Children’s/Family Entertainment, Cooking Demonstrations, Poetry Readings Set For Eighth Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

NOTE TO EDITORS – New credential policies have been established for working media interested in covering the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. They are posted in the Media Center section at https://www.latimes.com/festivalofbooks.

LOS ANGELES, April 22, 2003 --The eighth annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books will feature seven stages offering a variety of entertainment, including children’s television characters, storytelling by authors, actors and television personalities, poetry readings by some of the most popular poets in the country, cooking demonstrations, classical theater, and dance and musical performances.

More than 325 of the country’s best-selling authors are scheduled to participate in this year’s festival, which will be held from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, and 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 27.

Stage performances are free and do not require tickets. On-campus parking is $7.The official Los Angeles Times Festival of Books event program, which was published in the April 20 edition of The Times, provides detailed speaker and event information on all festival activities. Event information is also available online at www.latimes.com/festivalofbooks or by calling 1-800-LA TIMES, ext. 7BOOK.

The Festival of Books – one of the nation’s premier public literary festivals – was created in 1996 by The Times to promote literacy, celebrate the written word and bring together those who create books with the people who love to read them. It is presented in association with UCLA.

Barnes & Noble Stage (author discussion)

Saturday – Steve Hodel (“Black Dahlia Avenger”), Suzan Lori Parks (“Getting Mother’s Body”), Jacquelyn Mitchard (“Twelve Times Blessed”), John Lithgow (“Micawber”), Nicholas Sparks (“The Guardian”), Jorge Ramos (“No Borders: A Journalist’s Search for Home”), Steven Cojocaru (“Red Carpet Diaries: Confessions of a Glamour Boy”), and “Everyone Loves Raymond” television series co-stars Patricia Heaton (“Motherhood and Hollywood”) with Doris Roberts (“Are You Hungry Dear”).

Sunday – Jane Smiley (“Good Faith”) in conversation with Michael Silverblatt, host of KCRW-FM’s “Bookworm”; Robert Crais (“The Last Detective”), Po Bronson (“What Should I do with my Life”), Deepak Chopra (“Golf for Enlightenment: The Seven Lessons for the Game of Life”), James Patterson (“The Jester”), and Jonathan Kellerman (“A Cold Heart”) in conversation with Faye Kellerman (“Stone Kiss”). Lou Reed will read from “The Raven: Special Edition.”

Cooking Stage

Saturday – Television and radio show hosts and restaurateurs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger (“Cooking with Too Hot Tamales,” “Mexican Food for Dummies”); Dr. Howard Shapiro (“Dr Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss Cookbook”); Joyce White, contributing editor, Heart & Soul magazine and author (“Brown Sugar,” “Soul Food”); renowned French chef Jean Francois Meteigner (“Cuisine Naturelle: French Classics Redefined”); and chef and restaurateur Alice Tapp (“Tamales 101”).

Sunday – BBC-TV/Style Network show host Nigella Lawson (“Nigella Bites,” “How to be a Domestic Goddess”) in conversation with Barbara Fairchild, editor-in-chief, Bon Appetit magazine; Food Network show host Tyler Florence (“Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen”); and chef and restaurateur Joachim Splichal (“Patina Cookbook”).

An Iron Chef-style grilling competition, “Ready, Set, Grill,” will pit Rick Browne, host of the television series, “Barbecue America,” and author (“Grilling America”), against Norman Kolpas, cookbook author (“The Quick Grill Artist”). Gayle Anderson of KTLA’s Morning News will emcee the cook-off.

ETC. Stage (variety)

Saturday – Best-selling authors Dave Barry, Amy Tan and Scott Turow will be joined by Matt Groening, creator of the “Simpsons” television cartoon series, and Roger McGuinn, former member and founder of The Byrds, for a special concert appearance as The Rock Bottom Remainders. The rock band will perform on Saturday from 4-6 p.m. on the ETC. Stage.

Billed as the “literary world’s answer to the Rolling Stones,” the Rock Bottom Remainders also features the musical talents of other top writers including Mitch Albom, Kathi Goldmark, Greg Iles, Stephen King and Ridley Pearson.

The concert is the last stop on the group’s first West Coast tour.

Kitty Felde will host a special live broadcast of KPCC-FM’s “Book Club of the Air for Young Adults” featuring M.T. Anderson’s book, “Feed.” The Laguna Playhouse will perform “By the Great Horn Spoon.”

Entertainment includes offbeat poetry readings by LitRave, high-energy music by the ensemble, Umbalaya, and a percussion performance by Obliteration.

Sunday – Marcos Villatoro will host a live broadcast of KPFK-FM’s “Shelflife,” in conversation with Cristina Garcia, author (“Monkey Hunting”) and editor of “Cubanismo!: An Anthology of Contemporary Cuban Literature.” PEN Center USA will present a series of readings by “PEN in the Classroom” students and “Emerging Voices” fellows.

Entertainment includes Afro-Cuban Latin jazz by Susie Hansen’s Latin Band; traditional Filipino dance and music by the Kayamanan Ng Lahi Ensemble; classic guitar performance by The Duo; music and dance by L.A. Nation; and Native American music and poetry by John Trudell.

Great Works Stage (continuous classics readings)

The Great Works Stage is a new venue for the festival and will feature continuous readings from “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee.

Saturday – Readings of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” by Peter Cameron, Thomas Curwen, Michael Datcher, Rikki Ducornet, Michael Eric Dyson, Yxta Maya Murray, Gina Nahai, Arthur Phillips, James Ragan, April Smith, T.J. Stiles and Susan Straight.

Sunday – Readings of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Jenoyne Adams, Marvin Bell, James Carlos Blake, Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla, Tod Goldberg, Orli Low, Nick Owchar, T. Jefferson Parker and Mary Rakow.

Poetry Stage (readings)

Saturday – Chris Abani (“Daphne’s Lot”), Kim Addonizio (“ Dorothy Parker’s Elbow”), Gioconda Belli (“The Country under My Skin”), Sandra Cisneros (“Caramelo”), Carolyn Forche (“Blue Hour”), Forrest Gander (“Torn Awake”), Judith Hall (“The Promised Folly”), Terrance Hayes (“Hip Logic”), Juan Felipe Herrera (“Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler”), John Koethe (“North Point North”), Harryette Mullen (“Baby Blues”), James Ragan (“The Talking Hours”), Mary Rakow (“The Memory Room”), David St. John (“Prism”), Charles Harper Webb (“Stand Up Poetry”), C.K. Williams (“Misgivings: My Mother, My Father, Myself”).

Sunday – Jenoyne Adams (“Resurrecting Mingus”), Marvin Bell (“Nightworks”), Michael Datcher (“Bum Rush the Page”), Stuart Dischell (“Dig Safe”), B.H. Fairchild (“Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest”), Eloise Klein Healy (“Passing”), Edward Hirsch (“Lay Back the Darkness”), Philip Levine (“So Ask”), Gerald Locklin (“Life Force Poems”), Carol Muske-Dukes (“Married to the Icepick Killer”), J.D. McClatchy (“Hazmat”), Tom Sleigh (“Far Side of the Earth”), Timothy Steele (“All the Fun’s in How You Say a Thing”) and Quincy Troup (“Transcircularities”).

Reading by 9 Storytelling Stage

Saturday – Readings by California First Lady Sharon Davis (“The Adventures of Capitol Kitty”); Keiko Agena of the WB Network’s television series, “Gilmore Girls;” KTLA Morning News on-air personalities Sam Rubin and Eric Spillman; Juan Felipe Herrera (“Grandma and Me at the Flea”); Jim Walkow (“The Zabbit”), Susan Yost-Filgate and Leonard Filgate (“Rip Squeak and Friends”); and Kathleen Krull (“Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez”).

Both Days – Entertainment will include “Beethoven’s Wig,” zany sing-along symphonies, a “Puppet People” performance of “The Three Little Pigs;” and storytelling theater by Jim Weiss of Greathall Productions and bilingual author, singer and songwriter Jose-Luis Orozco.

Sunday--Readings by WB Network’s Sara Paxton and Julio Oscar Mechoso from the television series, “Greetings from Tucson;” Chris Pratt from WB Network’s “Everwood;” Alan Katz and David Catrow (“Silly Dilly Songs”); Jim Walkow (“The Zabbit”); and Susan Yost-Filgate and Leonard Filgate (“Rip Squeak and Friends”).

Entertainment will include a multicultural literacy program presented by the Los Angeles Children’s Museum Reader’s Theatre Project and storytelling theater by Flights of Fantasy.

Target Reading Chair Stage (children/family entertainment)

Both days – PBS Kids’ “Share a Story,” featuring actor LeVar Burton, characters from the PBS children’s television programs “Between the Lions” and “Sesame Street;” song and dance performances by the popular children’s television character, Barney; “Schoolhouse Rock Unplugged,” an educational musical program based on the popular children’s television series; and readings and autographs by David Kirk (“Miss Spider,” “Sunny Patch Farm”).

Saturday – Readings and autographs by R.L. Stine (“Beware!” and “Goosebumps” series), Sandra Boyton (“ Philadelphia Chickens”) and Todd Parr (“The Mommy Book,” “The Daddy Book”).

Sunday – Readings by Mark Teague (“How do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon”) and Christopher Paul Curtis (“Bud, Not Buddy”).

Festival of Books Sponsors

Presenting sponsors of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books are Barnes & Noble and Target. Major sponsors are Borders and Ticketmaster. Contributing sponsors are Crown Books, HBO Films, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Odwalla and Starbucks Coffee.

Media sponsors are KTLA 5, ESPN Radio AM (710), KABC AM (790), KCRW FM (89.9), KFWB AM (980), KKJZ FM (88.1), K-MOZART FM (105.1), KPCC FM (89.3), KPFK FM (90.7), K-SURF AM (1260), Radio Disney AM (1110) and Los Angeles Magazine.

The Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing company, is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country and the winner of 30 Pulitzer Prizes, including three this year in national reporting, feature writing and feature photography. The Times publishes four daily regional editions covering the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Orange and Ventura counties and the San Fernando Valley, as well as a National edition.