ALOUD @ Los Angeles Public Library
823 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 months ago - ★★★★★ - 49 ratingsALOUD is the Library Foundation of Los Angeles' award-winning literary series of live conversations, readings and performances at the historic Central Library and locations throughout Los Angeles.
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Episodes
An Evening with Poet Robert Hass
December 04, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 62 MBKnown also as an essayist, translator, and activist on behalf of poetry, literacy, and the environment, the former United States Poet Laureate (1995-1997) is a poet of great eloquence, clarity, and force. About Hass's work, poet Stanley Kunitz wrote, \"Reading a poem by Robert Hass is like stepping into the ocean when the temperature of the water is not much different from that of the air. You scarcely know, until you feel the undertow tug at you, that you have entered into another element.\"
Cleopatra's Nose: 39 Varieties of Desire
November 29, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 68.4 MBThe longtime New Yorker writer--who once spent an evening with Jackie Onassis, smoking cigarettes and talking about men--culls from 20 years of probing and delightful cultural critiques of fashion, its personages, trends and history, to celebrate the lasting significance of its ephemeral qualities.
Lost and Found: Writing in the Woods
November 28, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 60.1 MBTwo writers discuss their experiences writing at the historic MacDowell Colony then read from work begun or completed there. www.macdowellcolony.org
Theories of Everything
November 27, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 72 MBThe New Yorker cartoonist who can explain phenomena such as \"The Museum of One's Kitchen\" (including the Refrigerator Door Gallery and the Cabinet of Many Teas) recently collaborated with Steve Martin on The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z.
Memorial Reading for Mutanabbi Street
November 20, 2007 03:00 - 2 hours - 80.7 MBOn March 5, 2007, a car bomb exploded on Mutanabbi Street, the lively center of Baghdad bookselling, filled with bookstores, cafes, and book stalls. 30 people were killed; more than 100 were wounded. Join poets and writers to memorialize this wounding of Baghdad's literary and intellectual heart.
An Evening with Poet Galway Kinnell
November 16, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 64.5 MBIn the 2003 National Book Award judges' citation for his New Selected Poems, Kinnell was called \"America's preeminent visionary,\" with work in 12 collections that, \"greets each new age with rapture and abundance ... [and] sets him at the table with his mentors: Rilke, Whitman and Frost.\"
A Free Life
November 15, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 75.1 MBIn this new novel by the National Book Award-winning author of Waiting, an émigré Chinese writer opens a restaurant in Atlanta in a daunting attempt to find his voice as a poet, support his family, and realize the American Dream.
Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans & Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America
November 14, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 63.2 MBThe iconoclastic Los Angeles Times columnist discusses how the mestizo legacy of Mexican-Americans, the largest immigrant group in the country's history, will forever change how Americans think about race and ethnicity.
A Life Decoded
November 09, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 74.8 MBA riveting account of the unparalleled drama of the quest for the human genome by the scientist who went on to be the first to read and interpret his own genome.
Psychogeography: Disentangling the Modern Conundrum of Psyche and Place
November 02, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 80.5 MBEvoking places as far flung as Iowa and India, Self-cultural provocateur, writer and long distance walker-teamed with legendary Gonzo illustrator Ralph Steadman to explore the intimate effects of geographical environment on human emotion and behavior.
The Principles of Uncertainty: Illustrations, Parables, Films
October 31, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 56.5 MBThe illustrator, author and designer-known for her many New Yorker covers (including the famous map of \"Newyorkistan\")-contends with existential questions like: \"What is identity?\" \"Why do we fight wars?\" \"Why do hearts break in February and why do some people have a hankering for a dodo sandwich?\" Note: you are encouraged to wear your favorite hat to this program.
The Conscience of a Liberal
October 30, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 69.6 MBToday's most widely read economist weaves together a nuanced account of three generations of history with sharp political, social, and economic analysis.
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
October 25, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 73.4 MBThe New Yorker's brilliant music critic takes us inside the labyrinth of modern sound, from Vienna before World War I to New York City in the seventies. Through experiments, revolutions, riots, and friendships forged and broken-come listen to a history of the twentieth century through its music.
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
October 24, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 81.4 MB\"The poet laureate of medicine\" (New York Times) examines the complexities of our response to music and the particular powers of music to move us physically and emotionally, beneficially or destructively, showing how we humans are a musical species no less than a linguistic one.
Hotel de Dream: A New York Novel
October 23, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBThe acclaimed memoirist, author, and biographer of Jean Genet conjures the true-life love affair between author Stephen Crane and the woman known as his wife.
The American Idea
October 19, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 68.1 MBFor 150 years, The Atlantic Monthly has explored what its founders-including Emerson, Longfellow and Holmes-called \"The American Idea.\" Join us for a high-spirited discussion with celebrated Atlantic contributors about the role literary masters have played in interpreting and often rebuking American society and culture.
The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America
October 17, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 71 MBThe Pulitzer Prize- winning author of Stiffed and Backlash examines the post-9/11 outpouring in the media, popular culture, and political life and offers a fiercely original view of ourselves, our history, and the future we may unwittingly be creating.
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
October 03, 2007 03:00 - 1 hourBased on exclusive interviews with Supreme Court Justices themselves and other insiders, The Nine is a timely and provocative report on America's most elite legal institution by The New Yorker's legal correspondent.
No Simple Victory: Europe at War 1939-1945
September 28, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 85.7 MBOne of the world's preeminent scholars of World War II history, author of the bestselling Europe: A History and Rising '44, offers a clear-eyed reappraisal and an illuminating portrait of a conflict that continues to provoke debate today.
COOL IT: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming
September 25, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 95.6 MBA highly respected statistical analyst of climate discusses why and how he believes the debate over climate change, fueled by politicians and the media, has stifled rational dialogue and marginalized meaningful dissent.
Two Actors, Two Authors, Two Lives
September 19, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 77 MBAlda and Farrell, former co-stars of M*A*S*H, both authors of recent memoirs, re-unite to discuss art, activism, family, money, and fame.
The Book of Psalms: A Conversation
September 18, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 88.1 MBRobert Alter's translation of \"The Five Books of Moses\" was hailed as a \"godsend\" by poet Seamus Heaney. He discusses with Kirsch, also a Biblical scholar, his new translation of the timeless Book of Psalms.
Nell Freudenberger and Jennifer Gilmore
September 11, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBGilmore's Golden Country vividly brings to life the intertwining stories of three immigrants seeking their fortunes. In Freudenberger's The Dissident, a performance artist/political activist collides with a wealthy Beverly Hills family. In these extraordinary first novels, family dynamics and cultures in collision are limned with hilarity and wisdom.
An Evening With Graphic Designer Chip Kidd
July 26, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 105 MBKidd’s book jacket designs for Alfred A. Knopf, where he has worked since 1986, have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. "The history of book design can be split into two eras: before graphic designer Chip Kidd and after." (Time Out New York)Presented on the occasion of the exhibition "Dancing by the Light of the Moon: The Art of Fred Marcellino" in Central Library’s Getty Gallery.
An Evening with Graphic Designer Chip Kidd
July 26, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 105 MBKidd’s book jacket designs for Alfred A. Knopf (where he has worked since 1986) have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. “The history of book design can be split into two eras: before graphic designer Chip Kidd and after.” (Time Out New York) Presented on the occasion of the exhibition “Dancing by the Light of the Moon: The Art of Fred Marcellino” in Central Library’s Getty Gallery.
Parts Per Million: The Poisoning of Beverly Hills High School
July 25, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 64.5 MBAn unsettling and timely investigation into the ties between Beverly Hills, its oil wells, and a local cancer cluster. A compelling legal drama by a journalist and member of the Beverly Hills High School class of '71.
God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
June 05, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 77.2 MB\"America's foremost literary pugilist\" (Village Voice) offers an elegantly argued case against all religions.
The Pest House
May 24, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 77 MBOn a devastated, lawless American continent, families have only one hope: passage on a ship to Europe. A remarkable novel by one of the most inventive novelists writing in English today.
Telling Stories that Matter: A Conversation
May 23, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 82.2 MBTwo California-born writers-one from East L.A. and the other from the Central Valley-discuss their understanding of stories as a way to complicate our views of self, of morality, and of our relationships with the world around us.
Nathan Englander: The Ministry of Special Cases
May 22, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 58.8 MBFrom the celebrated author of For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, a stunning historical novel—his first—set in Buenos Aires at the start of Argentina’s Dirty War.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider
April 06, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 62.6 MBAt age twelve, Beah (now twenty-five), fled attacking rebels in his native Sierra Leone and was picked up by the government army. What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop?
Debating Race
March 08, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 95.4 MBWhether chronicling the class conflict in the African American community or exposing the failings of the government response to Hurricane Katrina, Dyson never shies away from controversy. Join two of America's most astute intellectuals in a discussion about issues that matter.
Between the Sheets: Sex, Literature, and the Future of Erotic Fiction
February 16, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 67.9 MBIn a society in which sex is both a major obsession and a major taboo, what is the function of erotic literature? Is there a new receptivity to thinking and writing about the sexual dimension? Join two award-winning American writers for a provocative discussion.
A Field Guide to Getting Lost
February 13, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 63.5 MBSolnit-activist and cultural historian-draws on emblematic moments of uncertainty, trust, loss, memory, desire and place in brilliant autobiographical essays exploring how we find ourselves or lose ourselves.
Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present
February 13, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 64.6 MBOren, recently visiting professor at Harvard and Yale and author of the best-selling Six Days of War - covers 230 years of America's political, military, and intellectual involvement in the Middle East from George Washington to George W. Bush.
Can Religion and Reason be Reconciled?
January 26, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 80.4 MBAslan (No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam) and Harris (The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason; Letter to a Christian Nation) square off for the first time to debate the future of religion and its role in society.
House of Meetings
January 24, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 60 MBA surprising love story set in 1946 Moscow and a camp in the Arctic Circle by the bestselling author of London Fields.
Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy
January 17, 2007 03:00 - 1 hour - 60 MBWhat are the deep origins of communal celebration in human biology and culture? Join us for an original and exhilarating look at one of humanity's oldest traditions.
Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir
November 21, 2006 03:00 - 1 hour - 81.4 MBThe inimitable raconteur, essayist, novelist, playwright, historian, critic and screenwriter travels in memory through the arenas of literature, television, film, theater, politics, and international society.
Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills
November 02, 2006 03:00 - 1 hour - 100 MBThe creator/executive producer and cast members of HBO's \"Deadwood\" discuss the themes and motivations that run through the series - gold, Custer, betrayal, profanity - and the remarkable accidents of history that created the wildest town in the West.
The Light of Evening: A Novel
October 25, 2006 03:00 - 1 hour - 63.4 MBThe great Irish novelist--known as a pioneer for her frank portrayals of women--discusses her daring new work that explores the unbreakable bond between mother and child. \"O'Brien is a storyteller, an Irish story-teller, one of an ancient tradition of storytellers, people who tell the truth.\" (Thomas Cahill, Los Angeles Times Book Review)
A Writer's Life
October 06, 2006 03:00 - 1 hour - 33.9 MBGordon, one of America's master story-tellers, probes the lives of her characters and how the workings of the world- both enormous events and intimate moments-define and change us. She discusses her writing life on the publication of the complete collection of her remarkable short fictions.
The Battle Over Books: Authors & Publishers Take on the Google Books Library Project
June 13, 2006 03:00 - 1 hour - 81.5 MBA provocative discussion about the competing interests and issues raised by The Google Books Library Project, and whether a universal digital repository of our collective knowledge is in our future. With: Allan Adler, Association of American Publishers; David Drummond, Google; Fontayne Holmes, Los Angeles Public Library; Jonathan Kirsch, author and lawyer, Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School, and Gary Wolf, WIRED Magazine.
Life as Art, Art as Life
June 09, 2006 03:00 - 1 hour - 64 MBPekar, known for his autobiographical slice-of-life comic book series \"American Splendor\" and author of the just-released Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story discusses artistic strategies and kvetching as a form of \"Outsider Realism\" with Conal, L.A.'s own iconic anti-icon master and guerrilla poster artist.
Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food
May 11, 2006 03:00 - 1 hour - 69.6 MBThe author of the national bestseller The Omnivore's Dilemma returns with a manifesto for our times: what to eat, what not to eat, and how to think about health.
Tête-à-Tête: Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre
May 02, 2006 03:00 - 1 hour - 37.2 MBRowley, a distinguished biographer and Obst, legendary producer of films such as "Sleepless in Seattle" offers an intimate look at one of the world's most unconventional love stories.
Geraldine Brooks: March: A Novel
February 23, 2006 03:00 - 1 hour - 61.8 MBGeraldine Brooks - in conversation with Carla Kaplan, Professor of English, USC - is the author of a luminous second novel (after 2001’s acclaimed Year of Wonders) entitled March: A Novel. This book imagines the Civil War experiences of Mr. March, the absent father in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
Reza Aslan: The Coming Reformation of Islam: A Conversation
February 03, 2006 03:00 - 1 hour - 75.4 MBJoin two brilliant scholars of religion for a fascinating discussion on the internal conflict within Islam over the scope and outcome of the Islamic Reformation.This program was presented by ALOUD in 2006, and the recording from our archive was added to our podcast collection in 2014.
Armistead Maupin: A Night Listener
December 14, 2005 03:00 - 1 hour - 64.4 MBArmistead Maupin discusses his book, A Night Listener.This program was presented by the Hot Off the Press series.
George Packer: The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq
November 09, 2005 03:00 - 1 hour - 70.6 MBPacker, award-winning staff writer for The New Yorker, explores the full range of ideas and emotions stirred up by our most controversial foreign-policy venture since Vietnam.