One For The Books
Due to unforeseen circumstances, One For The Books on May 10 has been cancelled. If you have any questions regarding your ticket order, please reach out to events@laist.com.
From Game of Thrones to The Color Purple and pretty much every play by Shakespeare, the entertainment industry has long relied on works of literature as inspiration for movies and TV shows. But what does it really take to turn a book into our favorite (or most hated) show or film? On May 10, host Traci Thomas (she/her) will talk with author Attica Locke (she/her), who was a writer on Little Fires Everywhere and When They See Us and recently adapted her sister Tembi Locke’s memoir From Scratch into a series for Netflix. Oscar-winning executive producer, TV and podcast host, and author, Van Lathan, Jr. (he/him); and author and cultural critic Jeff Yang (he/him) will join the conversation to discuss the process of taking a book from page to screen. And because it wouldn’t be One For The Books without it, we’ll have cocktails, trivia, and lots of hot takes on books and pop culture.
You can purchase books by Attica, Van, and Jeff at the onsite pop-up bookshop from our friends at Octavia’s Bookshelf or order in advance with your ticket.
ABOUT TRACI THOMAS
Traci Thomas is an avid reader and book lover who created the acclaimed podcast, The Stacks, in order to talk about books and the ways they shape our cultural understanding of race, gender, politics, and what it means to be alive. Weekly guests range from academic thought leaders to bestselling authors, from actors to politicians and more; you'll find Ibram X. Kendi, Angelina Jolie, Brit Bennett, Desus and Mero, Quentin Tarantino, and many more on The Stacks. Traci also writes a monthly bookish advice column on Shereads.com. Traci lives in LA with her husband aka Mr. Stacks, and her twins, the Mini Stacks. You can find her on Instagram @thestackspod.
ABOUT ATTICA LOCKE
A former fellow at the Sundance Institute’s Feature Filmmaker’s Lab, Locke is an award-winning screenwriter, TV producer, and novelist. She most recently co-created and served as showrunner and executive producer for the adaptation of her sister Tembi Locke’s memoir From Scratch for Netflix. Other screen credits include Little Fires Everywhere, When They See Us, and Empire. Locke is also the NY-Times best-selling author of five novels. Heaven, My Home, sequel to the Edgar Award-winning Bluebird, Bluebird; Pleasantville, winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and long-listed for the Bailey’s Prize for Women’s Fiction; The Cutting Season, winner of the Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence; and her debut Black Water Rising, which was nominated for an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award, as well as a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was short-listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. A native of Houston, Texas, Attica lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and daughter.
ABOUT VAN LATHAN, JR.
Van is an Oscar-winning executive producer, established television and podcast host, author, and media personality proudly from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
He began his career at TMZ as a tour guide in Los Angeles and worked his way up to become a co-host and senior producer at TMZ Live.
Van won an Academy Award for executive producing and being a leading force in the creation and production of the short film that was the talk of the 2021 Oscars, Two Distant Strangers.
He is currently a podcast host of multiple series at The Ringer, such as Higher Learning alongside Rachel Lindsay, The Wire: Way Down the Hole with Jemele Hill, and a consistent guest on series such as The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Prestige TV Podcast, The Ringer-Verse, and many more.
Van also published his debut novel in April 2022 with Hachette Book Group. Titled Fat, Crazy, and Tired: Tales From the Trenches of Transformation, it's a sharp, funny, and brutally honest cultural critique of the unspoken obstacles and anxiety that keep us from maintaining good health in America's "wellness wasteland" and is explored through vignettes about his mental health and weight loss journey as a Black man.
To be released later this year, Van will also be the host of the 50-Cent produced eight- part series called Hip Hop Homicides, premiering soon on WEtv, and streaming.
ABOUT JEFF YANG
Jeff Yang has been observing, exploring, and writing about the Asian American community for over thirty years. He launched one of the first Asian American national magazines, A. Magazine, in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, and now writes frequently for CNN, Quartz, Slate, and elsewhere. He has written/edited three books—Jackie Chan’s New York Times bestselling memoir I AM JACKIE CHAN: My Life in Action; ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA, a history of the cinemas of Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Mainland; and EASTERN STANDARD TIME: A Guide to Asian Influence on American Culture, and recently co-authored the New York Times bestselling RISE: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now. His next book, THE GOLDEN SCREEN: The Movies That Made Asian America, will be a lead title for Hachette in Fall 2023. He most recently wrote and produced the feature film A GREAT DIVIDE, about an Asian American film confronting Covid-era xenophobia after moving to small town Wyoming, starring Ken Jeong and Jae Suh Park. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
This project is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.
ACCOMMODATIONS
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