Wednesday, March 11, 2026 | 6:30–8 p.m. (PT)
What happens when five writers build a creative practice rooted in friendship?
WeHo Reads: Writing Together—Pomodoros, Marinara, and Friendship
Online Via Zoom and YouTube
Free, RSVP Requested
Writing a book is often imagined as a solitary act: thousands of quiet hours, alone with a blinking cursor. But for five friends—Jade Chang, Angela Flournoy, Aja Gabel, Jean Chen Ho, and Xuan Juliana Wang—that myth unraveled in a corner booth at Little Dom’s, an Italian American restaurant in Los Feliz where they gathered week after week to write together.
This moderated literary conversation brings these five women of color together to reflect on what it meant to build a creative practice rooted in friendship.
Featuring:
- Jade Chang, author of two critically acclaimed novels, What a Time to Be Alive and The Wangs vs. the World, which won the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award;
- Angela Flournoy, author of The Wilderness, a national bestseller that was long-listed for the National Book Award;
- Aja Gabel, author of the novel Lightbreakers and a screenwriter;
- Jean Chen Ho, author of Fiona and Jane; and
- Xuan Juliana Wang, author of the short story collection Home Remedies, winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction.
RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/weho-reads-telling-family-secrets-tickets-1981060604597?aff=web
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.
Authors
Jade Chang
Jade Chang’s debut novel, The Wangs vs. the World, won the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award and has been published in a dozen countries. Her new novel, What a Time to Be Alive, is out this fall from Ecco and her journalism and essays have recently appeared in The Best American Food Writing, and in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times magazines. She also writes for film and TV.
Since 2018 Jade has been teaching writing and idea development workshops with author Ann Friedman as The Midwives of Invention. See all of their 2026 workshop offerings here: midwivesofinvention.com
Angela Flournoy
Angela Flournoy’s bestselling new novel, The Wilderness, was long-listed for the National Book Award, a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, and shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her debut novel, The Turner House, was a finalist for the National Book Award, won the VCU Cabell First Novel Prize, and was also a finalist for the NAACP Image Award. Her nonfiction has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times, The Nation, The Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker.
To learn more about Angela, visit her website: angelaflournoy.com
Aja Gabel
Aja Gabel is the author of Lightbreakers and The Ensemble, both from Riverhead Books. Her prose can be found in The Cut, LA Times, Buzzfeed, BOMB, and elsewhere. She studied writing at Wesleyan University and the University of Virginia, and has a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston. Her short story “Little Fish” was adapted into a feature film, and she has written and developed several other screenwriting projects. She currently lives and writes in Los Angeles.
To learn more about Aja, visit her website: ajagabel.com
Jean Chen Ho
Jean Chen Ho is the author of Fiona and Jane, named one of TIME’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2022; a “Best Book of the Year” (NPR, Vulture, Vogue, Oprah Daily, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle); and longlisted for the 2023 Story Prize. Her writing appears in New York Times Magazine, Sewanee Review, The Cut, Electric Literature, Los Angeles Times, Guernica, and elsewhere. She is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Chapman University. She was born in Taiwan and lives in Los Angeles.
Connect with her at www.jean-chen-ho.com
Xuan Juliana Wang
Xuan Juliana Wang is the author of the short story collection Home Remedies, winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction and a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. She lives in Los Angeles, where she teaches creative writing at UCLA.
Connect with her at xuanjulianawang.com
