Book Launch Reading in Pasadena Backyard
by Michael Sedano
From: Labloga.com
The spate of heavy rain exhausted itself and overnight the weather turned Southern California gorgeous. And since it looked like Spring had sprung early and was here to stay, people planned outdoor events, like the publication party for Jésus Salvador Treviño’s Return to Arroyo Grande.
As the day for the gathering of friends and readers approached, Pasadena skies clouded and rain threatened to wash out the reading and move it indoors. The hosts, Barbara and Michael Sedano, were bummed because Plan B, moving indoors, would challenge space and seating plans.
Los Angeles Literature Events 2/15/16 – 2/21/16
Maylis De Kerangal at Book Soup
Join author Maylis Kerangal, to hear her discuss and sign The Heart, in conversation with Beatrice Mousli, professor of French & Francophone Literatures at USC. Translation provided by Lucille Toth, a teacher of French at Scripps College.
The Heart takes place over the twenty-four hours surrounding a fatal accident and a resulting heart transplant as life is taken from a young man and given to a young woman close to death. Kerangal’s The Heart has mesmerized readers in France, where it has been hailed a breakthrough work of a new literary star. (Farrar Straus & Giroux)
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday, the 15th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: http://www..booksoup.com/event/maylis-de-kerangal-presents-and-signs-heart
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 2/15/16 – 2/21/16”
Los Angeles Literature Events 2/8/16 – 2/14/16
PEN Center presents Charles Yu and Salvadore Plascencia at Chevalier’s
PEN Center USA continues to offer this year’s Emerging Voices Author Evening Series to the public at Chevalier’s, which will offer a 15% discount on the books discussed with a purchased ticket. PEN members are free, but must have a ticket to enter. Tickets for this event may be purchased/reserved at the door. For more information go to: https://penusa.org/author-evenings or check site for further details.
In preparation for the reading, conversation and Q&A session with the audience, we recommend you read: Sorry Please Thank You: Stories by Charles Yu, and The People of Paper by Salvadore Plascencia, and that you arrive ready to engage in discussion!
Charles Yu’s work has been published in The New York Times, Playboy, and Slate, among other periodicals. Yu lives in Los Angeles, and is currently writing for the upcoming HBO series Westworld.
Salvadore Plascencia was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and now lives in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of Whittier College and holds an MFA from Syracuse University. The People of Paper is his first novel, and he was named one of the “Fifty Most Inspiring Living Authors in the World” by Poets & Writers.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Monday the 8th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90005
Website: http://chevaliersbooks.com/
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 2/8/16 – 2/14/16”
Grand Park BookFest
Chiwan Choi, Found of L.A. based literary press Writ Large, said the following earlier today about the Grand Park BookFest:
“[W]e had to move the Grand Park Downtown BookFest to May this year because of AWP scheduling (jerks). [B]ut it’s just given us all to do all these smaller scale events at GP starting in March and going on all the way to May 7th.”
The list of literary events at Grand Park kicks off with the following:
Los Angeles Literature Events 2/1/16 – 2/7/16
Misha Glenny at Chevalier’s
Join author and journalist Misha Glenny, in collaboration with the LA Review of Books, to hear him discuss and sign “.” This is the story of an ordinary man who became the king of the largest slum in Rio, the head of a drug cartel and perhaps Brazil’s most wanted criminal. Spanning rain forests and high security prisons, filthy slums and glittering shopping malls, this is also the story of how change came to Brazil.
Misha Glenny is an award winning author, and as a BBC Central Europe correspondent he covered the fall of Communism and the wars in the former Yugoslavia. He lives in London.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Monday, the 1st
Time: 7 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: http://chevaliersbooks.com/
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 2/1/16 – 2/7/16”
Artists and Writers in the Archive of Octavia E. Butler Feb 2016–Jan 2017
Radio Imagination celebrates the life and work of Pasadena science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006). Organized by Clockshop, the program centers on ten contemporary art and literary commissions that explore Butler’s archive at the Huntington Library. New work will premiere alongside performances, film screenings, and literary events throughout the year.
Recognition of Butler’s influence across artistic disciplines and her contribution to the Los Angeles cultural landscape is long overdue. Radio Imagination will bridge Butler’s groundbreaking fiction with contemporary conversations about the future of Los Angeles. The series will span 2016, the tenth anniversary of the writer’s death.
Continue reading “Artists and Writers in the Archive of Octavia E. Butler Feb 2016–Jan 2017”
City of Angels, City of Poets
From: LAPL blog
On historic Central Avenue near East 45th Street, the Vernon Branch Public Library looks like a jail—tall fences surround the circa 1915 building and a fenced walkway leads up to the doorway. Like the surrounding neighborhood, the library appears worn, beaten down. It’s situated on the edge of the high-crime Central-Alameda reporting area of L.A.P.D.’s Newton District—in the six-month period ending November 22 there were 249 violent crimes with an average 145.7 crimes per 10,000 residents.
Yet, once inside its doors, the library is alive with children, parents, teachers, and some of the most engaged librarians you’ll ever meet. Inside is an oasis of books, computers, CDs, DVDs, and more books.
Hollywood Notebook: Masterfully Raw and Intimate
By
From: Cultural Weekly
Wendy C. Ortiz’ first memoir, Excavation (Future Tense Books 2014), was a compelling book that dealt with the misuse of trust that was perpetrated when her private school teacher embarked on a relationship with her when she was only thirteen. Although she had plenty of publishing credits under her belt prior, this was her first official book, and quite the book it was. One year later, this nonfiction writer, poet, and essayist is presenting us with her latest endeavor Hollywood Notebook, which was published by Los Angeles based Writ Large Press in the summer of 2015.
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Los Angeles Literature Events 1/25/16 – 1/31/16
PEN Center USA’s Author Evening Series
On the 20th anniversary of their Emerging Voices Fellowship, Chevalier’s is honored to host PEN Center USA’s Author Evening Series to the public. These intimate evenings will feature authors discussing their books and the art and craft of writing. Featured are:
Viet Thanh Nguyen is the author of the academic book “Race and Resistance” and the forthcoming “Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War” He teaches English and American Studies at USC, and his novel “The Sympathizer” won the First Novel Prize from the Center for Fiction and is longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
Geronimo Johnson is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ workshop, a former Stegner Fellow at Stanford, and has taught writing at UC Berkeley, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the Prague Summer Program, and San Quentin. His first novel, “Hold It ‘Til It Hurts,” was a finalist for the 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award. His second novel, “Welcome to Braggsville,” was longlisted for the 2015 National Book Award and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
FREE for members. See site for single or series tickets and pricing.
Where: Chevalier’s Books
Date: Monday the 25th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 126 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: http://www.http://chevaliersbooks.com/
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 1/25/16 – 1/31/16”
Pushcart Award Nominations From Chicana-owned Independent Publisher
From: Labloga.com
Thelma T. Reyna—author, Poet Laureate, editor, and owner/founder of the Southern California indie literary publisher, Golden Foothills Press—recently announced six Los Angeles-area poets whos
e work she has nominated for the prestigious national award, Pushcart Prize, considered America’s most honored literary recognition program.
The six poets were all published in the book edited by Reyna and issued last spring: Altadena Poetry Review: Anthology 2015, a compilation of 60 Southern California poets. The nominated poets include several who have received other distinguished awards in their careers, but this is the first Pushcart Prize nomination for them.
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Los Angeles Literature 