Same Page SF | Two memoirs, a mutual-aid manifesto, and a dystopian page-turner
Plus an August 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.
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Paid subscribers get perks like curated sneak peeks, thoughtful book recommendations, and early access to book giveaways to support local and visiting authors - not to mention the warm fuzzies of knowing you’re helping to make Same Page sustainable.
On to the goings-on!
It’s another great week to be a reader, writer, or book-lover in San Francisco. Here’s what you’ll want to attend if:
1) You’re looking for a guide to community resilience
Adam Greenfield on Lifehouse: Taking Care of Ourselves in a World on Fire at Green Apple Books on the Park and via Zoom. Tuesday 8/6, 7pm, free.
Join urban designer Adam Greenfield, in conversation with Allison Arieff of the MIT Technology Review, to celebrate the publication of Lifehouse. Exploring lessons from the Black Panther survival programs, the Occupy Sandy disaster-relief effort, and the solidarity networks of crisis-era Greece, it shows “how practices of mutual care … can help shelter us from a future that often feels like it has no place for us or the values we cherish.”
2) You appreciate a genre-defying, mind-expanding collection
Vanessa Angélica Villarreal on Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders at Green Apple Books on the Park and via Zoom. Wednesday 8/7, 7pm, free.
Join poet and essayist Vanessa Angélica Villarreal for a talk with Laura Goode about her excellent collection Magical/Realism. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, it investigates migration, violence, and colonial erasure through the lens of music and pop culture; it’s one of those books you’re tempted to devour, but need to read slowly. Carmen Maria Machado called it “staggeringly good … an energetic, paradigm-shifting book.”
3) You’re always on the lookout for good dystopian fiction
Helen Phillips on Hum at Book Passage. Thursday 8/8, 5:30pm, free.
Join National Book Award nominee Helen Phillips, in conversation with Anna Weiner, to celebrate the launch of her hotly anticipated novel Hum. Set in a future ravaged by climate change and populated by intelligent robots, it follows a woman who undergoes an experimental procedure that renders her undetectable by surveillance - with a cascade of unexpected consequences. Kirkus called it “a perceptive page-turner with a generous perspective on motherhood, identity, and the pitfalls of ‘progress’” in a starred review.
4) You love complex, in-depth family histories
Dinaw Mengestu on Someone Like Us via City Lights Zoom. Thursday 8/8, 6pm, free with registration.
Join Ethiopian-American author Dinaw Mengestu, whose past three novels were named NYT Notable Books, to discuss his newest Someone Like Us. It follows the adult son of Ethiopian immigrants in his quest to understand a hidden family history; Ron Charles of the Washington Post described it as “strikingly ruminative … Mengestu [is] our patron saint of longing.” He’ll be in conversation with Eirinie Carson, whose second book - intriguingly described as a “maternal gothic novel” - recently sold at auction.
5) You’re a fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race
Yvie Oddly on All About Yvie: Into the Oddity at Book Passage. Saturday 8/10, 1pm, $31 (includes book).
Celebrate Yvie Oddly, “the world’s oddest drag artist” and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11, as they launch their memoir. All About Yvie is an intimate and in-depth look at their childhood, their coming out and coming to terms with their sexuality and gender, and (of course!) Drag Race tea. Your ticket gets you a copy, plus access to the meet-and-greet signing line with a photo opp.
Also
MONDAY Dr. Marie Thouin on What Is Compersion? Understanding Positive Empathy in Consensually Non-Monogamous Relationships at Green Apple Books on the Park | Nahum Dimitri Chandler on Annotations: On the Early Thought of W. E. B. Du Bois via City Lights Zoom
TUESDAY Researcher Paul S. Hirsch on Pulp Empire: The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism via City Lights Zoom | Kiana Krystle on her YA debut Dance of the Starlit Sea at Books Inc. Chestnut | Children’s storytime with members of the Bay FC Women’s Soccer Team at the SFPL Main
WEDNESDAY - -
THURSDAY Molly Giles on Life Span at Books Inc. Chestnut | SF Poet Laureate emerita Kim Shuck’s Poem Jam at SFPL Main
FRIDAY Book Bingo Party at Books Inc. Chestnut | Jared Stearns on Pure: The Sexual Revolution of Marilyn Chambers at the Mechanics’ Institute | Bookworm Party at Sports Basement Presidio via Bay Area Speed Dating (quite the vibe mix!)
SATURDAY Warehouse sale at Books Inc. Laurel Village, day 1 | William Gee Wong on Sons of Chinatown: A Memoir Rooted in China and America with documentary filmmaker Felicia Lowe at SFPL Main | Day Dreamer’s Poetry Showcase at Medicine for Nightmares | Short Stories Night at Telegraph Hill Books
SUNDAY Warehouse sale at Books Inc. Laurel Village, day 2 | Physician and public health advocate Dr. Dean-David Schillinger on Telltale Hearts: A Public Health Doctor, His Patients, and the Power of Story at Book Passage | Virtual gathering of the SF Silent Book Club
Local & literary news
After 33 years, Christopher’s Books on Potrero Hill is officially a legacy business | East Bay Booksellers is raising funds to rebuild after a devastating fire | SF Zine Fest is seeking volunteers for their main festival and a series of lead-ins | Berkeley-based Transit Books is celebrating Women in Translation Month with 30% off applicable titles
Book-adjacent gatherings
Not *about* books, but around them
🎥 Medicine for Nightmares is partnering with WeRise Productions and Najat Collective to screen Kill Zone: Inside Gaza, which highlights footage from journalist Hind Khoudary and other press. Tuesday 8/6, 6-8pm, $15-25 sliding scale donation.
💬 Manny’s is holding a series of political talks leading up to the presidential election; this week, former White House Communications Director Dan Pfieffer will speak on the road to November (Tuesday 8/6, 6-7pm, $30 in person or $10 via Zoom) and CA Assemblymember Buffy Wicks will discuss the electoral map (Thursday 6/8, 7-8pm, $15).
🖼️ Black Bird Bookstore and Cafe is hosting an art show opening party for Jeana Loraine of Sealevel, whose illustrations feature “nautical themes with a touch of melancholy.” Friday 8/9, 6-9pm, free.
🎬 City Lights is joining the Roxie Theater, Copper Canyon Press, and the San Francisco Zen Center for the premiere of Dancing with the Dead: Red Pine and the Art of Translation. There will be Q&A with the film’s director, a conversation with Red Pine, and a book-signing. Sunday 8/11, 12pm, $20.
Thanks for reading!
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As always, if you have questions, ideas, or events to share, I’d love to hear! Just reply to this email.
Cheers,
Christina
Book recommendations Advance notice is my love language.
A perk for paid subscribers: at the start of each month, I include a sneak peek of what’s going on through the rest of it.
Read on for the August events you’ll want to snag a spot for now:
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