La Review Of Books

Mary Gaitskill, one of the most distinctive and celebrated contemporary American writers, spoke with Tom Lutz and Laurie Winer at a special LARB event in Silver Lake last month. Mary opened the evening with a reading from her new collection of essays, Somebody with a Little Hammer. The conversation flowed through countless subjects from there: the psychology of Mary's most celebrated characters; drugs, alcohol, and writing; Linda Lovelace; the question of cultural appropriation; Mary's scathing take on Donald Trump, and more. Also, Janet Sarbanes author of The Protester Has Been Released returns to recommend two books: The Censors by Luisa Valenzuela; and a book of poetry The Wasp Queen by Claudia Cortese.

LARB Radio's Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, Eric Newman spoke with authors Joyce Carol Oates, Morgan Parker, and Fiona Maazel at this year's LA Times Bookfest held recently on the USC campus. Morgan Parker is the author of There are More Beautiful Things than Beyonce. Fiona Maazel's latest novel is A Little More Human. Joyce Carol Oates remains one of the leading figures in contemporary American letters, a status she has held for many decades. All three reflect on their writing processes, on contemporary literature and culture, as well as our troubled political times.

LARB Radio's Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, Eric Newman braved 90 degree heat to speak with authors Garth Greenwell, Marcy Dermansky, and Dana Spiotta at this year's LA Times Bookfest held recently at USC's campus. Garth Greenwell is the author of the novel What Belongs to You. Marcy Dermansky's latest novel is The Red Car (which was recommended a few weeks ago on the LARB Radio hour). Dana Spiotta is a return guest on the show and author most recently of Innocents and Others: A Novel. All three offer spirited observations on contemporary literature, as well as our troubled political times.

Author Janet Sarbanes speaks with Kate and Medaya about her new collection The Protester Has Been Released. The wide-ranging conversation includes Soviet space dogs, humanity's betrayal of the planet, the relevance of Latin American literature in the era of Trump; and, of course, the reason this moment inspires protest. Also, LARB's Eric Newman drops in to recommend two books from the recent Chinese LGBT canon: Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin from Taiwan and Beijing Comrade by Bei Tong - both of which brilliantly capture the spirit of romantic obsession.

Documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras joins Kate, Eric, and Medaya to discuss her new film, Risk; the product of filming Julian Assange and the Wikileaks team over the past seven years. The film is a companion piece to Poitras' Academy Award winning Citizen Four, about Edward Snowden. Both films place Poitras at the epicenter of two of the most significant politcal phenomena of our digital age; and, in both instances, she has crafted brilliant films. Also, Abdellah Taia returns to recommend Russell Banks' novel from the 1980's Continental Drift.

The Real WORD Podcast, produced by Reading Opens Minds. This season on The Real WORD we read and discussed the following books: Me Before You by JoJo Moyes, Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith - aka J.K. Rowling, The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, Tattooed Soldier by Hector Tobar, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng and Pleasantville by Attica Locke. From these books, we’ve considered questions about parental expectations and the sheltering and protection of family, the amount of power we have as individuals in shaping our lives, aspirations for the future, and how we deal with the inconsistencies of our world and how we can survive change. I spoke with one of our program alumni, Jackie Amezcua, who’s on a Posse Scholarship (full tuition for all 4 years) at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. I asked her about how joining book club in her sophomore year of high school is helping her now. We’ve seen our students take advantage of our programming because they are hungry for knowledge

In a powerful show, author Abdellah Taia talks with co-hosts Kate Wolf and Eric Newman about his new collection from Semiotexte, "Another Morocco;" and also about his experience as the first prominent Moroccan author to come out of the closet; his love of Morocco; how he knew he would lose part of himself when he moved to France; and his bitterness towards French liberal society, which may be less homophobic, but is not tolerant of the young man he was in Morocco. George Prochnik, author of a new book about Gershom Scholem, returns to recommend Scholem's magisterial biography The Mystical Messiah: Sabbatai Sevi about one of the most astonishing figures in Jewish history.

Art Historian Kellie Jones talks about her new book, South of Pico, on the flourishing African-American Art scene in Los Angeles in the 1960s and '70s. Co-host Kate Wolf is joined by first-time co-host Eric Newman in a wide-ranging discussion with Kellie about the social, economic, historical, and artistic forces that influenced a powerful generation of black artists in Southern California; whose work continues to resonate. Also, author George Prochnik returns to recommend the work of novelist Irene Nemirovsky, whose stories from both pre- and post-nazi Europe are chillingly cautionary tales for our times.

George Prochnik is one of our leading biographers and cultural historians; and he talks with Kate and Medaya about his latest book, "Stranger in a Strange Land: Gershom Scholem and Jerusalem." As he talks about Scholem's life, from his close friendship with Walter Benjamin to his exodus from Europe, to his history excavations of Judaica that were motivated by a desire to enliven contemporary Jewish life - it becomes apparent that Prochnik sees something of his own quest for meaning in Scholem's unique path. Also, Elif Batuman returns to recommend Hanya Yanagihara' s The People in the Trees.

Author Elif Batuman joins Kate and Medaya to discuss her new semi-autobiographical novel, The Idiot, about a Turkish-American freshman at Harvard. Elif explains the book’s unique genesis: she wrote it shortly after graduating, found it in a drawer many years later, and reworked it into its current form. Many Elifs contributed to this book - the Harvard freshman, the postgraduate author, the recent literary archaeologist, and the nonfiction author whose celebrated book The Possessed covers a similar time period as a work of “objective journalism.” And, yes, Kate, Medea, and Elif share their love for Dostoyevsky! Also, Melissa Febos, author of Abandon Me, returns to recommend a book of poetry, Donika Kelly's Bestiary. And we end by honoring Robert Silvers, legendary founder and editor of the New York Review of Books, who died at 87 in March. LARB contributor Jon Wiener spoke to Silvers in 2013.

The Real WORD Podcast is produced by Reading Opens Minds. I’m Lauren, and in this episode, we’re talking about the book: Pleasantville by Attica Locke. Kirkus Reviews says of Pleasantville: “Race, politics and petty grievances muddy the quest for justice when a young election volunteer is kidnapped and murdered...A thriller wrapped in an involving story of community and family dynamics. Locke serves up a panorama of nuanced characters and writes with intelligence and depth.” We chose this book because it is set in an election year in the 90’s both for local and national seats and Attica is a local author and a writer/producer for the hit TV drama Empire. She was kind enough to come and sit with me at the sound studio at Emerson College in LA for a chat...

Melissa Febos joins Medaya and Kate to discuss Abandon Me, her new beautifully lyrical eight-chapter essay. In one of the most intimate dialogues to date on the LARB Radio Hour, Melissa talks not only about the life changing love affair, and her search for her birth father, that are the core of the book's narrative; but also draws us into how the world looks through the eyes of one of America's leading literary stylists. Also on this week's podcast, Naima Keith of the California African American Museum returns to recommend Issa Rae's The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.

Host Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn talks with Naima Keith, the award-winning deputy director of the California African American Museum in Los Angeles about art, history, politics, and how they intersect. Naima also talks in detail about the new Spring Season at CAAM, which features five shows including exhibits of the work of New York based artist Derrick Adams, Los Angeles' own Kenyatta A C Hinkle, and a look back at the 1992 LA Uprising. Also, podcast superstar Karina Longworth returns to recommend Marcy Dermansky's novel The Red Car.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng. Ng’s debut novel was published in 2014, and it follows the lives of a Chinese-American family after their teenage daughter, Lydia, goes missing. The book touches on issues of immigration, assimilation, marriage and love. Our young readers talk about Ng’s novel as well as fear, isolation and the pressures young people face, including the expectation parents have for their children, who should do better and be better than they were. The Real WORD Podcast, is produced by Reading Opens Minds and edited by Saul Black. Special thanks for this episode goes to Stacy Reader, Lesley Peters and Mercedes Vasquez for facilitating the book club and to Ernesto Orellano for recording this meeting. Next week we’ll be talking about Pleasantville by Attica Locke. Until then, happy reading!

Yale Law Professor and constitutional scholar Akhil Reed Amar joins LARB Legal Editor Dan Franzen for a discussion of his book, The Constitution Today; and how the new Trump Administration may represent a threat to the US constitutional system. From possible impeachment proceedings to travel bans already knocked down by District Courts to Administration challenges to the Free Press, it's clear the Trump Administration requires newfound vigilance for defenders of the Constitution. Also, Akhil explains one of his best known policy proposals: The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (already adopted by ten states) that could transform American Presidential Elections so that the winner of the national popular vote becomes President.

Award-winning novelist Valeria Luiselli joins Kate and Medaya to talk about her new book, Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions, about the flood of children refugees coming to the United States on a harrowing journey through Mexico from Central America. Luiselli reminds us that Trump may exacerbate the problem, but its been a tragic reality for years. Also, Sarah Manguso returns to recommend Amy Fusselman's underappreciated "8: All True: Unbelievable."

In this episode we’re talking about the book: The Tattooed Soldier by Hector Tobar. The Tattooed Soldier was first published in 1998 by Delphinium Books and was hailed by LA Weekly in 2014 as “The Best LA Novel Ever”. The story of The Tattooed Soldier begins with Antonio, a refugee from Guatemala's dictatorship during the 1990’s who stumbles upon his wife's killer in MacArthur Park, recognizing the soldier by his unforgettable tattoo. He plots his act of personal justice as Los Angeles explodes into what we now know as the LA Riots. I had the great pleasure of speaking a bit with the author Hector Tobar, about his early days of journalism and covering the LA Riots. I also ask him about nurturing more budding Latino writers. We ask our group if they connected to the book more deeply because it’s set here in LA, and we talk about empathy for the two main characters in the book who, by the end of the book, both have committed murder. The Real WORD Podcast produced by Reading Opens Minds and edited by Saul

Essayist Sarah Manguso joins Kate and Medaya to read from and talk about her new book 300 Arguments, which is a searing set of aphorisms (though Sarah shies away from that word) that prove the power of concision. Also, Vanessa Davis, author of Spaniel Rage, returns to recommend Lynda Barry's One Hundred Demons.

This week's podcast is the audio from the Film Now panel held in late 2016 & moderated by LARB's Anna Shechtman. The panelists were LA Times film critic Justin Chang, USC Professor and film scholar J D Connor, Cathy Schulman, the head of the organization Women In Film, and Gil Robertson, President of the African American Film Critics Association - and the event featured a wide-ranging consideration of the state of Cinema in the middle of the second decade of the 21st century, with particular focus on questions of diversity and distribution as well as the best films of 2016.

Real WORD Podcast – Episode 4: The Ocean at the End of the Lane In this episode, we’re talking about the book: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman The Ocean at the End of the Lane was published in 2013 by HarperCollins. Gaiman himself has said he wasn’t sure as he was writing it whether it would be an adult novel - his first in a while - or a novel for young adult readers. Reviewers have come down on both sides with The Guardian reviewer noting that, “When I thought about it, I realised that I am an adult reading self, and also a child reader, and that it was my childhood self who settled into this story.” When I began to read the book, it reminded me of the film, Pan’s Labyrinth by Mexican filmmaker, Guillermo del Toro, where the real world of a child is intermingled with a magical one in order to make some sense of the darkness around them. First, we talk about the absence of the narrator’s name, then we look at the quote the author chose to put on the first page of the book and what it s