Skylight Books Podcast Series

Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life (Random House) Steve Almond, whose book My Life in Heavy Metal is one of Skylight's all-time bestselling fiction titles, will be here to discuss and sign his new memoir, Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life! "For some of us, music is true religion, and Catholic to boot. Steve Almond comes off as devout -- and divided -- as any altar boy. His strange and funny book should be required reading for all of us fans and musicians who belong to the Church of Rock and Roll." —Aimee Mann Steve Almond is the author of the essay collection (Not that You Asked), the story collections My Life in Heavy Metal and The Evil B.B. Chow, the nonfiction book Candyfreak, and the novel Which Brings Me to You, co-written with Julianna Baggott. He lives outside Boston with his wife and two children, and listens to rock and roll at all hours. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 7, 2010.

A Wild Region (Moon Tide Press) and Follow Me Down (Tebot Bach) by Buckley; Now and Then: Collected Poems of Lee Mallory (Moon Tide Press) Join us as two poets published by the local Moon Tide Press read from their recent work! Kate Buckley, a ninth-generation Kentuckian, will earn her MFA from Spalding University in May 2010. She has been widely published and anthologized, her poems most recently appearing in Bellingham Review, North American Review and Shenandoah. She is the author of A Wild Region (Moon Tide Press, 2008) and Follow Me Down (Tebot Bach, 2009). Her recent honors and awards include the Gabehart Prize for Imaginative Writing and the North American Review's James Hearst Poetry Prize, selected by Molly Peacock. Two poems from Kate's second book are currently under consideration for the Pushcart Prize. A professor at Santa Ana College, Lee Mallory co-produces the Factory Readings in Santa Ana and Poetry at Alta in Newport Beach, where he has lived most of his life. He was an acquaintance of the late Charles Bukowski and Kenneth Rexroth, and shared time with poet and pop novelist Richard Brautigan. In addition to his eight volumes of poetry and performance features at almost 100 poetry events, Lee has written over 125 poems which have appeared in such magazines as Konglomerati, Mojo Navigator(e), Invisible City, Wisconsin Review, Beyond Baroque and The Smith. He has also been covered frequently in newspapers and is a marathon runner. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 5, 2010.

Learning By Heart (Allworth Press) Witness to Integrity (Liturgical Press) A Place at the Table (Elevated Lab) Come Alive! (Four Corners) Join us for a fascinating panel discussion about artist, educator, and "rebel nun" Sister Corita! Hear from Corita’s students and former sisters who defied the Cardinal, renounced their vows, and redefined themselves as an independent ecumenical community – dedicated to those radical ideals of peace and justice! This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the independent Immaculate Heart community. This event is presented in conjunction with Artwalk, which will features Sister Corita's work on display at the Hollywood Lutheran Church (1733 N. New Hampshire Ave.) and other venues throughout Los Feliz.  Four books related to the Sister Corita and the Immaculate Heart community will be available for purchase. Liz Mahoney, IHM, has been a member of the Immaculate Heart Community for 65 years and was present at the chapter that made the decision to update the Community following Vatican II. Helen Kelley, IHM, is the former president of Immaculate Heart College and former president of Immaculate Heart Community. Lenore N. Dowling, IHM, is a former faculty member of the IHC Art Department and current chair of the Immaculate Heart Community Board. Nan Cano is an Immaculate Heart College alumna, former teacher at Immaculate Heart High School, and author of Acts of Light: Martha Graham in the 21st Century. Jan Steward, a distinguished graphic designer and photographer, lives in Los Angeles. She is the co-author of Learning By Heart. Richard Crawford was a friend and student of Sister Corita's. He's only interested in painting, movies, gardening, politics, and Plant Spirit Medicine.  Read that book. Corita chose David Mekelburg to teach all of her classes at Immaculate Heart when she moved to Boston. Donald Jackson, scribe to England's Royal Family, said, "Mekelburg it the finest calligrapher in the States." Aaron Rose will moderate tonight's panel. Aaron is a film director, curator and writer currently living in Los Angeles. He was co-curator of the Beautiful Losers touring exhibition (2003-2009), edited the collected book, and is also the director of the documentary film of the same title (2008). In 2009, he completed the short film Become A Microscope based on the life and art of Sister Corita. His publishing imprint, Alleged Press releases hardcover books by contemporary artists. He is also co-editor (along with Ed Templeton and Brendan Fowler) of ANP Quarterly magazine. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 4, 2010.

101 Things I Learned in Film School (Grand Central Publishing) Join us for a fascinating discussion and a screenwriting workshop with the author of 101 Things I Learned in Film School. Neil Landau is a screenwriter whose television and film credits include Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, Melrose Place, Doogie Howser, M.D., The Magnificent Seven, and Twice in a Lifetime. He has developed feature films for 20th Century Fox, Disney, Universal, and Columbia Pictures, and television pilots for Warner Bros., Touchstone, Lifetime, and CBS. He works internationally as a script consultant and teaches at UCLA's School of Film, Television, and Digital Media, as well as at USC Film School, and Goddard College in Vermont. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 3, 2010.

The More I Owe You (Counterpoint) Michael Sledge, author of the acclaimed memoir Mother and Son, will present his debut novel, about the relationship between poet Elizabeth Bishop and architect Lota de Macedo Soares. "A novel of extraordinary beauty, intimacy, and such consummate tenderness for its complex Elizabeth that one wonders how Sledge managed to slide so close to her soul. A gorgeous meditation on enduring love, damage, and what it can be to be happy, for however brief a moment. Bravo, bravo, bravo." —Stacey D'Erasmo, author of The Sky Below "A beautiful dream of a book. Sumptuously detailed, deeply felt, it is as if Sledge slipped back in time and walked every step with Elizabeth Bishop, breathed every breath with her." —Alison Smith, author of Name All the Animals "Sensitive and engrossing." --Publishers Weekly Michael Sledge is the author of a memoir, Mother and Son, and has contributed to a number of literary journals. He is cofounder of the Oaxifornia arts studio in Oaxaca, Mexico, and lives with his partner in both Mexico and Oakland, California. This is his first novel. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 2, 2010.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (Doubleday) We're delighted to have Aimee Bender, author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, back at Skylight to present her new novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake! "[Aimee Bender] makes you grateful for the very existence of language." —San Francisco Chronicle (review of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt) "To curl up with an Aimee Bender story is to thank heaven you ever learned to read in the first place" —Entertainment Weekly (review of Willful Creatures) Aimee Bender is the author of the novel An Invisible Sign of My Own and the collections The Girl in the Flammable Skirt and Willful Creatures. She has received two Pushcart prizes and was nominated for the Tiptree Award in 2005. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 1, 2010.

Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles (Santa Monica Press) Join us for a fascinating look at our very own corner of L.A.!  Author Charles Fleming will present and sign his walking guide—chock full of local history—about the historic staircases of Los Angeles. Charles Fleming is the author of the novels The Ivory Coast and After Havana and the respected Hollywood "how-not-to" book High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess, and co-author of the recent non-fiction bestseller My Lobotomy. A veteran reporter for Variety, Newsweek, the LA Weekly and the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Fleming teaches entertainment reporting at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism. He lives in Silver Lake with his wife and two daughters. Secret Stairs is his first walking guide. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 30, 2010.

Best American Comics Criticism (Fantagraphics) Ben Schwartz, editor of the new anthology Best American Comics Criticism, will discuss comics and comics criticism with Kramers Ergot editor Sammy Harkham, graphic novelist Joe Matt (Spent), and comics critics Robert Fiore and Brian Doherty Ben Schwartz lives in Los Angeles. Besides editing The Best American Comics Criticism for Fantagraphics, he works as a journalist and screenwriter and is currently writing The Lost Laugh, a history of American humor set between the two world wars.  He has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Suck.com, Vanity Fair, and The Atlantic on-line.  The screenplays he has sold collect dust on A-list shelves all over town. Sammy Harkham is an Award winning cartoonist behind Crickets (Drawn & Quarterly) and the editor of Kramers Ergot. His work has been published in Vice, Arthur, numerous Best American Comics volumes, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. Recently, he guest edited the annual Holloween comic, The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror. He lives in Los Angeles. Robert Fiore writes the long-running column Funnybook Roulette for The Comics Journal.  At Fantagraphics Books he edited a number of anthologies of underground cartoonists such as Robert Crumb, Kim Deitch, Spain Rodriguez and Vaughn Bode. Brian Doherty is a senior editor at Reason magazine, author of the books This is Burning Man and Radicals for Capitalism, and a lifelong Friend of Comics. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 27, 2010.

Inheritance (Lethe Press) A launch party for the latest poetry collection by this acclaimed local poet! "Steven Reigns explores the inexhaustible power of family to affect our lives and loves, and does so in a candid yet passionate manner remarkable for its evocative and wounding moments." --Wanda Coleman, author of Heavy Daughter Blues and Mercurochrome: New Poems "This is such a naked book. It falls neatly into no school of poetry, nor does 'gay poetry' sum it up. I turned the pages of Inheritance pretty hungrily, glad to encounter such honesty about a gay life lived with pleasure and bitterness and companionability." --Eileen Myles, author of Sorry, Tree and Skies Steven Reigns is a Los Angeles-based poet and educator. His newest collection, Inheritance, came out in 2010 by Lethe Press. After earning a degree in Creative Writing at the University of South Florida, he published his début poetry collection, Your Dead Body is My Welcome Mat, in 2001. Since then, Reigns has published four chapbooks: Ignited, Cartography, In the Room, and As if Memories Were Not Enough.  A two-time recipient of The Los Angeles County’s Department of Cultural Affairs' Artist in Residency Grant, Reigns organized and taught the first-ever autobiography poetry workshop for GLBT seniors and edited an anthology of their writings, My Life is Poetry. He has taught writing workshop around the country to GLBT youth and people living with HIV and recently received his Masters in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University. Currently he is involved with S(t)even Years, a 7-year endurance performance under the mentorship of performance artist Linda Montano. Visit him at www.stevenreigns.com. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 23, 2010.

And the Heart Says... Whatever (Free Press) Emily Gould will discuss and sign her new humorous essay collection And the Heart Says Whatever. "This is not a 'nice' book, but it comes by its anger and melancholy honestly, and it makes sense of much that is puzzling about our cultural moment."   —Jonathan Franzen Emily Gould has written for The New York Times, the New York Observer, and Jezebel.com, among other publications.  Before becoming editor of Gawker.com, a job she quit and then described in a cover story for The New York Times Magazine in 2008, she was an associate editor at Hyperion. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 20, 2010.