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Bay Area Book Festival Podcast — Arts
Bay Area Book Festival Podcast

Between audio books? Curious about the writers themselves? Listen to full-length sessions from the Bay Area Book Festival, where readers and writers meet each year in Berkeley, CA, to engage with their favorite authors, including Pulitzer Prize winners, chefs, and activists, to discuss writing, race, love, mystery, and more.

Latest Episodes:

Fiction Debuts Navigating Historical Memory Jul 18, 2025

Show notes

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.

Short Cuts: Carolina Ixta Jun 20, 2025

Show notes

Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to showcase some of our featured authors of the 2025 festival.

Meet Carolina Ixta, who was part of our our Family Day programming on May 31st.

For more information, go to our website. baybookfest.org

Short Cuts - Social justice Children's Book Fair May 08, 2025

Show notes

Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival.

Meet two members of the Social Justice Children's Book Fair who have helped curate our Family Day programming on May 31st.

For more information, go to our website. The full schedule is now live!!!! baybookfest.org

Short Cuts: Wahab Algarmi Apr 24, 2025

Show notes

Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival.

Meet Wahab Algarmi, one of the festival speakers who you can see on June 1st in Downtown Berkeley.

For more information, go to our website. The full schedule is now live!!!! baybookfest.org

Short Cuts - Kinsale Drake Apr 10, 2025

Show notes

Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival.

Meet Kinsale Drake, one of the festival speakers who you can see on June 1st in Downtown Berkeley.

For more information, go to our website. The full schedule is now live!!!! baybookfest.org

Short Cuts: Susan Lieu Apr 03, 2025

Show notes

Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival.

Meet Susan Lieu, one of the festival speakers who you can see on June 1st in Downtown Berkeley.

For more information, go to our website. The full schedule will be live April 5.

Short Cuts: micha cárdenas Mar 27, 2025

Show notes

Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival.

Meet micha cárdenas, one of the festival speakers who you can see on June 1st in Downtown Berkeley.

For more information, go to our website. The full schedule will be live April 5.

Short Cuts: Jon Hickey Mar 20, 2025

Show notes

Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival.

Meet Jon Hickey, one of the festival speakers who you can see on June 1st in Downtown Berkeley.

For more information, go to our website. The full schedule will be live April 5.

Short Cuts: Seema Yasmin Mar 17, 2025

Show notes

Welcome to the Bay Area Book Festival Short Cuts. This is a podcast meant to introduce our audience to some of our featured authors of the festival, prior to the 2025 Festival.

Meet Seema Yasmin, one of the festival speakers who you can see on May 31st at the Berkeley Public Library in Downtown Berkeley.

For more information, go to our website. The full schedule will be live April 5.

Let Me Count the Ways: Love Stories for Real Readers Feb 13, 2025

Show notes

A.H. Kim, Emily B Rose, Taleen Voskuni, Dani Trujillo, Anita Gail Jones, moderated by Jeneé Darden

Join an engaging discussion on the art of crafting love stories with a diverse panel of acclaimed authors, whether their novels are shelved with literary fiction or romance. Panelists A.H. Kim (Relative Strangers, a contemporary Korean retelling of Sense and Sensibility), Emily B Rose (Call of the Sea, a genderbent, body-positive retelling of The Little Mermaid), Taleen Voskuni (Lavash at First Sight, an Armenian-American lesbian rom-com), Dani Trujillo (Lizards Hold the Sun, an Indigenous Rez romance), and Anita Gail Jones (The Peach Seed, celebrating 60+ Black love in Georgia) each bring their unique perspectives and storytelling prowess to the table, delving into the intricacies of writing love stories that reach beyond traditional narratives. Moderated by award-winning journalist, author, public speaker, and mental health advocate Jeneé Darden, this panel looks expansively at romance writing, from traditional tropes to contemporary narratives that reflect the complexities of modern relationships. This conversation considers romance and romance writing from multiple angles, including the meaning love stories hold for readers when we see representation, diversity of experience, and ways of writing about love that resonate with readers across genres and cultures.

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