ALOUD @ Los Angeles Public Library

Fifteen years ago, in Autobiography of Red, Anne Carson, critically acclaimed poet, essayist, translator and classics professor, wrote about a boy named Geryon and his love affair with Herakles. In her newest work Red Doc>, Carson revisits these characters in later life, yet creates a dreamlike offshoot, abandoning her previous style and narrative threads while moving towards the perilous edge of living past the end of one’s myth.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Holt, an irreverent detective of metaphysics and science, dives deep into conversation with Caltech cosmologist Sean Carroll, to try and answer the most persistent mystery of existence: Why should there be a universe at all, and why are we a part of it? why is there Something rather than Nothing? Join us for a discussion of time, infinity, consciousness, the multiverse, and the haunting possibility of Absolute Nothingness.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues and the new memoir In the Body of the World, discusses the female body and the world’s responsibility to protect it with Jody Williams, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her work banning landmines.  Williams’ memoir, My Name is Jody Williams, promotes civil society's power to help change the world. These two remarkable women discuss activism, their collaboration on ending violence against women, and bringing women together through the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict and One Billion Rising. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Weaving her own experience with remarkable new discoveries, Grandin brings her singular perspective to the thrilling journey through the revolution in the understanding of autism. She introduces advances in neuroimaging and genetic research that link brain science to behavior, even sharing her own brain scans from numerous studies. *Click here to see photos from the program!

Basking in the golden age of the graphic novel, a group of talented visual artists teamed up to adapt the greatest literature of all time. The Graphic Canon, a visual literary anthology, is a three-volume epic that spans from Greek tragedy to David Foster Wallace. Join us for a look at this stunning work with the editor and illustrators of Zora Neale Hurston, Thomas Pynchon and more, as they unlock the literary canon for a new generation of readers. *Click here to see pictures from the event!

Co-presented with LéaLA, Feria del Libro en Español de Los ÁngelesThe Making of the Great Bolaño: The Man and the MythPanel discussion with author Ben Ehrenreich; Barbara Epler, president, New Directions; author Mónica Maristain; and poet-translator David ShookModerated by Héctor Tobar, staff writer, Los Angeles Times"Books are the only homeland of the true writer, books that may sit on shelves or in the memory," wrote Roberto Bolaño. Ten years after his death, the legacy of Chilean author Roberto Bolaño lives not just in his poetry and prose, but also in the myth that surrounds a man who has come to define 21st century Latin American literature. This panel delves into the Bolaño mystique, convening the voices that have engaged both with his words and his ghosts. *Click here to see photos from the program!

In 1983, Granta devoted an entire issue to new fiction by 20 of the ‘Best of Young British Novelists,’ and did so again 10 years later. From Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Kazuo Ishiguro, to Zadie Smith, these lists have offered a revealing snapshot of a generation of writers about to come into their own. Join us for a reading and discussion with some of Britain’s best, including a judge of the 2013 series and this year’s newly announced novelists.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Esteemed primatologist de Waal discusses his pioneering research on primate behavior, the latest findings in evolutionary biology, and insights from moral philosophy to prove that morality does not require the specters of God or the law of man.*Click here to see photos from the program!

At age twenty-six, in the wake of a divorce and her mother’s death, Cheryl Strayed made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert to Washington State—and to do it alone. Wild, Strayed’s best-selling memoir, is the utterly compelling story of a young woman finding her way—and herself—one brave step at a time.*Click HERE to see photos from the program!

Caroline Kennedy, editor of eight New York Times bestselling books on American history, politics, law, and poetry, discusses her new anthology, Poetry to Live By with Los Angeles’ first Poet Laureate, Eloise Klein Healy. In their far-ranging conversation, these two long-time poetry advocates deliberate on the roles of language, imagination and education in the development of children, and explore how a poem can inspire and challenge both the young and the young at heart.*Click HERE to see pictures from the program!

Hemon returns to his childhood roots in Sarajevo, a small blissful city where he used to write bad poetry, play soccer, and listen to American music. Years later, Sarajevo came under siege while Hemon was in Chicago starting a new life and new family, as his parents were fleeing all they’d ever known. The Book of My Lives is a love song to two cities—a daring first book of non-fiction from a turbulent literary talent.*Click here to see photos from the program!

More valuable than gold, more ubiquitous than water, what is really brewing behind the $100 billion global coffee industry? Local coffee connoisseurs gather to discuss the journey of the bean from seed to cup. From the role of organic farming and the livelihood of producers, to trends in curating the consumer’s palate, the nuances of this beloved beverage have never been so complex.Free coffee tasting before the program, compliments of Cafecito Orgánico*Click here to see photos from the program!

Many generations have been moved by Dorothea Lange’s iconic image of “Migrant Mother,” photographed during the Great Depression. In her decades-spanning new novel, Mary Coin, author Marisa Silver presents a brilliant reimagining of the story behind that arresting face. In today’s world, bombarded with visual imagery and the need for information, Silver brings into question: What’s in a picture?*Click here to see photos from the program!

Borrowing the ambitious structure of a self-help guide, Hamid, a radically inventive storyteller and author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, tells the riveting tale of a man’s journey from impoverished rural boy to corporate tycoon. Both social satire and love story, Hamid’s new book braves its way into the frenetic epicenter of the global economy.*Click here to see photos from the program!

Krause, a musician and naturalist and one of the world’s leading experts in natural sound, explores how the myriad voices and rhythms of the natural world—from snapping shrimp to cracking glaciers—formed a basis from which our own musical expression emerged.  His book is an impassioned plea for the conservation of one of our most overlooked natural resources—the music of the wild.*Click here to see photos from the program!