What happens when writers dare to expose their family secrets through stories and memoir?

To write is an act of exploration, revelation, and reckoning with the consequences of silence and speaking up. The first event in the WeHo Reads 2026 series brings together four acclaimed writers whose work dares to share what is often kept in the dark. Through fiction, memoir, and hybrid forms, these authors explore how telling family secrets can be a powerful and vulnerable creative act.

The event will feature: Toni Ann Johnson, author of the Arrington family saga, which includes her novella Homegoing, the Flannery O’Connor Award-winning Light Skin Gone to Waste, and her newest linked collection, winner of the Screen Door Press Prize, But Where’s Home?; Aimee Liu, bestselling author of the novels Glorious Boy, Flash House, Cloud Mountain, and Face, as well as the memoirs Solitaire and Gaining; Juanita E. Mantz (JEM), author of the memoir Tales of an Inland Empire Girl, who is also a lawyer/deputy public defender, a performer, and the host of the Life of JEM podcast; and Hannah Sward, award-winning author of Strip: A Memoir whose work has appeared in publications such as the LA Times, HuffPost, and NY Times (Tiny Love Stories).

WeHo Reads is a literary series presented by the City of West Hollywood. For more information and events, visit www.weho.org/wehoreads. The 2026 season is produced by BookSwell, a literary media company amplifying historically excluded voices. Additional support is provided by media partnerships with Book Soup and Los Angeles Review of Books. Attendees are advised that the program may include mature language and themes.