festival of books

Today, I took my dissertation research to the streets at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I'm writing on L.A. literature, and the festival is providing me with ample opportunity for exploration. I attended two panels so far, one that was more about the past...

Discovering California

William Deverell, Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of Its Mexican Past
Barbara Isenberg, State of the Arts: California Artists Talk About Their Work
Malcolm Margolin, founder of Heyday Books, The Way We Lived: California Indian Stories, Songs, and Reminiscences
Rick Wartzman, The King of California: JG Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire

...and one that was more about the future:

To Live & Die in L.A.

Norman Klein, The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory
Richard Rayner, The Devil's Wind
David Ulin, Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology
D.J. Waldie, Where We Are Now: Notes from Los Angeles

I've listed the latest books by each panelist to give an idea of what was discussed. The most common theme was the idea of Los Angeles in constant struggle between myth and reality.