Barack Obama joins our book club, plus 10 most-watched festival events

Good morning, and welcome to the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter.

I hope you tuned in this week when President Barack Obama joined us for a conversation with filmmaker Ava DuVernay about his bestselling memoir “A Promised Land.” But if you weren’t able to attend the streaming event Wednesday, never fear: Watch this special book club event here.

Obama talked about leadership, failure, activism and police reform, which he says begins with reimagining the role of law enforcement.

“What does it mean for a community to be safe?” Obama asked during the book club conversation. “For most of our history, policing in the African American community has meant just keeping a lid on things and keeping control and maintaining barriers and boundaries, rather than actually serving those communities.”

The former president also answered questions from two local high school students, Grace Lee and Tariq Stone, who asked about his legacy and how we can bring the nation together after so much division.

On Friday, in advance of Independent Booksellers Day today, Obama stopped by Eso Won Books in Los Angeles to chat with owners James Fulgate and Tom Hamilton.

“When I came out with ‘Dreams from My Father’ back in 1993 or four and I went on a little mini book tour, like a lot of first-time authors, one of the only places that took me was Eso Won Books, back when nobody knew who I was and couldn’t pronounce my name,” he said.

“A Promised Land” is the first of two volumes. Obama said he may tackle a future book that doesn’t involve his presidency.

Hamilton asked if he’d consider writing a novel next.

“I am not sure I’ve got the gift for fiction,” Obama replied. “I think I’m a pretty good writer. I take pride in the fact that I write my own books. But the great fiction writers have a kind of an imagination in terms of just making stuff up and making characters live that didn’t actually exist. I don’t know that I’ve got that gift. So I think I’ll stay in my lane.”

Former President Obama joined the L.A. Times Community Book Club on April 21 to discuss “A Promised Land” with filmmaker Ava DuVernay.

(Los Angeles Times)

Festival of Books

Obama joined book club readers in the middle of the annual Festival of Books, which unfolded over the past week in a series of virtual events featuring more than 30 panels, readings and one-on-one conversations from writers, poets, artists, musicians and bookstore exhibitors. The festival wrapped up Friday with seven events.

Here’s a rundown of 10 of the most-viewed festival panels, counting down to the most-watched so far:

10. Novelists Kristin Hannah (“The Four Winds”) and C Pam Zhang (“How Much of These Hills Is Gold”) in conversation with Times columnist Patt Morrison. Watch now.

9. Fiction Makes the World Go Round: Chang-rae Lee (“My Year Abroad”), Meng Jin (“Little Gods”), Imbolo Mbue (“How Beautiful We Were”) and Sanjena Sathian (“Gold Diggers”) with Times books editor Boris Kachka as moderator. Watch now.

8. Terry Crews and Rebecca King Crews (co-authors of “Stronger Together”) with Times writer Michael Ordoña as moderator. Watch now.

7. Crime Fiction: Christopher Bollen (“A Beautiful Crime”), Tod Goldberg (“The Low Desert”) and Jennifer Hillier (“Little Secrets”) with moderator Paula L. Woods. Watch now.

6. Native American Literature: Danielle Geller (“Dog Flowers”), Brandon Hobson ( “The Removed”) and David Heska Wanbli Weide (“Winter Counts”) with moderator Rigoberto González. Watch now.

5. Patrick Radden Keefe, author of “Empire of Pain,” in conversation with Times reporter Matt Hamilton. Watch now.

4. Criminal Justice in America: Brittany K. Barnett (“A Knock at Midnight”), Emily Bazelon (“Charged”) and Christine Montross (“Waiting for an Echo”) with Times columnist Sandy Banks moderating. Watch now.

3. California Dreamin’: Walter Mosley (“Blood Grove”) and Ronald Brownstein (“Rock Me on the Water”) with moderator David L. Ulin on Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s. Watch now.

2. Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas, co-authors of “Wow in the World,” and actress Zooey Deschanel with Times writer Yvonne Villarreal moderating. Watch now.

1. Meena Harris, author of “Ambitious Girl,” in conversation with columnist Mary McNamara. Watch now.

Still want more? Here’s the watch list for the entire festival. Browse our full festival coverage here.

Thank you

We launched the Los Angeles Times Book Club in spring of 2019 to build on the annual Festival of Books, the nation’s largest book event, and keep the conversation and storytelling going year-round. Every month we invite all of Los Angeles to read the same book, and then we get together for a discussion with the author.

Welcome to all the new readers who joined our community book club for the first time this month as we read “A Promised Land” and hosted President Obama and Ava DuVernay. As of Friday, about 94,000 viewers had watched this month’s book club discussion. Thank you to all of the new and returning readers who tuned in! We hope to see you again next month.

We’ll be announcing our May book selection soon, and I invite you to share your book suggestions and favorite authors by sending an email to bookclub@latimes.com or joining the discussion on the book club’s Facebook Group.