Author Bret Easton Ellis is no stranger to controversy. This month, he told The Times: “You do see me going easier on Trump, though I have nothing in the book to align myself with him or his policies. Trump does not bother me more than what has been going on with the woke left.” Then, last week, he caused another uproar in an interview with the New Yorker.

With his latest release — and first work of nonfiction — “White,” Ellis challenged himself in a new way. The author and podcast host sat down for a video interview with Times staff writer Mark Olsen at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books to discuss Ellis’ aversion to politics, his reaction to the New Yorker article, his love of Joan Didion and why he just might write another fiction book.