June 27 — An Evening with Neil Gaiman

Thursday, June 27, 2013
7:00pm (Reception 5:30-6:30pm)
*PLEASE NOTE EVENT TIME HAS CHANGED TO 7PM FROM 8PM 

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

The Alex Theatre
216 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CA 91203

PURHASE TICKETS
$42 General Admission (includes Gaiman’s new novel)
$55 Includes Reserved Seating* + Gaiman’s new novel
**$105 includes Premier reserved seating* + Pre-event reception + two Gaiman books (new novel & Make Good Art)
NOTE: THE $55 RESERVED SEATING AND $105 RECEPTION TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT. 

* At check in, you will get a ticket that gives you access to a reserved block of seats
**Proceeds support the Live Talks “newer voices” author series launching in Fall ’13
All tickets include Alex Theatre restoration facility fee of $2.00 

From one of the world’s most beloved storytellers––#1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman––comes his first adult novel in eight years. Wondrous and imaginative, and at times deeply scary, The Ocean at the End of the Lanecaptures the very essence of childhood fear and uncertainty. In a clash of memory and reality, it is a pitched fever dream of a novel, and could very well be Gaiman’s most accomplished work to date.

“Poignant and heartbreaking, eloquent and frightening, impeccably rendered, it’s a fable that reminds us how our lives are shaped by childhood experiences, what we gain from them and the price we pay.” –– Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

 “Gaiman mines mythological typology––the three-fold goddess, the water of life (the pond, actually an ocean)––and his own childhood milieu to build the cosmology and theater of a story he tells more gracefully than anything he’s told since Stardust (1999).” ––Booklist (starred review)

Neil Gaiman is an English author who now lives in the US. He is the author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He has won numerous awards, including Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, Newbery Medal, and Carnegie Medal. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, The Graveyard Book (2008). Read more about Gaiman on his website.

In May 2012, Neil Gaiman delivered the commencement address at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, in which he shared his thoughts about creativity, bravery, and strength. He encouraged the fledgling painters, musicians, writers, and dreamers to break rules and think outside the box. Most of all, he urged them to make good art. The book Make Good Art, designed by renowned graphic artist Chip Kidd, contains the full text of Gaiman’s inspiring speech. Watch the video.

Geoff Boucher is a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly. Prior to EW he was at the Los Angeles Times where he had more than 2,800 stories published and where he most recently covered entertainment. While at the Los Angeles Times, he also created the award-winning website, Hero Complex, and is the author of Two Badges, the biography of a gang member turned cop.  He interviewed John Lithgow at Live Talks Los Angeles in 2011.  See the video.  And also interviewed Wyclef Jean for Live Talks in September 2012. See the video.

May 23 — An Evening with Deepak Chopra and Sanjiv Chopra

Thursday, May 23, 2013
8:00pm (Reception 6:30-7:30pm)

An Evening with Deepak Chopra and Sanjiv Chopra
in conversation with Lisa Napoli
Brotherhood: Dharma, Destiny and the American Dream

All Saints Church-Beverly Hills
504 North Camden Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

PURCHASE TICKETS
$20 General Admission
$40 Includes Reserved Seats, Deepak and Sanjiv Chopra’s book
$95 includes Reserved Seating + pre-event reception + book

At a time when America is fiercely divided on the issue of immigration, Brotherhood is the story of two brothers — Deepak and Sanjiv Chopra — who pursued the American dream to its fullest expression. In the early 1970s, they joined a flood of immigrants looking to make a new life in America. Having grown up in postwar India amidst the sudden freedom of the 1947 liberation, their childhood was a blend of the exotic, the mythical, and the modern. Their father was one of the first Indians to become a Western-trained cardiologist, while their extended family maintained deep roots in ancient spiritual traditions.Brotherhood follows the Chopra brothers as one becomes a world-renowned spiritual teacher and the other rises to the top of Western medicine to become a professor at Harvard Medical School.

At school, they learned of William Tell; Deepak later challenged Sanjiv to replicate the feat with a BB gun. The younger brother gave in—shooting Deepak square in the chin. They agreed to blame the wound on a fall, but their grandmother spotted the pellet beneath the skin. This early alliance helped forge a lifelong bond between them.

In Brotherhood, Deepak and Sanjiv Chopra reveal the story of their personal struggles and triumphs as doctors, immigrants, and brothers. Each brother faced obstacles: while Deepak encountered resistance from Western-trained doctors on the mind-body connection, Sanjiv struggled to recon­cile the beliefs of his birthplace with those of his new home. Each Chopra eventually decided to stay and build a life as an American citizen. And each went on to great achieve­ments—Deepak as a global authority on Eastern medicine and best-selling author, Sanjiv as a world-renowned medical expert and professor at Harvard Medical School.

Deepak Chopra, MD, is the author of more than seventy books, including twenty-one New York Times bestsellers. Visit www.deepakchopra.com.

Sanjiv Chopra, MD,  is professor of medicine and faculty dean for Continuing Education at Harvard Medical School, and the author of Leadership by Example.

Lisa Napoli is a journalist and author. She was a reporter and back-up host for public radio show Marketplace. She covered the Internet revolution and the cultural impact of technology as a columnist and staff reporter for the New York Times’ CyberTimes, and as a correspondent for MSNBC.  In her 25 year career in media, she has also worked for CNN. She is author of  RADIO SHANGRI-LA: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth. Presently, she is does arts and cultural stories for NPR affiliate KCRW. Visit her website.

This event is presented in association with InsightLA, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to helping people realize fuller and happier lives through the practice of mindfulness and mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques. They offer warm and supportive learning environments that foster compassion and understanding in all relationships – with oneself, with others and with our world.  To learn more about InsightLA, and their upcoming talk with Tara Brach on June 8th,  visit their website.

April 24 — An Evening with Billy Ray Cyrus in conversation with Sam Rubin

Wednesday, April 24, 2013
8:00pm (Reception 6:30-7:30pm)

An Evening with Billy Ray Cyrus
discussing his memoir, Hillbilly Heart
and an acoustic guitar performance

Presented in association with New Roads School
Ann and Jerry Moss Theater
Herb Alpert Educational Village
New Roads School
3131 Olympic Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 9o404

PURCHASE TICKETS
$20 General Admission
$40 Reserved Seats (Includes Cyrus’ memoir)

Billy Ray Cyrus is an award-winning country music legend whose “Achy Breaky Heart” propelled his debut album, Some Gave All, to the top of the charts for a record-breaking seventeen weeks. He’s also father of Miley Cyrus, one of Hollywood’s most successful young stars, who grew up on stage and on screen, most famously as the lead on the Disney Channel’s “Hannah Montana,” where Billy Ray Cyrus played her father.

Cyrus comes to Live Talks Los Angeles to discuss his memoir, Hillbilly Heart, and share some acoustic music.

Hillbilly Heart opens during Cyrus’s turbulent childhood in Kentucky, where he sought refuge in music and sports after his parents’ divorce. He was a troublemaker in training, known more for pulling pranks than for following in his preacher grandfather’s much-vaunted footsteps. But when he heard a voice telling him to get a left-handed guitar and start a band, this rebel found his cause. Ten years later, after tirelessly working the club circuit and knocking on the closed doors of music executives from Nashville to Los Angeles, Cyrus finally made a stratospheric breakthrough, becoming a multi-platinum selling artist and taking his rock-and-roll twist on country music to the world’s stage.

In addition to being a multi-platinum selling recording artist — whose debut album is the best-selling debut of all time for a solo male artist — he is an accomplished actor, a man of faith, a baseball sensation, a family man, a philanthropist, and a Broadway star.

Years later, Cyrus watched as his daughter Miley followed in his footsteps through her hit Disney show Hannah Montana. The success of the show brought adventures and disappointments for his family that fans have been able to decipher in his lyrics and seen play out in the press. He says his faith, family and music have helped him through his ups and downs and he candidly shares his story in his memoir.

Cyrus recently released his thirteenth studio album entitled Change My Mind and the single Hillbilly Heart releases this spring.

Sam Rubin is the entertainment reporter for the KTLA Morning News. His insights and exploration of the deeper meaning and impact of the stories within the entertainment industry generate conversation within the business, as well as outside it.

Rubin hosts the Emmy-nominated “Live from the Academy Awards,” syndicated nationally by Tribune Entertainment, “Sneaks,” a series of movie preview shows produced in conjunction with the Los Angeles Times, as well as a show for the Reelz Channel.  He is a recipient of a Golden Mike Award for Best Entertainment Reporter from the Radio & Television News Association and, as part of the KTLA Morning News team, earned an Associated Press Television-Radio Award for Best News Broadcast.

In addition to his activities at KTLA, he also reports for Tribune’s WGN-TV in Chicago. Nationally, Rubin provides reports for “On Air With Ryan Seacrest,” “Show Buzz,” and CNN. On the radio, Rubin reports for Los Angeles’ KNX-AM. Rubin was last at Live Talks Los Angeles interviewing Garry Marshall. See the video.

May 16 — Isabel Allende in conversation with Patt Morrison

Thursday, May 16, 2013
8:00pm (Reception 6:30-7:30pm)

An Evening with Isabel Allende
in conversation with Patt Morrison
discussing her novel, Maya’s Notebook

All Saints Church-Beverly Hills
504 North Camden Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

PURHASE TICKETS
$20 General Admission
$40 Includes Allende’s new book, Maya’s Notebook
$95 includes reserved seating + pre-event reception + Allende’s book

Isabel Allende comes to Live Talks Los Angeles to discuss her latest novel, Maya’s Notebook.  Her books have been translated into more than 35 languages with more than 57 million copies sold. Two of her novels were made into major motion pictures. In 2004 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Born in Peru and raised in Chile, she lives in California.

Her books include: Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, Stories of Eva Luna, The Infinite Plan, Daughter of Fortune, Portrait in Sepia, a trilogy for young readers (City of Beasts, Kingdom of the Golden Dragon, and Forest of Pygmies), Zorro, Ines of My Soul, and Island Beneath the Sea. Books of nonfiction include Aphrodite, a humorous collection of recipes and essays, and three memoirs — My Invented Country, Paula (a bestseller that documents Allende’s daughter’s illness and death, as well as her own life), and The Sum of Our Days. Vist her website.

Already an international bestseller in Europe and Latin America, Maya’s Notebook, is unlike any of Allende’s previous books, yet preserves the storytelling elements that are her trademarks: a sweeping, beautifully imagined world, with flashes of wit and mischief at every turn.

MAYA’S NOTEBOOK is a bold departure for New York Times bestselling writer Isabel Allende. She has gone in a new direction with her first novel set in the present. Resolutely contemporary in both its voice and its themes, it is the story of Maya Vidal, a 19- year-old American girl whose troubled coming of age is marked by drugs, crime, and prostitution. Using the structure and suspense of a crime novel, with a touch of magic realism, Allende chronicles the teenager’s descent after the death of her beloved grandfather, and her recovery and rebirth when she is rescued by her tough but loving Chilean grandmother and sent to Chiloé, off the coast of Chile. On that magical island, Maya begins to write down memories of her terrible experiences and slowly regains her soul.

Patt Morrison  is a longtime reporter and columnist for the Los Angeles Times and a radio host at NPR affiliate KPCC. She has won numerous awards, including a share of two Pulitzer Prizes. She is a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” and has published a bestselling book on the Los Angeles River. She is frequently interviewed about Southern California on the BBC and other television and radio programs, and was a founding host of “Life & Times” on KCET-TV, for which she won six Emmys and six Golden Mike awards. A Senior Fellow in the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA, Morrison was featured on the cover of “TALKERS Magazine” as one of the ‘’heavy hundred’’ of the nation’s talk radio hosts – a first for a public radio host.

April 17 — An Evening with Ed Moses

Wednesday, April 17, 2013  
8:00pm (Reception 6:30-7:30pm)
****NOTE: This event has been re-scheduled from March 28

An Evening with Ed Moses
in conversation with William Turner
discussing his distinguished career in art

Presented in association with New Roads School
Ann and Jerry Moss Theater
Herb Alpert Educational Village
New Roads School
3131 Olympic Blvd. , CA 9o404

PURCHASE TICKETS
$20 General Admission
$30 Reserved Seating
$95 includes reserved seating, plus pre-event reception*

In a career spanning five decades, Los Angeles artist Ed Moses has been an inventive and prolific abstract painter.  Moses, born 1926 in Long Beach, studied at UCLA, receiving B.A. and M.A. degrees.  He has remained in the Los Angeles area much of his life.  In the course of his career he has explored many styles through the process of painting.  His work ranges from compositions featuring repeated patterns, to large fields of flowing color or to hard-edged geometric forms.  For him, color is not used to describe objects, but rather to establish pure aesthetic experience.

Moses often speaks about non-objective art, and insists that he has no pre-conceived image or idea.  He has stated, “I don’t believe in change.  I believe in mutation, and every painting I make comes out of the painting that preceded it.  What I want to do is hang out with the materials until something appears that I had nothing to do with.”

Ed Moses has been exhibiting since 1949, and was part of the original group of artists from the Ferus Gallery in 1957.  His paintings were documented in a major retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1996.  The Fellows of Contemporary Art sponsored a drawing retrospective for Moses in 1976.

Works by Moses are included in museum collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Menil Foundation, Museum of Modern Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

William Turner has owned the William Turner Gallery since 1991. Located in Santa Monica, the gallery specializes in representing contemporary California artists. Mr. Turner serves on the California Arts Council and was reappointed by Governor Brown in 2011. Mr. Turner is also an attorney and serves on the Board of the California Lawyers for the Arts, where he has been an advocate and lecturer concerning issues of importance to artists. Since 1994 Mr. Turner conducted interviews with major LA artists for Venice Magazine His interviews can be found here.

* Proceeds from tickets to the reception support the upcoming Live Talks Los Angeles emerging voices/authors series of events that commence in 2013.

Ann and Jerry Moss Theater
Herb Alpert Educational Village
New Roads School
3131 Olympic Blvd. , CA 9o404

February 27 — Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

Wednesday, February 27, 2013
8:00pm (Reception 6:30-7:30pm)

Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman
in conversation with David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times columnist
On the Science of Winning and Losing

Presented in association with New Roads School
Ann and Jerry Moss Theater
Herb Alpert Educational Village
New Roads School
3131 Olympic Blvd. , CA 9o404

PURCHASE TICKETS

$20, $40 includes Bronson and Merryman’s book,
$95 includes the book + pre-event reception*

It’s a constant drumbeat: we must all be more competitive.  But no one’s really given us an understanding of how to compete in our increasingly cutthroat world.  Based on cutting edge science and told through stories of pilot flight training, NASCAR brawls, political tryouts, ballroom dancing, CIA spies, Wall Street, and much more, TOP DOG: The Science of Winning and Losing offers counterintuitive, game-changing insights into the nature of competition while exploring the hidden factors at the core of every great triumph—and every tragic failure.

What are the differences between a winning and losing performance?  Why are we able to rise to the challenge one day, but wilt from it the next?  Can we in fact become better competitors? In their new book, bestselling authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman tackle a subject we all face every day—in the office, in school, on the playing field, at home—revealing how to tip the odds of success in your favor.

By looking at competition through a multidisciplinary lens that integrates wisdom from politics, finance, genetics, neuroscience, military psychology, sports, gender studies, economics, education, and more, Bronson and Merryman reveal the hidden factors that fuel our determination, passion, and drive to compete and explore how we can harness the forces of competition to succeed.   We all compete every day and although we may be wired differently, we can all win.  What you think you know about rivalry and success is wrong; the authors promise that after hearing them speak, you’ll never watch a football game, vote in an election, take a test or make a presentation to your boss the same way again.

Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman are the authors of the New York Times bestseller NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children.  Additionally, they’ve written for Newsweek, New York, the Guardian, and numerous other publications.  For their reporting, Bronson and Merryman have won nine national awards, including PEN Center USA Literary Award for Journalism; the American Association for the Advancement for Science (AAAS) Award for Science Journalism; an “Audie” from the Audio Publishers Association; and two Clarion Awards.

Prior to collaborating with Merryman, Bronson authored five books, including the #1 New York Timesbestseller What Should I Do with My Life? Merryman has also written for Time, the Washington Post, and the Daily Beast.  Bronson lives in San Francisco with his wife and their two children; he is a founder of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto and serves as volunteer president of the San Francisco Vikings Youth Soccer League.  Merryman lives in Los Angeles; an attorney, she previously served in the Clinton administration and currently volunteers as the head of a small inner-city tutoring program.

David Lazarus is an award-winning business columnist for the Los Angeles Times, focusing on consumer affairs. He also appears daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5, provides regular commentary for American Public Media’s Marketplace programs and is a frequent guest host on KPCC

He previously worked as a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and has written for a variety of news services and magazines, including Fortune, Newsweek and National Geographic. He is the author of two books about Japan.

PURCHASE TICKETS

* Proceeds from tickets to the reception support the upcoming Live Talks Los Angeles emerging voices/authors series of events that commence in 2013.

$20, $40 includes Bronson and Merryman’s book,
$95 includes pre-event reception (6:00-7:00pm) plus book

Ann and Jerry Moss Theater
Herb Alpert Educational Village
New Roads School
3131 Olympic Blvd. , CA 9o404