LACC Book Program

The mission of the LA City College Book Program is to advance the cause of literacy and literature and to encourage the reading of books that foster intellectual exchange. For fifteen years, the book program has brought to campus authors and scholars that provoke thoughtful and inclusive discussions of relevant issues. Founded as a sub-committee of Staff Development in 2001, under the skillful leadership of its founder and first chair, Rosalind Goddard, the Book Program became a vital part of the campus. We are dedicated to reaching students at LACC who traditionally have had little access to literary culture and to curating events that support all disciplines and departments. By providing the chance to interact with writers, the Book Program inspires our community to read regularly, critically, and adventurously.

Upcoming Events

In Our Migrant Souls, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Héctor Tobar delivers a definitive and personal exploration of what it means to be Latino in the United States right now. Composed as a direct address to the young people who identify or have been classified as “Latino,” Our Migrant Souls is an account of the historical and social forces that define Latino identity. Tobar translates his experience as not only a journalist and novelist but also a mentor, a leader, and an educator. He interweaves his own story, and that of his parents’ migration to the United States from Guatemala, into his account of his journey across the country to uncover something expansive, inspiring, true, and alive about the meaning of “Latino” in the twenty-first century.

About the Speaker

Héctor Tobar

Tobar is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and novelist. He is the author of the critically acclaimed, New York Times bestseller, Deep Down Dark, as well as The Barbarian Nurseries, Translation Nation, and The Tattooed Soldier. He has written for The New York Times opinion pages, The New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. His short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, L.A. Noir, Zyzzyva, and Slate. The son of Guatemalan immigrants, Tobar is an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine, and a native of Los Angeles.

More Upcoming Events

Lane Igoudin | Spring 2025

Public adoption is a long and uncertain process with some of society’s most vulnerable people at the heart of it. Every adult and child involved in the system has a unique story to tell. In his candid and poignant memoir, A Family, Maybe (Ooligan Press, 2024), Lane Igoudin details his and his husband Jonathan’s fraught path through the Los Angeles County’s foster-to-adopt process. A Family, Maybe offers an unprecedented look into the adoption process as it affects the lives of everyone involved, from the children taken into the system, to the suffering birth parents, to the couples hoping desperately to start a family of their own. Lane Igoudin, Ph.D., is professor of ESL and linguistics at Los Angeles City College and recently served as an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow with the Humanities Division of UCLA.

Programming is made possible by the LACC Foundation and the Margaret Garth Steinert Greene and Charles Richard Greene Endowment

The Story of Richard and Margaret Greene

From Robert Greene, Son of Richard Greene

My father was an English professor at LACC for many years and really enjoyed the diversity of students in his classes. He married Garth (Margaret) in the 80’s. She was also a teacher at Hamilton High School. They both enjoyed helping others. My father was big on making sure his kids were great spellers, and to this day I thank him!