AAPI history & healing @ SFPL · Publishing after 50 · LatinoLand @ KALW + much more

Co-presented with Heyday Books

Join Litquake and Heyday Books at the San Francisco Public Library as we kick off Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month with a very special conversation that celebrates AAPI history while also offering hope and healing for our current moment.

Authors Karen Fang and Satsuki Ina have brought to life remarkable true stories from twentieth-century Asian American history. In her memoir The Poet and the Silk Girl, Ina pieces together secret letters, diary entries, photographs, and haiku to craft the love story of her parents, who were newlyweds when incarcerated at Tule Lake and other prison camps during WWII. In Background Artist, Fang reclaims the overlooked story of Tyrus Wong, a Chinese immigrant who became an accomplished muralist, Hallmark card designer, and artist for Warner Brothers and Disney studios—despite frequent hostilities and restrictions and without receiving proper credit.

The echoes of historical injustices still reverberate today, so this conversation will also give contemporary Asian Americans and their allies powerful tools to encourage recovery, resilience, and hope for the future. In Louder than the Lies, artist and educator Ellie Yang Camp offers context, compassion, and concrete tactics for building understanding and creating coalitions to combat continued racism. And in The Healing Trauma Workbook for Asian Americans, clinical psychologist Helen H. Hsu presents culturally informed treatment methods to contend with trauma, build resilience, and forge strength in Asian American identities. Moderator Dora Wang, a psychiatrist and memoirist (author of The Kitchen Shrink) will guide this empowering and illuminating discussion. FREE

Co-presented with Lit Camp

From advertising to law, from medicine to technology, the members of this panel all achieved professional success in their fields—and then pivoted to pursuing their publishing dreams after the age of 50!

Patricia Grayhall, Alka Joshi, Simi Monheit, and Jody Weiner will share practical advice and inspiration gleaned from their own journey to publication. Their sure-to-be-lively discussion will be moderated by writer, teacher, and mentor Grant Faulkner, who also published his first book at 50+. Come learn from these pros, ask your own questions in a supportive environment, and leave with a new sense of determination to pivot on your own path! $25

Co-presented with KALW

“A perfect representation of Latino diversity” (The Washington Post), Marie Arana’s LatinoLand draws from hundreds of interviews and prodigious research to give us both the little-known history and a vibrant portrait and of our largest and fastest-growing minority, in “a work of prophecy, sympathy, and courage” (Junot Díaz). By 2050, census reports project that one in every three Americans will claim Latino heritage. But Latinos are not a monolith. Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, and Cubans—each has a different cultural and political background, very much in flux. Once overwhelmingly Catholic, they are becoming increasingly Protestant and Evangelical. Formerly solidly Democratic, they now vote Republican in growing numbers. LatinoLand unabashedly celebrates Latino resilience and character and shows us why we must understand the fastest-growing minority in America. In conversation with KALW’s Johanna Lopez Miyaki. FREE

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
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.
Invite your mom, your best friend, or your entire book club—it's going to be a Napa day to remember.

About Litquake
Litquake seeks to foster interest in literature, perpetuate a sense of literary community, and provide a vibrant forum for Bay Area writing as a complement to the city's music, film, and cultural festivals. 2025 Dates: Oct. 9-25. www.litquake.org

Litquake is grateful for the support of the following funders who help make our programming possible. Institutional Giving: Alta: Journal of Alta California, Amazon Literary Partnership, Bernard Osher Foundation, California Arts Council, California Humanities, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Center for the Art of Translation, Grants for the Arts, Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme, HarperOne, Hawthornden Foundation, Joseph and Vera Long Foundation, Margaret and William R. Hearst III Foundation, Mary A. Crocker Trust, Miner Anderson Family Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Rock Foundation, Norway House, Sam Mazza Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Zellerbach Family Foundation; Individual Giving: Jared Bhatti, Lisa Brown and Daniel Handler, Frances Dinkelspiel and Gary Wayne, Karyn DiGiorgio and Steve Sattler, Scott James and Gerald Cain, Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman, Greg Sarris, and Ellen Ullman Media Sponsors: San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly, 7x7, KALW, KEXP, KQED, SF Arts Monthly, Bay Area Reporter, Johnny Funcheap.