ALOUD @ Los Angeles Public Library

Michael Pollan May 14, 2019

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Michael Pollan offers a mind-bending investigation into the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs—and the spellbinding story of his own life-changing psychedelic experiences as he set out to research the active ingredients in magic mushrooms. Blending science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism through Pollan’s discovery of how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill, but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life. Sharing his deep dive into altered states of consciousness, Pollan discusses this unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world.

Anand Giridharadas May 06, 2019

In an impassioned call to action for elites and everyday citizens alike, former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas shines a light on the shady side of philanthropy. Winners Take All offers a scathing investigation of how the global elite’s efforts to “change the world” preserve the status quo and obscure their role in causing the problems they later seek to solve. This bestselling groundbreaking book poses many hard questions like: Why should our gravest problems be solved by the unelected upper crust instead of the public institutions it erodes by lobbying and dodging taxes? Giridharadas shares with us some of his bold answers, including how we must take on the grueling democratic work of building more robust, egalitarian institutions to truly change the world.

Rachel Cusk Apr 09, 2019

Rachel Cusk is an international literary superstar. Her most recent trilogy–Outline, Transit, and Kudos–draws its hero, Faye, through a collage of vignettes. Through tales told by the people Faye encounters–an airline companion, a disgruntled neighbor, and a fellow writer, among others–Faye’s own haunting past is stealthily revealed, making for an artful and hypnotic reading experience. “After her controversial memoirs of motherhood and marriage, the writer has a new design for fiction,” writes Judith Thurman in the New Yorker in a profile titled “Rachel Cusk Gut-Renovates the Novel.” Now, the UK-based writer brings the work that has captivated the writing (and reading) community to Los Angeles for a rare Stateside reading and conversation.

Ottessa Moshfegh Mar 12, 2019

On the heels of one of last year’s boldest, most celebrated novels, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, join us to hear from Ottessa Moshfegh for a celebration of a new edition of her groundbreaking debut novella, McGlue. Set in Salem, Massachusetts, 1851—the same year as the publication of Moby Dick—McGlue follows the foggy recollections of a hard-drinking seafarer who may or may not have killed his best friend. Discussing her sharply observational body of work that illuminates the exhilaratingly dark psychologies of wayward characters, Moshfegh will share the stage with Amanda Stern, the author of Little Panic, a fiercely funny new memoir on anxiety.

We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages and Ransom Jan 31, 2019

As the Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon spends his time taking action on behalf of journalists who are targeted, attacked, imprisoned, or killed. He is an expert on how countries around the world handle the kidnapping of their nationals, including how they analyze and respond to intelligence and provide support for the hostage families. At a time when journalists are in greater danger than ever before, Simon’s newest book draws on his extensive experience interviewing former hostages, their families, employers, and policy makers to lay out a new approach to hostage negotiation. He is joined onstage by Sewell Chan, deputy managing editor at the Los Angeles Times, as well as Federico Motka, an Italian aid worker who spent a year as a hostage of Isis in Syria.

Dear Los Angeles: The City in Diaries and Letters, 1542 to 2018 Dec 11, 2018

What might Marilyn Monroe, Cesar Chavez, Susan Sontag, Albert Einstein have to say about Los Angeles? Their diary entries, along with those of other actors, musicians, activists, cartographers, students, geologists, cooks, merchants, journalists, politicians, composers, and many more—provide a kaleidoscopic view of Los Angeles over the past four centuries, from the Spanish missionary expeditions of the 16th century to the present day. Book editor, critic and Los Angeles native David Kipen has scoured the archives of libraries, historical societies, and private estates to assemble a remarkably eclectic story of life in his beloved Los Angeles. Join us for a special staged reading of these first person accounts—representing a range of experiences and voices as diverse as Los Angeles itself.

Stories From a Life Lived Along the Border Nov 13, 2018

Bestselling author Reyna Grande’s newest memoir, A Dream Called Home, offers an inspiring account of one woman’s quest to find her place in America as a first-generation Latina university student and then pursue her dream of writing. Award-winning writer Jean Guerrero’s Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir tries to locate the border between truth and fantasy as she explores her troubled father’s life as an immigrant battling with self-destructive behavior. Octavio Solis, one of the most prominent Latino playwrights in America, turns to nonfiction in Retablos: Stories From a Life Lived Along the Border, a new collection of stories about growing up brown at the U.S./Mexico border. At this most urgent time of family separation through borders, join us for a unique evening of storytelling as we welcome these three fierce voices to share from their work that breaks down the walls of the immigrant experience.

Of Love & War Nov 01, 2018

The Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur-winning photojournalist and New York Times bestselling author Lynsey Addario has captured audiences with her highly compelling and beautifully harrowing photographs from war zones across the globe. With her uncanny ability to emotionally connect with her subjects and to personalize even the most remote corners and unimaginable circumstances, Addario offers a stunning new selection of work from the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa that documents life in Afghanistan under the Taliban, the stark truth of sub-Saharan Africa, and the daily reality of women in the Middle East. Of Love and War weaves Addario’s dramatic photographs with revelatory essays from fellow journalists such as Dexter Filkins, Suzy Hansen, and Lydia Polgreen, as well as her own letters, emails, and journal entries to illuminate the conflict facing people around the world today. Discussing this new book with an interlocutor, Addario will share images that capture a profound sense of humanity on the battlefield—and her own quest as a photojournalist to document injustice.

The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity Oct 25, 2018

Who do you think you are? What do you think you are? These questions of gender, religion, race, nationality, class, culture, and all our polarizing, contradictory natures permeate Kwame Anthony Appiah’s newest book. In The Lies That Bind, Appiah, the author of the Ethicist column for the New York Times, challenges our assumptions of identities—or rather mistaken identities. Njideka Akunyili Crosby, a MacArthur Award-winning Nigerian born visual artist who lives in Los Angeles, meshes painting, printmaking, photography, and collage to create large-scale mixed media works bursting with multinational perspectives. Speaking with the Hammer Museum’s Erin Christovale about 21st century identity politics and the appropriation of culture, Appiah and Crosby will share from their own work to consider how our collective identities shape—and can bring together—our divisive world.

The Library Book Oct 16, 2018

Join us for a special program on the 25th anniversary of the reopening of the Los Angeles Central Library that brings home the inspiring story of how Central Library rose from the ashes after the catastrophic fire of April 29, 1986. In a new book by New Yorker staff writer and author of seven books, including Rin Tin Tin and The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean offers a profoundly moving cultural history of the Los Angeles Public Library and its critical civic role since its inception in 1872. Reexamining the unsolved mystery of the biggest library fire in American history that destroyed or damaged more than one million books, Orlean investigates if someone purposefully set fire to the Library—and if so, who? Through this behind-the-scenes look at the Los Angeles Public Library system, Orlean weaves her life-long love of books and reading with the fascinating legacy of libraries across the world. In a conversation with author and Library Foundation Board Member Attica Locke and a surprise librarian guest, Orleans shares from The Library Book—a testament to the importance of all libraries and an homage to a beloved institution that remains a vital part of the heart, mind, and soul of our community today.

How to Cover the World: The Promise and Peril of Journalism in the Digital Age Oct 11, 2018

Technology has made possible new forms of transnational investigative journalism and fueled the rise of new digital media organizations in the US and around the world. Yet more journalists are imprisoned around the world than at any time in recent history; censorship is on the rise; and government-run disinformation campaigns are undermining public understanding and fueling distrust in the media. Two leading figures in global journalism help make sense of this confusing and contradictory environment, and discuss how their organizations find unique opportunities to make an impact within this challenging and ever-changing landscape. Gerard Ryle is the director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which collaborates teams of journalists to pursue groundbreaking investigations, like the Panama Papers. Joel Simon is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which fights for press freedom and the rights of journalists in the United States and around the world.Co-presented with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association

History of Violence: A Novel Oct 10, 2018

“Édouard Louis uses literature as a weapon,” says a recent New York Times profile of the internationally bestselling French author. Louis, whose highly acclaimed first autobiographical novel, The End of Eddy, confronts both the institution of discrimination as he experienced it first-hand, growing up in a small town in Northern France where he was bullied and forced to conceal his homosexuality and as well, the violence perpetrated on his hardscrabble community by an indifferent state. Now in his second book, the writer delivers another unsparing examination of survival—this time the story of his own rape and near murder by a stranger on Christmas Eve in 2012. In History of Violence, Louis copes with his post-traumatic stress disorder as he moves seamlessly and hypnotically between past and present, between his own voice and the voice of an imagined narrator to understand how such violence could occur. In a conversation with poet Steve Reigns, the City of West Hollywood’s first Poet Laureate, Louis examines his own complicated search for justice in a political system that marginalizes its citizens through class inequities and leaves entire communities vulnerable, powerless, and feeling neglected.

There, There: A Novel Sep 20, 2018

Tommy Orange’s There There is an extraordinary portrait of America like we’ve never seen before. Orange, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma who grew up in Oakland, brings an exhilaratingly fresh, urgent, and poetic voice to the disorienting experiences of urban Indians who struggle with the paradoxes of inhabiting traditions in the absence of a homeland, living both inside and outside of history. In his debut bestselling novel, a cast of 12 Native American characters each contending with their own demons converge and collide on the occasion of the Big Oakland Powwow. Orange visits the ALOUD stage following recent Indigenous authors Layli Long Soldier, Natalie Diaz, and Terese Marie Mailhot who are collectively redefining not only contemporary Native American writing, but the entire canon of American literature as we know it.

The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation Sep 17, 2018

Miriam Pawel, the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of the definitive biography, The Crusades of Cesar Chavez, continues to chronicle the fascinating history of California and the exceptional people who have shaped our state. In Pawel’s newest work, she demystifies transformative moments of California history—from the Gold Rush to Silicon Valley—as she considers the significant impact of one family dynasty. Beginning with Pat Brown, the beloved father who presided over California during an era of unmatched expansion, to Jerry Brown, the cerebral son who became the youngest governor in modern times—and then returned three decades later as the oldest, Pawel traces four generations of this influential family and will be joined on the ALOUD stage by Kathleen Brown, Pat’s youngest child and former California State Treasurer. Before Californians take to the polls for a very important November election, join us for an inside look at the past and present of state politics.

From Prison to President: The Letters of Nelson Mandela Jul 24, 2018

On the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth, comes a new portrait of one of the most inspiring historical figures of the twentieth century. Arrested in 1962 as South Africa’s apartheid regime intensified its brutal campaign against political opponents, forty-four-year-old lawyer and African National Congress activist Nelson Mandela had no idea that he would spend the next twenty-seven years in jail. During his 10,052 days of incarceration, Mandela wrote hundreds of letters to unyielding prison authorities, fellow activists, government officials, and most memorably to his wife, Winnie, and his five children. Now, 255 of these letters—a majority of which were previously unseen—provide an intimate view into the uncompromising morals of a great leader. In this special evening at ALOUD, Sahm Venter, the editor of this collection and a former Associated Press reporter who covered and was witness to Mandela’s release from prison in 1990, along with Zamaswazi Dlamini-Mandela, the granddaughter of Nelson and Winnie who wrote the foreword, will share the stage with writers to bring these deeply moving letters to life. Co-presented with PEN America Image source: Inspiration Now, Marco Cianfanelli

Bruce Lee and the Afro-Asian Culture Connection Jul 17, 2018

In the 1970’s Bruce Lee captivated African American audiences with his stylish and philosophical kung fu movies. Lee was a rarity—a non-white leading man fighting oppression, crime, and racism at a time when there were still signs that read: “No dogs or Chinese Allowed” and “Whites Only.” Through the physical, mental, and spiritual embodiment of martial arts, Lee modeled an intense pride in his own cultural heritage that was an inspiration to all people of color—especially young African American men. In a special gathering to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Lee’s passing, Emmy Award-winning comedian and author W. Kamau Bell, Bruce Lee biographer and cultural critic Jeff Chang, Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee, along with moderator and cultural anthropologist Sharon Ann Lee will explore Bruce Lee’s long-lasting legacy and how he became an unexpected icon for Afro-Asian unity.

What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City Jul 11, 2018

The dramatic story of the Flint water crisis is one of the signature environmental disasters of our time—and at the heart of this tragedy is an inspiring tale of scientific resistance by a relentless physician and whistleblower who stood up to power. What the Eyes Don’t See is the personal story of how Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha—accompanied by an idiosyncratic team of researchers, parents, friends, and community leaders—proved that Flint’s kids were exposed to lead despite the state’s assurance that the water was safe. Paced like a scientific thriller, Dr. Mona’s new book shows how misguided austerity policies, the withdrawal of democratic government, and callous bureaucratic indifference placed an entire city at risk. Named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2016, Dr. Mona will visit ALOUD to share her journey as an Iraqi-American immigrant, doctor, scientist, and mother whose family’s activist roots sparked her pursuit of justice—a fight for the children of Flint that she continues today.

Heart Berries: A Memoir Jun 28, 2018

The New York Times bestselling memoir Heart Berries is the powerful, poetic meditation of a woman’s coming-of-age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder, Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot’s mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father―an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist―who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame. “Here is a wound. Here is need, naked and unapologetic. Here is a mountain woman, towering in words great and small,” writes the bestselling and award-winning author Roxane Gay on Heart Berries. Gay will join Mailhot on the ALOUD stage to discuss the journey of discovering one’s true voice to seize control of your story.

The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism Jun 19, 2018

For most of the twentieth century, politics and sports were as separate as church and state. Today, with the transformation of a fueled American patriotism, sports and politics have become increasingly more entwined. However, as sports journalist Howard Bryant explores in his new book, this has always been more complicated for black athletes, who from the start, were committing a political act simply by being on the field. Bryant’s new book The Heritage traces the influences of the radical politics of black athletes over the last 60 years, starting with such trailblazers like Paul Robeson, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, as well as Tommie Smith and John Carlos —the track stars who 50 years ago this summer made world history for raising their fists with bowed heads while receiving the gold and bronze medals at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. This peaceful protest instantaneously became a historical symbol of the fight for human rights, although the athletes faced a severe blacklash. In a timely conversation moderated by Dr. Todd Boyd, Bryant and Carlos will discuss the collision of sports and political culture, kneeling for the national anthem, and the fervent rise of the athlete-activist.

A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership May 24, 2018

Between his tenure as the director of the FBI from 2013 to 2017 under the appointment of President Obama, to his roles as the U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the United States Deputy Attorney General in the administration of President George W. Bush, James Comey has been involved in some of the most consequential cases and policies of recent history. On the occasion of his new book following his highly contentious firing, Comey will take the ALOUD stage and share for the first time anecdotes and reflections from his high-stakes career. From prosecuting the mafia, to helping to change Bush administration policies on torture and electronic surveillance, to overseeing the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation as well as ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, Comey will discuss the challenges of leading the American government through times of ethical crisis.

Planet of the Blind: A Poet’s Journey May 24, 2018

From the author of several collections of poetry and memoirs, including the New York Times “Notable Book of the Year” Planet of the Blind, Stephen Kuusisto discusses his latest book, Have Dog, Will Travel: A Poet’s Journey, a lyrical love letter and “a dog-driven invitation to living full forward.” Born legally blind, Kuusisto was raised in the 1950s before the Americans with Disability Act, and was taught to deny his blindness in order to “pass” as sighted. For most of his life, he coped with his limited vision through tricks like memorization, but when at the age of 38, he’s laid off from his teaching job in a small town, he must alter his way of being in the world. Discussing his resonant memoir with author Louise Steinman, Kuusisto recounts how an incredible partnership with a dog changed everything and sent him on a wondrous, spiritual midlife adventure.

Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: How Capitalism Works – and How it Fails May 17, 2018

Greece’s former finance minister, international bestselling author, and an activist working for the revival of democracy in Europe, Yanis Varoufakis pens a series of letters to his young daughter, educating her about the business, politics, and corruption of world economics. In this intimate new book, written to his teenage daughter, Varoufakis uses clear language and vivid examples to explain heady economic theories, the historical origins of inequality, and our rising global instability. Join us as Varoufakis shares from these important and urgent lessons to equip our future generation with the knowledge to question the current failures of our world economic systems and to find a way to more democratic alternatives.

The End of Capitalism: My Battle with the European and American Deep Establishment May 17, 2018

What happens when you take on the establishment? Renowned economist and former finance minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis gives a blistering account of his momentous clash with the mightiest economic and political forces on earth when he attempted to re-negotiate Greece’s relationship with the EU in 2015, sparking a spectacular battle with global implications. In a special lunchtime talk, Varoufakis offers an inside look at an extraordinary story fueled by hypocrisy and betrayal that shook the global establishment to its foundations and shares an urgent warning about how the policies once embraced by the EU and the White House have spawned instability throughout the Western world.

The Mars Room May 10, 2018

From the twice National Book Award–nominated and bestselling author of The Flamethrowers, Rachel Kushner offers a heart-stopping new novel, The Mars Room, that straddles the inside—and outside—of protagonist Romy Hall’s reality: an inmate beginning two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility, deep in California’s Central Valley, where “you do not see a single star.” With great humor and precision, Kushner moves between Hall’s polar worlds: the severed world of her past in San Francisco with her young son and her present institutional living with its absurdities and the thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive. Kushner will discuss this emotionally acute yet unsentimental story with writer Danzy Senna, who frequently writes about race in America.

Should We Praise the Mutilated World? Poetry from California to Krakow Apr 24, 2018

Two of the world’s greatest living poets come together for a rare Los Angeles reading and conversation. The work of Robert Hass, former U.S. Poet Laureate and long-time translator of Nobel Laureate Czesław Miłosz, speaks to us of love and loss, of the hopefulness and the limitations of intimacy, of our humanness laid bare in the midst of art, the natural world, and each other. His most recent essay collection, A Little Book on Form, illuminates the impulses that underlie great poetry. Adam Zagajewski, whose outlook was formed in the aftermath of the Second World War and the occupation of Poland, negotiates the earthbound and the ethereal in poems that can be as arresting as they are luminous, as witty as they are serious. His recent memoir, Slight Exaggeration, is a wry and philosophical defense of mystery. During a time when our world feels deeply damaged and charged with uncivil discourse, these two masters of language will explore poetry’s enduring inclination to marvel, with novelist Andrew Winer serving as interlocutor.

Unbreakable Spirit: The Freed Angola Three Apr 09, 2018

In a special Los Angeles visit, human rights activists Robert King and Albert Woodfox, the two surviving members of the Angola 3, known for having served the longest solitary confinement sentences in U.S. history, share their remarkable story of survival and advocacy. As comrades inside Louisiana State Penitentiary—the largest prison in the U.S. and former slave plantation known as “Angola”- they jointly established a chapter of the Black Panther Party within the prison and led peaceful non-violent protest against the racist and cruel conditions inflicted upon prisoners. Together with Herman Wallace (released 2013, deceased 2013) they collectively spent 114 years in solitary confinement. Since being released, King (released 2001) and Woodfox (released 2016) travel the globe campaigning for limits to solitary confinement and an end to the 13th amendment allowance for the enslavement of prisoners. These two unbreakable spirits shed light on the reality of the American criminal justice system and represent the struggle of everyone unjustly incarcerated.

Exit West Apr 02, 2018

New York Times bestselling author Mohsin Hamid returns to ALOUD to discuss his latest novel Exit West, a visionary love story that imagines the forces that drive ordinary people from their homes into the uncertain embrace of new lands. Infusing the stark reality of a refugee narrative with the hopeful fantasy of a fairy tale, Exit West follows the journey of two young lovers who flee an unnamed country on the brink of civil war through a magical door that transports them to other places. A profound exploration of immigration and the universal human need to search for a better world, Pakistan-based author Hamid discusses this timely story with Viet Thanh Nguyen, a MacArthur Award-winning novelist who has also written eloquently about the refugee experience.

The Justice of Contradictions: Antonin Scalia and the Politics of Disruption Mar 28, 2018

During his long tenure on the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia—engaging as well as caustic and openly ideological—moved the Court to the right. In this eye-opening new book, legal scholar Richard L. Hasen analyzes Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s complex legacy as a conservative legal thinker and disruptive public intellectual who was crucial to reshaping jurisprudence on issues from abortion to gun rights to separation of powers. Hasen is joined by Erwin Chemerinsky in a special lunchtime conversation about the complex legacy of one of the most influential justices ever to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

Misfits Unite Mar 13, 2018

“What if, for once in history, a woman’s story could be untethered from what we need it to be in order to feel better about ourselves?” writes visionary author Lidia Yuknavitch in her latest work, The Book of Joan. In this provocatively reimagined Joan of Arc story set in the near future, the world is ravaged by war, violence, and greed, and it brings into question art, sex, gender, and what it means to be human. Amber Tamblyn, widely known for her work as a director and actress, including her role as a modern-day Joan of Arc in the television series Joan of Arcadia, has also written several acclaimed collections of poetry. Yuknavitch and Tamblyn, two misfits who have spurned literary, cultural, and societal expectations to explore unlikely creative worlds, share the stage with fellow misfit Ann Friedman, journalist and co-host of the popular podcast Call Your Girlfriend, to discuss the art of nonconformity.

We the Corporations: How American Businesses Gained Their Civil Rights Mar 08, 2018

In his new book, UCLA law professor Adam Winkler offers a revelatory portrait of how U.S. corporations have seized political power over time. He traces the 200-year effort of pro-business court decisions that give corporations the same rights as people and details the deep historical roots of recent landmark cases like Citizens United and Hobby Lobby. For a special lunchtime conversation, Winkler discusses with author Rick Wartzman of the Drucker Institute how businesses have transformed the Constitution and changed the course of American politics today.

The Line Becomes A River: Dispatches from the Border Feb 21, 2018

For award-winning writer and former agent for the United States Border Patrol Francisco Cantú, the border is in his blood: his mother, a park ranger and daughter of a Mexican immigrant, raised him in the scrublands of the Southwest. His new book, The Line Becomes A River: Dispatches from the Border, is haunted by the stories he experienced both while working for the Border Patrol—where he hauled in the dead and delivered to detention those he found alive—and also as a civilian after he abandoned the Patrol and helped an immigrant friend return to Mexico to visit his dying mother. Join us for an eye-opening look at the devastation the border wreaks on both sides as Cantú shares this deeply personal work with journalist Ruxandra Guidi, who frequently reports on immigration from the U.S.-Mexico border region.

The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures Feb 06, 2018

What moved humans to create cultures—intelligent systems including the arts, morality, science, government, and technology? The answer to this question has typically been the human faculty of language, but preeminent neuroscientist, professor, and director of USC’s Brain and Creativity Institute Antonio Damasio argues that feelings―of pain and suffering or of anticipated pleasure―were the prime engines that stirred human intellect in the cultural direction. In his newest book The Strange Order of Things, Damasio traces the need for cultures back to one-cell organisms, long before there were nervous systems and conscious minds. Damasio will be joined by Manuel Castells, one of the world’s leading sociologists, for a fascinating conversation on the origins of life, mind, and culture that spans the biological and social sciences to offer a new way of understanding the world and our place in it.

Exiled from Cairo: Humor as Dissent Jan 31, 2018

Bassem Youssef, a satirist who rose to international fame in the middle of the Egyptian Revolution with his incendiary brand of comedy and his knack for unabashedly mocking dictators, has been dubbed “the Jon Stewart of the Arabic world.” In his new book, Revolution for Dummies: Laughing Through the Arab Spring, Youssef chronicles his transformation from a heart surgeon who filmed YouTube skits in the laundry room of his home to the host and creator of the popular Egyptian television show, AlBernameg (“The Program”). Youssef’s provocative political commentary quickly incensed the authoritarian government, who accused him of insulting the Egyptian presidency and Islam, and he was arrested and interrogated by the police. While his case was eventually dismissed, his television show was terminated, and Youssef, fearful for his safety, fled his homeland. Now living in exile in Los Angeles, Youssef will take the ALOUD stage to discusses his tumultuous—and hilarious—journey through a revolution that illuminates how jokes are often mightier than the sword.

Haiku in Zapotec: From Oaxaca to Japan and Back Jan 23, 2018

Because of its similar celebration of the beauty of the natural world and focus on compactness, contemporary Zapotec-language poetry shares much in common with the Japanese haiku. Poet Víctor Terán—who’s performed his work from Oaxaca to London—will share some of his translations of the Japanese masters of the form alongside his own original Zapotec haiku, and American poet Jane Hirshfield will discuss both the haiku form and the way that the natural world informs her own work. The program will culminate with the presentation of Terán’s new translation into Zapotec of a poem by Hirshfield and a conversation between the two poets, moderated by David Shook—translator, poet, and publisher of Phoneme Media. Bilingual program Spanish/English with simultaneous interpretation by Antena Los Ángeles. This program is produced as part of the Getty's initiative Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA.

Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy Jan 18, 2018

Winner of a 2017 Pulitzer Prize, historian Heather Ann Thompson sheds new light on the infamous 1971 Attica Prison riot as one of the most important civil rights stories of the last century. Chronicling the horrific conditions that led to 1,300 prisoners taking over the upstate New York correctional facility and how the state violently retook the prison—killing thirty-nine men and severely wounding more than a hundred others—Blood in the Water also confronts the gruesome aftermath. From brutal retaliation against the prisoners, to corrupt investigations and cover-ups, and civil and criminal lawsuits, Thompson meticulously follows the ensuing forty-five-year fight for justice. In a conversation with Kelly Lytle Hernandez, a professor and director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, Thompson discusses the impact of what this tragic historic moment can teach us about racial conflict, failures in mass incarceration, and police brutality in America today.

An American Family: Being Muslim in the U.S. Military Dec 07, 2017

Last fall’s presidential election brought a range of impassioned voices to the national stage, but one of the most captivating speakers rose above petty politics with a deeply personal and very different view of what it means to be American. You may recall the Muslim parent Khizr Khan from the DNC when he spoke about his son, a U.S. Army Captain who was killed while protecting his base camp in Iraq. In Khan’s inspiring new book, An American Family: A Memoir of Hope and Sacrifice, he reflects on his grief for his son as well as his family history of pursuing the American dream during these tumultuous times. From humble beginnings on a poultry farm in Pakistan to obtaining a degree from Harvard Law School and raising a family in America—Khan shows what it means to leave the limitations of one’s country behind for the best values and promises of another. Khan will now take the ALOUD stage to discuss the realities of life in a nation of immigrants and the daily struggles of living up to our ideals.

The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World Dec 05, 2017

What lies at the heart of humanity’s ability―and drive―to create? New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist David Eagleman teams up with internationally acclaimed composer and Associate Professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music Anthony Brandt in a wide-ranging exploration of human creativity. In their new book, The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World, the pair studies hundreds of examples of human creativity from landing on the moon to paintings by Picasso to connect what creative acts have in common. By uncovering the essential elements of human innovation and examining them through the lens of cutting-edge neuroscience, Eagleman and Brandt consider how we can harness creativity to better our lives, schools, businesses, and institutions. Join us for an inspiring look at humanity’s unique ability to use the powerful tools of arts, technology, science, and more to improve our future.

Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America Nov 29, 2017

Why has our society become so punitive? In recent years, critics have assailed the rise of mass incarceration, emphasizing its disproportionate impact on people of color. However, many African American leaders in the nation’s urban centers supported the war on crime that began in the 1970s. James Forman, Jr., a professor of law at Yale Law School and former D.C. public defender, wrestles with the complexities of race and the criminal justice system in his new book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America. Chronicling riveting stories of politicians, community activists, police officers, defendants, and crime victims, Forman illustrates with great compassion how racism plagues our current system of tough-on-crime measures. In an eye-opening conversation with Gary B. Nash Professor of American History at UCLA Robin D.G. Kelley, Forman shines a light on the urgent debate over the future of America’s criminal justice system.

The Revolution of Marina M. Nov 16, 2017

L.A.’s own Janet Fitch, the mega-bestselling author of White Oleander and Paint It Black, returns to ALOUD with her newest work, a sweeping historical saga of the Russian Revolution. Beginning on New Year’s Eve in 1916 St. Petersburg, The Revolution of Marina M. follows the mesmerizing coming-of-age story of a young woman of privilege who aches to break free of the constraints of her genteel life, a life about to be violently upended by the vast forces of history. Joining Fitch to discuss this epic journey through some of the most dramatic events of the last century is Boris Dralyuk, Russian literature scholar and executive editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, who helped Fitch with the Russian translations for her book.

Oaxaca’s Third Gender: Man, Woman, Muxe Nov 14, 2017

The program is conducted in both Spanish and English. Anthropologists have traced the Meso-American acceptance of people of mixed gender back to pre-Columbian Mexico accounts of Aztec priests and Mayan gods who cross-dressed and were considered both male and female. In the shifting landscape of gender identity, what might we learn from the indigenous Zapotec people of Oaxaca’s isthmus region, who embrace a third gender—the muxe—within their communities? Zackary Drucker, transgender multimedia artist and producer of the Amazon series Transparent moderates a conversation with Victor Cata, Zapotec historian, writer, and linguist; Bamby Salcedo, founder of the Los Angeles-based TransLatin@Coalition, and Maritza Sanchez, Embajadora de los muxes en el exterior (Ambassador of Muxes in the Exterior.) Simultaneous interpretation was provided by Antena Los Ángeles. This program was produced as part of The Getty's Pacific Standard Time: LA/LAinitiative.

La Lengua Sin Frontera (Language Without Borders): Three Indigenous Poets Nov 09, 2017

This program was conducted in both Spanish and English. Join us for an evening celebrating indigenous poetry from the United States and Mexico with three major poets—Natalie Diaz (member of the Mojave and Pima Indian tribes, winner of the Nimrod/Hardman Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, language activist and educator), Layli Long Soldier (an Oglala Lakota poet, writer, and artist whose debut poetry collection WHEREAS is short-listed for the National Book Award), and Natalia Toledo (a Mexican poet and translator who writes in Spanish and Zapotec and won the Nezhualcóyotl Prize, Mexico’s highest honor for indigenous-language literature). Each poet will read from their distinctive work that moves across many languages and lands, exploring what it means to be an indigenous woman writer in today’s world. This special program will also feature a performance by Cahuilla Bird singing master Michael Mirelez and company, who are part of a long, inter-generational tradition of culture bearers within the local California Indian community. Simultaneous interpretation was provided by Antena Los Ángeles. This program was produced as part of The Getty's Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative.

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death Nov 01, 2017

Caitlin Doughty, a mortician, best-selling author, blogger, YouTube personality, and director of the nonprofit funeral home, Undertaking LA, has long been fascinated by death, what it means to treat the dead with dignity, and why we are so afraid of dead bodies. Her new book, From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death, sets out on a global journey to discover how other cultures care for their dead. With curiosity and morbid humor, Doughty encounters a range of rituals from a grandpa’s mummy being cared for in a family home in rural Indonesia to a Japanese practice of using chopsticks to pick bones from cremation ashes. As many cultures around the world celebrate their ancestors this time of year, join us for a refreshing look at death practices, mourning rituals, and how we might bring life to the way we think about death.

Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America Oct 26, 2017

No American city was more important to the Nazis than Los Angeles, home to Hollywood, the greatest propaganda machine in the world. There were Nazi plots to hang prominent Hollywood figures like Charlie Chaplin, gun down Jews in Boyle Heights, and plans to sabotage local military installations. As law enforcement agencies were busy monitoring the Reds instead of Nazis, an attorney named Leon Lewis and his ring of spies entered the picture. Acclaimed historian and USC Professor Steven J. Ross’ new book, Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America, tells this little-known story of Lewis, whose covert operation infiltrated every Nazi and fascist group in the area to disrupt their plans. Ross is joined by the Jewish Journal’s former Editor-in-Chief Rob Eshman, for a fascinating look at how a daring group of individuals banded together to confront the rise of hate.

Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York Oct 24, 2017

New York Times bestselling author Roz Chast returns to ALOUD with her hilarious new graphic memoir, Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York. Chast is a native Brooklynite and quintessential New Yorker whose street cred is regularly on display in The New Yorker, where she’s published over 1,000 cartoons. But when she moved to the suburbs, navigating life filled with trees instead of garbage was surreal— although her kids would grow-up thinking the opposite was true. On the occasion of her daughter leaving the suburbs to attend college in the city, Chast was inspired to create a city guide to her beloved home turf to help ease her daughter’s cultural shock. Filled with laugh-out-loud drawings, stories, maps, and more, Chast will take us on her personal tour of Manhattan.Many of the wonderful cartoons referenced by Chast in this podcast recording can be perused on her website, at rozchast.com.

Threat of Extinction: Language Activism and Preservation Oct 21, 2017

This program was conducted in both Spanish and English. The essence of who we are is wrapped up in our language. What human knowledge is lost when a language goes extinct? Why should we care? Join ALOUD for a freewheeling conversation among language activists working to reclaim indigenous languages in California and Mexico. For the first time together on stage, this unique group of participants includes: master linguist and language preservationist Leanne Hinton; Native California language activist Vincent Medina and Virginia Carmelo; Odilia Romero Hernández, Zapotec language rights activist; and poet/activist Bob Holman, co-producer of the PBS documentary, Language Matters. Simultaneous interpretation was provided by Antena Los Ángeles. This program was produced as part of The Getty's Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative.

Manhattan Beach: A Novel of WWII New York Oct 19, 2017

“Is there anything Egan can’t do?” asked The New York Times Book Review. In the long-awaited follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize–winning A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan masters her first historical novel. Beginning during the middle of the Great Depression, Manhattan Beach follows the story of Anna Kerrigan, a young girl who comes of age with a country at war. Inheriting the role of providing for her mother and sister after her father mysteriously disappears, Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that had always belonged to men. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. Sharing from this hauntingly beautiful new work, Egan takes us back to a moment in time when in the lives of women and men, America and the world transformed forever.

An American Genocide: California Indians, Colonization, and Cultural Revival Oct 10, 2017

There’s one major aspect of the popular Gold Rush lore that few Californians today know about: during that period, California’s Indian population plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000, much of the decline from state-sponsored slaughter. Addressing the aftermath of colonization and historical trauma, a leading scholar explores the miraculous legacy of California Indians, including their extensive contributions to our culture today. Join us for a conversation with UCLA historian Benjamin Madley, author of the groundbreaking study: An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873. This program was produced as part of The Getty's Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative.

The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve: From Fiction to Faith Oct 05, 2017

Stephen Greenblatt—the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author of The Swerve and Will in the World—investigates the life of one of humankind’s greatest stories. His newest book, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve, explores the enduring narrative of humanity’s first parents. Tracking the tale into the deep past, Greenblatt uncovers the tremendous theological, artistic, and cultural investment over centuries that made these fictional figures so profoundly resonant in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim worlds and also so very “real” to millions of people even in the present. In a conversation with Jack Miles, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of God: A Biography, Greenblatt will demystify how—for better or worse—the biblical origin story permeates our lives today.

American Inferno: How My Cousin Became a South Central Statistic Sep 26, 2017

In Danielle Allen’s elegiac family memoir, Cuz: On the Life and Times of Michael A., she tries to make sense of a young African American man’s tragic coming-of-age in Los Angeles. Allen, a Harvard professor and author of Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, became the “cousin-on-duty” when her younger cousin Michael was released from prison. Arrested at fifteen, tried as an adult—three years after his release, Michael was shot and killed. Why? Allen’s deeply personal and poignant story is an unwavering look at a world transformed by the sudden availability of narcotics and the rise of street gangs, drugs, and the failures of mass incarceration. Rallying an urgent call for system-wide reform, Allen discusses her new work with Franklin Leonard, a film executive who founded The Black List, a yearly publication featuring Hollywood’s most popular unproduced screenplays.

Rebellion! Public Art and Political Dissent: Oaxaca and L.A. Sep 19, 2017

The program was conducted in both Spanish and English. With the likes of Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, Mexico has a long tradition of politically engaged public art which has often depicted—with varying degrees of accuracy—the country’s indigenous population. Two gifted young artists from the collective Tlacolulokos have been commissioned to create a new artwork in the Central Library’s Rotunda in juxtaposition to the 1933 historic Cornwell murals. They will discuss their new work as well as their street-level actions in their hometown of Tlacolula, Oaxaca, with the godfather of Cholo writing, Chaz Bojórquez and project curator Amanda De La Garza. What is the role of clandestine art actions as a form of political dissent? How effective is it? What are the parallels and differences between how street art is used in Mexico and the United States? Simultaneous translation was provided by Antena Los Ángeles. This program was produced as part of The Getty's Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative.

Moving the Center: African Literature in African Languages Jul 31, 2017

Two generations of African writers—Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, an elder statesman from Kenya, and Richard Ali A Mutu, a young novelist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo—discuss the politics of writing in African languages, the vibrancy of the continent’s cultural output, and exciting new trends in East, West, and Central African writing. Thiong’o and Mutu will be joined for a rare look at groundbreaking indigenous voices by David Shook, the founding editor of Phoneme Media and publisher of Mutu’s debut novel, Mr. Fix-It, the first novel written in Lingala to be translated into English.

The Challenges of American Immigration Jul 27, 2017

Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum in Washington, D.C., an advocacy organization promoting the value of immigrants and immigration, sheds new light on our nation’s brewing immigration debate in his timely book, There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration. Although U.S. politics are more polarizing than ever, Noorani argues that our issues of immigration are more about culture and values than politics and policy. In his book, Noorani follows the personal stories of Americans from across the political spectrum, including conservative faith, business, and law enforcement leaders, who are grappling with the question: “Do we, as Americans, value immigrants and immigration anymore?” Exploring how immigration is affecting the changing nature of American identity, Noorani talks with Pilar Marrero, a journalist and author of Killing the American Dream, a chronicle of U.S. immigration policy mishaps.

Resist, Disrupt, Transgress: Four Poets Jul 25, 2017

Join us for an electrifying evening of poetry as four bold writers from diverse backgrounds come together on the stage to explore their common experiences of loss through time and history. Navigating losses of home, of life, and of identity—from a family displaced by war to an examination of videos capturing police killing civilians—these local poets will read from their uncompromising work that perseveres despite loss by searching for ways to rise up and recover.

Missing Persons: Two Novelists Jul 11, 2017

An award-winning writer of short stories, children’s books, and literary novels, Maile Meloy’s new novel Do Not Become Alarmed is a masterfully executed emotional thriller about what happens when two American families go on a tropical vacation and the children go missing. New York Times bestselling author Marisa Silver’s latest novel, Little Nothing, follows an electrifying story of a girl, scorned for her physical deformity, whose passion and salvation lie in her otherworldly ability to transform herself and the world around her. Join us as Meloy and Silver share the stage to discuss their gripping work that entrances with literary precision while subverting expectations with every turn of the page.

An Evening with Arundhati Roy Jun 29, 2017

Twenty years after her Booker Prize-winning novel The God of Small Things, internationally celebrated author Arundhati Roy returns to fiction with a dazzling new novel. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness journeys across the Indian subcontinent—from the cramped neighborhoods of Old Delhi and the roads of the new city to the mountains and valleys of Kashmir and beyond, where war is peace and peace is war. Braiding together a cast of characters who have been broken by the world they live in and then rescued, and patched together by acts of love and hope, Roy reinvents what a novel can be and reminds readers of her remarkable storytelling talents. Reading from this new novel and discussing her impressive body of work that includes recent nonfiction books such as Field Notes on Democracy and most recently Things That Can and Cannot Be Said, Roy joins prize-winning novelist and former L.A. Times columnist, Héctor Tobar for a very special evening of storytelling.Co-presented with JACCC and Scripps Presents

Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman’s Accidental Activism Jun 21, 2017

From growing up as a devout woman from a modest family in Saudia Arabia to becoming an unexpected leader of a courageous movement to support women’s right to drive, Manal al-Sharif recounts her life’s journey in her ferociously intimate new memoir Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman’s Awakening. When working in the male-dominated field of computer security engineering in her twenties, al-Sharif was labeled a slut for chatting with male colleagues. Her teenage brother chaperoned her on business trips, and while she kept a car in her garage, she was forbidden from driving down city streets behind the wheel. No longer able to tolerate the Saudi kingdom’s contradictions, al-Sharif stood up to a kingdom of men—and won. Discussing her powerful story of resilience with Kelly McEvers, co-host of NPR’s All Things Considered, al-Sharif explores the difficulties, absurdities, and joys of making your voice heard.

An Evening with Alan Alda Jun 12, 2017

Alan Alda, the award-winning actor and bestselling author, discusses his decades-long quest to understand the intricacies of communication. With his trademark humor and candor, Alda’s new book, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating, chronicles communication breakdowns in his own life from a life-changing misunderstanding with a dentist to learning how to make science relatable to the masses as host of PBS’s Scientific American Frontiers. Drawing on improvisation training, theater, and storytelling techniques from a life of acting, and with insights from recent scientific studies, Alda equips himself with a range of tools to relate to others more effectively. Sharing with audiences his strategies to build empathy and improve the way we communicate, Alda will demonstrate the art of conversation as he talks with Lisa Wolpe—a master communicator in her own right as an actress, director, teacher, and the Artistic Director and Founder of the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company.

When the FBI Investigates the White House Jun 06, 2017

Ever since J. Edgar Hoover died, six weeks before the Watergate break-in, the FBI has had to confront presidents. FBI investigations led to President Nixon’s resignation, indictments of President Reagan’s national-security team, and the impeachment of President Clinton. Now the current administration faces a major counterintelligence case. When the FBI confronts the power of the presidency, America must navigate uncharted waters. Tim Weiner, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for his work on American intelligence and national security, addresses these looming confrontations and the challenges they pose for American democracy.

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst May 25, 2017

Why do we do the things we do? Author and MacArthur recipient Robert Sapolsky’s game-changing new book Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst attempts to answer this very question, one of the deepest questions of the human species. Moving between neurobiological factors, to the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology, to tracing individual’s childhoods and their genetic makeup, to encompassing larger categories of culture, ecology, and evolution, Sapolsky considers millions of years of science to wrestle with why we ultimately do the things we do…for good and for ill. Discussing his staggering work with evolutionary biologist Amy Parish, Sapolsky takes us on an engrossing tour of the science of human behavior.For photos from the program, click here.

An Evening with Dennis Lehane May 23, 2017

From searing stories of suspense to literary novels, historical fiction, and film and television scripts, no other writer today has such a wide-ranging body of work like Dennis Lehane. The international bestselling author and screenwriter is best known for his edgy, morally complex, and effortlessly masterful stories that often take place in his hometown of Boston. Now a resident of Los Angeles, many of Lehane’s novels have been adapted into award-winning films, including Mystic River, Shutter Island, Gone, Baby, Gone, and the recently released prohibition-era drama Live by Night. His new book, Since We Fell, follows the psychological drama of Rachel Childs, a former journalist who after an on-air mental breakdown, must reckon with the truths of her new reality. Join us for a special evening with Lehane as he discusses his latest work, his dynamic storytelling, and genre-breaking career with fellow book and screen writer Attica Locke.For photos from the program, click here.

Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space May 18, 2017

Since 1916 when Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves—the powerful aftermath occurring when black holes collide—scientists have been trying to provide evidence of this profusion of energy. However, a telescope cannot record this event—the only evidence is the sound of spacetime ringing. Janna Levin, one of today’s most eminent theoretical astrophysicists and an award-winning writer, recounts the fascinating story of the surprises, disappointments, achievements, and risks of the scientists who embarked on an epic endeavor to capture the first sounds from space in her latest book, Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space. Join us as Levin explores this radical scientific campaign to record the soundtrack of our universe with cosmologist Sean Carroll.For photos from the program, click here.

The Evolution of Beauty May 16, 2017

Deep in tropical jungles around the world are birds with a dizzying array of appearances and mating displays—from pheasants with 3D feathers to moonwalking manakins—traits that seem disconnected from selection for individual survival. Culminating 30 years of fieldwork, Richard Prum, the Head Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and a world-renowned ornithologist, revives Darwin’s long-neglected theory of sexual selection in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons—for the mere pleasure of it—is an independent engine of evolutionary change. Sharing from his latest work, The Evolution of Beauty, Prum presents a unique scientific vision for how nature’s splendor contributes to a more complete understanding of evolution and of ourselves in a conversation with evolutionary biologist Amy Parish.For photos from the program, click here.

In a Western Light: Poetry at the Edge of America May 11, 2017

California poetry has looked to the future, as well as to its complex past and the present, as a way of understanding our place at the edge of the continent. California is about the magic of the land and the promise of possibility— yet the question remains, for whom? Seven contemporary California poets celebrate the diverse poetry of seven distinguished California writers, hoping to provide a lens through which to experience these visions of a life lived in the harsh clarity of a Western light. Featuring Douglas Kearney reading Charles Bukowski; Victoria Chang reading Diane Di Prima; Brendan Constantine reading Wanda Coleman; Brynn Saito reading Adrienne Rich; Kim Dower reading Gertrude Stein; Amy Gerstler reading Czeslaw Milosz; and Blas Falconer reading Juan Felipe Herrera. For photos from this program, click here.

From L.A. to the Outback: Two Novelists May 09, 2017

David Francis’ latest novel Wedding Bush Road follows the visceral journey of a young L.A. lawyer called back to his family’s horse farm in rural Australia when his mother falls ill. Offering a uniquely intimate take on the timeless struggle between the past and present, town and country, Francis’ writing is fueled by a deep understanding of characters and landscapes that are worlds apart—he also works as a lawyer based in Los Angeles and spends part of each year on his family farm in Australia. Discussing this psychological portrait of a divided family and their complicated roots, Francis is joined by master storyteller and fellow horse aficionado Jane Smiley, who has known Francis for years and calls Wedding Bush Road, “his best work yet.”For photos from the program, click here.

Kingsley & Kate Tufts Poetry Awards Apr 20, 2017

2017 marks the 25th anniversary of one of contemporary poetry’s most prestigious awards—Claremont Graduate University’s Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, given for poetry volumes published in the preceding year and created to both honor the poet and provide the resources that allow artists to continue working towards the pinnacle of their craft. In a celebration moderated by the Poetry Society of America’s Executive Director Alice Quinn, join us for an evening looking back at 25 years of this special prize along with readings by this year’s winners Vievee Francis and Phillip B. Williams. For photos from the program, click here.

Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River Apr 18, 2017

The Colorado River is a crucial resource for a large part of the United States, and every gallon that flows down it is owned or claimed by someone. New Yorker staff writer David Owen, and author of more than a dozen books, delivers his latest work, Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River, and takes readers on an eye-opening adventure downriver, along a labyrinth of waterways, power plants, farms, fracking sites, ghost towns, and RV parks, to the spot near the U.S.–Mexico border where the river runs dry. Exploring the complexities of this vast man-made ecosystem with environmental reporter Judith Lewis Mernit, Owen illuminates the high-stakes of the water wars of the West.For photos from the program, click here.

How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything Apr 13, 2017

War used to be a temporary state of affairs, but in today’s post 9/11-world America’s wars are everywhere and forever. Law professor and Foreign Policy columnist Rosa Brooks’ book, How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon, traces what happens when the ancient boundary between war and peace is erased. Part reportage and part memoir, this thought-provoking book is directly informed by Brooks’ unconventional perspective—she is a former top Pentagon official who is the daughter of two anti-war protesters. Examining the political, military, and cultural shifts in times of persistent wars, Brooks joins Los Angeles Times Editor Nick Goldberg to consider the risks facing America’s founding values, laws, and institutions.For photos from the program, click here.

Infidels: A Novel Apr 12, 2017

Born in a public library in Morocco where his father was a janitor, Abdellah Taïa is an acclaimed novelist and filmmaker who lives in Paris, but sets his latest novel in his home country. With deep lyricism and erotic energy, Infidels follows the life of Jallal, a young gay Muslim who is the son of a prostitute witch doctor. The mother and son struggle as outsiders inside their Islamic world until Jallal moves to Belgium and becomes a jihadist. Taia discusses this powerful story about love and belonging with Steven Reigns, the first City Poet of West Hollywood.For photos from this program, click here.

An Evening with Cheech Marin Mar 28, 2017

You know Cheech as half of the comedy duo Cheech & Chong, and you know him for his memorable roles in Up in Smoke, Born in East L.A., Desperado, The Lion King, and Jane the Virgin, to name a few. But did you know that Cheech—which is not his real name—is also the owner of the most renowned collection of Chicano art in the world? Did you know that before he became a face of the recreational drug movement, he grew up the son of a cop? Did you know that he crushed Anderson Cooper on Celebrity Jeopardy!? In his long-awaited memoir, this counterculture legend writes candidly about coming-of-age as the wisecracking kid in 1960s Los Angeles, resisting the draft as a young man, and many other surprising journeys along the way of creating one of the most successful comedy acts of all time. Join us for a spirited evening as Cheech reflects on his incredible career spanning over 45 years, in conversation with L.A.’s own Marisol Hernandez, lead singer of the GRAMMY award-winning La Santa Cecilia.For photos from the program, click here.

The Idiot: A Novel Mar 20, 2017

Elif Batuman, a New Yorker staff writer and author of The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, offers up a delightfully refreshing coming-of-age story about not just discovering but inventing oneself. Batuman’s debut novel The Idiot begins in 1995 when email is new and Selin, the daughter of Turkish immigrants, arrives for her freshman year at Harvard where she navigates the strange new worlds of academics, friendships, and falling in love via email. Batuman discusses this off-kilter journey into adulthood and her recent reporting for The New Yorker from Turkey, with comedic author, television writer, and co-host of The Great Debates podcast Steve Hely.For photos from this program, click here.

Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean Mar 16, 2017

Writer, sailor, and surfer Jonathan White journeys deep into the world’s oceans in his new book Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean. From investigating the growth of tidal power generation in Chile and Scotland to delving into the threat of rising sea levels in Panama and Venice, join us for this exploration of the current state of our oceans’ infinitely complex and ever-changing ecosystems and the forces that keep our planet’s waters in constant motion.

Night Sky with Exit Wounds Mar 13, 2017

Award-winning poet Ocean Vuong’s debut full-length collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, has been hailed by critics for its powerful emotional undertow, sincerity and candor, and “sense of the evanescence of all earthly things” as Michiko Kakutani writes in The New York Times. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, and now a resident of New York City, Vuong’s poems navigate the overarching worlds of history, sexuality, and humanity with startling precision. Reflecting on how geographical and linguistic energies intersect and what it means to write as a Vietnamese refugee in the contemporary space, Vuong reads from and discusses his poetry with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, whose writing also often explores the Vietnamese American experience.For photos from this program, click here.

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City Mar 07, 2017

Harvard sociologist and MacArthur Prize awardee Matthew Desmond tells the story of eight families living on the edge in the New York Times bestselling Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Evictions used to be rare, but today, most poor renting families are spending more than half of their income on housing, and eviction has become ordinary, especially for single mothers. In vivid, intimate prose, Desmond’s landmark work of scholarship and reportage bears witness to the human cost of America’s vast inequality and transforms our understanding of extreme poverty. Desmond explores these devastating issues of economic exploitation with L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez, and offers ideas for solving these uniquely American problems.For photos from this program, click here.

Erwin Chemerinsky | The Constitution and the Presidency Mar 02, 2017

The first weeks of the Trump presidency have raised numerous constitutional issues and a Supreme Court appointment. What are these issues, and what others are likely to arise with Donald Trump as president? How are the courts likely to resolve them? Chemerinsky, the founding Dean and Professor of First Amendment Law at UC Irvine– and one of our leading constitutional scholars— addresses these questions with veteran journalist Jim Newton. For photos from the program, click here.

An Evening with George Saunders Feb 27, 2017

In his long-awaited first novel, American master George Saunders delivers his most original, transcendent, and moving work yet. Lincoln in the Bardo places the reader in a Georgetown cemetery on a rainy February night in 1862. From that seed of historical truth, the story spins into a metaphysical realm as a grief-stricken President Lincoln—one year into the Civil War—mourns the loss of his son Willie. Through a thrilling experimental form narrated by a chorus of voices, a blend of history and philosophy, a cast of characters living and dead, Saunders grapples with the timeless question: How can we continue to love when everything we love must eventually be lost? Following a dramatic reading from the book by Phil LaMarr, Saunders takes the stage to discuss this astonishing feat of imagination with award-winning author Anthony Marra, known for his transcending stories of love and war. For photos of the program, click here.

Eccentric Embodiment: Tales and Truths Feb 23, 2017

The eccentric fictional worlds of authors Valeria Luiselli and Guadalupe Nettel come alive on the ALOUD stage as these two leading voices in contemporary Mexican literature meet to share recent work. Luiselli, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction and two-time recipient of the Los Angeles Times’ Book Prizes will share The Story of My Teeth, an imaginative odyssey through Mexico City’s art world and industrial suburbs. Guadalupe Nettel, voted one of the most important Latin American writers at the Bogotá Hay Festival, playfully illuminates human obsessions in her short fiction Natural Histories, and narrates her unconventional childhood in the autobiographical novel, The Body Where I Was Born.For photos from the program, click here.

Daphne Merkin and Jill Soloway | This Close to Happy: A Reckoning with Depression Feb 21, 2017

Taking from essays on depression she has written for The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine, Daphne Merkin’s new memoir This Close to Happy is the rare, vividly personal account of what it feels like to suffer from clinical depression. In trying to sort out the root causes of her affliction, Merkin reflects on her childhood, her mother, her life as a writer, her marriage, and the birth of her child as she discusses in poignant detail various therapists, treatments, and hospitalizations for depression along the way. In an intimate conversation on her lifelong battle with depression and her search for release, Merkin is joined by Jill Soloway, the Emmy-winning creator of Transparent.For photos from the program, click here.

Shakespeare in Today’s America Feb 16, 2017

Who gets to see Shakespeare and act in his plays? Celebrating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s extraordinary legacy, Lisa Wolpe and James Shapiro will explore the defining guidelines of performing his work today, and consider how and why Shakespeare still matters in contemporary America. Wolpe, actress, director, teacher, and producer, is the Artistic Director and founder of the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company, an award-winning all-female, multi-cultural theater company. James Shapiro, professor at Columbia University, is the author of numerous books and essays on Shakespeare, including his most recent work, The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606. Join these two Shakespeare aficionados on an enlightening journey of what this master means to us today.For photos from the program, click here.

The Sellout: A Novel Feb 14, 2017

Dickens, an “agrarian ghetto,” is the fictional Los Angeles hood at the center of Paul Beatty’s scathingly satirical novel, The Sellout. It’s a book that, as poet Kevin Young writes in his perceptive New York Times review, “isn’t for the fainthearted.” Beatty — the first American novelist to win the coveted Man Booker Award — is a comic genius at the top of his game and in The Sellout, he dares to question almost every received notion about American society. Buckle your seat belts.

Saul Friedländer and Steven J. Ross | Where Memory Leads: A Holocaust Scholar Looks Back Feb 08, 2017

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and UCLA Professor Emeritus Saul Friedländer returns to memoir to recount a tale of intellectual coming-of-age on three continents. In Where Memory Leads: My Life, a sequel to Friedländer’s poignant first memoir, Where Memory Comes, published forty years ago and recently reissued with a new introduction from Claire Messud, he bridges the gap between the ordeals of his childhood during the German Occupation of France and his present-day towering reputation in the field of Holocaust studies. Reflecting on the wrenching events that induced him to devote sixteen years of his life to writing his masterpiece, The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945, Friedländer discusses this book and his life’s work with historian Steven J. Ross.For photos from the program, click here.

Witness to the Revolution: Draft Resistance in 60’s Los Angeles Feb 06, 2017

In her riveting oral history of the end of the 60s, Witness to the Revolution, Clara Bingham unveils anew that tumultuous time when America careened to the brink of a civil war at home, as it fought a long futile war abroad. For ALOUD, Bingham looks back at the local history of the non-violent draft resistance movement of men and women known as The Los Angeles Resistance. (The Los Angeles Resistance Collection is now being archived at the Los Angeles Public Library). To tell this revolutionary tale, she’s joined by David Harris, Resistance founder, and then-LA Resistance activists, Winter Dellenbach and Bob Zaugh.For photos from the program, click here.

3 Writers on Fear and Loathing Feb 02, 2017

Writers and artists routinely reckon with anxiety and loathing as part of their creative process. Author and comedian Sara Benincasa, writer and illustrator Mari Naomi, and novelist Shanthi Sekaran, in conversation with writer and literary organizer Michelle Tea, discuss with humor and honesty the role fear has played in their work and their creative process. Be part of a larger discussion of how we learn to manage the stress of daily life.For photos from the program, click here.

Dan Flores | Coyote America Jan 30, 2017

With a brilliant blend of environmental and natural history, Dan Flores’ Coyote America traces the five-million-year-long biological story of an animal that has become the “wolf” in our backyards. The journey of the coyote to the American West and beyond isn’t just the story of an animal’s survival—it is one of the great epics of our time. Illuminating this legendary creature, Flores will be joined on stage for a conversation with playwright and chronicler of urban wildlife Melissa Cooper, who will also perform an excerpt from her play, New York City Coyote Existential.For photos from the program, click here.

Alison Gopnik | Evolution and the Young Mind: Creativity and Learning Jan 26, 2017

Young children often seem especially creative and imaginative. But can we prove that scientifically? And what is it about children’s minds and brains that makes them so imaginative? Alison Gopnik, pioneering developmental psychologist and philosopher and author of the new book, The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children, discusses her cutting-edge scientific research into how children learn and how thinking like a child can make adults more creative too.For photos from the program, click here.

C. Nicole Mason and Karon Jolna | From Nothing to Something: A Path Out of Poverty Jan 24, 2017

In what author C. Nicole Mason calls an “insider’s story, ” Born Bright follows the journey of her own childhood in Los Angeles—an improbable path from episodic homelessness, hunger, and living in poverty—to becoming a leading voice on public policies impacting women and communities of color and low-income families. With grace, insight, and first-hand experience, Mason sheds light on the systematic structures that render an escape from poverty nearly impossible. Joined by Ms. Magazine’s Education Director and Editor Karon Jolna, they will discuss a range of issues from poverty to the future of feminism and the ability of storytelling to accelerate social and political change.For photos from the program, click here.

Peter Sellars and Ayanna Thompson | Shakespeare Now: Race, Justice and the American Dream Jan 19, 2017

Peter Sellars, the renowned avant-garde theater director, and Ayanna Thompson, a prominent Shakespeare scholar, will discuss the ways Shakespeare remains relevant in our contemporary American world. From expressions of black rage to the challenges facing systems of justice, they hope to illustrate how Shakespeare’s plays provide rich texts through which the most pressing problems in our world can be debated and solutions become, perhaps, imaginable.

Hiding in Plain Sight: The Pursuit of War Criminals from Nuremberg to the War on Terror Jan 17, 2017

Based on years of research and in-depth interviews with prosecutors, investigators, and diplomats—authors Alexa Koenig, Victor Peskin and Eric Stover examine the global effort to capture the world’s most wanted fugitives in their seminal book, Hiding in Plain Sight. The authors trace the evolution of international justice and how to hold accountable mass murderers like Adolf Eichmann, Saddam Hussein, Ratko Mladic, Joseph Kony, and Osama bin Laden. The authors will also discuss the United States’ increasing reliance on military force to capture—or more often simply to kill—suspected terrorists, with little or no judicial scrutiny.Click here for photos from the program.

Barry Yourgrau and Aimee Bender | Magical Mess: Reflections on Objects and Memories Jan 12, 2017

Writer-performer Barry Yourgrau is a clutterbug—perhaps even a hoarder. In his hilarious and poignant memoir Mess: One Man’s Struggle to Clean Up His House and His Act, he unpacks the psychology and culture of hoarding, clutter, and collecting, presenting a compelling look at a mysterious compulsion. Confronted by his exasperated girlfriend, Yourgrau embarked on a wide-ranging project to clean up his chaotic New York apartment and life. Known for his books of magical absurd stories, including Wearing Dad’s Head, Haunted Traveller, and The Sadness of Sex, in whose film version he starred, Yourgrau will join magical realist writer Aimee Bender to ponder the power of objects and memories, and the pain of letting go.For more information about the program, including photos, visit the event page.

School of Prince Dec 09, 2016

Writers, musicians, and cultural critics gather to pay tribute and explore the forty-year career of Prince. Drawing on original work, music clips and the emerging field of Prince Studies, cultural workers will consider the impact of Prince on literary culture and beyond.Click here for photos from the program.

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness Dec 07, 2016

Leading philosopher of science Peter Godfrey-Smith dons a wet suit and journeys into the depths of consciousness in his latest book Other Minds. Combining science and philosophy with first-hand accounts of the remarkable intelligence of the octopus, Godfrey-Smith explores how primitive organisms bobbing in the ocean began sending signals to each other and how these early forms of communication gave rise to the advanced nervous systems that permit cephalopods to change colors and human beings to speak. Follow along as Godfrey-Smith shares from his underwater adventures and sheds new light on the octopus brain, the human brain, and the evolution of consciousness.Click here for photos from the program.

How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS Dec 01, 2016

In his new book, How to Survive a Plague, David France– the creator of the Oscar-nominated seminal documentary of the same name– offers a definitive history of the battle to halt the AIDS epidemic. Joined by Dr. Mark H. Katz, a physician activist on the frontlines of the affected HIV community of Southern California, and Tony Valenzuela, a longtime community activist and writer whose work has focused on LGBT civil rights, sexual liberation, and gay men’s health, France shares powerful, heroic stories of the gay activists who refused to die without a fight.View photos from this program.

Michael Chabon and David L. Ulin | Moonglow Nov 30, 2016

In 1989, fresh from the publication of his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon traveled to his mother’s home in Oakland, California, to visit his terminally ill grandfather. Tongue loosened by powerful painkillers, memory stirred by the imminence of death, Chabon’s grandfather shared stories the younger man had never heard before. From the Jewish slums of prewar South Philadelphia to the invasion of Germany and the heyday of the space program, Moonglow collapses an era into a single life and a lifetime into a single week. Hear from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author as he discusses his latest literary masterpiece—a novel of truth and lies, family legends, and existential adventure.Click here for photos from the program.

Tim Wu and Madeleine Brand | The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads Nov 14, 2016

In nearly every moment of our waking lives, we face a barrage of advertising enticements, branding efforts, sponsored social media, commercials, and other efforts to harvest our attention. In his new book, The Attention Merchants, Tim Wu, author of the award-winning The Master Switch who coined the phrase “net neutrality,” explores the rise of firms whose business models are the mass capture of attention for resale to advertisers. Wu visits ALOUD for a revelatory look at the cognitive, social, and unimaginable ways that industries feeding on human attention are transforming our society and ourselves.Click here for photos from the program.

Rebecca Solnit and Christopher Hawthorne | Stories from the City Nov 10, 2016

What makes a place? The stories of a city are inexhaustible and contradictory as cities themselves are in constant conflict between memory and erasure. Writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit’s latest work in a trilogy of atlases (New York, New Orleans, San Francisco) portrays the myriad ways we coexist and move through a city depending on our race, gender, age and so much more. In conversation with architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne, Solnit expands our ideas of how cities are imagined and considers how they might look in the immediate future. Join a discussion with two people who have thought deeply about the possibilities of the infinite city.Click here for photos from the program.

T.C. Boyle and Michael Silverblatt | The Terranauts Nov 01, 2016

One of today’s greatest American novelists, bestselling author T.C. Boyle visits ALOUD to take audiences deep inside his electrifying, eco-visionary new novel. An epic story of science, society, sex, and survival, The Terranauts follows the high-pressured lives of eight scientists—four men and four women—closely monitored under glass in E2, a prototype of a possible off-earth colony. With characteristic humor and sharp wit, Boyle plays out his real-life environmental concerns as he experiments with the future of humanity.Click here for photos from the program.

Hisham Matar and Louise Steinman | The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between Oct 24, 2016

When Hisham Matar was a university student in England, his father was kidnapped. One of the Qaddafi regime’s most prominent critics in exile, he was held in a secret prison in Libya. Matar, the author of In the Country of Men, a Man Booker Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, chronicles his journey home to his native Libya after the fall of Qaddafi in search of the truth behind his father’s disappearance. Matar shares from The Return, his impassioned new work that weaves the intimacy of a memoir with the suspense of journalism to offer a moving reflection on exile, art, family, and the history of a revolution.Click here for photos from the program.

Emma Donoghue and Ramona Ausubel | The Wonder Oct 19, 2016

With all the propulsive tension that made Room an international bestseller, Emma Donoghue’s new masterpiece, The Wonder, is a tale of two strangers who transform each other’s lives. Set in Ireland in the 1850s, an English nurse arrives in a small village to keep watch over a young girl who has been fasting for months and claims to be living only on manna from heaven. Is it a miracle or fraud or something else? Donoghue shares with ALOUD audiences her latest riveting psychological thriller with Ramona Ausubel.Click here for photos from the program.

The Black Panthers: Portraits from an Unfinished Revolution Oct 13, 2016

“What happens to revolutionaries in America?” This was the question photojournalist Bryan Shih sought to answer through his lens and the first-person narratives gathered in this powerful new book, Portraits from an Unfinished Revolution, released on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party’s founding. These intimate and rarely heard stories of rank and file party members whose on-the-ground activism—from voter registrars, medical clinicians, and community teachers—contribute missing pieces to a skewed historical record and offer lessons for the future. #BlackLivesMatter activist and organizer Melina Abdullah joins Panthers Ericka Huggins, Norma Mtume, and Phyllis Jackson for an important examination of the past, present and future of groundbreaking social movements.Click here for photos from the program.

James Gleick and Charles Yu | Time Travel: A History Oct 04, 2016

Leading chronicler of science and technology and best-selling author of The Information and Chaos, James Gleick visits ALOUD with a mind-bending exploration of time travel through literature and science. His latest book, Time Travel, tracks our cultural, philosophical, technological, and evolutionary understanding of time—from H.G. Wells to Doctor Who, from the electric telegraph to the steam railroad. Novelist Charles Yu, a masterful storyteller who turns time inside out in his fiction, joins Gleick in conversation to delve into the looping paradoxes of the past, present, and future. Click here for photos from the program.

Riad Sattouf and Elvis Mitchell | The Arab of the Future 2 Sep 29, 2016

Best-selling cartoonist and filmmaker Riad Sattouf shares from his highly anticipated continuation of The Arab of the Future—a recollection of his childhood as his family shuttled back and forth between France and the Middle East. Sattouf’s latest graphic memoir travels to his father’s hometown of Homs, where the young Sattouf attends schools and attempts to dedicate himself to becoming a true Syrian in the country of a dictator. Hear from one of today’s most original voices as Sattouf acutely observes life’s small daily moments while sweeping through issues of politics, religion, and poverty in a voice both darkly funny and piercingly direct.Click here for photos from the program.

Sharon Olds and Robin Coste Lewis | The Body in Question Sep 27, 2016

Following the Pulitzer prize-winning collection Stag’s Leap, Sharon Olds’ newest book of poems, Odes, addresses and embodies love, gender, and sexual politics through the powerful and tender age-old poetic form of the ode. National Book Award winner Robin Coste Lewis’ stunning poetry debut, Voyage of the Sable Venus, considers the roles of desire and race in the construction of the self through lyrical meditations on the black female figure. Join us as these poets read from their intimate work and interrogate the structure of the body through its pleasures and sorrows, complex aesthetics and universal truths.

Maureen Dowd and Adam Nagourney | The Year of Voting Dangerously Sep 22, 2016

Before you cast your ballot this November, join ALOUD for an evening of political takes and takedowns with New York Times Pulitzer-winning columnist Maureen Dowd. The bestselling author has covered Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton since the ‘90s and now in her new book, The Year of Voting Dangerously: The Derangement of American Politics, she plunges into one of the most bizarre and divisive campaigns in modern history. With her trademark cocktail of wry humor and acerbic analysis, Dowd traces the psychologies and pathologies behind this treacherous battle for our nation’s highest office.

Mary Beard | SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Sep 20, 2016

In SPQR, an instant classic from one of our foremost classicists, Mary Beard narrates the history of Rome while challenging the comfortable historical perspective that has existed for centuries. With precision and flair, the National Book Critics Circle finalist guides us through ancient brothels, bars, and back alleys to sift fact from fiction, myth and propaganda from historical record. Hear from Beard as she unpacks the unprecedented rise of a civilization that– even two thousand years later–still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty, while simultaneously adding to the narrative entire groups of people omitted from history.

An Evening with Colson Whitehead Sep 16, 2016

What if the Underground Railroad were no mere metaphor, but an actual secret network of tracks and tunnels, conductors and steam locomotives beneath the Southern soil? In a spellbinding tour-de-force, prize-winning author Colson Whitehead’s new novel, The Underground Railroad, an Oprah’s 2016 Book Club selection, chronicles a young slave’s adventures through the antebellum South as she makes a desperate bid for freedom. Join us for a fascinating meditation on American history as Whitehead discusses this brilliantly imagined odyssey through time and space.Click here for photos from the program.

Alexi Pappas and Sharon Ann Lee | Tracktown: On the Run Sep 08, 2016

Fresh off this summer’s Olympics in Rio, “renaissance runner” Alexi Pappas takes a break with ALOUD to discuss her far-reaching talents and interests. Beyond representing Greece’s Olympic team in the 10,000 meters race, Pappas writes poetry, essays, and makes and stars in films, including a semi-autobiographical movie, Tracktown, which recently premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival. A celebrity in the Twitter-sphere—even her signature top bun has its own Twitter account—Pappas will team up with fellow tweeter extraordinaire Sharon Ann Lee of @culturebrain, to muse on the life of a runner, training with men, eating infinite bowls of pasta, and balancing many forms of self-expression on and off the track.Click here for photos from the program, and click here to view "The Elite Runner," the first in a series of short films co-created by Alexi Pappas and Jeremy Teicher.

The End of Ice: Stories from Greenland’s Northernmost Villages Jul 19, 2016

Greenland’s ice sheet is now shedding ice so fast (five times faster than it did in the 1990s) that scientists have labeled Greenland’s seasonal sea ice “a rotten ice regime.” For 20 years, writer Gretel Ehrlich has traveled with Inuit hunters in Greenland, listening to their narratives and observing changes in their traditional hunting. This past spring, she went with some of those Inuit hunters to Paris, with plans to speak at the climate talks which were dashed when terrorists struck the city. In conversation with award-winning NPR journalist Neal Conan, Ehrlich reports on her experience in Greenland and Paris and discusses the challenge of climate change—how can we move from “it’s too late…” to “there’s much we can do”?Click here for photos from the program.

Live From the Vault: Rare Recordings of James Baldwin Jul 14, 2016

Co-presented with Pacifica Archives Join us for a live broadcast (on KPFK 90.7 FM) dedicated to the voice of author and civil rights activist James Baldwin. Brian DeShazor, host of From the Vault radio program will air rare recordings of Baldwin from 1963-1968, including: an oration called the Artist’s Struggle for Integrity; a reading from Giovanni’s Room; Baldwin’s fiery speech after the murder of four girls in Birmingham, Alabama; and his introduction of Dr. Martin Luther King (taped in the home of Marlon Brando) weeks before King’s assassination. DeShazor is joined by two writers who’ve thought deeply about Baldwin’s work—novelist Nina Revoyr and Melvin L. Rogers, Associate Professor of Political Science and African-American Studies at UCLA—to reflect on Baldwin’s impact on literature and society. Click here for photos from the program.

Eileen Myles and Maggie Nelson: Why We Write Jul 12, 2016

For twenty years, groundbreaking poets Eileen Myles (Chelsea Girls; I Must be Living Twice) and Maggie Nelson (National Book Critics Circle Award, The Argonauts) have been friends, mutual influences, and interlocutors on the experiences of living in a poetry and gender-inflected writing world. Myles’ latest work—a collection of old and new poems—refracts a radical world and a compelling life. Nelson’s genre-bending memoir, The Argonauts, calls for radical individual freedom and the value of caretaking. Together on stage to read both poetry and prose, these two ground-breaking writers then will join in conversation to, as Myles says, “let thoughts rip.”Click here for photos from the program.

PEN Emerging Voices: A Reading Jul 07, 2016

In partnership with PEN Center USA, ALOUD presents the culminating event of PEN’s 2016 Emerging Voices Fellowship to mark the program’s 20th anniversary. Revisit this evening of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction with readings from the 2016 Fellows: Marnie Goodfriend, Jian Huang, Wendy Labinger, Natalie Lima, and Chelsea Sutton; featuring an introduction from this year’s Emerging Voices mentors: Carmiel Banasky, Claire Bidwell Smith, Patrick O’Neil, Mike Padilla, and Alicia Partnoy. The Emerging Voices Fellowship is a literary mentorship program aiming to provide new writers who are isolated from the literary establishment with the tools, skills, and knowledge they need to launch a professional writing career.

Ben Ehrenreich: The Way to the Spring Jun 29, 2016

For three years, award-winning journalist Ben Ehrenreich has been traveling to and living in the West Bank, living with Palestinian families in its largest cities and smallest villages. Placing readers in the footsteps of ordinary Palestinians, Ehrenreich’s new book, The Way to the Spring, offers some of the most empathetic reporting ever to emerge from the turbulent region. With a keen eye for detail, he paints a vivid portrait of life in three Palestinian villages, interspersed with crash-course history lessons on the Israel-Palestine conflict. In conversation with Amy Wilentz, National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author and former Jerusalem correspondent for The New Yorker, Ehrenreich discusses the journalist’s mission to listen and understand the complexities of human experience.Click here for photos from the program.

Rosanne Cash and Joe Henry | Composed: The Intersection of Poetry and Song Jun 20, 2016

Like dreams, poetry and song enter our lives by way of a mystery—unrecognized and often uninvited. Both represent the speaking of the otherwise unspeakable: the place where real truth is unencumbered by fact, time is made elastic, and narrative emerges from the abstract to tell us something of who we are. Listen in for a special evening of music and conversation with two leading voices as songwriters and authors Rosanne Cash and Joe Henry (both multi-GRAMMY Award winners) reflect on the transcendence of language through poetry and song.Click here for photos from the program.

Yaa Gyasi: Homegoing Jun 09, 2016

Hailed as “an inspiration” by writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel, Homegoing, traces 300 years of history and family lineage through a sweeping account of the many descendants of two half-sisters born in 18th century Ghana. From the beginnings of slavery to the Harlem Renaissance to 21st century California, the novel captures with stunning immediacy how the memory of captivity was inscribed on the soul of a nation. Join as Gyasi takes the ALOUD stage for a discussion with comparative mythologist and scholar Ayana A.H. Jamieson.Click here for photos from the program.

Judith Freeman: The Latter Days Jun 07, 2016

How does one become a writer? For acclaimed novelist Judith Freeman— born the sixth child of eight in a devout Mormon household, married at seventeen, and divorced at twenty-two with a young child—it was an unlikely path. In her arresting, lyrical memoir set in the patriarchal cloister of Utah in the 1950s and 1960s, she explores the circumstances and choices that informed her course through a thicket of profound difficulties towards becoming. Joined by L.A. native and novelist Michelle Huneven, Freeman visits ALOUD to share her illuminating portrait of resilience and self-discovery. Click here for photos from the program.

An Evening with Eddie Huang Jun 02, 2016

Co-presented with the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. Chef, food personality, bestselling author of Fresh Off the Boat, and inspiration behind the hit television show of the same name, Eddie Huang made his ALOUD debut with a brash new memoir about love, meaning, and returning to your ancestral homeland. Double Cup Love takes readers on a cultural romp from Williamsburg dive bars to the skies of Mongolia, from Michelin-starred restaurants to street-side soup peddlers in Chengdu. Listen as Fresh Off the Boat star, Constance Wu—who plays Eddie’s unforgettable mother—interviews Huang about family, food, and broken hearts. Visit our website for photos from the program.

Vivian Gornick and David L. Ulin: Two Walkers, Two Writers, Two Cities May 26, 2016

Like writing, cities are all about process, the back-and-forth between our aspirations and our abilities; we walk to discover them and to discover ourselves. In this dialogue, moderated by Los Angeles native Louise Steinman, Vivian Gornick and David L. Ulin investigate the role of the city as both literary and psychic landscape. For Gornick, who was born and raised in the Bronx and is the author of the new memoir of self-discovery, The Odd Woman and the City, New York is the city that provokes. While for Ulin, as a Manhattan-raised Southern California transplant and author of the compelling inquiry, Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, L.A. is the terrain that inspires. What do their journeys have in common? What sets these two cities, and their literature, apart?Click here for photos of the program.

Maxine Hong Kingston and Viet Thanh Nguyen: Two Writers Reflect on War and Peace May 24, 2016

Visionary writer Maxine Hong Kingston has been writing about war and peace since her landmark 1976 book The Woman Warrior. Her lifelong efforts on this theme often touched on the Vietnam War, from China Men to The Fifth Book of Peace. These works influenced award-winning novelist and critic Viet Thanh Nguyen as he dealt with the war in both fiction (The Sympathizer) and scholarship (Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War). Both writers will share the ALOUD stage to discuss their own personal histories with the war, and the responsibility of literature in depicting war machines and peace movements.Click here for photos from the program.

William Finnegan: Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life May 19, 2016

New Yorker writer William Finnegan leads a counter life as an excessively compulsive surfer. In his deeply lyrical self-portrait Barbarian Days, Finnegan chronicles his lifelong adventures from a young man chasing waves all over the world to becoming a distinguished writer and war reporter. Part coming-of-age story, part thriller, part cultural study, Finnegan’s vivid memoir explores the gradual mastering of a little understood art. Join Finnegan as he returns to the Pacific coast to discuss his revelatory pursuit of the perfect wave with David Rensin, author of ALL FOR A FEW PERFECT WAVES: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora. Click here for photos from the program.

Geoff Dyer: Searching to See: Experiences from the Outside World May 17, 2016

From the Watts Towers in Los Angeles to the Forbidden City in Beijing, Geoff Dyer’s newest collection of essays, White Sands: Experiences from the Outside World, explores what defines place: where do we come from, what are we, where are we going? The elegant, witty, and always inquisitive Dyer returns to ALOUD to reflect on his unexpected findings with Jonathan Lethem — celebrated for his novels, essays, and short stories — to illuminate the questions we ask when we step outside ourselves.Click here for photos from the program.

Kate Tempest: The Bricks That Built the Houses May 10, 2016

Award-winning poet and rapper Kate Tempest’s electrifying debut novel takes us into the beating heart of London in this multi-generational tale of drugs, desire, and belonging. The Bricks That Built the Houses explores a cross-section of contemporary urban life with a powerful moral microscope, giving us intimate stories of ordinary lives, and questions how we live with and love one another. Heralded by critics and fans alike for her powerful performances, Tempest takes the ALOUD stage to present her dynamic new work.Click here for photos from the program.

Writing Our Future: Readings from Graduate Writing Programs of the Southland May 02, 2016

Our third annual gathering unites students from five Southland graduate writing programs—CalArts, Otis College, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and USC—to share recent work and tune our ears to the future of language. What are the ideas, forms, questions, syntaxes, images, and narratives of our immediate future? Who better as our compass in the wilds of the now than emerging writers?Click here for photos from the program.

U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera: The Further Adventures of Mr. Cilantro Man Apr 20, 2016

Juan Felipe Herrera grew up the son of Mexican immigrants in the migrant fields of California, and became the first Latino Poet Laureate of the United States. Exuberant and socially engaged, reflective and healing, wildly inventive and unpredictable, the award-winning poet will discuss his life’s work as it ranges from Aztlan to Paris, San Bernardino to Florida and back; from Larry King and Oprah, to the Janis Joplin days in the City by the Bay. Join us for a brimming, wide-open evening as Herrera blazes the endless chasms of culture on the “Laureate Trail.”Click here for photos from the program.

Adam Hochschild: Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 Apr 14, 2016

Best-selling author, prize-winning historian, and Mother Jones co-founder Adam Hochschild offers a sweeping new history of the Spanish Civil War. Spain In Our Hearts is a nuanced international tale of idealism and heartbreaking suffering told through a dozen characters, including Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell, who reveal the full tragedy and importance of the war. Hochschild returns to ALOUD to explore the complicated conflict that would galvanize Americans in their pursuit of democracy across the world just before the opening battle of World War II.Click here for photos from the program.

John McWhorter, Mark Z. Danielewski: Dictionaries and the Bending of Language Apr 11, 2016

Through the etymology of words, the OED exhibits the shape-shifting nature of language across time, reflecting how it bends to the task of describing our evolving human experience. But is all change good? What is the role of the dictionary in reporting, recording, and refereeing language variation and change? Linguist, political commentator and author of The Power of Babel and Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, John McWhorter talks with genre-busting author of House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski about whether dictionaries support or inhibit the idiosyncratic use of language as a means of creative expression. Presented as part of the Library Foundation’s project, Hollywood is a Verb: Los Angeles Tackles the Oxford English Dictionary. Click here for photos from the program.

Sarah Bakewell: At The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails Apr 06, 2016

The best-selling author of the National Book Critics Circle Award-Winner How to Live, a spirited account of twentieth century intellectual movements and revolutionary thinkers, delivers a timely new take on the lives of influential philosophers Sartre, De Beauvoir, Camus, and others. At The Existentialist Café journeys to 1930s Paris to explore a passionate cast of philosophers, playwrights, anthropologists, convicts, and revolutionaries who would spark a rebellious wave of postwar liberation movements. From anticolonialism to feminism and gay rights, join Bakewell as she discusses with David L. Ulin what the pioneering existentialists can teach us about confronting questions of freedom today.Click here for photos of the program.

Helen Macdonald: H is for Hawk Apr 04, 2016

A New York Times bestseller and award-winning sensation, Helen Macdonald’s story of adopting and raising one of nature’s most vicious predators has soared into the hearts of millions of readers worldwide. Following the sudden death of her father, Macdonald battled with a fierce and feral goshawk to stave off her own depression. With ALOUD’s Louise Steinman, author of the far-reaching memoir about her father’s past, The Souvenir, Macdonald will discuss her transcendent account of human versus nature and the essential lessons she learned from her foray into falconry.Click here for photos from the program.

Baz Dreisinger: Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World Mar 23, 2016

As mass incarceration has reached record levels, professor, journalist, and visionary founder of the Prison to College Pipeline (P2CP), Baz Dreisinger has traveled behind bars in nine countries to rethink the state of justice in a global context. Her eye-opening new book, Incarceration Nations, offers a first-person odyssey through the modern prison systems of the world and gives voices to the millions silenced behind bars. Join Dreisinger as she discusses her timely work and urges for a massive overhaul in prison reform in the U.S. and across the globe.Click here for photos from the program.

Ellen R. Malcolm: When Women Win: EMILY’s List and the Rise of Women in American Politics Mar 17, 2016

In a potentially historic election year for women, Ellen R. Malcolm, the pioneering founder of the three-million-member EMILY’s List and one of the most influential players in today’s political landscape, tells the dramatic inside story of the rise of women in elected office in her new book, When Women Win. Malcolm will share the ALOUD stage with Ann Friedman, journalist and co-host of the popular podcast Call Your Girlfriend, to discuss the heartbreaking losses and unprecedented victories of some of the toughest political contests of the past three decades.Click here for photos from the program.

Jamaica Kincaid and Sarah Ogilvie: Empire of Words: An Unsentimental Journey to the Birth of the OED Mar 15, 2016

The OED represents arguably the first example of global crowd-sourcing and documents a language rich in loanwords from other cultures. At the same time, it has been considered emblematic of the British Empire’s colonial enterprise. Writer Jamaica Kincaid and linguist/author Sarah Ogilvie (Words of the World: a Global History of the OED) discuss the complexities of this relationship. Presented as part of the Library Foundation’s project, Hollywood is a Verb: Los Angeles Tackles the Oxford English Dictionary.

Radio Imagination: Octavia E. Butler's Los Angeles Mar 10, 2016

With DJ Lynnée Denise Co-presented with Clockshop Ten years after the passing of Los Angeles’ own Octavia E. Butler–one of America’s best science fiction writers and one of the few African-American women in the field— ALOUD celebrates Butler’s legacy. Navigating the dystopic L.A. that Butler often described in her short stories and novels, this panel will explore connections between Butler’s peers and colleagues, and the generation of writers and scholars who follow, and how Butler’s futuristic work resonates today. Part of Radio Imagination, artists and writers in the archive of Octavia E. Butler, a year-long program produced by Clockshop. Click here for photos from the program.

Hanya Yanagihara and Matthew Specktor: A Little Life: A Novel Feb 23, 2016

One of the most talked-about books of last year (nominated for the Man Booker Prize and The National Book Award), A Little Life is a profoundly bold epic about love and friendship in the twenty-first century. Yanagihara follows the tragic and transcendent lives of four men—an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—who meet as college roommates and move to New York to spend the next three decades adrift, buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. Join Yanagihara for an intimate look at this masterful depiction of heartbreak and brotherly love.**Click here for photos from the program.

Rachel Sussman and Ursula K Heise: Deep Time: Ancient Lives and Modern Eyes Feb 17, 2016

Artist Rachel Sussman has traveled around the world to photograph organisms—trees, lichens, bacteria—that are 2,000 or more years old. Confronting lives that extend so much longer than human lifespans challenges us to rethink the context of our human communities and the more-than-human environments into which we are embedded. What does it mean to take a picture of a 4,000-year-old tree at a fraction of a second? How has human intervention in nature given rise to a new geological age? Sussman, a LACMA Lab Artist and author of the New York Times bestseller, The Oldest Living Things in the World, and Ursula K. Heise, a professor in the Department of English and the Institute of Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, will discuss these questions of nature, technology, and our understanding of time to the backdrop of Sussman’s stunning images.**Click here for photos and video from the event.

Ingrid Betancourt: The Blue Line: A Novel Feb 09, 2016

Betancourt, the extraordinary Colombian French politician and activist, whose New York Times bestselling memoir chronicled her six and a half year captivity in the Colombian jungle by the FARC, offers a stunning debut novel about freedom and fate. Set against the backdrop of Argentina’s Dirty War and infused with magical realism, The Blue Line is a breathtaking love story and deeply felt portrait of a woman coming of age as her country falls deeper and deeper into chaos. Hear from Betancourt about this new work that draws on themes from her own remarkable life—political oppression, individual courage, hope, and faith—as ordinary people are caught up in the hurricanes of history.**Click here for photos and video from the event.

Elizabeth Alexander and Kevin Young: Kinds of Blue: Two Poets Feb 04, 2016

Acclaimed poet and Pulitzer Prize finalist Elizabeth Alexander, who composed and delivered the 2009 inauguration poem for President Obama, offers a deeply felt meditation on the blessings of family, art and community following the death of her husband in her memoir, The Light of the World. Poet Kevin Young, author of ten books of poetry, winner of the Lenore Marshall Award and a finalist for the National Book Award, gathers twenty years of highlights from his extraordinary career in his new compilation Blue Laws: Selected & Uncollected Poems 1995-2015. Longtime friends Alexander and Young share the stage for poetry, companionship, and to discuss their newest works: lyrical forays into life’s passages through grief and joy.**Click here for photos and video from the event.

Burning Voices: Stories that Fuel Us Jan 20, 2016

Allen Ginsberg spoke of “the voice in the burning bush,” that illuminates as in a fire, yet never destroys even as it burns. Luis Rodriguez, L.A. Poet Laureate; Michael Meade, author, storyteller, and mythologist; and John Densmore, musician and author, have all been at the forefront of sparking social and cultural change, seeking to push the boundaries of their disciplines in order to open greater possibility for human connectivity and healing. In a world of turmoil and destruction, how can we learn to speak to each other? Share in an illuminating evening of readings, stories and performance to fuel our minds and souls.**Click here for photos and video from the program.

Brian Seibert: What the Eye Hears: A History of Tap Dancing Jan 14, 2016

Brian Seibert, a dance critic for The New York Times, offers an authoritative account of the great American art of tap dancing in his new book, What the Eye Hears. Seibert’s entertaining history illuminates tap’s complex origins—from the jig and clog influences brought from Africa by slaves, to its growth as a cousin to jazz in the vaudeville circuits, to its ubiquity on Broadway and in Hollywood, and finally its post-World War II decline and more recent reinvention. Seibert, born and raised in Los Angeles, will take the ALOUD stage to discuss tap’s influence on American culture, including the legacy of L.A.’s thriving tap scene. With archival film footage and special performances by the young L.A. choreographer Sarah Reich, acclaimed as one of the new leaders in tap, this program will be sure to move you.**Click here for photos from the event.

Michael Cunningham: A Wild Swan: Fairy Tales Reimagined Dec 02, 2015

A poisoned apple and a monkey’s paw with the power to change fate; a girl whose extraordinarily long hair causes catastrophe; a man with one human arm and one swan’s wing; and a house deep in the forest, constructed of gumdrops and gingerbread, vanilla frosting and boiled sugar. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours transforms the mythic figures of our childhood in his newest work, A Wild Swan and Other Tales. Cunningham discusses bringing to life these never-before-told moments of beloved fairy tales with the ever-imaginative novelist Aimee Bender. Join us for an enchanting evening of reimagined—and sometimes darkly perverse—bedtime stories with two of today’s most gifted storytellers.**Click here for photos from the event.

Simon Winchester: The Pacific: From Silicon Chips and Surfboards to Brutal Dictators and Fading Empires Nov 10, 2015

The acclaimed author and passionate explorer of subjects from the Oxford English Dictionary to earthquakes to the Atlantic Ocean, offers an enthralling new biography of the Pacific Ocean. In his latest journey, Winchester travels from the Bering Strait to Cape Horn, the Yangtze River to the Panama Canal, and to the many small islands and archipelagos that lie in between. From the dying coral reefs to climate change to the military rise of China, Winchester explores our relationship to this imposing force of nature and its role in our modern world. ALOUD welcomes Winchester to the Pacific coast for a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination.**Click here for photos of the event.

Stacy Schiff: The Witches: Salem, 1692 Nov 04, 2015

The panic began in 1692, when a minister’s daughter began to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later, but not before 19 men and women had been hanged and an elderly man crushed to death. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) and Cleopatra unpacks the fantastical story of the Salem Witch Trials in her latest seminal work, The Witches. Aside from suffrage, the Salem Witch Trials represent the only moment in the shaping of the future republic when women played a central role in American history. Hear from one of our most acclaimed historians as she unveils one of the first great American mysteries.**Click here for photos of the event.

Sandra Cisneros: A House of My Own Oct 28, 2015

In a new memoir, the award-winning novelist, poet, and beloved author of The House on Mango Street, shares over three decades of true stories, essays, talks, and poems to offer a richly illustrated compilation of her storied life and career. Opening doors onto the Chicago neighborhoods where she grew up, her abode in Mexico haunted by her ancestors, a Greek white-washed island, a borrowed guest room, her purple house in San Antonio, and more, Cisneros sheds light on the real and imagined places that inspired her writing even as she struggled to define her own idea of home. Reflecting on the private journey of a life in writing, ALOUD welcomes Cisneros to the stage for a reading and conversation.**Click here for photos from the event. NOTE: This program includes portions in both English and Spanish.

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Between the World and Me Oct 26, 2015

In a revelatory testament of what it means to be black in America today, this timely new memoir solidifies Coates as one of today’s most important writers on the subject of race. Composed as letters to his teenage son, Coates bears witness to his own experiences as a young black man while moving between emotionally charged reportage of the recent shootings of unarmed black men by police. Coates—a national correspondent for The Atlantic, which published his landmark 2014 essay, “The Case for Reparations,” and author of the previous memoir, The Beautiful Struggle—arrives at a transcendent vision of the past and present to offer hope for his son’s future. Join us for a momentous conversation with Coates and historian Robin D.G. Kelley about America’s way forward.**Click here for photos of the event.

Roberta Kaplan and Lillian Faderman: Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA Oct 19, 2015

Roberta Kaplan, the renowned litigator who recently won the defining United States v. Windsor case to defeat the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), takes us behind the scenes of this gripping legal journey in her new book, Then Comes Marriage. Award-winning activist and scholar Lillian Faderman’s latest book, The Gay Revolution, begins in the 1950s, when the law classified gays and lesbians as criminals, then moves to the present to offer a sweeping account of the modern struggle for gay, lesbian, and trans rights. Following this summer’s landmark Supreme Court decision supporting gay marriage, hear from two of today’s most influential champions for equality.**Click here for photos of the event.

Mona Eltahawy: Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution Oct 08, 2015

Award-winning Egyptian American feminist writer and commentator Mona Eltahawy is no stranger to controversy. Through her articles in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and more, she has fought for the autonomy, security, and dignity of Muslim women, drawing widespread supporters and detractors. Now, in her first book, she offers an illuminating and incendiary manifesto on the repressive forces—political, cultural, and religious—that reduce millions of women to second-class citizens. Hear from Eltahawy—a woman motivated by hope and fury—about her revolutionary new book and this bold call to action for equal rights in the Middle East.**Click here for photos from the event.

Jessica Jackley and Larissa MacFarquhar: Impossible Idealism: Inventing a Moral Life Oct 01, 2015

What does it mean to devote yourself to helping others? Larissa MacFarquhar, a staff writer for The New Yorker, follows the joys and defeats of people living lives of extreme ethical commitment in her new book, Strangers Drowning. Jessica Jackley, co-founder of the revolutionary micro-lending site Kiva, in her book, Clay Water Brick, explores the triumphs and difficulties of using entrepreneurship to change the world. Sharing inspiring—and sometimes unsettling—stories of do-gooders from around the world, MacFarquhar and Jackley will challenge us to think about what we value most, and why.**Click here for photos from the event.

Lauren Groff: Fates and Furies Sep 30, 2015

The award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of The Monsters of Templeton and Arcadia delivers an exhilarating new novel about the creative partnership of marriage, and the yoke joining love, art, and power. Framed in Greek mythology and told from the opposing perspectives of husband and wife, Fates and Furies digs beneath the surface of a “good” marriage and vividly explores the duplicitous nature of a loving, yet surprisingly complicated relationship over the course of 24 years. One of the most talented writers of her generation, Groff visits ALOUD to discuss her dazzling literary masterpiece that will stir both the mind and the heart.**Click here to see photos from the program.

Mary Karr: The Art of Memoir Sep 24, 2015

Over the past three decades, the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of three previous memoirs, Mary Karr has elevated the art of the deeply personal genre to become one of the most influential memoirists working today. In her newest work, Karr pulls back the curtain on her craft. The rare, brilliant practitioner who is also a distinguished teacher, Karr breaks down key elements from her favorite memoirs and reflects on the challenges of transforming memories for the page. Reserve your seat at ALOUD for a master class with a master craftsman.**Click here to see photos from the program.

An Evening with Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer Sep 21, 2015

In the wake of an historic summer of groundbreaking Supreme Court decisions, Justice Stephen Breyer returns to ALOUD to discuss the ever-evolving influences on America’s highest court. In his latest book, The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities, Justice Breyer considers the great legal challenges facing our increasingly globalized and interdependent world. From sweeping national security policy to the use of online sites like Airbnb for international commerce, judicial awareness is no longer contained within America’s borders. Hear from one of today’s most pragmatic legal luminaries on how the world beyond our national frontiers is steering American law, and how this expansion is drawing American jurists into a new role of “constitutional diplomats.” Co-presented with The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts **Click here for photos of the event.

Salman Rushdie:Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights Sep 10, 2015

Returning to ALOUD after receiving the 2012 Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award for his distinguished commitment to libraries and literature, Rushdie shares his newest work of fiction. Inspired by the traditional “wonder tales” of the East and set in a strange near-future New York City, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights blends history, mythology, and a timeless love story. Satirical and bawdy, full of cunning and folly, kismet and karma, rapture and redemption, Rushdie’s novel is a masterpiece about the age-old conflicts that remain in today’s world. Discussing this work with Héctor Tobar, one of L.A.’s most respected voices, Rushdie takes the stage for a magical evening of storytelling.**Click here to see photos from the program.

Langston Hughes' Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz Jul 29, 2015

Laura KarpmanWith performance by Janai Brugger (soprano), Victoria Kirsch (piano), Taura Stinson (voice) and David Young (bass)From Africa to the Americas, the south to the north, cities to suburbs, opera to jazz, gospel to be-bop, and “shadows to fire”—discover “Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz,” Hughes’ response to the riots at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival. Emmy Award-winning composer Laura Karpman, originally commissioned by Carnegie Hall to create the first vocal performance of Hughes’ poem, created an orchestral composition with plural voices including Hughes’, projected images, and recorded selections drawn from a dozen musical traditions, in an epic tapestry evoking the turbulent flux of American cultural life. This special presentation of “Ask Your Mama,” adapted for the ALOUD stage, features Karpman and soprano Janai Brugger, and marks the release of a new recording of the orchestral work. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Unspeakable Empathy Jul 23, 2015

Leslie Jamison and Meghan DaumIn conversation with Molly Pulda, Provost's Postdoctoral Scholar in the Humanities, USCLeslie Jamison’s critically acclaimed The Empathy Exams confronts our personal and cultural urgency to feel. In The Unspeakable, Los Angeles Times opinion columnist Meghan Daum defiantly pushes back against the false sentimentality and shrink-wrapped platitudes that surround so much of contemporary American experience. With piercing insight and wit, hear from two of today’s most thought-provoking and intimately honest essayists, grappling with the modern complexities of being human.*Click here to see photos from the program!

To Live and Eat in L.A.: Food Justice in the Age of the Foodie Jul 14, 2015

Panel discussion with Ron Finley, Elizabeth Medrano and Neelam SharmaIn conversation with author Josh Kun, author and professor, USC Annenberg School for CommunicationThe L.A. food scene is as trendy, tweeted, pop-upped, and profit-busting as it’s ever been, and yet more people are going hungry at a greater rate than perhaps any other moment in the city’s history. As the USDA has declared, Los Angeles is the nation’s “epicenter of hunger,” where the phrase “food insecurity”—lacking reliable access to nutritious and safe food—has become as much a part of the local vernacular for activists and organizers as sunshine and traffic. In a special collaboration with the Library Foundation to rediscover the Los Angeles Public Library’s vast archive, USC professor Josh Kun uses the Library’s menu collection to explore the shaping of Los Angeles. With vintage menus as our guides, join Kun for a conversation about the struggles and triumphs of contemporary food activism with urban gardener Ron Finley, the Healthy School Food Coalition’s Elizabeth Medrano and Community Services Unlimited Inc.’s Neelam Sharma.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Love, Los Angeles: A Conversation in Words and Images Jul 09, 2015

Lynell George and Marisela NorteWith live DJ mix by Frosty of dublab“Love, Los Angeles” is a letter in progress—a series of notes, fragments, reflections and odes—written by two native daughters navigating the quickly-changing landscape of contemporary Los Angeles. Through photographs and texts, journalist and essayist Lynell George and writer Marisela Norte have tunneled on foot from Boyle Heights to Venice and the Miracle Mile to Arcadia, crisscrossing time, place, dreams, and memory. Share in these in-the-moment observations of hope, grit, faith and longing as they are presented for the first time on stage, and eavesdrop on this intimate look into the heart of our city.*Click here to see photos from the program.

Song of Myself: Walt Whitman in Other Words Jun 30, 2015

Readings and conversations with Luis Alberto Ambroggio, Christopher Merrill and Sholeh WolpéMusical performance by Sahba MotallebiWith all of its American idioms, virtues, and contradictions, what is it about Walt Whitman’s epic verse “Song of Myself” that so deeply resonates across other cultures and languages? In 2013, Christopher Merrill, the director of the International Writing Program at The University of Iowa, launched “Every Atom,” a multimedia project to collectively translate the poem in 15 languages, working with fellow poets and translators Luis Alberto Ambroggio and Sholeh Wolpé. Join us for a spirited evening of poetry and music, featuring a performance by internationally renowned musician Sahba Motallebi, as these collaborators explore how Whitman’s radical poetic vision lives and breathes in English, Persian, and Spanish.*Click here to see photos from the program!

To Live and Dine in L.A.: Menus and the Making of the Modern City Jun 14, 2015

Panel discussion with chefs Cynthia Hawkins, and Ricardo DiazIn conversation with Josh Kun, author and professor, USC Annenberg School for CommunicationCan a city’s history be told through restaurant menus? In a second installment of a special collaboration with the Library Foundation to rediscover the Los Angeles Public Library’s vast archive, USC professor Josh Kun uses the Library’s menu collection to explore the shaping of Los Angeles, from the city’s first restaurants in the 1850s up through the most recent food revolutions. Join him for a multimedia tour of the L.A. menu paired with a conversation on L.A. food past and present with chefs Cynthia Hawkins (Hawkins House of Burgers), and Ricardo Diaz (Colonia Publica)*Click here to see photos from the program!

An Evening with Judy Blume Jun 09, 2015

In conversation with Alex Cohen, co-host of KPCC's "Take Two"Co-presented with the Japanese American Cultural and Community CenterOn this special evening, one of America’s most beloved storytellers, Judy Blume, will discuss her work—from young adult classics like Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret to her new novel for adults, In the Unlikely Event. The story, inspired by a series of real-life plane crashes that occurred in the 1950s in Blume’s home town of Elizabeth, New Jersey, weaves together three generations of families, friends and strangers, whose lives are profoundly changed by a succession of disasters. This iconic author who has won the hearts and minds of readers of all ages, is also known for her passionate advocacy to protect the freedom to read. She will be joined in conversation with KPCC host and super Blume fan, Alex Cohen. Join us for a night to remember! *Click here to see photos from the event!

Ordinary Light: A Memoir May 28, 2015

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet discusses her new memoir, a gorgeous kaleidoscope of self and family, that explores the meaning of home against a complex backdrop of race, religion, and unbreakable bonds. With lyrical precision and a tender intelligence, Smith delves into the life and death of her mother. Smith struggles to understand her mother’s steadfast Christian faith, ultimately discovering her own prayer-like solace in poetry. Lynell George, whose own body of work includes reflections about place, family, and her mother, leads an intimate conversation with Smith about the extraordinary journey of a daughter.*Click here to see photos from the event!

A Seismographic Attention: An Evening Of and On Poetry May 19, 2015

The masterful poet and essayist shares her latest two works—Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World, a dazzling collection of essays on poetry, and The Beauty, her newest book of poems—for a close look at poetry’s power to expand our perception of the perimeters of existence. Join Hirshfield as she walks us through many wonderful poems, examining how they work by tuning our attention, renovating language and unfastening the mind.*Click here to see photos from the event!

Prayers for the Stolen May 14, 2015

Co-presented with LéaLA, Feria del Libro en Español de Los ÁngelesInspired by the author’s years living in Mexico and ten years of field research, this transporting, visceral novel tells the story of young women in rural Guerrero who live in the shadows of the drug war. The poetic narrative of heroine Ladydi--disguised by her mother as a boy for protection from the vicious cartels—shows great resilience and resolve as a young woman caught in a real-life nightmare. This fictionalized work by award-winning author and the former President of PEN Mexico, ensures that the most vulnerable voices cannot be silenced at a time when fiction never seemed truer to fact than the present. *Click here to see photos from the event!

Writing Our Future Apr 30, 2015

Featuring Sydney Barile, Justin Evans, Amanda Foushee, Melissa Gutierrez, Michael Mitchell, Nicole Olweean, Niela Orr, Sean Pessin, Julian Smith-Newman and Paula Tang.Our second annual gathering unites students from five Southland graduate writing programs—CalArts, Otis College, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and USC—to share recent work and tune our ears to the future of language. What are the ideas, forms, questions, syntaxes, images, and narratives of our immediate future? Who better as our compass in the wilds of the now than emerging writers? *Click here to see photos from the event!

The Great Divide: Unequal Societies and What We Can Do About Them Apr 27, 2015

Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics, has time and time again offered a singular voice of reason to diagnose America’s greatest economic challenges. In his provocative new book, the bestselling author makes an urgent case for Americans to solve inequality now. Veteran journalist Jim Newton engages Stiglitz in conversation, probing for answers to the greatest threat to American prosperity—the yawning gap between the rich and the poor. *Click here to see photos from the event!

The Great Divide: Unequal Societies and What We Can Do About Them Apr 27, 2015

Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics, has time and time again offered a singular voice of reason to diagnose America’s greatest economic challenges. In his provocative new book, the bestselling author makes an urgent case for Americans to solve inequality now. Veteran journalist Jim Newton engages Stiglitz in conversation, probing for answers to the greatest threat to American prosperity—the yawning gap between the rich and the poor.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Rebel Spirit: Lyrics of Power and Protest Apr 23, 2015

Espíritu Rebelde: Letras de Poder y ProtestaAna Tijoux en conversación con la poeta y traductora Jen HoferPresentado en conjunto con la Asociación Filarmónica de Los ÁngelesAlzando su voz por los derechos de las mujeres, la reforma migratoria, el activismo ambiental y demás, la cantante nominada al GRAMMY, Ana Tijoux, ha transformado el escenario mundial con sus versos cargados de fuerza política. Las composiciones de Tijoux, sin límites geográficos o de género musical, reflejan las influencias literarias de su juventud y las ricas tradiciones musicales de su Chile natal. De Eduardo Galeano a Violeta Parra, escucha –mediante conversación y canto- las inspiraciones que impulsan su espíritu rebelde.Co-presented with the Los Angeles Philharmonic AssociationRebel Spirit: Lyrics of Power and ProtestRaising her voice for women’s rights, immigration reform, environmental activism, and more, GRAMMY-nominated musician Ana Tijoux has transformed the global stage with her politically powered verses. Unbounded by geography and genre, Tijoux’s songwriting reflects the literary influences of her youth and the rich musical traditions of her native Chile. From Eduardo Galeano to Violeta Parra, hear—through conversation and song—the inspirations that fuel her rebel spirit.*Click here to see photos from the event!

Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land Apr 21, 2015

The veteran journalist and critically acclaimed author of The Lemon Tree brings us another true story of hope in the Palestinian-Israeli impasse. His newest book, Children of the Stone, chronicles a young violist--- Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan-- who escapes a Palestinian refugee camp and later returns to fulfill his dream: establishing a music school with the help of Israeli musicians including Daniel Barenboim, director of the Berlin State Opera and La Scala. Join Tolan for a moving conversation about how a love of music transforms and empowers lives in a war-torn land. *Click here to see photos of the program!

Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Stories from the Fight Against Muslim Fundamentalism Apr 02, 2015

A veteran of twenty years of human rights research and activism and recent recipient of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Bennoune offers an eye-opening chronicle of peaceful resistance to extremism in her recent book. Scouring the globe for stories of heroic individuals—artists, doctors, lawyers, and educators— who challenge stereotypes of Islamist fundamentalism, Bennoune shares these vivid portraits that offer an uplifting look at our best hopes for ending fundamentalist oppression worldwide. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Crow Fair:Stories Mar 31, 2015

In his first collection in nine years, McGuane confirms his status as a modern master of Big Sky country. With a comic genius that recalls Mark Twain, and his own beautiful way with words, McGuane (The Bushwacked Piano, Gallatin Canyon, Ninety-two in the Shade) offers a jubilant and thunderous new batch of stories about life’s complicated nature from the wilds of Montana. Join us for a reading and conversation with one of America’s most deeply admired storytellers. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Unveiling North Korea with Fact and Fiction Mar 23, 2015

Coming together for the first time on stage, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Adam Johnson and bestselling nonfiction author Blaine Harden explore how their different paths of storytelling led them to similar truths about illusive North Korea. Join Johnson, author of the spellbinding novel, The Orphan Master’s Son, and Harden, author of the new historical exposé, The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and the Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom, for a fascinating discussion about the world’s longest-lasting totalitarian regime. *Click here to see photos from the program!

The War in Ukraine: Propaganda and Reality Mar 10, 2015

A year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, destroying a peaceful order in Europe and placing its own regime at risk. We in the West have experienced this historical turning point through a haze of propaganda. According to Snyder, the Kremlin was perhaps wrong about the political weakness of Ukraine, but likely right about some intellectual weaknesses of Americans and Europeans. When will the war end? This rare pairing of two essential thinkers on Eastern European politics offers a revelatory look at why what happens in Ukraine is of significant international importance.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Story/Time: The Life of An Idea Mar 05, 2015

Co-presented with Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA The multi-talented dancer, choreographer, and director Bill T. Jones presents a provocative collage of movement, music, and personal narrative from Story/Time, a recent dance work produced by his company and inspired by the legendary composer John Cage. This program coincides with the publication of a new book based on Jones’ brilliant hybrid work and meditations as an African American artist struggling to find a place in a white-dominated dance world. Jones and two extraordinary dancers from his company will perform and then discuss this powerful experiment in storytelling. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad Mar 04, 2015

The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and consultant on the Academy Award-winning film 12 Years a Slave discusses his latest book, which unearths extraordinary findings from Columbia University’s archives to shed new light on the Underground Railroad. Join Foner in conversation with Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy for an illuminating look at the fraught history of American slavery and the courageous acts of individuals who defied the law in the fight for freedom decades before the Civil War. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Believer: My Forty Years in Politics Feb 17, 2015

Co-presented with Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing ArtsDavid Axelrod, the great strategist who masterminded President Barack Obama’s historic election campaigns, sits down with Emmy Award-winning NPR host Michel Martin to discuss his years as a young journalist, political consultant, and ultimately senior adviser to the president. From a young journalist in 1970s and 80s Chicago—where he reported on the dissolution of the last of the big city political machines--to his twenty-year friendship with Obama, to serving during two wars and an economic disaster, Axelrod offers a rich account of the man and the mind behind some of the greatest political changes of the last decade. This event took place at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing ArtsClick here to see photos from the program!

Expanding our Universe: An Astronomer and a Physicist Walk into a Room… Feb 12, 2015

The work of Wendy L. Freedman, one of the world’s most influential astronomers, is based on being an observer, while that of Caltech cosmologist Sean Carroll is based on his role as theorist. In a phenomenal period of discovery in which the view of the universe has expanded enormously, what fundamental discoveries might yet be uncovered? Join us for a conversation with these two experts about what could literally be on the horizon.Click here to see photos from the program!

The Sculptor: A Graphic Novel Feb 10, 2015

Internationally recognized authority on comics and visual communication, Scott McCloud wrote the book on how comics work (Understanding Comics.) Now he vaults into fiction with a breathtaking, funny, and unforgettable new work. In The Sculptor, McCloud delivers a spellbinding adult urban fable about a wish, a deal with death, the price of art, and the value of life. Join KCRW’s Elvis Mitchell for a conversation with McCloud on his long-awaited magnum opus and the power of storytelling.Click here to see photos from the program

Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America Feb 05, 2015

Ghettoside tells the kaleidoscopic story of one American murder—one young black man slaying another—and a driven crew of detectives whose creed is to pursue justice for forgotten victims at all costs. This fast-paced narrative of a devastating crime in South Los Angeles provides a new lens into the great subject of why murder happens in America—and how the plague of killings might yet be stopped. KCRW’s Warren Olney sits down with award-winning reporter Leovy to discuss this master work of literary journalism that is equal parts gripping detective story and provocative social critique.Click here to see photos from the program!

Guantánamo Diary Jan 28, 2015

Though never charged with a crime, Mohamedou Ould Slahi has been imprisoned at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp since 2002. His deeply personal diary—an unprecedented publishing event as the first ever book published by a still-imprisoned detainee—is a terrifying (and darkly humorous) chronicle of a vivid miscarriage of justice. To discuss the book and the case, longtime human rights activist and editor of Slahi’s book, Larry Siems, joins Slahi’s lawyer, Nancy Hollander, whose practice is devoted to criminal cases (including that of Chelsea E. Manning) involving national security issues. Click here to see photos from the program!

Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film Jan 23, 2015

Oswalt—comedian, actor, social media genius—illuminates the story of his early days of the comedy scene in Los Angeles and his unshakeable addiction to the New Beverly Cinema. From Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast to Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, the bestselling author of Zombie Spaceship Wasteland chronicles his coming of age from fledgling stand-up at the Largo to self-assured sitcom actor. Oswalt’s witty prose proves that funny is just as fit for the page as it is the stage. Click here to see photos from the program!

Who We Be: Race and Image at the Twilight of the Obama Era Jan 21, 2015

In the waning days of the Obama era, artists and young people are shaping our discussion about race through activism, social media, film, and art. Author Jeff Chang’s newest book Who We Be: The Colorization of America remixes comic strips and contemporary art, campus protests and corporate marketing campaigns for a fresh look at America’s racial divide. Director Justin Simien's Dear White People film taps into the unease of "post-racial" hype among college students of color. Join Chang and Simien in a talk about how art and writing are speaking to this moment, and what happens next when the Obamas leave and the White House goes back to being a white house.Click here to see photos from the program

On Such a Full Sea: A Novel Jan 15, 2015

Lee, a deeply influential writer about race, class and immigrant life in America, sets his gripping and fiercely imagined new novel in a chilling dystopia, where abandoned post-industrial cities have been converted into forced labor colonies populated with immigrant workers. The fate of the world may lay in the hands of one nervy girl named Fan, a beautiful fish tank diver, who jolts the labor colony by running away. Join Lee and the story-bending author Charles Yu (How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe) for a conversation on alternate realities and the power of a riveting story to change the way we see the world.Click here to see photos from the program

Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class Jan 13, 2015

When artists and artisans can’t make a living, we all pay the price. Scott Timberg’s original and important new book, Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class, examines the roots of a creative crisis that has put booksellers, indie musicians, architects and graphic designers out of work and struggling to afford healthcare, stable housing and educational opportunities for their kids. This panel of creative thinkers and doers convenes to examine this urgent issue and explore what we can do to change course.Click here to see photos from the program

An Evening with Carlos Santana Dec 01, 2014

One of the most influential and celebrated musicians of our time, Carlos Santana will sit down with L.A.'s own Cheech Marin to share the story of his life-- from his humble childhood in Mexico, to his emergence in the 1960s rock underground in San Francisco and the explosion of his musical career. In his new memoir The Universal Tone, Santana’s authentic voice and unparalleled story is delivered with a level of passion and soul equal to the legendary charge of his guitar. From collaborations with other greats like Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock to Juanes, Pitbull and Lila Downs, hear the remarkable life story from a musician Rolling Stone has rated as one of the greatest guitarists of all time.*Click HERE to see photos from the event!

The Future of the Religious Past: Assessing The Norton Anthology of World Religions Nov 20, 2014

The comprehensive new Norton Anthology of World Religions, under the editorial direction of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jack Miles, assembles primary texts from six major world religions in the religious equivalent of a giant “family album.” Miles questions whether religion can be defined, and considers how, sometimes, the supposedly ancient turns out to be quite recent, and the truly ancient turns out to be surprisingly modern. Three religious traditions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—loom especially large in the lives of Americans; listen in on a discussion that promises to unveil many other surprises as these three religious “cousins” flip through the album together.*Click HERE to see photos from the program!

33 Artists in 3 Acts Nov 13, 2014

In her new book, Thornton, best-selling author of Seven Days in the Art World, uses a structure of richly linked, cinematic scenes that allow us access to understanding a dazzling range of artists—including Cindy Sherman, Gabriel Orozco, Marina Abramović, Ai Weiwei, and Christian Marclay, among many others. In this conversation with the Hammer’s Allison Agsten, Thornton discusses her research—how she rummaged through artists’ bank accounts, bedrooms, and studios and witnessed their crises and triumphs-- as well as the wildly different answers—and non-answers—she received to the question, “What is an artist?”*Click HERE to see photos from the event!

The Secret History of Wonder Woman Nov 12, 2014

In her years of research, Lepore—Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer—has uncovered an astonishing trove of documents, including the never-before-seen private papers of Wonder Woman’s creator, William Moulton Marston. Marston, who also invented the lie detector—lived a life of secrets, only to spill them onto the pages of Wonder Woman comics. Lepore discusses this riveting story about the most popular female superhero of all time, illustrating a crucial history of twentieth century feminism.*Click HERE to see photos from the event!

An Evening with Colm Tóibín and Rachel Kushner Nov 06, 2014

From Madame Bovary to Hedda Gabler, some of literature’s most passionate heroines find themselves under the fire of their times. In Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary, the Irish novelist took on nothing less than the mother of Christ. In his masterful new novel, Nora Webster, he portrays a fiercely compelling young Irish widow and mother of four navigating grief and fear and struggling for hope. Rachel Kushner (The Flamethrowers) joins Tóibín for a discussion about creating characters that erupt off the page, in novels where the political and the personal are locked in a deep and fascinating embrace.*Click HERE to see photos from the program!

Lila: A Novel Nov 05, 2014

One of our greatest American writers returns to the small Iowa town of Gilead—the setting of her earlier Pulitzer Prize-winning novel—in the unforgettable story of a girlhood lived on the fringes of society in fear, awe, and wonder. Hear Robinson read and reflect on this masterpiece of prose, where the small town of Gilead becomes as quintessential to the rich fabric of American life as Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County.*Click here to see photos from the program!

The Warrior's Return: From Surge to Suburbia Oct 27, 2014

When we ask young men and women to go to war, what are we asking of them? When their deployments end and they return—many of them changed forever—how do they recover some facsimile of normalcy? MacArthur award-winning author David Finkel discusses the struggling veterans chronicled in his deeply affecting book, Thank You for Your Service with Skip Rizzo, Director for Medical Virtual Reality at the Institute for Creative Technologies at USC—who has pioneered the use of virtual reality-based exposure therapy to treat veterans suffering from PTSD.*Presented in association with The L.A. Odyssey Project*Click here to see photos from the program!

The Poet as Citizen Oct 23, 2014

Two powerful poets read from their work and discuss how poetry can become an active tool for rethinking race in America. Robin Coste Lewis reads from her upcoming poetry collection, Voyage of the Sable Venus, which lyrically catalogs representations of the black figure in the fine arts, with Claudia Rankine—a poet whose incendiary new book, Citizen: An American Lyric—is a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in our often named “post-racial” society.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Fomenting Democracy: From Poland's Solidarity to Egypt's Tahrir Square Oct 21, 2014

Co-presented with the Consulate General of PolandIt’s been twenty-five years since the ultimate victory of the Solidarity movement in Poland, a revolution that ultimately led to the fall of communism. Adam Michnik, a Solidarity activist jailed by the Polish communist regime for his dissident activities, and now among Poland’s most prominent public figures, discusses the legacy of that revolution with Yasmine El Rashidi, a young intrepid Cairo-based journalist whose essays and articles on the (unfinished) Egyptian revolution were nominated for an Amnesty International Media Award. Can a velvet revolution offer any useful lessons to a bloody one?*Click here to see photos from the program!

Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle that Set Them Free Oct 16, 2014

In this master work by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Héctor Tobar tells the miraculous and emotionally textured account of the thirty-three Chilean miners who were trapped beneath thousands of feet of rock for a record-breaking sixty-nine days. Join us to hear this astounding account of the personal histories that brought “Los 33” to the mine and the spiritual elements that surrounded their work in the deep down dark. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh Oct 07, 2014

In his thrilling new biography, Lahr—longtime New Yorker theater critic--gives intimate access to the life and mind of Williams- shedding new light on his warring family, his lobotomized sister, his sexuality, and his misreported death. In the sensational saga of Williams’ rise and fall, Lahr captures his tempestuous public persona and backstage life where Marlon Brando, Elia Kazan and others had scintillating walk-on parts. Maupin joins Lahr for a fascinating conversation about one of the most brilliant playwrights of his century, whose plays reshaped the American theater and the nation’s sense of itself.

Homer...the Rewrite Oct 02, 2014

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are among the most adapted works of literature – why would two young, debut novelists take on the classics today? Zachary Mason’s The Lost Books of the Odyssey offers a playful and fragmented remix of Odysseus’s long journey home. Told from the perspective of a minor player in the Trojan War, Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles adds new dimension to the Greek heroes. Together at ALOUD for the first time, these young authors discuss the hubris and heart it takes to rewrite a classic with a fresh and contemporary voice.*Presented in association with The L.A. Odyssey Project*Click here to see photos from the program!

Documenting Indigenous Stories Through Film: An Alternative Lens Sep 30, 2014

Co-presented with Ambulante CaliforniaTwo filmmakers share and discuss excerpts from their new documentaries that illuminate indigenous stories rarely seen on film. Bering: Balance and Resistance, by Lourdes Grobet—one of Mexico’s most renowned photographers—lyrically reflects on an Inuit community’s search for new values while struggling to reconcile the past. In Indian 101, filmmaker Julianna Brannum focuses on lessons taught by her great aunt LaDonna Harris, the Comanche activist who helped negotiate the return of sacred ground to the Taos Pueblo Indians. Far apart geographically, these two communities are irrevocably linked as they navigate their contemporary history. Both films will screen in Los Angeles in their entirety as part of the first edition of Ambulante California's Documentary Film Festival. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Through Trying Times: Stories of Loss and Redemption in the American South Sep 25, 2014

New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow grew up in an out-of-time African-American Louisiana town where slavery’s legacy felt astonishingly close, reverberating in the elders’ stories and the near-constant wash of violence. Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward writes powerfully about the poverty of her Mississippi childhood and the pressures it brought on men and women, revealing disadvantages that bred a certain kind of tragedy. In this conversation, two accomplished storytellers take the stage to discuss their memoirs that pay homage to the troubled past of the South with emotional honesty and moments of stark poetry. *Click here to see photos from the program!

The Heyday of Malcolm Margolin: The Damn Good Times of a Fiercely Independent Publisher Sep 17, 2014

For forty years, Heyday Books has been publishing California's stories--stories no one else has told--from native peoples and newly arrived immigrants, stories about the delicate Calliope hummingbirds and 14,000 foot peaks, to the explorations of California's most original thinkers, poets, and visual artists. Bancroft's new book describes an organization run on passion and devoted to beauty. Malcolm's friend and colleague, Vincent Medina, a member of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Area, will join the discussion.*Click here to see photos from the program!

The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us Sep 15, 2014

From one of our finest literary interpreters of science and nature comes an optimistic manifesto on the earth-shaking changes now affecting every part of our lives, and those of our fellow creatures. Through her compelling and meditative prose, Ackerman reminds us how the human and natural worlds coexist, coadapt and interactively thrive.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Perfidia: A Novel Sep 09, 2014

Ellroy, one of America’s greatest living crime writers, draws on the history of Los Angeles in his newest novel, Perfidia. Together with Kirn, author of a recent riveting take on a Los Angeles cold case, Ellroy uncovers a corrupt city under the shadow of Pearl Harbor, where the investigation of a hellish murder of a Japanese family throws together and rips apart four driven souls.*Click here to see photos from the program!

A Chinaman's Chance: One Family's Journey and the Chinese American Dream Jul 30, 2014

Weaving history, journalism, and memoir, the author of The Accidental Asian and founder of Citizen University explores the parallel rise of China and the Chinese American—how Chinese immigrants have exceled despite racism and xenophobia, and how they reconcile competing beliefs about what constitutes success, virtue, and belonging in a time of deep flux. From Confucius to the Constitution, Liu discusses his new collection of personal essays that provide insight into the evolving Chinese American dream.*Click here to see photos from the program!

It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens Jul 29, 2014

Has the Internet ruined everything or is it our savior? boyd, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, skewers misunderstandings and anxieties about the online lives of teens often voiced by teachers and parents in her eye-opening new book. Integrating a decade’s worth of interviews with teens, boyd injects nuances and complexity into the discussion of how they are trying to carve out a space of their own, as their lives are increasingly mediated through services like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Anyone interested in the impact of emerging technologies on society, culture, and commerce in the years to come will want to catch this conversation.*Click here to see photos from the program!

The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City Chronicle Jul 17, 2014

In a follow-up to his masterful Say Her Name, The Interior Circuit is Goldman’s emergence from the grief of his wife’s death as he embraces Mexico’s capital as his home—a city which stands defiantly apart from so many of the social ills and violence wracking Mexico. Yet as the narco war rages on and with the restoration to power of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, Mexico City’s special apartness seems threatened. In setting out to understand the menacing challenges the city now faces, Goldman delivers a poetic and philosophical chronicle that explores a remarkable and often misunderstood metropolis.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Not Uniquely Human: The Astonishing Connection Between Human and Animal Health Jul 10, 2014

In their groundbreaking book Zoobiquity, cardiologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and science writer Kathryn Bowers describe how they arrived at a pan-species approach to medicine. Animals do indeed get diseases ranging from brain tumors and heart attacks to anxiety and eating disorders, just like we do—and the authors explore how animal and human commonality can be used to diagnose, treat, and heal patients of all species. In her illuminating new book, Animal Madness, Laurel Braitman chronicles her parallel discoveries of what nonhuman animals can teach us about mental illness and recovery. Join us to hear what we can learn from a blind elephant, compulsive parrots, depressed gorillas, and a cow with anger management issues.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Dear ONE: Love & Longing in Mid-Century Queer America Jun 28, 2014

“Dear ONE,” illuminates the lives of ordinary queer Americans as recounted through letters written between 1953 and 1967, to L.A.’s ONE Magazine, the first openly gay and lesbian periodical in the United States. Looking for love, friendship, advice or understanding, readers wrote of loneliness and longing, of joy and fulfillment, and of their daily lives, hidden from history. This dramatic reading is adapted and directed by Zsa Zsa Gershick from material from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at USC.

How I Turned into the Writer I Am Not Jun 26, 2014

The work of British writer Geoff Dyer is frequently classified as “unclassifiable;” his writing is wildly eclectic, yet gorgeously coherent. His new book, Another Great Day at Sea—about life on an American aircraft carrier—is at the same time a travelogue, unerring social observation, and honed comedy. Zona, his meditation on the film Stalker, by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, was supposed to be a book about tennis; his book about D.H. Lawrence, Out of Sheer Rage, is essentially about not writing a book about D.H. Lawrence; and Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It is definitely not a self-help book. Rodman and Dyer will attempt to account for the “singular restlessness” of Dyer’s writing, while happily digressing on other subjects. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Denis Johnson and "The Starlight on Idaho" Jun 23, 2014

For decades, celebrated fiction author Denis Johnson (Jesus’ Son and Tree of Smoke) has been writing some of the most adventurous plays in modern American theater, with a major trilogy focused on the Cassandra family, a clan so star-crossed that several members are incarcerated, institutionalized or in and out of rehab. The epistolary “The Starlight on Idaho” finds the youngest son, Cass, sobering up in a clinic housed in what was once a hot-sheet motel on Idaho Street, the Starlight. While he’s there he writes screeds, pleas and confessions to members of his family, his AA sponsor, his grade school love and Satan. In this unique adaptation, addressor and addressee voice the letters together. Literature as only Denis Johnson can create it, “The Starlight on Idaho” is not quite a story, not quite a play, it is pure WordTheatre. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Love: Three Perspectives—Two Novels and a Psychoanalyst Jun 18, 2014

New novels from Michelle Huneven (Off Course) and Mona Simpson (Casebook) both deal with love and its moral varieties, from quite different perspectives. As their characters variously struggle to forge lasting connections, they evoke issues long familiar to the psychoanalyst. Is it possible to separate out the strands of fantasy and projection, family patterning, and primal need from adult love? What makes highly intelligent, thoughtful people so thoroughly lose their way in love’s enchantment? Joining the authors to discuss love’s tangled and complex morality is eminent psychoanalyst and theorist Dr. Christopher Bollas.Click here to see photos from the program!

Lost for Words Jun 03, 2014

Edward St. Aubyn’s five-volume series of semi-autobiographical Patrick Melrose novels are one of the most acclaimed fiction cycles in English literature. Michael Silverblatt talks with St. Aubyn about his first novel since completing his series, hailed for its satirizing of the English aristocracy. In Lost for Words, St. Aubyn employs his lethal dose of humor in a send-up of England’s premier literary prize and its controversial, eco-disastrous sponsor. St. Aubyn’s acid pen skewers the competing authors as well as the judges and corporate, political and media interests that influence such prizes.*Click here to see photos from the program!

No Further West: The Story of Los Angeles Union Station May 29, 2014

In 1939, Union Station opened on the former site of Los Angeles’s original Chinatown—displacing thousands of Chinese and Chinese Americans. The new station fulfilled the vision of civic leaders who believed that an impressive gateway was critical to the growth of Los Angeles. In place of Chinatown, a distinctive Mission Revival station proudly stands as the centerpiece of our regional transportation system. Yet balances of power and political economies were disrupted; financial and legal battles raged on for years. This panel—including members of the Union Station Master Plan team, an architectural historian (and exhibition curator), and the vice-president of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California—will discuss the history of this architectural icon and share visions for its future.Presented in conjunction with the Getty Research Institute's exhibition of the same name in Central Library's Getty Gallery.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Sentence After Sentence After Sentence: Three Writers on the Not-Exactly-Random Extraordinary Ordinary Key of Life May 20, 2014

“Form is an Extension of Content,” wrote Charles Olson. What is a writer’s relationship to form? Three accomplished, innovative and genre-crossing writers explore the power and influence of structure, starting with the sentence, in revealing and shaping their material. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Stand Up Straight and Sing! May 15, 2014

On the occasion of her new memoir, one of America’s most beloved and accomplished classical singers shares her life story: a descendant of generations of hardworking slaves and free ancestors who grew up amid the challenges of Jim Crow racism in the south as the civil rights movement was at its nascence. Nurtured by a close family and a tight-knit community centered on the local church, Jessye Norman grew up singing songs and spirituals within a tight-knit community. Decades later, after a meteoric rise at the Berlin Opera, a debut at the Metropolitan Opera and forays into blues, jazz and other roots music she has become one of America’s cultural treasures. Join us for an evening with an inspiring artist who has lead an astonishing life.*Click here to see photos from the program!

The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death May 13, 2014

Whitehead, the bestselling author of Zone One and an amateur player, lucked into a seat at the biggest card game in town—the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. In this raucous social satire—equally exhilarating for those who’ve played cards their whole life or who have never picked up a hand—he chronicles the gritty subculture of high-stakes Texas Hold-em.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Beautiful Acts of Attention: Performance and Conversation May 10, 2014

One of America’s most talented pianists (Musical America’s 2014 Instrumentalist of the Year), and thought-provoking writers on music, Jeremy Denk (2014 Ojai Music Festival Music Director) expounds upon the magic of music making—from learning how to practice and the daily rites of discovery, to the mastery of reasoning with your muscles and the sheer joy of no longer needing to think. Denk illuminates the paradox of seeking perfection while full knowing the possibilities are infinite.*Click here to see photos from the program!

The Voices of Women in American Poetry Apr 24, 2014

The Poetry of America’s 2014 national series The Voice of Women in American Poetry celebrates an enormous literary heritage. Distinguished contemporary poets—both male and female—will gather in five cities around the country to pay tribute to the immense achievement of a wide range of poets, from Phyllis Wheatley and Anne Bradstreet to Adrienne Rich and Lucille Clifton. In Los Angeles, join poets Marilyn Chin on Ai, Toi Derricotte on Anne Sexton and Percival Everett on Gertrude Stein.

Writing Our Future: Readings from Graduate Writing Programs of the Southland Apr 17, 2014

What are the ideas, forms, questions, syntaxes, images, and narratives of our immediate future? Who better as our compass in the wilds of the now than emerging writers? Join students from five Southland graduate writing programs—CalArts, Otis College, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and USC—as they share recent writings and tune our ears to the future of language. *Click HERE to see photos from the program!

Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade Apr 10, 2014

In the summer of 1998, Kirn—then an aspiring novelist struggling with impending fatherhood and a dissolving marriage—set out on a peculiar, fateful errand: to personally deliver a crippled hunting dog from his home in Montana to the New York apartment of one Clark Rockefeller, a secretive young banker and art collector who had adopted the dog over the Internet. In this true and chilling story of a writer being duped by a real-life Mr. Ripley, Kirn invites us into the fun-house world of an eccentric son of privilege who would one day be unmasked as a serial impostor and a brutal double-murderer. *Click HERE to see photos from the program!

The Agony and Fun of Fiction Apr 09, 2014

Join us in a celebration of Bark, a new collection of stories (the first in fifteen years, since Birds of America) by one of America’s most beloved and admired short-story writers. With her singular wisdom and in her inimitable voice—“fluid, cracked, mordant, colloquial” (The New York Times Book Review)—Moore plumbs the public and private absurdities of American life in a heartrending mash-up of the tragic and the hilarious. *Click HERE to see photos from the program!

The Crusades of Cesar Chavez Apr 01, 2014

How do you write/convey/film the story of a visionary figure with tragic flaws who founded a labor union, launched a movement, and inspired a generation? Biographer Miriam Pawel, playwright/director Luis Valdez (Teatro Campesino) lend their perspective on the crusades of an unlikely American hero who ignited one of the great social movements of our time.

All Our Names: Dinaw Mengestu Mar 27, 2014

From the MacArthur Award-winning writer, comes a subtle and quietly devastating new novel about love, exile and the fragmentation of lives that straddle countries and histories. All Our Names is a tale of friendship between two young men who come of age during an African revolution and the emotional and physical boundaries that tear them apart--one drawn into peril, the other into the safety of the American Midwest. In this political novel, Mengestu presents a portrait of love and grace, of self-determination, of the names we are given and the names we earn. *Click here to see photos from the program!

A Sliver of Light: Three Americans Imprisoned in Iran Mar 25, 2014

In 2009, three American hikers (and UC Berkeley grads) hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan unknowingly crossed into Iran and were captured by a border patrol. Accused of espionage, they were incarcerated in Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison—Sarah, for fourteen months and Josh and Fattal, for two long years. This poignant memoir is their story, as told through a bold and innovative interweaving of the authors’ three voices that recounts the psychological torment of interrogation and the collective strength of will that kept them alive. *Click here to see photos from the program!

The Great Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America Mar 20, 2014

This National Book Award-winning account illuminates the erosion of the social compact --the collapse of farms, factories, public schools--that had kept the United States stable and middle class since the late 1970s. In The Great Unwinding, Packer probes the seething undercurrents of American life, offering an intimate look into the lives that have been transformed by the dissolution of our economic glue. From unchecked banks to the rise of Walton's Walmart, this retelling of American history through Packer's voice offers “…a sad but delicious jazz-tempo requiem for the post-World War II American social contract.” (David M. Kennedy) *Click here to see photos from the program!

Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away Mar 18, 2014

Imagine that Plato came to life in the twenty-first century and embarked on a multicity speaking tour. How would he handle the host of a cable news program who denies there can be morality without religion? How would he mediate a debate between a Freudian psychoanalyst and a tiger mom on how to raise the perfect child? Philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein provides an original plunge into the drama of philosophy, revealing its hidden role in today’s debates on religion, morality, politics, and science. Does philosophy itself ever make progress? And if it does, why is so ancient a figure as Plato of any continuing relevance? Plato at the Googleplex is Goldstein’s startling investigation into these conundra. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture Mar 13, 2014

In this revelatory study of Muslim youth movements that have emerged in cities around the world in the years since 9/11 and in the wake of the Arab Spring, Aidi illuminates the unexpected connections between urban marginality, music, and political mobilization. By examining both secular and religiously-fueled movements as a means of protest against the policies of the “War on Terror,” he explains how certain kinds of music—particularly hip hop, but also jazz, Gnawa, Andalusian, Judeo-Arabic, Latin, and others—have come to represent a heightened racial identity and a Muslim consciousness that crisscrosses the globe.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot Mar 12, 2014

On February 21, 2012, five young women entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow wearing neon-colored dresses, tights, and balaclavas to perform a “punk prayer” beseeching the “Mother of God” to “get rid of Putin.” What transformed a group of young women into artists with a shared vision, and what gave them the courage to express that vision and to deal with the subsequently devastating outcomes? Through the trial of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen, author of Putin: The Man Without a Face, tells a larger story about Vladimir Putin’s Russia, with its state-controlled media, pervasive corruption, and pliant judiciary. *Click here to see photos from the program!

The Un-Private Collection: Jeff Koons and John Waters Feb 24, 2014

Artist Jeff Koons and filmmaker/author/photographer John Waters discuss Koon’s innovative and ever-changing art making practice, which ranges from sculpture to painting to digital media. Like Waters, Koons’s art comments on the notion of “good taste,” as well as the decadence of capitalist culture, the innocence of childhood, and beauty’s eternal resonance. Waters will speak with Koons about the inspiration and ideas behind his iconic works such as Michael Jackson and Bubbles, Balloon Dog (Blue), and Girl with Dolphin and Monkey Triple Popeye (Seascape), all of which are part of the Broad's collection.*Click HERE to see photos from the program!

Writing Los Angeles Feb 20, 2014

Walter Mosley, one of America’s most admired crime novelists joins one of its newest stars – Attica Locke – for a conversation about noir, race and writing in and from Los Angeles. Presented in collaboration with the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, the evening kicks off Tales from Two Cities: Writing from California, a free two-day conference at the downtown Central Library spotlighting the writers who help define Los Angeles as a place with a language, culture, and aesthetic all its own.

Edward Frenkel and Chris Carter Feb 13, 2014

Frenkel, one of the 21st century’s leading mathematicians, works on one of the biggest ideas to come out of mathematics in the last 50 years: the Langlands Program. In his lyrical autobiography, he reveals a side of math we’ve never seen, suffused with all the metaphysical beauty and elegance of a work of art. Known for his controversial erotic film about math, Frenkel believes a mathematical formula can carry a charge of love. Frenkel is joined by screenwriter and “The X-Files” creator Chris Carter to discuss how mathematics reaches to the heart of all matter, uniting us across culture, time, and space. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Call Me Burroughs Feb 03, 2014

William Burroughs was the original cult figure of the Beat Movement, author of Naked Lunch, and influence to scores of artists, writers, and musicians. For the centennial celebration of Burroughs’ birth, beat historian and biographer Barry Miles discusses the long-term cultural legacy of Burroughs and his literary risk-taking. Click here to see photos from the program!

The Days of Anna Madrigal Jan 30, 2014

The Days of Anna Madrigal, the suspenseful, comic, and touching ninth (and final) novel in Armistead Maupin’s bestselling “Tales of the City” series, follows one of modern literature’s most unforgettable and enduring characters—Anna Madrigal, the legendary transgender landlady of 28 Barbary Lane. While some members of Anna’s family head for the other-worldly landscape of Burning Man, Anna embarks on a road trip that takes her deep into her past, including a visit to Winnemucca, Nevada where the 16-year old boy she used to be ran away from the whorehouse he called home. *Click HERE to see photos from the program!

Orfeo: A Novel Jan 28, 2014

This new work by the MacArthur Award-winning novelist begins when composer Peter Els opens the door to find the police on his doorstep. His home microbiology lab—where he experiments to find music in surprising patterns—has aroused the suspicions of Homeland Security. Seeking help from family and a longtime collaborator, this “Bioterrorist Bach” hatches a plan to turn his disastrous collision with the security state into a work of art that will reawaken its audience to the sounds all around them. *Click HERE to see photos from the program!

Spirit Rising: My Life, My Music Jan 23, 2014

Hailed as one of the most inspiring women of our time, musician and activist Angélique Kidjo shares the story of her world in the memoir, Spirit Rising: from the communist regime of her native Benin to her work as a UNICEF Ambassador and activist promoting education for all girls in Africa. Kidjo’s GRAMMY-Award winning music, rich with African rhythms, speaks to her own vibrancy, resilience, and to the hope she carries for the world’s spirit rising. Kidjo brings her electrifying presence to the Library in a special evening of conversation, story and song, where she will perform excerpts from her new CD Eve, before embarking on a world tour. *Click HERE to see photos from the program!

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks Jan 21, 2014

This first sweeping history of Parks’ life challenges perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the civil rights movement. Theoharis offers a compelling portrait of the working class activist who stared poverty and discrimination squarely in the face and never stopped rebelling against them in both the segregated South and North. Ericka Huggins—former political prisoner, human rights activist, poet and teacher-- who met Parks during her days of Black Panther activism-- joins the discussion. *Click HERE to see photos from the program!

A Tribute to Wanda Coleman Jan 18, 2014

A Tribute to Wanda ColemanWith Terrance Hayes and Douglas KearneyMusic By David Ornette CherryAnd featuring Stephen Kessler, Ron Koertge, Laurel Ann Bogen, Charles Harper Webb, Michael Datcher, Suzanne Lummis, Sesshu Foster, Jack and Adelle Foley, Brendan Constantine, Cecilia Woloch, Robin Coste Lewis, and Austin Straus.*Click HERE to see photos from the program!

Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography Jan 14, 2014

In a series of meditative essays, the award-winning writer Richard Rodriguez turns his perceptive gaze to the desert-- in both the physical and spiritual sense-- in a quest to understand his relationship to the “desert God” and to terrorists who kill in the name of that same God. He delves into what it means to be a gay, devout, Roman Catholic in his 60s—attempting to make sense of a world and a religion that have both rejected him at times. His peregrinations take him beyond the Middle East—to San Francisco, Paris, Las Vegas and Malibu. He writes about the rise of atheism in America after 9/11, the modern evasion of place, and the uses of doubt for religious believers.

Queens of Noise- Music, Feminism and Punk: Then and Now Jan 09, 2014

Queens of NoiseMusic, Feminism and Punk: Then and NowExene Cervenka, Evelyn McDonnell, and Allison WolfeMcDonnell’s Queens of Noise: The Real Story of The Runaways is a testimonial to the inspiration and insecurity of the trailblazer, a look at the Los Angeles music scene of the 70s and women on the run. Joined by Exene Cervenka of seminal L.A. punk band X and Riot Grrrl Allison Wolfe—veteran journalist McDonnell will lead a discussion on music making and selling, legacies and the women who are breaking new ground.*Click HERE to see photos from the program!

The Un-Private Collection: Artist as Activist Dec 11, 2013

Co-presented with The Broad museumThe Un-Private Collection:Artist as ActivistShirin NeshatIn conversation with Christy MacLearWorld-renowned visual artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat’s provocative yet poetic work addresses issues of social repression among women, in her native Iran and beyond. Through haunting allegory and imagery, she portrays women as complex individuals with desires and ambitions, who move between intense private feelings and public life. Reachingbeyond her own identity, Neshat also addresses broader concerns about cultural beliefs and the power of the erotic.*Click here to see photos from the program!

An Evening with Anjelica Huston Dec 09, 2013

Robert Capa photographed her as a toddler; she chatted with Brando and Steinbeck in her living room. Academy Award-winning actress/director Anjelica Huston shares from A Story Lately Told: Coming of Age in Ireland, London, and New York with Colm Tóibín, one of Ireland’s greatest living writers. Huston’s memoir illuminates the unconventional life of the daughter of director John Huston and prima ballerina Enrica Soma. She recounts her childhood, early romances, and the successful modeling career that helped launch her acting career. A Story Lately Told follows Anjelica from the Irish estate where she spent her childhood to the dynamic cultural scenes of London in the ‘60s and New York in the ‘70s where she spent her teens and early adulthood. The evening also celebrates Huston’s Irish upbringing through readings, song, and rare footage of the Huston clan in County Galway. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Michael Connelly Dec 05, 2013

The Gods of GuiltMichael Connelly In conversation with author Miles CorwinIn Connelly’s newest courtroom drama, lawyer Mickey Haller defends a murder case in which the murder victim was his very own former client, a prostitute he thought he’d rescued and put on the straight and narrow path. Haller is forced to find justice for both of his clients, living and dead. As he faces the “gods of guilt,” he must struggle with personal demons for a shot at his own redemption. Connelly discusses the mysteries of crime writing with Miles Corwin, acclaimed author and former crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times.*Click here to see photos from the program!

The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter Nov 21, 2013

The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom FighterAlbie SachsIn conversation with Renee Montagne, co-host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” As an activist lawyer and leading member of the African National Congress, Albie Sachs lost his right arm and the sight in one eye when his car was bombed by agents of South Africa’s security forces in 1988. After recuperating in London, he returned to South Africa and played a key role in drafting its democratic constitution. Nelson Mandela appointed him a judge in the new constitutional court, where Sachs made a number of landmark rulings, including recognizing gay marriage. Sachs, a man with a remarkable ability to extract positive emotions from wounding events, shares with us South Africa’s experience in healing divided societies. *Click here to see photos from the program!

L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food Nov 13, 2013

L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My FoodRoy ChoiIn conversation with Evan Kleiman, host of “Good Food,” KCRW 89.9FM Roy Choi, border-crossing chef and co-founder of the Kogi BBQ taco truck, pays homage to the city that he loves in this memoir, a tale of his journey from childhood afternoons at his parents’ Korean restaurant, to pizza-fueled studying at the Culinary Institute of America, to becoming one of America’s most acclaimed chefs. Join us as Choi takes a break from the kitchen to talk about his new book, L.A. SON, a flavorful love letter to Los Angeles. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Making History Graphic Nov 12, 2013

Making History GraphicJoe Sacco and Gene Luen YangIn conversation with Charles Hatfield, author and professor of English, CSUN Hailed as the creator of war reportage comics, Joe Sacco uses darkly funny short form comics to recount conflicts, including his latest book The Great War, an illustrated panorama of the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Gene Luen Yang, author of the acclaimed graphic novel American Born Chinese, brings clear-eyed storytelling and magical realism to tell parallel stories of two young people caught up on opposite sides of China’s violent Boxer Rebellion in his new work, Boxers and Saints. Join these two daring writers for a conversation on how the graphic novel and graphic non fiction —rising from the frontlines of popular culture—can serve our understanding of history. *Click here to see photos from the program!

The Crooked Mirror: A Memoir of Polish-Jewish Reconciliation Nov 07, 2013

The Crooked Mirror: A Memoir of Polish-Jewish ReconciliationLouise SteinmanIn conversation with Jack Miles, Distinguished Professor of English and Religious Studies, U.C. IrvineWhat happens when formerly estranged peoples look at their entwined history together? After attending a Zen Peacemaker retreat at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2000, Steinman embarked on a decade-long exploration—into her own family’s history in a small Polish town—as well as an immersion in the exhilarating and discomforting, sometimes surreal, yet ultimately healing process of Polish-Jewish reconciliation taking place in today’s democratic Poland. *Click here to see photos from the program!

The Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons Nov 05, 2013

Co-presented with the Levantine Cultural Center The Pomegranate Lady and Her SonsGoli TaraghiIn conversation with author Reza Aslan The In her new collection of selected stories, Taraghi—one of Iran’s best-known and most critically acclaimed authors—draws on her childhood experiences in Tehran, adult exile in Paris, and subsequent returns to post-revolution Tehran . Her stories are, as Azar Nafisi writes, “filled with passion, curiosity, empathy, as well as mischief—definitely mischief.” Listen in as Taraghi shares from The Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons, made fully accessible to the English-speaking audience for the first time. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity Oct 22, 2013

Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for IdentityAndrew SolomonIn conversation with Tom Curwen, staff-writer Los Angeles TimesThe National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, mines the eloquence of ordinary people facing extreme challenges in his new book. From families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, to children who are prodigies or transgender —Solomon illuminates the universal experiences of difference and the triumph of love. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth? Oct 15, 2013

Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?Alan WeismanIn conversation with Ursula K. Heise, professor of English and faculty, UCLA Institute of the Environment and SustainabilityWeisman offers a long awaited follow-up to The World Without Us, his brilliant thought experiment that considered how the Earth could heal if relieved of humanity’s constant pressures. Now, after traveling to more than 20 countries to ask four questions that experts agreed were probably the most important on Earth—he explores the complexity of calculating how many humans this planet can hold without capsizing. **Click here to see photos from the program!

Tell, Not Show: The Pleasure of Not Writing for the Movies Oct 10, 2013

Tell, Not Show: The Pleasure of Not Writing for the MoviesAlice McDermottIn conversation with Brighde Mullins, playwright and director, USC Masters of Professional Writing programSeven years after the publication of the extraordinary novel After This, the National Book Award-winning author returns with Someone, a transformative novel about childhood, adolescence, motherhood and old age, deftly stitched together by McDermott’s lyrical voice. McDermott takes the stage to discuss this masterful portrait of the 20th-century Irish-American family. **Click here to see photos from the program!

Moby Dick: How Scientists Came to Love the Whale Oct 03, 2013

Moby Dick: How Scientists Came to Love the WhaleD. Graham BurnettIn conversation with Amy Parish, primatologist and Darwinian feministHow was our understanding of whales transformed from grotesque monsters, useful only as wallowing kegs of fat, to playful friends of humanity and bellwethers of environmental devastation? Burnett, a historian of science and energetic polymath, offers a sweeping history of how science, politics, and simple human wonder have transformed our way of seeing these behemoths from below. * Part of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Public Library’s month-long citywide initiative "What Ever Happened to Moby Dick?" **Click here to see photos from the program!

MaddAddam: A Novel Oct 02, 2013

MaddAddam: A NovelMargaret AtwoodIn conversation with author Sarah Shun-lien BynumIn Atwood’s dark and hilarious new novel, a man-made plague has swept the earth, but only a small group survives. In a world only Atwood could imagine, the Crakers’ reluctant prophet is hallucinating and giant Pigoons and malevolent Painballers threaten to attack. Join us for a conversation with this visionary author on the stunning conclusion to her dystopian trilogy, set in a future that is not only possible, but perhaps inevitable.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Remixing Moby Dick: Media Studies Meets the Great White Whale Sep 26, 2013

Over a multi-year collaboration, playwright and director Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, Melville scholar Wyn Kelley, and media expert Henry Jenkins have developed a new approach for teaching Moby-Dick in the age of YouTube and hip-hop. They will explore how "learning through remixing" can speak to contemporary youth, why Melville might be understood as the master mash-up artist of the 19th century, and what might have happened if Captain Ahab had been a 21st century gang leader.* Part of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Public Library’s month-long citywide initiative "What Ever Happened to Moby Dick?"*Click here to see photos from the program!

Body Politics: Art, Identity and Memory Sep 24, 2013

Award-winning Los Angeles-based visual artist Alison Saar explores her own artistic practice and that of the Luba people of Central Africa with African art scholar and curator Polly Nooter Roberts. Using memory and the use of the female body as a mnemonic for social and political history, they explore race and gender through this conversation on artistic form.*Click here to see photos from the program!

For Discrimination: Race, Affirmative Action and the Law Sep 19, 2013

Kennedy—a Harvard Law professor, former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and author of the New York Times best-seller Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word—ponders the future of affirmative action and offers a definitive reckoning with one of the most explosively contentious and sharply divisive issues in American society.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Wilson: An Intimate Portrait Sep 16, 2013

Wilson: An Intimate PortraitA. Scott BergIn conversation with Jim Newton, editor-at-large, LA TimesPulitzer Prize-winning biographer A. Scott Berg clears away myths and misconceptions in this penetrating portrait of one of America’s most influential yet often misunderstood presidents. This deeply emotional study reflects the whole of Wilson’s life, accomplishments and failings- from designing the ill-fated League of Nations, using his trailblazing ideas that paved the way for the New Deal, to his denouement as a politician whose partisan battles left him a broken man. *Click here to see photos from the event!

The Un-Private Collection: A New Museum for Los Angeles Sep 12, 2013

Co-presented with The BroadThe Un-Private Collection: A New Museum for Los AngelesEli and Edythe Broad with Joanne HeylerIn conversation with Inge Reist, director, The Frick Collection's Center for the History of CollectingLos Angeles is a city of renowned private collections that have become public museums: The Getty, the Hammer, the Norton Simon, The Huntington, and soon, The Broad. Consisting of over 2,000 artworks by established and emerging international artists, The Broad will add significantly to the contemporary art holdings on view to the Southern California public. Inge Reist will lead a discussion with the Broads and The Broad museum director Joanne Heyler about how their aesthetic tastes and social and political viewpoints have informed their collection as well as the decision to build a new museum as an investment in downtown’s Grand Avenue and the cultural life of Los Angeles.*Click here to see photos from the program!

The Blank Page: Literature, Hip-Hop and Freedom Sep 10, 2013

The Blank Page: Literature, Hip-Hop and FreedomMK AsanteIn conversation with Jeff Chang, author and director, Institute for Diversity in the Arts, Stanford UniversityIn MK Asante’s new memoir Buck, the award-winning writer, filmmaker, poet and professor scripts his rise from Philadelphia dealer and delinquent to the passionate and driven artist he is today. To share his powerful story of redemption, Asante sits down to rap with Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, on how he was transformed by the most unconventional teachers and the freedom to create on the blank page. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Never Built: Los Angeles Jul 30, 2013

What might our city look like if the master plans of prominent architects had been brought to fruition? This panel—including architects, an architectural curator and the L.A. Times’ architecture critic-- looks at those visionary works, which held great potential to re-form Los Angeles, yet were undermined by institutions and infrastructure. Can L.A.’s civic future be shaped from these unrealized lessons of the past? *Click here to see photos from the program!

Catastrophe in California: A Reappraisal of the St. Francis Dam Collapse Jul 23, 2013

In March of 1928, the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles—designed by William Mulholland as a reservoir for the California Aqueduct—collapsed. The largest engineering disaster in California history is inextricably woven into the epic history of water in Los Angeles. In this centennial year of the California Aqueduct, join us for a discussion of the St. Francis tragedy and its enduring catastrophic and cultural significance. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Songs in the Key of Los Angeles Jul 18, 2013

The recently published Songs in the Key of Los Angeles showcases the rich sheet music collection of the Los Angeles Public Library, and is the fruit of a collaboration between USC Professor Kun, his students and the Library Foundation. Join us for a night of rare L.A. musical history, in which the Los Angeles Public Library’s sheet music archive will come alive in story and song when Kun is joined by beloved, GRAMMY-winning Los Angeles band Quetzal. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Yet Do I Marvel: Black Iconic Poets of the 20th Century Jul 11, 2013

Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:To make a poet black, and bid him sing!Countee Cullen (1925)In this Los Angeles segment of the Poetry Society of America’s 2013 national series, three distinguished poets will celebrate the lives and poetry of major 20th century figures— James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen, and Gwendolyn Brooks-—discussing their influence, and reading poems of their own in tribute.*Click here to see photos from the program!

El Planeta—From Plankton to Afghanistan: A Poetry Reading Jun 20, 2013

In his newest book, Senegal Taxi, California’s Poet Laureate—and teacher and activist—turns his gaze to Africa. For this special evening, Herrera invites two talented younger poets to join him for a foray into what he calls: “the Plankton-like, Picasso-Like, Kandinsky-like chromatics of heart fire, short line enlightenment meditations… double shocked to the present life of what is going on in our diagonal world, war here, peace there—making it all right with these oceanic voices.” *Click here to see photos from the program!

A Boy Avenger, a Nazi Diplomat, and a Murder in Paris Jun 18, 2013

On the morning of November 7, 1938, a seventeen-year-old Jewish refugee, Herschel Grynszpan, walked into the German embassy in Paris and assassinated Ernst vom Rath, a low-level Nazi diplomat. Two days later, the Third Reich exploited the murder to inaugurate its long-planned campaign of terror against Germany’s Jewish citizens—what became known as Kristallnacht. On the seventy-fifth anniversary of Kristallnacht, Kirsch— lawyer and bestselling author—unpacks the moral dimensions of one of the most enigmatic cases of World War II. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Magical Partnerships: Remembering Samuel Beckett Jun 11, 2013

Imagine a rain-soaked Beckett knocks on your door with a new manuscript. What was it like to collaborate with, publish, and know the genius? Seaver (who with her husband discovered and published Beckett’s early work) and Mandell (an actor directed by the playwright himself) team up to read both Beckett’s work and the Seavers’ memoir about the golden age of publishing—and to discuss how the unconventional writer came to be revered by audiences everywhere. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Americanah: A Novel Jun 06, 2013

The award-winning author of Half a Yellow Sun delivers a powerful new story of love and culture clash between two Nigerian friends across several decades and three different continents—keenly observing race, identity, and belonging in today’s globalized world. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Red Doc> May 30, 2013

Fifteen years ago, in Autobiography of Red, Anne Carson, critically acclaimed poet, essayist, translator and classics professor, wrote about a boy named Geryon and his love affair with Herakles. In her newest work Red Doc>, Carson revisits these characters in later life, yet creates a dreamlike offshoot, abandoning her previous style and narrative threads while moving towards the perilous edge of living past the end of one’s myth.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Why Does the World Exist? May 29, 2013

Holt, an irreverent detective of metaphysics and science, dives deep into conversation with Caltech cosmologist Sean Carroll, to try and answer the most persistent mystery of existence: Why should there be a universe at all, and why are we a part of it? why is there Something rather than Nothing? Join us for a discussion of time, infinity, consciousness, the multiverse, and the haunting possibility of Absolute Nothingness.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Bodies, Women, The World May 23, 2013

Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues and the new memoir In the Body of the World, discusses the female body and the world’s responsibility to protect it with Jody Williams, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her work banning landmines. Williams’ memoir, My Name is Jody Williams, promotes civil society's power to help change the world. These two remarkable women discuss activism, their collaboration on ending violence against women, and bringing women together through the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict and One Billion Rising. *Click here to see photos from the program!

The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum May 22, 2013

Weaving her own experience with remarkable new discoveries, Grandin brings her singular perspective to the thrilling journey through the revolution in the understanding of autism. She introduces advances in neuroimaging and genetic research that link brain science to behavior, even sharing her own brain scans from numerous studies. *Click here to see photos from the program!

The Graphic Canon: Illustrating the World's Great Literature May 21, 2013

Basking in the golden age of the graphic novel, a group of talented visual artists teamed up to adapt the greatest literature of all time. The Graphic Canon, a visual literary anthology, is a three-volume epic that spans from Greek tragedy to David Foster Wallace. Join us for a look at this stunning work with the editor and illustrators of Zora Neale Hurston, Thomas Pynchon and more, as they unlock the literary canon for a new generation of readers. *Click here to see pictures from the event!

The Making of the Great Bolaño: The Man and the Myth May 16, 2013

Co-presented with LéaLA, Feria del Libro en Español de Los ÁngelesThe Making of the Great Bolaño: The Man and the MythPanel discussion with author Ben Ehrenreich; Barbara Epler, president, New Directions; author Mónica Maristain; and poet-translator David ShookModerated by Héctor Tobar, staff writer, Los Angeles Times"Books are the only homeland of the true writer, books that may sit on shelves or in the memory," wrote Roberto Bolaño. Ten years after his death, the legacy of Chilean author Roberto Bolaño lives not just in his poetry and prose, but also in the myth that surrounds a man who has come to define 21st century Latin American literature. This panel delves into the Bolaño mystique, convening the voices that have engaged both with his words and his ghosts. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Granta's Best Young British Novelists Apr 23, 2013

In 1983, Granta devoted an entire issue to new fiction by 20 of the ‘Best of Young British Novelists,’ and did so again 10 years later. From Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Kazuo Ishiguro, to Zadie Smith, these lists have offered a revealing snapshot of a generation of writers about to come into their own. Join us for a reading and discussion with some of Britain’s best, including a judge of the 2013 series and this year’s newly announced novelists.*Click here to see photos from the program!

The Bonobo and the Atheist Apr 17, 2013

Esteemed primatologist de Waal discusses his pioneering research on primate behavior, the latest findings in evolutionary biology, and insights from moral philosophy to prove that morality does not require the specters of God or the law of man.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail Apr 10, 2013

At age twenty-six, in the wake of a divorce and her mother’s death, Cheryl Strayed made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert to Washington State—and to do it alone. Wild, Strayed’s best-selling memoir, is the utterly compelling story of a young woman finding her way—and herself—one brave step at a time.*Click HERE to see photos from the program!

Caroline Kennedy and Eloise Klein Healy Apr 09, 2013

Caroline Kennedy, editor of eight New York Times bestselling books on American history, politics, law, and poetry, discusses her new anthology, Poetry to Live By with Los Angeles’ first Poet Laureate, Eloise Klein Healy. In their far-ranging conversation, these two long-time poetry advocates deliberate on the roles of language, imagination and education in the development of children, and explore how a poem can inspire and challenge both the young and the young at heart.*Click HERE to see pictures from the program!

The Book of My Lives: A Memoir Apr 04, 2013

Hemon returns to his childhood roots in Sarajevo, a small blissful city where he used to write bad poetry, play soccer, and listen to American music. Years later, Sarajevo came under siege while Hemon was in Chicago starting a new life and new family, as his parents were fleeing all they’d ever known. The Book of My Lives is a love song to two cities—a daring first book of non-fiction from a turbulent literary talent.*Click here to see photos from the program!

From the Ground Up: Sustainable Coffee Culture Mar 21, 2013

More valuable than gold, more ubiquitous than water, what is really brewing behind the $100 billion global coffee industry? Local coffee connoisseurs gather to discuss the journey of the bean from seed to cup. From the role of organic farming and the livelihood of producers, to trends in curating the consumer’s palate, the nuances of this beloved beverage have never been so complex.Free coffee tasting before the program, compliments of Cafecito Orgánico*Click here to see photos from the program!

A Photograph Brought to Life: A Novelist Reimagines Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" Mar 19, 2013

Many generations have been moved by Dorothea Lange’s iconic image of “Migrant Mother,” photographed during the Great Depression. In her decades-spanning new novel, Mary Coin, author Marisa Silver presents a brilliant reimagining of the story behind that arresting face. In today’s world, bombarded with visual imagery and the need for information, Silver brings into question: What’s in a picture?*Click here to see photos from the program!

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia: A Novel Mar 14, 2013

Borrowing the ambitious structure of a self-help guide, Hamid, a radically inventive storyteller and author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, tells the riveting tale of a man’s journey from impoverished rural boy to corporate tycoon. Both social satire and love story, Hamid’s new book braves its way into the frenetic epicenter of the global economy.*Click here to see photos from the program!

The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places Mar 12, 2013

Krause, a musician and naturalist and one of the world’s leading experts in natural sound, explores how the myriad voices and rhythms of the natural world—from snapping shrimp to cracking glaciers—formed a basis from which our own musical expression emerged. His book is an impassioned plea for the conservation of one of our most overlooked natural resources—the music of the wild.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Nathan Englander Mar 05, 2013

Considered one of the masters of the short story form, Nathan Englander offers fiction that is both edgy and timeless. His new collection, the title of which is inspired by Raymond Carver’s masterpiece on love, grapples with some of today’s questions with great care. As Jonathan Lethem praises, “Englander’s elegant, inquisitive, and hilarious fictions are a working definition of what the modern short story can do.”

Citizenville: Connecting People and Government in the Digital Age Feb 26, 2013

Is it possible for Americans to better their future by reinventing their relationship with government? Newsom, lieutenant governor of California and San Francisco's former mayor, explores how a modern digital government could house the information, concerns, convictions-even the protests of an enlightened digital citizenry.*Click HERE to see photos from the program!

The Feminine Mystique: Where Are We 50 Years Later? Feb 21, 2013

Betty Friedan's groundbreaking book is now 50 years old, and the global struggle for gender equality is-according to many-the paramount moral struggle of this century. Different generations of feminists discuss their perspectives on the issues defining the struggle for women's rights today. Where are we now and where is this revolution headed? *Click here to see photos from the program!

A Guide to Living on our Radioactive Planet Feb 11, 2013

Gale, one of the world's leading experts on radiation, together with writer Eric Lax, draw on the most up-to-date research and on Gale's extensive experience treating victims of radiation accidents around the globe to correct myths and establish facts about life on our radioactive planet in our post-Chernobyl, post-Fukushima world.*Click HERE to see photos from the program!

Writing and the Art of Not Knowing Feb 06, 2013

"We work in the dark," said Henry James. "Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task." Two completely original, and often hilarious writers, Saunders (Tenth of December) and Cooper (The Bill from My Father) begrudgingly agree. Saunders and Cooper step out of the dark and onto the stage to discuss how they grapple with the difficult, but essential challenges of their creative work.

Shooting Reflections: Film and Social Change Jan 29, 2013

From acting in award-winning films such as Before Night Falls, Frida, and Milk, to directing a forthcoming feature on Cesar Chavez, Luna's passion for storytelling as an agent for social change is illuminated in his film work. As an activist, he speaks out against the bi-national arms trade and he is founder of Ambulante, a mobile documentary project bringing cinema to remote places in the Americas. Inspired by art as reflections, Luna talks about these projects and life on both sides of the border.*Click here to see photos from the program!

The Reenactments Jan 24, 2013

What does it mean to see your life reenacted as film? Could you imagine watching Robert De Niro play your father, Julianne Moore your mother? Describing the surreal process of adapting his memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, into a film called Being Flynn, a master storyteller offers a compelling meditation on the very nature of grief, survival, and making art.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Mid-Century Modern: Architecture, Photography, and the Good Life in Cold War California Jan 17, 2013

Join us for a conversation about the hugely influential photographer Maynard L. Parker, who aimed his lens at the mid-century masterworks of the L.A. architects and designers whose homes embodied the American dream during a time of demographic transitions, Cold War anxieties, and a suburban society driven to consume.

Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti Jan 15, 2013

Veteran journalist Wilentz, a passionate longtime observer of Haiti, reports on the uncanny resilience of the confounding country that emerged from the dust of the 2010 earthquake like a powerful spirit. She looks back and forward--at Haiti's slave plantations, revolutionary history, its totalitarian regimes and its profound creative culture. Populated with rock stars and Voodoo priests, heartbreak and magic, her brilliant storytelling brings to life a place like nowhere in the world.

The Dude and The Zen Master Jan 10, 2013

In their new book, Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges and world-renowned Roshi Bernie Glassman offer an intimate glimpse into the conversations between student and teacher, a shared philosophy of life and spirituality, and the everyday wisdom of Buddhism. The Dude and the Zen Master captures a freewheeling dialogue about life, laughter, and the movies, from two men whose charm and bonhomie never fail to enlighten and entertain—while reminding us of the importance of doing good in a difficult world.

Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers Dec 10, 2012

It is these three prayers- asking for assistance from a higher power, appreciating the goodness in our lives, and feeling awe at the world around us- that Lamott believes can guide us through the day and illuminate the way forward. As one of today's most trusted authorities on life lessons, Lamott coalesces everything she has learned about prayer through her own everyday trials of faith, and explores how others have embraced these same ideas.

An Evening with U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey Nov 29, 2012

Meditations on captivity, knowledge and inheritance permeate Trethewey’s poems, as she reflects on her own interracial, complicated—and utterly American—roots. This brilliant and fearless poet masterfully gives a voice to the past and present as she explores human struggles we face in common.

Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World Nov 19, 2012

With excursions into culture and public policy, a theoretical physicist named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” explores how we decide which scientific questions to study, how we go about answering them, and how science might radically revise our understanding of the world.

In Search of a Form: Two Writers Talk About the Essay Nov 08, 2012

Mendelsohn, who has devoted his career to nonfiction—memoir, translation and criticism—discusses his latest collection of essays, (Waiting for the Barbarians), with novelist and essayist Lethem (The Ecstasy of Influence), as the two celebrate (and commiserate) the blessings and curses of the contemporary essay form.

Desert America: Boom and Bust in the New Old West Nov 07, 2012

Martínez, an award-winning author and performer, takes us on a deeply personal tour of the 21st century West—far from our romantic illusions of John Wayne, cacti and cowboys—and discusses the political and demographic upheaval in this most iconic of American landscapes

Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America Oct 30, 2012

In the wake of 9/11 and the growth of a worrying animosity towards American Muslims, Patel—author, activist, and presidential advisor—argues that prejudice is not just a problem for American Muslims but also a challenge to the very idea of an America founded on the premise of pluralism. In this visionary book, he illuminates how faith can be a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division.

An Evening with Tom Wolfe Oct 29, 2012

Master American chronicler Tom Wolfe, author of more than a dozen books—including, The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test—presents us with a panoramic story of America in his most recent novel, Back to Blood. Wolfe joins screenwriter Howard A. Rodman for a conversation that spans Wolfe’s seven-decade writing career, from the days of “new journalism” to how he penned the terms “good ol’ boy” and “the right stuff.”

Taking the Kitchen to the Street: Experiments in Flavor and Form Oct 17, 2012

The culinary experience has turned into an experiment through the hands of Chef Ludo’s guerilla style pop-up restaurant LudoBites and Chef Roy’s roaming Kogi BBQ truck. How do these ephemeral establishments play with the identity of the city and the palates of its inhabitants? Listen in on what promises to be a playful, irreverent journey into the creative minds of these celebrated chefs.

A Woman Like Me Oct 10, 2012

From stardom at Motown at age sixteen, to obscurity and near destitution, to an amazing career revival in her sixties when she sang at President Obama’s pre-inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial, LaVette—one of R&B’s legendary singers—discusses her roller-coaster ride through the world of music.

The Future of African American Literature and the Paradox of Progress Oct 09, 2012

Locke, whose new novel The Cutting Season is set at a Louisiana plantation re-purposed for weddings and Civil War reenactments, joins Edwards (Charisma and the Fictions of Black Leadership) to explore how African American literature, rooted in stories of struggle and dispossession and overcoming all odds, has been affected by the same racial progress that has culminated in the first African American presidency.

Journey Through The Ruins of Empire Oct 01, 2012

From the intellectuals who remade China, Turkey and Iran, to East-West encounters in Benares to the footprints of the Buddha in the small towns of India, Pankaj Mishra takes us on a historical journey through Asia, with detours to explore his own fiction and non-fiction.

Playing the Future: How Games Are Changing the Way We Live Sep 27, 2012

Play is an inherent part of life. How are games revolutionizing the way we educate our children, think about the future, and engage with each other? Game designers Essen and Fullerton bridge the gap between art and education with their approach to play, and show us how reality is really just one big game we should all be playing.

Freedom, Literature, and Living on the Run Sep 24, 2012

Rushdie, recipient of the 2012 Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award, honoring his commitment to public libraries and literature, discusses Joseph Anton, his provocative new memoir—a frank depiction of how he and his family lived with the threat of murder for nine years after being condemned for his writing, and how he struggled for the freedom of speech.

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character Sep 18, 2012

Imagine a world where kids got gold stars for grit and curiosity. Paul Tough introduces us to a new generation of scientists and educators who are radically rethinking our understanding of how children develop character, how they learn to think, and how they overcome adversity.

What Light Can Do: Writing as Attention Sep 14, 2012

Hass, a Pulitzer Prize winning poet and former U.S. Poet Laureate, is also a luminous essayist. In this talk and discussion with poet Carol Muske-Dukes, he considers the claims on a poet’s attention as he explores art, imagination, and the natural world.

Newer Poets XVII: A Reading Jul 24, 2012

The seventeenth annual newer poets program is guest curated by three acclaimed poets: Eloise Klein Healy, Arktoi Press; Suzanne Lummis, Los Angeles Poetry Festival; and Gail Wronsky, professor, Loyola Marymount University and member, Glass Table Collective.

Flavor Forward: A Taste of Downtown L.A. Jul 17, 2012

How are downtown chefs curating our cultural palate? New culinary projects are stirring up a neighborhood renaissance as the city’s best chefs are blending their ethnic and cultural traditions with the contemporary taste of eclectic Los Angeles. Join us to explore this diverse panel of chefs who are pushing downtown’s flavor forward. Stay for a post-panel tasting reception in the library courtyard, complements of participanting restaurants.

Crazy Brave: A Memoir Jul 10, 2012

In her new memoir, Harjo, an internationally known performer and writer of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation, explores her own journey to becoming an award-winning poet. From growing up in Oklahoma, the end place of the Trail of Tears, and learning to escape her abusive stepfather through her imagination, to attending an Indian arts boarding school, to becoming a teenage single mother, Harjo eventually finds her poetic voice.

The Kid: A Novel Jul 09, 2012

Bestselling author Sapphire tells the electrifying story of Abdul Jones, the son of Precious, the unforgettable heroine of her novel Push. This generational story—which moves from a Mississippi dirt farm to Harlem in its heyday—tells of a twenty-first century young man’s fight to find a way toward the future.

Artists and Survivors: Lost and Found in L.A. Jun 28, 2012

The struggles of an artist’s life are re-examined through a modern urban lens by these two critically acclaimed novelists. In Spiotta’s Stone Arabia, a fifty-year-old musician sinks away from public life until his niece begins to make a film about him, bringing many vulnerabilities to the surface. Fitch’s Paint it Black unravels the painful aftermath of the suicide of the son of a renowned pianist. Both novels, set in Los Angeles, vibrantly depict characters who are inspired and destroyed by music—and question the consequences of being an artist.

Radio Ambulante: Stories from the Americas Jun 26, 2012

Lost City Radio novelist Daniel Alarcón and team joins us for a special live presentation of Radio Ambulante - the first ever Spanish-language radio show created to tell the stories of latinoamericanos de todas las Américas. Everyday stories find voice in this multi-national, bilingual production, a collaboration of NPR stations and independent journalists from over nine countries. In a city with a majority Spanish-speaking population, Radio Ambulante introduces Angelenos to the crónicas de nuestro mundo, and examines the role radio and digital media play in keeping storytelling alive.You'll also have the opportunity to meet Sonic Trace: KCRW's new storytelling project that begins in the heart of Los Angeles and crosses into Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Part radio, part video, Sonic Trace maps LA residents' answers to the questions: ¿Por qué te vas? ¿Por qué te quedas? ¿Por qué regresas? Come early on June 26th, and help us trace your story. We'll be there with mic in hand, collecting your stories in English and Spanish.

A New Deal for Los Angeles Jun 21, 2012

In less than a decade, President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal agencies radically transformed Los Angeles as they did other American cities in a successful, but largely forgotten, effort to extricate the nation from the Great Depression. In addition to building the region's cultural infrastructure of schools, libraries, and museums, the Federal Writers Project left us a vivid freeze frame description of what Southern California was like just before World War II. Author David Kipen discusses the recently republished Los Angeles in the 1930s: The WPA Guide to the City of Angels and geographer Gray Brechin shows the public works that revolutionized the lives of millions 75 years ago.

Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free Jun 19, 2012

As a culture, we are often focused on beginnings— the start of things instead of the endings. Acclaimed sociologist and MacArthur prize-winning Harvard professor Lawrence-Lightfoot examines moments that define how we transition through our lives. From looking at an Iranian teenager who leaves the political strife of his native land, to a middle-aged gay man who reflects on his ‘exit’ from the closet, to the director of a hospital ICU who oversees patients facing death, Lawrence-Lightfoot examines new ways of seeing our farewells.

Tales from the City of Angels: An Evening of Storytelling Jun 13, 2012

Part One: Tales of DesperationM.C.'d by Richard Montoya of Culture ClashJoin in this first-ever edition of live storytelling at ALOUD as six local voices take us through the comedic, tragic, entertaining, and desperate tales of life in the City of Angels.Music by Tom Lutz and Blue TunaIn partnership with the Los Angeles Review of Books

As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda Jun 12, 2012

The popular columnist for the New York Times declares that the proud state of big oil and bigger ambitions matters most in America’s political landscape, that “what happens in Texas doesn’t stay in Texas anymore.” The country’s fundamental divide has long been seen as a war between the Republican heartland and its two liberal coasts. But after visiting Texas, Collins reconsiders where the epicenter of a conservative political agenda resides and how it is sweeping across the country to redefine our national identity.

The Elemental West: Reflections on Moving Water Jun 06, 2012

Two celebrated writers deeply influenced by the riparian and other landscapes of the American West will read from their work and explore how storytelling, in the tradition of Thoreau and Emerson, can give voice to natural resources. Activist and award-winning author Kathleen Dean Moore discusses her newest book Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril and Craig Childs, the author of more than a dozen acclaimed books on nature and science, reflects on expedition adventures from Colorado to Tibet.The Elemental West: Fire, Water, Air, Earth (Program two of four)

An Evening with Novelist Richard Ford May 31, 2012

The Washington Post calls Richard Ford, "One of the finest curators of the great American living museum." In his haunting new novel, Canada, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author explores the mysterious and consoling bonds of family in a tale about a young man forced by catastrophic circumstance to reconcile himself to a world that has been rendered unrecognizable.

The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times May 24, 2012

From hired mourners who will scatter your loved one's ashes, to nameologists (who help you name your child)-the sociologist and acclaimed author of The Second Shift draws on original research to reveal the threats inherent in a world in which the most intuitive and emotional of human acts have become work for hire.

The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking May 22, 2012

How have unreasonable principles —from negotiating to risk-taking, from investing to hiring— helped billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad in founding two Fortune 500 companies, funding scientific research and education reform, and building some of the world’s greatest contemporary art museums? Why is he drawn to the unreasonableness of contemporary artists like Richard Serra and Robert Rauschenberg? What can we learn from the wisdom of an unreasonable man?

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain May 15, 2012

If the conscious mind is the only part of the brain we are aware of, then what in the world else is happening up there? Renowned neuroscientist (and novelist) David Eagleman navigates the depth of the subconscious brain to illuminate surprising mysteries that take in brain damage, plane spotting, dating, drugs, synesthesia, criminal law, artificial intelligence and visual illusions.

Autobiography and the Graphic Novel May 10, 2012

Bechdel follows her best-selling graphic memoir, Fun Home, with a second tale of filial sleuthing-this time about her mother: voracious reader, music lover, amateur actor, and also a woman, unhappily married to a gay man. Bechdel's quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf leads through psychoanalysis and Dr. Seuss to a truce that will move all adult children of gifted mothers.

When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice May 09, 2012

Upon her mother's passing, Williams inherited three shelves of journals. Not only was it a shock that her mother kept journals, but it was also a shock to see what the journals contained-pages and pages of blank pages. In fifty-four chapters that unfold like a series of yoga poses, each with its own logic and beauty, Williams-author of the iconic memoir Refuge-creates a soaring meditation on the mystery of her mother's empty journals, always asking, \"What does it mean to have a voice?\"

Poetics of Protest: Giving Voice to Mexico's Movement for Peace Apr 26, 2012

Javier Sicilia, Mexican poet-turned-activist and leader of Mexico's Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, is turning personal horror into hope for himself and his country. After the death of his son at the hands of drug traffickers last year, Sicilia swapped his pen for protest, pushing to stop the bloodshed. Leading the fight with a radiant intellect and deep faith, this TIME Magazine Protester of the Year speaks on the power of words as an instrument for peace, recognizing that responsibility lies on both sides of the border.

God in Pain: Inversions of Apocalypse Apr 24, 2012

Slavoj Zizek, renowned Slovenian critical theorist, dissects and reconstructs three major faith-based systems of belief in the world today, showing how each faith understands humanity and divinity-and how the differences between the faiths may be far stranger than they at first seem.

Seriously, Just Go To Sleep Apr 19, 2012

Smart, comical, and sensible, this children's book-follow-up to the widely successful Go the F*** to Sleep by Adam Mansbach, offers kids the opportunity to recognize their tactics, giggle at their own mischievousness, and empathize with their parents' struggles, while providing both kids and parents common ground to talk about one of the most stressful aspects of parenting.

Heart of Dankness: Underground Botanists, Outlaw Farmers, and the Race for the Cannabis Cup Apr 17, 2012

Smith takes us on a trip-mind-blowing and humorous-deep into the international underground where super-high-grade marijuana is developed, produced, sold, and entered into the Super Bowl of the marijuana world, Amsterdam's Cannabis Cup. Moving between California, the hub of the legalization and decriminalization debate, and the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, Smith infiltrates a world where science, nature, and the sometimes criminal intersect.

Concrete Rivers: The Emotional Topography of LA Apr 12, 2012

Two celebrated poets read from their most recent work and discuss how Los Angeles has influenced their writing, how some influences overlap and others diverge. Born in Watts, Wanda Coleman witnessed Simon Rodia working on the Towers firsthand. Coleman's work is often concerned with the outsider, both in terms of race and poverty in California. Lewis MacAdams is a poet, journalist, filmmaker, and activist who has written on topics ranging from cultural history to the environment. Known as the Los Angeles River's most influential advocate, he co-founded the Friends of the LA River (FoLAR) and dubbed it \"a forty year art work.\"

The Anatomy of Harpo Marx Apr 10, 2012

Using film clips and text in a detailed play-by-play of Harpo Marx's physical movements, Koestenbaum celebrates the astonishing range of Harpo's body-- its kinks, sexual multiplicities, somnolence, Jewishness, \"cute\" pathos, and more. Holding up a mirror to Marx's 13 films, Koestenbaum takes a sharp look at American culture and mythology and the intimacies of how we communicate without words.

Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India Apr 05, 2012

Lelyveld, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, offers an intricate portrait of Gandhi's conflicted mission. After shaping his philosophy of nonviolent resistance during his time in South Africa, Gandhi promoted these social values back in his native India. Although India quickly revered the \"Great Soul,\" Gandhi's following only contributed a small part to the social transformation he imagined. In this new biography, Lelyveld brings us closer to one of history's most remarkable self-creations and one of the twentieth century's most inspiring figures.

Imagine: How Creativity Works Apr 03, 2012

From the best-selling author of How We Decide comes a revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Why did Elizabethan England experience a creative explosion? What can we learn from Bob Dylan's writing habits and the drug addiction of poets? How did Pixar redesign its office space for maximum creativity? How can you embrace your own creative side and make your community more vibrant? Join us for a discussion into the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our increasingly complex world.

"The Man in the Empty Boat", A Special One Man Performance Mar 22, 2012

As he approached midlife, bestselling author and Los Angeles local Mark Salzman (Iron and Silk, The Soloist, Lying Awake) confronted a year of catastrophe. Overwhelmed by terrifying panic attacks, suffering from a crippling case of writer's block, and dealing with the very sudden death of his sister, Salzman began a spiritual search for equanimity. His new memoir, The Man in the Empty Boat is the result of his journey to find peace as a father, writer, and individual. Navigating the turbulent waters of heartbreak with great force and wit, Salzman takes the stage to perform a monologue based on his memoir.

Eisenhower: The White House Years Mar 20, 2012

There may be more to \"Like Ike\" than we realize. Veteran journalist and editor-at-large of the Los Angeles Times, Jim Newton offers a bold reappraisal of the 34th president, who was belittled by critics as \"the babysitter in chief.\" Newton yields a portrait of a shrewd leader, a progressive politician, and a champion of peace who refused to use an atomic bomb, grounded McCarthyism, built an interstate system, and turned a $8 billion deficit into a $500 million surplus.

From the Outside Looking In: Writers Finding Their Place in Los Angeles Mar 15, 2012

Literary Los Angeles has always existed apart from our country's publishing capital--3,000 miles apart, to be exact. What does this distance offer writers and book artists? What are the freedoms and the challenges of being outside the traditions and trends of literature? A panel of L.A. writers-authors of fiction, essays, graphic novels, screenplays, and poetry-delve into these questions, considering their impact on both the individual and the community. Part of Pacific Standard Time, Los Angeles Art 1945-1980

The Rocket's Red Glare: Politics in Art and Poetry Mar 13, 2012

In an election year driven by worldwide public demonstrations, congressional stagecraft and conflicting narratives, rhetoric, aesthetics and politics are apt to collide. As part of a 2012 national series, poet-performer Douglas Kearney and artist-activist Edgar Arceneaux of the Watts House Project discuss the political impetus and implications of their work.

Thinking the Twentieth Century Mar 06, 2012

What is the power of historical perspective? How can we learn from the past to reform our society of the future? The late historian Tony Judt reframed the history of the European continent after WWII in his book Postwar. A luminous thinker, he clarified the power of historical perspective for living even ordinary lives. In this final book, written with Timothy Snyder, he traverses the complexities of the twentieth century and guides us through the great debates that made our world.

Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone Feb 28, 2012

Independents unite! In a powerful assessment of an unprecedented social change, a renowned sociologist chronicles the biggest demographic shift since the baby boom: we thrive when we go it alone.

An Evening with Philip Levine, U.S. Poet Laureate Feb 23, 2012

The 18th Poet Laureate reads from his work and discusses life, literature, and his time in the Golden State. Presented in collaboration with the California Center for the Book and the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress

From Exile to Home: Los Angeles Literary Life 1945 to 1980 Feb 21, 2012

In the years since World War II, the literature of Los Angeles, like much about the city, has shifted, becoming less a literature of exile than one of place. Weschler- one of our foremost practitioners of literary nonfiction discusses this definitive period in Los Angeles' literary life. Part of Pacific Standard Time, Art in LA 1945-1980

Two Novelists on Memory, Identity, and Place Feb 16, 2012

Percival Everett's Assumption, a baffling murder mystery and Steve Erickson's These Dreams of You, an enigmatic search for an adopted black daughter's past, both delve into race, the history of their characters, and the places they reside. From a hippie commune in Denver to a city in Ethiopia, these two acclaimed Los Angeles novelists go to great lengths in search of truth.

Keeping Your Brain Healthy: Preventing Alzheimer's Feb 13, 2012

Take control of your brain, come learn from the authors of Memory Bible about cutting-edge research on this devastating brain disease and the progress towards a cure as well as strategies for prevention.

The Obamas Feb 08, 2012

The Washington correspondent for the New York Times leads us on a tour deep inside the White House as the Obamas grapple with their new roles, raise children, maintain friendships, and figure out what it means to be the first black President and First Lady.

An Evening with Wael Ghonim, "Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People is Greater Than the People in Power" Feb 06, 2012

Wael Ghonim was a little-known 30-year-old Google exec when he launched a Facebook campaign to protest the death of an Egyptian man at the hands of security forces. Now, in his new memoir, one of the key figures behind the Egyptian uprising takes us inside the making of a modern revolution- and discusses youth, activism, the Arab Spring, and why he is optimistic for the future.

Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformative Power of Music Feb 02, 2012

El Sistema, the music education program that nurtured Gustavo Dudamel's musical talent, now reaches children in Los Angeles and cities around the world. Changing Lives author Tricia Tunstall reveals in her book how arts education effects positive social change. Join us for an inspiring look at El Sistema and Dudamel's great passion for spreading hope through music.

The Man Within My Head Jan 31, 2012

In his new memoir, Pico Iyer, one of our most astute observers of inner journeys, chronicles his obsession with the writer Graham Greene, what it means to be an outsider, and the place of a mysterious father in his own imagination.

The Barbarian Nurseries: A Novel Jan 26, 2012

A live-in maid in the conflicted Torres-Thompson household is accused of kidnapping the family's children, when in fact, she is taking them by bus from Orange Co. to L.A. to find refuge with their grandfather. An authentic rendering of social and class divides from a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Tobar's brilliant novel redefines Southern California in the 21st century.

Why Mahler? How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our World Jan 23, 2012

In his new biography, Lebrecht explores the life of the composer who straddled two musical worlds- born into the age of high romanticism and most prolific at a time of artistic revolution. Presented in association with The Mahler Project, A Symphonic Cycle for the New World, a project of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Ayad Akhtar and Amy Waldman: Two Novelists on The Lives of American Muslims Before and After 9/11 Jan 18, 2012

Akhtar's American Dervish and Waldman's The Submission, both explore the lives of American Muslims, one in pre-9/11 suburbia and the other in post-9/11 Manhattan. In Akhtar's family drama, a father and son are fractured by their understandings of Islam. In Waldman's story, a city is outraged when a Muslim architect wins a blind competition to design the 9/11 Memorial. Following the conflicts within and between religions, these two brilliant debut novels grapple with identity, community, and a country in crisis.

An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing Jan 17, 2012

Acclaimed journalist and poet Luis J. Rodríguez, who chronicled his harrowing journey from gang member to a revered figure of Chicano literature, discusses the struggles of post-gang life with Father Gregory Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries and author of a bestselling memoir.

Dark Carols: A Christmas Cycle (World Premiere) Dec 06, 2011

An original song cycle exploring the regrets, fears, and remembered losses that arise in this fell season. This year, the unsung and the unsaid, the long-buried and repressed, the saddened and the dead... are allowed a voice, and are made welcome at the table. Piano provided courtesy of Keyboard Concepts

Queen of America: A Novel Dec 01, 2011

Award-winning novelist Luis Alberto Urrea explores the intrepid life of his great-aunt, a healer and \"Saint of Cabora\" who flees to Arizona when she is claimed as the spiritual leader of the Mexican Revolution. This spellbinding sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter is a turn-of-the-century journey across America. Presented in association with the exhibition, A Nation Emerges: The Mexican Revolution Revealed

It Chooses You Nov 29, 2011

In procrastination mode while finishing the screenplay for her second film, Miranda July obsessively read the Pennysaver. Who was the person selling Care Bears for two dollars each? She crisscrossed L.A. to meet a random selection of PennySaver sellers, grabbing hold of the invisible world in a book that blends narrative, interviews, photographs and deadpan humor.

Physics on the Fringe: Smoke Rings, Circlons, and Alternative Theories of Everything Nov 21, 2011

Challenging our concept of what science is; how it works; and who it is for, outsider physicist Jim Carter discusses with science writer Margaret Wertheim his own theory of matter, energy, and gravity.

An Evening with Joan Didion Nov 16, 2011

A literary icon for Los Angeles and a cultural visionary for the rest of America, the acclaimed author of The White Album, The Year of Magical Thinking, and most recently, Blue Nights, discusses her current work and life in Los Angeles in the 60s. Part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980

The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick Nov 14, 2011

Philip K. Dick dedicated his life to questioning the nature of reality and perception, the malleability of space and time, and the relationship between the human and divine. Dick's two daughters and novelist Jonathan Lethem- Exegesis co-editor-serve as guides to exploring the magnificent final work of the author.

From Tijuana to Gaza to Bosnia: Rethinking Borders in a 21st Century World Nov 08, 2011

Artists, scholars, and cultural activists from Europe, Mexico, and the United States convene in Los Angeles-home to migrants, refugees, and exiles from all over the world-to share their respective experiences with and approaches to border issues. In an age of increased border militarization, how might we redefine borderlands as zones of mutual intermingling, co-existence, and dialogue? Made possible by special funding from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, part of the 2011 Milosz Year

What It's Like to Go to War Nov 03, 2011

Having spent the last 40 years examining his experiences in Vietnam, Marlantes, the decorated war veteran and bestselling author (Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War), discusses his visceral new nonfiction book about the psychological and spiritual toll that combat takes on those who fight.

Hollywood Left and Right Nov 02, 2011

From Chaplin to Schwarzenegger, movie stars have played a leading role in shaping the course of American politics. Join us for a conversation about how Hollywood has evolved into a vital center for American political life.

Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home Oct 27, 2011

Twenty years after her testimony in the Clarence Thomas confirmation mesmerized the nation, Hill shifts her focus from the public forum to the private. As today's families are being devastated by the subprime mortgage crisis, Hill speaks out for a new understanding about the importance of home and its place in the American Dream.

Zone One: A Novel Oct 26, 2011

In MacArthur Award-winning Whitehead's satiric take on the post-apocalyptic horror novel, a plague has sorted humanity into two types: the infected and the uninfected, the living and the living dead. How will these civilians rebuild their lives? Join this subversive discussion about the 21st century zombie.

Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon Oct 20, 2011

How did a 19-year-old undocumented migrant worker toiling in the tomato fields of central California become an internationally renowned neurosurgeon? Join us for a story about the importance of family, of mentors, the fight to cure brain cancer, and of giving people a chance.In association with the exhibition, "A Nation Emerges: The Mexican Revolution Revealed"

¡REVOLUCIÓN! An Internationalist Homage to the Mexican Revolution Oct 15, 2011

From the Russian steppes to Spanish and French anthems for love, liberty and freedom, ¡REVOLUCIÓN! looks at a pivotal historic event-- the Mexican Revolution--through an Internationalist gaze, showcasing a rare ensemble of Chicano musical, visual and performance talent.In association with the exhibition, "A Nation Emerges: The Mexican Revolution Revealed"

Feeding on Dreams: Confessions of An Unrepentant Exile Oct 12, 2011

Dorfman, one of Latin America's great writers and ally to President Allende, fled Chile in the wake of the military coup in 1973. His passionate memoir describes the transformative decades of exile, his eventual questioning of allegiance to past and party, and the unimaginable outcome of his return to Chile 17 years later.

The Forgotten Waltz Oct 11, 2011

The Irish author of The Gathering (Man Booker Prize) discusses her new novel-set in suburban Dublin with an unforgettably spirited heroine- that explores the momentous romance of everyday life and the volatile arena of family and marriage.

From Nickerson Gardens to National: An End in Sight to Violence in Inner-City America? Oct 06, 2011

Award-winning criminologist Kennedy, who orchestrated the \"Boston Miracle\", a revolutionary method for gang intervention in the mid-1990s, writes about this successful approach in his new book, Don't Shoot, and discusses solving the problem of crime in our country today, along with the launch of \"Operation Ceasefire\" in Los Angeles with Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department Charlie Beck.

Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War Oct 03, 2011

In a personal account of the communal power of women to change history, the founder of the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace chronicles the unthinkable violence she's confronted living through civil war and the peace she helped to broker by empowering her countrywomen and others around the world to take action.

Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America Sep 27, 2011

In a provocative and controversial history, Winkler, a constitutional lawyer, disputes that guns--not abortion, race, or religion--are at the heart of America's cultural divide. Co-presented with the Council of the Library Foundation

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created Sep 26, 2011

From the best-selling author of 1491-a study of the pre-Columbian Americas- comes a deeply engaging new history that explores the most momentous biological event since the death of the dinosaurs.

The Dolphin in the Mirror: Exploring Dolphin Minds and Saving Dolphin Lives Sep 20, 2011

Reiss, a leading expert on dolphins (adviser for the Oscar-winning film, The Cove), offers both a scientific revelation and an emotional eye-opener in this reflection on one of the greatest intelligences on the planet.

One Day It'll All Make Sense Sep 16, 2011

Common, the Grammy award-winning hip-hop artist and actor was born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. on Chicago's rough South Side. In his soulfully candid memoir, he unleashes himself line by line--from his childhood to tragic losses, from addiction to love--revealing the inner-makings of an extraordinary life.

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness Sep 15, 2011

In this sequel to Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller returns to Africa and her unforgettable family in a multilayered narrative that contrasts the perfectly lit, Happy Valley-era Africa of her mother's childhood and the darker, civil war-torn Africa of her own.

Conscious Capitalism: Start Something That Matters Sep 07, 2011

Mycoskie, the man behind TOMS Shoes and Goldhirsh, founder of GOOD, discuss alternatives for creating work that simultaneously fulfills our hunger for material success, philanthropic impact, and personal meaning.

Leo Braudy: The Hollywood Sign Jul 21, 2011

It took fifty years and more before a former real-estate billboard atop Mt. Lee became the world-wide symbol of Hollywood. How did it happen? A master interpreter of popular culture examines why the Hollywood sign is unique in the way cities show themselves to the world.

Fire Monks: Wildfires in California Jul 19, 2011

When a massive wildfire blazed across California in June 2008, five monks risked their lives to save Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Pyne-- wildfire expert and the country's pre-eminent fire historian-- and Busch-- author and longtime Zen student-- discuss the ways of wildfires in the West and what it means to meet a crisis with full presence of mind. Program one of four, co-presented with the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West

L.A. Crime Writers: "We Murder, so You Don't Have To..." Jul 14, 2011

Four veteran Los Angeles crime writers discuss the genre they love and the stories that keep them up at night. Paula L. Woods (Charlotte Justice mystery series) talks murder and mayhem with Haywood (Cemetery Road), Hirahara (Blood Hina), and Smith (Moist).

Cannibal Island: An Artist Lecture with Short Films, Curious Images and Free Conundrums Jul 12, 2011

McMillen--part sculptor, installation artist, printmaker, cultural anthropologist and L.A. native-- has been creating environmental installations with architectural references that deal with themes of time, change, and illusion since the 1970s, and his work is the subject of a current retrospective at the Oakland Museum of Art. Join us for a glimpse into McMillen's creative process and current obsessions.

Newer Poets XVI: A Reading Jul 07, 2011

In this popular, long-running event, six talented Los Angeles poets present short readings of their work. Hosted by Suzanne Lummis, Los Angeles Poetry Festival, and Richard Modiano, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

Huxley on Huxley: Panel Discussion and Film Excerpts Jun 21, 2011

The Hollywood home of Laura and Aldous Huxley, psychedelic pioneer and author of Brave New World, was a hotspot for the West Coast artistic avant-garde like Igor Stravinsky and Christopher Isherwood. Join us for a discussion of the Huxleys' influence on American culture, plus excerpts from Mary Ann Braubach's 2009 documentary, Huxley on Huxley.

Alina Simone: A Tragic-comic Journey Through the Indie Rock World Jun 16, 2011

In her wickedly bittersweet and hilarious novel You Must Go and Win, the Ukrainian-born, critically acclaimed singer traces her bizarre journey through the indie rock world, from disastrous Craigslist auditions with sketchy producers to catching fleas in a Williamsburg sublet. Simone performs songs from her newly released Make Your Own Danger album.

We Are Here: We Could Be Everywhere Jun 14, 2011

Are the media arts a sensitizing force? What is media art's capacity to respond to political conditions? Cultural practitioners and scholars explore the role artists play as innovators of media technology and instigators in the public and media art realms. Co-presented with Freewaves

Catastrophe, Survival, Music and Renewal: New Orleans Culture Post-Katrina Jun 06, 2011

HBO's Treme (from the creators of The Wire) is set in the aftermath of the greatest man-made disaster in American history. Join us for a discussion of New Orleans' music and its unique culture as reflected in one of episodic television's most powerful dramas.

Adam Hochschild, "To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918" Jun 02, 2011

Hochschild (King Leopold's Ghost), one of America's best narrative historians, examines one of the greatest and most puzzling examples of civilized evils in history and the now obscure civilians and soldiers who waged a bitter, often heroic, struggle against it.

Melissa Faye Greene, "No Biking in the House Without a Helmet" May 31, 2011

In the eight years after her four children left home, Melissa Greene and her husband adopted five children from orphanages in Bulgaria and Ethiopia. She chronicles their adventures from the front lines of parenthood.

Gary Snyder, "Song of the Turkey Buzzard: The Poetry of Lew Welch" May 26, 2011

Join Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Snyder and friends for an evening of spoken word to celebrate the work of Beat poet Lew Welch, on the 40th anniversary of his disappearance.

John Sayles, "Some Time in the Sun" May 19, 2011

In his monumental new novel, Sayles-the great indy filmmaker-travels from the Yukon gold fields, to New York's bustling Newspaper Row, to Wilmington's deadly racial coup of 1898, to the bitter triumphs at El Caney and San Juan Hill in Cuba, and to war zones in the Philippines.

Francisco Goldman, "Say Her Name" May 17, 2011

Written in the aftermath of his wife's death, Goldman's tale weighs the unexpected gift of love against the blinding grief of loss.

Gary Shteyngart, "Super Sad True Love Story" May 12, 2011

Shteyngart, one of the New Yorker's "Best Under 40" novelists, offers a devilishly funny cyber-apocalyptic vision of an America future that seems eerily like the present.

Jamaica Kincaid, "See, Now, Then" Apr 26, 2011

Kincaid, former New Yorker staff writer and author of more than ten books, is known for her candid and emotionally-charged writing. She reads from her forthcoming novel about a family's life in a small Vermont town and discusses her creative process.

The Origins of Political Order: A Conversation Apr 21, 2011

How did tribal order and society evolve into the political institutions of today? Drawing on a vast body of knowledge-- two celebrated scholars discuss the origins of democratic societies and raise essential questions about the nature of politics.

Jacques D'Amboise, "I Was a Dancer" Apr 20, 2011

One of America's most celebrated classical dancers writes of his years with Balanchine, Robbins, LeClercq, and Farrell-the irresistible story of an exhilarating life in dance.

Joyce Carol Oates, "A Widow's Story" Apr 14, 2011

An intimate work by one of America's great writers chronicles the unexpected death of her husband of forty-eight years and its wrenching, surprising aftermath.

Rebecca Skloot, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" Apr 12, 2011

Skloot's stunning narrative about the use and misuse of medical authority delves into the life of a poor Southern tobacco farmer named Henrietta Lacks, whose cells-taken without her knowledge-became one of the most important tools in medicine.

The Use and Abuse of Literature Apr 06, 2011

What is literature? How might we restore it to the center of our lives? Garber, Harvard English professor and Ulin, book critic for the Los Angeles Times, explore how reading can be a \"revolutionary act\" in the digital age.

The Nature of Observation Apr 05, 2011

How does a poet view time, the slant of light on a windowsill? How might a theoretical cosmologist approach those same phenomena? Hirshfield and Carroll---both at the vanguard of their disciplines-- discuss different (and perhaps similar) points of entry into the realm of observation and metaphor.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, "The Dressmaker of Khair Khana" Mar 29, 2011

Lemmon, a former ABC news reporter, tells the remarkable true story of an unlikely entrepreneur who, against all odds, saved her family and inspired her community in Afghanistan under the Taliban.

David Brooks, "The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement" Mar 24, 2011

The New York Times columnist uses revolutionary discoveries in neuroscience and cognition to paint a surprisingly moving picture of how we can educate our emotions to lead richer lives.

Art Collectives and the Current State of Literary Culture Mar 22, 2011

A reading and panel discussion Moderated by Susan Salter Reynolds, L.A. Times book reviewerWith Chuck Rosenthal, Alicia Partnoy, Ramón Garcia, & Gail Wronsky. Projected paintings by Gronk.Members of the L.A.-based Glass Table Collective read their work and discuss publishing outside the lines.

Colin Thubron, "Climbing Through Memory and Magic in Tibet" Mar 17, 2011

Two of the world's most respected travel writers discuss pilgrimages to exceptional places, mining one's personal history, and the holiest mountain on earth.

Annie Murphy Paul, "Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives" Mar 15, 2011

What makes us who we are? An award-winning science journalist and a leading scientific investigator delve into the rich history of ideas about how we're shaped before birth.

Shepard Fairey, "MAYDAY: The Politics of Street Art" Mar 07, 2011

The Los Angeles-based artist and designer behind the ubiquitous Obey Giant stencil and the now legendary Obama HOPE poster, talks about his life, his work and his move from the street to large-scale museum exhibitions.

Joan Schenkar and Kathleen Chalfant,"The Talented Miss Highsmith" Mar 01, 2011

Patricia Highsmith's dazzling, dangerous novels entered the American consciousness in classic films such as Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Join us for an evening celebrating Highsmith: Schenkar's author talk that captures Highsmith's brilliance in creating disturbing fictions, a dramatic presentation by Obie Award- winning actress Chalfant, and never-before seen photos.

Destiny and Desire: A Novel Feb 24, 2011

One of literature's masters offers a wild, riveting saga that explores passion, magic and corruption in modern Mexico, mixing ancient mythologies with the avarice of the twenty-first century.

How the West Was Lost Feb 22, 2011

One of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people and best-selling author of Dead Aid reveals the economic myopia of the West and the radical solutions it needs to adopt in order to assert itself as a global economic power once again.

The Short Sory and the Art of Not Knowing Feb 16, 2011

Two brilliant young writers (among the New Yorker's \"Twenty Under Forty\" noted fiction writers) read and discuss their work and the role of the unexpected in writing fiction.

Irrepressible: The Life and Times of Jessica Mitford Feb 10, 2011

She eloped with Winston Churchill's nephew, severing her ties to privilege. She fought in the Spanish Civil War and joined the Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Alabama. She bore witness to the defining history of the 20th century. Jessica Mitford: queen of the muckrakers.

Is There a Conservative Assault on the Supreme Court? Feb 08, 2011

Chemerinsky-- founding dean at U.C. Irvine School of Law-- and Eastman-- Kennedy Chair in Law at Chapman University-- debate whether the country's highest court has been ideologically motivated during recent decades, thus denying justice to millions of Americans.

What's the Matter with Capitalism? Feb 03, 2011

Barnes, successful entrepreneur (Working Assets Long Distance) and Appleby, eminent historian (The Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism) discuss whether the market can effectively serve both private interest and public good. Can capitalism be upgraded for the 21st century?

I Love a Broad Margin to My Life Jan 25, 2011

In a voice that is humble, elegiac, and practical, the award-winning author of The Woman Warrior contemplates the meaning of family, the politics of war, and the striving for peace in this unconventional memoir

The Tell-Tale Brain Jan 20, 2011

From autism to basic self-awareness, \"the Marco Polo of neuroscience\" traces the strange links between neurology and behavior, probing the mystery of human uniqueness.

The Imperfectionists Jan 18, 2011

Rachman's witty novel-- about the the ragtag staff of an English language newspaper in Rome facing financial oblivion-- is based on his own experience as a foreign correspondent.

I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace Jan 12, 2011

A Palestinian doctor's response to the tragedy of losing four family members to an Israeli shelling has won him humanitarian awards around the world. Rather than revenge, he calls for people in the region to come together in understanding, respect, and peace.

NPR at 40: What is the Future of Public Radio? Jan 11, 2011

News and stories from NPR have helped shape our world. Join two veteran journalists to explore how public radio might respond to tectonic shifts in the media landscape.

Interfaith Sing ALOUD Dec 15, 2010

From Auld Lang Syne to Henei Ma Tov, from Sanskrit devotionals to gospel spirituals, join us for an evening of songs new and old drawn from various faith and folk traditions, with perhaps some surprising new lyrics set to familiar tunes. No singing experience necessary, a willingness to participate is the only requirement. Appropriate for all ages. Let us Sing!

Sacred Activism: Putting Spiritual Knowledge into Action Dec 07, 2010

Harvey, a poetic and passionate mystic and writer, suggests that what unites all religions \"is a truth that the service of God is putting love into action.\" He discusses his dramatic life conversion from mysticism to mystic activism with the Rector of Pasadena's All Saint's Church-known for its focus on social justice initiatives.

Finding God in the City of Angels: Film Excerpts and Discussion Dec 02, 2010

Filmmakers Jessum and Joseph explore the meaning and value of inter-faith dialogue with selected representatives of the more than 40 devotional communities in Los Angeles profiled in their award-winning new documentary.

An Evening with Salman Rushdie Nov 30, 2010

In his new Novel, Luka and the Fire of Life, written for his youngest son, Rushdie explores the relationships between fathers and sons, life and death, the real and the imagined, freedom and authority. Join us for an evening with one of the world's most celebrated authors.

Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage Nov 29, 2010

In a groundbreaking new account, Rowley describes the remarkable courage and lack of convention-private and public-that kept FDR and Eleanor together.

Ziggurat Nov 22, 2010

Balakian's new collection of poems explore the aftermath of 9/11 through layered perspectives of myth, history, and personal memory; a panoramic work of contemporary witness in a new age of American uncertainty.

Phantom Noise: An evening with Solider-Poet Brain Turner Nov 18, 2010

Turner's poems reflect his experiences as a soldier--seven years in the US Army, including a year as infantry team leader in Iraq--with penetrating lyric power and compassion.

Cleopatra: A Life Nov 16, 2010

A Pulitzer-Prize willing biographer boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the queen from her own hazy legend, subtly and originally probing classical sources to yield a fresh, thrilling account of a remarkable woman.

Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Middle East Nov 09, 2010

This long-awaited work, assembled by Reza Aslan, features literature from countries as diverse as Morocco and Iran, Turkey and Pakistan, many presented in English for the first time. Celebrate this landmark publication with a stellar cast who will read from a diverse selection of authors- from Khalil Gibran to Naguib Mahfouz, from Orhan Pamuk to the grand dame of Urdu fiction, Ismat Chughtai.

Must you Go? My Life with Harold Pinter Nov 08, 2010

The acclaimed historian offers a love story, an intimate account of the life of a major artist, and an exercise in self-revelation, based on thirty-three years of marriage.

Great House: A Novel Nov 02, 2010

The author of the bestseller The History of Love offers a soaring novel about a stolen desk that contains the secrets, and becomes the obsession of the lives it passes through.

Los Angeles in Maps: A Multi-media Conversation Oct 28, 2010

A land of palm trees and movie stars, sunshine and glamour, Los Angeles inhabits a place of the mind as much as it does a physical geographic space. Often imagined of as a kind of paradise, the actual reality of the city is far more complex. Join us for cartographic history of the City of Angels from the colonial era to the present, with Creason, author and LAPL map librarian and Waldie, cultural critic and author of Holy Land.

Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work Oct 26, 2010

Danticat, the acclaimed Haitian-American novelist, tells the stories of artists who create despite, or because of, the horrors that drove them from their homelands and that continue to haunt them.

Writing in Latino: A National Conversation/ Escribir en Latino: Una Conversacion Nacional Oct 21, 2010

What is Latino literature? Who writes it? Who reads it? Explore a rich literary tradition of five centuries of writing from two continents and 10 countries, from letters to the Spanish crown, to U.S. urbanites who grow up speaking Spanglish. Join this national conversation about the contribution of Latino writing to American culture.

The Turquoise Ledge Oct 20, 2010

One of the most gifted and best known Native American writers today offers this highly original self-portrait, steeped in Native American storytelling traditions, that weaves together family/personal memoir with an accounting of the creatures and landscapes that inform her vision of the world.

Chacona, Lamento, Walking Blues: Bass Lines of Music History Oct 19, 2010

The New Yorker music critic leads an audio tour of several hundred years of music history, from Renaissance lute songs to Led Zeppelin, showing how certain motifs of celebration and lament recur in many different contexts and cultures.

Blood Dark Track Oct 14, 2010

O'Neill, a former barrister and PEN/Faulkner award-winning author of the novel Netherland has written a brilliant inquiry propelled by the unexplained incarcerations of both his grandfathers (one Irish, one Turkish) during the Second World War.

By Nightfall Oct 12, 2010

Set among the mid-forties denizens of Manhattan's SoHo-the new novel by the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Hours takes a deep look at the meaning of beauty and the place of love in our lives.

The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen Oct 07, 2010

Appiah, a leading philosopher (\"America's Socrates\") and a professor at Princeton University, demonstrates that honor is the driving force in the struggle against man's inhumanity to man.

Gay, Straight and the Reason Why Oct 05, 2010

What causes a child to grow up gay or straight or bisexual? Neuroscientist LeVay summarizes where the quest for a biological explanation of sexual orientation stands today, taking us on a tour of laboratories that specialize in genetics, endocrinology, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, evolutionary psychology and more.

National Lampoon: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead Oct 04, 2010

Join us for a mind-boggling multi-media tour through the early days of an institution whose alumni left their fingerprints all over popular culture: Animal House, Caddyshack, Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters, SCTV, Spinal Tap, In Living Color, Ren & Stimpy, and The Simpsons. Long before there was The Onion and Comedy Central, there was the National Lampoon.

The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam Sep 30, 2010

More than half of the worlds' 1.3 billion Muslims live along the tenth parallel, as do roughly sixty percent of the world's 2 billion Christians. Griswold, award-winning poet and investigative journalist, traveled for seven years on the tenth parallel, examining the complex relationship of religion, land, oil; local conflicts and global ideology; politics and contemporary martyrdom, both Islamic and Christian.

A World Without Islam? Sep 28, 2010

Join us for an illuminating journey through history, geopolitics, and religion to investigate whether Islam is indeed the cause of some of today's most important international crises and how we might move conversations beyond religious and ideological divides.

Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership Sep 23, 2010

Hyde--MacArthur Fellow and author of the ground breaking study of art and commerce The Gift--offers a stirring defense of our cultural commons, that vast store of art and ideas we inherited from the past which continues to enrich the present.

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Sep 22, 2010

A Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter chronicles a watershed event in American history-- the decades-long migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West--through the stories of three individuals and their families.

My Hollywood Sep 21, 2010

The new novel by the celebrated author of Anywhere But Here tells the story of two women whose lives entwine and unfold behind the glittery surface of Hollywood.

An Evening with Jonathan Franzen Sep 16, 2010

In Freedom, his first novel since The Corrections Franzen comically and tragically captures the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the temptations and burdens of liberty, and the heavy weight of empire.

Making Our Democray Work: A Judge's View Sep 15, 2010

Fascinating stories of key Supreme Court decisions, told from a unique perspective, illuminate this original and accessible theory of the United States Supreme Court's responsibility and integrity.

Drugs, a Daughter, and Death: Mark Twain's Final Years Jul 27, 2010

Trombley, the preeminent Twain scholar at work today (and the president of Pitzer College), cracks open the enduring mystery of Mark Twain's final decade to reveal the true story of Isabel Lyon, the \"forgotten woman\" who haunts the official Twain narrative.

Reweaving the Social Fabric of Skid Row Jul 22, 2010

A panel discussion and conversation about a public art theater project that chronicles the emergence of a permanent community and culture in what has been perceived as a transient Skid Row. Join the social and artistic visionaries who have contributed to reweaving the social fabric of Skid Row.

Sing ALOUD Jul 20, 2010

Join us in a celebration and exploration of traditional American vocal music, drawn from several rich sources of community singing- from 19th century Sacred Harp shape note hymnals, to songs from the oral tradition of the Appalachian mountains, to glee club-style rounds. No prior singing experience or musical knowledge necessary. All voices and ages are welcome-the only requirement is a willingness to sing.

Hamlet's Blackberry Jul 15, 2010

How do the technologies we use every day affect our state(s) of mind? One of the country's leading commentators on the information culture ponders the conundrum of connectedness, and offers a new philosophy of life in a world of screens.

Performance/Anxiety Jul 13, 2010

Two L.A.-native novelists read and discuss fiction, theatre, magic spells, cats, MFAs, and some other stuff.

Truth in Fiction: Navigating History Jul 08, 2010

Two brilliant young writers-both daughters of the 1960s and '70s civil rights, black power and feminist political movements-read and discuss the inspiriation for their fiction.

Newer Poets XV Jun 30, 2010

Introducing six accomplished poets from the Los Angeles literary world in a lively showcase of poetic voices and styles.

Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace Jun 29, 2010

The author of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits offers a sane and bracingly honest perspective on the challenges of motherhood.

The Black Body Jun 23, 2010

Black, white and biracial contributors to a brave and unprecedented anthology take on the challenge of interpreting the black body's dramatic role in American culture. What does it mean to have, or love, a black body?

Inventing L.A.: The Chandlers and Their Times Jun 22, 2010

A book and a documentary film chronicle how a family built a paper to greatness and how the confluence of a family feud and a cultural-economic cataclysm changed media history.

James Workman: Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought Jun 17, 2010

Workman, a skilled storyteller, uncovers the universal politics of water and draws wisdom from tragedy in the Kalahari desert-opening our eyes to the ongoing struggle to secure water for life on earth.

John Ashbery's Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror Jun 15, 2010

A staged reading of John Ashbery's great, dense work-one of the defining poems of the 20th century. Six readers, accompanied by projected text and image, illuminate and bring to life Ashbery's tonal shifts and juxtapositions. Directed by Jim Paul with technical direction by Beth Thielen.

Timur and the Dime Museum Jun 10, 2010

Operatic Vaudeville with a Bohemian Attitude Blending a tenor's haunting vocals with cabaret-inspired reinventions of songs both old and new. Featuring selections by Russian Gypsy songwriter Vadim Kozin from the 1930s to songs by Radiohead and David Bowie, this eclectic performance will provide the eyes and ears with beautiful and slightly dark entertainment.

Advancing Urban Agriculture in Los Angeles Jun 03, 2010

This panel of experts will present and analyze the urban agriculture programs emerging in Los Angeles, with a focus on key topics such as policies, challenges, trends and the programs currently in place.

That Old Cape Magic Jun 02, 2010

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls and Nobody's Fool offers a novel of deep introspection and great comedy-the story of a marriage and of all the other ties that bind.

WAR May 26, 2010

The author of A Perfect Storm turns his empathetic eye to a single platoon through a 15-month tour of duty in the most dangerous outpost in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley.

Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective May 25, 2010

A deft and exhaustively researched account of a near-forgotten chapter of Newton's extraordinary life. Levenson, a documentary filmmaker and head of the Graduate Program in Science Writing at MIT, allows us to see how Newton's amazing mind worked when dealing with practical rather than theoretical questions.

Crossing the Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978 May 17, 2010

Melding memoir and history, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author fuses his early life in Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt with an account of the American experience in the Middle East offering intimate insights into the Arab-Israeli tragedy.

Tattoos on the Heart: Stories of Hope and Compassion May 13, 2010

Father Greg (affectionately known as G-dog), pastor of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights since 1986, has made it his mission to help at-risk youth. His remedy for what he calls \"a global sense of failure\" is radical and simple: boundless, restorative love. His book, filled with sparkling humor and generosity, gives a window on gangs in the context of spirituality.

An evening with Isabel Allende May 10, 2010

In her new novel, Island Beneath the Sea, the master storyteller introduces yet another unforgettable woman-a slave and concubine determined to claim her own destiny against impossible odds.

Ilustrado May 05, 2010

Syjuco's daring debut novel opens with Crispin Salvador, lion of Philippine letters, dead in the Hudson River. Winner of the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize, Syjuco exposes the corruption behind the rich families who have ruled the Philippines for generations offering an unhindered view of a society caught between reckless decay and hopeful progress.

How Memories Get Made Apr 28, 2010

The world-renowned neuroscientist Gary Lynch, subject of McDermott's new book, discusses his decades-long obsessive pursuit to uncover the mechanism by which the brain makes memories.

The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq Apr 27, 2010

A work of brilliant and compassionate reporting, \"a must-read for everyone who cares about women, justice, fairness, the military, and the United States.\" (Katha Pollitt, The Nation)

Murder City: Ciudad Juárez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields Apr 21, 2010

Bowden, award-winning Tucson-based author and journalist reveals the story of the disintegration of Ciudad Juárez. Interweaving stories of the city's inhabitants-a raped beauty queen, a repentant hitman, a journalist fleeing for his life-with a broader meditation on the Mexican town's descent into anarchy.

Richard Wagner's Ring: Eros, Mythos, and Ethos--A Lecture by Maestro James Conlon Apr 19, 2010

Conlon, music director of LA Opera and one of the world's preeminent conductors, will discuss Wagner's monumental work, challenging preconceptions while guiding the audience through the music and dramatic themes in a way that both opera novice and aficionado can enjoy.

Ralph Angel, Carol Muske-Dukes, Cecilia Wolloch: poetry reading Apr 13, 2010

Imagination. Luminosity. Mystery and grief. Ghost landscapes. Joy and celebration. Join us for a reading by three award-winning California poets.

Poetry Reading Apr 13, 2010

Gale, editor, writer, teacher; Kearney, poet, performer, and librettist; and Shumaker, poet, author and teacher read from their work.

An Evening with Ian McEwan Apr 12, 2010

In his new novel Solar, the best-selling author of Atonement, explores the quest of one overweight and philandering Nobel prize-winning physicist to save the world from environmental disaster.

Pearl of China: a novel Apr 07, 2010

A performative reading and talk, from the bestselling author of Red Azalea and Empress Orchid whose new novel- the powerful story of the friendship of a lifetime-is based on the life of Pearl S. Buck.

Re-Writing the American Dream Apr 05, 2010

Sapphire's fiction, poems and essays have taken on the myths and assumptions of class, gender and race in America. Join us for a discussion of her writing, the evolution of Push from stage to screen, her influences from the literary canon to the zeitgeist of our times, and her new novel.

The Writer in the World Apr 01, 2010

Two celebrated authors-one from Kenya, the other from Morocco-examine how writers take on the challenges posed by political and cultural conflict in our modern world.

Three Approaches to Writing Biography Mar 25, 2010

Three new biographies-on Frank Oppenheimer, Frank Gehry, and Joseph Papp-offer completely different strategies for revealing complex and accomplished lives.

How Many Billboards? Visual Rights to the City Mar 24, 2010

A panel of outdoor media professionals and legal experts focus on the city's recent debate surrounding LED billboards and illegal signage, raising the notion of free speech as it relates to images on the street along the way. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition \"How Many Billboards? Art In Stead\" at The MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House, Feb. 5 - March 12, 2010.

The Things They Carried Mar 18, 2010

A reading and conversation honoring the 20th anniversary of one of America's most important novels, a book as vitally important for anyone interested in the Vietnam War as it is for those concerned with the craft of storytelling.

So Much For That Mar 17, 2010

This enchanting novel by Shriver, author of the bestseller We Need to Talk about Kevin, is a witty and timely exploration of the failure of our health-care system.

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives Mar 11, 2010

Mlodinow - a physicist with the grace of a born storyteller - illuminates the improbable ways that chance and probability affect our daily lives.

From the Barrio to the 'Burbs: Crossing Borders & Finding Home in the New Los Angeles Mar 10, 2010

In his remarkable and ambitious new memoir, The Opposite Field, Katz tells a story of good love and failed love, of Los Angeles and Portland and Nicaragua and Mexico and a father and son in search of a place to play baseball.

The Union of their Dreams: Power, Hope and Struggle in Cesar Chavez's Farm Worker Movement Mar 04, 2010

Drawing on a trove of original documents, tapes, and interviews to chronicle the rise of the United Farm Workers during the heady days of civil rights struggles, the antiwar movement, and 60s and 70s student activism, Pawel weaves together a powerful portrait of a people and their movement.

The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them Mar 03, 2010

Want to know Isaac Babel's secret influence on the making of \"King Kong\"? Literally and metaphorically following the footsteps of her favorite authors, Batuman combines fresh readings of the great Russians, from Pushkin to Tolstoy, along with some sad and funny stories from the people's lives they've influenced-including her own.

Free Fall: Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy Feb 24, 2010

Nobel Prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz explains the current financial crisis-and the coming global economic order.

The Great Equations: Breakthroughs in Science from Pythagoras to Heisenberg Feb 17, 2010

Crease, a science historian and philosopher, takes us on a tour of ten of the most important victories in our long struggle to understand the world we live in.

A Windfall of Musicians: Hitler's Emigres and Exiles in Southern California Feb 16, 2010

Crawford, a musicologist, reveals the uniquely vibrant era when Southern California became a hub of unprecedented musical talent.

The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050 Feb 11, 2010

What will America look like in 2050? Kotkin, a renowned social and economic trend analyst, argues that the key to America's economic recovery is its robust population growth.

Jesus Was a Liberal Feb 08, 2010

McLennan, Dean for Religious Life at Stanford (and inspiration for Doonesbury's Rev. Scot Sloan) gives voice to millions of liberal Christians and builds solid bridges to all sides of the cultural divide.

Shush! Growing Up Jewish Under Stalin Feb 03, 2010

Draitser, Professor of Russian at Hunter College (CUNY), resurrects-with great humor-the world of his Jewish childhood in the Soviet Union.

Parallel Play: Growing Up with Undiagnosed Asperger's Feb 02, 2010

Page, now a Pulitzer-winning music critic, offers a riveting portrayal of what it is like to live in a psychological world that few understand.

The Swan Thieves: A Novel Jan 28, 2010

In her new novel The Swan Thieves, the author of the bestseller The Historian offers a story of obsession, history's losses, and the power of art to preserve human hope.

An Evening with T.C. Boyle Jan 26, 2010

The settings for Boyle's bold new stories range from a California suburb terrorizedby a mountain lion, to Napoleonic France where a feral child is captured naked in the forest. He reads and discusses his new collection, Wild Child as well as his novel The Women about the life of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Value of Nothing: Markets and Democracy in a Time of Crisis Jan 20, 2010

Patel (author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System) asks us to reconsider how democracy might be the route by which we can reclaim markets so that they work for rather than against social change.

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right Jan 14, 2010

Gawande, a bestselling author and surgeon, takes us on an intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference.

Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals Jan 12, 2010

Grandin offers remarkable insights into animal behavior from her unique position at the intersection of autism and science. In her new book, she aims to revolutionize our ideas about what animals want and need-on their terms, not ours.

Based on Rumors and Secrets: The World of Palestine, New Mexico Dec 14, 2009

The new play by L.A.'s premiere Chicano performance group, Culture Clash, molds an intensely personal story into galvanizing theatricality. Join us for a discussion of the Culture Clash creative process that mixes humor and cold fact to unforgettable effect.

POPS: A Life of Louis Armstrong Dec 08, 2009

Drawing on a cache of important new sources unavailable to previous biographers,?The Wall Street Journal's drama critic and arts columnist paints a gripping portrait of Louis Armstrong's world and his music.

An Evening with Twyla Tharp Dec 07, 2009

In this audience-collaborative talk, one of America's greatest choreographers shares what she's learned from working with some of the most gifted people on the planet.

Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy Dec 03, 2009

Griffin inquires into the \"interior life of democracy\" and the divide between theory and practice, continuing the unique \"social autobiography\" she began with A Chorus of Stones: A Private Life of War.

The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War Dec 01, 2009

From the author of Flags of our Fathers and Flyboys, a startling new look at the events that set the stage for WWII.

Lit: A Memoir Nov 17, 2009

A new memoir by the author of The Liar's Club, about getting drunk and getting sober; becoming a mother by letting go of a mother; learning to write by learning to live.

Everything You Wanted to Know about Polish Theater (But Were Afraid to Ask) Nov 16, 2009

Join us for a fascinating discussion on the Polish theater tradition and what makes Polish theater so vital today.

Poetry Reading and Panel Discussion Nov 12, 2009

Three distinctive voices in contemporary American poetry read their work and engage in an informal group discussion on their craft.

Sonata Mulattica Nov 09, 2009

In a lyric narrative inspired by history and imagination, the former U.S. Poet Laureate re-creates the life of a biracial nineteenth-century virtuoso violinist.

An Evening with Orhan Pamuk Part II Nov 05, 2009

In announcing the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy said of Orhan Pamuk: his \"quest for the melancholic soul of his native city, Istanbul, led him to discover new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures.\" Pamuk reads from his new novel, The Museum of Innocence, and discusses his life and work with Reza Aslan (How to Win a Cosmic War).

An Evening with Orhan Pamuk Nov 05, 2009

In announcing the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy said of Orhan Pamuk: his \"quest for the melancholic soul of his native city, Istanbul, led him to discover new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures.\" Pamuk reads from his new novel, The Museum of Innocence, and discusses his life and work with Reza Aslan (How to Win a Cosmic War).

TIME Nov 04, 2009

From jet-lag to aging to cryogenic freezing, acclaimed scholar, historian, and memoirist Hoffman offers a broad, eye-opening look beyond the clock.

Bicoastal Binge: Dining Through the Years in LA and NY Oct 29, 2009

West coast vs. east coast culinary histories collide as two of the nation's best restaurant critics trade stories about the art of eating-- past and present.

The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights Oct 28, 2009

Khan--the first woman, first Asian, and first Muslim to serve as the Secretary General of Amnesty International--sheds a much needed light on the rights and powerlessness of the poor.

Chronic City Oct 27, 2009

In this new novel, the acclaimed author of Motherless Brooklyn portrays a Manhattan that is beautiful and tawdry, tragic and forgiving, devastating and utterly unique.

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present Oct 22, 2009

Gail Collins, brilliant New York Times columnist and bestselling author, recounts the astounding revolution in women's lives over the past 50 years.

The Holocaust by Bullets Oct 20, 2009

Desbois, a French Catholic priest, has devoted his life to confronting anti-Semitism and furthering Catholic-Jewish understanding. Since 2001 he and his team have crisscrossed the Ukrainian countryside in an effort to locate every mass grave and site at which Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Co-presented with Claremont McKenna College's Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights

Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgetting Oct 14, 2009

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Mountains Beyond Mountains tells the inspiring tale of Deogratias (Deo), a young medical student from the mountains of Burundi, who narrowly survived civil war and genocide before seeking a new life in America.

Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son Oct 13, 2009

A shy manifesto and an impractical handbook by one of America's finest writers.

Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud Oct 09, 2009

In this intimate exploration, one of America's most gifted and provocative public intellectuals peels back the layers of a remarkable life.

Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth Oct 07, 2009

A renowned professor of computer science recounts the spiritual odyssey of philosopher Bertrand Russell in a historical graphic novel that explicates some of the biggest ideas of mathematics and modern philosophy.

An Evening with Garrison Keillor Oct 05, 2009

The host and writer of \"A Prairie Home Companion\" knows how to spin a yarn. Join us for an evening of inspired storytelling, as Keillor converts the \"base metal of small town tedium to the gold of comedy.\" (NYTimes)

Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? Sep 24, 2009

Sandel--whose Justice course is one of the most popular and influential at Harvard-- hallenges us to think our way through the hard moral challenges we confront as citizens. Co-presented by the Council of the Library Foundation and City National Bank

No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes about Himself and our Way of Life in the Process Sep 23, 2009

No toilet paper! No plastic containers! No new clothes! No eating out! Beavan discusses-and screens film clips about-- his family's yearlong experiment to live a zero waste lifestyle in New York City.

The Boat Sep 16, 2009

In his first book, Le writes stunningly inventive stories that take us from the slums of Columbia to the streets of Tehran; from a tiny fishing village in Australia to a foundering vessel in the South China Sea.

The Anthologist Sep 15, 2009

In re-imagining the lives and loves of history's great poets, Baker creates a seductive meditation on poetry and artistic expression.

A Gate at the Stairs Sep 10, 2009

In her long-awaited new novel, set after the events of September 2001, Moore brings us up against the heart of racism, the shock of war, and the carelessness perpetrated against others in the name of love.

A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster Sep 09, 2009

Can the social connectedness that arises in the aftermath of a disaster-whether natural or manmade-lead us to a new vision of society?

Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future Aug 05, 2009

Why, when many of the problems of the twenty-first century require scientific solutions, are Americans paying less and less attention to scientists? How might we reverse this alarming trend and integrate science into our national discourse--before it's too late?

Why Design Matters Aug 04, 2009

How do notions of social responsibility and sustainability, in terms of design, impact the response to the growing density of Los Angeles and beyond? Presented in conjunction with the exhibition \"Richard Neutra, Architect: Sketches and Drawings in the Getty Gallery\"

Visions in the Desert: Searching for Home in the West Jul 30, 2009

An evening of stories and songs by RubÃ©n Martinez, with Joe Garcia and featuring John Schayer and Ruben Gonzalez High end art colonies materialize on dusty plains. Mexican migrant corridors transect Native lands. Writer Martinez, accompanied by his longtime musical partner, explores some of the oldest American symbols and the newest motley cast of characters to confront them.

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer Jul 23, 2009

Urban and rural collide in this wry, inspiring memoir of a woman who turned a vacant lot in downtown Oakland into a thriving farm.

The Contemporary City: Urbanism in Flux Jul 21, 2009

What alternative avenues for urbanism can be developed as existing models have been undermined by the current economic crisis? How will issues of planning, infrastructure, and the public realm shape architecture and design in the coming generation? Presented in conjunction with the exhibition \"Richard Neutra, Architect: Sketches and Drawings in the Getty Gallery\"

Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California Jul 16, 2009

An award-winning journalist chronicles the life of her great-great grandfather, a brilliant gold-rush era entrepreneur and financier, who rose from store clerk to the upper echelons of society, founded L.A.'s first bank, resurrected the financially troubled Los Angeles Times, and helped establish U.S.C.

Erased Jul 15, 2009

Abandonment, life, death (and, oddly, Cleveland) are explored in the hilarious second installment of Jim Krusoe's trilogy of novels about resurrection.

Riverbig: A Novel Jul 09, 2009

\"Crimes litter the floor of California's great Central Valley like fallen plums . . . Old ties of blood, friendship, and memory are harshly tested . . . but hope takes root in the valley's generous yet unforgiving soil.\" (D.J. Waldie)

A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption, and L.A.'s Scandalous Coming of Age Jul 08, 2009

Tabloid crimes, the Roaring 20's, and the onset of the Depression form the backdrop of Rayner's captivating tale of how the City of Angels lost its soul.

The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals Jun 30, 2009

A New Yorker reporter's definitive account of how decisions made behind closed doors in Washington spiraled out around the world, often with unintended consequences.

Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes Jun 24, 2009

Ansary, native of Afghanistan and astute cultural interpreter, tells the rich story of world history as the Islamic world sees it, from the time of Mohammed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and beyond.

The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics Jun 23, 2009

One of the world's best-known cognitive scientists explains why understanding language is critical in politics and why Reason is not as reasonable as we thought.

Dreamers in Dream City: A Journey Through Portraits Jun 18, 2009

Photographer/author Harry Brant Chandler and historian Kevin Starr explore the fascinating lives of inspirational Southern Californians, the subjects of Chandler's unique portraits.

Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever Jun 17, 2009

A peerless interpreter of American life recounts his own long strange trip from rural Minnesota to the ivy-covered walls of Princeton-- a fascinating examination of the perils of an education that prizes the accumulation of points over the enrichment of the mind.

Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone Jun 11, 2009

In this history of human adventure, one of Latin America's most distinguished writers illuminates movements of ideas and society across centuries by recalling the lives of artists, writers, gods and visionaries-- from the Garden of Eden to 21st-century New York.

Smogtown: The Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles Jun 09, 2009

How did smog help mold the modern-day culture of Los Angeles? Join this discussion about pollution, progress and the epic struggle against airborne poisons.

Notes on Sontag Jun 04, 2009

A renowned essayist considers the achievements and limitations of his tantalizing, daunting subject.

Blogging the Narco-Wars: A Panel Discussion Jun 03, 2009

Violence spills north of the border after the bloodiest year in the war to control drug smuggling through Tijuana. Join journalists from San Diego and Tijuana and a long-time watchdog of border violence to discuss the difficulties faced and methods used by reporters doing their jobs in Tijuana.

An Afternoon with Tom Brokaw May 28, 2009

Join us for an illuminating conversation with Tom Brokaw, veteran news anchor, author and 2009 recipient of the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award.

Sag Harbor: A Novel May 20, 2009

The historically African- American enclave of Sag Harbor, on the east end of Long Island, is the setting for the wonderfully funny, supremely original novel by the MacArthur award-winning author of The Intuitionist.

Losing Mum and Pup May 19, 2009

In this tragicomic true story of the year in which both of his parents died, the award-winning author and humorist captures the heartbreaking and disorienting feeling of becoming a 55-year-old orphan.

Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life May 14, 2009

One of America's most performed and admired composers, Adams (Nixon in China, Doctor Atomic) helped shape the landscape of contemporary classical music. His new memoir reveals the inner workings of his creative process and illuminates the recent history of music-making.

Manatee/Humanity: Poetry Performance May 05, 2009

Waldman-- a \"Cat 4 hurricane of unchained imagination, curiosity, and invention, political rage and erotic elation.\"-draws on animal lore, animal encounters, dreams, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and Buddhist ritual in her new investigative hybrid-poem exploring the nuances of inter-species communication and compassion

How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization & the End of the War on Terror May 04, 2009

Surveying the global scene, a preeminent scholar of religion launches a revolution in the way we understand-and confront-radical Islam.

Newer Poets XIV Apr 29, 2009

Join us for this exuberant annual reading with emerging Los Angeles-area poets.

The Post-Human Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess Apr 28, 2009

Magically blending sarcasm and gravity, America's favorite surrealist poet and NPR commentator offers an impractical handbook for practical living in our posthuman world.

The Novel! Why There's Nothing Quite Like It Apr 23, 2009

Smiley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and author of Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel, talks about how novels work and why we like them.

Linda Gregerson, Paul Muldoon, and Robert Pinsky: Three Kingley Tufts Prize Judged Read from Their Own Poetry Apr 22, 2009

Three members of the final judging panel for the Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards, read from their own prize-winning work.

The Challenge for Africa Apr 21, 2009

Wangari Muta Maathai is the founder of the Green Belt Movement, which, through networks of rural women, has planted over 30 million trees across Kenya since 1977. In 2002, she was elected to Kenya's Parliament in the first free elections in a generation, and in 2003 was appointed Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources, and Wildlife. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 2004, she is the author of Unbowed: A Memoir, and speaks to organizations around the world. Her newest book, The Challenge for Africa addresses the intricacies of African issues, such as the lack of technological developments, the absence of fair international trade, population pressures and enduring hunger, and the dearth of genuine political and economic leadership. Maathai stresses the need for Africans to invent and implement their own solutions, rather than relying on foreign aid and Western visions of change, and calls for a revolution in leadership on both a political and individual level.

A Lucky Child Apr 21, 2009

Buergenthal, currently the American judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, arrived at Auschwitz at age ten, and was soon separated from his mother and then his father. In this inspiring memoir, he reminds us of the resilience of the human spirit.

Mark Murphy & David Sefton: Two LA Impresarios Apr 16, 2009

Nigerian music, Mexican farce, John Updike, Lou Reed. Polish puppeteers, Belgian Butoh, Irish bards? what goes into the making of a season of groundbreaking performing arts at REDCAT and UCLA Live?

The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World Apr 14, 2009

An award-winning investigative reporter exposes the global war on women's reproductive rights and its disastrous and unreported consequences for the future of global development.

Poetry Reading Apr 07, 2009

Fairchild, winner of the Kingsley Tufts Award, and Paschen, winner of the Nicholas Roerich Prize, read poems that celebrate how the humble -- the work of a machine shop, the duties of a home -- is exalted by attention and care, just as their poems are distinguished by thoughtfulness, gratitude, and a deep concern for the well-made phrase.

West of the West: Dreamers, Believers, Builders & Killers in the Golden State Apr 06, 2009

Arax, a native son, spent four years traveling the breadth of the Golden State to explore its singular place in the world. From the marijuana growing capital of the U.S. to the town that inspired The Grapes of Wrath, Arax offers a stunning panorama of California in a new century.

MYhistoricLA: Preserving Los Angeles Apr 03, 2009

SurveyLA marks a coming-of-age for LA's historic preservation movement. Join amateur historians and LA aficionados for the public kick off of SurveyLA, share your knowledge of LA's hidden gems, view a screening of the SurveyLA video, and attend a lively panel discussion with city officials, preservationists, community organizers and developers regarding this historic survey.

Leaving India: My Family's Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents Apr 02, 2009

In this groundbreaking work, Hajratwala mixes history, memoir, and reportage to explore the questions facing not only her own Indian family but that of every immigrant: Where did we come from? Why did we leave? What did we give up and gain in the process?

A Visionary Look at the Evolution and Future of India Apr 01, 2009

Nilekani, Co-Chairman of Infosys, was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2006 and Forbes Businessman of the Year in 2007. In his new book Imagining India, he discusses the future of the subcontinent and its role as a global citizen and emerging economic giant.

Defusing Armageddon: Inside NEST, America's Secret Nuclear Bomb Squad Mar 25, 2009

Relying on recently declassified documents, Richelson--Senior Fellow with the National Security Archive--reveals how NEST operated during the Cold War, how the agency has evolved, and its current efforts to reduce the chance of a nuclear device decimating an American city.

Cali Cali -- Three Lives from LA Mar 19, 2009

Three emerging women writers discuss using nontraditional forms for an unconventional city, writing a polyvocal landscape for a polyvocal world, publishing with an independent press, and why women write LA better than anybody.

Tao Te Ching: An Illustrated Journey Mar 18, 2009

A renowned scholar and translator offers a unique adaptation of the greatest passages from two ancient successors to Lao-tzu, illuminated by his own poetic commentary.

Cutting for Stone: A Novel Mar 16, 2009

A bestselling nonfiction author and renowned physician makes the leap to fiction with this epic tale that spans three continents and five decades, from a convent in India to a cargo ship bound for Yemen; from an operating room in Ethiopia to a hospital in the Bronx.

Green to the Street: The Future of Pershing Square Mar 11, 2009

Is Pershing Square a study in failed urban design? What would it take to bring it back? Could we take lessons from New York City's beloved Bryant Park? Join us for a discussion on the future of what was once one of the most vibrant and elegant public spaces in downtown Los Angeles.

The Eco-Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers, and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet Mar 10, 2009

A Pulitzer Prize-winning author reveals the inspiring and largely untold stories of the country's foremost environmental conservationists, activists, and visionaries.

An Insomniac's Slant on Sleep Mar 09, 2009

Deftly weaving memoir and wide-ranging scientific investigation, a life-long insomniac guides us through the hidden terrain of a devastating and little understood condition.

Fresh Approaches to Branding and Marketing Mar 05, 2009

Resnick, who is one of Working Woman's Top 50 U.S. Women Business Owners began her career at the age of 19, when she founded a full-service advertising agency. She is behind the marketing success of brands such as POM Wonderful, Fiji Water and Teleflora. She and her husband Stewart also own Paramount Farms and Paramount Citrus Companies, making them the largest farmers of tree crops in the U.S.

The Domestic Drama: Novel Form or Formula? Mar 04, 2009

American novelists are preoccupied with the tale of our (mostly dysfunctional) families. Unfortunately, contrary to Tolstoy's famous assertion, a lot of these unhappy families are starting to seem exactly alike. Two acclaimed novelists discuss ways to tell a true, new, enduring story of our most prized institution.

Between Fountainheads Feb 25, 2009

New Yorker veteran Weschler discusses what it has been like, the past several decades, to be serving as Boswell simultaneously to two seemingly diametrically opposite giants of the contemporary art scene, Robert Irwin and David Hockney.

When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies in the Age of Global Economic Change Feb 24, 2009

Global investment guru El-Erian is published widely on international economics and financial topics, has served as Managing Director of Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup in London and has enjoyed a 15-year career at the International Monetary Fund. He previously served as President and CEO of Harvard Management Company and as a member of the faculty of Harvard Business School.

Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran Feb 23, 2009

A longtime Middle East correspondent for Time Magazine-now living in Tehran-- offers a stunning and unforgettable window into the maelstrom of Iranian life and gives voice to the Iranian psyche.

Sailing Home: Using the Wisdom of Homer's Odyssey Feb 19, 2009

Fischer, a poet and well-known Zen teacher, deftly incorporates Buddhist, Judaic, and Christian thought-as well as his own unique understanding of life-into this reinterpretation of Homer's ancient story.

How We Decide Feb 12, 2009

The author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist and creator of the Frontal Cortex blog draws on cutting-edge research and the real-world experience of a wide range of \"deciders\" to arm us with the tools we need to think harder (and smarter) about how we think.

Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life Feb 05, 2009

Why have we evolved positive emotions like gratitude, amusement, awe and compassion? Keltner, professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, offers a profound study of how emotion is the key to living the good life.

The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet Feb 04, 2009

The bestselling author and director of the world-famous Hayden Planetarium chronicles America's irrational love affair with Pluto, man's best celestial friend

The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the Twenty-Five Years After 50 Feb 03, 2009

A renowned sociologist challenges the still-prevailing and anachronistic images of aging, tracing the ways in which wisdom, experience, and new learning inspire individual growth and cultural transformation.

The Element: A New View of Human Capacity Jan 29, 2009

The author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative overcame polio to become one of the world's leaders in the development of creativity in business, education and human resources. Hear him hold forth on the potential and capacity of truly \"human\" resources.

Wallace Stegner & the Shaping of Environmental Consciousness in the West Jan 28, 2009

A distinguished panel explores the legacy of one of the West's most influential writers, who fought for protection of the region's delicate environment as well as recognition of a Western regional base and influenced generations of environmental writers.

How to Live: A Search for Wisdom From Old People (While They Are Still on This Earth) Jan 27, 2009

In his newest book, the Thurber-prize winning author interviews elder celebrities (among them Norman Mailer and LSD pioneer Ram Dass), reads deathbed confessions, Lao Tzu, William Burroughs' diaries, and considers the latest medical research on the brain as part of his quest to glean wisdom from the old (and wise) among us.

Thinking About Earthquakes: A Panel Discussion Jan 22, 2009

It's been 15 years since the 1994 quake. Is L.A. more prepared for the next one? Are WE? A panel of experts air their views: Mariana Amatullo, director, The L.A. Earthquake: Get Ready project at Art Center College of Design; Michael Dear, Professor of Geography and Urban Planning at USC; Lucy Jones, Caltech and USGS seismologist; Dennis Mileti, Director of the University of Colorado Natural Hazards Center; David Ulin, author, The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction and the Fault Line Between Reason and Faith.

EMBERS: A Jazz Opera in Poems Jan 21, 2009

A female boxer, a madwoman stuck in Purgatory, and an irreverent angel meet across space and time to explore redemption and forgiveness in this concert reading of a work-in-progress adapted from Wolverton's novel-in-poems. Cherry plays keyboards and conducts a jazz quartet to accompany the actors who will bring to life the poetry and song. Performed by: D'Lo, Marisol de Jesus, O-Lan Jones, Phil Meyer, Cesili Williams and David Ornette Cherry with Organic Roots: Justo Almario, reeds; Ollie Elder Jr., bass; Don Littleton, drums, percussion.

Gentrification, Neo-Feudalism, and the Colonists on Your Block: The Real Costs of a Latte Jan 15, 2009

Things I've Been Silent About: A Memoir in Moments Jan 14, 2009

The author of Reading Lolita in Tehran uses her life to transform the way we see the world and to \"remind us of why we read in the first place.\"

The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution Jan 07, 2009

Combining two fascinating and contentious disciplines -- art and evolutionary science -- a philosopher, professor and founder/editor of the popular Arts & Letter Daily, argues that human tastes in art are shaped by Darwinian selection.

Out of Exile: The Abducted and Displaced People of Sudan Dec 11, 2008

Decades of conflicts and persecution have driven millions from their homes in all parts of the northeast African country of Sudan. Many thousands more have been enslaved as human spoils of war. Writers and surprise guests read alongside Sudanese refugees who recount their lives before their displacement, the reasons for their flight, and their hopes of someday returning home.

The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia Dec 10, 2008

Miller, book critic and co-founder of salon.com, fell in love with the Narnia books as a child. In this intellectual adventure story, she returns to Lewis' classic fantasies to see what mysteries Narnia still holds for adult eyes.

Creative Capitalism: A Conversation with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Other Economic Leaders Dec 09, 2008

Meet Michael Kinsley...TIME magazine columnist, and noted journalist who discussed his just-released book, Creative Capitalism at the ALOUD Business Forum in December. Nothing short of a revolution in thinking, Creative Capitalism is a collection of interviews and essays with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and other key financial figures discussing the need to reinvent capitalism to benefit the world's poorest citizens. The book is intended to fuel debate, raise questions and inspire action. Kinsley was for many years the editor of The New Republic, host of CNN's Crossfire and founded Slate, the nation's first online magazine. He also served as the editorial page editor for The Los Angeles Times.

An Evening of Spoken Word and Cello Dec 08, 2008

Selected readings from Marisela Norte's debut collection of poetry, Peeping Tom Tom Girl, performed by long time friends and collaborators Norte y Gaitan.

Poetry Reading and Panel Discussion Part II Dec 04, 2008

Three distinctive voices in contemporary American poetry read their work and engage in an informal group discussion on their craft.

Poetry Reading and Panel Discussion Part I Dec 04, 2008

Three distinctive voices in contemporary American poetry read their work and engage in an informal group discussion on their craft.

Philanthrocapitalism Nov 20, 2008

After building two Fortune 500 companies from the ground up, Eli Broad is devoting his full time and attention to philanthropy that uses entrepreneurship to advance the public good in education, science and the arts. In his book, Philanthrocapitalism, Matthew Bishop and co-author Michael Green examine how social investors, such as Broad, are using business acumen to reshape the way charitable giving is taking place.

An Evening with Toni Morrison Nov 19, 2008

In 1993, the Nobel committee lauded Toni Morrison \"who, in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.\" Come celebrate this magnificent author and her new novel, A Mercy.

Alphabet Juice Nov 13, 2008

America's funnyman celebrates the electricity, the juju, the breeding, the sonic and kinetic energies of letters and their combinations, reminding us that "every time you use disinterested to mean uninterested, an angel dies."

ALOUD Science Series: On Seeing and Being - Seeing the Divine Nov 10, 2008

How, in this age of scientific rationalism, can we begin to understand religious visions and mystical experiences--now being reported by a growing number of people on the nightly news, across the internet, and by word-of-mouth? Dr. Lisa Bitel and Dr. Michael A. Arbib discuss visions from the Middle Ages to today, especially the tensions between cultural, spiritual, and neurological explanations for extraordinary sights, and consider new ways to understand these mysterious phenomena.Made possible by a generous contribution from K&L Gates

Building Experiences Nov 06, 2008

Considered one of the top 100 influential people in Southern California (Los Angels Times), Tim Leiweke is a visionary leader at the forefront of change in downtown Los Angeles, creating a dining and entertainment district with Staples Center and LA Live. The collection of companies owned or operated by AEG are considered to be one of the world's leading presenters of sports and entertainment programming.

Writing the World Nov 06, 2008

Discussing Hebrew, Polish, and Irish writers, four of the world's best known poets examine how local politics, national realities, and cultural traditions affect great literary traditions.

Is Reality Overrated? Oct 30, 2008

Two fiction writers discuss what's real, what's not, and whether or not it really matters.

Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief Oct 28, 2008

A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian (Battle Cry of Freedom) offers a revelatory portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured.

Home: A Novel Oct 23, 2008

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author returns to the locale of her novel Gilead in a moving and healing book about love, death, faith, families, and the passing of the generations.

The China Lover Oct 21, 2008

In his enthralling new novel, Buruma- an expert on modern Asia-uses the life of the starlet Yoshiko Yamaguchi as a lens through which to understand the contradictions and complexities of modern Japanese history.

The Zookeeper's Wife Oct 20, 2008

The true story of the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, who, with extraordinary courage, compassion, and calm under pressure, managed to save hundreds of people from Nazi hands.

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Railway Bazaar Oct 15, 2008

The writer who virtually invented the modern travel narrative returns-30 years later-to the changed landscape of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, India, China, Japan, and Siberia.

Unintended Consequences: How the Iraq War Hurt America and Helped Its Enemies Oct 07, 2008

A leading authority on Iraq-and architect of the partition plan endorsed by both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates and many members of Congress-reports on the real consequences of the U.S. invasion.

The Photographer and His City Oct 07, 2008

The photographer whose photographs serve as visual records for this city's dramatic evolution discusses his life and creative process. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Julius Shulman's Los Angeles, at the Central Library's Getty Gallery October 6, 2007-January 20, 2008

Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries Oct 06, 2008

A call to arms to every voter to remember what it means to live in a free democracy, and a reminder that it's possible for ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things-to get inspired and make a difference on their own.

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family Oct 01, 2008

A historian and legal scholar tells the compelling saga of the Hemings family, whose close blood ties to our third president have been systemically expunged from American history until very recently.

Forgotten Histories: Two Novelists in Conversation Sep 28, 2008

Two Los Angeles-based novelists explore the rise and fall of human lives in their brilliant fictions.

Left in Dark Times: A Stand Against the New Barbarism Sep 25, 2008

One of the world's leading intellectuals revisits his political roots, scrutinizes the totalitarianisms of the past, as well as those on the horizon, and argues powerfully for a new political and moral vision for our times.

Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency Sep 23, 2008

A Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter parts the curtains of secrecy to show how and why Dick Cheney operated and reflects on the legacy Cheney and the Bush administration as a whole will leave as they exit office.

Truth on the Ground in a Time of War: A Conversation Between Foreign Correspondents Sep 18, 2008

Two pre-eminent war correspondents offer a visceral understanding of America's overseas involvement-from the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan to the heat of the battle in Iraq, from Marine battalions in Ramadi to ordinary Iraqis whose voices have remained eerily silent.

Crime: A Novel Sep 17, 2008

Detective Inspector Ray Lennox of the Edinburgh P.D., on leave for mental, finds himself in the underbelly of American party culture. A macabre and unorthodox thriller by the author of Trainspotting.

The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British Sep 16, 2008

A reporter in the New York Times London bureau offers a hilarious and incisive look at her adopted home. \"Lyall will now be hailed as one of England's supreme analysts, preparatory to her being executed on Tower Green.\" (Clive James)

Violence Sep 10, 2008

A philosopher and cultural critic-whose thought challenges traditional trajectories- takes on the signal issue of violence and inverts our pre-conceived and popular notions about its causes.

Obscene in the Extreme: the Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" Sep 04, 2008

Coinciding with Banned Books Week is the revelatory story behind the 1939 burning and banning of Steinbeck's book in Kern County, Calif., home of the fictional Joads.

Los Angeles Without the Los Angeles Times? Aug 14, 2008

A Community Forum & Panel Discussion

RADIO ALOUD: A Library of the Airwaves Aug 07, 2008

This pilot radio program (never broadcast) is comprised of excerpts from three ALOUD programs: a December 13, 2005 conversation between \"Six Feet Under\" writer/producer Alan Ball and writer/funeral director Thomas Lynch; a public talk on April 2, 2003 by playwright August Wilson, recipient of the 2003 Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award; and an April 4, 2005 poetry reading by W.S. Merwin. Guest Host: Alfred Molina. Co-produced by Louise Steinman and Johanna Cooper

Marinating in Ghetto Air: Writing and Transformation at Homeboy Industries Jul 23, 2008

Featuring readings by Homeboy poets, on the deep impact creative writing can have on liberating formerly involved gang members.

Photographer on the Battlefield: A Photo Lecture Jul 22, 2008

Please note, this program was presented in conjunction with a photo slide show. The slide show portion of the discussion is not included in this podcast. The longtime photojournalist for the L.A. Times, who has traveled the world documenting conflict, discusses his war photography in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as work on the project \"Altered Oceans,\" for which he shared the 2007 Pulitzer Prize.

The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics Jul 17, 2008

The inside account-with a wild cast of characters- of the battle over the true nature of black holes with nothing less than our understanding of the entire universe at stake.

Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror . . . A Public Defender's Inside Account Jul 16, 2008

An account of the legal struggles of two men whose civil liberties were compromised as a result of the US government's counterterrorism measures employed post-9/11 and how their experiences affect us all.

My Name is Will Jul 09, 2008

Bardologists will love this wildly imaginative farce- think \"Shakespeare in Love\" on magic mushrooms-by the co-founder of The Reduced Shakespeare Company.

Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World's Frontlines Jun 30, 2008

A long-time community arts advocate recounts the efforts of artists world-wide (from Soweto to Belgrade to Watts) to resolve conflict, heal unspeakable trauma, give voice to the forgotten and disappeared, and re-stitch the cultural fabric of their communities.

Newer Poets XIII Jun 26, 2008

This annual poetry reading for local voices introduces a cross-section of lively, talented writers who are making an impression in the Los Angeles poetry community.

Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West Jun 24, 2008

The politically charged story of the wild horse in the American West, from its origins in North America to its life today, as government and lone operators with automatic weapons seek to clear it from the range.

Undiscovered Jun 18, 2008

First time author and three-time Oscar nominated actress (An Officer and a Gentleman, Terms of Endearment, and Shadowlands), Winger reflects upon her pursuit of a life beyond acting, converting her star status into a life filled with meaning.

ALOUD Science Series: On Seeing and Being - The Body Has a Mind of Its Own Jun 17, 2008

How does your mind know where your body ends and the outside world begins? Two acclaimed science writers discuss the largely unconscious ways that your brain builds maps of your body parts, your movements, the space around your body, the actions of others, and the sensations that lead to human emotions, health and disease.Made possible by a generous contribution from K&L Gates

The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and weakened America Jun 12, 2008

One of America's most admired journalists offers a manifesto for enlightened reform of the nation's military-industrial complex.

Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire Jun 11, 2008

A page-turning chronicle of the rise of the secretive think tank--born in the wake of World War II--that has been the driving force behind American government for the last half-century.

All You Can Eat: Panel Discussion Jun 09, 2008

Rising concerns over food safety and the environmental impact of industrialized agriculture suggest that the true costs of \"cheap\" calories are unsustainably high. As our food economy fast approaches its limits, California's innovative food community offers hope and a salad bar full of possible solutions.

Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America Jun 04, 2008

A candid account of a year in the life of four TFA recruits at Locke High School in South Central L.A. as they attempt to fulfill their mission to overcome the inequities in our educational system.

The Garden of Last Days Jun 03, 2008

The author of House of Sand and Fog offers a new novel that explores sex and parenthood, honor and masculinity.

The Bishop's Daughter May 29, 2008

An acclaimed poet offers an unsparing portrait of her father-a civil rights leader and Episcopalian bishop of New York City- that explores the consequences of sexual secrets on one American family.

The Story of a Marriage May 28, 2008

Greer (The Confessions of Max Tivoli) looks at the climate of repression in 1950s America and asks how far we are willing to go to escape that which confines us.

ALOUD Science Series: On Seeing and Being - "What Do You See?" May 21, 2008

How do our brains construct a world from a confounding and often conflicting mass of visual cues? According to Koch, professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology at Caltech, understanding how we see helps us understand how we arrive at a sense of a conscious "self."This series made possible by a generous contribution from K&L Gates.

The Post-American World May 20, 2008

\"This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else,\" begins the new work by Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International and one of our most distinguished thinkers.

The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport May 14, 2008

After a 32-year absence, the bestselling author and popular Miami Herald columnist returns to the fairways-with hilarious consequences.

The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama May 13, 2008

Drawn from a three-decades-long conversation with the Dalai Lama, Iyer's book explores the hidden life, the singular thinking, and the daily challenges of a global icon.

Notes on a Life May 08, 2008

Coppola-award-winning documentary filmmaker, artist, wife and mother-employs the same insight and wit as she used in her Notes on the Making of Apocalypse Now to this account of the next chapters in her life.

Bowl of Cherries May 06, 2008

McSweeney's, publisher of the young and hip, brings us a debut novel of breadth, glee and sharp consequence by a 90-year-old ex-Marine who is also a two-time screenwriting Oscar nominee (\"Bad Day at Black Rock\") and co-creator of Mr. Magoo.

An Afternoon with Larry McMurtry May 01, 2008

Larry McMurtry-Pulitzer prize-winning novelist, Academy Award-winning, screenwriter, essayist, and bookseller-will receive the 2008 Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award on April 30. As part of the tradition of the Literary Award, the recipient delivers a free public lecture. Join Mr. McMurtry for an afternoon of insights into his work and his life. \"No other author has so thoroughly and delightfully debunked the ill-advised romanticism of the American West. An American landmark in the world of fiction.\" (Jami Edwards, on Bookreporter.com).

Our Story Begins Apr 28, 2008

One of America's \"most exquisite storytellers\" (Esquire), a master of the memoir and the short story, reads from and discusses his first collection in over a decade.

The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century Apr 16, 2008

The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the bestseller Ghost Wars presents the story of the Bin Laden family's rise to power and privilege, revealing how American influences changed the family and how one member's rebellion changed America.

BONK: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex Apr 15, 2008

Few things are as fundamental to human happiness as satisfying sex. America's funniest science writer (Stiff) offers an ode to a fascinating and vital pursuit and a reminder that there is still much to learn.

Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet Apr 07, 2008

From the author of the bestseller The End of Poverty, a vivid map of the road to sustainable and equitable global prosperity and an augury of the global economic collapse that lies ahead if we don't follow it.

The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature Apr 01, 2008

Rosen, novelist and New York Times contributor, sets out to explore birdwatching's centrality--historical and literary, spiritual and scientific--to a culture torn between the desire both to conquer and to conserve.

The Golden Road: Notes on My Gentrification Mar 27, 2008

Millner, a young African-American woman, grew up in predominantly Hispanic and working class San Jose and went on to Harvard. In her memoir she tours the landscapes of possibility carved by race, class and culture for young Americans.

Lush Life: A Novel Mar 25, 2008

From a great American realist-the author of Clockers and co-writer of The Wire-an X-ray of the streets of New York City in the age of no \"broken windows\" and \"quality of life\" police squads.

The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Mar 19, 2008

In the years between World War II and the emergence of television as a mass medium, American popular culture was first created in the pulpy, boldly illustrated pages of comic books. Join us for a discussion of the lost world of comic books, their creativity, irreverence, and suspicion of authority.

The Senator's Wife Mar 18, 2008

In her new novel, the author of the now classic The Good Mother and While I Was Gone brings emotional power to her most transfixing themes: the meaning of loyalty, history, forgiveness and grace.

Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East Mar 13, 2008

Drawing on 35 years of reporting-through wars, revolutions and uprisings-one of America's most prescient journalists offers an insightful reckoning of the changes wracking the Middle East and their impact on its and America's future.

The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa Mar 12, 2008

Seeking a place where his deafness would be irrelevant, Josh Swiller volunteered for the Peace Corps and spent two years in a remote and impoverished village in Zambia. His hilarious and harrowing memoir recounts what he found there.

The Enigma of Iran (or Why American Policy-makers Should Read More Fiction) Mar 06, 2008

Iran, as any civilization, is defined most thoroughly by the stories it spawns. Join us for a candid conversation between novelist Gina Nahai (Caspian Rain) and Robert Scheer (editor-in-chief, Truthdig.com and host of KCRW's Left, Right and Center) about faith, modernism, and the emotional ties that bind the people of Iran and America.

The Dancer and the Thief (El Baile de la Victoria) Mar 05, 2008

The prize-winning novelist (Il Postino)-for whom "neither life nor literature outside politics" is imaginable-sets his exuberant love story against the backdrop of the new Chile, free from the Pinochet dictatorship but prey to the perils of globalization.

Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World Feb 27, 2008

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author reveals the powerful legacy of the incomparable humanitarian who lost his life in a terrorist attack on UN Headquarters in Iraq in 2003.

The Age of American Unreason Feb 26, 2008

From the author of Freethinkers, a dazzlingly insightful-and occasionally hilarious-analysis of the anti-rationalism, anti-intellectualism, and anti-scientism that increasingly characterizes the cultural and intellectual life of this country.

Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times Feb 20, 2008

The two-term mayor of San Francisco and longest-serving speaker of the California Assembly lays down some candid rules about surviving and manipulating Big Money and Big Media in today's politics.

When the Personal Becomes Political Feb 19, 2008

The acclaimed poet and columnist for The Nation discusses her new book of essays dealing with sex, death, ex-lovers, politics, motherhood, aging, and learning to drive.

The Flowers: A Novel Feb 13, 2008

From one of this country's most original voices comes a masterful new novel about a young Mexican-American who falls in love while sweeping the decks of an apartment building named The Flowers. In the midst of exploding racial violence, he must decide what he values and what he can do about it.

In Defense of Food Feb 11, 2008

The author of the national bestseller The Omnivore's Dilemma returns with a manifesto for our times: what to eat, what not to eat, and how to think about health.

The Commoner: A Novel Feb 06, 2008

The author of Reservation Road sets his mesmerizing new novel in 1959 Japan when Haruko, a non-aristocratic woman, marries the Crown Prince and enters the sealed-off and mysterious Japanese monarchy.

Swimming in a Sea of Death: A Son's Memoir Feb 05, 2008

The author's mother, Susan Sontag, died of a particularly acute form of leukemia in 2004. \"This,\" he writes, \"is a book of questions about what we know and, perhaps more importantly, what we can take in when confronted by the death of a loved one.\"

A Force of Nature: The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford Jan 30, 2008

The award-winning historian offers a new intellectual biography of the twentieth century's greatest experimental physicist, whose revolutionary discoveries included the orbital structure of the atom.

The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance Jan 29, 2008

Drawing on more than 6,000 pages of Leonardo's surviving notebooks, Capra reveals Leonardo-whose studies ranged from the flight patterns of birds to the mechanics of light-as the unacknowledged \"father of science.\"

The Height of Ambition: New Development Downtown Jan 23, 2008

Key voices in the development of downtown Los Angeles discuss their visions for the future.

Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal Jan 17, 2008

In his explosive new book, Kennedy--a Harvard law scholar--shows how current fears of \"selling out\" are expressed in thought and practice and clarifies the effect they have on individuals and on American society as a whole.

Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again Jan 16, 2008

Frum-former speechwriter for President Bush-argues that Republicans, like the Democrats before them, have been the victims of their own success. He outlines a fresh vision of a GOP that can rebuild the conservative majority and elect the next Republican president.

Creating a World without Poverty Jan 15, 2008

What if you could harness the power of the free market to solve the problems of poverty, hunger, and inequality? To some, it sounds impossible. But the Nobel Peace Prizewinner who invented micro-credit is doing exactly that. Yunus's \"Next Big Idea\" offers a pioneering model for nothing less than a new, more humane form of capitalism.

The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved Jan 10, 2008

In her unconventional biography, Freeman illuminates the psyche and mystery of Chandler and his relationship with his much older wife as well as the City of Angels, to which Chandler's work is forever wed.

Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves Jan 09, 2008

Slaves harvest cocoa in Ivory Coast, make charcoal used to produce steel in Brazil, weave carpets in India. The list goes on. Bales recounts his 15-year journey in search of real world solutions to ending slavery. Bales will introduce special guest Maria Suarez, an immigrant victim of sex trafficking.

An Evening with Poet Robert Hass Dec 03, 2007

Known also as an essayist, translator, and activist on behalf of poetry, literacy, and the environment, the former United States Poet Laureate (1995-1997) is a poet of great eloquence, clarity, and force. About Hass's work, poet Stanley Kunitz wrote, \"Reading a poem by Robert Hass is like stepping into the ocean when the temperature of the water is not much different from that of the air. You scarcely know, until you feel the undertow tug at you, that you have entered into another element.\"

Cleopatra's Nose: 39 Varieties of Desire Nov 28, 2007

The longtime New Yorker writer--who once spent an evening with Jackie Onassis, smoking cigarettes and talking about men--culls from 20 years of probing and delightful cultural critiques of fashion, its personages, trends and history, to celebrate the lasting significance of its ephemeral qualities.

Lost and Found: Writing in the Woods Nov 27, 2007

Two writers discuss their experiences writing at the historic MacDowell Colony then read from work begun or completed there. www.macdowellcolony.org

Theories of Everything Nov 26, 2007

The New Yorker cartoonist who can explain phenomena such as \"The Museum of One's Kitchen\" (including the Refrigerator Door Gallery and the Cabinet of Many Teas) recently collaborated with Steve Martin on The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z.

Memorial Reading for Mutanabbi Street Nov 19, 2007

On March 5, 2007, a car bomb exploded on Mutanabbi Street, the lively center of Baghdad bookselling, filled with bookstores, cafes, and book stalls. 30 people were killed; more than 100 were wounded. Join poets and writers to memorialize this wounding of Baghdad's literary and intellectual heart.

An Evening with Poet Galway Kinnell Nov 15, 2007

In the 2003 National Book Award judges' citation for his New Selected Poems, Kinnell was called \"America's preeminent visionary,\" with work in 12 collections that, \"greets each new age with rapture and abundance ... [and] sets him at the table with his mentors: Rilke, Whitman and Frost.\"

A Free Life Nov 14, 2007

In this new novel by the National Book Award-winning author of Waiting, an Ã©migrÃ© Chinese writer opens a restaurant in Atlanta in a daunting attempt to find his voice as a poet, support his family, and realize the American Dream.

Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans & Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America Nov 13, 2007

The iconoclastic Los Angeles Times columnist discusses how the mestizo legacy of Mexican-Americans, the largest immigrant group in the country's history, will forever change how Americans think about race and ethnicity.

A Life Decoded Nov 08, 2007

A riveting account of the unparalleled drama of the quest for the human genome by the scientist who went on to be the first to read and interpret his own genome.

Psychogeography: Disentangling the Modern Conundrum of Psyche and Place Nov 01, 2007

Evoking places as far flung as Iowa and India, Self-cultural provocateur, writer and long distance walker-teamed with legendary Gonzo illustrator Ralph Steadman to explore the intimate effects of geographical environment on human emotion and behavior.

The Principles of Uncertainty: Illustrations, Parables, Films Oct 30, 2007

The illustrator, author and designer-known for her many New Yorker covers (including the famous map of \"Newyorkistan\")-contends with existential questions like: \"What is identity?\" \"Why do we fight wars?\" \"Why do hearts break in February and why do some people have a hankering for a dodo sandwich?\" Note: you are encouraged to wear your favorite hat to this program.

The Conscience of a Liberal Oct 29, 2007

Today's most widely read economist weaves together a nuanced account of three generations of history with sharp political, social, and economic analysis.

The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century Oct 24, 2007

The New Yorker's brilliant music critic takes us inside the labyrinth of modern sound, from Vienna before World War I to New York City in the seventies. Through experiments, revolutions, riots, and friendships forged and broken-come listen to a history of the twentieth century through its music.

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain Oct 23, 2007

\"The poet laureate of medicine\" (New York Times) examines the complexities of our response to music and the particular powers of music to move us physically and emotionally, beneficially or destructively, showing how we humans are a musical species no less than a linguistic one.

Hotel de Dream: A New York Novel Oct 22, 2007

The acclaimed memoirist, author, and biographer of Jean Genet conjures the true-life love affair between author Stephen Crane and the woman known as his wife.

The American Idea Oct 18, 2007

For 150 years, The Atlantic Monthly has explored what its founders-including Emerson, Longfellow and Holmes-called \"The American Idea.\" Join us for a high-spirited discussion with celebrated Atlantic contributors about the role literary masters have played in interpreting and often rebuking American society and culture.

The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America Oct 16, 2007

The Pulitzer Prize- winning author of Stiffed and Backlash examines the post-9/11 outpouring in the media, popular culture, and political life and offers a fiercely original view of ourselves, our history, and the future we may unwittingly be creating.

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court Oct 02, 2007

Based on exclusive interviews with Supreme Court Justices themselves and other insiders, The Nine is a timely and provocative report on America's most elite legal institution by The New Yorker's legal correspondent.

No Simple Victory: Europe at War 1939-1945 Sep 27, 2007

One of the world's preeminent scholars of World War II history, author of the bestselling Europe: A History and Rising '44, offers a clear-eyed reappraisal and an illuminating portrait of a conflict that continues to provoke debate today.

COOL IT: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming Sep 24, 2007

A highly respected statistical analyst of climate discusses why and how he believes the debate over climate change, fueled by politicians and the media, has stifled rational dialogue and marginalized meaningful dissent.

Two Actors, Two Authors, Two Lives Sep 18, 2007

Alda and Farrell, former co-stars of M*A*S*H, both authors of recent memoirs, re-unite to discuss art, activism, family, money, and fame.

The Book of Psalms: A Conversation Sep 17, 2007

Robert Alter's translation of \"The Five Books of Moses\" was hailed as a \"godsend\" by poet Seamus Heaney. He discusses with Kirsch, also a Biblical scholar, his new translation of the timeless Book of Psalms.

Nell Freudenberger and Jennifer Gilmore Sep 10, 2007

Gilmore's Golden Country vividly brings to life the intertwining stories of three immigrants seeking their fortunes. In Freudenberger's The Dissident, a performance artist/political activist collides with a wealthy Beverly Hills family. In these extraordinary first novels, family dynamics and cultures in collision are limned with hilarity and wisdom.

An Evening with Graphic Designer Chip Kidd Jul 25, 2007

Kidd’s book jacket designs for Alfred A. Knopf (where he has worked since 1986) have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. “The history of book design can be split into two eras: before graphic designer Chip Kidd and after.” (Time Out New York) Presented on the occasion of the exhibition “Dancing by the Light of the Moon: The Art of Fred Marcellino” in Central Library’s Getty Gallery.

Parts Per Million: The Poisoning of Beverly Hills High School Jul 24, 2007

An unsettling and timely investigation into the ties between Beverly Hills, its oil wells, and a local cancer cluster. A compelling legal drama by a journalist and member of the Beverly Hills High School class of '71.

God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything Jun 04, 2007

\"America's foremost literary pugilist\" (Village Voice) offers an elegantly argued case against all religions.

The Pest House May 23, 2007

On a devastated, lawless American continent, families have only one hope: passage on a ship to Europe. A remarkable novel by one of the most inventive novelists writing in English today.

Telling Stories that Matter: A Conversation May 22, 2007

Two California-born writers-one from East L.A. and the other from the Central Valley-discuss their understanding of stories as a way to complicate our views of self, of morality, and of our relationships with the world around us.

Nathan Englander: The Ministry of Special Cases May 21, 2007

From the celebrated author of “For the Relief of Unbearable Urges”, a stunning historical novel—his first—set in Buenos Aires at the start of Argentina’s Dirty War. This program was presented by ALOUD.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider Apr 05, 2007

At age twelve, Beah (now twenty-five), fled attacking rebels in his native Sierra Leone and was picked up by the government army. What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop?

Debating Race Mar 07, 2007

Whether chronicling the class conflict in the African American community or exposing the failings of the government response to Hurricane Katrina, Dyson never shies away from controversy. Join two of America's most astute intellectuals in a discussion about issues that matter.

Between the Sheets: Sex, Literature, and the Future of Erotic Fiction Feb 15, 2007

In a society in which sex is both a major obsession and a major taboo, what is the function of erotic literature? Is there a new receptivity to thinking and writing about the sexual dimension? Join two award-winning American writers for a provocative discussion.

Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present Feb 12, 2007

Oren, recently visiting professor at Harvard and Yale and author of the best-selling Six Days of War - covers 230 years of America's political, military, and intellectual involvement in the Middle East from George Washington to George W. Bush.

A Field Guide to Getting Lost Feb 12, 2007

Solnit-activist and cultural historian-draws on emblematic moments of uncertainty, trust, loss, memory, desire and place in brilliant autobiographical essays exploring how we find ourselves or lose ourselves.

Can Religion and Reason be Reconciled? Jan 25, 2007

Aslan (No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam) and Harris (The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason; Letter to a Christian Nation) square off for the first time to debate the future of religion and its role in society.

House of Meetings Jan 23, 2007

A surprising love story set in 1946 Moscow and a camp in the Arctic Circle by the bestselling author of London Fields.

Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy Jan 16, 2007

What are the deep origins of communal celebration in human biology and culture? Join us for an original and exhilarating look at one of humanity's oldest traditions.

Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir Nov 20, 2006

The inimitable raconteur, essayist, novelist, playwright, historian, critic and screenwriter travels in memory through the arenas of literature, television, film, theater, politics, and international society.

Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills Nov 01, 2006

The creator/executive producer and cast members of HBO's \"Deadwood\" discuss the themes and motivations that run through the series - gold, Custer, betrayal, profanity - and the remarkable accidents of history that created the wildest town in the West.

The Light of Evening: A Novel Oct 24, 2006

The great Irish novelist--known as a pioneer for her frank portrayals of women--discusses her daring new work that explores the unbreakable bond between mother and child. \"O'Brien is a storyteller, an Irish story-teller, one of an ancient tradition of storytellers, people who tell the truth.\" (Thomas Cahill, Los Angeles Times Book Review)

A Writer's Life Oct 05, 2006

Gordon, one of America's master story-tellers, probes the lives of her characters and how the workings of the world- both enormous events and intimate moments-define and change us. She discusses her writing life on the publication of the complete collection of her remarkable short fictions.

The Battle Over Books: Authors & Publishers Take on the Google Books Library Project Jun 12, 2006

A provocative discussion about the competing interests and issues raised by The Google Books Library Project, and whether a universal digital repository of our collective knowledge is in our future. With: Allan Adler, Association of American Publishers; David Drummond, Google; Fontayne Holmes, Los Angeles Public Library; Jonathan Kirsch, author and lawyer, Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School, and Gary Wolf, WIRED Magazine.

Life as Art, Art as Life Jun 08, 2006

Pekar, known for his autobiographical slice-of-life comic book series \"American Splendor\" and author of the just-released Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story discusses artistic strategies and kvetching as a form of \"Outsider Realism\" with Conal, L.A.'s own iconic anti-icon master and guerrilla poster artist.

Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food May 10, 2006

The author of the national bestseller The Omnivore's Dilemma returns with a manifesto for our times: what to eat, what not to eat, and how to think about health.This program was presented by ALOUD.

Tête-à-Tête: Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre May 01, 2006

Rowley, a distinguished biographer and Obst, legendary producer of films such as "Sleepless in Seattle" offers an intimate look at one of the world's most unconventional love stories.

Geraldine Brooks: March: A Novel Feb 22, 2006

Geraldine Brooks - in conversation with Carla Kaplan, Professor of English, USC - is the author of a luminous second novel (after 2001’s acclaimed Year of Wonders) entitled March: A Novel. This book imagines the Civil War experiences of Mr. March, the absent father in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.This program was presented by ALOUD.

Reza Aslan: The Coming Reformation of Islam: A Conversation Feb 02, 2006

Join two brilliant scholars of religion for a fascinating discussion on the internal conflict within Islam over the scope and outcome of the Islamic Reformation.This program was presented by ALOUD in 2006, and the recording from our archive was added to our podcast collection in 2014.

Armistead Maupin: A Night Listener Dec 13, 2005

Armistead Maupin discusses his book, A Night Listener.This program was presented by the Hot Off the Press series.

George Packer: The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq Nov 08, 2005

Packer, award-winning staff writer for The New Yorker, explores the full range of ideas and emotions stirred up by our most controversial foreign-policy venture since Vietnam.This program was presented by ALOUD in 2005, and the recording from our archive was added into our podcast collection in 2014.

Fledgling Nov 02, 2005

Butler, one of the world's great science fiction writers, explores the limits of "otherness" in her new novel-the story of a young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion.

Jane Smiley: Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel Sep 22, 2005

Two great writers celebrate the novel—from the 1,000 year-old Tale of Genji to Zadie Smith’s recent bestseller White Teeth; from classics to little-known gems.This program was presented by ALOUD.

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana Jun 18, 2005

While he can remember the plot of every book he's ever read, the hero of Eco's raucous new novel no longer knows his own name.

An evening with poet W.S.Merwin Apr 04, 2005

In a career spanning five decades, W.S. Merwin, lauded poet, translator, and environmental activist, has become one of the most widely read poets in America.

The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy and the End of the Republic Feb 18, 2004

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