BookSwell

Celebrate the debut of LAR's Electronic Literature Folio with contributors Anthony Cody, J. Michael Martinez & readings by Latinx poets.Los Angeles Review, Letras Latinas, & Beyond Baroque invite you to this special in-person celebration of LATINX DIGITAL POETICS: An Electronic Literature Folio. Published in the Los Angeles Review, the digital anthology features newly commissioned works of six poets, among them Tina Escaja, Leonardo Flores, Loss Pequeño Glazier, and Urayoán Noel.To celebrate this groundbreaking work, contributors Anthony Cody and J. Michael Martinez will be presenting their new works in addition to readings from their most recent publications. Local poets Vickie Vertiz and heidi andrea restrepo rhodes will be opening the event with a special set of selected readings from their newest collections. As the evening's guest of honor, Chicano poet and former L.A. Poet Laureate Luis J. Rodriguez will be delivering a brief response to these cutting-edge works transcending language, format, and tradition. The program will be hosted by Los Angeles Review's Poetry Editor, Brent Ameneyro. Latinx poetry has a rich history of working in avant-garde or innovative spaces—from Juan Felipe Herrera’s experimental forms and Mónica de la Torre’s innovative approaches to translation and collaboration, among many others—this legacy continues in Read More ...

Book Club: June Book Club: Elliot Page discusses "Pageboy"Join Academy Award nominee Elliot Page for a live, in-person conversation about his debut memoir, “Pageboy,” at the L.A. Times Book Club.Page will be in conversation with Kate Mara June 8 at the historic Montalban Theatre in Hollywood. Elliot Page is a producer, writer and director. He currently stars in the Netflix’s hit series, “The Umbrella Academy.”Nearly three years after coming out as transgender, the actor shares his truth in “Pageboy.”With the success of the 2007 film “Juno,” Page became one of the world’s most beloved actors. His dreams were coming true, but the pressure to perform suffocated him as he navigated criticism and abuse in Hollywood. Page often stayed silent, unsure of what to do. Full of behind-the-scenes details and interrogations on sex, love, trauma, and Hollywood, “Pageboy” is the story of a life pushed to the brink. It’s also a winding journey of what it means to untangle ourselves from the expectations of others.Kate Mara is an actor and film producer known for her role in the Netflix series, "House of Cards." She also starred in the Hulu miniseries, "A Teacher."IN-PERSON EVENT INFOWhen: June 8, 2023 at 7 p.m. PT. Read More ...

Celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month! We share our light and illuminate possibilities for living proud, safe, and free.This online reading and panel discussion creates a safe space for writers who use their personal lives and literary careers as means to contribute to and strengthen their communities especially during LGBTQIA+ Pride Month. In collaboration with Lambda Literary, this event shines a light on and basks in the glow of talented writers with exceptional stories and ideas to share with the world.K-Ming Chang is the author of Bestiary, Gods of Want, and the forthcoming novel Organ Meats. Golden is the author of A Dead Name That Learned How to Live (Game Over Books) and the photographic self-portraiture series On Learning How to Live. They currently live in Brooklyn, NY (Lenapehoking land). Kamden Hilliard is the author of MissSettl (Nightboat Books, 2022), their debut collection of poems, and a member of the Faculty at Choate Rosemary Hall. Natalie Wee a queer creator and the author of two poetry collections, Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines and Beast at Every Threshold. Born in Singapore to Malaysian parents, Natalie is currently a settler in Tkaronto.The event is free and you can watch via YouTube Live on Read More ...

An Evening with Richard North Patterson discussing his novel, "Trial"Join us for an in-person* Live Talks Los Angeles event:Wednesday, June 14, 2023, 8pm*Virtual event airs on June 18 at 3pm PT/6pm ETAn Evening with Richard North Patterson discussing his novel, "Trial"* interviewer to be announcedTICKETS:$46 General Admission ticket + one signed copy of the book$20 General Admission ticketAdditional books available for purchase at eventFace masks recommendedTickets also include opportunity to watch the virtual event The virtual version of this event airs on June 18, at 3pm PT/6PM ET and is available on video-on-demand for five days Tickets for the virtual event can be purchased here (includes the book)ASL interpreter provided upon request.Free parking at the venueIn his new novel, Trial, veteran writer Richard North Patterson returns to the legal dramas that have been the hallmark of his long career. This propulsive narrative centers around the most incendiary flashpoints of race: voter suppression, discriminatory law enforcement, the political exploitation of racial anxiety, and the frequent failure of our legal system to provide fair trials for Black defendants. The story culiminates in a nationally televised murder case. This is a gripping, frank and deeply felt novel about the complications of love, family, politics Read More ...

The 13th Annual Zócalo Book Prize Event. Register to join us in-person or live online.America’s high-poverty cities and counties have suffered for decades, enduring skyrocketing inequality, the opioid epidemic, rising housing costs, and widespread disinvestment. Governments have offered a variety of failed solutions, from luring wealthy outsiders to slashing public services. But four communities are turning inward instead: Stockton, California; rural Josephine County, Oregon; Lawrence, Massachusetts; and Detroit, Michigan. In these diverse places—all of which went broke in the wake of the Great Recession—locals are building networks and trust in one another and their institutions, to promote health, wealth, and opportunity. In Stockton, this meant designing organizations to help residents cope with trauma. In Josephine County, people convinced freedom-loving, government-averse voters to increase taxes. Lawrence is building a new model to secure living wages. Detroit is battling to stabilize low-income housing. What did these strategies look and feel like on the ground? How can other struggling places borrow from their playbooks? And what can the rest of the country do to support towns as they try to help themselves? Stanford Law School’s Michelle Wilde Anderson, winner of the 2023 Zócalo Book Prize for The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Read More ...

Lizzy Ives in conversation with Justine Pucella WinansVillage Well is hosting the official release party for Fat Witch Summer, a body-positive YA fantasy novel for fans of friendship, road trips, and magic. Join us for a conversation and Q&A with author Lizzy Ives, moderated by Justine Pucella Winans. We’ll discuss self-love, confidence, and fat liberation as swimsuit season approaches. Plus: free snacks, book plates, and friendship bracelet crafting.

An Evening with Richard North Patterson discussing his novel, "Trial"*** US orders only. We only ship books to addresses in the US. Join us for a virtual Live Talks Los Angeles event:Sunday, June 18, 2022, 3pm PST/6pm ESTAn Evening with Richard North Patterson discussing his novel, "Trial"* interviewer to be announcedTICKETS:$40 Ticket: Virtual Admission + a signed copy of the bookTicket includes opportunity to watch the event on video-on-demand for five days, thru Juune 23 at midnight.Books ship one week after the event.In his new novel, Trial, veteran writer Richard North Patterson returns to the legal dramas that have been the hallmark of his long career. This propulsive narrative centers around the most incendiary flashpoints of race: voter suppression, discriminatory law enforcement, the political exploitation of racial anxiety, and the frequent failure of our legal system to provide fair trials for Black defendants. The story culiminates in a nationally televised murder case. This is a gripping, frank and deeply felt novel about the complications of love, family, politics and the law.Richard North Patterson is the best-selling author of 22 previous novels. He’s also written extensive non-fiction, including Fever Swamp, a narrative of the 2016 Presidential campaign derived from his essays and reporting for Read More ...

The Sergeant Presentation and Book SigningThe Sergeant Presentation and Book SigningTuesday, June 20 | 7:00 pmJoin Pulitzer and Polk Award-Winning Journalist Dean Calbreath as he discusses his new book “The Sergeant,” a biography of African-born Union Army sergeant Nicholas Said. Said traveled through Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Caribbean – picking up nine languages and encountering kings, queens and emperors – before arriving in the United States on the eve of the Civil War. In the war, Sergeant Said served directly under Lieutenant Thomas Foulds Ellsworth, who moved to Pasadena after the war. Learn about Said’s epic (and largely unknown) life, and his and Ellsworth’s role on the frontlines.Presentation will begin at 7:00 pm; PMH Galleries will be open for viewing at 6:00 pm.Image: Book Cover - The Sergeant by Dean Calbreath.

Join debut author K. X. Song in conversation with author Amanda Glaze to celebrate the launch of AN ECHO IN THE CITY at Skylight Books.Skylight Books welcomes author K. X. Song for a discussion and signing of her debut release, An Echo in the City, in conversation with Amanda Glaze, bestselling author of The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond. The evening will begin with a moderated discussion and Q&A, followed by a signing. Light refreshments will be provided. About the Book:Two star-crossed teenagers fall in love during the Hong Kong protests in this searing contemporary novel about coming-of-age in a time of change.Sixteen-year-old Phoenix knows her parents have invested thousands of dollars to help her leave Hong Kong and get an elite Ivy League education. They think America means big status, big dreams, and big bank accounts. But Phoenix doesn’t want big; she just wants home. The trouble is, she doesn’t know where that is…until the Hong Kong protest movement unfolds, and she learns the city she’s come to love is in danger of disappearing.Seventeen-year-old Kai sees himself as an artist, not a filial son, and certainly not a cop. But when his mother dies, he’s forced to Read More ...

Arthur Kayzakian's Book of Redacted Paintings is here! Please join Arthur (and special guests) for a night of reading and art!Please join Arthur for his first book launch, celebrating the release of The Book of Redacted Paintings (Black Lawrence Press, 2023)! There will be drinks, snacks, readings (featuring Arthur, Brendan Constantine and Cynthia Dewi Oka) and music, as well as, of course, book signing. In The Book of Redacted Paintings, the narrative arc follows a boy in search of his father’s painting, but it is unclear whether the painting exists or not. The book, a poetry collection, is also populated by a series of paintings. Some are real, incomplete, and/or missing, while most are redacted from reality. The withdrawn paintings concept is the emotional arc of the book, a combination of wishing one could paint the pieces he/she/they envision and the feeling of something torn out of a person due to a traumatic upbringing. A sort of erasure ekphrasis, to foresee artwork that was never painted.The first of Black Lawrence Press's Immigrant Writing Series, The Book of Redacted Paintings is "Formally various, narratively propulsive, and relentlessly earnest in its psychospiritual excavation" (Kaveh Akbar) and "...one of the best examples I’ve Read More ...

Celebrating Sun & Moon Press authorsBeyond Baroque presents an evening of fiction and poetry readings with former Sun & Moon Press-published authors. Rebecca Goodman, Wendy Walker, Stacey Levine, and Martin Nakell will be reading new and selected works. Enjoy a reception with light refreshments before and after the readings. Doors open: 7:30 pm. Readings: 8:00 pm. About the authorsReviewing Rebecca Goodman’s Forgotten Night (Spuyten Duyvil 2023) in Dactyl, the novelist and critic, Eugene Garber, writes: “The recovery of self, call it soul if you prefer…is… quest at its deepest level. Many, I believe, would say that it is the agenda of our postmodern world.” Previous fictions include The Surface of Motion (Green Integer 2008) and Aftersight (Spuyten Duyvil 2015). She teaches Creative Writing at Chapman University.Wendy Walker is a writer and visual artist with a strong interest in expanding the boundaries of literary form. Her books include The Sea-Rabbit, or, The Artist of Life; The Secret Service; Stories Out of Omarie; The Camperdown Elm, and, most recently, Sexual Stealing. Her work has appeared in Conjunctions, 3:AM, Parnassus: Poetry in Review, The Denver Quarterly, Open City, and elsewhere. With her late husband and literary partner Tom La Farge, she founded Proteotypes Read More ...

Join us for an in-person event with cohost of NPR’s "Pop Culture Happy Hour" Aisha Harris, for a discussion of her debut book Wannabe.Join us for an in-person event with cohost and reporter for NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour Aisha Harris, for a discussion of her debut book Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me. Joining Aisha in conversation is Erika J. Kendrick, a bestselling author, a screenwriter, and a national speaker. Malik Books is hosting event Westfield Culver City Mall 6000 Sepulveda Blvd Ste 2470 Culver City, Ca 90230 Sat June 24, 2023, at 2PMCan’t make the event? Purchase a Sign Copy Here.In nine lively, incisive essays, NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour co-host Aisha Harris reflects on the cultural touchstones of her childhood and adolescence that have shaped her, setting them in context with current sensations transforming culture now. NPR listeners trust Aisha Harris for her engaging and incisive insights on popular culture and the music, television, movies, and more that are influencing our lives today. In this insightful collection, she uses her keen analytical skills to examine her own life and the culture that defined who she is and how she thinks. In essays that span Read More ...

Michael Milken in conversation with Frank Luntz discussing his book, "Faster Cures: Accelerating the Future of Health"Join us for an in-person* Live Talks Los Angeles event:Monday, June 26, 2023, 8pm*Virtual event airs on June 29 at 6pm PT/9pm ETMichael Milken with Frank Luntzdiscussing his book, "Faster Cures: Accelerating the Future of Health" TICKETS:$46 General Admission ticket + one signed copy of the book$20 General Admission ticketsAdditional books available for purchase at eventFace masks recommendedTickets also include opportunity to watch the virtual event The virtual version of this event airs on June 29, at 6pm PT/9PM ET and is available on video-on-demand for five days Tickets for the virtual event can be purchased here (includes the book)ASL interpreter provided upon request.Free parking at the venuePresented in association with New Roads School.Michael Milken says the best is yet to come from an astonishing medical revolution.What if cleaning early-stage cancers from your body could become as routine as going to the dentist to clean your teeth, or if a single vaccine could protect you against multiple viruses, or if gene editing could eliminate many birth defects and slow the aging process? Milken believes these, and many other advances, are within reach.Beginning with a description of the Read More ...

An Evening with Frances Haugen, "The Power of One: How I Found the Strength to Tell the Truth and Why I Blew the Whistle on Facebook"Join us for an in-person* Live Talks Los Angeles event:Tuesday, June 27, 2023, 8pm*Virtual event airs on July 5 at 6pm PT/9pm ETAn Evening with Frances Haugen discussing her book, "The Power of One: How I Found the Strength to Tell the Truth and Why I Blew the Whistle on Facebook"* interviewer to be announcedTICKETS:$46 General Admission ticket + one signed copy of the book$20 General Admission ticketAdditional books available for purchase at eventFace masks recommendedTickets also include opportunity to watch the virtual event The virtual version of this event airs on July 5, at 6pm PT/9PM ET and is available on video-on-demand for five days Tickets for the virtual event can be purchased here (includes the book)ASL interpreter provided upon request.Free parking at the venueThe inside story of one woman’s quest to bring transparency and accountability to Big Tech, by the Facebook whistleblower who is determined to help us all retake control of our lives..Frances Haugen is an American data engineer and scientist, and whistleblower. A graduate of the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering Read More ...

Michael Milken in conversation with Frank Luntz discussing his book, "Faster Cures: Accelerating the Future of Health"*** US orders only. We only ship books to addresses in the US. Join us for a virtual Live Talks Los Angeles event:Thursday, June 29, 2022, 6pm PST/9pm ESTMichael Milken with Frank Luntzdiscussing his book, "Faster Cures: Accelerating the Future of Health" TICKETS:$42 Ticket: Virtual Admission + a signed copy of the bookTicket includes opportunity to watch the event on video-on-demand for five days, thru July 4 at midnight.Books ship one week after the event.Michael Milken says the best is yet to come from an astonishing medical revolution.What if cleaning early-stage cancers from your body could become as routine as going to the dentist to clean your teeth, or if a single vaccine could protect you against multiple viruses, or if gene editing could eliminate many birth defects and slow the aging process? Milken believes these, and many other advances, are within reach.Beginning with a description of the culture that helped shape Milken's early views, Faster Cures: Accelerating the Future of Health traces the life-extending acceleration of progress in medical research, public health, and clinical treatments over the seven decades since Milken’s childhood—and shows how he helped transform the Read More ...