Upcoming

Friday, April 17, 2026, 12:00 – 1:00pm PST

Join ICW and Third LA for a lively conversation with USC Professor of English David Ulin, ICW Co-Director Bill Deverell, and author Chiara Barzini as they discuss California’s complicated history with water. Barzini will draw on her research for her new book, Aqua, in which she explores how the LA Aqueduct shaped LA’s landscape and film history, both in culture, myth, and economic reality.

Register Now: bit.ly/icw-april17th

Chiara Barzini is an Italian author and screenwriter, nominated among the 100 most influential Women of 2020 by Forbes Italy. She is the author of the story collection Sister Stop Breathing (Calamari Press), the novel Things That Happened Before The Earthquake (Doubleday), and an upcoming non-fiction book about the Los Angeles aqueduct and the reckless dreams called Aqua (Canongate), published in Italy in April 2025 with the title L’Ultima Acqua (Einaudi).

David Ulin is Professor of the Practice of English, and editor of the journal Air/Light. He is the author or editor of 20 books, including the novel Thirteen Question Method; Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, shortlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay; and Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology, which won a California Book Award. The former book editor and book critic of the Los Angeles Times, he has written for The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Paris Review, and The New York Times; his essay “Bed” was selected for The Best American Essays 2020. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, and Ucross Foundation, as well as a COLA-IMAP Master Artist Grant from the City of Los Angeles. He has also edited The Didion Collection, including Didion: The 1960s and 70s, Didion: The 1980s and 90s, and Didion: Memoirs and Later Writings, for Library of America.

Thursday, April 30, 2026, 12:00 – 1:00pm PST

Join Jared Aldern and Theresa Gregor for a dynamic conversation celebrating the release of Landkeeping: Restoring Indigenous Fire Stewardship and Ecological Partnerships, forthcoming in April 2026 from Oregon State University Press. Landkeeping offers powerful and engaging perspectives on Indigenous fire stewardship and its vital role in ecological health, cultural continuity, and land-based kinship. In this webinar, the authors will discuss the book’s collaborative vision, the resurgence of Indigenous fire practices, and how renewed ecological partnerships can guide more just and resilient futures. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear directly from the contributors about the ideas, relationships, and on-the-ground work that shaped this important new volume.

Register Now: bit.ly/landkeeping

Jared Aldern is a grant writer, historian, fire practitioner, and a cofounder of the Sierra-Sequoia Burn Cooperative; he has over thirty years of experience partnering and collaborating with Tribal Nations in California.

Theresa Lynn Gregor, a Kumeyaay and Yoéme scholar, researches California American Indian women, Tribal sovereignty, cultural revitalization, and environmental resilience. She leads Mataguay Consulting Services LLC to support Indigenous sovereignty, nonprofit leadership, community service, and survivance.

Thursday, June 11, 2026, 12:00 – 1:00pm PST

Join ICW for lively conversation with Marla A. Ramírez and Natalia Molina, discussing Ramírez’s book Banished Citizens: A History of the Mexican American Women Who Endured Repatriation.

Register Now: bit.ly/banishedcitizens

Marla A. Ramírez is Assistant Professor of History and Chicanx/e and Latinx/e Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Natalia Molina is a Distinguished Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity and Dean’s Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. Her research explores the interconnected histories of race, place, gender, culture, and citizenship. She is the author of three award-winning books: How Race Is Made in America: Immigration, Citizenship, and the Historical Power of Racial Scripts; Fit to Be Citizens?: Public Health and Race in Los Angeles, 1879-1940, and, most recently, A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community, which the Los Angeles Times calls an “essential Los Angeles book.” Professor Molina has written for the LA Times, Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, and elsewhere. She is a 2020 MacArthur Fellow.