Bay Area Book Festival Podcast

As we emerge from the past few years of collective upheaval, how do we face the complexities of our time with joy, authenticity, and connection? Therapist, somatics teacher, activist, and writer Prentis Hemphill shows us how in What It Takes to Heal, a life-affirming framework toward a future in which healing is done in community. In Hemphill’s revolutionary framework, we don’t have to carry our emotional burdens alone. Healing our bodies, minds, and souls starts with the principles of embodiment—the recognition of our body’s sensations and habits, and the beliefs that inform them— and developing the interpersonal skills necessary to break down the doors of disconnection. What currently separates us isn’t only the ever-present injustices built around race, class, gender, values, and beliefs, but also our denial of our interdependence and need for belonging, as researcher and writer Mia Birdsong demonstrates in How We Show Up. Through research, interviews, and stories of lived experience, Birdsong reminds us of our inherent connectedness and provides a blueprint for showing up, both literally and figuratively. Join us to hear from experts and leaders in this enriching conversation that will challenge mainstream models of self-reliance and instead infuse healing with the rigor of justice, vulnerability, repair, and accountability.

In a moment of global crises and heightened polarization, how do we foster belonging and minimize othering? How and where do we build bridges when so many communities and institutions are fracturing and re-constellating? Drawing on the panelists’ four books and their unique experiences and perspectives, we will speak into a future where generative relationships across boundaries thrive. Leading asexuality and relationship expert David Jay tackles breeding grounds of isolation—from schools to tech to social media—in Relationality, which provides a scientifically-grounded framework for investing in the power of relational work and expands upon the fundamental idea that all entities in the universe are connected. From one point to the next, we can bridge the spaces between us into a network of communication and coexistence toward a shared future where we all belong, as civil rights scholar and Director of the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley john a. powell demonstrates through his book The Power of Bridging: How to Build a World Where We All Belong. Bridging Indigenous wisdom, traditions, and practices with Western knowledge and ways, Flourishing Kin by Indigenous scholar Yuria Celidwen details our aspirations for sustainable, collective flourishing that goes beyond optimism or resilience and instead leans into the power of community to cultivate happiness. Author, organizer, and designer Aida Mariam Davis envisions better worlds rooted in African lifeways in Kindred Creation, exploring the impacts of intentional colonial acts of violence and dispossession and providing a blueprint to intergenerational Black joy and dignity centered on the concept of creation: a re-membering of interconnectedness and kinship. This hopeful and informative panel, moderated by Tim McKee, publisher of North Atlantic Books, is a much-needed reminder to tap into our innate capabilities to be in dialogue with each other as we co-create a thriving future.

Celebrate indigenous poetry with these intergenerational poets from different parts of Indian Country, who will share their powerful words that navigate land, memory, music, and more. Diné poet, editor, and playwright Kinsale Drake explores the intricate relationships between Native peoples and the natural world, and her debut collection The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket oscillates between musical influences and time. Poet Laureate Emerita of Lake County and President of the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference Georgina Marie Guardado’s poetry chapbooks, Finding the Roots of Water and Tree Speak, draw inspiration from the natural world and how it witnesses our most emotional and introspective periods of life. Former Kansas Poet Laureate and founding board member of Indigenous Nations Poets Denise Low centers Indigenous peoples’ experience and the intergenerational impacts of the 1782 Gnadenhutten Massacre in House of Grace, House of Blood, a haunting and lyrical reconstruction of an important historical event that challenges the attempted erasure of Indigenous voices. Diné poet and zinester Amber McCrary perceives the enduring bonds between people and place in her debut poetry collection Blue Corn Tongue: Poems in the Mouth of the Desert, which remaps the deserts of Arizona through the blue corn story of a young Diné woman figuring out love and life with an O’odham man. Poet Laureate of El Dorado Stephen Meadows also analyzes place and the natural world in his poetry, and Winter Work paints a beautiful geography of emotions through the lens of natural elements, the damage we inflict upon the land, and our history. Visual artist and Poet Laureate Emerita of San Francisco Kim Shuck will emcee this inspiring poetry reading grounded in understanding, admiration, and deep respect for our natural world.

This powerful panel showcases three Black women artists, authors, and activists who use their creative practices to challenge oppressive systems and fight for social, cultural, and environmental justice. Through their intersectional approaches, they address race, gender, inequality, and healing. Berkeley Poet Laureate, organizer, activist and author of Undisclosed, Aya de León, explores race, gender, social and climate justice in her writings. As Director of Poetry for the People at UC Berkeley, she empowers marginalized voices through poetry and spoken word. Ashara Ekundayo, Black feminist artist and curator, creates healing spaces rooted in African Diaspora traditions. Through photography, public installations, and altar-making, she amplifies Black womxn’s voices and explores art’s power to heal and resist oppression. Cat Brooks, award-winning playwright, actress, and activist, confronts police violence, racial injustice, and incarceration through theater. As a resident playwright with The Lower Bottom Playaz and host of Law & Disorder on KPFA, she uses storytelling to inspire change. Moderated by Pecolia Manigo.

Join us for a conversation on the vital role of different forms of community care and mutual aid across California’s diverse communities. Red Flag Warning, a collection of essays and interviews by survivors Dani Burlison and Margaret Elysia Garcia, highlights how grassroots organizing, community care, and resilience help navigate ecological and social challenges. Adéniké Amin, Storytelling Lead at BLACspace Cooperative, will share insights into the power of storytelling and cultural preservation. Through her work with BLACspace, she champions thriving local community arts as a form of mutual aid, fostering cultural permanence, economic opportunity, and collective resilience. Jocelyn Jackson, award-winning chef, artist, teacher, activist, Chef-in-Residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora, and co-founder of People’s Kitchen Collective, will discuss her work at the intersection of food justice, environmental education, and radical hospitality. This panel will explore how mutual aid networks across California are reshaping survival, support, and recovery—particularly in the wake of disasters, both natural and human-made. Featuring perspectives from environmentalists, cultural workers, mental health workers and journalists, we’ll examine how communities provide resources, share knowledge, and offer emotional support in times of need. Moderated by Brian Edwards-Tiekert, founder and co-host of UpFront on KPFA radio, this discussion will highlight how mutual aid fosters resilience and solidarity, demonstrating how communities build collective strength and power, and recognize each other as essential resources.

A competition to find the king’s lost heir. A war fought by a woman soldier in disguise. A quest to escape a desolate land of sickness and unnatural beasts. The fiery protagonists of this romantasy panel adventure far and wide, questioning their judgments and learning to trust along the way. In Our Deadly Designs, the epic conclusion to Kalyn Josephson’s This Dark Descent duology, spellbinding fantasy meets Jewish mythology in a cut-throat race for the throne ― and humanity's survival. The Night Ends with Fire by K. X. Song is another mythology-inspired novel based on the legend of Mulan, which follows a young woman’s journey fighting a war between the Three Kingdoms and her conflicting feelings between two handsome princes and a sea dragon spirit. In The Last One, a romantasy debut from Rachel Howzell Hall, Kai wakes up in the woods with no memory and must accept the help of the village blacksmith to journey through the kingdom of Vinevridth in search of answers. Danielle DeVeaux will moderate this panel of best-selling authors whose enthralling novels prove time and time again that romantasy is not for the faint of heart.

Buckle up for a disorienting launch into the vast unknown with these works of speculative fiction that transcend time and space. How We Know Our Time Travelers is Anita Felicelli’s collection of dark, intellectual, and surreal stories that examine our post-pandemic reality and future, introducing characters such as a bickering couple who use an app to track their fights, a woman who discovers an unseen lodger in her home, and a group of creepy friends who sell jars of fog. The colorful cast of characters continues in Marguerite Sheffer’s The Man in the Banana Trees, with ghosts, aliens, an ice cream consultant who predicts a devastating new flavor trend, and a disgruntled New England waiter who investigates a mysterious tanker crash, diverse characters from the American Gulf South to the orbit around Jupiter who question whether what lurks at the edge of their perception is sinister or miraculous. For the young researcher protagonist resisting insidious pressure from her community in Mending Bodies, written by Hon Lai Chu and translated by Jacqueline Leung, her undoubtedly sinister world is governed by absurd socio-bureaucratic powers, and a new law that forces men and women to be surgically sewn together once they come of age leaves her desperate for ways to resist. Along with moderator Jane Ciabattari, the speculative authors of this panel will just skim the surface of the elusive atmospheric disturbances that fascinate and inspire them.

The fight for justice and freedom for political prisoners in the US has long been rooted in revolutionary struggle against state violence and political repression. Since the 1960s, resistance to politically motivated incarceration has taken many forms, both inside and outside prison walls. Garrett Felber, author of A Continuous Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Martin Sostre, highlights Sostre’s legacy as a political prisoner who used his time behind bars to fight against multiple forms of oppression. As a jailhouse lawyer, bookseller, anti-rape organizer, and housing justice activist, Sostre’s work in the 1960s-70s helped shape Black Power movements and redefine resistance, underscoring the need for diverse strategies to challenge injustice. Russell “Maroon” Shoatz’s children, Russell Shoatz III and Sharon Shoatz, join the panel to discuss their late father’s legacy and their advocacy for political prisoners. Russell Shoatz III, who fought for his father’s release after five decades of imprisonment, brings deep experience in restorative justice, anti-racism, and youth development. Sharon Shoatz, a retired NYC educator and civil rights advocate, reflects on her work with the Panther Cubs and the broader liberation movement. Their late father’s memoir, I Am Maroon: The True Story of an American Political Prisoner, co-written with Kanya D’Almeida, provides a firsthand account of resistance and redemption. Moderated by Claude Marks, Director of the Freedom Archives and a former political prisoner, this panel will also highlight the crucial work of The Freedom Archives, which preserves archives of radical movements and political prisoner narratives from the 1960s-1990s, ensuring their legacies endure. This conversation bridges past and present struggles against politically motivated incarceration in the US, and will be a powerful reminder that the fight for freedom is continuous, ever-evolving, and necessary to the transformation of a just and free society.

In an era of rising authoritarianism, media polarization, and attacks on voting rights, independent journalism plays a critical role in safeguarding democracy. This panel brings together two of the most incisive voices in political reporting—Zack Beauchamp and Ari Berman—to examine the challenges facing American democracy and the essential role of independent media in holding power to account. Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent at Vox, covers threats to democracy in the US and abroad, right-wing populism, and the ideological battles shaping our political landscape. His work, funded by the Pulitzer Center, has taken him to Israel and Hungary to report on democratic decline. His book, The Reactionary Spirit, explores the global rise of reactionary politics. Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones and reporting fellow at Type Media Center, has spent years documenting voter suppression and the right-wing effort to undermine democratic representation. His latest book, Minority Rule, exposes the coordinated attacks on the will of the people and the ongoing fight to protect voting rights. Together, these journalists will discuss how independent media can counter disinformation, expose threats to democracy, and empower citizens to fight back. Moderated by Shereen Marisol Meraji, this conversation will explore the intersection of journalism, activism, and the urgent struggle for a more just and representative democracy. Join us for a vital discussion on the power of truth in an era of democratic crisis.

Making their literary entrance in insightful fiction debuts, the protagonists of this panel reckon with pasts that stretch beyond their own lifetimes. The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne spans eight generations of a Black family in West Tennessee, beginning with the story of Yetunde, who makes a deal with the Devil upon awakening aboard a slave ship en route to the United States. Yefim Shulman, a Ukrainian Jewish WWII veteran from Sasha Vasilyuk’s Your Presence Is Mandatory, also hides a dangerous lifelong secret from his family, which is revealed in a confession letter to the KGB discovered after his death, leaving his family to deal with the repercussions and attempt to find grace in the course of their survival. Too Soon, another generational novel, is Betty Shamieh’s snarky and heart-wrenching homage to Palestinian-American culture that analyzes the lasting impacts of arranged marriage on the lives of theatre director Arabella, her secret-hiding mother, and her matchmaking grandmother. How does our historical memory shape our political and emotional present? Sam Sax explores this question in Yr Dead, a queer, Jewish, diasporic coming of age story which unfolds in fragments of memory that flash in between the space of time when Ezra lights themself on fire and when Ezra dies, a poignant and lyrical look at their experiences that culminated in this final act of protest. Award-winning novelist Sylvia Brownrigg will moderate this evocative panel about generational stories, historical trauma, and the memories we leave behind.