THIS IS A (REP CLUB) BOOK CLUB

This is a Rep Club Book Club. We read Black books and talk about them.

Wanna read more in 2026 and need some accountability partners at your favorite bookstore? We got you. We also got a community of readers who would love to meet you. Join us! Let’s read more!

WHO & WHAT: Rep Club and YOU! Join us monthly or pop-in once. Our reads will span genres and themes, and we’ll be led by Rep Club bookseller extraordinaires Bri & Hannah!

May read: Brown Girl In The Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

Get it at Rep Club (duh) for 10% off with code: BOOKCLUB10

WHEN: Sunday, May 24th from 10:00-11:30am (doors open at 9:30)

WHERE: In-Person at Reparations Club (3054 S. Victoria Ave. LA, CA 90016)

HOW: Suggested $5 ticket (this is non-refundable and goes toward snacks)

ABOUT THE BOOK

IN THIS “IMPRESSIVE DEBUT” FROM AWARD-WINNING SPECULATIVE FICTION AUTHOR NALO HOPKINSON, A YOUNG WOMAN MUST SOLVE THE TRAGIC MYSTERY SURROUNDING HER FAMILY AND BARGAIN WITH THE GODS TO SAVE HER CITY AND HERSELF. (THE WASHINGTON POST)

The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways — farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother. She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.

NALO HOPKINSON was born in Jamaica and has lived in Guyana, Trinidad, and Canada. The daughter of a poet/playwright and a library technician, she has won numerous awards including the John W. Campbell Award, the World Fantasy Award, and Canada’s Sunburst Award for literature of the fantastic. Her award-winning short fiction collection Skin Folk was selected for the 2002 New York Times Summer Reading List and was one of the New York Times Best Books of the Year.

Hopkinson is also the author of The New Moon’s Arms, The Salt Roads, Midnight Robber, and Brown Girl in the Ring. She is a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, and splits her time between California, USA, and Toronto, Canada.

One Night Only: Walter Mosley Live — In Conversation with Eriq La Salle

Walter Mosley joins Eriq La Salle for a powerful talk on Black love, storytelling, and culture, followed by a live booksigning @ Malik Books

Join Malik Books and PAFF for a powerful evening of conversation, culture, and community as legendary, award-winning New York Times bestselling author Walter Mosley takes the stage for an unforgettable book talk and signing celebrating his new novel, Ghalen: A Romance in Black.

Moderated by acclaimed actor and director Eriq La Salle, this special event will explore themes of Black love, storytelling, and the enduring impact of Mosley’s work on literature and society.

As part of Walter Mosley’s national book tour, this intimate discussion offers guests a unique opportunity to hear directly from one of the most influential voices of our time.

📍 Location: Malik Books – Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall

📅 Date: May 26

🕖 Time: 7:00 PM

Don’t miss this inspiring community event celebrating Black literature, love, and legacy.

🎟 RSVP: MalikBooks.com

All tickets include a signed copy of Ghalen: A Romance in Black by Walter Mosley.

Walter Mosley is one of America’s most celebrated writers. He was given the 2020 National Book Award’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and honored with the Anisfield-Wolf Award, a Grammy, a PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award, the Robert Kirsch Award, numerous Edgars and several NAACP Image Awards. He is the author of more than sixty critically acclaimed books that cover a wide range of ideas, genres, and forms including fiction (literary, mystery, and science fiction), political monographs, writing guides including Elements of Fiction, a memoir in paintings, and the young adult novel 47. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages. He has published fiction and nonfiction in The New Yorker, Playboy, and The Nation. As an executive producer, he adapted his novel, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, for AppleTV+ and serves as a writer and executive producer for FX’s Snowfall.

In 2020 he was a recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and from the National Book Foundation. In 2013, he was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame, and he is the winner of numerous awards, including an Edgar Award, an O. Henry Award, the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award, PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, a Grammy Award, and several NAACP Image Awards. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages.

Ghalen: A Romance in Black by Walter Mosley

One of the most acclaimed writers working today, Walter Mosley spins magic once again in this beautiful novel that explores the lives of Black characters and one remarkable family through a lens both universal and unique. It touches on the lives of those whose deepest thoughts and motivations are seldom explored–including the neurodivergent, the incarcerated, and the immigrant tortured by their past–characters who will stay with you and change how you see the world.

Ghalen, a brilliant young Black man, is the son of two seemingly mismatched parents. His mother, a gifted scientist, whose own mother expected her to exceed all the achievements in her family, and his father, a gentle cook at a small vegetarian restaurant, whose idiosyncratic nature shows the young woman a radically different love and understanding of life, despite his inexperience and lack of education.

His parents’ grand love story starts it all off, setting us up to follow Ghalen and his family so deeply, that each new twist and turn feels personal.

The journey through Ghalen’s coming-of-age tale, as he ventures out into the world, is marked with peaks and valleys and such a drive that you can’t help but strap in for it all, while not wanting it to end.

Lush and cinematic, with the narrative drive and indelible power of Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead and Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, Ghalen is one of this bestselling, prize-winning writer’s finest achievements.

Compton Museum presents a Book Talk: Love Restored Grace Under Pressure

Join us with authors Alexis D. Lee, LCSW and Myeisha Brooks, LMFT, PMH-C, as they present Love Restored: Grace Grace Under Pressure.

Join us for an interactive book talk with authors Alexis D. Lee, LCSW and Myeisha Brooks, LMFT, PMH-C, as they present Love Restored: Grace Under Pressure.

This therapist-designed couples workbook offers practical tools to help partners better understand conflict, strengthen communication, and practice meaningful repair. Grounded in attachment-informed, culturally responsive, and relational healing practices, the book provides guided reflections, exercises, and frameworks that support emotional regulation, accountability, and reconnection.

During this conversation, we’ll explore how relationships can grow through pressure, repair, and intentional communication—especially within communities navigating stress, generational patterns, and evolving definitions of love, partnership, and healing.

16 Yodassa Williams interview

Cody Sisco interviews Yodassa Williams about her debut fantasy novel, The Goddess Twins, coming of age and finding one’s voice, black girl magic and creativity, and the revelatory experience of going to Burning Man.

Yodassa Williams shows off her new novel, The Goddess Twins, in the magical locale of Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA

Yodassa Williams is a powerful conjurer of black girl magic (70 percent Jedi, 30 percent Sith). A Jamaican American writer, speaker, and award-winning performing storyteller, an alumna of the VONA/Voices Travel Writing program and the Fortify Writer’s Retreat, and the creator of the podcast The Black Girl Magic Files, Yodassa (Yoda) launched Writers Emerging, a wilderness writing retreat for women of color and non-binary people of color, in 2019. She grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and currently resides in the Bay Area. The Goddess Twins is her debut novel.

Listen Now

Link to BookSwell Intersections Podcast on Spotify