Skylight Books Podcast Series

The Clock Without a Face (McSweeney's) An event for this new eye-catching, pentagonal mystery/puzzle/board book, featuring Eli Horowitz and Mac Barnett, two of the book's authors. Twelve emerald-studded numbers, each handmade and one of a kind, have been buried in 12 holes across the land. These treasures will belong to whoever digs them up first. The question: Where to dig? The only path to the a...

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Random House) "Mitchell is, clearly, a genius." --The New York Times Book Review (review of Cloud Atlas) "Mitchell really is his generation's Pynchon." --Kirkus Reviews (review of Cloud Atlas) "Brilliant…Mitchell creates an evocative yet authentically adolescent voice, an achievement  even more impressive than the ventriloquism of his earlier books." --The Ne...

Sh*t My Dad Says (It Books) The author of this very popular book, based on the also very popular Twitter feed, will be here to discuss and sign his book! Justin Halpern, 29, is the founding editor of the comedy website HolyTaco.com and a senior writer at Maxim.com. Halpern created the Twitter page "Shit My Dad Says," which boasts more than a million followers, and is co-writing and co-executive pr...

Unlovable Vol. 2 (Fantagraphics) Esther Watson, co-author of Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine? and author of Unlovable will discuss and sign the second volume in her hilarious and heartbreaking series that's loosely based on the 1980s-era diary of a high school girl that she found in a gas station bathroom. "Watson's graphic style and messily scrawled confessions read like a genuine diary, filled with...

Keep Sweet (Simon Pulse) Michele Dominguez Greene will read from and sign her powerful new young adult novel about a Mormon fundamentalist girl's struggle to escape a forced polygamist marriage. Michele Dominguez Greene has had a long-standing successful career as an actress, appearing in television, film, and theater.  She received an Emmy nomination for her role as Abigail Perkins on the NBC ser...

Light Boxes (Penguin) Shane Jones will be here to read from and sign his book Light Boxes! This debut novel was a staff favorite when it came out from a small press last year; now that it's been optioned by Spike Jonze, it's getting a new release from Penguin! Shane Jones was born in February of 1980. His poetry and short fiction have appeared in numerous literary journals, including New York Tyra...

Tiny Acts of Rebellion: 97 Almost-Legal Ways to Stick It to the Man (Michael O'Mara Books) Rich Fulcher of the British TV hit The Might Boosh will be here to discuss and sign his new book, Tiny Acts of Rebellion! Rich Fulcher is an American comedian, writer and improviser. He is best known for smash-hit The Mighty Boosh, with whom he has toured and taken many roles in their BBC3 series. Most recen...

The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of Los Angeles (Cambridge University Press) Editor Kevin McNamara and contributors William Mohr, Scott Bryson, and Eric Avila will read from their selected pieces in this great new anthology of local literature! William Alexander McClung and Mark Shiel, who were originally scheduled to appear, will be unable to make it. Kevin McNamara writes on cities and...

Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe (Holt McDougal) A launch party for the debut novel by Los Angeles author Jenny Hollowell! "Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe tells us in quick witty scenes and sharp psychological details what it's like to be a needy spirit in a beautiful body, yearning for success. This novel is smart, spare, comic and sad. It rings beautifully true." --John Casey, National B...

This Is Where We Live (Spiegel & Grau) A launch party for the new novel by L.A. writer Janelle Brown (All We Ever Wanted Was Everything). Janelle Brown is a freelance journalist who writes for The New York Times, Vogue, Wired, Elle, and Self, among other publications, and was formerly a senior writer for Salon. She lives in Los Angeles. Praise for All We Ever Wanted Was Everything: "A razor-sharp...

What I Would Tell Her: 28 Devoted Dads on Bringing Up, Holding on to and Letting Go of Their Daughters (Harlequin) Editor Andrea Richesin and contributor Michael Kearns will read from and sign the new anthology What I Would Tell Her. Andrea N. Richesin is the editor of four anthologies, What I Would Tell Her, Because I Love Her, The May Queen, and Crush (forthcoming in summer 2011). Her anthologie...

Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life (Random House) Steve Almond, whose book My Life in Heavy Metal is one of Skylight's all-time bestselling fiction titles, will be here to discuss and sign his new memoir, Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life! "For some of us, music is true religion, and Catholic to boot. Steve Almond comes off as devout -- and divided -- as any altar boy. His strange and funny book sh...

Learning By Heart (Allworth Press) Witness to Integrity (Liturgical Press) A Place at the Table (Elevated Lab) Come Alive! (Four Corners) Join us for a fascinating panel discussion about artist, educator, and "rebel nun" Sister Corita! Hear from Corita’s students and former sisters who defied the Cardinal, renounced their vows, and redefined themselves as an independent ecumenical community – dedi...

101 Things I Learned in Film School (Grand Central Publishing) Join us for a fascinating discussion and a screenwriting workshop with the author of 101 Things I Learned in Film School. Neil Landau is a screenwriter whose television and film credits include Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, Melrose Place, Doogie Howser, M.D., The Magnificent Seven, and Twice in a Lifetime. He has developed feat...

The More I Owe You (Counterpoint) Michael Sledge, author of the acclaimed memoir Mother and Son, will present his debut novel, about the relationship between poet Elizabeth Bishop and architect Lota de Macedo Soares. "A novel of extraordinary beauty, intimacy, and such consummate tenderness for its complex Elizabeth that one wonders how Sledge managed to slide so close to her soul. A gorgeous medi...

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (Doubleday) We're delighted to have Aimee Bender, author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, back at Skylight to present her new novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake! "[Aimee Bender] makes you grateful for the very existence of language." —San Francisco Chronicle (review of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt) "To curl up with an Aimee Bender story is to tha...

Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles (Santa Monica Press) Join us for a fascinating look at our very own corner of L.A.!  Author Charles Fleming will present and sign his walking guide—chock full of local history—about the historic staircases of Los Angeles. Charles Fleming is the author of the novels The Ivory Coast and After Havana and the respected Hollywood...

Best American Comics Criticism (Fantagraphics) Ben Schwartz, editor of the new anthology Best American Comics Criticism, will discuss comics and comics criticism with Kramers Ergot editor Sammy Harkham, graphic novelist Joe Matt (Spent), and comics critics Robert Fiore and Brian Doherty Ben Schwartz lives in Los Angeles. Besides editing The Best American Comics Criticism for Fantagraphics, he work...

Inheritance (Lethe Press) A launch party for the latest poetry collection by this acclaimed local poet! "Steven Reigns explores the inexhaustible power of family to affect our lives and loves, and does so in a candid yet passionate manner remarkable for its evocative and wounding moments." --Wanda Coleman, author of Heavy Daughter Blues and Mercurochrome: New Poems "This is such a naked book. It f...

And the Heart Says... Whatever (Free Press) Emily Gould will discuss and sign her new humorous essay collection And the Heart Says Whatever. "This is not a 'nice' book, but it comes by its anger and melancholy honestly, and it makes sense of much that is puzzling about our cultural moment."   —Jonathan Franzen Emily Gould has written for The New York Times, the New York Observer, and Jezebel.com,...

Wilson (Drawn & Quarterly) Daniel Clowes, the acclaimed cartoonist behind Ghost World (the graphic novel and the Oscar-nominated screenplay), the minicomic (turned movie) Art School Confidential, and the Eightball comic series will be here to discuss and sign Wilson, his new first all-new graphic novel! After a slideshow presentation, Clowes will be joined by comedian and tonight's special guest m...

Absolute Green Lantern: Rebirth (DC Comics) The popular and prolific comic book writer Geoff Johns will be here to discuss and sign Absolute Green Lantern: Rebirth, the deluxe edition of the series that relaunched one of DC Comics' greatest heroes. Johns will be signing other books in addition to Absolute Green Lantern: Rebirth, but if you choose to bring something from home for him to sign, we re...