Read Chapter One of One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper

If you haven’t read Jonathan Tropper’s books, you’re in for a wickedly funny treat. USA Today calls Tropper “a more sincere, insightful version of Nick Hornby, that other master of the male psyche,” and Entertainment Weekly exclaimed “It’s amazing what can happen in the hands of a casually brilliant author.”

An acclaimed screenwriter, Tropper has also written for Steven Spielberg and is currently writing a new Cinemax series, Banshee, that will debut in January. Tropper’s last novel, This Is Where I Leave You, was a phenomenal success named one of the best books of 2009 by NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and Amazon, among others.

One Last Thing Before I Go demonstrates yet again Tropper’s deft touch with the darkest of materials and his ability to make readers laugh out loud in one paragraph and move them to tears in the next. You can meet Jonathan Tropper on Tuesday night at The Grove in LA where he’ll be reading and signing from his new novel. In the meantime, take a few minutes to read the first chapter of One Last Thing Before I Go, which the author has generously shared with readers at LA Books Examiner below. Enjoy!

When: Tuesday August 28 @ 7 pm
Where: Barnes & Noble (The Grove)
189 Grove Drive Suite K-30 Los Angeles
Get directions

Learn more about Jonathan Tropper and his work at his website: jonathantropper.com

About the book:
You don’t have to look very hard at Drew Silver to see that mistakes have been made. His fleeting fame as the drummer for a one-hit wonder rock band is nearly a decade behind him. He lives in the Versailles, an apartment building filled almost exclusively with divorced men like him, and makes a living playing in wedding bands. His ex-wife, Denise, is about to marry a guy Silver can’t quite bring himself to hate. And his Princeton-bound teenage daughter Casey has just confided in him that she’s pregnant—because Silver is the one she cares least about letting down.

So when he learns that his heart requires emergency, lifesaving surgery, Silver makes the radical decision to refuse the operation, choosing instead to use what little time he has left to repair his relationship with Casey, become a better man, and live in the moment, even if that moment isn’t destined to last very long. As his exasperated family looks on, Silver grapples with the ultimate question of whether or not his own life is worth saving.

With the wedding looming and both Silver and Casey in crisis, this broken family struggles to come together, only to risk damaging each other even more. One Last Thing Before I Go is Jonathan Tropper at his funny, insightful, heartbreaking best.

Read Chapter On at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

“Read Chapter One” is a special feature at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner where authors, from emerging to bestsellers, share an excerpt of their newest books:

North of Hollywood by actor/playwright and local author Rick Lenz

The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by Los Angeles author A.G.S. Johnson

33 Days by LA author and former 80′s indie rocker Bill See

Girl in Translation, the bestselling debut novel by Jean Kwok

The Heights, the bestselling book by novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Peter Hedges

The Omega Theory by international bestselling author Mark Alpert

Fatal Error by bestselling author J.A. Jance

The Dark Side of Innocence by LA writer and bestselling author Terri Cheney

Golden State, the fresh and entertaining debut novel by local author David Prybil, Barnes and Noble Rising Star Award Winner

A Discovery of Witches by professor of history at the University of Southern California and bestselling author Deborah Harkness

The Meaning of Matthew by Judy Shepard, an activist and co-founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation

The Ark, the bestselling Internet sensation by Boyd Morrison

The Insider by Reece Hirsch

Changes by Jim Butcher, bestselling author of The Dresden Files

Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne, former lead singer of The Talking Heads

Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories (now available for Kindle and Nook). Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates.

Frank Mundo Reads from The Brubury Tales at Beyond Baroque Bookstore

Frank Mundo reads and signs The Brubury Tales, a modern version of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in Los Angeles, at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center and Bookstore.

Date: June 15, Friday, 2012
Time: 7:30 PM

Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center and Bookstore
681 Venice Bl. Venice, CA 90291
310-822-3006  Get directions
$7, $5 students, seniors & kids
www.beyondbaroque.org

About the Book
An ambitious homage to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, The Brubury Tales takes Chaucer’s story and frame to Los Angeles just after the riots, where seven security guards on the graveyard shift swap tales in a hilarious storytelling competition for Christmas vacation time. The tales themselves are “readable” updates of classic stories by Dostoevsky, Dickens, Boccaccio, O Henry, Poe, Twain, Gilman, Crane, Saki, Anderson, Bierce, and even Khayyam’s Rubaiyat.

The Brubury Tales, a bestselling Amazon.com poetry book in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, won a Poet Laureate Award nomination for UCLA and Berkeley, Reader Views 2011 Reviewers Choice Award for Poetry Book of the Year and the 2011 Bookhitch award for Most Innovative Poetry Book of the Year. The book has also won a Reason to Rhyme Award from Byline Magazine, was selected for Powell library’s month-long WORDS… exhibit, and an excerpt was published by Indiana University.

This unique novel-in-verse also contains a special foreword by California literary legend, Carolyn See, who says, “The Brubury Tales is a landmark book, in what is going to be — and already is — an exceptional, distinguished literary career.”

About the Author
Frank Mundo, the LA Books Examiner, is the author of The Brubury Tales and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories. Frank Mundo has been a writer and book reviewer in Los Angeles for almost 20 years, publishing hundreds of stories, poems, essays, book reviews and author interviews. Frank earned a BA in English from UCLA, where he completed the Creative Writing Program. Frank grew up in Los Angeles where he currently lives with his wife, Nancy, and their dogs, Jax and Rusty.

The Brubury Tales by Frank Mundo is available in paperback and eBook formats at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Language with Mike the Poet at The Last Bookstore

If you’re looking for a great way to beat the heat on Sunday afternoon, The Last Bookstore in Downtown Los Angeles is holding its monthly open mic event called Language With Mike The Poet.

When: Sunday, May 20th, 3 pm – 5 pm

Where: The Last Bookstore, 453 S. Spring Street in Downtown. 213.488.0599. Get Directions.

Who: Mike “The Poet” Sonksen is a 3rd-generation LA native acclaimed for poetry performances, published articles and legendary city tours. Poet, journalist, historian, tour guide, teacher, Sonksen graduated from U.C.L.A. and is the author of I Am Alive in Los Angeles, which is available on iTunes and has been added to the curriculum of several universities. Mike has performed his poetry coast to coast at college campuses, museums, bookstores, nightclubs and just about any venue you can imagine. See Mike The Poet in action on YouTube.

Featured poets for this month’s event are Traci Akemi and Gia Scott-Heron.

Traci Akemi is a multi-disciplinary artist, arts educator, community organizer and founder of the Tuesday Night Project. Author of a collection of poetry, Signaling (The Undeniables press), Traci tours universities, libraries and community events, presenting readings and workshops to diverse audiences, from performers to youth educators, high school students to senior citizens.

Gia Scott-Heron AKA “Miss Gia” has been writing songs and poetry since the age of 10. She began pursuing poetry full time after graduating with honors from Pitzer college in 2002. Miss Gia has performed at various venues, including Spreadin’ Love N Spoken Word, The World Stage, The Regent, ‘Da Poetry Lounge, Remedy, Reflections, Shades of Afrika, Green, and Natural High, to name a few. She has published books of poetry, including Introducing Me, Scott Free, and Contagias and produced an LP called Souletree, a compilation of 12 of her favorite poems set to music. Learn more about Miss Gia and her work at her website.

Other great Local poets, artists and performers scheduled to appear include: Armond Kinard, Joe Gardner, V. Lazaro Zamora, Allan Arnold Gamalinda Aquino, Cara Van Le, Irene Soriano, Edren Sumagaysay, Trevon Kelley, Jamal Carter, Forrest Wilson, Juan Bueno, Sho’ EslaBomba Kilson, Peter Woods, Jesse Bliss, Elena Secota, and me, Frank Mundo, your LA Books Examiner.

Get out of the house this weekend! Join Mike The Poet at The Last Bookstore for a great line-up of poetry and spoken-word performances from local writers and artists you don’t want to miss.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy. Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates to LA Books Examiner.

Cypress Park Branch Library featuring author Jim Marquez

On Friday, May 18th, Cypress Park Branch Library’s open mic event for writers and musicians returns with special guest Jim “The Beast” Marquez. Participation is open to everyone, and teens are especially encouraged to share their poetry, writings and music during the event.

What: Open mic featuring author Jim “The Beast” Marquez

When: Friday, May 18th 3:30 pm to 5 pm

Where: Cypress Park Library, 1150 Cypress Ave. Los Angeles. 323-224-0039. Driving Directions. Follow them on twitter @CypressParkLAPL

Born and raised in East Los Angeles and a graduate of ELAC and Cal State L.A., Jim Marquez, known as The Beast to his friends and fans, is the author of more than a dozen independent, LA-centric books, including East Los, Pieces Of L.A. and East L.A. Collage.

The Beast will be reading from his new book, Beastly Bus Tales, a collection of stories that represent the author’s Beastly style, described in a recent interview with Cypress Park Branch Library as:

“..Rough-going, but elegant, I think. And most foul. Very Sexy. Over the top. Naive. Scatter-brained. Loving. Lonely. Erratic, Pulsing. Electric. Intense. Moody. First person narrative but lately switching to third person. Unafraid. Honest. Stories about bars, booze, broads, sex, death, memory, dreams, passion, adventures in foreign lands, dealing with the humanity of sketchy environs, race, class struggle, art, identity.”

Signed copies will available for purchase at the end of the program. For more information on Jim “The Beast” Marquez, follow him on Facebook.

Please come out and support Cypress Park Branch Library and this important community event, meet Jim Marquez, share your stories, poetry and music, and encourage writing and reading for teens and adults in Los Angeles and everywhere.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy. Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates to LA Books Examiner.

Read Chapter One of The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by AGS Johnson

The 2011-2012 Los Angeles Book Festival awarded The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by Los Angeles author A.G.S. Johnson an Honorable Mention at its annual competition honoring the best of world publishing. If you missed this up-and-coming local author at the book festival earlier this month, don’t worry. You’ve got another chance next week.

On Wednesday, May 2 at 8 p.m., A.G.S. Johnson will be signing her debut novel, The Sausage Maker’s Daughters, at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles at 453 South Spring Street.

In the meantime, learn more about A.G.S. Johnson and read the first chapter of The Sausage Maker’s Daughters below:

About the author
A.G.S. Johnson always intended to be a writer. But raised in a Midwestern family of five girls and no boys, she embarked on a career in the corporate world that would allow her to explore why men were treated differently than women. Armed with a business degree, for over 20 years she was a banker, most often working with international currencies.

Still, writing remained a dream, so she returned to school, earned a masters degree in fiction writing from the University of Southern California and proceeded to pursue her lifelong ambition. Her debut novel The Sausage Maker’s Daughters, 12 years in the making, releases Feb. 7, 2012.

In addition to her passion for reading, traveling and all things French, Johnson serves on the Board of the Council of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, and is a founding board member of The World is Just a Book Away. Proceeds from The Sausage Maker’s Daughters benefit this relatively young charity that builds libraries in developing countries.

Since the late 70’s Johnson has made her home first in Northern California, now in Los Angeles, where the author lives with her husband of 20 years and their menagerie of cats and dogs. She is currently working on her second novel, a medical murder mystery based on a true story of discovery and deceit.

Learn more about A.G.S. Johnson and her work at her official website: AGSJohnsonauthor.com.

About the book
It’s the era of the counterculture and Vietnam. Women’s consciousness is being raised and they’re beginning to find their places outside of the home.

But twenty-four-year-old Kip Czermanski is nowhere near her home in California. She’s in a jail cell in her hometown in Wisconsin awaiting a court appearance in the mysterious death of her ex-lover, who happened to be her brother-in-law.

Since her father is the small town’s leading citizen, Kip isn’t overly worried—at first. But the personal grudge the DA holds for all the Czermanskis is about to find a foil. Kip.

What follows is a wild ride through Kip’s present predicament and her past. Family dynamics and sibling rivalries, magnified by her counterculture attitudes and feminist beliefs, will lay bare Kip’s life before the crowded courtroom, right along with the self-important Czermanskis’ darkest secrets.

Excerpt of The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by A.G.S. Johnson

Read excerpt at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

 
Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories. Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates to LA Books Examiner.

Rhapsodomancy Writers Reading Series Sunday February 12th

Join writers Jeff Hoffman, Mandy Kahn, Andrea Lambert, and Eireene Nealand as they read their work for the Rhapsodomancy Reading series.

When: Sunday, February 12, 2012
Doors open at 7:00 p.m. – Reading begins at 7:30 p.m.

Where: The Good Luck Bar, 1514 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, 90027 (east Hollywood/Silver Lake: corner of Hollywood & Hillhurst)

Who: 21 and over only.
$3 suggested donation at door. There will be a cash bar.

http://www.rhapsodomancy.org

Jeff Hoffman’s first book of poems, Journal of American Foreign Policy, won the New Issues Poetry Prize and was recently featured in Poets & Writers as one of the notable debuts of 2011. His poems have appeared in The New Republic, Ploughshares, Spinning Jenny, and elsewhere. He has been a Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford and a Chesterfield Screenwriting Fellow with Paramount Pictures. He currently works as a creative executive at Phoenix Pictures, a film production company in Los Angeles.

Mandy Kahn is co-author, with Aaron Rose, of the nonfiction book Collage Culture (JRP/Ringer).  Her poetry is anthologized in From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas, edited by Ishmael Reed. She’s been a columnist for Foam, a guest columnist for the Los Angeles Times and a contributor to Glamour. She is writer-in-residence for The Series, a live monthly event that takes place on the rooftop of the Standard Hotel downtown, for which she writes poetry, prose and experimental theater to accompany works of contemporary dance, performance art and music. As a poet, she’s been a featured reader in the Red(D)ress series at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, the Little Birds series at Tavin, the Serenade Sunset series for the Silver Lake Jubilee festival, the Redondo Poets series at the Coffee Cartel, and on radio station KXLU. Mandy lives in Echo Park. www.collageculture.com

Andrea Lambert is the author of Jet Set Desolate (Future Fiction London, 2009) and Lorazepam and the Valley of Skin / 730910-2155 (valeveil, 2009) She holds an MFA in Critical Studies from CalArts, and is co-curator of the Featherless reading series. Her work has appeared in 3:AM Magazine, SUNSET.UNFO!, Chronometry, You’ve Probably Read this Before, Tomorrow’s Literature Today (forthcoming) and the So-Cal Telephone Book (forthcoming). She has performed at the West Hollywood Book Fair, the Los Angeles Road Concerts, the 2nd New Los Angeles Folk Festival, homo-centric and the REDCAT Lounge.

Eireene Nealand’s short stories, poems, and translations have been published in Sidebrow, the St. Petersgurg Review, Fourteen Hills, ZYZZYVA and the Western Humanities Review, among other places. She won an Elisabeth Kostova Foundation Fellowship to attend a fiction seminar in Sozopol, Bulgaria, and was the 2004 Ivan Klima Fellow in Fiction at the Prague Summer Programs. In addition to working as a writer, she is currently graduate student at UC Santa Cruz, where she studies proprioception, a neurobiological phenomenon that allows us to see textures and shifts.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy. Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates.

Read more books articles at LA Books Examiner

Frank Mundo Interview with LA Public Library, Cypress Park

I was interviewed by the LA Public Library in Cypress Park. They invited me to read from The Brubury Tales on March 8th. Very exciting. http://cypressparklapl.blogspot.com/ check it out.

Rhapsodomancy Reading Series, Sunday Dec 4th

Join writers Jillian Lauren, Khadija Anderson, Melissa Chadburn, and Lisa Cheby as they read their work for the Rhapsodomancy Reading series.

When: Sunday, December 4, 2011
Doors open at 7:00 p.m. – Reading begins at 7:30 p.m.

Where: The Good Luck Bar, 1514 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, 90027 (east Hollywood/Silver Lake: corner of Hollywood & Hillhurst)

Who: 21 and over only.
$3 suggested donation at door. There will be a cash bar.

http://www.rhapsodomancy.org

Jillian Lauren is a writer and performer with an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University. She is the author of the memoir Some Girls: My Life in a Harem and the novel Pretty, both from Plume/Penguin. Her writing has also appeared in The Paris Review, The New York Times, Los Angeles Magazine, Vanity Fair and Flaunt Magazine, among others. Jillian has appeared at spoken word and storytelling events across the country. She recently premiered her solo performance piece, Mother Tongue, in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband and son.

 

Khadija Anderson, returned in 2008 to her native Los Angeles after 18 years exile in Seattle. Khadija’s poetry has been published in Pale House (forthcoming), The Ark Magazine, Unfettered Verse, CommonLine Project, Qarrtsiluni, Gutter Eloquence, Unlikely, The Citron Review, Killpoet, Wheelhouse, and Phantom Seed among others. Her poem “Islam for Americans” was nominated for a 2010 Pushcart Prize. Khadija holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles and her first book will be published in 2012 through Writ Large Press.
 

Melissa Chadburn is a lover and a fighter, a community organizer, a social arsonist, a writer, a lesbian, of color, smart, edgy and fun. Her work has appeared or is upcoming in Guernica, PANK Magazine, WordRiot, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Splinter Generation, Northville Review and she is a regular contributor at The Nervous Breakdown. She interns at dzanc books and is a proud member of the Advisory Board for Antioch University’s Lunch Ticket. She loves pit bulls and cheese.

Lisa Cheby is a poet and educator in Los Angeles. She recently completed her poetry manuscript, Stop and Read Yourself for the First Time, and is developing her critical writing on confessional poetry and gender, both projects she started while completing her MFA at Antioch University. Lisa is currently working on a chapbook, Harmony was Always Here, and a series, Love Lessons from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Lisa worked on the Board of Directors of the Valley Contemporary Poets, a non-profit organization working to promote quality poetry to the San Fernando Valley and is the new editor of Annotation Nation Poetry.

 

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy. Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates to LA Books Examiner.

Write Bloody Press and Tankfarm Clothing present the Second Annual Speak Easy

Write Bloody Publishing and Tankfarm Clothing have teamed up again for their annual event Speak Easy, one heated poetry/music show to kick off the summer right. Along with some great live music from Gracious Calamity and other bands and some of the best local authors from Write Bloody publishing scheduled to hit the stage, there’s also dollar beers, fresh sausages, and taco trucks galore to keep you pumped up all night. 

When and Where:
Saturday June 25th, 2011 at 7 p.m.

The Tankfarm Store
10900 Los Alimitos Blvd.
Los Alamitos, CA
Get Directions

Tickets are $3 and the password is “swordfish”.

Who:
Brendan Constantine is an ardent supporter of Southern California’s poetry communities and one of its most recognized poets. He serves these communities as a teacher of poetry in local schools and colleges as well as hospitals, elder care centers and shelters for the homeless. He is currently poet in residence at The Windward School and Loyola Marymount University Extension. Author of numerous collections, including Letters to Guns, his latest book, Birthday Girl With Possum, is from Write Bloody Publishing. Learn more about Constantine at his website. Watch him read his work live.

David Perez, poet, writer, and spoken word artist, is a recipient of the Arts Council Silicon Valley Fellowship for Literary Art, and the author of Love in a Time of Robot Apocalypse. Learn more about Perez at his website.

Mindy Nettifee, a Grand Slam Champion of the Long Beach/Orange County Poetry Slam and a Pushcart Prize nominee, has published five chapbooks and two poetry collections, including her latest Rise of the Trust Fall from Write Bloody Publishing. Learn more about Nettifee at her website.

Derrick Brown has performed at over 1500 venues and universities internationally including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, La Sorbonne in Paris, CBGB’s in NYC and a small Jewish youth group in Glendale. President of Write Bloody Publishing, you can find his books there or learn more about him at his website.

Daniel McGinn has been a part of the Greater Los Angeles poetry scene since 1995. He has co-hosted a weekly reading series, was a member of the 1996 Los Angeles National Slam team, and has been a regular contributor to the OC Weekly and Next… Magazine. His book, 1000 Black Umbrellas, is coming soon from Write Bloody Publishing.

Paul Suntup’s first collection of poetry, Sunset at the Temple of Olives, was nominated for a National Book Award. He was born in South Africa, currently resides in Southern California and is a freelance web designer. Learn more about him at his website. 

Michael Roberts is the author of the Pushcart Prize-nominated collection, No More Poems About The Moon, from Write Bloody Publishing. Learn more about Roberts on Goodreads.

Steve Abee is the author of The Bus, King Planet, Johnny Future, and Great Balls of Flowers from Write Bloody Publishing. He teaches Middle School English in Los Angeles and lives in Echo Park.

 

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales, which is available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and Borders in paperback and in eBook.
 
LA Books Examiner’s Author Interview Series
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LA Books Examiner’s Pause for Poetry Profiles

Don’t Miss Writers Row in the Downtown Art Walk on Thursday, June 9th

Made possible by the collaboration of Harlem Place Café, the Los Angeles Poet Society, and the Downtown Art Walk, Writers Row is the only spot at the downtown Art Walk that celebrates the Written Art!

Hear work from featured writers. Participate in the Open Mic. Enjoy the vibes of a modern-day Speak Easy and grab a glass of wine.

Listen to the written art of Featured Writers and have the opportunity to meet them and learn what is going on in their worlds. Join in on the action yourself and step up to the Open Mic. Open Mic participants have the option to go heads up against each other for a chance to be invited as a Featured Writer during the next Writers’ Row!

Where?
Writers’ Row is held at the Harlem Place Cafe – 124 W. 4th St. Los Angeles, CA 90013 — literally down the alley located on 4th and Main St. in downtown LA.  Early arrival is suggested as the downtown Art Walk brings in thousands of people! Parking may be tough. You can park at a meter, or for safe no-worry parking, bring $3-$10 cash for parking in one of the public lots. Need directions?

When?
Thursday, June 9th from 8-10 pm
Writers’ Row is free to the public and a continuing event that will be held each 2nd Thursday of the month, same time and place.

Who?
Featured writers, selected in advanced by The Los Angeles Poet Society, take the stage from 8 to 9:30 p.m.
DJ A-Ski will be spinning between sets.

Schedule of events

8pm: Jessica Wilson introduces Writers’ Row, Introductory poem for the night

8:15pm: Matt Sedillo
Matt Sedillo is a two-time national slam poet and published author. He has been published in anthologies alongside Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Hirschman, Amiri Baraka, Luis Rodriguez and many others. He has performed at colleges across the country.

8:30pm: Frank Mundo
For 14 years, Frank Mundo worked as a graveyard-shift security guard in Los Angeles, a job which allowed him to write and publish hundreds of stories, poems, essays, book reviews, author interviews, and his award-winning novel in verse, The Brubury Tales — a modern version of The Canterbury Tales in Los Angeles.

8:45pm: Jayson Pida
Jayson Pida is a Poet and a native of the San Fernando Valley. He has had a decorated career as an Air Force Pilot and as a sincere educator for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Jayson holds his MFA in Writing from Otis College of Art and Design.

9:00pm: Luivette Resto
Luivette Resto was born in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico but proudly raised in the Bronx. Her first book of poetry Unfinished Portrait was published in 2008 by Tia Chucha Press and was named a finalist for the 2009 Paterson Poetry Prize. She is also a contributing poetry editor for Kweli Journal, and she is the new hostess of a monthly poetry reading series called La Palabra located at Avenue 50 Studio in Highland Park.

9:15pm: AK Toney

9:30pm: Open Mic
Open mic participants take the stage from 930 to 10pm. 
Participants are eligible to compete for a spot in the next Writers’ Row. Please let the MC know that you would like to be considered to be a Featured Writer at the next Writers’ Row.

Would you like to be a Featured Writer at Writers’ Row?
Please email Jessica Wilson at venicesoapboxpoets@gmail.com and send a sample of your work.

Join Writers’ Row on Facebook