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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20180904T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20180904T210000
DTSTAMP:20260415T124729
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SUMMARY:Gabriela Alemán
DESCRIPTION:with special guests Mauro Javier Cardenas and Dick Cluster \ncelebrating the release of \nPoso Wells \npublished by City Lights Books \nAn ABA Summer/Fall 2018 Indies Introduce Selection \nCelebrated Ecuadorian author Gabriela Alemán’s first work to appear in English: a noir\, feminist eco-thriller in which venally corrupt politicians and greedy land speculators finally get their just comeuppance! \nIn the squalid settlement of Poso Wells\, women have been regularly disappearing but the authorities have shown little interest. When the leading presidential candidate comes to town\, he and his entourage are electrocuted in a macabre\, darkly hilarious accident witnessed by a throng of astonished spectators. The sole survivor—next in line for the presidency—inexplicably disappears from sight. \nGustavo Varas\, a principled journalist\, picks up the trail\, which leads him into a violent\, lawless underworld\, and ultimately to a strange group of almost supernatural blind men. Bella Altamirano\, a fearless local woman\, is on her own crusade to pierce the settlement’s code of silence\, ignoring the death threats that result from her efforts. It turns out that the disappearance of the candidate and those of the women are intimately connected\, and not just to a local crime wave\, but to a multinational magnate’s plan to plunder the country’s ecologically sensitive cloud forest. \nA political satire and noir thriller\, laced with humor and a sci-fi twist\, Poso Wells plunges its readers into dark passages where things are as uncontrolled and overheated as the lava from a smoking volcano\, which is where the story ends. \nGabriela Alemán\, based in Quito\, Ecuador\, has played professional basketball in Switzerland and Paraguay and has worked as a waitress\, administrator\, translator\, radio scriptwriter\, and film studies professor. She received a PhD at Tulane University and holds a Master’s degree in Latin American Literature from Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar. Her literary honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006; member of Bogotá 39\, a 2007 selection of the most important up-and-coming writers in Latin America in the post-Boom generation; one of five finalists for the 2015 Premio Hispanoamericano de Cuento Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia) for her story collection La muerte silba un blues; and winner of several prizes for critical essays on literature and film. Her other books include the short story collections\, Maldito corazón\, Zoom\, Fuga permanente\, and Álbum de familia; her novels in Spanish include Body Time\, Poso Wells\, and Humo. Her stories have appeared in anthologies in French\, English\, Chinese\, Hebrew\, and Serbo-Croatian. This is her first full-length work to appear in English. \nPraise for Poso Wells: \n“Poso Wells is ironic\, audacious\, and fierce. But what is it\, exactly? A satire? A scifi novel? A political detective yarn? Or the purest reality of contemporary Latin America. It’s unclassifiable––as all great books are.”––Samanta Schweblin\, author of Fever Dream \n“Poso Wells is brilliant\, audacious\, doubtlessly playful and at the same time so dark and bitter. A truly unforgettable book.”––Alejandro Zambra\, author of Multiple Choice \n“One part Thomas Pynchon\, one part Gabriel García Marquez\, and one part Raymond Chandler\, Alemán’s novel contains mystery\, horror\, humor\, absurdity\, and political commentary . . . A concoction of political thriller and absurdist literary mystery that never fails to entertain.”––Kirkus Reviews \n“By expertly weaving multiple narratives around the figure of Vinueza\, the hapless (but wealthy!) presidential candidate who resembles so many corrupt (but wealthy!) presidential candidates in the modern history of Ecuador\, Gabriela Alemán depicts with verve and humor the horrors and absurdities of a society intent on perpetuating itself.”––Mauro Javier Cardenas\, author of The Revolutionaries Try Again \n“Gabriela Alemán has a rhythm worth watching . . . she does something unexpected\, things fly apart\, she leaps into the void\, and you think\, ‘there’s no way she can pull this off’––but no\, everything fits together\, falls into place\, flows\, and the story goes on.”––Pedro Mairal\, author of The Missing Year of Juan Salvatierra \n“Through scalding wit and straight-faced parody this no-holds-barred absurdist adventure that seems more a movie than a book will have you laughing till you cry as the cruelty of its South American reality sinks in. Imagine a mix of Hunter S. Thompson and Gabriel García Márquez. A small masterpiece.”––Michael Taussig\, author of Beauty and the Beast \n“This compulsively readable book is Gabriela Alemán’s debut as a novelist in the English-language. Sparklingly original\, full of dry wit\, and deliciously suspenseful\, Poso Wells could well earn Gabriela Alemán a cult following.”––Jon Lee Anderson\, author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life\, Guerrillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World\, and The Fall of Baghdad \n“Poso Wells explores the dichotomy between the new and old worlds of Ecuador through an exciting noir about missing women\, corrupt politicians\, and a journalist’s attempt to unravel the secrets of the infinitely labyrinthine cityscape of Poso Wells. This is an exciting debut translation of a celebrated Ecuadorian author\, and one that should lead to more translations of her work.”––Ely Watson\, A Room of One’s Own Bookstore (Madison\, WI) \n“Poso Wells is a rare achievement in which a reader comes out the other end wanting to start again. It is a bold and clever tale with a unique voice\, and it is poised to have a longstanding impression on readers for years to come.”––Rebecca George\, Volumes Bookcafe (Chicago\, IL) \n“Thriller and farce\, Poso Wells is a magical realist sci-fi\, a fierce and biting social allegory by turns hilarious and tragic\, cynical and hopeful . . . this is a twenty-first-century cautionary tale of the war between humanity and avarice . . .”––Maria Agui Carter\, director of Culture Shock and Rebel \n“Gabriela Alemán’s Poso Wells drops the reader\, as if dangling from a helicopter’s ladder\, into a riveting page-turner set in coastal Ecuador. Forces of global capitalism want to mine all that is profitable from the earth\, no matter the consequences. By the end we’re not sure if Jacob’s ladder leads to heaven or hell. The upshot of Alemán’s brilliant novel\, however: for every rapacious action\, there is an equal\, opposite\, and tenacious resistance.”––Mauricio Kilwein Guevara\, author of Autobiography of So-and-So: Poems in Prose \n“Poso Wells is an intriguing name for a thrilling novel of politics\, environmental destruction and wildly imaginative occurrences that slide right to the edge of reality. The landscape includes the threatened rape of a cloud forest\, a collection of fantastical blind heroes\, and a presidential candidate who pees himself to death on stage. The English translation is fast and clear as the story rolls towards its ending on a steaming volcano. The first English translation of noted Brazilian-Ecuadorian novelist\, Gabriela Alemán. I hope that many more follow.”––Stephen Williams\, contributor to the New York Times\, GQ\, Newsweek
URL:https://litseen.com/event/gabriela-aleman/
LOCATION:City Lights Bookstore\, 261 Columbus Ave\, San Francisco \, CA\, 94133\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20180904T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20180904T213000
DTSTAMP:20260415T124729
CREATED:20180712T222143Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180712T222143Z
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SUMMARY:Arjun Singh Sethi / American Hate: Survivors Speak Out
DESCRIPTION:Booksmith hosts an evening with Arjun Singh Sethi\, editor ofAmerican Hate: Survivors Speak Out. More information TBA soon — save the date and join us! \n  \n“Why am I in this country now? Should I move elsewhere? Do I want to raise my kids in this country\, where hate is so visible and rampant? I’ve been in this fight for decades\, but even I struggle. Deep down\, though\, I know we need to stay the course and continue the fight.” – Marwan Kreidie\, after a pig’s head was thrown at the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society Mosque in Philadelphia \n  \nIn American Hate: Survivors Speak Out\, Arjun Singh Sethi\, a community activist and civil rights lawyer\, chronicles the stories of individuals affected by hate. In a series of powerful\, unfiltered testimonials\, survivors tell their stories in their own words and describe how the bigoted rhetoric and policies of the Trump administration have intensified bullying\, discrimination\, and even violence toward them and their communities. \n  \nWe hear from the family of Khalid Jabara\, who was murdered in Tulsa\, Oklahoma\, in August 2016 by a man who had previously harassed and threatened them because they were Arab American. Sethi brings us the story of Jeanette Vizguerra\, an undocumented mother of four who took sanctuary in a Denver church in February 2017 because she feared deportation under Trump’s cruel immigration enforcement regime. Sethi interviews Taylor Dumpson\, a young black woman who was elected student body president at American University only to find nooses hanging across campus on her first day in office. We hear from many more people impacted by the Trump administration\, including Native\, black\, Arab\, Latinx\, South Asian\, Southeast Asian\, Muslim\, Jewish\, Sikh\, undocumented\, refugee\, transgender\, queer\, and people with disabilities. \n  \nA necessary book for these times\, American Hate explores this tragic moment in U.S. history by empowering survivors whose voices white nationalists and right-wing populist movements have tried to silence. It also provides ideas and practices for resistance that all of us can take to combat hate both now and in the future. \n  \n\n  \nArjun Singh Sethi is a community activist\, civil rights lawyer\, writer\, and law professor based in Washington\, DC. He works closely with Muslim\, Arab\, South Asian\, and Sikh communities and advocates for racial justice\, equity\, and social change at the local and national levels. His writing has appeared in CNN\, The Guardian\, The Los Angeles Times\, Politico Magazine\, USA Today\, and The Washington Post\, and he is featured regularly on national radio and television. He holds faculty appointments at Georgetown University Law Center and Vanderbilt University Law School\, and presently co-chairs the American Bar Association’s National Committee on Homeland Security\, Terrorism\, and Treatment of Enemy Combatants. He lives in Washington\, D.C. \n  \nRSVP appreciated but not required. \n 
URL:https://litseen.com/event/arjun-singh-sethi-american-hate-survivors-speak-out/
LOCATION:The Booksmith\, 1644 Haight St\, San Francisco \, CA\, 94117\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20180904T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20180904T213000
DTSTAMP:20260415T124729
CREATED:20180730T235409Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180730T235409Z
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SUMMARY:Lydia Kiesling Book Release
DESCRIPTION:Lydia Kiesling joins us to celebrate the release of her new novel\, The Golden State\, with Ismail Muhammad. \n\nPraise for The Golden State \n\n“The Golden State is a perfect evocation of the beautiful\, strange\, frightening\, funny territory of new motherhood. Lydia Kiesling writes with great intelligence and candor about the surreal topography of a day with an infant\, and toggles skillfully between the landscape of Daphne’s interior and the California desert\, her postpartum body and the body politic. A love story for our fractured era.”—Karen Russell\, author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove and Swamplandia! \n\n“The Golden State is a rare and important novel not only because it depicts with blazing accuracy the everyday experience of raising a young child\, but also because it uses the quotidian to reveal larger truths about humanity’s gifts and deficits. In Lydia Kiesling’s remarkable first novel\, the familiar and the foreign are not so different after all\, and what we remember may not be what is. A profound book.”—Edan Lepucki\, author of Woman No. 17 and California \n  \n“The Golden State is spectacularly good at rendering maternal obsession and panic\, and the way the narcissism involved in the attempt to hold one’s self together can turn frenetic caring to neglect. Separated from a husband stuck abroad with a green card situation and wrung out by the relentlessness of toddler-rearing\, millennial Daphne\, in her traumatized withdrawal from a privileged life\, registers that despite her intelligence\, her life has been comprised not so much of decisions as realities that seemed to ecstatically assert themselves at the time\, and that all of the measures she employs to deal with stress involve harm she’ll now be passing along to her cherished child.  Lydia Kiesling is brilliant on our certainty that for all we feel\, we don’t do nearly enough for those we love.”—Jim Shepard\, author of The World to Come \n\nAbout The Golden State \n\nIn Lydia Kiesling’s razor-sharp debut novel\, The Golden State\, we accompany Daphne\, a young mother on the edge of a breakdown\, as she flees her sensible but strained life in San Francisco for the high desert of Altavista with her toddler\, Honey. Bucking under the weight of being a single parent―her Turkish husband is unable to return to the United States because of a “processing error”―Daphne takes refuge in a mobile home left to her by her grandparents in hopes that the quiet will bring clarity. \n  \nBut clarity proves elusive. Over the next ten days Daphne is anxious\, she behaves a little erratically\, she drinks too much. She wanders the town looking for anyone and anything to punctuate the long hours alone with the baby. Among others\, she meets Cindy\, a neighbor who is active in a secessionist movement\, and befriends the elderly Alice\, who has traveled to Altavista as she approaches the end of her life. When her relationships with these women culminate in a dangerous standoff\, Daphne must reconcile her inner narrative with the reality of a deeply divided world. \n  \nKeenly observed\, bristling with humor\, and set against the beauty of a little-known part of California\, The Golden State is about class and cultural breakdowns\, and desperate attempts to bridge old and new worlds. But more than anything\, it is about motherhood: its voracious worry\, frequent tedium\, and enthralling\, wondrous love.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/lydia-kiesling-book-release/
LOCATION:Green Apple Books on the Park\, 1231 9th Ave\, San Francisco \, CA\, 94122\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
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