SALMAN RUSHDIE presents QUICHOTTE
with ANDREW SEAN GREER
Friday, September 20, 2019, 7:00pm
First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters and India Currents present world-renowned storyteller and internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie (Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses) as he presents an electrifying, modernized classic that fractures and reforms our conception of love in a whirlwind journey across present-day America. He will be in conversation with Andrew Sean Greer, author of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Less.
Please note: This event is ticketed, and will take place at First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland. Tickets, including discounted book bundles, are available in advance here. Advance sales are highly recommended. Unless otherwise noted here, general admission tickets will be available at the door.
Inspired by the Cervantes classic, Sam DuChamp, mediocre writer of spy thrillers, creates Quichotte, a courtly, addled salesman obsessed with television who falls in impossible love with a TV star. Together with his (imaginary) son Sancho, Quichotte sets off on a picaresque quest across America to prove worthy of her hand, gallantly braving the tragicomic perils of an age where “Anything-Can-Happen.” Meanwhile, his creator, in a midlife crisis, has equally urgent challenges of his own.
Just as Cervantes wrote Don Quixote to satirize the culture of his time, Rushdie takes the reader on a wild ride through a country on the verge of moral and spiritual collapse. And with the kind of storytelling magic that is the hallmark of Rushdie’s work, the fully realized lives of DuChamp and Quichotte intertwine in a profoundly human quest for love and a wickedly entertaining portrait of an age in which fact is so often indiscernible from fiction.
-------------------
Salman Rushdie is the author of thirteen previous novels: --Luka and the Fire of Life, Grimus, Midnight’s Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), Shame, The Satanic Verses, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar the Clown, The Enchantress of Florence, Two Years, Eight Months, and Twenty-Eight Nights, and The Golden House -- and one collection of short stories: East, West. He has also published four works of nonfiction -- Joseph Anton, The Jaguar Smile, Imaginary Homelands, and Step Across This Line -- and coedited two anthologies, Mirrorwork and Best American Short Stories 2008. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature.
Andrew Sean Greer is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of six works of fiction, including the bestsellers The Confessions of Max Tivoli and Less. Greer has taught at a number of universities, including the Iowa Writers Workshop, been a TODAY show pick, a New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellow, a judge for the National Book Award, and a winner of the California Book Award and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. He is the recipient of a NEA grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He lives in San Francisco.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
with ANDREW SEAN GREER
Friday, September 20, 2019, 7:00pm
First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters and India Currents present world-renowned storyteller and internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie (Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses) as he presents an electrifying, modernized classic that fractures and reforms our conception of love in a whirlwind journey across present-day America. He will be in conversation with Andrew Sean Greer, author of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Less.
Please note: This event is ticketed, and will take place at First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland. Tickets, including discounted book bundles, are available in advance here. Advance sales are highly recommended. Unless otherwise noted here, general admission tickets will be available at the door.
Inspired by the Cervantes classic, Sam DuChamp, mediocre writer of spy thrillers, creates Quichotte, a courtly, addled salesman obsessed with television who falls in impossible love with a TV star. Together with his (imaginary) son Sancho, Quichotte sets off on a picaresque quest across America to prove worthy of her hand, gallantly braving the tragicomic perils of an age where “Anything-Can-Happen.” Meanwhile, his creator, in a midlife crisis, has equally urgent challenges of his own.
Just as Cervantes wrote Don Quixote to satirize the culture of his time, Rushdie takes the reader on a wild ride through a country on the verge of moral and spiritual collapse. And with the kind of storytelling magic that is the hallmark of Rushdie’s work, the fully realized lives of DuChamp and Quichotte intertwine in a profoundly human quest for love and a wickedly entertaining portrait of an age in which fact is so often indiscernible from fiction.
-------------------
Salman Rushdie is the author of thirteen previous novels: --Luka and the Fire of Life, Grimus, Midnight’s Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), Shame, The Satanic Verses, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar the Clown, The Enchantress of Florence, Two Years, Eight Months, and Twenty-Eight Nights, and The Golden House -- and one collection of short stories: East, West. He has also published four works of nonfiction -- Joseph Anton, The Jaguar Smile, Imaginary Homelands, and Step Across This Line -- and coedited two anthologies, Mirrorwork and Best American Short Stories 2008. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature.
Andrew Sean Greer is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of six works of fiction, including the bestsellers The Confessions of Max Tivoli and Less. Greer has taught at a number of universities, including the Iowa Writers Workshop, been a TODAY show pick, a New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellow, a judge for the National Book Award, and a winner of the California Book Award and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. He is the recipient of a NEA grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He lives in San Francisco.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
NAOMI KLEIN presents THE (BURNING) CASE FOR A GREEN NEW DEAL
in conversation with the editor-in-chief of Mother Jones, CLARA JEFFERY.
Thursday, September 26, 2019, 7:00pm
First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters presents #1 international and New York Times bestselling author Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine and This Changes Everything) as she makes the case for a Green New Deal, explaining how bold climate action can be a blueprint for a just and thriving society.
Please note: This event is ticketed, and will take place at First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland. Tickets, including discounted book bundles, are available in advance here. Advance sales are highly recommended. Unless otherwise noted here, general admission tickets will be available at the door.
On Fire shows why Naomi Klein was described by the New Yorker as the most influential figure on the American left and why leading environmentalist Bill McKibben calls her the intellectual godmother of the Green New Deal -- which just happens to be the most important idea in the world right now.
For more than a decade, the acclaimed journalist and ground-breaking thinker has documented the movement of the climate crisis from future threat to a burning emergency. She has been among the first to make the case for what is now called the Green New Deal -- a vision for transforming our economies to battle climate breakdown and rampant inequality at the same time. In our era of rising seas and rising hate, she argues that only this kind of bold, roots-up action has a chance of rousing us to fight for our lives while there is still time.
These long-form essays, based on her extensive research and reporting, show Klein at her most prophetic and philosophical, investigating the climate crisis not only as a profound political challenge but as a spiritual and imaginative one as well. Delving into the clash between ecological time and our culture of perpetual now; the soaring history of rapid human change in the face of grave threats; rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of climate barbarism and more, this is a rousing call to transformation -- and a dire warning about what awaits if we fail to act.
With dispatches from the ghostly Great Barrier Reef to the smoke-choked skies of the Pacific Northwest, to post-hurricane Puerto Rico, to a Vatican waking up to the case for radical change, Klein paints a vivid picture of both social and ecological breakdown -- as well as the people and movements rising to turn humanity's greatest disaster into our greatest opportunity.
-------------------
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, columnist, and author of the New York Times and international bestsellers The Shock Doctrine, No Logo, This Changes Everything, and No Is Not Enough. A Senior Correspondent for The Intercept, reporter for Rolling Stone, and contributor for both The Nation and The Guardian, Klein is the inaugural Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University. She is co-founder of the climate justice organization The Leap. Author photo by Suzanne DeChillo for The New York Times.
Clara Jeffery is the editor-in-chief of Mother Jones, which was named “Magazine of the Year” by the American Society of Magazine Editors in February 2017. During her tenure, Mother Jones has won other National Magazine Awards, including for general excellence, reporting, and video; redesigned its magazine and website; established bureaus in Washington and New York; and become a social-media powerhouse. Clara has edited stories that have been included in pretty much every “Best American” anthology. Along the way, she also won a PEN award for editing, became a mom, and forgot what it’s like to sleep. It probably doesn’t help she’s on Twitter so much: @clarajeffery.
About Mother Jones: Mother Jones is a reader-supported investigative news organization recently honored as Magazine of the Year by our peers in the industry. Our nonprofit newsroom goes deep on the biggest stories of the moment, from politics and criminal and racial justice to education, climate change, and food/agriculture. We reach more than 10 million people each month via our website, social-media presence, videos, podcasts, email newsletters, and print magazine. Our fellowship program is one of the premier training grounds for emerging investigative storytellers. Founded in 1976, Mother Jones is America’s longest-established investigative news organization. We are based in San Francisco and have bureaus in Washington, DC, and New York. We are independent (no corporate owners) and are accountable only to you, our readers. Our mission is to deliver hard-hitting reporting that inspires change and combats “alternative facts.”
This event is co-presented by The Leap, Sunrise Movement, and The Intercept.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
in conversation with the editor-in-chief of Mother Jones, CLARA JEFFERY.
Thursday, September 26, 2019, 7:00pm
First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters presents #1 international and New York Times bestselling author Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine and This Changes Everything) as she makes the case for a Green New Deal, explaining how bold climate action can be a blueprint for a just and thriving society.
Please note: This event is ticketed, and will take place at First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland. Tickets, including discounted book bundles, are available in advance here. Advance sales are highly recommended. Unless otherwise noted here, general admission tickets will be available at the door.
On Fire shows why Naomi Klein was described by the New Yorker as the most influential figure on the American left and why leading environmentalist Bill McKibben calls her the intellectual godmother of the Green New Deal -- which just happens to be the most important idea in the world right now.
For more than a decade, the acclaimed journalist and ground-breaking thinker has documented the movement of the climate crisis from future threat to a burning emergency. She has been among the first to make the case for what is now called the Green New Deal -- a vision for transforming our economies to battle climate breakdown and rampant inequality at the same time. In our era of rising seas and rising hate, she argues that only this kind of bold, roots-up action has a chance of rousing us to fight for our lives while there is still time.
These long-form essays, based on her extensive research and reporting, show Klein at her most prophetic and philosophical, investigating the climate crisis not only as a profound political challenge but as a spiritual and imaginative one as well. Delving into the clash between ecological time and our culture of perpetual now; the soaring history of rapid human change in the face of grave threats; rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of climate barbarism and more, this is a rousing call to transformation -- and a dire warning about what awaits if we fail to act.
With dispatches from the ghostly Great Barrier Reef to the smoke-choked skies of the Pacific Northwest, to post-hurricane Puerto Rico, to a Vatican waking up to the case for radical change, Klein paints a vivid picture of both social and ecological breakdown -- as well as the people and movements rising to turn humanity's greatest disaster into our greatest opportunity.
-------------------
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, columnist, and author of the New York Times and international bestsellers The Shock Doctrine, No Logo, This Changes Everything, and No Is Not Enough. A Senior Correspondent for The Intercept, reporter for Rolling Stone, and contributor for both The Nation and The Guardian, Klein is the inaugural Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University. She is co-founder of the climate justice organization The Leap. Author photo by Suzanne DeChillo for The New York Times.
Clara Jeffery is the editor-in-chief of Mother Jones, which was named “Magazine of the Year” by the American Society of Magazine Editors in February 2017. During her tenure, Mother Jones has won other National Magazine Awards, including for general excellence, reporting, and video; redesigned its magazine and website; established bureaus in Washington and New York; and become a social-media powerhouse. Clara has edited stories that have been included in pretty much every “Best American” anthology. Along the way, she also won a PEN award for editing, became a mom, and forgot what it’s like to sleep. It probably doesn’t help she’s on Twitter so much: @clarajeffery.
About Mother Jones: Mother Jones is a reader-supported investigative news organization recently honored as Magazine of the Year by our peers in the industry. Our nonprofit newsroom goes deep on the biggest stories of the moment, from politics and criminal and racial justice to education, climate change, and food/agriculture. We reach more than 10 million people each month via our website, social-media presence, videos, podcasts, email newsletters, and print magazine. Our fellowship program is one of the premier training grounds for emerging investigative storytellers. Founded in 1976, Mother Jones is America’s longest-established investigative news organization. We are based in San Francisco and have bureaus in Washington, DC, and New York. We are independent (no corporate owners) and are accountable only to you, our readers. Our mission is to deliver hard-hitting reporting that inspires change and combats “alternative facts.”
This event is co-presented by The Leap, Sunrise Movement, and The Intercept.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
CANCELLED: STEPHEN MITCHELL presents JOSEPH AND THE WAY OF FORGIVENESS
in conversation with PAUL HAWKEN
Monday, October 7, 2019, 7:00pm
First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Please note: For reasons out of our control, we have had to cancel this event. We will let you know if we are able to reschedule. Apologies for any inconvenience!
Berkeley Arts & Letters presents Stephen Mitchell in conversation with Paul Hawken about his new book, Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness.
Stephen Mitchell's gift is to breathe new life into ancient classics. In Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness, he offers us his riveting novelistic version of the Biblical tale in which Jacobs favorite son is sold into slavery and eventually becomes viceroy of Egypt. Tolstoy called it the most beautiful story in the world. Whats new here is the lyrical, witty, vivid prose, informed by a wisdom that brings fresh insight to this foundational legend of betrayal and all-embracing forgiveness. Mitchell's retelling, which reads like a postmodern novel, interweaves the narrative with brief meditations that, with their Zen surprises, expand the narrative and illuminate its main themes. By stepping inside the minds of Joseph and the other characters, Mitchell reanimates one of the central stories of Western culture. The engrossing tale that he has created will capture the hearts and minds of modern readers and show them that this ancient story can still challenge, delight, and astonish.
-------------------
Stephen Mitchell was born in Brooklyn, educated at Amherst, the Sorbonne, and Yale, and de-educated through intensive Zen training. His many books include the bestselling Tao Te Ching, Gilgamesh, The Gospel According to Jesus, The Book of Job, The Second Book of the Tao, The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, Bhagavad Gita, The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Beowulf. He is also the co-author of three of his wife Byron Katie's bestselling books.
Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author. Starting at age 20, he dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. His practice has included starting and running ecological businesses, writing and teaching about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with governments and corporations on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy. Paul authors articles, op-eds, and peer-reviewed papers, and has written eight books including five national bestsellers: The Next Economy (Ballantine 1983), Growing a Business (Simon & Schuster 1987), and The Ecology of Commerce (HarperCollins 1993) Blessed Unrest (Viking, 2007), and Drawdown, The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming (Penguin).
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
in conversation with PAUL HAWKEN
Monday, October 7, 2019, 7:00pm
First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Please note: For reasons out of our control, we have had to cancel this event. We will let you know if we are able to reschedule. Apologies for any inconvenience!
Berkeley Arts & Letters presents Stephen Mitchell in conversation with Paul Hawken about his new book, Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness.
Stephen Mitchell's gift is to breathe new life into ancient classics. In Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness, he offers us his riveting novelistic version of the Biblical tale in which Jacobs favorite son is sold into slavery and eventually becomes viceroy of Egypt. Tolstoy called it the most beautiful story in the world. Whats new here is the lyrical, witty, vivid prose, informed by a wisdom that brings fresh insight to this foundational legend of betrayal and all-embracing forgiveness. Mitchell's retelling, which reads like a postmodern novel, interweaves the narrative with brief meditations that, with their Zen surprises, expand the narrative and illuminate its main themes. By stepping inside the minds of Joseph and the other characters, Mitchell reanimates one of the central stories of Western culture. The engrossing tale that he has created will capture the hearts and minds of modern readers and show them that this ancient story can still challenge, delight, and astonish.
-------------------
Stephen Mitchell was born in Brooklyn, educated at Amherst, the Sorbonne, and Yale, and de-educated through intensive Zen training. His many books include the bestselling Tao Te Ching, Gilgamesh, The Gospel According to Jesus, The Book of Job, The Second Book of the Tao, The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, Bhagavad Gita, The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Beowulf. He is also the co-author of three of his wife Byron Katie's bestselling books.
Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author. Starting at age 20, he dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. His practice has included starting and running ecological businesses, writing and teaching about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with governments and corporations on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy. Paul authors articles, op-eds, and peer-reviewed papers, and has written eight books including five national bestsellers: The Next Economy (Ballantine 1983), Growing a Business (Simon & Schuster 1987), and The Ecology of Commerce (HarperCollins 1993) Blessed Unrest (Viking, 2007), and Drawdown, The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming (Penguin).
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
MEGAN PHELPS-ROPER presents UNFOLLOW: A MEMOIR OF LOVING AND LEAVING THE WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH
with JEREMY ADAM SMITH
Wednesday, October 16, 2019, 7:00pm
Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters and The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley co-present an evening with Megan Phelps-Roper for her debut book Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church.
At the age of five, Megan Phelps-Roper began protesting homosexuality and other alleged vices alongside fellow members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Founded by her grandfather and consisting almost entirely of her extended family, the tiny group would gain worldwide notoriety for its pickets at military funerals and celebrations of death and tragedy. As Phelps-Roper grew up, she saw that church members were close companions and accomplished debaters, applying the logic of predestination and the language of the King James Bible to everyday life with aplomb – which, as the church’s Twitter spokeswoman, she learned to do with great skill. Soon, however, dialogue on Twitter caused her to begin doubting the church’s leaders and message: If humans were sinful and fallible, how could the church itself be so confident about its beliefs? As she digitally jousted with critics, she started to wonder if sometimes they had a point – and then she began exchanging messages with a man who would help change her life.
A gripping memoir of escaping extremism and falling in love, Unfollow relates Phelps-Roper’s moral awakening, her departure from the church, and how she exchanged the absolutes she grew up with for new forms of warmth and community. Rich with suspense and thoughtful reflection, Phelps-Roper’s life story exposes the dangers of black-and-white thinking and the need for true humility in a time of angry polarization.
You can watch Megan's TED talk here.
-------------------
Megan Phelps-Roper is a writer and activist. She left the Westboro Baptist Church in November 2012 and is now an educator on topics related to extremism and communication across ideological lines. She lives in South Dakota.
Jeremy Adam Smith edits the GGSC’s online magazine, Greater Good. He is the editorial director of the GGSC's new Bridging Differences initiative, which mixes science and storytelling to help address one of the most urgent issues of our time: political and cultural polarization. Smith’s coverage of racial and economic segregation in San Francisco schools has won numerous honors, including the Sigma Delta Chi award for investigative reporting, the PASS Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, the National Award for Education Reporting, and many excellence in journalism awards from the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. He is also a three-time winner of the John Swett Award from the California Teachers Association. Before joining the GGSC, Jeremy was a John S. Knight Journalism fellow at Stanford University.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
with JEREMY ADAM SMITH
Wednesday, October 16, 2019, 7:00pm
Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters and The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley co-present an evening with Megan Phelps-Roper for her debut book Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church.
At the age of five, Megan Phelps-Roper began protesting homosexuality and other alleged vices alongside fellow members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Founded by her grandfather and consisting almost entirely of her extended family, the tiny group would gain worldwide notoriety for its pickets at military funerals and celebrations of death and tragedy. As Phelps-Roper grew up, she saw that church members were close companions and accomplished debaters, applying the logic of predestination and the language of the King James Bible to everyday life with aplomb – which, as the church’s Twitter spokeswoman, she learned to do with great skill. Soon, however, dialogue on Twitter caused her to begin doubting the church’s leaders and message: If humans were sinful and fallible, how could the church itself be so confident about its beliefs? As she digitally jousted with critics, she started to wonder if sometimes they had a point – and then she began exchanging messages with a man who would help change her life.
A gripping memoir of escaping extremism and falling in love, Unfollow relates Phelps-Roper’s moral awakening, her departure from the church, and how she exchanged the absolutes she grew up with for new forms of warmth and community. Rich with suspense and thoughtful reflection, Phelps-Roper’s life story exposes the dangers of black-and-white thinking and the need for true humility in a time of angry polarization.
You can watch Megan's TED talk here.
-------------------
Megan Phelps-Roper is a writer and activist. She left the Westboro Baptist Church in November 2012 and is now an educator on topics related to extremism and communication across ideological lines. She lives in South Dakota.
Jeremy Adam Smith edits the GGSC’s online magazine, Greater Good. He is the editorial director of the GGSC's new Bridging Differences initiative, which mixes science and storytelling to help address one of the most urgent issues of our time: political and cultural polarization. Smith’s coverage of racial and economic segregation in San Francisco schools has won numerous honors, including the Sigma Delta Chi award for investigative reporting, the PASS Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, the National Award for Education Reporting, and many excellence in journalism awards from the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. He is also a three-time winner of the John Swett Award from the California Teachers Association. Before joining the GGSC, Jeremy was a John S. Knight Journalism fellow at Stanford University.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
MARC BRACKETT presents PERMISSION TO FEEL: UNLOCKING THE POWER OF EMOTIONS TO HELP OUR KIDS, OURSELVES, AND OUR SOCIETY THRIVE
Tuesday, October 29, 2019, 7:00pm
Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters and The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley co-present an evening with Marc Brackett, Ph.D. for his new book, Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive.
We have a crisis on our hands, and its victims are our children.
Marc Brackett is a professor in Yale University's Child Study Center and founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. In his 25 years as an emotion scientist, he has developed a remarkably effective plan to improve the lives of children and adults a blueprint for understanding our emotions and using them wisely so that they help, rather than hinder, our success and well-being. The core of his approach is a legacy from his childhood, from an astute uncle who gave him permission to feel. He was the first adult who managed to see Marc, listen to him, and recognize the suffering, bullying, and abuse he'd endured. And that was the beginning of Marcs awareness that what he was going through was temporary. He wasn't alone, he wasn't stuck on a timeline, and he wasn't wrong to feel scared, isolated, and angry. Now, best of all, he could do something about it.
In the decades since, Marc has led large research teams and raised tens of millions of dollars to investigate the roots of emotional well being. His prescription for healthy children (and their parents, teachers, and schools) is a system called RULER, a high-impact and fast-effect approach to understanding and mastering emotions that has already transformed the thousands of schools that have adopted it. RULER has been proven to reduce stress and burnout, improve school climate, and enhance academic achievement. This book is the culmination of Marc's development of RULER and his way to share the strategies and skills with readers around the world. It is tested, and it works.
Permission to Feel combines rigor, science, passion and inspiration in equal parts. Too many children and adults are suffering; they are ashamed of their feelings and emotionally unskilled, but they don't have to be. Marc Brackett's life mission is to reverse this course, and this book can show you how.
-------------------
Marc Brackett, Ph.D. is the Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a Professor in the Child Study Center of Yale University. He is the lead developer of RULER, an evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning that has been adopted by nearly 2,000 pre-K through high schools across the United States and in other countries. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).
As a researcher for over 20 years, Brackett has focused on the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in learning, decision making, creativity, relationships, health, and performance. He has published 125 scholarly articles and received numerous awards and accolades for his work in this area. He also consults regularly with corporations, such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Google on integrating the principles of emotional intelligence into employee training and product design. Most recently, he co-founded Oji Life Lab, a corporate learning firm that develops innovative digital learning systems on emotional intelligence.
Brackett's mission is to educate the world about the value of emotions and the skills associated with using them wisely. I want everyone to become an emotion scientist, he says. We need to be curious explorers of our own and others emotions so they can help us achieve our goals and improve our lives.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019, 7:00pm
Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters and The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley co-present an evening with Marc Brackett, Ph.D. for his new book, Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive.
We have a crisis on our hands, and its victims are our children.
Marc Brackett is a professor in Yale University's Child Study Center and founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. In his 25 years as an emotion scientist, he has developed a remarkably effective plan to improve the lives of children and adults a blueprint for understanding our emotions and using them wisely so that they help, rather than hinder, our success and well-being. The core of his approach is a legacy from his childhood, from an astute uncle who gave him permission to feel. He was the first adult who managed to see Marc, listen to him, and recognize the suffering, bullying, and abuse he'd endured. And that was the beginning of Marcs awareness that what he was going through was temporary. He wasn't alone, he wasn't stuck on a timeline, and he wasn't wrong to feel scared, isolated, and angry. Now, best of all, he could do something about it.
In the decades since, Marc has led large research teams and raised tens of millions of dollars to investigate the roots of emotional well being. His prescription for healthy children (and their parents, teachers, and schools) is a system called RULER, a high-impact and fast-effect approach to understanding and mastering emotions that has already transformed the thousands of schools that have adopted it. RULER has been proven to reduce stress and burnout, improve school climate, and enhance academic achievement. This book is the culmination of Marc's development of RULER and his way to share the strategies and skills with readers around the world. It is tested, and it works.
Permission to Feel combines rigor, science, passion and inspiration in equal parts. Too many children and adults are suffering; they are ashamed of their feelings and emotionally unskilled, but they don't have to be. Marc Brackett's life mission is to reverse this course, and this book can show you how.
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Marc Brackett, Ph.D. is the Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a Professor in the Child Study Center of Yale University. He is the lead developer of RULER, an evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning that has been adopted by nearly 2,000 pre-K through high schools across the United States and in other countries. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).
As a researcher for over 20 years, Brackett has focused on the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in learning, decision making, creativity, relationships, health, and performance. He has published 125 scholarly articles and received numerous awards and accolades for his work in this area. He also consults regularly with corporations, such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Google on integrating the principles of emotional intelligence into employee training and product design. Most recently, he co-founded Oji Life Lab, a corporate learning firm that develops innovative digital learning systems on emotional intelligence.
Brackett's mission is to educate the world about the value of emotions and the skills associated with using them wisely. I want everyone to become an emotion scientist, he says. We need to be curious explorers of our own and others emotions so they can help us achieve our goals and improve our lives.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Coming up in 2020:
SHAUNA SHAPIRO presents GOOD MORNING, I LOVE YOU: MINDFULNESS AND SELF-COMPASSION PRACTICES TO REWIRE YOUR BRAIN FOR CALM, CLARITY, AND JOY
with EVE EKMAN
Thursday, February 6, 2020, 7:00pm
Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters and The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley co-present an evening with Shauna Shapiro, Ph.D. for her new book, Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain for Calm, Clarity, and Joy.
In Good Morning, I Love You, Dr. Shauna Shapiro -- one of the leading scientists studying the effects of mindfulness on well-being -- shows us that acting with compassion toward ourselves is the key.
In short, lively chapters, Dr. Shapiro explains the basic brain science and offers numerous mindfulness and self-compassion practices. Stories from her life and research demonstrate how this powerhouse combination alleviates anxiety, boosts creative thinking, and enlarges our sense of belonging and purpose.
We can see it on brain scans. Negative and critical thoughts (and the vast majority of our thoughts are negative) cause the part of the brain responsible for learning to literally shut down. Kind and self-compassionate thoughts, by contrast, turn on the parts responsible for growth and change. With practice, we can literally rewire our brains for greater feelings of calm, joy, and possibility.
Try it and see even if it makes you squirm. When you wake up tomorrow, take a deep breath, hand on heart, and say, Good morning, I love you. Then try it the next day. And the next. See what happens.
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Shauna Shapiro, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and internationally recognized expert in mindfulness and self-compassion. She is a widely published scholar whose TEDx talk, The Power of Mindfulness, has been viewed over one million times. She is a professor at Santa Clara University and a fellow of the Dalai Lamas Mind and Life Institute. Dr. Shapiro lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit drshaunashapiro.com.
Eve Ekman, Ph.D., MSW, is the GGSC’s director of training. Eve is a second-generation emotion researcher who has had meaningful collaborations with her father, renowned emotion researcher Dr. Paul Ekman, including on The Atlas of Emotions, an online visual tool commissioned by the Dalai Lama to teach emotional awareness, and Cultivating Emotional Balance, an intensive, evidence-based training for compassion and mindfulness.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
with EVE EKMAN
Thursday, February 6, 2020, 7:00pm
Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters and The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley co-present an evening with Shauna Shapiro, Ph.D. for her new book, Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain for Calm, Clarity, and Joy.
In Good Morning, I Love You, Dr. Shauna Shapiro -- one of the leading scientists studying the effects of mindfulness on well-being -- shows us that acting with compassion toward ourselves is the key.
In short, lively chapters, Dr. Shapiro explains the basic brain science and offers numerous mindfulness and self-compassion practices. Stories from her life and research demonstrate how this powerhouse combination alleviates anxiety, boosts creative thinking, and enlarges our sense of belonging and purpose.
We can see it on brain scans. Negative and critical thoughts (and the vast majority of our thoughts are negative) cause the part of the brain responsible for learning to literally shut down. Kind and self-compassionate thoughts, by contrast, turn on the parts responsible for growth and change. With practice, we can literally rewire our brains for greater feelings of calm, joy, and possibility.
Try it and see even if it makes you squirm. When you wake up tomorrow, take a deep breath, hand on heart, and say, Good morning, I love you. Then try it the next day. And the next. See what happens.
-------------------
Shauna Shapiro, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and internationally recognized expert in mindfulness and self-compassion. She is a widely published scholar whose TEDx talk, The Power of Mindfulness, has been viewed over one million times. She is a professor at Santa Clara University and a fellow of the Dalai Lamas Mind and Life Institute. Dr. Shapiro lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit drshaunashapiro.com.
Eve Ekman, Ph.D., MSW, is the GGSC’s director of training. Eve is a second-generation emotion researcher who has had meaningful collaborations with her father, renowned emotion researcher Dr. Paul Ekman, including on The Atlas of Emotions, an online visual tool commissioned by the Dalai Lama to teach emotional awareness, and Cultivating Emotional Balance, an intensive, evidence-based training for compassion and mindfulness.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
CHRISTINE CARTER presents THE NEW ADOLESCENCE: RAISING HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL TEENS IN AN AGE OF ANXIETY AND DISTRACTION
Thursday, February 20, 2020, 7:00pm
Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters and The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley co-present the launch for the new book by Christine Carter, Ph.D., The New Adolescence: Raising Happy and Successful Teens in an Age of Anxiety and Distraction.
Todays teenagers and preteens are growing up in an entirely new world, one that is defined by social media and mobile devices. This has huge implications for our parenting. Understandably, many parents are paralyzed by new problems that didnt exist less than a decade ago, like social media and video game obsession, sexting, and vaping.
A highly acclaimed sociologist and coach at UC Berkeleys Greater Good Science Center and the author of Raising Happiness, Dr. Christine Carter melds research -- including the latest findings in neuroscience, sociology, and social psychology -- with her own real-world experiences as the mother of four teenagers. In The New Adolescence, youll find realistic ways to help teens and preteens find joy, focus, ease, motivation, fulfillment and engagement.
Inside, find practical guidance for:
> Providing the structure teens need while giving them the autonomy they seek
> Helping them overcome distractions
> Teaching them the art of strategic slacking
> Protecting them from anxiety, isolation, and depression
> Fostering the real-world, face-to-face social connections they desperately need
> Effective conversations about tough subjectsincluding sex, drugs, and money
The New Adolescence is a realistic and reassuring handbook for parents. It offers road-tested, science-based solutions for raising happy, healthy, and successful teenagers.
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Christine Carter, PhD, is the author of The Sweet Spot (2017) and Raising Happiness (2011). A sociologist and Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, Carter draws on the latest scientific research in psychology, sociology and neuroscience and uses her own real-world experiences to give parenting, productivity and happiness advice. A sought-after keynote speaker and coach, Dr. Carter also teaches online classes that help people live their most fulfilling lives. She lives with her husband, four teenagers, and dog, Buster, in Marin County, California.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Thursday, February 20, 2020, 7:00pm
Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley
Tickets are available here!
Berkeley Arts & Letters and The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley co-present the launch for the new book by Christine Carter, Ph.D., The New Adolescence: Raising Happy and Successful Teens in an Age of Anxiety and Distraction.
Todays teenagers and preteens are growing up in an entirely new world, one that is defined by social media and mobile devices. This has huge implications for our parenting. Understandably, many parents are paralyzed by new problems that didnt exist less than a decade ago, like social media and video game obsession, sexting, and vaping.
A highly acclaimed sociologist and coach at UC Berkeleys Greater Good Science Center and the author of Raising Happiness, Dr. Christine Carter melds research -- including the latest findings in neuroscience, sociology, and social psychology -- with her own real-world experiences as the mother of four teenagers. In The New Adolescence, youll find realistic ways to help teens and preteens find joy, focus, ease, motivation, fulfillment and engagement.
Inside, find practical guidance for:
> Providing the structure teens need while giving them the autonomy they seek
> Helping them overcome distractions
> Teaching them the art of strategic slacking
> Protecting them from anxiety, isolation, and depression
> Fostering the real-world, face-to-face social connections they desperately need
> Effective conversations about tough subjectsincluding sex, drugs, and money
The New Adolescence is a realistic and reassuring handbook for parents. It offers road-tested, science-based solutions for raising happy, healthy, and successful teenagers.
-------------------
Christine Carter, PhD, is the author of The Sweet Spot (2017) and Raising Happiness (2011). A sociologist and Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, Carter draws on the latest scientific research in psychology, sociology and neuroscience and uses her own real-world experiences to give parenting, productivity and happiness advice. A sought-after keynote speaker and coach, Dr. Carter also teaches online classes that help people live their most fulfilling lives. She lives with her husband, four teenagers, and dog, Buster, in Marin County, California.
Please note:
Doors at 6pm. Program at 7pm. Duration of event is subject to author's preference.
Signing details TBA soon.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. All ticket sales are final.
This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Enjoy our event with Rebecca Solnit and Jeff Chang, courtesy of C-SPAN:
[The Mother of All Questions]
Rebecca Solnit examines how women have been silenced and the changes occurring within the feminist movement today. She speaks with with author Jeff Chang.