Skylight Books Podcast Series

Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs (Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) A revelatory synthesis of cultural history and social psychology that shows how one-to-one collaboration drives creative success. Weaving the lives of scores of creative duos--from John Lennon and Paul McCartney to Marie and Pierre Curie to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak--Joshua Wolf Shenk identifies the core qualities of that dizzying experience we call "chemistry." Revealing the six essential stages through which creative intimacy unfolds, Shenk draws on new scientific research and builds an argument for the social foundations of creativity--and the pair as its primary embodiment. Along the way, he reveals how pairs begin to talk, think, and even look like each other; how the most successful ones thrive on conflict; and why some pairs flame out while others endure. When it comes to shaping the culture, Shenk argues, two is the magic number, not just because of the dyads behind everything from "South Park" to the American Civil Rights movement to "Starry Night," but because of the nature of creative thinking. Even when we're alone, we are in a sense "collaborating" with a voice inside our head. At once intuitive and surprising, Powers of Two will change the way we think about innovation. Praise for Powers of Two "We sometimes think of creativity as coming from brilliant loners. In fact, it more often happens when bright people pair up and complement each other. Shenk's fascinating book shows how to spark the power of this phenomenon."--Walter Isaacson "In this surprising, compelling, deeply felt book, Joshua Wolf Shenk banishes the idea of solitary genius by demonstrating that our richest art and science come from collaboration: we need one another not only for love, but also for thinking and imagining and growing and being."--Andrew Solomon "Powers of Two is a dramatic, often delightful demonstration of a truth we usually ignore: great accomplishments are rarely the work of a single person. If you aspire to be creative, the most important step might be finding a trusted partner who can support your strengths and offset your weaknesses."--Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author ofFlow "This is a book about magic; about the Beatles; about the chemistry between people; about neuroscience; and about the buddy system; it examines love and hate, harmony and dissonance, and everything in between. The result is wise, funny, surprising, and completely engrossing."--Susan Orlean "Powers of Two is filled with keen insights into the human condition and terrific examples of creativity at work. This is an inspiring book that also happens to be a great read."--Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive Joshua Wolf Shenk is the author of Lincoln’s Melancholy, a New York Times Notable Book. A contributor to the Atlantic, Harper’s, The New Yorker, and other publications, he directs the Arts in Mind series on creativity and serves on the general council of The Moth. He lives in Los Angeles.

Join us for a very special event as tonight's co-sponsor, Villa Aurora, presents their writer-in residence, Jan Brandt. A village on the furthest outskirts of northwest Lower Saxony, only a few kilometres from the Dutch border: Cows are grazing on the meadows, farmers are tilling their fields, every once in a while the din of a low-lying aircraft disturbs the tranquility. Flowers are blossoming behind the trimmed cedar hedges, shiny, freshly waxed new cars stand in the driveways. This is the world into which Daniel Kuper was born in the mid 1970s, a lanky, withdrawn boy with much too much imagination and much too little opportunity to live out only a fraction of it. Strange things soon start taking place and Kuper is held responsible. The more he tries to rebut the accusations, the deeper he gets enmeshed in them. Kuper takes up the fight against the village, its inhabitants, its traditions, its narrowness and its closeness. They are ones Kuper rebels against and they are the ones he loses out to in the end. Jan Brandt, born in Leer (Eastern Frisia) in 1974, studied history and literature in Cologne, London and Berlin and graduated from the German Journalism School in Munich. Amongst others his short stories have been published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Süddeutsche Zeitung. He was awarded numerous fellowships and residences such as to Ledig House and Yaddo in New York. Brandt’s first novel Against The World was a finalist for the 2011 German Book Award and won the Nicolas-Born-First-Novel-Award. It’s going to be published in English by Seagull Books in 2015. His second novel deals Germans who emigrated to America. 

Mercy 6 (Unbridled Books) In Mercy 6, four people in four separate places within the same Los Angeles hospital all collapse and die at once. After a quick examination, Dr. Anna Mendenhall, the first ER doctor to care for the patients, orders the entrances and exits be sealed, believing the cause is contagion. With her is Mullich, the architect responsible for re-designing the hospital, which he had redesigned for precisely this scenario: containment Almost as soon as she makes the call, however, Mendenhall realizes it’s a mistake. As infectious disease specialists take over, she fears they will draw out the investigation—see what they want to see—and keep everyone locked in the hospital for an unnecessarily long time. What actually occurs, however, is more complex and unnerving than Mendenhall expects, as sinister outside agencies begin to get involved and medical concerns cease to be the primary concern. The farther her investigation goes, the more she understands that the forces around her want her contained, not because of her exposure to the patients, but because of what she suspects. Mercy 6 is well researched and only slightly speculative—which makes this understated and cutting-edge medical thriller as chilling as it is suspenseful. David Bajo was raised on the California-Mexico border and has worked as a journalist and translator. He is the author of Panopticon and The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri. He teaches writing at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where he lives with his wife, the novelist Elise Blackwell, and their daughter.

We are proud to present a performance by celebrated singer-songwriter Kath Bloom! Kath Bloom is a legendary American singer-songwriter from Litchfield, Connecticut. In the 1970s she collaborated with Bruce Neumann and recorded with avant-garde guitarist Loren MazzaCane Connors releasing multiple albums of fragile, simple folk and blues melodies that play heart strings and raw nerves like a shaman summoning a beast made of blinding light. She stopped recording new material for a few decades, choosing to raise her children, until Richard Linklater discovered her music sometime in the early '90s and subsequently featured her song "Come Here" in his 1995 film, Before Sunrise. Since then, Bloom has continued to write new songs and has released albums on Caldo Verde Records and Chapter Music. A tribute album entitled Loving Takes This Course was released in 2009 and features artists such as Devendra Banhart, Bill Callahan, and Mark Kozelek. Kath’s new album Pass Through Here was recorded over the last three years in Los Feliz and will be released by Chapter Music (Australia) this fall. "Bloom sounds like a woman who has spent years in the wilderness… An earthy, unpretentious presence, she can snap a heart like a twig." – Pitchfork

The Moor's Account (Pantheon) Tonight's reading is part of the Los Angeles/Islam Arts Initiative (LA/IAI). From the author of Secret Son and Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits comes  The Moor's Account, the imagined memoirs of the New World's first explorer of African descent, a Moroccan slave known as Estebanico. In 1527, Panfilo de Narvaez sailed from Spain with a crew of six hundred men, intending to claim for the Spanish crown what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States. But from the moment the expedition reached Florida, it met with ceaseless bad luck--storms, disease, starvation, hostile natives--and within a year there were only four survivors, including the young explorer Andres Dorantes and his slave, Estebanico. After six years of enslavement by Native Americans, the four men escaped and wandered through what is now Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The Moor's Account brilliantly captures Estebanico's voice and vision, giving us an alternate narrative for this famed expedition. As this dramatic chronicle unfolds, we come to understand that, contrary to popular belief, black men played a significant part in New World exploration, and that Native American men and women were not merely silent witnesses to it. In Laila Lalami's deft hands, Estebanico's memoir illuminates the ways in which stories can transmigrate into history, even as storytelling can offer a chance at redemption and survival. Praise for The Moor's Account “A beautiful, rousing tale that would be difficult to believe if it were not actually true. Lalami has once again shown why she is one of her generation’s most gifted writers.” —Reza Aslan, author of Zealot “¡Qué belleza! Laila Lalami has given us a mesmerizing reimagining of one of the foundational chronicles of exploration of the New World and an indictment of the uncontainable hubris displayed by Spanish explorers—told from the point of view of Estebanillo, an Arab slave and Cabeza de Vaca’s companion in a trek across the United States that is as important as that of Lewis and Clark. The style and voice of sixteenth-century crónicas are turned upside down to subtly undermine our understanding of race and religion, now and then. The Moor’s Account is a worthy stepchild of Don Quixote de la Mancha.”—Ilan Stavans, author of On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language and general editor of The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature “A novel of extraordinary scope, ambition and originality. Laila Lalami has given voice to a man silenced by for five centuries, a voice both convincing and compelling. The Moor’s Account is a work of creativity and compassion, one which demonstrates the full might of Lalami’s talent as a writer.”—Aminatta Forna, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and Hurston Prize Legacy Award winning author of The Memory of Love, Ancestor Stones, and The Devil That Danced on the Water Laila Lalami was born and raised in Morocco. She attended Université Mohammed V in Rabat, University College in London, and the University of Southern California, where she earned a Ph.D. in linguistics. She is the author of the short story collection Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and the novel Secret Son, which was on the Orange Prize longlist. Her essays and opinion pieces have appeared in Newsweek, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Guardian, The New York Times, and in numerous anthologies. Her work has been translated into ten languages. She is the recipient of a British Council Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Residency Fellowship, and is currently an associate professor of creative writing at the University of California at Riverside. This reading is a part of the Los Angeles / Islam Arts Initiative (LA/IAI) Launching this fall, the Los Angeles / Islam Arts Initiative (LA/IAI) brings together nearly 30 cultural institutions throughout Los Angeles to tell various stories of traditional and contemporary art from multiple Islamic regions and their significant global diasporas. LA/IAI is the first-of-its kind, wide-scale citywide initiative on Islamic arts producing and presenting programming such as art exhibitions, panels, discussions, and performances. Anchoring LA/IAI are two connected exhibitions, Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art and the contemporary art exhibition, Shangri La: Imagined Cities commissioned by the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) to be held at DCA’s Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG) at Barnsdall Park from October 26 to December 28, 2014. Los Angeles’ substantial populations from areas with strong Islamic roots make LA a compelling location for this initiative. LA/IAI casts a wide net, being inclusive and welcoming, with art as its central focus. The term “Islamic art” includes work created by non-Muslim artists from Muslim-dominant countries, work by Muslims creating art in non-Muslim dominant countries, and work by artists culturally influenced by Islam. Designed to build a greater understanding of the role of Islamic arts, LA/IAI seeks to stimulate the global conversation in connection to cultural, political, and social issues. The celebration of Islamic art and culture is presented by DCA with major support from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Community Foundation, the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and the Barnsdall Park Foundation. For more information, please visit:  http://www.laislamarts.org/

Rainey Royal (Soho Press) Greenwich Village, 1970s. Fourteen-year-old Rainey Royal lives with her father, a jazz musician with a cultish personality, in a once-elegant, now decaying brownstone. Her mother has abandoned the family, and Rainey fends off advances from her father's best friend while trying desperately to nurture her own creative drives and build a substitute family. She's a rebel, even a criminal, but she's also deeply vulnerable, fighting to figure out how to put back in place the boundaries her life has knocked down, and more than that, struggling to learn how to be an artist and a person in a broken world. Praise for Rainey Royal: "Rainey Royal" gets under your skin, pushes you out of your comfort zone, and takes you to a truer, more frightening place. Dylan Landis captures the innocence and cruelty of teenage girls in flamey, jewel-like sentences that hover on the edge of rapture: read these stories with your heart in your throat."--Ellis Avery, author of The Last Nude "There is a line in Dylan Landis's lush, fierce, and stunning novel Rainey Royal, that perfectly captures this book's intense beauty. 'Rainey feels half like a butterfly has landed on her wrist and half like a knife is angled to her neck.' Rainey Royal is a chronicle of girlhood as a dangerous, delicate thing. There is edge and tenderness and longing to be found here. Always, though, Landis's words are a butterfly and a knife both cutting you open in necessary ways." --Roxane Gay, author of An Untamed State "Every woman has known a Rainey Royal. The coolest girl in school, the most daring, the most beautiful, yet the one who could turn on you--and then, bewilderingly, turn back. What makes a Rainey Royal, and her effect on everyone she encounters--that chaos of yearning, cruelty, woundedness, seeking, and human poetry--we needed a great writer to show us, and here she is. Dylan Landis has written a spare, elegant novel that's pure nerves, pure adrenaline. Should carry a warning, "do not read at bedtime.""--Janet Fitch, #1 "New York Times" bestselling author of White Oleander and Paint It Black Dylan Landis is the author of Normal People Don't Live Like This (Persea Books), a linked story collection that made Newsday's Ten Best Books of 2009 and More magazine's list of 100 Books Every Woman Must Read. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Tin House, BOMB, Best American Nonrequired Reading, The New York Times Book Review and House Beautiful, among other publications. She's received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sewanee Writers' Conference and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Rainey Royal is her first novel.

Tomboy (Zest Books) Razorcake and Skylight Books are teaming up to present graphic novelist Liz Prince, presenting her new graphic memoir Tomboy!  Growing up, Liz Prince wasn’t a girly girl, but she wasn’t exactly one of the guys either (as she learned when her little league baseball coach exiled her to the distant outfield). She was somewhere in between. But with the forces of middle school, high school, parents, friendship, and romance pulling her this way and that, the middle wasn’t exactly an easy place to be. Tomboy follows award-winning author and artist Liz Prince through her early years and explores—with humor, honesty, and poignancy—what it means to “be a girl.” From staunchly refuting ”girliness” to the point of misogyny, to discovering through the punk community that your identity is whatever you make of it, Tomboy offers a sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking account of self-discovery in modern America. Praise for Tomboy “Liz Prince tells gender norms to eat dirt. A delightful, thoughtful, and compulsively readable memoir. And an important one.” —Ariel Schrag, author of Adam and Potential  “Liz Prince may have been an uncertain, confused kid, but she’s a confident and sincerely expressive cartoonist. Tomboy is a funny and relatable look at what every child has to deal with at some point—figuring out who you really are inside, when everyone else only sees what they think you should be on the outside.” —Jeffrey Brown, author of Clumsy, Jedi Academy andDarth Vader and Son “It’s hard to imagine anyone failing to be charmed by this entertaining, clever, and genuinely funny memoir of growing up with gender identity confusion. Even this pretty unconfused regular old dude found plenty to identify with in Liz Prince’s story of adolescent bafflement, exploration, and discovery—all delivered, like all the best such stories, with a light touch, wry wit, understated irony, and not one iota of preachiness. Meaning: I’m a fan. Go Liz!” —Frank Portman, author of King Dork  “Tomboy is a thoughtful, honest look into the evolution and acceptance of personal gender identity, as told by a smart-mouhed punk named Liz Prince. I wish it had existed when I was in high school.” —Nicole Georges, author of Calling Dr. Laura “Liz Prince portrays the awkwardness and humiliation of childhood with wonderful (not to mention painful) accuracy. Any kid that picks up this book is going to be privy to secrets most of us don’t learn until it’s too late, and any adult who reads it will be reminded of an essential truth: that’s it’s okay to be exactly who we want to be, no matter how weird everyone else thinks we are. Tomboy isn’t a self help book, but it should be.” —Julia Wertz, author of Drinking at the Movies and The Infinite Wait “It’s not very often you read a goofy coming-of-age comic written with an astutely critical lens… and then there’s Liz Prince’sTomboy. By tackling everything from Green Day to girl-hate, Prince does a kick-ass job at dissecting gender politics (and playground politics) through riotous anecdotes from her childhood, making this feminist inquiry, well, fun.” —Suzy X., illustrator at Rookie Mag  “Navigating life as a young tomboy would have been a lot easier if I’d had Liz’s brave, hilarious, and honest story to guide me. Reading this book will make weird kids like us feel a little less alone.” —Melissa Mendes, author of Freddy Stories  Liz Prince's first book, Will You Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed?, was nominated for several awards and won the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Debut in 2005. Born in Boston, MA, she grew up in Santa Fe, NM, and has been drawing comics since the third grade. She has since produced many of her own comics and mini-comics, which mix her real-life foibles with charming cartooning and comic timing. Fans have described her work as being "cute," making them feel "warm and fuzzy," or simply being "too much information." She now lives outside of Boston and drinks more than her fair share of coffee. 

A Death in Vegas (White Whisker Books)  Love Will Make YOu Drink and Gamble, Stay Out Late At Night (White Whisker Books) Join us tonight for a very special eventing with local publisher White Whisker Books! In A Death in Vegas, the president of a company that specializes in beneficial bugs for organic gardeners discovers a young woman dead in his Las Vegas hotel suite. She had worked as a sexy lady bug at his convention booth -- and he had nothing to do with her death. While that's being investigated, the FBI raids his booth on a money-laundering scam that he knows nothing about. Soon, the coroner doesn't have good news, either. Who has set him up? Why? With the police and FBI are against him, and his wife missing, he flees to find answers and his wife. Love Will Make You Drink and Gamble, Stay Out Late at Night brings a number of Shelly Lowenkopf's previously published short stories together in a single volume. Lowenkopf is best known as a master instructor of fiction writing and a book editor. He taught for over thirty years at the University of Southern California, and now at the noted College of Creative Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara. All the while, he's been publishing these short gems. All the stories revolve around life in Santa Barbara, the oceanside city north of Los Angeles, where people go after they've burned out in San Francisco and L.A. But there's no safe haven anywhere. Interwoven into Santa Barbara's picturesque setting, the people in these twelve stories reveal what their hearts and souls encounter in relationships. Their misreadings, mistakes, and misadventures bare what happens to people who love another.  Praise for A Death in Vegas "With his tongue planted firmly in cheek, Christopher Meeks spins a charming and surprisingly sexy tale of murder, betrayal, and the importance of beneficial insects." -Mark Haskell Smith, author of Baked and Raw: A Love Story "I've never, ever wanted to go to Vegas. I don't care if what happens there, stays there. But Christopher Meeks makes me want to go so I can find out who done it. A fun, exciting read, with Chris's usual wonderful writing and great sense of humor." -Jessica Barksdale Inclan, author of Her Daughter's Eyes and How to Bake a Man. "Christopher Meeks had me at page three. I couldn't wait to find out how Patton Burch was going to explain the naked body he woke up to in his Las Vegas hotel room - first to the cops and then to his wife." -Sam Sattler, Book Chase Praise for Love Will Make You Drink and Gamble, Stay Out Late at Night "Shelly Lowenkopf is a gifted, humane story-teller. Love Will Make You Drink and Gamble, Stay Out Late at Night' is a delight."--Aram Saroyan Christopher Meeks first published short fiction in a number of literary journals, and the stories are available in two collections,The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea and Months and Seasons. His literary novels have received much acclaim. For instance, The Brightest Moon of the Century is a story of a man who yearns for love and success, covering over thirty years—a tale that Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews describes as “a great and truly humane novel in the tradition of Charles Dickens and John Irving.” Recently, Meeks has focused on crime novels. His first, Blood Drama, has a graduate student in theatre (writing a thesis on David Mamet) in a struggle with a ruthless killer. The new A Death in Vegas is a mystery based on the death of a young woman and the wrong man charged with it. Visit Christopher Meeks online at www.chrismeeks.com. Shelly Lowenkopf taught in the University of Southern California’s Master of Professional Writing Program for 34 years, has taught at the annual Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference since 1980, and has been guest lecturer in many schools and conferences. He is currently Visiting Professor at the College of Creative Studies, UCSB, with classes in noir fiction, the modern short story, genre fiction, and developing a literary voice. Mr. Lowenkopf has served as editorial director for literary, general trade, mass market, and scholarly book publishers, seeing over 500 books through the editorial and production process. His own short fiction has appeared widely in the literary press.

The Kitchy Kitchen (Atria Books) A playful and delicious cookbook, from the host of ABC's "Food for Thought with Claire Thomas" and creator of the much loved food blog "The Kitchy Kitchen." Every cook needs an arsenal of staples, whether for the perfect dinner party entree to wow a crowd, or throw-it-together lunches for lazy afternoons...but we all know that the real fun comes in making basic recipes your own.The Kitchy Kitchen is tastemaker Claire Thomas's solution for amping up your everyday culinary routine, introducing her approach to her own kitchen: loose, personal, unfussy, and most of all, fun. With new takes on classic favorites--think adding farmer's market peaches to upgrade a BLT, spicing up tempura cauliflower with a zesty harissa sauce, or transforming basic red velvet cupcakes into decadent pancakes--this cookbook is filled with fresh, produce-driven recipes for every skill set and occasion. It's your best friend and personal chef, all rolled into one. Gorgeously illustrated and peppered with stylish entertaining tips and quirky essays that will inspire you to take the recipes you love and make them new, The Kitchy Kitchen will make your life in the kitchen a little easier, a little more fabulous, and positively delicious. Praise for The Kitchy Kitchen "Claire's enthusiasm for food is contagious - her recipes are hard proof that delicious home cooking doesn't have to be overly complicated or fussy. I can't wait to yum, mmm, and wow my way through the entire cookbook."--Erica Chan, Co-Creator Honestly WTF "Claire has a smile that makes a stranger feel like a welcome friend. Her food is an intentional and indulgent extension of that grace...a true display of a life well eaten and lived."--Joy Wilson, Creator of Joy the Baker "A wizard at making the kind of food that you really want to eat, Claire's genius recipes are so gloriously good, you'll wonder where she's been all your life."--Hilly Kerr and Katherine Powers, Creators of Who What Wear, Domaine Home, and Byrdie "It's like she knows exactly what I want in my head and stomach and laid it out page by page."--Aubrey Plaza Claire Thomas is an unabashed food enthusiast. She works as a nationally recognized commercial director, food photographer, and writer. Her blog, The Kitchy Kitchen (www.thekitchykitchen.com), was an experiment born in 2008 after enduring a more than unsatisfying job after college, and is her much beloved playground. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Claire has turned food into an intellectual and grumbling stomach-driven passion. She has written for many outlets, including The Huffington Post, Daily Candy, Real Simple, Lucky Magazine, and Eater amongst others. 

Anatomy of A Misfit (Harper Teen) From bestselling adult novelist Andrea Portes comes her Young Adult debut: Anatomy of a Misfit (Harper Teen), an emotionally resonant story that Publishers Weekly raves is “instantly endearing” with a “highly memorable heroine” and voice.   Anika is the third most popular girl in her high school--despite feeling she doesn’t fit in with the popular crowd in her small Nebraskan town. To maintain her social status, Anika does whatever Becky Vilhauser (first most popular girl in school) tells her to do. But when loner Logan McDonough returns from summer vacation hotter, and more mysterious than ever, Anika has a hard time staying away--even when Becky forbids her to date him. So Anika must choose--ignore her feelings and keep her social status? Or follow her heart and risk becoming a pariah. Which will she pick? And what will she think of her choice when an unimaginable tragedy strikes, changing her forever? An absolutely original new voice in YA in a story that will start important conversations--and tear at your heart. Praise for Anatomy of A Misfit "Anika Dragomir is the funniest, snarkiest, most insightful misfit a reader could ever hope to meet. I laughed my way through Anatomy of a Misfit right up until the very end, when the book broke my heart into a million pieces. This is a beautiful, brave and powerful novel."--Melissa Kantor, author of Maybe One Day and The Breakup Bible “A self-deprecating and highly memorable heroine . . . . instantly endearing.”-Publishers Weekly STARRED Review  “Anika’s droll voice shines, and her emotions are palpable.”-School Library Journal   Andrea Portes is the bestselling novelist of the critically lauded adult novel, Hick. The book was her debut and has since been made into a feature film starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Alec Baldwin, Blake Lively, Eddie Redmayne, and Juliette Lewis. Bury This, her second novel, was published in January 2014 by Soft Skull Press. Anatomy of a Misfit is her third novel, and her first for young adult readers.