Gene Luen Yang, LeUyen Pham, and Thien Pham at Mrs. Dalloway’s, Feb. 8
Author/illustrators Gene Luen Yang, LeUyen Pham and local graphic author and artist Thien Pham will hold a reading of and discussion about their new young adult graphic novel ”Lunar New Year Love Story” on Thursday, Feb. 8 from 7 – 8:30 p.m. The award-winning team’s new book introduces a timely Valentine’s Day story about losing love and later, improbably, rediscovering it when the Lunar New Year lion offers opportunity to heal a broken heart. The crosscurrents of the three artists’ work are woven together in intriguing ways. The event is free, but space limited, so registration is highly advised.
Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 – 8:30 p.m. Free; mrsdalloways.com
New library card designs at Oakland Public Library, Feb. 5 — until supplies run out
Limited-edition artwork by nine local residents selected in this year in OPL’s annual card competition adorn dazzling, new library cards. Celebrating Black artistry, culture, and Oakland’s rich Black history, three artists in three age groups — children, teen, and adult — created card designs from five categories: music, visual arts, theater and performing arts, literature and poetry, or the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. The limited-edition cards became available Feb. 5 and will last until supplies run out. Patrons can collect all nine designs, but only one card will have the barcode number for checking out materials and using digital resources at the library. A current library card can be “upgraded” to a limited-edition card. Only the Main Library and Dimond Branch will have all nine cards. Call your local branch to learn which designs they offer; visit the card competition website page for answers to FAQ’s and to see the winning artwork.
Feb. 5 until supplies run out, Free; oaklandlibrary.org
Bay Area Romance Writers panel at Books Inc., Alameda, Feb. 14
This special Bay Area Romance Writers event features Aria Grace, reading from “Wait in the Dark”, Rebecca Hunter and her “Stockholm Diaries”, and Addie Woolridge, reading from “The Homecoming War”. An opportunity to hear several local authors read their work and hold an ensuing conversation about the genre doesn’t happen often. Romance novels are booming in the world of literature. On this day devoted to love, share the sentiment with fellow book lovers and discover romance between the covers of a good book.
Feb. 14. 7 p.m.; Free; booksinc.net
Dr. Akilah Cadet at the Rockridge Branch Library, Feb. 21
Presented in-person in collaboration with Montclair Village’s venerable Great Good Place for Books, author and founder/CEO of consulting firm Change Cadet introduces her new book, “White Supremacy Is All Around: Notes from a Black Disabled Woman in a White World.” The title tells some, but not all of Cadet’s remarkable story, calling for Black women to be seen and heard, staking a claim for justice and equality, celebrating her disability and sharing deeply personal stories of her work as a leader in the community and beyond.
Feb. 21, 6:30-7:30 p.m.; Free; for complete information visit books@ggpbooks.com
V (formerly Eve Ensler) on conversation with Michael Cunningham, Book Passage
The free, virtual program with Tony Award–winning, bestselling author of “The Vagina Monologues” now known as V is guaranteed to rev the engine of anyone with heartbeat. Her most recent book and memoir, “Reckoning”, is now available in paperback and offers prose, poetry, dreams, letters, and essays drawn from journals V has long kept — internal explorations of her struggles, aspirations, and victories, and exterior world perspectives on topics such as the climate disaster, homelessness, family, and activism. Cunningham is a novelist, screenwriter, and professor currently at Yale University. His novel, “The Hours”, received the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1999. His most recent novel, “Day: A Novel”, was published by Random House in November 2023.
Feb. 27; 5 p.m.; Virtual; Free; bookpassage.com