Same Page SF | The unbearable sameness of algorithms
To borrow from Milan Kundera. Also: author talks, craft conversations, and silent reading parties.
Welcome back to Same Page SF - your friendly, well-informed, and spectacularly nerdy source for all things local and literary.
This week, we’ve got a stellar set of author events, non-traditional book clubs, and new releases. Here’s what you’ll want to attend if…
1) You know what I mean by “algorithm anxiety”
Kyle Chayka on Filterworld at the Ferry Building in partnership with Book Passage and SHACK15. Wednesday 1/24, 6-7:30pm, $10.
Join tech journalist Kyle Chayka - yes, of that standout Ezra Klein episode on taste - for what’s sure to be a fascinating discussion of his new book Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture with local author Robin Sloan. Filterworld makes explicit the impact of ever-tightening algorithmic webs, arguing that they’re not just limiting what we consume but what gets produced in the first place.
2) You’re looking for a novel that’s a story in and of itself
Kayla Min Andrews on Katherine Min’s The Fetishist at Green Apple Books on the Park (and via livestream). Monday 1/22, 7pm, free.
Join Kayla Min Andrews for the posthumous release of her mother Katherine Min’s last novel The Fetishist, which Min Andrews helped edit and publish. She and fellow author Cathy Park Hong will discuss Min’s tale of grief, revenge, and unexpected reckonings, described as “hilariously savage, poignant … as wise and powerful as it is delightful.”
3) You’re fascinated by the creative process
Dialogue: Crafting Voices at the SFPL Main Branch. Saturday 1/27, 2-3:30pm, free.
How do poets navigate the creative process? How does their work evolve? And in what ways can the act of writing transform the writer? Join Soham Patel and Tonya M. Foster for an afternoon of craft and conversation; they’ll read excerpts from their work, then discuss their evolution in a conversation moderated by fellow poet Sara Borjas.
4) You love a good poetry anthology
We Call to the Eye & the Night at Green Apple Books on the Park (and via livestream), Thursday 1/25, 7pm, free.
Join contributors Arwa Alsamarae and Deema K. Shehabi, alongside coeditor Zeina Hashem Beck, to celebrate We Call to the Eye & the Night: Love Poems by Writers of Arab Heritage. Composed of almost two hundred English-language poems, the anthology honors love for partners, friends, family, heritage, and homeland.
5) Your dream party is a reading party
Silent Book Club at Obscenity Bar. Sunday 1/28, 4:30-6pm, free (RSVP requested).
Fun fact about me: I cancelled my bachelorette out of COVID caution, but it was supposed to have been a BYOB weekend - meaning, of course, Bring Your Own Book(s). If that’s also your vibe, wind down your weekend with Silent Book Club, aka Introvert Happy Hour! They’ll kick off with light chatter and informal book recs before settling in for solo reading time.
Also this week
Melissa Lozada-Oliva (Candelaria) Tuesday | Violette Bule and Michel Otayek (De La Lleca Al Cohue) Wednesday | Pat Thomas (Material Wealth: Mining the Personal Archive of Allen Ginsberg) Wednesday | Sharon Wee (Growing Up In A Nonya Kitchen) Saturday | Cole Arthur Riley (Black Liturgies) Sunday | Kyla Zhao (Valley Verified) Sunday
Bookish news
Tickets for Kaveh Akbar + Tommy Orange next week are sold out (don’t say we didn’t warn you!) | The NYT updated their California Reading List | Italic Type wants to hear from you for their annual State of the Reader Survey
Book-adjacent gatherings
Not *about* books, but around them
🎨 San Francisco Center for the Book is hosting an opening reception for A Radical Alteration, an exhibit about the rich history of Women’s Studio Workshop. Friday 1/26, 6pm, free (RSVP requested, donations welcomed).
🔖 Sequoia Fabrica, a “new organization of doers and makers who like to share our knowledge,” is offering a printmaking workshop. Learn to create your own bookplate, aka an ex-libris! Saturday 1/27, 3pm, $35.
💬 Manny’s and The Frisc are holding a conversation on housing in SF - specifically, on the impact and implementation of the new housing plan, which calls for creating 82,000 homes in eight years. Saturday 1/27, 4-6pm, $10.
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.
If you know me, you know my all-time favorite book is - say it with me now - Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. You also know I’m an unreasonably avid reader, and I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve consumed more than a thousand books since I first came across Station Eleven. And while I’ve loved hundreds since, it’s still the one I love most. All that to say - I don’t compare to it lightly!
So when I tell you that…
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