Booksmith: Sept author events

SEPTEMBER AUTHOR EVENTS AT THE BOOKSMITH in San Francisco

Author events are free and are sponsored by The Booksmith (1644 Haight
St. in San Francisco). Booksmith events are wheelchair accessible.
For further information, call 415-863-8688 or visit www.booksmith.com

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." 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.
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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" 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.
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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," 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.
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LILY KOPPEL
reading & booksigning for "The Red Leather Diary"
Wednesday, September 10 at 7:30 pm

"The Red Leather Diary" 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
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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," 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.
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BILL SANTIAGO
reading & 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," 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.
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LYNDA BARRY
reading & 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," 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.
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IRVINE WELSH
reading & booksigning for "Crime"
Friday, September 19 at 7:30 pm

In "Crime,"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.
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RICK WARTZMAN
reading & 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," 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."
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DAPHNE BEAL
reading & 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"
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."
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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" 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.