Charles Bukowski’s Lush Life: “Post Office” and the Utopian Impulse
“In fact, Bukowski cannot be understood apart from his midcentury Los Angeles milieu.” Continue reading Charles Bukowski’s Lush Life: “Post Office” and the Utopian Impulse
Category: L.A. Literary History
Literary History: Jim Murray, Literary Sportswriter
Los Angeles Literature spotlights the literary history of former Pulitzer Prize winning, Los Angeles Times sportswriter, Jim Murray. He captured the sports stories of L.Á. for 37 years. Continue reading Literary History: Jim Murray, Literary Sportswriter
Literary History: Black Sparrow Press
Black Sparrow Press was founded in Los Ángeles in 1966. It grew to be one of the most successful independent presses of all time. Continue reading Literary History: Black Sparrow Press
Why So Many Readers Are Turning to Octavia Butler’s Apocalypse Fiction Right Now
“Earlier this month, Octavia Butler’s novel ‘Parable of the Sower’ made it onto the New York Times’ bestseller lists 27 years after its original publication.” Why does her books continue to resonate with readers today? Continue reading Why So Many Readers Are Turning to Octavia Butler’s Apocalypse Fiction Right Now
Literary History: American Sonnets: PolyVocality and Code Switching With Wanda Coleman and Terrance Hayes
In Wanda Coleman’s National Book Award Winning poetry, she code switches in over 1,000 poems, as she wrote about the real Los Ángeles, becoming the UNofficial Poet Laureate of Los Áangeles. Continue reading Literary History: American Sonnets: PolyVocality and Code Switching With Wanda Coleman and Terrance Hayes
Literary History: The Fearless Invention of One of L.A.’s Greatest Poets
A new volume of quintessential L.Á. poet Wanda Coleman’s poetry, “Wicked Enchantment” and eidted by poet Terrance Hayes, has brought the Watts born poet into the spotlight. Continue reading Literary History: The Fearless Invention of One of L.A.’s Greatest Poets
Pasadena Landmark Vroman’s, Southern California’s Oldest Bookstore, Celebrates 125th Anniversary
The Pasadena Landmark, Vroman’s, calls itself “Southern California’s oldest and largest independent bookstore,” turns a 125 years-old. It opened in 1894. Continue reading Pasadena Landmark Vroman’s, Southern California’s Oldest Bookstore, Celebrates 125th Anniversary
Literary History: Why L.A. Is The Perpetual Dark Heart of Crime Writing
By Jeffery Fleishman
FROM: Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles is a madman’s prayer wrapped inside a murderous dream.
It’s homeless on sidewalks and hustlers in the hills. It’s laborers and housekeepers, and billboards of lust, dystopia, apes, robots, Chewbaccas, Kim and Kanye, and Lady Gaga’s newest thing. It’s clear skies, no mosquitoes and laser-sculpted people with money, hedgerows and sins. A crime writer can make of it what he or she wants, like “Westworld” or a lover who gives you a kiss and a key, and one day changes the locks.
Continue reading “Literary History: Why L.A. Is The Perpetual Dark Heart of Crime Writing”
Literary History: Kate Braverman, Whose Poetry and Prose Captured a Dark Los Angeles, Dies in Santa Fe, N.M.
By Dorany Pineda
From: Los Angeles Times
Kate Braverman a poet, novelist and short-story writer whose work was fueled by a sprawling Los Angeles, has died. She was 70.
Literary History: OBITUARY: Hisaye Yamamoto
By Nichi Bei
From: Nichi Bei
Los Angeles Literature Note: This obituary of Los Ángeles writer Hisaye Yamamoto was published February 23, 2011 in Nichi Bei. Yamamoto was an important writer and Nisei writer, one of the first to get national recognition by publishing short stories in magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar. Yamamoto was one of many little known Asian/Japanese writers and Asian women of color to emerge from Los Ángeles in the aftermath of WW II. Her short stories are set mostly in and around Los Ángeles.
LOS ANGELES — Hisaye Yamamoto, a pioneer in Asian American literature, passed away on Jan. 30, 2011 in Los Angeles at the age of 89.
Continue reading “Literary History: OBITUARY: Hisaye Yamamoto”
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