LAURA AND YANN MARTEL, TODD AND ROXANA SABERI: ITS ALL HAPPENING APRIL 21 AND 22
Wednesday, April 21: Grottoite LAURA FRASER in conversation with Life of Pi author YANN MARTEL
The Author of The Life of Pi Returns with Beatrice and Virgil for a Rare Public Talk!
Wednesday, April 21
7:30 PM at Sundance Kabuki
YANN MARTEL
Beatrice and Virgil
Fate can take many forms. For Henry it arrives in an envelope from a stranger containing a story by Flaubert, a play featuring two characters named Beatrice and Virgil, and a note signed "Henry," with an address in the same city. From the moment Henry finds the address and steps into the taxidermist's shop, a place unlike anywhere he has ever been, his life is changed. In this extraordinary feat of storytelling, Yann Martel poses enduring questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity. And just as in Life of Pi, Martel's wit, pathos, and probing humanity will hold readers in thrall.
A brilliant exploration of the limitations of language in understanding who we are and what we are capable of doing in order to survive, Beatrice and Virgilwill elicit endless discussion among readers and is destined to become a storytelling classic. With all the spirit and originality that made Life of Piso beloved, this brilliant new novel takes the reader on a haunting odyssey.
"Life of Pi could renew your faith in the ability of novelists to invest even the most outrageous scenario with plausible life." The New York Times Book Review_"A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction." Los Angeles Times Book Review
The award-winning author of four previous books, the most recent of which is What Is Stephen Harper Reading? Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963. He studied philosophy at Trent University, worked at odd jobs -- tree planter, dishwasher, security guard -- and travelled widely before turning to writing. He was awarded the Journey Prize for the title story in The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. His second novel, Life of Pi, won the 2002 Man Booker, among other prizes. Yann Martel lives in Saskatoon with the writer Alice Kuipers and their son.
Laura Fraser talks with Yann Martel this evening. Fraser is a magazine writer and the author of An Italian Affair and the forthcoming All Over the Map, and an ardent Martell reader.
Sundance Kabuki Theater, 1181 Post Street at Fillmore, San Francisco
Tickets required: Brown Paper Tickets or 800-838-3006
Tickets are $15 per person; your ticket offers a 20% discount on Beatrice and Virgil.
Iranian American Journalist ROXANA SABERI in conversation with TODD OPPENHEIMER
Thursday, April 22
ROXANA SABERI
BETWEEN TWO WORLDS:
MY LIFE AND CAPTIVITY IN IRAN
On the morning of January 31, 2009, Roxana Saberi, a brilliant and fearless Iranian-American journalist working in Iran, was dragged from her home by four men and secretly arrested. The intelligence agents who captured her accused her of espionage -- a charge she denied. For eleven days Saberi was cut off from the outside world, forbidden even a phone call. For weeks, neither her family, friends, nor colleagues had any knowledge of her whereabouts. __After a sham trial that made headlines around the world, the 32-year-old reporter was sentenced to eight years in Irans notorious Evin prison. But following broad-based international pressure, she was released on appeal on May 11, 2009. Now, Saberi breaks her silence to share the full story of her ordeal. _In this compelling and inspirational true story, she writes movingly of her imprisonment, her trial, her ultimate release, and the faith that helped her through it. Her recollections are interwoven with stories of her fellow prisoners -- many of whom were women, student and labor activists, researchers, and academics --many of whom were jailed for their pursuit of human rights, including freedom of speech and religious belief. BETWEEN TWO WORLDS is also a deeply revealing account of this complex nation and the six years Saberi lived there. A citizen of the United States and Iran, Saberi sheds new light on the Iranian regimes inner political workings and the restrictions to basic freedoms that have intensified since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads victory in 2005. __The recent uprisings in Iran -- and the astonishing outbreak of support for Iranian citizens from across the globe -- mark a critical turning point as the nation hangs on the precipice between democracy and dictatorship. From her nuanced perspective, Saberi offers a rich, dramatic, and illuminating portrait of the country as it undergoes a striking transformation.
Roxana Saberi was born in Belleville NJ, and raised in Fargo, ND. An All-American Girl, she won the Miss North Dakota contest in 1997, and was a top 10 finalist in the 1998 Miss America pageant, winning the Scholar Award. She has a Masters Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern University, and a second master's degree from Cambridge in International Relations. She has reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio, and Fox News. Saberi moved to Iran in 2003 and later began working on a book about the Iranian people. Following her imprisonment and release she returned to North Dakota, where she currently lives with her parents.
Co-hosting and moderating this evening is Todd Oppenheimer, a journalist working at The Writers Grotto, a San Francisco collective for freelance writers, filmmakers and others devoted to the narrative arts. During his 25 years as a journalist, Oppenheimer has won a variety of national awards for his writing and investigative reporting and has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, including ABC's "Nightline." His articles have appeared in Newsweek, The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, and an assortment of daily and weekly newspapers
7:30 PM @ Hillside Club(2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley)
$12 advance (Brown Paper Tickets or 800-838-3006), $15 at the door
(Hillside members half price)
ACCOLADES FOR LITERARY LAUREATE KATHRYN, AND A PANEL ON APRIL 22
Grottoite Kathryn Ma, whose short story collection, All That Work and Still No Boys, has won awards and accolades, will be in the company of many amazing authors in April. She will be honored as an SF Public Library "Literary Laureate" on Friday, April 16. She's also part of a panel of "Emerging Asian American Women Writers" at University of San Francisco on Thursday, April 22 at USF at 7:30 pm, and part of the Stanford book fair at Stanford University on Saturday, April 24 (the event runs from 1:00 to 5:00 pm; Kathryn speaks at 2:30 - 3:10 pm). If you are heading to Denver for the AWP Conference, Kathryn has a book signing on Friday, April 9 from 11:00 am to noon at the University of Iowa Press booth at the book fair. More info on all these events can be found here.
http://www.pshares.org/issues/article-detail.cfm?intArticleID=9333
http://kathrynma.com/pages/events.html
Come by and say hello!
CHRIS COVERS THE CITY LAYOFFS IN THE PUBLIC PRESS
Grottoite Chris Cook shares his latest, a quick read on the city layoffs and worker response, and the calls for an alternative to cutting workers and services. "Also check out The Public Press, they do great local news stuff, worth checking in a couple times a week at least. Thanks, Chris"
http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2010-03/city-workers-decry-layoffs-demand-alternatives
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