‘I Was Interested In The People Who Are Stuck With These Memories’
Steph Cha discusses her new novel “Your House Will Pay,” the LA Riots, the Korean American Angeleno community, her 3,600 Yelp reviews, and pushing back against gatekeepers in publishing.
By Victoria Namkung
FROM: Longreads
On March 16, 1991, 15-year-old Latasha Harlins went to a local convenience store in South Los Angeles to buy a bottle of orange juice. Owner Soon Ja Du accused the teenage girl of shoplifting, an altercation ensued, and in a split-second captured on video, Du shot Harlins in the back of the head. She died with two dollars in her hand. A jury found Du guilty of voluntary manslaughter, but against their recommendation, the judge sentenced the Korean-born woman to a $500 fine, probation, and community service.
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Holiday Break
As it’s the thick of the holiday season, Los Angeles Literature is taking this week and next week off from from compiling it’s weekly list of events as the literary community has gone dark to celebrate good times with loving family, no matter what form family may take. The list will return on January 5th with events for the week of the 6th-12th.
Poetic Lenses: Our Fifteenth Annual Look at Debut Poetry
By Dana Isokawa
FROM: Poets & Writers
For our fifteenth annual look at debut poetry, we chose ten poets whose first books struck us with their formal imagination, distinctive language, and deep attention to the world. The books, all published in 2019, inhabit a range of poetic modes. There is Keith S. Wilson’s reimagining of traditional forms in Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love, and Maya Phillips’s modern epic, Erou. There is Maya C. Popa’s lyric investigations in American Faith, Marwa Helal’s subversive documentary poems in Invasive species, and Yanyi’s series of prose poems in The Year of Blue Water. The ten collections clarify and play with all kinds of language—the language of the news, of love, of politics, of philosophy, of family, of place—and, as Popa says, they “slow and suspend the moment, allowing a more nuanced examination of what otherwise flows through us quickly.”
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Friday Night Poetry: There’re Just Words
By Brian Dunlap
Friday night at Book Show in Highland Park was a goodbye of sorts. Local poets from places such as Santa Clarita, Mar Vista and Long Beach gathered there as if moths drawn to a flame. Drawn to share their experiences. They’d been coming to Book Show on the third Friday of the month for the past two years to share in community at Friday Night Poetry: They’re Just Words, hosted by L.A. poet Ingrid Calderon-Collins.
Los Angeles Literature Events 12/16/19 – 12/22/19
Plenty of literary events this week: open mics, book clubs, readings, workshops, kids, teen and LGBTQIA+ events. Local writers reading this week include: Coco, Linda Albertano and Steven Reigns, among others. Continue reading Los Angeles Literature Events 12/16/19 – 12/22/19
FROM OUR LAND TO OUR LAND
Distinguished Mexican American writer, Luis J. Rodriguez, meditates on the place of Xicanx culture in what he sees as a sick and increasingly fragmented global society. Continue reading FROM OUR LAND TO OUR LAND
Dryland, A Literary Journal Based In South-Central, Tells Stories That Are Often Left Out
By Frank Shyong
FROM: L.A. TimesL.A. Times
It’s hard for poet Daniel Morales Leon, 38, who works as a cook at a coffee shop in the Arts District, to think of himself as an artist with a capital A.
Dear Daughters, Dear Linda: Essays From ‘Terrible Crystals’
By Victoria Chang
FROM: The Normal School
Dear Daughter,
Sometimes I wish I didn’t try and fix everything from your childhood. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t tried so hard to help you memorize your math facts when you weren’t ready. Sometimes I wonder how many mistakes I am making now that will become clearer only later.
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Los Angeles Literature Events 12/09/19 – 12/15/19
Pages Story Time at Pages Bookstore – Kid s Event
Pages Story Time is offered weekly on Monday mornings at 10:30 pm. Travel by foot, stroller, car or scooter, but don’t miss out on the fun at Pages Bookstore
Where: Pages Bookstore
Date: Monday the 9th
Time: 10:30 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/pages-story-time-0
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Los Angeles Literature Events 12/02/19 – 12/08/19
Book Writers Group at Robertson Branch Library, LAPL
The Book Writers Group meets every first Monday of the month at the Robertson Branch Library. Are you writing a book and looking for feedback? Need deadlines to help you reach your writing goals? Then this is the group for you!
For each meeting, please bring 5-10 double-spaced pages of writing to share with the group. Every member will have time to present his/her writing and receive constructive feedback.
Depending on the size of the group, each person will receive 10-15 minutes of time to share and receive feedback.
Where: Robertson Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 2nd
Time: 11 am
Address: 1719 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-writers-group
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 12/02/19 – 12/08/19”
