calderon-Collins’ release party for her poetic memoir Let The Buzzards Eat Me Whole.
