Ron Carlson

Ron Carlson, acclaimed author and Director of the UC Irvine Graduate Fiction Writing Program, has released his sixth novel, Return to Oakpine, The novel focuses on four garage band friends reuniting after thirty years, all bearing the changes and scars of three decades. They rehash what drove them apart and celebrate– or regret– the paths they’ve traveled. “These characters will stay with you because this is how we are too.” (NY Times Sunday Book Review). Carlson’s honors include the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction. (Photo credit: Tracy Hall)

Lis Leyson in conversation with John Rabe

At only ten years, Leon Leyson became the youngest Holocaust survivor on Oskar Schindler’s list. The Boy on the Wooden Box, his memoir, is the only published memoir of a Schindler’s List child, capturing the innocence of a small boy who goes through the unthinkable. His widow, Lis Leyson, encouraged Leon to write his story and oversaw the book’s publication after his 2013 death. “Leon wrote his story to honor all who perished in the Holocaust giving a personal voice to the tragedy of those years,” she says. Lis will be interviewed by John Rabe, award-winning host of KPCC’s “off Ramp” (Photo of: Leon Leyson)

Chris Epting

http://www.chrisepting.com/

Chris Epting is the entertaining and multi-talented author of 20 travel/history books, including Elvis Presley Passed Here, Roadside Baseball, and most recently Hello It’s Me, Dispatches from a Pop Culture Junkie. An award-winning travel writer, Chris contributes articles for the Los Angeles Times, and Travel + Leisure. He has created and written many popular commercials and heads Surf City Advertising Company. A true “Renaissance Man”, Epting is a music journalist who produces a weekly radio show.

Karen Joy Fowler

http://karenjoyfowler.com/

Reviewed as “readably juicy and “surreptitiously smart” (NY Times Book Review) and “achingly memorable” (Miami Herald), Karen Joy Fowler’s sixth novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, is an unforgettable journey into the heart of the Cooke family, exploring love, loss, secrets and introduces two sisters who are unlike any siblings you’ve ever met before. Fowler, author of NY Times Bestseller, The Jane Austen Book Club, has also written three short collections. Among her many awards are the NY Times Notable Book and the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian.

Timothy Hallinan

http://www.timothyhallinan.com

Mystery, detective fiction, and thriller writer, Tim Hallinan, lives in Southern California and Southeast Asia. He created a popular six-book series whose main character is erudite private eye Simeon Grist. A second series, set in Bangkok, features travel writer “Poke” Rafferty. The heart-stopping The Fear Artist, fifth in this series, focuses on terror in Thailand, described with Hallinan’s expert sense of place. The third installment of Hallinan’s Junior Bender mysteries, The Fame Thief, about a Hollywood burglar-turned-PI was recently published.

Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack

Former LA Times staff writer, Jennifer Kaufman and sister Karen Mack, Golden Globe Award-winning producer, collaborate on their third novel, Freud’s Mistress. The novel evokes the mood and look of Vienna at the end of the 19th century as an intelligent, but powerless young woman embarks on an affair with her older sister’s husband. The story is unique and absorbing for Sigmund Freud is the third participant. “ (They) weave…a tale of desire and the bonds of love based…on rich …source material and …on the inner life of Dr. Sigmund Freud”. (Lisa See).

Barney Saltzberg

http://www.barneysaltzberg.com/

Barney Saltzberg is the engaging and whimsical children’s book author/illustrator/singer/songwriter, and author of dozens of charming and honest books that help children accept their mistakes and who they are In his bestselling Beautiful OOPs! he offers an antidote to an overly-structured culture trapping kids and adults alike. A spill doesn’t ruin a drawing—not when it’s the shape of a monster! His newest book, Arlo Needs Glasses follows a dog as he reads an eye chart, assuring kids that glasses are cool and fun.

Cathleen Schine

http://www.cathleenschine.com/

The first sentence of Cathleen Schine’s latest novel, Fin & Lady, establishes protagonist Fin’s sense of abandonment: “Fin’s funeral suit was a year old, worn three times, already too small.” Eleven-year-old Fin is left in the guardianship of 24-year-old half sister, Lady, who moves them from an uptown Manhattan apartment to a half-finished townhouse in 1969 Greenwich Village. With memorably drawn characters, Schine plays with conventions, reader expectations, and the ’complicateds’ of life (that) catch up with us in the end.” (NY Times Book Review). She is the author of several novels including The Love Letter and The Weissmanns of Westport.