Event

Gina Nahai with Bob Scheer

Add a bit of Isabel Allende, perhaps, to Isaac Bashevis Singer, and a few thousand years' worth of Middle Eastern folk tales to Shalom Aleichem. The result is the beautiful alchemy of Gina Nahai. Gina Nahai spins her novels with a bit of magical realism, a lot of humor, great family drama, and some epic themes. In her newest novel, The Luminous Heart of Jonah S., Gina brings her characters to us in Los Angeles. It is a story of an Iranian family in exilefinding a place and an identity to make them whole. Gina Nahai's writing is lyrical and beautifuland takes us to places and to understanding we might never find on our own.

In conversation with Bob Scheer, the "left" voice on KCRW's longrunning show, "Left, Right and Center." Bob is the editor and publisher of Truthdig.com, a website devoted to social justice and political commentary and reporting. An award-winning journalist, Bob has interviewed most presidents since Richard Nixon, and conducted the now famous Playboy interview with Jimmy Carter.