Skylight Books Podcast Series

Richard Jewell

RKO Radio Pictures: A Titan Is Born (University of California Press)

Los Feliz-based author Richard Jewell discusses and signs his fascinating history of RKO, the company that produced King Kong, Citizen Kane, and other classics of Hollywood's golden age. "Enjoying exclusive access to RKO archives before they were dispersed to the winds, Rick Jewell has crafted a powerful and unprecedented company history that is rich in detail and sharp in insight. Pinpointing both industry ambitions and corporate shenanigans, Jewell offers a tale both gripping and instructive. A major contribution to Hollywood studio history in the classic era." --Dana Polan, author of Scenes of Instruction: The Beginnings of the U.S. Study of Film

Cecil Castellucci

The Year of the Beasts (Roaring Brook)

Award-winning young adult author Cecil Castellucci launches her new book The Year of the Beasts, featuring a tale of love and jealosy told in alternating chapters of prose and comics (drawn by Nate Powell!).

"Castellucci and Powell make a powerful team.... What emerges is a map that leads into the maze of grief, and an elegant evocation of the monster crouched at its center." --Booklist "Sophisticated readers will eat this . . . right up." --Kirkus Cecil Castellucci is the two-time MacDowell Colony fellow and award-winning author of five books for young adults including Boy Proof (Candlewick, 2005), The Plain Janes (Minx/DC Comics, 2007), and Beige (Candlewick, 2007). This year she also accepted a position as YA and children’s books editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, a newly launched online magazine. Cecil Castellucci's books have been on the American Library Association's (ALA's) BBYA, Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, Great Graphic Novels for Teens lists, as well as the NYPL Books for the Teen Age and the Amelia Bloomer list. Born in New York City, Cecil lives in Los Angeles. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 22, 2012.

Gideon Lewis-Kraus and Tom Bissell

A Sense of Direction by Lewis-Kraus (Riverhead) Magic Hours (McSweeney's) by Bissell Essayists Gideon Lewis-Kraus and Tom Bissell will discuss and sign their new respective books, A Sense of Direction and Magic Hours. Praise for A Sense of Direction: "A very honest, very smart, very moving book about being young and rootless and even wayward. With great compassion and zeal he gets at the question: why search the world to solve the riddle of your own heart?" —Dave Eggers "If David Foster Wallace had written Eat, Pray, Love, it might have come close to approximating the adventures of Gideon Lewis-Kraus. A Sense of Direction is the digressively brilliant and seriously hilarious account of a fellow neurotic’s wanderings, and his hard-won lessons in happiness, forgiveness, and international pilgrim fashion." —Gary Shteyngart Praise for Tom Bissell's previous works: "Bissell is a Renaissance Man for our out-of-joint time… His descriptions of simulated gore and mayhem manage to be clinical, gripping, and hilarious all at once. He transmits to the reader the primitive, visceral excitements that make video games so enticing, even addictive, to their legions of devotees." —The New Republic "Written with such panache and laden with so much information that it rises to real seriousness… moves along as deftly as a novel… [A] combination of crack-up wit, wild ambition and preposterous youth." —The New York Times Book Review Gideon Lewis-Kraus has written for Harper’s, The Believer, The New York Times Book Review, n+1, McSweeney’s, BookForum, The Nation, Slate, and other publications. A 2007-2008 Fulbright fellowship brought him to Berlin, world capital of contemporary restlessness. For the moment he lives in Brooklyn. Tom Bissell is the author of Extra Lives, Chasing the Sea, God Lives in St. Petersburg, and The Father of All Things. A recipient of the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Bay de Noc Community College Alumnus of the Year Award. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 21, 2012.

Dorothee Elmiger

Invitation to the Bold of Heart (Seagull Books)

Skylight Books and Villa Aurora are thrilled to present young Swiss author Dorothee Elmiger, reading from her translated literary collection Invitation to the Bold of Heart. Dorothee Elmiger, born 1985 in Wetzikon, Switzerland, grew up in Appenzell. She studied at the Swiss Institute of Literature in Biel and spent one semester at the German Institute of Literature in Leipzig. She has been living in Berlin and Switzerland since 2009, studying political science. Dorothee Elmiger was awarded the Kelag Prize at the Ingeborg Bachmann Festival 2010 for her first novel Einladung an die Waghalsigen, as well as the Aspekte Literature Prize 2010 for the best German debut prose and the Rauriser Literaturpreis 2011. During her stay at Villa Aurora, she will be working on a novel concerned with the concept and fabrication of biography, searching for ways of (re-) writing seemingly lost biographies. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 20, 2012.

Annie-Marie Kinney

Radio Iris (Two Dollar Radio)

Anne-Marie Kinney will read from and sign her debut novel, Radio Iris. "Radio Iris brings new shimmer and depth tot he word 'sensory'--Iris' perceptions are both keen and open, so mysterious and grounded, and the book builds to a narrative of mystery and longign with visceral, ringing precision." --Aimee Bender "Radio Iris is a revelation, a whimsical, charming and beautifully observed novel about quotidian life. Anne-Marie Kinney's Iris is a contemporary version of Calvino's Marcoaldo, caught between the rich expression of her own humanity and the random demands of the workaday world." --T.C. Boyle Anne-Marie Kinney's work has appeared in Black Clock, Indiana Review, and Keyhole, and has been performed by Los Angeles's Word Theatre. Radio Iris is her first novel. Author photo by Abraham Kinney. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 17, 2012.

Meg Howrey

The Cranes Dance (Vintage)

Novelist Meg Howrey returns to Skylight to launch her latest, The Cranes Dance, set in the ultra-competitive world of professional ballet. “Howrey’s engaging new novel exposes the competitive world of professional ballet through Kate Crane, a charmingly sarcastic ballerina at a crossroads. . . . Kate is an ideal guide to an unfamiliar world, from her irreverent explanations of her ballets (Howrey was a professional dancer) to her relatable self-doubt and honesty. Her revelations about family, talent, and what makes us special create a thought-provoking and entertaining read.” —Publishers Weekly Meg Howrey was a professional dancer and actress. She currently lives in Los Angeles. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 16, 2012.

Benjamin Busch

Dust to Dust (Ecco Press)

Skylight Books is pleased to host author Benjamin Busch, reading from his acclaimed memoir, Dust to Dust. "Elegaic, funny, wistful, deep, and wonderfully human, Dust to Dust moved me to laughter and tears, sometimes simultaneously... . After reading this book, you will want to go outside and really look at our world." --Karl Marlantes, bestselling author of Matterhorn and What It Is Like to Go to War "Every religious practice I know contains a facet in which knowledge of your own mortality draws you closer to the ultimate truth. Now this brave soldier with his singular sensibility renders for us a life borne of that wisdom. Benjamin Busch was molded into one of Camus's perfect men: alert in the instant with a clear-eyed view of contingency and reflexes to act. In Dust to Dust, he builds us a fort we're loath to leave." --Mary Karr, author of The Liars' Club, Cherry and Lit Benjamin Busch was born in Manhattan in 1968 and grew up in rural New York State. He in an actor, photographer, film director, and a United States Marine Corps Infantry Officer who served two combat tours in Iraq. He played the role of Officer Anthony Colicchio on the HBO series The Wire, and has appeared onHomicide, The West Wing, and Generation Kill. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, has been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and he has been a guest commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered. He lives on a farm in Michigan with his wife and two daughters. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 15, 2012.

Paula Priamos and Dana Johnson

The Shyster's Daughter (Etruscan Press) by Paula Priamos Elsewhere, California (Counterpoint) by Dana Johnson

L.A.-based writers Paula Priamos and Dana Johnson read and sign their powerful new books: The Shyster's Daughter, a memoir by Priamos about her deeply flawed father; and Elsewhere, California, a coming-of-age novel set in Los Angeles from Johnson, the award-winning author of Break Any Woman Down. Praise for The Shyster's Daughter: "Paula Priamos' The Shyster's Daughter is a wonderfully written charged memoir--utterly absorbing and packed with sharp details. Direct, evocative, emotionally honest, brave, and funny, Priamos' voice shines. The Shyster's Daughter is a suspenseful investigative journey, but its emotional core vibrates with Priamos' homage to her deeply flawed and deeply loved father, and to their complicated and enduring relationship." --Victoria Patterson, author of This Vacant Paradise and Drift Praise for Elsewhere, California: "Beautifully wrought. A contemporary Bildungsroman with a wise and winning heroine at its heart." —T.C. Boyle “Reading Elsewhere, California, Dana Johnson’s luminous, intelligent, linguistically dexterous first novel about growing up in Southern California, made me understand exponentially more about my own state, my own growing up, and the private lives of families in the homes all around me. An impressive, inspiring debut!” —Michelle Huneven, author of Blame Paula Priamos is a Los Angeles based writer whose writing has been regularly featured in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post and other high profile publications. She teaches at California State University and lives in Southern California with her husband, author James Brown, and stepsons. For more info on Paula Priamos, visit: http://www.paulapriamos.com.. Dana Johnson is the author of Break Any Woman Down, which won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Break Any Woman Down is taught at universities across the country. Born and raised in and around Los Angeles, California, she is an associate professor of English at the University of Southern California. www.danajohnsonauthor.com THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JULY 20, 2012.

Helen Knode with James Ellroy

Wildcat Play (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Acclaimed novelist Helen Knode will discuss her new thriller Wildcat Play with her ex-husband and crime fiction writer extraordinaire James Ellroy. Praise for Wildcat Play: "I fell in love with the people, the place and most of all the words." —Michael Connelly "Drawing on her family's history in oil exploration, Helen Knode has created a riveting mystery that blends elements of Upton Sinclair and There Will Be Blood with a hard-edged heroine who isn't afraid to get grease under her fingernails. Best of all, Wildcat Play explores the literary terra incognita of East-Central California, a land of transplanted Okie roughnecks, blue-collar millionaires, wildcat rigs and the scheming, double-crossing and murder that seethes beneath the placid surface." —Denise Hamilton, author of Damage Control and the Eve Diamond mystery series Helen Knode put her experiences as a staff writer and film critic for the L.A. Weekly into her first novel, The Ticket Out. She was born in Calgary, Alberta, heart of the Canadian oil business, and Knodes have worked in oil since the nineteenth century, a history that inspired Wildcat Play. She lives in Austin, Texas. James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. His L.A. Quartet novels—The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz—were international bestsellers. His novel American Tabloid was Time magazine's Best Book (fiction) of 1995; his memoir, My Dark Places, was a Time Best Book of the Year and a New York Times Notable Book for 1996. His novel The Cold Six Thousand was a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book for 2001. Ellroy lives in Los Angeles. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 2, 2012.

Ross Altman

Ross Altman

May Day is the international worker’s holiday, dating back to 1886 and the Haymarket Square strike in Chicago. This May Day, Skylight Books welcomes LA labor troubadour Ross Altman to lead a program of sing along labor songs, with a little history behind the songs, for t...hose who want to carry on the tradition of Joe Hill, the IWW and Woody Guthrie—now in his Centennial year. This is the closing activity in Skylight's show of support for worker's rights and a fair economy this May 1st - check out skylightbooks.com for updates in the next week to see how you can participate. Ross will tell the story of how May Day came to be and teach some of the classic labor songs going back to coal miner struggles in Harlan County, Kentucky and West Virginia, auto workers in Flint, Michigan, mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts that gave rise to the Bread and Roses strike of 1912, now in its Centennial, and the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union. Learn about the anthem of American labor, Solidarity Forever, the Internationale, Joe Hill, and more. Ross will have you singing these picket line classics in no time at all. Ross is a member of Local 47 of the Professional Musicians’ Union—AFL-CIO and writes for FolkWorks (www.folkworks.org). He recently performed in the Grammy Museum tribute to the legendary Ash Grove folk music club.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 1, 2012.

Charles Yu

Sorry Please Thank You (Pantheon Books)

Skylight welcomes back Los Angeles author Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, to launch his new short story collection, Sorry Please Thank You. Praise for How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: "Glittering layers of gorgeous and playful meta-science-fiction . . . A complex, brainy, genre-hopping joyride of a story [that is] smart and tragic enough to engage all regions of the brain and body." —The New York Times Book Review “Compulsively rereadable . . . Hilarious." —Los Angeles Times Charles Yu is the author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. He received the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 Award for his story collection Third Class Superhero. He has also received the Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award. Photo of the author by Michelle Jue. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JULY 25, 2012.

Neal Stephenson

Some Remarks: Essays and Other Writing (William Morrow & Company)

Neal Stephenson, the beloved and bestselling author of modern speculative fiction classics including Reamde, Anathem, and Snow Crash, will discuss and sign his brand-new collection of essays, Some Remarks. "Neal Stephenson has made a name for himself as a writer whose imagination knows no limits." —Salon Neal Stephenson is the author of Reamde; Anathem; the three-volume historical epic the Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World); Cryptonomicon; The Diamond Age; Snow Crash, which was named one of Time magazine’s top one hundred all-time best English-language novels; and Zodiac.  He lives in Seattle, Washington. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS AUGUST 8, 2012.