Oct. 7, 2009 - 7 p.m.

"Blood's A Rover"

By James Ellroy

This autumn, James Ellroy releases the sprawling "Blood's A Rover," his first novel since 2001. The story is set in 1968, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy are dead. The assassination conspiracies have begun to unravel. A dirty-tricks squad is getting ready to deploy at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Black militants are warring in southside L.A. The Feds are concocting draconian countermeasures. And fate has placed three men at the vortex of History.

Ellroy's past books have been both critically acclaimed and wildly popular. His L.A. Quartet novels "The Black Dahlia", "The Big Nowhere", "L.A. Confidential", and "White Jazz" were international best sellers. His novel "American Tabloid" was Time magazine's Best Book of 1995; his memoir, "My Dark Places", was a Time Best Book of the Year and a New York Times Notable Book for 1996. His last novel "The Cold Six Thousand" was a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book for 2001.

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Nov. 11, 2009 - 7 p.m.

"The Lacuna"

By Barbara Kingsolver

Beloved and acclaimed novelist Barbara Kingsolver joins Kerri Miller to discuss her new novel, "The Lacuna." Set in Mexico and the U.S. during the 1930s, '40s and '50s, the novel tells the story of Harrison William Shepherd, a man caught between two worlds. Shepherd is an unforgettable protagonist whose search for identity will take readers to the heart of the twentieth century's most tumultuous events. "The Lacuna" includes real-life historical figures like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Leon Trotsky.

Kingsolver's first book, "The Bean Trees" sold mainly by word of mouth. In the 20 years since then, it has been adopted into the curriculum at colleges and high schools across the country. Her next 11 subsequent books include the bestsellers "The Poisonwood Bible" and a work of non-fiction from last year, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year in Food."

TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT FOR THIS EVENT

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Nov. 18, 2009 - 7 p.m.

"Under the Dome"

by Stephen King

"Her Fearful Symmetry"

by Audrey Niffenegger

Two writers and friends, Stephen King and Audrey Niffenegger, join Kerri Miller to discuss their new novels, King's "Under the Dome" and Niffenegger's "Her Fearful Symmetry." Stephen King is one of the most prolific writers of our time and has sold over 300 million books. Niffenegger's first novel, "The Time Traveler's Wife," was a bestseller and her new novel has been eagerly anticipated. Niffenegger is also an artist and graphic novelist.

"Under the Dome" takes place on an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, when the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when—or if—it will go away. Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens—town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing—even murder—to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short, it's running.

"Her Fearful Symmetry" begins when Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, and leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt, only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers -- with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another. The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London. They come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including -- perhaps -- their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.

TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT ARE SOLD OUT

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May 19, 2010 - 7 p.m.

"In the Kitchen"

By Monica Ali

Kerri Miller welcomes author Monica Ali to the stage of the Fitzgerald Theater to talk about her latest novel "In the Kitchen." Ali is the daughter of English and Bangladeshi parents. She moved to England at age three. Her first novel, "Brick Lane," is an epic saga about a Bangladeshi family living in the UK, and explores the British immigrant experience. It was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and made into a film, released in 2007. Monica Ali lives in London and was named in 2003 by Granta magazine as one of twenty 'Best of Young British Novelists'.

"In the Kitchen" is the story of Gabriel Lightfoot, an enterprising man from a northern England mill town, making good in London. As executive chef at the once-splendid Imperial Hotel, he is trying to run a tight kitchen. But his integrity, to say nothing of his sanity, is under constant challenge from the competing demands of an exuberant multinational staff, a gimlet-eyed hotel management, and business partners with whom he is secretly planning a move to a restaurant of his own. Despite the pressures, all his hard work looks set to pay off. Until a worker is found dead in the kitchen's basement. It is a small death, a lonely death but it is enough to disturb the tenuous balance of Gabe's life. Elsewhere, Gabriel faces other complications. His father is dying of cancer, his girlfriend wants more from their relationship, and the restaurant manager appears to be running an illegal business under Gabe's nose. Enter Lena, an eerily attractive young woman with mysterious ties to the dead man. Under her spell, Gabe makes a decision, the consequences of which strip him naked and change the course of the life he knows and the future he thought he wanted.

Buy tickets for Monica Ali - May 19, 2010 at 7 p.m.