James Ellroy on the Hardboiled School of Language

Author James Ellroy comes to The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco Tuesday, September 21, to talk about his fascinating and surprising life. He will be in conversation with Tom Barbash, himself an author and a contributing book critic to The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

We're sure the conversation will be interesting. In the video above, you can get a taste of Ellroy's willingness to discuss his life – even the darkest moments – and his work such as L.A. Confidential and his new The Hilliker Curse.

To whet your appetite, we would have included video excerpts of Ellroy's appearances on Conan O'Brien's talk show, but let's just say the language is a wee bit too salty for this blog. How much of that will Ellroy bring to the stage of The Commonwealth Club? Come and find out!

Why Is President Obama Reading Ben Sherwood's "The Survivor's Club"?

President Barack Obama was recently photographed carrying a copy of Ben Sherwood's book The Survivor's Club. (To see the full photo, click here and scroll almost to the bottom of the page.)

You can find out what interested the president so much yourself on October 13, when Sherwood will be speaking at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. All are welcome to attend.

Even presidents.

California Book Award Gold Medal Winner Yiyun Li to be at Sonoma County Book Festival

There are many great reasons to visit Sonoma County, but for Bay Area book lovers, the Sonoma County Book Festival on September 25th is a really great reason. This year, Commonwealth Club members and friends will be pleased to see author Yiyun Li at the event. Li won a gold medal in this year's California Book Awards for her novel The Vagrants.

Learn more about the book festival, which is free to the public.


Photo: Author Yiyun Li speaks at The Commonwealth Club's California Book Awards ceremony on June 3, 2010. Photo by Beth Byrne.

From the Archives: Author Mary Doria Russell, from 2008

ime for a literary break. This article is from author Mary Doria Russell's March 17, 2008, speech and audience Q&A at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. It was published in the June 2008 issue of The Commonwealth magazine, the member magazine of The Club.

From Commonwealth Club of California

From Commonwealth Club of California

Firoozeh Dumas in the News

Firoozeh Dumas does not seem to be a controversial person. The Iranian-born, Southern California-raised author (Funny in Farsi, Laughing Without an Accent>) specializes in humorous and touching stories about her childhood, youth, and her extended family (but especially her parents). So why did someone make bomb threats at a book discussion she held at a California University?

On March 24, Dumas spoke about her books at the University of Southern California. Her talk followed the screening of the animated film, "Persepolis," which is based on a graphic novel about an independent girl's upbringing in Iran after the revolution. The events were subjected to increased security, including searches and scans of attendees, according to the USC student newspaper, the Daily Trojan. Luckily, the evening took place as planned.

The Trojan reports that the police didn't know anything specific about the threats, which apparently weren't aimed at any specific individual or building. Was it someone who was upset that two Iran-themed events took place on the campus? Or was it someone who was upset that the two events both featured independent Iranian (or Iranian-American) women?

We may never know the answer to that. But we will be hearing more about Dumas' family, thanks to ABC TV. A situation comedy pilot is in the works for that network; if it passes muster, a regular series will be in our future.

Until that time, you can get a taste of Dumas' humor and her message by watching the video below. Dumas spoke to The Commonwealth Club's Silicon Valley audiences on May 5, 2008, about the "Adventures of an Iranian American."

Dumas also moderated the audience question and answer session at the end of travel host Rick Steves' January 26, 2009, Commonwealth Club program about his recent travel to Iran. You can see that video here.

Michael Crichton, 1942-2008

Author Michael Crichton passed away on Tuesday, dying of cancer at the age of 66.

Best known for his science fiction novels such as Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, and Congo, Crichton was also a film and television creator/writer/director, having given the world the blockbuster medical drama "ER" and having written and directed 1973's Westworld. And if his writing wasn't necessarily great art, Crichton's writing in the worlds of science fact and science fiction were immensely popular, with his books selling a mind-boggling 150 million copies around the world.

Crichton's biggest professional success might have been that he was not categorized as a science fiction writer, despite the fact that he wrote about robotic societies, dinosaurs brought back to life, and communication with intelligent gorillas. A traditional definition of science fiction is a story extrapolating the effects of some scientific advance. (There's a never-ending dispute, of course, between purists who stick to that definition and others who want to include under the science fiction banner everything from a space fantasy such as Star Wars to magical fantasies such as Harry Potter. We'll spare you that discussion.)

Crichton, despite escaping the definition of a science fiction writer, stuck pretty close to the traditional definition of SF, producing stories exploring how people reacted individually and en masse to scientific developments. He certainly wasn't correct all the time in his predictions, but his career suggested a serious attempt to meet head-on the challenges that come about from our scientific progress (and occasional scientific transgressions).

In a famous speech delivered to The Commonwealth Club on September 15, 2003, Crichton attacked climate-change theorists as adherents of a new religion. (Read the entire speech.) Delivered as a defense of sound science and a critique of emotion-fueled pseudo-science, his speech has long been a milestone in the debate between people worried about the effects of man-made climate change and people who questioned the assumptions behind the other group's claims.

Crichton is survived by his wife and other family members.