Same Page SF | A sapphic romance, a bookstore biography, and silent reading for a cause

February 16-22, 2026

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 author events, book clubs, and new releases happening across our city.

It’s another great week to be a reader in San Francisco. Here’s what you’ll want to do if:

1) You want to read alone, together (and for a cause!)

Silent Reading Party at the Booksmith. Tuesday 2/17, 7pm, $5+.

“No small talk. No awkward silences. Just reading in a bookstore afterhours with a few dozen strangers.” Bring or buy something to read, sip free tea, and bask in the quiet. Tickets start at $5, with sales benefiting Community Aid Network MN.

2) You didn’t get your fill of romance last week

Brenna Bos on This Means War at Fabulosa. Tuesday 2/17, 7pm, free.

Join the widely credentialed Brenna Bos - museum director, grant writer, college professor, and sapphic romance author - to celebrate This Means War, an “enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance that proves some fires were never meant to be tamed.” (And if you’ve got your own idea for a steamy story, head back to Fabulosa for screenwriter Erik Patterson’s Romantasy Writing Workshop Sunday!)

3) You’re intrigued by the overlap of Olympics x pelvic floors

Shannon Rowbury on Strong as a Mother at Sports Basement Presidio. Tuesday 2/17, 7pm, $0-20 (RSVP required).

Join three-time Olympian and San Francisco native Shannon Rowbury on pub day for Strong as a Mother, her evidence-based guide to prenatal and postpartum fitness. Come early for a three-mile fun run with Run Club SF, then stick around for refreshments, a raffle, and a signing line supplied by Green Apple Books.

4) You’d like to learn about the history of a literary institution

Gioia Woods on City Lights: Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Biography of a Bookstore at City Lights. Wednesday 2/18, 7-8:30pm, free.

When you hear “City Lights,” you might think Howl, free speech, the Beat Generation … or, as I recently learned when I joined what I erroneously assumed was a book-related conversation, maybe you’re talking about actual lighting.

Regardless of where your mind went, it’s a safe bet we’ve all got something to learn from humanities professor Gioia Woods’ City Lights: Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Biography of a Bookstore.

5) You love a book that shouldn’t be funny but is

Kashana Cauley on The Survivalists at SFPL Main. Sunday 2/22, 3-4pm, free.

The SFPL’s bimonthly citywide read is Kashana Cauley’s “lethally witty debut” (NYT) The Survivalists. The tale of an ambitious Black lawyer who moves in with her entrepreneur boyfriend and his doomsday-prep roommates, it’s a darkly comic exploration of race, class, and what it means to feel safe in a scary world. She’ll discuss it with Audrey T. Williams of Ancestral Futures, a speculative literary arts organization.

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News & needs

Niebla Librería is seeking a part-time bilingual bookseller | Litquake is accepting submissions for their main festival and Lit Crawl this October, as well as applications for their first official Curator Residency | The Center for the Art of Translation (CAT) is soliciting event proposals | The SFPL is releasing three new library cards | Books and Bookshelves has been around since 1985, but they only created an Instagram account last week (more power to them!) | Help me collect testimonials about your favorite local bookstores to build our work-in-progress community database

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Excited about one of this week’s features? Invite a friend to join you (or a crew, but let’s be real, we’re all introverts here).

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MONDAY Tayyba Kanwal on her debut short story collection Talking with Boys at Green Apple Books on the Park | Rob Osler on his historical mystery The Case of the Murdered Muckraker at the Best Bookstore in Union Square (their first-ever event!)

TUESDAY Food writer Evie Harbury on My Bohemian Kitchen at Omnivore | Gil Z. Hochberg on My Father, The Messiah: A Memoir via City Lights Zoom | Meeting of the No Homework Book Club - “we read a story together and talk about it” - with Books Not Bans at The Willows

WEDNESDAY Anne Whiteside on The Moon in Splinters, the true history of her uncle’s work as a British secret agent with the French Resistance, at SPFL Bernal | Meeting of the Contemporary Translated Book Group for Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand, translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, at Mechanics’ Institute

Keep reading for the full Also section, including a free talk with a Booker-longlisted author and a peek at what’s filling up next week, and Book-Adjacent Events like an inaugural Game & Pie Night.