Same Page SF | A dark-AI debut, a Nigerian coming-of-age novel, and a theory on climate justice
Plus, an evening on poetry as protest
Welcome back to Same Page SF, your home for all things local and literary!
I'm Christina, your friendly, well-informed, and unabashedly nerdy bookseller. Each week, I share and signal-boost author events, book clubs, new releases, and community gatherings happening across our city.
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On to the goings-on!
It’s another great week to be a book-lover in San Francisco. Here’s what you’ll want to attend if:
1) You’re in your psychoanalysis era
Adrienne Chung on Organs of Little Importance at Book Passage. Sunday 7/14, 2pm, free.
Hear Adrienne Chung speak on her recent collection Organs of Little Importance, one of five winners of the 2023 National Poetry Series. Taking its title from Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, it investigates the ways in which we cling to the vestigial parts of our psychologies - “residues of first impressions, thought spirals to nowhere, memories that persist despite outliving their usefulness.”
2) You’re intrigued by a dark-AI debut
Olivia Gatwood on Whoever You Are, Honey at Booksmith. Tuesday 7/9, 7pm, free.
Join Olivia Gatwood, in conversation with Hieu Minh Nguyen, to celebrate the launch of her debut novel. Whoever You Are, Honey explores how women shape themselves beneath the gaze of love, friendship, and - especially - algorithms. As Kelly Link (The Book of Love) put it, “This book reads like a thriller, but it’s also a tender and searching exploration of what it means to inhabit a female body.”
3) You value climate justice and gender representation
Rebecca Kormos on Intertwined: Women, Nature, and Climate Justice at Book Passage. Wednesday 7/10, 5:30pm, free.
Women are disproportionately impacted by climate change, but they’re underrepresented at every level of climate decision-making. Join Berkeley-based writer and wildlife biologist Rebecca Kormos, in conversation with Dr. Liza Keānuenueokalani Williams, for a discussion of Intertwined, which argues that empowering women is one of the most important solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss.
4) You’re intrigued by Moonlight meets Purple Hibiscus
Chukwuebuka Ibeh on Blessings via City Lights Zoom. Thursday 7/11, 6pm, free with registration.
Join Chukwuebuka Ibeh, in conversation with fellow Nigerian author francesca ekwuyasi, to celebrate the launch of Blessings, a story of self-acceptance, sexual awakening, and first love set in a Nigeria on the verge of criminalizing same-sex relationships. Bookpage called it “Quiet but profoundly moving … An excellent work of queer fiction, full of characters who are neither good nor bad, but simply human beings in constant flux.”
5) You’re inspired and invigorated by poetry as protest
Poetry as Protest at Booksmith. Thursday 7/11, 7pm, pay what you can.
Visit Booksmith for a group reading on the theme Poetry as Protest, featuring Karla Brundage, Arthur Kayzakian, Kim Shuck, Sara Borjas, Cyrus Sepahbodi, Linda Ravenswood, Charles Jensen, and Sam Sax. Their books will be for sale on-site and via preorder. (If you haven’t yet been to Booksmith, don’t forget to check out their connected bar and restaurant The Alembic!)
Also
MONDAY Storytelling and activities with children’s author Megan Woodward at Books Inc. Laurel Village
TUESDAY Open mic night at SFPL Park | Irish crime writer Fiona McPhillips on When We Were Silent at Book Passage | Romance author Melissa de la Cruz on The Five Stages of Courting Dalisay Ramos at Books Inc. Laurel Village
WEDNESDAY Local author Bruce Neuburger on Postcards to Hitler: A German Jew’s Defiance in a Time of Terror at Bird & Beckett Books & Records | An evening with H.L.T. Quan, author of Become Ungovernable: An Abolition Feminist Ethic for Democratic Living, on the current state of feminism, democracy, and the upcoming election | SongWriter Live with W. Kamau Bell and Las Cafeteras is sold out
THURSDAY Poet Saúl Hernández on his debut collection How to Kill a Goat & Other Monsters at Medicine for Nightmares | Sexologist Suzannah Weiss on Subjectified, which describes her search for sexual empowerment and her vision for a world where women are subjects - not just objects - of desire | Comic Book Trivia Night at Mission: Comics & Art
FRIDAY Nothing today!
SATURDAY Day Dreamer’s Poetry Showcase followed by Poetry Brain Party at Medicine for Nightmares | Family Book Fair at the Mechanics’ Institute featuring the SFPL bookmobile, storytime, and translated and bilingual books | Local author Penny Lane on Redeemed: A Memoir of a Stolen Childhood at Books Inc. Opera Plaza
SUNDAY Online class on the business of kids’ publishing via Book Passage | July Book Club on Erasure by Percival Everett at Bookshop West Portal | QSF&F Book Club on A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami at Borderlands | Virtual gathering of the SF Silent Book Club
ONGOING Last call for volunteers for the SF Art Book Fair | Former Folio Books owner and staff are raising funds to bring a bookstore back to Noe Valley | The SFPL’s Summer Stride reading challenge is running through August
Book-adjacent gatherings
Not *about* books, but around them
😴 Manny’s is holding a staged reading of Sleepover, a new play by local theater artist Megan Calfas. Set to officially premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, this “glittery and gruesome show” explores girlhood in the early 2000s. Friday 7/12, 6:30-8pm, $15.
🧶 Feeling crafty? Swing by the SFPL Excelsior for a textile crafternoon. Come unwind (yarn pun intended) and work on your sewing, knitting, or crocheting project in community. Sunday 7/14, 2-3:30pm, free.
💕 “Has dating in SF been a nightmare?” Lovers Lane is hosting Mission Mingle, an evening of socializing and fun, at Medicine for Nightmares. There’ll be good vibes, games, music, and food/refreshments … and maybe a match! Sunday 7/14, 4-8pm, $25.
Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this issue of Same Page, please share it with a bookish friend or two (or more, but let’s be honest, we’re all introverts here!).
As always, if you have questions, ideas, or events to share, I’d love to hear! Just reply to this email or reach me at hello@samepagesf.com.
Cheers,
Christina
Book recommendations are my love language.
This week, I’m sharing three ideas for a reader looking for a literal and figurative beach read.
K’s criteria: “Something set on/around a body of water, on the lighter side but not fluffy, best enjoyed while lying on a towel between naps.”
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