The Times Festival of Books: A Lot More Than Books

GELFAND’S WORLD-The LA Times Festival of Books coming up this weekend is a whole lot more than a book festival. It's actually a thinker festival and an author festival and a collection of symposia on topics as diverse as Writing Big Science, The Lasting Impact of Movies, and Human rights, along with numerous literary panels filled with big name writers. There's also a discussion with fiendishly funny Patton Oswalt, who is, coincidentally enough, the author of Silver Screen Fiend. 

There are a lot of clever people scheduled. I couldn't help but notice that a lot of them are radio personalities -- Sandra Tsing Loh, Pat Morrison, and Robert Scheer, to name three. Everybody's heartthrob from the tv show NCIS, Pauley Perrette, will be there. She's involved in a cooking discussion. There is also the TSA Chorus, which is, strangely enough, TSA employees who sing. Fill in your own joke here, if you like. I'm sure they've heard them all. 

The festival, to be held on the USC campus April 18-19, combines rows of tents containing items for sale, including books, books, and more books. They are not the only items for sale, but this is, for better or worse, an event for the literate. 

There will also be panel discussions spread around in the lecture halls, and there will be stages that present everything from the USC Marching Band to food programs. 

Here are a few of the panel programs I picked off of the list. Former mayor Richard Riordan will be interviewed by columnist (and more) Bill Boyarsky. Michael Shermer will chair the panel on Writing Big Science. There will be a panel titled Writing With a Smirk: Women & Humor. Famous food critic Jonathan Gold will chair a panel titled Eat this: The LA Food Movement. 

Authors and thinkers whose names you may recognize will include Robin Abcarian, Sandy Banks, Erin Aubry Kaplan, Steve Lopez (yes, the one who told the story about the homeless violinist), and Jim Newton. Perhaps the most famous author to be scheduled is Joyce Carol Oates. 

Here's one for me: Film critic Kenneth Turan will be in Frame by Frame: The Lasting Impact of Movies. 

The political reform wing will be represented by Tom Hayden and Robert Scheer. 

The organizers have also managed to snare Christopher Buckley, Candice Bergen, Tommy Lasorda, Matt Taibbi, Gavin MacLeod (you may remember him from the tv show The Love Boat), and Billy Idol. 

There will be five different panels (at different times) on aspects of crime fiction, a panel on environmental change which will include Times writer Michael Hiltzik, and something titled Hashtivism: Activism in the Hashtag Age. 

A few tips based on experience. The Times has set up an online system for registering. You don't actually have to do this if you just want to shop the pavilions, but the indoor panel discussions can have long lines, and without an advance registration, you won't be guaranteed admission. The Times calls these discussions Conversations, and you can get a ticket in advance for a dollar.  There is a food court, but it will be extremely busy. And don't forget your sunscreen. 

The author list is indeed impressive. The other afternoon, I was listening to NPR and heard an interview with Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Sympathizer. He will be there. 

One of my favorite places last year was a tent with used books for sale at bargain prices. I plan to go back. 

It wouldn't seem right to talk about this festival without mentioning an ongoing tragedy spreading across the American continent. The loss of small bookstores has become endemic. Not long ago, the city's oldest bookstore, William's Books (of San Pedro) went out of business. 

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A few weeks ago, I spoke with a young couple who are trying to make a go of it with a small bookstore in Pasadena, but the going has been rough. We used to have great local places like Martindales (in Beverly Hills) and the Pickwick store in Hollywood. The ones that weren't taken over by some corporate chain mostly bit the dust, and in turn, the corporate chains have themselves been going out of business. I stopped into a bookstore on State Street in Santa Barbara which was hosting a reading by the local poetry society. The proprietor told me they were going out of business. 

This is not necessarily a signal that we are becoming less literate as a people, but may have a lot to do with a shift in our reading habits to the electronic screens that are, bit by bit, replacing ink on paper. It's analogous to the shift in the movie industry from film to digital. There are still lots of good movies and lots of new books, but less wood pulp goes into their construction. 

Still, it is of concern that long form literary constructs are less and less favored by the very young. At a neighborhood council meeting the other day, one of the thirty-somethings said, with a tone of pride, that she does not read newsprint anymore. It was a bit sobering to us older folks. After all, there is a limited level of thought and logic that you can squeeze into 120 characters, and newspapers have been the political lifeblood of this country until recently. Will long form books go the way of newspapers, hanging on, but in a dwindling capacity? 

Only time will tell, but the tens of thousands of people who come to the annual book festival are an argument in favor of a more optimistic view. 

● LA Times Festival of Books Need to Know  

 

(Bob Gelfand writes on culture and politics for City Watch. He can be reached at [email protected])  

-cw

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 31

Pub: Apr 14, 2015