Berkeley professor emerita Arlie Russell Hochschild takes us to the heart of Appalachia to uncover the reasons for our deepening political divide.

Trailblazing journalist Connie Chung shares her experience as the first Asian American woman to break into the television news industry.

FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver takes us to the casino and into the lives of the professional risk-takers who are shaping modern life.

Healthcare reporter Shefali Luthra takes to the Kepler’s stage to discuss Undue Burden, an urgent investigation into post-Roe America.

Nicholas Kristof’s reporting has exposed him to terror and tragedy worldwide. Come hear how he nonetheless stays optimistic about humanity.

One of our most popular speakers—and one of the most compelling skeptics in politics—returns with an update on the death of expertise.

Join us for an evening with tech icon Guy Kawasaki to celebrate his new book, Think Remarkable.

The host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut and New York Times bestselling author of The Man Who Sold America traces the extraordinary lives and legacy of civil rights icons Medgar and Myrlie Evers, situating Medgar Evers’s assassination as a catalyzing moment in American history.

Volodymyr Zelensky: from TV comic to president of war-torn Ukraine. Meet Time senior correspondent Simon Shuster with his new book, The Showman.

Artificial intelligence is at the forefront of scientific and cultural discussions today, and we are delighted to welcome renowned Stanford professor Dr. Fei-Fei Li to pull back the cover on this powerful and controversial technology. Li’s breakthrough research and new book, The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration and Discovery at the Dawn of AI, will be at the center of this discussion.

Republican US Congressman Adam Kinzinger defied his party to vote for an investigation into the January 6th insurrection, and to serve on that committee. He knew it would cost him his political career—but he put the country first. He’ll join us with his new book, Renegade.

Roxane Gay sees the world clearly, in all its messy, anxious drama—yet she manages to laugh. This wit and clarity have gained her a huge following for her books, her newsletter, and her New York Times columns, as she analyzes America’s politics and culture. See her live at Kepler’s with her new book, Opinions!

The tale of billionaire iconoclast Elon Musk from the master of biography, author of Steve Jobs, told live at SFJAZZ.

Heather Cox Richardson’s popular Substack, Letters From An American, combines her calm, sane tone with deep knowledge of history—putting our country’s tumult into wider perspective. She’s bringing her new book Democracy Awakening to Kepler’s. Join us as Professor Richardson and Angie Coiro discuss drawing America back from the brink of autocracy.

Is equality the ideal feminist goal? Dr. Marcie Bianco says, “Equality is a lie fed to women to keep us complacent with the patriarchy.” If equal rights aren’t the Holy Grail, what’s the alternative? Join us for a decidedly new perspective.

Long before any non-white talent could expect fair, respectful treatment in Hollywood, film actress Anna May Wong rose to share the screen with the likes of Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford. Celebrated Bay Area author Gail Tsukiyama steps inside Wong’s mind to imagine the detailed, colorful memoir the unlikely star might well have written herself.

Musical force of nature Joan Baez has switched focus: retired from performance, she’s moved to painting and drawing. Now she brings her art to the fore in this new and enchanting memoir. As ever, her focus encompasses her passions: politics, relationships, women, animals, and family. Join us for a special evening at Kepler’s!

In this latest installment of our Changing Planet series, Kepler’s Literary Foundation welcomes Professor Verchick to share his hard-earned wisdom—from surviving Hurricane Katrina, to conducting analyses in the least-friendly environmental conditions—and to answer your questions on these urgent issues. Join us for this conversation threaded through with both pragmatism and optimism.

We’re living on the wrong clock, and it’s destroying us. How can we create a healthy relationship with time? The warm, insightful author of How To Do Nothing brings us a fresh look, a plan to help us snatch our lives back from the attention economy, and reject the clock built on profit and inequality.

Acclaimed Berkeley author Lucy Jane Bledsoe pens a tale of love, pain, and truth: the travels and trials of Delia and Ernest, who found their friendship at a Christian conversion camp. Escaping its program to “pray away the gay,” they part–then reignite their bond years later, to move together through new challenges resurfacing old pain.

Have we reached a tipping point? Are Americans finally getting angry enough to take on pervasive, dangerous economic injustice? Senator Bernie Sanders and The Nation’s John Nichols join Angie Coiro onstage to discuss It’s Okay To Be Angry About Capitalism, a new blueprint for a more just United States.

An evening of positive tales and wisdom from prominent feminists that will fire you up without burning you out.

Every form of mental illness presents its own challenges. Unfortunately, in the United States they all share one hurdle: a hellish mental healthcare system. Join us for a conversation with Dr. Ken Duckworth, medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. His new guidebook You Are Not Alone tackles challenges on both fronts.

Racism, xenophobia, and vigilante groups goaded by the White House. Sound familiar? In American Midnight, acclaimed historian Adam Hochschild looks to the tumultuous American age between World War I and the Roaring Twenties to find almost eerie similarities to today.

More than science determines which Americans survive an epidemic. Like so much in the US, it comes down to social hierarchy. Acclaimed LGBTQ scholar and journalist Steven W. Thrasher traces the paths of HIV, COVID, and other viral scourges with devastating tolls. His work details how social and economic standing literally determine who gets to live.

Join Kepler’s for a personal, passionate discussion with renowned environmental activist Bill McKibben. His new memoir is The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened. In this age of political pessimism, he asks, where do we find hope now?

From one of the clearest, longest-standing, most respected voices in environmental activism comes the global citizen’s primer for a rapidly warming world.

Coiro interviews civil rights advocate Qian Julie Wang for her memoir of growing up poor and undocumented in the wealthiest country on earth

One of our favorite return guests talks with Angie Coiro about a nation in crisis, as Tom Nichols shares from Our Own Worst Enemy.

Reporter Lizzie Johnson shares her highly-anticipated, gripping firsthand account of a California megafire.