National Book Award finalist Susan Straight in conversation with Tod Goldberg on the release of her new novel, "Sacrament." Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as the "Consistently brilliant author's finest book yet," and People -- which also named the book their Pick of Week -- as "Straight's new stunner," "Sacrament" is the captivating new novel about a group of nurses fighting through the first year of a pandemic and the beloved California community they will risk their lives to protect. As the nurses struggle with the skyrocketing number of sick patients, Cherisse's daughter goes missing. Grief's friend Johnny Frias, a California Highway Patrol officer, joins the search to find her, and the resulting journey leads to new love and loss, pushing all our characters to their breaking points. Brilliantly highlighting both the quiet heroism and extraordinary bravery of first responders, "Sacrament" once again proves that Susan Straight is the "essential voice in American writing and in writing of the West" (The New York Times) and the bard of the California's Inland Empire and Desert.

Tuesday November 18, 2025

6 P.M.

UCR Palm Desert Auditorium

75080 Frank Sinatra Dr.

Palm Desert, CA 92211

BIO

Susan Straight’s previous novel, "Mecca," was published March 2022 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and released in paperback March 2023. Mecca was a national bestseller, a finalist for The Kirkus Prize, and named a best novel of the year by The Washington Post and NPR, as well as a Top Ten California Book by the New York Times, and winner of the Southwest Book of the Year for Fiction. In 2014, Straight received the Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. In 2011, she received the Gina Berriault Award for Fiction from San Francisco State University. In 2007, Straight received The Lannan Prize for Fiction, for her body of work. In 1998, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Fiction. (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)