By Brian Dunlap
LitFest Pasadena returns for another year, to celebrate the Southern California literary community. However, the 2021 edition is virtual. LITFEST spans two days, Saturday and Sunday, May 15-16. Noon to 6pm. The livestreamed LITFEST will broadcast 12 50-minute panel discussions as well as 10-minute interludes between each panel with pre-recorded readings and short films.
Continue reading “2021 LitFest Pasadena May 15-16”
By Brian Dunlap
April Fools 2021, a new open mic debuted in L.Á. on Zoom. Future Now: A Los Angeles Black & Brown Reading & Open Mic, is hosted by the journal Dryland and its two famous faces, Viva Padilla and Nikolai Garcia.
Continue reading “A New Open Mic in L.Á.”By Brian Dunlap
FROM: Beyond Baroque
Yesterday, Beyond Baroque, Los Angeles’ oldest literary venue, hosted numerous acclaimed scholars and artists for an outdoor community talk and vigil addressing racism & Police violence.
By Brian Dunlap
During this time of social distancing, many writers in the L.Á. literary community are holding virtual events from workshops to open mics to readings and book clubs in an effort to keep us all connected to each other and our humansess. Below is one such event, hosted by Long Beach poet Nancy Lynée Woo. Continue reading “Breathe. Write. Share. Virtual Poetry Workshop.”
By Nancy Lynée Woo
FROM: Long Beach Post
As we adjust to our new reality, poets, writers and arts organizations have quickly risen to the occasion, creating virtual opportunities for people to connect while isolated at home.
Continue reading “Creative Closeness In A Time of Social Distance”
By Brian Dunlap
Avenue 50 Studio was packed with poets, folding chairs and powerful and difficult-but necessary-words. It was the third Sunday in December and Santa Ana winds sent a chill through Highland Park. But the front room inside the gallery dedicated to local Latinx art, with an emphasis on Chicanx artists, was a safe space filled with familiar faces. It was the final La Palabra open mic of the year.
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.
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.
By Janet Kinosian
FROM: L.A. Times
Certain books give off the sense that you won’t want them to end, so splendid the writing, so lyrical the stories. Such is the case with Southern California novelist Susan Straight’s new memoir, “In the Country of Women.”
By Steve Chiotakis
FROM: Greater L.A./KCRW
Southern California may not get the credit it deserves for its strong literary community and a great spoken word scene. However, poets Shonda Buchanan and Mike Sonksen tell Greater LA the poetry community could be the most diverse scene in the city of Los Angeles.
Continue reading “2 Local Poets: ‘The Spirit of Activism Has Always Been in LA Poetry’”
Los Angeles Literature 