The 2025 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (LATFOB), held on April 26–27 at the University of Southern California (USC), was a significant cultural event that brought together a diverse array of participants and marked its 30th anniversary with a vibrant celebration of literature, culture, and community. The festival is known for attracting a large crowd each year. For instance, the 2024 festival drew over 150,000 attendees, and the 2025 event featured more than 550 writers, experts, and storytellers, along with hundreds of exhibitors.
The festival featured over 100 ticketed author events, children’s storytelling sessions, poetry readings, book signings, and more than 400 exhibitor booths. Notable participants in the 2025 festival included authors such as Stacey Abrams, Jon M. Chu, Amanda Gorman, Chelsea Handler, Ibram X. Kendi, and Rebecca Yarros, among many others. The festival’s success was also attributed to the generous involvement of volunteers who assisted with various aspects of the event, including welcoming attendees, staffing author events, and supervising book signings.
LATFOB 2025 emphasized accessibility and community involvement. General admission was free, with select programming requiring tickets. The festival’s partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs ensured that a wide range of activities were available to attendees of all ages and backgrounds, fostering a welcoming environment for literary enthusiasts and families alike.
As LATFOB celebrates three decades of literary celebration, the 2025 festival underscores the importance of storytelling in shaping culture and community. With its diverse programming and commitment to accessibility, the festival continues to be a premier event for book lovers and cultural aficionados. The success of this year’s event sets a promising precedent for future festivals, ensuring that the tradition of literary celebration will continue to thrive in Los Angeles.
LATFOB 2025 provides a unique opportunity to explore new voices, groundbreaking ideas, and thought-provoking works of art. This year, one of the most anticipated entries is “Dreaming from the Trunk of an American Car” by Pashko R. Camaj, which is being showcased in the Book Gallery.
Pashko R. Camaj was born in 1964 in Montenegro, where he completed his high school education and mandatory army service before he immigrated, via Mexico, to the United States in 1985. Several years later, at the age of twenty-eight, he was admitted to the City University of New York, where he earned his BS and MS degrees in environmental and occupational health sciences. In 2013, at the age of forty-nine, he defended his doctoral thesis with a degree of Doctor of Public Health at Columbia University in New York City.
Pashko has published several peer-reviewed studies in the field of public health, and this is his first book. Currently, he is serving as a member of the senior leadership for MTA-Bridges & Tunnels, a state transportation agency in New York, and is also an adjunct professor at William Patterson University in New Jersey.
In addition, Pashko serves as the Secretary of the Pan-Albanian Federation of America-VATRA, the oldest American-Albanian organization in the United States.
The memoir, Dreaming from the Trunk of an American Car, recounts a story shared by many immigrants who are in pursuit of the American dream. Through intertwining his personal experiences with those of his ancestors, the author guides readers through his formative years and journey to adulthood. At the age of twenty, Pashko Camaj and his twin sister, Drita, travel from former Yugoslavia to Mexico with the goal of reaching the United States. They cross the border, hidden in the trunk of a large American car, into California, seeking freedom and opportunity. Locked in the trunk, memories flood in, and dreams begin.
Told in beautiful prose, the memoir portrays the heroic spirits of its characters, radiating rays of hope in a harsh world. As a first-generation immigrant, he grapples with feelings of guilt for departing from his motherland, the very land his predecessors had fought and labored for. The weight of his choice to leave lingers, prompting him to question whether he has betrayed his forefathers. Ultimately, he arrives at a resolution that liberates him from the burdens of the past, enabling him to establish a new legacy in his new homeland.
“Dreaming From the Trunk of an American Car” is a deeply moving exploration of identity, belonging, and the complexities of the immigrant experience. Camaj masterfully weaves together themes of memory, displacement, and personal growth, crafting a narrative that resonates with anyone who has ever grappled with the idea of home and who they are in relation to the world around them. The prose is rich and atmospheric, pulling you into a world that feels both intimately personal and universally relatable.
Visit the ARPress official social media accounts for more updates.
- https://authorreputationpress.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/authorreputationpress/
- https://www.pinterest.com/arpressllcseo/
- https://twitter.com/ARPressLLC
- https://www.facebook.com/AuthorReputationPressLLC
- https://www.tiktok.com/@authorreputationpress
- https://www.youtube.com/@AUTHORREPUTATIONPRESSLLC
