Author Events at The Booksmith - San Francisco and the internet's leading independent bookstore and the coolest store at which to see your favorite authors

THE BOOKSMITH YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD BOOKSTORE IN CYBERSPACE 1-800-493-7323

Welcome to The Booksmith calendar of author events. Our readings/booksignings are a great opportunity to meet an author, hear them read from their work, or purchase an autographed copy of their latest book. As always, our events are free and open to the public. The Booksmith is located at 1644 Haight Street (between Clayton & Cole) in San Francisco's historic Haight Ashbury neighborhood. Check our information page for directions and a map to the store.

If you are unable to attend an event and are interested in purchasing a signed book (available at no extra charge), please please give us a call at 415-863-8688 or contact us via email at . We're happy to hold your book or ship it to you.

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	JOE NICK PATOSKI talk & booksigning for Willie Nelson: An Epic Life Tuesday, September 2 at 7:30 pm Join Joe Nick Patoski (and special guests & outlaws ) as he discusses his exceptional new biography Willie Nelson: An Epic Life* (hardback, $27.99). Drawing on over 100 interviews with Willie and his family, friends and band, Patoski tells the country music icon’s story from humble Depression-era roots to his musical education in Texas honky-tonks and his flirtations with whiskey, women, and weed. "Patoski has here conjured a biography . . . a book whose evocations of time, place, and spirit are as masterful as they are enthralling." - Nick Tosches Joe Nick Patoski has written about Willie Nelson for publications including No Depression, Texas Monthly, Rolling Stone, TV Guide, and the Austin American-Statesman. The co-author and author of biographies of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Selena and a contributor to the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, Patoski lives in the Texas Hill Country. [* Among those joining us for this special event will be Willie Nelson's harmonica player, Mickey Raphael aka "The Reader in the Band," who will talk about Willie, music and the charms of the road.]
	MARC LECARD reading & booksigning for Tiny Little Troubles Monday, September 8 at 7:30 pm From Marc Lecard, the critically acclaimed author of Vinnie's Head, comes a fast-paced crime story about an eccentric thug chasing after a piece of nano-technology and the scientist that created it. Set locally, Tiny Little Troubles (hardback, $24.95) is a fast-paced crime story (recalling Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen) in which the protagonist, a brilliant San Francisco scientist, encounters a whole world of trouble from the smallest of sources. Marc Lecard is the author of an earlier novel, Vinnie’s Head, as well as short stories published in various anthologies. He lives in Oakland, California with his wife, 3,000 books (at last count), a roomful of musical instruments, and a growing collection of obsolete computers.
	JANIS IAN talk & booksigning for Society's Child: My Autobiography Tuesday, September 9 at 7:30 pm Janis Ian has inspired generations of fans, and in Society's Child: My Autobiography (hardback, $26.95), the Grammy Award winner shares the fascinating story of her life in music. In this moving memoir, Ian tells the story behind her controversial 1966 hit "Society’s Child" (written when the musician was just 15 years old) and the equally acclaimed 1975 smash "At Seventeen," which earned two Grammys and five nominations. Janis Ian is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer, multi-instrumental musician, columnist, and science fiction fan-turned-author. She had a highly successful singing career in the 1960s and 1970s, and has continued recording into the 21st century. Ian has been a regular columnist for and continuing contributor to the LGBT magazine The Advocate.
	NEAL STEPHENSON multimedia event for Anathem Tuesday, September 9 at 7-11 pm New York Times best-selling author Neal Stephenson's new book, Anathem, is being released at a singular event in San Francisco on September 9, 02008. Presented by The Long Now Foundation, whose 10,000 Year Clock project inspired Stephenson's new work, this evening with the author will include live performances of music created for the book, readings by Neal Stephenson, conversations with Stewart Brand and Danny Hillis (founders of The Long Now Foundation), a demonstration of shovel-fu, and a chance to celebrate this new work in the Gothic splendor of The Regency. Please note: this is a ticketed event which will take place at The Regency, 1320 Van Ness @ Sutter in San Francisco. For tickets and further information, see www.brownpapertickets.com/event/42323 Neal Stephenson is an American writer known primarily for his science fiction works in the post-cyberpunk genre (with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, cryptography, and the history of science). He also writes non-fiction articles about technology in publications such as Wired Magazine. Neal Stephenson is the author of eight previous novels and other works, including such groundbreaking books as Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon.
	LILY KOPPEL reading & booksigning for The Red Leather Diary Wednesday, September 10 at 7:30 pm The Red Leather Diary (hardback, $23.95) tells the true story of a teenage girl’s discarded, Depression-era journal rescued from a dumpster in modern day Manhattan and eventually, and remarkably, reunited with its now elderly author. Found by a young writer, journalist Lily Koppel, who read its vivid entries as if letters to herself, this artifact of a forgotten time reveals the lost world of a New York teenager a young woman who dared to follow her dreams. Lily Koppel writes for the New York Times and other publications. She lives in New York City. For more on her and her book, see www.redleatherdiary.com
	TAMIM ANSARY reading & booksigning for West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Thursday, September 11 at 7:30 pm The Booksmith and One City One Book: San Francisco Reads celebrate West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American (softcover, $14.00), by Tamim Ansary. This memoir of growing up in pre-Taliban Afghanistan also recounts the author’s travels through North Africa and the Middle East as well as a personal journey through two cultures in conflict. Please join us for this special event. Tamim Ansary writes and lectures about Afghanistan, Islamic history, democracy, schooling and learning, fiction and the writing process. He also directs the San Francisco Writers Workshop, the oldest continuous free writers workshop in America and the hub of a growing community of Bay Area writers.
	BILL SANTIAGO talk & booksigning for Pardon My Spanglish Monday, September 15 at 7:30 pm Come hear comedian Bill Santiago read from his new book, Pardon My Spanglish: One Man's Guide to Speaking the Habla (softcover, $14.95), and perform some of the hilarious Spanglish standup from his Comedy Central special. Afterwards, share your own personal experiences with Spanglish (featuring twice the vocabulary and half the grammar). Porque, because laughs for Latinos and the Latino-curious are guaranteed! Bill Santiago is a nationally known comedian who has appeared on Conan O’Brien and Comedy Central. He became a standup comic after narrowly escaping a career as a widely published journalist, facing the fact that as a comedian he was funny, but as a reporter he was a joke. Bill Santiago's latest show, The Funny of (Latin) Dance, will be premiering at the Brava Theater Center on September 20th.
	LYNDA BARRY talk & booksigning for What It Is Thursday, September 18 at 7:30 pm If there were a list of 1,000, or 100, or 10, or even 1 author to see before you die at the top of that list should be Lynda Barry. She is a comic book genius - a comix goddess, and one of the most delightful and inspiring author-artists you’ll ever meet. Her new book, What It Is (hardback, $24.95), is a deliciously drawn, insightful, and engaging take on the process of artistic creation. "Barry is not just a storyteller, she’s an evangelist who urges people to pick up a pen - or a brush . . . and look at their own lives with fresh, forgiving eyes." - San Francisco Chronicle Cartoonist, novelist, playwright and Booksmith favorite Lynda Barry is the creator of the syndicated strip "Ernie Pooks Comeek," featuring the incomparable Marlys and Freddy. Her books include Cruddy, One Hundred Demons and The Good Times Are Killing Me.
	IRVINE WELSH talk & booksigning for Crime Friday, September 19 at 7:30 pm In Crime (hardback, $24.95), Scottish-born author Irvine Welsh brings his unique brand of literary mayhem to the glitzed-out, drugs-and-danger state of Florida. This just published novel tells the tale of Ray Lennox (a supporting character from the novel Filth) who is cast adrift in the Sunshine State and who befriends a young girl in jeopardy. Not all, however, is as it seems. Described by the author as more "an existential thriller than a police procedural crime novel," Welsh’s latest is sure to keep readers riveted. Irvine Welsh is the author of Trainspotting, Marabou Stork Nightmares, Ecstacy, Porno and other works. He divides his time between Florida, Ireland, and Scotland.
	RICK WARTZMAN talk & booksigning for Obscene in the Extreme Tuesday, September 23 at 7:30 pm Few books have caused as big a stir as John Steinbeck’s classic 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Just a month after publication, it was the nation’s number one bestseller; but in Kern County, California - the Joads’ newfound home - the book was burned publicly and banned from library shelves. Obscene in the Extreme (hardback, $26.95), by California journalist and historian Rick Wartzman, tells the remarkable story behind this fit of censorship. Rick Wartzman is director of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University and an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation. He spent two decades as a reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. He is co-author, with Mark Arax, of the award-winning bestseller The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire.
	DAPHNE BEAL talk & booksigning for In the Land of No Right Angles Wednesday, September 24 at 7:30 pm Suspenseful, haunting and spare, In the Land of No Right Angles (softcover, $13.95) marks the arrival of a talented and intuitive new writer. In this, her first novel, Daphne Beal tells the story of a twenty-year-old American spending a year in Nepal who befriends a local only to be drawn into an uncertain world where the desire to save a friend is more harmful than doing nothing at all. Daphne Beal was on the editorial staff of The New Yorker, and her writing has appeared in Vogue, McSweeney's, Open City, and The London Review of Books. Her work has been anthologized in The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers, The KGB Reader, and most recently in State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America.
	SEAN WILSEY talk, screening & booksigning for State by State Saturday, September 27 at 7:30 pm Inspired by the WPA guides of the Thirties and Forties, 50 contemporary writers have produced original pieces of reportage and memoir that capture the 50 states in our time. State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America (hardback, $29.95) is an American road trip in book form featuring original writing on all 50 states by 50 of our finest novelists, journalists, and essayists. Join editor Sean Wilsey and other contributors as we celebrate the publication of this new book and screen a short film on its making. Sean Wilsey is the author of the memoir, Oh the Glory of It All, and the co-editor of The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, the London Review of Books, the Los Angeles Times, and McSweeney’s quarterly, where he is the editor at large.
	NEIL GAIMAN reading for The Graveyard Book Sunday, October 5 at 3:00 pm The Graveyard Book (hardback, $17.99) is Neil Gaiman's first full-length novel for middle-grade readers since the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Coraline. And like Coraline, this book is sure to enchant and surprise young readers as well as Neil Gaiman's legion of adult fans. This exclusive San Francisco event - one of only a few around the country - will take place at the Sundance Kabuki Theater (1881 Post Street) in San Francisco. Tickets are $28.00 and are on sale at The Booksmith. For more information, please visit www.booksmith.com/gaiman.html Neil Gaiman is the author of the New York Times bestselling children's book Coraline and of the picture books The Wolves in the Walls and The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish. He wrote the script for the film MirrorMask and is also the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning novels and short stories for adults, as well as the Sandman series of graphic novels. Among his many awards are the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Bram Stoker Award. Originally from England, Gaiman now lives in the United States.
Please join us for one or more of these upcoming events. Booksmith author events are free and located at our San Francisco store (1644 Haight Street in San Francisco, between Clayton & Cole), unless otherwise noted. Seating is offered on a first-come, first-served basis, approximately 45 minutes in advance. For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com We have a great line-up of author events scheduled for the next few months. Coming to the Booksmith are Tales of the City author ARMISTEAD MAUPIN (October 8), Bay Area favorite LEWIS BUZBEE (October 9), magical realist JONATHAN CARROLL (October 20), Allen Ginsberg biographer BILL MORGAN (October 23), radio journalist ROSE AGUILAR (November 6), graphic novelist ALISON BECHDEL (November 10), film critic DAVID THOMSON (November 12), acclaimed Los Angeles writer RACHEL RESNICK (November 20), and many others.