Bowden, award-winning Tucson-based author and journalist reveals the story of the disintegration of Ciudad Juárez. Interweaving stories of the city's inhabitants-a raped beauty queen, a repentant hitman, a journalist fleeing for his life-with a broader meditation on the Mexican town's descent into anarchy.

Conlon, music director of LA Opera and one of the world's preeminent conductors, will discuss Wagner's monumental work, challenging preconceptions while guiding the audience through the music and dramatic themes in a way that both opera novice and aficionado can enjoy.

Imagination. Luminosity. Mystery and grief. Ghost landscapes. Joy and celebration. Join us for a reading by three award-winning California poets.

Gale, editor, writer, teacher; Kearney, poet, performer, and librettist; and Shumaker, poet, author and teacher read from their work.

In his new novel Solar, the best-selling author of Atonement, explores the quest of one overweight and philandering Nobel prize-winning physicist to save the world from environmental disaster.

A performative reading and talk, from the bestselling author of Red Azalea and Empress Orchid whose new novel- the powerful story of the friendship of a lifetime-is based on the life of Pearl S. Buck.

Sapphire's fiction, poems and essays have taken on the myths and assumptions of class, gender and race in America. Join us for a discussion of her writing, the evolution of Push from stage to screen, her influences from the literary canon to the zeitgeist of our times, and her new novel.

Two celebrated authors-one from Kenya, the other from Morocco-examine how writers take on the challenges posed by political and cultural conflict in our modern world.

Three new biographies-on Frank Oppenheimer, Frank Gehry, and Joseph Papp-offer completely different strategies for revealing complex and accomplished lives.

A panel of outdoor media professionals and legal experts focus on the city's recent debate surrounding LED billboards and illegal signage, raising the notion of free speech as it relates to images on the street along the way.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition \"How Many Billboards? Art In Stead\" at The MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House, Feb. 5 - March 12, 2010.