Bay Area Book Festival Podcast

Fiction is often a vehicle for confronting political issues, and the mystery genre is no exception. Former newspaper reporter Jennifer K. Morita’s debut mystery, Ghosts of Waikīkī, features an out-of-work journalist looking into the murder of a controversial land developer and explores timely issues in Hawai’i, including locals getting priced out of paradise. If, as Morita claims, “a good story is like mochi—slightly sweet with a nice chew,” then Leslie Karst takes the phrase quite literally in the second book of the Orchid Isle series, Waters of Destruction, a cozy culinary mystery featuring a feisty queer couple who swap surfing lessons for sleuthing sessions in tropical Hilo, Hawai’i. Follow Mud Sawpole from D. M. Rowell’s Silent Are the Dead as she investigates a murder while also pursuing evidence to permanently stop frackers from destroying the Kiowas’ ancestral homeland, water, and livelihoods. Large institutions also play a big role in Not Long Ago Persons Found by J. Richard Osborn, a debut novel about a biological anthropologist tasked with explaining (in a way that satisfies multiple political regimes) why the body of a young boy is found floating in a river with little to identify him other than pollen in his lungs from what has to be some warm green valley distant from the city in which he has turned up dead. Moderated by the decorated and beloved detective fiction writer Laurie R. King, this panel will explore mystery stories of the modern day as a voice against corruption, land grabs, and other forms of injustice.

Nefertiti Asanti, Natasha Dennerstein, Edward Gunawan, Miah Jeffra, Baruch Porras-Hernandez, Grayson Thompson Community members of the Bay Area's beloved LGBTQ+ collaborative, Foglifter Journal and Press, discuss the role of queer and trans publishing in a time when the nation has further precluded being a place of support and comfort, and shape a vision for queer/trans writing both as celebration and resistance. Panelists will share tips and exercises to cultivate writing in this time of duress.

Join us for an invigorating discussion on the rising influence of Latinx voices in horror fiction. Panelists Daniel A. Olivas, Cynthia Gómez, and M. M. Olivas will delve into how Latinx authors are using the genre to blend culture, resistance, horror, and social commentary, confronting both real and imagined monsters. Daniel A. Olivas, author of Chicano Frankenstein, reimagines the literary classic in a near-future—yet very present—United States, where 12 million “reanimated” people are exploited as a cheap workforce and face pervasive bigotry. This modern retelling of Frankenstein tackles themes of racism, isolation, belonging, and identity, challenging a society that erases the past while exploring the ‘horrors’ of what it means to be human in a dehumanizing world. Cynthia Gómez’s powerful, debut collection, The Nightmare Box, is a magic-infused love letter to Oakland, where Latine, queer, and working-class characters wield supernatural powers against oppression, loneliness, and fear. With feminist rage and dark themes, her stories push back against power structures while offering hope and showcasing the resilience of the human spirit. M. M. Olivas’ Sundown in San Ojuela immerses readers in a supernatural horror world inspired by Mesoamerican mythology. Olivias brings queer and diasporic experiences to the forefront, exploring the duality of monsters and the people who fear them. The novel offers a blueprint for confronting both internal and external darkness, highlighting the strength in resistance. Moderated by Kristina Canales, author of Pull Me from the Deep and founder of Queerthology, this conversation promises to be dynamic as Canales brings her own perspective, blending horror and romance to explore identity, culture, and terror. Join us for an insightful exploration of Latinx horror fiction, where culture, fear, and resilience collide in unexpected and powerful ways.

Do you have an idea for a reading series, literary podcast, website, or game? Maybe you've imagined starting your own literary nonprofit, magazine, bookstore, or (gasp) book festival. Chances are, if you've dreamed it up, Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner have insights to help make it happen—and can inspire you to turn your literary visions into reality. Brooke, publisher of She Writes Press, memoir coach, author of several books on writing and memoir, and a dedicated member of many literary boards, brings her expertise in publishing and storytelling to the table. Grant, co-host of the podcast Write-minded, former executive director of NaNoWriMo, co-founder of 100-Word Story and the Flash Fiction Collective, and Executive Producer on the upcoming TV series America's Next Great Author, combines practical advice with encouragement. Together, they’ll guide you through the steps to bring your literary dreams to life.

Featuring stunning literary debuts from authors who are enrolled members of the Akwesasne Kanienkehaka and the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, this panel centers the Native experience as influenced by modern political and personal struggles. Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis follows an Ahkwesáhsne man’s reluctant return to his reservation after receiving a diagnosis for a rare disease, where he undergoes a healing at the hands of his wry Great Uncle Budge and finds hope in confronting the parts of himself he’s hidden ever since he left home. In Jon Hickey’s Big Chief, a young law school graduate and aspiring political fixer fights a nationally known politician for control over his tribe’s casino and hotel in an unforgettable story about the search for belonging—to an ancestral and spiritual home, to a family, and to a sovereign people at a moment of great historical importance. Greg Sarris, Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, will moderate this well-deserved celebration of Native debuts.

Having witnessed and experienced the American justice system’s unreasonable treatment of incarcerated people, the activists of this panel shed light on the shrouded reality of the ghosts currently being unduly punished. In his polemic Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine: Reform, White Supremacy, and an Abolitionist Future, Emile Suotonye DeWeaver combines personal narrative with social commentary to critique the entrenched white supremacy that influences reform efforts, spotlighting the tools we need to address it both within and outside the carceral setting. Dorsey E. Nunn also reflects on lessons he learned in prison, namely that the criminal legal system increasingly targets poor Black and Brown communities with offenses, real or contrived. His memoir What Kind of Bird Can’t Fly: A Memoir of Resilience and Resurrection details his efforts to liberate those he left behind, exemplifying the importance of centering voices of experience in the fight for freedom and dignified flight. Scott Dozier, the subject of Emmy award-winning investigative reporter Gianna Toboni’s The Volunteer: The Failure of the Death Penalty in America and One Inmate's Quest to Die with Dignity, sought dignity through expedited death but was met with a death penalty system rife with black market dealings, supply chain labyrinths, disputed drugs, and botched executions. Moderated by Piper Kerman, justice reform activist, author of Orange is the New Black, and Chair of the Bay Area Book Festival Board, this panel will take a critical look at a system that has failed the public it claims to serve and discuss the necessary next steps toward justice.

In times of love and loss, demonstrations of care can be another form of activism. This sentiment is perhaps most evident in the AIDS epidemic, when physical touch became paradoxically a symbol of tenderness yet agonizingly painful for someone with complications from HIV, as Keiko Lane recalls in Blood Loss: A Love Story of AIDS, Activism, and Art, a memoir exploring survival after our loved ones have died and a chronicle of the powerful lives they led in solidarity. Difficult times remind us that All Friends Are Necessary, Tomas Moniz’s novel about a recently divorced middle school teacher who leans on his network of platonic and romantic relationships to put himself back out into the world. Mei, a Dartmouth dropout-turned-limousine driver for questionable clientele from Off the Books by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, also finds herself navigating transition in the form of a cross-country road trip that showcases the resilience of the human spirit and the power of doing the right thing. Moderated by poet, educator, and organizer Gabriel Cortez, this heartfelt and uplifting panel will highlight the power to be found in community as we go through life’s hardships together.

During the 2024 presidential race, the Trump campaign released an anti-trans ad blitz across swing states. Once in power, he wasted no time issuing an executive order proclaiming there are only two biological sexes. Accordingly, trans protections, gender affirming care, and DEI initiatives are being dismantled nationwide. Philosopher and human rights activist Judith Butler has long been a lightning rod for society’s fears, myths, and projections about the idea of gender. Now, when we need them most, Butler is back with what critics are calling their most mainstream and urgent book yet, Who’s Afraid of Gender? It’s both an intervention and an example of rising to meet the moment. At our Sunday headliner event, Butler will be in conversation with micha cárdenas, a novelist and scholar known for her work on “transreal” identities and digital media, whose latest sci-fi novel, Atoms Never Touch, tackles themes of neurodivergence and trans identity. Moderated by Afro-Latinx educator and writer MK Chavez, Butler and cárdenas will discuss their complementary yet distinct approaches to gender theory and identity: putting Butler’s foundational concepts in conversation with cárdenas’s cutting-edge explorations of biotechnological realities.

This visionary, multi-generational panel brings together Bay Area authors who weave speculative fiction with powerful messages of resistance, transformation, and justice. Through creative storytelling, these authors tackle the pressing issues of our time—exploring the legacies of the past and imagining a future where change is possible. Angela Dalton’s To Boldly Go celebrates the life of Nichelle Nichols, whose work on Star Trek helped to diversify the space program, inspiring generations of astronauts and STEM professionals. Dalton’s work underscores the vital role of representation in storytelling and its potential to spark real-world change. Tamika Thompson’s Unshod, Cackling, and Naked presents an eclectic collection of stories that range from supernatural encounters to the harrowing realities of the human psyche. With vivid, often haunting tales, Thompson challenges readers to confront what’s real, what’s imagined, and what we choose to accept as truth. Jewelle Gomez, a radical poet, playwright, and “foremother of Afrofuturism,” brings decades of experience as a writer of speculative fiction. Her landmark work The Gilda Stories continues to resonate as a powerful example of fiction as a tool for political and social transformation. Moderated by Isis Asare, CEO and Founder of Sistah Scifi—America’s first Black-owned bookstore dedicated to science fiction and fantasy—this panel invites attendees to engage with these visionary authors and explore the role of speculative fiction in activism, representation, and shaping a more just world.

Learn from the best of community organization leadership in this empowering panel, which will get to the bottom of how to build resilient and justice-oriented communities. Jaz Brisack, a leader of the Starbucks and Tesla union movements, narrates their stories from the front lines in the context of current social unrest and shows us how we too can organize our workplaces in Get on the Job and Organize: The Making of a New Labor Movement. Shaping strong organizers requires shaping strong individuals, and James Tracy draws on his book A Southern Panther: Conversations With Malik Rahim to highlight Rahim's unique approach to organizing—updating the politics of intercommunalism, rainbow coalitions, and municipalism—offer vital lessons for today's social movements. Certain identities are unjustly disadvantaged by the “game” of the complex modern world, especially women of color as Vanessa Priya Daniel points out in Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning, a playbook based on interviews with 45 of the most powerful women of color movement leaders of our time. This inspiring discussion, moderated by Christina Heatherton (author of Arise! Global Radicalism in the Era of the Mexican Revolution), will lean on our panelists’ valuable experiences to discuss the best strategies for organization—so we can all win.