It's official: As part of this year's Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, I'll be one of the speakers for a panel on blogging and literature, along with Carolyn Kellogg of Pinky's Paperhaus and Andrew Keen, author of the forthcoming The Cult of the Amateur, which explains "how the democratization of the digital world is assaulting our economy, our culture, and our values." Sounds like novelist and short story writer Tod Goldberg is going to have his work cut out for him as moderator, because my first reaction to that subtitle is to declare, "And that's a good thing."

I jest, of course; I haven't seen Keen's book yet. But I'm going to be sure to get my hands on a copy, because I'm pretty sure this has the potential to be a really lively debate, and I want to be prepared.