LACC Book Program

The mission of the LA City College Book Program is to advance the cause of literacy and literature and to encourage the reading of books that foster intellectual exchange. For fifteen years, the book program has brought to campus authors and scholars that provoke thoughtful and inclusive discussions of relevant issues. Founded as a sub-committee of Staff Development in 2001, under the skillful leadership of its founder and first chair, Rosalind Goddard, the Book Program became a vital part of the campus. We are dedicated to reaching students at LACC who traditionally have had little access to literary culture and to curating events that support all disciplines and departments. By providing the chance to interact with writers, the Book Program inspires our community to read regularly, critically, and adventurously.

Upcoming Events

Rita Williams

If the Creek Don't Rise: My Life Out West with the Last Black Widow of the Civil War

Tuesday, May 7

1-3 p.m.

Student Union Building | 3rd Floor Multipurpose Room

Map

Event Highlights

Book Reading
Q & A
Book Signing
Limited number of book copies available for free to LACC students

Event Flyer (must be signed into the LACC SIS portal)

About the Speaker

Rita Williams

When Rita Williams was four, her mother died in a Denver boarding house. This death delivered Rita into the care of her aunt Daisy, a headstrong woman who had married the most prominent black landowner in Nebraska and spirited her sharecropping family out of the lynching South. They reinvented themselves as ranch hands and hunting guides out West. But one by one they slipped away, to death or to an easier existence elsewhere, leaving Rita as Daisy’s last hope to right the racial wrongs of the past and to make good on a lifetime of thwarted ambition.

If the Creek Don’t Rise tells how Rita found her way out from under this crippling legacy and, instead of becoming "a perfect credit to her race," discovered how to become herself. Set amid the harsh splendor of the Colorado Rockies, this is a gorgeous, ruthless, and unique account of the lies families live--and the moments of truth and beauty that save us.

More Upcoming Events

October 23 | Rosanna Xia

California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline

Global warming is wreaking havoc across land and sea, but California’s 1,200-mile Pacific coastline has enjoyed relative calm due to a rare confluence of factors. But shifting tides exacerbated by climate change are bringing this serene century to a screeching close. In California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline, Pulitzer finalist Rosanna Xia dives deep into the stakes, stopgaps, internecine struggles, and potential paths forward for the 27 million people who call this coastline home.

Xia is an environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where she specializes in stories about the coast and ocean, engaging in themes of climate and social justice. Xia was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2020 for explanatory reporting on sea level rise, which inspired the work that culminated in California Against the Sea. Her writing has been anthologized in the Best American Science and Nature Writing series.

Event Flyer

November 20 | Héctor Tobar

Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of "Latino"

In Our Migrant Souls, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Héctor Tobar delivers a definitive and personal exploration of what it means to be Latino in the United States right now. Composed as a direct address to the young people who identify or have been classified as “Latino,” Our Migrant Souls is an account of the historical and social forces that define Latino identity. Tobar translates his experience as not only a journalist and novelist but also a mentor, a leader, and an educator. He interweaves his own story, and that of his parents’ migration to the United States from Guatemala, into his account of his journey across the country to uncover something expansive, inspiring, true, and alive about the meaning of “Latino” in the twenty-first century.

Tobar is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and novelist. He is the author of the critically acclaimed, New York Times bestseller, Deep Down Dark, as well as The Barbarian Nurseries, Translation Nation, and The Tattooed Soldier. He has written for The New York Times opinion pages, The New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. His short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, L.A. Noir, Zyzzyva, and Slate. The son of Guatemalan immigrants, Tobar is an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine, and a native of Los Angeles.

Event Flyer

Programming is made possible by the LACC Foundation and the Margaret Garth Steinert Greene and Charles Richard Greene Endowment

The Story of Richard and Margaret Greene

From Robert Greene, Son of Richard Greene

My father was an English professor at LACC for many years and really enjoyed the diversity of students in his classes. He married Garth (Margaret) in the 80’s. She was also a teacher at Hamilton High School. They both enjoyed helping others. My father was big on making sure his kids were great spellers, and to this day I thank him!