Litquake's Lit Cast

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Morgan Jerkins, on tour for her new book THIS WILL BE MY UNDOING: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America. This highly-anticipated collection of linked essays interweaves Jerkins' incisive commentary on pop culture, feminism, black history, misogyny, and racism with her own experi...

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Leni Zumas, on tour for her novel RED CLOCKS. The New York Times describes Zumas as having "a perfectly tuned ear for the way measures to restrict lives and enforce social confirmity are couched in the moralizing sentimentalism of children's needs" and her novel "a clear and well-constructed extrapolation of the curr...

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Chloe Benjamin, on tour for her novel THE IMMORTALISTS, described by The Guardian as "not just a novel about grief; it conjures characters with such dimension that you mourn them too, a magic rare enough to leave one astonished." THE IMMORTALISTS is Benjamin's second novel, following her award-winning debut THE ANATO...

The science is unequivocal: Earth is getting hotter, endangering human civilization as well as myriad species of plants and animals. But individuals, businesses, cities and states can still take action to ensure a future for our children and grandchildren. Former Sierra Club president Carl Pope ("Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses and Citizens Can Save the Planet") and   award-winning journal...

With a career spanning more than four decades, Loudon Wainwright III has established himself as one of America's most enduring singer-songwriters. His songs can be laugh-out-loud funny, but they also can cut to the bone. This past October, he discussed his memoir "Liner Notes: On Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay, & a Few of My Other Favorite Things," with musician Chuck Prophet. Pl...

In 2017, San Francisco's 13th Annual One City One Book committee selected "Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party," a bold, engrossing, and richly detailed examination of the revolutionary Black Panther movement, and its disastrous unraveling. This past October, co-author Waldo E. Martin, Jr. discussed the book and the Party's political dynamics with writer/curat...

Since 1986, Houghton Mifflin's  The Best American Essays  has delivered an annual treasure trove of fine writing and thought-provoking essays selected from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. This past October, Litquake assembled a stellar gathering of some of California's leading contemporary essayists, and contributors to the anthology. With readings from Kendra Atleework, Richard M....

Never before has our commander-in-chief's behavior been so puzzling, so laughable, so…troubled? This October the Litquake festival assembled a panel of experts to shed some light on the president's fundamental shortcomings. Senator Barbara Boxer addresses his political naiveté, linguist and NPR contributor Geoffrey Nunberg helps parse his verbal tics, psychiatrist Dr. Dee Mosbacher sheds light on...

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Eugene Lim, author of the novel Dear Cyborgs . Entwining comic-book villains with cultural critiques, Lim creates a fleet-footed literary exploration of power, friendship, and creativity. Ambitious and knowing, Dear Cyborgs combines detective pulps, subversive philosophy, and Hollywood chase scenes, unfolding like th...

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Tom Perrotta, on tour for his novel MRS. FLETCHER, described by The New York Times as "the sweetest and most charming novel about pornography addiction and the harrowing issues of sexual consent that you will probably ever read." Best known for his novels turned into film and TV -- ELECTION, LITTLE CHILDREN, and THE...

Litquake's Shadows & Light series continues with a conversation between Anita Amirrezvani, Laleh Khadivi, and Andrew Lam, moderated by The Bare Life Review editor Nyuol Lueth Tong. In this live event, "Bad Hombres: Immigrant Voices Respond to Trump," panelists discuss the impact of the current regime on immigrant writers' lives and creativity, and explore how immigrant voices can prevail against o...

Litquake's new "Lit Cast Live" continues with a panel discussion between Alysia Abbott, Clane Hayward and Joshua Safran, moderated by Gabe Meline of KQED Arts. For decades, Northern California has been Ground Zero for countercultural communities, rejecting conventional suburbia in favor of individualism and personal freedom. But what happens to children with this background, growing up amid such u...

Litquake's new "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Jeff VanderMeer, on tour for his novel BORNE, named one of the most anticipated books of 2017 by The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Book Riot, Chicago Reader, The Week, and Publishers Weekly. Author of the bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy, VanderMeer also will soon see a film adaptation of the trilogy's f...

Litquake's first entry in our "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores presents professor/author Sarah Ladipo Manyika, for the launch of her newest novel, LIKE A MULE BRINGING ICE CREAM TO THE SUN.   Set in San Francisco, this book presents a subtle and mesmerizing meditation on aging, friendship, and loss, and fleshes out a nuanced portrait of the erotic yearnings of an older woman...

Litquake's second event in our "Shadow & Light" series presents "The Most Dishonest People on Earth: Journalists Respond to Trump," another glimpse of sanity in an increasingly insane world. This current political climate demands honest and unvarnished media coverage. But is the American press doing enough to tell the truth behind the lies? Are we in a spiral of spin where truth no longer matters?...

In the great tradition of jazz and spoken-word basement readings in North Beach first forged by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Kenneth Rexroth, and Bob Kaufman, hear this contemporary update co-presented by City Lights Books. With poets Chinaka Hodge, devorah major, and RyanNicole. Music by Afro-futurist jazz trio Broun Fellinis. Recorded live at Doc's Lab, formerly The Purple Onion, in San Francisco. htt...

As with the rest of the world, Litquake has been festering over the unexpected election of Donald Trump. Do we publish a manifesto? Or curl up in the fetal position? Yes, times are dark indeed, but it's incumbent on the creative class to stand tall and contribute. And so we present some diverse and electric Bay Area voices who speak to our nation's fear, anger, and perhaps even optimism. With Elma...

Lit Cast presents this live recording featuring author Kim Addonizio and poet Jen Siraganian at Litquake's Epicenter series. This onstage conversation discusses Addonizio's two newest releases, the poetry collection MORTAL TRASH, and the memoir BUKOWSKI IN A SUN DRESS. Learn why the San Francisco Chronicle says "Addonizio tackles tough subjects -- unequipped mothers, the loss of love, mental illne...

Lit Cast presents this live recording featuring Atavist editor Evan Ratliff and journalist Jennifer Kahn at Litquake's Epicenter series. The onstage conversation discusses LOVE AND RUIN, the new collection of nonfiction from The Atavist, a trailblazing leader in longform narrative writing. Tune in and hear why The New York Times describes The Atavist as "remarkable...can't look away pieces of mult...

Lit Cast presents this live recording featuring novelist Natashia Deón and journalist Kaitlin Solimine at Litquake's Epicenter series. This conversation discusses Natashia's debut release, GRACE, from Counterpoint Press. The New York Times says, "Ms. Deón is not merely another new author to watch. She has delivered something whole, and to be reckoned with, right now." Co-presented by Green Apple B...

Lit Cast presents this live recording featuring novelist Adam Haslett and book critic Jane Ciabattari at Litquake's Epicenter series. This conversation discusses Haslett's newest release, "Imagine Me Gone." With his striking emotional precision and lively, inventive language, Haslett has given us something rare: a novel with the power to change how we see the most important people in our lives. Co...

Lit Cast presents this live recording featuring journalist/author Dan Lyons and journalist Chris Colin at Litquake's Epicenter series. This conversation discusses Lyons' new memoir, "Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble," the New York Times bestseller about the "troubling but funny" world of America's technology culture from one of the contributors to HBO's "Silicon Valley." Co-presen...

Lit Cast presents this live recording which features writer/critic CIntra Wilson and journalist/editor Gary Kamiya at Litquake's Epicenter series. This conversation discusses Wilson's most recent collection, "Fear and Clothing: Unbuckling American Style," a hilarious road trip across the landscape of American fashion. Co-presented by Green Apple Books, and recorded live at Alamo Drafthouse in San...

Lit Cast presents this live recording which features novelist Patricia Park and journalist/fiction author Vanessa Hua at Litquake's Epicenter series. This conversation explores Park's recent debut book "Re Jane," a retelling of the Charlotte Brontë classic Jane Eyre, set in the Korean immigrant community of Queens, New York. Co-presented by Green Apple Books, and recorded live at Alamo Drafthouse ...

Lit Cast presents this live recording from Litquake's Epicenter series, featuring Sunil Yapa, author of the debut novel "Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist," in conversation with writer Marie Mutsuki Mockett ("Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye"). Co-presented by Green Apple Books, and recorded live at Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco.  https://www.facebook.com/ litquake/  ...