ALOUD @ Los Angeles Public Library

In his explosive new book, Kennedy--a Harvard law scholar--shows how current fears of \"selling out\" are expressed in thought and practice and clarifies the effect they have on individuals and on American society as a whole.

Frum-former speechwriter for President Bush-argues that Republicans, like the Democrats before them, have been the victims of their own success. He outlines a fresh vision of a GOP that can rebuild the conservative majority and elect the next Republican president.

What if you could harness the power of the free market to solve the problems of poverty, hunger, and inequality? To some, it sounds impossible. But the Nobel Peace Prizewinner who invented micro-credit is doing exactly that. Yunus's \"Next Big Idea\" offers a pioneering model for nothing less than a new, more humane form of capitalism.

In her unconventional biography, Freeman illuminates the psyche and mystery of Chandler and his relationship with his much older wife as well as the City of Angels, to which Chandler's work is forever wed.

Slaves harvest cocoa in Ivory Coast, make charcoal used to produce steel in Brazil, weave carpets in India. The list goes on. Bales recounts his 15-year journey in search of real world solutions to ending slavery. Bales will introduce special guest Maria Suarez, an immigrant victim of sex trafficking.

Known also as an essayist, translator, and activist on behalf of poetry, literacy, and the environment, the former United States Poet Laureate (1995-1997) is a poet of great eloquence, clarity, and force. About Hass's work, poet Stanley Kunitz wrote, \"Reading a poem by Robert Hass is like stepping into the ocean when the temperature of the water is not much different from that of the air. You scarcely know, until you feel the undertow tug at you, that you have entered into another element.\"

The longtime New Yorker writer--who once spent an evening with Jackie Onassis, smoking cigarettes and talking about men--culls from 20 years of probing and delightful cultural critiques of fashion, its personages, trends and history, to celebrate the lasting significance of its ephemeral qualities.

Two writers discuss their experiences writing at the historic MacDowell Colony then read from work begun or completed there. www.macdowellcolony.org

The New Yorker cartoonist who can explain phenomena such as \"The Museum of One's Kitchen\" (including the Refrigerator Door Gallery and the Cabinet of Many Teas) recently collaborated with Steve Martin on The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z.

On March 5, 2007, a car bomb exploded on Mutanabbi Street, the lively center of Baghdad bookselling, filled with bookstores, cafes, and book stalls. 30 people were killed; more than 100 were wounded. Join poets and writers to memorialize this wounding of Baghdad's literary and intellectual heart.