ALOUD @ Los Angeles Public Library

In procrastination mode while finishing the screenplay for her second film, Miranda July obsessively read the Pennysaver. Who was the person selling Care Bears for two dollars each? She crisscrossed L.A. to meet a random selection of PennySaver sellers, grabbing hold of the invisible world in a book that blends narrative, interviews, photographs and deadpan humor.

Challenging our concept of what science is; how it works; and who it is for, outsider physicist Jim Carter discusses with science writer Margaret Wertheim his own theory of matter, energy, and gravity.

A literary icon for Los Angeles and a cultural visionary for the rest of America, the acclaimed author of The White Album, The Year of Magical Thinking, and most recently, Blue Nights, discusses her current work and life in Los Angeles in the 60s. Part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980

Philip K. Dick dedicated his life to questioning the nature of reality and perception, the malleability of space and time, and the relationship between the human and divine. Dick's two daughters and novelist Jonathan Lethem- Exegesis co-editor-serve as guides to exploring the magnificent final work of the author.

Artists, scholars, and cultural activists from Europe, Mexico, and the United States convene in Los Angeles-home to migrants, refugees, and exiles from all over the world-to share their respective experiences with and approaches to border issues. In an age of increased border militarization, how might we redefine borderlands as zones of mutual intermingling, co-existence, and dialogue? Made possible by special funding from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, part of the 2011 Milosz Year

Having spent the last 40 years examining his experiences in Vietnam, Marlantes, the decorated war veteran and bestselling author (Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War), discusses his visceral new nonfiction book about the psychological and spiritual toll that combat takes on those who fight.

From Chaplin to Schwarzenegger, movie stars have played a leading role in shaping the course of American politics. Join us for a conversation about how Hollywood has evolved into a vital center for American political life.

Twenty years after her testimony in the Clarence Thomas confirmation mesmerized the nation, Hill shifts her focus from the public forum to the private. As today's families are being devastated by the subprime mortgage crisis, Hill speaks out for a new understanding about the importance of home and its place in the American Dream.

In MacArthur Award-winning Whitehead's satiric take on the post-apocalyptic horror novel, a plague has sorted humanity into two types: the infected and the uninfected, the living and the living dead. How will these civilians rebuild their lives? Join this subversive discussion about the 21st century zombie.

How did a 19-year-old undocumented migrant worker toiling in the tomato fields of central California become an internationally renowned neurosurgeon? Join us for a story about the importance of family, of mentors, the fight to cure brain cancer, and of giving people a chance.In association with the exhibition, "A Nation Emerges: The Mexican Revolution Revealed"