Skylight Books Podcast Series

Heather Havrilesky, "WHAT IF THIS WERE ENOUGH?" w/ Ann Friedman

17 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Why do our modern lives feel more difficult despite the world’s promises of limitless opportunity? When things go wrong, why do we always blame ours...

Anne-Marie Kinney, "COLDWATER CANYON" w/ Anthony Miller

16 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Shep has been dealt a bad hand in life. Halfheartedly raised by a cold grandmother and chronically ill following his deployment in Desert Storm, he se...

LAMBDA Litfest: "Queer Writing"

15 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Young queer writers yearn for queer teachers for a variety of reasons: to be seen and acknowledged, to find role models, to work in spaces that includ...

LAMBDA Litfest: "Trumpocalypse"

14 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Four writers and a renowned book editor discuss the role of books and those who write them in such desperate times as these. Is it worth writing books...

Juan Gabriel Vasquez, "THE SHAPE OF THE RUINS"

13 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Shape of the Ruins is Juan Gabriel Vásquez’s highly anticipated, deeply personal masterpiece that is being heralded as the most ambitious nove...

Diana Arterian and Allie Rowbottom

12 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Playing Monster :: Seiche is a book-length poem by Diana Arterian that incessantly dodges between two narratives: the speaker's childhood experience...

Bonnie Chau, "ALL ROADS LEAD TO BLOOD"

11 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Unflinching and compelling portrayals of desire fill All Roads Lead to Blood, an award-winning story collection by Bonnie Chau. Chau explores the liv...

Grady Chambers, "NORTH AMERICAN STADIUMS" w/ Elizabeth Metzger

10 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Max Ritvo Poetry Prize winner Grady Chambers brings us North American Stadiums, an assured debut collection about grace—the places we search for it...

Jessica Hopper, "NIGHT MOVES" w/ Josh Kun

09 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Written in taut, mesmerizing, often hilarious scenes drawn from 2004 through 2009, Night Moves captures the fierce friendships and small moments tha...

Jeanne McCulloch, "ALL HAPPY FAMILIES" w/ Laurie Winer

08 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A lifetime in the making, All Happy Families is Jeanne McCulloch’s entry into the other side of the literary process. As a former managing editor ...

Yumi Sakugawa, "FASHION FORECAST"

07 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Yumi Sakugawa explores the possibilities of a not-so-distant future where fashion can be intergenerational, Asian American, divine feminine, enviro...

Aminder Dhaliwal, "WOMAN WORLD" W/ Megan Nicole Dong

26 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Join internet sensation and Disney TV animator Aminder Dhaliwal as she launches her debut graphic novel Woman World. The book, first serialized on In...

Katya Apekina, "THE DEEPER THE WATER THE UGLIER THE FISH" w/ Michelle Huneven

25 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish is a bold epistolary novel tracking two teenage girls in the wake of their mother’s failed suicide attemp...

Rebecca Serle, "THE DINNER LIST" w/ Gabrielle Zevin

24 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Pick five people - dead or alive - to have dinner with for just one night. For Sabrina Nielsen, the five people she chose years ago for such a game j...

Zenobia Neil, "THE JINNI'S LAST WISH"

18 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In Zenobia Neil's The Jinni's Last Wish, a eunuch in the Ottoman Imperial Harem has already lost his home, his freedom, and his manhood. His only wi...

Gabriella Herstick, "INNER WITCH"

18 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This isn’t your great-great-great-great grandmother’s guide to witchcraft. Inner Witch: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Craft, by Nylon’s Ask ...

Clementine Ford, "FIGHT LIKE A GIRL" w/ Alexandra Tweten

17 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Through a mixture of memoir, opinion and investigative journalism, Clementine Ford exposes just how unequal the world continues to be for women. An i...

Claudia Dey, "HEARTBREAKER"

16 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Pony Darlene Fontaine is 15 years old, on the phone with her best friend watching Teen Psychic when her mother, Billie Jean Fontaine, leaves her bed...

Elaine Mokhtefi, "THIRD WORLD CAPITAL"

13 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Following the Algerian war for independence and the defeat of France in 1962, Algiers became the liberation capital of the Third World. Here, Elaine M...

Leah Dieterich, "VANISHING TWINS"

12 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

  “It’s like we’re the same person. We finish each other’s sentences. This is what we’ve been taught to desire and expect of love. But th...

Ben Marcus, "NOTES FROM THE FOG"

11 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

With the thirteen transfixing stories of Notes From the Fog, Ben Marcus gives us timely dystopian visions of alienation in a modern world--cosmicall...

David Ulin, "THE LOST ART OF READING"

10 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The new introduction and afterword bring fresh relevance to this insightful rumination on the act of reading--as a path to critical thinking, individu...

Thomas Page McBee, "AMATEUR" w/ Ann Friedman

09 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man, Thomas Page McBee, the first transgender man to ever box in Madison Square Garden, explores his rela...

Adam Cayton-Holland, "TRAGEDY PLUS TIME"

08 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

From Adam Cayton-Holland, one of Variety’s “10 Comics to Watch,” comes a “heartfelt and brilliant” (Patton Oswalt) memoir—Tragedy Plus Ti...

Laura van den Berg, "THE THIRD HOTEL" w/ Aja Gabel

07 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In Havana, Cuba, a widow tries to come to terms with her husband’s death—and the truth about their marriage—in Laura van den Berg’s surreal,...

Katie Ford, "IF YOU HAVE TO GO"

06 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The poems in Katie Ford’s fourth collection implore their audience—the divine and the human—for attention, for revelation, and, perhaps above al...

Lisa Hannawalt, "COYOTE DOGGIRL" w/ Molly Lambert

05 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

BoJack Horseman producer / production designer and award-winning cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt presents Coyote Doggirl. The graphic novel is a playful homa...

Genevieve Hudson, "PRETEND WE LIVE HERE" w/ Henry Hoke and Myriam Gurba

05 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Future Tense Books is thrilled to be publishing Pretend We Live Here by international writer Genevieve Hudson. In this debut collection of stories, ...

Fatimah Asghar, "IF THEY COME FOR US" w/ Morgan Parker and Sam Bailey

04 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Orphaned as a child, Fatimah Asghar grapples with coming of age and navigating questions of sexuality and race without the guidance of a mother or fat...

Virgie Tovar, "YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN FAT" w/ Sarai Walker

03 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A manifesto for the fat revolution: You Have the Right to Remain Fat. Growing up as a fat girl, Virgie Tovar believed that her body was something to ...

Lisa Locascio, "OPEN ME" w/ Karolina Waclawiak

03 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Roxana Olsen has always dreamed of going to Paris, and after high school graduation finally plans to travel there on a study abroad program—a welcom...

Joshua Mattson, "A SHORT FILM ABOUT DISAPPOINTMENT"

02 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Set in a wildly imaginative and uncannily familiar world of nanny states and extreme rationing, Safe Zones and New Koreas, A Short Film About Disappo...

Jos Charles, "FEELD"

02 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

"i care so much abot the whord i cant reed." In feeld, Jos Charles stakes her claim on the language available to speak about trans experience, reckon...

Onnesha Rouychouduri, "THE MARGINALIZED MAJORITY" w/ Jenny Yang

01 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Marginalized Majority is an empowering take on living in the United States under the Trump administration, recounting each epic moment in the la...

R.O. Kwon, "THE INCENDIARIES" w/ Jade Chang

01 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Phoebe Lin and Will Kendall meet their first month at prestigious Edwards University. Phoebe is a glamorous girl who doesn't tell anyone she blames he...

Derek Milman, "SCREAM ALL NIGHT" w/ Naomi Grossman

31 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Dario Heyward knows one thing: He’s never going back to Moldavia Studios, the iconic castle that served as the set, studio, and home to the cast and...

Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl, "RAD GIRLS CAN"

31 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In Rad Girls Can, you'll learn about a diverse group of young women who are living rad lives, whether excelling in male-dominated sports like boxing,...

Megan Abbott, "GIVE ME YOUR HAND" w/ Tom Perrotta

30 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kit Owens harbored only modest ambitions for herself when the mysterious Diane Fleming appeared in her high school chemistry class. But Diane's academ...

Marina Shifrin, "30 BEFORE 30"

30 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Something was nagging Marina Shifrin. As a freshly minted adult with student loan payments, a barely hospitable New York apartment, a “real” job s...

Laurie Kilmartin, "DEAD PEOPLE SUCK"

29 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When stand-up comedian Laurie Kilmartin learned her dad was dying, she responded in the only way she knew how: with humor. In 2014, she made headlin...

Chelsea Hodson, "TONIGHT I'M SOMEONE ELSE"

29 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

From graffiti gangs and Grand Theft Auto to sugar daddies, Schopenhauer, and a deadly game of Russian roulette, Chelsea Hodson probes her own desires ...

Ted Scheinman, "CAMP AUSTEN"

28 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In a haze of morning crumpets and restrictive tights, Ted Scheinman delivers a hilarious and poignant survey of one of the most enduring and passionat...

Maggie Nelson, "SOMETHING NICE, THEN HOLES" w/ Ali Liebegegott

28 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

These days / the world seems to split up / into those who need to dredge / and those who shrug their shoulders / and say, It’s just something / that...

George Rodriguez, "DOUBLE VISION" w/ Josh Kun

27 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Culled from a sprawling personal and professional archive of thousands, Double Vision marks the first time that George Rodriguez’s two lives, his c...

"THE ANNOTATED BIG SLEEP" w/ Annotators

27 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A masterpiece of noir, Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep helped to define a genre and remains one of the most celebrated and stylish novels of the ...

Glynnis MacNicol, "NO ONE TELLS YOU THIS" w/ Ann Friedman

26 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Over the course of her fortieth year, which this memoir chronicles, Glynnis MacNicol embarks on a revealing journey of self-discovery that continually...

James Pogue, "CHOSEN COUNTRY" w/ David Garrett Byars

26 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In a remote corner of Oregon, James Pogue found himself at the heart of a rebellion. Granted unmatched access by Ammon Bundy to the armed occupation o...

Leslie Schwartz, "THE LOST CHAPTERS" w/ Bernadette Murphy

25 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 2014, Leslie Schwartz was sentenced to 90 days in Los Angeles County Jail for a DUI and battery of an officer. She served her time at the tail end ...

Amber Tamblyn, "ANY MAN" w/ Janet Fitch

24 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ambler Tamblyn's Any Man follows six men: an English teacher, an unsuccessful standup comedian, a bi-racial web designer; a high school student, an ...

Zoé Samudzi, "BLACK AS RESISTANCE"

23 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Over the course of United States history, resistance against oppression and the gains made from various struggles for everyone's equality have often b...

Ottessa Moshfegh, "MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION"

21 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

To say Ottessa Moshfegh's star is on the rise is an understatement—and not quite accurate. She is most definitely already in the constellation. My...

Jim Pascoe and Heidi Arnhold, "COTTONS" w/ Cecil Castellucci

21 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

To her neighbors in the Vale of Industry, Bridgebelle is an ordinary rabbit. All day long, she toils at the carrot factory. After a hard day, she retu...

Paddy Hirsch, "THE DEVIL'S HALF MILE"

20 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Paddy Hirsch began researching the history of the stock market and beginnings of its regulation—but ended up swept into the fascinating time period ...

Nick Dybek, "THE VERDUN AFFAIR" w/ Julia Fierro

20 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A sweeping, romantic, and profoundly moving novel, set in Europe in the aftermath of World War I and Los Angeles in the 1950s, about a lonely young ma...

Glen David Gold, "I WILL BE COMPLETE"

19 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Glen David Gold was raised rich, briefly, in southern California at the end of the go-go 1960s. But his father's fortune disappears, his parents divor...

Lydia Millet, "FIGHT NO MORE" w/ Zandy Hartig

19 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In her first story collection since Love in Infant Monkeys, which became a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Lydia Millet explores what it means to be home. N...

Pat Morrison, "DON'T STOP THE PRESSES!"

14 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Real News on real paper. Newspapers—a free press—were the cornerstone of the Founding Fathers’ working model of democracy. And they remain so. W...

Bryan Lee O'Malley and Leslie Hung, "SNOTGIRL"

14 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Fashion! Murder! Allergies?! Snotgirl, the acclaimed comic book and graphic novel series from co-creators Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim) and accl...

Clarice Lispector's "THE CHANDELIER" w/ Magdalena Edwards

13 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Fresh from the enormous success of her debut novel Near to the Wild Heart, Clarice Lispector let loose something stormier with The Chandelier. In ...

Porochista Khakpour, "SICK"

13 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sick is Porochista Khakpour’s arduous, emotional journey—as a woman, a writer, and a lifelong sufferer of undiagnosed health problems—through t...

"SANTA CRUZ NOIR" Contributors

12 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct n...

PEN AMERICA MEET AND GREET

05 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

PEN America presents the 2018 Emerging Voices Fellows, alumni, and mentors in conversation for the 2019 application cycle at Skylight Books.  The ...

TINY CRIMES: Contributors

04 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Tiny Crimes gathers leading and emerging literary voices to tell tales of villainy and intrigue in only a few hundred words. From the most hard-boile...

Lucas Mann, "CAPTIVE AUDIENCE"

04 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In Lucas Mann's trademark vein—fiercely intelligent, self-deprecating, brilliantly observed, idiosyncratic, personal, funny, and infuriating—Capti...

Marisha Pessl, "NEVERWORLD WAKE"

03 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Once upon a time, back at Darrow-Harker School, Beatrice Hartley and her five best friends were the cool kids, the beautiful ones. Then the shocking d...

Elizabeth Gorcey, "READ, READ AND READ"

02 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Read, Read and Read is the third book in the Liv On Life (LOL) Series. Liv’s love of books proves that a book can be a friend and make a friend! I...

Joshua Wheeler, "ACID WEST"

02 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Acid West is a rollicking trip through the muck of American myths that have settled in our country’s underbelly. Following the footsteps of John J...

Aja Gabel, "THE ENSEMBLE"

01 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Aja Gabel is a literary star on the rise. She holds both an MFA and Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing and was a Writing Fellow at the Province...

Michelle Tea, "AGAINST MEMOIR"

01 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The razor-sharp but damaged Valerie Solanas, a doomed lesbian gang, recovering alcoholics, and teenagers barely surviving at an ice creamery: these ar...

UC RIVERSIDE: Students and Professors

31 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Join us as professors and students from UC Riverside’s Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts MFA read from their work. Readers include...

Jeff Sweat, "MAYFLY"

31 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Jemma has spent her life scavenging tools and supplies for her tribe in the their small enclave outside what used to be a big city. Now she’s a teen...

Francisca Lia Block, "THE THORN NECKLACE"

30 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this long-anticipated guide to the craft of writing, Francisca Lia Block offers an intimate glimpse of an artist at work and a detailed guide to he...

Sheila Heti, "MOTHERHOOD"

29 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In Motherhood, Sheila Heti asks what is gained and what is lost when a woman becomes a mother, treating the most consequential decision of early adu...

Hallie Bateman and Suzy Hopkins, "WHAT TO DO WHEN I'M GONE"

28 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What to Do when I'm Gone is an instruction manual for getting through life without a mom. The death of one’s mother, is one of life’s key turning...

MariNaomi, "LOSING THE GIRL"

27 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In Losing the Girl, the first book in the Life on Earth trilogy, Eisner-nominated cartoonist MariNaomi looks at life through the eyes of four subur...

Jamel Brinkley, "A LUCKY MAN"

26 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In the nine expansive, searching stories of A Lucky Man, fathers and sons attempt to salvage relationships with friends and family members, and confr...

Melissa Broder, "THE PISCES"

25 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Pisces is a story about falling in obsessive love with a merman: a figure of Sirenic fantasy whose very existence pushes Lucy to question everyth...

Poets at Work, NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

24 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Members of Poets At Work read new and enticing poems and will discuss the formal structures that shape them.

Independent Bookstore Day, featuring THE EXPOSITION REVIEW

22 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Exposition Review editors celebrate the launch of Vol. III: “Orbit” to help commemorate Independent Bookstore Day.

Robert Gordon, "MEMPHIS RENT PARTY"

21 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Memphis: the birthplace of rock ’n’ roll, soul music capital, and home of the blues, this fabled city has played a major role in American music hi...

Alex S. Vitale, "THE END OF POLICING"

19 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Recent years have seen an explosion of protest against police brutality and repression--most dramatically in Ferguson, Missouri, where longheld grieva...

Sloane Crosley, "LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE"

18 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Exactly ten years after her debut essay collection, I Was Told There’d Be Cake, introduced a strikingly original, genre-resuscitating voice to the...

Leslie Jamison, "THE RECOVERING"

18 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

With its deeply personal and seamless blend of memoir, cultural history, literary criticism, and journalistic reportage, The Recovering turns our un...

Michelle Dean, "SHARP"

17 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Women in media must still, unfortunately, fight for their due and today they call out mansplainers on Twitter, wield power on the opinion pages, and s...

Jonathan Ames, "YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE"

17 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Joe has witnessed things that cannot be erased. A former FBI agent and Marine, his abusive childhood has left him damaged beyond repair. He has comple...

Joe Donnelly, "L.A. MAN"

17 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

During his many years writing for publications such as LA Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Slake, Surfer's Journal and more, Joe Donnelly has drive...

Mark Sarvas, "MEMENTO PARK"

16 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

After receiving an unexpected call from the Australian consulate, Matt Santos becomes aware of a painting that he believes was looted from his family...

Beth Pickens, "ART WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE"

16 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

As a teenager visiting the Andy Warhol Museum, Beth Pickens realized the importance of making art. As an adult, she has dedicated her life to empoweri...

OTIS COLLEGE MFA WRITING PROGRAM

16 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Join us for a special evening as students from Otis College or Art and Design's MFA Writing Program share their poetry and prose.

Sarah Andersen, "HERDING CATS"

15 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Andersen’s hilarious third collection, Herding Cats, features the two time Goodreads Choice Award favorite continuing to poke fun at herself ...

Amy Spalding, "THE SUMMER OF JORDI PEREZ"

15 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A hilarious, nuanced LGBTQ+ young adult novel about a teen trying to make waves in the fashion industry by running a plus-size fashion blog and rockin...

Bruce Holbert, "WHISKEY"

15 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Whiskey is the story of two brothers, their parents, and three wrecked marriages, a searching book about family life at its most distressed—about k...

A.G. Lombardo, "GRAFFITI PALACE"

15 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It’s August 1965 and Los Angeles is scorching. Americo Monk, a street-haunting aficionado of graffiti, is frantically trying to return home to the m...

David Correia and Tyler Wall, "POLICE: A FIELD GUIDE"

14 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Join author/activists David Correia and Tyler Wall for an in-depth discussion on the language that we use to talk about policing and police reform in ...

Junot Diaz, "ISLANDBORN"

14 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

From New York Times bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Díaz comes a debut picture book about the magic of memory and the infinite power of th...

Lynell George, "AFTER/IMAGE"

14 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

After/Image: Los Angeles Outside the Frame​ by Lynell George is the result of this award-winning journalist’s years of contemplating and writing ...

Planaria Price, "CLAIMING MY PLACE"

13 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Claiming My Place is the true story of a young Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust by escaping to Nazi Germany and hiding in plain sight. Meet ...

Ramona Ausubel and Michael Andreasen

13 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Awayland Some of them previously published in The New Yorker and The Paris Review, this collection of eleven delightfully idiosyncratic and elegant...

Cheston Knapp, "UP UP, DOWN DOWN"

12 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The subjects Cheston Knapp, the managing editor of Tin House and an exceptional new voice in the literary community, examines in Up Up, Down Down ...

Farrah Penn, "TWELVE STEPS TO NORMAL"

12 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Eight months ago, Kira's father was sent to rehab for alcoholism and she was forced to move in with her aunt across the country. She left behind every...