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.
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."
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 mo...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
Panel discussion with author Ben Ehrenreich; Barbara Epler, president, New Directions; author Mónica Maristain; and poet-translator David Shook. Moderated 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 2...
In 1983, Granta devoted an entire issue to new fiction by 20 of the "Best of Young British Novelists" and did so again ten 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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?
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.
"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.
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 bor...
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.
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.
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.
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...
