Los Angeles Literature Events: 07/11/22 – 07/17/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Community Bridges: I Am, a civil rights-inspired workshop at Barnes & Noble Montclair – In-Person Event

As part of our “Community Bridges” workshop series, this 4th session will focus on the history and impact of the Chicano Movement, a movement inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, which advocated for equal rights and cultural pride among individuals of Latin American descent.

During this workshop, we’ll discuss the use of poetry in expressing the concept of “Chicanismo”, and how the poetry of Rudolfo “Corky” Gonzales empowered generations of artists and communities. Participants will be guided through the process of crafting an “I Am” poem influenced by the Civil Rights Era and the concept of self-pride and empowerment.

All participants are invited to submit their creations for consideration to our “Community Bridges” print anthology, a book featuring artworks inspired by the Civil Rights Era and its impact on our community today. Individuals whose work is published will receive a free copy of the anthology upon its release in late-Summer/early-Fall 2022.

To learn more about submission requirements, visit https://DSTLArts.org/creativeimpact.

NOTE: See site for details.

Where: DSTL Arts at BN-Montclair

Date: Monday the 11th

Time: 5 pm

Address: 5183 N. Montclair Plaza Lane, Montclair, CA 91763

Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-bridges-i-am-tickets-373450238717   

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 07/11/22 – 07/17/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 07/04/22 – 07/10/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Monday Night & Wednesday Workshops at Beyond Baroque – On Hiatus This Week

The two free online Poetry Writing Workshops offered by Beyond Baroque on Monday and Wednesday, by Raquel Baker and Jose Hernandez Diaz, respectively, are on hiatus this week only.

Where: Beyond Baroque – Online events (tickets at Eventbrite)

Date: Monday the 4th and Wednesday the 6th

Times: 7:30 pm & 8 pm

Address: Zoom Online (cancelled)

Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html  

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 07/04/22 – 07/10/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 05/30/22 – 06/05/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Book Talks: Judith Freeman & MacArthur Park, with Barbara Feldon & Getting Smarter via Chevalier’s Bookstore – Online Event

Longtime friends Judith Freeman and Barbara Feldon will discuss their newest books, the novel MacArthur Park and the memoir Getting Smarter, respectively.

Judith Freeman is a novelist and non-fiction writer whose most recent novel, MacArthur Park, is set in Los Angeles and the rural West. Friends Jolene and Verna share complicated ties that have crystallized over time. Beginning when they were girls discovering their needs and desires, their ongoing stories have been inextricably linked. But when Verna marries Vincent, Jolene’s ex-husband, their paths may have finally, permanently diverged. Now, on a trip to their hometown in Utah, they are forced to confront both the truths and falsehoods of their memories of each other and of their early friendship.

Barbara Feldon is best known as “Agent 99” on the 1960’s TV series, Get Smart. She is the author of Living Alone and Loving it! and various essays. Her memoir Getting Smarter relates her dramatic and sometimes zany adventures with a glamorous Frenchman, her initiation into show business, and the fun of working in Hollywood.

NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details. 

Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore

Date: Monday the 30th  

Time: 4 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website:  https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VJDEnKimRl6AwuRjBHEuYA

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 05/30/22 – 06/05/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 05/23/22 – 05/29/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Luncheon with Emma Straub: Book Launch of This Time Tomorrow at Slay Italian Kitchen – In-Person Event

Pages hosts a luncheon to celebrate the publication of Emma Straub’s’ new book, This Time Tomorrow at Slay’s Italian Kitchen.  The author will be in conversation with Janelle Brown, author of I’ll Be You.

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice’s life isn’t terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn’t exactly the one she expected. She’s happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn’t just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush, it’s her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?

NOTE: See site for tickets, guidelines, and details. 

Where: Pages Bookstore at Slay Italian Kitchen

Date: Monday the 23rd   

Time: 11:30 am- 1 pm

Address: 1001 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/emma-straub-slay

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 05/23/22 – 05/29/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 05/16/22 – 05/22/22

Another busy week in the Los Ángeles Literary community featuring both in-person and virtual events. Readings, workshops, open mics, book clubs, etc. Local Writers reading this week are: Linda Ravenswood, Nicelle Davis, Christian Hanz Lozada, Tommy Domino, Luivette Resto, Namrata Poddar, Melissa Chadburn, Noel Alumit and Pete Hsu. Continue reading Los Angeles Literature Events: 05/16/22 – 05/22/22

Los Angeles Literature Events: 04/25/22 – 05/01/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Teen Book Bites: Neurodiversity in Young Adult Fiction via Central Library, LAPL – Online Teen YouTube & FB Event

Teens may join our librarians online as they share books for teens that celebrate neurodiverse characters in YA literature.

Watch past episodes on YouTube for more book recommendations.

NOTE: See site for RSVP & event details. 

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

Date: Monday the 25th

Time: 3 pm

Address: LAPL – Online (see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/teen-book-bites-neurodiversity-ya  

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 04/25/22 – 05/01/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 04/05/22 – 04/10/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Mac Barentt & Marla Frazee Present The Great Zapfino via Once Upon a Time Bookstore – Kids Zoom Event

Two bestselling and popular children’s book creators, author Mac Barnett and illustrator Marla Frazee will present their sweet, inspiring story, The Great Zapfino, for children ages 5 and up, about a runaway circus performer.

When The Great Zapfino climbs to the top of the circus platform, all eyes are on him, waiting for his incredible leap. But Zapfino is afraid of heights! He can’t take the pressure and flees, boards a plane, and runs away to start a new life. 

In the city, Zapfino starts work as an elevator operator in a tall building but soon learns you can never really outrun your fears. When disaster strikes, can Zapfino find the strength to be great?

NOTE: See site for RSVP, link and details. 

Where: Once Upon a Time Bookstore – Kids Event – Zoom Online

Date: Tuesday the 5th

Time: 5 pm

Address: Once Upon a Time Bookstore – Online Zoom Event (see site)

Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/great-zapfino

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 04/05/22 – 04/10/22”

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”