{"id":372983,"date":"2026-06-24T13:11:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/372983\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T13:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:11:21","slug":"l-a-s-15-best-summer-literary-happenings-readings-and-book-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/372983\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A.\u2019s 15 best summer literary happenings, readings and book events"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the beginning of Mary H.K. Choi\u2019s wildly entertaining presentation for her new novel \u201cPool House\u2019\u201d<\/a> at Skylight Books, she reveals she won\u2019t be reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cReadings are boring,\u201d she says, tapping her Prada loafers. \u201cIt\u2019s like you\u2019re watching someone else play video games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, she and Yasi Salek<\/a>, host of the hit podcast \u201cBandsplain<\/a>,\u201d spend the evening riffing on literature, coolness, autism diagnoses and a literary perennial: unrelenting pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow is your mother wound?\u201d Salek asks in her signature vocal fry most often heard ad-libbing about the band Weezer. Salek reveals she is in Jungian therapy, adding, \u201cWhat Carl says, goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the discussion, Choi describes her novel as a challenging read \u2014 calling it a \u201cgross, decaying meat soup.\u201d She jokes that her career as an author feels like a \u201cMake-A-Wish Foundation wish,\u201d bewildered by any attention her work has garnered. Yet dozens of eager readers have packed into the independent bookstore, spilling into the aisles with copies of the novel balanced on their laps.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublishing is so slow, it\u2019s like giving birth to a lawn chair,\u201d Choi remarks. Later, she professes tedium with the resurgence of an alt-lit scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you find that everyone has to be cool right now? Why is everyone so cool?\u201d Choi asks Salek.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear: Salek and Choi are very cool. Salek sits cross-legged, dressed in all black, with a heart tattoo on her forearm that reads \u201cbooks.\u201d Before \u201cPool House,\u201d Choi authored three New York Times bestselling novels. Salek recounts dropping out of her MFA program at Bennington College in 2020 to start what would become a cult-classic podcast.<\/p>\n

\"Book-themed <\/p>\n

Book-themed sugar cookies sold at a past Little Literary Fair at Hauser & Wirth.<\/p>\n

(Francine Orr \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that you started a podcast instead of getting an MFA,\u201d Choi replies.<\/p>\n

Like Skylight Books, independent bookstores across Los Angeles have become gathering places for readers and writers alike. Authors ranging from household names to debut novelists regularly draw enthusiastic crowds. Increasingly, bookstores are functioning not only as retail spaces but as community hubs.<\/p>\n

A few blocks from Echo Park Lake, local favorite A Good Used Book<\/a> has transformed Sunday mornings into one of the neighborhood\u2019s liveliest recurring gatherings. Visitors browse used books while enjoying charcoal portraits, handmade jewelry and Hawaiian shaved ice. Buy a book and you might even end up on the store\u2019s coveted Instagram Story <\/a>\u2014 the hottest plug in town.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like in a city as big as Los Angeles, books are still underrepresented. So there\u2019s a lot of room to grow, and that\u2019s exciting,\u201d says Chris Capizzi, who founded the bookstore in 2017.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Review of Books hosted its annual Little Literary Fair<\/a> at SCI-Arc, drawing hundreds to literary panels and workshops on zine-making, publishing and finding an agent. Vendors from across California filled the space, representing independent presses, bookstores and literary magazines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find writers based [in the L.A. area] to be socially incisive in equal measure as being experimental, innovative and just fun,\u201d says Emily VanKoughnett, the events director at the Los Angeles Review of Books<\/a>. \u201cI love the L.A. lit scene because it invites people to explore pockets of the city and connect over writing.\u201d <\/p>\n

This summer, literary events across Los Angeles are continuing to draw readers into bookstores, community spaces and alternative venues alike. The city\u2019s literary scene remains as weird, profane and sentimental as ever.<\/p>\n

For the record:<\/p>\n

10:14 p.m. June 23, 2026A previous version of this article misspelled the literary magazine Currant Jam. Additionally, the \u201cAmy Chozick in Conversation with Jessica Yellin\u201d event at Zibby\u2019s Bookstore was listed with an incorrect date; the event takes place on July 28 at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n