City Arts & Lectures

Our guests are Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris, hosts of “Still Processing”... a culture podcast from the New York Times. Each week, Wesley, a critic-at-large, and Wortham, a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine, lovingly debate pop-culture products and people, from queerness to unpacking black male privilege, Michael Jackson to Marie Kondo. On April 10, 2019, Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris came to The Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco. The event was a co-presentation with The New York Times.

In 2018, Stacey Abrams made United States history when she became the first black woman to be nominated by a major party for governor. Despite winning more votes than any other Democrat in Georgia’s history, Abrams lost the hotly contested election. But her impact can’t be understated. Abrams continues to work against voter suppression, and her plans to run for future office are a major source of curiosity among media and electorate alike. On May 19, 2019, Stacey Abrams came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk to Alexis Madrigal about her family, her desire to build a template for future Democratic campaigns, and the question of whether or not she will run for president.

Ruth Reichl served as restaurant critic for the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, before becoming Editor in Chief of Gourmet Magazine during the Golden Era of print journalism. In her latest memoir, “Save Me The Plums,” Reichl reveals the realities of her time at Gourmet, and the lasting ways in which she innovated food journalism as we know it. On April 9, 2019, Ruth Reichl came to The Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with arts journalist and fiction writer Steven Winn.  

Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist and futurist, and the co-founder of string field theory, a branch of string theory. Thanks to his many books, regular television appearances, and robust Twitter presence, Dr. Kaku is one of the rare scientists with an enormous public following, particularly among young people. In his newest book, “Our Destiny Beyond Earth,” Kaku argues that human civilization can and will move to outer space. On April 8, 2019, Dr. Michio Kaku came to The Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with Alexis Madrigal, a staff writer at the Atlantic.

Rachel Cusk is a writer of considerable range and depth, and her most recent works —  dubbed the “Outline” trilogy -- embody a new and distinctive style. The novels take the form of a succession of monologues delivered not by the protagonist, but by the people she encounters. Little is revealed about a central character who serves principally as a conduit for others. The themes and questions that arise from those stories are weighty, as is Cusk’s choice to subvert traditional positions and form. On April 8, 2019, Rachel Cusk came to The Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with Steven Winn about her unconventional work and its reception.

Started three years ago in the media lab of California’s San Quentin Prison, the podcast Ear Hustle tells the daily realities of life inside prison, shared by those living it. On March 29, 2019, two of the podcast’s creators, visual artist Nigel Poor and former inmate Earlonne Woods, came to The Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk to Al Letson. After twenty-one years of incarceration, Earlonne Woods’ sentence had recently been commuted by Governor Jerry Brown. This was his first major public appearance since his release.

Dr. Daniel Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry, and the author of multiple books on child-rearing, including “The Whole Brain Child” and “No Drama Discipline.” Siegel’s books are popular with parents and and teachers alike, with their strategies for cultivating calmer, happier children. While mindfulness techniques -- and patience -- help foster healthy brain development, Siegel also suggests that improving children’s health and well-being requires addressing our own problems. On March 4, 2019, Dr. Daniel Siegel came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with Steven Winn.

Rebecca Solnit is a writer and activist whose work addresses a wide range of issues, from climate change to feminism, and literary criticism to police brutality. She is the author of over twenty books, including Hope in the Dark and  Men Explain Things to Me. On February 27, 2019, Rebecca Solnit came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco, to talk with Astra Taylor, a filmmaker and political organizer*. *  

Among this year’s most acclaimed books is Tommy Orange’s debut novel “There, There”. The book begins with a poignant prologue describing the devastating history of genocide and violent removal of Native Americans from their lands, setting the stage for a contemporary story about the urban Native American experience in the city of Oakland. The characters’ lives are informed by their ancestors’ suffering, as well as the continued systematic discrimination against Native people. On February 25, 2019, Tommy Orange came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater to be interviewed by Jeff Chang, author of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” and the Vice President of Narrative, Arts, and Culture at Race Forward.

Preet Bharara served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017, before being fired by President Trump within a few weeks of his inauguration. Bharara is the host of the podcast Stay Tuned with Preet, and author of the book Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law. On March 26, 2019, Preet Bharara came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with Jeffrey Toobin, a staff writer at The New Yorker and a senior legal analyst at CNN.