Mona Simpson understands the epic tale within every life. She explains the personal roots of “Commitment,” about children whose mother is institutionalized.

From a bestselling migration memoir to an acclaimed novel of suburbia, political poetry and essays and on and on, Salvadoran writers are having a big moment.

Bestsellers List Sunday, March 19

The Los Angeles Times has announced the lineup for this year’s Festival of Books. See which authors are among the 500-plus set to participate

From their bookish meet-cute to their L.A. years, married translators Boris Dralyuk and Jenny Croft discuss how they became finalists for the same award.

In ‘The Critic’s Daughter,’ Priscilla Gilman writes about her complex relationship with her father, theater critic and Yale professor Richard Gilman.

In ‘Take What You Need,’ novelist Idra Novey follows a woman returning to her small town to mourn her stepmother — and confront the bigotry she’d fled.

In “Leon Russell,” Bill Janovitz tracks a rocker who played with Jagger and Dylan, turned Willie Nelson into a hippie, made six gold records and faded away.

Nobel winner Kenzaburo Oe, whose novels were built from memories of Japan’s postwar occupation and from being the parent of a disabled son, has died.

Sci-fi author Annalee Newitz brings “The Terraformers” to the L.A. Times Book Club on March 28

Novelist Cathleen Schine explains why ‘Künstlers in Paradise’ focuses on those who’ve found refuge in L.A. — first from the Nazis and then from Covid.

Novelist and science journalist Annalee Newitz brings ‘The Terraformers’ to the L.A. Times Book Club March 28.