LitFest Pasadena 2018 and Schedule
The city and Southland’s free books-and-authors festival returns for its 7th year with two days of panels, discussions, readings, workshops, performances, and literary activities. Over 150 authors and special guest speakers will appear in over 50 events from the afternoon into the late evening. LitFest Pasadena is held throughout the historic Pasadena Playhouse District at Vroman’s Bookstore, the Pasadena Playhouse, and other local establishments.
Saturday & Sunday, May 19 & 20, 2018
1:00pm to 10:00pm
Pasadena’s Playhouse District
FREE
The literacy and writing organization 826LA is releasing the 15th Young Authors’ Book Project anthology Through the Same Halls: Journeys of Elders Born and Raised in South Central and Beyond, alongside the publication’s student authors and the vibrant, intergenerational communities of Manual Arts Senior High School Toilers and South LA on Friday, April 27 at WITH LOVE Market & Cafe.
It’s Saturday April 14th and the crowd is large. Café Con Libros is silent. There are no empty seats when I arrive so I stand. I’m in Pomona’s Art Colony for Obsidian Tongues, an open mic hosted by William Gonzalez and Ceasar K. Avelar
There is more good news to report from the Los Ángeles literary community. Novelist Alex Espinoza, author of Still Water Saints (Random House, 2007) and The Five Acts of Diego Leon (Random House, 2013), and Professor and Director MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Arts at Cal State L.A., posted the following on Facebook the other day:
Over the past two weeks more good news has come to the Los Ángeles-Long Beach literary community. Two accolades for a spoken word album that a L.A. poet has two tracks on, and an honor for a poet writing about El Salvador and Salvadorian issues, plus two poetry releases.
Dear poets and friends,
Earlier this week three L.A. poets, Irene Monica Sanchez, Angelina Sáenz and T. Sarmina got accepted into the prestigious VONA/Voices of Our Nation summer workshop at Realm Academy in Berkeley. The workshop is for emerging poets and prose writers-of-Color.
Jack Jones Literary Arts, located in Los Ángeles, is hosting its second annual writing retreat at Blue Sky Retreat, Taos, New Mexico. This two-week retreat will be held October 13- 27, 2018, and is open exclusively to women of color. Jenna Wortham joins us as our 2018 Writer-in-Residence.
“Los Angeles is not Baywatch or the Beach Boys, it is getting carne asada tacos from a taco truck and bacon wrapped hot dogs at two in the morning.”
