Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026 | 6:30–8 p.m. (PT) | West Hollywood Library Community Room
Ahead of WeHo Reads: Reimagining History, we have been sharing what readers found in the books of our four featured writers. This one is from BookSwell founder and WeHo Reads host Cody Sisco, on Alterations by Kate Maruyama (Running Wild Press), from the Reel he posted this week.
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Alterations by Kate Maruyama follows a costume designer for Hollywood in its golden era who falls in love with another woman. They’re living together in a beautiful house, I think it’s on Melrose, with a garden and a lemon tree, and it’s an idyllic relationship.
But then reality sets in. For the costume designer to continue in her career, she’s got to marry someone. She’s got to marry a man. She has to leave her lover behind. And that’s one thread of several that intertwine in Alterations.
It’s a wonderful novel. Kate, a very good friend, is going to be reading from it and discussing it at WeHo Reads: Reimagining History, and I can’t wait to ask her some questions about this book. So come on by, and I’ll see you soon.
Cody Sisco, BookSwell
Watch the Reel on BookSwell’s Instagram.
About Kate Maruyama
Kate Maruyama is a professor of writing and an author of realist and fabulist novels, short stories and essays set in and about Los Angeles. Her latest book is Alterations.
Hear her read on Sept. 23
Kate Maruyama reads alongside Steven Reigns, Mike Sonksen, and Désirée Zamorano at WeHo Reads: Reimagining History, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, at the West Hollywood Library Community Room, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. with an informal reception; the program runs 6:45 to 8 p.m., and West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng opens the evening with a futurist poem. The writers will sign and sell their books after the program. Free, 18+, with free parking in the structure at 625 N. San Vicente Blvd.
WeHo Reads is presented by the City of West Hollywood and produced by BookSwell. Additional support from Book Soup and Los Angeles Review of Books.
