What to Catch at the Bay Area Book Festival This Weekend

The Bay Area is no stranger to literary celebrity. As a region, we love to read. I know it, you know it. Between local zine fests and Litquake, indie bookshops and small publishers producing Nobel Prize-winning works, it’s safe to say our corner of the country is committed to the written word (contrary to what the Silicon Valley tech elite may think).

With summer around the corner, that can only mean one thing to the bookworm in your life: It’s time for another Bay Area Book Festival. Beginning tomorrow, May 29, and running through the weekend, this year’s festival features over a dozen writing workshops, free youth literature programming, readings and panels of every kind, and a big outdoor book fair on Sunday to cap things off.

Below are some of COYOTE’s choice picks from the fest. (Plus, notes on accessibility.)

Nuala’s Selections

Exploring the Ups and Downs of Creating Early Chapter Book Series
I don’t know if this is actually true, but there seem to be so many more kids books than when I was little. For me, the move from picture books to chapter books marked a major transition in reading. No longer was I just following images of the Jolly Postman across a page, but I was getting completely lost in a Famous Five story (can you tell I’m English?) that I couldn’t put down. There’s an art in creating a story with kid-friendly grammar, an accessible format, relatable characters, and, if you’re really good, an ongoing series. In this session, three authors and illustrators share their experiences creating these small masterpieces — and you may recognize their work.
10:30am Saturday, May 30, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St, Berkeley. Free, more info.

Child with long dark hair and a pink sweater that says "Have a nice day" touching a book at a book vending stall. — A young reader checks out *Freestyle: A Graphic Novel* by Gale Galligan at the Bay Area Books Festival's outdoor book fair. (Courtesy of Bay Area Book Festival)

How to Become an Audiobook Narrator

If you, like I, have had the pleasure of listening to Julia Whelan, Marin Ireland, or Tara Flynn, you know that book narration is far more than just reading words. There are subtle undertones of urgency that add to scenes with tension; or slight shifts in speech to indicate dialogue from a different character. Some of the best audiobook narrators are trained actors, but many are not — and it’s a skill that is teachable. In this workshop, two award-winning narrators will teach you the ins and outs of this industry and how to get started.
12:15pm Saturday, May 30, Brower Center (Tamalpais Room), 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley. Free, RSVP required, more info.

Zine Workshop!

The publishing world can be brutal, intimidating, and difficult to enter. What if you took things into your own hands — literally? Zines may have retro ‘90s vibes, but they’re still popular for a reason: Anyone can make one, and they’re welcome receptacles for short stories, advice, opinions, and art. In this hour-long workshop led by Liz Acosta, Boone Ashlock, and Judy Tuan, attendees will get the low-down on zine history, and then write an 8-page microzine of their own to distribute as they see fit (no agent required).
4pm Saturday, May 30, Brower Center (Kinzie Room), 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley. Free, RSVP required, more info.

What Rahawa’s Hyped For

Brevity: Souls of Short Stories

The short story’s at the center of literary discourse again. Arguments abound online about whether short stories matter, or if they’re nothing more, at present, than an industry-approved testing ground for up-and-coming writers: a way for MFA students and amateurs alike to hone their craft. Suffice it to say, I love short stories and believe them deserving of respect. Here, you can listen to four writers discuss their unique approaches to the art form. I’ll probably be somewhere in the back taking notes.
1:30pm Sunday, May 31, Hotel Shattuck Plaza (Crystal Ballroom), 2086 Allston Way, Berkeley. Free, more info.

On Loop: Black Sonic Politics in Oakland

If you haven’t read Alex Werth’s Oakland Review of Books piece about Oakland, sideshows, and the politics of sound (adapted from Werth’s book), believe me: It’s well worth your time. Come see him in conversation with filmmaker Yakpasua Zazaboi and Oaklandside's Azucena Rasilla on Sunday. You can treat yourself to this playlist/primer between now and then.
2:45pm Sunday, May 31, Brower Center (Kinzie Room), 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley. Free, more info.

Two men — one a Buddhist monk in red and orange robes, one wearing a blue shirt — talk together while sitting on a stage in front of a crowd. — Matthieu Ricard and Pico Iyer in conversation at the Bay Area Book Festival in 2015. (Courtesy of Bay Area Book Festival by Michael Hitchner)

What Haunts Us Still: Surviving and Storytelling

Tananarive Due and Stephen Graham Jones are headlining an event on hauntings and what endures in their wake. As a Floridian, let me just say upfront that Due’s novel The Reformatory is one of the best works I’ve read on my home state (which also happens to be Due’s). I struggle to call the book horror when it’s grounded in so much very real, and very horrifying, Black history. Novelist Ayize Jama-Everett will be moderating the talk between Due and Graham Jones. (I will not be somewhere in the back taking notes; you can find me front and center.)
5:30pm Sunday, May 31, The Freight, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley. $21.99, more info.