Pegasus Downtown

We are pleased to welcome Zach Plague who will read from his novel, Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring. This hilarious satire of the art-school scene is both a novel and a series of nine posters, cut up and bound into book form. It has received acclaim from both the literary and design ... (more)worlds. Join us.

Theater historian Joel Schechter appears at the JCC to discuss his latest work, a social history of the American Yiddish theater of the 1930s. Messiahs of 1933 celebrates the satire, radical imagination and commitment to social change of the politically-charged plays from this period. Free admission. ... (more)Call: (510) 848-0237 x140.

Acclaimed novelist Peter Orner will bring his latest work to the JCC. The third compilation in McSweeney’s Voice of Witness series, Underground America focuses on the plight of undocumented workers in the United States. Orner, who edited the collection, will discuss the stories of men and women who ... (more)have moved to America seeking a better life, only to be subjected to dehumanizing working conditions. Dubbed a member of “the first rank of American writers” by The Boston Globe, Orner is the author of the novel The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and a Creative Writing professor at San Francisco State.

Stephen Elliot, Daphne Gottleib, and Sarah Fran Wisby read from Sex for America: Politically Inspired Erotica. Come ring in the election season at Pegasus with erotica inspired by Capitol Hill. See your government—and your most recent sex partners—as you've never seen them before.

The bestselling author of What's the Matter with Kansas? provides jaw-dropping clarity and refreshingly biting wit on the decades of lucrative conservative misrule. In The Wrecking Crew, Frank reveals the blundering, conspicuously corrupt Washington these politicians created. Rather than cutting ... (more)down the big government they claim to hate, the ruling coalition has simply sold it off - deregulating many industries, de-funding others, turning public policy into private-sector bidding, turning the nation's capitol into a surreal landscape of lavish suburbs and gleaming lobbyist headquarters, and ugly wreckage for poor folks. This is a KPFA-sponsored event.

The bestselling author of What's the Matter with Kansas? provides jaw-dropping clarity and refreshingly biting wit on the decades of lucrative conservative misrule. In The Wrecking Crew, Frank reveals the blundering, conspicuously corrupt Washington these politicians created. Rather than cutting ... (more)down the big government they claim to hate, the ruling coalition has simply sold it off - deregulating many industries, de-funding others, turning public policy into private-sector bidding, turning the nation's capitol into a surreal landscape of lavish suburbs and gleaming lobbyist headquarters, and ugly wreckage for poor folks. This is a KPFA-sponsored event.

In The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist's Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics, and Other Consciousness-Raising Experiments, Sobel recounts his explorations of the most significant alternative communities, ashrams, gurus, shamans, and consciousness-raising seminars of the past forty ... (more)years.

Cesar Chavez is the most prominent Latino in United States history books, and much has been written about Chavez and the United Farm Worker's heyday in the 1960s and '70s. But left untold has been their ongoing impact on 21st century social justice movements. Beyond the Fields unearths this legacy, and ... (more)describes how Chavez and the UFW's imprint can be found in the modern reshaping of the American labor movement, the building of Latino political power, the transformation of Los Angeles and California politics, the fight for environmental justice, and the burgeoning national movement for immigrant rights. Many of the ideas, tactics, and strategies that Chavez and the UFW initiated or revived—including the boycott, the fast, clergy-labor partnerships and door-to-door voter outreach—are now so commonplace that their roots in the farmworkers' movement is forgotten.

Raj Patel, fellow at Food First, reads from Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System-- a comprehensive investigation into the current crisis of the global food network, and explains what we can do to change it.

Join us in welcoming Austin Grossman, who will read from Soon I Will Be Invincible. Grossman fleshes out fantastical comic book characters, giving them depth, cynicism, and smart alec comebacks and rich inner lives.

We are delighted to host an evening with Spain Rodriguez. Rodriguez, a major force in the 1960s underground comics scene will read from and discuss his latest book: Che: a Graphic Biography (edited by Paul Buhle). He will also show slides from and talk about his earlier work. Join us.

Join us in welcoming Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, who will read and discuss All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America? (Seven Stories Press 2008) about the pervasive and often hidden problem of hunger in the United States.

We are honored to host an afternoon reading with Congresswoman Barbara Lee who will read and discuss her new autobiography, Renegade for Peace and Justice. This event is free. All are welcome.

The SF&F discussion group, meets every 2nd
& 4th Wednesday monthly, talks about the books they have read recently. Open to older teens and adults. Ends around 8:30 p.m.

Join us at Pegasus Solano for an evening with Joel Schreck, who will read and discuss A Patient's guide to Chinese Medicine. All are welcome.
With an emphasis on traditional herbal therapy and a clear explanation of ancient Chinese medical theory and practice, this "patient's guide" offers a quick way ... (more)to find the recommended treatment for more than 40 common ailments from acne and allergies to weight gain and yeast infections. Detailed information on herbal properties, preparation, dosage, and effectiveness make this an easy-to-use handbook for getting optimum help from traditional Chinese herbs and practices.
Joel Harvey Shreck L.Ac. (aka Dr. Shen) is a licensed acupuncturist with more than twenty years in private practice. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College. His popular Dr. Shen line of herbal medicines is available in natural foods stores nationwide.

WENDELL SMITH introducing, reciting, and reading from MAXIMUM SECURITY WARD AND OTHER POEMS by RAMON GUTHRIE (1896-1973) one of the most truly original American poets of our century.

Join us for the paperback release of Adam Mansbach’s acclaimed novel, The End of the Jews.

Wobblies & Zapatistas is a conversation between two activist traditions. Andrej Grubacic is an anarchist from the Balkans, and Staughton Lynd is a lifelong pacifist, influenced by Marxism. All are welcome to attend.

Pegasus on Solano hosts an evening with philosopher and UC Berkeley Professor Alva Nöe, who will discuss his book, Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness. Out of Our Heads is a groundbreaking work that challenges some of the deepest assumptions ... (more)guiding the contemporary scientific study of conscious experience. Noe argues that consciousness is not merely in your brain, rather it is an experience of your body, brain, and world dynamically intertwined. Join us for this fascinating event.

Join us in welcoming Tim wise, who will read and dsicuss Between Barack and a Hard Place (City Lights Books, January 2009).

Anthology editors and contributors Jaclyn Friedman, Lisa Jervis, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha, and Julia Serano explore the role of female sexual pleasure in the movement to end rape. All are welcome.In this groundbreaking new look at rape edited by writers and activists Jaclyn Freidman and Jessica ... (more)Valenti, the way we view rape in our culture is finally dismantled and replaced with a genuine understanding and respect for female sexual pleasure. Feminist, political, and activist writers alike present their ideas for a paradigm shift from the “No Means No” model—an approach that while necessary for where we were in 1974, needs an overhaul today. Yes Means Yes brings to the table a dazzling variety of perspectives and experiences focused on the theory that educating all people to value female sexuality and pleasure leads to viewing women differently, and ending rape. Yes Means Yes aims to have radical and far-reaching effects: from teaching men to treat women as collaborators and not conquests, encouraging men and women that women can enjoy sex instead of being shamed for it, and ultimately, that our children can inherit a world where rape is rare and swiftly punished. With commentary on public sex education, pornography, and mass media, Yes Means Yes is a powerful and revolutionary anthology. Called "the hardest-working woman in feminism" by Michelle Tea, Jaclyn Friedman is a writer, performer, and activist. Her writing has been featured in Bitch Magazine, AlterNet, Women's eNews, PW.org, and PopPolitics. Lisa Jervis is the founding editor and publisher of Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture; her work has appeared in numerous magazines and books, including Ms., the San Francisco Chronicle, Utne, Mother Jones, the Women's Review of Books, and Bust. Julia Serano is an Oakland, California-based writer, spoken word performer, trans activist, biologis, and author of Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha is a Toronto-based poet, educator and activist. She is the author of Consensual Genocide, and her writing has been published in the anthologies Bitchfest, We Don't Need Another Wave, Colonize This, Brazen Femme, Without a Net, and more.

Admission: $8.00
To celebrate the publication of Barry Gifford’s The Imagination of the Heart – book seven of the story of Sailor and Lula, we present a screening of David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a discussion with Barry Gifford, and a performance by actor Anne Darragh as Lula.

StencilArchive.org founder Russell Howze will discuss Stencil Nation: Graffiti, Community, and Art, the most extensive and up-to-date history of stencil art.

Pegasus on Solano welcomes SFSU Professor of History, Philip Dreyfus, author of Our Better Nature: Environment and the Making of San Francisco. Dreyfus will lead a conversation about the history of urban development and environmentalism in San Francisco. In Our Better Nature, Dreyfus recounts the history ... (more)of San Francisco from Indian village to world-class metropolis, focusing on the interactions between the city and the land and on the generations of people who have transformed them both. Join us at Pegasus Books, 1855 Solano Avenue, Berkeley.

Join us in welcoming three diverse authors. Chelsea Martin reads from her debut, Everything Was Fine Until Whatever, an unpredictable compilation of flash fiction, artwork, lists and stories. Brandon Scott Gorrell reads from his debut poetry book, During My Nervous Breakdown I Want to Have a Biographer ... (more)Present. Mike Young, co-editor of Magic Helicopter Press and NOÖ Journal, reads from new and published works.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood is pleased to present Gregg Hurwitz as he discusses and signs his new novel, Trust No One. This event is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend!About the Author:Gregg Hurwitz is the critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling author of The Tower, Minutes ... (more)to Burn, Do No Harm, The Kill Clause, The Program, Troubleshooter, Last Shot, and most recently, The Crime Writer, an instant international bestseller that was shortlisted for best novel of the year by International Thriller Writers and nominated for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. His novels have been feature selections for all four major literary book clubs, chosen as Book Sense Picks, and translated into fifteen languages. He has written screenplays for Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Paramount Studios, MGM, and ESPN, developed TV series for Warner Studios, written Wolverine, Punisher, and Foolkiller for Marvel, and published numerous academic articles on Shakespeare. He has taught fiction writing in the USC English Department, and guest lectured for UCLA, and for Harvard in the United States and Europe. In the course of researching his thrillers, he has sneaked onto demolition ranges with Navy SEALs, swam with sharks in the Galápagos, and gone undercover into mind-control cults.Hurwitz grew up in the Bay Area. While completing a BA from Harvard and a master's from Trinity College, Oxford in Shakespearean tragedy, he wrote his first novel. He was the undergraduate scholar-athlete of the year at Harvard for his pole-vaulting exploits, and played college soccer in England, where he was a Knox fellow. He now lives in L.A. where he continues to play soccer, frequently injuring himself.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Malibu is excited to welcome Norman Ollestad to the shop to discuss and sign his book, Crazy fo the Storm: A Memoir of Survival. This event is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend!

We are pleased to welcome Jamail Yogis to our downtown Pegasus store. Saltwater Buddha is a memoir of a troubled youth who runs away from home to Hawaii and is “saved” by his discovery of surfing and living in an orthodox Zen monastery. Yogis is a journalist for San Francisco Magazine. This is his ... (more)first book.

Join us in welcoming Novella Carpenter, who will read and discuss her new book Farm City Carpenter has revisioned susatainability by reclaiming an empty lot in downtown Oakland--chickens, goats and all.

Pegasus Books Downtown welcomes Tommi Mecca and other contributors to the new City Lights publication, Smash the Church, Smash the State!: The Early Years of Gay Liberation. Additional readers to be announced.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Malibu is totally stoked to host an afternoon with award-winning journalist and surfer Jaimal Yogis as he discusses and signs his memoir, Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea.Fed up with suburban teenage life, Jaimal Yogis ran off to Hawaii with little more ... (more)than a copy of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and enough cash for a surfboard. His journey is a coming-of-age saga that takes him from communes to monasteries and the icy New York shore. Equal parts spiritual memoir and surfer's tale, this is a chronicle of finding meditative focus in the barrel of a wave and eternal truth in the great salty blue.Join us!

Bitch Magazine founder Lisa Jervis reads from her new book Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating. Cook Food is an entertaining affirmation of local, sustainable eating, full of recipes and tips for enjoying food in your own kitchen. Lisa is sure to bring local treats--stay tuned.