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The Booksmith
photo by thomas gladysz

The Booksmith

1644 Haight St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
United States

415-863-8688 / 800-493-7323; readbooksmith.com

New/Used: Not set

Web site: http://www.booksmith.com/

Events: http://www.booksmith.com/events.… (updated February 14)

Description: From the website:

"The Booksmith has been in business since 1976. The Booksmith is a member of both the American Bookseller's Association and the Booksense Network, as well as the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. In 1998, we were named "Best store for new books" in San Francisco by the SF Weekly. In 1999, Time magazine selected us "the independent bookstore to shop at online."

The Booksmith is located at 1644 Haight Street in San Francisco's historic Haight Ashbury neighborhood. Our cross-streets are Clayton and Cole. We are located 1 1/2 blocks from the corner of Haight & Ashbury and 2 1/2 blocks from the Stanyan Street entrance to Golden Gate Park. We are also just a few blocks south from the University of San Francisco. Neighborhood businesses include Cha Cha Cha's, Balazo Mexican Restaurant, Recycled Records, Amoeba Records and the (in)famous Persian Aub Zam Zam. Street parking is atrocious, so carry plenty of quarters and be prepared to walk! Metered parking can be found on Haight Street itself, while un-metered parking can be found along side streets and along the Panhandle.There is a public lot located within walking distance on nearby Stanyan Street."

Added by: hvhay.  Contacted: Yes.  Venue ID: 3567

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Past events

CARA BLACK reading for "Murder in the Rue De Paradis" (March 12 at 7:00pm)
Cara Black.
"Murder in the Rue De Paradis" is the vivid new novel from San Francisco writer Cara Black. In this eighth Aimée Leduc story, the intrepid investigator is determined to avenge the murder of her one-time lover, an investigative journalist. Leduc’s investigation embroils her in Turkish and Kurdish politics ... (more)and leads to a sleeper jihadist. "She makes Paris come alive as no one else has since Georges Simenon." - Stuart Kaminsky
Event webpage
Interested: Booksmith_in_SF Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
DAVID SMAY discusses "Swordfishtrombones" (March 14 at 7:00pm)
David Smay.
Swordfishtrombones, the now legendary 1983 album by Tom Waits, was a watershed recording for the idiosyncratic artist. It not only revived his career, but signaled a significant change in the artist’s personal life as well. David Smay’s new book, Swordfishtrombones (which is part of the 33 1/3 series), ... (more)tells the story of the making of this remarkable album, once named the second best of all-time.
Event webpage
Interested: Booksmith_in_SF Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
AL YOUNG reads "Something About the Blues" (March 18 at 7:00pm)
Al Young.
Like 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 ... (more)poems. These works evoke the cold, hard city, love gone wrong and blues music itself.
Event webpage
Interested: Booksmith_in_SF Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
Sex For America: Politically Inspired Erotica (March 25 at 7:00pm)
Stephen Elliott .
From 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 ... (more)desire and political belief. Joining us for this special event will be contributors Nick Flynn, Anthony Swofford, and Michelle Richmond.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
ANNE LAMOTT discusses "Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith" (March 26 at 7:00pm)
Anne Lamott.
Through 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 ... (more)Faith," which is just out in paperback, is her third collection of funny, smart, and prayerful essays-to-live-by.
Event webpage
Interested: starcitywoman, kristenliberty, Booksmith_in_SF Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
EDWARD DOCX reads from "Pravda" (March 28 at 7:00pm)
Edward Docx.
Edward 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 ... (more)suspicion and loss, love and loyalty, and the destructive legacy of deceit.
Event webpage
Interested: starcitywoman Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
VINCENT CARRELLA reads "Serpent Box" (April 3 at 7:00pm)
Vincent Carrella reads from "Serpent Box" 978-0061126260.
"Serpent 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 ... (more)historic, "Serpent Box" is a vividly rendered, uplifting coming-of-age novel.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
LEWIS BUZBEE & DAVE TILTON read from "first to leave before the sun" (April 7 at 7:00pm)
Lewis Buzbee.
Long-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 ... (more)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.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
MARY ROACH talk & booksigning for "Bonk" (April 8 at 7:00pm)
Mary Roach reads from Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.
In "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, ... (more)implants, masturbation, the immaculate orgasm, and the eternal question “can a woman find happiness with a machine.”
Event webpage
Interested: starcitywoman Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
SLOANE CROSLEY reads from "I Was Told There'd Be Cake" (April 12 at 1:00pm)
Sloane Crosley reads from I Was Told There'd Be Cake.
Wry, hilarious, and profoundly genuine, this debut collection of literary essays is a celebration of fallibility and haplessness in all their glory. From despoiling an exhibit at the Natural History Museum to provoking the ire of her first boss to siccing the cops on her mysterious neighbor, Sloane Crosley ... (more)can do no right despite the best of intentions - or perhaps because of them. Together, the essays in "I Was Told There'd Be Cake" introduces a strikingly original voice, chronicling the struggles and unexpected beauty of modern urban life.
Event location: Orson, 508 4th Street
Event webpage
Interested: starcitywoman Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
SUSAN GRIFFIN discusses "Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen" (April 16 at 7:00pm)
Susan Griffin reads from Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen.
In "Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen," Susan Griffin – poet, feminist, public intellectual – blends history, cultural criticism, and memoir to discover the essence of democracy – the essence of our democracy. From the Declaration of Independence to the war in ... (more)Iraq, from Thomas Jefferson to Jelly Roll Morton, Griffin reflects upon the rise and fall of the American vision of freedom and equality
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
NATHANIEL RICH reads from "The Mayor's Tongue" (April 18 at 7:00pm)
Nathaniel Rich reads from The Mayor's Tongue.
"I read "The Mayor's Tongue" with ever-increasing delight, rooting with all my heart for the young protagonist on his near-mythic quest. This is an elegantly-structured, brilliantly-told novel, by turns terrifying, touching, and wildly funny, and always generous and magical. "The Mayor's Tongue" is about ... (more)how we talk to each other and how make-believe helps us get on with our lives; most of all, it's about love. Kudos to Nathaniel Rich, who has created a brave book, a novel brimming with brio." - Stephen King
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
PATRICK MCGRATH reads from "Trauma" (April 21 at 7:00pm)
Patrick McGrath reads from Trauma.
Admirers of Patrick McGrath’s work know what to expect from his fiction. The grotesque and the macabre dominate his work. "Trauma" – his new novel – is no exception. In an unreliable first person narrative, this disturbing new novel includes aspects of mental illness and sexual obsession, and in ... (more)general, a distressing ambiance. All in all, it’s highly recommended and jolly good fun.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
KEITH GESSEN reads from "All the Sad Young Literary Men" (April 29 at 7:00pm)
Keith Gessen reads from All the sad young literary men.
"All the Sad Young Literary Men" is a charming, yet scathing portrait of young adulthood at the opening of the twenty-first century. Keith Gessen’s debut novel charts the lives of Sam, Mark, and Keith as they over-think their college years, under-think their love lives, and struggle through the encouragement ... (more)of the women who love and despise them to find a semblance of maturity, responsibility, and even literary fame.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
MELANIE ABRAMS reads from "Playing" (May 1 at 7:00pm)
Melanie Abrams reads from Playing.
Melanie Abrams’s debut novel is a provocative tale of love, betrayal, and how one young woman’s unconventional sexual reawakening uncovers the most guarded parts of her past. Rapturous, illuminating, and emotionally charged, "Playing" is also an unflinching look at the irrevocable consequences of ... (more)giving in to our most secret passions, and the freedom that comes with self-knowledge.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
Mark Engler discusses "How to Rule the World" (May 5 at 7:00pm)
Mark Engler reads from How to Rule the World.
MARK ENGLER
talk & booksigning for "How to Rule the World"
Monday, May 5 at 7:00 pm

“As the world readies to heave a collective sigh of relief upon George W. Bush's exit from the White House, "How to Rule the World" is a caution against complacency. Mark Engler offers a timely reminder that ... (more)before Bush's boots and bombs there was Clinton's corporate 'consensus' - more soothing perhaps but no more sustainable than the neocons’ disastrous militarism. He then makes a case that there lies a third choice: democracy. Impressively researched and sharply argued, "How to Rule the World" is an essential handbook not for the few who do rule the world but for the many who should.” - Greg Grandin, author of "Empire's Workshop"

Mark Engler is an analyst with Foreign Policy In Focus. He is also a New York City-based journalist. His articles have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Newsday, Dissent, In These Times, Salon.com, and MotherJones.com.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Interested: Booksmith_in_SF Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
Cathleen Schine author event (May 6 at 7:00pm)
Cathleen Schine reads from The New Yorkers.
CATHLEEN SCHINE
reading & booksigning for "The New Yorkers"
Tuesday, May 6 at 7:00 pm

Inspired by Cathleen Schine’s adoption of a profoundly troubled dog named Buster, "The New Yorkers" is a novel of love, longing, and overcoming the shyness that leashes us. On a quiet block near Central Park, ... (more)compelled to meet by their canine companions, five lonely city dwellers find one another. Over the course of four seasons, they emerge from their apartments in snow, rain, or glorious sunshine to make friends and sometimes even fall in love. A love letter to a city full of surprises, "The New Yorkers" is an enchanting comedy of manners (with dogs!) from one of our most beloved writers.

Cathleen Schine is the author of "The Love Letter" and "Rameau's Niece," among other novels. She has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Times Book Review.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Interested: Booksmith_in_SF Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
Felicia Sullivan author event (May 7 at 7:00pm)
Felicia Sullivan reads from The Sky Isn't Visible from Here.
FELICIA SULLIVAN
reading & booksigning for "The Sky Isn't Visible from Here"
Wednesday, May 7 at 7:00 pm

Felicia Sullivan’s volatile, beautiful, drug-addicted mother disappeared the night she graduated from college. In "The Sky Isn't Visible from Here," Sullivan, who grew up on the streets of ... (more)Brooklyn, now looks back on her childhood lived among drug dealers, users, and substitute fathers. She became her mother’s keeper, taking her to the hospital when she overdosed, withstanding her narcissistic rages, succumbing to the abuse of so-called stepfathers, and always wondering why her mother would never reveal the truth about the father she’d never met. This is a memoir brave and beautiful.

Felicia C. Sullivan is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a Best American Essays notable. Her work has appeared in the Huffington Post, Mississippi Review, and Pindeldyboz - and in such anthologies as "Homewrecker: An Atlas of Illicit Loves" and "Money Changes Everything." Sullivan was the recipient of the 2005 Tin House memoir fellowship, and in 2001, she founded the critically acclaimed literary journal Small Spiral Notebook. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Interested: Booksmith_in_SF Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
Dale Pendell talks about Normon O. Brown (May 13 at 7:00pm)
Dale Pendell reads from Walking with Nobby: Conversations with Norman O. Brown.
DALE PENDELL
talk & booksigning for "Walking with Nobby: Conversations with Norman O. Brown"
Tuesday, May 13 at 7:00 pm

Norman O. Brown (1913-2002) was an American intellectual, academic, and author of wide-ranging interests and influence. In "Walking with Nobby: Conversations with Norman O. Brown," ... (more)the teacher’s one time student – the acclaimed ethnobotanist Dale Pendell – records a series of conversations on such topics as paganism and world religions, psychoanalysis, modern and ancient cultures, Dionysus, Marx, and Freud.

Dale Pendell is a poet, software engineer, longtime student of ethnobotany and the author of the acclaimed Pharmako trilogy - a literary, shamanic, and pharmacological study of psychoactive plants. He has led workshops on ethnobotany and ethnopoetics for the Naropa Institute and the Botanical Preservation Corps.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Interested: Booksmith_in_SF Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
Farhad Manjoo discusses Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society (May 14 at 7:00pm)
Farhad Manjoo reads from True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society.
FARHAD MANJOO
talk & booksigning for "True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society"
Wednesday, May 14 at 7:00 pm

In 2005, Stephen Colbert catapulted the word “truthiness” – the notion of an idea feeling true without any backup evidence - into the public consciousness. Salon.com writer ... (more)Farhad Manjoo expands upon this concept in "True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society," a perceptive analysis of the status of truth in the digital age - as well as an exploration of how biases push both liberals and conservatives to interpret news in a way that accords with their personal versions of “reality.”

Farhad Manjoo manages Machinist, a daily technology news blog at Salon.com, where he also writes frequently on journalism, politics, and new media.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Interested: Booksmith_in_SF Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
Chuck Palahniuk (May 28 at 7:00pm)
Chuck Palahniuk reads from Snuff.
Interview, Q&A, signing.
Event location: Sundance Kabuki Theater, 1881 Post Street (at Fillmore), San Francisco, CA
Event webpage
Interested: Skaidon, Booksmith_in_SF Added by christiguc.
Australian novelist Tim Winton (May 31 at 7:00pm)
Tim Winton reads from Breath: A Novel.
TIM WINTON
reading & booksigning for "Breath"
Saturday, May 31 at 7:00 pm

Tim Winton is Australia’s best-loved novelist. His new work, "Breath," is an extraordinary evocation of an adolescence spent resisting complacency, testing one’s limits against nature, finding like-minded souls, and discovering ... (more)just how far one breath will take you. It’s a story of extremes sport and extreme emotions. “Breath is a coming-of-age novel written with Tim Winton’s customary tenderness and vivid sense of place and psychological truth.” - Colm Toibin

Tim Winton was born in Perth, Western Australia, and is the preeminent Australian novelist of his generation. He has written twenty books, including the bestselling novels "Cloudstreet," "The Riders" (shortlisted for the Booker Prize), and "Dirt Music."

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Interested: Booksmith_in_SF Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
TODD KOMARNICKI (June 6 at 7:00pm)
TODD KOMARNICKI reads from War: A Novel.
TODD KOMARNICKI
reading & booksigning for "War: A Novel"
Thursday, June 26 at 7:00 pm

A soldier is alone. He doesn't know where he is or how he got here. All he does know is that he is at war. But who is the enemy? Surrounded by a ruined city, without a compass to guide him or a clear mission ... (more)to fulfill, the soldier must rely on what he has left to survive. Using only memory, his warrior's skills, and his own, suddenly fierce humanity, he will construct a map to lead him toward what he desperately hopes will be his escape. "War," the new novel by Todd Komnarnicki, is the story of one man's journey deep into the heart of violence.

Todd Komarnicki is a screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist, and the author of the "Famine." Active in Hollywood, Komarnicki was the producer of Elf, the 2003 Will Ferrell comedy.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
MIKE FARRELL (June 10 at 7:00pm)
MIKE FARRELL reads from Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist.
MIKE FARRELL
reading & booksigning for "Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist"
Tuesday, June 10 at 7:00 pm

After gaining renown for his role in the much-loved television series M*A*S*H, actor Mike Farrell embarked upon a more arduous path as a human rights advocate. "Just Call Me ... (more)Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist" is his story. As amply demonstrated in this memoir, Farrell’s celebrity has put him in the unique position to witness and participate in the efforts of peace-workers both at home and throughout the world.

Best known as an actor and for his eight years on M*A*S*H and five seasons on Providence, Mike Farrell is also a writer, director and producer. Farrell has served on human rights and peace delegations to many countries around the world. As President of Death Penalty Focus, he speaks, writes, and coordinates efforts to stop executions.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
ANDREW SEAN GREER (June 12 at 7:00pm)
ANDREW SEAN GREER reads from The Story of a Marriage: A Novel.
ANDREW SEAN GREER
reading & booksigning for "The Story of a Marriage"
Thursday, June 12 at 7:00 pm

As he demonstrated in "The Confessions of Max Tivoli," Andrew Sean Greer can spin a touching narrative based on an intriguing premise. His new book - set in San Francisco in the early 1950’s - ... (more)is "The Story of a Marriage." “This is a haunting book of breathtaking beauty and restraint. Greer’s tone-perfect prose conjures an unforgettable woman who exists both within and somehow above the stifling class, racial and sexual constraints of 1950s America.” - Dave Eggers

Andrew Sean Greer is the acclaimed, best-selling author of "The Confessions of Max Tivoli," the story collection "How It Was for Me," and the novel "The Path of Minor Planets." He lives in San Francisco, California – not far from The Booksmith.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
RUSSELL TARG (June 13 at 7:00pm)
RUSSELL TARG reads from Do You See What I See?: Memoirs of a Blind Biker.
RUSSELL TARG
reading & booksigning for "Do You See What I See?: Memoirs of a Blind Biker"
Friday, June 13 at 7:00 pm

"Do You See What I See?" is the story of a visually impaired physicist, Russell Targ, who sees beyond perception to help readers find meaning. Targ has been visually handicapped ... (more)since childhood and yet has performed groundbreaking research in lasers and optics. He is grounded in the world of science and yet helped created the Cold War program that became the real X-Files - the CIA and NASA-sponsored work in “remote viewing” that has only recently been declassified. This remarkable memoir reads like a cultural history of the last half of the twentieth century as Targ befriends the likes of Ayn Rand, Alan Greenspan, Alan Alda, and brother-in-law chess champion Bobby Fisher.

Russell Targ is an American physicist and author, an ESP researcher, and pioneer in the earliest development of the laser. Currently retired, Targ enjoys motorcycling in the desert (even though legally blind) and studying Dzogchen Buddhism. He lives in Palo Alto, California.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
ED PARK (June 18 at 7:00pm)
ED PARK reads from Personal Days: A Novel.
ED PARK
reading & booksigning for "Personal Days"
Wednesday, June 18 at 7:00 pm

In an unnamed company, the employees are getting restless as everything around them unravels. There’s Pru, the former grad student turned spreadsheet drone; Laars, the hysteric whose work anxiety stalks him in teeth-grinding ... (more)dreams; and Jack II, who distributes unwanted backrubs – aka “jackrubs” – to his co-workers. Then, the firings begin. Rich with Orwellian doublespeak, filled with sabotage and romance, Ed Park’s literary debut, "Personal Days," is a comic delight and a narrative tour de force, not to mention the Great American Novel (Office Edition 2008).

Ed Park is a founding editor of The Believer and a former editor of the Voice Literary Supplement. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review and many other publications. He lives in Manhattan, where he publishes The New-York Ghost.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
PETER HEEHS (June 19 at 7:00pm)
PETER HEEHS reads from Sri Aurobindo: A Brief Biography (Oxford Paperbacks).
PETER HEEHS
reading & booksigning for "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo"
Thursday, June 19 at 7:00 pm

Since his death in 1950, Sri Aurobindo has been known primarily as a yogi and a philosopher of spiritual evolution. However, the years spent in yogic retirement were preceded by nearly four decades ... (more)of rich public and intellectual work. Peter Heehs, one of the founders of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives, is the first to relate all the aspects of the yogi’s life. The result is "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo," the most comprehensive, thorough, and balanced study to date of Sri Aurobindo Ghose's remarkable life and thought.

Peter Heehs was born and educated in the United States but has lived in India since 1971. One of the founders of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives, he is currently a member of the editorial board of the Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, and has published many books and articles.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
KIARA BRINKMAN (June 23 at 7:00pm)
KIARA BRINKMAN reads from Up High in the Trees: A Novel.
KIARA BRINKMAN
reading & booksigning for "Up High in the Trees"
Monday, June 23 at 7:00 pm

In spare, beautifully rendered prose buoyed by the life force of its small, fearless narrator, "Up High in the Trees" introduces a fresh and powerful new writer, Kiara Brinkman. Told in the startling and ... (more)deeply affecting voice of a nine-year-old autistic boy, this remarkable debut novel (just out in softcover) is the story of a family in turmoil. It is also the story of Sebby Lane, the Little Prince of our times. Don’t miss this event!

Kiara Brinkman grew up in the Midwest and in California. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, Pindeldyboyz, and other publications. She has been working with children and books her whole life.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
JENNIFER SEY (June 24 at 7:00pm)
JENNIFER SEY reads from Chalked Up: Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Drea.
JENNIFER SEY
reading & booksigning for "Chalked Up"
Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00 pm

Jennifer Sey began competing in gymnastics at the age of six, and went on to become 1986 National Gymnastics Champion and seven-time national team member. Now, she has authored a cautionary tale, "Chalked Up: Inside ... (more)Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams." This is the remarkably candid true story of a gymnastics champion whose lifelong dream was to compete in the Olympics, until anorexia, injuries, and coaching abuses nearly destroyed her.

Jennifer Sey is a graduate of Stanford University, Sey was named one of the "Top 40 Marketers under 40" by Advertising Age in 2006 for her work at Levi Strauss & Co. She has also written and produced two short films. She lives with her husband and two sons in San Francisco.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
JESS WINFIELD author event (July 1 at 7:30pm)
JESS WINFIELD reads from My Name Is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare.
JESS WINFIELD
reading & booksigning for "My Name Is Will"
Tuesday, July 29 at 7:30 pm

Original, witty, and often laugh out loud hilarious ­ Jess Winfield’s "My Name Is Will" is the tale of two Shakespeares. Separated in time and place, the lives of William and Willie begin to intersect in curious ... (more)ways, from harrowing encounters with the law (and a few ex-girlfriends) to dubious experiments with mind-altering substances. Their misadventures might be dismissed as youthful folly. But wise or foolish, the choices they make will shape the Shakespeare each is destined to become.

As a founding member of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, Jess Winfield co-created the full-length show "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)," which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1987 and became an international sensation, leading to multiple world tours and engagements. After leaving the Reduced Shakespeare Company, Winfield spent ten years writing and producing award-winning cartoons for the Walt Disney Company. He left Disney to write this, his first novel.
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MONICA FERRELL author event (July 8 at 7:30pm)
MONICA FERRELL reads from The Answer Is Always Yes.
MONICA FERRELL
talk & booksigning for "The Answer Is Always Yes"
Tuesday, July 8 at 7:30 pm

Monica Ferrell’s exuberant new novel - described as a pyrotechnic debut whose prose recalls Tom Robbins - is "The Answer Is Always Yes." By turns a fierce, funny coming-of-age story and a teasing work ... (more)of literary suspense ­ this just published work traces the precipitous rise and fall of a teenage impresario at the zenith of the recent New York club scene. Will social outcast Magic Matt ­ the Jay Gatsby of his set ­ achieve his ambition to be accepted?

Monica Ferrell’s poems have appeared in the New York Review of Books, Paris Review, and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn and is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.
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KATIE HAFNER discusses Glenn Gould (July 9 at 7:30pm)
KATIE HAFNER reads from A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano.
KATIE HAFNER
talk & booksigning for "A Romance on Three Legs"
Wednesday, July 9 at 7:30 pm

Glenn Gould was one of the most brilliant artists of the twentieth century ­ as well as a musician famous for his many eccentric habits. "A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect ... (more)Piano" tells the story of the Gould’s greatest obsession of all, a Steinway concert grand known as CD 318. Katie Hafner’s fascinating and detailed new book is a must-read for classical music buffs, armchair musicologists, Gould fanatics, and even those rare few who never heard a note Gould played.

Katie Hafner is a correspondent for the New York Times and the author or coauthor of four books, including "Where Wizards Stay Up Late," "Cyberpunk," "The Well," and "The House at the Bridge." She lives in the Bay Area.
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MICHELLE RICHMOND author event (July 15 at 7:30pm)
MICHELLE RICHMOND reads from No One You Know.
MICHELLE RICHMOND
talk & booksigning for "No One You Know"
Tuesday, July 15 at 7:30 pm

Michelle Richmond dazzled readers and critics alike with her luminous novel "The Year of Fog." Now, Richmond returns with an intensely emotional, multi-layered family drama - a woman’s search for her sister’s ... (more)killer that spirals into a journey of secrets, revelations, and damaged lives. "No One You Know" is a novel about the stories and lies that strangers, lovers and families tell - and the secrets we keep even from ourselves.

Michelle Richmond is the author of "The Year of Fog," "Dream of the Blue Room," and "The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress." Her stories and essays have appeared in Glimmer Train, Playboy, The Oxford American, and elsewhere. She has been a James Michener Fellow, and her fiction has received the Associated Writing Programs Award and the Mississippi Review Prize. A native of Mobile, Alabama, Richmond lives in San Francisco.
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JENNIFER TRAIG author event (July 16 at 7:30pm)
JENNIFER TRAIG reads from Well Enough Alone.
JENNIFER TRAIG
talk & booksigning for "Well Enough Alone"
Wednesday, July 16 at 7:30 pm

From Bay Area writer Jennifer Traig, the critically acclaimed author of "Devil in the Details," comes a hilarious new book, "Well Enough Alone." Both a first-person account of life as a hypochondriac as well ... (more)as a literary tour of hypochondria past and present, "Well Enough Alone" is a singular book on being worried sick ­ oops, we mean worried well, in all of its anxious, gruesome, hysterical and ultimately life-changing detail.

Jennifer Traig is the author of "Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood" as well as numerous craft and children's books. She is also a contributor to The Forward and McSweeney’s. Traig holds a Ph.D. in literature.
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DAPHNE GOTTLIEB author event (July 17 at 7:30pm)
DAPHNE GOTTLIEB reads from Kissing Dead Girls.
DAPHNE GOTTLIEB
talk & booksigning for "Kissing Dead Girls" & "Fucking Daphne"
Thursday, July 17 at 7:30 pm

Fusing pornography and postfeminist theory, transcript and tell-all - the playful, penetrating poems and stories found in Daphne Gottlieb’s "Kissing Dead Girls" reach off the page in search ... (more)of what it is to be known, both to the masses and to the “other.” Similarly, the author’s just published "Fucking Daphne: Mostly True Stories and Fictions," an edited collection with work about the author, blurs the lines between reality and fiction and begs the question “who is the real Daphne?”

Daphne Gottlieb is a San Francisco-based performance poet and author. She is the editor of "Homewrecker: An Adultery Reader," as well as the author of the poetry book "Final Girl" (winner of the Audre Lorde Award in Poetry in 2003), "Why Things Burn" (winner of a 2001 Firecracker Alternative Book Award), and "Pelt," and the graphic novel "Jokes and the Unconscious" with artist Diane DiMassa. Her work has been translated into Turkish and Greek, and has inspired theatrical adaptations and DJ-remixes.
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DEBORAH GRABIEN author event (July 22 at 7:30pm)
DEBORAH GRABIEN reads from Rock and Roll Never Forgets: A JP Kinkaid Mystery.
DEBORAH GRABIEN
talk & booksigning for "Rock & Roll Never Forgets"
Tuesday, July 22 at 7:30 pm

JP Kinkaid, aging guitarist for a long-lived rock band, has got more than a few things to deal with ­ including the fact that a ruthless tabloid biographer is planning a tell-all history of his group. ... (more)Murder, malfeasance and music ensue in "Rock & Roll Never Forgets," the ultimate rock music mystery. Deborah Grabien ­ San Francisco crime fiction author and rock music insider - offers readers an all-access, back-stage pass into the lives and loves of musicians in this, her latest book.

Deborah Grabien is a cook, guitar player, cat rescuer, traveler, and all-around rocker chick. She also writes a little. Grabien is the author of the Haunted Ballad mystery series and five stand-alone novels. Additionally, many of her short stories and essays have appeared in anthologies and magazines. Grabien lives in San Francisco, heads back to London and Paris whenever she can, and honestly believes you’re never too old to rock and roll.
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JACK HIRSCHMAN poetry reading (July 23 at 7:30pm)
JACK HIRSCHMAN reads from All That's Left (San Francisco Poet Laureate Series).
JACK HIRSCHMAN
talk & booksigning for "All That's Left "
Wednesday, July 23 at 7:30 pm

The most recent volume in the San Francisco Poet Laureate Series, "All That's Left," is a powerful collection of poems by street poet turned city laureate Jack Hirschman. The volume opens with the poet’s autobiographical ... (more)inaugural address, which traces his career as a poet, editor, translator, and agitator for political and social causes. Along with more personal poems, "All That's Left" includes a homage to fallen comrades like Bob Kaufman and Jack Kerouac.

Jack Hirschman is a poet and social activist who has written more than 50 volumes of poetry. Dismissed from teaching at UCLA for anti-war activities in 1966, he moved to San Francisco in 1973, and at present is the city's poet laureate. Hirschman translates nine languages and edited the seminal "Artuad Anthology."
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ALAN BLACK author event (July 24 at 7:30pm)
ALAN BLACK reads from Kick the Balls: An Offensive Suburban Odyssey.
ALAN BLACK
talk & booksigning for "Kick the Balls: An Offensive Suburban Odyssey"
Thursday, July 24 at 7:30 pm

When Alan Black was a child growing up in Glasgow, Scotland, soccer - or what he called fitba’ - was the be all and end all. His experience was not the little league, boys-of-summer ... (more)stuff. For Black, it was life and death. Now middle-aged and living in California, the ex-pat manager of the Edinburgh Castle finds himself coaching a team of eight-year-olds in his beloved sport -and nothing is going right. "Kick the Balls: An Offensive Suburban Odyssey" tells the story.

Alan Black is the literary manager of San Francisco’s famous bookish venue, the Edinburgh Castle Pub. His work has been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Salon.com, and The Christian Science Monitor. Black is cofounder of the Scottish Cultural and Arts Foundation and coeditor of "Public House," an anthology. This is his first book.
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Willie Nelson: An Epic Life (September 2 at 7:30pm)
Joe Nick Patoski reads from Willie Nelson: An Epic Life.
JOE NICK PATOSKI
talk & booksigning for "Willie Nelson: An Epic Life"
Tuesday, September 2 at 7:30 pm

Join Joe Nick Patoski (and special guests & outlaws) as he discusses his exceptional new biography "Willie Nelson: An Epic Life." Drawing on over 100 interviews with Willie and his family, friends ... (more)and band, Patoski tells the country music icon’s story from humble Depression-era roots to his musical education in Texas honky-tonks and his flirtations with whiskey, women, and weed. “Patoski has here conjured a biography . . . a book whose evocations of time, place, and spirit are as masterful as they are enthralling.” - Nick Tosches

Joe Nick Patoski has written about Willie Nelson for publications including No Depression, Texas Monthly, Rolling Stone, TV Guide, and the Austin American-Statesman. The co-author and author of biographies of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Selena and a contributor to the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, Patoski lives in the Texas Hill Country.

[** Among those joining us for this special event will be Willie Nelson's harmonica player, Mickey Raphael aka "The Reader in the Band," who will talk about Willie, music and the charms of the road.]

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
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Janis Ian author event (September 9 at 7:30pm)
Janis Ian reads from Society's Child: My Autobiography.
JANIS IAN
talk & booksigning for "Society's Child: My Autobiography"
Tuesday, September 9 at 7:30 pm

Janis Ian has inspired generations of fans, and in "Society's Child: My Autobiography," the Grammy Award winner shares the fascinating story of her life in music. In this moving memoir, Ian tells ... (more)the story behind her controversial 1966 hit “Society’s Child” (written when the musician was just 15 years old) and the equally acclaimed 1975 smash “At Seventeen,” which earned two Grammys and five nominations.

Janis Ian is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer, multi-instrumental musician, columnist, and science fiction fan-turned-author. She had a highly successful singing career in the 1960s and 1970s, and has continued recording into the 21st century. Ian has been a regular columnist for and continuing contributor to the LGBT magazine The Advocate.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
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Lily Koppel author event (September 10 at 7:30pm)
Lily Koppel reads from The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal.
LILY KOPPEL
reading & booksigning for "The Red Leather Diary"
Wednesday, September 10 at 7:30 pm

"The Red Leather Diary" tells the true story of a teenage girl’s discarded, Depression-era journal rescued from a dumpster in modern day Manhattan and eventually, and remarkably, reunited with its ... (more)now elderly author. Found by a young writer, journalist Lily Koppel, who read its vivid entries as if letters to herself, this artifact of a forgotten time reveals the lost world of a New York teenager ­ a young woman who dared to follow her dreams.

Lily Koppel writes for the New York Times and other publications. She lives in New York City. For more on her and her book, see www.redleatherdiary.com

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
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LYNDA BARRY author event (September 18 at 7:30pm)
Lynda Barry reads from What It Is.
LYNDA BARRY
reading & booksigning for "What It Is"
Thursday, September 18 at 7:30 pm

If there were a list of 1,000, or 100, or 10, or even 1 author to see before you die ­ at the top of that list should be Lynda Barry. She is a comic book genius - a comix goddess, and one of the most delightful ... (more)and inspiring author-artists you’ll ever meet. Her new book, "What It Is," is a deliciously drawn, insightful, and engaging take on the process of artistic creation. “Barry is not just a storyteller, she’s an evangelist who urges people to pick up a pen - or a brush . . . and look at their own lives with fresh, forgiving eyes.” - San Francisco Chronicle

Cartoonist, novelist, playwright and Booksmith favorite Lynda Barry is the creator of the syndicated strip Ernie Pooks Comeek, featuring the incomparable Marlys and Freddy. Her books include Cruddy, One Hundred Demons and The Good Times Are Killing Me.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
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IRVINE WELSH author event (September 19 at 7:30pm)
Irvine Welsh reads from Crime: A Novel.
IRVINE WELSH
reading & booksigning for "Crime"
Friday, September 19 at 7:30 pm

In "rime,"Scottish-born author Irvine Welsh brings his unique brand of literary mayhem to the glitzed-out, drugs-and-danger state of Florida. This just published novel tells the tale of Ray Lennox (a supporting character ... (more)from the novel "Filth") who is cast adrift in the Sunshine State and who befriends a young girl in jeopardy. Not all, however, is as it seems. Described by the author as more “an existential thriller than a police procedural crime novel,” Welsh’s latest is sure to keep readers riveted.

Irvine Welsh is the author of "Trainspotting," "Marabou Stork Nightmares," "Ecstacy," "Porno" and other works. He divides his time between Florida, Ireland, and Scotland.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
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Rick Wartzman author event (September 23 at 7:30pm)
Rick Wartzman reads from Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath.
RICK WARTZMAN
reading & booksigning for "Obscene in the Extreme"
Tuesday, September 23 at 7:30 pm

Few books have caused as big a stir as John Steinbeck’s classic 1939 novel, "The Grapes of Wrath." Just a month after publication, it was the nation’s number one bestseller; but in Kern County, ... (more)California - the Joads’ newfound home - the book was burned publicly and banned from library shelves. "Obscene in the Extreme," by California journalist and historian Rick Wartzman, tells the remarkable story behind this fit of censorship.

Rick Wartzman is director of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University and an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation. He spent two decades as a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. He is co-author, with Mark Arax, of the award-winning bestseller "The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire."

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
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Daphne Beal (September 24 at 7:30pm)
Daphne Beal reads from In the Land of No Right Angles.
DAPHNE BEAL
reading & booksigning for "In the Land of No Right Angles"
Wednesday, September 24 at 7:30 pm

Suspenseful, haunting and spare, "In the Land of No Right Angles" marks the arrival of a talented and intuitive new writer. In this, her first novel, Daphne Beal tells the story of a twenty-year-old ... (more)American spending a year in Nepal who befriends a local ­ only to be drawn into an uncertain world where the desire to save a friend is more harmful than doing nothing at all.

Daphne Beal was on the editorial staff of The New Yorker, and her writing has appeared in Vogue, McSweeney's, Open City, and The London Review of Books. Her work has been anthologized in "The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers," "The KGB Reader," and most recently in "State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America."

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
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Sean Wilsey: State by State (September 27 at 7:30pm)
Sean Wilsey reads from State by State.
SEAN WILSEY
talk, screening & booksigning for "State by State"
Saturday, September 27 at 7:30 pm

Inspired by the WPA guides of the Thirties and Forties, 50 contemporary writers have produced original pieces of reportage and memoir that capture the 50 states in our time. "State by State: A Panoramic ... (more)Portrait of America" is an American road trip in book form featuring original writing on all 50 states by 50 of our finest novelists, journalists, and essayists. Join editor Sean Wilsey and other contributors as we celebrate the publication of this new book and screen a short film on its making.

Sean Wilsey is the author of the memoir, "Oh the Glory of It All," and the co-editor of "The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup." His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the London Review of Books, the Los Angeles Times, and McSweeney’s quarterly, where he is the editor at large.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
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British historian Giles Milton (October 1 at 7:30pm)
Giles Milton reads from Paradise Lost: Smyrna, 1922.
GILES MILTON
talk & booksigning for "Paradise Lost: Smyrna, 1922"
Wednesday, October 1 at 7:30 pm

Following WWI, Smyrna was a prosperous, cosmopolitan port on Turkey's Aegean coast where Greeks, Turks, Armenians, Jews and other nationalities lived in harmony. Then, the unthinkable happened. "Paradise ... (more)Lost: Smyrna, 1922" is historian Giles Milton’s searingly vivid account of the city’s destruction ­ a nearly forgotten war in which a great modern city burned for four days, 100,000 people were killed, and millions more left homeless.

Giles Milton is a journalist, historian and best-selling author of five previous works of nonfiction including "White Gold," "The Riddle and the Knight," "Big Chief Elizabeth," and "Nathaniel’s Nutmeg." He lives in London.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
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Pamela Des Barres (October 2 at 7:30pm)
Pamela Des Barres reads from Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up.
PAMELA DES BARRES
talk & booksigning for "Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up"
Thursday, October 2 at 7:30 pm

In "I'm with the Band," Pamela Des Barres chronicled her lustful liaisons with such rock legends as Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page and Keith Moon. "Take Another Little Piece ... (more)of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up" is it’s candid sequel. Updated to include escapades covering the last 16 years, this rollicking and sometimes heartbreaking follow-up documents Des Barres' struggles with marriage and motherhood and encounters with the likes of Bob Dylan and Sylvester Stallone.

Pamela Des Barres has been described as “Queen of the groupies.” As a member of Frank Zappa’s performance art / groupie-group The GTO’s, Des Barres and her flamboyant sisters released the 1969 cult-classic album, "Permanent Damage." Today, she is an Internet columnist, television personality, and the author of the bestselling 1987 memoir "I’m with the Band." And she still loves music of all kinds.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
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Neil Gaiman (October 5 at 3:00pm)
Neil Gaiman reads from Graveyard Book.
NEIL GAIMAN
reading for The Graveyard Book
Sunday, October 5 at 3:00 pm

The Graveyard Book (hardback, $17.99) is Neil Gaiman's first full-length novel for middle-grade readers since the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Coraline. And like Coraline, this book is sure to enchant ... (more)and surprise young readers as well as Neil Gaiman's legion of adult fans. This exclusive San Francisco event - one of only a few around the country - will take place at the Sundance Kabuki Theater (1881 Post Street) in San Francisco. Tickets are $28.00 and are on sale at The Booksmith. For more information, please visit www.booksmith.com/gaiman.html
Event location: Sundance Kabuki Theater (1881 Post Street in San Francisco)
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Lewis Buzbee (October 9 at 7:30pm)
Lewis Buzbee reads from Steinbeck's Ghost.
LEWIS BUZBEE
reading & booksigning for "Steinbeck's Ghost"
Thursday, October 9 at 7:30 pm

"Steinbeck's Ghost" is new novel for young adults from San Francisco writer Lewis Buzbee. It tells the story of young Travis Williams, who thinks he sees a ghost in John Steinbeck’s childhood home while ... (more)campaigning to save the public library in Salinas. With touches of magical realism, Buzbee resurrects Steinbeck’s characters and scenes to relate a beautifully told story embued with a love of books and reading.

Well known Bay Area author Lewis Buzbee is a former bookseller and publisher’s sales rep, and the author of the acclaimed adult memoir, "The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop," which was published in 2006. A native Californian, he lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter. This is his first book for children.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
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Harmon Leon author event (October 14 at 7:30pm)
Harmon Leon reads from The American Dream: Walking in the Shoes of Carnies, Arms Dealers, Immigrant Dreamers, Pot Farmers, and Christian Believers.
HARMON LEON
reading & booksigning for "The American Dream"
Tuesday, October 14 at 7:30 pm

For some, the American Dream is a pre-fab house in the suburbs with 2.5 kids and a two-week vacation. For others, it’s something very different. In "The American Dream: Walking in the Shoes of Carnies, Arms ... (more)Dealers, Immigrant Dreamers, Pot Farmers, and Christian Believers," Harmon Leon draws upon his experiences of adopting personas and disguises to infiltrate the institutions of everyday life. Funny, satirical, and ultimately poignant, "The American Dream" is one man’s take on what it means to be an American today.

Booksmith favorite Harmon Leon is a comedian and an award-winning author, most recently of National Lampoon’s Road Trip USA, a travel book commemorating the 25th anniversary of the original vacation movie.
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Eliezer Sobel author event (October 17 at 7:30pm)
Eliezer Sobel reads from The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist's Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics, and Other Consciousness.
ELIEZER SOBEL
talk & booksigning for "The 99th Monkey"
Friday, October 17 at 7:30 pm

"The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist's Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics, and Other Consciousness-Raising Experiments" is an irreverent and often funny romp through the New Age era. Serving ... (more)as a human guinea pig for many of the most popular and cutting-edge New Age and human potential movements, Eliezer Sobel recounts intercontinental adventures in India, Israel, Brazil, and Haiti. From Primal Therapy to the Dalai Lama, this witty analysis includes brushes with cults, wild experiments with sex and psychedelics, and encounters with visionary gurus and contemporary madmen.

Eliezer Sobel is the award-winning author of "Minyan: Ten Jewish Men in a World That Is Heartbroken." His articles, short stories, and poetry have appeared in Inner Directions Journal, New Age Journal, The Village Voice, and Yoga Journal.
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Jonathan Carroll author event (October 20 at 7:30pm)
Jonathan Carroll reads from The Ghost in Love: A Novel.
JONATHAN CARROLL
reading & booksigning for "The Ghost in Love"
Monday, October 20 at 7:30 pm

“Jonathan Carroll has the magic. He’ll lend you his eyes, and you’ll never see the world in quite the same way ever again.” ­ Neil Gaiman. “In "The Ghost In Love" Jonathan Carroll deepens his ... (more)art, diving into his own obsessions with love and fate, without letting go of an ounce of the uncanny effervescent quality that has always caused readers to crave his narratives like an illegal substance. He's created a version of the world that shines like a beacon into our own.” - Jonathan Lethem

Jonathan Carroll's novel "The Wooden Sea" was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2001. He is the author of such acclaimed novels as "White Apples," "The Land of Laughs," "The Marriage of Sticks," and "Bones of the Moon." He lives in Vienna, Austria.
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Ed McClanahan author event (October 21 at 7:30pm)
Ed McClanahan reads from O the Clear Moment.
ED MCCLANAHAN
reading & booksigning for "O the Clear Moment"
Tuesday, October 21 at 7:30 pm

In "O the Clear Moment," Merry Prankster Ed McClanahan has assembled a gathering of what he calls “coming-of-age to coming-of-old-age” stories that are quirky and cutting - hilarious and lyrical, and ... (more)all told in the inimitable voice of one of his generation’s best chroniclers. In this appealing “implied autobiography,” McClanahan’s stories come alive as American souvenirs, enchanting readers with his signature prose in this stunning piece of “memoirabilia.”

A former Merry Prankster, Ed McClanahan is an American novelist, essayist, and professor and the author of several books, including "The Natural Man" and "Famous People I Have Known." He has taught English and creative writing at Stanford University, Oregon State University, and the University of Kentucky.
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Bill Morgan (October 23 at 7:30pm)
Bill Morgan reads from The Letters of Allen Ginsberg.
BILL MORGAN
talk & booksigning for "The Letters of Allen Ginsberg"
Thursday, October 23 at 7:30 pm

Allen Ginsberg (1926­1997) was one of the 20th century literature’s most prolific letter-writers. "The Letters of Allen Ginsberg," edited by Beat scholar Bill Morgan and featuring many letters ... (more)published for the first time, showcases the Beat poet’s correspondence with a wide-range of individuals - including numerous fellow Beat writers and the likes of Arthur Miller, Ken Kesey, Lionel Trilling, Philip Glass, Bertrand Russell and others.

Bill Morgan, Allen Ginsberg’s literary archivist for many years, is the author of an acclaimed biography of the poet as well as editor of "The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice," Ginsberg’s early journals. He lives in NYC.
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Allison Amend author event (October 28 at 7:30pm)
Allison Amend reads from Things That Pass for Love.
ALLISON AMEND
reading & booksigning for "Things That Pass for Love"
Tuesday, October 28 at 7:30 pm

"Things That Pass for Love" is the exceptional new book of stories - both thoughtful and entertaining - from debut writer Allison Amend. “The stories in "Amend’s Things that Pass for Love" are ... (more)such good company that I found myself reading more and more slowly so that the collection wouldn’t end. Amend’s voice is so compelling, easeful and polished you feel that the stories almost rise up off the page and tell themselves. And, as we all know, the hardest thing a writer can do is make it look easy.” ­ Alison Smith

Allison Amend was born in Chicago, Illinois on a day when the Cubs beat the Mets 2-0. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. While there, she learned never to live downwind from a pig farm and how to put English on a cue ball. She lives in New York, writing and teaching fiction.
Event webpage
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Sylvia Brownrigg author event (November 18 at 7:30pm)
Sylvia Brownrigg reads from The Delivery Room.
SYLVIA BROWNRIGG
reading & booksigning for "The Delivery Room"
Tuesday, November 18 at 7:30 pm

"The Delivery Room" is the new novel for Sylvia Brownrigg. Compelling, complex, and deeply human, it is both an engaging examination of the incomplete understandings that course between therapist and ... (more)patient and a set of variations on the theme of motherhood - as well as a timely meditation on the meanings of wars fought from a distance when ordinary citizens have to measure their personal grief’s against the outrages experienced by those under attack.

Sylvia Brownrigg grew up in Los Altos, California, and Oxford, England, was educated at Yale and Johns Hopkins Universities, and lived for many years in London. She is married to San Francisco radio host Sedge Thomson and lives in Berkeley, California.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
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Stefan Kanfer discusses Marlon Brando (November 21 at 7:30pm)
Stefan Kanfer reads from Somebody: The Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando.
STEFAN KANFER
talk & booksigning for "Somebody: The Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando"
Friday, November 21 at 7:30 pm

For everything we know about Brando as a man as well as an actor and artist, he remains a fascination. What are we to make of someone whose life, both personal ... (more)and professional, hit such dazzling highs and such abysmal lows? Acclaimed film critic Stefan Kanfer answers this question in "Somebody: The Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando." And in the process, Kafner gives us what may well be the final word on one of the most astonishing talents of the twentieth century.

Stefan Kanfer’s books include "The Eighth Sin," "A Summer World," "The Last Empire," "Serious Business," "Groucho," "Ball of Fire," and "Stardust Lost." He was a writer and editor at Time magazine for more than twenty years and was its first bylined film critic, a post he held between 1967 and 1972. He is also the primary interviewer in the Academy Award­nominated documentary "The Line King" and editor of an anthology of Groucho Marx’s comedy, "The Essential Groucho."

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
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Bucky Sinister author event (November 24 at 7:30pm)
Bucky Sinister reads from Get Up: A 12-step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos.
BUCKY SINISTER
talk & booksigning for "Get Up: A 12-step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos"
Monday, November 24 at 7:30 pm

As an atheist with a background in fundamentalism, Bucky Sinister was skeptical of 12-step groups when the time came for him to get sober. He was afraid of ... (more)losing his artistic abilities and had big problems with the higher power concept. In spite of his hesitations, he stuck with the program and it rewarded him greatly. In "Get Up: A 12-step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos," he shares the knowledge he gained on his journey, from being afraid of the 12-step philosophies to embracing them, motivating others to join him in their own efforts to get clean.

Bucky Sinister, is a spoken word artist who performs about 40 times a years at comedy clubs and theaters, primarily on the West Coast, but also around the country. He has published nine chapbooks and three full-length collections of poetry, the most recent being "All Blacked Out & Nowhere to Go." His first full-length CD, "What Happens in Narnia, Stays in Narnia" was released in 2007.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
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Janis Bell discusses grammar (December 2 at 7:30pm)
Janis Bell reads from Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Avoiding the Most Common Errors in Grammar and Punctuation.
JANIS BELL
talk & booksigning for "Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences"
Tuesday, December 2 at 7:30 pm

After thirty-five years of teaching writing, Janis Bell knows which sentences work and which sentences don’t. In "Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Avoiding the Most Common Errors ... (more)in Grammar and Punctuation," Bell describes grammar and usage problems in ways that make sense. Like a new year’s resolution, this recently published book is a focused and entertaining guide to getting our sentences into good shape.

Janis Bell is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University, where her graduate studies in English focused on the teaching of writing. She lives in San Francisco, California.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
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David Thomson talks film (December 4 at 7:30pm)
David Thomson reads from "Have You Seen . . . ?": A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films.
DAVID THOMSON
talk & booksigning for “Have You Seen . . . ?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films"
Thursday, December 4 at 7:30 pm

In 1975, David Thomson published his "Biographical Dictionary of Film" - few film books have enjoyed better press or such steady sales. Now, thirty-three years ... (more)later, we have a companion volume, a second book of more than 1,000 pages in one voice - that of our most provocative contemporary film critic and historian. Juxtaposing the fanciful and the fabulous, the old favorites and the forgotten, “Have You Seen . . . ?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films" presents the films that this acclaimed film writer offers in response to the question he gets asked most often.

David Thomson was born in London. He is a regular contributor to publications in both Britain and the United States,and was the screenwriter on the award-winning documentary "The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind." His other books include "Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick," "Rosebud," and three works of fiction.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
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DAN PIRARO (aka the cartoonist Bizarro) (December 5 at 7:30pm)
Dan Piraro reads from Bizarro Buccaneers: Nuttin' But Pirate Cartoons.
DAN PIRARO (aka the cartoonist Bizarro)
talk, slideshow & booksigning for "Bizarro Buccaneers: Nuttin' But Pirate Cartoons"
Friday, December 5 at 7:30 pm

Ahoy, matey! "Bizarro Buccaneers: Nuttin' But Pirate Cartoons" is just that ­ a collection for both wannabe plunderers and plankwalkers! Brilliant ... (more)and in full color, as well as a perfect stocking stuffer (hint-hint), its captain is one Bizarro, a cartoonist whose work we’ve spied in that local broadsheet, the San Francisco Chronicle. Don’t miss this special event, in which Bizarro will screen lantern slides, deliver a rogue-ish speech, and sign his name on the spot. . . . Sail ho me squiffy men!

Dan Piraro was born in Kansas City, grew up in Tulsa, and lived in Dallas for many years. He is a recipient of a Reuben Award for Best Single-Panel Cartoonist and his comic strip, “Bizarro,” received multiple-year designations as Best Single-Panel Cartoon by the National Cartoonists Society. Locally, his work is featured in the San Francisco Chronicle.

This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com If you can't attend this event and would like to order a signed copy of the author's new book, please email or phone our store.
Event webpage
Added by Booksmith_in_SF.
Cara Black (March 5 at 7:30pm)
Cara Black reads from Murder in the Latin Quarter.
Event webpage
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Instant City editors and contributors (March 10 at 7:30pm)
Event webpage
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Brian Yaeger (March 12 at 7:30pm)
Brian Yaeger reads from Red, White and Brew.
Event webpage
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Eric Simons (March 17 at 7:30pm)
Eric Simons reads from Darwin Slept Here: Discovery, Adventure, and Swimming Iguanas in Charles Darwin's South America.
Event webpage
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Lost in Translation: Reading Group (March 19 at 6:30pm)
Event webpage
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Jon Ginoli (March 20 at 7:30pm)
Jon Ginoli reads from Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division.
Event webpage
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David Ewing Duncan (March 25 at 7:30pm)
David Ewing Duncan reads from Experimental Man.
Event webpage
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Minal Hajratwala (March 26 at 7:30pm)
Minal Hajratwala reads from Leaving India: My Family's Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents.
Event webpage
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Launch Party! (May 12 at 7:30pm)
Andy Raskin reads from The Ramen King and I: How the Inventor of Instant Noodles Fixed My Love Life.
Andy Raskin will discuss and sign copies of his memoir, "The Ramen King and I: How the Inventor of Instant Noodles Fixed My Love Life."
Event webpage
Added by araskin.
Mary Elizabeth Williams: Gimme Shelter (May 21 at 7:30pm)
Mary Elizabeth Williams reads from Gimme Shelter.
"Of course I want a home," writes Mary Elizabeth Williams, "I'm American." Gimme Shelter (Simon & Schuster, $26) is the first book to reveal how this primal desire, "encoded into our cultural DNA," drove our nation to extremes, from the heights of an unprecedented housing boom to the depths of an unparalleled ... (more)crash. Williams's house-hunting fantasy quickly morphs into a test of endurance, as her search for a place to live and a mortgage she can afford stretches into a three-year odyssey that takes her to the farthest reaches of the boroughs and the limits of her own patience. How frustrating is the process? Williams likens it to hearing "the opening bars of a song you think is 'Super Freak.' And then it turns out to be 'U Can't Touch This.'" Told in an engaging blend of fact-finding and memoir, Gimme Shelter charts the course of the real estate bubble as it floated ever upward, not with faceless numbers and documents but with the details of countless personal stories -- about the undeniable urge to put down roots and the lengths to which we'll go to find our way home.
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