Bay Area Book Festival Podcast

Having witnessed and experienced the American justice system's unreasonable treatment of incarcerated people, the activists of this panel shed light on the shrouded reality of the ghosts currently being unduly punished. In his polemic Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine: Reform, White Supremacy, and an Abolitionist Future, Emile Suotonye DeWeaver combines personal narrative with social commentar...

In times of love and loss, demonstrations of care can be another form of activism. This sentiment is perhaps most evident in the AIDS epidemic, when physical touch became paradoxically a symbol of tenderness yet agonizingly painful for someone with complications from HIV, as Keiko Lane recalls in Blood Loss: A Love Story of AIDS, Activism, and Art, a memoir exploring survival after our loved ones...

During the 2024 presidential race, the Trump campaign released an anti-trans ad blitz across swing states. Once in power, he wasted no time issuing an executive order proclaiming there are only two biological sexes. Accordingly, trans protections, gender affirming care, and DEI initiatives are being dismantled nationwide. Philosopher and human rights activist Judith Butler has long been a lightnin...

This visionary, multi-generational panel brings together Bay Area authors who weave speculative fiction with powerful messages of resistance, transformation, and justice. Through creative storytelling, these authors tackle the pressing issues of our time—exploring the legacies of the past and imagining a future where change is possible. Angela Dalton 's To Boldly Go celebrates the life of Nichelle...

Learn from the best of community organization leadership in this empowering panel, which will get to the bottom of how to build resilient and justice-oriented communities. Jaz Brisack , a leader of the Starbucks and Tesla union movements, narrates their stories from the front lines in the context of current social unrest and shows us how we too can organize our workplaces in Get on the Job and Org...

"What is the relationship between the role of the outsider and literary writing?" Pulitzer Prize-winning Viet Thanh Nguyen poses this question in his new book To Save and To Destroy , which is based on a series of six lectures at Harvard. Having escaped from the Vietnam War to a refugee camp in Pennsylvania when he was four, Nguyen is no stranger to being an outsider who carries both the burdens a...

Income inequality in the U.S. has reached its highest level in over 50 years, making the American Dream increasingly unattainable—especially for Black Americans. One major factor is "predatory governance," the racist policies that have systematically undermined Black homeownership and generational wealth. Property law scholar Bernadette Atuahene explores this in Plundered , which illustrates how r...

As we emerge from the past few years of collective upheaval, how do we face the complexities of our time with joy, authenticity, and connection? Therapist, somatics teacher, activist, and writer Prentis Hemphill shows us how in What It Takes to Heal, a life-affirming framework toward a future in which healing is done in community. In Hemphill's revolutionary framework, we don't have to carry our e...

In a moment of global crises and heightened polarization, how do we foster belonging and minimize othering? How and where do we build bridges when so many communities and institutions are fracturing and re-constellating? Drawing on the panelists' four books and their unique experiences and perspectives, we will speak into a future where generative relationships across boundaries thrive. Leading as...

Celebrate indigenous poetry with these intergenerational poets from different parts of Indian Country, who will share their powerful words that navigate land, memory, music, and more. Diné poet, editor, and playwright Kinsale Drake explores the intricate relationships between Native peoples and the natural world, and her debut collection The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket oscillates between musical i...

This powerful panel showcases three Black women artists, authors, and activists who use their creative practices to challenge oppressive systems and fight for social, cultural, and environmental justice. Through their intersectional approaches, they address race, gender, inequality, and healing. Berkeley Poet Laureate, organizer, activist and author of Undisclosed , Aya de León , explores race, ge...

Join us for a conversation on the vital role of different forms of community care and mutual aid across California's diverse communities. Red Flag Warning , a collection of essays and interviews by survivors Dani Burlison and Margaret Elysia Garcia , highlights how grassroots organizing, community care, and resilience help navigate ecological and social challenges. Adéniké Amin , Storytelling Lead...

A competition to find the king's lost heir. A war fought by a woman soldier in disguise. A quest to escape a desolate land of sickness and unnatural beasts . The fiery protagonists of this romantasy panel adventure far and wide, questioning their judgments and learning to trust along the way. In Our Deadly Designs, the epic conclusion to Kalyn Josephson 's This Dark Descent duology, spellbinding f...

Buckle up for a disorienting launch into the vast unknown with these works of speculative fiction that transcend time and space. How We Know Our Time Travelers is Anita Felicelli 's collection of dark, intellectual, and surreal stories that examine our post-pandemic reality and future, introducing characters such as a bickering couple who use an app to track their fights, a woman who discovers an...

The fight for justice and freedom for political prisoners in the US has long been rooted in revolutionary struggle against state violence and political repression. Since the 1960s, resistance to politically motivated incarceration has taken many forms, both inside and outside prison walls. Garrett Felber , author of A Continuous Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Martin Sostre , highlights Sostre...

In an era of rising authoritarianism, media polarization, and attacks on voting rights, independent journalism plays a critical role in safeguarding democracy. This panel brings together two of the most incisive voices in political reporting— Zack Beauchamp and Ari Berman —to examine the challenges facing American democracy and the essential role of independent media in holding power to account. Z...

Making their literary entrance in insightful fiction debuts, the protagonists of this panel reckon with pasts that stretch beyond their own lifetimes. The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne spans eight generations of a Black family in West Tennessee, beginning with the story of Yetunde, who makes a deal with the Devil upon awakening aboard a slave ship en route to the United States. Yefim Shulman,...

Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to showcase some of our featured authors of the 2025 festival. Meet Carolina Ixta, who was part of our our Family Day programming on May 31st. For more information, go to our website.  baybookfest.org

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

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

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

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.

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 micha cárdenas , 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.

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.

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, go to our website . The full schedule will be live April 5.