Aloud @ Los Angeles Public Library

The New York Times bestselling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran returns with a guide for our times, arming readers with a resistance reading list, including selections from James Baldwin to Zora Neale Hurston to Margaret Atwood. How can literature, through its free exchange, affect politics? Drawing on her experiences—from living in the Islamic Republic of Iran to immigrating to the United States—Nafisi seeks to answer this in her galvanizing guide to literature as resistance. Structured as a series of letters to her father, Nafisi explores the most probing questions of our time through the works of Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, and more. Read Dangerously crafts an argument for why, in a genuine democracy, we must engage with the enemy, and how literature can be a vehicle for doing so.  

What if leaving poverty means abandoning your family, and yourself? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Andrea Elliott of The New York Times shares an unforgettable story of a girl whose indomitable spirit is tested by homelessness, poverty, and racism in an unequal America. Elliott’s latest work, Invisible Child, follows eight dramatic years in the life of a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. Dasani was named after the bottled water that signaled Brooklyn’s gentrification and the shared aspirations of a divided city. As Dasani comes of age, the homeless crisis in New York City has exploded and she must guide her siblings through a city riddled by hunger, violence, drug addiction, homelessness, and the monitoring of child protection services. Out on the street, Dasani becomes a fierce fighter to protect the ones she loves. When she finally escapes city life to enroll in a boarding school, she faces an impossible choice between staying back to help her family or mo

Food connects us to our past, to our family, our communities and to each other. As we reflect on the past year, we see how food has brought us strength in the face of adversity. Cooking and sharing a meal is an act of resilience--a promise to gather and share comfort, loss, and joy. Likewise cookbooks empower us to understand and pass on these rituals and recipes. In this conversation with three California-based cookbook authors, we share stories of how diverse food traditions are foundational to our personal and collective histories and are emblematic of how we adapt to a changing world. 

In her stunning and timely new novel, Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage, and of a woman’s resiliency through her relentless errors. Louise Erdrich’s latest novel, The Sentence, asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store’s most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls’ Day, but she simply won’t leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading “with murderous attention,” must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning. 

Historian and writer Jelani Cobb will present a collection of The New Yorker‘s groundbreaking writing on race in America, from stories of endurance and resilience to strength and pain—including work by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Hilton Als, Zadie Smith, and more.  This anthology from the pages of the New Yorker provides a bold and complex portrait of Black life in America, told through stories of private triumphs and national tragedies, political vision and artistic inspiration. It reaches back across a century, with Rebecca West’s classic account of a 1947 lynching trial and James Baldwin’s “Letter from a Region in My Mind” (which later formed the basis of The Fire Next Time), and yet it also explores our current moment, from the classroom to the prison cell and the upheavals of what Jelani Cobb calls “the American Spring.” Bringing together reporting, profiles, memoir, and criticism from writers such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Elizabeth Alexander, Hilton Als, Vinson Cunningh

A celebration of the latest installment of John Freeman’s acclaimed literary journal, featuring some of today’s top writers on the hope and pain of the ever-changing present. Writer and Editor Extraordinaire, John Freeman returns to ALOUD in celebration of the latest installment of his acclaimed literary journal, Freeman’s. This biannual publication explores the subject of change and our ultimate survival (our resilience!), featuring the work of writers Rick Bass, Lana Bastašić, and Lina Mounzer. The Covid-19 pandemic forced many of us to reimagine our homes, work, relationships, and adapt to a new way of life–one with far fewer possibilities for interaction. And yet, in this period of intense isolation, we’ve faced dilemmas which are nearly universal. How to love, to care for aging parents, to find a home, attend to a planet in flux, fight for justice. This vast range of experiences is captured by our greatest storytellers, essayists, and poets, in the new issue of Freeman’s: Change  

Novelist and filmmaker Ruth Ozeki will discuss her brilliantly inventive new novel about loss, growing up, and the resiliency of our relationships to all things with author Aimee Bender. With its blend of sympathetic characters, riveting plot, and vibrant engagement with everything from jazz, to climate change, to our attachment to material possessions, The Book of Form and Emptiness is classic Ruth Ozeki—bold, wise, poignant, playful, humane and heartbreaking.  

Writer and activist, Yusef Salaam, a member of the Exonerated Five will join ALOUD with his memoir, Better, Not Bitter, whose story of resilience and strength is an inspiring call to action. Better Not Bitter is the first time that one of the now Exonerated Five is telling his individual story, in his own words. Yusef writes his narrative: growing up Black in central Harlem in the ’80s, being raised by a strong, fierce mother and grandmother, his years of incarceration, his reentry, and exoneration. Yusef connects these stories to lessons and principles he learned that gave him the power to survive through the worst of life’s experiences. He inspires readers to accept their own path, to understand their own sense of purpose. With his intimate personal insights, Yusef unpacks the systems built and designed for profit and the oppression of Black and Brown people. He inspires readers to channel their fury into action, and through the spiritual, to turn that anger and trauma into a constructive force that li

In this “much-needed dose of delight,” Amy Solomon, a producer of the hit HBO shows Silicon Valley and Barry, shares from her new collection of never-before-seen humor pieces. Inspired by the groundbreaking book Titters: The First Collection of Humor by Women, a showcase of some of the leading female comedians of the 1970s like Gilda Radner, Candice Bergen, and Phyllis Diller, Solomon has curated essays, satire, short stories, poetry, cartoons, and artwork from more than 150 of the biggest female comedians today. Notes from the Bathroom Line highlights the work of women continuing to smash the comedy glass ceiling in this long male-dominated field. Get ready to laugh out loud at ALOUD as Solomon is joined by contributors to the book, including performances by Karen Chee and Emily V. Gordon. Chee is a Brooklyn-based comedian, writer, and actor with Late Night with Seth Meyers and High Maintenance. Gordon, who started out as a masters-level couples and family therapist before a career as a writer and producer,

“Each of us finds our identity within the communities we call home,” writes Terry Tempest Williams in Erosion, a galvanizing new collection of essays that navigates the emotional, geographical, and communal territories of home. Sizing up the assaults on America’s public lands and the erosion of our commitment to the open spaces of democracy, Williams fiercely examines the many forms of erosion we face—of democracy, science, compassion, and trust. From the gutting of sacred lands to Native Peoples of the American Southwest to the undermining of the Endangered Species Act, Williams testifies about the harsh reality of the climate crisis and how our earth—our home—is being torn apart. One of today’s most important writers and conservationists, Williams is the award-winning author of The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks; Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place; and When Women Were Birds. Discussing her new essays, Williams blazes a way forward through dispiriting times to a

One of the world's leading forest ecologists shares from her first book to bring us deeper into her intimate world of trees. In Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, Suzanne Simard traces her journey from growing up in a logging community in the rainforests of British Columbia to her incredible work as a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence. Illuminating how trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life, Simard brings a greater humanity to understanding trees and their connections to one another and to other living things. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls of James Cameron's Avatar) and authors (Richard Powers’ Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Overstory) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. Simard will be in conversation with The New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino, who has investigated many stories of cultural reckoning from youth vaping to sexual as

The award-winning author Vendela Vida’s latest work, We Run the Tides, is a suspenseful and poignant story of female friendship, betrayal, and a mysterious disappearance set in the changing landscape of San Francisco. One day, while two teenage best friends are walking to school, they witness a horrible act—or do they? In Vida’s masterful portrait, the pre-tech boom San Francisco finds its mirror in the changing lives of the teenage girls at the center of this story of innocence lost, the pain of too much freedom, and the struggle to find one's authentic self. Vida, who lives in the Bay Area and is a founding board member of 826 Valencia, the San Francisco writing center for youth, is the author of six books, including Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name and The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty. Join us for a conversation with Vida and  Autumn de Wilde, as they discuss this enigmatic coming-of-age story in all its beauty and confusion. 

The Library Foundation welcomes the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat for a conversation about his latest masterful work. Daniel James Brown’s new World War II saga, Facing the Mountain, follows a special Japanese-American Army unit that overcame brutal odds in Europe. Brown’s unforgettable chronicle is a culmination of his extensive interviews with the families of the protagonists as well as deep archival research. This kaleidoscopic story uncovers the journey of four Japanese-American families and their sons, who volunteered for 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany, and Italy, where they were asked to do the near impossible. Brown is the author of The Indifferent Stars Above and Under a Flaming Sky, which was a finalist for the B&N Discover Great New Writers Award. He was also awarded the ALA’s Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction for The Boys in the Boat. Please join us for an inspiring story of patriotism and courage as Brown illumi

Over the last half-century, the American short has changed dramatically. In a new anthology, the best and most representative contemporary authors are celebrated for their thrilling range of voice, form, and talent. Selected by John Freeman, the editor of his own literary annual of new writing and executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf, this collection brings forward some astonishing work to be regarded in a new light. With rarely anthologized science fiction, horror, and fantasy writers such as Ursula K. LeGuin, Ken Liu, and Stephen King, next to some of the often-taught geniuses of the form—Grace Paley, Toni Cade Bambara, Sandra Cisneros, and Denis Johnson, this wide-reaching collection also includes generally overlooked tales by Dorothy Allison, Charles Johnson, and Toni Morrison. Freeman will share this exciting new treasure trove with ALOUD, as a few of the authors join him for a special reading and conversation.

“Ian is magic. His story is difficult and heartbreaking, but he takes us places we need to go to understand why we must do better,” writes Bryan Stevenson in the forward of Ian Manuel’s new memoir. At fourteen Manuel was sentenced to life without parole for a non-homicide crime. The United States is the only country in the world that sentences thirteen- and fourteen-year-old offenders, mostly youth of color, to life in prison without parole, regardless of the scientifically proven singularities of the developing adolescent brain. My Time Will Come captures the fullness of Manuel’s humanity, as he powerfully testifies about growing up homeless in Central Park Village in Tampa, Florida—a neighborhood riddled with poverty, gang violence, and drug abuse—and of his efforts to rise above his circumstances, only to find himself, partly through his own actions, imprisoned for two-thirds of his life. Manuel shares how he endured the savagery of the United States prison system through his dedication to writing poetry a

In a highly anticipated sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen returns with an exhilarating spy thriller that takes on the global aftermath of the Vietnam War. The Committed follows the Sympathizer, the conflicted double agent, as he seeks refuge in Paris in the 1980s. Both charmed and disturbed by the gritty Paris underworld, the Sympathizer struggles to assimilate into a dominant culture. Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam and raised in America, has long been devoted to exploring Vietnamese American history in his acclaimed work. He is the author of the short story collection The Refugees, the nonfiction book Nothing Ever Dies, and is the editor of an anthology of refugee writing, The Displaced. A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur foundations, Nguyen is a professor of English, American studies, and comparative literature at the University of Southern California. The Library Foundation welcomes Nguyen for a discussion of his fierce, funny, and vis

As our fractured country moves forward after a year of social unrest and political division—how can we work towards inclusion, equity, and real change in our society? In celebration of Zero Discrimination Day, ALOUD is proud to welcome leading activists and academics for a discussion of the intersectional issues of gender, race, and disability rights. We’ll be joined by Jasmine Harris, Professor of Law and Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall Research Scholar at the University of California—Davis. An expert in disability law, antidiscrimination law, and evidence, Harris has published widely in law reviews as well as the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and more. Also joining the conversation, Ruth Colker is a leading scholar in the areas of Constitutional Law and Disability Discrimination. A Distinguished University Professor and Heck Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law at Ohio State, Colker is the author of 16 books and more than 50 articles in law journals. With other special guests to be announced,

In her forties, with two children, a spouse, a dog, a mortgage, and a full-time job as a tenured law professor at Georgetown University, Rosa Brooks decided to become a cop. Despite the extreme personal and professional risks, the liberal academic and journalist served as a reserve police officer between 2016-2020 with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department in order to better understand the usually closed world of policing. In her new book Tangled Up in Blue, Brooks chronicles her experiences of what it’s like inside the “blue wall of silence.” From street shootings and domestic violence calls to the behind-the-scenes police work during Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential inauguration, Brooks presents a revelatory firsthand account of patrolling the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhoods of the nation’s capital. With more and more news of police violence and the outrage of Americans protesting against the corruption and racial disparities in the criminal justice system, Brooks illuminates the com

In a final call to action from a dearly missed champion of democracy, Elijah Cummings’ new posthumously published memoir offers an inspiring lesson of how we can do better in this country. Born and raised in Baltimore, Cummings was the first of his family to attend college. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa and then law school, he began his career of public service in the Maryland House of Delegates. He became the first African-American in Maryland history to be named Speaker Pro Tem before being sworn in as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, where Congressman Cummings proudly represented Maryland’s 7th District until his passing in 2019. Known for his poise, intellect, and influence, Cummings was one of the most respected figures in contemporary politics, serving the people of Baltimore and illustrating the importance of working with—and for—the underdog. Yet in his final years of life, Cummings recognized that democracy was the underdog. We’re Better Than This draws from Cummings’s own lif

The first step towards change, writes journalist and activist Paola Ramos, is for us to recognize who we are. In an empowering new work of reportage, Ramos embarks on a cross-country journey to find the communities of people defining the controversial term, “Latinx.” Many voices—Afrolatino, Indigenous, Muslim, queer, and undocumented, living in large cities and small towns—have been chronically overlooked in how the diverse population of almost sixty million Latinos in the U.S. has been represented. In her debut book, Finding Latinx, Ramos calls to expand our understanding of what it means to be Latino and what it means to be American. A host and correspondent for VICE and VICE News, as well as a contributor to Telemundo News and MSNBC, Ramos was the deputy director of Hispanic media for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and she also served in President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. She’ll be joined in a dynamic conversation with LA Times Audience Engagement Editor Fidel Martinez, who currently