ALOUD @ Los Angeles Public Library

An in-depth look at the impact of Vietnam on post-Cold War U.S. foreign policy by a distinguished Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

In this recording from ALOUD's early years, Ursula K. Le Guin reads and discusses her 2000 science fiction novel The Telling, the first follow-up to the Hainish Cycle since 1974's The Dispossessed. The work explores themes of memory and forgetting in the context of political and religious conflicts between a corporate, totalitarian government and the indigenous resistance. The story hinges on the preservation and protection of ancient traditions of storytelling, locally referred to as "the Telling."

This podcast, taken from the ALOUD archive, is a discussion from 2000's \"Words In the World\" series; a curated series of artists whose stories, essays, poems, novels, and films illuminated a global culture in crisis and celebration, extending their imaginations into the vast territory of the heart and the world.

Robert Pinsky answers the question, "What Shall We Teach the Young?," touching on art and poetry.This program was presented by ALOUD's The Big Questions Series.

This podcast, taken from the ALOUD archive, is a discussion from 1999's \"The Big Questions\" series. A celebration of writing, reading, and public debate, \"The Big Questions\" features visionary thinkers in the arts, sciences, and humanities who are asking new questions, challenging accepted theories, and reframing ancient dialects.

The great American writer John Updike received the Los Angeles Public Library's Literary Award in 1999. The award, given annually, is granted to a writer for his or her contribution to literature. Updike joins past winners Norman Mailer, Harper Lee, Susan Sontag, and Seamus Heaney in receiving this honor. The following recording is taken from his acceptance speech at the Library Foundation of Los Angeles' Annual Awards dinner.

A novel about of a woman who refused to shrink from a life alone, and who comes to terms with the love she learns to share with both men and women.

This podcast, taken from the ALOUD archive, is a discussion from 1998's \"Racing Towards the Millenium: Voices From the American West,\" a predecessor to ALOUD.

Bernard Cooper writes eloquently about the difficult landscape of memory as it pertains to sexuality, loss, AIDS, and family. He is the author of the collection of memoirs Maps to Anywhere, the novel A Year of Rhymes, and a recent collection of memoirs, Truth Serum. He received the 1991 PEN/Ernest Hemingway Award and a 1995 O. Henry Prize. He has taught at Antioch/Los Angeles, for the Masters of Professional Writing program at USC, at the UCLA Writer’s Program, and he has been a core faculty member in the MFA Writing Program at Bennington College. Of Truth Serum, playwright Tony Kushner has written, "One of the most beautiful and moving memoirs I've ever read... Reading Bernard Cooper is like reading Chechov, and he's really that good." This program was originally produced as part of the 1997 season of Racing Toward the Millennium: Voices from the American West, in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Kathleen Norris is the author of the 1993 bestseller Dakota: A Spiritual Geography. Her newest book, The Cloister Walk, is structured around two nine-month residencies at a Benedictine monastery. In it, she links the disparate worlds of 4th-century desert monks and modern-day Benedictines to epiphanies in the tiny South Dakota town where she and her husband moved in 1974. Renowned author Dr. Robert Coles lauded Norris's work in The New York Times Book Review: "Her writing is personal and epigrammatic—a series of short takes that ironically addresses the biggest subject matter possible: how one ought to live life and with what purposes in mind." Norris's narrative and lyrical poems have appeared in The New Yorker and the Paris Review. This program was produced as part of the 1997 season of Racing Toward the Millennium: Voices from the American West in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.