Los Angeles Review of Books PubLab | We are the official annual journal of the LA Review of Books Publishing Workshop, an immersive, collaborative summer program designed for students and innovators interested in publishing.

We are the official annual publication of the LA Review of Books Publishing Workshop, an immersive, collaborative summer program designed for students and innovators interested in publishing.

Two people with their elbow on the table, with their chin in their hand. Question mark and the word "secret" written in brackets.

Anel I. Flores Portfolio

This collection of paintings by San Antonio–based artist Anel I. Flores (they/she) intimately captures a lesbian subject’s journey from secrecy and shame to unabashed freedom. Flores pairs portraits of lesbian couples with the words “secret” and “amor prohibido”...

Prelude to a Scripture

Here is a list of things I know about the author.Either he was very old or he had a proclivity for the vintage. His briefcase says as much: tan, leather, mid-twentieth century—the sort corporate grunts carried back to their white-picket-fence homes at the...

Challenging the Peripheral: Reading Assam in Reema Rajbanshi’s Sugar, Smoke, Song

Growing up in the capital city of Guwahati, Assam, life was marked by recurring floods and occasional violence, shaping a unique resilience in middle-class girls like us. We were taught two critical lessons with utmost seriousness: never to venture out...

Untitled, Still

for 奶奶, in the land of steady hands Upstroke, downbeat, the waves fathomtowards the shallow surface of spring— hiss lake foam of thin rain slicked ...

Black-and-white photograph of a blurred female dancer spinning in a thin silk dress.

Elizabeth Stoddard’s Unruly Girlhood

Weird girls are having a literary moment. A search for “weird girl books” on TikTok confirms this, yielding hundreds of videos celebrating the genre. Authors like Mona Awad, Sayaka Murata, and Ottessa Moshfegh feature heavily. These books vary widely in content but...

Theory of Care

“yellow textile on brown wooden table” (2020), Noah Morgan. Courtesy of Unsplash. Magnolia trees that open their flowerslike doves coming to wingspan. Freshsoup dumplings, hot gelatin runningdown my face before I flick a napkinacross the downpour. Husking...

Painting of a violin on a sheet of music, set on olive green background

The Ceaseless Song

I made music before I could speak. I drummed and hummed along with tunes it seemed only I could hear. When I could stand, I hauled myself to the piano and pressed the keys blindly above my head. I wrote my first song before I could reach the pedals. When I was strong...

Skin

The sun hangs low in the sky like an overripe orange. You wish for a moment that you could reach up and pluck it, sink your teeth into it so you could taste something sweet, empty your mouth of the blood and dirt that has made a home there.You used to bite your lip...