Last night at Espacio 1839 in Boyle Heights, literature converged with social justice. It was a night to honor the worth, strength and humanness of women. Especially society’s most vulnerable women, who grow up without a stable family or are lost to the system. All this coincided with the release of Jesse Bliss’s book I Love Myself Golden, a book specifically to cultivate self-love and respect in the young women she’s encountered in Juvenile Hall working with the Inside OUT Writers Program.

Across the street from Mariachi Plaza, powerful poems were read by women who have gone through the system, but have now made something of their lives, a monologue performed by  about how it feel to be locked up, and a poem performed by Mike “The Poet” Sonksen that kicked off the night. His was a new poem written for the event, a poem contextualizing the evening’s subject in human history: gender equity. More than anything, the release party for I Love Myself Golden (a book made to size to fit in the young Women’s bras and without staples so as not to be considered contraband) brought together people with like minds for the passions of art (the book has pictures by artist Alfie Numeric) and literature and their  power to help affect social change, and for the personal empowerment they bring to the people who write about them.

Continue reading “Literature and Social Justice Meet in Boyle Heights”

Listening Room Open Mic

Imagine an open mic where the people are there to listen. An open mic with a state of the art sound system. An open mic in an art gallery? Yes! All of this in Long Beach? Yes, again! Weekly Open Mic with Mixed Acts, hosted by Geo.

Where: Gina M Woodruff Gallery

Date: Monday the 18^th

Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm; Sign-ups begin at 6:45 pm.

Address: 5555 E. Stearns St. #203, Long Beach, CA 90806

Website: http://www.localendar.com/public/CadenceCollective

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 1/18/16 – 1/24/16”

Issue 2 of Angel City Review is now available for your consumption. As always it is free and currently formatted  a quarterly Ebook (in PDF, Kindle, and Epub formats).

As it says on Angel City’s Website:

Founded in Los Angeles in Fall 2014, Angel City Review is a literary journal that is committed to bringing the cutting edge in fiction and poetry to a modern audience. We aim to present a diverse range of both writers and genres that run the gamut from experimental narratives to grittier fiction with a literary air. We are neither afraid of, nor do we stick to, any particular style of writing. If you present us with a work that shocks or wows us we will gladly share it with the world. Every issue will feature a couple of more established writers; however our main goal is to provide an outlet for new and emerging authors with an emphasis on writers based in Los Angeles. The majority of the pages will be filled with work by authors who may be new to you and quite possibly are appearing in print for the first time.

Continue reading “Angel City Review Issue Two Now Available”

Note: It’s back. Losangelesliterature.wordpress.com’s list of weekly L.A. literature events. L.A. is chock full of literary culture. With the events at your finger tips, it’s time to get out there and enjoy the city’s literary culture.

Cadence Collective’s Poetry Party

Murray Thomas is co-hosting a poetry party with Sarah Thursday every 2^nd Monday of the month at Fox Coffeehouse! Come sign up to read your poems during our open reading and enjoy two featured readers, one of whom will always be a Cadence Collective contributor.

Murray Thomas has been an active part of the SoCal poetry scene for 20 years. He has two collections of poetry, “Cows on the Freeway,” and his most recent, “My Kidney Just Arrived,” published by Tebot Bach in 2011.

Sarah Thursday edits Cadence Collective, started Sadie Girl Press to support new poets, has published several chapbooks, and now has a poetry/story collection called “All the Tiny Anchors.”

Where: Fox Coffeehouse

Date: Monday the 11^th

Time: 7 pm – 9 pm

Address: 437 W. Willow St., Long Beach, CA 90806

Website: http://www.localendar.com/public/CadenceCollective

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 1/11/16 – 1/17/16”

Interview by Daniel A. Olivas

From: LaBloga.blogspot.com

 

Alejandro Morales, the son of Mexican immigrants, was born in Montebello, California, and grew up in Simons, the company town of the Simons Brick Yard #3, bordering Montebello.  He earned his B.A. from California State University, Los Angeles, and a M.A. and Ph.D. from Rutgers University.  Morales is currently a professor in the Department of Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine.  Morales, as a novelist and professor, was awarded the Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature in 2007 from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Morales is the author of many novels and story collections including Caras Viejas y Vino Nuevo (1975),The Brick People (1988), The Rag Doll Plagues (1992), and River of Angels (2014).

Continue reading “An interview with Alejandro Morales, author of “Little Nation””

BY JANICE LEE

From: Enclave blog at Entropy Magazine

 

This book brought me to so many tears. It’s so breathtakingly heartbreaking and tragic and beautiful and observant in a way that seems so essential and sacred. I confess I started reading it almost a year ago when Chiwan first gave me a copy at my old apartment in Silver Lake, and I started reading it that night but had to stop. I was already going through such an intensely emotional time, and I cried all night and couldn’t handle the added heartbreak. I finished it this morning and I can’t say articulate the honesty and tragedy and beauty of the language contained in these poems. When I started the#finalpoem series, I asked this:

Continue reading “Required Reading: Abductions”

The following is a list of Los Angeles Literature that was published in 2015 followed by a synopsis. These books allow the reader to see Los Angeles in new and important ways, through the perspectives of its diverse citizens who see the city through their beliefs, understandings of the world and opinions. Even if someone studies Los Angeles for their entire career, one won’t know everything about Los Angeles there is to know and learn how expansive the city truly is.

Continue reading “A List of Los Angeles Literature Published in 2015”

Santa Monica Main Library Book Group

This book group is for adults and seniors and features an eclectic selection of literary fiction and nonfiction. The reading selection for this month is “The Outliers,” by Malcolm Gladwell.

Where: Main Branch of SMPL, Multipurpose Room, 2^nd Floor

Date: Monday, the 21^st

Time: 7 pm – 830 pm

Address: 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401

Website: http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=17885

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 12/21/15 – 12/27/15”

By Jamal Carter

From: Cultural Weekly

Over the last decade, Mike Sonksen (Mike “The Poet”) has mentored emerging writers in a variety of locales from Cal State Los Angeles, Woodbury University, Southwest College, View Park Prep High School, St. Bernard High School, 826LA, Hillsides in Pasadena, with the Get Lit Players and also at the Stella Adler Theater. Mike’s new column, “Tomorrow’s Voices Today,” will feature essays, poems and short stories from some of his brightest students. Most of the selections will be current high school scribes, but a few will be from the college level as well.

The first student to be published is Jamal Carter. Mike’s former student from View Park Prep High School. Carter is now finishing his Bachelor’s Degree at Cal State LA and on his way into the Teaching Credential Program.

Continue reading “Mike Sonksen Presents: Tomorrow’s Voices Today”