Malcolm Gladwell in the news, reviews, the buzz…

 

Live Talks Los Angeles poster

We look forward to our event with Malcolm Gladwell on Monday, October 7th in the newly renovated Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Click here for tickets. His upcoming book, David and Goliath is out on October 1.  Here’s some of the buzz…

— Read an excerpt of David and Goliath  here
The Atlantic, September 18, Malcolm Gladwell: Guru of the Underdogs
Maclean’s, September 24, Malcolm Gladwell on the Secret Power of the Underdog
Wall Street Journal, September 17, Malcolm Gladwell: Disruptive Innovators are Usually Disagreeable
MSNBC, September 20, Rethinking the Story of David and Goliath
Seth Godin on Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, David and Goliath: tour de force
— Video: Malcolm Gladwell at the Google’s Zeitgeist 2013 Conference (September 16)
Video: Malcolm Gladwell on Why People Succeed (March 4)
Business Insider, September 18, If You Want a Science or Math Degree, Don’t go to Harvard

 

Jonathan Gold to interview Chef Daniel Boulud at Live Talks LA, October 24

Daniel: My French Cuisine by Daniel Boulud

We are excited to share that Los Angeles Times Food Critic Jonathan Gold will interview Chef Daniel Boulud at our Live Talks Los Angeles event on October 24th (William Turner Gallery, Bergamot Arts Center, Santa Monica). Boulud’s upcoming book is, Daniel: My French CuisineTicket info here.

Boulud is a world-renowned French chef based in New York, who owns restaurants in New York, Miami, Palm Beach, London, Toronto, and Singapore.  He has won James Beard Foundation awards for “Outstanding Restaurant” (for Daniel in 2010), “Outstanding Restaurateur” (2006), “Best Chef, New York City” (1992), and “Outstanding Chef of the Year” (1994).

Jonathan Gold is the restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times. He won the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2007 and was a finalist again in 2011.

Our last food event at Live Talks Los Angeles featured Chef Marcus Samuelsson in June 2012.  Here’s the video.

Brian Dennehy to interview Scott Turow at Live Talks LA, Nov 5, Aero Theatre

Scott Turow and Brian Dennehy

We are excited to welcome Brian Dennehy to Live Talks Los Angeles on November 5th (The Aero Theatre in Santa Monica), where he will interview Scott Turow.  They will discuss the writing life and Turow’s upcoming new novel, Identical. Ticket info here.

Veteran actor Brian Dennehy has received countless honors over his storied career on stage and screen: a Golden Globe, two Tonys, Emmy nominations, and the adoration of generations of fans.  His role as Prosecuting Attorney Raymond Horgan in the 1990 film adapation of Turow’s novel Presumed Innocent is what inspired us to invite him to lead this conversation.  This winter, Mr. Dennehy will be in residence in Los Angeles as he appears at the Mark Taper Forum as Thomas in the “Steward of Christendom.”

We welcome Scott Turow back to Live Talks Los Angeles. He first appeared in 2010 when we featured him in conversation with Dustin Hoffman. Here’s the video.

Identical is loosely based on the myth of Castor and Pollux, the twin sons (one mortal and one immortal) of Zeus.  As the story goes, when Castor was killed, Pollux begged Zeus to share his immortality with his brother so that the twins could remain together – Zeus allowed it, and they were transformed into the constellation Gemini.  Identical tells the story of Paul and Cass Giannis, identical twins, whose future was bright until one fateful day in 1983 when Athena “Dita” Kronon—then-girlfriend of Cass Giannis—was murdered after her family’s summer party.

Identical  opens in 2008 as Paul Giannis is mid-way through what looks to be a successful run for mayor of Kindle County, and Cass is about to be released from prison after serving 25 years for Dita’s murder. Dita’s brother, Hal Kronon, is willing to do whatever he can to insure that Cass stays in prison and, using his vast resources, he gets a legal team and an ex-FBI agent—who is the head of security for the Kronon family business —to convince a judge to re-open the investigation into Dita’s murder.  The private investigator on retainer for the Kronons is a former homicide detective who headed the initial investigation.  Tim Brodie, now 81, has his doubts about the way the case unfolded all those years ago.  By the time he was brought in, the crime scene had been compromised several times over by Dita’s family and local police, and then Cass Giannis confessed before everything was fully investigated.  Now that the case is being reexamined, Tim feels personally motivated to get to the bottom of the complex web of murder, sex, and betrayal.

Rainn Wilson to interview Reza Aslan. Special event to benefit the Los Angeles Review of Books

We end our season at Live Talks Los Angeles with an evening with Reza Aslan in conversation with Rainn Wilson discussing Aslan’s new book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazaretha fascinating, provocative, and meticulously researched biography of Jesus.  Part of our mission at Live Talks Los Angeles is to support worthwhile causes, and this event supports the Los Angeles Review of Books.  We hope to see you July 25th.

Reza Aslan is an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions. His first book, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, has been translated into thirteen languages and named by Blackwell as one of the hundred most important books of the last decade. He is also the author ofHow to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror (published in paperback as Beyond Fundamentalism).  

Rainn Wilson is best known for playing “Dwight” on NBC’s Emmy winning, “The Office.”  He has also acted in “Super”, “Hesher”, “Juno”, “Monsters Vs Aliens” and “The Rocker” among other movies.  He co-founded SoulPancake, a website and production company that seeks to tackle “Life’s Big Questions.”  He’s the spokesperson for The Mona Foundation and works on educational initiatives in Haiti.

 

 

 

 

 

Colum McCann in @LosAngelesTimes. We host him 6-18 at Live Talks LA

We host Colum McCann on June 18th at the William Turner Gallery at Bergamot Station. He’ll be discussing his new novel, Transatlantic.  Ticket info here.

McCann was featured as the Sunday Interview in the Los Angeles Times on May 26th.  Here’s an excerpt…

National Book Award winner Colum McCann’s ninth book, “TransAtlantic,” is a fictionalized exploration of three historic journeys between North America and Ireland. He talked about his new novel, which hits bookstores on June 4, by phone from his birthplace, Dublin.

How did this book come about?

One of the stories that obsessed me was the idea that Frederick Douglass had gone to Ireland at the age of 27 in 1845. He came to do a lecture tour — he was on the abolitionists’ circuit — and at the same time, the Irish famine began in 1845. So I was basically corralled by the notion of a black slave — he was still a slave at the time — being in Dublin and what it might be like. But I also wanted to bring it up to the present day, right up to Obama’s visit in 2011.

Actually, Obama had mentioned Frederick Douglass when he came to visit Ireland. So there were other things that I also wanted to write about, especially [former U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland] George Mitchell and the peace process, which was another image that corralled me — this great relationship between these two countries. I wanted to write an alternative Irish and American history — not necessarily an Irish-American history but an Irish and American history.

We’re adding to our venues: The Alex Theatre in Glendale | Upcoming events: Burt Bacharach, Phil Jackson, Neil Gaiman

As we continue to grow Live Talks Los Angeles, we are happy to share that we will be producing some of our events at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale.  We have the following events scheduled at the Alex, with more to come. Ticket info in each of the links…

May 14 Burt Bacharach in conversation with Mitch Albom
discussing his memoir, Anyone Who Had a Heart: My Life and Music, 8pm

Jun 12 Phil Jackson in conversation with John Salley
discussing his memoir, Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success, 8pm

June 27 An Evening with Neil Gaiman 
in conversation with Entertainment Weekly’s Geoff Boucher, 8pm
discussing his new novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane