Launch for Katie Burke / Urban Playground: What Kids Say About Living in San Francisco

To outsiders, the Bay Area is intrinsically linked to tech hubs and counterculture. But what about San Francisco’s kid culture? In her new book, “Urban Playground: What Kids Say About Living in San Francisco,” Katie Burke explores the experience of kids ages five to nine living in one of the country’s most iconic cultural hubs.

The book also includes thoughtful discussion questions designed to draw laughs, explore various topics from silly to serious, and facilitate discussion.

Writer of Noe Kids, a column of kid profiles for San Francisco neighborhood newspaper The Noe Valley Voice, Katie Burke brings city kids’ personalities and perspectives to the page, leading readers to see the joys and challenges to being a San Francisco kid.

One five-year-old tries to articulate the city’s aroma, “I smell a delicious smell, and it always smells like San Francisco. I don’t know what the smell is, so I can’t really tell it to people, but it smells different from ice cream.”

But it isn’t all about parks and ice cream. Drawing on her experience being an aunt to six nieces and two nephews (all of whom grew up in major cities), Burke unearths an often hidden and unasked perspective on the city’s more complicated subjects –– from homelessness to immigrant parents. By leaning in and crouching down to see a child’s point of view, Burke shows us a part of San Francisco we never knew.

Katie Burke is a family law attorney and writer in San Francisco. Prior to entering law school, she earned a master’s degree in counseling. She owns Burke Family Law and writes Noe Kids, a monthly column for The Noe Valley Voice, in which she spotlights children ages four to twelve who live in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood, after interviewing them on various themes. She also regularly contributes judicial and attorney profiles to San Francisco Attorney, the Bar Association of San Francisco’s magazine. Burke has been published by HarperCollins, the L.A. Times, The Journal of Law and Social Challenges, Trial Insider, BASF Bulletin (the Bar Association of San Francisco’s newspaper), Legal by the Bay (the Bar Association of San Francisco’s blog), the San Francisco Chronicle, The Examiner, The Fairfield Citizen-News, The SoMa Literary Review, Women’s Voices, The Sitting Room, The Compass, Culture-Voice, and The Street Spirit. She has been broadcast for KQED, read at Litquake, and taught writing at City College of San Francisco.

Please note: this event will be held at The Bindery, 1727 Haight.

This is a free, all-ages event. The bar opens at 5:30pm; event starts at 6pm.

RSVP appreciated but not required.

As with all of our events, seating may be limited; you can guarantee a seat by pre-purchasing the book below — when checking out, just be sure to include a note that you’d like to attend the event. If you cannot attend the event but would like to request a signed copy of Urban Playground, order below and be sure to put your request in the comments field.

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