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.

Andrea Long Chu’s Females, Revised

Andrea Long Chu’s Females, Revised “At Your Own Expense” (2026), digital collage and mixed media, Lauren Burnham. Incorporates various silhouettes from the ledger book of William Bache (1803-12), sourced from the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian...

A Puerto Rican man in his 20s-30s stands in the middle of a sugar cane field during harvest, looking at the camera with one hand on his hip. He wears a wide-brimmed hat, beige pants, a leather belt, and a button-down polo shirt. His eyes and nose are obscured by the shadow of his hat. There is a blue sky in the background, and other workers harvesting sugarcane.

“No suelte’ la bandera ni olvide’ el lelolai”: (Re)Imagining Lo Jíbaro From Manuel Alonso to Bad Bunny

“No suelte’ la bandera ni olvide’ el lelolai”: (Re)Imagining Lo Jíbaro From Manuel Alonso to Bad Bunny “Man in sugar cane field during harvest, Puerto Rico” (1942), Jack Delano, Photograph. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. When I first saw the NFL and...

Abstract floral cluster with swirling lavender petals around a dark central opening, orange-and-white striped tongue-like forms, and coral-textured petals covered in small pore-like dots.

Daniela Martén Rothe Portfolio

“Diosa Lenguona” (2021) Oil on canvas. 150×120 cm. Copyright Daniela Marten Rothe (2026)

Layered digital collage of three pixelated figures standing in front of a Buchla machine.

Echoes of the Fourth Person: A Dilemma of Sociality in Electronic Music

ONE PERSON is never enough. Buzzing away on my bassoon in a practice room or listening to The Strokes through a dime-sized speaker lodged in my ear are not typically lauded as the pinnacle of musical experience. One of the platitudes of music is that sound is social:...

A ghostly portrait of Anne Boleyn by Hans Holbein the Younger.

Anne Boleyn in the Manosphere: What Ava Pickett’s hot new period piece can teach us about misogyny’s past and present

On April 26, 2025, just over one week before Ava Pickett’s 1536 premiered for its sold-out run at the Almeida Theatre in London, 38-year-old Owen Lawrence attacked the popular Otley Run pub crawl in Leeds, England, seriously injuring two women. In January of that...

Close-up of a watermelon covered with bubble wrap.

Authorities are trying to figure out who stole a 150-pound watermelon worth $1,500

Authorities are trying to figure out who stole a 150-pound watermelon worth $1,500WBALTV-11 | 11:31 a.m. EDT September 10, 2013 The sky is dark when he steps out ontothe back porch into his watermelon patch. In a minute, he will find the vine is cut, feelthe dirt...

A close-up of several cyanotypes of a naked woman turning and ascending stairs, waving her hand, in a study of motion.

Switch Stance

All truths wait in all things—Walt WhitmanI envy surfers (coteries of loose joints) who design their lives around patterns and leave no trace.Rising with the sun (an income of energy), rushing to the edge of a flower-studded cliffwhere no words are needed. Views tell...

A tunnel leading into Caracas, Venezuela, under colorful buildings and bordered by two line-drawn images of catalpa flowers.

Querida

Querida Emily Lauletta, “Caracas through Catalpa,” 2026, digital collage. Background photograph of El Paraíso tunnel and catalpa images courtesy of Wikipedia Commons. Marcello cursed through ground teeth at the backpack zipper as it caught for the fourth...