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
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…
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…
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 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.
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…
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…
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.
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…
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…
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…
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.
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…
