In Memoriam: Carolyn See
John Rechy, Lynell George, Susan Straight, Ron Charles, Laurence Goldstein, and Jonathan Kirsch remember Carolyn See.
John Rechy, Lynell George, Susan Straight, Ron Charles, Laurence Goldstein, and Jonathan Kirsch remember Carolyn See.
Rob Roberge talks to Joshua Mohr about his new memoir "Sirens."
Anything could happen in Clancy Sigal’s 1950s.
Stephen J. Gallas reviews a new book about North Korea.
“La La Land” is in all ways a sunny film, and one that wants badly to please.
Claire Phillips on Jewish identity, immigration, and the literary descendants of the great Saul Bellow.
AKHIL REED AMAR is a distinguished professor of law at Yale and Columbia universities and among the most insightful and prolific commentators on the...
Daniel Green reviews William Luvaas’s new novel, “Beneath the Coyote Hills.”
nbsp; acting as if nothing terrible has happened is a failed strategy you yell and this...
Apocalypse Now. IT’S THE END of days. The United States is embroiled in a “Forever War.” The people of Sluggards Creek, California, are doing their...
Rob Sternberg on the pleasures of rereading John Fante.
Johanna Drucker reviews two new exhibits at the Getty, “The Art of Alchemy” and “The Alchemy of Color.”
Jack Miles admires the rich simultaneity Janet Sternburg has captured in the photographs collected in “Overspilling World.”
Shir Alon examines the concept of world literature put forward in “What Is a World?” by Pheng Cheah.
Libby Flores on Taylor Larsen's "Stranger, Father, Beloved."
Lois P. Jones interviews poet Mandy Kahn about her practice and her collection, “Math, Heaven, Time.”
TV writer and podcast star Phoebe Robinson has a new book: “You Can’t Touch My Hair.”
Désirée Zamorano reviews “Zero Saints” by Gabino Iglesias.
Sam Jaffe Goldstein talks to Peter Mendelsund about some of his most famous designs, including the covers of works by W. G. Sebald and Steig Larsson.
Tom Nolan and Kevin Avery discuss critic Paul Nelson and “The Illustrated Ross Macdonald Archives.”
Colin Dickey reviews Leo Braudy’s “Haunted: Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds.”
“Home Guards” is, whatever its director says, a film for the far right.
Matt Goulding fell in love with Spain, Spanish food, and his Spanish wife, in that order.
Edgar Gomez talks to Ivan Coyote about their new book, "Tomboy Survival Guide."
A review of Tom Lutz’s two new travel books.
Moviegoing, like roller-skating and rotary telephone use, is in decline.
What does it mean to move among multiple genres as a writer?
Is Bruce Springsteen's memoir "Born to Run" one of the great music memoirs, or just a tired retread of the rock star mythos?
Ayana A. H. Jamieson talks to Rochell D. Thomas about her research of Octavia Butler.
Booker-shortlisted David Szalay plays the modernist game remarkably well.
The recently translated “A Greater Music” by Bae Suah is a dreamy time-warp of a novel that complicates our relationship with reality.
Time and narrative, once again, turn out to have histories.
Bonnie Johnson explores LA’s utopian past and argues for a utopian future.
Sasha Anawalt talks to Carmen de Lavallade about her return to Los Angeles.
Woody Haut shadows David Goodis down Central Avenue.
Michael Chabon on the blurring between fact and fiction in his newest novel, “Moonglow.”
Douglas Smith’s new biography of “Mad Monk” Rasputin brings him into the human realm.
Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn talks to Negin Farsad about her new book, "How to Make White People Laugh."
A review of a four-volume reference work on California women artists.
Seth Blake reviews “All the Ugly and Wonderful Things” by Bryn Greenwood.
Laura Frost on Anaïs Nin's recently published "Auletris."
Morten Høi Jensen revisits the life and work of Franz Kafka.
American Studies at its best is a critique of America in the world.
Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn talks to Jeff Nichols, director of "Loving," "Midnight Special," and "Mud."
Stephen Rohde on Timothy Garton Ash's "Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World."
Cindy Gallop, CEO of Make Love Not Porn, is pro-sex, pro-porn, and pro-knowing the difference.
Nikky Finney talks to Donika Kelly about her debut poetry collection, "Bestiary."
An essay on post-print modes of literary “reading.”
Larry Harnisch hunts down “The Wrong Side of Goodbye” by Michael Connelly.
Jeffrey Wasserstrom documents and reflects on the recent protests in Hong Kong.
Kitty Lindsay talks to artist Lara Schnitger as she tries to transforms Westwood into “Suffragette City.”
Laurie L. Levenson on Jeffrey Toobin's "American Heiress."
An essay on recent comics series about presidential politics.
Ben H. Winters interviews Joe Ide about his debut novel “IQ.”
Geoff Nicholson on the rise of the alternative travel guide.
Stephanie Pushaw finds the many colors of sadness in Mary Ruefle's "My Private Property."
Peter Nowogrodzki interviews the late great American novelist Jim Harrison.
Peter Nowogrodzki interviews the late great American novelist Jim Harrison.
Marissa Silver on Monster Trump.
Aleksandra Kamila Krzywicka talks to Shelley DeWees about her new book "Not Just Jane," and the obstacles women still face today.
Rachel Monroe reviews Colin Dickey’s “Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places.”
Alci Rengifo on the new issue of "Huizache," CentroVictoria's magazine highlighting Mexican-American literature and culture.
Aaron Shulman interviews true crime author Beverly Lowry about her latest book, “Who Killed These Girls? Cold Case: The Yogurt Shop Murders.”
Piotr Florczyk reflects on a brief new anthology of poetry written during the Siege of Leningrad (1941–1944).
Amy Silverberg on Mike Roberts's "Cannibals in Love."
Nandini Balial on Ha Jin's new novel.
Sasha Razor interviews the Russian polymath Dmitry Bykov.
Is it literature: who cares?
Natashia Deón talks to Dana Johnson about her new short story collection, "In the Not Quite Dark."
Kristen Warner on Issa Rae's "Insecure" and why HBO should embrace diversity now.
Mike Harris reintroduces a three-generation saga novel of the American Left, “The Taking of the Waters” by John Shannon.
Orly Minazad talks to Navid Khonsari about his new game, "1979 Revolution: Black Friday."
Meg Waite Clayton talks to “Modern Family’s” Emmy-winning director Gail Mancuso about her time in Hollywood.
Kevin McMahon takes the measure of “Jean Cocteau: A Life” by Claude Arnaud.
Jonathan Lethem discusses his ambivalence toward success, being grouped by first name, and his newest novel, “A Gambler’s Anatomy.”
Stephen Rohde discusses the possible elimination of the death penalty.
Poet and translator Stephen Kessler reflects on his debt to Los Angeles.
Joshua Wolf Shenk reckons with Trump’s character.
Kim Fay reviews “Darkness for the Bastards of Pizzofalcone” by Maurizio de Giovanni.
Don Franzen talks to Greyson Bryan about his new novel, “BIG: Beginnings.”
Lee Clay Johnson talks to Ivy Pochoda about his new book, "Nitro Mountain."
Noel Alumit hopes Rabih Alameddine's "The Angel of History" can teach a new generation about the history and impact of AIDS.
A chronicle from Mike Davis following the death of Alfred Olongo.
Drew Nellin Smith’s novel “Arcade” and those who see without being seen.
Nathan Jefferson on “If He Hollers Let Him Go” by Chester Himes.
Gary Giddins introduces “After the Fireworks: Three Novellas” by Aldous Huxley.
José Vadi reflects on the legacy of legendary Long Beach musician and producer Isaiah “Ikey” Owens.
Darryl Holter praises “Los Angeles Central Library: A History of its Art and Architecture” by Stephen Gee and photographer Arnold Schwartzman.
Diane Winston explains the rise of Donald Trump by looking back to Ronald Reagan and his “Evil Empire” speech.
A history of the Winchester family and fortune.
Paul Cullum interprets the prophetic vision of Townes Van Zandt.
Leah Mirakhor talks to Yaa Gyasi about her new novel, "Homegoing."
An interview with author Francesca Lia Block.
Sara Lippincott on Sean Carroll's "The Big Picture."
Sarah Heston on Mario Simone's post-apocalyptic "Heroes Haven."
Leah Mirakhor follows Hisham Matar's search for his father, kidnapped by the Qaddafi regime, in "The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between."
A satirical piece by Yxta Maya Murray about the Boyle Heights artwashing controversy.
Désirée Zamorano interviews Aya de León about her debut novel “Uptown Thief.”
Jennifer Carson looks at "Seven Brief Lessons on Physics" by Carlo Rovelli.
Marisa Silver discusses her new novel “Little Nothing,” an existential fable about a dwarf girl who undergoes an involuntary stretching.
Tiffancy Hearsey witnesses the "arrested decay" of Rockhaven Sanitarium in Glendale and reconsiders our approach to women’s mental health.
Belinda McKeon talks to Ann Patchett about her new novel, "Commonwealth."
Libby Flores on "The Virginity of Famous Men," Christine Sneed's recent short story collection.
Colin Marshall takes the measure of “Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style” by W. David Marx.
Joshua Baldwin remembers the second and final implosion of the Riviera Hotel and Casino.
Nina Revoyr on writing with a full-time (non-teaching) job — not just the challenges, but the benefits.
Eric Gudas surveys the life and work of poet Naomi Replansky.
Are you a cat person or a bird person? Colin Dickey reviews Peter P. Marra and Chris Santella’s “Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Deadly...
Alessandro Camon reflects on the cultural impact of movie violence.
Stephanie Burt considers “Four Reincarnations” by Max Ritvo and “Adult Swim” by Heather Hartley.
Charles Hatfield ventures into "Hellboy's World" by Scott Bukatman
Angela Woodward investigates “Raymond Chandler: The Detections of Totality” by Fredric Jameson.
Florian Fuchs on Werner Herzog's latest.
Linda Martín Alcoff discusses the history and meaning of “whiteness” as a racial category and social identity in an interview with Andrew Waddell.
Brooke Obie reviews Sil Lai Abrams’s new memoir “Black Lotus: A Woman’s Search for Racial Identity.”
Angela Morales shows Alex Espinoza the light.
Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn interviews Kamala Lopez about her new film, "Equal Means Equal."
Peggy Orenstein’s new book "Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape" realistically describes teenage sexuality in America today.
Jason Middleton looks at the most tragic death in Marvel Comics.
Annie Julia Wyman on “Swiss Army Man”.
“Rule of Capture” presents a biting commentary on the uneasy truce between Latino L.A. and the city’s entrenched political, cultural, and economic...
Piotr Florczyk reflects on Poland, its monuments, and its poetry of witness.
Distinguished architecture critic Joseph Giovannini on Zumthor’s LACMA folly still going on….
Derrick Harriell on Chinaka Hodge's "Dated Emcees".
A review of Donald Richie’s classic book about Japan, “The Inland Sea”.
Shirin Ebadi’s autobiographical “Until We Are Free” describes her struggle to erect human rights law in Iran after winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Night Sky With Exit Wounds” is a debut collection of poetry by Ocean Vuong that explores identity, the immigrant experience, and the impact of exile.
Seth Blake interviews Shawn Vestal on his new novel, "Daredevils".
The latest installment in Jay McInerney’s Manhattan Trilogy, a dutifully documented, tender-hearted take on The Way Manhattan’s Elite Live Now.
On Leif Wenar's "Blood Oil", the West’s problematic reality of oil trading, and how we can improve its morality.
Matt Hartman discusses the future of video journalism and the increase in entertainment coverage and decrease in critical judgment.
M. P. Cooley talks to Glen Erik Hamilton about his new novel, "Hard Cold Winter".
On love and Joseph Conrad’s under-read classic, “Victory”.
In "Ear to the Ground", Ulin and Kolsby have fun poking at the excesses of Hollywood in a relevant social novel somewhere on the shelf near James M...
Nina Revoyr talks to Nicole Dennis-Benn about her novel “Here Comes the Sun”, Jamaica, class, and art.
Stephen Rohde’s reflection on his career as an LA civil rights lawyer, particularly regarding the First Amendment.
So far, Chris Kraus’s new position in the mainstream orbit of Jill Soloway hasn't produced an assessment of the Jewish questions that pervade Kraus’s...
Annie Buckley discusses the Hammer Museum’s third iteration of the “Made in L.A.” biennial.
Victoria Dailey on The Hammer Biennial: "Made in L.A."
Heidi Durrow, Aaron Samuels, and Tehran Von Ghasri discuss whether having a biracial or mixed identity can give a vantage of both privilege and...
Tarn Wilson on Christine Hale's "A Piece of Sky, A Grain of Rice".
Sarah Wang interviews Juliana Romano about her new novel, "Summer in the Invisible City".
Tara Ison interviews Bernadette Murphy
26-year-old virgin Julia spends her summer seeking someone to deflower her, and thus cure her existential angst, in Emma Rathbone’s debut novel...
Miranda Kennedy reviews "The Latter Days", Judith Freeman's memoir about growing up Mormon.
Alex Segura reviews “King Maybe” by Timothy Hallinan, his latest in the Junior Bender series.
The world is one long struggle, and the bad guy always wins. Yet, we have "Sudden Death", a novel so beautiful that it might take your breath away.
Tom Lutz almost gets hitched in Swaziland.
Nicky Loomis on "Melancholy" by László F. Földényi.
Who should Hollywood cast to play Rumi? One hint: Not Leonardo DiCaprio.
The author of the "Rent" book on how Lin-Manuel Miranda turned theater and history upside down, the worth of writing, and the Hamilton in her blood.
Insight on the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the ongoing struggle for justice and equality.
Sean Carswell and the writings of a literary superfan.
Sarah LaBrie talks to Flynn Berry about her new novel, “Under the Harrow”.
John W. W. Zeiser on "Vaseline Buddha".
Remé-Antonia Grefalda reviews "Filipinotown", an oral history of Los Angeles’s legendary neighborhood.
ALEXEY TITARENKO grew up in Cold War-era Leningrad (née and once again St. Petersburg), in a typically small, cramped apartment. To keep him quiet...
A review of Elizabeth Hand’s new “Cass Neary” novel, “Hard Light”.
Cathleen Schine’s painful, beautiful depiction of heroism in the face of an uncertain future offers us a reminder of our own tender vulnerability.
The greatest food photography ever.
Annie Proulx’s latest novel is an epic masterpiece, spanning 300 years of history as two families make their way in the New World.
Rebecca Schiff talks about grief, writing sex scenes, and being funny.
Nayomi Munaweera has written a second novel of real power and grace, says Melissa Sipin.
Tanya Marcuse discusses series “Fruitless,” “Fallen” and “Woven” in this installment of "Photographer's Spotlight."
"I’m Thinking of Ending Things" is a reminder of how it felt to be scared as a child.
A conversation with Judy Chaikin, director of "The Girls in the Band".
Why #blacklivesmatter still matters.
Irony states the opposite of what it intends to mean. But what if no one spots it and takes the ironic statement literally?
The history of Native American pop music, from jazz to raggae to hip-hop.
Youval Shimoni’s “A Room” — a dense, stubborn, daunting, exhilarating masterpiece.
A look at the exhibition curated by Lauren Mackler that includes Nathaniel Mackey, Nevine Mahmoud, and Lynne Tillman.
Transcending hate and hope in China Miéville's "This Census-Taker".
Mario Bellatin reveals all and (almost) nothing at all.
Emma Cline’s “The Girls” is the coming-of-age story of a 14-year-old girl who falls in with a Manson-like cult just months before a night of brutal...
Los Angeles’s Midwestern poet, Thomas McGrath.
In an election year that has broken us into antagonistic fragments, it’s marvelous to be lured into American history by a joyous Broadway musical.
Miranda makes Hamilton’s story the stories of the young in the audience, the ones who feel that the future of the country is in their hands.
Stephen Rohde reviews a book on of one of our nation’s most important political and historical documents: The Bill of Rights.
Subscribe on iTunes - Listen Live on KPFK This week author Michelle Latiolais joins Seth, Tom, and Laurie to discuss her new book She, in which a...
Julian Barnes represents the art world, in fiction and nonfiction.
“St. Kevin and the Blackbird” resonates with Los Angeles construction workers while they are interviewed by Kelly Candaele.
The United States stands by itself among developed nations as the foremost incarcerator of its citizenry. With more than two million people behind...
James Ziskin on his signature character, Ellie Stone.
What must count among Obama’s sharpest regrets is the way in which he mishandled Guantanamo.
Jeremy Geltzer's "Dirty Words and Filthy Pictures" looks at the salacious movies that stretched the First Amendment and the censors that stifled them.
"The medieval argument for God’s existence is God defined as that which there is nothing greater than I think it’s a cogent argument 700 years later...
"I’m not for the status quo, so I don't know how to write anything but untidy, slightly melancholy endings."
AS THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION approaches, many of us are apprehensive, not only about the outcome of this year’s election, but also the electoral...
Fate laughs in all our faces.
This week our hosts tackle more religions than you can shake a stick at when they interview Jack Miles, editor of the Norton Anthology of World...
Brenda Miller reviews Eva Saulitis’s posthumous essays that reflect on living and dying with cancer.
A review of a special journal issue on “The Futures Industry.”
Steph Cha speaks with author Naomi Hirahara about her Mas Arai series, the tension between Korea and Japan, and how crime fiction can help explore...
“Once and For All: The Best of Delmore Schwartz” is a new collection of his work, assembled as we wrestle with economic uncertainty.
In "The Language of Secrets," Ausma Zehanat Khan vividly shares a complicated Canada few of us, with our naïve perceptions, pause to consider.
The deadliest manmade disaster of 20th-century America and the making of modern Los Angeles.
A review of "An Eames Anthology: Articles, Film Scripts, Interviews, Letters, Notes, and Speeches".
Science fiction’s quest for otherness has gone global.
A review of Chris Offutt’s memoir of his father, a science-fiction writer and pornographer.
A look at two books, Christopher Coker's "Future War" and August Cole and P. W. Singer's "Ghost Fleet."
Lawyers by trade are storytellers, and good lawyers tell good stories — Anthony Franze’s book is a case in point.
Ana Castillo has a new memoir about being a daughter, and being a mother.
Chris Holm interviews Matthew Quirk about his new novel, "Cold Barrel Zero," and how he researches his stories.
An interview on poetry about dementia and memory loss with Brendan Constantine.
"Becoming Mike Nichols" feels like part of a posthumous retrospective that attempts to return to Nichols the critical plaudits that greeted his early...
Hollywood novels let us see the past, not in long-shot, with the gulf of time separating us from the events they describe, but in brilliant close-up
The beginning of Pat Barker’s novel "Noonday" raises the question of whether we are too saturated by fictions that play to our fascination with World...
Subscribe on iTunes - Listen Live on KPFK On this week’s show we talk with BLDGBLOG writer Geoff Manaugh about his new book, A Burglar's Guide to...
Sari Wilson’s debut novel "Girl Through Glass" is set in the ballet world of 1970s New York aestheticism.
"Last Exit to Brooklyn" was actually shooting around the corner that summer — I signed on as an extra but my scenes didn’t make the final cut.
It’s the journey, not the destination, in Rob Spillman’s new memoir "All Tomorrow's Parties".
A review-essay covering two young adult novels by British SF writer John Christopher
Anthony Franze interviews writer and lawyer Jonathan Shapiro about his new novel, "Deadly Force", and his upcoming Amazon show "Trial".
Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s debut, "The Nest", one of the most hyped novels of the year.
Liz Brixius interviews Nina Sadowsky about her new novel, "Just Fall", a noir set in St. Lucia
The Replacements are under the microscope in Bob Mehr's exhaustive "Trouble Boys".
Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney and Ramona Ausubel speak about their new novels, "The Nest" and "Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty".
In Sonja Livingston's "Ladies Night at the Dreamland", the ladies are apparitions — as is the author herself, fading in and out, haunting these pages.
Yunte Huang has compiled a 624-doorstop of an anthology.
Like all company towns, Hollywood takes a wry view of the source of its wealth.
Cory Doctorow discusses his process, projects, and projections for our (perhaps) not so dystopian future.
Writer Jarett Kobek is not a big fan of the internet. His new novel, "I Hate the Internet," tells us why.
"Because of Sex" by Gillian Thomas pays tribute to the women who fought for respect and equality in the workplace.
Stahl and Bogosian discuss theater, art, punk, literature, film, life, and being artists in a materialistic world.
The breadth of crime fiction gives all of us entry to any venue we desire — to retroactively acknowledge the unacknowledged.
Poet and Los Angeles native Robin Coste Lewis discusses her award-winning collection "Voyage of the Sable Venus."
The latest from America’s fabulist of post-Stonewall gay life documents an increasingly narrow vision of a queer world.
With over 80 titles, César Aira now explores the adventures of a saint who's performed over 80 miracles.
Subscribe on iTunes - Listen Live on KPFK This week’s show features more interviews from the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. We talk with...
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO TODAY, Maria Brontë gave birth to the first of three famous sisters, the immortal Victorian badass Charlotte Brontë. Charlotte...
Carolina de Robertis is a Uruguayan-American author and has written three internationally best-selling novels — all set in the Río de la Plata region.
"The Girl From the Garden" by Parnaz Foroutan interweaves concerns with patriarchy, fertility, and fate in early 20th-century Iran.
Mona Awad’s debut collection adds new depth to the fat girl in literature with this disastrous, so-sad-it’s-maybe-funny narrator.
AS A POET, Li-Young Lee is world renowned, but Li-Young Lee the man seems to shy away from the fame that follows him everywhere he goes. He published...
JESSICA BERSON, author of The Naked Result: How Exotic Dance Became Big Business, worked as a stripper for approximately one year to help make her...
TO CALL WOOD BOY DOG FISH — a production of the Rogue Artists Ensemble that recently had a run at the Bootleg Theater — a play would be a disservice...
Walter Mosley: "I find my books more interesting than me."
ONE MORNING in the first year of my MFA — this must have been April or May of 2008 — a pair of friends began discussing the recent raid on a Mormon...
LAST YEAR MARKED the 70th anniversary of French publisher Gallimard’s crime fiction imprint Série Noire, a book imprint that more than any other...
1: Jewiness “The Jewiest show ever,” proclaimed Forward in response to Amazon Studio’s available-only-online series Transparent. Recent essays from...
FOR SUBJECTS that loom large in history, literature, film, and nonfiction — such as the Vietnam War, known in Vietnam as the American War — it can be...
HISTORIAN JOHN MACK FARAGHER has come home. A Southern Californian who has spent an illustrious and influential career at Mount Holyoke and Yale...
IAN MCGUIRE’S novel The North Water follows Sumner, an opium-addicted physician who signs on to the crew of the whale ship Volunteer in a bid to...
ASSAF GAVRON, the Israeli novelist whose most recent Israeli bestseller, The Hilltop, has just been published in paperback (Simon & Schuster) was...
PEOPLE WHO LOVE SAUSAGE and respect the law should never watch either one being made.” I thought that was a quotation from Mark Twain, and it’s...
NO AUTHOR WORKING TODAY writes crazy quite like T. Jefferson Parker. His crazy is not the teeth-gnashing, hair-yanking, ranting-and-raving, over-the-t...
AS A YOUNG MAN in the mid-1500s, St. John of the Cross focused on reforming Carmelite Catholicism, adopting itchy robes, casting off his shoes...
I VISITED WATTS in the fall of 1965, four months after the neighborhood burned. The impoverished ghetto had had one too many feuds with the LAPD and...
IN THE PARLANCE of American popular culture, Beijing Comrades combines the raunchiness of Fifty Shades of Grey with the tenderness of Brokeback...
IMBECILES, BY ADAM COHEN, harkens back to an earlier era of strong anti-immigrant sentiment and deep-seated racism when the institutions of law...
The pleasure in "The Life of Elves" is to be found in the fantasy of narrative's exquisite and immeasurable power.
Like so much else in Charlie Jane Anders's "All the Birds in the Sky," the question of sanity is relative, not absolute.
"The First Time She Drowned" is a brilliant YA novel that engages the complexities of mental illness.
Susan Jacoby, like many atheists, can’t stop thinking about religion.
Darryl Pinckney talks voting in the black community, writing while black and gay, and his latest book, "Black Deutschland."
In time All the President's Men revealed its theme to us — what John Huston called “the bell that rings in every scene.” This wasn’t just a movie...
Tom Bissell transforms Jesus's Apostles from figures of myth to tangible human beings, in search of a scholarly perspective on the origins of...
Don Franzen interviews William C. Gordon.
Siobhan Brooks tells her "California carceral story," discussing her mother’s experiences with California's mental health system.
Reading "Wreck and Order" is like listening to a friend reflect with intelligence on some pretty questionable choices.
An interview with Denise Mina about crime writing and low art.
"Ways to Disappear" and "Perfect Days" couldn't be more different. One I found unputdownable; the other made me want to send it sailing across the...
Subscribe on iTunes - Listen Live on KPFK This week’s guest is the acclaimed and often controversial author, playwright, actress, and radio...
"Against Self-Reliance" amends the popular story of a US that gives primary importance to the "sacred self."
Nile Green on the literary, critical, avant-garde, and unorthodox voices that have always been part of Muslim societies.
In "A Photographic Memory: 1968-1989," Schlesinger visually traces his path along the epicenters of culture.
I genuinely enjoyed "Miss Fortune." I found myself not merely smiling, but cackling — and, in turn, tearing up or sighing with sad recognition.
A review of two Young Adult "climate fiction" novels by Paolo Bacigalupi.
Passman's book "All You Need to Know About the Music Business" is read not only by musicians but also by executives and lawyers, educating a...
Too glib an analysis of a complex time.
nbsp; Subscribe on iTunes - Listen Live on KPFK On this week’s show we discuss the new FX miniseries American Crime Story: The People v. O.J...
For this essayist, Joe Donnelly, Alan Rifkin's "Burdens By Water" brings back the glory days of 1990s long-form journalism on the subject of Los...
Kaitlyn Greenidge discusses the limits of language, family roles, and the tools we use to talk about the past.
The logic of marriage equality carries with it a damaged history of racial and sexual exclusion that the marriage movement ignores at its peril.
"So we're good at waiting, and we wait as long as possible before going home."
In "West of Eden," LA's notable families spin fictions of happy family life, while the reality is generations of trustafarians raised by distracted...
John McIntyre interviews John Andrew Fredrick.
Subscribe on iTunes - Listen Live on KPFK On this week’s show we discuss the new Showtime series Billions, Jerry Stahl returns to endorse Philip...
Katherine Taylor discusses her writing process, the autobiographical nature of writing, and the inspiration in California's Central Valley.
Diana Wagman reviews Gloria Norris's "KooKooLand: A Memoir," about the strange and awful ways of love.
Matt Ruff's new novel, "Lovecraft Country," is set in Jim Crow America, long after Lovecraft's death in 1937.
Thinking about pain and the body on the occasion of Hillary Gravendyk's birthday, a year after her passing.
Megan Abbott interviews Alison Gaylin
Los Angeles's most storied film fraternities, of which Filmforum remained the sole surviving representative.
Justin Campbell interviews the author, pastor, and public intellectual Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou.
On "Fresh Off the Boat" and Asian diaspora.
Each piece in "A Collapse of Horses" stands alone as a tale that combines "literary" and "horror" elements in novel ways that blur genre distinctions.
One of the important additions "Woody Guthrie L.A." makes is a grappling, in a couple of chapters, with Woody’s initial embrace of white supremacy.
In the 21st century are we the sick, or are they us?
In "Miniature Metropolis: Literature in an Age of Photography and Film," Huyssen returns to two of the things he loves most: literature and close...
Subscribe on iTunes - Listen Live on KPFK On this week’s show we talk with LARB law editor Don Franzen about the career of the late supreme court...
Not just another dark Hollywood satire: Aris Janigian and his "Waiting for Lipchitz at Chateau Marmont."
Broad City’s Third Coming
The disappearance of '60s singer/songwriter Jim Sullivan
Carly Hallman maps out a surreal and wobbly moral universe in her bold debut, "Year of the Goose."
When we talk about the Civil Rights Movement, we often don't talk about the women who fought for blackness, beauty, and power — women like Sonia...
Evangelical Christianity in America is in the midst of a wholesale generational, cultural, and doctrinal transformation.
For Roberge, all scraps of remembrance coexist on the page, as if to remind us that memory is associative.
Amazon's "Transparent" as seen through the lens of Maggie Nelson's novel "The Argonauts."
Steph Cha interviews Ed Park about "Buffalo Noir."
Podcasting mogul Andy Bowers, comedian Bonnie McFarlane, and a memorable interview with food writer Dana Goodyear.
"Laurus" is no seamless dream of Russia's past but a very clever, self-aware contemporary novel that nevertheless holds that dream deep in its heart.
In conversation with a TV writer for SyFy's adaptation of Lev Grossman's The Magicians
Rachel Cantor's "Good on Paper" is an exploration of the chasm between languages and people.
"The Narrow Door" is a memoir about how grief transforms us.
Dear Television on Super Bowl 50 and Beyonce
When gardening is gangsta, and communities change.
On Shea Serrano's new "Rap Year Book."
"Thief" offers Frank a binary choice: be a miserable working stiff, or be profoundly alone, on ice, dead to the world.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's debut novel "Mycroft Holmes," rereading the character of Tom Sawyer, and finally we tackle Donald Trump.
Jerry Stahl interviews Rob Roberge.
"Sisters in Law" reminds us how much has changed within a matter of decades.
Ivy Pochoda interviews Alafair Burke.
An interview with singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock, reflecting on how a career artist adapts to a hostile new world.
In Dyer's repetitions and leitmotifs, we get the sense of watching a mind traveling between planes of existence.
"Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg" is a loving, slightly ironic biographical gift-book that is a spin-off from a Tumblr fan...
Johanna Drucker on the nostalgia generated by our machines.
nbsp; Subscribe on iTunes - Listen Live on KPFK On this week’s show, a conversation on the wildly popular Netflix show Making a Murderer; an...
Ian Svenonius wants an end to "freedom of expression" in his latest, "Censorship Now!!"
It's difficult to read Mevoli's story and not think of him as an Icarus of the deep, someone who wanted to know how far he could go and died finding...
Ellen Collett's "Down Dog by Anonymous."
McAlpine is comfortable interrogating the mystery and thriller genre by writing within it, but with "Woman with a Blue Pencil," he's taking aim at...
The Cheat is a different kind of film from Cecil B. DeMille.
Tom Teicholz interviews Peter Guralnick.
Melissa Chadburn interviews Carmiel Banasky.
Co-authors Darry Holter and William Deverell discuss their new book, "Woody Guthrie L.A.: 1937 to 1941."
Alex Espinoza interviews Joy Castro.
LARB noir editor Steph Cha interviews Daniel Friedman.
Vanessa Hua interviews Dawn MacKeen.
On "The Blue Touch Paper," a new memoir by Sir David Hare.
In "The Crossing," Harry crosses many bridges.
The legacy of David Bowie, the journalism of Sean Penn, and an interview with author Alex Espinoza on launching a bilingual MFA program at Cal State...
A conversation with Girish Shambu about "The New Cinephilia."
Truth contains beauty, balance, empathy, mercy, love, and insight, but also horror, brutality, and desperate need.
GIVEN ITS PENCHANT for exploring hot topics, young adult fiction is no stranger to environmental issues. YA dystopias are often set in postapocalyptic...
György Spiró's "Captivity" is worth the 800 pages.
Rex Weiner recounts his coverage of auto industry magnate John DeLorean's trial.
Language flows through the work of artist Frances Stark in singular, unusual ways.
The ongoing threats to free expression in Hong Kong, which are again in the headlines, need to be placed in a long-term historical context.
How to satisfy both the Middle East mavens and the curious readers who are so intimidated by the history that they avoid books about the region...
David Shields criticizes war photography, Jonathan Lethem on the "reality field" of Claremont, and Sam Quinones explains America's opiate epidemic.
A symposium on Claudia Rankine's "Citizen: An American Lyric."
A symposium on Claudia Rankine's "Citizen: An American Lyric."
Ellie Duke interviews Tara Ison about her new collection of short stories, the glitz and decay of Los Angeles, and the dark side of desire.
Hannah Sanghee Park’s poems accelerate by breaking down.
Park tests whether the abstract contingency of language could express something about the unresolvedness of feelings themselves.
Is America at risk of becoming Orwell's nightmare?
"Kitchens of the Great Midwest" transported me to a place I longed for. A place that was warm.
Bonnie Johnson on the history and legacy of LA's iconic Brown Derby restaurants.
David Bowie and the 1970s: Testing the Limits of the Gendered Body
There is a kind of subtle violence in Alden's gutted illustrations.
A special "LARB Radio Hour" taped in front of a live audience featuring Terry McMillan, Jonathan Gold, and Geoff Dyer.
Dorothea Lasky interviews Kate Durbin about her latest book, E! Entertainment.