Please note that this is a FREE event. Walk-ins are welcome, but we would be grateful if you could RSVP using the link above.
Program:
6pm - Wine and refreshments
7pm - Conversation between Steve Wasserman and Paul Yamazaki
Join us for a lively evening of good wine and electrifying conversation as we celebrate publisher, editor, and cultural critic Steve Wasserman’s new memoir-in-essays, Tell Me Something, Tell Me Anything, Even If It’s a Lie. Described by Publishers Weekly as “the quintessential book world insider,” Wasserman has spent the past four decades at many of the nation’s most celebrated presses and papers, thinking about the most pressing issues of the day, and cultivating close friendships with a remarkable cadre of literary giants including Christopher Hitchens and Susan Sontag. Join us as Wasserman discusses books, culture, and the people who make them with fellow traveler Paul Yamazaki, chief buyer at the iconic City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. Don’t miss this chance to be part of an intimate and interactive dialogue that will leave you inspired!
Registration for this event is free, but please RSVP so we can make sure we have plenty of wine on hand. This is going to be great fun—join us, won’t you?
About the Speakers
Steve Wasserman is currently publisher of Heyday, a nonprofit independent press founded in Berkeley in 1974. He is a former editor-at-large for Yale University Press and editorial director of Times Books/Random House and publisher of Hill & Wang and The Noonday Press at Farrar, Straus & Giroux. He has worked with many authors and published numerous books including, most recently, Greil Marcus’s The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs, Martha Hodes’s Mourning Lincoln, David Thomson’s Why Acting Matters, and two posthumous volumes of the late critic Ralph J. Gleason’s musical and political writings.
Paul Yamazaki has been City Lights Bookstore’s chief buyer for over fifty years, responsible for filling the shelves of the San Francisco shop with the diverse range of titles that make City Lights one of the most beloved independent bookstores in the United States. Yamazaki was the recipient of the National Book Foundation’s 2023 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community and has mentored generations of booksellers across the United States. Earlier this year he published his memoir, Reading the Room: A Bookseller’s Tale.
COVID SAFETY PROTOCOLS: We strongly encourage attendees to wear masks at our events, although they will NOT be required. We will have masks available for attendees who want them. Do NOT attend the event if you, or any member of your family, have any respiratory symptoms (e.g. cough, runny nose, and/or sore throat), or have had a significant exposure to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. We have virtual options available, or we can refund your ticket(s).