Skylight Books Podcast Series

New American Haggadah (Little, Brown and Company) Author Jill Soloway (Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants) presents a discussion with Eileen Levinson and Caroline Libresco on New American Haggadah, a new translation by Nathan Englander of the story of Exodus, with additional essays and commentaries edited by Jonathan Safron Foer. Jill Soloway is a writer/director and community organizer. She recently cofounded East Side Jews, a network of Jewish artists, writers and thinkers living on the East Side of LA aiming to reinvent Jewish culture, community and ritual. Her short film, Una Hora Por Favora, premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and she is currently in pre-production on her first feature, Afternoon Delight. Jill wrote/produced Six Feet Under for four years and was showrunner for How to Make It In America and United States of Tara. Caroline Libresco has been Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival since 2001 and holds an M.A. in History of Religion from Harvard. She serves on the leadership teams for Sundance’s Creative Producing Initiative and Women’s Initiative. She produced the award-winning documentary, Sunset Story; the Academy Award-winning featurette, Barrier Device; associate-produced the HBO documentary Cat Dancers; and was developing producer on The Grace Lee Project. Eileen Levinson is a designer and artist living in Los Angeles. Her practice encourages collaborative rethinking of Jewish ritual and tradition. Eileen is also the creator of Haggadot.com, a website for Jews of any background to upload, exchange and personalize an original Haggadot for Passover. The site hosts over one thousand selections of user-generated haggadah content from around the world. In 2011, Jewish Daily Forward reviewed the site as "the most exciting new Haggadah" of the year.

The Big Town (Fantagraphics) Monte Schulz returns to Skylight Books to launch the last book in his Jazz Age trilogy, The Big Town. "Monte Schulz's The Big Town exposes decadence, wealth and consumption in Jazz Age America as spiritual myopia — where desperate, haunting characters hinge their lives on impossible dreams. This lyrical, gripping novel is as close to 1920s America as it gets, and penned with such frightening realism that the chaos of a bygone era erupts from its pages." – Simon Van Booy, award-winning author of Everything Beautiful Began After Monte Schulz published his first novel, Down by the River, in 1990, and spent the next twelve years writing a novel of the Jazz Age, which is now available in three parts: This Side of Jordan, The Last Rose of Summer, and The Big Town. He wrote the three books for his father, the late cartoonist, Charles M. Schulz. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 4, 2012.

The Man Who Quit Money (Riverhead) Mark Sundeen visits Skylight to discuss and sign his book The Man Who Quit Money, the fascinating true story of Daniel Suelo, a man who left his life savings in a phone booth ten years ago and hasn't earned, received, or spent a penny since.  Daniel Suelo will be attending the event and is available to answer questions and sign books! “Maybe it's just this odd, precarious moment we live in, but Daniel Suelo's story seems to offer some broader clues for all of us. Mark Sundeen's account will raise subversive and interesting questions in any open mind.” --Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Deep Economy Mark Sundeen is an award-winning writer whose work appears in the New York Times Magazine, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, McSweeney’s, and The Believer. He is the author of the books Car Camping (HarperCollins, 2000) and The Making of Toro (Simon & Schuster, 2003), and co-author of North By Northwestern (St. Martin’s, 2010), which was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Sundeen was born in Harbor City, California, in 1970. After graduating from Stanford University, Sundeen spent ten years in Moab, Utah, sometimes homeless, working odd jobs, river guiding, and leading Outward Bound wilderness courses. It was here, in 1993 while working as a short order cook, that he first met Daniel Suelo. Sundeen holds a masters in writing from the University of Southern California, and has taught at the MFA writing programs at the University of New Mexico and Western Connecticut State University. Since moving to Montana in 2005, he splits his time between Missoula and Moab. Photo of the author by Isan Brant. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 21, 2012

Jumped In: What Gangs Taught Me about Violence, Drugs, Love, and Redemption (Beacon Press) UCLA professor of social welfare Jorja Leap will discuss and sign her groundbreaking new study of Los Angeles gang life, Jumped In. The author's proceeds from this book will be donated to Homeboy Industries. “What makes Jorja Leap a gang expert is not just her years of experience and indefatigable research, but her heightened reverence for the enormous complexity of the gang dilemma. Jumped In gives us a window into a world of a sub-grouping of the poor who few understand and too many demonize. Her view is both 'aerial' and 'in the weeds' while always staying heartbreakingly compassionate and true. Her work gives me hope.” —Gregory J. Boyle, S.J., Founder and Executive Director, Homeboy Industries Jorja Leap has been on the faculty of the UCLA Department of Social Welfare since 1992 and has served as a lecturer, researcher, and consultant. A recognized expert in gangs, violence, and crisis intervention, she has worked nationally and internationally in violent and postwar settings. Dr. Leap is currently the senior policy advisor on Gangs and Youth Violence for the Los Angeles County Sheriff. Photo of the author by Anthony Kaklamanos. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 20, 2012.

Baby Geisha by Dalton (Two Dollar Radio); Damascus by Mohr (Two Dollar Radio); boneyard by Beachy (Verse Chorus) Three great writers -- Trinie Dalton, Joshua Mohr, and Stephen Beachy -- will read and sign their latest books! Praise for Baby Geisha: "Trinie Dalton's Baby Geisha is a travelogue. Her stories speak volumes of lostness about a world full of riveting features and no map. Things just kind of dead-end in a macho way that feels like porn that didn't happen - the dirty scene I mean. Trinie's writing absolutely unfeminine work. Which feels unique to me. In her hands, gender, like a new kind of western, is just moving across a landscape, the salutary effect of which is that it requires that Trinie write this beautiful stuff of which I can't get enough. Like a desert, her work refuses to give us even a drop more, is full of strange animals, is enduring and glittery." --Eileen Myles Praise for Damascus: "At once gripping, lucid and fierce, Damascus is the mature effort of an artist devoted to personal growth and as such contains the glints of real gold." --San Francisco Chronicle Praise for boneyard: "In this sly, endlessly surprising collaboration with a troubled Amish persona and his skeptical (self?)-editor, Beachy exalts and simultaneously deconstructs the tradition of the literary hoax. The result is mythic, manic, and amazing." --Michael Lowenthal Joshua Mohr is the author of Some Things That Meant the World to Me (a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller and one of Oprah Magazine's "10 Terrific Reads of 2009"), Termite Parade (a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice selection), and Damascus. He lives in San Francisco and teaches fiction writing. Trinie Dalton is the author of the story collection Baby Geisha. She has authored and/or edited five other books. Wide Eyed, Sweet Tomb, and A Unicorn Is Born are works of fiction. Dear New Girl or Whatever Your Name Is and Mythtym are art compilations. She writes articles and reviews about books, art, and music, somewhat collected on sweettomb.com . Stephen Beachy is the author of the novel boneyard, in collaboration with the disturbed and elusive Amish boy, Jake Yoder.  Beachy's other novels are The Whistling Song (1991) and Distortion (2000) and the novellas Some Phantom/No Time Flat (2006).  His fiction has appeared in BOMB, The Chicago Review, Best Gay American Fiction, Blithe House Quarterly, SHADE, and elsewhere.  His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, New York magazine, the anthology Love, Castro Street, and elsewhere.  He is a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop (1990) and a recipient of the James Michener Award.  A native Iowan, he now lives in California and teaches in the University of San Francisco's MFA in Writing program. Photo of Trinie Dalton by Jason Frank Rothberg. Photo of Joshua Mohr by Kevin Irby. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS FEBRUARY 8, 2012.

These Days Are Ours (Grand Central Publishing) L.A.-based author Michelle Haimoff will read and sign her acclaimed debut novel, These Days Are Ours, a thoughtful look at the life of a recent college graduate living in New York shortly after 9-11. "Whether she's ruthlessly dissecting the mating habits of disaffected urbanites, or evoking the emotional complexity of coming of age in New York City in the aftermath of 9/11, Haimoff's writing is smart, witty, honest, and never anything less than utterly engaging." -- Jonathan Tropper, author of This Is Where I Leave You "Beware reader: this novel is so addictive, once you start reading, you will have to cancel all of your plans. But you'll hardly even notice; Michelle Haimoff has such a fresh and inviting voice, and a gift for making characters live, you’ll feel surrounded by friends."- Alison Espach, author of The Adults Michelle Haimoff is a writer and blogger whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, PsychologyToday.com and The Huffington Post. She is a founding member of NOW's Young Feminist Task Force and blogs about feminist issues at genfem.com.

Pity the Billionaire (Metropolitan Books) Thomas Frank (What's the Matter with Kansas?) returns to Skylight Books to discuss and sign his new book Pity the Billionaire, in which he takes an insightful and sardonic look at the way our dire economic circumstances have brought an unexpected resurgence of conservatism. "No one fools Thomas Frank, who is the sharpest, funniest, most intellectually voracious political commentator on the scene. In Pity the Billionaire he has written a brilliant expose of the most breath-taking ruse in American political history: how the right turned the biggest capitalist breakdown since 1929 into an opportunity for themselves." --Barbara Ehrenreich "A feisty and galvanizing book... This is the kind of analysis - historically astute, irreverent and droll - that makes Frank such an invaluable voice. As he's done in a series of perceptive books, Frank cuts through the partisan blather and explains how money and cynical ideas shape a certain kind of contemporary politics. Pity the Billionaire is further evidence that he's as good at this as any writer working today." --San Francisco Chronicle Thomas Frank is the author of The Wrecking Crew, What’s the Matter with Kansas?, and One Market Under God. A former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Frank is the founding editor of The Baffler and a monthly columnist for Harper’s. He lives outside Washington, D.C. Photo of the author by Jane Magellanic.

One and Only: The Untold Story of On the Road (Viva Editions) In celebration of what would have been Jack Kerouac's 90th birthday, we're presenting biographer Gerald Nicosia (Memory Babe), who will be discussing and signing his new book One and Only, about the woman who started Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady on the journey that inspired On the Road. "This is the missing back-story of the back-story of "On the Road," the mysterious missing woman a lot of us sensed was there but invisible and silent. Until now. Nicosia has given her voice and made her visible, and she's extraordinary. No wonder both Kerouac and Cassady loved her." —Russell Banks, author of Cloudsplitter "One and Only is essential reading for anyone wishing to get the full picture of the Beat Generation. Lu Anne Henderson was Neal Cassady's life-long love and was responsible for the friendship with Kerouac that gave us On The Road. Gerald Nicosia was always a loyal advocate of the women of the Beat Generation, and his remarkable interview with Lu Anne fills in an enormous gap in the story. It shows the vulnerability and insecurities of the main characters, and reveals the chaos of their emotional lives so that Kerouac and company finally emerge as real people! A great book." —Barry Miles, author of Ginsberg: A Biography; Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats; and the forthcoming authorized biography of William S. Burroughs, Call Me Burroughs Gerald Nicosia is a biographer, historian, poet, playwright and novelist. His biography of Jack Kerouac, Memory Babe, won the Distinguished Young Writer Award from the National Society of Arts and Letters and was called a “great book” by Allen Ginsberg and “by far the best of the many books published about Jack Kerouac’s life and work” by William Burroughs. It is still widely regarded as the definitive work on Kerouac.  His book Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement won numerous honors and was named one of the Los Angeles Times “Best Books of the Year” in 2001.  He is currently at work on a biography of Ntozake Shange. Nicosia lives in Corte Madera, California. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 12, 2012

Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events (Harper) Acclaimed short story writer Kevin Moffett (Permanent Visitors) will read and sign his new story collection, Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events. "Kevin Moffett's stories are stealth heartbreakers, as well as wonders of sly detail and perfect tone. He's writing some of the best short fiction around." --Sam Lipsyte "The first thing you notice reading the stories in Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events is the author's extraordinary range--of expertise, technique, imagination and wit. There doesn't seem to be much Kevin Moffett can't do." --Richard Russo Kevin Moffett’s stories have appeared in McSweeney’s, Tin House, American Short Fiction, and elsewhere, as well as in three editions of The Best American Short Stories. He is the winner of the Nelson Algren Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the 2010 National Magazine Award for “Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events.” He lives in Claremont, California. Photo of the author by Erin McConnell. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 12, 2012.

Girlchild (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Debut novelist Tupelo Hassman will read and sign her novel Girlchild, which has already garnered rave reviews! "This amazing debut spills over with love, but is still absolutely unflinching and real. That is no easy combo to pull off, and Tupelo Hassman does it repeatedly with precision and grace. Rory D. is ebulliently alive on the page; she’s really that kind of fresh new voice people talk about, leaving us with a completely memorable character." --Aimee Bender, author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake "I’m smitten by Tupelo Hassman’s debut. The beauty of this story is how it plays: great turns in language, humor that points to sadness, and a structure that is messy and tidy all at the same time. Girlchild is overwhelming in an engaging and beautiful way.” —Salvador Plascencia, author of The People of Paper "If I were back on the staff of my high school yearbook I would vote Tupelo Hassman and her book Most Likely to Go Viral on Goodreads and Most Likely to Succeed in the Eyes of Critics." --Nicole Lamy, Boston Globe Tupelo Hassman graduated from Columbia's MFA program. Her writing has been published in Paper Street Press, The Portland Review Literary Journal, Tantalum, We Still Like, ZYZZYVA, and by 100WordStory.org and FiveChapters.com. Tupelo is a contributing author to Heliography, Invisible City Audio Tours' first tour and is curating its fourth tour, The Landmark Revelation Society. Tupelo will be keeping a video journal of girlchild's book tour for the short documentary Hardbound: A Novel's Life on the Road. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 6, 2012.