literature

When Science and Science Fiction Collide

Lawrence M. Krauss and Neal Stephenson on Optimism, Inspiration, and the Problem with Human Space Travel

What happens when you bring together scientists and science fiction writers? Zócalo and the Arizona State University Center for Science and the Imagination brought physicist Lawrence M. Krauss and science fiction writer Neal Stephenson together on stage to find out. That question is also at the heart of a new book, Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future, to which both Stephenson and Krauss contributed.

Annalee Newitz, editor-in-chief of io9, the evening’s moderator, and a fellow Hieroglyph contributor, opened the discussion—in front of a standing-room-only crowd at MOCA Grand Avenue, …

by Sarah Rothbard |

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The Men Who Made the 20th Century

How Winston Churchill and George Orwell Helped Defeat Fascism and Communism to Create the Modern World

by Thomas E. Ricks |

Why on earth am I setting out to write a book about Winston Churchill and George Orwell? What more is there to say? There have been thousands of books written …

What to Do When Third Graders Can’t Read

Why We Should Drop the Tests and Pick Up the Books

by Betty Hayes |

This year, Arizona—following the lead of Florida and a growing number of other states—will require schools to hold back third graders who receive low scores on the state’s standardized reading …

The Noir of the San Joaquin

A New Generation of Writers Takes a Hard Look at Life in California’s Dark Rural Heart

by Gerald Haslam |

In the 1960s, Leonard Gardner’s novel Fat City and Sherley Anne Williams’ poem “The Iconography of Childhood” revealed the dark recesses of life in California’s supposedly bucolic San Joaquin Valley. …

Libros Schmibros Founder David Kipen

L.A. Interlopers, Eating a Dodger Dog Is the Least You Can Do In Our Fair City

Native Angeleno David Kipen is a writer and the founder of Libros Schmibros, a nonprofit lending library and bookshop in Boyle Heights. He has been the San Francisco Chronicle book critic …

Novelist Janet Fitch

The White Oleander Author Was (Almost) a Groupie

Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander and Paint It Black, is currently working on a novel about the Russian Revolution; she also teaches writing at USC. Before participating in a …


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