The ueno okura cinemaLos Angeles Times Festival of Books will take place Saturday and Sunday, April 21-22, on the USC campus. Featured authors will include:
? MariNaomi, award-winning author and illustrator of “Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume,” “Ages 0 to 22,” “Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories,” “Turning Japanese,” “I Thought YOU Hated ME,” and the “Life on Earth” trilogy. She is the founder of the Cartoonists of Color and Queer Cartoonists databases and co-host of the Ask Bi Grlz podcast with Myriam Gurba. April 22 at 12:30 p.m., panelist, “Graphic Novels: Working Twice as Hard.”
? Sesshu Foster, winner of two American Book Awards and author of the chapbook “Praying Mantis” (Business Bear Press, 2017) and the hybrid “City of the Future” (Kaya Press, 2018). He has taught in East L.A. for 30 years. April 22 at 3 p.m., panelist, “The Politics of L.A. Spaces: From Architectural Icons to Homelessness and Gentrification.”
??Naomi Hirahara, Edgar Award-winning mystery author and nonfiction writer on the Southern California experience. Her seventh and final Mas Arai mystery, “Hiroshima Boy,” was released this March, along with a nonfiction book, “Life After Manzanar,” co-authored by Heather C. Lindquist. She is helping to develop an independent movie, “The Big Bachi,” based on her first novel. April 21 at 10:30 a.m., panelist, “Crime Fiction: Trouble in Paradise.”
? Joe Ide. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, his favorite books were the Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories. He went on to earn a graduate degree and had several careers before writing his debut novel, “IQ,” inspired by his early experiences and his love of Sherlock. He lives in Santa Monica. He is also the author of “Righteous.” April 22 at 3:30 p.m., panelist, “Crime Fiction: City of Angels.”
? Cynthia Kadohata, author of the Newbery Medal-winning book “Kira-Kira,” the National Book Award winner “The Thing About Luck,” the Jane Addams Peace Award and Pen USA Award winner “Weedflower,” “Cracker!,” “Outside Beauty,” “A Million Shades of Gray,” “Half a World Away,” and several critically acclaimed adult?novels, including “The Floating World.” Her most recent novel is “Checked.” She lives with her hockey-playing son and dog in West Covina. April 21 at 11:30 a.m., panelist, “Middle-Grade Fiction: Your Best Self.”
? Nina Revoyr, author of five novels: “Lost Canyon”; “The Age of Dreaming,” which was nominated for the L.A. Times Book Prize; “Southland,” a Los Angeles Times best seller and “Best Book” of 2003; “The Necessary Hunger”; and “Wingshooters.” She lives and works in Los Angeles, and her forthcoming novel, “The Student of History,” will be published by Akashic Books in 2019. April 21 at 4:30 p.m., panelist, “Fiction: The Meaning of Family.”
? Karen Tei Yamashita, of “Letters to Memory,” “Through the Arc of the Rain Forest,” “Brazil-Maru,” “Tropic of Orange,” “Circle K Cycles,” “I Hotel,” and “Anime Wong.” “I Hotel” was selected as finalist for the National Book Award and awarded the California Book Award, the American Book Award, and the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award. She is professor of literature and creative writing at UC Santa Cruz. April 22 at 12:30 p.m., panelist, “Photography and Narrative.”
The L.A. Times Book Prizes will be presented on Friday, April 20, at 7 p.m. at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. Nominees include Yuichi Yokoyamafor “Iceland” (Retrofit Comics/Big Planet Comics) in the Graphic Novel/Comics category.
Kinokuniya Booth Schedule
Kinokuniya will be in Booth 84 both days. Author events are as follows:
Saturday, April 21
10 to 11:20 a.m.: Sunny Seki(“The Little Kokeshi Doll from Fukushima,” “Tale of the Lucky Cat,” “Yuko-chan and the Daruma Doll,” “The Last Kappa of Old Japan”)
11:30 a.m. to 12:50 p.m.: Sue DiCicco(“Origami Peace Cranes: Friendships Take Flight,” “Adventures in Asian Art: An Afternoon at the Museum”)
1:30 to 2:50 p.m.: Yumi Sakugawa(“The Little Book of Life Hacks: How to Make Your Life Happier, Healthier, and More Beautiful,” “Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One With the Universe,” “There Is No Right Way to Meditate,” “I Think I Am in Friend-Love With You”)
3 to 4 p.m: Nilah Magruder(“M.F.K.,” “How to Find a Fox”)
4:10 to 5:30 p.m.: Steve Ryfle(“Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film from Godzilla to Kurosawa”)
Sunday, April 22
10:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Naomi Hirahara(“Hiroshima Boy,” “Sayonara Slam,” “Strawberry Yellow,” “Life After Manzanar,” “Terminal Island: Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor,” “Murder on Bamboo Lane,” “Grave on Grand Avenue”)
12 to 1 p.m.: Clifford Johnson(“The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe”)
1:30 to 2:50 p.m.: Illustrators Dong Nguyenand Hop Thi Nguyen(“My First Book of Vietnamese Words: An ABC Rhyming Book of Vietnamese Language and Culture,”?“Vietnamese Children’s Favorite Stories”)
3 to 4 p.m.: Nhu Nguyen(“Back to Nature & Breathing”)
3 to 4:30 p.m. Mingjie “MJ” and the Love Story Media(“The Love Story Journal: Break Your Heart Open, Volume 1”)
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple goal: to bring together the people who create books with the people who love to read them. Since then, the festival has grown into a vibrant celebration of all of the arts, and of our dynamic, innovative and unique metropolis. Each year, over 150,000 people come to the USC campus to experience a gathering of writers, poets, artists, filmmakers and musicians like no other. This is the largest festival of its kind in the United States and is The Times’ annual gift to the city.
Admission is free, but Indoor Conversations require advance tickets. All-access passes are available for $100. For more information, including a complete schedule of events, visit: http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/