Naomi Hirahara joins an exclusive club — Vroman’s Walk of Fame.
By J.K. Yamamoto
From: Rafu Shimpo
PASADENA — The atmosphere in front of Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena last Saturday afternoon was reminiscent of a Hollywood paparazzi fest.
With dozens of well-wishers taking photos and videos, local mystery author Naomi Hirahara placed her hands in cement and signed her name to become a part of Vroman’s Walk of Fame.
By Jen Hofer and Antena
FROM: L.A. Review of Books Blog
To Ken Brecher and the Staff and Board Members of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles:
The two collectives I co-founded, Antena and Antena Los Ángeles, recently received an invitation to participate in the upcoming Mobile Museum Fair that the Library Foundation of Los Angeles is organizing at the Los Angeles Public Library in January 2019. In the wake of the unjust and as yet unexplained firings of Maureen Moore and Louise Steinman from their positions as Associate Director and Director of the ALOUD series respectively, and the unanswered calls for accountability on the part of Ken Brecher and the LFLA Board, I am writing to inform you unequivocally that neither Antena nor Antena Los Ángeles will work with LFLA until this matter is resolved in an ethical, respectful and transparent way — as not just Maureen and Louise but also the many communities who love both the ALOUD series and the amazing beloved Los Angeles Public Library deserve.
Continue reading “An Open Letter to Ken Brecher and the Library Foundation of Los Angeles”
by Sesshu Foster
FROM: LARB
ONE DAY, when my brother Paul was 12, he came home wearing a shirt made from the American stars and stripes. My uncle caught him — my uncle owned the East L.A. house we lived in at the time and he reminded us of this fact regularly. He beat Paul to the floor and tore the shirt off. That same year, they put Paul on a Greyhound bus at the old terminal on Sixth and Los Angeles Streets and sent him up to Northern California to live with our dad. After a couple years, Paul was out on his own, moving through a series of hippie communes, Big Sur cabins, and foster homes, where he started reading Allen Ginsberg and the Beats.
This month marks the 25th anniversary of the reopening of the Los Angeles Central Library after a cataclysmic fire and phoenix-like rebirth. It is also the 25th anniversary of ALOUD, the library’s landmark program of conversations and performances that has played a crucial role in reviving the image of the city center as a cultural destination Continue reading “Speaking up for ALOUD at the Central Library”
by Brian Dunlap
Recently, L.A. novelist Natashia Deón announced she sold her second book “The Perishing,” to Counterpoint Press. She reacted to the news on Facebook by saying, “So doggone grateful. Glory!”
Reyna Grande In Conversation With Alex Espinoza
by Michel Sedano
From: Labloga.blogspot.com
Friday night’s is an audience of readers, gente who have come on Friday night to the independent bookseller, Vroman’s, in Pasadena CA because reading matters to them. They want to hear Reyna Grande, whose stories to them mattered.
Reyna Grande has five books; two novels, three memoirs (one the YA Distance Between Us) and not including translations. She’s the kind of writer a passerby would want to sit and hear. But there’s SRO. And still they stand. She’s that kind of speaker.
By Brian Dunlap
Friday September 28th at 826LA Mar Vista was electric. The room was packed, filled mostly with people of color and queer people of color. The metal chairs were set in rows facing the front where the writers were about to read. On the right side of the room was a small display of artwork from invited Eastside artist Freddy Negrete, who shared the table with pastries from Portos. Attendees continued to trickle in, conversations adding a welcomed excitement to the room. But when host Mixel Salinas stepped to the mic a focused quiet fell over the audience. 100 Thousand Poets for Change’s Love, Migration, and Revolution reading began.
by Brian Dunlap
Last week Kima Jones, founder of L.A. based Jack Jones Literary Arts, was named to The Root 100 2018. Coming in at number 88, The Root says Jones made the list because her book-publicist firm consists of a roster “primarily…[of] women and writers of color.”
Continue reading “Jack Jones Founder Named to The Root 100 2018”
by Brian Dunlap
In early September at Women’s Center for Creative Work experienced a break-in. While they said “it does feel violating,” it seems as though it was random and opportunistic. The space wasn’t damaged or trashed, but they did have a good deal of electronics and other valuables stolen.
Continue reading “Women’s Center for Creative Work Needs Your Help”
Earlier this month, Mimi Wong’s The Offing letter to the editor, she revealed all the new changes happening at the literary journal. This includes her own announcement as the new editor of the literary magazine, which is dedicated “to amplify[ing], [promoting], and support[ing] these voices often missing from mainstream spaces.” However, the change of most note to the Los Ángeles literary community is the hiring of poet Ashaki M. Jackson as The Offing’s new Executive Editor. Jackson is a champion of “women’s and nonbinary writers” as seen “through her endeavors at VIDA and Women Who Submit.”
Continue reading “L.A. Poet Announced as New Executive Editor of The Offing”
Los Angeles Literature 