32 New Ways To Experience The Bay Area’s Steamy Book Scene

The Bay Area’s book world is teeming with treasures, from a literary history stretching back to the Gold Rush to contemporary authors ranging from Alice Walker to Lemony Snicket and Alka Joshi.

The latest edition of Bookish, the Bay Area News Group’s 72-page special magazine, explores everything: the best new reads, author Q&A, gorgeous libraries, cozy bookstores, and book-related activities to do in the world. on the other side of the bay. The latest edition hit the aisles of subscribers on November 14, but here’s a sample if you’d like to take a look.

(Psst, it is not too late to keep a copy of the printed magazine. You can find subscription information at https://mercurynews.subscriber.services/ Where https://eastbaytimes.subscriber.services/.)

Iconic libraries

Check out this guide on some of the The most beautiful libraries in the Bay Area and places to read, from the Italian Renaissance-style Burlingame Library to the Mill Valley Redwood Cathedral.

Author Q&A: Alice Walker

For nearly half a century, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who wrote “Beloved” has touched millions of people around the world with her words. Now Alice walker prepare her new children’s book, favorite reads and more from her Mendocino County home.

Author Q&A: Lemony Snicket

Chances are, you know all about San Francisco’s Lemony Snicket and his “Unfortunate Events Series,” both the books and the Netflix series. Now it reveals the backstory on his latest book, “Poison for Breakfast” and how he got through the long pandemic.

Only the curator knows whodunit

UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library holds vast research treasures, including a now curatorial California Detective Fiction (!) Collection Randal Brandt tells us whodunit – and why Cal has it.

Literary anecdotes, do you like it?

Robert Frost was born here. Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” was originally a Bay Area book. And Maya Angelou was a cable car driver. Who knew? (Well, we did. And now you too, will dominate the quiz night.)

COMING TUESDAY:

Author Q&A: Chef Bryant Terry

Oakland Chief and African Diaspora Museum Chief in Residence Bryant Terry added a publication imprint to his long credentials. Now he talks about his amazing new culinary anthology, “Black food.”

Rockin ‘the Bay Area

New book from two Bay Area writers showcases Bay Area’s long history of rock and roll, from Janis Joplin to Tupac – and we didn’t just go around, we dove deep into 10 rock monuments, from the Metallica mansion to the birthplace of the Eagles.

So you want to write a book …

There was a time when the only route to self-publishing was a personalized (very expensive) press. These days, publishing your own work is a snap – the writing is the hardest part. And the sale too. Now Bay Area authors who have taken this route share how it’s done and what they learned the hard way.

COMING WEDNESDAY:

A “bibliophile” guide to diversify your list of books

Are you afraid of reading the same old, the same old? Jane Mount, illustrator and author of “Bibliophile”, has just released a sequel with Jamise Harper, “Bibliophile: Diverse Spines”, which delves into the world of marginalized authors and their incredible books. Now Mount and Harper talk on what inspired the collaboration – spoiler: Instagram was involved – and what we should be reading right now.

Author Q&A: Jon Agee

that of San Francisco the king of palindromes shares art, the whimsy and tricks behind his new children’s book, “Otto, a Palindrama”.

Read the rest – from interviews with Alka Joshi (“The Henna Artist”) and true crime expert Bob Calhoun (“The Murders That Made Us”) to reports on the California Field Atlas, filled with watercolors, picture books, art books and more – by registering on https://mercurynews.subscriber.services/ Where https://eastbaytimes.subscriber.services/.