Virtual Fundraiser: Mary Roach and Emily Anthes!

It’s a tough time for local bookstores, what with the social distancing and the sheltering in place. So we’re raising funds to help local Bay Area bookstores stay in business, with a series of fundraisers. Fridays will feature readings for kids, and we’re incredibly lucky and thrilled to feature Alex Gino and Mike Jung, raising funds for the Multicultural Children’s Bookstore in Richmond, CA.

The authors

Mary Roach is the author of six New York Times bestsellers, including GRUNT: The Curious Science of Humans at War; STIFF: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers; and PACKING FOR MARS: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. STIFF has been published in 29 languages, and her second book, SPOOK, was a New York Times Notable Book. Mary has written for National Geographic, Wired, Discover, New Scientist, and the Journal of Clinical Anatomy, among others. She has served on the Usage Panel of American Heritage Dictionary, and her 2009 TED talk made the organization’s Twenty Most-Watched List. She was guest editor of the 2011 Best American Science and Nature Writing, a finalist for the Royal Society’s Winton Prize for Science Books, and a winner of American Engineering Societies’ Engineering Journalism Award, in a category for which, let’s be honest, she was the sole entrant.

Emily Anthes is a science journalist and author. Her new book, The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness, will be published in June. She is also the author of Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts, which was longlisted for the PEN/E.O Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Emily’s work has also appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Wired, Nature, Slate, Businessweek, and elsewhere. Her magazine features have won several awards, including the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award and the NASW Science in Society Journalism Award.

The beneficiary

Since its inception back in the heyday of the Beatnik era, Moe’s Books has managed to become more than just a great bookstore–it has achieved the rarified status of a beloved landmark institution as well. Situated just four blocks from the University of California campus, Moe’s has managed to mirror the often turbulent and triumphant times that have come to epitomize all that is exciting and unique about Berkeley.

Founded in 1959 by Moe Moskowitz and his wife, Barbara, the original site of the store was a small shop on Shattuck just north of University Avenue. He moved the store up to Telegraph Avenue in the 1960s, right in the middle of the Free Speech Movement and the famous anti-war demonstrations that put Berkeley on the political map. Moe’s has hundreds of thousands of titles in its ever-changing stock.

How does it work?

We use the conferencing system Zoom. After you sign up you’ll get an email with the Zoom access code. (Check that Eventbrite is using your current email address.) You don’t have to join with video, but it’s nice to see faces.