Enjoy recent author events, interviews, and bookseller series. Visit our website to learn more: www.skylightbooks.com
Episodes
Thursday Dec 07, 2023
SKYLIT: Rosecrans Baldwin, EVERYTHING NOW
Thursday Dec 07, 2023
Thursday Dec 07, 2023
Skylight royalty Rosecrans Baldwin joins Elodie to talk about his Los Angeles classic Everything Now. He talks about what makes L.A. a city-state, what makes it such a beautiful and conflicting place to be, and his three quintessential L.A. reads! (Spoilers below!)
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Produced by Elodie Saint-Louis and Mick Kowaleski
Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band
Rosecrans's Three L.A. Reads:
Thursday May 11, 2023
SKYLIT: Kristen Lopez, ”But Have You Read the Book?”
Thursday May 11, 2023
Thursday May 11, 2023
One-third of the Better Than the Movie gang, Tyler Austin, sits down with Kristen Lopez to talk about her book of 52 essential page-to-film adaptations. In But Have You Read the Book?, presented by Turner Classic Movies, Lopez explores just what makes these works classics of both the page and screen, and why each made for an exceptional adaptation—whether faithful to the book or exemplifying cinematic creative license.
Produced by Mick Kowaleski and Tyler Austin
Music by Duck the Piano Wire.
Thursday Mar 09, 2023
SKYLIT: Michael Schulman, ”OSCAR WARS” w/ Alex Ross
Thursday Mar 09, 2023
Thursday Mar 09, 2023
It's Oscar season! Join us for a deep dive into the Academy Awards as Michael Schulman discusses his new book, Oscar Wars, with fellow New Yorker writer Alex Ross. They discuss the Academy's dark history with union busting, its philosophical struggles in awarding spectacle vs. intimacy, and the lessons Michael learned while writing this book that he's excited to apply before this year's ceremony. This episode is well worth the listen before your Oscar party!
Produced by Mick Kowaleski
Order a signed copy of Oscar Wars here: https://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780062859013
Monday Nov 28, 2022
SKYLIT: Dr. Clarence Lusane, ”TWENTY DOLLARS AND CHANGE” w/ Janell Hobson
Monday Nov 28, 2022
Monday Nov 28, 2022
In Twenty Dollars and Change, political scientist Clarence Lusane, author of the acclaimed The Black History of the White House, writes from a basic premise: Racist historical narratives and pervasive social inequities are inextricably linked--changing one can transform the other. Taking up the debate over the future of the twenty-dollar bill, Lusane uses the question of Harriet Tubman vs. Andrew Jackson as a lens through which to view the current state of our nation's ongoing reckoning with the legacies of slavery and foundational white supremacy. He places the struggle to confront unjust social conditions in direct connection with the push to transform our public symbols, making it plain that any choice of whose life deserves to be remembered and honored is a direct reflection of whose basic rights are deemed worthy of protection, and whose are not.
Join us for a conversation on reparations and legacy with Dr. Lusane and Janell Hobson, hosted by Skylight's Tyler Austin.
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
SKYLIT: Andrea Chapela, ”THE VISIBLE UNSEEN” w/ Kelsi Vanada
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
While considering the technical definition of glass as a liquid or a solid, Chapela stumbles upon a framework for understanding the in-between-ness of her own life. Turning her focus toward mirrors, she finds metaphors for our cultural obsessions with self-image in the physics and chemistry of reflection. And as she compiles a history of the scientific study of light, she comes to her final conclusion: that the purpose of description--be it scientific or literary--can never be to define reality, only to confirm our perception of it. Lyrical, introspective, and methodical, The Visible Unseen constructs a startling new perspective from which to examine ourselves and the ways we create meaning.
Produced by Nat Freeman & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Monday Oct 17, 2022
SKYLIT: Ruha Benjamin, ”VIRAL JUSTICE” w/ Lance Morgan
Monday Oct 17, 2022
Monday Oct 17, 2022
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Wednesday Oct 12, 2022
SKYLIT: Alexandra Lange, ”MEET ME BY THE FOUNTAIN”
Wednesday Oct 12, 2022
Wednesday Oct 12, 2022
In her acclaimed The Design of Childhood, Alexandra Lange uncovered the histories of toys, classrooms, and playgrounds. She now turns her sharp eye to another subject we only think we know. She chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. In Lange’s perceptive account, the mall becomes newly strange and rich with contradiction: Malls are environments of both freedom and exclusion--of consumerism, but also of community. Meet Me by the Fountain is a highly entertaining and evocative promenade through the mall’s story of rise, fall, and ongoing reinvention, for readers of any generation.
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Thursday Sep 08, 2022
SKYLIT: Ramzi Fawaz, ”QUEER FORMS” w/ Ryan Hatch
Thursday Sep 08, 2022
Thursday Sep 08, 2022
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Thursday Sep 01, 2022
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Mimi Zhu, ”BE NOT AFRAID OF LOVE” w/ Jonny Sun
Thursday Sep 01, 2022
Thursday Sep 01, 2022
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.
Monday Aug 29, 2022
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Nona Willis Aronowitz, ”BAD SEX”
Monday Aug 29, 2022
Monday Aug 29, 2022
In the thick of personal and political turmoil, Nona turned to the words of history’s sexual revolutionaries—including her late mother, early radical pro-sex feminist Ellen Willis. At a time when sex has never been more accepted and feminism has never been more mainstream, Nona asked herself: What, exactly, do I want? And are my sexual and romantic desires even possible amid the horrors and bribes of patriarchy, capitalism, and white supremacy?
Nona’s attempt to find the answer places her search for authentic intimacy alongside her family history and other stories stretching back nearly two hundred years. Stories of ambivalent wives and unchill sluts, free lovers and radical lesbians, sensitive men and woke misogynists, women who risk everything for sex—who buy sex, reject sex, have bad sex and good sex. The result is a brave, bold, and vulnerable exploration of what sexual freedom can mean. Bad Sex is Nona’s own journey to sexual satisfaction and romantic happiness, which not only lays bare the triumphs and flaws of contemporary feminism but also shines a light on universal questions of desire.
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.
Monday Aug 22, 2022
SKYLIT: Sophia Benoit, ”WELL, THIS IS EXHAUSTING”
Monday Aug 22, 2022
Monday Aug 22, 2022
She navigates the highs and lows of the dating world (high: being a beta tester for Bumble; low: hastily shaving her legs before a hotel hookup and getting blood all over the sheets), and walks the line between being a “chill” girl and making sure her boyfriend’s nonchalance about altitude sickness doesn’t get him killed. She learns what it means to be a feminist, how to embrace her own voice, and when to listen to women who have been through more and have been doing the work longer.
With topics ranging from how to be the life of the party (even when you have crippling anxiety), to an ill-fated consultation with a dietician who deemed Sophia’s overindulgence in ketchup a serious health risk, to a masterful argument for why no one should judge you for having an encyclopedic knowledge of reality TV, Well, This Is Exhausting is not only “one of the funniest books you’ll read this year, but it’s also one of the most important.”
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Tuesday Aug 09, 2022
SKYLIT: Kaitlyn Tiffany, ”EVERYTHING I NEED I GET FROM YOU”
Tuesday Aug 09, 2022
Tuesday Aug 09, 2022
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Friday Jul 22, 2022
SKYLIT: Madhushree Ghosh, ”KHABAAR” w/ Guy Branum
Friday Jul 22, 2022
Friday Jul 22, 2022
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Friday Jul 01, 2022
SKYLIT: Ross Melnick, ”HOLLYWOOD’S EMBASSIES”
Friday Jul 01, 2022
Friday Jul 01, 2022
In Hollywood's Embassies, a history that stretches from Buenos Aires and Tokyo to Johannesburg and Cairo, Ross Melnick considers these movie houses as cultural embassies. He examines how the exhibition of Hollywood films became a constant flow of political and consumerist messaging, selling American ideas, products, and power, especially during fractious eras. Melnick demonstrates that while Hollywood's marketing of luxury and consumption often struck a chord with local audiences, it was also frequently tone-deaf to new social, cultural, racial, and political movements. He argues that the story of Hollywood's global cinemas is not a simple narrative of cultural and industrial indoctrination and colonization. Instead, it is one of negotiation, booms and busts, successes and failures, adoptions and rejections, and a precursor to later conflicts over the spread of American consumer culture. A truly global account, Hollywood's Embassies shows how the entanglement of worldwide movie theaters with American empire offers a new way of understanding film history and the history of U.S. soft power.
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Wednesday May 25, 2022
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Angel Dominguez, ”DESGRACIADO” w/ Sesshu Foster
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.