Welcome back to Same Page SF, your home for all things local and literary. We’re your friendly, well-informed, and spectacularly nerdy source for author events, book clubs, and new releases.
It’s another lively week! Here’s what you’ll want to attend if…
1) You’re a gardener - actual or aspiring
Pam Peirce on 30 years of Golden Gate Gardening at Book Passage Ferry Building. Sunday 2/4, 2pm, free.
I’m gearing up for my sophomore garden season after what I’ll generously describe as an A-for-effort first attempt (ask me about my terrifying artichokes). So, uh, don’t take gardening advice from me. But do take it from Pam Peirce, who’s been growing food here for decades. In the words of Michael Pollan, “For vegetable gardening in the Bay Area, Golden Gate Gardening is indispensable.”
2) You’re feeling frisky (for a “long-form literary striptease,” that is!)
Fancy Feast on Naked at The Booksmith. Thursday 2/1, 7pm, $24.
Join the inimitable Fancy Feast - celebrated burlesque performer, sex educator, and social worker - for a discussion of her essay collection Naked: On Sex, Work, and Other Burlesques with local poet Sam Sax. Your ticket gets you a seat and a signed copy of Naked, hailed by Ms. Magazine as “cheeky … candid, gracious, and vulnerable.”
3) You held onto your favorite going-out top
Kate Kennedy on One in a Millennial at Bimbo’s 365. Friday 2/2, 7pm, tickets from $35.
Yes, it’s upsetting that going-out tops are officially vintage. And it’s downright alarming that low-rise jeans are wiggling their way back into the zeitgeist. But if you’re ready to embrace the early 2000s in all its cringe and glory, join podcaster and author Kate Kennedy for a night of nostalgia to celebrate her book One in a Millennial.
4) You love handmade books
Book Art Fair at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center (Oakland). Sunday 2/4, 12:30-5:30pm, $15 ($10 for students).
The CODEX Foundation exists to preserve and protect the art of the handmade book. Their biennial fair hosts more than 200 artists and makers, and according to their website, welcomes “artists, printers, bookmakers, designers, poets, writers, printers, bookbinders, papermakers, calligraphers, collectors, dealers, curators, students, academics, and of course anyone amongst the general public interested in the book arts.” Phew! (Can’t make it Sunday? It runs through next Wednesday 2/7.)
5) You want to call for a ceasefire, in community
Gaza Ceasefire Letter-Writing at Reem’s. Monday 1/29, 5-7pm, donation-based admission.
Gather for an evening of letter-writing alongside local authors Enrico Rotelli, Esmé Weijun Wang, Jamil Jan Kochai, Jenny Odell, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, R.O. Kwon, and Sam Sax, organized by Ingrid Rojas Contreras. Reem’s will be serving pastries, mezze, and drinks; speaking of food, all proceeds will be donated to World Central Kitchen for their on-the-ground meal operations in Gaza. RSVP by donating $5 or more.
Also this week
Manjula Martin on The Last Fire Season at Books Inc. Berkeley Monday | An evening of poetry and music with the SFPL and KALW Monday | Book-signing with Sohla El-Waylly of Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook at Omnivore Tuesday | Readings from the Yeva Johnson’s literary village at the SFPL Wednesday | Joan Gelfand on Outside Voices: A Memoir of the Berkeley Revolution at Bookshop West Portal Thursday | Aki Berry and Meg Chano on The Unofficial Ted Lasso Cookbook at Omnivore Thursday | Kaveh Akbar on rave-reviewed Martyr! with Tommy Orange is sold out (don’t say we didn’t warn you!)
Book-adjacent gatherings
Not *about* books, but around them
💬 Manny’s is hosting a California Supreme Court Year in Review with the American Constitution Society (Bay Area Lawyer Chapter), Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, and the California Constitution Center. Wednesday 1/31, 6pm, donation-based entry.
🎨 Black Bird Bookstore and Cafe might be the most aesthetically pleasing spot in the city, in large part because they rotate their wall art on a regular basis - and they’re holding an opening party for Mel Waters, the artist and muralist behind their newest exhibition. Thursday 2/1, 6-9pm, free.
🎶 Green Apple Books on the Park’s Monthly Listening Party centers on Perfect Worlds, the latest album by local lo-fi pop artist Tony Jay - featuring a live performance! Some refreshments provided, but BYOB if you’re so inclined. Saturday 2/3, 6pm, free.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, I’d be grateful if you’d share it with a bookish friend or two (or more, but let’s be real, we’re all introverts here!).
Have an upcoming event you’d like me to include? Want to share an idea or ask a question? 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.
We’ve established that I’m an unreasonably voracious reader. And that I work part-time at a bookstore. And that post-apocalyptic fiction with evocative, ethereal prose is my sweet spot.
So it took me by surprise when my mother-in-law recommended a book that checks all my boxes and that, somehow, I’d never heard of.
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