Augusten Burroughs / Toil & Trouble: A Memoir

Booksmith hosts a special evening with Augusten Burroughs for his new book, Toil & Trouble: A Memoir. This will be his only SF/Bay Area appearance. Please join us!

Please note: this is a ticketed event, to be held at Booksmith (1644 Haight St.) in San Francisco. The price of admission is equal to the cost of Toil & Trouble, which is included with each ticket. Tickets can be purchased here.

“Here’s a partial list of things I don’t believe in: God. The Devil. Heaven. Hell. Bigfoot. Ancient Aliens. Past lives. Life after death. Vampires. Zombies. Reiki. Homeopathy. Rolfing. Reflexology. Note that ‘witches’ and ‘witchcraft’ are absent from this list. The thing is, I wouldn’t believe in them, and I would privately ridicule any idiot who did, except for one thing: I am a witch.”

For as long as Augusten Burroughs could remember, he knew things he shouldn’t have known. He manifested things that shouldn’t have come to pass. And he told exactly no one about this, save one person: his mother. His mother reassured him that it was all perfectly normal, that he was descended from a long line of witches, going back to the days of the early American colonies. And that this family tree was filled with witches. It was a bond that he and his mother shared — until the day she left him in the care of her psychiatrist to be raised in his family (but that’s a whole other story). After that, Augusten was on his own. On his own to navigate the world of this tricky power; on his own to either use or misuse this gift.

From the hilarious to the terrifying, Toil & Trouble is a chronicle of one man’s journey to understand himself, to reconcile the powers he can wield with things with which he is helpless. There are very few things that are coincidences, as you will learn. Ghosts are real, trees can want to kill you, beavers are the spawn of Satan, houses are alive, and in the end, love is the most powerful magic of all.

Augusten Burroughs is the author of Running with Scissors, Dry, Magical Thinking: True Stories, Possible Side Effects, A Wolf at the Table and You Better Not Cry. He is also the author of the novel Sellevision, which has been optioned for film. The film version of Running with Scissors, directed by Ryan Murphy and produced by Brad Pitt, was released in October 2006 and starred Joseph Cross, Brian Cox, Annette Bening (nominated for a Golden Globe for her role), Alec Baldwin and Evan Rachel Wood. Augusten’s writing has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers around the world including The New York Times and New York Magazine. In 2005 Entertainment Weekly named him one of “The 25 Funniest People in America.”

** Please note **

– This is an all-ages event.

– The duration of this event is up to the author.

– Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable.

– 1 ticket = 1 book, no exceptions. The book must be purchased from Booksmith. If you already have a copy of Toil & Trouble, remember that books make great gifts! If you’ve already gifted Toil & Trouble to all of your friends, it’s ok to buy a different book from Booksmith instead — in that case, please write events AT booksmith DOT com.

– If you can’t attend the event but would like to request a signed copy of Toil & Trouble, order below and be sure to put your request in the special field.

– Signing, photo, and Q&A details to come.

– Facebook RSVP not required, but always appreciated.