ALOUD @ Los Angeles Public Library

In her forties, with two children, a spouse, a dog, a mortgage, and a full-time job as a tenured law professor at Georgetown University, Rosa Brooks decided to become a cop. Despite the extreme personal and professional risks, the liberal academic and journalist served as a reserve police officer between 2016-2020 with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department in order to better understand the usually closed world of policing. In her new book Tangled Up in Blue, Brooks chronicles her experiences of what it’s like inside the "blue wall of silence." From street shootings and domestic violence calls to the behind-the-scenes police work during Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential inauguration, Brooks presents a revelatory firsthand account of patrolling the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhoods of the nation’s capital. With more and more news of police violence and the outrage of Americans protesting against the corruption and racial disparities in the criminal justice system, Brooks illuminates the complexities of a broken system beyond the headlines. Join us for an immersive conversation as Brooks takes ALOUD audiences through a tour of duty to find a better way to protect our society.

In a final call to action from a dearly missed champion of democracy, Elijah Cummings’ new posthumously published memoir offers an inspiring lesson of how we can do better in this country. Born and raised in Baltimore, Cummings was the first of his family to attend college. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa and then law school, he began his career of public service in the Maryland House of Delegates. He became the first African-American in Maryland history to be named Speaker Pro Tem before being sworn in as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, where Congressman Cummings proudly represented Maryland’s 7th District until his passing in 2019. Known for his poise, intellect, and influence, Cummings was one of the most respected figures in contemporary politics, serving the people of Baltimore and illustrating the importance of working with—and for—the underdog. Yet in his final years of life, Cummings recognized that democracy was the underdog. We’re Better Than This draws from Cummings’s own life to show the formative moments that prepared him for the disturbing first years of the Trump presidency and spurred him to hold the administration accountable for their actions. Sharing his legacy with ALOUD, the late Congressman’s widow, Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, is a social entrepreneur, speaker, writer, strategist, and a former chair of the Maryland Democratic Party who is on a mission to drive society toward inclusion. She’ll be joined in conversation with the coauthor of the book, James Dale, as they reflect on Cummings’ urgent message for preserving our democracy as our country moves forward with a new administration.

The first step towards change, writes journalist and activist Paola Ramos, is for us to recognize who we are. In an empowering new work of reportage, Ramos embarks on a cross-country journey to find the communities of people defining the controversial term, "Latinx." Many voices—Afrolatino, Indigenous, Muslim, queer, and undocumented, living in large cities and small towns—have been chronically overlooked in how the diverse population of almost sixty million Latinos in the U.S. has been represented. In her debut book, Finding Latinx, Ramos calls to expand our understanding of what it means to be Latino and what it means to be American. A host and correspondent for VICE and VICE News, as well as a contributor to Telemundo News and MSNBC, Ramos was the deputy director of Hispanic media for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and she also served in President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. She’ll be joined in a dynamic conversation with LA Times Audience Engagement Editor Fidel Martinez, who currently writes for their new Latinx Files newsletter. Shining a light on the evolving Latinx community, we’ll hear stories from individuals across the United States who are redefining their identities, pushing boundaries, and awakening politically in powerful and surprising ways.

As part of Lift Every Voice: Why African American Poetry Matters, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles joins the nationwide celebration of 250 years of African American poetry on the occasion of the release of Kevin Young’s anthology. This program will include a special reading of these poems that address questions of identity, race, place, voice, and the richness and diversity of African American poetic imagination.

African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song is the centerpiece of Lift Every Voice: Why African American Poetry Matters. Across a turbulent history, from such vital centers as Harlem, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and the Bay Area, Black poets created a rich and multifaceted tradition that has been both a reckoning with American realities and an imaginative response to them. Capturing the power and beauty of this diverse tradition in a single indispensable volume, African American Poetry reveals as never before its centrality and its challenge to American poetry and culture.

“Adventure. Compassion. Hatred. Money. Friendship. Marriage. Theatre. Failure. Beauty. Revelation. Cinema. Success. Death. Creation. And re-creation. This is a remarkable story, of a life so deeply lived,” writes Martin Scorsese on the breadth of André Gregory’s new memoir. For the first time in book form, the iconic theatre director, writer, and actor tells his fantastic life story in This is Not My Memoir. Discussing this highly entertaining autobiography-of-sorts at ALOUD, Gregory will be joined by his longtime collaborator Wallace Shawn, the Obie Award-winning playwright and noted stage and screen actor. These two larger-than-life personalities will share memories from the making of their legendary film, My Dinner with André, and reflect on their lives as artists. What does it mean to create art in a world that often places little value on the process of creating it? And what does it mean to confront the process of aging when your greatest work of art may well be your own life? Pull up a chair from your own table for a delicious feast of a conversation with these masters of avant-garde.

In the first program of a new two-part series on Collaboration & Innovation, ALOUD is excited to explore the rich history of one of L.A.’s foremost artistic workshops. Mixografia is a fine arts printer and publisher founded and run by the Remba family for three generations. Moving from Mexico City to Los Angeles, Mixografia’s three-dimensional printing technique has evolved over 40 years to expand printmaking possibilities for artists and to make art more accessible through its innovative print runs. How does such technology impact art? What does it mean for an artist to have their vision altered by the creative process? In a live conversation with ALOUD's Jessica Strand, we’ll consider the nuanced collaboration between printer and artist like Analia Saban that pushes the limits of what printmaking can be. How has the work of the artist been transformed through their relationship with Mixografia? We’ll also look back in an original ALOUD video segment at the Remba family’s journey to Los Angeles and how they revolutionized the art of printmaking while building community around a creative process. Join us for this intimate look at collaboration from a local studio that has reached audiences all over the world.

How do we talk about race in America? Two of our country's most award-winning poets and unflinching voices on racism will join ALOUD for their first public event together. Claudia Rankine is an artistic innovator, Yale professor, and MacArthur fellow. Her previous groundbreaking book, Citizen: An American Lyric, won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Rankine’s newest book, Just Us: An American Conversation, invites readers to engage with what is said and not said about whiteness, privilege, prejudice, and bias as our public and private lives intersect. Terrance Hayes’s most recent award-winning book, American Sonnets for My Past And Future Assassin, was written in response to the first two hundred days of Trump’s presidency. Hayes is a Professor of English at New York University and is the recipient of numerous honors, including a MacArthur fellowship, a Hurston/Wright Award for Poetry, and a National Book Award. In a broad-minded program moderated by acclaimed poet and essayist Dawn Lundy Martin, Rankine and Hayes will examine the act of reckoning with our past and present. Join us for a powerful exchange about how we might open pathways, bridge silences, share truths, and progress through this divisive and stuck moment in American history.

As ALOUD examines the delicate balancing act of power and value in a special series this fall, we’ll consider how technology tips the scales to redefine the dynamics of our human relationships. What will happen to our notions of marriage and parenthood as reproductive technologies allow for new ways of creating babies? What will happen to our understanding of gender as medical advances enable individuals to transition from one set of sexual characteristics to another or to remain happily perched in between? What will happen to love and sex and romance as our relationships migrate from the real world to the Internet? Can people fall in love with robots? Harvard Business School Professor Debora Spar explores these questions in her new book, Work, Mate, Marry, Love. Discussing how technology is transforming the intimacies of our lives, Spar will be joined in conversation by Michele Bratcher Goodwin. A Professor at the University of California, Irvine, and founding director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy, Goodwin is a leading voice on civil liberties, civil rights, reproductive rights and justice, and cultural politics. Listen to this provocative imagining of our future humanity.

The media is a powerful voice driving our perception of the world. But over the last decade, the political divisions across America have threatened the ability of the media to deliver unbiased news. Further putting into question the role of the media, individuals armed with their smartphones have stepped in to provide some of the most raw, unfiltered stories of our times. As part of ALOUD’s Power and Value series, we welcome three journalists from the fields of newspaper, radio, and television to examine whose voices we can trust: the Los Angeles Times Sewell Chan, NPR’s Brooke Gladstone, and PBS NewsHour correspondent Yamiche Alcindor. As we more urgently than ever rely on reporting for updates on COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, join us for a conversation with these three veteran journalists. How is the media shaping our individual experiences during these historical times?

Income inequality in the U.S. is the highest of all the G7 nations, and the wealth gap between America’s richest and poorer families more than doubled from 1989 to 2016. This hierarchy of power gives control to the rich, while leaving the rest to fend for themselves without support or voice. ALOUD’s Power and Value series will kick-off with a program that unpacks America’s income gap with professor, author, and political commentator Robert Reich and Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, an American Protestant minister and political activist. From elections to media and entertainment, how does the imbalance of income and representation impact our society? Join us for a change-making conversation with these two powerful voices about how to create a more equitable democracy.