Bay Area Book Festival Podcast
Between audio books? Curious about the writers themselves? Listen to full-length sessions from the Bay Area Book Festival, where readers and writers meet each year in Berkeley, CA, to engage with their favorite authors, including Pulitzer Prize winners, chefs, and activists, to discuss writing, race, love, mystery, and more.
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Short Cuts - Social justice Children's Book Fair
05/08/2025
Short Cuts - Social justice Children's Book Fair
Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival. Meet two members of the Social Justice Children's Book Fair who have helped curate our Family Day programming on May 31st. For more information, go to our website. The full schedule is now live!!!! baybookfest.org
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Short Cuts: Wahab Algarmi
04/24/2025
Short Cuts: Wahab Algarmi
Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival. Meet Wahab Algarmi, one of the festival speakers who you can see on June 1st in Downtown Berkeley. For more information, go to our website. The full schedule is now live!!!! baybookfest.org
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Short Cuts - Kinsale Drake
04/10/2025
Short Cuts - Kinsale Drake
Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival. Meet Kinsale Drake, one of the festival speakers who you can see on June 1st in Downtown Berkeley. For more information, go to our website. The full schedule is now live!!!! baybookfest.org
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Short Cuts: Susan Lieu
04/03/2025
Short Cuts: Susan Lieu
Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival. Meet Susan Lieu, one of the festival speakers who you can see on June 1st in Downtown Berkeley. For more information, go to our website. The full schedule will be live April 5.
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Short Cuts: micha cárdenas
03/27/2025
Short Cuts: micha cárdenas
Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival. Meet , one of the festival speakers who you can see on June 1st in Downtown Berkeley. For more information, go to our website. The full schedule will be live April 5.
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Short Cuts: Jon Hickey
03/20/2025
Short Cuts: Jon Hickey
Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival. Meet Jon Hickey, one of the festival speakers who you can see on June 1st in Downtown Berkeley. For more information, go to our website. The full schedule will be live April 5.
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Short Cuts: Seema Yasmin
03/17/2025
Short Cuts: Seema Yasmin
Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival. Meet Seema Yasmin, one of the festival speakers who you can see on May 31st at the Berkeley Public Library in Downtown Berkeley. For more information, . The full schedule will be live April 5.
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Let Me Count the Ways: Love Stories for Real Readers
02/13/2025
Let Me Count the Ways: Love Stories for Real Readers
A.H. Kim, Emily B Rose, Taleen Voskuni, Dani Trujillo, Anita Gail Jones, moderated by Jeneé Darden Join an engaging discussion on the art of crafting love stories with a diverse panel of acclaimed authors, whether their novels are shelved with literary fiction or romance. Panelists A.H. Kim (Relative Strangers, a contemporary Korean retelling of Sense and Sensibility), Emily B Rose (Call of the Sea, a genderbent, body-positive retelling of The Little Mermaid), Taleen Voskuni (Lavash at First Sight, an Armenian-American lesbian rom-com), Dani Trujillo (Lizards Hold the Sun, an Indigenous Rez romance), and Anita Gail Jones (The Peach Seed, celebrating 60+ Black love in Georgia) each bring their unique perspectives and storytelling prowess to the table, delving into the intricacies of writing love stories that reach beyond traditional narratives. Moderated by award-winning journalist, author, public speaker, and mental health advocate Jeneé Darden, this panel looks expansively at romance writing, from traditional tropes to contemporary narratives that reflect the complexities of modern relationships. This conversation considers romance and romance writing from multiple angles, including the meaning love stories hold for readers when we see representation, diversity of experience, and ways of writing about love that resonate with readers across genres and cultures.
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Dark teen storytelling
02/06/2025
Dark teen storytelling
Traci Chee, Sarah Lariviere, Darcie Little Badger, Sandra Proudman, Brittany Williams, moderated by Laura Gao Daniel Sometimes, the darkness can illuminate the imagination—especially in these beautifully wrought novels for teen readers. New York Times bestselling author Traci Chee’s gut-wrenching fantasy Kindling tells the tale of postwar “kindlings,” a corps of elite, magic-wielding warriors whose devastating power comes at the cost of their own young lives. Darcie Little Badger’s A Snake Falls to Earth, longlisted for the National Book Award and winner of the Newbery Award, is a breathtaking saga of Indigenous futurism that draws from the author’s knowledge of Lipan Apache storytelling. Sarah Lariviere’s Riot Act is an alternate history set in 1991 in which theatre kids fight for freedom of expression, while Brittany N. Williams (That Self-Same Metal) melds the world of fae with the grit and excitement of Shakespeare’s London acting troupe; and Sandra Proudman’s anthology Relit, featuring sixteen award-winning and bestselling YA authors, reimagines classic tales through fantasy and science fiction, anchored by a Latinx point of view. Moderated by Laura Gao.
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Immigration Narratives: Expansive Genres, Expansive Identities
01/30/2025
Immigration Narratives: Expansive Genres, Expansive Identities
Faith Adiele, Bill Hing, Tessa Hulls, Lauren Markham, moderated by Tasneem Raja Immigrant narratives span time, place, and genre to reach deeper universal truths. Four writers join in conversation to explore the many facets of immigrant narratives. Migration and immigration narratives are foundational to how we understand and celebrate culture, and these four panelists grapple with this central theme through various lenses—from Lauren Markham’s exploration of the criminalization of migration, to Tessa Hulls’ depiction of the immigrant experience through multiple generations of Chinese women, to Bill Hing’s analysis of the racial justice implications within the U.S. immigration system, to Faith Adiele’s personal reflections on identity and belonging as an immigrant. Moderated by Tasneem Raja (Berkeleyside), the conversation will venture into intergenerational trauma, social justice and adversity, and narrative form and genre-bending. This event highlights the deepest reflections on identity and belonging, and also celebrates the lasting meaning and social impact of representing immigrant experiences in literature.
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The Forgetters: Greg Sarris in conversation with Jane Ciabattari
01/23/2025
The Forgetters: Greg Sarris in conversation with Jane Ciabattari
Greg Sarris in conversation with Jane Ciabattari Join Greg Sarris, acclaimed author and tribal leader, in an engaging conversation with literary critic and interviewer Jane Ciabattari as they explore his latest work, The Forgetters. Don’t miss this insightful conversation between two literary luminaries about a book that is as thought-provoking as it is unforgettable.
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Navigating the Mirror World: Misinformation, Conspiracies, and Why It’s Time to Wake Up
01/16/2025
Navigating the Mirror World: Misinformation, Conspiracies, and Why It’s Time to Wake Up
Naomi Klein in conversation with Brooke Warner Join award-winning author, professor, filmmaker, and activist Naomi Klein in conversation about her latest book, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World. Doppelganger offers a unique and dynamic perspective on the absurdity and complexity of our current political moment. Klein uses her own experience of being mistaken for “Other Naomi” (Naomi Wolf, the feminist intellectual turned anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist) as a springboard to explore what she calls the “mirror world,” where conspiracy theories, online paranoia, mimicking, and more are creating a far-right parallel universe that’s been all too tempting for Democrats to dismiss or ignore. With her signature intellectual rigor, Klein refuses to look the other way, and with genuine curiosity and desire to understand what fuels her doppelganger and other conspiracists, she flings herself into the underworld to shine light on its appeal and its real-world consequences. Klein is an associate professor in the department of geography at the University of British Columbia, the founding co-director of UBC’s Centre for Climate Justice, and an honorary professor of Media and Climate at Rutgers University. She is a columnist for The Guardian, and her writing has appeared in leading publications around the world. Klein will be in conversation with Brooke Warner, the Festival’s Board Chair and Publisher of She Writes Press. This is an exciting opportunity to hear one of our most influential social critics unpack and muse on the current political moment and the doubles that haunt us.
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Memoir and Imagination: Where Truth and Creativity Collide
01/09/2025
Memoir and Imagination: Where Truth and Creativity Collide
Grace Loh Prasad, Sylvia Brownrigg, Leta McCollough Seletzky, Tarek El-Ariss, moderated by Piper Kerman Moderated by Piper Kerman (Orange Is the New Black), four panelists share their process and experience of memoir as the telling of a true story, but also as a work of imagination. Our esteemed panelists, Grace Prasad (The Translator’s Daughter), Sylvia Brownrigg (The Whole Staggering Mystery), Leta McCollough Seletzky (The Kneeling Man), and Tarek El-Ariss (Water on Fire), have recently released memoirs that touch upon the authors’relationship to their parents—how they mourn them, imagine them, reconcile with them, and in the process, come to terms with themselves. Writing memoir is a process of self-understanding that also invites the reader into a context and a world that is by definition subjective. Our stories and personal agency can also be circumscribed by institutions and systemic pressures, which may in turn shape memory and imagination. Join this deep conversation about memory, lived experience, and how writers choose the stories they do in a journey of self-understanding, reinvention, and empathy.
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First Person Plural: Poets Speaking for Self and Community in Poetry and Memoir
01/02/2025
First Person Plural: Poets Speaking for Self and Community in Poetry and Memoir
José Vadi, Brontez Purnell, Priscilla Wathington, Adrienne Chung, MC’d by Sam Sax Come hear some of the Bay Area’s most dynamic poets with new collections of poetry and memoir. Panelists include Brontez Purnell, whose Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt is a wrenching, sexy, and exhilaratingly energetic memoir in genre-defying verse; Priscilla Wathington, whose debut chapbook, Paper & Stick, draws from her experiences as a Palestinian American and her past human rights and humanitarian work with NGOs such as Defense for Children International – Palestine; poet José Vadi, whose book, Chipped: Writing from a Skateboarder’s Lens, is a memoir-in-essays that begins with wheels and a mere piece of wood—often chipped; and Adrienne Chung, whose debut collection, Organs of Little Importance, is a winner of the National Poetry Series that claps back at Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. The reading will be emceed by Sam Sax, author of Pig, a collection of poems that uses the humble animal as a lens to explore the body, faith, desire, and power.
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National Book Critics Circle Superstars of Fiction
12/26/2024
National Book Critics Circle Superstars of Fiction
Amy Tan and Jonathan Lethem, moderated by Jane Ciabattari Honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the National Book Critics Circle, this panel presents a beautiful range of voices representing some of the best and most beloved fiction writers of our times. First books by Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn) and Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club) won NBCC awards. The esteemed panelists will read from recent work and discuss the transformative nature of winning an NBCC award and their writing life since with moderator Jane Ciabattari, NBCC Vice President/Events.
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Architectural Insights: Revealing Layers of Meaning in Bay Area Landmarks
12/19/2024
Architectural Insights: Revealing Layers of Meaning in Bay Area Landmarks
John King, Eric Porter, moderated by Bianca Taylor Discover the Bay Area’s architectural gems through a narrative lens, as they unveil the intricate interplay of cultural, social, and technological forces. This panel showcases the authors of two captivating reads: John King, author of Portal, a vivid exploration of the Ferry Building’s rich history and symbolic significance, and Eric Porter, author of A People’s History of SFO, a compelling voyage through the ever-evolving landscape of San Francisco International Airport, beyond its terminals and tarmacs and into the ongoing struggle for regional equity. This panel promises to be as rich as the Bay Area culture and landscape itself, delving into the rise of activism, locally sourced food, globalization and climate change, and regional equity struggles. Moderated by Bianca Taylor (KQED), this conversation promises to unravel hidden narratives embedded within these iconic structures and to explore the insights they offer into our collective future challenges.
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Special Episode: The Next Chapter: Arts and Advocacy and the role of festivals
12/12/2024
Special Episode: The Next Chapter: Arts and Advocacy and the role of festivals
J.K. Fowler of Bay Area Book Festival in conversation with Steve Wasserman of Heyday Books The arts are widely underfunded at a time when we need meaning and connection more than ever. What can we do as writers, creatives, and community members? Support the Bay Area Book Festival
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Lurking in Plain Sight: Crime Fiction Beyond Genre Borders
12/05/2024
Lurking in Plain Sight: Crime Fiction Beyond Genre Borders
Nancy Jooyoun Kim, Ritu Mukerji, Jason Powell, moderated by Heather Young Moderated by thriller author Heather Young (The Distant Dead), this panel brings together novelists whose books center elements of crime, whether they’re shelved in mystery or literary fiction. Writer and firefighter Jason Powell’s debut novel, No Man’s Ghost, explores the psyches of those who fight fires and those who set them. Nancy Jooyoun Kim’s What We Kept To Ourselves is a historical novel about a Korean immigrant family grappling with the mystery of the mother’s disappearance, only to find a dead body in their yard somehow connected to her. An Edgar Award Finalist for Best First Novel, Ritu Mukerji’s Murder by Degrees is a historical mystery set in 19th-century Philadelphia, following a pioneering woman doctor as she investigates the disappearance of a young patient who is presumed dead. This panel brings to its audience an expansive celebration of crime fiction from exciting writers whose page-turning stories model why readers love these tales.
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Authors against Book Bans
11/28/2024
Authors against Book Bans
Aida Salazar, Nikki Grimes, Mason Deaver, Dashka Slater, moderated by Mychal Threets From 2021 to 2023, PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans recorded 5,894 instances of book bans across 41 states and 247 public school districts. The bans show no sign of slowing down, and they’re disproportionately aimed at authors of color, LGBTQ+ authors, and women. Books about racism, sexuality, gender, and history are under particular attack. This conversation between some of today’s leading authors of books for young people—many of which tackle the subjects most often targeted for censorship—will examine how the issue impacts kids today and how we fight back. With Aida Salazar (Ultraviolet), Nikki Grimes (A Walk in the Woods), Mason Deaver (I Wish You All the Best) and Dashka Slater (Accountable). Moderated by celebrated public librarian and library advocate Mychal Threets.
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Creative Nonfiction as Reclamation and Confrontation
11/21/2024
Creative Nonfiction as Reclamation and Confrontation
Myriam Gurba and Ingrid Rojas Contreras Mean, and the recent essay collection, Creep, a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle award in criticism. Rojas Contreras’s dazzling debut memoir, The Man Who Could Move Clouds, explores her Colombian identity and reckons with the bounds of reality through an oral history that challenges Western notions of history and memory. The two authors will be in conversation, speaking to the urgency of writing our stories as we need to tell them, why there’s more space within creative nonfiction than Western traditions will have us believe, and why confronting oppression in our writing and in our lived experience is essential.
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Climate Fiction as a Tool for Climate Justice
11/14/2024
Climate Fiction as a Tool for Climate Justice
Charlie Jane Anders, Aya de León, Sim Kern, Rebecca Roanhorse, moderated by Keya Chatterjee Climate fiction is a unique way to approach the climate crisis through both real and imagined endings and beginnings. This panel, moderated by author and activist Keya Chatterjee, explores why writers are drawn to climate fiction (Cli-Fi), and what they hope to achieve through the genre. Charlie Jane Anders has been writing climate novels for nearly a decade. She is the international bestselling Cli-Fi author of the fantasy YA novel, Promises Stronger Than Darkness. Award-winning author Aya de León writes CliFi in the form of thrillers, heists, spy novels, and dramas set in the contemporary real world of the African Diaspora. New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse is an Indigenous novelist reshaping North American science fiction. Her most recent book, Mirrored Heavens, is the conclusion to her critically acclaimed epic fantasy trilogy.. Sim Kern’s new book, The Free People’s Village, is a YA sci-fi/CliFi alternate history of our time. Come find out how each of these author’s journeys into the climate crisis in fiction can help us chart our path out of it in reality.
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The Body is Not an Apology: Radical Answers with Sonya Renee Taylor and Cinnamongirl
11/07/2024
The Body is Not an Apology: Radical Answers with Sonya Renee Taylor and Cinnamongirl
Sonya Renee Taylor, moderated by Cinnamongirl Kailynn and Cinnamongirl Symone An empowering conversation with one of the world’s most inspirational activists and thought leaders writing and speaking today. You’ll want to bring your daughters, sons, their friends, and your friends to hear the radically powerful message of Sonya Renee Taylor, revolutionary founder of The Body Is Not an Apology, a global digital media and education company exploring the intersections of identity, healing, and social justice through the framework of radical self-love. The author of the bestselling book by the same name and six more, Taylor will be in conversation with the extraordinary young women of Cinnamongirl Inc, Kailynn and Symone.
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Are You Ready to be Un-settled? Celebrating Indigenous Horror
10/31/2024
Are You Ready to be Un-settled? Celebrating Indigenous Horror
Rebecca Roanhorse and Dani Trujillo, moderated by Kristina M Canales A not-to-be-missed conversation between Indigenous horror writers Rebecca Roanhorse and D.H. Trujillo, both of whom are featured in Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology. This groundbreaking book celebrates Indigenous resistance by highlighting themes of magic, tradition, ancestry, family, and cultural rediscovery. Making connections between horror and settler colonialism, the collection dares to ask the question: “Are you ready to be un-settled?” Both authors are known for their important contributions to speculative fiction, blending elements of fantasy, science fiction, and horror with Indigenous storytelling traditions. This genre-bending approach has earned them both a loyal following as they continue to captivate readers’ imaginations in ways that push the boundaries of conventional stories. Moderated by lifelong reader, writer, and gaymer Kristina Canales.
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Page to Screen: A Dance Between Words and Images
10/24/2024
Page to Screen: A Dance Between Words and Images
Viet Thanh Nguyen, Piper Kerman, Alka Joshi, moderated by Laura Warrell Turning a beloved book into a compelling film or series is a journey filled with creative collaboration, financial considerations, script development, casting decisions, and years of meticulous preparation. For the authors at the center of these adaptation journeys, it also involves roadblocks, setbacks, near misses, and plot twists, with lessons about letting go of control and outcome. This all-star panel brings us three celebrated authors whose books have been or are being adapted for a viewing audience. Piper Kerman’s internationally renowned memoir, Orange Is the New Black, about her time in a women’s prison, became one of Netflix’s most watched and longest-running series. Pulitzer Prize-winning Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel, The Sympathizer, the story of a Vietnamese communist double agent who infiltrates the South Vietnamese army and later moves to the United States, is now one of the most anticipated series to hit HBO this year. Alka Joshi’s New York Times bestseller, The Henna Artist, centering a young woman who escapes an abusive marriage to build a new life for herself in the vibrant city of Jaipur in the 1950s, is in development with Netflix. This exciting panel offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at what adaptation is really like—the surprises, delights, and disappointments of having one’s work reimagined; the power of screen adaptations to reach much broader audiences; and insights into the differences between storytelling on the page and storytelling on the screen. Don't miss this rare opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the fascinating world of book-to-screen adaptations from the perspective of these three acclaimed and beloved authors as they discuss the intricate dance between words and images, imagination and interpretation, in a discussion that promises to be as enlightening as it is inspiring.
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My Body, My Desire: Sexuality, Desire, and Queerness in Literature
10/17/2024
My Body, My Desire: Sexuality, Desire, and Queerness in Literature
R.O. Kwon, Brontez Purnell, Sam Sax, moderated by Lucy Jane Bledsoe Join us for a captivating panel discussion moderated by author Lucy Jane Bledsoe (author of Tell the Rest and No Stopping Us Now) and featuring three acclaimed writers—R.O. Kwon, Brontez Purnell, and Sam Sax—as they delve into the rich and complex terrain of sexuality, desire, and queerness in literature. From candid reflections on personal experiences to incisive analyses of societal norms and cultural representations, this conversation promises to be both inviting and thought-provoking. R.O. Kwon, author of the bestselling novel The Incendiaries, has recently published Exhibit, an exploration of art, racism, feminism, and desire. Brontez Purnell, author of Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt, brings his unique blend of humor, wit, and raw honesty to this conversation. Sam Sax, acclaimed poet and author of Madness, offers insights from his exploration of desire and mental health in his poetry, and the power of language to articulate the complexities of desire and queerness. All of these authors’ work illuminate the ways in which literature can serve as a vehicle for grappling with questions of desire, longing, and belonging. Don’t miss this chance to engage with writers whose commitment to storytelling makes room for anyone who desires, loves, or lives outside of the heteronormative binary.
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Let’s Eat! Decolonizing Diets
10/10/2024
Let’s Eat! Decolonizing Diets
Sara Calvosa Olson in conversation with Terria Smith Sara Calvosa Olson is a food writer and editor exploring the intersections of storytelling, Indigenous food systems, security, sovereignty, reconnection, and recipe development. Olson’s maternal ancestry is from the Karuk tribe whose lands are part of northwest California, and her new book, Chími Nu’am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen, aims to help integrate more traditional ingredients into everyday recipes. Chími Nu’am, which translates to “Let’s eat!” in the Karuk language, is a seasonal guide to gathering, processing, and cooking with Indigenous foods. The book speaks to a variety of audiences—Indigenous readers hoping to embrace cultural foods and non-Indiginous readers interested in ethical ways to decolonize their diets. Olson emphasizes reciprocity and offers Native Californian traditional ingredients with a modern-day twist. Terria Smith, a tribal member of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and the editor of News from Native California magazine as well as the director of the Berkeley Roundhouse, Heyday’s California Indian publishing program, will moderate.
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Legendary Artists on Identity and Remembering: Vulnerability in Creating Across Genres
10/03/2024
Legendary Artists on Identity and Remembering: Vulnerability in Creating Across Genres
Joan Baez in conversation with Greg Sarris Ground-breaking Mexican-American musician, artist, and activist Joan Baez joins accomplished writer, professor, and tribal leader Chairman Greg Sarris in a conversation about writing, creating, and legacy. Sarris is co-executive producer of Joan Baez: I Am A Noise, a deeply personal, profound, and haunting documentary that follows Baez on her 2018 Fare Thee Well goodbye tour and explores memory and abuse through home videos, journal entries, photographs, and therapy tapes. In a continued pursuit of an “honest legacy,” Baez’s debut poetry collection, When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance, is an intimate and inspiring meditation on her most life-changing moments as an artist. Through never-before-seen poems, Baez reminisces on family, childhood, nature, art, as well as her contemporaries such as Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, and Jimi Hendrix. Greg Sarris is an author, producer, and playwright, and he is serving his sixteenth term as Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. His most recent play, Citizen, debuted at San Francisco’s Word for Word theater, and his new book, The Forgetters, remembers shared histories and caring for the world. Come listen to these two legendary artists as they discuss creating across genres and forms, the power of vulnerability and detail, and writing into memory, family, finding connection and hope, and moving on.
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Changing Landscapes of Mother Earth and Motherhood: Uncertainty and the Climate Crisis
09/26/2024
Changing Landscapes of Mother Earth and Motherhood: Uncertainty and the Climate Crisis
Christina Gerhardt, Manjula Martin, Rosanna Xia, Jade S. Sasser, moderated by Maddie Oatman Join this essential and urgent conversation that examines the changing physical and cultural landscapes of the climate crisis. This panel centers one of the most pressing issues of our times and brings together in conversation four panelists who have written in depth aboutclimate change and its impacts on both the natural environment and human communities. Manjula Martin, Rosanna Xia, Jade Sasser, and Christina Gerhardt approach this topic from different angles, whether it’s through the lens of wildfires in Northern California (Martin), sea level rise along the West Coast (Xia), reproductive anxiety in the face of an uncertain future (Sasser), or the plight of low-lying island nations in the face of rising oceans (Gerhardt). They all shed light on the disproportionate burden of environmental degradation borne by marginalized communities and advocate for approaches to climate action that prioritize equity and justice. Moderated by Maddie Oatman, a senior editor and writer at Mother Jones, this conversation promises to be an urgent call to action that includes equitable climate solutions and addresses how all of us can foster dialogue for a better way forward.
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We the People: Building a Resilient Multiracial Democracy in 2024 and Beyond
09/19/2024
We the People: Building a Resilient Multiracial Democracy in 2024 and Beyond
Steve Phillips, Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Maurice Mitchell, moderated by Lateefah Simon In 2024, the threat of authoritarianism is greater than ever before. Yet our nation also has the potential to become a genuine multiracial democracy. How can we help tip the scale? Steve Phillips is a national political leader, bestselling author, and columnist. He is the author of The New York Times bestseller Brown Is the New White. His latest book, How We Win the Civil War, charts the way forward for those who wish to build a multiracial democracy and rid our nation of white supremacy once and for all. . He will be in conversation with two veteran political organizers, Ash-Lee Henderson, Co-Executive Director of The Highlander Center, which serves as a catalyst for grassroots organizing and movement building in Appalachia and the South, with a background in fighting for workers, reproductive justice, LGBTQUIA+ folks, environmental justice, and more, and Maurice Mitchell, a visionary leader in the Movement for Black Lives, and National Director of the Working Families Party. Moderated by Lateefah Simon, this urgent conversation is the reframe that many of us have been hungering for, to move us from anxiety to action. These big-picture thinkers can help us leverage our ostensibly limited voting options into a visionary electoral strategy that can change the game.
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Fiction: Mothers & Daughters
05/30/2024
Fiction: Mothers & Daughters
Ramona Ausubel, Mary Otis, and Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, moderated by Jasmin Darznik Relationships between mothers and daughters can be fraught or fruitful—especially for fiction writers. Bring your mom, or your daughter—you might find common ground through some fabulous new fiction in this session. With the support of California College of the Arts MFA Writing program
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