The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple goal: to bring together the people who create books with the people who love to read them. The festival was an immediate success and has become the largest and most prestigious book festival in the country, attracting more than 130,000 book lovers each year.

Carolyn Kellogg is lead blogger at the Los Angeles Times book blog Jacket Copy, as well as a writer of book reviews. She blogs about books and more at www.CarolynKellogg.com. Her radio stories have been heard on NPR.

Tod Goldberg is the author of several novels including Burn Notice: The Fix and Living Dead Girl, a finalist for the 2002 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His short story collection "Simplify" was the winner of the Other Voices Short Story Collection Prize.

Seth Greenland is the author of The Bones and Shining City, both of which have been optioned for films. He also writes for HBO's "Big Love."

Ben Greenman is an editor at the New Yorker and the author of the under-ground indie hits Superbad, A Circle is a Balloon and Compass Both and most recently Please Step Back. Greenman lives in Brooklyn and writes a regular comedy column for McSweeney's literary journal.