"Things got way too meta," Art Spiegelman says. The author sits at a table atop the Soho House, smoking a cigarette and awaiting his interview with Bookworm-host, Michael Silverblatt, for the 6th installment of KCRW's UpClose series. And he's not kidding. more ›

With the end of the year comes the inevitable wrap-ups, reflections, and predictions, and in the world of food this is no exception. Here in Los Angeles our Patron Saint of Dining Out, Pulitzer Prize-winning LA Weekly columnist Jonathan Gold, offers his take on the eating year that was in the LA Times' Opinion section today, noting how many high-profile restaurants our city has seen launch despite the tanked economy (Rivera, Drago Centro, Bouchon, and so forth) and the resurgence of the "tony cocktail bar." more ›

Pulitzer Prize winner and 18-year LA Times veteran Drex Heikes will join LA Weekly as their Editor later this summer. Most recently, Heikes was at the Las Vegas Sun where he was honored with the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Public Service for an investigation he assigned and edited. While at the LA Times, he served as editor of the Sunday magazine and as foreign affairs editor in the paper's Washington bureau. He will take the Weekly's reigns on August 17th. Earlier this month, Editor Laurie Ochoa parted ways with the paper. more ›

The 2009 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced today, and LA Times Metro staff writers Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart were named as awardees in the category of Explanatory Reporting. The duo were behind the series "Big Burn," which examined the "growth and cost of wildfires." The category seeks material that "illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear presentation, in print or online or both," and the committee hailed Boxall and Cart's work as "fresh and painstaking." more ›

The thing about author Junot Diaz is, one minute he’s on the phone with you, rapping about meringue, Malcolm X, comic books, and how shit never gets done on time in the Dominican Republic – and the next minute, he’s winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. He describes himself as just another ordinary, poor immigrant kid from Jersey, but the book tells a different story: that of an author alive with passion for his roots, for language, and for the moments of silence, linguistic and cultural, that can bring a family together and also tear it apart. more ›

As noted earlier in a brief, the LA Times, having eaten more crow than a Lance Armstrong-Eric Clapton Constructicon, have fully retracted their most recent annual Tupac Article. more ›

And so it ends... for now. Pulitzer Prize winner Chuck Philips' Tupac Shakur story from March 17 has been officially retracted and with a lengthy explanation. It begins... more ›

Photo by Lush.i.ous via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr more ›

I made my way to the yellow covered tents at the far end of the WeHo Book Fair fifteen minutes early, for the panel that had made me cream when I read about it. Moderated by Hilary Carlip, “Cracking Up: Women on the Verge of Laughter” was a discussion with five female writers whose work ostensibly falls under the heading “comedy”: Beth Lapides, Cathryn Michon, Meghan Daum, and Erika Schickel. more ›

The West Hollywood Book Fair, now in it's sixth year, will take over West Hollywood Park this Sunday from 10am - 6pm. We like to think of the WeHo book fair as the calmer, cooler cousin to the LA Times Festival of Books - great authors, excellent panels, live readings and good food - but much easier to navigate. As with any festival, planning the who/what/when is key...especially when trying to pack it all into one day. more ›

According to Berkeley Breathed's official website, this morning's and next Sunday's "Opus" comic strip will be pulled from a "large number" of newspapers around the nation including The Washington Post. The famed Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist of "Bloom County" returned to the funny pages in 2003 after an 8-year hiatus, and it appears that he is back where he belongs, getting under the skin of the conservative and easily-offended. Metafilter has an interesting thread about... more ›

Last night's free Zocalo program at the Central Library featured L.A. Weekly food writer Jonathan Gold in conversation with Variety's Monica Corcoran. Her first question: Did winning the Pulitzer Prize (for criticism, this year) blow your cover as an anonymous food critic? And if so, this evening won't help, will it? more ›

Be glad not to see this play during holiday season "because the disappointments of our families last all year long... This ain't no X-mas story," as the slogan goes. The Los Angeles premiere of The Long Christmas Ride Home by Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive) is an intense and visually beautiful production that combines Thornton Wilder story telling, with bunraku puppet theater and noh dance. Puppetry, when done well,... more ›

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Halberstam died yesterday in a car crash in Menlo Park, CA. He was 73. Halberstam’s work as a journalist ranges wide and delves deep. He covered the Korean War, the Vietnam War and civil rights but he was also fascinated with the humanity and spectacle of sports. He did not simply document the history he lived through – he explained complex societal constructs and cultural shifts in a way that anyone could easily understand. He was one of the only journalists who questioned the Vietnam War early on and it was this same questioning – throughout his life and his work – that allowed him to uncover facts that other journalists side-stepped. more ›

LA named one of the Best Places for Artists in America "... one of the reasons Los Angeles leads the list is because it has 56 artistic establishments for every 100,000 people, a diversity index of 84.2, and an arts and culture index of 100 (on a scale of 1 to 100)." (Business Week) City's Cultural Affairs Department gets new Head "I am thrilled to put forth such a visionary and inspiring leader as... more ›

Will someone please start putting some cameras in the LA Times building? more ›

We would never say our excitment or coverage of the yearlong 365 Days/365 Plays festival is exhaustive (after all, we have been to 17 of the 18 weeks so far, that equals too 119 plays seen, experienced, enjoyed, enthralled upon, etc). 1. It's Free, duh. 2. You are taking part in an international festival (plays are concurrently happening all over the states, including a few across the seas). 3. Playwright, recipient of the MacArthur... more ›

By day, Terence McFarland is known throughout the LA theatre community as the Executive Director of the LA Stage Alliance, a reputable non-profit service organization dedicated to building awareness, appreciation, and support for the performing arts in Greater LA. After leaving the fashion industry in New York City to attend CalArts for a master's degree, he quickly found his role as a leader helping solve problems within the experimental art school's bureacracy of BS. It... more ›

Columnist Art Buchwald passed away peacefully on Thursday at the age of 81. He was best known as a political satirist who helped keep the Washington establishment in check. Though, as he observed, "If you attack the establishment long enough and hard enough, they will make you a member of it." more ›

On 13 November, 2002, I had this silly idea that I would write a play every day for a year. It would be about being present and being committed to the artistic process every single day, regardless of the ‘weather.’ It became a daily meditation, a daily prayer celebrating the rich and strange process of a writing life ~ Suzan-Lori Parks Hey, LAist writes everyday too. How strange that we share this habit with... more ›

La America Tropical, the once-controversial, then painted over mural is coming back to Olvera Street thanks to the city and The Getty: The mural, one of three done during Siquieros' six-month stay in Los Angeles, depicts an Indian being crucified on a double cross topped by an American eagle. The piece, depicting the struggle against imperialism, was considered so controversial at the time that it was painted over shortly after it was finished. Here... more ›

Taking a stance against Valentine's Day can only be best suited by seeing the EAR Unit tonight at REDCAT. The L.A. based new music group will perform tonight with some holiday treats and surprises by the artist collective - Empire of Teeth. Tonight's feature is the world premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's . Zwilich was the first woman composer to win the Pulitzer Prize. more ›

Big news — that conservative cartoonist Michael Ramirez was hired by Investor's Business Daily after losing his gig with the LA Times — was reported last week, by LAObserved and others. more ›

It looks like the Los Angeles Times is changing hands. The New York Times reported today that LA Times' publisher John P. Puerner will step down on May 31, citing the need to take "a self-imposed career break." more ›

• Tonight at UCLA Live, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet will be speaking at 8 PM. Tickets range from $25-35, or $15 for UCLA students. more ›

It would be well worth your time—despite the rain and Nile-during-flood-season conditions—to get to the Troubadour tonight and see the Drive By Truckers (also known as the warrior poets of rock 'n' roll) performing with Centro-matic and Runner & The Thermodynamics. Doors open at 8:00 PM and tickets are $15.00. more ›