The Tomorrow Prize
By Brian Dunlap
The Tomorrow Prize for short science fiction is a competition by Los Angeles County high school students that inspires them to explore their present through speculating about their future and to excel in the art of storytelling.
Los Angeles Literature Events 1/21/19 –1/27/19
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration at CAAM
Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day by surrounding yourself with art, culture, and community. Enjoy an array of vibrant programs and activities for all ages. See the schedule for complete details, including a marathon reading of King’s lesser-known speeches and sermons, as well as his 1968 Los Angeles speech introduced by James Baldwin, and much more!
NOTE: Tickets and details available at Eventbrite link.
Where: California African American Museum (CAAM)
Date: Monday the 21st
Time: 10 am – 5 pm
Address: 600 State Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90037
Website: http://caamuseum.org/programs/special-events/martin-luther-king-jr-day-celebration-2019 or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/martin-luther-king-jr-day-celebration-tickets-53894614242
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Los Lobos’ Louie Perez Talks Musical Memoir ‘Good Morning Aztlan’: Exclusive
The band’s founding member reflects on growing up Chicano & being an artist.
by Catalina Maria Johnson
From: Billboard
About 40 years ago, four musicians in a high school rock band decided to learn the Mexican standard “Las Mañanitas” to regale one of the band member’s moms on her birthday. Daunted by how difficult that proved to be — they had underestimated the complexity of their musical culture — the young East LA born-and-bred Chicanos decided to frame their Mexican roots music in rock ‘n’ roll and R&B grooves. And so, the iconic, multi-Grammy-winning band Los Lobos was born.
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Highland Park on Thursday night in January
By Brian Dunlap
A bustling York Blvd., with mouth-watering smells wafting in the air from food trucks parked curbside. Near the corner of York and Avenue 50 is Pop-Hop Books, one of L.A.’s many independent bookstores.
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Los Angeles Literature Events 1/14/19 –1/20/19
Main Library Book Group & Snow Flower and the Secret Fan at Santa Monica Library, SMPL
Join our long-running book discussion group, which is always welcoming new members, and alternates between fiction and nonfiction on a month-to-month basis. Our January selection is Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See.
Where: Community Meeting Room, 2nd Floor, Santa Monica Main Library, SMPL
Date: Monday the 14th
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Address: 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Website: http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=28509
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Los Angeles Literature Events 1/07/19 –1/13/19
Winter Author Series & YA Author Aditi Khorana at Memorial Branch Library, LAPL – Teen Event
Join our Winter Author Series to hear YA author Aditi Khorana discuss her latest novel, The Library of Fates, a romantic coming-of-age fantasy tale steeped in Indian folklore. All interested teens (6th – 12th graders) are welcome, and refreshments are provided. Lucky winners will receive a free copy of her book.
Where: Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 7th
Time: 4 pm – 5 pm
Address: 4625 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019
Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/winter-author-series-ya-author-aditi-khorana
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Letters To My City
Mike Sonsken has been a fixture in the Los Angeles Literary community for two decades. He burst on the scene spitting spoken word verse late into the night, at many venues, events, and open mics, some that no longer exist. During the course of these two decades he’s traveled to Echo Park and Sylmar, Venice and the Eastside, Downtown and Torrance, and everywhere in-between, performing poems laced with the city’s stories and history, hosting open mics and readings, being a tour guide to its streets, teaching students poetry and encouraging them to explore who and what Los Ángeles is.
Los Ángeles Writers Publish in 2018
As 2018 draws to a close, it’s been another year of publishing success for Los Ángeles writers and the Los Angeles literary community. As the months went by, writers published novels, essay collections, poetry collections, edited anthologies or announced their books had been accepted for publication in 2019 and even 2020. Congratulations to all these scribes and for penning important works. Some of these books, such as Erica Ayón’s Orange Lady, which recounts the author’s experience as an immigrant growing up in South Central Los Angeles, where her family sold oranges on the street in order to survive, and Lynell George’s essay collection After/Image: Los Angeles Outside the Frame, focused on Los Angeles beneath-the-surface, both the past and the here-and-now, explores who and what L.A. is from different personal lived experiences. Showing how the political is personal.
Kima Jones, the Founder of Jack Jones Literary Arts, Is Taking the Publishing Industry by Storm
By Lovia Gyarkye
From: New York Times
When Kima Jones, an independent publicist based in Los Angeles, agreed to help the poet Tyehimba Jess with his publicity campaign for his second collection, “Olio,” she knew it would be a breakout work.
“I was still a baby publicist. I did not have a long list of clients. I didn’t have a long list of contacts,” Jones said. “But I believed in the book from the beginning and what I really believed in was that it was genre-defying poetry.” In 2017, “Olio” won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
Louise Steinman: In Her Own Words
by Adam Leipzig
From: Cultural Weekly
Since her abrupt firing on August 27, former ALOUD director Louise Steinman has mostly been quiet. She declined to comment for the media, and did not seek press attention. Meantime, the Library Foundation issued a series of statements and hired a new director of public programs.
Los Angeles Literature 