Wednesday, November 11, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Skylight Books, Los Angeles
From the acclaimed author of The California Field Atlas and The State of Fire, a mind-expanding manifesto on belonging to the land called California. "Kaufmann makes a compelling argument for a decisive new perspective. An urgent message for the future." --Kirkus, starred review For more than 250 years, the story of California has been told through conquest, self-reinvention, novelty, and riches. Beneath that mythology lies another reality: the erasure of Native histories, the exploitation of natural systems, and a deepening separation between people and place. As climate breakdown intensifies and natural disasters escalate, bestselling author Obi Kaufmann challenges us to see the Golden State anew--not as a commodity or fantasy, but as a living, interconnected world. With wonder and urgency, California Inside Out reflects on the boundless intricacies of the world that surrounds, prompting bold, imaginative questions: What words might connect us more deeply with the places where we live? What if a watershed can think? What if a forest has a mind of its own? Across five chapters full of wisdom and heart, Kaufmann shares poignant personal stories and ecological insights from five decades of life in California. Illustrated throughout with his signature watercolor artwork drawn from across Kaufmann's celebrated career, this naturalist's treatise is a call for awe and action. Obi Kaufmann is an artist, conservationist, and the bestselling and award-winning author of The California Field Atlas series. Kaufmann is a former board member of the California Wilderness Coalition and winner of the 2019 Mark Dubois River Protection Award. Notable recent illustration projects include a 2022 residency with the National Wildlife Federation as the illustrator for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing and a 2025 writing and painting residency for the National Gallery of Art in Yosemite. In 2026 he will participate in an authors' residency in Stockholm with the Swedish Institute. His most recent book is California Inside Out: Mapping an Ecology of Mind (2026). When he is not backpacking, the painter-poet can be found at home in the East Bay, posting trail paintings @coyotethunder on Instagram. Joshua Jackson is a writer and photographer whose work explores the overlooked public lands of the American West. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, High Country News, SFGATE, and Adventure Journal, among others. He has also been a featured guest on numerous podcasts exploring nature, science, and conservation. His first book, The Enduring Wild: A Journey into California’s Public Lands (Heyday, 2025), a winner of the Golden Poppy Award, is both a love letter to these landscapes and a meditation on belonging and reciprocity.