Book Feast
At the 20th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, USC Dornsife faculty will be taking to the stage to participate in panel discussions on subjects as diverse as satire, black holes and Abraham Lincoln. The largest book festival in the nation, the event is hosted by USC on its University Park campus on April 18 and 19.
Among the USC Dornsife faculty participants are T. C. Boyle, writer-in-residence and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English, and winner of the prestigious Robert Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award will be presented to Boyle at the annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes on April 18 in Bovard Auditorium.
“We artists all hope to be recognized because we believe what we’re doing is worthwhile,” said Boyle, author of The Women, Drop City, The Tortilla Curtain, East Is East and The Road to Wellville. “We want people to see what we’re doing and to engage and participate in it. Of the many honors I’ve received over the years, I’m very grateful for this.”
Boyle is currently on a national tour promoting his new novel The Harder They Come (Ecco, 2015), which was released in the United States at the end of March. It is his 15th novel and is already a bestseller in Germany.
Boyle will be returning to Los Angeles to receive the award and to participate in the Festival of Books, where he will be appearing for his 10th year. He can be heard in conversation with David Ulin, book critic for the Los Angeles Times, at Ronald Tutor Campus Center at 1 p.m. on April 18.
“T.C. Boyle has had a long-standing presence as both a writer and a teacher in the Southern California literary world,” Ulin wrote in a news release. “His stature within our community is unique, from the breadth of his novels and stories to his engagement with his students and role as a mentor.”
“USC Dornsife is the only place I’ve ever taught and I’m very pleased and proud that our writing program has been so successful, and also that I was able to coach generations of students through their experience at USC,” Boyle said. “What they get from me is deep investment in an art.”
At the festival, Boyle will be talking about The Harder They Come, a book that addresses the roots of violence and anti-authoritarianism that he believes are inherent in the American character. Set in contemporary Northern California, it explores the volatile connections between three damaged people — an aging ex-Marine and Vietnam veteran, his psychologically unstable son and the son’s paranoid, much older lover — as they careen toward an explosive confrontation.
“I love the Festival of Books because it exists to promote literature and that’s what I do,” he said. “It’s a great way for the community to get involved in books and it’s wonderful that the children get to come and be entertained as well.”
At the festival, Writer-in-Residence and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English T.C. Boyle will be presented with the prestigious Robert Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement. Photo by Jamieson Fry.
Also on April 18, a special tribute to the late award-winning poet Nancy Johnson will be held on The Poetry Stage at 5 p.m. Hosted by David St. John, professor of English and comparative literature, and chair of English, the tribute will include readings from Johnson’s poetry and prose by poet Catherine Theis and Molly Bendall, associate professor (teaching) of English. Bendall recently completed a posthumous memoir on Johnson titled The Rubber Orchestra.
Comprising more than 900 titles, the Nancy Johnson Collection of 20th-Century Poetry and Russian Literature was recently donated to the English department by Johnson’s husband, Arthur Bryant of Oakland, California. The collection includes first editions of poetry volumes by many of the most celebrated American and English writers of the 20th century, notably several by T.S. Eliot, as well as early editions of poetry and fiction in the original Russian.
“This is an important contribution to our research resources in English and creative writing,” St. John said. “It is all the more meaningful for having been donated in the name of such a powerful poet and memoirist.”
Focusing on young readers, USC Dornsife’s Joint Educational Project/USC ReadersPLUS will be at Booth 700, near the Widney Alumni House. Tutors will be reading aloud to children and engaging them in interactive reading and math activities around the books they read. Children from USC’s ReadersPLUS schools who visit the booth and participate will receive a tote bag and two free books.
Panel Discussions featuring USC Dornsife Faculty
All panels are held in Wallis Annenberg Hall unless otherwise noted.
SATURDAY, APRIL 18
Noon-1 p.m.
From Los Angeles to the Middle East: Empowering Youth through the Arts
A panel discussion featuring Elaine Bell Kaplan, associate professor of sociology and the author of We Live in the Shadows: Inner-City Kids Tell Their Stories through Photography.
1 p.m. at Ronald Tutor Campus Center
T.C. Boyle, writer-in-residence and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English in Conversation with David Ulin, book critic of the Los Angeles Times.
1:30-2:30 p.m.
Whose Life Is It Anyway? Approaches to Writing Memoir
Author Leo Braudy, University Professor and Leo S. Bing Chair of English and American Literature, and professor of English, art history and history, will moderate a discussion on the curious challenges of writing memoir featuring author Bernard Cooper and writer/performer Sandra Tsing Loh.
3-4 p.m.
Grasping the Ineffable: On Science and Health
A discussion about superstring theory, neurogenetics, psychosis and much more featuring Clifford V. Johnson, professor of physics and astronomy, and neuroscientist Pat Levitt, Provost Professor of Cell and Neurobiology, Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Psychology.
4:30-5:30 p.m.
From Sensitivity to Censorship: The High Stakes of Satire in Popular Culture
Moderated by cultural critic and investigative journalist M.G. Lord, senior lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program, this panel featuring Karen Sternheimer, associate professor (teaching) of sociology, will examine the use of satire in our globalized world.
5:00 p.m. on The Poetry Stage
A Tribute Event: The Nancy Johnson Collection of 20th-Century Poetry and Russian Literature
Hosted by David St. John, professor of English and comparative literature, and chair of English, the tribute will include readings from Nancy Johnson’s poetry as well as prose by Molly Bendall, associate professor (teaching) of English and Ph.D. student Catherine Theis.
SUNDAY, APRIL 19
10:30-11:30 a.m.
Almost Paradise: Sustainability, Power and Politics in Los Angeles
A panel discussion about environmental issues, immigrant justice, urbanism and more in the unique context of Los Angeles featuring Philip Ethington, professor of history, political science and spatial sciences; Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, professor of sociology and associate director of the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration; and USC Dornsife alumna Laura Skandera Trombley, incoming president of The Huntington Library.
1:30-2:30 p.m.
Being Black: Race and Justice in the U.S.
A discussion featuring Shana Redmond, assistant professor of American studies and ethnicity, and moderated by Robin Coste Lewis, a Provost’s Fellow in the creative writing and literature Ph.D. program.
3-4 p.m.
Lincoln’s Legacy: Insights 150 Years After the Assassination
A panel discussion moderated by William Deverell, professor and chair of history, and director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, and featuring Richard Wightman Fox, professor of history.