Libros Schmibros - L.A.'s Unsung Hometown Oracles

Join the Hammer Museum’s residency with David Kipen's Boyle Heights lending library/used-book shop, Libros Schmibros, now continuing through November 5.

As part of this residency, David Kipen (pictured above at Libros Schmibros) will hold a conversation about L.A. with Sharon Sekhon of the Studio for Southern California History, Killer Crónicas: Bilingual Memories (University of Wisconsin Press) author Susana Chávez-Silverman, and Mike the Poet Sonksen, on October 6, at 5:30 p.m.

During the residency all visitors are welcome to borrow books for free or to keep one if they prefer. In the latter case, Libros Schmibros suggests a donation of half the cover price, except for Westwood and Boyle Heights residents, who are invited to donate just a dollar.

The Hammer Museum’s Public Engagement program seeks to create a new kind of interactive museum: an artist-driven visitor engagement program that encourages contact among visitors, artists, and Museum staff, and activates spaces in imaginative ways.

Public Engagement and AIR were established in 2009 thanks to a James Irvine Foundation Arts Innovation Fund grant. Via AIR, artists examine and respond to fundamental museum issues related to the visitor experience in an attempt to deepen the Hammer’s connection with its guests.

Libros Schmibros is a fiscally sponsored project of the Pasadena Arts Council’s EMERGE Program

For more information about this event, click here.

Click here for a schedule of related events.

Learn more about the residency by visiting here.

And...the University of Wisconsin Press has selected Killer Crónicas to be available on Amazon’s Kindle. Click here for information on this additional way to read this great book.

Finally, to read a La Bloga interview with Susana Chávez-Silverman, go here.

OTHER LITERARY NEWS:

◙ Last Monday, I interviewed Héctor Tobar regarding his remarkable and timely new novel, The Barbarian Nurseries (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). On Thursday, Michael Silverblatt, host of KCRW’s Bookworm, also interviewed Tobar which you may listen to here...it’s a wonderful discussion about Tobar’s novel as well as the City of Los Angeles, immigration, and the art of fiction writing.

◙ So much is happening at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) in the areas of art, literature and scholarship. Check out the CSRC’s website for details. One of the more important elements of the CSRC is the CSRC Library which is proud to announce the launch of its new Friends of the Library program. This organization has been established for educational, outreach, and fundraising purposes. Aimed at assisting the library achieve its mission and goals, members will act as liaisons between the library and the community that it serves. Members will enjoy not only unique opportunities for volunteering but also special workshops and other library events. The first will be the opening reception for Chican@s Collect: The Durón Family Collection on October 18, 4:00–6:00 p.m. This onsite exhibition highlights almost thirty years of collecting Chicana and Chicano art. If you would like to learn more about the Friends of the Library or are interested in joining, please contact the CSRC librarian, Lizette Guerra, at lguerra@chicano.ucla.edu.

◙ The new issue of Somos Primos is now live. Check it out!