Same Page SF | Anne Lamott, a juicy retelling, and poetry at Grace Cathedral
Plus, to creatively paraphrase Sheila Heti: How butch should a person be?
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 the many great things happening across our city - author events, book clubs, new releases, and community gatherings.
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Paid subscribers get perks like monthly sneak peeks, weekly book recommendations, and first dibs for book giveaways to support local and visiting authors - not to mention the warm fuzzies of knowing you’re helping make Same Page sustainable.
On to the goings-on!
It’s another great week to be a reader in San Francisco. Here’s what you’ll want to attend if:
1) You can’t get enough wisdom from the woman behind Bird by Bird
Anne Lamott via City Arts & Lectures at Sydney Goldstein Theater. Saturday 4/13, 7:30pm, $49.
Join prolific author and educator Anne Lamott for a fireside-style chat with Barbara Lane, book columnist at the Chronicle. They’ll be discussing her storied career and the intimate topics of her twentieth book (!) Somehow: Thoughts On Love, a collection Library Journal called “a hymnal of perambulating parables.” (Word nerd alert: perambulate means to walk or travel through or around an area, especially for pleasure and in a leisurely way.) Your ticket gets you a copy!
2) You’re looking for an interactive remembrance of a gay icon
Brendan McHugh on Clark Henley’s The Butch Manual at SFPL Main. Thursday 4/11, 6-7:30pm, free.
In 1982, the late Clark Henley published The Butch Manual, a popular satire that’s now out of print but still much-loved by those in the know. Join writer and fellow SF bookseller (👋) Brendan McHugh, whose Brown-Handler residency focused on Henley’s biography, for a re-introduction to this seminal book - followed by interactive performances to find out just how butch a person can be. Because really, isn’t masculinity just another form of drag?!
3) You’re ready for an evening of Indigenous art and stories
An Evening with IAIA at Green Apple Books on the Park and via Zoom. Monday 4/8, 7pm, free.
In partnership with Litquake, the largest independent literary festival on the West Coast, Green Apple Books on the Park welcomes IAIA - the Institute of American Indian Arts - for a reading by their students, alumni, and faculty. Readers include Tracy Abeyta, Jennifer Elise Foerster, Ibe Liebenberg, and Deborah Jackson Taffa.
4) You love a juicy retelling with a modern twist
A.H. Kim on Relative Strangers at Green Apple Books on the Park and via Zoom. Wednesday 3/10, 7pm, free.
Join A.H. Kim, in conversation with Dominic Lim, to celebrate the release of her new novel. A timely spin on Austen’s classic Sense and Sensibility, Relative Strangers is a 21st-century family drama featuring two half-Korean sisters, their ex-hippie mother, multiple love affairs, and one big secret - as one reviewer put it, it’s a romantic page-turner about “finding hope and happiness in the hot mess that is life.”
5) Your ideal Saturday night involves poetry in a “gloriously Gothic space”
Poetry at Grace Cathedral presented by Litquake and Green Apple Books on the Park. Saturday 4/13, 7pm, $5-10 suggested donation.
Let the National Poetry Month celebrations continue! Curated and hosted by D.A. Powell and Preeti Vangani, enjoy “poetry in the pews” with readings by Brenda Hillman, Cathy Park Hong, Dong Li, and Brian Tierney, with book sales and signings to follow. It’s open to all, but capacity is limited, so reserve your spot online.
Also
Susannah Fox on Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care via City Lights Zoom Monday | Greg Mania on Born to be Public at Fabulosa Monday | Deborah Taffa on Whiskey Tender: A Memoir at City Lights Tuesday | Dr. Mohamed Abdou on Islam and Anarchism at Medicine for Nightmares Tuesday | Lidey Heuck on Cooking in Real Life at Omnivore Wednesday | USF presents Wordnight at Booksmith Thursday | ALTA issue #17 party at City Lights Thursday | 50-year celebration of Poetry Flash at SFPL Main Thursday | Kitchen Table feat. Patrick Earl Ryan, Baruch Porras-Hernandez, and Alan Chazaro with food by The Chronic Kitchen Friday | NWIN (No Worries If Not!) poetry series at Adobe Books Friday | Mortified: Awkward Teen Diaries at DNA Lounge Friday | Beth Winegarner on San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History Saturday | Ticketed book-signing and photo op with Valerie Bertinelli at Book Passage Saturday | Day Dreamer’s Poetry Showcase feat. Ciera Jevae Saturday | Jonah Newman on Out of Left Field at Book Passage Sunday | Virtual gathering of the SF Silent Book Club Sunday
Book-adjacent gatherings
Not *about* books, but around them
🌔 SFPL Mission Bay is hosting an eclipse-viewing party from their back patio. They’ll be handing out a limited number of protective glasses and offering a slate of family-friendly tools and activities. Monday 4/8, 10:30am-12pm, free.
🎤 It’s that time again: Black Bird Bookstore and Cafe is running their monthly open-mic night, hosted by the lovely Laura Booth. Share the mic and your words with fellow writers - all levels welcome! Wednesday 4/10, 7-9pm, free.
🧶 In the mood for craft and community? Adobe Books is hosting a fiber night and yarn swap. Bring your knits-in-progress and, if you’ve got extra, some yarn to trade. Thursday 4/11, 7-9pm, free.
🎨 Medicine for Nightmares is holding an artist talk with Jeanelle Bantique and Anthony Jiminez, whose solo show “Crossing Paths” is currently on exhibit in their gallery. Sunday 4/14, 4-6pm, free.
Looking ahead
What’s better than a launch party? A launch party with a giveaway! So I’m especially excited for these three celebrations next week:
Wondering how vegans - and their critics - are redefining the way we eat? Join Nina Guilbeault Tuesday 4/16 at Manny’s for Q&A, book-signing, and chef-prepared vegan hors d’ouvres to celebrate The Good Eater: A Vegan’s Search for the Future of Food.
Looking for a novel set in the Bay Area about self-discovery, music, and romance - with a touch of vigilantism? Join San Francisco-based author Ethel Rohan Wednesday 4/18 at Bookshop West Portal to celebrate her much-anticipated second novel Sing, I.
Love thought-provoking stories like The Vanishing Half and Such a Fun Age? Join Shilpi Somaya Gowda Saturday 4/20 at Black Bird for chai and conversation about her newest novel A Great Country, which reconsiders the myth of the model minority and questions the price of the American dream.
Thanks to the authors and their publishers, we’ve got a handful of copies to share with Same Page readers 🥰. Paid subscribers get priority (and free shipping), but all readers can enter HERE.
And further ahead, I’m partnering with Green Apple Books for a bookmark design contest in honor of Independent Bookstore Day!
The winner will receive a $50 Green Apple Books gift card and have their design printed on a limited run of bookmarks available at Green Apple Books on the Park. Learn more and submit your design HERE.
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 or message me on Instagram.
Cheers,
Christina
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’s recommendation is a provocative, mind-expanding memoir - one I found surprisingly relatable, considering the subject matter!
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