The City of West Hollywood is launching its WeHo Reads literary series 2024 fall season in October with a virtual livestreamed event celebrating National Coming Out Day. The fall season consists of two virtual livestreamed events and one in-person event, all of which are free to attend.

The season opener, WeHo Reads: Creating Queer Families and Communities, will take place online on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. In celebration of National Coming Out Day, WeHo Reads gathers authors and poets to discuss the evolution of coming out alongside the rise in visibility of LGBTQ+ individuals and families and creating queer families and communities. The conversation will address giving and receiving love in the families we build or choose, pathways to LGBTQ+ parenting, as well as the power of being out, the power of community, and the power of storytelling for families and folks in the margins. Featuring Meliza Bañales, poet and author of the ’90s coming-out/coming-of-age novel Life Is Wonderful, People Are Terrific, which was a 2016 Lambda Literary Finalist; Lane Igoudin, author of the foster-adoptive memoir A Family, Maybe; and Hazel Kight Witham, author of the memoir-in-verse The Truth About Secrets. Watch live on the City of West Hollywood’s WeHo Arts YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/wehoarts.

 The second event, WeHo Reads: Imagining and Building Restorative Communities, will take place online on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Some authors are taking a hard look at society IRL (in real life) and virtually, pinpointing the ways we come up short in connecting with and loving one another. Featuring Ryane Nicole Granados (author of The Aves); PJ Manney, author of the bestselling Philip K. Dick Award nominated Phoenix Horizon trilogy, (R)EVOLUTION, (ID)ENTITY, and (CON)SCIENCE; and Sarah Rafael Garcia, author, community educator, performance ethnographer and founder of LibroMobile. The event will open with an original poem read by Jen Cheng, West Hollywood City Poet Laureate and author of Braided Spaces. Watch live on the City of West Hollywood’s WeHo Arts YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/wehoarts.

The final event of 2024, WeHo Reads: Through a Lens Queerly, will take place on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in-person at the City of West Hollywood’s Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. This discussion will bring together a poet and author, a photographer, and a culture writer to discuss how they point a critical lens at themselves and their community and answer the questions: What makes a memory? What makes an idol? Featuring Charles Jensen, author of Splice of Life: A Memoir in 13 Film Genres and the collection of poetry Instructions between Takeoff and Landing; Manuel Betancourt, the author of The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men; and Aaron Jay Young, a portrait photographer and the author of Queen. The event will open with an original poem read by Jen Cheng, West Hollywood City Poet Laureate and author of Braided Spaces. Books will be available for purchase by Book Soup, an independent bookstore located in West Hollywood since 1975. RSVP in advance by visiting the WeHo Reads webpage on the City of West Hollywood’s website at www.weho.org/wehoreads.

About WeHo Reads – WeHo Reads is the City of West Hollywood’s literary series, which has presented new, diverse, and notable writers of interest to the West Hollywood community since 2013. Just a few notable past participants have included: André Aciman, Armistead Maupin, Charles Yu, Chris Kraus, Curtis Chin, Danez Smith, David Ulin, Eileen Myles, Emma Donoghue, LeVar Burton, Natalie Goldberg, Natasha Deón, Nina Revoyr, Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco, Stephen Chbosky, and Walter Mosely. A more comprehensive list of WeHo Reads participants is available on the City’s website.

WeHo Reads is presented by the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division and is produced by BookSwell, a literary events and media company dedicated to lifting-up writers from historically excluded communities.

For additional information about WeHo Reads events, for viewing links, and to RSVP, visit www.weho.org/wehoreads.

For more information about WeHo Reads, please contact Mike Che, City of West Hollywood Arts Coordinator, at (323) 848-6377 or at mche@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

For up-to-date information about City of West Hollywood news and events, follow @wehocity on social media, sign-up for news updates at www.weho.org/email, and visit the City’s calendar of meetings and events at www.weho.org/calendar. West Hollywood City Hall is open for walk-in services at public counters or by appointment by visiting www.weho.org/appointments. City Hall services are accessible by phone at (323) 848-6400 and via website at www.weho.org. Receive text updates by texting “WeHo” to (323) 848-5000.

For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information about the City of West Hollywood, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Public Information Officer, Sheri A. Lunn, at (323) 848-6391 or slunn@weho.org.