Dana Johnson
The second annual Palisades Reads program will be held at 5 p.m. tomorrow, December 3. To receive the Zoom link, RSVP to friends@friendsofpalilibrary.org.
The talk will feature author Dana Johnson, an associate professor of English at USC, who will discuss her new book, “In the Not Quite Dark.”
Even if you haven’t had time to read the book, you’re invited to tune in and listen to the discussion.
Johnson is the author of the novel, “Elsewhere, California,” and “Break Any Woman Down,” winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.
Her third book is a collection of stories that are set in mostly downtown Los Angeles.
In “The Liberace Museum,” a mixed-race couple leave the South and head for Las Vegas, crossing miles of road and history to the promised land of consumption. In “Rogues,” a young man on break from college lands in his brother’s Inland Empire neighborhood during a rash of unexplained robberies. In “She Deserves Everything She Gets,” a woman listens to the strict advice given to her spoiled niece about going away to college, reflecting on her own experience and the night she lost her best friend. In the collection’s title story, a man setting down roots in downtown L.A. is haunted by the specter of both gentrification and a young female tourist, whose body was found in the water tower of a neighboring building.
The book has been described as a “powerful new work that feels both urgent and timeless.”
Palisades Reads, sponsored by the Friends of the Palisades Library, is a community-wide book club designed to foster connections, spark conversations, and celebrate readings.
Last year’s event featured Palisadian Laura Diamond’s book “Shelter Us,” which tells the story of a mother who is nearly paralyzed by a deep loss, but is jolted to action when she befriends a young homeless woman with a baby.
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