Litquake 2024

In Percival Everett’s novel Erasure and its film adaptation American Fiction, the character Monk hopes to write novels that represent the human experience, but he is advised by his publisher to “write something ‘Blacker.’” For Monk, the push and pull of artist and audience results in a rueful depiction of familial and professional lives, but at its heart, his story asks the question: what is a writer of color permitted to write about? In this panel, Pia Chatterjee, Vanessa Hua, Dominic Lim, and Yalitza Ferreras explore the question of writing beyond race in traditional publishing. FREE, $10–15 suggested donation
Book sales for this event coordinated by Clio's.

Co-presented with City Lights Booksellers & Publishers and 48 Hills

Home to the Beats, the modern environmental movement, the Hollywood dream machine, and a population of immense cultural diversity, California has—unsurprisingly—given rise to a literary culture defined by a distinctive Left Coast sensibility. This rich writerly ferment is sustained by an array of fiercely independent literary organizations devoted to the flourishing ecosystem of ideas and art. In this panel, leading voices from the Golden State's literary landscape—Heyday publisher Steve Wasserman, City Lights chief buyer Paul Yamazaki, Alta Journal’s digital editor Beth Spotswood, and Litquake co-founder Jack Boulware—explore and celebrate the cultural work that booksellers, publishers, literary journals, book clubs, and festivals do in service of California's community of readers, writers, and thinkers. Nastia Voynovskaya of KQED will lead the conversation. FREE, $10-15 suggested donation

Book sales for this event coordinated by City Lights Bookstore.

Part of Litquake’s Words Around the World
Sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco and Center for the Art of Translation/Two Lines Press

Join Stefania Auci and Sara Marinelli as they discuss Stefania’s latest book, Fall of the Florios, the magnificent conclusion of the bestselling Florios trilogy—an international sensation based on a real-life family, published in 40 countries and adapted into the TV series Lions of Sicily for Disney+ and Hulu. In Fall of the Florios, Auci chronicles the decline of Italy’s most powerful and notorious family against the ever-shifting social landscape of 1890s-1930s Sicily. For more than 60 years, the Florios have reigned supreme, establishing the city of Palermo as a European beacon of commerce, and making Sicily one of Italy’s most powerful regions. But now fate has taken a turn. Join the author in bilingual conversation with USF writing professor Sara Marinelli! FREE, $10-15 suggested donation
Book sales for this event coordinated by Telegraph Hill Books.