Same Page SF | Community Day and a magazine giveaway
Plus: Angela Davis, food ethnography, and books about everything
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 great things happening across our city - author events, book clubs, new releases, and community gatherings.
If you’re checking the time, you’ll notice you received this issue around midday. Thanks to those of you who voted last week on when you’d like Same Page to hit your inbox! Here’s how the feedback shook out:
Most preferred midday Monday, so I’ll stick with it for now (though I wonder whether those who voted for “early Monday” and “sometime Sunday” both want to receive it before the week really gets going? In that spirit, I might experiment with few Sunday issues and see how that goes…) If you feel strongly one way or another, or have feedback about anything else, hit Reply to share - I’d love to hear.
On to the goings-on!
It’s another excellent week to be a book-lover in San Francisco. Here’s what you’ll want to attend if:
1) You’re curious how food absorbs and reflects culture
Ben Wurgaft and Merry White on Ways of Eating at Omnivore Books. Monday 3/18, 6:30pm, free.
Join anthropologist Merry White and historian Ben Wurgaft - who also happen to be a mother-son duo! - for a discussion of their co-authored book Ways of Eating: Exploring Food through History and Culture. Based on years of observation, ethnographic fieldwork, and shared plates, it explores the complex webs of meaning, colonialism, and migration that shape our meals.
2) You’re looking for a novel “about everything”
Lisa Ko on Memory Piece at Green Apple Books on the Park and Zoom in partnership with Litquake. Wednesday 3/20, 7pm, free.
Celebrate the publication of Memory Piece with Lisa Ko and fellow author Esmé Weijun Wang. Set in three time periods, it follows three Asian American women - a performance artist, a tech coder, and a housing activist - from their childhoods to early adulthoods and ultimately a dystopian future. I’ve heard it described as a book about friendship, but having read an advance copy, I agree with Nneka McGuire: it’s really about everything.
3) “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” - Angela Davis
Angela Davis: A Benefit for Marcus Books at Sydney Goldstein Theater. Wednesday 3/20, 7:30pm, $39+.
Join iconic activist and philosopher Angela Davis, in conversation with The New Yorker staff writer Hilton Als, for a fireside-style chat via City Arts and Lectures. Tickets include a copy of Abolition, Politics, Practices, Promises (Vol 1), her new collection of essays and speeches, and proceeds benefit Oakland’s Marcus Books, the oldest Black-owned bookstore in the nation.
4) You appreciate an incisive and unapologetic essay collection
Lauren Oyler on No Judgment at The Booksmith. Friday 3/22, 7pm, $35 (includes book).
Join bestselling author (and infamously controversial reviewer!) Lauren Oyler for what’s sure to be a fascinating talk with Terry Castle about No Judgment, in which she turns her notoriously sharp gaze on topics like star ratings, gossip, and revenge. As predicted, free admission is sold out, but you can still snag a seat by purchasing a signed book.
5) You believe tech can be - but is by no means necessarily - a force for good
Reboot Community Day (ft. Kernel 4 launch) at KQED. Saturday 3/23, 10am-5pm, $10-20.
Reboot, a locally based platform reimagining techno-optimism for a better collective future, is hosting an inaugural Community Day! There’ll be talks on tech and society, writing workshops with the editors, and something intriguingly referred to as the “Hot Take Arena.” Hang all day (with catered lunch!) or arrive midafternoon, when they’ll switch to launch-party mode to celebrate the issue #4 of Kernel, their twice-yearly print magazine.
✨ The issue focuses on LUCK, and in that spirit, we’re thrilled to partner with the Reboot team to share five Kernels with Same Page readers! ✨ This particular giveaway is open to everyone, but there are ways to boost your odds: quadruple them by being a paid subscriber (yep, signing up today counts!), and double them by planning to attend Community Day.
Also
Brad Gooch on Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring at Booksmith Monday | Joyce Carol Oates in virtual conversation with Steve Wasserman Monday | Andrew Heid on Glass Houses at Black Bird Monday | Guy Kawasaki on Think Remarkable (plus free socks?) at SHACK15 Monday | Maurice Carlos Ruffin on The American Daughters via City Lights Zoom Tuesday | Armen Davoudian on The Palace of Forty Pillars at Green Apple Tuesday | Jordan Mechner on Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family at Book Passage Tuesday | Nathan Tavares on Welcome to Forever at Fabulosa Tuesday | Launch party for Dr. Halifu Osumare’s Dancing the Afrofuture: Hula, Hip-Hop, and the Dunham Legacy Tuesday | Lucy Sante on I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition via City Lights Zoom Wednesday | The Racket presents DEFIANCE at The Sycamore Thursday | Morgan Parker on You Get What You Pay For at Booksmith Thursday | Book Passage’s talk with Anna Quindlen has moved from SF to Corte Madera Saturday | Silent Book Club at Obscenity Bar Sunday
Book-adjacent gatherings
Not *about* books, but around them
🎨 Black Bird Bookstore and Cafe isn’t just for books and coffee - there’s art too! For their next installation, they’ll feature collage art by Jamae Tasker in the store *and* an immersive audio experience by Sami Freeman in the garden. Join the opening party to celebrate both! Friday 3/22, 6-9pm, free.
🎵 Sofar Sounds, a community that connects musicians and audiences through live music in intimate spaces, is holding a surprise-lineup show at Telegraph Hill Books. Saturday 3/23, 7:30pm, $34.
🧩 I love rereading favorite books, but I’ve yet to come across a jigsaw puzzle I’m compelled to repeat. Same? Bring a gently used puzzle to the SFPL’s Ortega branch for a puzzle swap. Saturday 3/23, 2-3pm, free.
PSA: Litquake wants you!
Litquake, San Francisco’s largest literary festival, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this October - and they’re seeking submissions for all programs, including Lit Crawl. If you hear “epic literary pub crawl through the Mission District” and think “it would be so fun if that meant…,” now’s your time to shine! They’re especially interested in ideas that go beyond a standard slate of readings - think literary games, write-offs, and other interactive experiences that fit Lit Crawl’s creative, irreverent, and festive vibes.
Thank you for reading Same Page!
If you find Same Page valuable, please consider supporting with just $5 per month - because while Same Page is a labor of love, it’s still very much a labor. I know we’re all tired of hearing “for the price of a cup of coffee…” in the context of Substack subscriptions, so I’ll try a different approach: by choosing to pay, you’re signaling that each issue provides you with at least one dollar’s worth of value. (For both our sakes, I hope that’s true!)
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If payment isn’t possible in these strange times, I get it! You can also support by spreading the word about Same Page. Every time you pass it along to a bookish friend or two (or more, but let’s be honest, we’re all introverts here), it helps me grow - and it makes my day.
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
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’s recommendation is a fantastically mind-bendy sci-fi book that should’ve gotten way more hype than it did - and I’m hoping that will change with its just-released sequel!
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