Los Angeles Literature Events: 12/12/22 – 12/18/22

Sun Valley Book Club: Cloud Cuckoo Land via Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL – Online Event

This book club will continue discussing Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr.

The author’s third novel is a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring story about children on the cusp of adulthood in worlds in peril who find resilience, hope—and a book. In Cloud Cuckoo Land, Doerr has created a magnificent tapestry of times and places that reflect our vast interconnectedness—with other species, with each other, with those who lived before us, and with those who will be here after we’re gone.

Please email ebarrera@lapl.org for the Google Meet link and additional information.

NOTE: See site for link and details.

Where: Sun Valley Branch Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 12th    

Time: 4:45 pm – 5:30 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/sun-valley-book-club

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 12/12/22 – 12/18/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 11/21/22 – 11/27/22

Book Club Bonanza and Indigenous Voices: YA Reads A Snake Falls to Earth via Central Library, LAPL – Online Teen Event

This book club for teens will read a YA fiction book to read to celebrate Indigenous Voices month, and today will have an activity related to this month’s selection, A Snake Falls to Earth, by Little Darcie Badger.

NATIONAL BESTSELLERNEWBERY AWARD HONORAMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH LITERATURE AWARD HONORNATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST, among others.

In this work of Indigenous futurism, the author draws on traditional Lipan Apache storytelling structure to weave another unforgettable tale of monsters, magic, and family.

Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She’s always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories.

Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he’s been cast from home. He’s found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake.

Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli’s best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven’t been in centuries.

NOTE: See site for link and details. 

Where: Central Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 14th    

Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-bonanza-indigenous-voices-0

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 11/21/22 – 11/27/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 11/14/22 – 11/20/22

MOIRA First Press Reading Series & Chloe Martinez at Woodbury University – In-Person Event

The olive is among the oldest known cultivated trees in the world, grown before the written language was invented. In California, there are many isolated trees or fragments of old groves, such as the trees that still stand on the Woodbury campus. Traditionally, after harvest, oil was pressed in screw or hydraulic presses. The paste was subjected to increasingly high pressures with subsequent degradation in the flavor of the oil. Thus, the “first press” of oil was considered the most flavorful and desirable.  ~  the Olive Oil Source, 2018.

Chloe Martinez will be the featured guest at this second event in this year’s series. is a poet and a scholar of South Asian religions. She is the author of the collection Ten Thousand Selves (The Word Works) and the chapbook Corner Shrine (Backbone Press). Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, POETRY, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah, Beloit Poetry Journal and elsewhere. She works at Claremont McKenna College. See more at www.chloeAVmartinez.com.

NOTE: See site for RSVP, guidelines and details. 

Where: Woodbury University

Date: Monday the 14th   

Time: 4 pm – 6 pm

Address: 7500 N. Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank, CA 91504

Website: https://www.moriaonline.com/first-press-reading-series

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 11/14/22 – 11/20/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 11/07/22 – 11/13/22

World Literature Book Club via West Valley Regional Library, LAPL – Online Event

This Book Club hosts a discussion of the world’s best short stories. All selections are from The Best Short Stories 2021-The O. Henry Prize Winners, edited by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

This month’s selections are:

Nov. 7 – Antediluvian by Ben Hinshaw

Nov. 14 – Grief’s Garden by Caroline Albertine Minor

Nov. 21 – To the Dogs by Jianan Qian

Nov. 28 – Color and Light by Sally Rooney  

This group meets every Monday morning (excluding holidays).

This program is repeated at 2 pm by Woodland Hills Branch Library.

NOTE: See site for link and details. 

Where: West Valley Regional Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 7th   

Time: 10 am

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/world-literature-short-stories-book-club-0

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 11/07/22 – 11/13/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 10/31/22 – 11/06/22

Trick or Treat Event at Main Library, SMPL – In-Person Kids & Teens Event

Arrive in your Halloween costume at the library’s youth services desk for something fun and frightening! For kids and teens ages 0-17.

NOTE: See site for guidelines, and details.

Where: Main Library, SMPL

Date: Monday the 31st

Time: 10 am – 5 pm

 Address: 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401

Website: http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=34301  

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 10/31/22 – 11/06/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 10/24/22 – 10/30/22

It’s another busy week in the Los Ángeles literary community featuring in-person, virtual and hybrid open mics, workshops and book clubs. There are even several middle grade, kids and teen events for young literary lovers. Local writers reading this week are: Cynthia Guardado, Seth Fishman, Jean-Pierre Rueda, Natalie Sierra, Sheila J. Sadr, Peter J. Harris and Christopher Soto, among others. Continue reading Los Angeles Literature Events: 10/24/22 – 10/30/22

Los Angeles Literature Events: 09/05/22 – 09/11/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Monday Night Fiction Workshop at Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online Event

This free Monday Night Fiction Workshop led by Raquel Baker is a community writing workshop in which participants are asked to bring copies of 2-3 pages of fiction to read, and to use for critique and discussion. Registration is required.

Raquel Baker earned a PhD in English Literary Studies from the University of Iowa and an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. She is currently Assistant Professor of Postcolonial Studies and Transnational Literatures at CSU Channel Islands. She has published poetry and nonfiction and done readings with the Ventura Poetry Project. 

Where: Beyond Baroque – Online event (tickets at Eventbrite) (check to verify)

Date: Monday the 5th

Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm

Address: Zoom Online

Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/monday-night-fiction-workshop-tickets-411567458347

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 09/05/22 – 09/11/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 06/06/22 – 06/12/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

World Literature Book Club via West Valley Regional Library, LAPL – Online Event

Join this Book Club for a spirited and engaging discussion of the world’s best short stories! All selections are from The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story (New York, 2021), ed. John Freeman. This month’s selections are:

  • June 6 – The Great Silence by Ted Chiang (2015)
  • June 13 – The Midnight Zone by Lauren Groff (2016)

This group meets every Monday morning (excluding holidays). 

NOTE: See site for Zoom link and details. 

Where: LAPL Online event

Date: Monday the 6th  

Time: 10 am

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website:  https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/world-literature-book-club-40

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 06/06/22 – 06/12/22”

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: 05/09/22 – 05/15/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Book Club Bonanza: Let’s Celebrate Asian Pacific Voices via Central Library, LAPL – Online Teen Event

Teens may join our librarians online as they share books for teens that celebrate Asian Pacific voices in YA literature and celebrate and join the Big Read.

The Best We Could Do, by author Thi Bui, is an illustrated graphic noel portraying one family’s poignant journey from war-torn Vietnam to America and will resonate with all who hope for a better future while longing for a simpler past.

The book club discussion itself will be held on Monday, May 23rd, but we will also host a read-alikes discussion on May 9th.

Watch past episodes on YouTube for more book recommendations.

NOTE: See site for RSVP & event details. 

Where: Central Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 9th

Time: 4:30 pm

Address: LAPL – Online (see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-bonanza-lets-celebrate-asian-pacific-voices

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 05/09/22 – 05/15/22”