David Kipen on the Renewal of the Federal Writers' Project

In 1935, the Federal Writers' Project was launched by President Roosevelt to create jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression and to provide a vivid literary climate in the U.S. David Kipen, an L.A.-based author, critic, broadcaster, UCLA Writing Faculty member and the founder of the nonprofit bilingual lending library Libros Schmibros in Boyle Heights, is a driving force behind the renewal of the initiative. In this episode, he talks about how a project like this can help trigger more curiosity and tolerance within a society. Kipen is the author of several books, among his recent the anthology Dear Los Angeles: The City in Diaries and Letters. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.  

In 1935, the Federal Writers' Project was launched by President Roosevelt to create jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression and to provide a vivid literary climate in the U.S. David Kipen, an L.A.-based author, critic, broadcaster, UCLA Writing Faculty member and the founder of the nonprofit bilingual lending library Libros Schmibros in Boyle Heights, is a driving force behind the renewal of the initiative. In this episode, he talks about how a project like this can help trigger more curiosity and tolerance within a society. Kipen is the author of several books, among his recent the anthology Dear Los Angeles: The City in Diaries and Letters. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.