Calendar for Southern California

Updated August 26, 2008

August 1-31, 2008 S M T W Th F S 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24/31 25 26 27 28 29 30

5 AUGUST---tuesday:
NORTH:
• San Buenaventura Artists' Union presents an open mike night hosted by Roe Estep, featuring poet Kevin Patrick Sullivan, Artists' Union Gallery, 330 South California Street, Ventura, 7:30 (805/320-3524, www.venturaartistsunion.org)

9 AUGUST---saturday:
CENTRAL:
• Hammer Reading Series presents journalist and novelist Meghan Daum, The Quality of Life Report, and novelist Nina Revoyr, The Age of Dreaming, book signing to follow, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Boulevard, LA, free, 5:00 (310/443-7000, www.hammer.ucla.edu)
NORTH:
• The Poetry Zone presents a reading by poet Melinda Palacio, hosted by Suzanna Frost, open mike follows, Karpeles Manuscript Museum, 21 W. Anapamu, Santa Barbara, 2:00-4:00 (805/252-1655)

11 AUGUST---monday:
CENTRAL:
• Moonday, A West Side Reading Series presents a reading by Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Annie Reiner, open mike follows, Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore Avenue, just north of Sunset, Pacific Palisades, 7:30 (310/454-4063, www.moondaypoetry.com)

12 AUGUST---tuesday:
CENTRAL:
• Cobalt Poets presents Elena Karina Byrne and an open reading, seven minute limit, The Cobalt Café, 22047 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, sign up 8:30, reading 9:00 (818/348-3789, poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt)
NORTH:
• The Ventura Writers Club presents a contributors reading by poets featured in its anthology, readers include Lori Anaya, Cathryn Andresen, Kathleen Auth, Lisa Barreto, Diana Blackburn, Danielle Brown, Greg Elliot, Sheli Ellsworth, Barbara Piszczek, Mario Speiser, Phil Taggart, Doris Vernon, William Vietinghoff, Paul Westefer, and Maggie Westland, Borders Books, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Ventura, 7:00 (805/497-8149)

14 AUGUST---thursday:
NORTH:
• Kate English hosts a poetry reading by Tim Tipton, open mike follows, The Old Town Studio Gallery, 2165 Ventura Blvd., Camarillo, 7:30

17 AUGUST---sunday:
NORTH:
• Corners of the Mouth presents a poetry reading by Holaday Mason, Michael May, and Scott Barrett, open reading limited to five minutes of original work follows, Linnaea's Café, 1110 Garden Street, San Luis Obispo, free, 7:00 (805/547-1318, www.languageofthesoul.org)

19 AUGUST---tuesday:
CENTRAL:
• The Valley Contemporary Poets presents a reading by featured guest Jamie O'Halloran, open reading to follow, seven minute limit, The Cobalt Café, 22047 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, sign up 8:30, reading 9:00 (818/348-3789, poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt)

26 AUGUST---tuesday:
CENTRAL:
• Extraordinary spoken word at "Celebrate the Word," Greenway's First Annual Spoken Word Poetry Festival, Da' Poetry Lounge, Greenway Court Theater, 544 N. Fairfax Blvd., LA (call for tickets and details: 323/655-7679x100, www.dapoetrylounge.com)
• Cobalt Poets presents a 'classic' open reading with no featured poet, seven minute limit, The Cobalt Café, 22047 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, sign up 8:30, reading 9:00 (818/348-3789, poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt)
NORTH:
• San Buenaventura Artists' Union presents an open mike night hosted by Roe Estep, featuring poet Mary Pat Nally, Artists' Union Gallery, 330 South California Street, Ventura, 7:30 (805/320-3524, www.venturaartistsunion.org)

27 AUGUST--wednesday:
CENTRAL:
• Casa Romantica Reading Series presents a reading by Denise Hamilton, author of the Eve Diamond series and editor of the anthology Los Angeles Noir, Casa Romantica Cultural Center & Gardens, 415 Avenida Granada, San Clemente, free, 7:00 (949/498-2139, www.casaromanticareadingseries.org)

28 AUGUST--thursday:
CENTRAL:
• The Third Area: Poetry at Pharmaka, a reading with featured poets Jan Wesley, Living in Freefall; Noah Blaustein, Elena Karina Byrne, MASQUE; Brendan Constantine, Letters To Guns, forthcoming from Red Hen Press; Pharmaka Art Gallery, Gallery Row, 101 West 5th Street, LA, $5, 8:00 (213/689-7799, www.pharmaka-art.org)

30 AUGUST---saturday:
CENTRAL:
• Emerging Urban Poets writing workshop, 1:30-2:30; Pure Poetry critique workshop, 2:45-3:45; backroom, Santa Catalina Branch, Pasadena Public Library, 999 W. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, free, drop-in, attend one or both (http://community.livejournal.com/saturday_poetry)
• Saturday Afternoon Poetry presents the awards ceremony for the Make Your Mark with Poetry Contest, first prize is a pre-inked stamp featuring the winning poem, usable up to fifty thousand times, seven runners-up receive a set of minicards of their poems, plus open reading, backroom, Santa Catalina Branch, Pasadena Public Library, 999 W. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, free, 4:00-5:00 (http://community.livejournal.com/saturday_poetry)
• Poetry reading featuring many prominent local poets reading a poem by the late Douglas Dvorkin, with Georgia Jones-Davis; Don Kingfisher Campbell, poetry host and publisher of San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly; Ron (Goose) Gregus; Joe Cami, co-host of the reading at the Rapp Saloon; Mani Suri, Poetry My Wife Hates and the Mistresses I Could Have Had Would Have Loved; artist/poet Dori Marler; Jeffery Alan Rocklin; Norman Molesko; Stosh Mackek, host of the Brand Bookshop Poetry Showcase; Calokie; Jack Cooper, Across My Silence, poems; actor/poet Tucker Smallwood; Jerry Jerome; performance poet Dave Nordling, From The Blue Folder; musician/spoken word artist Gary Justice; Pete Justice, Truths, Taps and Time; Jack Bowman; LA poetry icon and Cobalt Café poetry host Rick Lupert; spoken work artist/writer Brenda Petrakos; Larry Colker, What the Lizard Knows, winner of the Poets & Writers California Poetry Contest; Katherina Canyon, Poet Laureate, Sunland Tujunga, organizer of the Sunland-Tujunga Poetry Festival; Lynne Bronstein, Border Crossing; Pam Gregus; Ivan Smason, Marijuana, a poetry CD, Jazz Boy, chapbook; Scott Miller; Jonathan Knell, The Book on Jon; Adam Breeson; Anita Von Tellengan; Sonya Sabanac; Toby Salkin; Jon Epstein; open reading hosted by Ron Dvorkin follows, Barnes & Noble, 16461 Ventura Blvd., Encino, 7:00 (818/380-1636)
NORTH:
• Friday's on Saturday presents a poetry reading by Kimberly Young, plus open mike hosted by Friday, The Bell Arts Factory, 432 N. Ventura Avenue, Ventura, 7:30 (805/643-1960, www.bellartsfactory.com)

31 AUGUST---sunday:
CENTRAL:
• Poetry event accompanied on the guitar by New York singer-songwriter Michael Pliskin, featuring Ellen; Native American poet and artist Sharmagne Leland-St. John, editor of online zines Quill and Parchment.com; award-winning poet Sherman Pearl, a founder of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival; and American Indian Movement activist and poet Abel Salas, Coffee Gallery, 2029 N. Lake Blvd., Altadena, $10, 2:00 (626/398-7917, http://coffeegalleryaltadena.com)