Same Page SF | Hanif Abdurraqib, the art of illustration, and National Poetry Month
Plus a lovingly curated full-month sneak peek for paid subscribers ♥️
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 author events, book clubs, new releases, and community gatherings happening across our city.
Same Page is a labor of love, but it’s still very much a labor - one that’s made possible by paid subscribers. By opting to pay just $5 per month, you’re saying that each issue gives you at least $1 worth of value. (For both our sakes, I hope that’s true!)
Paid subscribers get perks like curated sneak peeks, thoughtful book recommendations, and regular book giveaways to support local and visiting authors - not to mention the warm fuzzies of knowing you’re helping make Same Page sustainable.
Onto 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 want to hear from a defining cultural critic of our times
Hanif Abdurraqib on There’s Always This Year at Sydney Goldstein Theater via City Arts & Lectures. Wednesday 4/3, 7:30pm, $49.
Join poet, essayist, and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib for a fireside-style chat with journalist and podcaster Shereen Marisol Meraji. Tickets include a copy of his just-released book There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, which - as Reparations Club put it - is about basketball…
…the way They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us is about music and A Little Devil in America is about history. No matter the subject, Abdurraqib’s exquisite writing is always poetry, always profound, and always a clarion call to radically reimagine how we think about our culture, our country, and ourselves.
2) You might have enough books will never have enough books
Friends of the SFPL Book Sale at 1630 17th St. Friday 4/5 and Saturday 4/6, 12-5pm, free entry.
The library’s monthly book sales are always delightful, and this time around, they’re featuring an eclectic and eminently browsable mix of literature, comics, children’s books, and more - all for $5 or less! Plus, Friends members save an additional 10%.
3) You’re looking for a raw and vulnerable work of autofiction
Alvina Chamberland on Love the World or Get Killed Trying at Fabulosa Books. Tuesday 4/2, 7pm, free (RSVP requested).
Join Alvina Chamberland, in conversation with Susan Stryker, to celebrate her English-language debut Love the World or Get Killed Trying. Named a most-anticipated book by Nylon, Ms. Magazine, and more, it follows a trans woman about to turn 30 as she explores existential questions like “how hard it is to remain soft when you’re a ceaseless target of straight men’s secret lust and open disgust.”
4) You're interested in book art
Chronicle Books: The Joy, Irreverence, and Craft of Publishing at California College of the Arts. Wednesday 4/3, 6pm, free (RSVP required).
Join local indie publisher Chronicle Books for a panel about how they work with illustrators and designers. The discussion aims to demystify how artists can work with publishers and what types of opportunities exist.
5) You’re ready to celebrate National Poetry Month
You’ve got options! On Wednesday 4/3, visit Green Apple Books on the Park for the launch of new collections from Sixteen Rivers Press - Women Twice Removed by Christina Lloyd, The Infinite Field by Alice Templeton, and Red Studio by Murray Silverstein. On Thursday 4/4, join a trio of poet laureates - Lee Herrick, Tongo Eisen-Martin, and Ayodele Nzinga - for readings and discussion at Mechanics’ Institute.
Looking to commit to your own craft? Sign up for Left Margin LIT’s month-long Poetry Accountability Club - starting today!
Local & literary news
The Bay Area Book Festival is looking for volunteers - reply to this email if you’d be interested in joining a Same Page cohort! | Fort Point Beer will give you a $5 draft special any time you buy a book from an indie shop | The Writers Grotto, a nonprofit collective and inclusive community of professional writers offering co-working space, workshops, and networking, is open for membership applications today through April 30 | Berkeley-based Small Press Distribution (SPD), a 55-year-old house serving more than 300 small and independent presses, abruptly ceased operations last Thursday
Mark your calendars!
Introducing a new perk for paid subscribers: the first issue of the month will now include a carefully curated sneak peek of the events most likely to fill up or sell out - and advance notice of really fun stuff!
This inaugural edition includes three (!) awesome giveaways to support local and visiting authors in advance of their upcoming events, Independent Bookstore Day festivities, a massive warehouse sale, and more.
What’s better than a book event? A book event with an advance giveaway!
Nina Guilbeault’s The Good Eater: A Vegan’s Search for the Future of Food is an enlightening and delicious look at how vegans - and their critics - are redefining the way we eat in the twenty-first century. She’ll be hosting a launch party at Manny’s on Tuesday 4/16 (in honor of Earth Day!) featuring delectable vegan hors d’ouvres made from local ingredients.
Sing, I is the much-anticipated second novel by San Francisco-based Irish author Ethel Rohan. Set in Half Boon Bay, it’s a story of self-discovery, music, romance, a touch of vigilantism, and the fight for our best life. Join her for celebration and conversation with Matthew Clark Davison at Bookshop West Portal on Wednesday 4/18 at 7pm.
A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda follows a close-knit Indian family in the aftermath of twelve-year-old Ajay’s violent encounter with the police. For readers of The Vanishing Half and Such a Fun Age, it reconsiders the myth of the model minority and questions the price of the American dream. She’ll be speaking at Black Bird Bookstore and Cafe the evening of Saturday 4/20 over plenty of chai.
Thanks to the authors and Bloomsbury, Triquarterly, and Mariner Books for the gifted copies! Enter below:
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