Bringing our Youth Back to the Land
Within societies that have been constructed in ways that separate generations and sever connections to storytelling traditions, Indigenous and colonized communities see high rates of teen depression, disenfranchisement, and suicide. In response,…
Stories of Tomorrow: Speculative Fiction
Buckle up for a disorienting launch into the vast unknown with these works of speculative fiction that transcend time and space. How We Know Our Time Travelers is Anita Felicelli’s collection of dark, intellectual, and surreal stories that…
Romantasy — Not for the Faint of Heart
A competition to find the king’s lost heir. A war fought by a woman soldier in disguise. A quest to escape a desolate land of sickness and unnatural beasts. The fiery protagonists of this romantasy panel adventure far and wide, questioning…
Organized Resistance From the Ground Up
Learn from the best of community organization leadership in this empowering panel, which will get to the bottom of how to build resilient and justice-oriented communities. Jaz Brisack, a leader of the Starbucks and Tesla union movements, narrates…
Telling Our Futures: Speculative Fiction and Social Change
This visionary, multi-generational panel brings together Bay Area authors who weave speculative fiction with powerful messages of resistance, transformation, and justice. Through creative storytelling, these authors tackle the pressing issues…
Embrace Furiously This Burning World: Writers Reckon with Now
Taking inspiration from Barry Lopez’s urgent call, this event features CCA faculty working across fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to explore how contemporary writers confront the crises and transformations defining our moment—climate change,…
A Revolution of Raised Voices
Join authors Devi S. Laskar and Elizabeth Stark for a generative writing workshop! Play with voice, practice putting your vision and truth (even fictional truths) into words. Live out loud! Try out some new writing techniques and strategies.…
Official Launch of the BABF Affinity Lit Collectives
Join us at the Downtown BART Plaza for the exciting official launch of the Bay Area Book Festival’s three affinity lit collectives: Women Lit, LGBTQIA+ Lit, and Mixed Race Lit (final collective names to be decided in their first meetings).…
Incantation for Future: Closing Headliner & Portal Closing
As the poetry stage draws to a close, we will gather for one final invocation—a moment to honor what has been conjured, created, and carried forward. Incantation for Future is both a celebration and a spell for what comes next. Legendary writer…
Wound is the Portal: Healing into the Future
This poetry portal explores the wound not as an end, but as a powerful beginning. Join us for a journey where language becomes a site of transformation—where grief, memory, and survival are not just revisited, but reimagined. Mimi Tempestt…