Amy Tan Joins West Magazine as Literary Editor LOS ANGELES, Jan. 12
/PRNewswire/ -- The Los Angeles Times on Feb. 5 will launch West, a
new Sunday magazine offering readers an eclectic, insightful and
entertaining view of the many faces of California. West magazine,
which will replace the weekly Los Angeles Times Magazine,
resurrects the title used by The Times for its Sunday magazine from
the mid-1960s through the early 1970s. The Times is one of the few
U.S. newspapers continuing to publish a unique Sunday color
magazine. "We've found that Times readers clearly value a quality
Sunday magazine," said Rick Wartzman, editor of West. "With
compelling editorial content and innovative graphic design, West
magazine fits that bill." "We're aiming to capture California in
the grandest sense imaginable," said Wartzman. "We'll be writing
not just about California but to California -- to that distinct
part of every thinking Californian's self-identity." The magazine
will use voice-driven narratives, profiles, investigative
reporting, bold photography and short fiction to peel away the
state's complexity. "Our canvas is huge," Wartzman said. "We'll
look at our dreamers and pragmatists; the factories producing
high-brow culture and low-end kitsch; our mountains, deserts and
coast; our endless urban sprawl; our-multi-ethnic stew; Hollywood,
Silicon Valley and the nation's biggest farm state in between." Amy
Tan Named Literary Editor Acclaimed author Amy Tan has joined West
magazine as literary editor. She will be responsible for helping to
solicit and select pieces for "California Story," an original work
of short fiction set in the Golden State. Tan, a native
Californian, is the author of the best-selling "Saving Fish from
Drowning" and "The Joy Luck Club." She also is the author of "The
Hundred Secret Senses," "The Kitchen God's Wife," "The Bonesetter's
Daughter," "The Opposite of Fate" and two children's books, one of
which, "Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat," was developed into a
popular PBS children's television series. Tan is a member of the
literary garage band, the Rock Bottom Remainders. Bold Graphic
Design, New Typography Improve Readability The full-color weekly
will feature a new typography created exclusively for West and a
bold, crisp and clean look -- designed by Los Angeles Times
Creative Director Joseph Hutchinson -- that will significantly
improve content flow and pacing. The magazine's distinctive page
layout will dramatically showcase eye-catching photography by Los
Angeles Times and freelance photographers and illustrations by some
of the best artists in the industry. For the cover of West
magazine, artist Jim Parkinson, who designed the nameplates for
Esquire and Rolling Stone magazines, has created a new, modern
nameplate similar to one of the versions used for the original West
magazine. Weekly Content: Six New Departments ... West will
introduce six new weekly departments in the front of the book: *
Fault Lines -- The magazine's letters page will feature a one-panel
cartoon by Los Angeles artist Donna Barstow, whose work has
appeared in numerous magazines including Reader's Digest and the
New Yorker. * From First & Spring: An Editor's Note -- Wartzman
sets the tone for West with an informal piece, riffing off one of
the features in that week's issue. * Rearview Mirror -- An elegant
and intelligent spin on the old newspaper standby "Twenty-five
years ago this week ...," this feature will play off a particular
event to showcase classic California fiction and nonfiction
writing. * Sunday Punches -- A fun page of lists, caricatures,
two-word fiction, doggerel and an assortment of other light-hearted
items. * Photo Synthesis -- Contributing writer Colin Westerbeck
showcases California's rich photographic history and focuses on
some of the state's leading and cutting-edge photographers. * The
Rules of Hollywood -- Industry insiders -- screenwriters, agents,
actors, actresses, lawyers, maybe even a key grip or two -- will
share their tales from the trenches. ... And Two Old Favorites The
magazine will retain two of its most popular features in the back
of the book: * Crossword -- Merl Reagle's crossword puzzle will
remain part of the weekly mix. * 800 Words -- The final words in
the magazine will now belong to Dan Neil, Los Angeles Times'
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist. This feature on the arts and
culture connects the dots as only Neil can: high and low,
avant-garde and old guard, ancient and modern. West Takes A New
Approach to Style West's weekly Style section will playfully
combine traditional elements -- beautifully photographed homes and
gardens, lush food preparations and cutting-edge fashions -- with
the unexpected. For example, a feature on the latest trends in
women's sandals might be followed by a humorous Q&A with a top
foot model and, in turn, a piece on "the feet we eat" -- the
pickled pig's feet from Philippe the Original, the legendary
downtown eatery. Through this approach, West will make cultural
links that the weekly stand-alone sections of the paper aren't
equipped to do, and will make clear that "style" in a place such as
California encompasses much more than just the aspirational. Senior
Writers Join the West Staff The Sunday magazine staff has been
expanded with the addition of four seasoned Los Angeles Times staff
writers: * Mark Arax has covered the San Joaquin Valley for the
last 18 years and is the winner of numerous writing honors,
including a PEN West Award for Literary Journalism. He is the
author of the critically acclaimed memoir, "In My Father's Name"
and co-author, with Rick Wartzman, of "The King of California: J.G.
Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire." The latter won
a 2004 California Book Award and the 2005 William Saroyan
International Prize for Writing. * Lynell George has covered jazz,
pop and world music for the newspaper's Calendar section and the
former View section. Her work has appeared in various magazines --
New Left Review, Ms., Essence and Vibe, among them -- as well as in
several essay collections, including "Writing Los Angeles: A
Literary Anthology." She is the author of "No Crystal Stair:
African-Americans in the City of Angels." * Shawn Hubler, veteran
reporter, columnist and feature writer, helped cover the L.A.
riots, broke the Heidi Fleiss story, profiled the late Nicole Brown
Simpson, followed Willie Brown's last days as San Francisco mayor
and chronicled Rosie O'Donnell's lesbian wedding. As a columnist,
she helped bring about legislation regulating theme parks and won
state and national awards for columns on the psychological aspects
of homelessness and police brutality. * J.R. Moehringer won the
Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2000 for his portrait of
Gee's Bend, Ala., an isolated river town where many descendants of
slaves live and where a proposed ferry to the mainland threatened
to change that community. He was a Pulitzer finalist for feature
writing in 1998 for his magazine piece "Resurrecting The Champ"
about heavyweight boxer Bob Satterfield. He is the author of "The
Tender Bar: A Memoir." West Also Names Contributing Writers Beyond
its full-time staff writers, West will also feature on its masthead
15 leading California writers, part of a corps of top-level
freelancers who will contribute to the magazine. * Gerald Haslam --
The author of 25 books, Haslam's most recent novel, "Straight White
Male," won the Western States Book Award in 2000. That same year,
his nonfiction "Workin' Man Blues: Country Music in California" won
Rolling Stone's Ralph J. Gleason Award. * James D. Houston -- His
15 works of fiction and nonfiction include "The Last Paradise,"
which won an American Book Award. With his wife, Jeanne Wakatsuki
Houston, he co-authored "Farewell to Manzanar," now in its 66th
printing. His most recent novel, "Snow Mountain Passage," was named
one of the year's best books by the Los Angeles Times, San
Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post. * Aris Janigian -- A
former professor of humanities at the Southern California Institute
of Architecture, he is, with April Greiman, the author of
"Something from Nothing," which explores the process of digital
design. His novel "Bloodvine" was a finalist for the 2005 William
Saroyan International Prize for Writing. A resident of Los Angeles,
Janigian returns to his native Fresno every harvest to work as a
grape packer and shipper. * Anne Lamott -- The author of 10 books,
her novels include "Rosie," "Crooked Little Heart" and, most
recently, "Blue Shoe," published in 2002. Her nonfiction work
includes "Operating Instructions," "Bird by Bird," "Traveling
Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith" and the best-selling "Plan B:
Further Thoughts on Faith." * Douglas McGray -- A San
Francisco-based fellow for the New America Foundation, McGray has
written about social and political issues, science and culture for
The New York Times Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Wired, the
New Republic, Mother Jones, The Economist, Travel + Leisure,
Metropolis and Foreign Policy, where he is a contributing writer. *
Marisela Norte -- Hailed as one of the most important literary
voices to come out of East Los Angeles, Norte writes most of her
material while traveling to downtown Los Angeles on the No. 18 bus.
Her work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Interview, Elle, Option,
Venice, L.A. Weekly, Buzz and La Opinion. * Qevin Oji -- Writer and
photographer Oji is winner of the Jerry Jazz Musician New Short
Fiction Award for his story "Anacostia" and a winner of a PEN USA
2005 Emerging Voices Fellowship. He is now working on a novel
called "Moving Days," a coming-of-age tale set in Los Angeles. He
is a former literature teacher at Crenshaw High School. * Richard
Rhodes -- He is the author of more than 20 books, including "The
Making of the Atomic Bomb," which won a Pulitzer Prize for
nonfiction, a National Book Award and a National Book Critics
Circle Award. His "Dark Sun," which chronicled the development of
the hydrogen bomb, was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in history.
His most recent work was the 2004 biography "John James Audubon:
The Making of an American." * Luis J. Rodriguez -- He is perhaps
best known for his 1993 account of gang life, "Always Running: La
Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A." Rodriguez is the author of 10 books,
including works of memoir, fiction, nonfiction, children's
literature and poetry. His verse has won a Poetry Center Book
Award, a PEN Josephine Miles Literary Award and Foreword magazine's
Silver Book Award. * Rebecca Solnit -- Solnit's work focuses on
issues of environment, landscape and place. Her books include
"Wanderlust: A History of Walking," "Hope in the Dark: Untold
Histories, Wild Possibilities" and "River of Shadows: Eadweard
Muybridge and the Technological Wild West," which won a National
Book Critics Circle Award and California Book Award. Her latest
book is "A Field Guide to Getting Lost." * Susan Straight -- A
longtime essay contributor to Los Angeles Times Magazine, Straight
has written five novels including "Highwire Moon," which won a
California Book Award and was a National Book Award finalist. All
of her novels are set in the fictional town of Rio Seco, a loose
parallel to her hometown of Riverside, where she is a professor of
creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. *
Colin Westerbeck -- Recognized as one of the nation's leading
authorities on the history of photography, Westerbeck is the
co-author, with Joel Meyerowitz, of "Bystander: A History of Street
Photography" and is currently at work on a history of portraiture
photography. Before he moved to Los Angeles, where he has taught at
UCLA and USC, he was curator of photography at the Art Institute of
Chicago. * Christian Williams -- Williams worked for many years at
The Washington Post, where he was arts editor and, later, a member
of Bob Woodward's investigative team. He moved to Hollywood to
become a television writer and has worked on "Hill Street Blues"
and "Six Feet Under." He is the author of "Lead, Follow or Get Out
of the Way: The Story of Ted Turner." * Amy Wilentz -- A writer of
both nonfiction and fiction, she is the author of the award-winning
"The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier," and the novel "Martyrs'
Crossing," which won an American Academy of Arts and Letters Prize.
Wilentz is a contributing editor at The Nation and earlier served
as Jerusalem correspondent for the New Yorker. She is now at work
on a book about California in the age of Arnold Schwarzenegger. *
Al Young -- Young is the poet laureate of California. His body of
work includes novels, collections of poetry, essays, memoirs,
anthologies and scripts for Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby and Richard
Pryor. His writing has appeared in the Paris Review, Ploughshares,
Essence, The New York Times and Rolling Stone. His numerous honors
include two Pushcart Prizes and two American Book Awards. The
Times, a Tribune Publishing company, is the largest metropolitan
daily newspaper in the country and the winner of 37 Pulitzer
Prizes. The Times publishes five daily regional editions, for the
Los Angeles metropolitan area, Orange County, Ventura County, the
San Fernando Valley, and the Inland Empire of Riverside and San
Bernardino counties. The Times' website, http://www.latimes.com/,
features 50,000 content pages, and is updated continuously with
more than 3,000 stories posted daily. Latimes.com's award-winning
arts and entertainment section, calendarlive.com, offers an
extensive range of entertainment news reviews and Southern
California's most comprehensive event listing. The Times also
produces The Envelope, http://www.theenvelope.com/, the
entertainment industry's most comprehensive, year-round awards show
website. Additional information about The Times is available at
http://www.latimes.com/mediacenter DATASOURCE: Los Angeles Times
CONTACT: David Garcia of Los Angeles Times, +1-213-237-4715, Web
site: http://www.latimes.com/ http://www.latimes.com/mediacenter
http://www.calendarlive.com/ http://www.theenvelope.com/
Copyright