MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI NAMES ROBIN COSTE LEWIS AS POET LAUREATE OF LOS ANGELES
From: L.A. Mayors Office
Award-winning poet is nationally recognized as a major figure of contemporary literature
LOS ANGELES — Mayor Eric Garcetti announced today that Robin Coste Lewis, winner of the National Book Award, is the new Poet Laureate of the City of Los Angeles.
As an official ambassador of L.A.’s arts community, Lewis will promote and celebrate the written word, and represent the city’s rich literary scene.
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Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
by Brian Dunlap
This past weekend as the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. The book festival has brought Angeleño book lovers together for over 20 years. This year at USC, some local independent presses and independent bookstores had booths, from Rare Bird and Prospect Park Books, to Skylight and Once Upon A Time, which bills itself as “America’s oldest children’s bookstore.”
Open Mic, Open Minds, and Dim Lights in Pomona
A Mic and Dim Lights “started as a few friends who felt they needed to open a safe space in the Inland Empire for artists to express themselves.” Continue reading Open Mic, Open Minds, and Dim Lights in Pomona
Los Angeles Literature Events 4/24/17 –4/30/17
Aztec Stories at Arroyo Seco Regional Library
Come explore indigenous Mexican instruments, stories and poetry in Aztec Stories with Michael Heralda! Enjoy a feast of music, language and art and learn a few simple phrases of Nahauti, the language of the Aztecs.
Where: Arroyo Seco Regional Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 24th
Time: 4 pm
Address: 6145 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/aztec-stories-michael-heralda-1
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 4/24/17 –4/30/17”
In Honor of National Poetry Month: Cynthia Guardado
By Brian Dunlap
Cynthia Guardado is a poet who deeply cares about social justice issues. With her perspective as a Salvadorian American poet from Inglewood, California, it’s no surprise. It’s her experiences as a woman of color that drives her to speak out about misogyny, white supremacy and reclaiming her right to her feelings and experiences and to express them, in her poetry.
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A visit with Other Books in Boyle Heights
From: The L.A. Times
In between a Mexican-crafted leather goods shop and an El Pollo Loco in Boyle Heights, works written by the likes of Alice Bag, James Baldwin, Inéz Estrada and Allen Ginsberg are shelved in light-wood bookcases.
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Los Angeles Literature Events 4/17/17 –4/23/17
Writers Workshops at Baldwin Hills Branch Library
Writing a book and looking for feedback? Need deadlines to help you reach your writing goals? Then this is the group for you!
Each meeting, you bring 5-10 double-spaced pages of writing to share with the group. Every member will have time to present their writing and receive constructive feedback. Please call the information desk at 323-733-1196 with questions, and to RSVP for the workshop.
Where: Baldwin Hills Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 17th
Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm
Address: 2906 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90016
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/writers-workshop-0
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 4/17/17 –4/23/17”
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?
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.”
