Bay Area Book Festival Podcast

Bay Area Book Festival
  • 4.7 (12)
  • Books
  • Updated Weekly

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.

  1. 22h ago

    What is That Beautiful House: Crafting Engaging Settings and Playful Prose

    In this workshop, we will focus on setting development which plays a crucial role in situating your reader as well as invigorating and enriching your prose. Participants will leave with a better understanding of the setting's impact on their writing through reading examples, conversation, and generative writing prompts. Exercises and readings will focus on Bay Area locales. This session is designed to help writers of all levels explore how setting can be a powerful element in their storytelling. This event took place in Downtown Berkeley, at the Bay Area Book Festival, May 29-31 2026.  Support our work and help to keep the Bay Area Book Festival 96% free! https://givebutter.com/writingthefuture Check out our upcoming events www.baybookfest.org Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baybookfest/

    1 hr

  2. 22h ago

    Unleashing the Super Hero Within

    The Center for ArtEsteem (ArtEsteem) presents "Unleashing the Super Hero Within," a panel exploring Executive Director Amana Harris's curriculum Self As Super Hero: Handbook on Creating the Life-Size Self-Portrait.ArtEsteem students and teachers will engage in dialogue about today's youth, their creative needs, and the Self As Super Hero curriculum as a critical catalyst of self-reflection, family and cultural research, societal assessment, and artistic development. ArtEsteem is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, founded in 1989 to provide opportunities for personal wellness and creative expression in the Bay Area. Its core programs include academic day, after school, and summer arts education for K-12 students, community engagement through the traveling ArtMobile, public art projects, and professional development for educators. The Self As Super Hero curriculum is a foundational aspect of ArtEsteem's work, centering the student artist as they reinvent themselves to be the Super Hero they want to see in their communities. Students identify issues, both personal and in the world, and develop super powers based on their talents, the five senses, and objects of importance that can directly solve the problems they have identified. The 12 Principles of Attitudinal Healing are at core of this curriculum. Attitudinal Healing is a method for healing that helps individuals transform fears into experiences of self reflection for inner healing, and ArtEsteem encourages students to apply the Principles within their daily lives and artistic practice. This event took place in Downtown Berkeley, at the Bay Area Book Festival, May 29-31 2026.  Support our work and help to keep the Bay Area Book Festival 96% free! https://givebutter.com/writingthefuture Check out our upcoming events www.baybookfest.org Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baybookfest/

    1h 2m

  3. 1d ago

    Media Literacy In and Out of the Classroom

    In this digital age, young people are not only eager to learn about and discuss the realities of media ownership, production, and distribution, they also deserve to understand the differential power structures in how media influences our culture. Professor of media studies and founding member of the Critical Media Literacy Conference of the Americas, Nolan Higdon brings expertise in podcasting, digital culture, propaganda, and news media history to this important conversation. His book The Media And Me: A Guide To Critical Media Literacy for Young People explores critical inquiry skills to provide young people with the tools and perspectives to become empowered and autonomous media users. As a Fulbright Scholar teaching critical information literacy and media bias workshops to high school students and teachers in Norway, Berkeley City College librarian Heather Dodge offers insight directly from the classrooms about how media literacy education is being implemented to help young people form a multidimensional comprehension of what they read and watch. Berkeley High School librarian Meredith Irby and Washington Elementary School librarian Jackie Overlid bring firsthand perspectives about what media literacy looks like in the public schools. Moderated by Jessica Lee, Coordinator for Library Services and Instructional Technology lead for the Berkeley Unified School District, this illuminating panel will discuss what works well and what gaps we need to fill in order to help our youth evolve from passive consumers of media to engaged critics and creators. This event took place in Downtown Berkeley, at the Bay Area Book Festival, May 29-31 2026.  Support our work and help to keep the Bay Area Book Festival 96% free! https://givebutter.com/writingthefuture Check out our upcoming events www.baybookfest.org Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baybookfest/

    1h 2m

  4. 1d ago

    The Last Human Bear: Exclusive Early Book Launch with Greg Sarris

    In this triumphant and revelatory return of the award-winning novelist and Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria Greg Sarris, The Last Human Bear is an epic story about a Pomo woman who is haunted by an inescapable tradition that has been passed down from her stepmother. She has inherited the ability to shapeshift into a Human Bear who can menace and poison enemies. A mystery even to herself, she learns to pass between Native and white societies, tenaciously carving her own path as an independent woman as she comes of age in 1930s California. But as she explores love and desire, family inherited and chosen, and the secrets of the natural world, one question gnaws at her: Is she fated to do harm? This wry and richly lyrical book, inspired by the Native women elders who shaped Sarris' youth, will be on special early sale with the Bay Area Book Festival following an incredible conversation between Greg Sarris and Susan Straight, author of Sacrament, celebrating independence, healing, and brilliant Native writing. This event took place in Downtown Berkeley, at the Bay Area Book Festival, May 29-31 2026.  Support our work and help to keep the Bay Area Book Festival 96% free! https://givebutter.com/writingthefuture Check out our upcoming events www.baybookfest.org Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baybookfest/

    1h 2m

  5. 2d ago

    The Ins and Outs of MFA programs with SJSU

    Join the Creative Writing professors of San Jose State University for a combined panel and workshop where the professors will discuss the ins and outs of MFA programs and lead attendees in a series of writing exercises for prose writers and poets. SJSU MFA program coordinator Nick Taylor and faculty members Keenan Norris, J. Michael Martinez and Brook McClurg have guided numerous aspiring writers through graduation and on to publication and they look forward to sharing tools of their trade with the public. Whether you're an aspiring MFA student, a long-time writer, or simply an interested reader, consider yourself invited. This event took place in Downtown Berkeley, at the Bay Area Book Festival, May 29-31 2026.  Support our work and help to keep the Bay Area Book Festival 96% free! https://givebutter.com/writingthefuture Check out our upcoming events www.baybookfest.org Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baybookfest/

    58 min

  6. 2d ago

    Publishing the Future

    To write an inclusive future, we must publish diverse voices who represent our collective interests and stories. The publishers and imprints represented in this headliner panel will discuss the implications of the current political climate on the future of publishing and put forward creative solutions to the lack of opportunities for publishing underrepresented stories. Tiny Reparations Press, founded by standup comedian, bestselling author, producer, and actress Phoebe Robinson, is a highly curated imprint dedicated to fiction and nonfiction that pushes the conversation forward. HeartDrum, an acclaimed imprint of HarperChildren's featuring stories that emphasize the present and future of Native peoples and the strength of young Indigenous heroes, will be represented by its author-curator and award-winning writer Cynthia Leitich Smith. Turning the page to publishers, Palestinian American author and book worker Hannah Moushabeck runs Interlink Publishing alongside her family, the only Palestinian-owned independent publishing house in the United States offering global perspectives to readers through works of literature-in-translation, history, activism, politics, art, cultural guides, award-winning cookbooks, and illustrated children's books. Through publishing talented writers whose works have been overlooked by large-scale publishers, co-founder Kate Gale of Red Hen Press fosters diversity, promotes literacy in local schools, and supports the Greater Los Angeles Area and international communities with arts-based events and literary advocacy. Moderated by acting Co-CEO of the intersectional, feminist press Aunt Lute, María Mínguez Arias, this inspiring panel is a celebration of the innovative and diverse members of the publishing industry dedicated to creatively curating and publishing the voices of our future. Introductory live music performance by Tristan Marcelle of Bushwick Book Club Oakland This event took place in Downtown Berkeley, at the Bay Area Book Festival, May 29-31 2026.  Support our work and help to keep the Bay Area Book Festival 96% free! https://givebutter.com/writingthefuture Check out our upcoming events www.baybookfest.org Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baybookfest/

    1h 28m

  7. 3d ago

    Best of California

    What makes Californian literature shine? Writer Kathleen Alcott suggests that the diversity of California's landscape has gifted a unique sense of time and change to its inhabitants, who are "used to the colors out the window turning over entirely, and to stop seeing trees and to start seeing water" within a few hours' drive. In California Rewritten, editor, author, and host of Alta's California Book Club John Freeman captures the evolution of the Golden State's literary life. He traces our literary history from early myths to the arrivals and migrations chronicled by works including The Distance Between Us, Reyna Grande's memoir about her experiences as an undocumented child immigrant from Mexico, and America is Not the Heart, Elaine Castillo's novel about a queer war veteran's journey from the Philippines to the insular immigrant community in Milpitas. Following building cities, exploding fantasias, and digital dystopias, Freeman then directs readers to the ruptures, the fraying connections to reality that can follow the traumatic loss of a family member, as portrayed in Venita Blackburn's Dead in Long Beach, California. Moderated by editorial director of Alta Journal,Blaise Zerega, this panel will explore the featured works individually and as part of the road map to Californian literature that can help us uncover our history, confront pressing issues that face our society, and imagine our shared future. This event took place in Downtown Berkeley, at the Bay Area Book Festival, May 29-31 2026.  Support our work and help to keep the Bay Area Book Festival 96% free! https://givebutter.com/writingthefuture Check out our upcoming events www.baybookfest.org Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baybookfest/

    1h 4m

  8. 3d ago

    Shells, Lions, and Pomegranate Trees: Picture Books Approaching Difficult Topics

    In times of danger and despair, kid-friendly stories and symbols can help families approach heavy topics, such as the ones in this panel. Touching on the difficult experiences of Japanese-Americans during the Japanese Incarceration in Hawai'i during World War II, Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson'sShell Song tells ofthe true story of her grandfather's detainment in an island prison, where he collected, labelled, and carefully saved tiny seashells that were later passed down to his children and grandchildren. In Lion's Water,Sheila Hackbarth depicts the story of a Ugandan girl who must find the courage to protect herself and her brother after escaping the bad men who want to take control of their village. Another tender story that deals with hardships in an age-appropriate way, Yasi and Mina's Pomegranate Tree by Nikoo Yahyazadeh is about two friends living in Tehran during the war with Iraq who get separated when one of them has to move to the United States. Oriented toward adults and older kids, this panel moderated byauthor, illustrator, and activist Innosanto Nagara will highlight the role of stories in helping children navigate difficult topics to find resilience and strength when they need it most. This event took place in Downtown Berkeley, at the Bay Area Book Festival, May 29-31 2026.  Support our work and help to keep the Bay Area Book Festival 96% free! https://givebutter.com/writingthefuture Check out our upcoming events www.baybookfest.org Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baybookfest/

    1h 1m
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Ratings & Reviews

4.7
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

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.

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