Bay Area Book Festival Podcast

It’s been demonstrated that reading fiction increases empathy. Can it also unlock a blueprint for our future, at a moment when we need new ways of defining what’s possible? Four of Berkeley’s most visionary novelists, known for their ability to conjure exciting “future histories” with words, come together to discuss how literature and the imagination can light a bold path to progress.

“The choice today,” said Martin Luther King, Jr., “is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.” Our nation is rocked by protests; and on a global stage, nuclear-armed countries flirt with mutually assured destruction. What is the path forward? In conversation with Stephen Best, Judith Butler overturns common assumptions about nonviolence, offering a definition that can help us achieve a world where peace and equality arise.

W. Kamau Bell, an Emmy-winner for CNN’s United Shades of America, and Steve Kerr, outspoken head coach of the Golden State Warriors, are teaming up to raise the good kind of hell, talking all things race, power, dissent, the intersection of sports and activism, and comedy as coping mechanism and vehicle for truth. In a freewheeling conversation refereed by Dacher Keltner, founding director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, the comedian and the coach will hold nothing back.

In this conversation, Merlin Sheldrake and bestselling writer Michael Pollan delve into “The Wood Wide Web”: an enchanting “superorganism” whose secrets just might save the world. Merlin’s riveting first book, Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures, has become an instant classic of nature and philosophy — a work of rigorous science and poetic expression, drawing us into the mystery and meaning of this most magical life form.

This episode includes passages that may not be appropriate for all listeners. Why is it so hard for so many of us to claim our own power? “Because,” writes Alexandra Roxo in her debut, F*ck Like a Goddess, “each of us has been conditioned, programmed, and literally brainwashed into thinking we are not enough.” The solution is to rewrite the story we’ve been told about our own worth. Joining Roxo is staff sexologist at Good Vibrations and author-activist-sex educator, Dr. Carol Queen.

Author of Real Happiness and columnist for the Peabody Award-winning On Being, Sharon Salzberg has built a devoted fanbase and major excitement for her latest book, Real Change. A renowned figure in the world of meditation, Salzberg offers us a guide for harnessing mindfulness in ways that benefit ourselves and the world around us. She dispenses her invaluable wisdom and counsel for vanquishing fear and anxiety at a time when awareness of mental health and emotional wellbeing is more necessary than ever.

Trust Adam Hochschild to unearth one of history’s forgotten heroines. Russian immigrant Rose Pastor Stokes spent her first years in America in a sweatshop, only to skyrocket to the upper class when she married an heir. It’s a classic Cinderella story: that is, if Cinderella converted her prince to socialism, became an antiwar and labor activist, promoted birth control access, and was dubbed “one of the most dangerous influences of the country” by a President. Hochschild will be joined by Monika Bauerlein.

In this panel sponsored by Heyday, four authors meet at a crossroads between hard science and visual sumptuousness. Obi Kaufmann turns his artist’s palette on California’s most contested natural resource, water; while Josie Iselin wades into the deep end with the magic of seaweed. John Muir Laws & Emilie Lygren take us into the revelatory practice of nature journaling. How do these artists learn the ecological nitty gritty of their subjects? How does nature writing deepen the impact of scientific research?

Dive into an exploration of female power with bestselling authors Sue Monk Kidd and Lisa See, moderated by Aimee Phan. Lisa’s latest novel, the multi-generational saga The Island of Sea Women, brings us into the lives of Mi-ja and Young-sook, two best friends on the Korean island of Jeju, who join their village’s all-female diving collective. Sue’s newest novel, The Book of Longings, puts us in the skin of Ana, a gifted Galilee rebel whose chance encounter with Jesus Christ changes her life forever.

Swedish suspense phenomenon Lars Kepler, famed for the #1 bestselling Joona Linna series, is husband-and-wife duo Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril. Both were already acclaimed authors before they joined forces, but together they’ve sold millions of copies. Their first book, The Hypnotist, stirred up intrigue as the media sleuthed to uncover Lars Kepler’s real identity. Come for a rare look at this couple’s process. Moderated by Jesse Kellerman. Sponsored by the Consulate General of Sweden.