Celebrate Ten Years of Cultural Vitality

Join the Los Angeles Review of Books as we commemorate our 10th anniversary with monthly selections from the best of our archive, a spotlight on literature in translation, a LARB timeline, events, and more. 
Dear Reader:
 
Did you know we have a membership program? Launched in 2012, its purpose, according to the first membership letter, lay “in mentoring young writers and editors, in promoting individuals and groups that make a difference, and in cultivating audiences for the best that is being thought and written.” The broader aim was to build a vibrant literary community against the backdrop of the disappearance of literary supplements and the resultant narrowing of the cultural conversations — an aim we are still pursuing passionately today.
 
If you are one of the first sustaining members, you’ve seen us grow over the past decade from offering our members eBooks, previews of new pieces, and perspectives from LARB editors to supporting a consortium of independent bookstores throughout the United States, offering responsibly sourced totes from producers dedicated to the livelihoods of communities in rural India, featuring digital downloads and print quarterly journals, and fostering discussions with fellow members. The LARB membership program has further enriched the arts and letters locally and around the world through our free online magazine, podcast and radio show, event series, and sister magazines, as well as by developing new and diverse talents through our intensive summer Publishing Workshop and year-round internship program.
 
As I’m writing this, we are featuring the third part of a series on gay and lesbian publishing by Michael Nava; a newly minted advice column reminding us that the best guidance can come from deep, broad, and diverse cultural wells; a profile on Sundial Books in Chincoteague Island, VA, a bookstore that recently joined our Reckless Reader program; and a virtual roundtable on screenwriting and typecasting with Brandon Easton, Walter Mosley, and Paula Yoo, moderated by Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn. We’re also hosting 73 fellows for the Publishing Workshop and eight interns interested in publishing and journalism over the summer. Just today I received a note from a former intern who landed a coveted internship saying, “Being an intern with LARB has already opened so many more doors for me and I am so thankful for the experience it has given me.”
 
The generous support of members and donors nurtures the space we have created, making all of these opportunities possible. Most importantly, it helps realize the original purpose of LARB — to get us a little closer to each other, to extend our conversations, to ask probing questions that reveal the bigger picture. If you are not a member, we’d love to have you. Become a part of the dazzling diversity of our local and global community and allow us to remain a mainstay for teachers and students, lifelong learners, and casual readers. Your help will ensure that the important work of the authors, artists, and budding publishing professionals LARB promotes will continue to reverberate for many more years to come.
 
Appreciatively,
Jessica Kubinec, Managing Director
BECOME A MEMBER

“As someone who believes in the importance of books, as someone who engages in close readings and appreciates the close readings of others, I am committed to, dependent on, and nourished by the work done by LARB.”

Claudia Rankine

Dear Readers,

As the most difficult days of the pandemic slowly retreat and the warmer weeks of spring forecast the possibility of renewed in-person living, we begin to mark the occasion of our 10th year at the Los Angeles Review of Books with gratitude for where...

More from Irene Yoon, Executive Director

BEST OF LARB

LARB’s Best: Film

The writers have only their prose — and, granted, a few screenshots here and there — to get us closer to the medium of film....

Jul 10

LARB’s Best: TV

It’s indisputable that television criticism has risen to a place in the cultural landscape that it certainly did not occupy before....

Jun 12

LARB’s Best: Humanities

These pieces demonstrate the sustained and sustaining strength of the humanities, a discipline in perpetual crisis....

May 7

The Best of the LARB Radio Hour

For the past five years, co-hosts Medaya Ocher, Kate Wolf, and Eric Newman have helmed the LARB Radio Hour....

May 4

LARB’s Best: Fiction

The nine pieces below were selected by Lisa Teasley, the brilliant Los Angeles author, painter, and all-around creative powerhouse whom we were lucky to call our Fiction Editor for half a decade. Lisa, now an Editor-at-Large, leaves behind her a long ...

Apr 10

LARB’s Best: Poetry

The LARB Poetry section is a place for celebration, compassion, and close reading (as well as, apparently, alliteration!)....

Mar 14

Women’s History on the Radio Hour

In honor of Women’s History Month, the LARB Radio Hour team brings you a selection of episodes from the past few years that highlight the stories of women who have shaped our world through writing, art, film, philosophy, and activism. — ...

Mar 13

LIT IN TRANSLATION

Spotlight on Translation: July Edition

In this spotlight you’ll find reviews of prose from Bosnian, Croatian, Catalan, Italian, and Russian, profiles of translators from Portuguese and Ancient Greek, and much more....

Jul 10

Spotlight on Translation: June Edition

In this spotlight you’ll find reviews of prose and poetry translated from Japanese, Italian, and Russian, interviews and essays, poems from Palestine, and much more....

Jun 12

Spotlight on Translation: May Edition

In this spotlight you’ll find reviews of Argentine stories, tributes to authors who wrote in German, translations from Arabic and Russian, and much more....

May 7

Spotlight on Translation: April Edition

In this spotlight you’ll find reviews and essays on work translated from Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, German, and BCSM, as well as a story translated from the Armenian....

Apr 10

Spotlight on Translation: March Edition

In this monthly feature, we gather 10 reviews, essays, and interviews that deal with work in translation....

Mar 13

LARB OUT LOUD

TEN YEARS OF LARB

2011

LARB Publishes First Piece

LARB breaks onto the scene with Ben Ehrenreich's "The Death of the Book," the first post on the newly minted Los Angeles Review of Books Tumblr.

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Letters to the Editor

LARB begins the Letters to the Editors series, a longstanding feature of our Tumblr website.

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LARB Introduces the Newsletter

We debut our regular newsletter. The weekly LARB newsletter collects highlights from the week on LARB, the LARB Radio Hour, and our Channels and Affiliates.

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On Literary Los Angeles

Founder Tom Lutz speaks with the LAist about LARB's mission and the importance of a West Coast literary scene.

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Our First E-Publication

Our first e-publication, a compilation of the first six months of LARB, comes out. In the years since, LARB has produced topical e-publications on issues ranging from reflections on the pandemic to the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

LARB Radio Hour Launches

LARB starts producing audio and video content for the site, including this early podcast and predecessor to the LARB Radio Hour. Check out the LARB Radio Hour here, or anywhere podcasts are found.

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2012

LARB's Growing Readership (2012)

Readership skyrockets from 181,000 readers to over 2 million with the migration of LARB to its first official website.

LARB Welcomes Dear Television

The epistolary TV criticism of Dear Television officially joins LARB as its own section.

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2013

LARB Goes Live with Event Programming

Our official events programming kicks off with "An Evening with Kirk Johnson." LARB hosts numerous readings, discussions, cocktails and conversations, Luminary Dinners, and more every year. Find out about our past and upcoming events below.

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LARB's First Educational Program

LARB's first internship program, a precursor to the Publishing Workshop, begins. Interns gain experience in print and digital publishing, culminating in the production of their first magazine at the end of the summer.

The (First) Office

LARB moves into its first official office in Glendale.

Book Club Launches

Tom's Book Club launches, with a first selection of Jonathan Lethem's "Dissident Gardens." Other Book Club picks have included Alain Mabanckou's "Black Moses," Mieko Kawakami's "Breasts and Eggs," Amitav Ghosh's "Gun Island," and more. Join the conversation by becoming a LARB Book Club member today!

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The First Print Quarterly Journal

The inaugural issue of the LARB print Quarterly Journal publishes. The Quarterly Journal features original fiction, poetry, essays, and art. Pick up a copy in our shop, or become a member to receive print and digital access to issues plus other great perks year-round.

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LARB Hosts First of Many Luminaries

LARB launches our Luminary Dinner series with special guest T. C. Boyle. The evenings feature dinner and conversations with prominent literary and cultural figures such as Margaret Atwood, Norman Lear, Walter Mosley, Jane Smiley, Frank Gehry, James Ellroy, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and more.

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LARB's Growing Readership (2013)

LARB reaches a new milestone of 3.5 million annual readers by the end of 2013.

First Year-End Fund Drive

LARB launches our first year-end matching grant campaign. LARB depends on the generous giving of matching donors, our members, and supporters to sustain our work each year.

2014

LARB Turns Three

We celebrate three years of LARB with a panel discussion between Tom Lutz, Julia Lupton, and Jonathan Alexander.

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LARB Launches Channels & Affiliates Program

We launch our official Channels and Affiliates program, which has grown to include 55 Voices for Democracy, Avidly, China Channel, diaCRITICS, Guernica, Marginalia, the Podcast Review, Transformations, and more.

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LARB's Growing Readership (2014)

LARB reaches 3.7 million readers globally in 2014.

2015

LARB Goes to Hollywood

From Glendale to Sunset Boulevard: LARB officially moves to our office in the historic Crossroads of the World complex in Hollywood.

LARB Radio Hour on KPFK

The LARB Radio Hour, with hosts Tom Lutz, Laurie Winer, and Seth Greenland, moves to a primetime spot on local station KPFK 90.7. Tune in to new episodes of the Radio Hour on Thursdays at 2 p.m. (PT) at KPFK, or listen to the episodes here or wherever podcasts are available.

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LARB Wins LA2050 Grant Challenge Award

LARB receives a $100,000 grant from the My LA2050 Grants Challenge, an initiative launched in 2011 by the Goldhirsh Foundation, to bring attention to LA writers and artists, at least one a day for 2016.

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LARB's Growing Readership (2015)

By end-of-year 2015, LARB has over 4 million annual readers.

Inaugural LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award

LARB presents our first ever LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award to writer John Rechy, a pioneer of modern LGBTQ literature.

2016

LARB Gets a Refresh

LARB celebrates five years with a website redesign.

New LARB Radio Hour Hosts

Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman take the reins at LARB Radio Hour, which has featured a wide and illustrious range of contemporary authors, filmmakers, and thinkers. Tune into the trio's very first episode all together below!

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LARB's growing readership (2016)

Annual readership expands by half a million to 4.6 million readers in 2016.

2017

Second Annual LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award

LARB honors the accomplishments of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o with the second annual LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award.

An Evening with Granta's Best Young American Novelists

LARB and Granta host an evening of cocktails and conversation with five of Granta's Best Young American Novelists: Joshua Cohen, Lauren Groff, Karan Mahajan, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Esmé Weijun Wang.

Membership Drive Kicks off with Mary Gaitskill

We kicked off our 2017 membership drive with an evening with Mary Gaitskill at the home of Founding Editors Tom Lutz and Laurie Winer.

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LARB's First Publishing Workshop

The inaugural LARB Publishing Workshop takes place on the USC campus. To date, around 220 fellows from a wide variety of backgrounds have joined us to learn, grow, and break into the publishing industry.

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LARB's Growing Readership (2017)

Audience grows by over a million people to 5.4 million annual readers in 2017.

2018

Third Annual LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award

LARB celebrates the groundbreaking work of novelist Maxine Hong Kingston with the third annual LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award.

LARB Books Launches

LARB Books launches, with the mission of "promoting and disseminating rigorous, incisive, and engaging writing on every aspect of literature, culture, and the arts."

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LARB Publishing Workshop Fellows Launch PubLab

PubLab, the official student magazine of the LARB Publishing Workshop and a LARB Channel, launches.

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2019

Fourth Annual LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award

LARB honors the many accomplishments of novelist Margaret Atwood with the fourth annual LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award.

LARB Books Publishes First Title

LARB Books publishes its very first title and first LARB Classics book: "A Stab in the Dark" by Facundo Bernal, translated by Anthony Seidman. In two years, LARB Books has published 10 titles and looks forward to publishing the inaugural Tómas Rivera Book Prize winner, J. L. Torres's "Migrations," in May.

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LARB Debuts the Little Literary Fair (LITLIT)

LARB partners with Hauser & Wirth Publishers to host LITLIT, or The Little Literary Fair, a two-day book fair celebrating independent booksellers, book publishers, and book makers from Los Angeles and beyond.

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LARB's Growing Readership (2019)

At year-end 2019, LARB has accrued 5.8 million annual readers.

2020

Fifth Annual LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award

LARB celebrates novelist Walter Mosley as he becomes the fifth annual LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award honoree.

LARB Publishing Workshop Goes Virtual

The pandemic transforms the LARB Publishing Workshop into a virtual program, where 56 fellows are able to connect and gain valuable insight into the publishing industry.

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LARB Out Loud (Virtually)

LARB begins hosting virtual events and talks on the pressing issues of the day, including a conversation between Jody Armour and Melina Abdullah on racial oppression in America, and a discussion of the Hong Kong democracy movement with Samuel Chu, Mary Kay Magistad, Rep. Katie Porter, and Jeffrey Wasserstrom.

LARB's Growing Readership (2020)

By the end of 2020, LARB has reached 7.7 million readers and has published nine books, 28 Quarterly Journals, and thousands of articles.

2021

Sixth Annual LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award

LARB celebrates the pathbreaking careers and service of US Poets Laureate Rita Dove, Joy Harjo, and Juan Felipe Herrera with the sixth annual LARB/UCR Lifetime Achievement Award.

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LARB Celebrates Ten Years of Cultural Vitality

LARB launches our new website design and our 10-month celebration of a decade of LARB.