ALOUD @ Los Angeles Public Library
829 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month 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
Radio Ambulante: Stories from the Americas
June 27, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 73.8 MBLost City Radio novelist Daniel Alarcón and team joins us for a special live presentation of Radio Ambulante - the first ever Spanish-language radio show created to tell the stories of latinoamericanos de todas las Américas. Everyday stories find voice in this multi-national, bilingual production, a collaboration of NPR stations and independent journalists from over nine countries. In a city with a majority Spanish-speaking population, Radio Ambulante introduces Angelenos to the crónicas de n...
A New Deal for Los Angeles
June 22, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 71.9 MBIn less than a decade, President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal agencies radically transformed Los Angeles as they did other American cities in a successful, but largely forgotten, effort to extricate the nation from the Great Depression. In addition to building the region's cultural infrastructure of schools, libraries, and museums, the Federal Writers Project left us a vivid freeze frame description of what Southern California was like just before World War II. Author David Kipen discusses t...
Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free
June 20, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 60.1 MBAs a culture, we are often focused on beginnings— the start of things instead of the endings. Acclaimed sociologist and MacArthur prize-winning Harvard professor Lawrence-Lightfoot examines moments that define how we transition through our lives. From looking at an Iranian teenager who leaves the political strife of his native land, to a middle-aged gay man who reflects on his ‘exit’ from the closet, to the director of a hospital ICU who oversees patients facing death, Lawrence-Lightfoot exam...
Tales from the City of Angels: An Evening of Storytelling
June 14, 2012 03:00 - 3 minutes - 83.1 MBPart One: Tales of DesperationM.C.'d by Richard Montoya of Culture ClashJoin in this first-ever edition of live storytelling at ALOUD as six local voices take us through the comedic, tragic, entertaining, and desperate tales of life in the City of Angels.Music by Tom Lutz and Blue TunaIn partnership with the Los Angeles Review of Books
As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda
June 13, 2012 03:00 - 56 minutes - 51.6 MBThe popular columnist for the New York Times declares that the proud state of big oil and bigger ambitions matters most in America’s political landscape, that “what happens in Texas doesn’t stay in Texas anymore.” The country’s fundamental divide has long been seen as a war between the Republican heartland and its two liberal coasts. But after visiting Texas, Collins reconsiders where the epicenter of a conservative political agenda resides and how it is sweeping across the country to redefin...
The Elemental West: Reflections on Moving Water
June 07, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 69.7 MBTwo celebrated writers deeply influenced by the riparian and other landscapes of the American West will read from their work and explore how storytelling, in the tradition of Thoreau and Emerson, can give voice to natural resources. Activist and award-winning author Kathleen Dean Moore discusses her newest book Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril and Craig Childs, the author of more than a dozen acclaimed books on nature and science, reflects on expedition adventures from Color...
An Evening with Novelist Richard Ford
June 01, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 68.3 MBThe Washington Post calls Richard Ford, "One of the finest curators of the great American living museum." In his haunting new novel, Canada, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author explores the mysterious and consoling bonds of family in a tale about a young man forced by catastrophic circumstance to reconcile himself to a world that has been rendered unrecognizable.
An Evening With Novelist Richard Ford
June 01, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 68.3 MBThe Washington Post calls Richard Ford, "One of the finest curators of the great American living museum." In his haunting new novel, Canada, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author explores the mysterious and consoling bonds of family in a tale about a young man forced by catastrophic circumstance to reconcile himself to a world that has been rendered unrecognizable.
The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times
May 25, 2012 03:00 - 66.9 MBFrom hired mourners who will scatter your loved one's ashes, to nameologists (who help you name your child)-the sociologist and acclaimed author of The Second Shift draws on original research to reveal the threats inherent in a world in which the most intuitive and emotional of human acts have become work for hire.
The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking
May 23, 2012 03:00 - 47 minutes - 43.1 MBHow have unreasonable principles —from negotiating to risk-taking, from investing to hiring— helped billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad in founding two Fortune 500 companies, funding scientific research and education reform, and building some of the world’s greatest contemporary art museums? Why is he drawn to the unreasonableness of contemporary artists like Richard Serra and Robert Rauschenberg? What can we learn from the wisdom of an unreasonable man?
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
May 16, 2012 03:00 - 80.3 MBIf the conscious mind is the only part of the brain we are aware of, then what in the world else is happening up there? Renowned neuroscientist (and novelist) David Eagleman navigates the depth of the subconscious brain to illuminate surprising mysteries that take in brain damage, plane spotting, dating, drugs, synesthesia, criminal law, artificial intelligence and visual illusions.
Autobiography and the Graphic Novel
May 11, 2012 03:00 - 59.2 MBBechdel follows her best-selling graphic memoir, Fun Home, with a second tale of filial sleuthing-this time about her mother: voracious reader, music lover, amateur actor, and also a woman, unhappily married to a gay man. Bechdel's quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf leads through psychoanalysis and Dr. Seuss to a truce that will move all adult children of gifted mothers.
When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice
May 10, 2012 03:00 - 66.7 MBUpon her mother's passing, Williams inherited three shelves of journals. Not only was it a shock that her mother kept journals, but it was also a shock to see what the journals contained-pages and pages of blank pages. In fifty-four chapters that unfold like a series of yoga poses, each with its own logic and beauty, Williams-author of the iconic memoir Refuge-creates a soaring meditation on the mystery of her mother's empty journals, always asking, \"What does it mean to have a voice?\"
Poetics of Protest: Giving Voice to Mexico's Movement for Peace
April 27, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 81.5 MBJavier Sicilia, Mexican poet-turned-activist and leader of Mexico's Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, is turning personal horror into hope for himself and his country. After the death of his son at the hands of drug traffickers last year, Sicilia swapped his pen for protest, pushing to stop the bloodshed. Leading the fight with a radiant intellect and deep faith, this TIME Magazine Protester of the Year speaks on the power of words as an instrument for peace, recognizing that respo...
God in Pain: Inversions of Apocalypse
April 25, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 70.8 MBSlavoj Zizek, renowned Slovenian critical theorist, dissects and reconstructs three major faith-based systems of belief in the world today, showing how each faith understands humanity and divinity-and how the differences between the faiths may be far stranger than they at first seem.
Seriously, Just Go To Sleep
April 20, 2012 03:00 - 45 minutes - 41.8 MBSmart, comical, and sensible, this children's book-follow-up to the widely successful Go the F*** to Sleep by Adam Mansbach, offers kids the opportunity to recognize their tactics, giggle at their own mischievousness, and empathize with their parents' struggles, while providing both kids and parents common ground to talk about one of the most stressful aspects of parenting.
Heart of Dankness: Underground Botanists, Outlaw Farmers, and the Race for the Cannabis Cup
April 18, 2012 03:00 - 59 minutes - 54.6 MBSmith takes us on a trip-mind-blowing and humorous-deep into the international underground where super-high-grade marijuana is developed, produced, sold, and entered into the Super Bowl of the marijuana world, Amsterdam's Cannabis Cup. Moving between California, the hub of the legalization and decriminalization debate, and the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, Smith infiltrates a world where science, nature, and the sometimes criminal intersect.
Concrete Rivers: The Emotional Topography of LA
April 13, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 76.2 MBTwo celebrated poets read from their most recent work and discuss how Los Angeles has influenced their writing, how some influences overlap and others diverge. Born in Watts, Wanda Coleman witnessed Simon Rodia working on the Towers firsthand. Coleman's work is often concerned with the outsider, both in terms of race and poverty in California. Lewis MacAdams is a poet, journalist, filmmaker, and activist who has written on topics ranging from cultural history to the environment. Known as the ...
The Anatomy of Harpo Marx
April 11, 2012 03:00 - 53 minutes - 49 MBUsing film clips and text in a detailed play-by-play of Harpo Marx's physical movements, Koestenbaum celebrates the astonishing range of Harpo's body-- its kinks, sexual multiplicities, somnolence, Jewishness, \"cute\" pathos, and more. Holding up a mirror to Marx's 13 films, Koestenbaum takes a sharp look at American culture and mythology and the intimacies of how we communicate without words.
Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India
April 06, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 69 MBLelyveld, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, offers an intricate portrait of Gandhi's conflicted mission. After shaping his philosophy of nonviolent resistance during his time in South Africa, Gandhi promoted these social values back in his native India. Although India quickly revered the \"Great Soul,\" Gandhi's following only contributed a small part to the social transformation he imagined. In this new biography, Lelyveld brings us closer to one of history's most remarkable self-creations ...
Imagine: How Creativity Works
April 04, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 63.1 MBFrom the best-selling author of How We Decide comes a revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Why did Elizabethan England experience a creative explosion? What can we learn from Bob Dylan's writing habits and the drug addiction of poets? How did Pixar redesign its office space for maximum creativity? How can you embrace your own creative side and make your community more vibrant? Join us for a discussion into the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our in...
"The Man in the Empty Boat", A Special One Man Performance
March 23, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 64.9 MBAs he approached midlife, bestselling author and Los Angeles local Mark Salzman (Iron and Silk, The Soloist, Lying Awake) confronted a year of catastrophe. Overwhelmed by terrifying panic attacks, suffering from a crippling case of writer's block, and dealing with the very sudden death of his sister, Salzman began a spiritual search for equanimity. His new memoir, The Man in the Empty Boat is the result of his journey to find peace as a father, writer, and individual. Navigating the turbulent...
Eisenhower: The White House Years
March 21, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 55.7 MBThere may be more to \"Like Ike\" than we realize. Veteran journalist and editor-at-large of the Los Angeles Times, Jim Newton offers a bold reappraisal of the 34th president, who was belittled by critics as \"the babysitter in chief.\" Newton yields a portrait of a shrewd leader, a progressive politician, and a champion of peace who refused to use an atomic bomb, grounded McCarthyism, built an interstate system, and turned a $8 billion deficit into a $500 million surplus.
From the Outside Looking In: Writers Finding Their Place in Los Angeles
March 16, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 83.1 MBLiterary Los Angeles has always existed apart from our country's publishing capital--3,000 miles apart, to be exact. What does this distance offer writers and book artists? What are the freedoms and the challenges of being outside the traditions and trends of literature? A panel of L.A. writers-authors of fiction, essays, graphic novels, screenplays, and poetry-delve into these questions, considering their impact on both the individual and the community. Part of Pacific Standard Time, Los An...
The Rocket's Red Glare: Politics in Art and Poetry
March 14, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 73.3 MBIn an election year driven by worldwide public demonstrations, congressional stagecraft and conflicting narratives, rhetoric, aesthetics and politics are apt to collide. As part of a 2012 national series, poet-performer Douglas Kearney and artist-activist Edgar Arceneaux of the Watts House Project discuss the political impetus and implications of their work.
Thinking the Twentieth Century
March 07, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 71.3 MBWhat is the power of historical perspective? How can we learn from the past to reform our society of the future? The late historian Tony Judt reframed the history of the European continent after WWII in his book Postwar. A luminous thinker, he clarified the power of historical perspective for living even ordinary lives. In this final book, written with Timothy Snyder, he traverses the complexities of the twentieth century and guides us through the great debates that made our world.
Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone
February 29, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 60.3 MBIndependents unite! In a powerful assessment of an unprecedented social change, a renowned sociologist chronicles the biggest demographic shift since the baby boom: we thrive when we go it alone.
An Evening with Philip Levine, U.S. Poet Laureate
February 24, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 67 MBThe 18th Poet Laureate reads from his work and discusses life, literature, and his time in the Golden State. Presented in collaboration with the California Center for the Book and the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress
From Exile to Home: Los Angeles Literary Life 1945 to 1980
February 22, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 67 MBIn the years since World War II, the literature of Los Angeles, like much about the city, has shifted, becoming less a literature of exile than one of place. Weschler- one of our foremost practitioners of literary nonfiction discusses this definitive period in Los Angeles' literary life. Part of Pacific Standard Time, Art in LA 1945-1980
Two Novelists on Memory, Identity, and Place
February 17, 2012 03:00 - 57 minutes - 53.1 MBPercival Everett's Assumption, a baffling murder mystery and Steve Erickson's These Dreams of You, an enigmatic search for an adopted black daughter's past, both delve into race, the history of their characters, and the places they reside. From a hippie commune in Denver to a city in Ethiopia, these two acclaimed Los Angeles novelists go to great lengths in search of truth.
Keeping Your Brain Healthy: Preventing Alzheimer's
February 14, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 67.2 MBTake control of your brain, come learn from the authors of Memory Bible about cutting-edge research on this devastating brain disease and the progress towards a cure as well as strategies for prevention.
The Obamas
February 09, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 61.3 MBThe Washington correspondent for the New York Times leads us on a tour deep inside the White House as the Obamas grapple with their new roles, raise children, maintain friendships, and figure out what it means to be the first black President and First Lady.
An Evening with Wael Ghonim, "Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People is Greater Than the People in Power"
February 07, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 73.1 MBWael Ghonim was a little-known 30-year-old Google exec when he launched a Facebook campaign to protest the death of an Egyptian man at the hands of security forces. Now, in his new memoir, one of the key figures behind the Egyptian uprising takes us inside the making of a modern revolution- and discusses youth, activism, the Arab Spring, and why he is optimistic for the future.
Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformative Power of Music
February 03, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 66.9 MBEl Sistema, the music education program that nurtured Gustavo Dudamel's musical talent, now reaches children in Los Angeles and cities around the world. Changing Lives author Tricia Tunstall reveals in her book how arts education effects positive social change. Join us for an inspiring look at El Sistema and Dudamel's great passion for spreading hope through music.
The Man Within My Head
February 01, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 59.8 MBIn his new memoir, Pico Iyer, one of our most astute observers of inner journeys, chronicles his obsession with the writer Graham Greene, what it means to be an outsider, and the place of a mysterious father in his own imagination.
The Barbarian Nurseries: A Novel
January 27, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 66.3 MBA live-in maid in the conflicted Torres-Thompson household is accused of kidnapping the family's children, when in fact, she is taking them by bus from Orange Co. to L.A. to find refuge with their grandfather. An authentic rendering of social and class divides from a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Tobar's brilliant novel redefines Southern California in the 21st century.
Why Mahler? How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our World
January 24, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 69.2 MBIn his new biography, Lebrecht explores the life of the composer who straddled two musical worlds- born into the age of high romanticism and most prolific at a time of artistic revolution. Presented in association with The Mahler Project, A Symphonic Cycle for the New World, a project of the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Ayad Akhtar and Amy Waldman: Two Novelists on The Lives of American Muslims Before and After 9/11
January 19, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 68.3 MBAkhtar's American Dervish and Waldman's The Submission, both explore the lives of American Muslims, one in pre-9/11 suburbia and the other in post-9/11 Manhattan. In Akhtar's family drama, a father and son are fractured by their understandings of Islam. In Waldman's story, a city is outraged when a Muslim architect wins a blind competition to design the 9/11 Memorial. Following the conflicts within and between religions, these two brilliant debut novels grapple with identity, community, and a...
An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing
January 18, 2012 03:00 - 1 hour - 65.6 MBAcclaimed journalist and poet Luis J. Rodríguez, who chronicled his harrowing journey from gang member to a revered figure of Chicano literature, discusses the struggles of post-gang life with Father Gregory Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries and author of a bestselling memoir.
Dark Carols: A Christmas Cycle (World Premiere)
December 07, 2011 03:00 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MBAn original song cycle exploring the regrets, fears, and remembered losses that arise in this fell season. This year, the unsung and the unsaid, the long-buried and repressed, the saddened and the dead... are allowed a voice, and are made welcome at the table. Piano provided courtesy of Keyboard Concepts
Queen of America: A Novel
December 02, 2011 03:00 - 1 hour - 64.1 MBAward-winning novelist Luis Alberto Urrea explores the intrepid life of his great-aunt, a healer and \"Saint of Cabora\" who flees to Arizona when she is claimed as the spiritual leader of the Mexican Revolution. This spellbinding sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter is a turn-of-the-century journey across America. Presented in association with the exhibition, A Nation Emerges: The Mexican Revolution Revealed
It Chooses You
November 30, 2011 03:00 - 1 hour - 64.8 MBIn procrastination mode while finishing the screenplay for her second film, Miranda July obsessively read the Pennysaver. Who was the person selling Care Bears for two dollars each? She crisscrossed L.A. to meet a random selection of PennySaver sellers, grabbing hold of the invisible world in a book that blends narrative, interviews, photographs and deadpan humor.
Physics on the Fringe: Smoke Rings, Circlons, and Alternative Theories of Everything
November 22, 2011 03:00 - 1 hour - 67.1 MBChallenging our concept of what science is; how it works; and who it is for, outsider physicist Jim Carter discusses with science writer Margaret Wertheim his own theory of matter, energy, and gravity.
An Evening with Joan Didion
November 17, 2011 03:00 - 1 hour - 66.6 MBA literary icon for Los Angeles and a cultural visionary for the rest of America, the acclaimed author of The White Album, The Year of Magical Thinking, and most recently, Blue Nights, discusses her current work and life in Los Angeles in the 60s. Part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980
The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick
November 15, 2011 03:00 - 1 hour - 68.8 MBPhilip K. Dick dedicated his life to questioning the nature of reality and perception, the malleability of space and time, and the relationship between the human and divine. Dick's two daughters and novelist Jonathan Lethem- Exegesis co-editor-serve as guides to exploring the magnificent final work of the author.
From Tijuana to Gaza to Bosnia: Rethinking Borders in a 21st Century World
November 09, 2011 03:00 - 1 hour - 90.1 MBArtists, scholars, and cultural activists from Europe, Mexico, and the United States convene in Los Angeles-home to migrants, refugees, and exiles from all over the world-to share their respective experiences with and approaches to border issues. In an age of increased border militarization, how might we redefine borderlands as zones of mutual intermingling, co-existence, and dialogue? Made possible by special funding from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, part of the 2011...
What It's Like to Go to War
November 04, 2011 03:00 - 1 hour - 68.2 MBHaving spent the last 40 years examining his experiences in Vietnam, Marlantes, the decorated war veteran and bestselling author (Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War), discusses his visceral new nonfiction book about the psychological and spiritual toll that combat takes on those who fight.
Hollywood Left and Right
November 03, 2011 03:00 - 1 hour - 69.2 MBFrom Chaplin to Schwarzenegger, movie stars have played a leading role in shaping the course of American politics. Join us for a conversation about how Hollywood has evolved into a vital center for American political life.
Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home
October 28, 2011 03:00 - 1 hour - 67 MBTwenty years after her testimony in the Clarence Thomas confirmation mesmerized the nation, Hill shifts her focus from the public forum to the private. As today's families are being devastated by the subprime mortgage crisis, Hill speaks out for a new understanding about the importance of home and its place in the American Dream.
Zone One: A Novel
October 27, 2011 03:00 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBIn MacArthur Award-winning Whitehead's satiric take on the post-apocalyptic horror novel, a plague has sorted humanity into two types: the infected and the uninfected, the living and the living dead. How will these civilians rebuild their lives? Join this subversive discussion about the 21st century zombie.