If one has a full-time job and is also getting work done as a writer, the amount of time left over to attend public literary events is rather limited. Writing is hard work, and a novelist or poet can hardly be blamed for choosing the easier task of attentive reading and heading out to join other writers and readers in affirming the social value of a life devoted to imaginative language (the last phrase being an obvious nod to the final question posed in Cary Nelson’s Repression and Recovery). Temptation is manifold at the end of the first month of this year in Los Angeles: several such events are scheduled for this week. In alphabetical order, here is the list of writers who will read in Los Angeles County between Thursday, January 28th and Sunday, January 31st:
Will Alexander, Heather Altfeld, Juan Felipe Herrera, Devin Johnston, Troy Jollimore, Jim Krusoe, Harry Northup, and Anthony Seidman. (It should be noted that Holly Prado, Jimm Cushing and Phoebe MacAdams will also be reading at Northup’s reading, which celebrates his latest book.)
Thursday, January 28
JUAN FELIPE HERRERA – U.S. Poet Laureate – CSU Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles presents the United States Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera on Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 5:30 p.m.
This event will take place at the Golden Eagle Ballroom at the California State University, Los Angeles. Doors will open at 5:30pm for a buffet reception and the program will begin at 6:30pm. This event is free and open to the public.
Also, on Thursday, January 28 — DEVIN JOHNSTON – at the Hammer Museum
UCLA’s reading series at the Hammer Museum present Devin Johnston reading from his latest collection of poems. Curated by Stephen Yenser and devoted to the memory of Doris Curran, this series is more accessible than one might expect, given its high culture location. Parking is very cheap after 6 p.m., and given that admission is free to the museum, one can turn this into a very inexpensive evening out in which visual art and poetry are available for a couple of dollars total. Devin Johnston will be reading on Thursday evening, January 28.
FRIDAY, January 29th – Beyond Baroque
Will Alexander and Anthony Seidman. Poet/translator Anthony Seidman is the author of a half dozen books including his latest translation of Salvatore Novo’s works in collaboration with David Shook.
Will Alexander one of the most extraordinary poets now working in the United States. He has several books published by New Directions and is one of the poets who has reinvigorated the status of New Directions as an outlet for a new generation of poets.
SATURDAY, January 30th – Beyond Baroque
HARRY NORTHUP – Poet Laureate of East Hollywood – 8 p.m.
On Saturday, Beyond Baroque presents a publication party for the latest book from Cahuenga Press, which is now a quartet of poets: Phoebe MacAdams, Jimm Cushing, Holly Prado and Harry Northup. Cahuenga started out with a half-dozen poets over twenty years ago, and the ability of its original core membership to keep churning out books is a small miracle. The latest book is EAST HOLLYWOOD: Memorial to Reason by Harry Northup, who is also known as an actor in some of the most iconic films of the post-Vietnam era of Hollywood.
BEYOND BAROQUE, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291. (310) 822-3006.
Saturday, January 30, 2016 – 8 p.m.
Also on Saturday, January 30th, at 4:00 PM – Beyond Baroque
TROY JOLLIMORE and HEATHER ALTFELD
Troy Jollimore has a Ph.D. from Princeton and has taught in the Department of Philosophy at CSU Chico for the past 15 years. He has had poems published in almost four dozen magazines, including RATTLE, Ploughshares, Tin House, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and Miramar. His two most recent books are Syllabus of Errors and At Lake Scugog, both published in the Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets. His awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is also the author of several volumes on philosophy, including Loyalty (Routledge).
Heather Altfeld’s first book, “The Disappearing Theater,” was published in 2015. She has had poems published in a score of magazines and teaches at CSU Chico.
JIM KRUSOE – Diesel Books — Sunday, January 31st – 3 p.m.
On Sunday, January 31st, Diesel Books in Santa Monica presents Jim Kruose in a mid-afternoon (3 p.m.) reading. Krusoe will be reading from his newly published novel, The Sleep Garden (Tin House), which is his best book yet. Krusoe is the author of several novels, including Parsifal, Toward You, and Girl Factory. He was the founding editor of the Santa Monica Review. His collections of poetry include History of the World (Bombshelter Press), Small Pianos (Momentum Press), and Jungle Girl (Little Caesar Press).
If you will be up north between Thursday and Sunday, you might want to catch one or two of the leading events up there. On Thursday, January 28, Sarah Menefee and Al Young are reading at Fort Mason in the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library Laureates series. That reading begins at 6:30 p.m.
http://www.friendssfpl.org/events/event-calendar.html/event/2016/01/28/1454034600/thursdays-at-readers-poetry-series/111654
On Friday, January 29, in the Basement Series (1590 Bryant Street, San Francisco, CA 94103), National Book Award nominee & Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, Cristina Garcia, and Carolina De Robertis, author of The Gods of Tango. are reading together.
On Sunday, January 31st, in San Francisco, there will be a major memorial reading for Justin Chin, at the San Francisco Public Library. That event, which will feature over a dozen poets and writer, will take place at the San Francisco Public Library, and will start promptly at 2 p.m. Chin also was honored by a large group of poets and writers in Los Angeles at Skylight Books this past Sunday, January 24th. Chin was the author of several collections of poetry, including Bite Hard (1997), Harmless Medicine (2001), and Gutted (2006), which won the Publishing Triangle’s Thom Gunn Award for Poetry.
For futher information on Justin Chin:
http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2015/12/23/justin-chin-san-francisco-poet-off-life-support-after-stroke/
and
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/San-Francisco-poet-Justin-Chin-dies-at-46-6719862.php
About Bill Mohr