It’s almost time for Thursday’s event with Paul Beatty! We hope you’ve had an invigorating time reading The Sellout. We’re writing to announce that special guest Michael Jaime-Becerra will briefly join the discussion with Beatty, host Oscar Villalon, and you, dear reader!
Michael Jaime-Becerra is the author of two books: This Time Tomorrow, which won an International Latino Book Award, and Every Night Is Ladies’ Night, a short story collection awarded the California Book Award for a First Work of Fiction. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Zyzzyva, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Alta Journal recently published an excerpt of his story “1181 Durfee Avenue.” He currently lives in his childhood hometown of El Monte, California.
Host Oscar Villalon is a member of the California Book Club selection panel and the managing editor of Zyzzyva. A longtime member of the National Book Critics Circle, he has twice served on fiction juries for the Pulitzer Prize. From 2002 to 2008, he was the book editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. His writing has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review and the Believer, among others. He lives in San Francisco.
We are eager to hear Villalon and Jaime-Becerra talk with Beatty about identity, place, and the uses of humor and the tragicomic in fiction. In the meantime, you can read an interview with Villalon and Beatty here, about Los Angeles literature and life after the Man Booker Prize.
Here are the details of the event:
- When: Thursday, February 18, at 5 p.m. Pacific time.
- Where: To join the event on Zoom, click here.
- What: Your guest host, Oscar Villalon, will be in conversation with Paul Beatty, author of The Sellout. They will be joined by special guest Michael Jaime-Becerra.
- Author questions: Please send questions for Paul Beatty to info@californiabookclub.com. You can also submit them using Zoom’s chat feature after the event begins.
- Attend to win: We will be giving away an author-signed copy of The Sellout to five attendees, selected at random, following Thursday’s program.
- Mark your calendars: Upcoming CBC discussion with Nina Revoyr, author of the highly acclaimed Southland, on March 18.
To sign up for Alta’s California Book Club for free, click here.
Thank you so much, and see you Thursday!
ELECTRIC STYLE
CBC host John Freeman considers how Paul Beatty negotiates the tensions between collective and individual identity—and the uncanny and quotidian aspects of Los Angeles life. Alta
SAN FRANCISCO STREETS
Katherine Seligman’s novel At the Edge of the Haight follows the quotidian terrors and obstacles faced by a young woman who is unhoused and lives in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. In a book review, Erik Himmelsbach-Weinstein explores how Seligman attends to themes of mental health, social justice, and crisis. Alta
SOCIOPOLITICAL CONTEXT
Did you know that Paul Beatty wrote and published The Sellout during the Obama administration? Find out why this is important. Alta
OAKLAND BLUES
It is seldom acknowledged that blues music shaped the sociocultural landscape of Oakland. On Wednesday, February 17, join Alta contributor Ishmael Reed and blues star Ronnie Stewart for a conversation on the history and future of Oakland blues. Alta Live
MORE EASY RAWLINS
Walter Mosley’s latest novel, Blood Grove, marks a return to his widely read Easy Rawlins series. In a book review, Maureen Corrigan considers how Mosley balances mystery and social commentary. Washington Post
BDSM AND BEYOND
Kink, a new anthology edited by R.O. Kwon (The Incendiaries) and Garth Greenwell (Cleanness), offers short fiction on everything from spankings to strangulation to golden showers. Alexis Burling calls it “a provocative, scintillating collection of literary fiction [that] gives kinky sex its due.” San Francisco Chronicle
GOLD FOR GOLD
Congratulations to C Pam Zhang, author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold, who was recently named a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. PEN
COMPLICATED FRIENDS
Vendela Vida’s latest novel We Run the Tides is a tale of teenage friendship, betrayal, and a kidnapping set in 1980s San Francisco. Here is an excerpt. Literary Hub
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