ALOUD @ Los Angeles Public Library

Mycoskie, the man behind TOMS Shoes and Goldhirsh, founder of GOOD, discuss alternatives for creating work that simultaneously fulfills our hunger for material success, philanthropic impact, and personal meaning.

It took fifty years and more before a former real-estate billboard atop Mt. Lee became the world-wide symbol of Hollywood. How did it happen? A master interpreter of popular culture examines why the Hollywood sign is unique in the way cities show themselves to the world.

When a massive wildfire blazed across California in June 2008, five monks risked their lives to save Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Pyne-- wildfire expert and the country's pre-eminent fire historian-- and Busch-- author and longtime Zen student-- discuss the ways of wildfires in the West and what it means to meet a crisis with full presence of mind. Program one of four, co-presented with the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West

Four veteran Los Angeles crime writers discuss the genre they love and the stories that keep them up at night. Paula L. Woods (Charlotte Justice mystery series) talks murder and mayhem with Haywood (Cemetery Road), Hirahara (Blood Hina), and Smith (Moist).

McMillen--part sculptor, installation artist, printmaker, cultural anthropologist and L.A. native-- has been creating environmental installations with architectural references that deal with themes of time, change, and illusion since the 1970s, and his work is the subject of a current retrospective at the Oakland Museum of Art. Join us for a glimpse into McMillen's creative process and current obsessions.

In this popular, long-running event, six talented Los Angeles poets present short readings of their work. Hosted by Suzanne Lummis, Los Angeles Poetry Festival, and Richard Modiano, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center

The Hollywood home of Laura and Aldous Huxley, psychedelic pioneer and author of Brave New World, was a hotspot for the West Coast artistic avant-garde like Igor Stravinsky and Christopher Isherwood. Join us for a discussion of the Huxleys' influence on American culture, plus excerpts from Mary Ann Braubach's 2009 documentary, Huxley on Huxley.

In her wickedly bittersweet and hilarious novel You Must Go and Win, the Ukrainian-born, critically acclaimed singer traces her bizarre journey through the indie rock world, from disastrous Craigslist auditions with sketchy producers to catching fleas in a Williamsburg sublet. Simone performs songs from her newly released Make Your Own Danger album.

Are the media arts a sensitizing force? What is media art's capacity to respond to political conditions? Cultural practitioners and scholars explore the role artists play as innovators of media technology and instigators in the public and media art realms. Co-presented with Freewaves

HBO's Treme (from the creators of The Wire) is set in the aftermath of the greatest man-made disaster in American history. Join us for a discussion of New Orleans' music and its unique culture as reflected in one of episodic television's most powerful dramas.