Skylight Books Podcast Series

UC Irvine MFA Students 2013

Join us to hear fine new works by UC Irvine MFA Students.  Fiction writers Blake Kimzey and Justin Lee, and poets Josh Cornwell and Meagan Cooney will be at Skylight for the final stop of their off-campus reading series.  Come out, support and enjoy great new work. http://www.humanities.uci.edu/mfareading/ THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS ON MAY 18, 2013.

Richard Lange

Angel Baby (Mulholland Books)

A woman goes on the run in this intense and cinematic thriller by an award-winning writer. To escape the awful life she has descended into, Luz plans carefully. She takes only the clothes on her back, a Colt .45, and all the money in her husband's safe. The corpses in the hallway weren't part of her plan. Luz needs to find the daughter she left behind years earlier, but she knows she may die trying. Her husband is El Principe, a key player in a high-powered drug cartel, a business he runs with the same violence he has used to keep Luz his perfect, obedient wife. With the pace and relentless force of a Scorsese film, ANGEL BABY is the newest masterpiece from one of the most ambitious and talented crime novelists at work today. "Richard Lange has a PhD in badass, and in Angel Baby he leads the reader through every can't-look, can't-look-away corner of treachery and sleaze, violence and danger. Lange stands out as the greatest young crime writer of his generation, precisely because he doesn't write crime--he writes literature." --Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight "Angel Baby is a bone-crushing nightmare parable: bad people doing the wrong things for love." --Warren Ellis, author of Gun Machine Richard Lange is the author of the story collection Dead Boys, which received an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the novel This Wicked World. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his fiction has appeared in Best American Mystery Stories 2004 and 2011. He lives in Los Angeles. Photo by Beth Coller THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS ON MAY 17, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780316219822

Joyce Carol Oates

The Accursed (Ecco Press)

We couldn't be more excited to have legendary author Joyce Carol Oates coming to Skylight to read from and sign her new novel, The Accursed. The Washington Post calls The Accursed "spectacular. . . With its vast scope, its mingling of comic and tragic tones, its omnivorous gorging on American literature, and especially its complex reflection on the major themes of our history, The Accursed is the kind of outrageous masterpiece only Joyce Carol Oates could create." A major historical novel from "one of the great artistic forces of our time" (The Nation)--an eerie, unforgettable story of possession, power, and loss in early-twentieth-century Princeton, a cultural crossroads of the powerful and the damned. Princeton, New Jersey, at the turn of the twentieth century: a tranquil place to raise a family, a genteel town for genteel souls. But something dark and dangerous lurks at the edges of the town, corrupting and infecting its residents. Vampires and ghosts haunt the dreams of the innocent. A powerful curse besets the elite families of Princeton; their daughters begin disappearing. A young bride on the verge of the altar is seduced and abducted by a dangerously compelling man-a shape-shifting, vaguely European prince who might just be the devil, and who spreads his curse upon a richly deserving community of white Anglo-Saxon privilege. And in the Pine Barrens that border the town, a lush and terrifying underworld opens up. When the bride's brother sets out against all odds to find her, his path will cross those of Princeton's most formidable people, from Grover Cleveland, fresh out of his second term in the White House and retired to town for a quieter life, to soon-to-be commander in chief Woodrow Wilson, president of the university and a complex individual obsessed to the point of madness with his need to retain power; from the young Socialist idealist Upton Sinclair to his charismatic comrade Jack London, and the most famous writer of the era, Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain-all plagued by "accursed" visions. An utterly fresh work from Oates, The Accursed marks new territory for the masterful writer. Narrated with her unmistakable psychological insight, it combines beautifully transporting historical detail with chilling supernatural elements to stunning effect. "The Accursed is a unique, vast multilayered narrative; a genre bending beast of a book, utterly startling from start to finish, compulsive and engaging, the writing crackling with energy and wit. This is an elaborately conceived work."--New York Review of Books. Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Medal of Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has written some of the most enduring fiction of our time, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys, Blonde, which was nominated for the National Book Award, and the New York Times bestseller The Falls, which won the 2005 Prix Femina. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978. In 2003 she received the Common Wealth Award for Distinguished Service in Literature, and in 2006 she received the Chicago Tribune Lifetime Achievement Award. Photo by Star Black THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 6, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE:  http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/%5Bmodel%5D-240

Paul Vangelisti

Wholly Falsetto With People Dancing (Otis Books)

An older man's not-so-divine comedy, Vangelisti's FALSETTO is in three parts, corresponding to Hell, Purgatory and Paradise: namely, "Westernmost," the Los Angeles of a poet's daybook; the fool's purgatory of "An Italian Journal," some three weeks up & down the peninsula; and finally, "Wholly Falsetto with People Dancing," an alphabetical memoir of that invisible country of dead poets and loves that are no more. The trips through the first two territories in the work, Los Angeles and Italy, are documented more or less "on the run," in stark contrast to the contemplative nature of the final section of recollections. Among the several subjects interwoven throughout the narrative is Vangelisti's exploration of an 'un-American' literary tradition, set up against that of the dominant Anglo-American culture. Paul Vangelisti is the author of some twenty books of poetry, as well as being a noted translator from Italian. In addition to his new book, Wholly Falsetto with People Dancing, an older man’s not-so-divine comedy, his most recent book of poems, Two, appeared from Talisman House in 2011. In 2006, Lucia Re’s and his translation of Amelia Rosselli’s War Variations won both the Premio Flaiano in Italy and the  PEN-USA Award for Translation. In 2010, his translation of Adriano Spatola’s The Position of Things: Collected Poems, 1961-1992 won the Academy of American Poets Raizzis/de Palchi Book Prize for Translation. From 1971-1982 he was co-editor, with John McBride, of the literary magazine Invisible City and, from 1993-2002, edited Ribot, the annual report of the College of Neglected Science. He worked as a journalist at the Hollywood Reporter (1972-1974), and as Cultural Affairs Director at KPFK Radio (1974-1982). Currently, with Luigi Ballerini, he is editing a six-volume anthology of U.S. poetry from 1960 to the present, Nuova poesia americana, for Mondadori in Milan. Vangelisti is Founding Chair of the Graduate Writing program at Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 11, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/event/paul-vangelisti-reads-wholly-falsetto-people-dancing

Margot Leitman

Gawky: Tales of an Extra Long Awkward Phase (Seal Press)

Some tall girls grow up to have perfect posture and are later seen gracing the pages of magazines. Some are natural athletes with toned legs that mask their overlarge feet. Then there are "other" tall girls: the ones who are always tripping over themselves; who never look normal in any size of clothing; who literally don't fit in.

Comedian Margot Leitman was one of these awkward giants, and "Gawky" is the painfully funny chronicle of her experiences growing up tall. Reaching five feet six inches in fourth grade--and approaching six feet in high school--Leitman realized early on that she'd always stand out from the crowd. To cope, she developed a thick skin and a sharp sense of humor, and instead of forever trying to blend in, she decided to embrace her center-of-attention status. Leitman wears funky, Ziggy Stardust-era jumpsuits (in the 90s); takes up any cause she can find (whether saving the public beaches or protesting prom); and generally makes as much use of her big presence as humanly possible.

Leitman's memoir is a hilarious celebration of growing up gangly. Endearing and encouraging, "Gawky" is a cathartic release of everything awkward girls endure--and a tribute to a youth larger than life.

"If Judy Blume and Chelsea Handler had a baby, and that baby was a book, it would be "Gawky.""--Rachel Dratch

Margot Leitman's humorous, autobiographical writing has been published in Playgirl Magazine and The NY Press, as well as online at LifetimeTV.com, theFrisky.com, CollegeHumor.com, and 236.com (the comedy division of the Huffington Post). Her former monthly column, “From Behind the Bar,” was a reminiscence of bartending at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre and was featured multiple times on Comedy Central Insider, BrooklynVegan.com, and Gawker. She is a regular monologist at Assscat (UCB Theatre’s long running improv show hosted by Amy Poehler), Heeb Magazine’s Storytelling, Moonwork, Jill Soloway’s Sit N Spin, and Comedy Central’s Crash Mansion, among others. In 2012, Margot was nominated for an ECNY Award (Excellence in Comedy, NY) for “Best Storyteller.” Margot Leitman lives in Los Angeles. Visit her online at MargotLeitman.com.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS ON MAY 9, 2013.

COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781580054782

Nathaniel Rich

Odds Against Tomorrow (Farrar Straus Giroux)

NEW YORK CITY, the near future: Mitchell Zukor, a gifted young mathematician, is hired by a mysterious new financial consulting firm, FutureWorld. The business operates out of a cavernous office in the Empire State Building; Mitchell is employee number two. He is asked to calculate worst-case scenarios in the most intricate detail, and his schemes are sold to corporations to indemnify them against any future disasters. This is the cutting edge of corporate irresponsibility, and business is booming. As Mitchell immerses himself in the mathematics of catastrophe--ecological collapse, global war, natural disasters--he becomes obsessed by a culture's fears. Yet he also loses touch with his last connection to reality: Elsa Bruner, a friend with her own apocalyptic secret, who has started a commune in Maine. Then, just as Mitchell's predictions reach a nightmarish crescendo, an actual worst-case scenario overtakes Manhattan. Mitchell realizes he is uniquely prepared to profit. But at what cost? At once an all-too-plausible literary thriller, an unexpected love story, and a philosophically searching inquiry into the nature of fear, Nathaniel Rich's Odds Against Tomorrow poses the ultimate questions of imagination and civilization. The future is not quite what it used to be. "This literary thriller is blessed with a propulsive plot, macabre humor, several richly developed characters, and serious ethical and philosophical issues, all lightly clothed in skillful writing."--Booklist Praise for The Mayor's Tongue: "A brilliantly told novel, by turns terrifying, touching, and wildly funny." --Stephen King "An author who could well become one of the defining writers of his generation." --The Sunday Telegraph "A spare masterpiece." --The Boston Globe Born in New York City, Nathaniel Rich now lives in New Orleans. He is the author of The Mayor’s Tongue. Photo by Meredith Angelson THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS, MAY 8, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780374224240

Author MARIO BELLATIN in conversation with translator DAVID SHOOK

A new nonprofit venture sponsored by PEN Center USA, Phoneme Media is an LA-based film and publishing house, published by Skylight's own Chris Heiser and founded by local poet and translator David Shook. Mario Bellatin, the leading experimental novelist in contemporary Latin America, introduces the neglected work of Shiki Nagaoka to an English-speaking audience for the first time. Bellatin’s highly stylized biography recounts Nagaoka’s early life, including his failed first attempt at love, his decision to enter the monastic life, and his family’s disavowal of him. It contextualizes his untranslatable masterwork, his early use of narrative photography, and his influence on other important world writers, including Juan Rulfo and José María Arguedas. And of course he portrays Nagaoka’s incredible nose, the deformedly large appendage that determined his life path. Read excerpts at Two Lines Online and World Literature Today, read about the book in the New York Times, or read an interview on Molossus. The New York Times calls Bellatin “…one of the leading voices in experimental Spanish-language fiction.” “Mario Bellatin has indisputably become one of the literary stars of the Latin American scene.” —Radar Libros (Argentina) “One of the most original figures of recent Latin American fiction.” —ABC (Spain) “Bellatin’s unusual narrative world doesn’t need to exceed the conventional limits of the short novel in order to take possession of mind of the reader, who’s left seduced by the turbid and convulsive beauty of his stories.” —El País (Spain) Mario Bellatin has published dozens of novellas on major and minor publishing houses in Latin America, Europe, and the United States. His English-language translations include Beauty Salon (City Lights, 2010) andChinese Checkers: Three Fictions (Ravenna Press, 2009). His current projects include Los Cien Mil Libros de Bellatin, his own imprint dedicated to publishing 1,000 copies each of 100 of his books.

David Shook is a poet and writer in Los Angeles, where he editsMolossus and Phoneme Media. His debut collection Our Obsidian Tongues is forthcoming from Eyewear Publishing.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS ON MAY 7, 2013.

Marivi Soliven

The Mango Bride (New American Library)

Two women, two cultures, and the fight to find a new life in America, despite the secrets of the past... Banished by her wealthy Filipino family in Manila, Amparo Guerrero travels to Oakland, California, to forge a new life. Although her mother labels her life in exile a diminished one, Amparo believes her struggles are a small price to pay for freedom. Like Amparo, Beverly Obejas--an impoverished Filipina waitress--forsakes Manila and comes to Oakland as a mail-order bride in search of a better life. Yet even in the land of plenty, Beverly fails to find the happiness and prosperity she envisioned. As Amparo works to build the immigrant's dream, she becomes entangled in the chaos of Beverly's immigrant nightmare. Their unexpected collision forces them both to make terrible choices and confront a life-changing secret, but through it all they hold fast to family, in all its enduring and surprising transformations. "Writing with sensitivity and humor, Marivi Soliven creates a brilliantly detailed picture of Philippine life at home and in America in this panoramic story of one Manila family."--Drusilla Campbell, author of When She Came Home Marivi Soliven has taught creative writing at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, the Ayala Museum and the University of California at San Diego. Short stories and essays from her fifteen books have appeared in anthologies and textbooks on creative writing. She was awarded a Hedgebrook writing residency in August 2012 for her work on The Mango Bride and its advocacy of women’s issues. Prior to publication, this novel won the Grand Prize for the Novel in English at the 2011 Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the Philippine version of the Pulitzer Prize. You can reach her online at www.facebook.com/marivi-soliven, www.marivisoliven.com, and http://marivisoliven.blogspot.com. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS ON MAY 4, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/%5Bmodel%5D-239

Ramona Ausubel

A Guide To Being Born (Riverhead Books)

We are honored and excited to have Ramona Ausubel back for another book launch.  We hosted the launch for her stunning debut novel, NO ONE IS HERE EXCEPT ALL OF US, which was hailed by The New Yorker as "An absorbing and unpredictable novel . . . Ausubel’s original voice combines fresh, clear observation.”  Join us to hear stories from her new collection, which is already gretting great buzz. “Ausubel has a gift of language so rich that even the most mundane events are invested with poetry, and many of her characters are in need of all the poetry they can muster.”--Kirkus “These stories reminded me of branches full of cherry blossoms: fresh, delicate, beautiful, expressive, otherworldly.  I eagerly read from one story to the next.”--Aimee Bender Whimsically beautiful and delightfully strange, A GUIDE TO BEING BORN charts the life cycle from Birth to Motherhood to Death.  Each of the eleven stories is organized around the stages of life—birth, gestation, conception, love—and the transformations that happen as people encounter deeply altering life events: falling in love, becoming parents, approaching the end of life.  Reminiscent of Karen Russell and Aimee Bender, Ausubel’s imagination and humor are deeply moving and provocative, allowing readers to see the familiar world in new ways. Ramona Ausubel is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of California, Irvine. She has been published in The New Yorker, One Story, The Paris Review Daily, Best American Fantasy, and elsewhere, and has received special mentions in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Non-Required Reading. She was a finalist for the Pushcart Prize. Photo by Teo Gosse THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 2, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/%5Bmodel%5D-237

Gilbert Hernandez

MARBLE SEASON (Drawn & Quarterly)

Join beloved cartoonist Gilbert Hernandez (LOVE & ROCKETS) as he launches his new D+Q graphic novel MARBLE SEASON, his first semiautobiographical story of his childhood. Hernandez will present a fascinating slide show “From Funnybooks to Graphic Novels” featuring the comics of his childhood, in addition to a Q+A and signing. These silver age comics not only influenced MARBLE SEASON, but also set the course for Gilbert, as well as his brothers Jaime and Mario, to become the legendary comics creator they are today.

MARBLE SEASON is the first ever semi-autobiographical novel by acclaimed cartoonist Gilbert Hernandez of Love & Rockets, and is also his first graphic novel for Drawn & Quarterly. Meet Huey. He’s the middle child of a big family, growing up in a California suburb in the 1960s. He stages Captain America plays in the backyard and treasures his older brother’s comic-book collection almost as much as his approval. Set against the golden age of the American dream and the silver age of comics, MARBLE SEASON is a subtle and deft rumination on the redemptive and timeless power of storytelling and worldbuilding in childhood.

“Perhaps no other current creators of comics recognize (or vividly remember) the ways actual kids think, talk, or even stand and walk as accurately as the Hernandez brothers, and no other comics artists so delicately intertwine moments of childhood trauma with the goofy logic that otherwise sustains kids when they begin to sense that they live in an irrational world.”—from the afterword by Corey Creekmur

“Gilbert Hernandez is one of the great craftsmen of modern comics.”—New York Times

Praise for Palomar: “These deeply influential tales, a sort of Archie-comics-meets-Marquez melange of complicated pan-American inter-relationships, are a comix epic.”—Time

Praise for Gilbert Hernandez: “He…[should]…be considered one of the greatest American storytellers. It’s so hard to do funny, tragic, local and epic, and he does all simultaneously, and with great aplomb.”—Junot Diaz, Los Angeles TIMES

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 24, 2013.

COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781770460867

Anna Stothard and Davy Rothbart

The Pink Hotel (Picador USA)

We are very excited to have Anna Stothard and Davy Rothbart together in conversation at Skylight!  You know Rothbart as the founder of the book/magazine series FOUND.  Stothard's debut novel, THE PINK HOTEL, is generating a dizzying amount of buzz.  Catch them in conversation here at Skylight Books. "Startling....The Pink Hotel is a spellbinding story about identity and inheritance, and how we know who we are."--The Daily Beast "Astonishingly good...Stothard's writing is accomplished and very engaging."--The Times (London) "Matters of personal identity underlie an exhilarating ride through L.A.'s seamier side in the company of a hard-bitten yet highly engaging protagonist."--Daily Mail (London) A seventeen-year-old girl pieces together the mystery of her mother's life and death among the bars and bedrooms of Los Angeles in this dazzling debut novel. A raucous, drug-fueled party has taken over a boutique hotel on Venice Beach--it's a memorial for Lily, the now-deceased, free-spirited proprietress of the place. Little do the attendees know that Lily's estranged daughter--and the nameless narrator of this striking novel--is among them, and she has just walked off with a suitcase of Lily's belongings. Abandoned by Lily many years ago, she has come a long way to learn about her mother, and the stolen suitcase--stuffed with clothes, letters, and photographs--contains not only a history of her mother's love life, but perhaps also the key to her own identity. As the tough, resourceful narrator tracks down her mother's former husbands, boyfriends, and acquaintances, a risky reenactment of her life begins to unfold. Lily had a knack for falling in love with the wrong people, and one man, a fashion photographer turned paparazzo, has begun to work his sinuous charms on the young woman. Told with high style and noirish flare, Anna Stothard's The Pink Hotel is a powerfully evocative debut novel about wish fulfillment, reckless impulse, and how we discover ourselves. ANNA STOTHARD studied English at Oxford and then moved to Los Angeles, where she was awarded a screenwriting scholarship with the masters program at the American Film Institute. She is currently living in Chalk Farm, London, and writing her next novel. DAVY ROTHBART is a frequent contributor to This American Life and a variety of magazines, the founder of Found Magazine and the editor of its various bestselling anthologies, and the author of The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas. He splits his time between Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Los Angeles, California.  His fourth book, My Heart Is an Idiot, will be available in paperback this September. Anna Sthothard photo by Charlie Hopkinson Davy Rothbart photo by Dan Busta

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOK MAY 1, 2013.

COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781250026804 AND HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780374280840

Steph Cha

Follow Her Home (Minotaur Books)

A stunning, edgy debut introducing Juniper Song, an amateur sleuth taking on the darkness in the veins of L.A. with razor-sharp wit and a breaking heart. Juniper Song knows secrets-how to keep them and how to search them out. As a girl, noir fiction was her favorite escape, and Philip Marlowe has always been her literary idol. So when her friend Luke asks her to investigate a possible affair between his father and a young employee, Juniper (or "Song" as her friends call her) finds an opportunity to play detective. Driving through L.A.'s side streets, following leads, tailing suspects-it all appeals to Song's romantic ideal of the noir hero. But when she's knocked out while investigating a mysterious car and finds a body in her own trunk, Song lurches back to the real L.A., becoming embroiled in a crime that goes far beyond role play. What's more, this isn't the first time Song has stuck her nose in other people's business. As she fights to discover the truth about her friend's family, Song reveals one of her own deeply hidden secrets, something dark and damaging, urging her to see the current mystery through, to rectify the mistakes of her past life. A dazzling debut from fresh new talent Steph Cha, featuring a strong, modern, sharply observant heroine with an unforgettable voice, Follow Her Home takes readers through dangerous twists and turns, beyond the glittering high-rises and freeways of L.A. on a case that will stay with them long after the final page. Praise for Follow Her Home: "Cha's debut updates Marlowe's dark and dangerous LA to modern times while keeping the quirky characters and a twisty mystery that will hold readers to the bitter end." -Kirkus "For fans of urban noir and of mysteries that address contemporary social issues. Cha is a promising mystery author to watch." -Library Journal "Stephanie Cha's brilliant debut is as Noir as Old Nick's sense of humour. Compelling from first to last page, she takes on contemporary L.A., sweeping the reader through Chandler's twilight, heartbroken city from mansions to faux K-town hostess bars. L.A. Noir at its finest." -- Denise Mina, author of The Dead Hour ""Follow Her Home" takes a fresh trip down the sunny, dark streets of Los Angeles, and Juniper Song is a great guide - young, sharp, and worldly-wise. Keenly observed and deeply felt, the story slowly got under my skin. I couldn't put it down." - Meg Gardiner, Edgar Award-winng author of Ransom River "In a glittery L.A. of pretty, privileged twentysomethings, Stephanie Cha's "Follow Her Home" opens like a playful homage to Raymond Chandler but deepens into something darker: an utterly 21st-century ode to sisterhood in the face of crime. A fast-paced thriller told in smart, sparkling prose, "Follow Her Home" is a moving exploration of mothers and daughters, men and women, immigrant history, loss, and hope." -Joy Castro, author of Hell or High Water Steph Cha is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School. She lives in her native city of Los Angeles, California. This is her first novel. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS, APRIL 30, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781250009623

Terry Wolverton & Co - poetry

FREE READING FOR NATIONAL POETRY MONTH Poetry is meant to be heard as well as read.  Join us on Sunday, April 14 at 5 p.m. as we hear the delightful and provocative poems of Poets At Work members Kim Dower, Yvonne M. Estrada, Steven Fleet, Dylan Cameron Gailey, Brett Guitar Hofer, Eric Howard, Sharon Venezio, Terry Wolverton and Helen Yeoman.  They will be joined by a dynamic group of next generation poets—Ashley Blakeney, Rachelle Cruz, Ashaki M. Jackson, Eden Jeffries, Menhaz Sahibzada and Andrew Wessels. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 14, 2013.

Martha Ronk

Partially Kept (Nightboat Books)

Skylight welcomes back Martha Ronk, an acclaimed poet and short story writer, to read and sign her latest book of poetry, Partially Kept. Martha Ronk is the author of 9 books of poetry, a collection of short fiction, and a fictional memoir; her most recent poetic work includes Partially Kept from Nightboat Books, Vertigo, a National Poetry Series selection, from Coffee House Books, and Glass Grapes, fiction. She received an NEA award for her work, had residencies at Djerassi and MacDowell, and last year was a visiting poet at the University of Montana. Ronk is Professor of creative writing and Renaissance literature at Occidental College. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 13, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781937658014

Eliza Wheeler

Miss Maple's Seeds (Nancy Paulsen Books)

Fans of Miss Rumphius will adore this gorgeous picture book which introduces the kind, nature-loving Miss Maple, who celebrates the miracle in each seed. Miss Maple gathers lost seeds that haven't yet found a place to sprout. She takes them on field trips to explore places to grow. In her cozy maple tree house, she nurtures them; keeping them safe and warm until it's time for them to find roots of their own, and grow into the magnificent plants they're destined to become. Eliza Wheeler's luminous paintings feature gorgeous landscapes, lush foliage and charming details. Her tender story celebrates the potential found in each seed--since even the grandest tree and most brilliant flower had to grow from the smallest of seeds. Celebrate every season with Miss Maple, from Earth Day to graduations to harvest festivals.

"Confident artistry and an intuitive knowledge of what the world looks like to a very small person make a winning combination in Wheeler's debut. . . . Careful observation of seeds (including a labeled seed chart), leaves, and plants gives the artwork substance, and Japanese woodblock-style skies that fade to sunset hues provide a wistful emotional overlay. Wheeler has clearly had a good time inventing fairy-house fixtures for Miss Maple: flower lantern boats and hollow-log houses make one yearn to escape our big, unwieldy world and inhabit hers."--Publishers Weekly

Eliza Wheeler grew up in Wisconsin and got a degree in art and design from the University of Wisconsin. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California. Visit her at WheelerStudio.com.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 7, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780399257926