Award winning author Karen Palmer in conversation with Tod Goldberg.

For over two decades, Karen Palmer, her new husband, and her children lived under fake names, with invented histories, and an uncertain futures, all in order to escape Palmer's dangerous ex-husband. Now, in her amazing and internationally acclaimed memoir She's Under Here, Palmer details her life on the run and the steps she took to protect her family. Hailed as one of the best books of the year by NPR and the Sunday (London) Times, Los Angeles Times called the memoir "intense and intensely observed," while the Washington Post celebrated it's taut and thrilling storytelling. For one night only, she'll be here in the desert to dive deep into this startling true story.

Tuesday February 17, 2026

6 P.M.

UCR Palm Desert Auditorium

75080 Frank Sinatra Dr.

Palm Desert, CA 92211

BIOS

Karen Palmer has received grants from the NEA and the Colorado Council on the Arts. She's Under Here grew out of her award-winning essay The Reader Is the Protagonist, first published in Virginia Quarterly Review and selected by Leslie Jamison for inclusion in Best American Essays 2017. She is the author of the novels All Saints and Border Dogs. More recently her short story Birds of Paradise won the 2022 Emily Clark Balch Prize for Fiction. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, The Kenyon Review, Arts & Letters, and Kalliope, among others.She currently teaches at Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, CO, and lives with her husband in California. (more)

Tod Goldberg is the New York Times bestselling author of sixteen books, including the acclaimed "Gangsterland" quartet — "Gangsterland," "Gangster Nation," "The Low Desert: Gangster Stories" and "Gangsters Don’t Die" — which have been published in a dozen countries and have won or have been a finalist for the Hammett Prize, the Southwest Book of the Year, the Strand Critics Award, the Reading the West Award, the International Thriller of the Year and many more. His previous books include "Living Dead Girl," a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, "The House of Secrets," which he wrote with Brad Meltzer, and the anthology "Eight Very Bad Nights," a finalist for the Anthony Award. His short fiction and essays appear widely and have been honored with selection in Best American Mystery & Suspense and Best American Essays. Tod is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside where he founded and directs the Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts. His next book, "Only Way Out," will be released in December 2025 from Thomas & Mercer. (more)