Festival of Books: The Whole Story
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS
Credits
Los Angeles Times
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Terry Tang
MANAGING EDITOR
Hector Becerra
EDITOR AT LARGE
Scott Kraft
PHOTOGRAPHY, DEPARTMENT MANAGER
Robbin Goddard
EDITORIAL LIBRARY
Cary Schneider (director)
Scott Wilson (news researcher)
PROJECT MANAGER/EDITOR, THE WHOLE STORY
Ann Binney
ASSISTANT EDITOR, THE WHOLE STORY
Mattie Schaffer
ART DIRECTOR, THE WHOLE STORY
Donna Broyles
ECOMMERCE MANAGER
Samantha Smith
Copyright © 2025 by the Los Angeles Times
All Rights Reserved • ISBN: 978-1-63846-129-6
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner or the publisher.
Published by Pediment Publishing, a division of The Pediment Group, Inc. • www.pediment.com Printed in Canada.
RIGHT: VARON PANGANIBAN / LOS ANGELES TIMES
Celebrating the Written Word
Thirty years in, and Los Angeles needs the Festival of Books more than ever
THOMAS CURWEN
• FEB. 3, 2025
Thirty years ago, Los Angeles was in the midst of a cultural renaissance.
Not long after the 1992 riots and the 1994 earthquake had left the city divided and unnerved, a number of art venues and event spaces opened. Long in planning and construction, they helped set Los Angeles on a new, more united course.
The Skirball Cultural Center in the Sepulveda Pass welcomed its first visitors in 1996, and the Getty Center followed a year later. In 1999, Bruce Springsteen took to the stage at the Staples Center for its debut, and three years later, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” greeted parishioners at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. In 2003, the Walt Disney Concert Hall soared with its own eclectic fare: Mozart, Stravinsky and Ives.
Not since the 1960s — when the completion of the Music Center and Dodger Stadium
marked Los Angeles’ long awaited arrival into the 20th century — had the city seen such a revival.
To this mix, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books made an unassuming debut in 1996 on the UCLA campus with a goal of building community around the written word. Its organizers were uncertain of its success and set expectations low. With some 70 authors booked, they thought maybe 20,000 people would show up the first day, perhaps more the second. But when the weekend ended, close to 80,000 had walked among the booths, chatted with booksellers and crowded classrooms and auditoriums to hear Ray Bradbury, Judith Krantz, David Foster Wallace, Joseph Wambaugh and Carolyn See, among others, share stories about their writing life.
Since then, the festival’s hope and ambition, even its idealism, never flagged. Soon paired with
the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, it became the city’s annual spring time celebration, helping Los Angeles slough off its cliched reputation as some dystopian Lotusland.
The festival was not alone with its literary aspirations. There was a long-running author series at the Los Angeles Public Library. Writers Bloc was about to get started. Bookstore megastores, like Borders, Barnes & Noble, even Crown, were competing with independents offering a quick fix for readers looking for the most popular and obscure titles. But the Festival of Books was unique with its party vibe, its sun-drenched ambiance and a bounty of writers from around the world. As it was then, it remains so today.
Community is a hard word to attach to an annual two-day event that is more pop-up than institution, but the Festival of Books, this marvelous Chautauqua for the curious and
book-besotted, has established a community among its attendees, its volunteers and writers.
As much as the landscape has shifted and changed over the years — through recession and pandemic, book bans and iPhones — the Festival of Books has endured. In 2010, it moved to USC and currently draws 160,000 people over two days.
The year of its 30th anniversary — as the city struggles to recover from the tragic fires of January and as displaced and unhoused residents grieve for what they have lost — no one should make claims on what the future might hold.
But the belief that books — and the written word — can draw a city together and create a community remains the guiding inspiration for the Festival of Books. As true and needed as that was in 1996, it is more so today.
OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: UCLA’s Dickson Plaza from above; Cast of Max’s “Turtles All the Way Down” film, from left: John Green, Judy Reyes, Isabela Merced, Felix Mallard, Cree, Hannah Marks, Times’ moderator Matt Brennan; Book browsing at the festival; Crowds pack Trousdale Parkway on festival weekend at USC; I Read buttons for attendees; Attendee consults the Festival of Books printed section for event details; Fans welcome Kerry Washington to the 2024 festival; Lightpole banners promote the festival at USC.
When the first Festival of Books opened to the public at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 20, 1996, no one knew quite what to expect. After all, the festival was the first of its kind in Los Angeles.
Would a city famous for its love of movies and cars embrace a celebration of the written word?
For the true believers who had been planning the festival from inside the Los Angeles Times, the answer was always yes.
When nearly twice as many people as expected turned out on that first day, an estimated 35,000, all remaining doubts were erased.
Thirty years and more than 3 million+ guests later, our little book festival that could has grown into America’s largest literary event — and a centerpiece of the L.A. cultural scene.
A Bestseller 30 Years in the Making
One for the Books
William Joyce Graeme Base Colin Thompson Marc Brown Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
Mark Teague Pascal Biet
John Bemelmans Bob Staake Frank Viva Sarah L. Coleman
Los Angeles Times Shaw Nielsen Cameron Cottrill
SHARING: On one of the hundreds of tents set up across USC’s campus, festivalgoers write the titles of the books they’re readingor about to read. Los Angeles Times, April 30, 2011
Attendees on the USC campus exploring the Festival.
Leonard Filgate
Bill Peet Yan Nascimbene
Marie-Louise Gay Chris Gall David Wiesner Eric Carle
David Shannon
Jonathan Bartlett
Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Angie Wang Patrick Hruby Patrick Hruby
Patrick Hruby
After COVID the attendees are back.
The Ultimate L.A. Bookshelf 2023. Patrick Hruby
The Ultimate Hollywood Bookshelf 2024. Golden Cosmos
Eric Carle
F ESTIVAL OF BOOKS
PARTICIPANT HIGHLIGHTS
Noah Adams
Ray Bradbury
Octavia Butler
Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
Pico Iyer
Dean Koontz
Judith Krantz
Garry Marshall
Carolyn See
Quincy Troupe
Abigail Van Buren
David Foster Wallace
The Reviews Are In on the Times Book Festival
BY JOSH GETLIN • APRIL 23, 1996
Mike Truebba wanted to hear author Dean Koontz speak at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Sunday, and he did what any true book lover would do: Rising at 6 a.m., he left his Palmdale home, drove 55 miles to UCLA and grabbed the first place in line at Haines Hall.
“No way I was going to miss this,” said Truebba, 34, a genial fellow who records cartoon soundtracks. “I knew the crowds would be huge, and I felt this was too important to miss. For Los Angeles, this is something that’s way overdue.”
It was 8:30 a.m., two hours before Koontz was scheduled to speak to an overflow crowd — one of many at the two-day event that drew an estimated 75,000 — and Truebba’s comments reflected a prevailing view: The festival filled a need. It was about literacy, and it was about time.
On a sunny spring weekend, Los Angeles dispelled the myth once and for all that book culture here is either endangered or marginal. People like Truebba and thousands more who lined up to hear authors speak — sometimes waiting three or four hours — were testimonial to a genuine hunger in Southern California for the book world and its rich cultural rewards.
“This is truly the best thing that’s happened to Los Angeles in a long time,” said literary agent Sandra Dijkstra, a member of the event’s authors committee. “It was so tremendously affirming for the city, and for the sense that culture is alive and well here. A lot of New York publishers were skeptical that this kind of event would succeed, and they were proven 100% wrong.”
are so many great kids’ events,” said Peter Rico, standing with his wife, Mae, and their two children while he read the day’s schedule of activities. As he spoke, a long line of kids and parents waited for a glimpse of Spider-Man.
“You have a real family sense here, and that’s what makes it special,” the Montebello resident added. “We’re going to check out the whole festival, but we’re here mainly to look for some positive, nonviolent reading materials for our kids. And I bet we’ll find them.”
There was a niche for every need. By noon on both days, the festival looked like a mob scene; thousands milled around booths offering books ranging from spiritualism and sorcery
to move around the grounds, given the crush of people, but that kept smiles on the faces of book merchants, some of whom had come to do business at the Los Angeles event from many miles away.
“For me, this has been a real success,” said Chuck Bellisino, publisher and author of “The Encyclopedia of Sauces for Your Pasta.” Pulling additional copies out of boxes, the Sacramento entrepreneur sold 51 copies on Saturday and 70 on Sunday, making it the best festival he’s ever experienced. Business was better than at comparable events in San Francisco and Seattle, he added, because they usually drew about 20,000 each day, compared to 35,000-plus in
Los Angeles.
There were glitches, to be sure: Many people who expected to attend panels and then get an author’s signature were disappointed because the lengthy lines for both events forced them to choose. Some of the rooms were not large enough, and there were protracted waits for a parking tram.
Event organizers apologized to those who were turned away from various panels and promised that larger lecture halls will be booked next year; in addition, all panels will be audiotaped, and, if possible, high-demand events will be videotaped and some panels will be televised in nearby rooms.
It’s difficult to resist comparisons with other book fairs, given the size and diversity of this one. For years, one of America’s premier book festivals has been New York Is Book Country, a citywide event that — like the Festival of Books — includes author panels, publishers booths, public readings and other activities. The September event turns several blocks of Fifth Avenue into a Sunday mall, drawing large, enthusiastic crowds.
In key respects, however, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books has set a new standard: At UCLA, there were 78 scheduled events over two days; the New York gathering has generally featured 45 to 50 events. Virtually all of the author panels in Los Angeles included best-selling names such as Amy Tan, Judith Krantz, Joseph Wambaugh, Ray Bradbury, A. Scott Berg, E. Lynn Harris and Abigail Van
ABOVE: Crowds on the festival’s inaugural weekend. CON KEYES / LOS ANGELES TIMES
TOP MIDDLE: Noah Adams, host of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” greets fans. LOS ANGELES TIMES
TOP RIGHT: Festival founders Narda Zacchino (right) and Lisa Cleri Reale (center) with publisher Dick Schlosberg. LISA CLERI REALE
ABOVE: The L.A. Times Storytelling Stage. LISA CLERI REALE
ABOVE MIDDLE: The Rolling Reader Wizard entertains the crowd on the Children’s Stage. LOS ANGELES TIMES
ABOVE RIGHT: Leanne Erikson of Woodland Hills waits for Noah Adams to sign her copy of “Piano Lessons.” CON KEYES / LOS ANGELES TIMES
Buren — and admission was free. By contrast, the New York event annually features a brunch and a tea with big-name writers, and admission to these blue-chip events ranges from $48 to $100. Perhaps most important, the New York event is scattered over a wide area of the city, while the Los Angeles event was centralized. Beyond numbers, the range and quality of the author panels impressed many. Michelle Miller, an insurance brokerage firm employee from Westchester, vigilantly guarded her spot in the Koontz line while latecomers straggled
to the end. She was trying to schedule a day’s worth of events, yet found it hard to choose.
“It’s not easy, but I’ll figure it out,” Miller said with a laugh. “And you know what impresses me the most? There are teenagers here. I mean, this is a nice sunny day, and they could be at the beach, seeing a movie or playing computer games. And they’re here.”
Just ask Sue Rainier, a 17-year-old from Los Angeles who was wandering through the festival grounds with her pals. For her, there was never any doubt that she’d attend
the UCLA event, but she didn’t know if she’d actually get into a panel that included TV comedian Dennis Miller. The line was long and Rainier had, in fact, arrived too late for a seat. So she did what any book lover would do — she watched the forum through an open window, like many others.
“Amazing!” she said, when it was over. “This was lots better than TV.”
TOP LEFT: Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby) getting a hug from a fan. CON KEYES / LOS ANGELES TIMES
“WELL-READ: Nearly twice the expected crowd—at least 35,000 —showed up for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.”
A MEMORY FROM...
NARDA ZACCHINO & LISA CLERI REALE
L.A. TIMES STAFFERS AND FESTIVAL FOUNDERS
The L.A. Times Festival of Books was born in 1994, outside of the L.A. Convention Center where American Booksellers Assn. members were about to break from their meeting for an L.A. Times-hosted brunch. Awaiting the crowd, Associate Editor Narda Zacchino, Community Affairs Director Lisa Cleri Reale, and book advertising representative Mark Teichrow had been randomly discussing book festivals around the country and wondered: Why not in L.A.? It would be a great public service to the community and revenue from advertising, sponsorships and exhibitor booth fees would help cover costs. A festival could attract hundreds of authors, booksellers, exhibitors and book lovers. After more study, Zacchino and Reale moved forward with plans for a 1996 event at UCLA. “I looked back 25 years in the Farmers Almanac for a spring weekend with no rain and it was the third
weekend in April,” Zacchino said. “It has never rained on the book festival weekend.”
It wasn’t all smooth sailing. The advertising department head pulled its funds, believing, as did the head of public affairs, that the event would lose money. The publisher fell into that camp as well. Reale recalls: “We were told for so long by some of our colleagues that nobody would attend and we wouldn’t secure support for it. Target then became a major sponsor, so we moved ahead. On April 20, Narda and I were at UCLA a couple of hours before opening, nervous and wondering if anybody would show up. We saw a huge crowd of people entering the campus, looked at each other and almost broke into tears, realizing that they were our first attendees. By the end of the weekend, UCLA’s logistics folks reported 75,000 attendees!” At an executive staff meeting the next day, the publisher announced the Festival of Books would remain an annual event.
The festival has become the largest active book festival in the country, drawing 160,000 people, now at USC. (It was held online in the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021.) Some of the volunteers in 1996 are still volunteering at the festival.
This event would never have happened without a courageous and passionate group of individuals — the very first Festival of Books Steering Committee: Claudia Luther, program chair; Michele Biagioni, planning; Cara DiMassa, exhibitors; Bonny Chick, Donna Tarzian, Tina I. Turner, Jose Aguayo, Jim Fisher, Nina Lee, promotion; Davilynn Furlow, Lynne Jewell, children’s events; Mark Teichrow, Stephanie Sandberg, Rich Crabbe, sponsorships; Mark Flaisher, event producer; Cindy Parks, volunteer coordinator.
Los Angeles Times, April 21, 1996
One for the Books
35,000 Turn Out for 1st L.A. Festival Bringing Readers, Authors Together
ABOVE LEFT: Crowds on the festival’s inaugural weekend.
“WELL-READ: Nearly twice the expected crowd—at least 35,000 —showed up for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.”
LISA CLERI REALE
F ESTIVAL OF BOOKS
2006
PARTICIPANT HIGHLIGHTS
Dave Barry
Robert Crais
Billy Crystal
Joan Didion
Larry Flynt
Adam Gopnik
Arianna Huffington
Erica Jong
John Lithgow
Frank McCourt
R.L. Stine
Sarah Vowell
Opening Books, Opening Minds at the Festival
BY LOUIS SAHAGUN • MAY 1, 2006
With critics pointing a harsh finger at Muslims and the Arab world, Alia Dada and Shahid Ali could not have been more pleased with the crowds gathered around their little information booth at the 11th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Sunday.
By day’s end, they had handed out more than 1,500 free paperback English translations of the Koran and answered hundreds of sometimes tough questions about their faith.
Refilling the diminishing stack of Korans on her display table over the weekend, Ali said a few visitors even “came up to apologize for having said negative things about Islamists in the past.”
Theirs was one of 350 booths visited by an estimated 127,500 people during the two-day book festival, a community event designed to celebrate the written word and bring together a critical mass of readers and authors to develop ideas and discuss the hottest topics of the day.
On the sprawling grounds of UCLA, thousands of readers listened in on crowded panel discussions and packed book booths in search of their own special interests.
On a panel titled “Unearthing the Roots of Religion,” Dennis MacDonald, director of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity at the Claremont School of Theology, presented a riveting account Saturday of how the Gospels were “deeply indebted to Homeric poems,” including “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey.”
The scholar also lamented that although publication of the blockbuster works of fiction,
including “The Da Vinci Code,” has revived public interest in the world’s enduring traditions, they blur the lines between scholarly investigation and pop culture.
His audience roared with delighted approval when he pointed out that such books “are crossing over into my territory and they are not helping.”
At a discussion named “Mystery: Hip Chicks Packing Heat,” Patricia Smiley, author of “Cover Your Assets,” explained to several hundred people how she develops characters in her books. The topic was particularly relevant to at least a quarter of the audience, who raised their hands when
moderator Emily Green asked how many were writing mystery novels.
Smiley’s main heroine, Los Angeles financial consultant Tucker Sinclair, for example, may have been “conceived in the back seat of a Corvair,” but she is anything but consumed by sexual escapades.
“She’s funny and smart” and brave, Smiley told an audience of about 400. “I think of her as more of a female Mighty Mouse.”
With the publishing world reeling after bestselling author James Frey was found to have altered or embellished parts of his memoir “A Million Little Pieces” and the recent admission by a Harvard
student that she plagiarized portions of her first novel, the subject of plagiarism came up in a discussion called “Publishing: Finding the Next Big Thing.” But publishers, including Charlie Winton of Avalon Publishing Group, conceded that his business is based on an honor code and all but impossible to police.
Amid “increasing pressure to find and publish new exciting things,” he said, “if somebody comes in with the intention of ripping off the readers, the process can be broken.”
Elsewhere, more than 500 people lined up at book signing by actress Julie Andrews, who was able to spend only an hour at the event.
UCLA student Kaitlyn Voyce, the next-to-last person in a line stretching more than a block, remained hopeful despite the odds.
“I just learned she’s only got enough time to sign 100 books,” Voyce said. “Of course, I’m disappointed. But I’m hanging in there. After all, she’s Mary Poppins!”
A few yards away, San Fernando High School special education teacher Richard Reynoso and his family were searching out interactive booths featuring games and music for children. They also enjoyed the food stands, music and booths selling children’s books and games.
“I bought my 3-year-old son Ricardo a video that will help him learn to spell,” he said. “I got my 1-year-old daughter some pizza.”
Before joining a panel with a particularly intense subject: “Under a Crescent Moon: The Changing Shape of the Middle East,” Iran expert
ABOVE: (From left) Stephen White, Charlie Winton, Mus White and Johnny Temple discuss challenges in the publishing industry. LOS ANGELES TIMES
RIGHT: Throngs of book lovers attend the Festival of Books at UCLA. ANNE CUSACK / LOS ANGELES TIMES
BELOW RIGHT: Carl Reiner on the Los Angeles Times Stage. LOS ANGELES TIMES
FAR RIGHT: After speaking on a panel on creative nonfiction, author Gay Talese autographs books. ANNE CUSACK / LOS ANGELES TIMES
OPPOSITE BOTTOM LEFT: Barnes & Noble Booksellers’ booth is popular with attendees. LOS ANGELES TIMES
OPPOSITE MIDDLE RIGHT: Children making crafts at the Children’s Museum of Los Angeles’ booth at the festival. LOS ANGELES TIMES
OPPOSITE BOTTOM RIGHT: Target Children’s Stages. LOS ANGELES TIMES
Reza Aslan said the “future of Islam is underway in the United States.”
“Islam is no longer a foreign, exotic religion. It’s an integrated part of U.S. society,” he said.
“Eventually, I believe we will see a much more gender-neutral interpretation of the Koran and Muslim superheroes in sit-coms.” Confided
Aslan with a smile, “In fact, I’m working on a sit-com proposal now.” Dada and Ali would not argue with any of that.
“It’s amazing, almost a miracle, that people are so interested in Islam right now,” said Ali, a 24-year-old college student majoring in international business. “The fact that so many
people are taking Korans will only help dispel misconceptions.
“We are not terrorists,” she added, “and we’re here to spread that message.”
A MEMORY FROM...
Readers Feast at Festival of Books
Tens of thousands visit UCLA for The Times’ 11th annual weekend event, which celebrates the written word and its devotees.
By Carla Hall Times Staff Writer
The clue: Overdoes
walker away from the clusterof marker-wielding puzzle solvers.
She had other sights to take in and freebies to ferret out at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, which opened Saturday on the grassy expanse of UCLA’s campus and is scheduled to run through today.
Louise Johnson scrutinized the giant crossword puzzle outside Haines Hallon the UCLA campus. She set her mind to finding the answer to 68 Across.
“Let someone else do it,” she said finally, wheeling her sleek
Despite the walker and her age, 93, she was unfazed by the growing crowds. “I push them aside,” Johnson said.
In some ways, the Festival of Books is like an outsized crossword puzzle, a sprawling grid of ideas and images, intersecting at some points, completely unrelated at others, that manages to fit together without chaos and with parking.
In one lecture hall on the north end of the campus, a quartet of authors talked of their passion about writing for teens and tried to define what young-adult fiction really is.
Afew hours later, on the south end of the campus, a boisterous group of authors who write about hip-hop music jousted with each other and the audience over how to define hip-hop music — and even whether one could.
And in between, in a packed Royce Hallauditorium as big and elegant as an opera house, author Joan Didionspoke before arapt audience.
Saturday marked the open-
DOUG DUTTON
OWNER OF DUTTON’S BRENTWOOD BOOKS
How does one praise and extol the power, beauty, (and oftentimes humor) of the Los Angeles Times’ terrific Festival of Books, now celebrating its 30th anniversary? The three decades of page-printed presentation for readers, writers, poets, artists, musicians, children and adults, has done much more than “warm my reading appetite,” and there’s still so much to see and read, with, thankfully, more to come.
I know of nothing that compares to this extraordinary event. And to be honest, that’s partially because printed text offers considerably more than anyone (yes, I mean “anyone”) can possibly absorb in their lifetime. The individuality of books, from children’s literature to modern poetry, ancient history to present happenings and events, truths of the past to dreams of the future, offers the reader a lifetime of jewels. When I read Stephen Greenblatt’s “Will in the World, How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare,” I found myself at my home library, rummaging through even more of his life’s history, (and there’s plenty!).
While I’m aware that there’s so much more to say, sorrowfully, Sarai Johnson’s “Grown Women” has whetted my reading curiosity, and even though the book’s chief character, “Charlotte” is my youngest daughter’s name, I’ll probably read it twice anyhow. Huh?
Ah, books …
Béatrice de Géa Los Angeles Times
JUST STARTING: Naomi 5, of Covina reads with her mother, Norma Nakamura, in the children’s area at the Festival of Books.
F ESTIVAL OF BOOKS
PARTICIPANT HIGHLIGHTS
Buzz Aldrin
Kwame Alexander
Lidia Bastianich
Barbara Boxer
Carrie Brownstein
Michael Connelly
Taye Diggs
Ross Gay
Juan Felipe Herrera
Padma Lakshmi
Stan Lee
Viet Thanh Nguyen
The Future of Food Among Many Topics Discussed at Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
BY CINDY CHANG • APRIL 10, 2016
Describe the future of food in one phrase.
“Diversity,” said Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times food critic famous for lifting hole-in-the-wall Cambodian or Oaxacan restaurants out of obscurity.
For Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley and the author of 15 books, the answer is taking care of the land — buying locally grown food and cooking it yourself.
Sarah Smith, who researches the future of food at the Institute for the Future, believes the answer is complexity — not one food tradition but “thousands of different futures for thousands of different people.”
The question was posed at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Sunday by Mas Masumoto, a writer and organic peach farmer who moderated the panel on “Food Futures.”
Other speakers on the festival’s second and final day included “The Orchid Thief” author Susan Orlean; crime fiction writer Michael Connelly; and actor Titus Welliver, who plays LAPD Det. Harry Bosch in a TV series based on Connelly’s novels; young adult author Ransom Riggs; and religious scholar Reza Aslan.
Despite rain on Saturday, turnout was strong at USC on both days of the festival, which was free and open to the public.
Hillary Manning, a spokeswoman for The
Times, estimated that attendance for the entire weekend was not much less than last year’s 156,000.
“We were thrilled to see that the community’s love of reading and books was not dampened by the weather,” she said.
One writer at Sunday’s festival is more widely known for his acting than his writing. But Henry Winkler, who played Fonzie on the popular
television show “Happy Days,” has gained a following for his children’s books, co-written with Lin Oliver.
The main character is a boy named Hank Zipzer, “the world’s greatest underachiever,” who like Winkler has dyslexia.
With titles like “Barfing in the Backseat” and “The Curtain Went Up, My Pants Fell Down,” the books appeal to the silly side of children
Stan Lee, author of “Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir,” is interviewed at the festival. MARIAH TAUGER / FOR THE TIMES
and are written in a special font that is easier for dyslexics to read.
Some in the audience were too young to remember The Fonz, but they laughed at Winkler’s schtick.
For a moment, Winkler grew serious about the unlikelihood of becoming a published author after struggling to read as a child.
“I can’t believe there’s a name on it, and it’s mine,” he said of his books, urging the children to recognize the greatness in themselves.
Then, Winkler, dressed in a magenta sweater instead of a leather jacket, pleased the grownups by trotting out his Fonzie voice.
“You can’t wear a fart T-shirt to school. It’s uncool,” the Fonz said.
Some book festival attendees browsed the merchandise stalls and dropped in on panels with no particular agenda in mind. Others, like Veronica Lopez and Somer Mendenhall, were focused on a favorite author.
The two friends from Corona waited in line to have their books signed by romance novelist Sylvia Day, who would later speak in a question and answer session.
“She’s just got a great way of telling the story,” said Lopez, 32.
“She really pulls you in,” added Mendenhall, 31.
ABOVE:
Throughout the panel on the future of food, Waters espoused her back-to-basics philosophy and criticized the food industry.
Waters hopes that in the future, people would still cook meals from scratch, with ingredients from local farmers or their own gardens.
“I hope they aren’t just watching it on TV and eating some fast food while they’re doing it,” Waters said. “The food industry will tell you that you can have the thing delivered to you or have the ingredients delivered to you. My great pleasure is going to the farmer’s market and meeting the farmer.”
In response to an audience question about synthetic meat, Gold said he doesn’t see it in his future.
He’s heard it tastes dreadful. Nor does he see himself becoming a vegetarian, citing his love for guanciale, or cured pork jowl.
“I think we can go a long way towards making sure our animals are healthfully and sustainably raised so that they just have one bad day,” Gold said. “And that we eat like the rest of the world and use a little bit [of meat] as a condiment rather than eating a giant slab of something.”
ABOVE FAR RIGHT: Padma Lakshmi presents “Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir.”
MARIAH TAUGER / FOR THE TIMES
ABOVE RIGHT: Buzz Aldrin, author of “No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons From a Man Who Walked on the Moon.”
MARIAH TAUGER / FOR THE TIMES
RIGHT: Author Carrie Brownstein signs books at the festival on Sunday.
CHRISTINA HOUSE / FOR THE TIMES
LEFT: Jonathan and Drew Scott discuss “Dream Home: The Property Brothers Ultimate Guide to Finding & Fixing Your Perfect House.”
MARIAH TAUGER / FOR THE TIMES
BELOW LEFT: Attendees explore the festival.
MARIE ASTRID GONZALES / FOR THE TIMES
BELOW FAR LEFT: Deuki Hong presents “Korea Town” on the Cooking Stage. LOS ANGELES TIMES
CHRISTINA HOUSE / FOR THE TIMES
BELOW RIGHT: Diana Rose of Orange has her picture taken with a Fabio cutout at the Romance Writers of America booth.
CHRISTINA HOUSE / FOR THE TIMES
BELOW FAR RIGHT: Poet Juan Felipe Herrera (center) accepts the Robert Kirsch Award from Patt Morrison and David Ulin at the Book Prizes.
ROBERT GAUTHIER / LOS ANGELES TIMES
OPPOSITE TOP: John Doe and the Band X perform on the Sound Stage.
MARIE ASTRID GONZALES / FOR THE TIMES
RIGHT: Arianna Huffington (right) chats with L.A. Times writer Robin Abcarian.
A MEMORY FROM... MARET ORLISS
FESTIVAL OF BOOKS PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR 2005–2020
Spending 15 years leading programming for the festival gives me too many wonderful memories to pick from, including meeting personal heroes like Judy Blume and making friendships that will last a lifetime. There are a couple that jumped to mind. The first is being with Margaret Atwood in a golf cart when “handmaids” from the TV adaptation of “The Handmaid’s Tale” walked by and Margaret had us stop so she could go look at them (even though we were running late for her panel.)
Second, a behind-the-scenes look at staff antics. In the author green room we have a microphone and PA system we use to call authors and panels when we’re ready to take them to their event. Toward the end of the festival one year, when things were slowing down, a coworker took the microphone and thinking it was turned off, started dancing and rapping the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” theme song. Except the mic wasn’t off and she was halfway through the song before I managed to run around the corner and alert her that she had been entertaining the remaining authors. The round of applause she got made me debate making that an annual tradition, but no, we kept it a one time thing.