Archive

Friends,

below are some great events coming up at the Book Smith at 1644 Haight St. between Clayton & Cole (863-8688)

LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI
book signing for Poetry as Insurgent Art Tue., October 9 at 7 pm

From the groundbreaking A Coney Island of the Mind to the "personal epic" of Americus, Book I, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has, in more than 30 books over 50 years, been the poetic conscience of America. Now in the just released Poetry As Insurgent Art, he offers in prose his primer of what poetry is, could be, and should be. The result is by turns tender and furious, personal and political. If you are a reader of poetry, find out what is missing from the usual fare; if you are a poet, read at your own risk. Lawrence Ferlinghetti is not only a major American poet - he is an international icon. In 1998 he was named Poet Laureate of San Francisco. In 2005, he received the National Book Award's first Literarian Award (recognizing an individual whose life's work has enhanced the literary world as a whole). In 2006, he was named a Commander in the French Order of Arts and Letters. Ferlinghetti has read his poetry and shown his art around the world.

ROBERT ALTMAN
talk, slide show and book signing for The Sixties Wednesday, Oct 10 at 7 pm

altmanphoto.com

Timothy Leary. Allen Ginsberg. Jim Morrison. Neil Young. Abbie Hoffman. Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. Janis Joplin. Ram Dass. Dennis Hopper. Jane Fonda. Ken Kesey. Hippies on Mt. Tam. The March on Washington. Anti-war demonstrations. People's Park. Berkeley. Haight Ashbury. Robert Altman's just published book, The Sixties, brings together photographs of the people, events, culture, rock stars, writers, and political figures who made the sixties the most influential decade of the century.

Robert Altman is an internationally acclaimed
photographer who studied with Ansel Adams. He is best known today as a photojournalist for Rolling Stone magazine - Cameron Crowe used many of his images in the film Almost Famous. A leader in embracing digital photography, Altman's recent work appeared in numerous publications including Entertainment Weekly, Mojo, New York Times, People, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

From: Publishers Weekly Review

Those nostalgic for the free love era will revel in this handsome, oversized collection of photographs by celebrated photographer Altman. A master at catching his subjects at the moment of emotional overload-whether they be mischief makers, war protestors or musicians-the black and white photographs collected here are pure nostalgia, making a powerful you-are-there impression that simultaneously highlights the era's distance-chronologically and otherwise-from the current moment.

In addition to period luminaries like Ken Kesey, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin and Mick Jagger, the compendium highlights lesser-known players on the scene, as well as average attendees at rallies, "be-ins" and festivals.

Altman's particular genius is best showcased in his legendary crowd scenes; what these photos occasionally lack in technical precision, they more than make up in the raw, wild feelings they've miraculously captured. Despite the book's title, images straddle the period from the late 60's to the early 70's (though none of the subjects seem to make much of the distinction), and a fun introduction by longtime Rolling Stone editor Fong-Torres reveals that Altman has always felt his purpose was to depict "the life and times that the Sixties inspired"; he succeeds beautifully with this, an impressive social document and a powerful remembrance (Oct).

WESLEY STACE
reading, a bit of ventriloquism, & booksigning for By George Thursday, October 11 at 7 pm

By George is the new novel from Wesley Stace (aka the singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding), which tells the story of two boys named George Fisher, one flesh, one wood. Weaving the boy's tale and the "memoirs" of a ventriloquist's dummy, Staces' second novel unveils the secrets of four generations of entertainers. Exquisitely tender, By George also tells the story of two boys separated by years but driven by the same desires: to find a voice, and to be loved.

Educated at Cambridge, Wesley Stace (also known as John Wesley Harding) cut short his Ph.D. studies to pursue a music career. He has released 8 solo albums and toured as the opening act for Michelle Shocked, The Mighty Lemon Drops, and Bruce Springsteen. His bestselling novel, Misfortune, was published to great acclaim in 2004.

HARRY SHEARER
reading & booksigning for Not Enough Indians Wednesday, October 17 at 8 pm The Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco

Harry Shearer - the voice of the Simpson's - is an actor as well as a satirist, musician, radio host, playwright, and now author. His first novel, Not Enough Indians, is a bitingly funny satire about a down and out town that tempts fate by having themselves declared a sovereign Indian nation - and opening a casino. Funny, smart, antic and scathing, Not Enough Indians is also a hilarious send-up of the American dream. Don't miss this special event.

Harry Shearer is first and foremost an actor - as well as an author, director, satirist, musician, radio host, playwright, and multi-media artist. For nineteen years, he has enjoyed enormous success with his voice work on The Simpsons, where he plays a stable of characters including Mr. Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders, and Rev. Lovejoy. He is the host of the nationally syndicated NPR program, Le Show, and helped create and also appeared in such films as This Is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind.

HOOKER'S BALL
Pier 23 on the Embarcadero a benefit for St. James Infirmary - Margo

PAUL DRUMMOND
reading & booksigning for Eye Mind Wednesday, October 31 at 7 pm The Booksmith, 1644 Haight St, S.F.

The 13th Floor Elevators (who for a time resided in San Francisco) released the first "psychedelic" rock album in America - and helped transform pop culture in the 1960s and beyond. Eye Mind: The Saga of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound tells the remarkable and at times tragic story of this trailblazing band. Join us for a special Halloween event with author Paul Drummond and secret special guests.

The 13th Floor Elevators - incidentally, one of Thomas Pynchon's favorite bands - are revered as a formative influence on Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Patti Smith, Primal Scream, R.E.M, and Z.Z. Top, among others. Musician Julian Cope called Eye Mind "One of the most exhilarating and important rock 'n' roll stories ever told." Paul Drummond is a British journalist, set designer and art director. He can be seen in the documentary, You're Gonna Miss Me: A Film About Roky Erickson.

MICK ROCK
talk, slideshow & booksigning for Psychedelic Renegades, Thursday, November 1 at 7 pm

By the time he passed permanently into the next dimension, Syd Barrett’s life had developed into something far more significant than he could ever have imagined. The man who turned his back on fame, fortune, Pink Floyd, and the entire rock music scene over thirty years ago became an involuntary legend. Was he a genius or just a madman? Mick Rock’s new book about his long-time friend, Psychedelic Renegades attempts to unravel the enigma that was Syd Barrett.

Mick Rock is one of the most widely recognized and prolific music photographers working today. His list of subjects is a virtual history of rock music. Rock’s earlier books include the just released Classic Queen, Glam! an Eyewitness Account, Raw Power: Iggy & The Stooges, and Moonage Daydream: The Life & Times of Ziggy Stardust.

3 NORTH BEACH ARTISTS: AGNETA FALK, GEORGE LONG, JAMES REDO

FINE PRINTING SALON, 225 7th ST (Between Howard & Folsom) MAKING IMPRESSIONS (415-621-5999) FRI. NOV 2nd OPENING RECEPTION FOR SAT: NOV. 3rd OPEN 12 TO 12 WITH MUSIC BY RENOWNED GUITARIST JONATHAN RICHMAN

THE SUMMER OF LOVE 40th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT SPECIAL KBWB-TV20 - Channel 20 - Cable 13 - San Francisco 8:00 PM Pacific Time SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4th

KHALIL BENDIB
talk, slideshow & booksigning for Mission Accomplished: Wicked Cartoons by America's Most Wanted Political Cartoonist Thursday, November 8 at 7 pm

In an increasingly Manichean geopolitical world, Khalil Bendib happens to be both "Us" and "Them," American and Muslim, a walking oxymoron - a "Clash of Civilizations" made flesh. He is - by many accounts - the only American political cartoonist with an in-your-face non-Eurocentric perspective. Bendib is a voice of the voiceless. Join us for a discussion and slide show for Mission Accomplished: Wicked Cartoons by America's Most Wanted Political Cartoonist

The son of survivors of the Algerian war of independence, Khalil Bendib was born in Paris during the Algerian revolution and grew up in Morocco and Algeria before coming to California at the age of 20. After an eight-year stint with Gannett Newspapers, Khalil resigned over increasing censorship of his work. His cartoons have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle and elsewhere.

PAUL MYERS
talk & booksigning for It Ain't Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues Friday, November 9 at 7 pm

Long John Baldry is one of the little-known legends of rock n roll. Considered the father of British blues, Baldry knew, influenced, and worked with Elton John, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, John Mayall, Mick Fleetwood and others. Drawing on intimate anecdotes from Baldry's legendary friends and lovers, Paul Myers uncovers the man behind the myth. It Ain't Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues traces the musician's extraordinary life from birth during the London Blitz to the musical, social and sexual upheaval of the 60s and 70s. Paul Myers' presentation will include rare film clips of Long John Baldry and other musicians.

Paul Myers is the author of Barenaked Ladies: Public Stunts, Private Stories. As a broadcaster, he has appeared on American and Canadian television. His journalism has appeared in publications in the United States, Canada and England.

"COUSIN BRUCIE" MORROW
talk & booksigning for Doo Wop: The Music, the Times, the Era Monday, November 12 at 7 pm

Join us for a special evening with the legendary NYC disc jockey "Cousin Brucie" Morrow - who will be on hand to discuss Doo Wop: The Music, the Times, the Era. This new book, which takes a look back at the tail-finned 50's and early 60's, captures the spirit of the times through spectacular visuals and informative text. Few know the subject as well as Morrow, one of the pioneering radio personalities behind doo-wop and rock n roll.

"Cousin Brucie" Morrow has been one of the most famous names in broadcasting for almost half a century. In August of 1965, he had the distinction of introducing the Beatles during their historic Shea Stadium concert. Morrow was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, among others. In 1994, part of West 52nd Street was named "Cousin Brucie Way." Today, he can be heard on Sirius Satellite Radio.

BRYAN RAY TURCOTTE
talk & booksigning for Punk Is Dead: Punk Is Everything! Friday, November 30 at 7 pm

Sure to be as successful as his 1999 bestseller, Fucked Up + Photocopied, Bryan Ray Turcotte's just published Punk Is Dead: Punk Is Everything! (hardback, $40.00) broadens its scope to expose the lasting impact of "punk" on visual culture worldwide. Described as the "last organically incubated oppositional youth movement" of the pre-MTV era, punk slipped quietly under the cultural radar before rising again to inspire new generations of creative and idealistic artists and musicians.

Bryan Ray Turcotte is a music producer and author. His Fucked Up + Photocopied is considered one of the definitive reference books on the North American Punk scene. In 2000, it won the Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Music.

SAN FRANCISCO SILENT FILM FESTIVAL
author booksignings, Saturday, December 1

Join The Booksmith at the historic Castro Theater as we celebrate the art of silent film. In between the day's three programs, we will be hosting booksignings with Anthony Slide, author of Incorrect Entertainment and Now Playing: Hand Painted Poster Art, Matthew Kennedy, author of Joan Blondell, and others. More information, including a schedule of films, is available at www.silentfilm.org

ANTHONY LAPPE & DAN GOLDMAN
talk, slideshow & booksigning for Shooting War
Monday, December 3 at 7 pm

Shooting War is the "scary-smart," "must read" online graphic novel (a bold, irreverent, unflinching spoof of the network news, the war in Iraq, and the burgeoning "citizen journalism" movement set in the near future) started by Anthony Lappé and Dan Goldman at www.smithmag.net, where it generated fantastic attention from Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, etc…. At its peak, Shooting War received over a million unique visitors a day, and was nominated for a 2007 Eisner Award for "Best Digital Comic." Now it's a book. Anthony Lappé, an executive editor at Guerilla News Network, is a journalist who produced a documentary with footage he shot while he covered the war in Iraq. Dan Goldman, artist and designer, is a founding member of the daily online comics anthology Act-i-vate, and the coauthor of the political fiction graphic novel, Everyman: Be the People.

JAMES GURNEY
talk, slideshow & booksigning for Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara Tuesday, December 4 at 7 pm

In the spirit of Marco Polo and Gulliver's Travels, James Gurney's new book Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara recounts the adventures of explorer Arthur Denison and dinosaur Bix through the exotic eastern realm of the imaginary land of Dinotopia. "I thought the first two books in the Dinotopia series could not be topped, but I was proved wrong. Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara takes the adventure to a whole new level and new dimensions." – Ray Harryhausen James Gurney's fantasy art has appeared on the covers of more than 70 books, and his art has appeared in National Geographic and other magazines. He is the author and illustrator of the various Dinotopia books, each of which has become a bestseller. The original, Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time, was a publishing sensation as a New York Times bestseller, with more than two million copies sold in eighteen languages in more than thirty countries.

DANIEL MERRIAM
talk, slideshow & booksigning for The Art of Daniel Merriam: The Eye of a Dreamer
Thursday, December 6 at 7 pm

From the brush of acclaimed artist Daniel Merriam comes The Art of Daniel Merriam: The Eye of a Dreamer, a new collection of paintings where dreams in color invite the viewer to join a journey into the imagination . . . where worlds of reality and fantasy collide in an explosion of shapes and symbolism. For more about this fantastic artist, visit www.danielmerriam.com - Born in 1963, Daniel Merriam is a much loved and much collected San Francisco artist. His work is included in the public collections of The Riverside Museum of Art in California, The Gesundheit Institute in Virginia, and the Manhattan Club in New York. His work has also been featured in The World & I, Art News, Arts & Antiques, and New Art International.

JASON BROWN
reading & booksigning for Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work
JERRY STAHL
reading & booksigning for Love Without, Friday, December 7 at 7 pm

Jason Brown's exquisitely crafted second collection of short stories, Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work, will certainly establish him as one of the most important new voices in American fiction. From Jerry Stahl, the bestselling author of the memoir Permanent Midnight and the novel I, Fatty comes Love Without, a long-awaited collection of short stories. Join us at the Booksmith as these two remarkable authors come together for a singular night of short fiction. Jerry Stahl's 1995 memoir, Permanent Midnight (detailing his life as a drug-addicted TV writer), and three novels (I, Fatty is the most recent), have won him a fan base that shares his glee for the comically deviant. Jason Brown was a Stegner Fellow and Capote Fellow at Stanford University, where he now teaches. He has been published in Best American Short Stories, 25 and Under/Fiction, Mississippi Review, Georgia Review, Story, Epoch, TriQuarterly, and DoubleTake.

LEMONY SNICKET & LISA BROWN
talk & booksigning for The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming Tuesday, December 11 at 6 pm**

Latkes are potato pancakes served at Hanukkah, and Lemony Snicket is an alleged children's author. For the first time in literary history, these two elements are combined in one book (with illustrations by Lisa Brown). A particularly irate latke is the star of The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, but many other holiday icons appear and even speak: flashing colored lights, cane-shaped candy, a pine tree. Santa Claus is briefly discussed as well. The ending is happy, at least for some. Unfortunately, elusive author Lemony Snicket is the author of a series of books whose joining title is "A Series of Unfortunate Events." Lisa Brown is an illustrator and author. Her books include How to Be and the popular "Baby Be of Use" series from McSweeney's. - **Please note special start time!

Dear friends and neighbors,

We hope that you will be able to attend:

3rd Monthly Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Peace Vigil

Place: San Francisco: Masonic between Oak and Fell

Time: Friday Dec. 21st, 6:00-8:00PM

One issue focus - end the war in Iraq. Support our troops and the Iraqi people by ending the war now.

Everybody welcome. Bring candles and signs if you have them, they will also be provided, along with cookies.

Peace, love, and cookies

TODD MCCAFFREY
reading & booksigning for Dragon Harper Tuesday, January 8 at 7 pm

Bestselling author Anne McCaffrey has dazzled audiences with her tales of the Dragonriders of Pern, one of the most popular science fiction series of all time. Recently, her son Todd McCaffrey has delved into the Pern universe with his own Pern novel and through two collaborations with his mother. Now, in Dragon Harper, Anne and Todd spin a tale of a mysterious illness that may succeed in doing what centuries of Threadfall could not: kill every last human on Pern.

Todd McCaffrey is the bestselling author of the Dragonsblood, as well as Dragon's Kin and Dragon's Fire, which he co-wrote with his mother, the legendary fantasy author Anne McCaffrey. A computer engineer, Todd currently lives in Los Angeles. Having grown up in Ireland with the epic of the Dragonriders of Pern, he is bursting with ideas for new stories of that world and its people.

ROBERT ALTMAN,
HEATHER MARX GALLERY

FORMER PHOTOGRAPHER ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, BOOK SIGNING, 77 GEARY 2nd FLOOR, SAN FRANCISCO, 415-627-9111 JAN 10th 5:30 p,m. to 7:30 p.m.

LLOYD DANGLE
talk & booksigning for Troubletown Told You So Friday, January 11 at 7 pm

Troubletown Told You So: Comics that Could've Saved Us from this Mess is the new collection of comics from Lloyd Dangle, the nationally syndicated cartoonist whose work appears in the San Francisco Bay Guardian and other alternative newsweeklies and lefty political magazines. What’s it all about? In his introduction, columnist Dan Savage says, “Thank God there’s at least one person out there who can clearly see the lies and the malice - and he’s still got a sense of humor! This is no small comfort in Bush’s America."

Oakland, California cartoonist Lloyd Dangle grew up in Michigan, where he drew cartoons for Michael Moore’s muckraking newspaper, the Michigan Voice. He has also worked for the Village Voice, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Mother Jones, The Nation, Utne Reader, and Wired. Lloyd was also the first cartoonist assigned to cover the Republican National Convention in New York City.

FRAY
reading & booksigning for Busted: True Stories of Getting Caught in the Act Friday, January 18 at 7 pm

Fray began as a storytelling website. Since 1996, it has presented true first-person stories. Eventually, the website evolved into a series of live storytelling events. And now, Fray is evolving again this time into a quarterly series of independently produced books. Just out is Busted: True Stories of Getting Caught in the Act. Guest readers to be announced.

Fray (located at http://www.fray.com) is about true, personal stories and original art. They plan to publish a themed book four times a year.

Dear friends and neighbors,

We hope that you will be able to attend:

4th Monthly Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Peace Vigil

Place: San Francisco: Masonic between Oak and Fell

Time: Friday Jan. 18th, 6-8 PM

One issue focus - end the war in Iraq. Support our troops and the Iraqi people by ending the war now.

Everybody welcome. Bring candles and signs if you have them, they will also be provided, along with cookies.

Peace, love, and cookies

ROBERT HASS
reading & booksigning for Time and Materials: Poems 1997-2005 Tuesday, January 22 at 7 pm

RESCHEDULED FROM NOVEMBER: Robert Hass is a poet of great eloquence, clarity, and force whose work is rooted in the landscapes of his native Northern California. Widely read and much honored, he has brought the kind of energy in his poetry to his work as an essayist, translator, and activist. Time and Materials: Poems 1997-2005 - his first new collection in a decade - is grounded in the beauty and dynamics of the physical world, and in the bafflement of the present moment in American culture.

Robert Hass was born in San Francisco and lives in Berkeley, where he teaches at the University of California. Hass served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997. A MacArthur Fellow , a two-time winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the recent winner of the National Book Award, he has published poems, literary essays, and translations.

HEIDI JULAVITS
reading & booksigning for The Uses of Enchantment Friday, January 25 at 7 pm

In late afternoon on November 7, 1985, sixteen-year-old Mary Veal was abducted after field hockey practice at her all-girl New England prep school. Or was she? Heidi Julavits' new novel, The Uses of Enchantment which is just out in paperback, weaves a provocative spell in which the reader sees how the extraordinary power of a young woman's sexuality, and the desire to wield it, have a devastating effect on all involved.

Heidi Julavits is the author of two previous novels, The Mineral Palace and The Effect of Living Backwards, as well as a collaborative book, Hotel Andromeda. She is a founding editor of The Believer, and her writings have appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, Time, and McSweeney's. She lives in Manhattan and Maine.

WILLIAM T. VOLLMANN
reading & booksigning for Riding Toward Everywhere Thursday, February 7 at 7 pm

William T. Vollmann has investigated humanity's obsession with violence (Rising Up and Rising Down), taken a personal look into the hearts and minds of the poor (Poor People), and now turns his attentions to America, to our romanticizing of "freedom" and the ways in which we restrict the very liberties we profess to admire. Riding Toward Everywhere is the new book from the National Book Award winning author of Europe Central.

William T. Vollmann is the author of seven novels; three collections of stories; a seven-volume critique of violence, Rising Up and Rising Down (finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award); and Poor People, an examination of poverty. His most recent novel, Europe Central, won the National Book Award in 2005. He has also won the PEN Center USA West Award for Fiction, a Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize, and a Whiting Writers' Award. No other writer has appeared more often at The Booksmith as has this acclaimed California author

DINAW MENGESTU
talk & booksigning for The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Wednesday, February 13 at 7 pm

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, by Dinaw Mengestu, is a deeply affecting novel about what it means to lose a family and a country - and what it takes to create a new home. "This first novel, by an Ethiopian-American, sings of the immigrant experience, an old American story that people renew every generation, but it sings in an existential key...His straightforward language and his low-key voice combine to make a compelling narrative." - Alan Cheuse

Dinaw Mengestu was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1978. In 1980, he immigrated to the United States with his mother and sister, joining his father, who had fled Ethiopia during the Red Terror. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and Columbia University's MFA program in fiction and the recipient of a 2006 fellowship in fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts

BETH LISICK
reading & booksigning for Helping Me Help Myself Tuesday, February 19 at 7 pm

From Bay Area favorite Beth Lisick, author of Everybody into the Pool, comes Helping Me Help Myself - the engaging and often-humorous story of one skeptic (the author), ten self-help gurus (John Gray, Richard Simmons, Stephen R. Covey, Jack Canfield, etc….), and a year spent trying to improve one's self. The author doesn't think of herself as a victim of the self-help movement. But is she?

Beth Lisick, author of the New York Times bestselling book Everybody into the Pool, is also a performer and odd-jobs enthusiast. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies including Best American Poetry, the Christian Science Monitor, and Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Movement. She has contributed to public radio's This American Life and is the cofounder of the monthly Porchlight storytelling series in San Francisco

CHARLES BOCK
reading & booksigning for Beautiful Children Wednesday, February 20 at 7 pm

In his debut novel, Charles Bock mixes incandescent prose with devious humor in capturing life in contemporary Las Vegas. And in doing so, the author provides a glimpse into a microcosm of modern America. Beautiful Children is an odyssey of heartache and redemption - heralding the arrival of a major new writer. "Beautiful Children careens from the seedy to the beautiful, the domestic to the epic, all with huge and exacting heart." - Jonathan Safran Foer

Charles Bock was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has an MFA from Bennington College and has received fellowships from Yaddo, UCross, and the Vermont Studio Center. He lives in New York City. Visit the author's website at:
beautifulchildren.net

CHARLES BAXTER
reading & booksigning for The Soul Thief Thursday, February 21 at 7 pm

Charles Baxter - the acclaimed author of The Feast of Love - now gives us one of his most beautifully wrought and unexpected novels. The Soul Thief is a work of fiction at once lyrical and eerie, acutely observant in its sensual and emotional detail, and audaciously metaphysical in its underpinnings. The Soul Thief is a brilliant novel - one that is certain to expand both his already-stellar reputation and ever-growing readership.

Charles Baxter is the author of eight previous works of fiction, including Saul and Patsy, The Feast of Love (nominated for the National Book Award and recently released as a film), Through the Safety Net, and Believers. He has also authored books of poetry and the art of writing.

PHILIP FRADKIN
reading & booksigning for Wallace Stegner and the American West Tuesday, February 26 at 7 pm

As a writer and novelist, as the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Angle of Repose and National Book Award winning The Spectator Bird, as a teacher and founder of the Stanford Creative Writing Program, and as an advocate of the Western landscape, Wallace Stegner has few equals. Philip Fradkin's new biography, Wallace Stegner and the American West, is the definitive account of one of the most acclaimed and admired writers, teachers, and conservationists of our time.

Philip L. Fradkin shared the Pulitzer Prize as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and was western editor of Audubon magazine. He is the author of ten previous books, including The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906: How San Francisco Nearly Destroyed Itself and Stagecoach: Wells Fargo and the American West. He lives on the coast north of San Francisco.

Dear Friends,

Hear are photos from the Haight [Ashbury] from a friend of a friend of mine.

Enjoy

Cheers, Marliese

http://haight.tribe.net/photos

CARYL FLINN
talk & booksigning for Brass Diva
Thursday, March 6 at 7 pm

Brass Diva: The Life and Legends of Ethel Merman tells the story of how a stenographer from Queens became the queen of the Broadway musical. Mining official and unofficial sources, including interviews with Merman's family as well as her personal scrapbooks, film historian Caryl Flinn unearths new details about Merman's life and finds that behind the high-octane personality was a remarkably pragmatic woman who never lost sight of her roots.

Caryl Flinn lives and works in Tucson, where she is a Professor at the University of Arizona. She is the author of The New German Cinema, Strains of Utopia, and Music and Cinema (co-edited).

CARA BLACK
reading & booksigning for Murder in the Rue de Paradis
Wednesday, March 12 at 7 pm

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 and leads to a sleeper jihadist. "She makes Paris come alive as no one else has since Georges Simenon." - Stuart Kaminsky

Cara Black lives in San Francisco with her bookseller husband. She is the author of an acclaimed series of novels set in Paris, including Murder in the Marais, Murder in the Bastille, Murder in Belleville, Murder in the Sentier, and Murder in Clichy. The most recent book in the series, Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis, was a #1 bestseller last year.

DAVID SMAY
talk & booksigning for Swordfishtrombones
Friday, March 14 at 7 pm

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, tells the story of the making of this remarkable album, once named the second best of all-time.

David Smay is a San Francisco music writer and longtime Booksmith customer whose earlier books include Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth: The Dark History of Prepubescent Pop, from the Banana Splits to Britney Spears and Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed.

MAESTRO
JAMES REDO'S ART EXHIBIT
MARCH 14th, 15th & 16th
RECEPTION SAT. MARCH 15th 7p.m.
AT - LIVE WORMS ART GALLERY
1345 GRANT STREET
BETWEEN VALLEJO & GREEN
NORTH BEACH, SAN FRANCISCO

Hora Vacuui Exhibit scheduled for Live Worms Gallery

Recent work by one of San Francisco’s most prolific iconic artists, James Redo, will be on display March 14 thru 16 at Live Worm Gallery, at 1345 Grant Avenue, between Vallejo and Green.

Called Hora Vacuui, hich translates to “fear of space,” the exhibition of four works is sponsored by the North Beach Arts Group. The exhibit will be launched with a reception, March 15, beginning at 7:00 pm.

Included in the exhibit will be Redo’s Maya Vision, Ancient Ancestors and Fusion Frisco Dreaming , which express his penchant for rendering dense, muralistic representations of the vibrant life of distant cultures evoked in his Classic and Contemporary forms.

Best known for his thoughtful and emotive work as well as the volume of his output of drawings, paintings and sculptures in various media, Redo is also a published poet, whose universal themes in various media reflects his extensive travel and his fascination with ancient cultures.

Maya Vision honors both the end and beginning of time as interpreted by the Mayan calendar, as it anticipates momentous cosmic change in 2012. Fusion Frisco is a blended anthology of Redo’s daily renderings incorporating a variety of monochromatic drawings that deal with both traditional and contemporary-technological themes.

The North Beach Arts Group has, as its mission, the celebration and promotion of the long tradition of creative expression associated with San Francisco’s legendary district.

AL YOUNG
reading & booksigning for Something About the Blues
Tuesday, March 18 at 7 pm

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 poems. These works evoke the cold, hard city, love gone wrong and blues music itself.

California Poet Laureate Al Young is the author of more than 20 books including Heaven: Collected Poems 1956-1990; Mingus Mingus: Two Memoirs (with Janet Coleman); Drowning in the Sea of Love: Musical Memoirs; and the novels Snakes, Who Is Angelina?, and Sitting Pretty. A popular reader and performer, Young lectures worldwide on literature, music, creativity, and African American culture.

STEPHEN ELLIOTT & CO.
reading & booksigning for Sex For America: Politically Inspired Erotica
Tuesday, March 25 at 7 pm

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 desire and political belief. Along with editor Elliott, joining us for this special event will be contributors Nick Flynn, Anthony Swofford, and Michelle Richmond.

Stephen Elliott, in addition to being a former stripper, is the author of six books including Happy Baby, a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lion Award. Originally from Chicago, Elliott was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford, where he now teaches, and is a member of the San Francisco Writers' Grotto. He is also the founder of the Progressive Reading Series, which helps authors raise money for and participate on behalf of progressive candidates across the country.

ANNE LAMOTT **
reading & booksigning for Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
Wednesday, March 26 at 7 pm

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 Faith, which is just out in paperback, is her third collection of funny, smart, and prayerful essays-to-live-by.

Anne Lamott is a past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the bestselling author of Bird by Bird, Operating Instructions, Traveling Mercies, and other books. She is a former columnist for Salon and lives in Northern California.

** This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at the All Saints Church (1350 Waller St) in San Francisco. Copies of Anne Lamott's books will be available for purchase at the Booksmith table.

EDWARD DOCX
reading & booksigning for Pravda
Friday, March 28 at 7 pm

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 suspicion and loss, love and loyalty, and the destructive legacy of deceit.

Born in England, Edward Docx has been literary editor, columnist, and associate editor of the London Express. He is the author of an earlier novel, The Calligrapher, which was named a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year. (It was also long-listed for the Mann Booker Prize.) Docx is now a freelance journalist - his work appears in the London Times, Spectator, and other periodicals.

VINCENT CARRELLA
talk & booksigning for Serpent Box
Thursday, April 3 at 7 pm

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 historic, Serpent Box is a vividly rendered, uplifting coming-of-age novel.

Vincent Carrella is a writer and designer of interactive digital media who has created original adventure games and animated web serials as well as characters for DreamWorks, Warner Bros., SaturdayNightLive.com, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Darkhorse Comics. He lives in northern California.

Writer's Voices for Breast Cancer Action
Thursday, April 3, 2008 - 6:00pm - 7:30 pm

Join Breast Cancer Action and pulitzer-prize winning author Michael Chabon, internationally recognized authors Peggy Orenstein, and Ayelet Waldman, as well as Lambda award-winning novelist Jewelle Gomez as Master of Ceremonies, in BCA's biggest fundraiser of the year.

Authors will read excerpts from their current works and discuss BCA's critical role in the effort to end the breast cancer epidemic. The Booksmith will be selling the participating authors books at the event with proceeds to benefit Breast Cancer Action.

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm - War Memorial and Performing Arts Center - Green Room - 401 Van Ness Avenue - San Francisco - http://bcaction.org/index.php?page=writers-voices

1st Annual Benefit For Haight Ashbury Psychological Services
Friday, April 4, 2008, 5:00-8:00 PM (Dr. Zimbardo will speak at 6:30 PM)
The Women's Building, 3543 18th St. at Valencia, San Francisco

Guest speaker will be Dr. Philip Zimbardo, author of the best selling The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil. Dr. Zimbardo hosts the PBS-TV series, Discovering Psychology and is the man behind the famous Stanford Prison Experiment. Dr. Zimbardo will be signing copies of his new book after his talk. Books will be available at the event from The Booksmith. -Reception with wine and hors d'oeuvres -Live Jazz Music -Raffle & Auction

LEWIS BUZBEE & DAVE TILTON
reading & booksigning for first to leave before the sun
Monday, April 7 at 7 pm

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 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.

Lewis Buzbee is the author of The Yellow Lighted Bookshop (a local bestseller), Fliegelman's Desire, and After the Gold Rush. He lives in San Francisco. Dave Tilton is a writer as well as a solo recording artist, and along with Jason Peri, a member of folk-jazz duo Seventh Triangle.

MARY ROACH
talk & booksigning for Bonk
Tuesday, April 8 at 7 pm

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, implants, masturbation, the immaculate orgasm, and the eternal question can a woman find happiness with a machine."

Mary Roach is the author of the national bestsellers Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. Her writing has appeared in such publications as Salon, GQ, Vogue, and the New York Times magazine. She lives in Oakland.

SLOANE CROSLEY
reading & booksigning for I Was Told There'd Be Cake
Saturday, April 12 at 1 pm

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 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.

Sloane Crosley's essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times, New York Observer, the Village Voice, Playboy, Teen Vogue, Salon, Maxim, and The Believer. She is the Associate Director of Publicity at Vintage/Anchor Books in New York.

** This Booksmith co-sponsored event will take place at Orson, 508 4th Street in San Francisco.

SUSAN GRIFFIN
reading & booksigning for Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy
Wednesday, April 16 at 7 pm

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 Iraq, from Thomas Jefferson to Jelly Roll Morton, Griffin reflects upon the rise and fall of the American vision of freedom and equality

Susan Griffin has won dozens of awards for her work as a feminist writer, poet, essayist, playwright, and filmmaker. She is the author of more than twenty books including A Chorus of Stones, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is the recipient of an Emmy, a MacArthur grant, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. A resident of Berkeley, she is a frequent contributor to Ms. magazine, the New York Times Book Review, and numerous other publications.

NATHANIEL RICH
reading & booksigning for The Mayor's Tongue
Friday, April 18 at 7 pm

"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 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

Nathaniel Rich has published essays and criticism in The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, The Nation, The New Republic, and Slate. He is an editor at The Paris Review and author of San Francisco Noir.

You are cordially invited to join the monthly Haight-Ashbury Peace Vigil, this Friday night, April 18, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. We will be on Masonic, between Fell and Oak, San Francisco. We have a one-issue focus--end the war in Iraq. Although our purpose is serious, our crowd has been lively. We will have signs and candles for you, but you are welcome to bring your own. Pictures from our previous vigils can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/haightpeacevigil/

PATRICK MCGRATH
reading & booksigning for Trauma
Monday, April 21 at 7 pm

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 general, a distressing ambiance. All in all, it's highly recommended and jolly good fun.

Patrick McGrath was born in London and grew up near Broadmoor Hospital, where for many years his father was medical superintendent. McGrath's work is described by some as gothic. He is the author of six novels including Spider, which was adapted for the screen in 2002; Dr Haggard's Disease; and Asylum, which was shortlisted for the 1996 Guardian Fiction Prize and is currently being made into a feature film. McGrath is the co-editor, with Bradford Morrow, of The New Gothic. He lives in New York City and London, and is married to British actress Maria Aitken.

MELANIE ABRAMS
reading & booksigning for Playing
Tuesday, April 22 at 7 pm

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 giving in to our most secret passions, and the freedom that comes with self-knowledge.

Melanie Abrams received her MFA from UNC Greensboro and teaches writing at UC Berkley. She is married to the novelist Vikram Chandra.

SUSAN JACOBY
reading & booksigning for The Age of American Unreason
Thursday, April 24 at 7 pm

Americans are dumb. We are a lazy and credulous public, prone to following ignorant political and religious leaders. In The Age of American Unreason, Susan Jacoby dissects a culture at odds with both its heritage of Enlightenment reason and with contemporary secular knowledge and science. With wit, Jacoby surveys an anti-rationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of "junk thought." This provocative new book challenges Americans to face a painful truth about what our flight from reason has cost us as individuals and as a nation.

Susan Jacoby is the author of seven previous books, including Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, which was named a Notable Book of 2004 by the Washington Post and Times Literary Supplement. Jacoby is a frequent contributor to many publications including The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.

KEITH GESSEN
reading & booksigning for All the Sad Young Literary Men
Tuesday, April 29 at 7 pm

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 of the women who love and despise them to find a semblance of maturity, responsibility, and even literary fame.

Keith Gessen was born in Russia and raised in Massachusetts. A contributor to The New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, and New York magazine, he is a founding editor of the literary magazine n+1. Gessen is the translator of the NBCC Award-winning Voices from Chernobyl, the forthcoming Penguin Classics edition of Ludmila Petruskevskaya's Scary Fairy Tales, and is writing the introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of Mikail Bulgakov's A Dead Man's Memoir.

MARK ENGLER
talk & booksigning for "How to Rule the World"
Monday, May 5 at 7 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 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.

CATHLEEN SCHINE
reading & booksigning for "The New Yorkers"
Tuesday, May 6 at 7 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, 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.

FELICIA SULLIVAN
talk & booksigning for "The Sky Isn't Visible from Here"
Wednesday, May 7 at 7 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 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.

DALE PENDELL
reading & booksigning for "Walking with Nobby"
Tuesday, May 13 at 7 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," 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.

FARHAD MANJOO
reading & booksigning for "True Enough"
Wednesday, May 14 at 7 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 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.

CHUCK PALAHNIUK **
talk & booksigning for "Snuff"
Wednesday, May 28 at 7 pm

Chuck Palahniuk's new novel, "Snuff", is the story of a gargantuan gangbang. It tells the tale of an aging porn queen who intends to put an exclamation point on her career by having sex on film with 600 men in one day. The story begins with Mr. 600. The perspective then shifts to Mr. 72, before we encounter Mr. 137. Wild, funny, and thoroughly researched - Snuff goes where no literary novel has gone before. Who else but Chuck Palahniuk would dare do such a thing?

Chuck Palahniuk is the bestselling author of seven novels: "Haunted," " Lullaby," "Fight Club" - which was made into a popular film by director David Fincher - "Diary," "Survivor," "Invisible Monsters," and "Choke" - which will be released later this year as a film starring Sam Rockwell and Angelica Houston.

** This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at the Sundance Kabuki Theater (1881 Post Street) in San Francisco. Tickets are on sale at The Booksmith.

TIM WINTON
reading & booksigning for "Breath"
Saturday, May 31 at 7 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 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."

MIKE FARRELL
talk & booksigning for "Just Call Me Mike"
Tuesday, June 10 at 7 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 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.

ANDREW SEAN GREER
reading & booksigning for "The Story of a Marriage"
Thursday, June 12 at 7 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 1950s - 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.

ELLEN SUSSMAN & Co. **
talk & booksigning for "Dirty Words"
Thursday, June 12 at 7 pm

"Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex" is a witty reference, a playful take on bedroom talk, and a smart and often funny compendium of entries written by notable contemporary writers. From sexual relationships (monogamy, one-night stand, manage-a-trois) to sexual positions (doggie style, 69), from age-old practices (prostitution) to contemporary twists (cybersex), this alphabetical encyclopedia includes everything you need to know about the language of love and lust.

** Join us for an adults only evening with editor Ellen Sussman and local contributors Michelle Richmond, Meredith Maran, Helena Echlin, Stephen Elliott, and Katharine Noel. This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at the Edinburgh Castle (950 Geary Street).

RUSSELL TARG
reading & booksigning for "Do You See What I See?"
Friday, June 13 at 7 pm

"Do You See What I See?: Memoirs of a Blind Biker" is the story of a visually impaired physicist, Russell Targ, who sees beyond perception to help readers find meaning. Targ has been visually handicapped 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.

DONNA GEORGE STOREY & LIZA DALBY
reading & booksigning
Tuesday, June 17 at 7 pm

Join us for an evening of Japanese-inspired sensual literature with local authors Donna George Storey and Liza Dalby. Inspired by Ihara Saikaku's 17th-century satiric novel of the pleasure quarters, Storey's "Amorous Woman" is the tale of an American woman's love affair with Japan that gives readers a rather intimate view of the country that few Westerners ever see. Dalby, author of "Geisha" and other books on Japanese culture, is the author most recently of "East Wind Melts the Ice: A Memoir through the Seasons".

Donna George Storey holds a Ph.D in Japanese literature from Stanford. She is the translator of "Child of Darkness: Yoko and Other Stories," by Furui Yoshikichi. Her erotic fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies including Best American Erotica and Best Women's Erotica. Liza Dalby is a writer and anthropologist specializing in Japanese culture. She is the acclaimed author of "Geisha" and other books, and was a consultant for Rob Marshall's film "Memoirs of a Geisha."

ED PARK
talk & booksigning for "Personal Days"
Wednesday, June 18 at 7 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 dreams; and Jack II, who distributes unwanted backrubs; a.k.a., 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.

PETER HEEHS
reading & booksigning for "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo"
Thursday, June 19 at 7 pm

Since his death in 1950, Sri Aurobindo has been known primarily as a yogi and a philosopher of spiritual evolution. His years spent in yogic retirement were preceded by nearly four decades 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. This special event will be introduced by Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy.

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.

SASA STANISIC
reading & booksigning for "How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone"
Friday, June 20 at 7 pm

Sasa Stanisic's sensational debut novel, "How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone", is the moving story of a young child caught up in the Bosnian conflict who finds the secret to survival in language and stories. This European bestseller thrums with the joy of storytelling. "A great rattlebag of a book that's funny and heartfelt and brazen and true. Find some space on your shelf beside Aleksandar Hemon, Jonathan Safran Foer, William Vollmann, and David Foster Wallace." - Colum McCann

Sasa Stanisic was born in Visegard in Bosnia, but escaped to Germany at the age of 14 after the Serbian army invaded the city. He is the offspring of a mixed family - his mother is Muslim and his father is Serbian. His short stories have been published in anthologies and literary magazines and he won the German Ingeborg Bachmann competition for new authors.

KIARA BRINKMAN
reading & booksigning for "Up High in the Trees"
Monday, June 23 at 7 pm

Told in brief, poetic vignettes of luminious prose, "Up High in the Trees" is a moving evocation of the inner life of a most unusual boy, Sebby Lane. This remarkable debut novel (just out in softcover) also introduces an original and quietly powerful new writer, Kiara Brinkman. " . . . captures, pitch-perfectly, the voice of one eight-year old boy. That the story is also compelling, beautifully written, humorous, and heartbreaking makes it necessary reading." - Cristina Garcia.

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.

JENNIFER SEY
reading & booksigning for "Chalked Up"
Tuesday, June 24 at 7 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 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.

SAN FRANCISCO TAPE MUSIC CENTER **
reading & booksigning for "The San Francisco Tape Music Center"
Wednesday, June 25 at 7 pm

"The San Francisco Tape Music Center: 1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde" tells the story of an influential group of creative artists who connected music to technology during a legendary time in California's cultural history. As an integral part of the San Francisco "scene," the San Francisco Tape Music Center developed new art forms through collaborations between composers and the San Francisco Actor's Workshop, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Ann Halprin Dancers' Workshop, Canyon Cinema, and others. Told through vivid personal accounts, interviews, and retrospective essays by leading scholars and artists, this work - capturing the heady experimental milieu of the sixties - is the first comprehensive history of the San Francisco Tape Music Center.

** Don't miss this historic event, which will take place at the Park Branch Library (1863 Page Street). Planned are a panel discussion, demonstration of the Tape Music Center's original Buchla Box, and a brief nostaligic performance of the "Riley Delay." Participants include Morton Subotnick, Terry Riley, Ramon Sender, Bill Maginnis, David Bernstein, and Maggi Payne. Stu Dempster will dijeridu the room. A booksigning will follow.

TODD KOMARNICKI
reading & booksigning for "War: A Novel"
Thursday, June 26 at 7 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 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 event marks his second appearance at The Booksmith.

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 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.

KATIE HAFNER
reading & 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 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.

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 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.

JENNIFER TRAIG
reading & 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 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.

DAPHNE GOTTLIEB
reading & 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 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.

MICHELLE GAGNON & SIMON WOOD
talk & booksigning for Boneyard & We All Fall Down
Friday, July 18 at 7:30 pm

The Booksmith welcomes two local crime fiction writers. Michelle Gagnon is the author of Boneyard, the riveting story of the hunt for a serial killer and their copycat nemesis. Simon Wood is the author of We All Fall Down, a clever page-turner set among high-tech workers in the Bay Area. Ladies and gentlemen, hold onto your seats.

Michelle Gagnon is a former modern dancer, dog walker, bartender, freelance journalist, personal trainer, model, and Russian supper club performer. To the delight of her parents, she eventually gave up all these jobs for an infinitely more stable and lucrative position as a crime fiction writer. Simon Wood was born in England and was an engineer by training. He now lives in San Francisco and writes full time. Wood is the author of four previous novels.

DEBORAH GRABIEN
reading & 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. 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.

JACK HIRSCHMAN
reading & 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 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.

ALAN BLACK
reading & 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 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.

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 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.

HUMOR

These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!

ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty-one.

ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you shittin' me?

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh.... I was gettin' laid!

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Are you shittin' me? Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?

ATTORNEY: How was your firs t marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Now whose death do you suppose terminated it?

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Guess.

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.

ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people. Would you like to rephrase that?

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him!

ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh..are you qualified to ask that question?

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Eight Words with two Meanings

1: THINGY (thing-ee) n:

Female: Any part under a car's hood

Male: The strap fastener on a woman's bra

2: VULNERABLE (vul-ne-ra-bel) adj:

Female: Fully opening up one's self emotionally to another

Male: Playing football without a cup

3: COMMUNICATION (ko-myoo-ni-kay-shon) n :

Female: The open sharing of thoughts and feelings with one's partner

Male: Leaving a note before taking off on a fishing trip with the boys:

4: COMMITMENT (ko- mit-ment) n:

Female: A desire to get married and raise a family

Male: Trying not to hit on other women while out with this one:

5: ENTERTAINMENT (en-ter-tayn-ment) n:

Female: A good movie, concert, play or book

Male: Anything that can be done while drinking beer

6: FLATULENCE (flach-u-lens) n:

Female: An embarrassing byproduct of indigestion

Male: A source of entertainment, self-expression, male bonding

7 MAKING LOVE (may-king luv) n:

Female: The greatest expression of intimacy a couple can achieve

Male: Call it whatever you want, just as long as we do it

8: REMOTE CONTROL (ri-moht kon-trohl) n:

Female: A device for changing from one TV channel to another

Male: A device for scanning through all 375 channels every 5 minutes

AND

He said: I don't know why you wear a bra; you've got nothing to put in it

She said: You wear pants don't you?

He said: Shall we try swapping positions tonight?

She said: That's a good idea - you stand by the ironing board while I sit on the sofa and fart!

He said: What have you been doing with all the grocery money I gave you?