Library Foundation of Los Angeles - Calendar

[ALOUD] at Central Library

Wed, Jul 08, 7:00 PM

RICHARD RAYNER

A Bright & Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption,
and L.A.'s Scandalous Coming of Age

In conversation with David L. Ulin, LA Times Book Editor

[ALOUD] at Central Library

Thu, Jul 09, 7:00 PM

ARIS JANIGIAN

Riverbig: A Novel

In conversation with author Rick Wartzman

"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)

Aris Janigian is author of two novels, Bloodvine, and its sequel, Riverbig. He also co-authored, along with April Greiman, Something from Nothing, a book on the philosophy of design. He was a contributing writer for WEST, the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, and from 1992-2005 was a Senior Professor of Humanities at the Southern California Institute of Architecture. In 2004 he was a finalist for the William Saroyan International Writing Prize from Stanford University, and in 2006 received the Anahid Literary Award from Columbia University. He lives in Los Angeles, but returns to the Central Valley seasonally to pack and ship wine grapes.

Rick Wartzman is director of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University, an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation and a columnist for BusinessWeek magazine. Previously, he spent two decades as a reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. He is the co-author, with Mark Arax, of The King of California: J. G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire. A bestseller, it was named one of the 10 best nonfiction books of 2003 by the Los Angeles Times and one of the 10 best books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle. It also won, among other honors, a California Book Award and the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing.

[ALOUD] at Central Library

Wed, Jul 15, 7:00 PM

JIM KRUSOE

Erased

In conversation with Michael Silverblatt, host of KCRW's "Bookworm"

[ALOUD] at Central Library

Thu, Jul 16, 7:00 PM

FRANCES DINKELSPIEL

Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California

In conversation with William Deverell, Director, USC-Huntington Institute on the West

Mar Vista Branch Library

Thu, Jul 16, 7:00 PM

LISA SEE

[ALOUD] at Central Library

Tue, Jul 21, 7:00 PM

MICHAEL MALTZAN

The Contemporary City: Urbanism in Flux

In conversation with Christopher Hawthorne, LA Times Architecture Critic

[ALOUD] at Central Library

Thu, Jul 23, 7:00 PM

NOVELLA CARPENTER

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer

In conversation with Evan Kleiman, host, KCRW's "Good Food", restaurateur, and cook book author

Urban and rural collide in this wry inspiring memoir of a woman who turned a vacant lot in downtown Oakland into a thriving farm.

A child of back-to-the-land hippies, Novella Carpenter grew up in rural Idaho and Washington State. She attended the University of Washington in Seattle, majoring in Biology and English. Past careers include: assassin bug handler, book editor, media projectionist, hamster oocyte collector, and most recently, free-lance journalist. Carpenter studied under Michael Pollan at Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism for two years. Her subsequent journalistic work reflects her interests–in farming, food, the environment, and culture. As an Urban Farmer, Carpenter has been cultivating the city for over ten years now, starting with a few chickens, then some bees, until she had a full-blown farm near downtown Oakland.

ghosttownfarm.wordpress.com

Evan Kleiman, renowned owner and executive chef of one of LA's favorite restaurants, Angeli Caffe, and best-selling author of numerous cookbooks, including Cucina Fresca and Pasta Fresca, was the host of "Good Food" on KCRW for over ten years. Kleiman has a rich and varied background in food -- as scholar of Italian cooking and culture, entrepreneur and trend-setter for the popular trattoria concept, avid gardener, and admired teacher and chef -- which has won her the esteem of her culinary colleagues both here and abroad. In addition to her restaurant and writing pursuits, Kleiman also serves on the Board of Directors of the Hollywood Farmers' Market and on the Board of Overseers of The Chef's Collaborative 2000 -- organizations which are devoted to educating the public on issues of sustainability.

[ALOUD] at Central Library

Thu, Jul 30, 7:00 PM

RUBEN MARTINEZ

Visions in the Desert: Searching for Home in the West

An evening of stories and songs by Ruben 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.

Ruben Martinez, an Emmy Award-winning writer and performer, holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature & Writing at Loyola Marymount University. He is the author of Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail. His most recent book, The New Americans, a series of essays on migration and the global era, is the companion to the acclaimed PBS television series of the same name. Martinez was named a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He is also the recipient of a Lannan Foundation fellowship, and a Freedom of Information Award from the American Civil Liberties Union. Among his notable contributions as a journalist in print and broadcast media, he has been a guest commentator on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," was news editor at the L.A. Weekly, and won an Emmy Award as host for the KCET politics and culture series, "Life & Times."

Hailing originally from New Mexico, Joe Garcia has now been an Angelino for close to 30 years. A guitarist with Rock, R & B, Folk, Country and Latin musical roots, he searches for a mystical simplicity in his creative endeavors. His collaboration with Rubén Martinez, in friendship and song, has wound its way through deserts, forests and the neglected corners of empire for close to 10 years.