Literary LA November ‘09

• A couple of real good readings at UCLA’s Hammer Museum: Wed 11/18 7pm, Tin House regular Yiyun Li; and Thurs 11/19 7pm, in a terrific pairing, two wonderful women and amazing short story writers, Dylan Landis and Mary Otis
• Dylan will be reading again later that week, Sun 11/22 4pm, at Village Books in Pacific Palisades; also at Village Books, LA Times film critic Kenneth Turan, Thurs 11/19 7:30, with a new book about Joe Papp and the Public Theater
• A good month also at the Central Library’s ALOUD Reading Series: Thurs 11/5 8pm, an evening with Orhan Pamuk (this event not at the Library, but at the Aratini/Japan America Theater); Mon 11/9 7pm, Rita Dove; and Tues 11/17 7pm, memoirist Mary Karr with her latest, Lit
• The last show of the year for the Chinatown reading series Vermin on the Mount, Sun 11/8 8pm, featuring Blake Nelson and Alex Espinoza among others
• The year’s last show, as well, for the New Short Fiction Series, Fri 11/18 8pm, a book launch for author Daniel A. Olivas’ new collection, Anywhere But LA
• Sat 11/14 4pm, Tod Goldberg reads from his new collection, Other Resort Cities, at Westwood’s Mystery Bookstore
• Stories Bookstore/Cafe in Echo Park co-sponsors Amiri Baraka, accompanied by live jazz, Sat 11/14 5pm, at The Echo
• Skylight Books in Los Feliz celebrates National Bookstore Day, Sat 11/7 2-4pm, which will feature folks from other area bookstores, including Doug Dutton of Dutton’s Books–a great way to celebrate bookstores past and present; Sat 11/14 5pm, Patrice Weitz with her debut, College Girl (Nick Flynn describes the novel’s heroine as “a philosopher of heartbreak and redemption”); and Sun 11/22 4pm, Michelle Huneven with her memoir Blame (10% of proceeds go toward the substance abuse center Phoenix House)
• And finally, at Book Soup: Thurs 11/5 9pm, intriguing for the title alone, Empty the Sun, a novel by Joseph Mattson (also reading at Vermin that Sunday), which includes a CD of music that inspired the book; Sun 11/8 1:30, Jonathan Safran Foer, with Eating Animals; Sun 11/15 6pm, noted rock critic Robert Hilburn (the only journalist to visit Folsom Prison with Johnny Cash) presents Corn Flakes with John Lennon: And Other Tales from a Rock ‘n’ Roll Life; and Mon 11/16 7:30, Book Soup takes care of sales at a rare local appearance by Barbara Kingsolver, reading from her new novel The Lacuna (this event is hosted by Writers Bloc and takes place at the Writer’s Guild)

Andrew Roe at New Short Fiction Series

This month’s installment of the New Short Fiction Series (which presents fiction by West Coast writers in dramatic readings by local actors of screen & stage) features work by Andrew Roe. Andrew has some impressive publishing credits, with stories in journals that include Tin House, One Story, Glimmer Train, Failbetter, Night Train, and the Cincinnati Review. Two new stories were published in the last week alone! He has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Click on his name to visit his blog, where you’ll find links to a number of the stories.

Pieces will be read by Series founder Sally Shore; Alain Benatar (Passions); Mathew Thomas Lange (Truth Hall); and Lynne Oropeza (Magnolia, X-Files). The show is at the Beverly Hills Public Library, 444 North Rexford Drive. Show at 8, doors at 7:30. $10 donation, free parking.

Literary LA October ‘09

• At Skylight Books in Los Feliz: Mon 10/5 7:30 - Kathryn Ma and her Iowa Short Fiction-winning All That Work and Still No Boys; Wed 10/7, 7:30 - Francine Prose with a new book about Anne Frank; Tues 10/13, 7:30 – James Ellroy, Blood’s a Rover; Wed 10/14, 7:30 - popular UCLA Extension instructor Les Plesko with a new novel, Slow Lie Detector; Sat 10/17, 4pm - Skylight Salon: the well-read staff present favorite small-press titles, with wine & snacks; Tues 10/20, 7:30 - Dzanc, one of my favorite indie presses, with their 2008 ‘Best of the Web’ anthology

• Echo Park’s Stories Bookstore/Cafe has a number of regular events, including poetry on the 2nd and 4th Friday–sign up for their newsletter to get the whole scoop; this month’s events include Lydia Lunch, Tues 10/6, 8pm; they open early and serve good coffee and a range of breakfast & lunch items

• Book Soup in West Hollywood is packed this month: Sat 10/3, 2pm - Francesca Lia Block with Pretty Dead; and at 7:30, Sarah Schulman with her new futuristic novel, The Mere Future; Sat 10/10, 5pm - Dan Fante, 86′d; Mon 10/19, 7pm - Sarah Vowell, The Wordy Shipmates; Sun 10/20, 7pm – Robin D.G. Kelly with a new bio of Thelonius Monk

• Additionally, Book Soup is selling books at a number of big-time author appearances at various locations: Tues 10/6, 7:30pm - Nick Hornby at Skirball; Fri 10/9, 8pm - Margaret Atwood at Royce Hall (UCLA Live); Sun 10/18 5pm – E.L. Doctorow at Writers Bloc; Thurs 10/29, 8pm – Robert Crumb, Royce Hall, UCLA Live

• Tues 10/6, 8pm - Word Theatre presents stories by Dan Chaon, with the author himself reading from his new novel, Await Your Reply

• Fri 10/9, 8pm - the New Short Fiction Series presents the stories of Andrew Roe

• At The Hammer at UCLA this month: Tues 10/6 7pm – Michelle Huneven; Thurs 10/15 7pm - Jean Thompson

• At Vroman’s in Pasadena: Tues 10/6, 7pm – Dan Chaon with his new novel, Await Your Reply; Thurs 10/15, 6pm – Jane Smiley, The Georges and the Jewels; Tues 10/20, 7pm – A.S. Byatt, The Children’s Book

Literary LA Sept ‘09

• Skylight Books in Los Feliz has a busy month, including: 9/7 7:30 – Candacy Taylor, Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress; 9/10 7:30 – poet Kim Addonizio, Lucifer at the Starlite; 9/11 7:30 – Peter Gadol with his locally set novel Silver Lake; Sat 9/19 4pm – Skylight Literary Salon (wine & cheese & booktalk), this month looking at indie Graphic Novels; 9/20 5pm – Eileen Myles and her essay collection The Importance of Being Iceland; 9/24 7:30 – Stephen Elliott with his latest, The Adderall Diaries; plus two events featuring new titles from Chronicle Books, who regularly put out beautiful books; check the website and sign up for their newsletter

• If you haven’t yet visited Stories Bookstore/Cafe in Echo Park, this month presents a couple of good opportunities: an Open House Sat 9/12 6pm; or stop in Mon 9/14 7pm during the Taste of Echo Park; more events TBA; visit the website and sign up for their newsletter

• On Fri 9/11 8pm, the New Short Fiction Series features stories by Bibi Brock Davis, a long-time Contributing Editor at California Homes who has recently turned her hand to fiction, and with considerable success: winning the Southwest Writers Competition, and appearing in two University of California/ Irvine anthologies; become a fan on Facebook and help spread the word about this lively performance series; Beverly Hills Public Library, 444 N. Rexford Drive

• At Book Soup in West Hollywood: 9/3 9:30 – founding father of Black American cinema Melvin Van Peebles with Confessions of a Ex-Doofus Itchyfooted Mutha; 9/17 9:30 – David Cross, I Drink for a Reason; 9/27 4pm – Tao Lin, Shoplifting from American Apparel

• At Pasadena’s Vroman’s Bookstore: 9/3 7pm – Michelle Huneven with Blame; 9/15 7pm – California historian Kevin Starr with his latest, Golden Dreams

• I haven’t written too much here about Diesel Bookstore and their new store in the Brentwood Country Mart at 26th and San Vicente–in part because they’re just down the street from the old Dutton’s, and that’s still a fresh wound. But on Tues 9/22 7pm, they’re hosting an event that’s at the top of my September calendar: Dylan Landis reading from her new short story collection Normal People Don’t Live Like This. Her stories have been published in places like Tin House and Bomb; Vanity Fair recently hailed her characters as “blessedly extraordinary”; and 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout declares the book a “wonderful, intriguing, and original debut.”

• Last but not least, on Sun 9/27 6pm at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, Tongue & Groove closes out the month in style with a line-up that includes my teacher and mentor Lou Mathews

More Literary LA Aug ‘09

Two late additions to the local literary calendar:

• Thurs 8/20, 7:30pm – Skylight Books in Los Feliz presents Dave Eggers reading from and signing his Hurricane Katrina novel, Zeitoun
  
• Sun 8/30, 6pm – at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood (1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga), Tongue & Groove presents the worth-the-price- of-admission-alone Mary Otis (her book Yes, Yes, Cherries is a must for short story lovers), along with fellow New Short Fiction Series alum Larry Fondation; as well as Janet Sarbanes and Antonio Sacre

Literary LA August ‘09

• Stories Bookstore/Cafe in Echo Park kicks off the month in fine fashion, Sat 8/01 8pm, hosting Richard Lange (whose story collection Dead Boys won much praise) with his new LA noir, This Wicked World–poet John Tottenham (Inertia Variations) also reads; Sun 8/09, internet radio station DUBLAB broadcasts live from the store all day (I’m listening now, and it’s all over the place, in a good way); that’s an indication of the wildly eclectic programming at Stories, which includes: Storytime for kids most Wednesday mornings (next session Aug 5 10:30am); tarot card readings Thursday nights; and on Fridays, live music in the morning, and knitting at night; sign up for their newsletter, and check out their expanding cafe offerings (open 8am weekdays)

• at Book Soup in West Hollywood: on Sat 8/01, early hits of culture musical (Patti Smith at noon) and filmic (Werner Herzog at 5pm); Mon 8/10 7pm, what promises to be a terrific reading from the self-proclaimed pulpy litmag Hobart, featuring Tod Goldberg (whose second Burn Notice book is out, and whose new story collection Other Resort Cities is due out soon on Other Voices), and Alicia Gifford (Night Train fiction editor, and a fine writer herself)

• at Los Feliz’ Skylight Books: Tues 8/11 7:30pm, the scarily prolific William Vollmann with Imperial, his look at the tangled border between California and Mexico; Sat 8/22 5pm, Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens, the Frank Oppenheimer story, as told by K.C. Cole (a terrific popular science writer, whose Hole in the Universe introduced me to cosmology and quantum physics); and throughout the summer, Skylight offers ‘Hot Summer Nights,’ staying open till midnight on Fridays and Saturdays

• Fri 8/14 8pm, the New Short Fiction Series, LA’s live literary magazine, presents its annual Emerging Writers Showcase–this year featuring six writers, including two from my writers group, Susan Lindheim and J. Ryan Stradal

• on Sun 8/16 7pm, Cedering Fox’s WordTheatre presents “Thrill or Peril,” tales of adventure read by their author, or by notable actors like Sarah Clarke and Xander Berkeley; at the M Bar

• the following Sunday, 8/23, the Chinatown reading series Vermin on the Mount (so many worthy authors have read there I can’t begin to name them) celebrates their 5-year anniversary

• finally, the Deborah Geffner-directed production of John Patrick Shanley’s “Beggars in the House of Plenty” at Theatre 68 continues until Aug 16–I thought it was terrific; and it just got a stellar review from StageSceneLA

Literary LA July ‘09

• the Hammer at UCLA presents: Wed 7/1 7pm, Wells Tower with Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned; Wed 7/22 7pm, this year’s PEN Emerging Voices Fellows; Tues 7/28 7pm, Francisco Goldman

• at Skylight Books in Los Feliz: Fri 7/10 7:30pm, Richard Lange (whose story collection Dead Boys drew a lot of praise), with his novel This Wicked World; Sat 7/18 4pm, the monthly Skylight Literary Salon (a taste of small press, along with wine & cheese), which this month includes Rose Metal Press (flash and prose poetry); Thurs 7/30 7:30pm, Santa Monica Review founder Jim Krusoe with his novel Erased on Tin House Books

• at Echo Park’s bookstore/cafe Stories: Fri 7/3 8pm, the Wandering Uterus Tour, an all-female performance poetry troupe; Wed 7/22 7pm, Roberta Munroe’s How NOT to Make a Short Film: Secrets from a Sundance Programmer

• Fri 7/10 8pm, the New Short Fiction Series presents “The Agoraphobic’s Holiday & other stories” by Jill Glass; read the title story here

• a busy month at the Central Library’s ALOUD series, including: Wed 7/8 7pm, Richard Rayner’s A Bright & Guilty Place (a history of LA in the 20’s; in conversation with David Ulin); Wed 7/15 7pm, Jim Krusoe in conversation with Michael Silverblatt

• at Book Soup in West Hollywood: Tues 7/7 8pm, Dark Night of the Soul, David Lynch’s collaboration with Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse; Sat 7/18 5pm, Twenty Thousand Roads, David Meyer’s book about the great Gram Parsons

• and at Vromans in Pasadena: Thurs 7/23 7pm, Telex From Cuba by Rachel Kushner, who impressed me at the LA Times BookFest

Tonight: Wells Tower at Hammer

I’m putting together my July literary listings, but wanted to get this out right away: Wells Tower, author of the collection Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (which has created more talk than any collection in a while) is at the Hammer tonight, July 1, at 7pm.

Alice Hoffman Loses It

I have tried to keep this blog positive (the internet has enough snarkiness and wise-cracking), but this ugly bit of business deserves some airing. On Sunday the Boston Globe printed a rather critical review of Alice Hoffman’s latest novel, The Story Sisters. (The reviewer does express admiration for Hoffman’s earlier work, and even parts of this book.) Hoffman was particularly incensed at how much of the plot the review revealed–a valid concern for a writer (and one I try to consider in my own reviews). But Hoffman (via her Twitter account) just lost it, and launched a personal attack on the reviewer, Roberta Silman: calling her a “moron,” listing her phone number and e-mail, and encouraging fans to “tell her off.” (This article on Gawker reproduces some of Hoffman’s tweets–her Twitter account has since been discontinued.)

Happily, the posted phone number was incorrect. Silman diplomatically referred to Hoffman’s outburst as “perplexing.” Before publicly asking, ‘Who [the hell] is Roberta Silman?’ Hoffman should have taken the time to find out herself. Had she done so, she would have found out that Silman has been publishing fiction and criticism steadily for 35 years (in the New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly among other places), and that her work has been recognized by a number of prizes and nominations.

Today, Hoffman issued an apology, albeit tepid and defensive: the issue had been “completely blown out of proportion;” she “didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

p.s. The plot thickens…  It turns out that Hoffman herself once wrote a review that famously enraged a fellow writer:  her 1986 review of Richard Ford’s The Sportswriter prompted Ford to shoot a hole through Hoffman’s latest and send it to her.  Hoffman’s review (requires NYTimes registration) stands out in two respects:  Ford describes it as “nasty” (it isn’t–much as in the latest incident, it expresses great admiration for Ford and his work); and it reveals a number of critical plot-points, Hoffman’s big bone of contention about the review of her own book!

Three words:  thick skin; graciousness.

Book Party

I discovered a new reading series last night (new to me, relatively new to LA) called Book Party, that (mostly) convenes on the 2nd Sunday of the month, at Mandrake, an easy-to-miss bar at 2692 South La Cienega in Culver City. Started in October of last year, the series has already welcomed writers like Aimee Bender, Chris Abani and Rob Roberge. Last night’s show featured J. Ryan Stradal and poet Patty Seyburn (who was so good I bought her latest, Hilarity).

The bar is small but does a nice job with the show. They have a separate room for such events behind the bar, with plenty of seating, and a small outdoor patio beyond that. One minute it’s loud and everyone’s drinking; then they cut the music, pretty much everyone files in and takes a seat, and the reading begins. A dj spins tunes during a short break. It was a good crowd–nearly 30 people.

They’re taking the summer off, but will be back in style in September with Richard Lange (whose story collection Dead Boys wowed critics and helped win him a Guggenheim) with his first novel, This Wicked World.