Grace Loh Prasad, Sylvia Brownrigg, Leta McCollough Seletzky, Tarek El-Ariss, moderated by Piper Kerman

Moderated by Piper Kerman (Orange Is the New Black), four panelists share their process and experience of memoir as the telling of a true story, but also as a work of imagination. Our esteemed panelists, Grace Prasad (The Translator’s Daughter), Sylvia Brownrigg (The Whole Staggering Mystery), Leta McCollough Seletzky (The Kneeling Man), and Tarek El-Ariss (Water on Fire), have recently released memoirs that touch upon the authors’relationship to their parents—how they mourn them, imagine them, reconcile with them, and in the process, come to terms with themselves. Writing memoir is a process of self-understanding that also invites the reader into a context and a world that is by definition subjective. Our stories and personal agency can also be circumscribed by institutions and systemic pressures, which may in turn shape memory and imagination. Join this deep conversation about memory, lived experience, and how writers choose the stories they do in a journey of self-understanding, reinvention, and empathy.

José Vadi, Brontez Purnell, Priscilla Wathington, Adrienne Chung, MC’d by Sam Sax

Come hear some of the Bay Area’s most dynamic poets with new collections of poetry and memoir. Panelists include Brontez Purnell, whose Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt is a wrenching, sexy, and exhilaratingly energetic memoir in genre-defying verse; Priscilla Wathington, whose debut chapbook, Paper & Stick, draws from her experiences as a Palestinian American and her past human rights and humanitarian work with NGOs such as Defense for Children International – Palestine; poet José Vadi, whose book, Chipped: Writing from a Skateboarder’s Lens, is a memoir-in-essays that begins with wheels and a mere piece of wood—often chipped; and Adrienne Chung, whose debut collection, Organs of Little Importance, is a winner of the National Poetry Series that claps back at Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. The reading will be emceed by Sam Sax, author of Pig, ​​a collection of poems that uses the humble animal as a lens to explore the body, faith, desire, and power.

Amy Tan and Jonathan Lethem, moderated by Jane Ciabattari

Honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the National Book Critics Circle, this panel presents a beautiful range of voices representing some of the best and most beloved fiction writers of our times. First books by Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn) and Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club) won NBCC awards. The esteemed panelists will read from recent work and discuss the transformative nature of winning an NBCC award and their writing life since with moderator Jane Ciabattari, NBCC Vice President/Events.

John King, Eric Porter, moderated by Bianca Taylor

Discover the Bay Area’s architectural gems through a narrative lens, as they unveil the intricate interplay of cultural, social, and technological forces. This panel showcases the authors of two captivating reads: John King, author of Portal, a vivid exploration of the Ferry Building’s rich history and symbolic significance, and Eric Porter, author of A People’s History of SFO, a compelling voyage through the ever-evolving landscape of San Francisco International Airport, beyond its terminals and tarmacs and into the ongoing struggle for regional equity. This panel promises to be as rich as the Bay Area culture and landscape itself, delving into the rise of activism, locally sourced food, globalization and climate change, and regional equity struggles. Moderated by Bianca Taylor (KQED), this conversation promises to unravel hidden narratives embedded within these iconic structures and to explore the insights they offer into our collective future challenges.

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 

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 fires and those who set them. Nancy Jooyoun Kim’s What We Kept To Ourselves is a historical novel about a Korean immigrant family grappling with the mystery of the mother’s disappearance, only to find a dead body in their yard somehow connected to her. An Edgar Award Finalist for Best First Novel, Ritu Mukerji’s Murder by Degrees is a historical mystery set in 19th-century Philadelphia, following a pioneering woman doctor as she investigates the disappearance of a young patient who is presumed dead. This panel brings to its audience an expansive celebration of crime fiction from exciting writers whose page-turning stories model why readers love these tales.

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, sexuality, gender, and history are under particular attack. This conversation between some of today’s leading authors of books for young people—many of which tackle the subjects most often targeted for censorship—will examine how the issue impacts kids today and how we fight back. With Aida Salazar (Ultraviolet), Nikki Grimes (A Walk in the Woods), Mason Deaver (I Wish You All the Best) and Dashka Slater (Accountable). Moderated by celebrated public librarian and library advocate Mychal Threets.

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 authors will be in conversation, speaking to the urgency of writing our stories as we need to tell them, why there’s more space within creative nonfiction than Western traditions will have us believe, and why confronting oppression in our writing and in our lived experience is essential.

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. Charlie Jane Anders has been writing climate novels for nearly a decade. She is the international bestselling Cli-Fi author of the fantasy YA novel, Promises Stronger Than Darkness. Award-winning author Aya de León writes CliFi in the form of thrillers, heists, spy novels, and dramas set in the contemporary real world of the African Diaspora. New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse is an Indigenous novelist reshaping North American science fiction. Her most recent book, Mirrored Heavens, is the conclusion to her critically acclaimed epic fantasy trilogy.. Sim Kern’s new book, The Free People’s Village, is a YA sci-fi/CliFi alternate history of our time. Come find out how each of these author’s journeys into the climate crisis in fiction can help us chart our path out of it in reality.

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 Not an Apology, a global digital media and education company exploring the intersections of identity, healing, and social justice through the framework of radical self-love. The author of the bestselling book by the same name and six more, Taylor will be in conversation with the extraordinary young women of Cinnamongirl Inc, Kailynn and Symone.