Same Page SF | We've got your bookish resolutions covered
In for 2024: Building literary community
Welcome to the first 2024 issue of 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 discussions, and new releases - and we’re thrilled to be back for another year!
After a quiet holiday season, 2024 is starting off strong. Here’s what you’ll want to do if:
1) Your New Year’s resolutions include…
✏️ taking a writing class
We’re lucky to live in a place with a wealth of options, both IRL and online! Check out upcoming classes at the Writing Salon and Left Margin LIT, or drop in to a virtual open house at The Writers Grotto.
📚 joining a book club
Bookshop West Portal’s monthly book club is free and open to all; their January pick is Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. The SFPL also runs dozens of themed clubs, from Cozy Capers & Mysteries to Spanish-Language Novels.
🤗 making bookish friends
If traditional clubs aren’t your thing, check out Not Quite a Book Club - everyone comes with a book they’re reading and shares thoughts with the group. Or try Silent Book Club, aka Introvert Happy Hour, which follows brief introductions with peaceful reading time. Delightful!
📵 finally getting off Goodreads
We loved Maris Kreizman’s New York Times op-ed arguing that readers deserve better than the “online hellscape” that Goodreads has devolved into - especially her mention of Italic Type as a “promising alternative.”
2) Your favorite Taylor songs are “Midnight Rain” and “Mad Woman”
Margo Steines on Brutalities: A Love Story at Green Apple Books on the Park (or via livestream). Monday 1/8, 7pm, free.
Join the multitalented Margo Steines - professional dominatrix, homestead farmer, welder, and martial arts enthusiast - to celebrate Brutalities, a “searing, vivid memoir that investigates the dynamics of violence and power, pain and desire, and a body pushed to the brink.” As if that isn’t compelling enough, she’ll be in conversation with Amanda Montei of Mad Woman.
3) You want to nourish your body and your mind
Kitchen Table @ 826 Valencia. Friday 1/12, 7-9:30pm, free.
A monthly series centered around poetry + literature, food + drink, and culture + politics, January’s Kitchen Table will feature writers Nicola Andrews, Jess Semaan, and Margot Seeto, with food for purchase from Deluxe Queer.
4) You wish America would get a therapist
Ipek Burnett on Re-Visioning the American Psyche at The Ruby. Tuesday 1/9, 6pm, free (RSVP required).
Hear from editor Ipek Burnett about Re-Visioning the American Psyche, a collection of essays from leaders in Jungian psychology examining the “myths, images, and archetypal fantasies ingrained in the collective consciousness and unconscious in the United States.”
5) You read what Tommy Orange tells you
Kaveh Akbar on Martyr! at Green Apple Books on the Park. Tuesday 1/30, 6:30pm, $30.42.
We don’t usually feature events weeks in advance, but this one’s selling out fast! Hear renowned poet and debut novelist Kaveh Akbar interviewed by the inimitable Tommy Orange, who calls Akbar “one of my favorite writers. Ever.” Your ticket gets you a hardcover copy of Martyr! and access to the reading, conversation, and signing line.
Bookish news
The SFPL compiled a list of the most-borrowed books of 2023 | Try your hand at the NYPL’s retrospective literary quiz | We’ve been hearing great thing about San Francisco Center for the Book’s craft workshops
Book-adjacent gatherings
Not *about* books, but around them
💬 Manny’s is holding two civic-engagement conversations, one on the Roadmap to San Francisco’s Future (Tuesday 1/9, 6pm) and one on the role of the Department of Police Accountability (Thursday 1/11, 6pm). Both are $15, but Manny’s never turns anyone away for lack of funds.
🎤 Black Bird Bookstore and Cafe is hosting their first open-mic of the year. Come share the mic and your words with fellow poets and writers. All levels welcome! Wednesday 1/10, 7-9pm, free.
📔Join Asé Arts at the SFPL’s Marina branch for a manifestation journal workshop, where you’ll “explore the art of self-reflection and collage in a specially crafted notebook to bring your aspirations to life.” Saturday 1/13, 2:30-4:30pm, free (reservations required).
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. (Giveaways, too!)
A bonus for those who reach the bottom of the newsletter: each week I’ll feature a book I’ve recently read and wholeheartedly loved.
And sometimes - like today! - we’ll be 💫 GIVING AWAY COPIES 💫 of that book. (Yes, for free!)
We’ve thought long and hard about how to make Same Page SF sustainable - because while it’s a labor of love, it’s still very much a labor. Local and literary coverage is at the heart of what we do, and we won’t limit access to that core content. So we landed on giveaways for paid readers as an experiment worth trying.
We’re especially excited about this idea because it supports authors too! Our giveaways will highlight the work of authors who are planning to visit (or who are already based here). Most folks who show up for events are familiar with the author, so we’re expecting these giveaways to build awareness, excitement, and attendance.
Give me the details!
All active paid subscribers - monthly, yearly, founding - can participate in giveaways. We’ll start with one per month; eventually, we hope to run one per week. Of course, entering is no guarantee of winning, but if we reach a point where the number of entrants are 4x the number of books we have available, we’ll revisit. (In other words, we want folks to win at least one book for every four entries - a pretty good deal!)
Any other ways to participate?
Yes! For every five referrals you send, you’ll get one month comped, during which you’re welcome to enter. And if you’re a founding member of Italic Type, our favorite indie book-tracking app, you’re covered for a full six months - just send us a note to let us know. 🤗
Onto the book:
I received an early copy of Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s A Great Country a few weekends ago and devoured it in an afternoon. It’s the story of a close-knit Indian-American family reeling after a violent encounter with the police - an exploration of immigration, class, and privilege told through multiple POVS over the course of two intense weeks.
Provocative, propulsive, and eminently discussion-worthy, I’m betting it’ll be a breakaway book-club hit; in fact, I’ll be surprised if Book of the Month or Aardvark don’t choose it for a box around its publication date this spring. (Speaking of which - don’t miss Shilpi when she visits Black Bird Bookstore and Cafe as part of her book tour in April!)
Thanks to HarperCollins, we’ve got advance copies of A Great Country to share with Same Page SF readers. If you’re a paid subscriber, enter the giveaway below!
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