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Friday, October 12
 

8:00pm PDT

Immigration and Community: Elaine Castillo & Shanthi Sekaran
Co-sponsored by California Institute of Integral Studies

What has America's melting pot turned out to be? Tonight we look away from the news (children in cages, walls and camps), and examine how fiction helps us understand the complexities of immigration and community. Bay Area authors Elaine Castillo (America is Not the Heart) and Shanthi Sekaran (Lucky Boy) discuss and share their work, set variously in the Philippines, Mexico, Berkeley, and Milpitas. Moderated by Angie Chau (Quiet As They Come). $15 adv / $20 door
Moderators
avatar for Angie Chau

Angie Chau

Angie Chau was born in Vietnam. She has also lived in Malaysia, Italy, Spain, Hawaii, and currently resides in California. She earned a BA in Southeast Asian Culture and Political Economy (ISF) from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master's degree in English with a Creative... Read More →

Authors and Participants
avatar for Elaine Castillo

Elaine Castillo

Elaine Castillo was born and raised in the Bay Area. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Comparative Literature. She is a Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation Fellow, and her writing can be found or is forthcoming from Freeman’s, Lit Hub, The... Read More →
avatar for Shanthi Sekaran

Shanthi Sekaran

Shanthi Sekaran is author of the novels The Prayer Room and Lucky Boy. She teaches creative writing at Mills College, and is a member of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Salon.com and the LA Review of Books. A California native... Read More →

Friday October 12, 2018 8:00pm - 9:45pm PDT
Swedish American Hall
  Featured
 
Saturday, October 13
 

12:00pm PDT

Words Around the World: A Sense of Place
Geographic sense of place informs a strong and deeply felt identity, and in the case of fiction, this place is also reflected in character, narrative, atmosphere, voice, and language. Hear novelists Carol Bensimon (We All Loved Cowboys) and Ófeigur Sigurðsson (Öræfi: The Wasteland) discuss their recent works, set respectively within a road trip through Brazil, and the desolate landscape of Iceland. Moderated by author Lucy Jane Bledsoe (Lava Falls). FREE, $5-10 suggested donation
Moderators
avatar for Lucy Jane Bledsoe

Lucy Jane Bledsoe

Lucy Jane Bledsoe is the author of six novels, including A Thin Bright Line and The Evolution of Love. Her fiction has won a California Arts Council Fellowship in Literature, an American Library Association Stonewall Award, the Arts & Letters Fiction Prize, a Pushcart nomination... Read More →

Authors and Participants
avatar for Carol Bensimon

Carol Bensimon

Carol Bensimon was born in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, in 1982. She is the author of the story collection Pó de parede and two novels, Sinuca embaixo d’água and Todos nós adorávamos caubóis. In 2012 she was selected by Granta as one of the Best Young Brazilian... Read More →
avatar for Ófeigur Sigurðsson

Ófeigur Sigurðsson

Ófeigur Sigurðsson was born in Reykjavík in 1975. He is a graduate of the University of Iceland with a degree in philosophy. He made his poetry debut in 2001 with Skál fyrir skammdeginu (Cheers to the Winter Darkness), and published his first novel, Áferð (Texture), in 2005... Read More →

Saturday October 13, 2018 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
Swedish American Hall
  International

1:30pm PDT

Words Around the World: Ireland's Stinging Fly Magazine
Co-presented by Irish Arts & Writers Festival

Editor Declan Meade and contributors Wendy Erskine and Jessica Traynor help celebrate 20 years of The Stinging Fly, Ireland's long-running literary magazine and book imprint dedicated to seeking out, publishing, and promoting the very best new Irish and international writing. FREE, $5-10 suggested donation
Moderators
avatar for Declan Meade

Declan Meade

Declan Meade is the publisher, editor, and co-founder of The Stinging Fly literary magazine, which focuses on showcasing new and emerging Irish and international writers.

Authors and Participants
avatar for Wendy Erskine

Wendy Erskine

Wendy Erskine lives in Belfast. Her debut collection of stories, Sweet Home, is forthcoming from The Stinging Fly Press.
avatar for Jessica Traynor

Jessica Traynor

Jessica Traynor’s debut poetry collection, Liffey Swim (Dedalus Press, 2014), was shortlisted for the Strong/Shine Award. In 2016, and was named one of the best poetry debuts of the past five years on Bustle.com. She’s currently under commission by Poetry Ireland, and has also... Read More →


Saturday October 13, 2018 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Swedish American Hall
  International
 
Sunday, October 14
 

1:30pm PDT

Words Around the World: War & Espionage
In the 1930s, Axis governments began scurrying around the globe to spy on each other, seize control of resources, and manipulate the innocent. Bestselling journalist Mary Jo McConahay (The Tango War: The Struggle for the Hearts, Minds and Riches of Latin America During World War II) discusses her newest release, and its intercontinental stories of pre-war conspiracy, intrigue, and murder. Moderated by crime writer David Corbett. FREE, $5-10 suggested donation
Moderators
avatar for David Corbett

David Corbett

David Corbett is the author of six critically acclaimed novels, including The Devil’s Redhead (nominated for both the Anthony and Barry Awards for Best First Novel); Done for a Dime (a New York Times Notable Book); Blood of Paradise (named one of the Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers... Read More →

Authors and Participants
avatar for Mary Jo McConahay

Mary Jo McConahay

Born in Chicago, Mary Jo McConahay is an award-winning reporter who covered the wars in Central America and economics in the Middle East. She has traveled in 70 countries and has been fascinated by the history of World War II since childhood, when she listened to the stories of her... Read More →


Sunday October 14, 2018 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Swedish American Hall
  International

3:00pm PDT

Words Around the World: Belonging
Novelist Kim Sagwa (Mina) and memoirist Sisonke Msimang (Always Another Country) discuss the complexities of young girls on the path to womanhood, from South Korea to South Africa, Canada, and beyond. Moderated by Laura Goode from Center for the Art of Translation. FREE, $5-10 suggested donation
Moderators
avatar for Laura Goode

Laura Goode

Laura Goode is a poet, essayist, novelist, screenwriter, producer, and intersectional feminist. She writes author bios in the third person.Her collection of poems BECOME A NAME was released by Fathom Books in October 2016. "This collection," wrote the poet Harmony Holiday, "possesses... Read More →

Authors and Participants
avatar for Sisonke Msimang

Sisonke Msimang

Sisonke Msimang is a South African writer, speaker and political analyst in issues related to race, gender and democracy. With her successful debut Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home, she has established herself as one of the most exciting new contemporary voices in... Read More →
avatar for Kim Sagwa

Kim Sagwa

Kim Sagwa is the author of several novels, story collections, and works of nonfiction, and she has been shortlisted for several major South Korean awards, including the Munji Prize and the Young Writers Award. Kim contributes columns to two major Seoul newspapers, and she co-translated... Read More →


Sunday October 14, 2018 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Swedish American Hall
  International

7:00pm PDT

Of Demons and Dreams: A Night of Memoir
Limited Capacity filling up
Assimilation, racism, escape, family dysfunction: the best memoirs confront both demons and dreams head-on. Tonight's reading touches on topics including losing a family fortune (host Frances Stroh), being seduced by Scientology (Sands Hall), going from broke poet to TV personality (Kari Byron), experiencing blackness in America (Julie Lythcott-Haims), triumphing over abuse and neglect (Regina Louise), and finding one's true home (Natalie Singer). $12 adv / $15 door
Moderators
avatar for Frances Stroh

Frances Stroh

Frances Stroh is the award-winning author of Beer Money: A Memoir of Privilege and Loss. She has published in The Common, Literary Hub, and the Detroit Metro Times, among others. Frances is a member of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto and curator of the Stranger Than Fiction reading... Read More →

Authors and Participants
avatar for Kari Byron

Kari Byron

Kari Byron has been the most recognizable, honored, and beloved woman in science-based reality TV for over a decade. She is best known as a host on Discovery Channel's MythBusters but has gone on to host and produce shows spanning several networks: Head Rush; Punkin Chunkin; Large... Read More →
avatar for Sands Hall

Sands Hall

Sands Hall is author of the memoir Flunk. Start, the novel Catching Heaven, a Willa Award Finalist for Best Contemporary Fiction, and a Random House Reader’s Circle selection; and a book of writing essays and exercises, Tools of the Writer’s Craft. She teaches at the Iowa Summer... Read More →
avatar for Regina Louise

Regina Louise

Regina Louise is the author of Somebody’s Someone, which chronicles her journey through foster care. The one-woman stage adaptation of the book debuted at the Sacramento Theatre Company and was nominated for two NAACP Theatre Awards. Now in film production, her story has been featured... Read More →
avatar for Julie Lythcott-Haims

Julie Lythcott-Haims

Julie Lythcott-Haims is author of the New York Times bestselling book How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success, and the recent memoir Real American, which details her personal battle with the low self-esteem that American racism... Read More →
avatar for Natalie Singer

Natalie Singer

Natalie Singer is author of the new memoir California Calling: An Interrogation. She has been published in Literary Mama, Washington Post, Seattle Times, ParentMap, Alligator Juniper, and Full Grown People, among other outlets. Her work is included in the anthology Love & Profanity... Read More →

Sunday October 14, 2018 7:00pm - 9:00pm PDT
Swedish American Hall
  Featured
 
Monday, October 15
 

8:00pm PDT

Advice: A Night of Stories with Porchlight
We could all stand to hear some wisdom and guidance right about now. The Bay Area’s long-running Porchlight storytelling series returns with "advice"-themed tales from Steve Almond, Dickson Lam, Sands Hall, Sisonke Msimang, Maggie Rowe, and Betty Charbonnet Reid Soskin, the nation's oldest park ranger. Co-hosted by Arline Klatte and Beth Lisick. Music by Marc Capelle. Doors at 7 pm, show at 8 pm. $20 adv / $25 door
Authors and Participants
avatar for Steve Almond

Steve Almond

Steve Almond is the author of eight books of fiction and nonfiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His short stories have been anthologized widely, in the Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Erotica, and Best American... Read More →
avatar for Sands Hall

Sands Hall

Sands Hall is author of the memoir Flunk. Start, the novel Catching Heaven, a Willa Award Finalist for Best Contemporary Fiction, and a Random House Reader’s Circle selection; and a book of writing essays and exercises, Tools of the Writer’s Craft. She teaches at the Iowa Summer... Read More →
avatar for Dickson Lam

Dickson Lam

Dickson Lam is author of the memoir Paper Sons, winner of the 2017 Autumn House Press Nonfiction Prize. His work has appeared in StoryQuarterly, The Kenyon Review Online, Hyphen Magazine, The Normal School, PANK, The Good Men Project, The Rumpus, and Kartika Review. He is a VONA... Read More →
avatar for Sisonke Msimang

Sisonke Msimang

Sisonke Msimang is a South African writer, speaker and political analyst in issues related to race, gender and democracy. With her successful debut Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home, she has established herself as one of the most exciting new contemporary voices in... Read More →
avatar for Maggie Rowe

Maggie Rowe

For the last 15 years, Maggie Rowe has performed in and produced the Comedy Central stage show sitnspin, Los Angeles’ longest-running spoken word, having taken over the reigns from creator Jill Soloway in 2002. She has written for Arrested Development and Flaked for Netflix. She... Read More →
avatar for Betty Charbonnet Reid Soskin

Betty Charbonnet Reid Soskin

Betty Charbonnet Reid Soskin is the oldest park ranger with National Park Service, and author of the recently published Sign My Name to Freedom: A Memoir of a Pioneering Life. Her remarkable life spans nearly ten decades and has included being an author, composer and singer, social... Read More →

Monday October 15, 2018 8:00pm - 10:00pm PDT
Swedish American Hall
  Featured
 
Tuesday, October 16
 

8:00pm PDT

The Residents Present The Brickeaters (A Novel)
Co-presented by Noise Pop

Legendary San Francisco art-music pranksters The Residents celebrate the release of their debut novel The Brickeaters with this special full-length music show, incorporating live readings from the book. What is The Brickeaters? Briefly, an absurdist buddy story which teams together a very tall and young internet content screener with an aging career criminal, who work to prevent a middle-aged lottery winner from polluting the Los Angeles water supply with massive amounts of fluoride. Also, the narrator is an unreliable alcoholic! This show will definitely sell out. $25 advance, $30 at the door
Authors and Participants
avatar for The Residents

The Residents

Alternately seen as a rock band, an arts collective, and a spirit, The Residents are regarded as iconic in the world of experimental music. In addition to their groundbreaking work in the areas of trance, world fusion, electronica, punk, industrial and lounge music, the group has... Read More →


Tuesday October 16, 2018 8:00pm - 9:30pm PDT
Swedish American Hall
  Featured
 
Wednesday, October 17
 

8:00pm PDT

Lou Reed and Me: Michael Imperioli with Tom Barbash
Limited Capacity seats available
Co-presented by MFA Writing at California College of the Arts

In 1976, Matthew is a sixteen-year-old living in Jackson Heights, Queens. After he loses his two most important male role models, his father and grandfather, his mother uproots Matthew and herself to a posh Manhattan apartment. Matthew soon befriends musician Lou Reed, who lives with his transgender girlfriend Rachel in the same building. The drug-addled, artistic shaman soon becomes an unorthodox father figure to Matthew, who finds himself head over heels for the mysterious Veronica. Tonight, actor and writer Michael Imperioli presents his debut coming-of-age novel The Perfume Burned His Eyes, based on his real-life friendship with Lou Reed. In conversation with author Tom Barbash. $20 adv / $25 door
Authors and Participants
avatar for Tom Barbash

Tom Barbash

Tom Barbash grew up in New York and is the author of four books as well as numerous reviews, stories essays, and articles for publications including McSweeney’s, Tin House, The Believer, Zyzzyva, and more. His short story collection Stay Up With Me was nominated for the Folio... Read More →
avatar for Michael Imperioli

Michael Imperioli

Michael Imperioli is best known for his starring role as Christopher Moltisanti in the acclaimed TV series The Sopranos, which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Emmy Award. He also wrote five episodes of the show and was co-screenwriter of the film Summer of Sam, directed by Spike... Read More →


Wednesday October 17, 2018 8:00pm - 9:30pm PDT
Swedish American Hall
  Featured
 
Thursday, October 18
 

7:00pm PDT

Monkee Memoir: Michael Nesmith with Beth Lisick
Co-presented by Amoeba Music

Michael Nesmith’s eclectic, electric life spans his star-making role on The Monkees, his invention of the music video, and his critical contributions to movies, comedy, and the world of virtual reality. His funny and thoughtful memoir Infinite Tuesday takes readers on a pilgrimage in search of a set of principles to live by, from a childhood in Dallas, where his single mother Bette invented Liquid Paper, to the set of The Monkees, the heart of swinging London, and an unexpected oasis of brilliance in the Santa Fe desert, where friendships with Douglas Adams and Los Alamos scientists pointed him toward the power of the infinite. A true American original. In conversation with writer and actor Beth Lisick. Book sales and signing to follow. $20 adv / $25 door 
Moderators
avatar for Beth Lisick

Beth Lisick

Beth Lisick is a writer and actor. She is the author of five books and has appeared in films screened at Cannes, Sundance, and the San Francisco International Film Festival. Her books include the memoir collection Yokohama Threeway and Other Small Shames, and the New York Times bestselling... Read More →

Authors and Participants
avatar for Michael Nesmith

Michael Nesmith

Michael Nesmith‘s career in music and television took him from starring in The Monkees to a celebrated run of albums as a solo artist and in the First National Band. He created the TV show Popclips, a forerunner of what would become MTV, and produced the films Repo Man and Tapeheads... Read More →


Thursday October 18, 2018 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Cafe Du Nord
  Featured

8:00pm PDT

Noir! Christopher Moore & Susie Bright
Christopher Moore and Susie Bright are kindred spirits: waggish, provocative, always entertaining. And now, with recent books in common. Moore, whose New York Times bestselling satirical novels include Sacre Bleu, Secondhand Souls, and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, has just penned his first sendup of noir in a novel entitled, you guessed it, Noir. And Bright, an author, journalist, and nationally-known pundit on feminism and sexuality, has just edited the anthology Santa Cruz Noir. What will be discussed at their first meeting, besides dark crime fiction and its tropes? We can't wait to find out. $20 adv / $25 door
Authors and Participants
avatar for Susie Bright

Susie Bright

Susie Bright is the editor of Santa Cruz Noir, and producer of the Santa Cruz Noir audiobook. Her bestselling short story collections, nonfiction, and film and audio work have made her a touchpoint in contemporary American lit. She is the editor at large for Audible Studios, and... Read More →
avatar for Christopher Moore

Christopher Moore

Christopher Moore is the author of 16 novels, including the international bestsellers Lamb, A Dirty Job, and You Suck. His newest book, Noir, was published earlier this year. Chris was born in Toledo, and grew up in Mansfield, Ohio. He attended Ohio State University and Brooks Institute... Read More →


Thursday October 18, 2018 8:00pm - 9:30pm PDT
Swedish American Hall
  Featured
 
Friday, October 19
 

7:00pm PDT

SF Legends: Amy Tan & Armistead Maupin
Two Bay Area literary legends (and old friends) share the stage to talk about their recent memoirs, the writing life, and whatever else suits their fancy. Bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and The Valley of Amazement, Amy Tan now brings us Where the Past Begins. And Armistead Maupin, whose series Tales of the City helped change our cultural conversation about being gay in America, has just released the paperback edition of Logical Family. $15 adv / $20 door

Advance tickets can be purchased here until 4 PM the day of the show
Authors and Participants
avatar for Armistead Maupin

Armistead Maupin

Armistead Maupin is author of the nine-volume Tales of the City series, Maybe the Moon, and The Night Listener. He was the 2012 recipient of the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Pioneer Award. He lives in San Francisco with his husband, the photographer Christopher Turner. Follow him... Read More →
avatar for Amy Tan

Amy Tan

Amy Tan was born on February 19, 1952 in Oakland, California. In 1985, she wrote the story "Rules of the Game," the foundation for her first novel The Joy Luck Club, which explored the relationship between Chinese women and their Chinese-American daughters. It received the Los Angeles... Read More →

Friday October 19, 2018 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Swedish American Hall
  Featured
 
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826 Valencia Tenderloin
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at New Mission
Alley Cat Books
Beat Museum
Bethel Lutheran Church
Bird & Beckett Books and Records
Book Club of California
Book Passage Corte Madera
Book Passage Ferry Building
Books Inc., Opera Plaza
Cafe Du Nord
Caffe Trieste
California College of the Arts, Timken Auditorium
California College of the Arts, Writers' Studio
California Historical Society
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Classic Cars West
Contemporary Jewish Museum
Elbo Room
Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse
Goethe-Institut
Grace Cathedral
Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library
Latino Hispanic Community Meeting Room
Left Margin Lit
Luckyduck Bicycle Cafe
Make-Out Room
McEvoy Foundation for the Arts
Mechanics' Institute Library
Modernism
Museum of the African Diaspora
Oakland Public Library
Rudrumandir
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Swedish American Hall
Terroir Wine Bar & Merchant
The Bindery
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Vesuvio Cafe
Yerba Buena Gardens Esplanade
  • Aspiring Writers
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