Los Angeles Literature Events: 01/09/23 – 01/15/23

The first list of weekly events of the year. There are readings, open mics, book clubs and workshops from Pomona to Venice to Orange and Santa Ana to Long Beach to everywhere in-between. There is even a few YA and kids events. Local writers reading this week are: poet Alma Rosa Rivera, novelist Jordan Harper, spoken word poet Christian Perfas “Soulstuf,” novelist Janet Fitch, poet Patty Chavez and poet Carlos Ornelas, among others. Continue reading Los Angeles Literature Events: 01/09/23 – 01/15/23

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: 12/05/22 – 12/11/22

World Literature Book Club: Weekly Discussions of Short Stories via West Valley Regional Library, LAPL – Online Event

This book club is a spirited and engaging discussion of the world’s best short stories! All selections are from Points of View: An Anthology of Short Stories (New York, 1995) ed. James Moffett and Kenneth R. McElheny. This month’s selections are:

December 5:  A Telephone Call by Dorothy Parker

December 12:  I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olson

December 19:  Straight Pool by John O’Hara

Meetings are every Monday morning (excluding holidays).

For the Zoom link, please e-mail wvally@lapl.org with “World Literature” in the subject line.

NOTE: See site for link. Repeats via Woodland Hills Branch Library at 2pm.

Where: West Valley Regional Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 5th    

Time: 10 am

Address: Online Event (see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/world-literature-book-club-9  

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 12/05/22 – 12/11/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 11/28/22 – 12/04/22

As we are now in the holiday season, literary L.Á. is slowly winding down for the year. This week however, there are still open mics, readings, book clubs, workshops and a teen event. From Orange County to Long Beach, to the Westside, The Valley, the Eastside and beyond. Local Writers reading this week are: Brian Dunlap, Christian Lozada, Cynthia Guardado, Brian Sonia-Wallace, Jesse Hoffman, Benin Lemus, Rocio Carlos and Pete Hsu, among others. Continue reading Los Angeles Literature Events: 11/28/22 – 12/04/22

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: 10/17/22 – 10/23/22

Book Club Bonanza: Frightening Reads! & White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson via Central Library, LAPL – Online Teen Event

The Book Club Bonanza Book Club for Teens will host read-alikes and an activity for this month’s selection, White Smoke, by Tiffany D. Jackson.

In this chilling psychological thriller, Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.

The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its…secrets. That’s only half the problem. Cedarville has secrets too.

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

Where: Central Library, LAPL

Date: Monday the 17th

Time: 4:30 pm

Address: Online event (see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/book-club-bonanza-frightening-reads

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 10/17/22 – 10/23/22”

Los Angeles Literature Events: 09/12/22 – 09/18/22

Los Angeles Literature Events: 09/12/22 – 09/18/22

NOTE: There Are Both Online and Virtual Events Listed Here

Woodland Hills Mystery Book Club Discussion: Your House Will Pay at Washington Irving Branch Library, LAPL – In-Person & Online (Hybrid) Event

A novel about racial tensions in Los Angeles, following two families—one Korean-American, one African-American—grappling with the effects of a decades-old crime.

In the wake of the police shooting of a black teenager, Los Angeles is as tense as it’s been since the unrest of the early 1990s. But Grace Park and Shawn Matthews have their own problems. Grace is sheltered and largely oblivious, living in the Valley with her Korean-immigrant parents, working long hours at the family pharmacy. She’s distraught that her sister hasn’t spoken to their mother in two years, for reasons beyond Grace’s understanding. Shawn has already had enough of politics and protest after an act of violence shattered his family years ago. He just wants to be left alone to enjoy his quiet life in Palmdale.

But when another shocking crime hits LA, both the Park and Matthews families are forced to face down their history while navigating the tumult of a city on the brink of more violence.

Discussion is facilitated by Mary C. Schaffer. Books are read in advance of the meetings and are available to borrow from the Woodland Hills Library Reference Desk or you may place a copy on hold through the library catalog or Libby app.

Please call (818) 226-0017 for more information.

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

Where: Woodland Hills Branch Library, LAPL Community Room

Date: Monday the 12th  

Time: 4 pm

Address: 22200 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91364 (or online; see site)

Website: https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/mystery-book-club-8

Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events: 09/12/22 – 09/18/22”

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”