L.A. Poet Vickie Vértiz in New York Times Magazine
Congratulations goes out to Los Ángeles poet Vickie Vértiz. Her poem “Already My Lips Were Luminous” has been published in the New York Times Magazine. The poem opens her new collection of poems Palm Frond With Its Throat Cut and sets the entire collection in motion. As Vickie Vértiz said in an Instagram post: “Aquí nomas, my poem from Palm Frond in the @tmagazine. Thank you so, so much Terrance Hayes, and to @MatthewZapruder for the encouragement.”
Continue reading “L.A. Poet Vickie Vértiz in New York Times Magazine”
Los Angeles Literature Events 11/20/17 –11/26/17
Author Event at Edendale Branch Library, LAPL
Please join us for an author Q&A with Guerilla Tacos founder and Chef Wes Avila, along with Richard Parks III, as they discuss his book, Guerilla Tacos. This cook book offers the story of their fame with their taco truck, which stands out in a crowded field because it is so unique and uses only stellar ingredients. With comic illustrations and stories throughout, and the 50 base recipes in this book, this is the final word on the subject.
Where: Edendale Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 20th
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Address: 2011 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/guerrilla-tacos-qa-wes-avila-and-richard-parks-iii
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 11/20/17 –11/26/17”
Myriam Gurba’s “Mean” Explores Growing Up A Queer “Molack” In California: BUST Interview
by Bri Kane
From: Bust
When you read Mean by Myriam Gurba, you’re going to laugh, and cry, at some really gross and mean things – but that’s kinda the whole point. Mean is a very introspective book, exploring Gurba’s childhood, adolescence, and early adult life. By analyzing her own memory, Gurba forces the reader to do the same. She describes the book as a “novel that is memoiristic,” meaning not exactly a memoir, but not exactly fiction — it blends the two genres through memory, analysis, and retrospection.
‘Wonder Valley’ is an L.A. Thriller That Refuses to Let Readers Look Away
“Wonder Valley,” the third novel from author Ivy Pochoda, begins with a classic Los Angeles tableau: a chase on the 101, complete with a police helicopter, camera-toting news crews and spectators recording the spectacle on their smartphones.
Continue reading “‘Wonder Valley’ is an L.A. Thriller That Refuses to Let Readers Look Away”
Los Angeles Literature Events 11/13/17 –11/19/17
Poetry Party by Cadence Collective at Fox Coffee House
Come to hear the 2nd Monday Poetry Party hosted by Cadence Collective, and hosted by poets Murray Thomas & Sarah Thursday. This site features poets who have lived, gone to school, worked or regularly been a part of Long Beach, and it always begins with an Open Mic, followed by featured readers of the month.
Where: Fox Coffee House
Date: Monday the 13th
Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: 437 W. Willow St., Long Beach, CA 90808
Website: http://www.meetup.com/CoffeeHouseWritersGroupLongBeach/events/zgjjllywpbrb/
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 11/13/17 –11/19/17”
BEST NEW BOOKSTORE Other Books, Comics and Zines
By Jason McGahan From: LA Weekly Other Books, Comics and Zines offers an exquisitely curated selection of new and used books with an anarcho-queer-feminist–third world–radical-indigenist edge. The sparely decorated, spacious store, sandwiched unassumingly between an El Pollo Loco and a Mexican craft-leather shop, offers bare cement floors, bare white walls, bare light bulbs and unobtrusive, comfortable chairs and sofas for reading. Books are cerebral up front, transgressive … Continue reading BEST NEW BOOKSTORE Other Books, Comics and Zines
Los Angeles Literature Events 11/06/17 –11/12/17
Book of Wonders at Book Soup
Come to hear author Douglas Trevor discuss and sign his book, Book of Wonders. This book is a collection of nine stories, and explores unsettling and comic situations in which people lose their bearings, reinvent themselves, or resolve—sometimes haplessly—to make sense of their lives. We are reminded not only of the struggle to connect, but also of what the most unlikely of people may realize they share.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 6th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: http://www.booksoup.com/event/douglas-trevor-discusses-and-signs-book-wonders
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 11/06/17 –11/12/17”
The Secret to Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Overnight Success
The novelist seemed to go from unknown to MacArthur genius in two years. In truth, it took decades.
by Joe Fassler
From: Electric Literature
This month, the novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen was awarded one of the most prestigious honors a writer can receive: the MacArthur “genius” grant, given to artists, thinkers, and public intellectuals whose ideas have culture-altering potential. This, in itself, should surprise no one. Nguyen writes with arresting moral and intellectual force, often about people scarred and uprooted by conflict. As the MacArthur Foundation put it in its citation, Nguyen’s demonstrated a unique gift for exploring how depictions of the Vietnam War “often fail to capture the full humanity and inhumanity, the sacrifices and savagery, of participants on opposing sides.”
Continue reading “The Secret to Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Overnight Success”
Beyond Baroque: 50 Years of Literary Life in Venice, California
“One outpost of authenticity in Venice, however, is the renowned Beyond Baroque literary arts center, now gearing up for its 50th anniversary.” Continue reading Beyond Baroque: 50 Years of Literary Life in Venice, California
Los Angeles Literature Events 10/30/17 –11/05/17
Steven J. Ross at Chevalier’s Bookstore
Please join us to hear Steven J. Ross, son of Holocaust survivors, author and professor of history at USC, discussing and signing his new book, Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America, in conversation with the host and producer of “Start Making Sense,” The Nation’s weekly podcast Jon Wiener (How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey Across America). The book examines how the Nazis plotted to sabotage the nation’s military installations, propaganda and communications along the Pacific Coast
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore
Date: Monday the 30th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/hitler-in-la
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 10/30/17 –11/05/17”
Los Angeles Literature 