Staff favorite Geoff Dyer (Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi) will discuss and sign his new collection of essays, Otherwise Known as the Human Condition.

"An irresistibly funny storyteller, [Dyer] is adept at fiction, essay, and reportage, but happiest when twisting all three into something entirely his own." --The New Yorker

Photo of the author by Matt Stewart.

Seven finalists for the prestigious Lambda Literary Awards will read from their nominated work: Michael Gregg Michaud (author of Sal Mineo), Michael Klein (author of then, we were still living, Chris Corkum (author of XOXO Hayden), Stuart Biegel (author of The Right to Be Out: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in America's Public Schools), Jallen Rix (author of Ex-Gay No Way: Survival and Recovery from Sexual Abuse), and Audrey Bilger and Leigh Stuart (contributors to Dear John, I Love Jane: Women Write About Leaving Men for Women).

Author Catherynne M. Valente will read and sign her acclaimed and Norton Award winning middle reader's novel The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

"A glorious balancing act between modernism and the Victorian fairy tale, done with heart and wisdom." -Neil Gaiman, Newberry Award winning author of The Graveyard Book

"deWitt's bang-up second novel (after Ablutions) is a quirky and stylish revisionist western. . . . With nods to Charles Portis and Frank Norris, deWitt has produced a genre-bending frontier saga that is exciting, funny, and, perhaps unexpectedly, moving." --Publishers Weekly

The participating readers are Diana Arterian, Amanda Montei, Marco Di Domenico, Emily Kiernan, and Henry Hoke. Light refreshments well be served.

ZYZZYVA Spring Celebration with Editor Laura Cogan and Contributors Paula Priamos and Vanessa Hua, co-sponsored by PEN USA.

After 25 years, ZYZZYVA, the literary journal dedicated to West Coast writers and artists, is under new leadership. Editor Laura Cogan is the esteemed journal's firstnew editor since its founding in 1985 by Howard Junker. Come meet Laura at a reading featuring Southern California writers Paula Priamos and Vanessa Hua, and learn about the journal's plans going forward (there's a new website and a forthcoming redesign of the journal).

Tuesday, May 17th at 7:30 p.m.

Untouchable (Tyrus Books)

Scott O'Connor is a co-founder of GO Studios, a post-production and motion graphics design firm. Among Wolves, his 2004 novella about a boy who believes his parents have been replaced by imposters, was praised by the Los Angeles Times Book Review for its "crisp, take-no-prisoners style." Untouchable, is his first novel.   

The iconic novelist Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho, Less Than Zero) returns to Skylight Books to read and sign his latest book, Imperial Bedrooms, just out in paperback!

"Brutally conceived, and effectively done. . . . There is no doubt that Ellis retains the ability to startle and disquiet." -The Times Literary Supplement (London)

Eisner Award-winning and bestselling graphic novelist Jason Shiga (Meanwhile) will discuss and sign his new graphic novel, Empire State: A Love Story (Or Not).

"[Shiga] displays a wicked sense of comic timing." --Publishers Weekly  

Students from the University of California, Irvine master of fine arts program will read from their work.

The participating readers are Nicole Kelly (fiction), Zana Previti (fiction), Mark Hendrickson (poetry), and Leah Kaminski (poetry).

Skylight Books presents musician, actor, and author Steve Earle for a reading at the Bootleg Theater from his novel I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive, with a book signing to follow.  

THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT LOCATED AT THE BOOTLEG THEATER. Tickets are $10 and will be available for purchase in the next day or two -- check back for details.

"Steve Earle brings to his prose the same authenticity, poetic spirit and cinematic energy he projects in his music. I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive is like a dream you can't shake, offering beauty and remorse, redemption in spades." --Patti Smith

Photo of the author by Ted Barron.