Archive
Friends,
below are some great events coming up at the Book Smith at 1644 Haight St. between Clayton & Cole (863-8688)
AL YOUNG
reading & booksigning for Something About the Blues
Tuesday, March 18 at 7 pmLike Harlem renaissance poet Langston Hughes, who first popularized the blues as a poetic form, California Poet Laureate Al Young has written about the blues, played the blues and drawn inspiration from the blues. Something About the Blues uses the form as a theme throughout 100 new and previously-published poems. These works evoke the cold, hard city, love gone wrong and blues music itself.
California Poet Laureate Al Young is the author of more than 20 books including Heaven: Collected Poems 1956-1990; Mingus Mingus: Two Memoirs (with Janet Coleman); Drowning in the Sea of Love: Musical Memoirs; and the novels Snakes, Who Is Angelina?, and Sitting Pretty. A popular reader and performer, Young lectures worldwide on literature, music, creativity, and African American culture.
STEPHEN ELLIOTT & CO.
reading & booksigning for Sex For America: Politically Inspired Erotica
Tuesday, March 25 at 7 pmFrom Monica Lewinsky's stained dress to Larry Craig's bathroom tendencies, its fair to say sex and politics are inextricably commingled. In the just released anthology, Sex For America: Politically Inspired Erotica, Stephen Elliott brings together writers who explore the intersection of sexual desire and political belief. Along with editor Elliott, joining us for this special event will be contributors Nick Flynn, Anthony Swofford, and Michelle Richmond.
Stephen Elliott, in addition to being a former stripper, is the author of six books including Happy Baby, a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lion Award. Originally from Chicago, Elliott was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford, where he now teaches, and is a member of the San Francisco Writers' Grotto. He is also the founder of the Progressive Reading Series, which helps authors raise money for and participate on behalf of progressive candidates across the country.
ANNE LAMOTT **
reading & booksigning for Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
Wednesday, March 26 at 7 pmThrough Anne Lamott's many books (including six novels, a best selling parenting memoir, and a popular guide to writing), the subject the author keeps returning to is faith, her deeply personal - "erratic" at times, she says - journey in Christianity. Her latest book, Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, which is just out in paperback, is her third collection of funny, smart, and prayerful essays-to-live-by.
Anne Lamott is a past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the bestselling author of Bird by Bird, Operating Instructions, Traveling Mercies, and other books. She is a former columnist for Salon and lives in Northern California.
** This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at the All Saints Church (1350 Waller St) in San Francisco. Copies of Anne Lamott's books will be available for purchase at the Booksmith table.
EDWARD DOCX
reading & booksigning for Pravda
Friday, March 28 at 7 pmEdward Docx, the acclaimed British author of The Calligrapher, has now written Pravda, a saga of secrets and lies in a single family across the generations. Set in London, New York, Paris, and Saint Petersburg - and inspired by the author's own family history, Pravda is a haunting chronicle of suspicion and loss, love and loyalty, and the destructive legacy of deceit.
Born in England, Edward Docx has been literary editor, columnist, and associate editor of the London Express. He is the author of an earlier novel, The Calligrapher, which was named a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year. (It was also long-listed for the Mann Booker Prize.) Docx is now a freelance journalist - his work appears in the London Times, Spectator, and other periodicals.
VINCENT CARRELLA
talk & booksigning for Serpent Box
Thursday, April 3 at 7 pmSerpent Box, a debut novel by northern California writer Vincent Carrella, brings to mind Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood. Set in post-WWII Appalachia, Serpent Box unfolds against a backdrop of snake handlers, tent revivalists, folk healers, sinners and skeptics. Powerful, compelling, and ambitiously historic, Serpent Box is a vividly rendered, uplifting coming-of-age novel.
Vincent Carrella is a writer and designer of interactive digital media who has created original adventure games and animated web serials as well as characters for DreamWorks, Warner Bros., SaturdayNightLive.com, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Darkhorse Comics. He lives in northern California.
Writer's Voices for Breast Cancer Action
Thursday, April 3, 2008 - 6:00pm - 7:30 pmJoin Breast Cancer Action and pulitzer-prize winning author Michael Chabon, internationally recognized authors Peggy Orenstein, and Ayelet Waldman, as well as Lambda award-winning novelist Jewelle Gomez as Master of Ceremonies, in BCA's biggest fundraiser of the year.
Authors will read excerpts from their current works and discuss BCA's critical role in the effort to end the breast cancer epidemic. The Booksmith will be selling the participating authors books at the event with proceeds to benefit Breast Cancer Action.
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm - War Memorial and Performing Arts Center - Green Room - 401 Van Ness Avenue - San Francisco - http://bcaction.org/index.php?page=writers-voices
1st Annual Benefit For Haight Ashbury Psychological Services
Friday, April 4, 2008, 5:00-8:00 PM (Dr. Zimbardo will speak at 6:30 PM)
The Women's Building, 3543 18th St. at Valencia, San FranciscoGuest speaker will be Dr. Philip Zimbardo, author of the best selling The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil. Dr. Zimbardo hosts the PBS-TV series, Discovering Psychology and is the man behind the famous Stanford Prison Experiment. Dr. Zimbardo will be signing copies of his new book after his talk. Books will be available at the event from The Booksmith. -Reception with wine and hors d'oeuvres -Live Jazz Music -Raffle & Auction
LEWIS BUZBEE & DAVE TILTON
reading & booksigning for first to leave before the sun
Monday, April 7 at 7 pmLong-time friends Lewis Buzbee and Dave Tilton join together in first to leave before the sun, a collection of two novellas set in California's Central Valley. Buzbee contributes "First to Leave," a fictional account of his family's move from Oklahoma to Modesto in the first years of the Dust Bowl. Dave Tilton contributes "Before the Sun," a tale of growing up in Manteca in the 1960s. first to leave before the sun explores the betrayal of emigration and the emigration of betrayal through the lens of the promise of the Golden State.
Lewis Buzbee is the author of The Yellow Lighted Bookshop (a local bestseller), Fliegelman's Desire, and After the Gold Rush. He lives in San Francisco. Dave Tilton is a writer as well as a solo recording artist, and along with Jason Peri, a member of folk-jazz duo Seventh Triangle.
MARY ROACH
talk & booksigning for Bonk
Tuesday, April 8 at 7 pmIn Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, the best-selling author of Stiff and Spook turns her curiosity and wit to the most alluring subject of all: sex. Mary Roach - "the funniest science writer in the country" -- examines such varied subjects as the penis-camera, coital-imaging, transplants, implants, masturbation, the immaculate orgasm, and the eternal question can a woman find happiness with a machine."
Mary Roach is the author of the national bestsellers Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. Her writing has appeared in such publications as Salon, GQ, Vogue, and the New York Times magazine. She lives in Oakland.