Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Celebrates 10th Anniversary
April 23-24, 2005 at UCLA 25th Annual Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Awards on April 22 to Kick Off Event LOS ANGELES, March 31
/PRNewswire/ -- The 10th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
takes place Saturday, April 23, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday,
April 24, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on UCLA's campus. The two-day
celebration of the written word features a mix of panel
discussions, book signings, poetry readings, cooking demonstrations
and music. The Festival affords book lovers the chance to meet
best-selling authors, publishers and celebrities. The hundreds of
exhibitor booths, stage events and popular children's characters
offer a cornucopia of choices for all ages. General event
information about the Festival, including a list of authors, is
available at http://www.latimes.com/events . Information is also
available by calling 1-800-LA TIMES, ext. 7BOOK. Admission is free,
but tickets are required to attend author/panel discussions and
lectures because of limited seating. Free tickets will be available
at all Ticketmaster locations in Southern California starting
Sunday, April 17, at noon until Thursday, April 21, at 5 p.m., or
until all tickets have been distributed. A limited number of
tickets will also be available on-site during the Festival.
Festival Highlights -- Some 380 authors participating in 96 panels,
readings and book signings -- Six stages showcasing book and poetry
readings, cooking demonstrations, children's storytelling and
cartoon characters, and music, drama and dance performances -- 25th
annual Los Angeles Times Book Prize awards ceremony on April 22 --
More than 400 exhibitor booths representing specialty booksellers
and major book publishers Literary "Who's Who" Authors scheduled to
appear include Madeleine Albright, Jason Alexander, Tariq Ali, Ray
Bradbury, Stephen Cannell, Mary Higgins Clark, Eoin Colfer, John W.
Dean, Frank Deford, Jared Diamond, Sir Harold Evans, Carrie Fisher,
Sue Grafton, Tony Hillerman, Arianna Huffington, Eric Idle, Pico
Iyer, Ron Kovic, Sanoe Lake, Phil Lesh, Sandra Tsing Loh, Richard
Matheson, James McCourt, Walter Mosley, Carol Muske-Dukes, Lynda
Obst, P.J. O'Rourke, T. Jefferson Parker, Anne Perry, Sally Ride,
Carl Reiner, Maria Shriver, Jane Smiley, Alexander McCall Smith,
Hector Tobar, Jack Welch, Rosemary Wells and Amy Wilentz. Panel
Sessions Panel sessions focusing on current affairs include "Brave
New World: Monopoly, Media & the Right to Know," "On the Front
Lines: Covering War," "Scheherazade's Daughters: Women in the
Middle East," "Discovering California," "Islam Now" and "Talkin'
Baseball with Frank Deford and Bill Plaschke." Other sessions will
focus on: -- Hollywood -- "Hollywood and the Reds," "Witness to a
Persecution: The Blacklist Revisited," "Fiction: Hollywood
Confidential," "The Movie Biz: Making Deals and Cutting Throats,"
"Hollywood: Behind the Camera," and "From Page to Screen" --
Politics -- "America Looks Forward: Tapping the Politics of Fear,"
"Searching for a Civil Society: America's Contemporary Political
Culture," "The Politics of Science," "Outsourcing Democracy: Can It
Work?" and "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" -- Mystery -- "Mystery: Spies
Among Us," "Celebrating Sherlock Holmes," and "Mystery, Mayhem and
Murder," and "Mystery: Urban Grit" Among the authors who will be
featured in "In Conversation with ... " or "in solo" sessions are
Madeleine Albright, Ray Bradbury, Mary Higgins Clark and Carol
Higgins Clark, Carrie Fisher, Sue Grafton, Tony Hillerman, Eric
Idle, Phil Lesh, Walter Mosley, James Patterson, Sally Ride, Liz
Smith, Gay Talese and Jack Welch. Six Stages Featuring Celebrities,
Discussions, Readings, Family Entertainment The Target Children's
Stage, designed for the entire family, will feature Jason
Alexander, Angelina Ballerina and Katharine Holabird, Bob the
Builder, Sasha Cohen, Al Jardine, Junie B. Jones, the Justin
Roberts Band, David Kirk, Jarrett Krosoczka, Sanoe Lake, Carl
Reiner and Rosemary Wells, among others. Canada Presents the
Culinary Stage will proffer the insights of such luminaries as
Tyler Florence, Giada de Laurentiis, and Mary Sue Milliken &
Susan Feniger. The ETC. Stage will feature a variety of speakers
and performers including Boondocks author Aaron McGruder, KPCC's
Kitty Felde & the Book Club for Young Adults, Melvin Eddy Blues
Band, WriteGirl and Kishin Daiko Japanese music & dance. The
Los Angeles Times Stage in partnership with Barnes & Noble will
feature Robert Crais, Alice Hoffman, Eric Idle, Anne Lamott, Maria
Shriver and Liz Smith, among others. Among the authors gracing the
Poetry Stage will be Sophie Cabot Black, Diane di Prima, Dana
Goodyear, Richard Howard, Joshua Mehigan and Carol Muske-Dukes. The
Reading by 9 Storytelling Stage will include Derek Anderson,
Beethoven's Wig, Children's Museum of L.A. Readers Theatre Project,
the East-West Players, Jay-Jay the Jet Plane, Jose-Luis Orozco,
Rachel Payne Native American Storytelling, June Foray, Greathall
Productions, Stacia Deutsch, Barney Saltzberg and readings by Sally
Ride, Quincy Troupe, Kadir Nelson and Barbara Saltzman. Festival of
Books Sponsors Target is the presenting sponsor of the 2005 Los
Angeles Times Festival of Books. Barnes & Noble, Borders and
the Canadian Tourism Commission are major sponsors, and C-SPAN, HBO
and Geffen Playhouse are contributing sponsors. KCBS-2/KCAL-9 is
the official television sponsor of the 2005 Festival of Books.
Other media sponsors are Distinction Southern California magazine,
ESPN Radio, Hoy, KABC-AM, KCRW-FM, KFWB-AM, KKJZ-FM, KPCC-FM,
KPFK-FM and Radio Disney. The official ticket provider is
Ticketmaster. Los Angeles Times Book Prize Awards Ceremony The 25th
annual presentation of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes is set for
Friday, April 22, at 8 p.m., in UCLA's Royce Hall. Best-selling
mystery writer Tony Hillerman will receive the 25th annual Los
Angeles Times Book Prizes' Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime
achievement. Author/journalist Sir Harold Evans will emcee the
event. Tickets are required and are on sale at UCLA's Central
Ticket Office (310-825-2101) and online at
http://www.tickets.ucla.edu/. (NOTE: Additional $2 handling fee for
online ticket purchases.) Tickets are $14 for a reserved seat only
and $60 for a buffet dinner (6-7:45 p.m.) with authors at the UCLA
Faculty Center, prime reserved seat at Book Prizes event and
convenient parking at Royce Hall. The Los Angeles Times Book
Prizes, established in 1980, recognize outstanding literary
achievements in biography, current interest, fiction, first
fiction, history, mystery/thriller, poetry, science and technology,
and young adult fiction. More information is available at
http://www.latimes.com/bookprizes. The Los Angeles Times Festival
of Books-one of the nation's premier public literary festivals and
the largest of its kind on the West Coast-was created in 1996 by
The Times to promote literacy and to bring together those who
create books with the people who love to read them. It is presented
in association with UCLA. The Los Angeles Times, a Tribune
Publishing company, is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in
the country and the winner of 35 Pulitzer Prizes. The Times
publishes five daily regional editions including the Los Angeles
metropolitan area, Orange and Ventura counties, the San Fernando
Valley, and an Inland Empire edition covering Riverside and San
Bernardino counties. Additional information about The Times is
available at http://www.latimes.com/mediacenter. DATASOURCE: The
Los Angeles Times CONTACT: Mike Lange of The Los Angeles Times,
+1-213-237-3848, or Web site: http://www.latimes.com/
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