As 826LA staff set up for Changing the Story—a garden party and book fair benefitting 826LA—on Thursday afternoon at Rolling Greens, the Santa Ana winds picked up, sending zines and books by student authors fluttering off of shelves. The theme of the event, “Future Bestsellers,” referred to the fact that today’s imaginative students will be tomorrow’s successful authors with a little help from 826LA volunteers. Now it seemed like nature itself wanted in on the excitement that student writing generates.
Fortunately neither wind nor traffic prevented guests from gathering at this oasis in the heart of industrial Downtown LA, and by early evening, supporters, volunteers, and educators were sipping beer from Three Weavers and cocktails from Revel Spirits while perusing books with titles like Mr. Dinosaur, Lisa the Fox, and Junior the Bird: The Good Friends and the Mean Friends. Food stations featured wood-fired pizza from Pace, artful shellfish from Anarchy Seafood, savory tacos from Gogo’s, and vegan ice cream from the Craig’s cart. Cliff Beach set a funk-soul vibe for the evening.
As the sun dipped below the skyline, 826LA Board President Susan Ko took the stage.
“The future is unwritten,” she said. “For all the challenges of the past and the present, our fates are not sealed. The wildly creative, confident students of 826LA will join other young people in drafting the next chapter for our world.”
The evening was a celebration of those students and a call to action.
“I promise you that 100% of societal problems will only be solved through the things 826LA brings to the table: creativity, compassion, collaboration, inclusion, and–yes–writing!” said Executive Director Jaime Balboa. “The creativity of young people in all their diversity is one of the most valuable resources we can invest in as a society.”
Joel Laguna, an English teacher at Thomas Starr King Middle School who often brings his classes on 826LA field trips, was up next. “826LA has become an ally in teaching writing,” he said.
After video testimonials from volunteers, teachers, and students themselves, the audience voiced their support by donating an additional $131,000 in the live and silent auction and paddle-raise portion of the evening.
Then it was time for the featured guest: 826LA honored author Walter Mosley for his contributions to literature, publishing, and the community of Los Angeles. Novelist Natashia Deón asked him about his diverse body of work and his advice for young writers.
Reading and writing, Mosley said, are equalizing activities.
“One of the great things about books, specifically reading, is that everyone reads a different book,” he said. “If a million people read a book, there’s going to be at least a million books.”
And writing requires the lowest overhead of all the arts: “You don’t need to be wealthy, you don’t need to be liked, you don’t need to be beautiful to write.”
Mosley began his career as a computer programmer and started writing at the age of 34. “One day, instead of writing a program, I wrote a sentence. I said, you know, that could be a book. I said, this is really fun.”
His Easy Rawlins detective novels shone a light on historical LA communities that had been largely overlooked in recorded history.
“I wanted to write about the people I loved so much that they would be part of history,” Mosley said.
Deón asked if he remembered the excitement of seeing his name in print for the first time.
“I understand that feeling, but one of these things I’ve learned very early on is the best part of writing is writing.”
At 826LA, we couldn’t agree more.
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