Deborah Vankin's guest appearances

Deborah Vankin

Skylight Books Podcast Series

Jules Sherred's Geeky Pleasures

Chris Ryan

Sean Fennessey

Jason Concepcion

Shea Serrano

Mallory Rubin

Chuck Klosterman

Benjamin Franklin

Jon Hamm

Kate Schatz

Miriam Klein Stahl

Michelle Tea

Matt Bell

Sarah Ruhl

Amy Stewart

Phil Plait

OwlTail

Christine Pelisek

In 2006, Christine Pelisek broke the case of a terrifying serial killer who went unchecked in Los Angeles for decades. Two years later, in her cover article for L.A. Weekly, Christine dubbed him "The Grim Sleeper" for his long break between murders. The killer preyed on a community devastated by crime and drugs and left behind a trail of bodies--all women of color, all murdered in a similar fashion, and all discarded in the alleys of South Central. The case of the Grim Sleeper is unforgettably singular. But it also tells a wider story: about homicide investigations and police-community relations in areas beset by poverty and gang violence; about how a serial killer could roam free for two decades in part due to society’s lack of concern for his chosen victims; and about the persistence of those women's families and the detectives who refused to let the case go cold. No one knows this story better than Pelisek, the reporter who followed it for more than ten years. Based on extensive interviews, reportage, and information never released to the public, The Grim Sleeper captures the long, bumpy road to justice in one of the most startling true crime stories of our generation. Christine Pelisek is an award-winning investigative reporter who has been covering crime for almost fifteen years. She is currently the crime reporter for People Magazine, and previously worked at LA Weekly; she has also covered national stories for The Daily Beast and 20/20. She’s been profiled in the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Columbia Journalism Review, andOttawa Sun, and has been interviewed as a crime expert by CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and Headline News. She lives in Los Angeles.   Photo by Amanda Pelisek Deborah Vankin is an arts and culture writer for the Los Angeles Times. Her award-winning interviews and profiles unearth the trends, issues and personalities in L.A.’s explosive arts scene. She has live-blogged her journey across Los Angeles with the L.A. County Museum of Art’s “big rock,” scaled downtown mural scaffolding with street artist Shepard Fairey, navigated the 101 freeway tracking the 1984 Olympic mural restorations and ridden Doug Aitken’s art train through the Barstow desert. Most recently, she spent a day roller-coastering at Universal Studios with Chinese piano virtuoso Yuja Wang for a profile. Her work as a writer and editor has also appeared in the New York Times, LA Weekly and Variety, among other places. Originally from Philadelphia, she’s the author of the graphic novel “Poseurs.” Her career began, more than a decade ago at the LA Weekly, where she was situated at a desk next to another young, budding reporter, Christine Pelisek...      Event date:   Saturday, July 29, 2017 - 5:00pm

In 2006, Christine Pelisek broke the case of a terrifying serial killer who went unchecked in Los Angeles for decades. Two years later, in her cover article for L.A. Weekly, Christine dubbed him "The Grim Sleeper" for his long break between murders. The killer preyed on a community devastated by crime and drugs and left behind a trail of bodies--all women of color, all murdered in a similar fashion, and all discarded in the alleys of South Central. The case of the Grim Sleeper is unforgettably singular. But it also tells a wider story: about homicide investigations and police-community relations in areas beset by poverty and gang violence; about how a serial killer could roam free for two decades in part due to society’s lack of concern for his chosen victims; and about the persistence of those women's families and the detectives who refused to let the case go cold. No one knows this story better than Pelisek, the reporter who followed it for more than ten years. Based on extensive interviews, reportage, and information never released to the public, The Grim Sleeper captures the long, bumpy road to justice in one of the most startling true crime stories of our generation. Christine Pelisek is an award-winning investigative reporter who has been covering crime for almost fifteen years. She is currently the crime reporter for People Magazine, and previously worked at LA Weekly; she has also covered national stories for The Daily Beast and 20/20. She’s been profiled in the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Columbia Journalism Review, andOttawa Sun, and has been interviewed as a crime expert by CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and Headline News. She lives in Los Angeles.   Photo by Amanda Pelisek Deborah Vankin is an arts and culture writer for the Los Angeles Times. Her award-winning interviews and profiles unearth the trends, issues and personalities in L.A.’s explosive arts scene. She has live-blogged her journey across Los Angeles with the L.A. County Museum of Art’s “big rock,” scaled downtown mural scaffolding with street artist Shepard Fairey, navigated the 101 freeway tracking the 1984 Olympic mural restorations and ridden Doug Aitken’s art train through the Barstow desert. Most recently, she spent a day roller-coastering at Universal Studios with Chinese piano virtuoso Yuja Wang for a profile. Her work as a writer and editor has also appeared in the New York Times, LA Weekly and Variety, among other places. Originally from Philadelphia, she’s the author of the graphic novel “Poseurs.” Her career began, more than a decade ago at the LA Weekly, where she was situated at a desk next to another young, budding reporter, Christine Pelisek... Event date:  Saturday, July 29, 2017 - 5:00pm

CHRISTINE PELISEK DISCUSSES HER BOOK THE GRIM SLEEPER WITH DEBORAH VANKIN

On Sunday, July 24, 2011, I did a brief, special Geeky Pleasures Radio Show interview on The Look 24/7 (@TheLook247) with LA Times writer and graphic novel author, Deborah Vankin (@debvankin), live from from San Diego Comic-Con. If you missed the live interview, you will find below for your listening and downloading pleasures. But first, the show notes.   Things discussed during the interview are: What POSEURS is about; What demographic the graphic novel is aimed and why; Deborah’s experiences covering the LA night life and how it influenced this graphic novel; The deeper themes of the graphic novel; How the writer-artist collaboration works; Deborah’s SDCC experience; Independent publishers and working with them; What else she is working on and graphic novels that have influenced her own work. The interview was done via telephone so there is a little bit of noise in it. I did what I could to clean it up. At the beginning of the interview, you will hear the Geeky Pleasures Radio Show theme song by Chris Cogott (@chriscogott). The format of the interview is mp3, 128 kbps, 44.1 khz. The length length of the interview is 24 minutes 07 seconds. The size is 23 MB. You can download it by right click – save as this link. Alternatively, you can stream it below. If you are viewing this in an RSS reader, you’ll need to visit the site in order to stream.   I hope you enjoy. [rps-paypal] 978-1607063581 | Image Comics (April 5, 2011) 152 Pages | U.S. $16.99 | Distribution: Diamond ABOUT THE BOOK Poseurs follows three teenagers from distinctly different corners of Los Angeles who meet in the underworld of LA nightlife and Hollywood parties –and get in over their heads! From the graffiti-tagged streets of LA’s eastside to the bloated, billion dollar mansions of Bel Air, it’s a full-blown party noir! ABOUT THE AUTHOR DEBORAH VANKIN is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, where she covers arts &amp; culture, entertainment and nightlife. Prior to that, she launched—and served as Editor-in-Chief of—the LA Times’ alt weekly publications/websites, Metromix LA and Brand X. Deborah’s work has also appeared in LA Weekly, Variety and The New York Times, among many other places. Her essays and short fiction have been produced at Spoken Interludes and Word Theatre in Los Angeles. Originally from Philadelphia, POSEURS is her first foray into comics. She’s currently working on her second graphic novel. [ad#TechDepot]

On Sunday, July 24, 2011, I did a brief, special Geeky Pleasures Radio Show interview on <a href="http://thelook247.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Look 24/7</a> (<a href="http://twitter.com/TheLook247" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@TheLook247</a>) with LA Times writer and graphic novel author, Deborah Vankin (<a href="http://twitter.com/debvankin" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@debvankin</a>), live from from San Diego Comic-Con. If you missed the live interview, you will find below for your listening and downloading pleasures. But first, the show notes. <ul> <li>Things discussed during the interview are: What POSEURS is about; What demographic the graphic novel is aimed and why; Deborah’s experiences covering the LA night life and how it influenced this graphic novel; The deeper themes of the graphic novel; How the writer-artist collaboration works; Deborah’s SDCC experience; Independent publishers and working with them; What else she is working on and graphic novels that have influenced her own work.</li> <li>The interview was done via telephone so there is a little bit of noise in it. I did what I could to clean it up.</li> <li>At the beginning of the interview, you will hear the Geeky Pleasures Radio Show theme song by <a href="http://christophercogott.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Cogott</a> (<a href="http://twitter.com/chriscogott" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@chriscogott</a>).</li> <li>The format of the interview is mp3, 128 kbps, 44.1 khz.</li> <li>The length length of the interview is 24 minutes 07 seconds.</li> <li>The size is 23 MB.</li> <li>You can download it by <a href="http://geekypleasures.com/archive/interview/Deborah%20Vankin%20Interview.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">right click – save as this link</a>.</li> <li>Alternatively, you can stream it below. If you are viewing this in an RSS reader, you’ll need to visit the site in order to stream.</li> </ul> I hope you enjoy. [rps-paypal] 978-1607063581 | Image Comics (April 5, 2011) 152 Pages | U.S. $16.99 | Distribution: Diamond ABOUT THE BOOK Poseurs follows three teenagers from distinctly different corners of Los Angeles who meet in the underworld of LA nightlife and Hollywood parties –and get in over their heads! From the graffiti-tagged streets of LA’s eastside to the bloated, billion dollar mansions of Bel Air, it’s a full-blown party noir! ABOUT THE AUTHOR DEBORAH VANKIN is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, where she covers arts &amp; culture, entertainment and nightlife. Prior to that, she launched—and served as Editor-in-Chief of—the LA Times’ alt weekly publications/websites, Metromix LA and Brand X. Deborah’s work has also appeared in LA Weekly, Variety and The New York Times, among many other places. Her essays and short fiction have been produced at Spoken Interludes and Word Theatre in Los Angeles. Originally from Philadelphia, POSEURS is her first foray into comics. She’s currently working on her second graphic novel. [ad#TechDepot]

Deborah Vankin Interview