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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260606T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260606T113000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T171123Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T171123Z
UID:10015244-1780745400-1780745400@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore: Pasadena Conservatory of Music presents Musical Storytime: This Is a Moment by Micah Player
DESCRIPTION:The Pasadena Conservatory of Music will be putting on a special musical storytime with the featured book: This Is a Moment by Micah Player. Caregivers and children aged 3-9 will enjoy a story\, creative movement\, and a mini-concert!
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-pasadena-conservatory-of-music-presents-musical-storytime-this-is-a-moment-by-micah-player/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Kids,Music,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/storytime-600-x-600-16.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260606T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260606T160000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T171354Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T171354Z
UID:10015245-1780761600-1780761600@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore: Merrill Joan Gerber discusses & signs Someone Should Know This Story: Selected Stories
DESCRIPTION:“‘Someone Should Know This Story’ is both the name of this book and the wish of my heart\,” writes Merrill Joan Gerber in the introduction to this retrospective collection of twenty-five stories written over a period of four decades\, many of which won awards and appeared in widely read periodicals such as The New Yorker\, The Atlantic\, Redbook\, and Mademoiselle. \nGerber takes her teacher Andrew Lytle’s advice to “follow the thread back into the labyrinth” of the heart and its secrets. Finding its starting place with the crises of everyday family life-its conflicts\, betrayals\, confinements\, and its devastating losses-she and her characters constantly reencounter themselves and the persistent yearning to “convey to others what we are” with grace and breathtaking honesty.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-merrill-joan-gerber-discusses-signs-someone-should-know-this-story-selected-stories/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,Community Event,Free,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/merrill-joan-gerber.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260607T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260607T140000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260506T211441Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260506T211441Z
UID:10015215-1780830000-1780840800@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Boston Court: ¡Sí Se Puede!
DESCRIPTION:Follow trailblazing activist\, Dolores Huerta\, on her journey to improve conditions for farm workers. From co-founding the United Farmworkers to boycotts\, marches\, and high-stakes negotiations–her unwavering commitment to justice changed the course of history. Through a blend of movement\, music\, and actos inspired by El Teatro Campesino\, experience the powerful transformation that happens when we come together to demand change.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/boston-court-si-se-puede/
LOCATION:Boston Court Pasadena\, 70 N. Mentor Ave.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91206\, United States
CATEGORIES:Boston Court Pasadena,Community Event,Cultural Event,Free,Live Theatre
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/c3-sise-web-1920-x-1080.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260607T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260607T160000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T183334Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T183334Z
UID:10015246-1780848000-1780848000@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore:  Matt Haig\, in conversation with Lian Dolan\, discusses The Midnight Train
DESCRIPTION:When your life flashes before your eyes\, where would you stop? \nNo one can change the past\, but the Midnight Train can take you there. \nThe chance to re-live the moments that meant most. \nTo see what kind of person you really were. \nFor Wilbur his best days were with Maggie\, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice. \nBefore he gave it all away. \nHe wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything . . . \nA magical\, time-travelling love story\, from the world of The Midnight Library. \nBio: \nMatt Haig is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of the novels The Midnight Library\, The Life Impossible\, and How to Stop Time\, along with four other novels\, the acclaimed memoirs Reasons to Stay Alive and Notes on a Nervous Planet\, and several award-winning children’s books. His work has been published in fifty territories across the world. \nThis is a ticketed event at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. Tickets include one entry and one copy of The Midnight Train to be handed out at check-in.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-matt-haig-in-conversation-with-lian-dolan-discusses-the-midnight-train/
LOCATION:Pasadena Presbyterian Church\, 585 East Colorado Boulevard\, Pasadena \, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Pasadena Presbyterian Church,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/matt-haig-updated.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260609T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260609T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T183651Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T183651Z
UID:10015247-1781031600-1781031600@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore:  Lisa See discusses & signs Daughters of the Sun and Moon
DESCRIPTION:Beloved New York Times bestselling author Lisa See draws on the vibrancy and turmoil of post-Civil War Los Angeles to tell the story of three Chinese women who managed to survive and\, eventually\, thrive\, despite all odds. \nIn 1870\, three Chinese women arrived in the small\, dusty\, and violent pueblo of Los Angeles. Dove\, the bound-footed daughter of an imperial scholar\, is entrancing and innocent. These characteristics should bring her great rewards\, beginning with her arranged marriage to a much older merchant. Petal\, the big-footed daughter of peasants\, has grown up hungry and with dirt between her toes. In a moment of desperation\, Petal’s father sells her to buy money for rice seed\, and she is loaded onto a ship to the Gold Mountain–America–where she is once again sold. Moon is married to a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. She is educated\, speaks fluent English\, and has been endowed with a face of great beauty\, yet her failed footbinding as a child has left her with a limp that lessens her value in the eyes of many. \nEach woman has her own desires. Dove wants to love and be loved\, Petal desires freedom\, and Moon seeks justice. Together they face a larger society that wishes them not one ounce of goodwill. Anti-Chinese sentiment is strong in Los Angeles\, and this eventually leads to the Night of Horrors\, during which all three women are challenged in ways they could not have imagined. Brought together by hardship and heartbreak\, they must use their bravery\, endurance\, and ability to “eat bitterness” to discover their voices\, find freedom\, and connect through solace and friendship. Together\, they are daughters of the sun and moon.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-lisa-see-discusses-signs-daughters-of-the-sun-and-moon/
LOCATION:Pasadena Presbyterian Church\, 585 East Colorado Boulevard\, Pasadena \, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Pasadena Presbyterian Church,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lisa-see-web.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260610T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260610T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T184001Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T184001Z
UID:10015248-1781118000-1781118000@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore:  James Ellroy discusses & signs Red Sheet
DESCRIPTION:It’s late October 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis has just concluded. The Russkies blinked and pulled their ICBMs out of Cuba. Attorney General Robert Kennedy fears reprisals from seething commies. He orders a red probe and puts the LAPD on the job. \nFreddy Otash is injudiciously named the lead investigating officer. He’s a stone-cold criminal with police sanction and a harrowing dope habit. He homes in on a red-front trade union. There’s a murder on Halloween night. It may link to ex-VP and current gubernatorial candidate Richard Nixon and two commie snuffs from eight years back. Freddy’s overworked and overamped. He’s running the probe\, and Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman—Tricky Dick Nixon’s head goons—have hired him to keep Nixon away from the smear-minded press. \nL.A. is coming unglued. Ex-cop/lawyer Tom Bradley is running for a city council seat and pushing the Rumford Fair Housing Act. Playboy kingpin Hugh Hefner is along for the ride\, out to exploit racial tension and peddle untold copies of his smut rag. \nRed Sheet is James Ellroy’s most crazed kamikaze run and a daring\, subversive work of fiction.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-james-ellroy-discusses-signs-red-sheet/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/james-ellroy.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260611T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260611T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T184257Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T184257Z
UID:10015249-1781204400-1781204400@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore:  Shay Kauwe\, in conversation with Keala Kendall\, discusses & signs The Killing Spell
DESCRIPTION:In this spellbinding fantasy debut set in a future where language magic reigns\, a young Hawaiian woman must solve a murder to clear her name. \nKea Petrova is dealing with more than her fair share of trouble. \nAt just twenty-five years old\, she’s the youngest of five Hawaiian clan leaders living on the Homestead in outer Los Angeles. Nearly 200 years ago\, when a catastrophic flood submerged the Hawaiian islands and unleashed magic into the world\, these clans forged a treaty with the city\, establishing a new Hawaiian homeland. But that treaty is about to expire. \nKea struggles to keep her small clan afloat\, scraping together rent each month through odd jobs and selling her own crafted Hawaiian language spells. While her talent for language magic is her saving grace\, she feels like a shadow of those who came before her. Just when she thinks things can’t get any more complicated\, the murder of Angelo Reyes–LA’s most prominent Filipino activist–turns her world upside-down. \nAngelo was killed by a death spell–something that\, due to the properties of each school of language magic\, can only exist in Hawaiian. With independent spellsmithing being technically illegal\, Kea quickly becomes the prime suspect\, known for her spellwork on the Homestead. To clear her name\, she must unravel the mystery behind Angelo’s murder and confront LA’s most powerful (and dangerous) players\, each wielding their own type of magic. The clock is ticking–can Kea save herself\, her clan\, and the Homestead before it’s too late?
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-shay-kauwe-in-conversation-with-keala-kendall-discusses-signs-the-killing-spell/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/shay-kauwe.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260612T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260612T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T184524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T184524Z
UID:10015250-1781290800-1781290800@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore:  Laura Lekkos discusses & signs All the Little Ways
DESCRIPTION:In the vein of Pineapple Street and Such a Fun Age\, a smart\, heartfelt debut novel about two expecting mothers navigating motherhood\, family life\, and female friendship\, whose bond is threatened by a shocking revelation. \nVictoria and Liz barely breathe the same air\, but they collide headfirst when they meet in a group for expectant mothers and find common ground against all odds. \nVictoria\, forty-three\, is confident\, poised\, and powerful\, on the fast track to major career success in finance. Having kids is not in the plan. She had avoided love for decades–and hadn’t been too keen on female friendship either–when she fell for Ace\, a dashing man twenty years her senior. \nLiz\, thirty-two\, lives a fairly unstable life\, trying to make her situationship work and navigate a job on a vile reality dating show. She’s desperately wanted to experience motherhood for her entire life\, but anxiety and insecurity have landed her with a laundry list of failed romances. It’s an accident–ish–when she gets pregnant with her emotionally elusive boyfriend Preston’s baby just shy of a year into dating. \nWhen Liz and Victoria meet in a parenting class\, they both feel out of place amongst these pregnant women who seem to have it all figured out. They roll their eyes at the classic sign-off peppering the new mommy group chat: TIA (thanks in advance!). Alienated from these other women and due within a week of each other\, Victoria and Liz’s bond becomes a lifeline as they navigate their pregnancies and relationships. They grapple with impending motherhood together and lean on each other to navigate important decisions about family\, career\, and love. It’s the first successful female friendship in Victoria’s life and the first time Liz has felt so connected to an older\, wiser confidante. Maybe\, just maybe\, it will all be okay. \nBut as they grow more secure in their futures with each other’s support\, the friends confront a shocking turn of events that will change the course of both their lives. Victoria and Liz then must reckon with their relationships\, their impending journeys of motherhood\, and the strength of their own bond in this unforgettable work of women’s fiction.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-laura-lekkos-discusses-signs-all-the-little-ways/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/laura-lekkos.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260613T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260613T150000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T184716Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T184716Z
UID:10015251-1781362800-1781362800@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore:  C.L. Max Nikias discusses & signs American Trojan
DESCRIPTION:American Trojan is the captivating story of a refugee who lost everything and then rebuilt it all\, an immigrant who defied the odds and achieved the American Dream; a visionary technologist who transformed the University of Southern California into one of the nation’s most prestigious private research universities. \nAt a time when many universities have succumbed to ideology over truth\, under Nikias’s leadership\, USC retained its academic integrity in the face of high-stakes negotiations\, high-rolling donors\, and the profound challenges of modern leadership. \nHailing from a humble village on the island of Cyprus\, Nikias steeped in thousands of years of history as he grew up. But when the Turkish invasion of 1974 destroyed everything his family had built\, he came to America to see what the Land of Opportunity had to offer. \nUpon completion of his graduate engineering studies\, he embarked on an academic career that established him as a pioneer in digital signal analysis\, lead him to collaborate on military projects with the U.S. Navy\, and eventually led him to USC\, which would forever alter the trajectory of his career and life. \nAgainst this dramatic backdrop\, American Trojan offers candid insights into how Nikias’ bold vision transformed USC into one of America’s most elite universities. More than a personal story\, it is a blueprint for leadership\, offering insights into how Nikias and his team strategized to meet formidable challenges to USC. \nAn urgent examination of higher education’s current crisis\, American Trojan provides a roadmap for renewal\, offering specific recommendations for how universities can reclaim their true mission of transmitting knowledge and cultivating young minds.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-c-l-max-nikias-discusses-signs-american-trojan/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,Free,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/cl-max-nikias.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260615T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260615T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T185003Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T185003Z
UID:10015252-1781550000-1781550000@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstoer: Reyna Grande discusses & signs Migrant Heart: Essay About Things I Can’t Forget
DESCRIPTION:An ambitious memoir in essays by beloved bestselling author Reyna Grande that illuminates the hidden cost of the American Dream and the complex journey of healing that follows survival. \nWhat is the true power of stories? Can they heal the jagged edges of a traumatic childhood? Is the cost of telling the story worth the price of the cure? \nReyna Grande has spent her career capturing the raw reality of life across borders. In this intricate and deeply intimate memoir-in-essays\, the author of the landmark memoirs The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home again turns her gaze inward to explore the scars left by migration and the ongoing work of stitching herself back together. \nWith her signature blend of sophistication and raw honesty\, Grande interrogates how living between two nations\, two languages\, and two identities has shaped the woman\, mother\, and writer she has become. Moving from the legacy of violence in her hometown of Iguala\, Mexico\, to a bittersweet family vacation in Europe spent reconciling her own impoverished past with her children’s world of abundance\, she uncovers startling truths about the nature of survival. \nWhether being racially profiled in the Arizona borderlands or finding unexpected wisdom from the slugs in her garden\, Grande unflinchingly asks: How do we bridge the gap between who we were and who we have become? How do we turn pain into power? When memory threatens to define us\, how can we use story to heal while still honoring our boundaries? \nMigrant Heart is a powerful testament to Grande’s role as a storyteller and cultural witness. It expands our understanding of life in the United States and the complex people who cross and live within its borders. It is an essential read for the seekers\, the dreamers\, and anyone who believes in the enduring\, transformative power of finding one’s voice.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstoer-reyna-grande-discusses-signs-migrant-heart-essay-about-things-i-cant-forget/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/reyna-grande-rsvp.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260616T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260616T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T185208Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T185208Z
UID:10015253-1781636400-1781636400@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore: CJ Leede & Kyle Kouri\, in conversation with Chuck Tingle & Liz Kerin\, discuss & sign Headlights & The Problem Drinker
DESCRIPTION:Special Agent Daniel Stansfield is ready for a change. Burnt out and defeated by the job\, it’s his last day with the FBI. But before he can turn in his badge\, he’s summoned back to Denver\, the city he ran from four years ago\, with a chilling message: it’s happening again. \nSeemingly innocent people are waking up on the side of the highway\, with no memory of how they got there\, wearing the skin of victims they’ve allegedly never met. And they each share one haunting detail: a strand of a stranger’s hair is tied around their tongue. \nNow Daniel is pulled back into the gruesome cycle\, and every clue leads him deeper into the shadows of his own past. He will have to confront the ghosts of his traumatic childhood and face what’s been hunting him all along— before he and the people he loves become the next victims. \nAbout The Problem Drinker \nHis girlfriend is horror famous\, his own writing and acting is floundering\, and he is drinking to make sense of it all. \nKyle Kouri’s debut non-fiction collection is full of ‘whiskey courage’ staring at the abyss of family\, writing rejection\, relationships\, and his own drinking. From hijinks at AWP to hustling in the movie business\, Kouri bridges the gap in drama between indie and horror. \nAt turns hilarious and heartbreaking\, The Problem Drinker is the story of an artist living with another artist\, yearning to move the needle in his career\, amidst a sea of personal tragedies and comedies. If F. Scott Fitzgerald had one foot in the 2020s horror scene\, that’s the spirit of Kouri’s caustic and big-hearted\, lush and refreshingly candid debut.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-cj-leede-kyle-kouri-in-conversation-with-chuck-tingle-liz-kerin-discuss-sign-headlights-the-problem-drinker/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/cj-leede-web-updated.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260617T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260617T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T185430Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T185430Z
UID:10015254-1781722800-1781722800@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore: Kerri Schlottman\, discusses & signs Daytime Moon
DESCRIPTION:Isa has a gift. Premonitions\, intuitive insight\, a knack for tarot. But she is adrift. \nYears ago\, she ran away from one coast to the other and never looked back\, but when her brother Cole unexpectedly shows up on her stoop\, she’s convinced that it’s time to go home. Back in the California desert\, Isa is swept up in her former life of late-night drag races by the Salton Sea\, beers with the locals\, and haunting reminders of the twin sister she lost and the mother she never got to meet. \nWhen Dane\, the man who raised them\, becomes terminally ill\, Isa is forced to confront everything she ran away from. In a posthumous letter\, his revelations ignite her fearless internal drive. Traveling up and down California highways\, through desert and forest\, roaring coastline and border towns\, Isa will follow the signs so delicately woven into the fabric of her life – a name\, a constellation\, a painting\, a gleam of recognition on the water’s surface. If she can piece them together\, she just might reunite the shattered remains of her beloved family. \nArtfully narrated\, Schlottman’s novel is an unforgettable journey through hidden stories\, the depths of women’s secrets\, the shimmering fluidity of memory\, and the magic of transmutation.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-kerri-schlottman-discusses-signs-daytime-moon/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/kerri-schlottman-rsvp.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260618T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260618T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T185702Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T185702Z
UID:10015255-1781809200-1781809200@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore: Joan Lunden discusses & signs Joan: Life Beyond the Script
DESCRIPTION:In this fearless and inspiring memoir\, trailblazing journalist Joan Lunden pulls back the curtain on the defining moments that shaped her extraordinary life–from breaking barriers on national television to reshaping motherhood\, survivorship\, and aging on her own terms. \nSince bursting onto the national morning news scene in 1980 as cohost of Good Morning America\, Joan Lunden has been a catalyst for revolutionary societal changes. She didn’t just report the headlines; she made headlines for shattering the mold in a news industry dominated by older white men and rewrote the rules entirely. In a bold move that challenged workplace norms\, Joan was one of the first to bring her newborn daughter to work so she could continue breastfeeding\, showing the world that she could be a dedicated mom and a top-tier journalist at the same time. \nIn her 50s\, after raising three grown daughters from her previous marriage\, Joan and her husband\, Jeff Konigsberg\, welcomed two sets of twins via surrogate\, proving women can embrace motherhood at any age. \nThen\, in her 60s\, Joan discovered she had breast cancer. She bravely went public with her diagnosis\, chronicling her journey and fearlessly posing bald on the cover of PEOPLE. Standing in her truth\, she became an advocate for women to be better informed about the disease. She even lobbied Washington to require mammogram testing results be made available to all women\, especially those with dense breast tissue. Her valiant efforts enabled early cancer detection and surely helped save countless lives. \nDuring the later-life care of her mother\, Glady\, Joan advocated again–this time for senior citizens. She testified before Congress to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act to include senior care\, imploring that caregiving isn’t just something we do at the start of life– it happens at the end\, as well. \nAt every turn\, Joan has been willing to step out of her comfort zone while reinventing herself and the environment around her. JOAN: Life Beyond the Script shares the extraordinary transitions this journalist\, television host\, author\, and advocate has undergone and how she has influenced our life transitions as well. By deeply reflecting on the most pivotal moments in her life and career\, accepting the times when she faltered as much as when she was sure of herself\, Lunden encourages us all to be open to change and the profound transformations it brings. \n 
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-joan-lunden-discusses-signs-joan-life-beyond-the-script/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/joan-lunden.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260620T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260620T110000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T185930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T185930Z
UID:10015256-1781953200-1781953200@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore:  Daniel Brewer and Paul Paolilli read from & sign Pondering: A Story in Cinquains
DESCRIPTION:This lyrically written and gorgeously illustrated ode to ponds is crafted in a uniquely American poetic form called American cinquain. \nIn this glorious celebration of nature\, three girls walk an old trail in search of a hidden pond\, marveling at treasures they discover along the way–darting dragonflies\, croaking bullfrogs\, fluttering sycamore leaves\, and more. Written in a unique poetic form called American cinquain\, the story seamlessly weaves together an invitation to readers to immerse themselves in nature\, while also bringing attention to this endangered ecosystem. The info-packed pages at the end of the book include an overview of the pond ecosystem and the current threat to it\, as well as an exploration of the cinquain form.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-daniel-brewer-and-paul-paolilli-read-from-sign-pondering-a-story-in-cinquains/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/daniel-brewer-and-paul-paolilli.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260620T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260620T150000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T190623Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T190623Z
UID:10015257-1781967600-1781967600@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore: ; Tom Lin discusses & signs Babylon\, South Dakota
DESCRIPTION:From the author of the Carnegie Medal in Fiction winner The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu comes a tantalizing\, American West saga about a Chinese American family trying to survive on their Dakota farm as a powerful\, mysterious\, and morally dubious military secret shapes their lives. \n“Lin’s gossamer prose is patient and full of wonders.”– Ed Park\, author of Same Bed Different Dreams and An Oral History of Atlantis \nWhen Saul Keng Hsiu and his wife\, Mei Lee\, move from China to the United States to take possession of a 160-acre homestead bequeathed to them by a distant relative\, all they have are the possessions on their back\, some hidden gold\, and a pocketful of chrysanthemum seeds. After a rocky start and a long\, harsh winter\, the couple find themselves successfully raising chrysanthemums and livestock\, and soon after\, a daughter\, Mara. \nBut when representatives from the US Army Corps of Engineers buy an acre of the Hsiu’s farmland and begin building a missile silo\, the inexplicable starts to occur: Mara can commune with the animals on the farm\, Mei develops a hidden talent for augury\, and the chrysanthemums become impervious to everything. When the Hsius learn that the project on their farm is an effort to make America’s nuclear deterrent invulnerable\, they see firsthand the long arm of power and empire. \nIn the years and generations that follow\, increasingly impacted by the silo and its residue\, the Hsius experience strange\, wondrous\, and tragic events on their farm. An ambitious epic and an ode to the beauty and glory of our connection to the natural world\, Babylon\, South Dakota\, upends the idea of “strangers in a strange land” to become a classic American story. It is a daring novel about how choices reverberate across generations and asks us what we owe to one another.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-tom-lin-discusses-signs-babylon-south-dakota/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260620T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260620T170000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20251104T004947Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251104T004947Z
UID:10014513-1781971200-1781974800@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Third@First: Christoph Bull\, Organ
DESCRIPTION:World-renowned organist Christoph Bull will play an eclectic program ranging from the classics to new works to the cinematic. Performance painter Norton Wisdom\, will interpret the music through painting in real time.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/thirdfirst-christoph-bull-organ/
LOCATION:First United Methodist Church\, 500 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:In-Person,Music
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Christoph-Bull-Organ.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260622T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260622T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T190819Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T190819Z
UID:10015258-1782154800-1782154800@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore: Teo Rivera-Dundas discusses & signs Slow Guillotine (Zero Street Fiction)
DESCRIPTION:Slow Guillotine follows three broke weirdos whose collective desire to make and think about art is constantly interrupted by their art-industry-adjacent minimum-wage jobs. Throughout the novel\, the three friends’ day jobs in a failing independent bookstore\, a sterile gallery in downtown Manhattan\, and miscellaneous living rooms across the Long Island birthday-party-clown circuit interweave with their attempts to come to terms with their precarity\, gender-dysphoric embodiment\, and the floating dream of collective liberation. \nSpanning one year and told through an obsessive first-person present tense\, Slow Guillotine brings the bildungsroman structure through the autofictional looking glass\, questioning how “coming of age” could be feasible in a society of debtors\, wage laborers\, and renters.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-teo-rivera-dundas-discusses-signs-slow-guillotine-zero-street-fiction/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,Ice House,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/teo-rivera-dundas.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260623T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260623T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T191019Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T191019Z
UID:10015259-1782241200-1782241200@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore:  David Litt discusses & signs It’s Only Drowning: A Memoir
DESCRIPTION:A former Obama speechwriter moves to the Jersey Shore and learns to surf with the help of his brother-in-law: a tattooed\, truck-driving Joe Rogan superfan. \nDavid\, the Yale-educated writer with a fear of sharks\, and Matt\, the daredevil electrician with a shed full of surfboards\, had never been close. But as America’s crises piled up and David spiraled into existential dread\, he noticed that his brother-in-law was thriving. He began to suspect Matt’s favorite hobby had something to do with it. \nDavid started taking surf lessons. For months\, he wiped out on waves the height of daffodils. Yet\, after realizing that surfing could change him both in and out of the water\, he set an audacious goal: riding a big wave in Hawaii. He searched for an expert he could trust to guide and protect him–and when he couldn’t find one\, he asked Matt. Together\, they set out on a journey that spanned coasts\, and even continents\, before taking them to Oahu’s famously dangerous North Shore. \nIt’s Only Drowning is a laugh-out-loud love letter to surfing–and so much more. It’s an ode to embarking on adventures at any age. It’s a blueprint for becoming braver at a time when it takes courage just to read the news. Most of all\, it’s the story of an unlikely friendship\, one that crosses the fault lines of education\, ideology\, and culture tearing so many of us apart.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-david-litt-discusses-signs-its-only-drowning-a-memoir/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260624T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260624T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T215652Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T215652Z
UID:10015261-1782327600-1782327600@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore: Fiction Reading Group
DESCRIPTION:The Vroman’s Fiction Reading Group explores contemporary fiction -long and short– from a diverse selection of writers.  Enjoy lively discussions at our one-hour meetings.  Our Fiction Reading Group is free and inclusive – there are no requirements nor criteria to join. We announce upcoming titles 3-6 months in advance and choose titles that are available in paperback.  Drop by our next meeting! \nJune’s pick is The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden \n  \nFiction Reading Group meetings are held inside Vroman’s Bookstore on the second floor in the
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-fiction-reading-group-4/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260625T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260625T190000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T191258Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T191258Z
UID:10015260-1782414000-1782414000@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore:  William Loving\, in conversation with Ivy Pochoda\, discusses & signs Fells Point
DESCRIPTION:What begins as a personal journey of late-life reckoning becomes a noir-tinged meditation on memory\, mortality\, and the search for purpose. By turns darkly funny and melancholic\, Fells Point captures a soul—and a city—at a crossroads. \nDaniel Doyle Jr.\, a jaded\, middle-aged corporate communications flack in Baltimore\, is drifting through life under a literal death sentence: a congenital heart defect that could take him any day. Determined to reclaim some meaning\, he sets out to truly see and understand his city for the first time\, creating a “bucket list” of cultural landmarks\, lost institutions\, and personal haunts across Baltimore. But as he traverses the city’s past and present\, he realizes he’s being followed by a mysterious stranger who seems to appear wherever he goes. Is it paranoia\, coincidence\, or something more sinister? \nBio: \nWilliam Loving is the author of three novels\, including City of Angles\, Blue Earth River\, and his latest\, Fells Point. Before turning to fiction\, he worked as a journalist at the Los Angeles Times and the Minneapolis Star Tribune\, covering city life\, politics\, and culture. His fiction reflects a journalist’s sharp eye for character and place\, blending wit\, suspense\, and a deep connection to the cities that have shaped him. He lives in Pasadena\, California\, with his wife.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-william-loving-in-conversation-with-ivy-pochoda-discusses-signs-fells-point/
LOCATION:Vroman’s Bookstore\, 695 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/william-loving.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260627T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260627T140000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20260512T220216Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T220216Z
UID:10015263-1782568800-1782568800@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Vroman's Bookstore: Jeremy Atherton discusses & signs Deep House: The Gayest Love Story Ever Told
DESCRIPTION:From the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of Gay Bar comes a rule-breaking\, sweat-soaked\, genre-busting story of outlaw love. \nNATIONAL BESTSELLER The New Yorker Best Books of 2025 Publishers Weekly Top 10 Books of the Year Time Out 10 Best Books of the Year NPR Books We Love 2025 \nIt’s 1996\, and Jeremy Atherton Lin has met the boy of his dreams–a mumbling\, starry-eyed Brit–just as\, amid a media frenzy\, US Congress prepares the Defense of Marriage Act\, denying same-sex couples federal rights including immigration. The pair steals away to remote forests and vast deserts\, London fashion shows and Berlin sex clubs\, dinner parties\, back alleys\, East Village hotel rooms\, and San Francisco dives. Finding no other way to stay together\, they shack up illicitly among unlikely allies in a “city of refuge.” \nWith Atherton Lin’s inimitable blend of tenderness and wicked humor\, Deep House moves through the couple’s string of rented apartments while unlocking doors to a lineage of gay men who have come before–smuggling a foreign partner through national checkpoints or going public to stand up for the right to get down in the privacy of their own homes. They include hapless criminals\, sexpot bartenders\, friars\, pirates\, government workers who subverted the system\, activists who went all the way to the Supreme Court\, and the celebrated artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres. \nFollowing Gay Bar–called “a rich tapestry” by Vanity Fair and “an absolute tour de force” by Maggie Nelson– Deep House juxtaposes whispered disclosures of undocumented domesticity with courtroom drama and political stunts to explore myriad forms of intimacy while questioning the mechanisms that legitimize love. Deep House is at once a historical kaleidoscope and the innermost tale of two boyfriends who made a home in the shadows of a turbulent civil rights battle. \nA Recommended Book in the Washington Post\, the New York Times Style Magazine\, Observer\, W Magazine\, NBC News\, E! Online\, Queerty\, Literary Hub\, Stylist\, & Dazed
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/vromans-bookstore-jeremy-atherton-discusses-signs-deep-house-the-gayest-love-story-ever-told/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Books,In-Person,Vroman's Bookstore
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/jeremy-atherton-lin-updated.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261018T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261018T170000
DTSTAMP:20260513T132017
CREATED:20251104T005355Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251104T005355Z
UID:10014514-1792339200-1792342800@playhousevillage.org
SUMMARY:Third@First: Piano Extravaganza
DESCRIPTION:Acclaimed faculty pianists Bernadene Blaha (USC)\, Kevin Fitz-Gerald (USC)\, Sarkis Baltaian (Orange County School of the Arts)\, and First UMC’s own Junko Ueno Garrett (Occidental College) unite to play with eight hands on two pianos! Come hear music by Beethoven\, Rachmaninov\, Moscheles\, Ravel\, and Rossini.
URL:https://playhousevillage.org/event/thirdfirst-piano-extravaganza/
LOCATION:First United Methodist Church\, 500 E. Colorado Blvd.\, Pasadena\, CA\, 91101\, United States
CATEGORIES:First United Methodist Church,In-Person,Music
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://playhousevillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Screenshot2025-10-03at2.45.53-PM.webp
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR