Hello Litquakers,
The festival is off to an amazing start! Every event has been packed with fellow literature lovers, reveling in the words of this year’s absolutely brilliant authors. We couldn’t be happier to be enjoying all that literature evokes alongside you these past few days. If you can believe it, there are still ten days left of Litquake! Check out a few of our upcoming shows below, and browse the full schedule at litquake.org. |
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Vladimir Sorokin is widely considered one of Russia’s most iconoclastic and imaginative writers. His novels and short stories reflect and react against life in Russia, satirizing recent history and current events in dystopian domains with liberal helpings of sex, scatology, and violence. Little known in the West until recently, NYRB Classics and Dalkey Archive Press are in the midst of translating eight of his novels. His latest in English, Telluria, is set in a near-future dystopian Europe of medieval feudal states—a carnivalesque tapestry filled with peasants and party leaders, a new Knights Templar, a harem of phalluses, a drug called tellurium, and a dog-headed poet and philosopher who feasts on carrion from the battlefield.
Sorokin will discuss his life and work with translator Max Lawton. |
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Seamlessly weaving global and personal history, through the lens of his gonzo gallows humor, Jerry Stahl’s new memoir Nein, Nein, Nein! takes us on a bizarre yet brilliant journey through Poland and Germany, where he must confront everything from genocidal horrors to generational pain, oddball fellow travelers, gang polkas, and the truly disturbing snack bar at Auschwitz.
Jerry Stahl will be in conversation with writer/actor Beth Lisick. |
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Join Litquake and the Museum of African Diaspora in celebrating one of literature's most exciting new voices. In Prince Shakur's new memoir When They Tell You To Be Good (Tin House), the young author explores a life lived in the center of a complicated Venn diagram.
Prince Shakur will be in conversation with James Cagney. |
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Ecuadorian author Gabriela Alemán is known for her spirited and sardonic take on the fatefully interconnected—and often highly compromised—forces at work in present-day South America, and particularly in Ecuador. In Family Album, her new short-story collection from City Lights, she employs hardboiled detective fiction, satire, and adventure narratives to recast the discussion of national identity in directions other than just the usual soccer, coffee, and cocoa. From deep-sea divers using Robinson Crusoe’s shipwreck map to locate sunken treasure in the Galápagos Archipelago, to a night with the husband of Ecuador’s most infamous expat, Lorena Bobbitt, this series of cracked “family portraits” provides a rich cast of unforgettable characters whose intimate stories reveal Ecuador’s true place on the world stage.
Gabriela Alemán will be in conversation with Achy Obejas. |
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| San Francisco Chronicle is a proud sponsor of Litquake. The Chronicle is offering Unlimited Digital Access to SFChronicle.com for just 99-cents for 16 weeks, and 7-day print delivery for $7.00/week for 8 weeks, which includes Unlimited Digital Access! |
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Litquake Weekly Literary news, upcoming events, and whatever else we’re looking at...
“A fragile, opaque “truth” emerges from family documents, tales of ghosts, clairvoyants, spirits and witches and mysterious and enchanted happenings against a backdrop of war, machismo violence and mestizaje...” Tonight, Ingrid Rojas Contreras discusses her National Book Award-nominated memoir alongside Julián Delgado Lopera at Amado’s • San Francisco Examiner
“Russian literary great Vladimir Sorokin—appreciated as the heir to Turgenev or Nabokov—will take the floor at the Mechanics’ Institute to discuss his work and life with translator Max Lawton. ” Take a look at a small handful of what Litquake has to offer this year • The San Francisco Standard
“In this stunning return to form, Soehnlein's brilliant novel of love, sex, social activism, and sobering loss will incite nostalgia, pride, and a fierce sense of queer solidarity.” Together with Litquake and Fabulosa Books, K.M. Soehnlein will appear with Jesse Ataide on October 20, 7pm at Strut • Bay Area Reporter
“What do Daniel Handler, Bonnie Tsui, K.M. Soehnlein, and Kamau Bell's mom have in common? They're all making appearances at this year's edition of Litquake.” Find out the details of these shows by perusing our packed schedule • 7x7 |
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