The Misread City: New Literary Los Angeles

by Scott Timberg (Editor), Dana Gioia (Editor)

The Misread City gives readers a look at the literary Los Angeles they never knew existed. Underneath the shadow of the Kodak Theatre, the Getty, Disney Hall, and the shiny happy film people, growls and grinds a literary heartbeat. Some are good writers, some fakes, some opening their shirts to passersby in West Hollywood in a cinematic cry for attention, but in its own blurred and indecent way, under the sun and beneath the palms, Los Angeles writing has thrived. This collection draws the reader into the rooms of poets and writers who write in Southern California washed in the smog filled air. Editors Dana Gioia and Scott Timberg (New Times L.A., L.A. Times) present a wide array of contributors, including Brendan Bernhard, Laurel Ann Bogen, Wanda Coleman, Jenny Factor, David Fine, Kate Gale, Peter George, Peter Gilstrap, Dana Gioia, Laurence Goldstein, Pico Iyer, Ken Kelley, David Kipen, and Ron Kortge.

312 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

LA-based arts/ culture writer; author of CULTURE CRASH: The Killing of the Creative Class. Timberg's stories have appeared in The New York Times, Salon and Los Angeles magazine, and he was an LA Times staff writer for six years.