Literature meets activism: Barbara Ehrenriech

A car wash employee speaks with a labor representative/translator on his left; author Barbara Ehrenreich (in green) listens from the sidelines.

Barbara Ehrenriech was full of conversation at Skylight Books Thursday night. She read a few satiric passages from her new book "The Land is Their Land" but mostly talked liberal politics to a receptive audience. Heads nodded at what she called "the growing division in our society between the extremely rich and everybody else." There were several spontaneous bursts of applause.

It started to feel a little like an affluent dinner party of "The Nation" subscribers, everyone in quite comfortable circumstances agreeing on our leftist politics. But Ehrenriech, who worked low-wage jobs to research her 2001 book "Nickel and Dimed," did more than just preach to the converted. To read exactly what she said, see below ...

Young poets and book prizes -- tonight!

This evening, we'll be toasting the winners of the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes at UCLA (yes, you can still get tickets to attend).

But across town at USC, elementary school students at the 32nd Street/USC Performing Arts Magnet school (perhaps winners in waiting?) will gather to read some of their original poetry.

OK, so they had some help from writers Cecilia Woloch and Aimee Bender; it's still a great opportunity to hear what's on the minds of L.A.'s fourth-graders.

Mary Forgione

L.A. library transfers to cost a buck?

In the face of a citywide budget crisis, the Los Angeles Public Library is proposing a service charge for books circulated through inter-library loan. If approved, the $1-a-book fee will take effect July 1.

If this were a kind of luxury tax, it wouldn't seem all that bad. I mean, a dollar, right? But some people are concerned that it'll affect the smallest, least-funded branch libraries -- and their patrons -- the most. That's why they've launched this blog urging people to write to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and library leaders and to organize opposition to the fee before the May 1 City Council hearing on the library's budget.

There are about 70 branches of the L.A. Public Library serving the city's readers (a few branches are currently closed for repairs). Obviously, not all branches can have every book, but most are available within the library system -- via inter-library loans -- for free. Author Cecil Castellucci, who volunteers at a public school in Echo Park, told the no-fee campaign organizers:

As a read-aloud volunteer at Mayberry Elementary school, I use this service to get the perfect books to read to the students. For example, I used the inter-library loan service to get books on opera to read aloud to the kids in preparation for their field trip to the L.A. Opera. As a young adult author, I find it appalling to be charging $1 for an inter-library loan.

While the organizers are soliciting suggestions for how to support the library, I know of one sure way coming up April 30. It's the library's annual gala dinner, a fund-raiser for the library foundation that this year will honor author Larry McMurtry ("Lonesome Dove," "Terms of Endearment," "The Last Picture Show"). Tickets are $750 apiece. Sure, that's a lot of smackers; but it would also pay for a lot of books zooming around the city through inter-library loans.

Carolyn Kellogg

photo by Tom Martin via Flickr

Giving -- and getting -- in a literary auction

Author Tayari Jones was moved by the vicious attacks last year on a Haitian mother and son in Dunbar Village, a housing project in West Palm Beach, Fla. To help the victims, she has organized a very literary online auction, which is now live on EBay.

There are books, of course, many of which are signed by the authors. But most exciting -- especially for aspiring writers -- are the critiques. Want to hear what George Saunders thinks of your story? You can, for just (at this writing) about $180.

Laila Lalami and Martha Southgate also will do story critiques. Joy Castro will read and review a personal essay. Poets D. Nurkse and Honorée Fanonne Jeffers offer critiques of poetry. Carleen Brice will give feedback on a nonfiction book proposal. And two other author/professors -- Sarah Schulman and Tayari Jones herself -- will read and comment on entire novel manuscripts (up to 300 pages -- sorry, "Harry Potter"-esque hopefuls).

Getting quality feedback on your writing is invaluable. And in this case, you'll be giving, too.

Carolyn Kellogg

Photo by Mo Riza via flickr