Skylight Books Podcast Series

What Are You Laughing At?: A Comprehensive Guide to the Comedic Event (Continuum) Attention comedy fans and comedy writer! Modern Family writer and executive producer Dan O'Shannon will discuss and sign his book What Are You Laughing At?, a fascinating new approach to comedy. "As hard as it would be to define 'the meaning of life,' defining 'comedy' is harder. And somehow Dan O'Shannon does it in his insightful, comprehensive, and funny new book, What Are You Laughing At?: A Comprehensive Guide to the Comedic Event. I’ve been writing humor for 35 years and I learned stuff!" -- Ken Levine, Writer/producer MASH and The Simpsons Dan O'Shannon sold his first sitcom script in 1985. As a writer and producer, he has made significant contributions to some of the most acclaimed network comedies of the past 25 years such as Newhart, Cheers, and Frasier. Currently, he is an executive producer and writer of the ABC show Modern Family. His various awards include but are not limited to 3 Emmys, 2 Golden Globes, 5 WGA awards and an Academy Award nomination. O'Shannon has also lectured in classes at UCLA, USC, and taught a course on writing at Cleveland State University, where he hold an honorary doctorate. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS ON OCTOBER 4, 2012. Copies of the books from this event can be purchased here: http://tinyurl.com/ae4l6ee

Students from the University of Southern California Master of Professional Writing program will read from their work, joined by author and faculty member Dinah Lenney. Dinah Lenney is the author of Bigger than Life: A Murder, a Memoir, published by the University of Nebraska in Tobias Wolff’s American Lives Series. She co-authored Acting for Young Actors and her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Creative Nonfiction, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. Dinah holds a BA from Yale, an MFA from Bennington, and a certificate from the Neighborhood Playhouse School where she studied with Sandy Meisner. She teaches nonfiction for the Rainier Writing Workshop, as well as in the Bennington Writing Seminars. A working actor, she recurred on NBC's critically acclaimed ER for 15 years, and has guest-starred in television series too numerous to mention.

The Cutting Season (Harper) Attica Locke, whose first novel Black Water Rising was nominated for major book prizes from Los Angeles to the UK, now launches her highly anticipated second novel, The Cutting Season, a riveting thriller that intertwines two murders separated by over a century as it tackles the themes of race, class, and justice in contemporary America. Praise for Black Water Rising: "A near-perfect balance of trenchant social commentary, rich characterizations, and action-oriented plot.... Attica Locke [is] a writer wise beyond her years." — Los Angeles Times "Atmospheric… deeply nuanced... akin to George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane....  Subtle and compelling." — New York Times Attica Locke's widely acclaimed novel Black Water Rising was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award, and the UK’s Orange Prize. A native of Houston, she now lives in Los Angeles. Copies of the book can be purchased here: http://tinyurl.com/aafqv7q THIS EVEN WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 24, 2012.

Between Heaven and Here (McSweeney's Books) Susan Straight, the acclaimed author of Take One Candle Light a Room and A Million Nightingales, presents the final volume in her Rio Seco trilogy, Between Heaven and Here. "Straight... employs glorious language and a riveting eye for detail to create a fully realized, totally believable world." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Susan Straight finds LA’s secret heart in Between Heaven and Here and with a sleight of hand only the masters have, she creates an alley, a neighborhood, a history that is as rich and tragic as any Shakespearean tale." —Walter Mosley Susan Straight’s short stories have appeared in Zoetrope, The Ontario Review, The Oxford American, The Sun, Black Clock, and other magazines. She has also been the recipient of a Lannan Prize and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Straight teaches creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. Photo of the author by Dan Chavkin. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 22, 2012.

Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace (Viking Books) D.T. Max, a New Yorker staff writer and author of The Family That Couldn't Sleep, will discuss his highly anticipated biography of David Foster Wallace. "This book is vey well-researched, deeply sympathetic, and incredibly painful to read. We should feel grateful that this story was told by someone as talented and responsible as D.T. Max." —Dave Eggers "This book should be handed to anyone who wants to write, if only to remind the aspiring writer that becoming a voice of generational significance turns out to be very poor insulation indeed from struggle, fear, and despair. D. T. Max is beautifully attuned to Wallace's strengths, whether personal or literary, and bracingly clear-sighted on his flaws. The result is a book that's moving, surprising (Wallace voted for Reagan?), and hugely disquieting. If you love Wallace's work, you obviously need to read this book; if you don't love Wallace's work, you especially need to read this book." —Tom Bissell D.T. Max is currently a staff writer for The New Yorker and has worked as a journalist and editor at publications ranging from The New York Observer to Elle. He is the author of The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery. Max's long essay on David Foster Wallace, "The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace's struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest," was published in the March 9, 2009 issue of The New Yorker to wide acclaim. He is a graduate of Harvard University and lives outside of New York City with his wife and two young children. Photo of the author by Flash Rosenberg. Copies of his book can be purchased here: http://tinyurl.com/c6h5o49 THIS EVENT  WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 19, 2012.

Desert America: Boom and Bust in the New Old West (Metropolitan Books) Rubén Martínez, the acclaimed author of Crossing Over and the Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing at Loyola Marymount University, will discuss and sign his revelatory new book on the 21st century American West, Desert America. "No book that I've read in the last twenty years has inspired so much genuine hope for the future of the West." —Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz "Most people experience the desert by car—they drive, stop to get gas, drive on, and after a while, they don’t see it anymore. Now the big plan is to cover the desert with solar panels and in ten years or less, it will all be gone, just like that. Maybe then, Rubén Martínez’s testament will be as close as you can get to the living feel of this beautiful land. After reading, I bet you’ll want to drive out there and take a look. But you better hurry." —Ry Cooder, guitarist, singer, composer, and author of Los Angeles Stories "Martínez offers reportage beyond the simple binaries of the immigration issue or the drug war. He delivers a lively, compassionate intervention into our collective conception of the Southwest… This thoughtful and well-written account intimately explores the convolutions of racism and class conflict that have come to define a divided America." —Publishers Weekly Rubén Martínez, an Emmy-winning journalist and poet, is the author of Crossing Over and The New Americans. He lives in Los Angeles, where he holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing at Loyola Marymount University. Copies of the books can be purchased here: http://tinyurl.com/d2l4ruc THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 15, 2012.

Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures (Riverhead Books) Brooklyn-based writer Emma Straub, author of the short story collection Other People We Married, returns to Skylight to read and sign her debut novel, Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures. "Emma Straub is a magician, full of brilliance and surprise." --Lorrie Moore "An exquisite debut novel that brings Depression-era Hollywood to life with startling immediacy. Laura Lamont is a memorable character, and Emma Straub illuminates her inner life with uncanny authority." --Tom Perrotta Emma Straub is from New York City. Her fiction and non-fiction have been published by Tin House, The Paris Review Daily, Time, Slate, and The New York Times, and she is a staff writer for Rookie. Emma lives with her husband in Brooklyn, where she also works as a bookseller. Photo of the author by Sarah Shatz. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 12, 2012.

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving (Algonquin Books) Jonathan Evison, author of the novels West of Here and All About Lulu (both Skylight staff picks), returns to Skylight to read and sign his new book, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving. “The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving is the funniest and most tough-minded novel I’ve read in a long time. Jonathan Evison is a great lyrical talent who deserves to be better known, and this is his best novel yet. You owe it to yourself to read it.” —Darin Strauss, author of Half a Life “Jonathan Evison is a gifted raconteur with a wicked sense of humor and an unflagging empathy for humankind in all its sad, foible-filled magnificence. In The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, his myriad talents are displayed in full bloom.” —Patrick DeWitt, author of The Sisters Brothers Jonathan Evison is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel West of Here and All About Lulu, which won the Washington State Book Award. In 2009, he was the recipient of a Richard Buckley Fellowship from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation. He lives on an island in western Washington.   THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 11, 2012.

Shadow Man (Steerforth Press) Los Angeles Times Cairo bureau chief Jeffrey Fleishman reads and signs his haunting novel about a journalist whose early-onset Alzheimer's has taken most of his memories, and his wife and nurse who try to bring them back. "Vibrant prose and masterful shifts in narrative temporalities make this psychological-noir a must-read." --Publishers Weekly "Effortless elegance powers Jeffrey Fleishman’s prose, lending it a dreamy grace. He brings you along into this other world, in which mystery and the mind are the same, and at times you feel as though your guide is Marguerite Duras or perhaps Michael Ondaatje." --Steve Lopez, author of The Soloist Jeffrey Fleishman, a Harvard Nieman fellow and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, is a foreign correspondent for The Los Angeles Times, currently serving as the paper's Cairo bureau chief. He has covered wars in Kosovo, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. His first novel, Promised Virgins: A Novel of Jihad, was published in 2009. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 10, 2012. Copies of this book can be purchased here: http://tinyurl.com/96jeukn

Smart Gals’ Dead Poets Slam, a rowdy celebration of the work of deceased scribes, returns to Skylight Books for another scintillating, nail-biting night of lyric and non-lyric competition. Last year we pitted Monarchs against Minions. This year we bring you Hot Poet/Cold Poet. Do snowy winters make better writers? What effect does too much sunshine have on verse? Will poets who had to wear coats trump those who found their voices in more temperate zones? No matter who prevails, everyone will get to hear the works of well known and not-so-familiar dead poets performed anonymously by experienced performers who will give life to their works: Nöel Alumit, Lana Buss, Terry Carr, Kathleen Coyne, Juli Crockett Feldman, Lori Yeghiayan Friedman, Amy French, Jill Paxton, and Rita Williams. This year’s panel of "celebrity" judges includes Neda Pourang Disney, David Markland and Kwynn Perry. The 2011 slam was standing room only, so please arrive early to save yourself a seat. About Smart Gals Productions: Smart Gals is a nonprofit, public benefit organization dedicated to developing the greater arts community in Los Angeles, by constructing original events in unlikely places and creating transformative social gatherings through The Reading Preserve™, our site-specific performance series Are You Interested?™. Mourners gathered last January to bid adieu to our long-running, now defunct semi-literary salon, The Speakeasy™. The spirit of the Speakeasy lives on in random literary happenings like our annual Dead Poets Slam. Now in its ninth year, Smart Gals has been featured in the LA Weekly, Los Angeles City Beat, LA Alternative Press, The Los Angeles Times, Bitch, Los Angeles magazine and on KPFK radio. Smart Gals’ visionary approach to collaborative work has introduced audiences and artists to a wide array of alternative venues, from a local church basement, to a machine shop in El Segundo, to Cleveland High in Reseda, to the land and sites along the Metro Gold Line. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 9, 2012.