| A Day of Wine and Romance with Jasmine Guillory
Sunday, June 8 · 4:30-6:30pm
Saintsbury Winery · 1500 Los Carneros Ave #9742 Napa, CA
$60-75
Litquake and Saintsbury Winery invite you to join us for a very special event at the Saintsbury tasting room, where we'll sample some of the winery's latest premium offerings, share light snacks, and enjoy a memorable conversation on life, literature, and love with Jasmine and Manjula Martin, author of the memoir The Last Fire Season.
Oakland's own Jasmine Guillory is the "reigning queen of contemporary romance novels" (according to Oprah magazine—and we don't argue with Oprah!). She's also a celebrated tastemaker, whose food writing and Today Show book recommendations are as effervescent as a refreshing glass of Prosecco. Much to our delight, Jasmine's two most recent novels—including her brand-new queer romance Flirting Lessons, called "a heart-soaring reminder of just how exciting literary courtship can be" (Vogue)—are set in the world of winemaking, against the magnificent backdrop of Napa Valley. If a day spent with Jasmine isn't a good excuse for an outing to wine country, we don't know what is!
Admission includes samples of Saintsbury wines or an assortment of nonalcoholic beverages; $25 from each ticket will directly support the Litquake Foundation. Each attendee will receive a complimentary copy of Flirting Lessons, as well as an exclusive 20% discount on wines purchased on-site. |
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How They Did It: Queer Summer Reads
Sunday, June 22 · 3:00-5:00pm
Page Street Writers · 297 Page St SF, CA
$25
Co-presented with Page Street Writers
From heartfelt coming-of-age tales to pulse-pounding thrillers, from magical fantasy to romantic comedy, all their books place queer characters front and center, giving them the epic adventures and happily-ever-afters they deserve. Authors Jonathan Parks-Ramage (It's Not the End of the World), Renee Swindle (Francine's Spectacular Crash-and-Burn), Edward Underhill (The In-Between Bookstore and In Case You Read This) and Shoshana von Blanckensee (Girls Girls Girls) will be joined by moderator Dominic Lim (Karaoke Queen). Fill your summer reading list with a much-needed infusion of queer joy! |
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Their Accomplices Wore Robes: The Supreme Court vs. Black America
Thursday, June 26 · 7:00-8:30pm
KALW · 220 Montgomery Street, SF
FREE, $5-10 suggested donation
Co-presented with KALW
A magisterial new history of the role of the Supreme Court as an ally in implementing and preserving a racial caste system in America, Brando Simeo Starkey’s Their Accomplices Wore Robes takes readers from the Civil War era to the present and describes how the Supreme Court aligned with enemies of Black progress to undermine the promise of the Constitution’s Reconstruction Amendments: to abolish slavery, establish equal protection under the law, and protect voting rights. Time and again, when petitioned to make the nation’s founding conceit—that all men are created equal—real for Black Americans, the nine black robes have chosen white supremacy over racial fairness. Their Accomplices Wore Robes brings to life dozens of cases and their rich casts of characters—petitioners, attorneys, justices—to explain how America arrived at this point and how society might arrive somewhere better, even as today’s federal courts lurch rightward. In conversation with KALW’s Sunni Khalid. |
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My Dinner with Alka Joshi
Saturday, July 12 · 6:00-9:00pm
A Private Home in San Francisco
$250 ($175 is tax-deductible) Join Litquake supporters at an intimate dinner with bestselling novelist Alka Joshi. Attendees will enjoy a delicious dinner accompanied by a variety of exclusive Saintsbury wines, and will receive a complimentary signed hardcover of Alka's latest novel, Six Days in Bombay. Alka Joshi is nothing short of a publishing sensation. When her first novel, The Henna Artist, was published near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it might easily have been overlooked amid the news of the day. Instead, thanks in no small part to Joshi's talent as a writer and her determination as a debut author, it immediately became a New York Times bestseller and a Reese Witherspoon Bookclub pick, and it was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Since then, The Henna Artist has been translated into 29 languages… |
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Litquake Literary Pub Trivia: The Sequel
Monday, July 14 · 6:00-9:00pm
Gilman Brewing Company · 912 Gilman Street, Berkeley
$25
Co-presented by Berkeleyside It might be the height of summer, but it's time to dust off the books for the return of Litquake's Literary Pub Trivia! This summer's blockbuster sequel features even more special effects, fantastic music, and a new celebrity host: writer, LGBTQ+ advocate, and 40-time Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider! Co-presented by Berkeleyside, this edition will feature all the challenging questions you love—on everything from Aesop's Fables to Zone One—plus special questions on Bay Area literary lore. Form a team with up to six players (or we'll match you up with some other Dickensian Orphans if you're coming solo), and compete for prizes from Litquake and our partners! Prize packages will be awarded to the three highest-scoring teams, as well as the team with the best team name. Ticket proceeds will support the Litquake Foundation. Food and beverages will be available for purchase from Gilman Brewing and Joyride Pizza. Arrive starting at 6pm to settle in and order food and drinks; the game will start promptly at 6:30. |
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