Tuesday, February 26, 2013

LAVA Literary Salon in LA April 27

LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) presents its fifth LAVA
Literary Salon, celebrating hard-boiled novelist and screenwriter Dashiell
Hammett. Salon presenters include Julie M. Rivett (who is both a Hammett
scholar and the author's granddaughter), and his biographer Richard Layman.

WHERE: The Los Angeles Athletic Club, 431 West 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA,
90014.

WHEN: Saturday, April 27, 2013 from 7-10:30pm. (Formerly quarterly, the
Salon is now offered on an occasional basis.)

COST: $100 per person, ticket price includes hearty appetizers, Salon
presentations and parking. Cocktails not included.

TO PURCHASE TICKETS: Visit http://esotouric.com/literarysalon5

FOR MORE INFO: Contact Kim Cooper, amscray@gmail.com, 323-223-2767.

FULL SALON DETAILS: http://lavatransforms.org/lavasalonhammett


 ABOUT THIS SALON: Dashiell Hammett is remembered for both for his
contributions to hard-boiled crime fiction and his stand against
McCarthyism. Join Hammett scholar and granddaughter Julie M. Rivett as she
explores her grandfather¹s controversial political life, his relationship
with Lillian Hellman, and the decades of consequent troubles that have
tangled Hammett¹s estate. Don¹t miss this rare opportunity to hear an
insider¹s perspective on an important and too often misunderstood literary
legacy.

Julie Rivett and special guest Richard Layman will close the evening with
discussion and a question-and-answer session. Layman has written or edited
eight books on Dashiell Hammett, including Dashiell Hammett: a Descriptive
Bibliography, Shadow Man: The Life of Dashiell Hammett, and Discovering The
Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade, nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery
Writers of America.

Together Layman and Rivett have edited four books by or about Dashiell
Hammett. Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett: 1921-1960 and Dashiell
Hammett: A Daughter Remembers by Jo Hammett were published in 2001. The
Return of the Thin Man, with Hammett¹s screen treatments for two of the
beloved Thin Man film series sequels, was released in 2012. The Hunter and
Other Stories, featuring unpublished and previously uncollected Hammett
fiction, will make its debut in November 2013.

It¹s impossible to understand Los Angeles literature out of context of the
place. In the 1920s and 1930s, L.A. was bursting at the seams, as one of the
biggest boom towns the world had ever seen. And as the city grew, it
attracted a varied and fascinating population: East coast intellectuals,
filmmakers, European refugees, hustlers and visionaries of all stripes.

In this young city without an established cultural scene, the intelligentsia
congregated in book shops, each with its own personality shaped by the book
seller who curated the selection and the space. In the Salon series, LAVA
celebrates the forgotten history of L.A. book culture, from Hollywood
Boulevard to downtown¹s Bookseller¹s Row. Each book shop¹s story illuminates
the literary life of the city, and the emotional growth of the writers who
called Los Angeles home. Also appearing at the Salon is Howard Prouty
(Acquisitions Archivist at The Academy Foundation/Margaret Herrick Library
and proprietor of ReadInk) with the latest in his popular series of talks on
a famous Los Angeles book seller (subject to be announced).

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