City Arts & Lectures

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Leila Mottley Oct 16, 2022

Show notes

A native of Oakland, California, Leila Mottley uses her writing as a tool to call for social justice reform and advocate for victims of sexual violence. Her acclaimed poetry has appeared in Oprah Daily and The New York Times, and her incandescent debut novel Nightcrawling was selected by Oprah Winfrey for her 2022 Book Club, making Mottley - who is 20 - the club’s youngest author ever. Inspired by true stories of the exploitation of young women by police departments in the United States, including a 2015 case in Oakland and its subsequent cover-up, the book has earned widespread acclaim. “Leila Mottley’s writing erupts and flows like lava,” writes Tommy Orange, “makes hot bright an Oakland that runs the city’s uncontrollable brilliance… Nightcrawling bursts at the seams of every page and swallows you whole.” On October 6, 2022, Leila Mottley came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for an on-stage conversation with Michelle Lee. The program was a co-presentation with Youth Speaks.

W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz Oct 09, 2022

Show notes

For the millions of Americans asking “What can I do?” to dismantle white supremacy comes an answer: Do the Work! An Antiracist Activity Book. The revolutionary antiracism workbook by W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz addresses institutional racism in the United States, giving readers a hands-on understanding of systemic racism, white privilege, and Black disenfranchisement–and what to do about it all.

Kamau Bell is a dad, a husband, and a comedian. He directed and executive produced the 2022 Showtime documentary We Need To Talk About Cosby, and he is the host of the Emmy-Award-winning CNN docu-series United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell. Bell has appeared on just about every late night comedy show, daytime news program, and broadcast media outlet you can think of, and his writing has been featured widely, including in his memoir and manifesto The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6′ 4″, African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama’s Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian. He has two stand-up comedy specials, Private School Negro and Semi-Prominent Negro.

Kate Schatz is the New York Times bestselling author of the “Rad Women” book series. She is the co-founder of Solidarity Sundays, a political action network that hosts monthly “activist house parties” in dozens of cities nationwide aimed at showing women how to take meaningful, coordinated political action. After the 2016 election, the group grew from one chapter with fifty members to over 200 chapters with more than 20,000 members. An educator for more than fifteen years, Schatz has worked with a wide range of age groups teaching Women’s Studies, creative writing, and journalism.
On September 24, 2022, the two came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with podcaster and author Anna Sale.

Andrew Sean Greer Oct 02, 2022

Show notes

Andrew Sean Greer’s novels include The Story of a Marriage, The Confessions of Max Tivoli, and a satire of the literary world, Less - which earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2018. Now, he’s out with the followup, Less is Lost, which catches up with the lovable Arthur Less as he and his pug travel across the country in a rusty camper van on a literary tour. Greer is the winner of the California Book Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, and his work has appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, The New Yorker, and many more.

On September 20, 2022, Andrew Sean Greer came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to be interviewed on stage by Adam Savage, the host and executive producer of MythBusters Jr. as well as Savage Builds on the Science Channel. The program begins with an excerpt from the audiobook of Less is Lost.

Andy Borowitz Sep 25, 2022

Show notes

Andy Borowitz is an award-winning comedian and New York Times bestselling author. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from Harvard College, where he became President of the Harvard Lampoon. In 1998, he began contributing humor to The New Yorker‘s “Shouts and Murmurs” and “Talk of the Town” departments, and in 2001, he created “The Borowitz Report,” a satirical news column, which has millions of readers around the world. In 2012, The New Yorker began publishing “The Borowitz Report.” As a storyteller, he hosted “Stories at the Moth” from 1999 to 2009. As a comedian, he has played to sold-out venues around the world, including during his national tour, “Make America Not Embarrassing Again,” from 2018 to 2020. His new book, Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber, received a starred review from Kirkus, which called it “devastatingly funny.” He is the first-ever winner of the National Press Club’s humor award. He lives with his family in New Hampshire. On September 17, 2022, Andy Borowitz came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to be interviewed on stage by KQED politics and government correspondent Marisa Lagos. The program also includes a dramatic reading by actress Vivien Straus of Dan Quayle quotations compiled by Borowitz.

Angela Garbes Sep 18, 2022

Show notes

Angela Garbes’s first book, Like a Mother, looked at the science, myths, and inequities surrounding pregnancy and motherhood. Her latest book, Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change, continues to examine obstacles and injustices faced by parents and other caregivers. In this book, Garbes also looks at her own family’s history as members of the Filipino American community, many of whom are tasked with the least desirable caregiving duties. On September 9, 2022, Garbes spoke with Shereen Marisol Meraji, award-winning journalist, professor at UC Berkeley, and founding co-host and senior producer emerita of Code Switch, NPR’s podcast about race and identity in America.

Dave Eggers Sep 11, 2022

Show notes

Dave Eggers is the author of many books, including Zeitoun, What Is the What, and You Shall Know Our Velocity. In 2000, Eggers made his enormously popular literary debut with his memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. His latest book, The Every, is a follow-up to his 2013 dystopian novel, The Circle. It follows protagonist Delaney Wells as she tries to take down a dangerous monopoly from the inside. Eggers is founder and editor of McSweeney’s and co-founder of 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for youth started in San Francisco’s Mission District in 2002 now with branches in over seven cities nationwide. This program was originally recorded in October of 2021.

Mary Roach Sep 04, 2022

Show notes

Mary Roach is the author of the books Stiff, Spook, Bonk, Gulp, Grunt, and Packing for Mars, all of which bring her distinctly funny voice to popular science subjects. Her new book Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, combines little-known forensic science and conservation genetics with a motley cast of laser scarecrows, trespassing squirrels, and more of “nature’s lawbreakers,” offering hope for compassionate coexistence in our ever-expanding human habitat. Roach has written for National Geographic, Wired, and The New York Times Magazine.

Malia Wollan is director of the UC Berkeley-11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. She co-founded the fellowship in 2013 with Michael Pollan. Wollan is also a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine where she writes the weekly Tip column.

This program was recorded live at the Sydney Goldstein Theater on September 29, 2021.

Keith Corbin Aug 28, 2022

Show notes

This week, a story of transformation with Los Angeles chef and restaurateur Keith Corbin. Corbin grew up in Watts, his early years entangled in drugs and gangs. After serving time in one of California’s most notorious maximum security prisons, Corbin experienced the employment challenges all too common for the formerly incarcerated. A model employee at one of his jobs, Corbin was promoted to a manager, only to be fired simply for having a criminal record.

Then he encountered a restaurant startup in his neighborhood that wasn’t concerned with its employees’ pasts - Locol, the joint venture by Daniel Patterson and Roy Choi, that aimed to bring a quality alternative to fast food to underserved neighborhoods. Corbin became a chef and kitchen manager for Locol in Watts and Oakland, and although the restaurant ultimately closed, Corbin says it was not a failure - it put him and many others on the path to success. Now a chef and co-owner of one of America’s best restaurants, Corbin’s paying it forward to others. Keith Corbin’s new book “California Soul” tells the story of his uneven journey. On August 10, 2022, Corbin talked to KQED’s Brian Watt.

Salman Rushdie Aug 21, 2022

Show notes

This week, we’re going into the City Arts and Lectures archives for highlights from the many times Salman Rushdie has come to San Francisco. Rushdie is the author of fifteen novels, including Victory City, which is expected to be published in early 2023, as well as non-fiction works and short stories. Of course, he’s much in our thoughts these days after being attacked on August 12th, 2022, minutes before he was to appear onstage in New York.
In the first half of this program, we’ll hear part of Rushdie’s most recent visit to City Arts and Lectures in 2017 where he talked with fellow author Michael Chabon. In the second half, we’ll hear excerpts from conversations recorded in 2008, 2010, and 2015 Rushdie had with his most frequent partner on our stage, KQED’s Michael Krasny. Rushdie talks about his writing and the creative process – as well as becoming an unwilling “celebrity fugitive” and spokesman for free speech after the publication of The Satanic Verses. In these wide-ranging, funny, and thoughtful conversations, he also touches on The Marx Brothers, Kurt Vonnegut, Bollywood, the Wizard of Oz, baseball, and his chance encounters with Donald Trump.

Mohsin Hamid Aug 14, 2022

Show notes

Mohsin Hamid is the author of five novels, including The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, and Exit West. All display Hamid’s lyrical prose, his acute understanding of some of the most dire conflicts faced by our modern world, and his belief in the immense and near-magical power of fiction. In his newest novel The Last White Man, Hamid writes about racial metamorphosis.

On August 2, 2022, Mohsin Hamid came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for an on-stage conversation with Alexis Madrigal, co-host of KQED’s Forum and a contributing writer at The Atlantic.

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