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.Patt Morrison is a writer and columnist for the Los Angeles Times a radio host on KPCC, and the author of the best-selling Rio L.A.: Tales from the Los Angeles River. Her numerous awards include two shared Pulitzer Prizes and six Emmys.James Ellroy, an Edgar Award nominee, grew up in Los Angeles - the city that inspired his acclaimed crime novels. He has written 18 books, including his L.A. Quartet novels. Most recently he wrote a four-part series in Playboy titled "The Hilliker Curse".