Caleb Nichols Reads Lithic: A Hyperballad at Skylight

Poet and songwriter Caleb Nichols brings a new book to Los Feliz for an evening of readings at one of the neighborhood's best-loved independent shops. It is an easy pick among the upcoming events Los Angeles poetry fans have been waiting on, and it costs nothing to attend.

When: Monday, November 9, 2026, 7:00 to 9:00 PM Where: Skylight Books, 1818 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027 Price: Free, seating first-come, first-served

About the book

Lithic: A Hyperballad won the Harbor Editions Laureate Prize. It gathers a sequence of poems and a lyric essay on memory, gender, landscape and language, and it is described as queer ecopoetics, rooted in both lyric and experimental work. The title nods to the philosopher Timothy Morton's idea of the hyperobject, a thing so large it resists ordinary comprehension, and to the Bjork song that gave the concept its name in the poet's mind.

The collection was written along two edges: the shores of North Wales and the Central Coast of California. Welsh words and etymology sit against California punk and the plastic shimmer of contemporary collapse. The book asks what happens if the poem is not the finished object but the act of digging.

Who is reading

Nichols is the first queer poet laureate of San Luis Obispo County and has recorded for Kill Rock Stars. Their poems have run in the New England Review and Poetry Wales. A companion spoken word album, Stone Age Is Now: Poems From Lithic, arrives alongside the book on the label Royal Oakie.

Three more writers share the bill. Misha Crafts is a Los Angeles poet and essayist whose chapbook Beef Cherries came out from Almanac Press in 2024. Dare Williams is a queer, HIV-positive poet and facilitator rooted in Southern California, and a 2019 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow. Eduardo Martinez-Leyva completes the lineup.

What to expect

Expect a literary night rather than a lecture: poems read aloud by four writers whose work leans personal, ecological and experimental. Seating is first-come, first-served, so arriving a little early is the safe move. If you are scanning for LA events this weekend, or just want a Monday plan that is not a bar, this is a quiet, generous one.

Getting there

Skylight sits on Vermont Avenue in the heart of Los Feliz, near the Vermont/Sunset Metro B Line station and a handful of cafes for before or after. Street parking nearby can be tight in the evening, so transit or a rideshare is worth considering. For more nights out, browse our arts and culture events and the other things happening in Los Angeles this month.