Category: Events

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Come celebrate: 11/1 is my birthday. Cake Time!

November is one of my favorite months — because my birthday falls in it (My wishlist is here, just FYI).

But I’m especially looking forward to it this year because it’s going to be a month of firsts: First time leading a National Writing Month workshop, first time judging a short story contest for Prism Review, first time getting to do a reading in San Diego, and first time visiting Florida for the Miami Book Festival. Help me celebrate my birthday all month by taking part in one or all of these firsts with me —

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First, get your National Novel Writing Month goals started with the Palos Verdes Library District, which has workshops, write-ins, and networking events planned all month. Participants get a chance to be included in a PVLD anthology! I’ll be leading the first event:

National Writing Month workshop with Siel Ju
Title: How to build your author platform: Find, Connect, and Engage with Your Readers
Thursday, November 2, 2017, 6 pm – 7:15 pm
Peninsula Center Library community room, 701 Silver Spur Road, Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.

RSVP to Joshua at jpeck@pvld.org or 310.377.9584 x 214 by Oct. 31 to claim your spot and to find out about future events, which include three write-ins as well as two more workshops, one on editing with Kate Gale and another on publishing with Jennie Nash.

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Then come say hello at the next Dirty Laundry Lit event, where I’ll be reading with Samantha Dunn, Ben Loory, Lauren Eggert-Crowe, Jessica Ankeny, Shaherah White, Tod Goldberg, and Alex Espinosa.

Dirty Laundry Lit: Safe Word
Saturday, November 4, 2017, 7 pm
The Virgil, 4519 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles

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If you’ll be in Miami mid-month, drop by the Miami Book Fair, where I’ll be on a debut authors panel with Achy Obejas, Elizabeth Nunez, and Shani Mootoo:

Fresh Fiction: A Reading at Miami Book Fair (Nov. 12 – Nov. 19)
Sat., November 18, 2007, 10:30 am
Room 8201 (Building 8, 2nd Floor), 300 NE Second Ave.
Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus, Miami, Florida

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And if you’ll be in San Diego late November, come to my reading on the college campus:

Living Writers Series: San Diego State University
Wednesday, November 29, 2017, 7 pm
Love Library 430/31, SDSU, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA

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Then you have until the very last day of the month to enter Prism Review‘s annual fiction and poetry contests! I’ll be judging the short stories. Send your short story of 8000 or fewer words for a chance to win $250 and publication in Prism Review, an annual publication put together by creative writing students at the University of La Verne. All entries are considered for publication, and entrants get copies of the review. There’s a poetry contest too, judged by Jared Stanely. Enter here.

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Lastly — My novel-in-stories Cake Time got a sweet review in Necessary Fiction:

The unnamed narrator in Ju’s novel feels like she could be the literary cousin of Denis Johnson’s unnamed narrator in his masterpiece Jesus’ Son. Ju’s narrator wanders forward through time, from one story to another, in much the same way, tracing the arc of her addiction—not to drugs, but to the cycle of reckless relationships with men.

If you haven’t ready it yet, I hope you’ll pick up a copy at your favorite bookstore–or from me at one of the events this month. Happy November everyone —

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Cake Time gets a review in ZYZZYVA — Plus see you at six October events

Siel Ju and Lisa Locascio, a few Halloweens ago

One of my first fiction publications was in the west coast lit journal ZYZZYVA a few years ago. That story’s included in my novel-in-stories Cake Time published a few months ago, and a few days ago, ZZYZZYVA reviewed Cake Time so I feel like the world’s come full circle:

For Siel Ju’s narrator, there are no easy answers or tidy morals to unpack after a relationship fizzles—that’s just life…. Cake Time is a great story collection for our present moment; an exploration of love, morality, and contentment that proves such concepts can be as murky and uncertain as a wisp of cigarette smoke outside a chic bar.

I love this review partly because I love ZZYZZYVA but mostly because I’ve always wanted to be mentioned in the same piece as Lorrie Moore and Mary Gaitskill and now I have! Read the full review on ZYZZYVA.

Then come hang with me in person this Halloween month. I’ll be in costume in some or all of the events and would love to see you there —

First up, a reading for literary journal The Los Angeles Review, with John Brantingham, Brittany Ackerman, Emma Trelles, and L.A. Times book reporter Agatha French. I am told there will be free booze at this one —

The Los Angeles Review Reading
(Facebook event page)
Friday, October 6, 2017, 7:30 pm
The Last Bookstore, 453 S Spring St, Los Angeles.

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Then celebrate National Reading Group Month with the L.A. chapter of Women’s National Book Association who’ll be hosting an author panel with me, plus Abbi Waxman (The Garden of Small Beginnings) and Gabrielle Zevin (Young Jane Young) — both of whom I’m excited to meet —

National Reading Group Month Authors Panel
(Facebook event page)
Wednesday, October 11, 2017, 7:30 pm
Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles

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Mid-month, news site The LA Lit Review will host Indie Author Day with a host of local readers giving short readings. I’ll be one of them — plus there’ll be refreshments, a short film screening, a comedy skit, and an acoustic musical performance.

Indie Author Day
Saturday, October 14, 2017, 3 pm – 5 pm
Junipero Serra branch library, 4607 S Main St, Los Angeles

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Then I’ll be playing host myself, leading a discussion of The Handmaid’s Tale at Pen Center USA’s Edison Book Club. I first read the book back in college; I’m now in the middle of the Hulu series as part of my preparations for this evening. Come for the specialty cocktails!

Pen Center USA’s Edison Book Club
(I will host this month’s event; more about the book club here)
Wednesday, October 18, 2017, 6 pm – 8pm
The Edison, 108 W 2nd St, #101, Los Angeles

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Near the end of the month, Lit Crawl LA will return to North Hollywood. I’ll be at a Red Hen reading event there — but the schedule still isn’t up so I don’t know when and where it’ll be! For now, just block out the night for the crawl —

Lit Crawl L.A.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017, time TBD
NoHo Arts District, North Hollywood

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And lastly, if you’ve ever wanted to attend a posh literary salon in a private home in North Hollywood, here’s your chance. I’ll be reading with Maggie Smith — Get in touch with me for a private invite.

Los Angeles Review Salon
(Private event — Email me for an invite)
Sunday, October 29, 2017, 2 pm

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It’ll be a busy month and I hope you’ll make time to see me! Come in costume or as yourself and if I don’t see you before then, happy Halloween —

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All Lit Up: Monthly poetry and prose fest at Chevalier’s Books

Start going to literary readings in L.A., and you’ll likely run into Rich Ferguson fairly soon. Rich is a fixture in the L.A. literary community known for three things: His wide-brimmed straw hat, his ability to perform long poems of his from memory, and his fantastic reading series, All Lit Up.

Okay, he’s known for other things too, like his lovely novel, New Jersey Me — but this post is about All Lit Up!

Originally started by Rich and Stephanie Barbé Hammer more than two years ago, All Lit Up is a monthly reading series that happens at Chevalier’s Books, in conjunction with the bookstore’s own Liz Newstat. The format of the event’s shifted a bit over the months, but these days, All Lit Up generally features a trio of readers — with occasional open mics, impromptu readings by local writers who happen to be in the audience, and a closing poetry performance by Rich himself.

Earlier this month, I got to read from Cake Time at All Lit Up, along with Guggenheim fellowship recipient Victoria Chang and Wallace Stegner Fellow Charif Shanahan! It was a fun night — with Morgan Parker (There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé) and a bunch of local poets in the house. I may have been the only non-poet in the place — but they let me read anyway.

Put the next All Lit Up on your calendar now: On Oct. 5, Novelist and filmmaker Tom Stern and poet Billy Burgos will read, along with CLS Ferguson — talented writer and also Rich’s wife — who’ll be celebrating the release of her new book, Soup Stories: A Reconstructed Memoir. The series is always free and open to the public.

All Lit Up. First Thursday of every month, 7 pm. Chevalier’s Books, 126 N Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles. Free.

Earlier: 12 literary reading series in Los Angeles

Top photo by Alexis Rhone Fancher

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Giveaway: A Ticket to The Joshua Tree Experiential Arts and Writing Retreat

*** Winner selected! Congratulations to Suzanne — Hope you enjoy the retreat! ***

Here’s your chance to spend a blissful weekend writing in the desert — getting inspired by the natural habitat around you while communing with and learning from fellow writers and artists.

That’s the goal behind The Joshua Tree Experiential Arts and Writing Retreat, happening November 17 to 19 at Mojave Stars Ranch in Wonder Valley. This weekend event includes explorations through Joshua Tree as well as creative writing exercises and ecology talks — plus a unique opportunity to publish your newly-created work.

Poet Ariel Fintushel, one of the two facilitators the event along with San Francisco poet Sean Negus, sums it up as “a 3-day retreat in the desert with experiential arts and writing workshops leading participants through the ecosystem for generation of new culturally conscious work to be curated into an annual anthology.”

As you might expect from the setting, the schedule includes some very Californian activities — a desert initiation workshop, high noon ceremony, and a talk called “Altered States and Psycho-Spiritual Legacies of the Desert” among them. But the core of the schedule is geared towards getting participants to generate writing. There’s goal-setting on the first night, lots of site-specific writing exercises, process discussions, and open times for individual writing.

Interested? Check out the full schedule on the retreat website, then enter to win a ticket to the retreat by leaving a comment on this post with a brief reason why you’d like to go. The giveaway closes September 21, 2017 at 11:59 pm PST.

Or if you can’t wait for the giveaway to run its course, get your Eventbrite ticket now at the early bird price of $50. If you wait, the ticket will go up to its regular $125 price.

Keep in mind the ticket covers just the workshops and scheduled events. For lodging, camp on the cheap at Indian Cove — or if that’s not your style, book a nearby hotel or airbnb.

I’d love to go to the retreat myself, but I’ll be out of town that weekend for the Miami Book Festival. I’m looking forward to reading the anthology though —

The Joshua Tree Experiential Arts and Writing Retreat. Mojave Stars Ranch, 4815 Meriwether Road, Wonder Valley. Fri, November 17, 2017 – Sun., November 19, 2017.

Photo by Christopher Michel

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Siel wants to see you in September

If you follow me on Facebook, you know I just quit my day job. And while I suddenly have a lot more time for socializing and posing for pics with photogenic purple veggies, I’d love to see you at one of my three September readings — all of which are free and open to the public:
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All Lit Up. (Facebook event page) Thursday, September 7, 7 pm, 126 N Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles

I’ve wanted to be a part of this monthly series at Chevalier’s since forever — so this reading is a dream come true for me! I’ll be reading with poets Charif Shanahan (Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford), Victoria Chang (recipient of a 2017 Guggenheim Fellowship) — and the wonderful Rich Ferguson (New Jersey Me) will emcee
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Siel Ju — Cake Time: One Book / One Glendale. (Eventbrite page) Thursday, September 14, 2017, 7 pm, Glendale Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St., Glendale, CA

Come eat cake from a local bakery and hear me read from Cake Time!
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Griffith Park Storytelling Series (a 90x90LA event). (Facebook event page) Sunday, September 24, 2017, 5 pm – 7 pm. In the Bronson Caves, Griffith Park (follow directions on website), Los Angeles

Back at the beginning of summer, I wrote about 90x90LA — and I’m psyched to be taking part in one of the series’ events! Spend an afternoon in the park listening to lit from Allison Conner, Lynell George, Daniel Jose Ruiz, Oscar Sagastume, and yours truly. Snacks and drinks will be provided.
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Hope to see you at one or all three — Each will be pretty different, and I’ll wear three separate outfits, so you won’t be bored!

Photo by Jesse DeYoung

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Cake Time in August: Two readings, two interviews

Is it really August already? Last night I had a nightmare that stores were already selling Halloween-themed tchotchkes. I woke up to a happier world, if rather anxious to really make the most of the rest of this summer —

And I hope you’ll be part of it. I have a couple readings coming up in Los Angeles — both free and open to the public — so please come on by and hear me read from my novel-in-stories, Cake Time!

First, up, the latest Roar Shack reading (more about the series here) happens Sunday, and I’ll be reading with Martina Blumenthal, Lisa Cheby, Brad Griffith, Patrick O’Neil, and Jane Starr:

Roar Shack presents “Shine On” Sunday
Sunday, August 13, 2017, 4 pm – 5:30 pm
826LA, 1714 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles

Then just a few days later I’ll give my first library reading:

Author’s Club: Siel Ju
(Facebook event page)
Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 6 pm
Westwood Branch Library, 1246 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles

I realize 6 pm on a Wednesday is an odd time — but you know, there’s a bar down the street from me that always seems to be packed then, so my guess is many of you can get out of work on time and make it! We can all go out for happy hour later —

In other cakey news:

— Juked interviewed me about Cake Time, and I said things like this: “I think cake brings up a lot of emotions, some pleasurable and cheerful, some disturbing and dirty.” Read the whole thing here: An Uncontrollable Sweet Tooth: A Conversation with Siel Ju.

— The Story Prize featured an interview with me about writing, in which I said things like this: “I go through periods where I actually worry my excessive reading is a sign of something, I don’t know, bad.” You can read more about my bad habits here: Siel Ju and the Suitable State of Mind.

Also, did you notice my website’s been redesigned? Thanks to Kim Woodbridge for her amazing WordPress skills! Leave a comment or drop me a line and let me know what you think of the new look —