Same Page SF | Ginseng farming, a poetry wine bar, and 40 years of ZYZZYVA

Plus, join our book club!

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 summarize and signal-boost 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 attend if:

1) You didn’t know you cared about ginseng farming

Craig Thompson on Ginseng Roots at Green Apple Books on the Park and via Zoom. Tuesday 5/20, 7pm, free. 

Ginseng Roots is one of those books I keep hearing about, and I’m not surprised: a gorgeously illustrated graphic memoir that tackles class, family, and globalization through the lens of Wisconsin’s ginseng farming industry isn’t something you come across every day! Join author Craig Thompson - whose Blankets won numerous industry awards and has been published in nearly 20 languages - for a discussion of the book Kirkus called “spectacular and inspired” in a starred review.

2) You want to celebrate a local literary institution

ZYZZYVA 40th Anniversary Party at City Lights. Wednesday 5/21, 6pm, free.

Founded in 1985 to provide a platform for West Coast writers, beloved lit-mag ZYZZYVA - so named for the last word in the American Heritage Dictionary, which, for the linguistically curious, refers to a genus of South American weevil - is co-celebrating its 129th issue and 40-year anniversary. Come for the readings by contributors Katherine Franco, Dominica Phetteplace, Marian Palaia, and D.A. Powell, and Kim Samek; stay for “a few surprises” and festivities in support of one of our longest-running literary gems.

3) You’re craving nourishment in more ways than one

On Wednesday, Omnivore is hosting James Beard Award-winning author Hawa Hassan for a discussion of her new book Setting a Place for Us: Recipes and Stories of Displacement, Resilience, and Community. An intimate collection of essays and 75+ recipes, it traces the impact of geopolitical conflict on cuisines and food systems across eight countries (6:30pm, free). On Thursday, On Waverly - the newest addition to our city’s roster of indie bookstores! - is welcoming Drs. Helen Hsu and Jeannie Celestial, authors of the Healing Trauma Workbook for Asian Americans, The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook, and Clinical Interventions for Internalized Oppression, for a restorative and culturally grounded conversation over sweet porridge (5:30pm, free, RSVP requested).

4) You’re in the mood for poetry, wine, and vibes

Caroline M. Mar on Water Guest at Golden Sardine. Thursday 5/22, 6pm, free.  

Celebrate the launch of Water Guest, Caroline M. Mar’s latest collection, at Golden Sardine, the new-ish bookstore slash wine bar Esquire called one of the best bars in America. As an MBA turned bookseller, I admire the concept: 

“The idea was, why don’t we create a space that doesn’t need to make money from art but can make money from some other facet that can then support the art? So the idea became, let’s open a poetry bookstore and publishing company that cosplays as a wine bar.” - Co-owner Andrew Nelson via SFGate

Mar and fellow poet Leigh Lucas will read their poems and discuss “love, loss, the physical and metaphysical properties of water, and more” over libations. 

5) You’re a cinephile 

I have a near-photographic memory for authors, storylines, and even covers (more often than not, I’ll know what you mean when you say “It’s red, with kind of a cursive font…”). But my talents start and end at books - I’m woefully incompetent at other forms of media, most notably film. (My husband is constantly astounded by my inability to recognize famous actors and, more fundamentally, to stay awake.) For folks more cinematically inclined than I am, head to Booksmith for a chat with pop-culture author Kevin Smokler and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Tiffany Shlain on Break the Frame: Conversations with Women Filmmakers (Thursday 5/22, 7pm, RSVP requested). Or enjoy a special screening of Impact at The Roxie, followed by a conversation with Barry Gifford about his new book No Daylight in That Face: Adventures in Film Noir via City Lights (Saturday 5/24, 12pm, $15).

Also 

MONDAY  Rick Martínez on Salsa Daddy: Dip Your Way into Mexican Cooking at Omnivore  |  Workshop with Anne Lamott and Maggie Smith at Writing Room 

TUESDAY  Peruvian-American writers Oswaldo Estrada and Rocio Ferreira on their most recent fiction, with readings and discussion in Spanish/Spanglish, at Medicine for Nightmares  |  The Art of Remembering: Writers from the Community Living Campaign at Bird & Beckett  |  Book Release Ceremony for UnTourBook Across Occupied Turtle Island: KlanMarks, MANuments, and Plakkks, a “new kind of ‘tour’ guide that unwashes stolen Turtle Island,” at City Lights 

WEDNESDAY  Biographer Ron Chernow on Mark Twain at Sydney Goldstein Theater via City Arts & Lectures |  Jennifer Newens on Wednesday Night Wine Down: 52 Drinks for Low-Alcohol Midweek Sipping at Green Apple Books on the Park

THURSDAY  Nicole Wong on Mahjong: House Rules from Across the Asian Diaspora at The Ruby  |  NYT bestselling author Alka Joshi on Six Days in Bombay at Bookshop West Portal  |  Reading by poet-authors of the 1976 anthology Five on the Western Edge at Bird & Beckett  |  Public policy expert Candace Rondeaux on Putin's Sledgehammer: The Wagner Group and Russia’s Collapse into Mercenary Chaos at Book Passage  |  Dialogue between San Francisco crime writers Colman Conroy and Jody Weiner at SFPL Main  |  Open meeting of the Bound Together Bookclub (Queering Anarchism: Addressing Power and Desire)  |  5th anniversary celebration of San Francisco’s Chinatown at SFPL Sunset  |  The San Francisco Sex Worker Film & Art Festival presents a book launch, film screening, and panel discussion in celebration of activists Gabriela Leite and Carol Leigh  |  Cartoonist Anthology Reading at 836M

FRIDAY  Anthology release party for Listen to Your Elders presented by Litquake, Ruth’s Table, and The Elder Project

SATURDAY  Warehouse sale at Books Inc. Opera Plaza (Day 1)  |  Book-signing with guitarist and songwriter for Exodus (and formerly Slayer) Gary Holt for his memoir A Fabulous Disaster

SUNDAY  Warehouse sale at Books Inc. Opera Plaza (Day 2)  |  Anthropology professor Anthony Dest on Dissident Peace: Autonomous Struggles and the State in Colombia at Medicine for Nightmares  |  Michelle Tea’s “evening of enchantment and revelry” for Witch: Anthology via City Lights is sold out

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Looking ahead: the future of Same Page

I dreamed up Same Page to connect readers to books and book people: authors, booksellers, other avid readers. So in that spirit, I’m thrilled to launch the Same Page Lit Fic Book Club in partnership with Black Bird!

Our inaugural meeting (Sunday June 8, 7pm, RSVP requested) will feature Tilt, a page-turner about The Big One, by climate journalist turned novelist Emma Pattee - who’ll be joining for the second half of the conversation! Everyone who’s read the book is welcome, but if you buy your copy from Black Bird (which now has plenty in stock), enjoy a free cafe drink with your purchase.

I know I’m not the only one nostalgic for Scholastic days … Imagine folks from all our indie bookstores and small presses under one roof, with curated selections of books and merchandise for sale. Imagine a photographer for Picture Day, featuring the classic awkward stool setup and props. Imagine Extra Credit leading up, with points for attending literary events or visiting bookstores. There could even be a middle-school dance floor with nostalgic throwback hits!

Sound fun? I’m hard at work on figuring out how to make it happen. If you’re someone who’d like to help bring it to life, whether you’re a bookseller, graphic designer, or part of an amazing venue you’d like to offer for free (a girl can dream!), please reach out.

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Finally, Same Page is a labor of love, but it’s still a labor. If you value receiving this newsletter each week, and if you’re excited about the ideas I’ve just shared, help make it happen!

Paid subscribers get weekly book recommendations, priority access to giveaways, and sneak peeks for events likely to sell out. (Founding subscribers also get personalized book suggestions on request!)

It would also mean a lot if you pass Same Page along to a bookish friend or two (or more, but let’s be real, we’re all introverts here).

As always, if you have a question to ask or an event to share, I’d love to hear from you! Reply to this email or find me at hello@samepagesf.com.

Cheers,
Christina

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Books are my love language.

I’m guessing most of you have heard of the author of this week’s recommendation, and probably the book itself! But what it lacks in surprise it makes up for in quality, because it deserves the hype.