Enjoy recent author events, interviews, and bookseller series. Visit our website to learn more: www.skylightbooks.com
Episodes
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.
Monday Apr 18, 2022
SKYLIT: Sanaa Seif + Sharif abdel Kouddous, ”YOU HAVE NOT YET BEEN DEFEATED”
Monday Apr 18, 2022
Monday Apr 18, 2022
Produced by Natalie 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.
Wednesday Dec 02, 2020
SKYLIT: Farrah Alexander, "RAISING THE RESISTANCE"
Wednesday Dec 02, 2020
Wednesday Dec 02, 2020
Acknowledging the dual role of mother and citizen, Scary Mommy writer and mom Farrah Alexander, provides empowerment and guidance for the modern progressive mother.
On the intersection of feminism and motherhood.Mothers are a force to be reckoned with. And after the Women's March and midterm elections, moms have surely secured their spot in today's feminist movement. But for those who aren't ready to make a bid for the presidency, the way forward can seem daunting and unclear. Whether it's correcting a misinformed family member about gender equality or running for political office, this bold and accessible primer presents active parents with different types of activism they can incorporate into their parenting, no matter how big or small.
When active parents support the feminist movement. With practical guidance, political commentary, and inspiration, this feminist manifesto for moms tackles problems from political representation to sexual misconduct. It doesn't just validate present-day feminist frustration, it also offers practical ways to channel it into solutions. Most importantly, it proves that by planting seeds of empathy and political awareness in their children, moms can raise their children to be change-makers. They can raise the resistance.
If you enjoyed books like Good and Mad, Unladylike, and Fight Like a Mother, then you'll love Raising the Resistance.
Alexander is in conversation with Skylight's own Kelsey Nolan.
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Produced by Maddie Gobbo & Michael Kowaleski
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," a new, unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
SKYLIT: Unni Turrettini, "BETRAYING THE NOBEL" w/ Brian Keating
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
The Nobel Prize, regardless of category, has always been surrounded by politics, intrigue, even scandal. But those pale in comparison to the Peace Prize.
In Betraying the Nobel, Norwegian writer Unni Turrettini completely upends what we thought we knew about the Peace Prize—both its history and how it is awarded.
As 1984’s winner, Desmond Tutu, put it, “No sooner had I got the Nobel Peace Prize than I became an instant oracle.” However, the Peace Prize as we know it is corrupt at its core.
In the years surrounding World War I and II, the Nobel Peace Prize became a beacon of hope, and, through its peace champions, became a reference and an inspiration around the world. But along the way, something went wrong. Alfred Nobel made the mistake of leaving it to the Norwegian Parliament to elect the members of the Peace Prize committee, which has filled the committee with politicians more loyal to their political party’s agenda than to Nobel’s prize's prerogative. As a result, winners are often a result of political expediency.
Betraying the Nobel will delve into the surprising, and often corrupt, history of the prize, and examine what the committee hoped to obtain by its choices, including the now-infamously awarded Cordell Hull, as well as Henry Kissinger, Al Gore, and Barack Obama. Turrettini shows the effects of increased media attention, which have turned the Nobel into a popularity prize, and a controversial and provocative commendation.
Turrettini is in conversation with Brian Keating, Distinguished Professor of Physics at the Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences at UC San Diego, and author of the book Losing the Nobel Prize.
Video chat between Turrettini and Keating: https://youtu.be/3CPfcHoZe7U?sub_confirmation=1
Free meditation download here: https://UnniTurrettini.simplero.com/page/183887-link-to-optin-page-for-free-meditation-download
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Produced by Maddie Gobbo & Michael Kowaleski
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," a new, unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.
Wednesday Oct 14, 2020
SKYLIT: Lawrence Rosenthal, "EMPIRE OF RESENTMENT" w/ Harry Levine
Wednesday Oct 14, 2020
Wednesday Oct 14, 2020
Since Trump's victory and the UK's Brexit vote, much of the commentary on the populist epidemic has focused on the emergence of populism. But, Lawrence Rosenthal argues, what is happening globally is not the emergence but the transformation of right-wing populism.
Rosenthal, the founder of UC Berkeley's Center for Right-Wing Studies, suggests right-wing populism is a protean force whose prime mover is the resentment felt toward perceived cultural elites, and whose abiding feature is its ideological flexibility, which now takes the form of xenophobic nationalism. In 2016, American right-wing populists migrated from the free marketeering Tea Party to Donald Trump's "hard hat," anti-immigrant, America-First nationalism. This was the most important single factor in Trump's electoral victory and it has been at work across the globe. In Italy, for example, the Northern League reinvented itself in 2018 as an all-Italy party, switching its fury from southerners to immigrants, and came to power.
Rosenthal paints a vivid sociological, political, and psychological picture of the transnational quality of this movement, which is now in power in at least a dozen countries, creating a de facto Nationalist International. In America and abroad, the current mobilization of right-wing populism has given life to long marginalized threats like white supremacy. The future of democratic politics in the United States and abroad depends on whether the liberal and left parties have the political capacity to mobilize with a progressive agenda of their own.
Rosenthal discusses his new book, Empire of Resentment, with sociologist Harry Levine.
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Produced by Maddie Gobbo & Michael Kowaleski
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," a new, unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.
Saturday May 30, 2020
Handsell, Ep. 8, "Protests are Good, Curbside Update, and David Gonzalez"
Saturday May 30, 2020
Saturday May 30, 2020
It's our longest episode yet! Mick and Maddie give a statement about the George Floyd protests on behalf on Skylight Books and recommend some books that might make for good reading right about now. Mary makes a special appearance to give an update on Skylight's curbside pickup, and Maddie comes back for a great main event conversation with David Gonzalez, her predecessor as events manager.
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Produced by Maddie Gobbo & Michael Kowaleski
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," a new, unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
SEAWITCHES, VOL. 4 w/ Olivia VanDamme & Margaret Seelie
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
Seawitches is a bi-annual print publication with the eternal theme of water. Within the water theme we’ve explored menstruation, mental health, white privilege, technology, environmental issues, and more.
Every issue has an Artist In Residence (AIR), including Leah Koransky (1), Caitlin Mattisson (2), and Savannah Rusher (4). Writers include Easkey Britton, Serena Renner, Kehinde Apara, Margaret Seelie, Maureen Murphy, Coco Peezy, and more. Artists include Amelia Coplan, Andrew Kaineder, Bleen Photography, Chris Duncan, Cristine Blanco, Elizabeth Pepin Silva, Rebecca Schillinger, Kaylee Savage-Wright, Kimberly Rose Wendt, Luke Allen, Marley Reynosa, Paige Laverty, Preston Richardson, Sarah Beeby, Susan Mattisson, Yoni Matatyaou, and more.
Whether you love oceans with wild waves, lakes that leave your skin smelling of fresh dirt, pools with sunlight slithering across blue paint, or a good soak in the tub – we think you'll like what you find with Seawitches.
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Ejeris Dixon & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, "BEYOND SURVIVAL" w/ Guests
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Afraid to call 911, but not sure what to do instead? Read this book! Beyond Survival collects tools, strategies and personal stories of the struggle to create safety, justice and accountability beyond the criminal justice system.
This long-awaited and deeply necessary book documents some of the work of the transformative justice movement- collecting everything from personal stories of successful interventions in abuse and violence to guides to being accountable if you’ve been abusive, from strategies to support folks having emotional crises without calling 911 to toolkits for creating safer party spaces and community safety zones from ICE. Along the way, there’s plenty of personal essays and reflections from long time organizers on the state of the movement, and visions for the future we’re building that will bring us all home.
Editors Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha are in conversation with activist-contributors Amita Swadhin and Raquel Lavina.
Tuesday Nov 20, 2018
Nicole Seymour, "BAD ENVIRONMENTALISM"
Tuesday Nov 20, 2018
Tuesday Nov 20, 2018
Activists today strive to educate the public about climate change, but sociologists have found that the more we know about alarming issues, the less likely we are to act. Meanwhile, environmentalists have acquired a reputation as gloom-and-doom killjoys. Bad Environmentalism identifies contemporary texts that respond to these absurdities and ironies through absurdity and irony—as well as camp, frivolity, irreverence, perversity, and playfulness.
Nicole Seymour develops the concept of “bad environmentalism”: cultural thought that employs dissident affects and sensibilities to reflect critically on our current moment and on mainstream environmental activism. From the television show Wildboyz to the short film series Green Porno, Seymour shows that this tradition of thought is widespread—spanning animation, documentary, fiction film, performance art, poetry, prose fiction, social media, and stand-up comedy since at least 1975. Seymour argues that these texts reject self-righteousness and sentimentality, undercutting public negativity toward activism and questioning basic environmentalist assumptions: that love and reverence are required for ethical relationships with the nonhuman and that knowledge is key to addressing problems like climate change.
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
Dan Lyons, "LAB RATS" w/ Karen Grigsby Bates
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
At a time of soaring corporate profits and plenty of HR lip service about "wellness." millions of workers—in virtually every industry—are deeply unhappy. Why did work become so miserable? Who is responsible? And does any company have a model for doing it right? For two years, Dan Lyons ventured in search of answers. From the innovation-crazed headquarters of the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, to a cult-like "Holocracy" workshop in San Francisco, and to corporate trainers who specialize in ... Legos, Lyons immersed himself in the often half-baked and frequently lucrative world of what passes for management science today. In Lab Rats: How Silicon Valley Made Work Miserable for the Rest of Us, he shows how new tools, workplace practices, and business models championed by empathy-impaired power brokers in Silicon Valley have shattered the social contract that once existed between companies and their employees. These new, dystopian beliefs, which are now seeping into virtually every industry, are often masked by pithy slogans like "We're a Team, Not a Family." And they have dire consequences: millions of workers who are subject to constant change, dehumanizing technologies—even health risks.
A few companies do get it right. Dan Lyons makes an impassioned plea for business leaders to look at how they are running their companies and employees (into the ground) and a case for a new “approach to work and business that puts people first, profitability serves customers, and makes the world a little bit better in the process” (Tom Peters, New York Times bestselling author of In Search of Excellence).
Lyons is in conversation with Karen Grigsby Bates, the Los Angeles-based correspondent for NPR News.
Tuesday Oct 30, 2018
Nadya Tolokonnikova, "READ & RIOT" w/ Shepard Fairey
Tuesday Oct 30, 2018
Tuesday Oct 30, 2018
Feminist artist, political activist, and Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova has written a timely guide to radical protest and provides the words, actions, and inspiration to ignite the power of individuals to passionately resist and proactively plan our way to the change we want to see. In Read & Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism, the revered international activist draws upon her own hard-won wisdom to share her core principles for opposing leaders and governments that threaten to suppress individual rights and freedoms. Cutting through the pessimism, fear, uncertainty, and hopelessness, Read & Riot is an empowering tool for civil disobedience that encourages us to question the status quo, reject the litany of injustices and refuse to let apathy take hold, and above all, to make political action exciting, to be approached with a sense of humor, and an ultimately make it an integral part of our daily lives. Fusing punk and positivity to create a culture of protest that inspires and connects us, Read & Riot includes actions, suggestions, and resources for creating an empowered movement of resistance.
Tolokonnikova is in conversation with fellow artist-activist Shepard Fairey.
Monday Oct 15, 2018
LAMBDA Litfest: "Queer Writing"
Monday Oct 15, 2018
Monday Oct 15, 2018
Young queer writers yearn for queer teachers for a variety of reasons: to be seen and acknowledged, to find role models, to work in spaces that include their voices. On this panel, queer writing teachers from UCLA Extension’s Writers’ Program will read excerpts from their recent work, and then discuss how queerness factors into their teaching of both straight and queer students.
The teachers included in the panel: Noel Alumit, Antonia Crane, Seth Fischer, Charles Jensen, and Mathew Rodriguez.
Sunday Oct 14, 2018
LAMBDA Litfest: "Trumpocalypse"
Sunday Oct 14, 2018
Sunday Oct 14, 2018
Four writers and a renowned book editor discuss the role of books and those who write them in such desperate times as these. Is it worth writing books? If so, what kinds of books? If not, what shall we writers do with ourselves for the duration?
Panelists include: Melissa Chadburn, Dan Smentanka, Cindy Chupack, Natashia Deon, moderated by Meredith Maran.