mr. mele, when and how and why did the l.a. times start sponsoring this book fair? >> guest: the los angeles times started this book fair about 20 years ago. it's the 20th anniversary of the festival of books, and it was just an important way that the newspaper could engage with the community, could provide a space for all kinds of people from publishers authors thinkers but also chefs and artists and actors and actresses to come together to celebrate los angeles as one of the creative capitals of the world. >> host: and what can we expect in los angeles? >> guest: we're going to have over 500 authors celebrities, musicians, artists, etc., as well as hundreds of booksellers publishers and cultural organizations across nine stages. there's something for everyone. bring your kids, bring your grandparents. there's a huge amount of stuff going on. some of the notable names, we have candice before begin, brian grazer, your favorite, bullly idol joyce carol oates patton oswald, john scolazzi, the sc

mr. mele? >> the bulk of the events are free. some are ticketed due to limited space. but this is really a chance to invite the country in, to invite los angeles in in partnership with usc, look at california. california as, you know, the gateway to both latin america and to the pacific rim, to look at some of the future challenges the country faces in its future. they're quite acute in los angeles from drought and climate change to immigration and the multi multicultural diversity of the nation. across the board, all kinds of exciting opportunities. >> you can go to latimes.com and follow the book fest at lafob, los angeles festival of books. mr. mele, thank you for being on book tv. >> looking forward to seeing folk next weekend. >> and again, book tv will be live on c span 2 all weekend next weekend from the "los angeles times" festival of books, saturday and sunday april 18th and 19th go to booktv.org to get the full schedule a lot of call-in opportunities. a lot of panels, a lot of nonfic