Blood, Frogs: A Passover Poem
by Daniel A. Olivas
From: La Bloga
Blood, Frogs…
Do you know me, Adonai?
A latecomer to your Seder table?
A visitor waiting for Elijah?
Category: Uncategorized
Los Angeles Literature Events 4/11/17 –4/16/17
Lunchtime Writing at Grand Park LA
Join us every Tuesday through May 10 for a free spring Lunchtime Writers’ Meetup with food trucks, and feed your spirit with writing exercises, guest speakers, and advice from Grand park’s Writer-in-Residence Traci Kato-Kiriyama.
Themes this year will include love, healing, power, quirks, city and maps, home, dreams, vision, food and nourishment, and many more. Special guests to support and cultivate new writings or nurture existing works. Writing materials will be provided.
Where: Grand Park LA
Date: Tuesday the 11th
Time: 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Address: 200 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: http://grandparkla.org/event/lunchtime-writers-meetup/?instance_id=93755
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 4/11/17 –4/16/17”
In Honor of National Poetry Month
By Brian Dunlap
When the calendar turns to 
April it’s National Poetry month. Around the country the literary community emphasizes poets and poems that too often get left in the shadows of the literary world in favor of novels and memoirs or just narrative writing in general. Here at Los Angeles Literature, I’ve highlighted some talented Angeleño poets for Black History Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Months, etc. along with talented narrative writers.
Since this month celebrates poetry, I’ll be highlighting some of the talented Angeleño poets that capture their L.A., and that speak to the diversity of voices found in Los Angeles Literature. In a city that produced the likes of Charles Bukowski, Luis J. Rodriguez, Amy Uyematsu, Kamu Daaood and Eloise Klein Healy, there are plenty to enjoy and not enough time to highlight them all. Plus, if anyone attends one of the over 30 plus open mics in the Los Angeles area, from Whittier, to Venice, to Sylmar, to Santa Ana and Pomona and all points in-between, one will find that Luis J. Rodriguez’s words ring true. “[Los Angeles] is a great poetry town.”
NATIONAL POETRY MONTH FEATURED POET: CHIWAN CHOI
From: Entropy Magazine
In honor of National Poetry Month, we’re interviewing several poets and asking them a few questions about poetry. Our second featured poet is Chiwan Choi! Stay tuned all month for more featured poets.
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The challenge and joy of poetry by Robin Coste Lewis and Adrian Matejka
From: Los Angeles Times
Perhaps the great (however obvious) lesson of the last several years — the waves of police violence against black men, the bitter and hate-fueled rise of Trump and worldwide xenophobia — is that we have not transcended and learned from history nearly as well as we might have thought. Maybe we need reminding. In two recent books, “Map to the Stars” by Adrian Matejka and “Voyage of the Sable Venus,” the 2015 debut by Robin Coste Lewis, black poets jog our collective memories, facing the distant and recent history of black Americans, asking us to try to see ourselves in their mirrors.
Continue reading “The challenge and joy of poetry by Robin Coste Lewis and Adrian Matejka”
Los Angeles Literature Events 4/03/17 –4/09/17
Phenomena, with Annie Jacobsen at Santa Monica Library
Join us to hear author, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Santa Monica resident Annie Jacobsen for a discussion and signing of her fourth book, Phenomena, a history of the U.S. government’s secret investigations into extrasensory perception and psychokinesis.
Free program. Seating is limited and on a first-arrival basis.
Where: Santa Monica Main Library, Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium
Date: Monday the 3rd
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Address: 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Website: http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=23473
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Los Angeles Literature Events 3/27/17 –4/02/17
A Colony in a Nation, with Chris Hayes at The Grove
Join us to hear author and Emmy Award-winning news anchor Chris Hayes for a discussion and signing of A Colony in a Nation, in which he argues that there are really two Americas: a colony and a nation. America likes to say it inhabits a post-racial world, yet nearly every measure reveals that racial inequality has barely improved since 1968. Chris offers a book of wide-ranging historical, social and political analysis.
This is a wrist-banded event. For more information and event guidelines please visit www.facebook.com/BNEventsGrove or call (323) 525-0290.
Where: Barnes and Nobel, The Grove
Date: Monday the 27th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: 189 The grove Dr., Suite K 30, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Website: http://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780061839921-0
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Bound and Determined
By Lena McGee
From: UCLA Magazine
A Bruin family has kept Caravan Book Store successful for more than 60 years.
When Morris Bernstein ’47 and his wife, Lillian, opened Caravan Book Store on downtown Los Angeles’ Grand Avenue in 1954, he had no idea how much impact he’d have on the local community. At a time when the streetcar was the main source of transportation and people dressed up to go downtown, Caravan — once adjacent to the former “Bookseller’s Row” — was the place to go. To book lovers, it was Disneyland, a place where you could find old, rare and curious manuscripts you couldn’t get anywhere else.
V. Kali Reads At The Word Stage
Los Angeles poet V. Kali reads at the release party for her book love poems Hymn, published by World Stage Press. Continue reading V. Kali Reads At The Word Stage
READING ACROSS AMERICA: HOW TO CREATE ‘LIVE LITERARY JOURNALS’
WENDY C. ORTIZ ON LESSONS LEARNED PROGRAMMING THE SERIES RHAPSODOMANCY
By Wendy C. Ortiz
From: Lithub.com
Between 2004 and 2015, I was the curator and host of the Rhapsodomancy Reading Series in Los Angeles. For the first two years I shared this role with Andrea Quaid, until she moved away; after that, I counted on my romantic partner-turned-roadie and the loyal audience members I had to keep the series afloat.
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