Features
Bay Area Book Festival Brings 500 Notable Authors, Exhibitors to Berkeley May 4 and 5
The Bay Area Book Festival—one of the world’s premier literary celebrations—will bring nearly 500 speakers and exhibitors to Downtown Berkeley for its fifth anniversary event, May 4 and 5, 2019, from 10 a.m. to 9:00 p.m each day. Using indoor theaters throughout downtown plus Martin Luther King, Jr. park, the Festival includes interviews, panels, performances, exhibits and a free Outdoor Fair.
Since 2015, the Festival has been widely recognized for the quality of its authors, its international scope and its commitment to social justice. “The festival presents a diverse array of authors, many of whom are exploring some of today’s most urgent, complex issues, including economic inequality, race, immigration, and climate change,” said founder and director Cherilyn Parsons.
“But we also include fun conversations such as ‘Nordic Noir’ featuring bestselling authors who have flown to us from Scandinavia. The musician Moby also makes an appearance this year—as does the creator of the comic strip ‘Cathy’!”
Saturday night’s keynote features former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and Anand Giridharadas, author of “Winners Take All.” For the Sunday night keynote, Albert Woodfox, who was wrongfully held in solitary confinement for four decades, will be interviewed by Shane Bauer. The closing event presents the Bay Area premier of “Above the Fold,” a documentary on journalist Robert Scheer, with Scheer in person.
Other authors will come from every corner of the literary world—from Young Adult and memoir to nonfiction and cooking. Featured authors include Pulitzer Prize winners Carlos Lozada and David Blight, the entire Kellerman family of bestselling crime writers, Facebook insider and vocal critic Roger McNamee, queer Native poet Tommy Pico and undocumented activist and Pulitzer recipient Jose Antonio Vargas.
Additional headliners appear in the festival’s new Writer to Writer conversation series, which includes novelists Esi Edugyan (“Washington Black”) with Tayari Jones (“An American Marriage”); Joyce Carol Oates with André Alexis, author of “Days of Moonlight”; Ishmael Reed with young poet Morgan Parker; Carmen Maria Machado (“Her Body and Other Parties”) with Lacy Johnson (“The Reckonings”) and “Unquiet” author Linn Ullmann with her editor and fellow novelist Geir Gulliksen.
Other special sessions include a tribute to Lawrence Ferlinghetti on his 100th birthday, a celebration of The Paris Review with its new editor, a screening of “The Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin,” and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra performing original compositions inspired by the work of Bay Area poets.
Free Outdoor Fair and Children’s Programs
During the weekend a free Outdoor Fair takes over Martin Luther King Jr. Park, with live literary presentations on four stages as well as independent booksellers and book artists, literary organizations and writing associations, educational institutions, libraries, publishers and scores of authors from a range of genres.
Half Price Books will return to the Outdoor Fair with their book giveaway. New this year are the Wunderbar Together Pavilion, an exhibition celebrating German-American Friendship, and a new food court in association with La Cocina, the acclaimed San Francisco-based food industry incubator supporting primarily women of color and women from immigrant communities.
An outdoor stage will host two performances of the internationally acclaimed Literary Death Match, a thrilling, humor-centric competition between established and emerging authors—the first ever for young adults and for middle-graders.
Kids can enjoy a dedicated outdoor stage and a storytelling circle, as well as an interactive Family Fun Zone. Top children’s authors such as Mac Barnett, Innosanto Nagara (“A Is for Activist”), and Annie Barrows (“Ivy and Bean” series) regale kids. Two-time Grammy-nominee Alphabet Rockers will host a program of hip-hop, craft-making and community action.
How to Attend
The schedule of ticketed events is available at www.baybookfest.org.
Literary sessions take place in a dozen venues downtown and on outdoor stages. Shows in outdoor venues are free, and a $15 General Admission Wristband grants access to all indoor sessions all weekend on a space-available basis. Guaranteed seating in indoor programs can be accessed through Priority Tickets at $10/session. Youth under 18 attend for free. Wristbands and tickets can be purchased easily online or at four Box Offices at the event.
The Festival’s Friends program is an ideal way for attendees to receive wristbands and Priority Tickets while also supporting the nonprofit festival.
The 2019 Bay Area Book Festival is made possible through support from the City of Berkeley and scores of sponsors, foundations, consulates, and individual donors. The Festival’s three major media sponsors are the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED and Berkeleyside. Support also comes from KPFA, KALW, BART, Mother Jones, BOOKFORUM and other outlets.
