Bay Area Book Festival Podcast

Dec 12 2024 266 ep. 66 mins 32
Bay Area Book Festival Podcast artwork

Between audio books? Curious about the writers themselves? Listen to full-length sessions from the Bay Area Book Festival, where readers and writers meet each year in Berkeley, CA, to engage with their favorite authors, including Pulitzer Prize winners, chefs, and activists, to discuss writing, race, love, mystery, and more.

  Arts  Society & Culture
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Special Episode: The Next Chapter: Arts and Advocacy and the role of festivals

Dec 12 2024 29 mins  
J.K. Fowler of Bay Area Book Festival in conversation with Steve Wasserman of Heyday Books The arts are widely underfunded at a time when we need meaning and connection more than ever. What can we do as writers, creatives, and community members? Support the Bay Area Book Festival

Lurking in Plain Sight: Crime Fiction Beyond Genre Borders

Dec 05 2024 45 mins  
Nancy Jooyoun Kim, Ritu Mukerji, Jason Powell, moderated by Heather Young Moderated by thriller author Heather Young (The Distant Dead), this panel brings together novelists whose books center elements of crime, whether they’re shelved in mystery or literary fiction. Writer and firefighter Jason Powell’s debut novel, No Man’s Ghost, explores the psyches of those who fight fir

Authors against Book Bans

Nov 28 2024 62 mins  
Aida Salazar, Nikki Grimes, Mason Deaver, Dashka Slater, moderated by Mychal Threets From 2021 to 2023, PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans recorded 5,894 instances of book bans across 41 states and 247 public school districts. The bans show no sign of slowing down, and they’re disproportionately aimed at authors of color, LGBTQ+ authors, and women. Books about racism, sexu

Creative Nonfiction as Reclamation and Confrontation

Nov 21 2024 42 mins  
Myriam Gurba and Ingrid Rojas Contreras Mean, and the recent essay collection, Creep, a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle award in criticism. Rojas Contreras’s dazzling debut memoir, The Man Who Could Move Clouds, explores her Colombian identity and reckons with the bounds of reality through an oral history that challenges Western notions of history and memory. The two

Climate Fiction as a Tool for Climate Justice

Nov 14 2024 56 mins  
Charlie Jane Anders, Aya de León, Sim Kern, Rebecca Roanhorse, moderated by Keya Chatterjee Climate fiction is a unique way to approach the climate crisis through both real and imagined endings and beginnings. This panel, moderated by author and activist Keya Chatterjee, explores why writers are drawn to climate fiction (Cli-Fi), and what they hope to achieve through the genre. Ch

The Body is Not an Apology: Radical Answers with Sonya Renee Taylor and Cinnamongirl

Nov 07 2024 57 mins  
Sonya Renee Taylor, moderated by Cinnamongirl Kailynn and Cinnamongirl Symone An empowering conversation with one of the world’s most inspirational activists and thought leaders writing and speaking today. You’ll want to bring your daughters, sons, their friends, and your friends to hear the radically powerful message of Sonya Renee Taylor, revolutionary founder of The Body Is

Are You Ready to be Un-settled? Celebrating Indigenous Horror

Oct 31 2024 45 mins  
Rebecca Roanhorse and Dani Trujillo, moderated by Kristina M Canales A not-to-be-missed conversation between Indigenous horror writers Rebecca Roanhorse and D.H. Trujillo, both of whom are featured in Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology. This groundbreaking book celebrates Indigenous resistance by highlighting themes of magic, tradition, ancestry, family,

Page to Screen: A Dance Between Words and Images

Oct 24 2024 91 mins  
Viet Thanh Nguyen, Piper Kerman, Alka Joshi, moderated by Laura Warrell Turning a beloved book into a compelling film or series is a journey filled with creative collaboration, financial considerations, script development, casting decisions, and years of meticulous preparation. For the authors at the center of these adaptation journeys, it also involves roadblocks, setbacks, near m

My Body, My Desire: Sexuality, Desire, and Queerness in Literature

Oct 17 2024 47 mins  
R.O. Kwon, Brontez Purnell, Sam Sax, moderated by Lucy Jane Bledsoe Join us for a captivating panel discussion moderated by author Lucy Jane Bledsoe (author of Tell the Rest and No Stopping Us Now) and featuring three acclaimed writers—R.O. Kwon, Brontez Purnell, and Sam Sax—as they delve into the rich and complex terrain of sexuality, desire, and queerness in literature. From

Let’s Eat! Decolonizing Diets

Oct 10 2024 42 mins  
Sara Calvosa Olson in conversation with Terria Smith Sara Calvosa Olson is a food writer and editor exploring the intersections of storytelling, Indigenous food systems, security, sovereignty, reconnection, and recipe development. Olson’s maternal ancestry is from the Karuk tribe whose lands are part of northwest California, and her new book, Chími Nu’am: Native California Foo