MASHA GESSEN presents The Future is History
Monday, October 9, 7:30PM
at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. in Berkeley
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
A major new narrative nonfiction work by the bestselling author of Putin's biography and "one of the most important activists and journalists Russia has known in a generation” (David Remnick, The New Yorker), Masha Gessen's The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia is a cautionary tale for our time. Over the past three decades, Russia, having seemingly shed its Soviet incarnation for good and embarked on a journey toward democracy, devolved into a frightening retro-totalitarian state run by Putin with an iron fist. As Gessen writes, "The crackdown, the wars, and even Russia's reversion to type on the world stage are things that happened that I witnessed and I wanted to tell this story. But I also wanted to tell about what did not happen: the story of freedom that was not embraced and democracy that was not desired. How do you tell a story like that? Where do you locate reasons for the absences? When do you begin, and with whom?"
Gessen captures this pivotal era through the stories of several Russians whose lives spanned these decades; who blossomed with its embrace of unprecedented freedoms, then were crushed by its war on the very means by which they had come to understand themselves. By giving us the arc of these individual lives, The Future is History pushes past the abstractions and headlines, providing an illuminating, in-depth perspective on daily life under a regime that has turned on its own people.
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Important signing details coming soon. Tickets on sale at this link.
Monday, October 9, 7:30PM
at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. in Berkeley
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
A major new narrative nonfiction work by the bestselling author of Putin's biography and "one of the most important activists and journalists Russia has known in a generation” (David Remnick, The New Yorker), Masha Gessen's The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia is a cautionary tale for our time. Over the past three decades, Russia, having seemingly shed its Soviet incarnation for good and embarked on a journey toward democracy, devolved into a frightening retro-totalitarian state run by Putin with an iron fist. As Gessen writes, "The crackdown, the wars, and even Russia's reversion to type on the world stage are things that happened that I witnessed and I wanted to tell this story. But I also wanted to tell about what did not happen: the story of freedom that was not embraced and democracy that was not desired. How do you tell a story like that? Where do you locate reasons for the absences? When do you begin, and with whom?"
Gessen captures this pivotal era through the stories of several Russians whose lives spanned these decades; who blossomed with its embrace of unprecedented freedoms, then were crushed by its war on the very means by which they had come to understand themselves. By giving us the arc of these individual lives, The Future is History pushes past the abstractions and headlines, providing an illuminating, in-depth perspective on daily life under a regime that has turned on its own people.
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Important signing details coming soon. Tickets on sale at this link.
CRISTINA GARCIA and ELIZABETH ROSNER
Tuesday, November 7, 7:30PM
at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. in Berkeley
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Join us as we welcome beloved Bay Area authors Cristina Garcia and Elizabeth Rosner in conversation about their new books. Garcia's novel, Here in Berlin, is a meditation on war and mystery fueled by the stories and ghosts of contemporary Berlin, while Rosner's Survivor Cafe: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Mystery is a work of nonfiction that examines the ways survivors, witnesses, and post-war generations talk about and shape traumatic experiences. We're very excited to bring these brilliant minds together for a one-time-only conversation—don't miss it!
Survivor Cafe
"Survivor Cafe takes on important issues of atrocity, trauma, and memory, rendering them all with such great clarity and intimacy that the reader will not soon forget them, or this powerful book." -- Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer
As firsthand survivors of many of the twentieth century's most monumental events -- the Holocaust, Pearl Harbor, the Killing Fields – begin to pass away, Survivor Cafe addresses urgent questions: How do we carry those stories forward? How do we collectively ensure that the horrors of the past are not forgotten?
Elizabeth Rosner organizes her book around three trips with her father to Buchenwald concentration camp – in 1983, in 1995, and in 2015 – each journey an experience in which personal history confronts both commemoration and memorialization. She explores the echoes of similar legacies among descendants of African American slaves, descendants of Cambodian survivors of the Killing Fields, descendants of survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the effects of 9/11 on the general population. Examining current brain research, Rosner depicts the efforts to understand the intergenerational inheritance of trauma, as well as the intricacies of remembrance in the aftermath of atrocity. Survivor Cafe becomes a lens for numerous constructs of memory -- from museums and commemorative sites to national reconciliation projects to small-group cross-cultural encounters.
Beyond preserving the firsthand testimonies of participants and witnesses, individuals and societies must continually take responsibility for learning the painful lessons of the past in order to offer hope for the future. Survivor Cafe offers a clear-eyed sense of the enormity of our twenty-first-century human inheritance -- not only among direct descendants of the Holocaust but also in the shape of our collective responsibility to learn from tragedy, and to keep the ever-changing conversations alive between the past and the present.
Tuesday, November 7, 7:30PM
at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. in Berkeley
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Join us as we welcome beloved Bay Area authors Cristina Garcia and Elizabeth Rosner in conversation about their new books. Garcia's novel, Here in Berlin, is a meditation on war and mystery fueled by the stories and ghosts of contemporary Berlin, while Rosner's Survivor Cafe: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Mystery is a work of nonfiction that examines the ways survivors, witnesses, and post-war generations talk about and shape traumatic experiences. We're very excited to bring these brilliant minds together for a one-time-only conversation—don't miss it!
Survivor Cafe
"Survivor Cafe takes on important issues of atrocity, trauma, and memory, rendering them all with such great clarity and intimacy that the reader will not soon forget them, or this powerful book." -- Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer
As firsthand survivors of many of the twentieth century's most monumental events -- the Holocaust, Pearl Harbor, the Killing Fields – begin to pass away, Survivor Cafe addresses urgent questions: How do we carry those stories forward? How do we collectively ensure that the horrors of the past are not forgotten?
Elizabeth Rosner organizes her book around three trips with her father to Buchenwald concentration camp – in 1983, in 1995, and in 2015 – each journey an experience in which personal history confronts both commemoration and memorialization. She explores the echoes of similar legacies among descendants of African American slaves, descendants of Cambodian survivors of the Killing Fields, descendants of survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the effects of 9/11 on the general population. Examining current brain research, Rosner depicts the efforts to understand the intergenerational inheritance of trauma, as well as the intricacies of remembrance in the aftermath of atrocity. Survivor Cafe becomes a lens for numerous constructs of memory -- from museums and commemorative sites to national reconciliation projects to small-group cross-cultural encounters.
Beyond preserving the firsthand testimonies of participants and witnesses, individuals and societies must continually take responsibility for learning the painful lessons of the past in order to offer hope for the future. Survivor Cafe offers a clear-eyed sense of the enormity of our twenty-first-century human inheritance -- not only among direct descendants of the Holocaust but also in the shape of our collective responsibility to learn from tragedy, and to keep the ever-changing conversations alive between the past and the present.
Here in Berlin
"A brilliant novel, by turns hilarious and haunting, gorgeous and brutal, entertaining and profound. Cristina Garcia masterfully weaves an intricate web of history and passion, finely tuned to the subtle music of the soul. Here in Berlin demonstrates exactly why Garcia has so long been an international treasure, one who never ceases to astonish." -- Carolina De Robertis, author of Perla and Gods of Tango
Here in Berlin is a portrait of a city through snapshots, an excavation of the stories and ghosts of contemporary Berlin -- its complex, troubled past still pulsing in the air as it was during World War II. Critically acclaimed novelist Cristina Garcia brings the people of this famed city to life, their stories bristling with regret, desire, and longing.
An unnamed Visitor travels to Berlin with a camera looking for reckonings of her own. The city itself is a character -- vibrant and post-apocalyptic, flat and featureless except for its rivers, its lakes, its legions of bicyclists. Here in Berlin she encounters a people's history: the Cuban teen taken as a POW on a German submarine only to return home to a family who doesn't believe him; the young Jewish scholar hidden in a sarcophagus until safe passage to England is found; the female lawyer haunted by a childhood of deprivation in the bombed-out suburbs of Berlin who still defends those accused of war crimes; a young nurse with a checkered past who joins the Reich at a medical facility more intent to dispense with the wounded than to heal them; and the son of a zookeeper at the Berlin Zoo, fighting to keep the animals safe from both war and an increasingly starving populace.
A meditation on war and mystery, this an exciting new work by one of our most gifted novelists, one that seeks to align the stories of the past with the stories of the future.
Important signing details coming soon. Tickets on sale at this link.
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Elizabeth Rosner is the author of three novels and a poetry collection. The Speed of Light was translated into nine languages and won several awards in the US and in Europe, including being shortlisted for the prestigious Prix Femina. Blue Nude was named among the best books of 2006 by the San Francisco Chronicle. Electric City was named among the best books of 2014 by NPR. Her essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Elle, the San Francisco Chronicle and others She lives in Berkeley.
Cristina Garcia is the author of seven novels, including: Dreaming in Cuban -- a finalist for the National Book Award -- The Aguero Sisters, Monkey Hunting, A Handbook to Luck, The Lady Matador's Hotel, and King of Cuba. Garcia has edited two anthologies, Cubanisimo: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Cuban Literature and Bordering Fires: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Mexican and Chicano/a Literature. Garcia's work has been translated into fourteen languages. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers' Award, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, and an NEA grant, among others. Garcia has taught at universities nationwide. Recently, she completed her tenure as University Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University-San Marcos and as Visiting Professor at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas-Austin. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area.
"A brilliant novel, by turns hilarious and haunting, gorgeous and brutal, entertaining and profound. Cristina Garcia masterfully weaves an intricate web of history and passion, finely tuned to the subtle music of the soul. Here in Berlin demonstrates exactly why Garcia has so long been an international treasure, one who never ceases to astonish." -- Carolina De Robertis, author of Perla and Gods of Tango
Here in Berlin is a portrait of a city through snapshots, an excavation of the stories and ghosts of contemporary Berlin -- its complex, troubled past still pulsing in the air as it was during World War II. Critically acclaimed novelist Cristina Garcia brings the people of this famed city to life, their stories bristling with regret, desire, and longing.
An unnamed Visitor travels to Berlin with a camera looking for reckonings of her own. The city itself is a character -- vibrant and post-apocalyptic, flat and featureless except for its rivers, its lakes, its legions of bicyclists. Here in Berlin she encounters a people's history: the Cuban teen taken as a POW on a German submarine only to return home to a family who doesn't believe him; the young Jewish scholar hidden in a sarcophagus until safe passage to England is found; the female lawyer haunted by a childhood of deprivation in the bombed-out suburbs of Berlin who still defends those accused of war crimes; a young nurse with a checkered past who joins the Reich at a medical facility more intent to dispense with the wounded than to heal them; and the son of a zookeeper at the Berlin Zoo, fighting to keep the animals safe from both war and an increasingly starving populace.
A meditation on war and mystery, this an exciting new work by one of our most gifted novelists, one that seeks to align the stories of the past with the stories of the future.
Important signing details coming soon. Tickets on sale at this link.
--
Elizabeth Rosner is the author of three novels and a poetry collection. The Speed of Light was translated into nine languages and won several awards in the US and in Europe, including being shortlisted for the prestigious Prix Femina. Blue Nude was named among the best books of 2006 by the San Francisco Chronicle. Electric City was named among the best books of 2014 by NPR. Her essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Elle, the San Francisco Chronicle and others She lives in Berkeley.
Cristina Garcia is the author of seven novels, including: Dreaming in Cuban -- a finalist for the National Book Award -- The Aguero Sisters, Monkey Hunting, A Handbook to Luck, The Lady Matador's Hotel, and King of Cuba. Garcia has edited two anthologies, Cubanisimo: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Cuban Literature and Bordering Fires: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Mexican and Chicano/a Literature. Garcia's work has been translated into fourteen languages. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers' Award, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, and an NEA grant, among others. Garcia has taught at universities nationwide. Recently, she completed her tenure as University Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University-San Marcos and as Visiting Professor at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas-Austin. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area.
DANIEL ALARCÓN presents The King is Always Above the People
Thursday, November 16, 7:30PM
at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave in Berkeley
TICKETS ON SALE SOON
From the beginning of his career, Daniel Alarcón proved he was a distinct and masterful storyteller. His first story collection, War by Candlelight, was a finalist for the 2006 PEN-Hemingway Award and was hailed by the award committee as a thrillingly fiery debut, and by critics as the arrival of a major literary talent. These stories have endured over the years, touching new readers and deepening in their impact. In 2015, Alarcón collaborated with renowned Peruvian artist Sheila Alvarado, who gorgeously rendered one of these stories, City of Clowns, into a captivating graphic form, giving Alarcóns prose a breathtaking new dimension (NPR) and adding layers of richness and depth to the storys power (Booklist).
Alarcóns first novel, Lost City Radio, won the 2009 International Literature Prize given by the House of World Culture in Berlin. His next novel, At Night We Walk in Circles, in 2013, was a PEN/Faulkner Fiction Award finalist, a California Book Award Finalist and was named one of the best books of the year by NPR, among others. Since then, Radio Ambulantethe award-winning Spanish language narrative radio program and podcast that Alarcón executive produces and hostshas been picked up by NPR, which now distributes their groundbreaking stories to an even greater audience around the world. At the same time, Alarcón teaches at Columbias Journalism School and continues to write high-profile reporting pieces for places like Harpers, The New Yorker and New York Times Magazineone of which earned him a nomination for the National Magazine Award. And on top of all this, Alarcón brilliantly translates important bodies of work from Spanish, including this summers celebrated memoir, The Book of Emma Reyes, the posthumously published account of a Colombian womans harrowing childhood.
Since originally publishing his first story collection, Daniel Alarcóns profile has grown tremendously, having amazed readers and critics alike with his unprecedented literary and journalistic achievements. But whether he is writing fiction, reporting on the ground, or narrating on the radio, it is the story that is fundamental to all of Alarcóns work and his commitment to sharing urgent and under-represented worlds and characters with English readers. Now, over a decade since his first collection, and the world a very different place, Alarcón returns to the Bay Area to read from his second: The King is Always Above the People.
Important signing details coming soon. Tickets on sale at this link.
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Daniel Alarcón is the author of At Night We Walk in Circles, which was a finalist for the 2014 Pen-Faulkner Award, as well as the story collection War by Candlelight, the novel Lost City Radio, and the graphic novel City of Clowns. His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Granta, n+1, and Harpers, and he was named one of the New Yorkers 20 Under 40. He is Executive Producer of Radio Ambulante, distributed by NPR, and is an assistant professor of broadcast journalism at the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York.
Thursday, November 16, 7:30PM
at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave in Berkeley
TICKETS ON SALE SOON
From the beginning of his career, Daniel Alarcón proved he was a distinct and masterful storyteller. His first story collection, War by Candlelight, was a finalist for the 2006 PEN-Hemingway Award and was hailed by the award committee as a thrillingly fiery debut, and by critics as the arrival of a major literary talent. These stories have endured over the years, touching new readers and deepening in their impact. In 2015, Alarcón collaborated with renowned Peruvian artist Sheila Alvarado, who gorgeously rendered one of these stories, City of Clowns, into a captivating graphic form, giving Alarcóns prose a breathtaking new dimension (NPR) and adding layers of richness and depth to the storys power (Booklist).
Alarcóns first novel, Lost City Radio, won the 2009 International Literature Prize given by the House of World Culture in Berlin. His next novel, At Night We Walk in Circles, in 2013, was a PEN/Faulkner Fiction Award finalist, a California Book Award Finalist and was named one of the best books of the year by NPR, among others. Since then, Radio Ambulantethe award-winning Spanish language narrative radio program and podcast that Alarcón executive produces and hostshas been picked up by NPR, which now distributes their groundbreaking stories to an even greater audience around the world. At the same time, Alarcón teaches at Columbias Journalism School and continues to write high-profile reporting pieces for places like Harpers, The New Yorker and New York Times Magazineone of which earned him a nomination for the National Magazine Award. And on top of all this, Alarcón brilliantly translates important bodies of work from Spanish, including this summers celebrated memoir, The Book of Emma Reyes, the posthumously published account of a Colombian womans harrowing childhood.
Since originally publishing his first story collection, Daniel Alarcóns profile has grown tremendously, having amazed readers and critics alike with his unprecedented literary and journalistic achievements. But whether he is writing fiction, reporting on the ground, or narrating on the radio, it is the story that is fundamental to all of Alarcóns work and his commitment to sharing urgent and under-represented worlds and characters with English readers. Now, over a decade since his first collection, and the world a very different place, Alarcón returns to the Bay Area to read from his second: The King is Always Above the People.
Important signing details coming soon. Tickets on sale at this link.
--
Daniel Alarcón is the author of At Night We Walk in Circles, which was a finalist for the 2014 Pen-Faulkner Award, as well as the story collection War by Candlelight, the novel Lost City Radio, and the graphic novel City of Clowns. His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Granta, n+1, and Harpers, and he was named one of the New Yorkers 20 Under 40. He is Executive Producer of Radio Ambulante, distributed by NPR, and is an assistant professor of broadcast journalism at the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York.
Enjoy our recent event with Rebecca Solnit and Jeff Chang:
[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.
