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 “God, By Man” by Oguchi H. Nkwocha, M.D., which is being showcased in the Book Gallery. A thought-provoking exploration of theological themes that challenge traditional religious beliefs.
Oguchi H. Nkwocha, M.D., was born in Nigeria and also spent much of his adolescence there, attending high school. He would later move to the U.S. and attend college, earning a B.S. degree in pharmacy from Idaho State University. His schooling continued as he later earned an M.D. degree from the College of Medicine at the University of Utah. Now a Physician for almost twenty years, the author and his wife Gail reside on the coast of California with Allison Ijeoma and Erica Chioma, their daughters.
In this bound-to-be controversial work of theological scholarship, Oguchi H. Nkwocha, M.D., propounds some fascinating and bold theories about religious beliefs. Rather than support his contentions with an abundance of scriptural quotations, the author skillfully builds the case for his unorthodox views with deductive reasoning.
Taking an antifundamentalist stance, he asks readers to reexamine man’s relationship with God. The author reveals how various religions and religious sects’ function by inventing gods and then assigning those “creations” the qualities of omniscience and omnipotence. Evading the reality of the real Supreme Being, mankind has often manufactured his gods in his own image.
Instead of presenting his striking theories in an abstract manner, this writer/philosopher relates the shortcomings of many religions by juxtaposing them with such contemporary issues as homelessness, sexism, and ecology issues which most religions fail to address squarely, if at all. Dr. Nkwocha’s book is at its most compelling when it dissects the way in which religions have evolved from mankind’s need to understand the complex mysteries of nature.
In “God, By Man,” Nkwocha encourages an enlightened discussion on faith, spirituality, and the human condition. Whether readers identify as atheists, agnostics, or devout believers, the book presents a challenging narrative that promotes thoughtful dialogue about the nature of belief and the function of religion in society. Through this work, Nkwocha contributes significantly to contemporary theological discourse, urging a reassessment of humanity’s relationship with the divine.
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