The one-man play Santaland Diaries is based on a David Sedaris essay "SantaLand Diaries," which made its NPR debut in 1992. In the segment, Sedaris recounts his funny-sad experiences as a desperate, out-of-work writer who takes a job as an elf at Macy's department store during one Christmas season. more ›

There's a book signing and discussion tonight with cartoonists and authors Jaime Hernandez, Jordan Crane and Todd Hignite at Family Bookstore for the release of The Art of Jaime Hernandez-The Secrets of Life and Death. "Jaime Hernandez more ›

All stand-up comedians are comedy writers (so long as their material is original,) but not all comedy writers are stand-ups. A few shows around town spotlight the gap between the two. On such stages, comedy writers read their works and the result a laughing audience. You might've caught such a show at iO West, UCB, or Pinata (at the Bang Comedy Theatre.) more ›

A Noise Within is hosting White Russians and Discussions tonight following the 8 pm performance of a new adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. The Russian-themed reception features guest speaker Ed Bacon, Rector for All Saints Church in Pasadena, who will discuss the story of Lazarus, and the ways in which its tale of rebirth intersects with the central figure in the play. Tickets: $44. more ›

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books will be held this week on Saturday & Sunday, April 28 - 29th. more ›

If you're reading this, it means you survived the various horrors of Christmas. No, we don't mean drunk Aunt Cindy's hair catching on fire at the dinner table. We're talking about the horrors of Santa's helpers... the ones our loving American parents don't tell us about. more ›

New York writer-performer Jonathan Ames is gracing our fair city this week and while he's in town he's doing some good. His performance at 826LA tonight will benefit the fab literacy organization, and your part is just 10 bucks. more ›

WEDNESDAY more ›

Kevin Smokler is a book man. He writes about contemporary literature all over the place and talks about it on NPR. He consults and lectures across the country about what we read and how and last year, when the NEA announced that reading was in decline, he got a little sad and then he got a little mad. He had run a very popular site about books and had created virtual book tours that were wildly successful. He read a bunch of sites that were very popular that talked lit and he knew young authors like David Sedaris, Nick Hornby, and Zadie Smith that could pack houses with young people that wanted to talk about their words. From there, his first book, Bookmark Now, was born. It is a collection of essays about writing and reading in our "unreaderly times." We got a chance to IM with Kevin during his own Virtual Book Tour about the written word in a multimedia world. more ›

LAist caught David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell last night in Royce Hall on the UCLA campus, and was happy to renew our stock of wry, witty, and cynical humor. more ›