Aloud @ Los Angeles Public Library

Literary Los Angeles has always existed apart from our country's publishing capital--3,000 miles apart, to be exact. What does this distance offer writers and book artists? What are the freedoms and the challenges of being outside the traditions and trends of literature? A panel of L.A. writers-authors of fiction, essays, graphic novels, screenplays, and poetry-delve into these questions, considering their impact on both the individual and the community. Part of Pacific Standard Time, Los Angeles Art 1945-1980

In an election year driven by worldwide public demonstrations, congressional stagecraft and conflicting narratives, rhetoric, aesthetics and politics are apt to collide. As part of a 2012 national series, poet-performer Douglas Kearney and artist-activist Edgar Arceneaux of the Watts House Project discuss the political impetus and implications of their work.

What is the power of historical perspective? How can we learn from the past to reform our society of the future? The late historian Tony Judt reframed the history of the European continent after WWII in his book Postwar. A luminous thinker, he clarified the power of historical perspective for living even ordinary lives. In this final book, written with Timothy Snyder, he traverses the complexities of the twentieth century and guides us through the great debates that made our world.

Independents unite! In a powerful assessment of an unprecedented social change, a renowned sociologist chronicles the biggest demographic shift since the baby boom: we thrive when we go it alone.

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 Pacific Standard Time, Art in LA 1945-1980

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 two acclaimed Los Angeles novelists go to great lengths in search of truth.

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 discusses youth, activism, the Arab Spring, and why he is optimistic for the future.

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 Sistema and Dudamel's great passion for spreading hope through music.

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 journalist, Tobar's brilliant novel redefines Southern California in the 21st century.

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 Angeles Philharmonic

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 Muslim architect wins a blind competition to design the 9/11 Memorial. Following the conflicts within and between religions, these two brilliant debut novels grapple with identity, community, and a country in crisis.

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 Concepts

Award-winning novelist Luis Alberto Urrea explores the intrepid life of his great-aunt, a healer and \"Saint of Cabora\" who flees to Arizona when she is claimed as the spiritual leader of the Mexican Revolution. This spellbinding sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter is a turn-of-the-century journey across America. Presented in association with the exhibition, A Nation Emerges: The Mexican Revolution Revealed

In procrastination mode while finishing the screenplay for her second film, Miranda July obsessively read the Pennysaver. Who was the person selling Care Bears for two dollars each? She crisscrossed L.A. to meet a random selection of PennySaver sellers, grabbing hold of the invisible world in a book that blends narrative, interviews, photographs and deadpan humor.

Challenging our concept of what science is; how it works; and who it is for, outsider physicist Jim Carter discusses with science writer Margaret Wertheim his own theory of matter, energy, and gravity.