Skylight Books Podcast Series

Send Me Work: Stories (Triquarterly Books) Katerine Karlin will read and sign her new collection, Send Me Work: Stories (Triquarterly Books). Karlin has worked in oil refineries in Pennsylvania and Texas, a New Orleans shipyard, and a New York printshop, and she draws on her experiences to give voice to the unique experiences of women in the trades. Her narrators, who must daily negotiate the "man...

Pulphead (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) by Sullivan; House of Prayer No. 2 (Nan A. Talese) by Richard Fans of kick-ass, can't-put-it-down nonfiction, take note: This event combines the funny, probing, insightful cultural musings of John Jeremiah Sullivan with the riveting Gothic-styled memoir of Mark Richard. "Pulphead is upsettingly good. It’s the most inspired book of essays since David Foster Wall...

Beck (Chronicle Books) Photographer Autumn de Wilde (Elliott Smith, Death Cab for Cutie) will discuss and sign her brand-new collection of photographs of Beck, based on a 15-year collaboration between the two, and including portraits, photo sessions, and images from recording sessions and live performances. Autumn de Wilde is a photographer and a director best known for her portrait and documentar...

Los Angeles Stories (City Lights Books) Musician Ry Cooder will discuss and sign his new short story collection, Los Angeles Stories, in a conversation with Los Angeles Times book reviewer and author David L. Ulin! Los Angeles Stories is a collection of loosely linked tales that evoke a bygone era in one of America's most iconic cities. In post-World War II Los Angeles, as power was concentrating...

Green Girl (Emergency Press) by Zambreno; E! Entertianment (Insert Press) by Durbin Kate Zambreno and Kate Durbin join forces for an event launching Zambreno's new novel Green Girl and Durbin's new chapbook, E! Entertainment. Kate Zambreno's novel O Fallen Angel won Chiasmus Press' "Undoing the Novel" contest. Her novel Green Girl was published by Emergency Press in October 2011. A book of essays...

Shards (Grove Press) Debut novelist Ismet Prcic will read and sign Shards, based on his experiences leaving war-torn Bosnia. "Ismet Prcic has taken apart the complexities of war, love, family and home and scattered them across a novel that is as heartbreaking as it is beautiful. Shards is an original work of art, brutal and honest, and absolutely unforgettable." --Dinaw Mengestu, author of How to...

First Day on Earth (Scholastic) Young adult author (and Skylight favorite!) Cecil Castellucci returns to Skylight Books to launch her new young adult novel First Day on Earth.  This isn't just a launch party -- it's also Cecil's birthday, so expect a party! "A simple, tender work that speaks to the alien in all of us." --Kirkus Reviews Mal lives on the fringes of high school. Angry. Misunderstood....

Touch and Go by Nodine Hick by Portes (both books published by Unbridled Books) Thad Nodine will read and sign his debut novel, Touch and Go, joined by special guest Andrea Portes, whose novel Hick has just been adapted into a film, appearing at the Toronto International Film Festival! "Nodine’s cinematic novel deserves to be hailed as one of the year’s finest fiction debuts."  -- Publisher's Week...

The Marriage Plot (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux) We're thrilled to announce that Jeffrey Eugenides, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides, will be coming to Skylight to read and sign his new novel, The Marriage Plot! Jeffrey Eugenides was born in Detroit and attended Brown and Stanford Universities. His first novel, The Virgin Suicides, was published by FSG to great acclai...

It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing (Touchstone) Luis J. Rodriguez, author of Always Running and Republic of East L.A., launches his new book It Calls You Back! "Rodriguez’s life story is astonishing . . . It takes a heart broken open by a lifetime of sorrows to write with this wisdom and compassion. It takes a visionary to use this knowledge in service...

The Barbarian Nurseries (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux) Los Angeles Times columnist, Pulitzer-winning journalist, and acclaimed novelist Hector Tobar will read and sign his highly-anticipated new novel, The Barbarian Nurseries. "Tobar is both inventive and relentless in pricking the pretentious social consciences of his entitled Americans, though he also casts a sober look on the foibles of the Mexic...

Childish Loves (W. W. Norton) Novelist Ben Markovits will read and sign the third and final entry is his critically acclaimed trilogy of novels surrounding the life of Lord Byron. "This story-within-a-story-within-a-story poses questions about the very nature of fiction." --Booklist "I've been a keen reader of this unfolding trilogy, in its totality a work of high intelligence and canny storytelli...

Kippenberger: The Artist and His Families (J&L Books) Kippenberger. Der Künstler und seine Familien (Berlin Verlag) Skylight Books and Villa Aurora present Susanne Kippenberger, discussing her biography of her late brother, the artist Martin Kippenberger. The event will feature film clips, images, and audio from Martin's career, and should not be missed! Susanne's book will become available in Eng...

Inside Scientology (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) Journalist Janet Reitman will discuss and sign her new book Inside Scientology, the first full, journalistic history of the Church of Scientology, based on the article Reitman wrote for Rolling Stone in 2007, which was a finalist for the National Magazine Award. "Inside Scientology is an engrossing, groundbreaking work that brings a welcome sense of f...

Bookstore Pop-ups, Hybrids, and Rebels: Why Indie booksellers are leading the movement to support and foster local businesses A panel discussion with maverick booksellers David Kipen, Andrew Laties, and Josh Spencer on why there is no better time to be in the book business. “For a while I was really interested in the future of books. Now I’m interested in the present of books.” – Jessica Stockton...

The Endarkenment (University of Pittsburgh Press) by McDaniel Heart First into the Forest (Alice James Books) by Gnall Bang Ditto (Manic D) by Tamblyn Poets Jeffrey McDaniel, Stacy Gnall, and Amber Tamblyn will read and sign their respective poetry collections. Jeffrey McDaniel is the author of four books, most recently The Endarkenment (University of Pittsburgh Press). His work has appeared in Be...

Twin Cities (Penguin) California Poet Laureate Carol Muske-Dukes returns to Skylight to read and sign her new poetry collection, Twin Cities. Carol Muske-Dukes is the current Poet Laureate of California and a professor at the University of Southern California. She is also a co-editor of two anthologies and an author of eight books of poetry, four novels, and two essay collections.  She is a regula...

Fante: A Family's Legacy of Writing, Drinking and Surviving (HarperCollins) Novelist and poet Dan Fante will discuss and sign his new family memoir Fante, covering the lives of his Italian-born grandfather, his famous-writer father John Fante (Ask the Dust), and his own life, writing, and personal struggles. "If writing is fighting, then Dan Fante goes fifteen rounds and stays standing. This is a...

The Fire in Moonlight: Stories from the Radical Faeries (White Crane Books) Selected contributors will read from their pieces in the important new anthology The Fire in Moonlight, including anthology editor Mark Thompson, Stuart Timmons, associate editor Richard Neely, Allen Page, David Cohen, Trebor Healey, Michael David, and Ian MacKinnon (schedule permitting). The most valuable possession a peo...

Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past (Faber & Faber) Simon Reynolds, one of Skylight's favorite music critics (and the author of Rip It Up and Start Again), will discuss and sign his new book Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past. "Peering deeply into pop’s ever-expanding history and the technology that makes every part of it eternally accessible all at the same time,...

Other People We Married (FiveChapters Books) Brooklyn-based author Emma Straub reads her much buzzed-about short story collection, Other People We Married. “It is rare that I will love every story in a collection but I did love each of the twelve stories in this collection both individually and also as a whole collection with a distinctive shape. Each story was intimate and engaging and real...

Compression & Purity (City Lights Books) Poet Will Alexander returns to Skylight Books to read and sign his new poetry collection, Compression & Purity. "Born in South Central Los Angeles, and a lifelong resident of Los Angeles, Alexander, who got his start publishing in Clayton Eshleman's groundbreaking journal "Sulfur" in 1981, is vastly under-appreciated--an important avant-garde poet, who dese...

Axolotl Roadkill The Goethe-Institut Los Angeles and Skylight Books present German writer Helene Hegemann, discussing her book Axolotl Roadkill. We'll also be screening a scene from Hegemann's film Torpedo. Refreshments will be provided by the Goethe-Institut. Helene Hegemann was born in February of 1992 in Freiburg and is considered to be a German wunderkind. She grew up with her divorced mother...

Steve Almond reads and signs his self published books, This Won't Take But a Minute, Honey; Bad Poetry; and Letters from People Who Hate Me, all of which will be available for purchase at Skylight Books during the reading. Steve Almond is the author of nine books, three of which he published himself. This Won't Take But a Minute, Honey is composed of 30 very brief stories, and 30 very brief essays...

Untied: A Memoir of Family, Fame and Floundering (Crown Archetype) Meredith Baxter has been an actor for 40 years and has five children. She achieved early success in the comedy Bridget Loves Bernie; the acclaimed ABC drama Family and the popular NBC sitcom Family Ties. Baxter makes appearances speaking no breast cancer, domestic violence, alcoholism and general life experiences. She lives in Sant...