ALOUD knows what you’ll be doing this summer: joining us at the Central Library! With ten free programs in June and July featuring musicians, poets, historians, filmmakers, and authors, this season promises something for everyone. Read on for more information and visit www.lfla.dev/aloud to reserve your tickets.

Literature: Adichie, Beckett, Kirsch:

To kick off the season, ALOUD welcomes acclaimed Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to discuss Americanah: A Novel.

Samuel Beckett publisher Jeannette Seaver and actor Alan Mandell team up to read the playwright’s work and discuss what it was like to publish, collaborate with, and know the genius himself.

Lawyer, historian and bestselling author Jonathan Kirsch to discuss his latest book, The Short, Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan: A Boy Avenger, a Nazi Diplomat, and a Murder in Paris.

Spotlight on Los Angeles:

Oscar-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock (Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision) and L.A.’s own Father Gregory “G-Dog” Boyle join the audience for a Q & A following the ALOUD screening of Mock’s new documentary, G-DOG: The Movie. The film, which makes its U.S. debut in June at the Los Angeles Film Festival, tells the story of the charismatic visionary who launched Homeboy Industries, the largest, most successful gang intervention and rehab program in the country.

In this centennial year of the California aqueduct, ALOUD is proud to host a discussion of the 1928 St. Francis Dam collapse and its enduring catastrophic and cultural significance, with Bay area author Rebecca Solnit, dam historian Donald C. Jackson, and scholar of the American West, Bill Deverell.

An elite architectural panel, including Alan Hess, Jocelyn Gibbs, Christopher Hawthorne, and Mia Lehrer attempt to answer the question, “What might our city look like if the master plans of prominent architects had been brought to fruition?” Co-presented with the A+D Architecture and Design Museum > Los Angeles.

Iconic Poetry:

Teacher, activist, and California Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera visits ALOUD for a reading of his newest book, Senegal Taxi, and invites two young poetic voices to share the stage with him in discussion

A partnership with the Poetry Society of America’s 2013 national series “Yet Do I Marvel: Black Iconic Poets of the 20th Century” invites distinguished poets Wanda Coleman, Major Jackson, and Brighde Mullins to each celebrate the life and work of a major 20th century figure—James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen, and Gwendolyn Brooks— followed by a conversation with Alice Quinn, Executive Director of the Poetry Society of America.

Our City, Our Music:

ALOUD is proud to host the first hometown tribute to the late great trumpeter Don Cherry this summer. Featuring musicians (and Cherry’s children) David Ornette Cherry and Jan Cherry alongside David’s group, Organic Roots, the evening of performance and conversation will pay homage to the beloved jazz and world music pioneer, whose very life was its own free-flowing improvisation.

To celebrate the recently published Songs in the Key of Los Angeles, fruit of the Library Foundation’s collaboration with USC Professor Josh Kun to mine the Los Angeles Public Library’s rich sheet music collection, Kun joins GRAMMY-winning Los Angeles band Quetzal for a rare evening of L.A. music history.

Look for the full season online or pick up a copy of our bright summer postcard at a library near you.