It's the best time of the year...
...LATFOB! Three days of the best book events Southern California has to offer...and we'll be all over it.
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books kicks of on Friday, April 19th with their annual Book Prizes where we'll be in the audience with our fingers crossed for Professor Ivy Pochoda, whose novel "Sing Her Down" is a finalist for the Mystery Prize. Saturday and Sunday are filled with panels, talks, and signings. As usual, we'll be in booth 134 with candy, water, shade, and program info. Anyone who can sit for a bit to relieve Kathryn, we could use you!
Here's a full run-down, by participant:
Alex Espinoza (Faculty)
Gender Bending: Sexuality, Metamorphosis, and Identity in Fiction - Tickets Required
Seeley G. Mudd 124
Saturday, Apr 20
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Event Description
A queer, early-Internet twist on the Manhattan prep school novel; a hilarious nod to 1950s lesbian pulp fiction; and a raw and vulnerable work of brutalist magical autofiction: these stories use humor, wit, and contemporary characters to recreate some of fiction’s oldest storytelling devices. Effortlessly combining struggle and angst with comedy and joy, the authors of these novels have breathed new life into old tropes and given us completely original characters we won’t be able to stop thinking about.
David Ulin (Faculty)
Writing in Public - Tickets Required
Seeley G. Mudd 123
Saturday, Apr 20
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Event Description
Join us for a cross-genre investigation into artists and art-making with two writers at the top of their game. Maggie Nelson’s chronological essays show the writing, thinking, reading, and conversing that occupied her while writing her most well-known books. Likewise, Hari Kunzru’s novel moves back and forth through time, delivering an extraordinary portrait of an artist as he reunites with his past and confronts the world he once loved and left behind.
Sunday, 12pm Signing at MWA Booth #363
City of Fallen Angels: L.A. Noir - Tickets Required
Hoffman Hall, Edison Auditorium
Sunday, Apr 21
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Event Description
A string of mysterious deaths on Catalina Island; a psychological entanglement with a neighbor in Hollywood; two women sucked into a deadly cat-and-mouse chase; a corrupt PR firm protecting the wealthy and depraved: what do they all have in common? The main character: Los Angeles, the reigning queen of noir fiction.
Elizabeth Crane (Faculty)
Fiction: Women (and Men) on the Edge - Tickets Required
Seeley G. Mudd 123
Saturday, Apr 20
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Event Description
One of the wisest characters in these books about the female experience says it best: “Being a woman is a dangerous business.” These gripping, unforgettable stories highlight women (and occasionally men) on the edge: the edge of aging, illness, career path, war, mystery, sanity, and salvation. No matter where you are in life, these stories will touch anyone who has ever felt like a new chapter is about to begin.
Emily Rapp Black (Faculty)
Writing on Grief: The Price We Pay for Love - Tickets Required
Seeley G. Mudd 123
Sunday, Apr 21
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Event Description
Everyone will experience some type of grief in life, but no two people will experience grief the same way. This is why it’s crucial to have writers exploring the topic from all angles–grieving death, identity, love, friendship, purpose, politics, and countless other areas of life. No matter the source of your grief or which part of the process you find yourself in, these stories are sure to offer comfort, insight, inspiration, or catharsis.
Heather Scott Partington (Alum)
Fiction: You Know What They Say About Happy Families - Tickets Required
Taper Hall 201
Saturday, Apr 20
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Event Description
What is that saying about “all happy families?” Spanning different countries, generations, births, deaths, addictions, betrayals, illnesses, triumphs, and everything in between, these four stories honor the wide spectrum of complexities across different families while also suggesting that, no matter the circumstances, most families are probably more alike than they realize.
Ivy Pochoda (Faculty)
Sunday, 12pm Signing at MWA Booth #363
City of Fallen Angels: L.A. Noir - Tickets Required
Hoffman Hall, Edison Auditorium
Sunday, Apr 21
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Event Description
A string of mysterious deaths on Catalina Island; a psychological entanglement with a neighbor in Hollywood; two women sucked into a deadly cat-and-mouse chase; a corrupt PR firm protecting the wealthy and depraved: what do they all have in common? The main character: Los Angeles, the reigning queen of noir fiction.
Jesenia Chavez (Student)
Signing Alegria Bookshop (booth #28)
Saturday 4/20 12:00-1:00pm
Sunday 4/21 3:00-4:00pm
Mag Gabbert (Alum)
reading from 'SEX DEPRESSION ANIMALS'
Poetry Stage
Saturday, Apr 20
4:20 PM - 4:40 PM
Event Description
Mag Gabbert is the author of the full-length poetry collection SEX DEPRESSION ANIMALS (Mad Creek Books, 2023), which was selected by Kathy Fagan as the winner of the 2021 Charles B. Wheeler Prize in Poetry; the chapbook The Breakup, which was selected by Kaveh Akbar as the winner of the 2022 Baltic Writing Residencies Chapbook Award; and the chapbook Minml Poems (Cooper Dillon Books, 2020). Mag’s awards include a Pushcart Prize and a 92NY Discovery Award. She lives in Dallas, Texas and teaches at Southern Methodist University.
Natashia Deon (Alum)
Hell Hath No Fury: Powerful Women in Crime Fiction - Tickets Required
Seeley G. Mudd 123
Saturday, Apr 20
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Event Description
Women have long been the primary consumers of true crime stories, so it was only inevitable for female voices to take center stage in contemporary crime fiction. These female authors and their protagonists take complete control of their narratives, whether they’re reckoning with true crime podcast culture, the legacies of infamous serial killers, the weight of mental health stigmas, or the unbearable sacrifices that often come with speaking up.
Tod Goldberg (Faculty)
Welcome to the Underworld: Crime, Gangsters, and Hitmen - Tickets Required
Seeley G. Mudd 124
Saturday, Apr 20
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Event Description
Welcome to the crime underworld, where gangsters, hitmen, and vigilantes await. These stories showcase humanity at its darkest – the violent, brutal, unforgiving edges of our society – and also at its brightest – the brave, stubborn, unforgettable detectives and heroes willing to stare that darkness straight in its face.
1:00-2pm: Signing books in Booth 363 – Mystery Writers of America