.Books

‘Our Veterans’ digs deep into vets’ challenges Friday, Nov. 11 is Veterans Day this year. There will be parades. Politicians will make speeches “honoring the sacrifices” of the men and women who serve or have served in the...

If Litquake 2022 were weaponry, it would be a bow and arrows. Instead, Litquake is the Bay Area’s beloved annual literary festival that this year sprawls over 16 days with 93 events and over 350 authors and...

With his new collection of interlinked short stories, Oakland author Jonathan Escoffery dissects the ironies of race, identity and family for Jamaican immigrants living in South Florida. Through the eyes of two brothers on divergent career and social...

In a phone conversation, Berkeley-based writer Jay Caspian Kang speaks his truth in a multiplicity of voices—and reveals he may forever be a man in search of a singular identity. We’re talking about Kang’s most recent book, The...

In 2013, New York Times-bestselling author Mac Barnett told me that growing up as an only child, whose time was divided between his father’s and mother’s homes in Castro Valley and Oakland, left him feeling lonely and...

Oakland author Nick Mamatas offers a trip down the rabbit hole of theories about mass shootings in his new metaphysical thriller, The Second Shooter. According to Mamatas, for every mass shooting in America—four victims or more—there is initially...

Mattson provides a galvanizing setup for 'Reprieve'. Each of the five cells at Quigley House is occupied by gore-covered actors, who are permitted to hit, punch and spatter muck on the visitors, who are sometimes allowed to retaliate. The first contestant to use the safe word, “reprieve,” loses the chance to take $60,000 home with them. The owners claim to have made at least one payout.