WeHo Reads: Power and Progress during Black History Month

Wednesday, February 26, 2025 | 6:30–8:00 p.m. PT

Free, Online

How do writers use their imaginations to empower themselves and their audiences? How do their stories shape the future?

The series opener for WeHo Reads 2025 will feature four dynamic writers whose work delves into untold histories, urgent social issues, and enduring legacies of resilience during Black History Month.

Participating writers will include: Angela M. Franklin, whose poetry and essays confront topics often left unspoken and who recently won an Honorable Mention Award from the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest for her poem "Unbroken Habit"; Jenise Miller, a Pushcart-nominated poet and author of The Blvd, whose work explores intersectional history and geography; Pam Ward, a California Arts Council Literary Fellow and author of Want Some Get Some, Bad Girls Burn Slow, and Between Good Men & No Man At All; and Romaine Washington, editor of These Black Bodies Are… A Blacklandia Anthology and author of the poetry mini-memoir Purgatory Has an Address and the artivist collection Sirens in Her Belly.

The event is free and available to watch via YouTube Live on the WeHo Arts channel. RSVP for a reminder here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/weho-reads-2025-3999003 

WeHo Reads is a literary series presented by the City of West Hollywood. For more information and events, visit www.weho.org/wehoreads. The 2025 season is produced by BookSwell, a literary media company amplifying historically excluded voices. Additional support is provided by Poets & Writers and media partnerships with Book Soup and Los Angeles Review of Books.

WeHo Reads: Feminism and Fearlessness During Women's History Month

March 19, 2025, 6:30pm - 8:00pm (PT)

Free, Online, www.youtube.com/wehoarts 

RSVP for a reminder: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/weho-reads-2025-3999003

How do writers channel their imaginations to confront fear, champion equity, and reimagine the world? How can their fearless storytelling inspire advocacy and action?

As part of Women’s History Month, this literary reading and panel discussion in the WeHo Reads 2025 series explores feminism and bold creative expression. Four exceptional writers—each with a unique voice and perspective—will discuss their artistic journeys, inspirations, and how their work uplifts communities and advocates for social justice.

The event will feature: Katya Apekina, an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and translator, whose second novel, Mother Doll, was named a Best Book of 2024 by Vogue; Olga García Echeverría, a bilingual poet and cultural archivist whose work amplifies queer and feminist voices, including her stewardship of the literary legacy of lesbian Colombian writer tatiana de la tierra; Angelina Sáenz, an award-winning educator, poet, and author of Waiting for Luna and two poetry collections, Edgecliff and Maestra; and Kate Stayman-London, the bestselling author of One to Watch, a screenwriter, and a political strategist.

The event is free and available to watch via YouTube Live on the WeHo Arts channel. Learn more at www.weho.org/wehoreads.

WeHo Reads is a literary series presented by the City of West Hollywood. For more information and events, visit www.weho.org/wehoreads. The 2025 season is produced by BookSwell, a literary media company amplifying historically excluded voices. Additional support is provided by Poets & Writers and media partnerships with Book Soup and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/weho-reads-2025-3999003 

WeHo Reads: Richard Blanco and Kim Dower

Wednesday, April 16, 6:30-8:00pm (PT)

Free, Online, www.youtube.com/wehoarts 

RSVP for a reminder: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/weho-reads-2025-3999003

What role does poetry play in shaping our sense of self and our connection to the world? How can poetic expression illuminate identity, belonging, and universal truths?

Join us for an inspiring National Poetry Month discussion between two celebrated poets whose work explores the intersection of identity, culture, and human connection. This engaging conversation will delve into their creative processes, their perspectives on poetry as a transformative art form, and the ways their experiences have shaped their work.

The event will feature:

• Richard Blanco, the fifth Presidential Inaugural Poet, selected by President Obama, and a National Humanities Medal recipient. As a poet, memoirist, and advocate, Blanco’s work—including How To Love a Country and Homeland of My Body—reflects on cultural identity, belonging, and the human spirit, earning him widespread acclaim and recognition as a voice for diversity and justice.
• Kim Dower, former West Hollywood City Poet Laureate, whose six acclaimed poetry collections—including her newest, What She Wants, Poems on Obsession, Desire, Despair, Euphoria as well as the bestselling I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom—are known for blending humor and heartache, memory and loss. Dower’s work has appeared in Ploughshares, Rattle, and O Magazine and is included in major anthologies such as Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond.
• Current West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng will read a new poem at the beginning of the event.

This dynamic event will offer insights into the transformative power of poetry and its ability to inspire both personal and collective change.

WeHo Reads: Voices of Transformation

Wednesday, October 8, 2025 | 6:30–8 p.m. (PT)

In Person: West Hollywood Library Community Room, 625 N San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Free, RSVP Requested

To achieve transformation, we must first imagine it. The fall season of WeHo Reads 2025 begins with four authors summoning their powers of creativity and advocacy. The participating writers will share expansive visions of life, death, and the profound, sometimes unsettling moments that lie between.

This event takes place during both LGBTQ History Month and National Hispanic Heritage Month, and brings together poets and authors with queer and marginalized perspectives on the transformative power of literature. Featuring: Carlos Allende, educator and author of Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love and Love, or the Witches of Windward Circle; Gina Rae Duran, interdisciplinary artist, trauma informed educator, and editor of The White Picket Fence: Stories of Individuality as Rebelliousness anthology, forthcoming FlowerSong Press; Myriam Gurba, activist and author of several books including Poppy State: A Labyrinth of Plants and a Story of Beginnings; and Dan López, editor and author of The Show House, named a Best Book of 2016 by Chicago Review of Books, and Part the Hawser, Limn the Sea. 

West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng will open the event with the reading of a poem. 

Attendees are advised that the program may include mature language and themes.

The event is free. WeHo Reads is a literary series presented by the City of West Hollywood. For more information and events, visit www.weho.org/wehoreads. The 2025 season is produced by BookSwell, a literary media company amplifying historically excluded voices. Media partnerships with Book Soup and Los Angeles Review of Books.

WeHo Reads: Wild and Powerful Imaginations

Wednesday, November 12, 2025 | 6:30–8 p.m. (PT)

Online Via Zoom and YouTube www.youtube.com/wehoarts 

Free, RSVP Requested (click here) 

How do writers harness their imaginations to create new worlds, reshape realities, and advocate for justice? How can their stories help us envision more inclusive futures? 

This event brings together three groundbreaking trans authors whose work expands the horizons of speculative fiction, journalism, and cultural commentary. Through their novels, anthologies, and advocacy, these writers transform personal and collective experiences into bold acts of creativity and resistance.

The Transgender Awareness Month event will feature: Charlie Jane Anders, award-winning author of Lessons in Magic and Disaster, a new novel about a trans witch who teaches her mother magic; M. M. Olivas, a trans, Xicanxfuturist, author of Sundown in San Ojuela, and alumna of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop and the Lambda Literary Workshop; and Tuck Woodstock, host of the celebrated Gender Reveal podcast and the editor of both the Lambda Literary Award-winning 2 Trans 2 Furious: An Extremely Serious Journal of Transgender Street Racing Studies and the upcoming anthology Sex Change and the City (Girl Dad Press).

Attendees are advised that the program may include mature language and themes.

The event is free. WeHo Reads is a literary series presented by the City of West Hollywood. For more information and events, visit www.weho.org/wehoreads. The 2025 season is produced by BookSwell, a literary media company amplifying historically excluded voices. Additional support is provided by media partnerships with Book Soup and Los Angeles Review of Books.

WeHo Reads: Going Dark to Bring Light

Wednesday, December 3, 2025 | 6:30–8 p.m. (PT)

Online Via Zoom and YouTube www.youtube.com/wehoarts 

Free, RSVP Requested

Writers of mystery and crime fiction walk a tightrope between revelation and revulsion. They crack open the facades of families, cities, and histories to expose what festers underneath. Whether through the sly charm of a cozy, the razor edge of noir, or the suffocating weight of suspense, these stories don’t just entertain—they force us to confront the mess of being human.

Heading into the winter season, we explore dark themes in fiction to shed light on humanity’s capacity for grace and terrible crimes. Featuring: Jennifer Chow, Lefty-Award nominee and author of the Magical Fortune Cookie novels, L.A. Night Market Mysteries, and Sassy Cat series; Nicholas George, author of the A Walk Through England mystery series; Tori Eldridge, author of Kaua’i Storm and the Lily Wong Thrillers—nominated for the Anthony, Lefty, and Macavity Awards and winner of the 2021 Crimson Scribe for Best Book of the Year; and Georgia Jeffries, USC School of Cinematic Arts professor and award-winning author of The Younger Girl, a Midwest noir based on a true crime of family murder and betrayal that crosses three generations.

Attendees are advised that the program may include mature language and themes.

The event is free. WeHo Reads is a literary series presented by the City of West Hollywood. For more information and events, visit www.weho.org/wehoreads. The 2025 season is produced by BookSwell, a literary media company amplifying historically excluded voices. Additional support is provided by media partnerships with Book Soup and Los Angeles Review of Books.

Watch past videos on WeHo Arts YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/wehoarts

See photos from past events here.

WeHo Reads 2019, WeHo Reads 2018, WeHo Reads 2017.

WeHo Reads 2016, WeHo Reads 2015, 2014 WeHo Reads NOIR,  WeHo Reads 2013

The WeHo Reads series, established in 2013, is a celebrated literary series featuring new, diverse, and noteworthy authors of interest to the West Hollywood community.

Just a few of our notable past participants include:

• Alonso Duralde
• André Aciman
• Andrew Rannells
• Annabelle Gurwitch
• Attica Locke
• Arlene and Alan Alda
• Armistead Maupin
• Arthur Dong
• Bianca Del Rio
• Brian Sonia-Wallace
• bridgette bianca
• Bryan Fuller
• Carla Sameth
• Carrie Brownstein
• Charles Flowers
• Charles Phoenix
• Charles Jenson
• Charles Yu
• Chris Kraus
• Curtis Chin
• Danez Smith
• Dasha Kelly Hamilton
• David Francis
• David Ulin
• Eileen Myles
• Eloise Klein Healy
• Emma Donoghue
• Erwin Chemerinsky
• Henry Rollins
• Imani Tolliver
• Ivy Bottini
• Jacob Tobia
• James Sie
• Jasmin Iolani Hakes
• Jervey Tervalon
• Joe Ide
• Josephine Giles
• Kazim Ali
• Kim Dower
• Lester Graves Lennon
• LeVar Burton
• Lillian Faderman
• Lisa Napoli
• Lloyd Schwartz
• Lorna Luft
• Luis J. Rodriguez
• Lynell George
• Lynne Thompson
• Manuel Betancourt
• Meredith Maran
• Michael York
• Michelle Visage
• Morgan Parker
• Myriam Gurba
• Natalie Goldberg
• Natasha Deón
• Nina Revoyr
• Patrisse Cullors
• Patt Morrison
• Peter J. Harris
• PJ Manney
• Pickle the Drag Queen
• Rachel M. Harper
• Randa Jarrar
• Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco
• Rasheed Newson
• Ryan Gosling
• Ryka Aoki
• Sam Wasson
• Sarah Rafael Garcia
• Sarah Silverman
• Seymour Stein
• Shonda Buchanan
• Steph Cha
• Stephen Chbosky
• Steven Reigns
• Tananarive Due
• Terry Wolverton
• Tim and Eric (Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim)
• Timothy Simons
• traci kato-kiriyama
• Walter Mosely

You can access our reading list here.

All recorded presentations can be viewed on our WeHo Arts YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/wehoarts.

Please support your local West Hollywood bookseller by buying books from WeHo Reads authors from Book Soup.

For questions regarding WeHo Reads, contact Mike Che, City of West Hollywood Arts Coordinator, at mche@weho.org