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Tuesday, October 13
 

6:30pm PDT

Tilar J. Mazzeo: The Sea Captain’s Wife
Tuesday October 13, 2026 6:30pm - 8:00pm PDT
$5 MI members / $15 gen public

Co-presented with Mechanics' Institute

New York Times bestseller Tilar J. Mazzeo brings us The Sea Captain's Wife, the true story of the first female captain of a merchant ship and her treacherous navigation of Antarctica's deadly waters. In 1856, at just nineteen years old, Mary Ann Patten led her crew through Drake's Passage as her husband, the former captain, lay deathly ill and the first mate agitated for mutiny. Set against the backdrop of the California Gold Rush and taking us to the brink of Antarctica, The Sea Captain's Wife draws on new archival research from nineteenth-century women’s maritime journals and on Mazzeo’s own expedition to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica in search of Mary Ann’s route. Doors at 6:00pm.
Speakers
avatar for Dr. Tilar J. Mazzeo

Dr. Tilar J. Mazzeo

Dr. Tilar J. Mazzeo is the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle bestselling author of numerous award-winning works of narrative nonfiction, including history and biography titles. Formerly the Clara C. Piper Associate Professor of English at Colby College and Professeur Associée in the Department of World Literatures at the University of Montreal... Read More →
Tuesday October 13, 2026 6:30pm - 8:00pm PDT
Mechanics’ Institute 57 Post St, San Francisco

7:00pm PDT

Asale Angel-Ajani: Fugitive Archives Launch
Tuesday October 13, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
FREE, $10–15 suggested donation

Co-presented with Pegasus Books


Asale Angel-Ajani will discuss Fugitive Archives: An American Family and the Myth of Belonging—an incisive, lyrical exploration of one family's history that radically overturns American myths about race, violence, and belonging. In conversation with Carvell Wallace, who has called Fugitive Archives “courageous, impressive, and deeply powerful.”
Moderators
avatar for Carvell Wallace

Carvell Wallace

Carvell Wallace is the best-selling author of the memoir Another Word For Love — a Kirkus Prize finalist, and Whiting Award winner. As a podcaster he has been nominated for a Peabody and won a Kaleidoscope Award in Journalism. His essays have appeared in the New York Times Maga... Read More →
Speakers
avatar for Asale Angel-Ajani

Asale Angel-Ajani

Asale Angel-Ajani is the author of Fugitive Archives: An American Family and the Myth of Belonging, a compelling examination of racial terror and American innocence through her multiracial, working-class family. She also wrote the novel A County You Can Leave and the nonfiction b... Read More →
Tuesday October 13, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Pegasus Books 2349 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA 97404

7:00pm PDT

NBCC Presents: The Author/Critic Dilemma
Tuesday October 13, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
FREE, $10–15 suggested donation

Media sponsorship by Publishers Weekly
Co-presented with National Book Critics Circle & Cita Press

Writers who wear multiple hats, as Virginia Woolf did, will share what they’ve learned from the writer and literary critic extraordinaire as authors/poets/critics today. Their wide-ranging conversation will touch on everything from ethical considerations to the vulnerabilities of being deep in the creative writing process when your strong critical voice rears its ugly head. With May-lee ChaiJane CiabattariJonathan Leal, Greg Sarris, and moderator Iris Jamahl Dunkle, as well as special guest Jessi Haley, editor of Cita Press, publisher of Luminous Halo: Selected Writings by Virginia Woolf.
 Doors at 6:30pm.
Moderators
avatar for Iris Jamahl Dunkle

Iris Jamahl Dunkle

Iris Jamahl Dunkle is a poet, biographer, and scholar whose work challenges the male-centric narratives of the American West amplifying the often-overlooked voices of women. Her books include USA Today bestselling Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb (University of Calif... Read More →
Speakers
avatar for Jane Ciabattari

Jane Ciabattari

Jane Ciabattari is a critic, journalist, and author of Stealing the Fire, an Iowa Short Fiction finalist selected for the Dzanc rEprint series. Her short stories have been awarded three Pushcart Prize special mentions, an East Hampton Shorts award for originality, widely published and anthologized. A former president of the National Book Critics Circle... Read More →
avatar for Jonathan Leal

Jonathan Leal

Jonathan Leal is Associate Professor of English and Affiliated Faculty in the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. Born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, Leal’s transdisciplinary work spans books, editorial projects, albums, and interdisciplinary... Read More →
avatar for May-lee Chai

May-lee Chai

May-lee Chai is an educator, critic, and author of twelve books of fiction, nonfiction, and translation, including her new book of essays, My Hungry Ghosts: Essays and Incantations, and the short story collections, Useful Phrases for Immigrants, recipient of an American Book Awar... Read More →
avatar for Greg Sarris

Greg Sarris

Greg Sarris is the author of Grand Avenue, an award-winning collection of short stories, which he adapted for an HBO miniseries of the same name and co-executive produced with Robert Redford. His second novel, Watermelon Nights, was adapted for a play by the Santa Rosa Community... Read More →
avatar for Jessi Haley

Jessi Haley

Jessi Haley is the editorial director for feminist open access publishing project Cita Press. She has edited several new editions of work by essential women writers of the past, including writers who have been long neglected. She is the author of the monthly newsletter Cita Press Bulletin, which... Read More →
Tuesday October 13, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Page Street Co-Writing 297 Page St, San Francisco
 

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