Los Angeles Literature Events: 02/28/22 – 03/06/22

Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS

Vroman’s Live Event: Local Author Day via Vroman’s Online Event

Join Vroman’s Live Local Author Day, featuring three authors and their new work.

Barbara Mossberg is the author of the book, Here for the Present. In this exuberant record of the author engaging audiences from California to Finland, you will find poems, stories, memoir, humor, elegies, celebrations, travel narratives, rollicking speeches, nature rapture, literary tributes, cooking instructions, and love songs, among other riches. In her company, experience moments “when the Universe will reveal itself … as something generous and good, some whiff of passing grace.”

Felicia Taylor E. is the author of Southern Spiced: A Brown Girl’s Tale, which weaves stories through narrative poetry of the author’s memories of her childhood in the 1970’s South. She writes of stories of self-identity in an honest and often humorous way.

Robert Vincent is the author of the children’s book, From the Pocket of an Overcoat. It tells the true story of his son’s black cat named Max, who was rescued by a homeless woman in Dallas. A portion of books sales will be donated to organizations that promote animal rescue and adoption.

NOTE: See site for RSVP, link, and event details.        

Where: Vroman’s Live – Online event

Date: Monday the 28th

Time: 6 pm

Address: Vroman’s – Online Event (see site)

Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/vromans-live-local-author-day-featuring-barbara-mossberg-felicia-taylor-e-and-robert-vincent  

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 02/28/22 – 03/06/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 02/14/22 – 02/20/22

Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS

45th Annual UCR Writers Week Festival via UC Riverside – Online Event

Join the 45th Annual UCR Writers Week Festival of Events: February 12 and 14-18, 2022. This series of events is online, free and open to the public, (captioned & ASL translated), and you may register at site link or on any session time listed there.

DAY 2 of 6, EVENTS:

Session 1: 3 pm PST:

Edgar Gomez is the author of High Risk Homosexual: A Memoir, which follows a touching and often hilarious spiral-like path to embracing his gay, Latinx identity against a culture of machismo. This is a crackling, witty and poignant debut.

Daniel Olivas is the author most recently of How to Date a Flying Mexican, New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press, 2022). He is the author of ten books and editor of two anthologies, as well as plays produced for the stage and readings by Playwrights’ Arena, Circle X Theatre Company, and The Road Theatre Company. He has written for many publications, including the New York Times, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, LARB, La Bloga, BOMB, and others

Steve Erickson is the author of ten novels, and has written two books about American politics and popular culture, Leap Year and American Nomad. He has also written for Esquire, Rolling Stone, Smithsonian, Salon, and other publications and journals. He was editor and co-founder of Black Clock literary journal, and is now film/TV critic for Los Angeles magazine and a Distinguished Professor at UC Riverside.

Session 2: 5 pm PST:

Jamaica Heolimeleikatani Osorio is the author of Remembering Our Intimacies (University of Minnesota Press, 2021). She interlaces stories from her forebears with cultural artifacts from her own life to explore questions of cultural inheritance and the particular danger, as a Native woman, of relaxing into romantic love under colonial rule. Dr. Osorio is a Kanaka Maoli artist and scholar and an Assistant Professor of Indigenous and Native Hawaiian Politics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Elisa Washuta is the author most recently of White Magic (Tin House, 2022), long-listed for the PEN Open Book Award and the PEN/Jean Stein Award, a collection of intertwined essays about land, heartbreak, and colonization, about life without the escape hatch of intoxication, and about how she became a powerful witch. She interlaces stories from her forebears with cultural aspects of her own life to explore questions of cultural inheritance and the particular danger, as a Native woman, of relaxing into romantic love under colonial rule. She is a member of the Cowlitz Indian tribe and an assistant professor of creative writing at the Ohio State University.

Session 3: 6:30 pm PST

Anthony Cody is the author most recently of the 2021 American Book Award winning Borderland Apocrypha (Omnidawn, 2020). He has a lineage in both the Bracero Program and the Dust Bowl and his poetry has appeared widely. He has taught eco-poetry at Fresno State University, and read and led workshops across the country. He continues to run the Laureate Lab Studio with Juan Felipe Herrera at Fresno State, and serves as poetry editor for Noemi Press and a poetry editor for Omnidawn.

Carribean Fragoza is a passionate writer, journalist, and artist from South El Monte, and is the author most recently of the collection Eat the Mouth that Feeds You (City Lights), and is also co-editor of East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte. She is also founder and co-director of the South El Monte Art Posse (SEMAP), a multi-disciplinary arts collective.  

Sesschu Foster taught composition and literature in East L.A. for over 20 years, and also taught at the University of Iowa, CalArts and UC Santa Cruz. His most recent books are City of the Future, poetry; World Ball Notebook, poetry; and Atomik Aztex, a novel. His has won numerous literary awards, including the Paterson Poetry Prize for City Terrace Field Manual. He is based in Alhambra, CA.

NOTE: See site for event link and details. 

Where: UC Riverside Writers Week – Online Event

Date: Monday the 14th

Time: 3 pm – 8 pm (Day 2 of 6)

Address: UC Riverside – Online (see site)

Website: https://writersweek.ucr.edu/schedule22

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 02/14/22 – 02/20/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 02/07/22 – 02/13/22

Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS

At Skylight: Daniel Alexander Jones & Omi Osun Joni L. Jones Present: Love Like Light & Particle and Wave at Skylight Bookstore – On-site Event

Daniel Alexander Jones in conversation with Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, will present the books: Love Like Light and Particle and Wave, respectively.

Daniel Alexander Jones’ Love Like Light: Plays and Performance Texts (53rd Street Press) collects the author’s texts of Bel Canto, Black Light, Blood: Shock: Boogie, clayangels, Duat, Phoenix Fabrik, and The Book of Daniel into a shifting transformational body of work. Each play is a provocation to the possibility of a more just and loving world. It’s a reunion of the avant-guards of New York, Austin, and Minneapolis, among others, and includes an interview and essays by others.

Particle and Wave: A Conversation (53rd State Press) is a companion volume, and features a book-length conversation between Daniel Alexander Jones and poet, scholar, and activist Alexis Pauline Gumbs about Love Like Light, and the ways that love, like lights, suffuses everything and is the condition and power of change in the world.

Joni Osum Joni L. Jones is an artist/scholar/facilitator who employs black feminist aesthetics and theatrical jazz principles in her performance work, her pedagogy, and her facilitation. Her most recent book is Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Ase, and the Power for the Present Moment (Ohio State University Press). She is Professor Emerita from the African and African Diaspora Studies Department at the University of Texas, at Austin.

NOTE: See Site for book purchases, guidelines, and event details.         

Where: Skylight Bookstore – On-site Event

Date: Monday the 7th

Time: 7:30 pm

Address: 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-daniel-alexander-jones-presents-love-light-particle-and-wave-omi-osun-joni-l-jones

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 02/07/22 – 02/13/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 01/31/22 – 02/06/22

Wajahat Ali & Guests & Go Back to Where You Came From via Skylight Bookstore & Writers Bloc – Online Event

Wajahat Ali will present and discuss his book, Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American, with his special guests:

Maz Jobrani is a comedian/actor/author and is noted for his book I’m Not a Terrorist But I’ve Played One on TV.

Rabia Chaudry is an attorney, advocate, and author of The New York Times bestseller Adnan’s Story, about the wrongful conviction of Adnan Sayed.

Tonya Mosley, moderator, is an NPR journalist.

“Go back to where you came from, you terrorist!”

This is just one of the many warm, lovely, and helpful tips that Wajahat Ali and other children of immigrants receive on a daily basis. Go back where, exactly? Fremont, California, where he grew up, but is now an unaffordable place to live? Or Pakistan, the country his parents left behind a half-century ago?

Growing up living the suburban American dream, young Wajahat devoured comic books (devoid of brown superheroes) and fielded well-intentioned advice from uncles and aunties. (“Become a doctor!”) He had turmeric stains under his fingernails, was accident-prone, suffered from OCD, and wore Husky pants, but he was as American as his neighbors, with roots all over the world. Then, while Ali was studying at University of California, Berkeley, 9/11 happened. Muslims replaced communists as America’s enemy #1, and he became an accidental spokesman and ambassador of all ordinary, unthreatening things Muslim-y.

Now a middle-aged dad, Ali has become one of the foremost and funniest public intellectuals in America. In Go Back to Where You Came From, he tackles the dangers of Islamophobia, white supremacy, and chocolate hummus, peppering personal stories with astute insights into national security, immigration, and pop culture. In this refreshingly bold, hopeful, and uproarious memoir, Ali offers indispensable lessons for cultivating a more compassionate, inclusive, and delicious America.

Expect a lively discussion of racism, xenophobia, white supremacy, and good food.

NOTE: See Site for RSVP, book purchase, and event details.         

Where: Skylight Bookstore & Writers Bloc – Online Event

Date: Monday the 31st

Time: 6 pm

Address: Skylight – Online Event (see site)

Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-books-and-writers-bloc-present-go-back-where-you-came-evening-wajahat-ali-and-others or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/go-back-to-where-you-came-from-an-evening-with-wajahat-ali-and-others-tickets-22559844000  

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 01/31/22 – 02/06/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 01/17/22 – 01/23/22

Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS

King Day 2022 Celebration for Kids, Teens & Families at California African American Museum LA (CAAM) – On-site Event

Welcome back to CAAM to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day In person!

Our schedule for the day includes:

11:00 am -12:00 pm: King Study Group

Participate in this community reading and discussion about King’s1967 speech, “A Christmas Sermon on Peace.”

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Family Story Time

Librarians from the LA Public Library read beloved books about King and change including; Be a King: Dr Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream and You by Carole Boston Weatherfield and Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem by Amanda Gorman, plus lead a fun family activity!

2:00 pm: Musical Performance by ICYOLA

Members of the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA) perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and a medley of classic spirituals and original compositions.

Drop in to enjoy open galleries and special programs offered throughout the day.

NOTE: See Site for RSVP, guidelines, and event details.         

Where: CAAM – On-site Event

Date: Monday the 17th

Time: 11 am – 5 pm

Address: 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, CA 90037

Website: https://caamuseum.org/programs/kids-teens-and-families/king-day-2022

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 01/17/22 – 01/23/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 12/06/21 – 12/12/21

As the year winds down, it’s another busy week in the Los Ángeles literary community. A mixture of online and in-person events, readings, a book club, open mics, workshops, and even a YA and kids event. Some local writers reading this week are: poets traci kato-kiriyama, Amanda Gorman, Thelma Reyna and Connie Williams, among other writers. Continue reading Los Angeles Literature Events: 12/06/21 – 12/12/21

Los Angeles Literature Events: 11/08/21 – 11/14/21

Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS

Gina Shock, with Belinda Carlisle & James Duke Mason, & Made in Hollywood: All Access with the Go-Gos via Book Soup – Online Event

Join us to hear Go-Gos drummer Gina Shock, in conversation with Belinda Carlisle & James Duke Mason, present and discuss her book, Made in Hollywood: All Access with the Go-Gos.

The Go-Gos were the first all-female rock band to write their own songs, play their own instruments, and reach the top of the Billboard charts with their #1 album, Beauty and the Beat. Made in Hollywood is drummer Gina Shock’s personal account of the band, which includes a treasure trove of photos and memorabilia collected bver her 40-year career.

NOTE: See site for details.         

Where: Book Soup – Online Event

Date: Monday the 8th

Time: 3 pm

Address: Book Soup – Online Event

Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/gina-schock-conversation-belinda-carlisle-james-duke-mason-discusses-made-hollywood-all-access

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 11/08/21 – 11/14/21”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 10/25/21 – 10/31/21

Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS

Book Club Bonanza: Horror & Suspense Edition & Book Discussion via Central Library, LAPL – Online Teen Event

Join LAPL for the Teen Book Club Bonanza: Horror & Suspense Edition.

Two books will be discussed at his meeting:

Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hart is a laugh-out-loud funny, surprisingly romantic, zombie road trip novel filled with heart, and guts.

Locke & Key V. 1 (Issues 1-6) by Joe Hill is an American comic book series, with illustrations by Gabriel Rodriguez.

Please email teens@lapl.org from your school email address at least one hour before the program to request the link.

NOTE: See site for event details.         

Where: Central Library, LAPL – Online Teen Event

Date: Monday the 25th

Time: 4:30 pm

Address: LAPL (see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-bonanza-horror-and-suspense-edition  

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 10/25/21 – 10/31/21”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 10/18/21 – 10/24/21

Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS

Jonathan Franzen, with Mona Simpson, & Crossroads via Skylight Bookstore – Online Event

FSG presents acclaimed author Jonathan Franzen, in conversation with author Mona Simpson, to discuss and present his new novel Crossroads, in which the author again weds depth and vividness of character with breadth of social vision.

Crossroads begins on December 23,1971, where heavy weather is forecast for Chicago and Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church is about to break free of a joyless marriage. But his wife Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their three children are also in crisis, and all of the Hildebrandts seek a freedom that each of the others threaten to complicate. Franzen explores the history of two generations in a pivotal moment of moral crisis, with interwoven perspectives, on a single winter day, and conjures a world that resonates powerfully with our own.

NOTE: See site for tickets, book purchase & event details.         

Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online Event

Date: Monday the 18th

Time: 6 pm

Address: Online (see site)

Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/fsg-skylight-books-present-jonathan-franzen-conversation-mona-simpson

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 10/18/21 – 10/24/21”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 10/04/21 – 10/10/21

Many/Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS

Author Talk with Hilma Wolitzer, & Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket via Central Library, LAPL – Online FB & YouTube Event

Join us to hear author Hilma Wolitzer present and discuss her latest novel, Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket.

Hilma Woiltzer has the gift of depicting ordinary life in extraordinary ways, and in this book she illustrates the relationship between the narrator and her husband through funny and insightful stories. Her stories and novels have been praised for illuminating the dark interiors of the American home.

NOTE: See Site for details.

Where: Central Library, LAPL – Online FB & YouTube Event

Date: Monday the 4th

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Address: Online (see site)

Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/conversation-author-hilma-wolitzer

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 10/04/21 – 10/10/21”