Same Page SF | A love letter to bookselling, a guide to storytelling, and a multigenerational novel
Plus a special May sneak peek for paid subscribers ♥️
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. (These last few weeks have been especially busy - happy Independent Bookstore Day to all who celebrated!)
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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 want to celebrate one of San Francisco’s most iconic booksellers
Paul Yamazaki on Reading the Room at City Lights and via Zoom. Wednesday 5/1, 7pm, free.
Paul Yamazaki, recent recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award, started working as a part-time clerk at City Lights in 1970 - and he’s been there ever since! Join him to celebrate the launch of Reading the Room: A Bookseller’s Tale. He’ll be in conversation with Oscar Villalon, managing editor at ZYZZYVA, about the book Hua Hsu called “a wry, stirring, profoundly uplifting ode to bookselling.”
2) You'd like to become a better storyteller
Karen Eber on The Perfect Story at Book Passage Ferry Building. Saturday 5/4, 3pm, free.
Karen Eber’s TED talk on how to tell a good story has been viewed over 2 million times - and she’s continued to demystify the process through her new book The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories that Inform, Influence, and Inspire. Join her for a conversation with Will Csaklos, who worked on gems like Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, and Monsters, Inc., in his time at Pixar.
3) You’re looking for a multigenerational novel
Rachel Khong on Real Americans at Booksmith. Wednesday 5/1, 7pm, $35.
Join Rachel Khong, in conversation with Meng Jin, to celebrate her much-anticipated second novel Real Americans. Kirkus called it “a sweeping exploration of choice, chance, class, race, and genetic engineering” in a starred review. As expected, free admission is sold out, but you can still snag a seat by purchasing a signed book.
4) You value reading in community
Kathryn Ma on The Chinese Groove at SFPL Main Library. Saturday 5/4, 2pm, free.
The SFPL’s “One City, One Book” initiative encourages San Franciscans to read the same book at the same time - building bridges between communities and generations. Their spring pick is Kathryn Ma’s The Chinese Groove, which traces 18-year-old Shelley’s immigration journey from China’s Yunnan Province to San Francisco. She’ll be discussing it with Natalie Baszile at the Main Library; throughout the month, other branches will host book clubs for it too.
5) You’re intrigued by the term “ecopoetics”
John Shoptaw on Near-Earth Object at Green Apple Books on the Park and via Zoom. Wednesday 5/1, 7pm, free.
Join John Shoptaw for the launch of his poetry collection Near-Earth Object, which explores the interactions - sometimes dark and sometimes joyful - between humans and the non-human natural world. He’ll be in conversation with Jenny Odell, multidisciplinary artist and author best known for her 2019 bestseller How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy.
Also
Last chance to apply to the The Writers Grotto - membership applications close Tuesday | Doris Kearns Goodwin on An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s through City Arts & Lectures Monday | Contribute to a new free community newsletter at Adobe Books Monday | Sasha Vasilyuk on Your Presence Is Mandatory at Booksmith Tuesday | Angela Garcia on The Way That Leads Among the Lost at City Lights Tuesday | Sylvia Brownrigg on The Whole Staggering Mystery at Green Apple Books on the Park Tuesday | Jakuta Alikavazovic on Like the Sky Inside, translated by Daniel Levin Becker, at City Lights Thursday | S. Fey on their poetry collection Decompose at Green Apple Books on the Park Friday | Michael Pollan with KQED’s Mina Kim at UC Berkeley Friday | First Fridays: Leave it to the Prose! in Kerouac Alley Friday | Book sale at San Francisco Heritage’s Haas-Lilienthal House Saturday | Karla Vasquez on The SalviSoul Cookbook at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market Saturday | Andrew Lee on Defying Displacement at Medicine for Nightmares Saturday | Colm Toibin on Long Island at United Irish Cultural Center Sunday | Eric Vickrey on Season of Shattered Dreams at Book Passage Sunday | Books on the Garden featuring Sonja Swift on Echo Loba, Loba Echo Sunday | Silent Book Club at Obscenity Bar & Lounge Sunday
Book-adjacent gatherings
Not *about* books, but around them
🌳 Black Bird Bookstore & Cafe is hosting a fundraiser for bookseller Jennifer Hart Gardner’s upcoming film The Sempervirens Alliance, a philosophical meditation on consciousness between a human and the Redwood forests. Offerings will include handmade bookmarks, zines, and original sketches in relation to the film - plus a limited number of tickets for an old-growth Redwood climb (!). Saturday 5/4, 7pm, free.
🌼 The SFPL’s got two cool gardening workshops: on Saturday, learn about getting started with native plants at the Richmond branch from 1am-12:30pm, and on Sunday, dig in (ha ha) to houseplant success for indoor gardeners at Mission Bay from 2-3:30pm.
♟️ Medicine for Nightmares is holding their monthly “super-chill” community chess club. Hang out, talk chess, and play a few games. All ages and skill levels welcome! Sunday 5/5, 4-7pm, free.
Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this issue of Same Page, please pass it along to 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.
Cheers,
Christina
Book recommendations are Advance notice is my love language.
A bonus for paid subscribers: at the start of each month, I include a carefully curated sneak peek of what’s most likely to fill up or sell out.
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