City Arts & Lectures

Melissa Broder, poet, podcaster, and novelist, discusses her love for tuna salad, the importance of authenticity, self-worth, strategies for staying alive, and the quest for fulfillment. She also shares anecdotes about her various jobs in San Francisco and emphasizes the significance of writing.

Our guest is historian Ibram X. Kendi, the author of “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.” Kendi’s newest book, “How to be an Antiracist”, tasks readers with identifying their own racism, and working to challenge racist policies that underlie society. On December 12, 2019, Ibram Kendi came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk to Jelani Cobb, staff writer for the New Yorker.

Ben Lerner and Maggie Nelson are two of the foremost writers working at the intersections of poetry, nonfiction, and memoir. They talk about Lerner's book "The Topeka School", a semi-autobiographical work that examines language, masculinity, and today's political and cultural crises. This program was recorded at the Sydney Goldstein Theater on November 21, 2019.

Mo Rocca, humorist, history buff, and a regular panelist on NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!, is fascinated by obituaries. He coined the term "Mobituaries" as a second remembrance for people or things that didn't get a proper one the first time around - from obscure presidents to lawn darts to disco. On November 18, 2019, Mo Rocca came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with Adam Savage.

Our guest is writer, activist, and feminist organizer Gloria Steinem.  In 1971, when Steinem founded the groundbreaking “Ms.” women’s magazines focused on finding a husband, or the right lipstick. But Ms. carried articles on de-sexing the English language, abortion, and the real challenges women were facing. The feminist icon continues to fight for equality across race and gender. And at eighty-five years of age, her energy is undiminished.  On November 13, 2019, Gloria Steinem came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with Amy Richards about today’s political climate, the need for organizing across generations, and her lifelong wish to be a stand-up comic.

Our guest is Chris Hughes. In May of 2019, Hughes published an Op-Ed in the *New York Times, *entitled “It’s Time to Break Up Facebook.” Hughes called for government regulation of the platform, and reflected on the troubling directions he believes Facebook has moved in since he co-founded the company. On November seventh, 2019, Chris Hughes came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with journalist and author Courtney E. Martin about his successes and failures as a young person working in tech, and the societal problems he sees Facebook and other large corporations contributing to. Hughes also talked about the notion of a universal basic income, and anti-monopoly fund he is working on right now.

In 1993, Liz Phair flipped the indie rock landscape with frank lyrics about sexuality and anxiety on her debut album “Exile in Guyville.” In her memoir “Horror Stories,” Phair recounts the most transformative moments in her life as an unabashed musician and mother. On October 21, 2019, Liz Phair came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to sit down with photographer Tabitha Soren for a candid conversation about her sudden rise to fame, and the often unrecognized, universal experiences of shame and fear that make up our common humanity.

Our guests are writers Andre Aciman and Andrew Sean Greer. Aciman is a memoirist, essayist, and scholar of seventeenth-century literature. His best-known novel, “Call Me By Your Name”, was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film. He’s just published a sequel to the book, “Find Me.” Andrew Sean Greer is the author of “The Confessions of Max Tivoli” and “Less,”  a comedy about a man fleeing the humiliations of love, middle-age, and failure. “Less” won last year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. On November 6, 2019, Andre Aciman and Andrew Sean Greer came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with Steven Winn.

Our guest is actor, artist, and now - published poet John Lithgow, known for his television and film roles including “Third Rock From the Sun,” “The Crown,” and “The World According to Garp” - and numerous stage credits, most recently playing Bill Clinton in “Hillary and Clinton.” Lithgow plays Roger Ailes in the 2019 film “Bombshell” and he’s just published “Dumpty: The Age of Trump in Verse”. The book, featuring Lithgow’s own illustrations, chronicles the last few years in politics with his characteristic sharp wit. On October 30, 2019, John Lithgow came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with New Yorker staff writer and humorist Calvin Trillin.

Zadie Smith is known for her emotionally rich stories and unique perspective on contemporary culture. Smith wrote her widely acclaimed debut novel “White Teeth” as an undergraduate. She soon cemented her reputation as one of the most important voices of her generation with books like “Swing Time,” “The Autograph Man,” and "On Beauty.” On October 16, 2019, Zadie Smith came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with Isabel Duffy about her debut short story collection, “Grand Union.”  Their far-ranging conversation ruminated on living abroad, maturing as a writer, and the catharsis of reading fiction and philosophy.