Here are the USC Dornsife faculty and alumni you’ll see at the L.A. Times Festival of Books
Book lovers will once again descend onto USC’s University Park Campus April 26-27 for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, now celebrating its 30th year. Attendees will hear from favorite authors, watch live cooking demonstrations, browse book stalls and be serenaded by the USC Trojan Marching Band.
Faculty, students and alumni from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences will appear on panels and read from their books, including Percival Everett, Distinguished Professor of English and winner of the National Book Award, and New York Times best-selling sci-fi and fantasy author Marie Lu’06, who received her degree in political science from USC Dornsife.
For the full list of events, general information for attendees and to purchase tickets, visit the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books website.
Saturday, April 26
10:30 a.m. | Wallis Annenberg Hall
The Literary Life: Connecting the Creative, Critical, and Personal (tickets required)
Speakers: David L. Ulin, Emily Hodgson Anderson, Sara Sligar, Elda María Román, Dana Johnson
This wide-ranging conversation will explore the life and career of writers who blend their creative work with literary criticism, personal narrative and academic scholarship. The authors will share their experiences connecting creativity with analysis while balancing academic and professional demands.
11:20-11:40 a.m. | Poetry Stage
David St. John, reading from Prayer for My Daughter: Poems
11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | De los Stage (in association with L.A. Times en Español)
A Life in Essays: Essayists Writing Memoir
Speakers: Suzy Exposito, Edgar Gomez, Manuel Betancourt, Vanessa Angélica Villarreal
Love a great memoir but can’t seem to finish a book these days? These titles will give you all the rawness, depth and interiority you’re looking for in essay form. From smiling with all your fake teeth to being the eldest daughter of Mexican parents to online sexting, these essay-in-memoir gems explore intimacy, the humble poor person scam and everything in between.
Noon-1 p.m.
The State of Housing in L.A. and Beyond (tickets required)
Lorcan O’Herlihy, Liz Falletta, Dowell Myers, Frances Anderton
The housing crisis has been a long and ongoing struggle in Los Angeles that has been further exacerbated by the recent fires. What does affordable housing mean today, and how can architects, planners and policy makers help create sustainable and livable futures here and across America?
Noon-1 p.m. | Town and Gown
Griffin Dunne, author of The Friday Afternoon Club, and Matthew Specktor, author of The Golden Hour, in conversation with David L. Ulin (tickets required)
Matthew Specktor, Griffin Dunne, David L. Ulin
Join us for an intimate, exclusive look into Hollywood with Griffin Dunne and Matthew Specktor as they talk about their new memoirs. Dunne is an actor, producer and director who earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role in After Hours. Specktor is a novelist and screenwriter whose work has appeared in The New York Times, GQ and The Paris Review. During this conversation, both will dive into the legacies and scandals of their families while revealing the truth of what it’s like to grow up in Hollywood.
12:30-1:30 p.m. | Hoffman Hall, Edison Auditorium
Both/And: Standing Out, Fitting In, and Coming of Age in Contemporary Fiction (tickets required)
DeLana R.A. Dameron, Kyle Edwards, Joseph Earl Thomas, Jon Hickey, Natashia Deón
Why is life so often a choice between standing out and fitting in? These smart, moving stories examine the thrilling independence of adulthood mixed with the loss of innocence, the search for belonging — to an ancestral and spiritual home, to a family, to a neighborhood — and the gaps between our desires and our politics.
1:30-2:30 p.m. | Wallis Annenberg Hall
Climate Justice and Racial Equity (tickets required)
Allison Agsten, Santina Contreras, Manuel Pastor, Juan David De Lara
Environmental devastation and racial inequities are deeply intertwined. Experts from a variety of fields will explain and explore the connections between climate justice and racial equity and how they both factor into new solutions for clean energy transition.
1:30-2:30 p.m. | Seeley G. Mudd 123
Live, Laugh, Scream: Family Secrets in Crime Fiction (tickets required)
Christopher Bollen, Liz Moore, Oline Cogdill, Sara Sligar
A possible family curse, a potentially evil 8-year-old, two kids missing from the richest family in the region: just another day in the lives of these fictional dysfunctional families. These thrilling stories delve deep into complex family relationships, the secrets we keep from each other and the consequences passed down generation after generation, until someone decides they’ve finally had enough.
1:30-2:30 p.m. | Taper Hall 201
Write to Remember: Memoir as Witness in Times of Turmoil (tickets required)
Sarah Kendzior, Emily Witt, Adriana E. Ramírez, Vanessa Angélica Villarreal
A mother takes her family on a road trip across a rapidly changing America, trying to remind them and herself of all the parts of this country that are worth fighting for. A journalist covering gun violence, climate catastrophes and the rallies of right-wing militias during Trump’s first term charts her immersion into New York City’s dance music underground. A young mother returns from an ancestral journey to Mexico to the sudden loss of her marriage, home and reality. These essential stories about life in an increasingly hostile America broaden our understanding of what memoir and cultural criticism can be.
2-2:20 p.m. | Poetry Stage
Mark Irwin, reading from Once When Green
3:30-4:30 p.m. | Taper Hall 101
LET’S GET LIT: 30th Anniversary Roundtable Celebration (tickets required)
Thomas Curwen ’93, David L. Ulin,
Join us for a special roundtable discussion celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Reflect on three decades of this iconic event and its lasting effect on the literary community. Panelists will share insight into how the festival has evolved from its humble beginnings on the campus of UCLA to the largest book festival in the United States today. This conversation will highlight key moments in the festival’s history and explore what’s next for this beloved celebration of books, ideas and storytelling.
Sunday, April 27
10:30-11:30 a.m. | Hancock Foundation, Newman Recital Hall
Unequal Ground: The Silent War Against the Poor and Marginalized (tickets required)
Andrea Freeman, Bernadette Atuahene, Sarah Jones, Melissa Ann Chadburn ’23
Systemic oppression is not a new term. Its practice is as old as our country, beginning with President George Washington’s instructions to starve out the Native Americans by ruining their crops. Unfortunately, the injustice has not stopped, it has simply changed. Learn how institutionalized racism and disproportionate disparity affect low-income Americans and people of color through food oppression, racist policies, and complicity.
10:30-11:30 a.m. | Seeley G. Mudd 123
Friend of My Mind: Essays on Finding a Home in Literature (tickets required)
Glory Edim, Steve Wasserman, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Benjamin Dreyer, Viet Thanh Nguyen
Only lifelong readers will know the unique comfort of a book: a place to escape the chaos of the world for a brief while, or a means to make sense of it. These writers discuss the influence of literature throughout their personal lives and careers, from an online book club that went viral to reflections on a career spent as a cultural critic, and finally an examination of the role of books to communities and individuals who are treated like outsiders in their everyday lives.
10:30-11:30 a.m. | Wallis Annenberg Hall
The Power and Possibilities of AI (tickets required)
Melinda Chang, Swabha Swayamdipta, Shrikanth Narayanan, Stephen J. Aguilar
Discoveries in artificial intelligence are changing our present and shaping our future. Experts from a range of fields will discuss their research, the societal implications of AI and how they are using AI to do groundbreaking and changemaking work in everything from education to health care.
11 a.m.-Noon | Albert and Dana Broccoli Theatre
All Together Now: Essay Collections with One Subject, Many Voices (tickets required)
Bonnie Nadell, Michele Filgate, Jordan Blumetti, Dinah Lenney
James Baldwin once said, “It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.” These moving, timely essay collections, each dealing with a singular topic — photographs, fathers, the Jewish faith — bring together dozens of writers from all backgrounds and genres to prove that there is more uniting us than there is dividing us.
11 a.m.-Noon | Seeley G. Mudd 124
Between the Lines: Untold Stories of Literary Legends (tickets required)
Katherine Bucknell, Patt Morrison, Lili Anolik, Alissa Wilkinson
Didion, Babitz, Isherwood: If you’re a writer, or a reader, it’s impossible to avoid the influence of their work in contemporary literary culture. These three fascinating, deeply researched books take a closer look at each icon: their work, their relationships, their rivalries (sometimes with each other) and the parts of their lives that didn’t always make it into their writing.
11 a.m.-Noon | Taper Hall 101
The Call Is Coming from Inside the House: Novels about Writers (tickets required)
Nnedi Okorafor, Ashley Whitaker, Danzy Senna, Edan Lepucki
Novels about writers are satisfying in a specific way: You know you are getting the dirt, completely unfiltered. These funny, biting, cathartic novels about artists and writers are works of fiction, but they’ll leave the reader wondering how much is truly imaginary and how much these authors, like their characters, are drawing from real life.
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Norris Theatre
That Was a Close One: Young Adult Thrillers (tickets required)
Kayla Cagan, Marie Lu, Marisha Pessl, K. Ancrum
A suspenseful love story about a young art thief and the son of the man he’s been stealing from; two secret agents on an international mission; a gamer with a coveted internship who suspects she might be in over her head: These thrilling, suspenseful stories follow ordinary teens who suddenly find themselves in the midst of extraordinary circumstances.
11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | De los Stage (in association with L.A. Times en Español)
Voto Latino: Post-Election Reflections
Mike Madrid, Angelica Salas Gustavo Arellano, Manuel Pastor
Whether you voted or not, this past election was one for the books. With the U.S. presidential election behind us, we invited several panelists back to reflect on the post election realities and the impact of the Latino vote. This discussion will include a variety of perspectives meant to spark a lively discussion on this critical subject.
Noon-1 p.m. | Hancock Foundation, Newman Recital Hall
Man, Myth, or Legend? Political Biographies that Take a Second Look (tickets required)
Max Boot, Christopher Cox ’73, Michael Hiltzik, Michael Vorenberg
Delve into the lives and leadership of U.S. presidents — Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson — whose decisions shaped the course of American history during times of immense national strife. This panel will explore the profound impact these leaders had on the nation, their legacies and how their actions shaped what America is today.
12:30-1:30 p.m. | Bovard Auditorium
Percival Everett, author of James, in conversation with Héctor Tobar (tickets required)
Percival Everett, author of James, has arguably written the book of the year. Winner of the National Book Award, shortlisted for the Booker Prize and National Book Critic’s Circle Award, James is also a finalist for the L.A. Book Prize in Fiction. Currently in development to become a feature film, this harrowing, darkly humorous novel reimagines the events of Huckleberry Finn through the eyes of the enslaved Jim, showing his agency, intelligence and compassion in a radically new light. Join us for an enlightening conversation between Everett and Los Angeles author, journalist and professor Héctor Tobar.
1:30-2:30 p.m. | Wallis Annenberg Hall
Storytelling, Social Movements, and Political Histories (tickets required)
Wendy Cheng, Nayan Shah, Brittany Friedman, Bernadette Atuahene
How to write the story of a social movement? How to narrate political history? This panel features nonfiction writers who engage innovative storytelling techniques and oral histories to explore everything from homeownership in America to student activism in Taiwan.