Litquake's Lit Cast

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with the charming, witty, and always-incisive Meg Wolitzer and her new novel The Female Persuasion, which chronicles the highs and lows of power, loyalty, hero worship, womanhood and ambition.  At its heart, The Female Persuasion is about the flame we all believe is flickering inside of us, waiting to be seen and fanned by the right person at the right time. This appearance was recorded live at The Bindery in San Francisco.  ww.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake  

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with the daring and wise, hilarious and tender, Cheston Knapp and his exhilarating collection of seven linked essays, Up Up, Down Down, which tackles the Big Questions through seemingly unlikely avenues. Taken together, the essays in Up Up, Down Down amount to a chronicle of Knapp’s coming-of-age, a young man’s journey into adulthood, late-onset as it might appear. He presents us with formative experiences from his childhood to marriage that echo throughout the collection, and ultimately tilts at what may be the Biggest Q of them all: what are the hazards of becoming who you are?This appearance was recorded live at Green Apple on the Park in San Francisco. Sponsored by California College of the Arts. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake  

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Samantha Irby on tour for her second essay collection, MEATY. After attracting thousands of loyal readers to her notoriously hilarious blog, bitchesgottaeat.com, Samantha Irby first exploded onto the printed page with WE ARE NEVER MEETING IN REAL LIFE, her debut collection of essays about trying to laugh her way through failed relationships, taco feasts, bouts with Crohn's disease, and more. Every essay is crafted with that distinctive voice hailed by Kirkus Reviews as "raunchy, funny, and vivid...strap in and get ready for a roller-coaster ride to remember." This appearance was recorded live at The Booksmith in San Francisco. Sponsored by California College of the Arts. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Leslie Jamison, on tour for her new book THE RECOVERING: Intoxication and its Aftermath. Jamison has been compared to such iconic writers as Joan Didion and Susan Sontag. Yet her utterly singular voice also offers something new. With enormous empathy and wisdom, Jamison has given us nothing less than the story of addiction and recovery in America writ large, a definitive and revelatory account that will resonate for years to come. This appearance was recorded live at Green Apple Books on the Park in San Francisco. Sponsored by California College of the Arts. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Morgan Jerkins, on tour for her new book THIS WILL BE MY UNDOING: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America. This highly-anticipated collection of linked essays interweaves Jerkins' incisive commentary on pop culture, feminism, black history, misogyny, and racism with her own experiences to confront the very real challenges of being a black woman today. Jenkins is currently a contributing editor at Catapult and a Book of the Month judge. This appearance was recorded live at The Booksmith in San Francisco. Sponsored by California College of the Arts. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Leni Zumas, on tour for her novel RED CLOCKS. The New York Times describes Zumas as having "a perfectly tuned ear for the way measures to restrict lives and enforce social confirmity are couched in the moralizing sentimentalism of children's needs" and her novel "a clear and well-constructed extrapolation of the current debate." RED CLOCKS is Zumas's second novel, following her darkly funny debut THE LISTENERS in 2012. This appearance was recorded live at The Booksmith in San Francisco.  https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Chloe Benjamin, on tour for her novel THE IMMORTALISTS, described by The Guardian as "not just a novel about grief; it conjures characters with such dimension that you mourn them too, a magic rare enough to leave one astonished." THE IMMORTALISTS is Benjamin's second novel, following her award-winning debut THE ANATOMY OF DREAMS in 2014. This appearance was recorded live at Green Apple Books on the Park in San Francisco.  https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

The science is unequivocal: Earth is getting hotter, endangering human civilization as well as myriad species of plants and animals. But individuals, businesses, cities and states can still take action to ensure a future for our children and grandchildren. Former Sierra Club president Carl Pope ("Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses and Citizens Can Save the Planet") and award-winning journalist Mark Hertsgaard ("Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth") discuss. Recorded live as part of the Litquake festival, at the American Bookbinders Museum in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

With a career spanning more than four decades, Loudon Wainwright III has established himself as one of America's most enduring singer-songwriters. His songs can be laugh-out-loud funny, but they also can cut to the bone. This past October, he discussed his memoir "Liner Notes: On Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay, & a Few of My Other Favorite Things," with musician Chuck Prophet. Plus, a few songs! Recorded live as part of the Litquake festival, at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

In 2017, San Francisco's 13th Annual One City One Book committee selected "Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party," a bold, engrossing, and richly detailed examination of the revolutionary Black Panther movement, and its disastrous unraveling. This past October, co-author Waldo E. Martin, Jr. discussed the book and the Party's political dynamics with writer/curator D. Scot Miller. Recorded live as part of the Litquake festival, at the American Bookbinders Museum in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Since 1986, Houghton Mifflin's The Best American Essays has delivered an annual treasure trove of fine writing and thought-provoking essays selected from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. This past October, Litquake assembled a stellar gathering of some of California's leading contemporary essayists, and contributors to the anthology. With readings from Kendra Atleework, Richard M. Lange, Angela Morales, Karen Palmer, Jose Antonio Vargas, and Alia Volz. Recorded live as part of the Litquake festival, at the American Bookbinders Museum in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Never before has our commander-in-chief’s behavior been so puzzling, so laughable, so…troubled? This October the Litquake festival assembled a panel of experts to shed some light on the president's fundamental shortcomings. Senator Barbara Boxer addresses his political naiveté, linguist and NPR contributor Geoffrey Nunberg helps parse his verbal tics, psychiatrist Dr. Dee Mosbacher sheds light on his mental state, and comedian Will Durst talks about finding humor in this unfunny crisis. Moderated by journalist and author David Talbot. Recorded live as part of the Litquake festival, at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Eugene Lim, author of the novel Dear Cyborgs. Entwining comic-book villains with cultural critiques, Lim creates a fleet-footed literary exploration of power, friendship, and creativity. Ambitious and knowing, Dear Cyborgs combines detective pulps, subversive philosophy, and Hollywood chase scenes, unfolding like the composites and revelations of a dream. In conversation with author Mauro Javier Cardenas, and recorded live at Green Apple Books on the Park in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Tom Perrotta, on tour for his novel MRS. FLETCHER, described by The New York Times as "the sweetest and most charming novel about pornography addiction and the harrowing issues of sexual consent that you will probably ever read." Best known for his novels turned into film and TV -- ELECTION, LITTLE CHILDREN, and THE LEFTOVERS -- Perrotta feels most comfortable when uncomfortable, and has said, "As writers, we need to go into territory that confuses us, or scares us, or that we're conflicted about." This appearance was recorded live at Book Passage Ferry Building in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Litquake's Shadows & Light series continues with a conversation between Anita Amirrezvani, Laleh Khadivi, and Andrew Lam, moderated by The Bare Life Review editor Nyuol Lueth Tong. In this live event, "Bad Hombres: Immigrant Voices Respond to Trump," panelists discuss the impact of the current regime on immigrant writers' lives and creativity, and explore how immigrant voices can prevail against our nation’s current intellectual recession. Recorded live at the San Francisco Public Library's Koret Auditorium in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Litquake's new "Lit Cast Live" continues with a panel discussion between Alysia Abbott, Clane Hayward and Joshua Safran, moderated by Gabe Meline of KQED Arts. For decades, Northern California has been Ground Zero for countercultural communities, rejecting conventional suburbia in favor of individualism and personal freedom. But what happens to children with this background, growing up amid such unorthodox family dynamics? These three Bay Area authors with recent memoirs meet on the summer solstice to discuss their experiences growing up in the shadow of the Summer of Love. Recorded live at the California Historical Society in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Litquake's new "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Jeff VanderMeer, on tour for his novel BORNE, named one of the most anticipated books of 2017 by The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Book Riot, Chicago Reader, The Week, and Publishers Weekly. Author of the bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy, VanderMeer also will soon see a film adaptation of the trilogy's first installment, ANNIHILATION. In conversation with Robin Sloan, author of MR. PENUMBRA'S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE. Recorded live at Green Apple Books on the Park, in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Litquake's first entry in our "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores presents professor/author Sarah Ladipo Manyika, for the launch of her newest novel, LIKE A MULE BRINGING ICE CREAM TO THE SUN. Set in San Francisco, this book presents a subtle and mesmerizing meditation on aging, friendship, and loss, and fleshes out a nuanced portrait of the erotic yearnings of an older woman. In conversation with Daniel "Lemony Snicket" Handler. Recorded live at the Booksmith bookstore, in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

Litquake's second event in our "Shadow & Light" series presents "The Most Dishonest People on Earth: Journalists Respond to Trump," another glimpse of sanity in an increasingly insane world. This current political climate demands honest and unvarnished media coverage. But is the American press doing enough to tell the truth behind the lies? Are we in a spiral of spin where truth no longer matters? With Lowell Bergman, Geoffrey Nunberg, Marisa Lagos, and Scott Shafer. Recorded live at the Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake

In the great tradition of jazz and spoken-word basement readings in North Beach first forged by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Kenneth Rexroth, and Bob Kaufman, hear this contemporary update co-presented by City Lights Books. With poets Chinaka Hodge, devorah major, and RyanNicole. Music by Afro-futurist jazz trio Broun Fellinis. Recorded live at Doc's Lab, formerly The Purple Onion, in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake