Few groups are better poised to publish a literary journal than the educators tasked with shaping and guiding the next generation of writers. This week’s Alta Live takes a deeper dive into the digital pages of one of the newest such publications. Air/Light is an online literary journal published quarterly by the English Department at the University of Southern California. At its helm is Air/Light editor David L. Ulin, Alta Journal’s books editor and a professor of English at USC. Ulin sits down with Alta editor at large Mary Melton to welcome us into Air/Light’s world of artists and writers, explain the journal’s concept (and surprising impetus for the journal’s name), and further celebrate the literary wonders emerging from the West. Don’t miss it!
About the guest:
David L. Ulin is Alta’s books editor. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, which was shortlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, and The Lost Art of Reading: Books and Resistance in a Troubled Time. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, and Black Mountain Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The former book editor and book critic of the Los Angeles Times, he is aprofessor of English at the University of Southern California, where he edits the literary journal Air/Light. Most recently, he edited Didion: The 1980s and 90s for the Library of America.
About the moderator:
Mary Melton is Alta’s editor at large. She is the editorial director at Godfrey Dadich Partners and the former editor in chief of Los Angeles magazine.•
