S1: Hey , San Diego , it's time for KPBS Midday Edition on today's arts and culture show. What makes a great thriller novel? The New York Times Book Review polled authors , critics and book aficionados to come up with the definitive list of 21st century thrillers in for Jade Hindman. I'm Andrew Bowen with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. Film out. San Diego's LGBTQ Film Festival is coming up. We'll hear from filmmakers on a queer horror panel , and our weekend preview has poetry , art , and music events for you , all of them free. That's ahead on KPBS Midday Edition. There's nothing like a good book you cannot put down. Thrillers do just that. The mystery and the suspense keeps you turning the pages , making them a perfect summer read. The New York Times Book Review recently put out a list of the 50 best thrillers of the 21st century. It was voted on by devotees of the genre , and I'm joined now by Tina Jordan. She's the deputy editor of the New York Times Book Review. Tina , welcome to the show.
S2: Thank you for having me.
S1: So there are a couple different things that come to mind when we hear the word thriller , but how would you define this genre?
S2: Oh , boy. Let me just say it's a huge umbrella. It is everything from psychological thrillers to spy thrillers to crime fiction , cozy mysteries , police procedurals. There are so many things that can be called a thriller.
S1: And what makes a great thriller in your eyes.
S2: What makes a great thriller? Not only does it have everything that makes it thriller. So let's say , you know , propulsive ness. As you said , a thriller is all about like , sitting down and turning the pages one after another. Um , but it also has great writing. And I think thrillers are sort of like the rest of fiction. They can be trite and formulaic and. Yeah. All right. You know , not great writing , but they can also be terrific.
S1: And how about that twist? I mean , I feel like every good Twitter has to good thriller has to have something that just hits you when you least expect it completely.
S2: And the best thrillers have even more than one. Mhm. Um , as someone who's been reading for a long time , there is nothing I love more than just getting knocked back by a thriller that I did not see coming. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Well , there's this saying , every novel wants to be a thriller that you mentioned in your book review podcast. How do we see the elements of thriller pop up in other books , other genres?
S2: Well , I think first of all , there's a lot of crossover. For example , literary fiction can be a thriller. Historical fiction can be a thriller. Um , but I think it's that thing we're talking about , like turning the pages like every , every novelist wants nothing more than for the reader to keep turning the pages. Right? Um , and because thrillers are primarily plot driven and not , say , character driven , um , you can do that. Mm.
S1: Mm. So tell me about your own gateway into this genre here. Agatha Christie was a very formative author for you in discovering the thriller genre.
S2: That's actually true , although I cut my teeth on Encyclopedia Brown. Okay.
S1: Okay.
S2: And Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew.
S1: Nancy Drew love her.
S2: Oh , yeah. Totally. When I was in sixth grade , my teacher read aloud an Agatha Christie mystery , which , I must tell you , was probably ill advised because people died in all kinds of ways. And we were a roomful of 12 year olds. I was absolutely hooked. And the book was called Cat Among the Pigeons. And I made my mother drive me to the library so that I could check out , you know , as many as I could carry. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Well , let's talk about this list , which covers thrillers from the 21st century , so published since 2000. What can you tell us about the process of putting this list together and who you reached out to in trying to collect these titles? Sure.
S2: Sure. So two years ago , we published a massive list that was 100 best books of the century so far. And it. It was primarily ended up being literary fiction and we were surprised. It turns out a hundred books isn't that many. And as much as we love that list , I myself was looking at it and thinking , you know , where the thrillers , where's the romance? Where's the horror? And so we decided to do a spin off , and we approached this list exactly like we did the hundred best , and we went out to writers , in this case , mystery writers , thriller writers. We went out to librarians , editors , books to grammars , people with mystery book podcasts. We cast the widest net we we possibly could. Oh , booksellers , that was another one. There's a surprising number of mystery and thriller bookstores. And so we sent out hundreds of ballots. And what was so surprising to me was that the response rate was just huge. Like we got 50% of them back. That's a lot , right? Like , you know , most people get this stuff in their inbox and think , oh , I'll come back to it later. And then they never do. But fully , fully half the people we sent it to mailed it back to us.
S1: And , you know , you said that thriller is such a broad genre and there's so many subgenres. What are some recurring themes or trends that you noticed when you were looking through the final list of these 50 novels?
S2: I think the biggest trend that I saw was what will call the Bad Seed thriller , the kind of book where , you know , the parents have this deep suspicion that something is wrong with their child , that people keep dying around their child. And there are three examples. I happen to be a sucker for those. Don't ask me why I do not have children who are sociopaths , but , um , there are three of those on the list , and they're all really good. But the best one , I think , is called Defending Jacob. I don't know if you've ever heard of that. It's just one of those unpronounceable books and in this case , the parents of a child. One parent thinks the kid is innocent and the other thinks he's guilty. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. And so for folks who maybe haven't read the list yet , um , spoiler alert Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn , it came out on top. And for those who don't know , what can you tell us about the premise of Gone Girl? And why do you think it landed on so many people's ballots?
S2: So for somebody who hasn't read Gone Girl or seen the movie , all ten of you out there , probably it's about a husband and wife and the wife is missing , and suspicion has fallen upon the husband , of course , because that's who the cops always assume has done it. And it turns out that the husband is an unreliable narrator , but so is the wife. And we hear a lot about unreliable narrators now. You know , post Gone Girl , there were a lot of famous thrillers like girl on the train with unreliable narrators , but Gone Girl really is sort of like the urtext of unreliable narrators , and it's also beautifully written. It's that combination. I , I've never actually read a thriller , a thriller like this , where I'm turning the pages and I'm having to flip back because I realize the things I thought were true actually aren't true , if that makes sense. Yeah , it's yeah , it's a it's a great reading experience. And I have to say , I think it was ranked on something like 60% of our ballots so far and away. Number one , very popular.
S1: Yeah , well , a favorite author of yours who also showed up on the list is Tana French. What can you tell us about her writing and how it draws you in?
S2: So despite everything I said to you already in this segment about plot driven thrillers. Tana French writes thrillers that also have great characters. I won't call them character driven because they are mysteries. They they are puzzles that you are also trying to figure out. Um , but they feel like Irish novels. They feel like you've been dropped into Dublin , like you've been dropped in , you know , to an Irish village. And my very favorite ton of French novel is called Broken Harbor. And it's set in , I believe , 2008 , which is when Ireland was decimated by a financial crisis. And it's not just a murder mystery. It's like a portrait of Ireland at this time. It's a look at this man who's lost everything in this crisis and is slowly like losing a little bit more of his mind every day. I really when people tell me , oh , I don't read a thriller , that is the book I put in their hands. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Are there any picks on the list that surprised you , or that maybe you hadn't heard of before it popped up on this list?
S2: So I had heard of everything on the list. But what surprised me and kind of delighted me was how many older books we have. Because often in lists like this , what you end up with are a bunch of recent , recent picks. Right. It's recency bias. It's what people read most recently. But you know , there's a Harlan Coben from 2001 there. There's a there's another book from 2003. We really , like run the full gamut , and I was happy to see that. Um , I saw that too , on actually the readers list , which we will publish tomorrow. Hmm.
S3: Hmm.
S1: And so thinking back to those early days in this time span of the 21st century , how do you think that the thriller genre has changed since then? Or , you know , whether it's the books themselves and the writing or how readers are engaging with thrillers? Hmm.
S2: Hmm. I think the books have had to change , uh , especially because now you can Google anything on your phone and get the answer. So. Characters in tough spots , you know , uh , the advent of cell phones in , in in short , I think has made plotting a lot more difficult for thriller writers , and , you know , the good ones aren't going to try to get out of it cheaply by having suddenly somebody have no service or there be a storm , or to knock it out or whatever , that that makes it harder. But also from the perspective of the reader , I feel like 25 years ago , writers could get away with details that maybe weren't quite right. Um , and nobody would call them on it. But these days , everybody is an expert and everybody's an expert on everything. You know , on law , on physics , on anything that might enter into a thriller. And so I think for thriller writers to be taken seriously , they have they have to get the details right. Hmm.
S3: Hmm.
S1: Well , you know , some people might go to a book to kind of escape the reality they're living in today. But thrillers are very culturally relevant. There are a lot of TV and movie adaptations. How do you think they're speaking? To our current political and social moment?
S2: Oh , I do think it's about escapism. I mean , that's why I read these books to take me out of this particular moment. Um , I want to forget where I am and what I'm doing. Um , you know , for a block of time , like I do. I'm not trying to wriggle out of a harder answer. I really think it's as simple as that.
S1: Yeah , I , I. So we were talking about Gone Girl , which of course was made into a movie. I saw Sharp Objects , which was turned into a mini series on HBO. What do you think makes the thriller so ripe for adaptation into film and television?
S2: They're so ripe for adaptation because they're plot driven. When you look at all the literary novels that don't get made , that aren't turned into adaptations , it's because as fabulous as they might be , um , their interior , they're meandering. They don't have a plot that keeps sending you forward. Um , I , I think that thrillers are probably basically script ready. Some of them. Um , in fact , I'm sure some of them are written that way on purpose. But you know what I mean?
S1: Now I do , yeah. And so I have to ask , what thrillers or thriller are you reading right now?
S2: What am I reading right now? That's , you know , this.
S1: Are you taking a break from thrillers? Really?
S2: Really? I'm probably going to start taking a break from thrillers. One of my colleagues who reads older thrillers and mysteries has just handed me a stack of mysteries from the 30s and 40s , and I , like I said , I read Agatha Christie , and I've certainly read some of the other of what we call Golden Age writers , but I have not read a single writer. The stack of books she's given me. So we'll see.
S1: So you'll be making your way through that? All right.
S2: Well , I'll be making my way through that.
S1: Well , good luck with that. I hope you enjoy it. I've been speaking with Tina Jordan. She is deputy editor of the New York Times Book Review. We will link to the full list of the 50 best Thrillers of the 21st century at KPBS. And Tina , thanks for joining us.
S2: Oh , thank you for having me. This was fun.
S1: Coming up , how about thrillers on the big screen? Our KPBS film critic talks with two horror filmmakers presenting at Film Out , San Diego's LGBTQ film festival. Stay with us. Welcome back to KPBS midday Edition. I'm Andrew Bowen in for Jade Hindman film out San Diego's LGBTQ film festival returns next week for its 26th year. 41 films will screen during the annual four day festival , and it kicks off on Wednesday at the Natural History Museum , then moves to the Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art. Since the festival always showcases queer horror. KPBS arts reporter and horror aficionado Beth Accomando decided to check in with the filmmakers behind Scorch Marks and the queer horror panel.
S4: I want to welcome a pair of filmmakers who will be screening the film Scorch Marks , next week at Film Out San Diego. This is writer director Brandon Haley and producer Michael Verratti. And I have to confess , when I watched Scorch Marks , it brought me back to pandemic times. It has this end of the world vibe , a single confined setting , the sense of isolation. So I was just wondering , Brendan , where did the idea for this come from and why did you want to make this film now?
S5: The story really started out in the aftermath of pitching a bunch of other projects , but I really was drawn into this idea originally of sort of unknown person walking in the desert , and there's always this force following him or this entity following him. And as everything I tend to do , everything that Michael tends to do in our personal projects. It was always meant to be a queer story , but it needed a little bit more than that. So I think over time coming up with that story. During the pandemic and during those years probably is what you're talking about right there. And picking up on it did develop into what you see now. So there's a little bit more story. There's a little bit more backstory. At one point , there were two other movies that were included in this cinematic universe , and I was maybe some call of delusion , but I choose to call it ambition. At one point in time , I was trying to pitch all three to be financed and made it at the same time. And then obviously when Deku came in and financed us and picked up the movie , we worked really hard to keep everything a little bit more untethered and isolated. So each movie could have its own bells and whistles , essentially. But yeah , to bring it back to the pandemic of it all , I think you are clocking me right out of the gate by. By noticing that it was definitely started during pandemic years.
S4: The pandemic years had a real world horror vibe to it that I think we all sort of like were tapping into.
S5: Oh , absolutely. And I think there's also something to be said about having lived through an experience like that , but also living as a queer person in everyday life. There is sort of the big theme of the movie is this cataclysmic storm that is going on everywhere else in the distance , but where we actually are. And I think that's sort of works really wonderfully with the narrative that queer life is isolated and , you know , we can use the lens of a pandemic or an apocalypse to highlight that. But there was something very interesting and about those two themes and sort of playing in that sandbox for me. So that's where a lot of those ideas come from.
S4: I've described this a little bit as like end of the world kind of vibe , but you bring some additional elements into this that go beyond just your kind of run of the mill end of the world. I don't know how much you want to reveal , but if you want to talk a little bit about the storyline. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. So , uh , in short , uh , Scorch Marks is about a man , an unstable , emotionally drained , desperate person named Beckett who is currently trying to navigate a very bad breakup , for lack of a better term in social life , and becomes a recluse in the fringes of society when , by coincidence , the apocalypse also happens , isolating him further. And then we start to see supernatural elements come into play , like the spirit of his ex husband starts showing up and tormenting him.
S6: Becky , are you all right?
S7: Why is this all happening to me?
S6: Which part?
S7: All of it. No.
S6: They are. Why not you? Despite the odds , you're still here , right?
S5: We have ancient deities from folklore showing up and imposing their own form of terrors or destiny upon him. I leave you to draw your own conclusions. When you see the film.
S8: Your world has spent too many bad choices accumulated. I herald the final choice. One that only few must make.
S9: You killed my injuries , didn't you? What are you?
S8: A familiar?
S5: But there was a lot of elements at play as you , as you highlighted. And I think at the core of it all is this story of relational trauma. I have had a lot of weird proximity , whether working for queer couples that were bad to each other , or being in social spheres with queer couples that were bad to each other , have had this proximity to a number of relationships where I've seen people behave badly. And I think that's always fascinating for me because in my mind , as queer people , we get to explore non-traditional forms of love and relationship and connection. So how do you mess that up , if that makes sense? And I think that sort of influences the supernatural elements , but in our own unique way.
S4: And you mentioned a deity. And again , I don't want you to give away too much , but talk a little bit about the makeup and the design of this character and who you have playing her , him , them. Absolutely.
S5: Absolutely. So , Tiamat , I can reveal a little bit about the character. Not too much because again , I want to leave that for the audience to experience and fall on the screen. But Tiamat is this real world folklore. Mesopotamian goddess frequently associated with the creation of the universe and the mother of all monsters.
S8: The end is in the beginning , the beginning , and yet you go on.
S5: It's a character that sort of exists in this , uh , kind of Clive Barker method of thinking of villains like , uh , or antagonists , traditional antagonists. You have the soundbites in Clive Barker's work , which are clerical workers , and that's sort of the same tone with Tiamat here. Tiamat methods maybe are not always the most sound or moral , but Tiamat exists outside of the scope of human existence. So who are we to really judge? But yeah , Tiamat is this real world character that was brought to me by the way of Doctor Emily Zaka on PBS , uh , Storied network. Emily came on board as one of our consulting producers and helped us really craft the look of this character , this goddess , along with our drag performer van der Vanguard , who is the first ever winner of The Bully Brothers.
S4: Dracula and Michael Yu produced the film. So talk a little bit about the challenges of making an independent horror film at this particular moment in time.
S10: Well , one of the things that you really look at when making an independent horror film is just how are you going to do it and why this moment? And I think a lot of people would be surprised to learn that just because Brendan is my partner , that we work together all the time , but we don't actually there are many things that we do separately , and there are many things we do together. And Brendan had brought up scorch marks very early on , and it immediately spoke to me , and it was something that I took to my production company co-founder Brandon Kirby at June Gloom Productions. Because our mission statement is queer horror and queer social commentary pieces. And Brendan wrote a feature that really hits both. This is a social commentary piece. It is a horror piece. It's the kind of thing that we want to get behind. And it was really , really the script that made us feel like , hey , we got to do this. And luckily , the ability to make it happen came via Daku financing the film , but also through Brendan having a really brilliant script that made someone want to finance it. But as you know , making movies at any time , especially queer movies , is not easy. And so a lot of it does come from cumulative background of doing this ourselves. We've never really , through June Gloom or Brendan's Lonely Specters production , had the opportunity to have huge budgets or huge studio backing. We've been very fortunate with the production companies and streamers that we've paired with , but when it comes time to make the movies , we have to kind of pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and do it ourselves. And we all wear many hats. But I do believe in every one of the artists that we worked with in the way that we all just show up for each other. That's the world we come from , and that's what queer filmmaking should be. And I think that's what independent filmmaking should be. None of us are on the set of a movie of this size because it's just a job. It's also in our heart , and we want to see it through.
S4: And in addition to screening your film , both of you are going to be on a panel at Film Out , A Queer horror in the modern market. So what can people expect to have addressed at this panel?
S5: I think Michael and I can agree. We deal with the nitty gritty , the sometimes very ugly realities of working and pitching creative content and original content in a queer space in this industry , which is basically just a Russian nesting doll of niche after niche after niche. So the odds are more often than not stacked against us. And I feel as though it is our job Whenever given the opportunity to speak to some of the things we go through , some of the things we're able to get across the table and how we were able to do that. Because at the end of the day , it's a miracle when queer content , queer movies , queer television happen in any form. So if we can help someone else out there figure out how to get their tale of horror or queer horror or whatever across the table. That's the goal , in my opinion.
S10: Yeah , and I think doing a queer horror panel in San Diego , of course , is very special to me because I've been doing the queer horror panel at San Diego Comic-Con international for close to two decades now. But I think the difference between a panel that you would see at San Diego Comic-Con versus the one that Brendon and I are doing with our colleagues at Film Out , is that is more of a generalized discussion about queer artists connection to horror , and how they're horror and how that horror connects to their queerness. Whereas this is a round table. We will be leading the discussion , but we are talking to and among a group of people who have faced the challenges of trying to sell these things and trying to make these things. I think that we all have stories about taking a pitch somewhere , even up to a place that claims they're looking for queer material , and then when you pitch it , it's like , oh , that's a little too queer , or that's not the safe queer that we want. Or what's it like when you're trying to present something authentically as an artist and you are being told by somebody who's only looking at your queerness as a commodity , and every one of the people on this panel that we're doing at Film Out , we have stories to tell. Van der Vaart is joining us on the panel , and she certainly as drag artist who travels the world , has met resistance and how , using her drag , she has fought to make it more visible. And I think that it's really important to talk about the challenges at a festival like Film Out , that celebrates both film and the filmmaking process , because it's good to let people know you can do this. It's not always going to be easy , but you can do it. And that's what we're aiming to do.
S4: Well , you know , you talk about the film being queer and being too queer for some studios , but at its heart , it hasn't horror kind of always been queer on a certain level , like it's always been about being sort of transgressive and about the other. And like it , it just seems like it's kind of embedded in its DNA.
S10: Oh yeah , horror , by its nature , is queer because horror is the genre of subversion and otherness. And who understands otherness better than people who are marginalized by society , who are treated as subversive more than people who are marginalized by society? There is a queerness both in the macro and micro sense , inherent in horror , that I feel like it has always belonged to us , and we're just kind of leasing it to people who are telling us what they think it should be.
S4: Now , if people are not familiar with both of you , you guys do podcasts about horror documentaries about horror. You make horror films. You present horror films like you love the genre across a lot of places and just embrace it in so many ways. So what is it about the genre that you love so much?
S5: Oh gosh , I don't think there is an easy answer to it all , because for a number of years growing up , I was very frightened of horror. And these icons that it's a tale as old as time as you know , you see the Freddy Krueger's of the world or the Jason Voorhees of the world on television , and they scare you to the core. But then as you get older and you start to get a taste for these things , you start to fall in love with them. I think it's not necessarily those characters in particular , but it's finding your corner of the genre. For me , that's a lot of the movies from the 1970s. A lot of 1970s horror in particular really speaks to me. Scorch marks itself takes inspirations and cues creatively from folklore of that time , like The Wicker Man or Pandas fan , and these are movies that have given me a new understanding of queerness in art and how that lives with me , how that lives with me professionally , both , but also personally. I know that Michael's experience also is a little different from that coming from the world of late night television hosts and getting his taste for movies like that. We both have bonded in our personal life about our deep love of the Killer Tomatoes movies , repping both you , Beth , as well as the city of San Diego in full.
S10: Yeah , I think to Brendan's point , there is something about horror that always brings me back for many of the reasons , like what I said earlier , horror's ability to address the subversive , to address the otherness is appealing. But I think if I'm honest with myself , I grew up specifically during the Reagan era of horror movies. That was the most formative , and that time period when everything was excess and there was this moral majority trying to dictate what was good and what was not. We were told that this genre was nothing but brain rot. But we know that so many of the movies , even the most populist ones of that era , were reflecting things that were going on at the time. And there's enough of a bad kid streak in me still that when tells when when the world tells me you're not supposed to like this. I think to myself. Well , I'm gonna anyway. And I'm gonna appreciate this anyway. And I'm going to champion the trash anyway , because it's not trash. I think that horror when really looked at. Yes , of course , there's the gratuitous and the excessive and the things just made to shock. And that has its own place in its own value. But this genre consistently over the centuries , even before the screen , when you look at Gothic literature , whatever it is the most powerful , because you can use that otherness , that lens of the fantastic to talk about all the stuff that nobody wants to address head on because it's too polite in society. But if you do it with a monster , if you do it with gore , you can call out the bad behavior. And that's the thing I think that scares them the most , and I always will love that for that reason.
S4: And Michael , you've had your film screened at film out before. What brings you back to the festival? I know Michael McGuigan , the programmer , loves horror. So is that part of the appeal of coming back here?
S10: You know , I am so thrilled anytime I get the chance to come back to film out. What Michael does with the festival is great. He's also been very good to me as a filmmaker and to my production company by programming things that we have been behind as well. Of course , I want to come back to the festival to support Scorch Marks and Brendan and this amazing thing that he's done. We also , through June Gloom , produced David Bauer's short film Get Into the Spirit. So I feel doubly proud to be at the fest this year. But what keeps me coming back to film out over and over again? Not just this. The selfish reasons of being an alumni and getting that rush of getting to screen your things is that it truly is a festival that you can tell loves. Movies that loves filmmakers and feels like family. I really do not say that lightly. When you do this , especially as an indie filmmaker. You travel to a lot of places and it's always great to have your movie screen , no question. But the places that you go that really feel like coming home are few and far between , and it always feels like coming home. When we get to come to film out.
S5: I have to reiterate exactly what Michael just said. There is a quality about film out that we both have had the opportunity to work with many festivals over the years , queer and horror and beyond , and there is something incredibly special about playing a festival , or simply just attending a festival that champions artists first and whatever they need to succeed. One of my fondest memories was when Michael and I went down for his film a couple of years back. There's a zombie outside. We had a line around the block. for people who wanted to see this movie , and people still talk about it in San Diego and still come up to us when we are down visiting the city , asking questions about it. And you don't get that kind of home grown quality from just any festival that that takes work. And I think what McQueen and the entire programming team behind film that have done is cultivate this space that is safe , but also celebratory , and that is worth its weight in gold these days.
S4: All right. Well , I want to thank you both very much for talking about scorch marks and queer horror and film out.
S5: My pleasure.
S10: Thank you. Beth.
S1: That was producer Michael Verratti and writer director Brendan Haley , speaking with KPBS Beth Accomando. Their film Scorch Marks will have its world premiere on Saturday , August 22nd as part of Film Out San Diego's LGBTQ film Festival. You can learn more at KPBS. Still ahead. Free music , art and literature events happening in San Diego this weekend. We're back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Andrew Bowen in for Jade Hindman for our weekend arts preview. We have some ways to get your culture fix without breaking the bank from animation. Inspired by a century old painting to poetry beneath the stars. All of it free. Joining me with all of the details is KPBS arts reporter and host of the finest podcast , Julia Dixon Evans and Julia , welcome.
S11: Hey , Andrea. Thanks for having me. I love talking about free art.
S1: And I love consuming free art. Well , let's start with the poetry beneath the Stars. What can you tell us about this event? Yeah.
S11: Yeah. So this is a Queen California's magical circle in Escondido. There. Opening it up at night for a Twilight poetry reading. They'll have poets and spoken word artists. Carla Cordero is reading , and it's one of the first events that she's doing since she was announced as the poet laureate of Oceanside. Um , this is the first time Oceanside has had a poet laureate , so that's exciting. And yeah , her collection How to Pull Apart the Earth is really excellent. And also reading is Tracy Knapp , Jane McKenna , and Patricia Aya Williams. And poetry aside , this is just a really great opportunity to go to Queen Khalifa's magical Circle , which is the final work of art that Nikki de Saint Phalle , this iconic artist , worked on before she died. And in fact , she didn't actually get to see it finished. And it's such a beautiful spot. It's just this , like giant , immersive , fantastical playground. It's made from mosaic and mirrored tiles , and it's tucked in a corner of Kit Carson Park in Escondido. It has such limited hours , it's only open for a couple hours on weekdays , I think two Saturdays a month , and I've never seen it open in the evening , so this is a great chance to see the place at night. Um , the poetry reading is Friday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. it's free and it's open to the public. It's recommended that you bring a blanket to sit on or a rubber footed lawn chair. If you you want a chair to sit on. That's because like , the mosaic tiles are really totally immersive. So you just don't want to put a metal lawn chair on top of it.
S1: That sounds so cool. And another option is the always free Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park. Tell us about Margaret Noble's new installation there. Yeah.
S11: Yeah. So for the past seven years , the Timken has been doing a summer artist and residency program. Each one of these has been so different. So cool. The artists are they're asked to , like , create a work that's in conversation with something that's in the Timken collection. And this summer it's artist Margaret Noble. Um , I really love Margaret Noble's work. She's a local conceptual artist , does a lot of experimental sound and video work. Um , and yeah , her work is really thoughtful and inventive. And for this residency , she was inspired by a 1758 painting by Francois Boucher. It's called lovers in the Park , and I actually think it's a lot of people's favorite painting at the Timken. It's just like one of the gems in their collection. It's this gorgeous Rococo style painting. There's two lovers , like cuddling up under this tree , like this extremely ornate tree. And then a peasant girl stumbles upon them as she walks by. And so the painting hangs in one room of the Timken. And then Noble's installation is in the next room , and she's made this 38 foot painted mural. There's a projected animation video in the middle of it , and the animation takes like close up elements like sourced from the actual painting , but then animates these like black lines , like drawing shadows or new images over the top of it , as if it's like a glass overlay over the painting. And it's all like a little bit spooky. And then theoretically , when you walk out , you'll pass the Boucher painting again and probably see it a little differently. And yeah , the Timken is always free. It's open 10 to 5 Wednesdays through Sundays , and Noble's installation will be on view through September 6th.
S1: Well , I'm definitely putting that on my list. Thank you for sharing. And the La Jolla music society's month long Summerfest is underway now. How can we check out some of that free music?
S11: Yeah , so Summerfest is not all free , but they do have a free element. It's it's all chamber music. It's from the La Jolla music society. They've put this on for every summer for the last 40 years. Um , and chamber music is basically just classical music performed by any sort of smaller ensemble. And historically it's really intimate , hence the name chamber. It started out as a way of like fitting a concert into your home , so you could only really bring in as many musicians as would fit in your chamber. And yeah , La Voix music society , they bring in musicians and composers from around the world to perform. One of the things that they have been doing in the last few years is hosting free community events during the festival. These are things like open rehearsals or this year , all of their musical preludes are also free. One of these musical preludes is on Friday evening at 6:00 , and this is all at the Conrad Prévost Performing Arts Center in La Jolla. And it's the Kairos Piano Quartet. They're going to perform William Walton's Piano Quartet in D minor , and I wasn't very familiar with this composer , William Walton , until now. And he is a 20th century English composer , and I just really like this piece. It's lively and it's cinematic , and I kind of felt like I was watching an old cartoon when I listened to it. And this is the fourth movement from that piece. And they do recommend RSVP ING to the free events just to make sure that you get a spot. And of course , if you do want to spend a little cash , there are several ticketed concerts this weekend and throughout the rest of the month , including this Sunday night. They're having a takeover with Kronos Quartet cellist and composer Paul Bianco. That's Sunday night. So.
S3: So.
S1: Let's switch to literature. Saturday is the return of small press night at the Book Catapult in South Park. Tell us why this one is on your radar. Yeah.
S11: Yeah. So this is volume 16 of Small press , Nate. It's an excellent local reading series founded by a local writer and professor , Kevin Kearney a couple years ago. And it celebrates small press literature , which I think is where the most interesting stuff is happening. It's where writers can take more risks. And yeah , these readings are a great place to discover a new writer or find your next read. But they're also just , like , entertaining in and of themselves. This weekend's reading features a couple of touring authors. They both have brand new books out. That's Claire Heupel and Scott Broecker , and then the evening will be rounded out by two locals Paola Garcia , who is our San Diego poet laureate and former journalist , and the author of the awkward SD Substack , Ryan Bradford. This is Saturday at seven at the book catapult. And yeah , these are always free.
S1: You had me at Ryan Bradford. He's such a great writer. So funny , I love him. You can find details on all of these and more arts events on our website at KPBS. I've been speaking with KPBS arts reporter and host of the finest podcast , Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , thank you for sharing all this great art with us.
S11: Thank you. Andrea , this is fun.
S1: Thanks for joining us today. If you missed anything , you can download KPBS Midday Edition on all podcast apps. Tune in to KPBS for All Things Considered this afternoon from 330 to 630. We'll keep you updated with local stories and breaking news as it happens. As always , we want to hear from you. Share your feedback or segment ideas by emailing us at midday at KPBS or give us a call. The number is (619) 452-0228. I'm Andrew Bowen in for Jade Hindman. Join us again tomorrow at noon.
