Next Tuesday, July 26th, my pal Alia Yunis is taking part in a reading as part of her PEN fellowship. So, if you are in or around LA, please take the time to check it out.
Below are the details:
Los Angeles Public Library and PEN Center USA present
“Readings by the Emerging Voices Rosenthal Fellows”
Tuesday July 26th, 7 p.m.
Mark Taper Auditorium, Downtown Central Library
630 West 5th Street, Los Angeles
Free Admission
Reservations Highly RecommendedThe Los Angeles Public Library and PEN Center USA present an evening of readings by the Emerging Voices Rosenthal Fellows, the participants in PEN’s renowned program of literary mentorship, Wednesday, July 26th, at 7 p.m. in the Mark Taper Auditorium of the Downtown Central Library at 630 West 5th Street. Hosted by acclaimed novelist LESLIE SHWARTZ, the program will feature novelists CYNTHIA BOND, JAWANZA DUMISANI, QEVIN OJI, and ALIA YUNIS, and non-fiction authors ROBBIE FRANDSEN and LAN TRAN. Admission is free. Parking is $7 in the library garage at 524 S. Flower St. Call (213) 365-8500 for more information.
Now in its tenth year, Emerging Voices is an eight-month program involving one-on-one sessions with mentors, workshops with established writers and editors, classes in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, literary readings, meetings with local writers and literary professionals and teaching residencies in Los Angeles community centers or libraries. Writers are recommended by community-based arts organizations or apply at large. This year’s mentors and instructors are CHRIS ABANI, JENOYNE ADAMS, MARIA AMPARO ESCANDON, ELLEN SLEZAK, CARLA LAZZARESCHI, KEVIN STARR, and LESLIE SCHWARTZ. Other authors and literary professionals who volunteered their time to the program were Betsy Amster, Kate Gale, Donna Hilbert, Judith Searle, Teena Apeles, Andrea Richards, John Rechy, Hope Edelman, Noel Alumit.
Host Leslie Schwartz is the author of two novels, Jumping the Green and Angels Crest. She teaches writing at UCLA Extension and privately through her company West Coast Writers Workshops. She has been an Emerging Voices mentor for the last three years and is also the reporter for the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses in New York City.
Since Emerging Voices’ inception in 1996, past program participants have gone on to receive book deals with major publishers (Henry Holt, Simon and Schuster, MacAdam Cage), produce a national bestseller (Jenoyne Adams’ Resurrecting Mingus) and an award-winning novel (Noël Alumit’s Letters to Montgomery Clift), receive notable fellowships and grants (Sundance Creative Writing Fellowships, Durfee Foundation Artist Award, La Napoule Residency, among others), and see their work published in numerous literary magazines, journals, anthologies and national newspapers. Emerging Voices is made possible in part by grants and donations from the Rosenthal Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, The Entertainment Industry Foundation and individual PEN members.
PEN Center USA, founded in 1943, is part of an international organization of professional writers created in 1921 to defend freedom of expression and foster a vital literary community worldwide. PEN USA sponsors a wide range of ongoing programs and participates in human rights campaigns on behalf of censored and imprisoned writers.
The Los Angeles Public Library serves the largest population in the nation with its Central Library, 67 branch libraries and four bookmobiles.
myfanwy collins 