Libros Schmibros: Lending Library

Join us for a night of bilingual poetry in celebration of the publication of William Archila’s bilingual poetry collection Canícula/ Dog Days. Archila will read poems from the collection, and will be joined by poets Vickie Vertiz, Ramón García, Janel Pineda, and Luis J. Rodriguez.

From war-torn El Salvador to the streets of LA, Canícula / Dog Days is a bold, bilingual collection chronicling exile, memory, and resilience across borders.

William Archila’s Canícula/Dog Days is a bilingual selection of his first two books of poetry, The Art of Exile and The Gravedigger’s Archaeology, two collections that chart the emergence of a newcomer in the chorus of Latine Poetry. Canícula, which means “dog days” in English, takes the reader on a poignant journey from the unrest in El Salvador in the 1980s to the urban landscape of the US immigrant, revealing the turmoil and memory of the disempowered, the impoverished, and the displaced who struggle back home in Central America.

In lyrical and often harrowing language, Archila unearths the vestiges of war and the exile’s return in an elegy, the fragments of a myth, or a jazz riff. They come together like the bilateral symmetry of a volcano, and the result is the introduction to Archila’s poetry for the Spanish reader. FREE EVENT!

The 2026 Summer Fellowship has begun! Over the next 4 weeks, Boyle Heights high school students will learn about LA's history, politics, culture, and nature through activities, speakers, and field trips. Follow our learning adventures here!
Roosevelt High School LA
Mendez HS
MSTMA at RHS

Alberto Sahagún talks with Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, Professor in the School of Policy and Government at George Mason University specializing in U.S-Mexico relations, international security, and illicit networks. They discuss the impact of the death of “El Mencho” on Mexican cartels and US involvement in Mexico’s drug war
Link in Bio

Latinidad encompasses the diverse experiences of people who live in Latin America as well as people of Latin American descent who live in the United States. This monthly podcast invites academics, writers, and artists to discuss topics related to US Latino/as and Latin Americans, which should be better covered in English language media.
View episodes on our Youtube channel (link in bio) and please Subscribe.

Amy Olide was part of our first Summer Fellowship cohort in 2019. Since then, she graduated from Roosevelt High School in 2020, UC Irvine in 2024 with a B.A. in Political Science, and now Cal State LA in 2026 with a M.P.A. She currently works at the Boyle Heights Office of Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado.
Our Summer Fellowship teaches Boyle Heights high school students about LA history, politics, culture, and ecology, so we can build a better future for our city.

Join us for the next Children's Story Time/ Hora del Cuento on Sunday, May 31, 11am-noon. Bilingual stories, activities and free books for kids under 10!

Alberto Sahagún talks with April Tellez, Professor of History at Mt. San Antonio College and author of Dolores Huerta: A Life in American History (2025). They discuss Dolores Huerta’s life and work in light of revelations about Cesar Chavez’s sexual abuse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhg2Y7cq5Ik
Please SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel. Link in Bio

PAJAROS DE VERANO (Birds of Passage) follows an indigenous family in Colombia during the 1960s and 70s as that gets involved in the drug trade. LA Times film critic Kenneth Turan wrote: "Imagine 'The Godfather' made by dazzling Latin American directors who combine bravura filmmaking with political awareness and a probing social conscience." Directed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra.

Temporary change to our open days: the next 2 weeks we'll open Friday-Sunday. We'll be back to our regular 6 day a week schedule Tuesday, May 12