TAHOE CITY

Dianne Reeves Angel — writer and Tahoe local, with poetry in Moonshine Ink and experience in screenplay writing — is debuting her first novel in spring of 2026. Every Restaurant Tells a Story is a collection of 18 short stories set in various restaurants in Los Angeles in the ‘80s. 

Angel was on a trip to Southern California earlier this year when the idea for her book sparked. She was inspired by her own experiences in the film industry and sharing meals with friends. While writing her book, Angel said she revisited some of the restaurants in person. Originally planned as a memoir, Angel had to change names, modifying it into a series of short stories instead.

“What appealed to me was this whole idea of sense-memory. The way that restaurants and food and cocktails could evoke memories, and I really wanted to explore that concept,” Angel said. “I wanted to get ahold of those memories, and it’s so interesting to me to do it through sense-memory because the memories did come.”

Every Restaurant Tells a Story invites readers to join Angel in her memories of restaurants scattered throughout Los Angeles and the tales they brought forth. Her first reading will be next Spring at the Short Stories Hotel in LA, one she had stumbled past while going to Canter’s Deli in her youth. The release date and readings have yet to be scheduled.

Angel has lived in Tahoe City for the past 25 years and hopes to do a reading of her new book when it is published by Lost Telegram Press. One of her favorite poems published by the Ink is called His Papa’s Waltz.

~ MR