Pasta Grannies, skateboarding and more: 5 L.A. book talks this week

L.A. readers have a lot to be grateful for in the week before Thanksgiving, with events that celebrate cooking, skate culture and poetry. Local authors Shonda Buchanan and Angela M. Sanchez also make appearances.

Here are five upcoming book talks:

Secrets from the Pasta Grannies

Fans of the popular Pasta Grannies YouTube channel can rejoice: The official cookbook has arrived and author Vicky Bennison will be signing copies Saturday at Now Serving. A collection of more than 80 recipes perfected by real Italian grandmothers, “Pasta Grannies: The Secrets of Italy’s Best Home Cooks” also tells the stories of these talented women. Benson will be joined in conversation by “Good Food” host Evan Kleiman.

11 a.m. Saturday. Now Serving,727 N. Broadway, Unit 133, Los Angeles. Free.

Celebrate skate culture

Photographer Hugh Holland will sign copies of “Silver. Skate. Seventies” at Arcana: Books on the Arts. In the 1970s, Holland documented the emergence of local skateboarding culture, capturing freewheeling teens as they surfed a suburban landscape of sidewalks, empty swimming pools and parking lots. The book collects more than 100 of these never-before-published images, which document the early days of the sunny Southern California skate scene in stark black and white.

4 p.m. Saturday. Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd, Culver City. Free.

A new memoir

Poet and educator Shonda Buchanan will discuss her new memoir, “Black Indian,” with journalist Rex Weiner during his live interview series at Beyond Baroque. Buchanan’s first book was the poetry collection “Who’s Afraid of Black Indians?” She also is an editor at Harriet Tubman Press. Her memoir explores the dual inheritance of being African American with American Indian roots and the complex identity of a multiracial heritage.

8 p.m. Saturday. Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles. Free

‘Scruffy and the Egg’ returns

Chevalier’s Books hosts a story time featuring local author Angela M. Sanchez, who will read from her children’s book “Scruffy and the Egg: Adventures on the Road.” The book is a follow up to Sanchez’s first children’s title, the semiautobiographical “Scruffy and the Egg,” which reviewer Catherine Womack described as “a cohesive, expressively drawn book” with “a surprisingly optimistic tone considering its exploration of difficult circumstances and homelessness.” Important reading for Angelenos of all ages.

9:30 a.m. Sunday. Chevalier’s Books, 26 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles. Free.

A decade of poetry

Celebrate local literature, creative community and the Los Angeles Poet Society’s 10-year anniversary with a party at the East Los Angeles Library. Readers and performers include Susan Hayden, Teresa Mei Chuc, Don Campbell, Mark Lipman, Veronica Reyes, Iris de Anda, Juan Cardenas, Mike the Poet, Rosie Alonso, Oxc Lebran and more. Refreshments will be provided.

6:30 p.m. Monday. East Los Angles Library, 4837 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles. Free.

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