Blog Profile / Jacket Copy
| URL : | http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/ | |
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| Filed Under: | Entertainment / Books | |
| Posts on Regator: | 4486 | |
| Posts / Week: | 16.5 | |
| Archived Since: | March 9, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
USC president, Times executives welcome festival-goers
The Trojan Marching Band belted out tunes, the USC Song Girls energized the crowd and USC President Max Nikias welcomed people to the "celebration of the written word" as the 2013 L.A. Times Festival of Books kicked off Saturday at the USC stage.
Let the Festival of Books begin
The 18th Festival of Books kicks off Saturday with welcomes, above from left, USC President Max Nikias, Los Angeles Times President and Chief Operating Officer Kathy Thomson and Los Angeles Times Publisher and Chief Executive Officer Eddy Hartenstein. The Trojan Marching Band and USC Song Girls stoked the audience for the event expected to draw 150,000 people of all ages.
Margaret Atwood connects across the lines
The 73-year-old author uses technology to her advantage, to engage with the world at large. For this, she's being honored with the Innovator's Award at the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. Atwood will appear at the Festival of Books in conversation with Michael Silverblatt at 11 a.m. on Saturday. More information: latimes.com/festivalofbooks
Announcing the 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize winners
Ben Fountain's satire "Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk" was named the winner of the L.A. Times 2012 book prize for fiction on Friday night at a ceremony in Los Angeles. Katherine Boo's "Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity" took the prize in the current interest category.
YA author Cornelia Funke gets reckless with her MirrorWorld app
Cornelia Funke builds wild, wondrous worlds with her words, from the back streets of Venice, Italy, to a land of fairies and gargoyles called MirrorWorld. That's where Jacob Reckless, the treasure hunter hero of her latest series for young teens, enlists a dwarf and a vixen to help him undo a fatal curse.
The Sunday Conversation: Blake Bailey rediscovers 'Lost Weekend' author
The biographer of John Cheever and Richard Yates takes on Charles Jackson in 'Farther and Wilder.' The author of the successful 'Lost Weekend' book that was adapted to film fell into obscurity soon after, so the biography about his tormented...Show More Summary
33rd annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes to be presented tonight
The 33rd annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes will be presented in a public ceremony Friday night at USC’s Bovard Auditorium.
A Hollywood of the mind
The Writer's Life: Matthew Specktor drives past the boyhood landmarks he repurposed in his L.A.-set novel 'American Dream Machine.' Reality and fiction commingle. Specktor will appear at the Festival of Books on Sunday at noon on the panel "Fiction: Inside Hollywood" with Adam Braver, Alex Espinoza and Nina Revoyr. More information: latimes.com/festivalofbooks
Peggy Riley talks polygamy, faith, 'Amity and Sorrow'
Popular shows like “Big Love” and “Sister Wives” have given us a small glimpse into the life of a woman within a polygamist family — her struggles, her relationship with the other wives and her expectations. In debut novel “Amity and...Show More Summary
Sammy Harkham, a city's comics crusader
Toying with high and low art as a comics artist-editor and Family bookstore co-owner, the author has become a significant voice on the L.A. cultural scene. Harkham will appear at the Festival of Books Saturday at 2 p.m. on the panel "Drawing the Story" with Leela Corman and Derek Kirk Kim. More information: latimes.com/festivalofbooks
David Graeber looks at the Occupy movement, from the inside
In 'The Democracy Project,' David Graeber makes a case for revolution and attempts to rehabilitate anarchism. "It's a difficult business," writes David Graeber, "creating a new, alternative civilization."
Judy Juanita and her 'Virgin Soul'
The former radical's experiences during the 1960s in San Francisco inform her new novel. She talks hippies, Black Panthers and revolution. In the late 1960s, Judy Juanita was a college undergraduate in the Bay Area and editor of a Black Panther Party newspaper. Show More Summary
A celebration of all things books at USC
L.A. Times Festival of Books: Joyce Carol Oates, Carol Burnett, Lemony Snicket and Jamaica Kincaid are among the 500 authors appearing at this weekend's festival for readers of all ages. Since background-check legislation was voted down...Show More Summary
'The Walking' continues the journey of Iranian immigrants
Laleh Khadivi's second novel featuring a Kurdish man who seeks refuge in L.A. covers key points in Iranian American history and is an important addition to the literature of California immigrants. In "The Walking," a simple and pure young man circles half the world, on foot, by ship and plane, to a place he's longed to see.
Adele reportedly turns down seven-figure book deal
“I don’t know if I really have anything to say.” That problem has rarely stopped wanna-be book writers before. But the singer Adele, in a remarkable display of her own maturity and self-awareness, has reportedly turned down a seven-figure deal for her autobiography for precisely that reason.
David Sedaris, my imaginary friend
'Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls' offers fresh tales of the essayist's life and travel travails. When a friend gets rich and famous and moves to Paris, then prattles on about the nutty things that French dentists say, that's grounds for never speaking to that person again. Show More Summary
George Saunders, Hilary Mantel among Time's 100 most influential
Fiction writers don't often get credit for their influence on the world -- it is often invisible and unheralded. But among those on Time magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, released Thursday, were two surprising names: short story maven George Saunders and novelist Hilary Mantel.
'Look, baby, I'm sorry...' Charles Bukowski and his inspiration
Charles Bukowski, a kind of poet laureate of the seedy side of Los Angeles, wrote of life on its margins, at its racetracks, in its rundown bars. Bukowski was a poet and a novelist; in his novels, his alter ego Henry Chinaski made all kinds of bad decisions. Show More Summary
Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini open up about 'House of Secrets'
Film director Chris Columbus’ arms are full. He’s carrying a 496-page book, “House of Secrets,” which he co-wrote with Ned Vizzini, bestselling young adult author of “It’s Kind of a Funny Story.”
The Festival of Books app is ready for download
For those who feel strange if they don't have a smartphone on hand, modern technology has made navigating the L.A. Times Festival of Books easy. The new L.A. Times Festival of Books app is now available to download for free at iTunes and at Google Play.