Heather Scott Partington

Retracing the footsteps of an author’s ancestors in what was once Sacramento’s Chinatown, a critic reflects on how redevelopment buried essential stories of Chinese American history.

In her sophomore novel, Beings, Ilana Masad weaves three narratives about trust and belief.

In this newsletter, drawing on John Freeman’s vision in California Rewritten, a critic and teacher argues that when students read essential California books, they develop a sense of authority and belonging.

Critic Heather Scott Partington writes about Manjula Martin’s The Last Fire Season and the loss of Partington’s grandfather during the LNU Lightning Complex Fires.

Rebecca Solnit’s essay collection No Straight Road Takes You There praises the indirect and unquantifiable.

T.C. Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain exposes California’s dark divide between liberal ideals and harsh realities for immigrants and the poor.

Explore how Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club bridges generations and cultures in San Francisco, highlighting immigrant roots and the power of storytelling.

Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress redefines noir, exposing racial tensions in postwar L.A. through the lens of detective fiction.

Explore Leonard Gardner’s Fat City, a gritty portrait of California dreams fading in 1950s Stockton through two boxers’ struggles.

Susan Straight’s Mecca explores fire, survival, and identity in California, following working-class lives amid natural and social upheaval.

Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel may be speculative fiction, but it pushes us to look at our current tech reality.

In this newsletter, critic Heather Scott Partington writes about Manuel Muñoz’s Central Valley and her own.

Reading Andrew Sean Greer’s novel Less, the February California Book Club selection, writers will be submerged in well-crafted, funny reflections of their own anxieties.

Kathryn Ma’s The Chinese Groove is a bildungsroman.

The characters in Manuel Muñoz’s The Consequences are hesitant to reveal too much.

Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch is a first novel of uncommon power.

In Mecca, Susan Straight shows us ourselves.

Judith Freeman’s MacArthur Park represents a homecoming—in more ways than one.

In The Mysteries, Marisa Silver embodies the inner lives of two young girls.

In Kathy Fiscus, William Deverell reconstructs an American tragedy.

In her novel Vera, Carol Edgarian revisits the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.

The Desert Notebooks author reveals why the Mojave is a great place to ask really big questions, namely: Why are we here?

The author’s memoir, Unforgetting, explores the connections between violence in El Salvador and the United States.

In A Kingdom of Tender Colors, Seth Greenland recalls his cancer diagnosis and recovery with humor and grace.

The mystery author explains why A Soldier’s Story is her favorite whodunit.

The author and Alta contributor picks Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me as his top noir classic.

The Edgar Award–winning mystery writer takes a stab at a classic.

The prolific novelist explains why, just like the beat of a great film score, he can’t shake Fast One.

The author of 2017’s Shadowbahn says that “right now history is outpacing the imagination” and “writing definitely needs to get bigger.”

The author of The City in the Middle of the Night says her writing asks, “What does it mean to be a good person during horrible, unjust times?”

The first-time novelist explores ideas of identity and citizenship among South Asian immigrants in California’s Imperial Valley of the early 20th century.

Sixty essays tackle a question of identity: Who were our mothers before they became mothers?

Author Rishi Reddi joins Alta Asks Live to discuss Passage West, the complexities of the migrant experience in California and beyond, and much more.

Essays from a former Los Angeles poet laureate argue for the power of verse to unify, inspire, and heal our nation.

Why We Swim examines our relationship to water for “survival, well-being, community, competition, and flow.”

The poet discusses his home, his inspiration, and his study habits.

The former poet laureate of Los Angeles comes complete, just as he is.

In Valentine, a new novelist seeks to peel back the layers of the lies we tell ourselves.

Passage West author Rishi Reddi tells us what people take for granted about California.

The filmmaker and author reveals the mantra that kept her going, a trick of the trade, and why she avoids the internet.

The author of The Gnome Stories draws inspiration from jokes, conversations with friends, and even a 1931 patent application.

The poet’s book-length work explores our interior lives by mixing words and photographs.

Alta's Fall nonfiction selections feature four true stories about dreamers and schemers — and a musician named Flea.