Book Bans and Artificial Intelligence: Why Being a Literary Educator in Southern California is Both Easier and Harder Than Ever Before

Crossroads student Liv Amiri wrote this article about being a literary educator in Southern California amid the book banning, educational censorship and the rise of AI that has exploded across the country since the pandemic. Continue reading Book Bans and Artificial Intelligence: Why Being a Literary Educator in Southern California is Both Easier and Harder Than Ever Before

How This Chicano Poet From Diamond Bar Got Into 50 Bookstores Without A Major Publisher

“Now jobless, and finally in possession of a car after years of calling up rideshares and riding the bus), I decided it was time to bring the hustle I had brought towards building up my resume and touring across the country towards hustling books.” Continue reading How This Chicano Poet From Diamond Bar Got Into 50 Bookstores Without A Major Publisher

Flower Song Press in Southern California

By Brian Dunlap

Flower Song Press has infiltrated Southern California. It began with publishing El Sereno native Matt Sedillo, in late 2018. His poetry collection Mowing Leaves of Grass, was a critical success, critiquing the American history we’re taught in school to render it in full, speaking truth to the struggle, tragedy, anger, joy, despair, possibility and faith in the struggles of working class people, specifically Chicanx, to overcome the forces of capitalism and racism that keep them marginalized.

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Tongva Writers Today: The Past, Present, and Future are Unfolding Simultaneously

By Christopher Soto
FROM: LARB

TONGVA PEOPLE HAVE LIVED in the Los Angeles Basin since time immemorial. As someone raised in the outskirts of Los Angeles, I knew very little about Tongva history or culture until my mid-20s, even though I had to study California history in the public schools here. The first Tongva person whose name I learned was Toypurina. I read about her online, while browsing articles about settler colonialism and histories of Indigenous resistance in Southern California. Since then, I have come to recognize her face in murals and on a poster inside one of my favorite venues — the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice. Toypurina was born in 1760 and is best known for leading a rebellion against colonization by Spanish missionaries.

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2021 LitFest Pasadena May 15-16

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.

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