Speakers

Tickets Available at the Door to the Public

Jess Walter

Sunday June 9, 7:00 PM, Pacific Ballroom

Jess Walter is the author of 10 books, most recently The Angel of Rome, a stunning collection of stories about those moments when everything changes—for the better, for the worse or for the outrageous. Part historical novel and part adventure story, The Cold Millions (2020) focuses on the Free Speech Fight in Spokane, Washington in 1909, following two brothers through this seminal moment in the nation’s history, one that resonates with our world today. The book that put him on the map in 2012 is Beautiful Ruins, the #1 New York Times bestseller that tells the story of an almost-love story that begins on the Italian coast in 1962 and resurfaces 50 years later in Hollywood. His breakout novel, The Zero, about one man’s struggles to make sense of the world in post-9/11 America was a National Book Award Finalist in 2006, establishing him as a writer of extraordinary talent.

Mary Otis

Monday June 10, 7:00 PM, Pacific Ballroom

Mary Otis is the author of Burst, which is longlisted for the 2024 Joyce Carol Oates Prize and won the 2023 Silver Medal in Literary Fiction from the Independent Book Publisher Awards. The deeply moving debut novel explores the relationship complexities between mothers and daughters, the desire to escape and the longing to connect. She’s also the author of Yes, Yes Cherries, a collection of short stories author Lorrie Moore called “funny, brave and amazing.” Quirky and hilarious, yet deeply human, they contain an affection for human strangeness while exploring the idea that truth tends more often to lie in the extremes and along the outer edges than it does at the center of things. A founding fiction professor in the UC Riverside MFA Program, Otis has also taught creative writing in the UCLA Writers’ Program.

W. Bruce Cameron

Tuesday June 11, 7:00 PM, Pacific Ballroom

W. Bruce Cameron is the creator of the most beloved brand of family dog entertainment in the world. The #1 New York Times, USA Today International bestselling novel A Dog’s Purpose has been translated into over 50 languages and continues to top bestseller lists worldwide. The Amblin/Universal film of the book (he was a screenwriter along with his wife, Cathryn Michon) is the most successful international live-action dog movie of all time. A hilarious guest, Cameron has appeared on some of the most popular shows on television: Oprah, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and Entertainment Tonight among others. His latest novel, Love, Clancy: Diary of a Good Dog is a deeply moving story with a brand-new cast of characters, including one very good dog. Told in Cameron’s signature style, a tremendous cast of wonderful characters find themselves jointly and separately navigating the challenges of life, love and other pets, including Clancy’s “worst enemy,” one very disdainful cat.

Cathleen Schine

Wednesday June 12, 7:00 PM, Pacific Ballroom

Cathleen Schine is the author of the internationally bestselling novels The Love Letter and Rameau’s Niece, which were made into movies, as well as The Three Weissmanns of Westport, Fin & Lady and The Grammarians. Her latest novel, Künstlers in Paradise, is a tender family story but also a profound meditation on the nature and power of storytelling, inheritance and legacy. When Julian Kunstler’s life falls apart (the Brooklyn bookstore where he works has closed and his girlfriend has dumped him), he agrees to move in with his 93-year-old grandmother, Mamie, in Venice, California, while her fractured wrist heals. Then comes Covid-19 and the lockdown. To fill their days, Mamie begins telling him the story of her life, starting with her cultured existence in Vienna until the family was forced to flee in 1939 and make a new life in sunny California where they joined a colony of Jewish musicians, writers and intellectuals also escaping Hitler.

Caitlin Rother

Thursday June 13, 7:00 PM, Pacific Ballroom

Caitlin Rother has authored 14 books. Her latest, Death on Ocean Boulevard: Inside the Coronado Mansion Case, which is in development for a TV limited series with Rother as executive producer, explores the mysterious death of 32-year-old Rebecca Zahau, who was found hanging from a second-floor balcony of her multimillionaire boyfriend’s San Diego mansion in 2011. The award-winning investigative journalist weaves stunning new details into a personal yet objective examination of the sensational case, exploring its many layers. An investigative newspaper reporter for 19 years, Rother has had her stories published in Cosmopolitan, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The San Diego Union‑Tribune and The Daily Beast. Her more than 250 media appearances include 20/20, People Magazine Investigates, Crime Watch Daily and numerous shows on Netflix, Investigation Discovery and Lifetime.