Erased History, Forgotten Communities
Viramontes’ passion for bringing erased communities to the forefront of literature and history has materialized into several acclaimed literary works.
By Jackie Swift
FROM: research.cornell.edu
Helena María Viramontes, English, brings people and places erased from history to life again. For years, she has focused her lens on the Latino experience in the United States, writing award-winning fiction that draws from her own heritage as a Chicana from Los Angeles. In her latest novel-in-progress, The Cemetery Boys, she explores the experiences of three generations of East Los Angelenos mired in three different wars. During this exploration, she highlights the mix of ethnicities and marginalized communities that flourished and then faded away in the California of the early-to-mid twentieth century.
Join in on the anniversary fun on Sept. 12th!
Every Tuesday evening Luis Antonio Pichardo hosts the Conchas y Café workshop at the Chicano Resource Center in East Los Angeles, open for adults interested in developing skills through the arts. During a recent meeting, the evening workshop began with discussing a quote by German playwright Bertolt Brecht: “In times of disorder, of organized confusion, of inhumane humanity, nothing should appear natural.” The group shared their thoughts casually like friends having breakfast with conchas and coffee, but the gossip was focused on their experience living in “times of disorder.”
The latest release from local L.A. press 
VAGABOND is pleased to announce the SMALL PRESS BOOK FESTIVAL, to take place on Saturday, September 21, 2019, 11am – 4:30pm, held at the Wende Museum of the Cold War (10808 Culver Blvd. Culver City, CA 90230).
This summer two local literary journals—
There was poetry in all parts of Los Angeles this past Saturday, July 13. Not unlike most days in the city, where there are literary events on the Westside, downtown, Long Beach, even out at Cellar Door Books in Riverside. First, I was at a reading at the Venice Library, then drove to the Merry-Go Round at Griffith Park for more. The first a part of the joint Mar Vista Artwalk/Venice Art Crawl. The second, the 6th Annual The Poetry Circus.
The Los Angeles Review of Books and Hauser & Wirth Publishers announced the panelists who will discuss literature, art and activism at LitLit, the Little Literary Fair, which will debut this weekend in L.A.’s Downtown Arts District. The city’s newest book festival, to be held at the Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles arts complex, will host four panels on July 20 and 21 as part of its programming, which will also include more than 20 exhibitors from L.A. and other cities on the West Coast.
Nineteen years ago, a small independent press based in Pennsylvania—sadly now defunct—published my first book, a novella titled The Courtship of María Rivera Peña(Silver Lake Publishing). The story is loosely based on the migration of my paternal grandparents from Mexico to Los Angeles in the 1920s and follows the courtship, marriage, and family life of the cook Beto and the beautiful waitress María. Three years later, a longer, second edition was published under the same name but with a slightly different cover design. I am now exploring with a publisher whether we can publish a 20th anniversary edition that would include a scholarly introduction.
Los Angeles Literature 