Bay Area Book Festival Podcast

Mai Der Vang, Amanda Moore, Christine No, Maw Shein Win Three California poets navigate relationships, reckonings, and memory with unerring eyes. Join Mai Der Vang ("Yellow Rain"), Amanda Moore ("Requeening"), and Christine No ("Whatever Love Means") for readings from their masterful new poetry collections followed by a Q&A. Hosted by El Cerrito's inaugural poet laureate, Maw Shein Win ("Storage U...

Majora Carter, John Kamp, James Rojas, Mitchell Schwarzer, Alexis Madrigal Displacement, gentrification, the soaring cost of living: these issues have ravaged cities across the Bay and America. We need new visions of urban success. Mitchell Schwarzer ("Hella Town") weighs in on Oakland's past and future; James Rojas and John Kamp ("Dream Play Build") discuss inclusive placemaking; and Majora Carte...

Aamina Ahmad, Uzma Aslam Khan, NoViolet Bulawayo, Lance Knobel Three supremely talented writers with a global perspective will open our eyes to historical and contemporary cycles of oppression and resistance. Booker Prize finalist NoViolet Bulawayo ("We Need New Names," "Glory") has constructed a postcolonial fable in which animals stand in for humans. Uzma Aslam Khan's "The Miraculous History of...

Alexandra Kenin, Heather Knight, Peter Hartlaub Ever wonder where to find a hiker's rugged dream in the big bad city? Alexandra Kenin ("Urban Trails: San Francisco") has meticulously tracked all 70 miles of hiking trails and 220 parks in mainland San Francisco, Alcatraz, and the islands. In this special in-person edition of the San Francisco Chronicle's Total SF Book Club, get the scoop on our cit...

Lily Anderson, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Rex Horner Read about powerful young women with a side of killer fun. In Maggie Tokuda-Hall's graphic novel debut "Squad," Becca longs to be popular at her new school, and winds up finding her place in a group of girls who also happen to be werewolves. Lily Anderson's "Scout's Honor" is filled with tons of high-octane action and adventure as protagonist Prudence...

Dan Charnas, Adam Mansbach Discover a hidden genius—a man whom the greatest figures of contemporary pop call a "demigod" of music. J Dilla, who died in 2006 at the age of 32, never had a mainstream pop hit, but he created a new "time-feel" that forever changed the way musicians compose and play, whether they're contemporary jazz composers, hip-hop artists, or rappers. Find out why this unsung visi...

Jessica Garrison, Tod Goldberg, Paul Holes, Megan Cassidy What do crimes, real or fictional, reveal about human nature? Shedding light are legendary cold-case investigator Paul Holes (who helped solve the Golden State Killer case); Los Angeles Times investigative journalist Jessica Garrison ("The Devil's Harvest") and bestselling fiction writer Tod Goldberg, with his collection of gangster tales,...

Charlie Jane Anders, Mike Chen, John Scalzi, Danielle Venton These brilliant science fiction writers' latest works find hope among the stars. In John Scalzi's "The Kaiju Preservation Society," a delivery driver gets a chance to escape a COVID-decimated New York City—by caring for giant endangered animals on an alternate Earth. The second volume of Charlie Jane Anders's Unstoppable series, "Dreams...

Carol Edgarian, Vanessa Hua, Jenny Tinghui Zhang, Jasmin Darznik Chinese immigrants were instrumental in shaping California, despite prejudice and exploitation. The connection between the two places has been fodder for amazing works of art, including the latest novels by authors Jenny Tinghui Zhan ("Four Treasures of the Sky"), Carol Edgarian ("Vera"), and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Vanessa...

Danyel Smith, Mariecar Mendoza From formerly enslaved poet Phyllis Wheatley to Mahalia Jackson to Tina Turner, brilliant Black women have been instrumental—indeed, foundational—in creating America's pop music. Former Billboard editor Danyel Smith's "Shine Bright" is an ode to the songbird geniuses that have been hidden in plain sight. In this conversation between Smith and the San Francisco Chroni...

Molly Giles, Leslie Kirk Campbell, Sarah Moss With book titles like "Wife with Knife: Stories that Cut" (by Molly Giles), "The Man With Eight Pairs of Legs" (by Leslie Kirk Campbell), and "The Fell" (by Sarah Moss), it's clear you're not in for a typical reading experience. These fiction writers explore what happens when we're pushed to extremes. With the support of Culture Ireland.

Pik-Shuen Fung, Kristin Keane, Litt Woon Long, Deirdre English These authors give voice to the unspeakable parts of grief. The protagonist of Pik-Shuen Fung's "Ghost Forest" navigates her father's death in a family that doesn't talk about feelings. In "The Encyclopedia of Bending Time," memoirist Kristin Keane uses an encyclopedic format to grieve her mother. And Litt Woon Long's "The Way Through...

Spend an hour with three brilliant female authors, writing from and about multiple corners of the globe—India, the Middle East, North Africa, South America, the United States—with woman-focused stories. Meet Dubai-based Indian author Avni Doshi, Ethiopian-American novelist Maaza Mengiste and Chilean author Alia Trabucco Zerán. The event is co-presented by Words Without Borders and moderated by Kar...

Gina Frangello's new memoir, Blow Your House Down, was met with wide acclaim, impassioned support, and also the judgments and criticisms that people love to lob at women who write about their authentic, messy lives. She writes about adultery, a longtime affair, and eventually breaking up her family, with repercussions to all concerned, including her children. At the center of this conversation, mo...

A powerful conversation between renowned psychiatrist Irvin Yalom & one of the most honored authors in American letters, Joyce Carol Oates. This heartfelt talk explores universal questions of intimacy, love, and grief.

Douglas Stuart enraptured readers worldwide in 2020 when his debut novel, Shuggie Bain, took the world's top literary award, the Booker Prize. Shuggie Bain was a labor of love that drew from his own history of childhood poverty, hardship, and devotion to a mother whose addiction struggles were intensified by a broken system. Stuart is interviewed by Casey Gerald, who gained fame with a viral TED t...

Hear from two highly respected journalists who also happen to be speculative fiction writers. Annalee Newitz is an award-winning novelist (The Future of Another Timeline) and a science, technology and culture writer whose fascinating new book, Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, explores the rise and fall of four urban-centered civilizations, from medieval Angkor in Cambodia to th...

A journalist and renowned expert on China, Schell has penned his first novel, drawing on his knowledge of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution and on his conviction that art and love can outlive brutality. Joining him is MacArthur "genius" and award-winning writer Yiyun Li, who came of age during the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown, emigrated to the U.S. at 23 as a young scientist, and eventually to...

The power of words to spark change and detonate oppression has never been more needed than it is today. Join U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, award-winning poet Reginald Dwayne Betts, and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Camille Dungy as they discuss their writings in response to our tumultuous time in history. Guiding the conversation is Ismail Muhummad, story editor for the New York...

Having enriched the creative journeys of millions with her Artist's Way program and books, Julia Cameron will show us how to harness that spirit of renewal with her latest guide to attunement and fulfillment, The Listening Path. Joining Julia is Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Judy Collins, a national treasure whose artistry is timeless. You won't want to miss these two legendary creatives in con...

Ann Patchett's novels hit that sweet spot where literary prestige meets blockbuster success. With The Dutch House, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Patchett is at her peak. This "engrossing, warmhearted book" (NPR) tells the story of a brother and sister whose deep bond and secret-filled past is haunted by the legacy of an ornate mansion, the "Dutch house," that was the site of childhood, and la...

Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley was determined to release her latest novel in 2020. Why? She knew we all could use an escape. And Perestroika in Paris is just that, as praised by Publishers Weekly: "the perfect book for those for whom the real world, wracked with pandemic and politics, has become something to avoid." Imagine a Parisian fairytale for adults starring a runaway racehorse who finds...