By JENNIFER SENIOR

From: The New York Times

With her debut novel, “Grace,” Natashia Deón has announced herself beautifully and distinctively. Her emotional range spans several octaves. She writes with her nerves, generating terrific suspense. And her style is so visual it plays tricks on the imagination — did I just watch that scene? Or did I read it?

Ms. Deón is not merely another new author to watch. She has delivered something whole, and to be reckoned with, right now.

“Grace” starts with a murder on a plantation in Faunsdale, Ala. After years of watching her mother submit to supervised, ritualized rape by a fellow slave — it’s her job to breed boys for future sale — 15-year-old Naomi skewers her master with a fire poker. He’d just come to their cabin to announce that Naomi’s sister, Hazel, would be taking their mother’s place. For too many years, their mother had given birth only to girls.

Continue reading “Review: Natashia Deón’s ‘Grace,’ a Tale of Slavery, Its Ghosts and Legacy”

In the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub massacre, Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016

By Luis J. Rodriguez

From: Los Angeles Public Library Blog

 

Hate becomes death becomes hate.

The world unravels in fear.

 

Columbine: 13 students and a teacher gone.

Sandy Hook: 20 children and 6 adults murdered.

Charleston, North Carolina: 9 black churchgoers killed.

San Bernardino: 14 men and women destroyed.

Orlando, Florida: 50 patrons of a LGBTQ nightclub slaughtered.

Continue reading “Poem for a New Dream”

Tune in for a discussion and poetry share featuring three Los Angeles poets–Cynthia Guardado, Amanda Wang and Katie J.–who also participate in Las Lunas poetry collective. They share insight on their process, on writing in a collective and some poetry for us to digest. On Resistance radio is horizontal collective encouraging action to empower a culture of resistance against all forms, behavior(s) and system(s) of … Continue reading On Resistance Radio

The Steamer at Chevalier’s Bookstore

Written by ace reporter and sportswriter Andy Furillo and told from the point of view of his dad, Bud Furillo, the legendary L.A. sports columnist and broadcaster, The Steamer: Bud Furillo and the Golden Age of L.A. Sports, is a sports history about a great period when Koufax starred with the Dodgers, Wooden was winning championships at UCLA, the Rams were fun, and fights were fantastic. Join us for a reading, talk and signing with the author.

Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore

Date: Monday the 13^th     

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004

Website: http://www.chevaliersbooks.com

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 6/13/16 – 6/19/16”

Saturday was unusually cold. It was supposed to be in the low to mid ’80s as high in Riverside. Instead when my parents and I arrived at the release party for Riverside City College’s literary magazine Muse, the sky was a blanket of gray and looked of rain.

We had arrived at Back to the Grind on University Avenue in downtown Riverside a few minutes before 11 am. I was there to get my copy of Muse that had published my poem “Not Enough.” I was there to read that poem, talk to whoever was their (Faculty Adviser Jo Scott-Coe, Senior Contributing Editor Maribel Bañuelos) and stare at the publication I held in my hands that had my work between its covers. (My first three publications have all been in online publications) I expected the crowd to be small since the time of the event had been moved up from 2 pm to 11 am.

Continue reading “Launch of Riverside Community College’s Muse Magazine”

A short video about L.A. based Tia Chucha Press and their first anthology of Los Angeles Poets, Coiled Serpent. Continue reading Tia Chucha Press – Coild Serpent

The new LA bookstore and performance space is devoted to work by women and POC.
From: Crave

by Ernest Hardy

 

Earlier this week, Air 11, a bookstore and performance space devoted to the work of women and people of color, opened its doors in midtown Los Angeles on Fairfax Avenue. Co-founded by Oakland native/current downtown LA resident Lauryn Pendergrass and LA native Peter Woods, who’s been at the forefront of the LA arts and music scene with his outfit Quality Collective for over a decade now, and Writ Large Press for the last few years, the spot will host readings and music performances. It will also feature rotating residencies by small, independent presses, and conduct literary workshops. It’s currently hosting Alpha, a show of visual art by almost two dozen artists. That show will be up for two months. On June 20^th, Liz Kay reads and discusses her new novel Monsters: A Love Story. Ashaki Jackson and Jen Hofer will be guest readers, and Cave Canem Fellow F. Douglas Brown hosts. The event starts at 7:30 PM and is free.

After the opening party, Pendergrass and Woods answered a few questions for Crave.

Continue reading “A Conversation with the Owners of Air 11”

From: Speaking of Marvels

What’s your chapbook about?

Surveillance speaks to the execution videos that have become a part of our collective (national) memory. Specifically, the poems respond to the virtual record of police killing unarmed Blacks with impunity. My work reverses the lens —it watches the witnesses, the YouTube viewers, and God while critiquing the practice of trialing civilians by gunfire.

Continue reading “Ashaki M. Jackson”

From: Fresno State’s MFA Blog

 

Our blog’s ongoing “On the Books” series introduces you to writers from our growing list of Fresno State MFA alumni who are getting their first books published. The third installment profiles Michelle Brittan Rosado. Her writing has appeared in Calyx, Los Angeles Review, Quarterly West and elsewhere. She currently lives in Long Beach.

In a May phone interview, MFA communication specialist Jefferson Beavers spoke with Michelle about finding a press that you love, finding “Fresno poetry,” and finding a dissertation topic in an unlikely place.

When were you in the Fresno State MFA program?

I started the program in Fall 2008 and finished in Spring 2011, in poetry.

Continue reading “On the Books: Michelle Brittan Rosado”

The last two weeks have been busy in Los Angeles literature.  Each of the last two weeks have been capped off by two major events:  The 2nd annual Blk Girrrl Bookfair and the 5th annual Litfest Pasadena.

Last weekend was the 2nd annual Blk Girrrl Bookfair.  The founder, Tika Lark, a L.A. poet, community activist and independent  journalist, founded the Bookfair as a “free, radical feminist bookfair that actively beats down anti-blackness, colorism, patriarch, classism, nationalism, ableism and oppression in the literary and arts world.”

Continue reading “Blk Girrrl Book Fair and LitFest Pasadena”