Romance, Mystery--It’s All at the Festival of Books

The way to have a happy ending in Los Angeles is for the place itself to be enough. It’s not New York--but that’s the point. . . . We’ve given the world its dreams, beauty and romance.

--Local writer Eve Babitz, from the introduction to “Los Angeles Stories.”

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We also buy books. More than any other metropolitan market in the country. But you wouldn’t know it from the East Coast laugh track that colors America’s literary debate.

For years, the literati have sneered at Southern California, dismissing the place as a brain-dead tanning salon with beauty--not books--on its mind. Well, get a clue, New York.

According to publishers’ statistics, Los Angeles County readers spent $550,428,036 on books in 1995, some $50 million more than the Big Apple. It’s time to drop the La-La jokes once and for all, and this weekend’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books--a two-day event at UCLA--is a good way to begin. It will be the largest such book event ever held in Southern California.

Like Manhattanites, who have long enjoyed an annual New York Is Book Country festival, Southland residents will be able to participate in a festival filled with famous authors, panel discussions, children’s events and food celebrating the region’s culinary diversity. They’ll be invited to check out new titles and--perhaps most important of all--they’ll have a chance to mingle with kindred spirits.

Indeed, the Festival of Books acknowledges something that publishers and merchants have known for years: Literacy is alive and well west of the Mississippi. A 1994 survey by the American Booksellers Assn. showed that readers in western states were more interested in getting books as presents than in any other section of the country.

Asked what titles they enjoyed, customers in Los Angeles and other western communities led the nation in their preferences for science fiction and fantasy tales. But hold the cliche: These same readers also led the United States in their appreciation of cultural and classic literature.

“There’s a tremendous vitality in the Los Angeles book scene and publishers are recognizing this more and more,” says Michelle Abbrecht, a Random House vice president for special marketing. “That’s why the [Festival of Books] is so important . . . it’s long overdue.”

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The Los Angeles event will be held Saturday and Sunday at Dickson Plaza. Dedicated to the joys of books and reading, the festival will offer a greater variety of panels than its New York counterpart and, beyond a $5 parking fee in UCLA lots, every event is gratis.

So where do you start in a festival that includes writers such as Amy Tan, Dean Koontz, Judith Krantz, Richard Reeves, Dennis Miller, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Joseph Wambaugh, Abigail Van Buren, A. Scott Berg, Ray Bradbury, Carolyn See, E. Lynn Harris and others?

Where do you go first in a celebration of culture ranging from black mystery writers and the craft of modern biography to the latest trends in romance fiction and alternative medicine? There’s no easy solution, and that’s because the Festival of Books--like the Southern California reading market itself--is rich in literary diversity and competing tastes.

The event is taking place amid an unprecedented battle for book business in Los Angeles and the nation as a whole. In the last five years, Southern California has been inundated with superstores run by Barnes and Noble, Borders, Crown and other firms. They’ve tried to lure customers with deep discount prices and large inventories; they’ve also tried to one-up each other--and their independent competitors--with espresso bars, free music recitals, computer classes, comfortable reading rooms, child-care programs and other amenities.

Meanwhile, independents have fought back, offering more personalized and friendly service, and targeting specialized customers. Although superstores have grabbed a huge share of the market nationwide, the book wars continue. And in the end, it will be the readers who decide where to spend their time and money.

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In that spirit, the UCLA event offers a book lover nothing but choice.

For mystery buffs, a 1:30 p.m. Saturday panel on Mystere Noir: Black Mystery Writers Come of Age celebrates one of the fastest-growing genres. Moderated by Paula Woods, who has written on the phenomenon, the group includes Eleanor Taylor Bland (“Slow Burn” and “Dead Time”), Robert O. Greer (“The Devil’s Hatband”), Gar Anthony Haywood (“Bad News Travels Fast”), Gary Phillips (“Perdition”) and Valerie Wilson Wesley (“Devil’s Gonna Get Him”).

Also Saturday, a 3 p.m. panel will focus on The Power of Love: Romance Writers in the Spotlight. Some pundits may scoff at the romance novel, but loyal readers spend an annual $885 million on such books, making this far and away the most popular genre in the literary marketplace. In the past 10 years, romance fiction has expanded to include ethnic and multicultural characters, making it more inclusive a read than ever.

The book panel will be moderated by Janis Reams Hudson, who is the president of Romance Writers of America and author of “Apache Flame,” and it includes Catherine Coulter (“The Cove,” “The Valentine Legacy” and “Rosehaven”), Jennifer Blake (“Silver Tongued Devil”), Anita Richmond Bunkley (“Starlight Passage”) and Janet Dailey (“Notorious”).

Celebrity autobiographies have always been bestsellers, and in recent years titles by TV comics have done extremely well. During a Saturday, 4 p.m., panel--From Being Funny to Writing Funny--readers can get up close and personal with some of America’s most amusing writers.

Moderated by Rob Weisbach, the wunderkind William Morrow editor who edited best-selling autobiographical titles by the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres and Paul Reiser, the panel includes Margo Kaufman (“This Damn House: My Subcontract With America”), Garry Marshall (“Wake Me When It’s Funny”) and Dennis Miller (“The Rants”).

Speaking of comedy, the Hollywood Novel has long been a source of hilarity, and the genre gets a close look in a 4 p.m. Sunday panel moderated by local writer Carolyn See. See, who did a doctoral dissertation on such writing, is most recently the author of “Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America.” The panelists include Roger Director (“A Place to Fall”), David Freeman (“A Hollywood Education”) and Peter Lefcourt (“The Deal,” “The Dreyfus Affair” and “Di and I”).

Current events drive nonfiction publishing more than ever, and as the 1996 presidential election kicks into high gear, a special panel at noon Saturday will focus on Power in America: Can the Establishment Hold? Moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer (“Talking Tunafish, Thinking Death”), the group of authors includes L.A. Weekly Editor Harold Meyerson (“The Disorganization of America”); Victor Navasky, publisher of the Nation; and former House Speaker Jim Wright, whose just-published political memoir is “The Balance of Power.”

Biographies also dominate nonfiction lists, and modern authors are forever redefining the form. In Whose Life Is It, Anyway? The Art and Craft of Biography--scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 p.m.--audience members will get an earful from moderator A. Scott Berg (“Max Perkins: Editor of Genius” and “Goldwyn”), along with panelists Noel Riley Fitch (“Anais: The Erotic Life of Anais Nin”), Bernice Kert (“Abbey Aldrich Rockefeller”), Hannah Pakula (“An Uncommon Woman”) and Richard Reeves (“Kennedy: Profile in Power”).

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Beyond these panels, there will be forums on new Asian writers, Virtues and Values, getting your book published, Alternative Medicine, Multicultural Etiquette, Page to Screen, Publishing on the Internet, young adult fiction, Jane Austen, California gardening books, science fiction, Native American writers, Women and the Inner Life, the new Latin American literature, Los Angeles: Doom City or Dream City? poetry, Lesbians and Gays at the Millennium, Southern California Mystery Writing, travel books, food writing, political commentary and cartoons, the art of the memoir, Jewish women’s literature, criminal justice, cutting edge fiction and crime writing.

When it’s over, you can rush out to the beach or back to the pool and catch a few final rays. No need to feel guilty anymore, Los Angeles. Especially when it comes to books.

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The Essentials

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, sponsored by The Times and Target, along with support from Random House, WH Smith, Coca-Cola, NBC4, KIIS-FM (102.7), KTWV-FM (94.7) and KCRW-FM (89.9), will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Dickson Plaza, UCLA, Westwood. Admission is free; parking in UCLA lots is $5. There is free parking at the Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, and free DASH shuttle service from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. both days.