Writing Panel

Memoirists and novelists James Brown (This River), Seth Greenland (Shining City), Diana Wagman (Skin Deep), and Leslie Schwartz (Angels Crest) will discuss the art and craft of fiction versus narrative nonfiction, in a panel discussion moderated by Meghan Daum (Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House).  This is sure to be a fascinating discussion among terrific local writers, and should not be missed! James Brown is the author of several novels, including Lucky Town, and the memoirs, The Los Angeles Diaries, and This River.  He received a Nelson Algren Award in Short Fiction and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.  His work has appeared in numerous publications, including GQ, The New York Times Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times Magazine.  Brown teaches in the MFA Program at Cal State San Bernardino. Seth Greenland is the author of the novels The Bones, Shining City, and The Angry Buddhist (Spring 2012). He was one of the original bloggers on the Huffington Post. www.sethgreenland.com Leslie Schwartz is the author of two novels, Jumping the Green, which won the James Jones Award for best first novel, and Angel’s Crest which was an L.A. Times Bestseller, a Book Sense 76 pick and was translated into 13 languages. She is the founder of a literary magazine: Charlotte: A Journal of Poetry, Prose and Art. Her second novel, Angel’s Crest has been adapted for the screen and debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in April. She is currently at work on her third book, a collection of personal essays. Diana Wagman is the author of three novels.  Her second, Spontaneous, won the PEN West Award for Fiction.  Her short stories have been published in Black Clock, Electric Literature and elsewhere.  She has a personal essay in this summer's Colorado Review and often writes opinion pieces for the Los Angeles Times. Meghan Daum is a columnist for The Los Angeles Times and the author, most recently, of the memoir Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived In That House. She has contributed to numerous magazines and to public radio programs such as Marketplace and Morning Edition. She is also the author of the novel The Quality of Life Report and the essay collection My Misspent Youth. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JULY 6, 2011.