The Los Angeles literary landscape shifted significantly this week with the departure of Louise Steinman from ALOUD, the reading series based at the downtown Central Library that she founded and ran for 25 years.

A representative of the Library Foundation confirmed the departure of Steinman and ALOUD associate director Maureen Moore, who was the driving force behind the rotunda exhibit “Visualizing Language” by Oaxacan artists that gained international attention.

Steinman and Moore worked for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, a foundation that supports the L.A. Public Library and is run from the Central Library.

The departures come just weeks after the fall season of ALOUD was announced. Two of the 12 events are sold out.

Most of ALOUD’s events are free and held at the Mark Taper Auditorium at the Central Library. Some, held offsite in larger venues, charge a ticket fee, such as the upcoming Sept. 23 discussion with famed novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard, which is $25-75.

Last year, writer Pico Iyer described Steinman to The Times as “a fellow writer, with deeply discerning literary tastes, who really cares about letters and the history of thought.” Read Rest of Article Here