Stay tuned for video, press, and photos. You were all amazing.

See you in 2014!

BOOKSTORE

KEYNOTE AUTHORS

DRIVING DIRECTIONS

This funding forum enables you to donate to SGVLF and also receive some pretty sweet perks!
Remember, we’re a 501c(3), so any contributions you make are tax-deductible.

And if you’re shopping on Amazon.com, don’t forget to use our clickthrough below.

We appreciate all your support. We’d like to remind you as you rack up the amazon.com gift certificates for Christmas, please remember to use our clickthrough to give us a percentage of the purchase at no cost to you.

Don’t forget to reserve your booth space — The festival is almost here!

More Information — Check out photos of the festival site, our demographics, dates, times, and more.

Help support us

Purchase booth space — We will host hundreds of guests across multiple demographics. Don’t miss out on low 3 day rates. Only 150 for the whole weekend or 75/day!

Contact us via e-mail, twitter, facebook

Volunteer!

On Sunday, October 7th, I’m going to be on Internet radio. I will be talking about the SGV Lit Fest among other things!

http://www.anovelidealive.com/guide-view/october-7th-john-brantingham/

It’s a call in show, so you can hear me either

1. Mumble

2. Act foolishly

3. Curse unintentionally

or

4. Do a good job.

Please tune in and give me a hard time.

I truly love teaching.

The great teaching experiences happen when students are eager for knowledge. The best teaching experiences happen when those students are willing to work.

One of the best teaching experiences of my life has been happening in a store called Buddha Mouse in Claremont, California. I’ve been teaching poetry classes for adult students — all the proceeds going to fund the SGV Lit Fest. We had three sessions over three weeks that were funny at times and cathartic at others. They were always moving.

There are so many people out there who have interesting things to say, important things to say, and they want to write poetry, but they never had the chance to study and learn it. Instead, they’ve spent their lives doing the sorts of things that have made them interesting. They’ve raised children or had careers or spent time helping other people.

These people always turn out to be the best poets. Learning technique, after all, isn’t difficult. Having something interesting to say is impossible, however, unless you are an interesting person. It’s been my great pleasure to work with interesting people.

We all had such a great time, that we decided to continue on with the class, and in fact, we’re going to make it a 10 week course. In that 10 weeks, we will all produce a short collection that we’ll send out for publication both to the small press magazines and eventually to chapbook and book publishers.

Frankly, I can’t wait, and we’d love to have you join us. The information is below, and if you’d like more, contact me!

John Brantingham — johnmbrantingham@aol.com, johnbrantingham.blogspot.com

Join us at one of our upcoming events or enter your already-written chapbook to our popular Chapbook Contest

Support us through our amazon.com clickthrough:

Something happens, something changes, 1,000 people in one place have the same idea, passion, and need. People start to see things in the same way and almost all at once everyone is headed in the same direction artistically.

I love what I’m seeing all of the San Gabriel Valley.

Let’s talk literary magazines. Carnival, A Few Lines, Creepy Gnome, and Rind have all appeared in the last couple of years created out of the passion and intensity of some people who take their work seriously but don’t take themselves too seriously.

They’ve had some serious successes too. They’ve published greats like Tony Barnstone, T. Anders Carson, David Caddy, Gerry Locklin, and Jo Scott-Coe. They’ve taken work by local legends and people on their way up. They’ve given a literary vision and voice to our community. And no one should ever mention magazines in this area without mentioning the Chaffey Review. A brilliant magazine.

Readings have popped up all over as well. Out in Riverside, Jo Scott-Coe and Riverside Community College pushes along doing great things for all of us. Dim Lights in Pomona continues to be a staple. The Valley Poets keeps meeting at the West Covina Library on the third Saturday of every month at 4pm. The Hair Club for Poets meets in Downey on the 4th Saturday at 7:30pm. Eric Morago continues to host readings in Whittier at Half Off Books and Vinatero Wine Shop.

This is not to mention all the classes happening all over town, and not to mention the writers who are exploding into the scene as well. Check out Marta Chausee and Michaelsun Knapp and Lloyd Aquino and Michael Torres.

And people like Chris Trevilla and all the people who work with him at the Nuvein foundation.

And I’m missing people. I know that I am.

Murray Thomas recognized how much was going on all over the area (not just the San Gabriel Valley but all of Los Angeles) and he put together poetix.net where you can find a listing for all of these kinds of events.

http://www.poetix.net/

But still, I know that I’m missing more than half of what’s happening in our own backyard. Give me a hand here, what else is happening all over Los Angeles? Drop us a notice here.

“Hey,” you say “is this little more than a commercial?”
No, no, gentle browser. We’re just trying to scrounge up the loose change to bring you the very best authors and artists possible.
“Oh. Okay, I’m going to trust you here, Scott.”
And to you I say thanks, good buddy.

Remember, the amazon.com clickthrough works with ANY PRODUCT (oooh!). And it costs you…zilch, nada, nothing. The good folks at Amazon.com donate us a percentage of any sale we bring them. This includes kindle books, digital videos, and gift certificates. So, heck, buy something here.

Also remember that Oscar Wilde’s rule is to shoot first and ask questions later. Seriously, he said that. He was pretty tough.

Just like you, gentle browser, just like you.
–Scott