BookSwell

Come, celebrate with author, Salena Sheppherd at the bottom of the barrel book signing celebration!It's time to celebrate Bottom of the Barrel book!Bottom of the Barrel: How God Rescued, Redeemed, and Revived Me is a deeply personal portrait and journey of intergenerational trauma, systematic disempowerment, emotional injury, and its effect from one generation to the next. This book provides readers a raw look at poverty, abuse, and neglect. The internal wounds of the victim are validated and the conscience of the bully is explored. The Author's story demonstrates healing is possible and the power of God to break the cycle of pain, even when you hit rock bottom.

discussing her book "An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s"Join us for an in-person and virtual* Live Talks Los Angeles event:Monday, May 6, 2024, 8pm*Virtual event airs on May 11 at 3pm PT/6pm ETAn Evening with Doris Kearns GoodwinAn Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960sTICKETS:$50 General Admission ticket + signed copy of Doris Kearns Goodwin's book$25 General Admisison ticket$125 VIP Reception with Doris Kearns Goodwin (6:30-7:30pm)+ Reserved Section Seat and Signed BookAdditional books available for purchase at eventFace masks recommendedThe virtual version of this event airs on May 11 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.F ree parking at the venueOne of America’s most beloved historians artfully weaves together biography, memoir, and history. In An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, Doris Kearns Goodwin takes you along on the emotional journey she and her husband, Dick Goodwin embarked upon in the last years of his life.Doris Kearns Goodwin’s work for President Johnson launched her career as a presidential historian. Her first book was Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. Next Read More ...

Hear from a panel of poets and writers as they share their stories and discuss what it means to be Asian American during AAPI Heritage MonthWeHo Reads: Asian Diaspora Talk StoryWednesday, May 8, 2024 | 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.6:30 reception, 7 pm start, 8:30 endWest Hollywood Library Community Room, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd.Hear from a panel of poets and writers as they share their stories, connect across the diaspora, and discuss what it means to be Asian American during May Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. Musical guest Jett Kwong opens this event by celebrating the panel of Asian/Pacific American authors, including Ryka Aoki, Curtis Chin, Jasmin Iolani Hakes, Angela Peñaredondo, and Fariha Róisín, and hosted by West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng.WeHo Reads is a literary series presented by the City of West Hollywood. More information and events at www.weho.org/wehoreads. BookSwell, a literary events and media company dedicated to lifting up writers from historically excluded communities, is producing the WeHo Reads 2024 season. Additional support is provided by UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and Poets & Writers as well as media partnerships with Book Soup and Los Angeles Review of Books.

discussing her book "An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s"About this event*** US Orders Only***Join us for a virtual Live Talks Los Angeles event:Saturday, May 11, 2024, 3pm PT/6pm ETAn Evening with Doris Kearns GoodwinAn Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960sTICKETS:$45 General Admission ticket + signed copy of Ed Zwick's bookUS Orders only. We only ship to addresses in the USThe virtual version of this event airs on May 11, at 3pm PT/6PM ET and is available on video-on-demand for five days.One of America’s most beloved historians artfully weaves together biography, memoir, and history. In An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, Doris Kearns Goodwin takes you along on the emotional journey she and her husband, Dick Goodwin embarked upon in the last years of his life.Doris Kearns Goodwin’s work for President Johnson launched her career as a presidential historian. Her first book was Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. Next was the Pulitzer Prize–winning No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Homefront in World War II. She earned the Lincoln Prize for Team of Rivals, in part the basis for Steven Spielberg’s film Lincoln, and the Carnegie Medal for Read More ...

Sociologist Neil Gong explains why mental health treatment in Los Angeles rarely succeeds, for the rich, the poor, and everyone in between.ABOUT THE BOOKIn 2022, Los Angeles became the US county with the largest population of unhoused people, drawing a stark contrast with the wealth on display in its opulent neighborhoods. In Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics, sociologist Neil Gong traces the divide between the haves and have-nots in the psychiatric treatment systems that shape the life trajectories of people living with serious mental illness. In the decades since the United States closed its mental hospitals in favor of non-institutional treatment, two drastically different forms of community psychiatric services have developed: public safety-net clinics focused on keeping patients housed and out of jail, and elite private care trying to push clients toward respectable futures.In Downtown Los Angeles, many people in psychiatric crisis only receive help after experiencing homelessness or arrests. Public providers engage in guerrilla social work to secure them housing and safety, but these programs are rarely able to deliver true rehabilitation for psychological distress and addiction. Patients are free to refuse treatment or use illegal drugs--so long as they do so away from public view.Across town in West Read More ...

Lydia Abarca Mitchell, Sheila Rohan, Marcia Lynn Sells, Karlya Shelton-Benjamin with Karen ValbyJoin us for an in-person Live Talks Los Angeles event:Wednesday, May 15, 2024, 8pmAn Evening with The Swans of HarlemLydia Abarca Mitchell, Sheila Rohan, Marcia Lynn Sells, Karlya Shelton-Benjamin and Karen Valbydiscussing Karen Valby's book,The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History$20 General Admission ticket$48 General Admission ticket + book with signed book plateBook plate signed by the four ballerinas and the author of the bookFree parking at the venueASL interpreter arrangements made upon request (48 hrs advance notice)The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas and their fifty-year sisterhood, a legacy erased from history—until now.“This is the kind of history I wish I learned as a child dreaming of the stage!” —Misty Copeland, author of Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our LegacyThe forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas, the first principals in the Dance Theatre of Harlem, who traveled the world as highly celebrated stars in their field and whose legacy was erased from history until now.At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarça was a Black prima Read More ...

Join acclaimed author Tracie McMillan for a conversation about her highly anticipated new book, "The White Bonus"Join acclaimed author Tracie McMillan for a conversation about her highly anticipated new book, "The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America."McMillan, whose previous book was the bestseller "The American Way of Eating," will be joined by author and columnist Erin Aubry Kaplan for a lively discussion of how race influences economic status in the U.S.Preorder book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-white-bonus-five-families-and-the-cash-value-of-racism-in-america-tracie-mcmillan/19987573?ean=9781250619426Light refreshments will be provided.

discussing her book, "The Backyard Bird Chronicles"Join us for an in-person and virtual* Live Talks Los Angeles event:Monday, May 20, 2024, 8pm*Virtual event airs on May 25 at 3pm PT/6pm ETAn Evening with Amy TanThe Backyard Bird ChroniclesTICKETS:$50 General Admission ticket + signed copy of Amy Tan's book$25 General Admisison ticket$125 VIP Reception with Amy Tan (6:30-7:30pm)+ Reserved Section Seat and Signed BookAdditional books available for purchase at eventFace masks recommendedThe virtual version of this event airs on May 11 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.F ree parking at the venueA gorgeous, witty account of birding, nature, and the beauty around us that hides in plain sight, written and illustrated by the best-selling author of The Joy Luck ClubAmy Tan is the author of several novels, including The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter’s Daughter. She is a co-producer and co-screenwriter of the film version of The Joy Luck Club and is on the board of American Bird Conservancy. She lives in Sausalito, California.“The drawings and essays in this book do a lot more than just describe the Read More ...

discussing their book, "The Art of Small Talk"Join us for an in-person and virtual* Live Talks Los Angeles event:Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 8pm*Virtual event airs on June 4 at 6pm PT/9pm ETCasey Wilson & Jill St. Clair*discussing their book, The Art of Small Talk*interviewer to be announcedTICKETS:$20 General Admission ticket $35 General Admission + Audio Book*audiobook will be emailed on the morning of the event, May 21.Face masks recommendedThe virtual version of this event airs on May 25, at 3pm PT/6PM ET and is available on video-on-demand for five days.Includes access to watch the event on video-on-demand for five days after it airs.audiobook will be emailed on the morning of the event, May 25.Tickets for the virtual event can be purchased here (includes the book)ASL interpreter provided upon request.F ree parking at the venue.Hilarious and practical advice for how to up your small talk game from comedians, actors and self-appointed experts on chit-chat, Casey Wilson and Jessica St. Clair..Join comedians, actors, and self-appointed experts on chit-chat Casey Wilson and Jessica St. Clair for the launch of their original audiobook, which breathes new life into a lost art. In The Art of Small Talk, they share simple rules for how to Read More ...

discussing her book, "The Backyard Bird Chronicles"*** US Orders Only***Join us for a virtual Live Talks Los Angeles event:Saturday, May 25, 2024, 3pm PT/6pm ETAn Evening with Amy TanThe Backyard Bird ChroniclesTICKETS:$45 General Admission ticket + signed copy of Ed Zwick's bookUS Orders only. We only ship to addresses in the USThe virtual version of this event airs on May 25, at 3pm PT/6PM ET and is available on video-on-demand for five days.A gorgeous, witty account of birding, nature, and the beauty around us that hides in plain sight, written and illustrated by the best-selling author of The Joy Luck ClubAmy Tan is the author of several novels, including The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter’s Daughter. She is a co-producer and co-screenwriter of the film version of The Joy Luck Club and is on the board of American Bird Conservancy. She lives in Sausalito, California.“The drawings and essays in this book do a lot more than just describe the birds. They carry a sense of discovery through observation and drawing…The birds that inhabit Amy Tan’s backyard seem a lot like the characters in her novels.” —David Allen Sibley, from the forewordIn 2016, Amy Tan grew overwhelmed by the state Read More ...

"Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism"Join us for an in-person and virtual* Live Talks Los Angeles event:Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 8pm*Virtual event airs on June 3 at 6pm PT/9pm ETStephen Breyer,Former Associate Justice, US Supreme CourtReading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not TextualismTICKETS:$25 General Admission ticket Signed books available for purchase at eventFace masks recommendedThe virtual version of this event airs on June 3, 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.F ree parking at the venue.A provocative, brilliant analysis by recently retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer that deconstructs the textualist philosophy of the current Supreme Court’s supermajority and makes the case for a better way to interpret the Constitution.Stephen Breyer is a former associate justice of the Supreme Court who served there for twenty-eight years until retiring in 2022. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.“A rocket from a Supreme Court justice... Justice Breyer shows how the current Supreme Court's alleged textualism and originalism are unsound. His book is a judicial arms-control agreement advocating moderation and a path to what he calls ‘workable democracy.’ You will Read More ...

discussing his memoir, "You Never Know"Join us for an in-person and virtual* Live Talks Los Angeles event:Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 8pm*Virtual event airs on June 4 at 6pm PT/9pm ETAn Evening with Tom Selleckdiscussing his memoir, You Never KnowTICKETS:$55 General Admission ticket + book with signed book plateAdditional books available for purchase at eventFace masks recommendedThe virtual version of this event airs on June 4, 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.F ree parking at the venue.Frank, funny and open-hearted, You Never Know is an intimate memoir from one of the most beloved actors of our time. With never-told stories from all corners of his personal and professional life, Tom Selleck recounts his friendships with Frank Sinatra, Carol Burnett, Sam Elliott, James Garner and more.Tom Selleck is an award-winning actor and producer best known for his iconic role as Thomas Magnum in the original Magnum P.I. television series. Among the many unforgettable roles he has played are PI Lance White on The Rockford Files, Peter Mitchell in Three Men and a Baby, Matthew Quigley in Quigley Down Under, and Read More ...