by Brian Dunlap

Los Ángeles/Bell Garden’s Native Vickie Vertiz will be releasing her second book of poems Palm Frond With Its Throat Cut, next month (September). The Amazon jacket copy describes Vertiz’s book as a collection that “uses both humor and sincerity to capture moments in time with a sense of compassion for the hard choices we must make to survive. Vértiz’s poetry shows how history, oppression, and resistance don’t just refer to big events or movements; they play out in our everyday lives, in the intimate spaces of family, sex, and neighborhood. Vértiz’s poems ask us to see Los Angeles—and all cities like it—as they have always been: an America of code-switching and reinvention, of lyric and fight.”

Continue reading “More Los Angeles Literary News”

By Brian Dunlap

Exciting publication news coming out of the Los Angeles Literary community. Happy to announce that Erika Ayón’s first collection of poetry will be published by L.A. based World Stage Press in 2018!

Continue reading “In Los Angeles Literary News”

Teen Summer Reading Challenge at Exposition Park Regional Library–Teen Event

As part of “Reading by Design” Summer Reading Challenge: Teen Read, Rant & Rave, join us for a book discussion of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, by Marianne Goo.

Copies of the book are available to borrow at the Information Desk. Recommended for readers in grades 7-12.

Where: Exposition Park- Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Regional Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 31^st

Time: 2 pm – 3 pm

Address: 3900 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90062

Website:   http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/reading-design-summer-reading-challenge-teen-read-rant-rave-1

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 7/31/17 –8/06/17”

by Priya Sridhar

From: Book Riot

NOTE: I just stumbled across this article from Book Riot. It was one of numerous posts they published in celebration of Octavia Butler’s  birthday back in June. Enjoy!

Women writers have interesting barriers. The Mary Sue and Tor.com have discussed how female SFF writers, and SFF female characters, can easily become overlooked or forgotten. We don’t receive as much coverage due to implicit bias in our culture. This is ironic since according to history women like Mary Shelley have created the science fiction and horror genres. Tor.com mentions that the women that leave a legacy are the Smurfettes of the world, the token female authors that are included to fill a social quota.

Continue reading “A SMURFETTE IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY: OCTAVIA’S LEGACY”

Keeping Your Family’s Stories at Long Beach Arts Council

As part of our Incite/Insight Series, author liz gonzalez will give a presentation on Keeping Your Family’s Stories, Keeping Your Own, based on her what she’s learned from her own research and personal history and turning her stories into creative works. She will also share resources she has found, and examples of their use in different genres and in multimedia.

Where: Uptown Business District

Date: Monday the 24^th

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Address: 6082 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90805

Website:   http://www.lizgonzalez.com/pages/appearances.html

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 7/24/17 –7/30/17”

by Brian Dunlap The new issue of Angel City Review is now available online. This is a literary journal that is committed to bringing the cutting edge in fiction and poetry to a modern audience. Every issue will feature a couple of more established writers; however their main goal is to provide an outlet for new and emerging authors with an emphasis on writers based in Los … Continue reading Angel City Review Issue 5 Now Available

From: DSTL Arts

NOTE: DSTL Arts is is a Los Angeles nonprofit arts mentorship organization that inspires, teaches, and hires creative, at-risk youth, ages 16–21 years old. Read further to find out what new creative services and opportunities they want to bring to the Los Angeles community, especially its underserved youth.

Los Angeles, CA — July 20, 2017 — DSTL Arts, launches “Lowride 4 Lit (or Lowrider for Literature), a grassroots fundraising effort to bring art-making workshops in a mobile art vehicle to communities in East LA and South LA. Luis Pichardo, Executive Director and founder of the organization, will kick off the campaign by selling his father’s prized 1969 Chevy Impala as down payment.

Continue reading “DSTL Arts Launches “Lowride 4 Lit” A Grassroots Campaign to Help Underserved Communities Tell Their Stories”

New Play Reading Festival at Boston Court Theatre

Boston Court’s 13^th Annual New Play Reading Festival presents exciting new works in progress, a wide variety of genres, with an emphasis on works which are theatrically and visually arresting, and textually rich. Tickets are FREE and reservations are strongly recommended.

Join artistic directors Jessica Kubzansky & Michael Michetti, and literary manager Emilie Beck for a preview and discussion about this year’s plays.

Where: Boston Court

Date: Monday the 17^th

Time: 7:30 pm

Address: 70 North Mentor Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106

Website:   http://www.bostoncourt.com/events/343/new-play-reading-festival-preview

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 7/17/17 –7/23/17”

by Olivia Duenas

From: 7500 Magazine

With lavender locks as vibrant as her garden, poet Rocio Carlos welcomes me into her home. Lining the shelves are treasures like tiny canvases, musical instruments and fish statues. Entering from the front of her house, I made my way to her lush garden where she tells me how much she loves gardening. This native Los Angeleno infuses Spanish into her poetry and blends eclectic language into urban settings. Her poem, Sixth Street or some Dantean reference, which is about East L.A bridges, begins:

There are instructions:
line up east and move toward the river,
suspension,
how a thing floats, how bruised feet walk,
where steam rises from the water…

Continue reading “Urban Poetry: Rocio Carlos”

Drew Magary and The Hike at Pages Bookstore

Full of adventure, agony, hilarity and heartbreak, Drew Magary’s novel, The Hike, is a wild, thrilling fantasy saga that chronicles one man’s epic life-or-death quest to return to his family after getting lost on a wooded path that leads him into an alternate, dreamlike world. Join us to hear the author present, discuss and sign his work

We appreciate when you please RSVP at website.

Where: Pages Bookstore

Date: Monday the 10^th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Website:   http://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/drew-magary-author-event

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 7/10/17 –7/16/17”