LOS ANGELES — Pursuant to the May 16, 2025 order from Judge Michael Espinoza, the Los Angeles County Probation Department has begun the transfer of youth identified for placement in Secure Youth Treatment Facility or SYTF programs from Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall or LPJH to Barry J. Nidorf or BJN.
As of Sept. 15, 39 youth have been transferred as part of this process. Additional movements will continue to comply with the court-ordered department’s depopulation plan. Due to safety and security concerns, advance public notice of the relocations will not be provided. Upon arrival at BJN, all youth received orientation, and their parents and attorneys were promptly notified. The probation department will implement the court-ordered plan with transparency and will continue to apprise the board of supervisors and stakeholders of significant developments.
On Sept.16, the Rancho Palos Verdes city council will receive an update on the landslide emergency and the city’s remediation efforts. Survey data since the Aug. 19, city council meeting is currently being processed and will be provided in the next landslide staff report scheduled for Nov. 4, 2025.
Winterization Efforts and Budget Priorities
The council will receive an update on the city’s planned winterization work for the landslide. Cost estimates for these efforts have been reduced from $4.1 million to $2.3 million this fiscal year. This is due to several FY 2024-25 winterization projects performing stronger than expected and contractor quotes coming in lower than anticipated.
The city is also reviewing the ranked priority list and budget for the FY 2025-26 landslide complex program. The top three priorities are Palos Verdes Drive South landslide repair, Abalone Cove sanitary sewer repair and GPS Surveying. The ranking was based on recommendations from Geo-Logic Associates, Inc., Cotton, Shires and Associates, Inc., and city staff.
Hydrology and Hydraulics Study
The council will consider authorizing a $1.3 million contract with Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. to conduct a comprehensive hydrology and hydraulics study of the landslide area. The study will create a watershed model of the landslide complex using storm patterns from the past decade, develop concepts to reduce stormwater infiltration and identify optimal locations for deep dewatering wells.
A staff report (PDF) with more information is available on the city website.
Meeting Info
The City Council meeting will take place on Sept. 16, at 7 p.m. in McTaggart Hall at Hesse Park and via Zoom. Watch live on RPVtv’s YouTube channel, at rpvca.gov, or on Cox 33/FiOS 38. To participate in public comment during the meeting in person or virtually, complete a form at rpvca.gov/participate. Email your comments on agenda items to cc@rpvca.gov.
AB 986 Update
Assembly Bill 986 has officially passed the California State Senate Floor and won concurrence by the Assembly. This bill, authored by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi and co-authored by Senator Benjamin Allen, would amend the California Emergency Services Act to include landslides as a natural disaster that may be eligible for disaster assistance. The bill is next headed to the Governor for his consideration and approval.
The Port of Los Angeles has released a Draft Environmental Impact Report or DEIR for the proposed Terminal Island Maritime Support Facility Project, located in the port complex at 740 Terminal Way in San Pedro.
The proposed project involves the development and operation of a chassis support facility on an approximately 89-acre site at the Port of Los Angeles. Proposed development includes the construction and installation of office trailers, maintenance and repair facilities, chassis stalls, and appurtenant water and electrical infrastructure. In addition, planned refurbishment of the existing vacant office building at 750 Eldridge Street at the proposed project site would support overall operations. The proposed chassis support and container storage facility could be in operation for up to 25 years.
The DEIR, along with additional environmental documents for this proposed project, is available for review at portoflosangeles.org/ceqa.
The port will hold a virtual public meeting via Zoom to receive comments on the DEIR at 4 p.m. on, Oct. 1. No registration is required. Information on how to join the meeting is available at portoflosangeles.org/ceqa.
Written comments on the DEIR may be submitted via email to ceqacomments@portla.org or to the following address during the public comment period through Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025:
Director of Environmental Management
Los Angeles Harbor Department
425 South Palos Verdes Street
San Pedro, CA 90731
Comment letters sent via email should include the Project title “Terminal Island Maritime Support Facility Project” in the email subject line.
This month, Angelenos who truly believe music is life will be able to get treated to three performances at three different venues in the Los Angeles area by Havana-born pianist, composer, and bandleader Dayramir González, who is on a major North American tour for his Sept. 3 release of V.I.D.A. (Verdad, Independencia, Diversidad & Amor) – a special edition, expanded version of his 2024 album.
The 41-year-old waxed on about life (both his album and the metaphysical idea of life), saying, “Life is precious, beautiful, and fragile.”
He said, for him, “It’s about remembering to pause, to breathe, to love, to celebrate. It’s about transforming obstacles into triumphs, pain into beauty, and silence into music.”
In the United States, the birthplace of jazz, gospel, blues, rock and roll, soul music, hip hop, protest music, and anti-establishment music, artists have been turning out bangers, but not enough are reaching minds and hearts.
V.I.D.A. was recorded with an international all-star cast of artists, including New York bassist Dean Torrey, Argentine drummer Juan Chiavassa, and Chilean percussionist Christian Moraga.
This album is a celebration of 25 years of professionally making music since his first gig at age 15 in a Havana jazz club.
“For me, V.I.D.A. is not just an album — it’s a manifesto of my artistic life so far.”
Twenty-five years ago, I was still a student at UCLA, publishing the black student magazine Nommo. I would receive physical press releases and actual CDs. I got my first Woman Crush Wednesday back then when Hidden Beach Recordings sent me a copy of Jill Scott’s debut album, the tracks of which remained in heavy rotation. The same happened with Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun and the Roots ‘ Things Fall Apart. MTV certainly was a mature platform for a lot of music, albeit limited when it came to hip hop, R&B, and soul music. And even more so when it comes to music from outside of the United States. The internet was supposed to democratize access to music. Initially, it did.
But the matrix has started taking over slowly but surely, locking everything behind algorithmic silos, leaving to luck the wide dissemination of good… transformational… inspirational…music. These were my thoughts when I learned of Dayramir’s music from a press release and sought his music on YouTube, only to learn that he has been doing his thing since the early 2000s, and with the quartet with whom he compose V.I.D.A. since 2018, playing in concert halls around the world, but not really heard in the streets of urban centers around the world like it should have been.
In an email exchange, Dayramir said it’s true that today’s landscape for artists is more challenging.
“With fewer mass media platforms and the dominance of tech companies controlling distribution, the pathways to reach a wide audience can feel limited.”
Then he said, “But I’ve always been clear about one thing: I will not compromise the authenticity of my music to fit commercial models. My art is rooted in my heritage, my Afro-Cuban identity, and my Yoruba spirituality — and I want that to shine through without dilution.”
Dayramir says that in his fight against the algorithmic matrix, he‘s been fortunate to build a loyal audience, people who connect deeply with his vision and support his music by attending his concerts and buying music and merch.
“My approach has been to nurture that community by reaching them through as many channels as possible — social media, streaming platforms, live performances, radio shows, magazines, blogs — while always keeping the communication personal and artistic,” Dayramir said.
“At the end of the day, I see myself as a bridge: between Africa and Cuba, between tradition and innovation, between ancestral spirituality and contemporary expression. That mission gives me strength and clarity in a world that sometimes feels oversaturated with content. For me, it’s about depth over mass reach, authenticity over algorithms. And I believe audiences, no matter how fragmented the platforms become, can always feel when the music is real.”
Dayramir said V.I.D.A. explores a broader Afro-Cuban–World–Jazz spectrum and that the sequence of compositions blends danceable grooves, electronic textures, and through-composed structures. He said the melodies are self-reflective, born from moments of struggle, but ultimately celebrate resilience, hope, joy, and personal expression.
He says this, and I realized this whole time I’m wishing artists, musicians in particular, would come out to rescue us from this moment. We need rescuing… real bad.
Dayramir and his quartet are going to be at the Townhouse Venice in Venice on Sept. 21, and at Alvas Showroom in San Pedro on Sept. 22.
Then he will be holding a Masterclass at the Santa Monica College (SMC) Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, from 11:15 AM to 12:30 PM. The event is free and is located at the SMC Performing Arts Center, The Edye Second Space, at 1310 11th St, Santa Monica.
Unaffected Containers Secured on the MV Mississippi
Salvage and recovery operations continue on the cargo ship Mississippi, with all unaffected containers from the incident secured as of 11 a.m. Sept. 14. Salvage experts and port laborers working alongside federal, state, and local agencies will continue securing containers that fell from two affected bays in the coming days.
“In just a few days, we have made significant progress in securing the vessel cargo and recovering containers — all while maintaining the highest standards of safety for response workers and crew onboard the vessel,” said Capt. Stacey Crecy, Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles – Long Beach. “This progress was made possible due to the dedication of all participating agencies, vessel managers, the Port of Long Beach, the ITS terminal, and highly skilled ILWU labor working together. Our commitment to safety and collaboration will continue to guide us through the next phases of recovery.”
To date, 32 containers have been recovered from the water around the cargo vessel Mississippi. No signs of pollution have been observed since the initial leak from the emissions barge was secured on Sept. 10. The Unified Command continues to conduct surveys, drone overflights, and dive operations to inform the next steps of the response.
The unified command’s top priority remains the safety of response workers, the vessel’s crew, and general public, followed closely by the protection and stewardship of the surrounding environment.
Cargo operations at the Port of Long Beach are ongoing and remain largely unaffected by the incident. A 500-yard safety zone is in effect around the cargo vessel Mississippi. The Coast Guard, Jacobsen Port Pilots, and the Port of Long Beach are working together to facilitate navigation of commercial vessels in accordance with the safety zone. Non-responding personnel are asked to avoid the affected area until further notice. The Coast Guard is broadcasting marine safety information to alert mariners of navigation hazards.
The investigation, led by the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board, is ongoing to determine the cause of the incident.
Port of Long Beach Has Second-Busiest August on Record
Peak shipping season boosted the Port of Long Beach to its second-busiest August on record and the sixth-busiest month in its 114-year history as retailers continued to see the arrival of goods purchased during a recent pause in tariffs.
Dockworkers and terminal operators processed 901,846 twenty-foot equivalent units in August, a relatively flat decline of 1.3% from the record set in August 2024. Imports were down 3.6% to 440,318 TEUs and exports decreased 8.3% to 95,960 TEUs. Empty containers moving through the Port rose 3.7% to 365,567 TEUs.
“Shifting trade policies continue to create uncertainty for businesses and consumers,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero. “Our Supply Chain Information Highway digital tracker is projecting our peak shipping season to be on pace with last year as retailers start to stock their warehouses in preparation for the winter holidays.”
The Port has moved 6,592,708 TEUs through the first eight months of 2025, up 8.3% from the same period last year.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 15 announced that California Air Resources Board or CARB chair Liane Randolph will be retiring from state service effective Sept. 30, and named senior advisor to the Governor for Climate, Lauren Sanchez, to serve as the next CARB chair.
Chair Randolph dedicated the majority of her career to public service, including more than 20 years in state leadership roles and most recently as CARB chair since 2021. Prior to her work at CARB, Randolph served as a commissioner at the California Public Utilities Commission from 2015 to 2021, deputy secretary and general counsel at the California Natural Resources Agency from 2011 to 2014 and chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission from 2003 to 2007.
“Liane stepped into this role at a moment of deep uncertainty and never flinched. For five years, she’s led with vision and resolve — expanding California’s work to clean the air in our hardest-hit communities while charting the course for California to become the world’s largest economy committed to net-zero carbon,” said Governor Newsom. “Beyond her accomplishments, Liane carried herself with kindness and quiet strength that inspired climate progress. California is stronger because of her leadership, and I’m grateful for her decades of service to our state.”
Sanchez will begin her new role as CARB chair effective October 1, 2025.
“Lauren has been my most trusted climate advisor and the chief architect of California’s bold climate agenda — helping deliver billions in new investments and cementing our state’s role as the global leader in the fight for a clean, healthy, job-creating future,” added Governor Newsom. “She is a force in her own right: her expertise, tenacity, and vision will serve California well as the Board works to protect our communities and defends our climate progress against relentless attacks from Washington.”
Lauren Sanchez, of Oakland, has been appointed chair of the California Air Resources Board. Sanchez has been senior advisor for Climate in the Office of Gov. Gavin Newsom since 2021. She was senior ddvisor for the special presidential envoy for climate in the Biden-Harris Administration in 2021. Sanchez was deputy secretary for Climate Policy and Intergovernmental Relations at the California Environmental Protection Agency from 2019 to 2021. She was international policy director at the California Air Resources Board from 2018 to 2019. Sanchez was a climate negotiator at the United States Department of State from 2015 to 2017. Sanchez earned a Master of Science degree in Environmental Management from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies and Biology from Middlebury College. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $214,956. Sanchez is a Democrat.
On Sept. 10, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the appointment of Vishesh Anand, of Los Angeles, who has been appointed senior advisor at the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. Anand has been deputy director of special projects at the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom since 2025, where he was previously deputy regional director of external affairs from 2022 to 2025. He was a public engagement deputy for intergovernmental and legislative affairs at the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti from 2021 to 2022. Anand was a field deputy at the Office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin from 2020 to 2021. He was a client engagement representative at Aspiration in 2020. Anand was an operations manager at Kinetic Society LLC from 2019 to 2020. He was a business analyst at Kinetic Society LLC from 2017 to 2019. Anand earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Global Studies from University of California, Los Angeles. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $140,004. Anand is registered with no party preference.
As our body politic and the national conversation devolve into the absurd, artists Michael Stearns and Edith MonDragon (MonDragon Fine Arts) present Public Discourse in San Pedro—a provocative exhibition that transforms discussion into art.
Stearns comes from a political family so the idea of talking about issues is not uncomfortable to him.
“My folks and my brothers and I love to discuss, and if you’ve ever been around my brothers and I, you’ll find that we still continue that.”
The exhibition is on view at Michael Stearns Studio in San Pedro, now until Sept. 20. Together, the works in this exhibition, whether through stark imagery, reclaimed materials, or symbolic forms, confront the tensions of our time with equal potency. In an era of conflict and division, Public Discourse asserts art’s unique capacity to translate raw emotion into collective reflection.
Artists in the show are Phoebe Barnum, Rose C’est la Vie, Dave Clark, Diane Cockerill, Eugene Daub, Anne Olsen Daub, Patty Grau, Donna Herman, Jim Murray, Lowell Nickel, Paula A. Prager, Peggy Sivert (Zask), Michael Stearns, and Mick Victor.
When MonDragon and Stearns began putting the show together, they decided that they would be as open as possible, yet Stearns noted they received nothing from the Trump faction.
“The idea of the show waspublic discourse, and I thought it would be unlike most of the TV stations, especially the obvious ones, Fox and MSNBC are so politicized,” said Stearns.
What is interesting, Stearns said, is that the show isn’t only about Trump. Most of the show is about overcoming injustice and adding to equality and “that acronym that Trump seems to hate, DEI.”
“I’ve always felt that the artist has an obligation, since I was a young kid, probably because my family loved to discuss and to argue, [initiated] from my dad, who was a debater in college …”
Stearns and his brothers grew up taking different sides in debates. It was about the idea of dialogue, especially without getting angry, the back and forth and attempting to make a point or discuss things in an adult way, he explained.
“I feel there’s an obligation as an artist,” Stearns said. “I look at what we do as a recording, as a notation, a monument. Part of our obligation as creatives [is] to have people cast a look at what we see, and maybe tell a story that might cause people to stop and think a little bit. Doesn’t always work, but that’s our obligation, at some level, to try.
“And that’s always been the theory behind this,” Staerns said. “We decided to do it on the spur of the moment. But that’s why we called it Public Discourse.”
What Stearns and MonDragon found (and what the artists talked about in some cases) was not “home-grown anger issues.” It was just as much about the assassinations of journalists in Mexico and the thought of having the courage to stand up.
Juri Kroll’s Fake News memorializes murdered Mexican journalists through three haunting portraits. Rendered in dissolving ink and bleeding watercolor, these images of Carlos Ovneil, Lara Dominguez, Gumaro Perez Aguilando, Ceckio Pineda, and others appear as ghosts, slowly fading out of our consciousness, but for the images represented before you.
Juri Kroll, “Fake News.” Photo courtesy of Michael Stearns Studio
Stearns noted Resist by Diane Cockerill could describe both sides of the fence (conservative or progressive), but it talks about taking action. Photographer Cockerill’s image depicts a foggy-looking plane, blending shadowy white, blue, and navy, and ‘RESIST,’ written across the top with its letters bleeding in crimson.
Stearns noted he grew up on the Mexican border, looking at Mexican murals, which he loves, just as he loves Mexico, its muralists, and people who speak through their art to social issues.
“You look at Eugene Daub’s piece [Take a Knee] about Colin Kaepernick,” he said. “That’s not politics. It kind of is, but it isn’t. It’s about human rights and about human dignity.”
Eugene Daub, “Take a Knee.” Image courtesy of Michael Stearns Studio.
In Take a Knee, Eugene Daub’s small, blackened cardboard sculpture reveals flashes of green and red beneath its fractured surface. The kneeling figure’s upraised fist emerges with urgent clarity. The work’s rough texture and hidden hues hold both the grit of struggle and glimmers of resilience.
VICTIM (War in Ukraine), Peggy Sivert (Zask). Image courtesy of Michael Stearns Studio.
In VICTIM (War in Ukraine), Peggy Sivert (Zask) layers a New York Times front page depicting a young woman whose dinner is interrupted by shrapnel. The fissures tearing through the collage mirror the fractures of a nation at war, while the work’s title extends to those facing oppression everywhere. A portion of a woman’s face peers back at the viewer. Rough haphazard sutures around her eye indicate both physical wounds as well as those unseen but expressed through her one visible blue eye.
“You look at Phoebe Barnum’s piece [All the Presidents Men] and it’s kind of humorous and yet it’s not,” Stearns said. “It’s very whimsical looking. It’s obviously a caricature of Trump based on an Intuit Indian face.”
In All the President’s Men, the mask base becomes a playground for wispy feathered hair, resembling 47’s coiffure, while tiny plastic men march across the forehead only to end up tumbling down the nose.
Phoebe Barnum, “All the Presidents Men.” Image courtesy of Michael Stearns Studio
“And if you’re okay with that because it benefits you, I get it because this too shall pass,” Stearns added.
“Lowell Nickel’s Chop-Chop Must Stop is a kind of ham-fisted approach to [the idea that] we’ll just chop everything down and start over. That’s the way I look at [his] piece. That’s what people want to do. Many people think, let’s just chop everything down. We’ll go back to the 1940s or 50s.”
Nickel’s piece, which wielded ceramics and wood as weapons against political deception, could be seen in various ways. Axe heads made of clay hover over broken wooden branches. This forest under siege metaphor mirrors democracy’s fragility, in both warning and resistance.
It was the late 1950s to 60s when Stearns attended college, and he said most people his age would say, “‘I thought we did this. I thought we were past all of this,’ and lo and behold, we learned that that’s not true.’
“That’s another reason why we have to have the courage to have a voice,” he said. “Young people are well aware of that, especially when dealing with sexuality and gender issues. They are a lot more comfortable with that. Some of our thinking is dated, and it’s a comfort zone for us, and that’s the problem. We find ways to justify our fears; that’s the scary part. Not kind of work our way through our fears, but wrap ourselves in them.”
The show has had a great turnout, Stearns said; his piece titled We the People is “pretty much in your face about what it is.” He said it is one of his better pieces of work. He has seen people tear up over it.
We the People confront the systematic dismantling of constitutional protections. This large-scale mixed media work, displayed in seven side-by-side vertical rectangles, layers fragmented text from founding documents over distressed surfaces, representing the erosion of democratic institutions. The upside-down American flag at the center sits under the Statue of Liberty.
“You do get emotional because it’s a real challenge to what we hold sacred,” Stearns said. “And I think more people here hold our country sacred than we realize… And if we really sit down and talk to one another, about what frightens us and what makes us fearful, we’re not really that far apart.”
“We have a piece that’s very much a propaganda machine [Mechanicals-Preception] … But that’s how we get our facts today … through electronics, through TV, through the computer, of course, through our phones more than anything. And the hard part is discerning what is propaganda from the true meaning of the word, and what is the truth?
Mechanicals-Perception by Dave Clark is a study of influence from found artifacts across eras. These discarded tools of control demonstrate how perception is engineered to manipulate behavior, inviting viewers to interrogate their own vulnerability to constructed realities.
“And the Nazis had a person who, that was his title,” Stearns said, referencing Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda from 1933 to 1945. “So this is nothing new, the idea of having a radio station or a magazine or a TV station that pushes one agenda. I won’t even call it propaganda because even though what they’re saying may mean something to me, to someone else, it’s the alternative truth, but it’s still the same. We have to listen and decide what the truth is if that’s what we’re searching for, and hopefully we are, and hopefully that guides us in our activities.
“And people wonder why we put stuff on the wall and why I think we should be doing art about this.”
Public Discourseis on view at Los Angeles Harbor Arts, 401 S. Mesa St., San Pedro
Studio hours: Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. and by appointment
The Long Beach City Council Sept. 9 voted to adopt the City of Long Beach’s $3.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2026 or FY 26. The Adopted FY 26 budget maintains core services without major reductions and focuses on key areas of investment identified in the Long Beach Strategic Vision 2030, among other priorities.
Many California cities are struggling with financial challenges and broader economic uncertainty. Since FY 20, the city has navigated financial challenges, using one-time funds made available through the Long Beach Recovery Act to stabilize its fiscal position. These sources are now exhausted and, while the city has worked to avoid increasing the structural shortfall, it is facing a cumulative five-year $60.5 million General Fund shortfall.
The adopted FY 26 budget reflects difficult but necessary decisions that must be made now to maintain essential services and financial stability in the future, including revenue generating fee increases, focusing on the preservation of current programs rather than introducing new initiatives, and sustaining core services that residents rely on every day. The passage of Measure LB by voters last fall also helped significantly in avoiding large scale reductions this year.
Long Beach is a full-service city organization and provides a variety of resources and services to the community, including the provision and improvement of affordable housing and addressing homelessness; support for economic development and business assistance; the overall continuum of public safety and emergency medical response; maintenance of safe, clean and accessible parks and facilities; and support for and advancements in infrastructure and livability improvements. The Adopted FY 26 Budget maintains these services and takes action to address the city’s most urgent one-time and structural needs for select service priority areas.
Because one-time funds were minimally available, the FY 26 budget required strategic decision making. Initiatives that departments requested were offset within, either reductions where it made sense or proposed increases to revenue sources.
The 19th annual San Pedro Festival of the Arts bursts onto the Peck Park lawn Sept.20, bringing a full 18 dance companies, interactive performances, and free family fun to the heart of the harbor. Bring a picnic blanket, join in a Bollywood step or a flamenco turn, and enjoy an afternoon of world-class dance under the San Pedro sun.
A special interactive feature called “2 Moves” – brings a chance for the audience to learn “2 Moves” from each performance before or between dances, turning spectators into participants and getting a chance to experience some of the nuances of the piece. Those in the audience who wish, can learn and dance on the lawn and return to their chairs or blankets to watch the next dances. A free raffle drawing will also take place during the show.
Thirteen years ago, the TriArt Festival moved to Ports O’ Call Village, drawing thousands of new spectators, performers, and vendors, and helping to establish San Pedro as a center for the arts. With site construction underway, the festival relocated over the years—across from the USS Iowa, one year at Crafted, several years at Anderson Park—and now proudly returns to Peck Park. This marks its third year at this location, with live performances once again, plus streaming available for two weeks after the event.
For more information on the producing company, visit www.LAChoreographersAndDancers.org. The official festival site, www.triartSP.com includes a history of past festivals and participants and will be updated through the end of September.
San Pedro Festival of the Arts
Bring a picnic basket, join in a Bollywood step or a flamenco turn, and enjoy an afternoon of world-class dance under the San Pedro sun.
A powerful lineup of award-winning authors, industry professionals, and emerging voices will take the stage at LA County Library’s first-ever Next Chapter Writers’ Summit, a free literary festival held on October 5, at West Hollywood Library and West Hollywood Park.
The writers’ summit, themed Celebrating LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC Voices, brings together a wide range of storytellers for a day of panels, workshops for teens and adults, and conversation, affirming the importance of diverse perspectives in literature at a time when the freedom to read is being challenged.
“Stories shape how we see the world,” said Dr. Skye Patrick, County Librarian and Director of LA County Library. “The Next Chapter Writers’ Summit is a vibrant tribute to the power of storytelling and its ability to connect, heal, and inspire. We’re honoring the richness of our communities and encouraging writers of all backgrounds to take up space, share their truth, and shape the future of literature.”
Featured Authors, Creators, and Industry Voices
Jacqueline Woodson
Justin Torres
Adam Silvera
Michelle Tea
Julia Lee
Meredith Maran
Jen Wang
Abdi Nazemian
Christopher Guerrero
Michelle Denise Jackson
Halle Mariner
E.P. Tuazon
Esinam Bediako
Eddie Gamarra
Jordan Hamessley
Erinn Pascal
Melanie Figueroa
Aimee Lim
Edward Underhill
Alexandria Juarez
Taylor Capozzola
In addition to the author programs, the day will include resources for writers, opportunities to meet literary agents and editors, and library tools designed to support creators.
