Same Page SF | Ada Limón, deep friendship, and microgreens
🎶 These are a few of my favorite things 🎶
Welcome back to Same Page SF, your home for all things local and literary!
I'm Christina - local bookseller, literary entrepreneur, and unreasonably avid reader. Each week, I share and signal-boost the great things happening across our indie bookstores, library branches, cultural centers, and third spaces - a delightfully varied set of author events, book clubs, new releases, and community gatherings.
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On to the goings-on!
It’s another great week to be a reader. Here are five events you’ll want to attend if…
1) You love poetry (or don’t - but want to!)
Ada Limón at Sydney Goldstein Theater. Thursday 2/22, 7:30pm, $39 $34.
Join Ada Limón - 24th Poet Laureate of the United States and, almost as prestigiously, the author of my favorite love poem - for a conversation on the transformative power of poetry with Alexis Madrigal of KQED Forum. It’s presented by City Arts & Lectures, and they’re kindly giving Same Page readers a discount. Use SAMEPAGESF for $5 off (this code works for future events, like next week’s with Tommy Orange!).
2) You’re “deep friendship curious”
Rhaina Cohen on The Other Significant Others at Book Passage Ferry Building. Sunday 2/25, 3pm, free.
Why do we treat romantic relationships as more legitimate and essential than friendships - and what can we learn from folks who’ve reimagined their lives with “deep friendship” at the center? Join Rhaina Cohen - author, NPR producer, and recent guest on Culture Study and The Ezra Klein Show - for a chat about The Other Significant Others with fellow community expert Kat Vellos.
3) You’d like to read together, alone
Silent Book Club at Obscenity Bar. Sunday 2/25, 4:30-6pm, free (RSVP requested).
The ideal way to wind down your weekend: a communal reading party - aka Introvert Happy Hour - with Silent Book Club! Bring a book, grab a drink, say hello, then curl up somewhere cozy for solo reading time.
4) You’re thinking about borders and belonging
Lauren Markham on A Map of Future Ruins at Green Apple Books on the Park and via livestream. Tuesday 2/20, 7pm, free.
When and how did migration become a crime? Join writer and journalist Lauren Markham, along with ZYZZYVA managing editor Oscar Villalon, for a discussion of A Map of Future Ruins. What began as an investigation into the 2020 fire that destroyed most of Greece’s largest refugee camp grew into a broader meditation that Kirkus called “a remarkable, unnerving, and cautionary portrait of a global immigration crisis” in a starred review.
5) You’re looking for something “brilliant and brutal”
(CW: suicide)
Blake Butler on Molly at Booksmith. Thursday 2/22, 7pm, free (RSVP required).
The penultimate lines of the last note Molly Brodak wrote to her husband: “Please make art for me. I will read it all.” That art is Molly, a grueling memoir that’s been praised as “approach[ing] the impossible directly, with a total empathy that has no parallel or precedent.” (It’s also triggered fierce debate around authorial responsibility.) Hear from author Blake Butler, along with fellow writer Colin Winette, in what’s sure to be a powerful conversation.
Also
A sad reminder that Folio Books is closing after 10 years | Charan Ranganath on Why We Remember at Book Passage Tuesday | Rachel Edelman on Dear Memphis + Sarah Ghazal Ali on Theophanies at Booksmith Wednesday | Scott Guild on Plastic at Green Apple Books Wednesday | Sami Hermez on My Brother, My Land: A Story from Palestine at City Lights + Zoom Thursday | The Racket Reading Series hosted by Danielle Truppi Thursday | Erin Carlson on No Crying in Baseball with a screening of A League of Their Own at the Balboa Theater Thursday | Joanne McNeil on Wrong Way at Et al. Friday | Tariq Trotter (aka Black Thought) on The Upcycled Self with Jelani Cobb Saturday - use SAMEPAGESF for $5 off | Writer Lia Smith + illustrator Keith Ferris on MUNI Is My Ride at SFPL Main Sunday
Book-adjacent gatherings
Not *about* books, but around them
🤓 Manny’s is hosting a Data Trivia Night in partnership with the Chronicle. Put your Bay Area knowledge to the test while competing for bragging rights and prizes! Wednesday 2/21, 6-8pm, $5 per individual and $20 per team.
🌱 Got a green thumb? Bring a few cuttings or seedlings to the SFPL’s Ortega branch for a plant swap the morning of Saturday 2/24. That afternoon, head to Ocean View for a Dragonspunk presentation on urban farming and the microgreen revolution ✊🏾 Both are free and open to all, but you’ll need to reserve a spot for the presentation.
🔖 Sequoia Fabrica, a new volunteer-run makerspace and craft center, is offering a printmaking workshop. Learn to create your own bookplate, aka an ex-libris! Saturday 2/24, 2-4:30pm, $20.
I Have Some Questions for You
(but unlike Rebecca Makkai’s novel, they’re short!)
Substack recently rolled out a survey feature - which makes feedback easy! I’d be grateful if you’d take 30 seconds to let me know what you think of this week’s issue.
As always, if you have questions, ideas, or events to share, I’d love to hear from you! Just reply to this email or message me on Instagram.
Cheers,
Christina
Same Page SF
Book recommendations are my love language.
A bonus for paid subscribers: each week I feature a book I’ve recently read and wholeheartedly loved.
This week, I’m delighted to suggest two books, both remarkable little novels that punch well above their weight. If you’re looking for something beautiful you can finish in one sitting - then won’t be able to stop thinking about - read on.
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