Virtual Events

Álvaro Enrigue with Avram Kosasky - You Dreamed of Empires (Online Event)

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 - 1:00pm

Álvaro Enrigue
In conversation with Avram Kosasky

You Dreamed of Empires
A Novel

Free Online Event

Wed., April 10th, 2024 • 1:00pm PT

Please contact webmaster@bookpassage.com with questions regarding virtual events.
 

This is the kind of novel so transcendentally transporting that it magnificently confirms your faith in the power of fiction. We are thrilled to welcome writer Álvaro Enrigue for this free virtual event in celebration of his spectacular recently released novel, You Dreamed of Empires.

"Enrigue’s genius lies in his ability to bring readers close to its tangled knot of priests, mercenaries, warriors and princesses while adding a pinch of biting humor." --Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Los Angeles Times

“Riotously entertaining... A triumph of solemnity-busting erudition and mischievous invention that will delight and titillate.” --Financial Times

From the visionary author of Sudden Death, a hallucinatory, revelatory colonial revenge story.


One morning in 1519, conquistador Hernán Cortés enters the city of Tenochtitlan – today's Mexico City. Later that day, he will meet the emperor Moctezuma in a collision of two worlds, two empires, two languages, two possible futures.

Cortés is accompanied by his captains, his troops, his prized horses, and his two translators: Friar Aguilar, a taciturn friar, and Malinalli, an enslaved, strategic Nahua princess. After nearly bungling their entrance fo the city, the Spaniards are greeted at a ceremonial welcome meal by the steely Aztec princess Atotoxtli, sister and wife of Moctezuma. As they await their meeting with the emperor – who is at a political and spiritual crossroads, and relies on hallucinogens to get by – Cortés and his entourage are ensconced in the labyrinthine palace. Soon, one of Cortés’s captains, Jazmín Caldera, overwhelmed by the grandeur of the place, begins to question the ease with which they were welcomed into the city, and wonders at the chances of getting out alive, much less conquering the empire. And what if... they don't?


You Dreamed of Empires brings Tenochtitlan to life at its height, and reimagines its destiny. The incomparably original Álvaro Enrigue sets afire the moment of conquest and turns it into a moment of revolution, a restitutive, fantastical counterattack, in a novel so electric and so unique that it feels like a dream.

Álvaro Enrigue is a Mexican writer who was a Cullman Center Fellow and a Fellow at the Princeton University Program in Latin American Studies. He has taught at New York University, Princeton University, the University of Maryland, and Columbia University. His work has appeared in The New York Timesn+1London Review of Books, and El País, among others. His books include Sudden Death, and have been awarded the Herralde Prize, the Barcelona Prize, and the Poniatowska Prize. He lives in New York with his family and teaches Latin American Literature at Hofstra University.

Avram Kosasky is a writer, artist, and sometime chef living in Brooklyn, NY. A regularly contributor to Book Passage's online content, you can watch his interview with George Saunders here. When he isn't devouring fiction new and old, you'll probably find him in the kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Álvaro Enrigue photo courtesy of Javier Narvaez. Avram Kosasky photo courtesy of the author.

Online Event

Mark Nepo with Brooke Warner - You Don't Have to Do It Alone (Online Event)

Sunday, September 29, 2024 - 1:00pm

Mark Nepo
In conversation with Brooke Warner

You Don't Have to Do It Alone
The Power of Friendship


Live Online • $24 Includes Book
Sun., Sept. 29th, 2024 • 1:00pm PT

This event will be hosted live online. Please contact events@bookpassage.com with questions regarding live events.
 

Join #1 New York Times bestselling author Mark Nepo for an inspiriting conversation with Brooke Warner on his new book, You Don't Have to Do It Alone: The Power of Friendship.

 


A celebration of friendship and community from bestselling author Mark Nepo

In his newest book, New York Times bestselling author Mark Nepo turns his attention to the value of community, offering another insightful and inspiring take on our shared human experience. 
You Don’t Have to Do It Alone is an earnest exploration and joyous affirmation of one of the most important aspects of being human: friendship.

Sharing examples from history, mythology, and his own life, Mark unravels the nuances of close friendships, and reveals how a true friend can be the key to our own aliveness—because only in the presence of unconditional love can we feel safe enough to be who we truly are. Journal prompts and thought-provoking quotes from notable philosophers enhance Mark’s reflections, providing readers with the tools necessary to understand and cultivate the friendships in their own lives.

Mark Nepo explores all that it takes to love another and be loved, ultimately showing that—despite what we’ve been taught—you don’t have to do it alone.

 


Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher who has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for over 40 years. A New York Times #1 bestselling author, he has published over 25 books, including The Book of Awakening, Falling Down and Getting Up, Surviving Storms, and Finding Inner Courage, and has recorded more than a dozen audio projects. Mark has been interviewed several times by Oprah Winfrey as part of her Super Soul Sunday TV show, and was interviewed by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship. His work has been translated into more than 20 languages.

 

Brooke Warner is publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress, president of Warner Coaching Inc., and author of Write On, Sisters!Green-light Your Book, What's Your Book?, and three books on memoir. Brooke is a TEDx speaker, weekly podcaster (of “Write-minded” with co-host Grant Faulkner of NaNoWriMo), and the former Executive Editor of Seal Press. She writes a regular column for Publishers Weekly.

 

 

 

 

 

 


"'If you are moved.' That is how my friend, Mark Nepo, asked if I would want to make a statement about his new book about friendship. I am moved by Mark Nepo. I am moved by his words and ideas. I am moved by my friendships that nourish me. Friendship is the music of my life. Like the lyrics of any great, old song, when I connect with a friend, regardless of the time separated, I fall right into the rhythm and memory of intimacy and sharing and I am always better for it. Mark explores this in the way that only Mark Nepo can. Intricate yet understandable. Sustained and yet immediate. The shared sight of each other’s souls. Friendship, beautiful friendship."
Jamie Lee Curtis, actress and producer

"Just as we often take the air we breathe for granted, so too can we forget how miraculous friendships can be. In this deeply insightful book, Mark Nepo shows us how to develop and cultivate these crucial relationships. We are all better people for reading Mark's work, and in this wise guide to platonic love, he has written about one of the most important subjects yet."
—Arianna Huffington, founder & CEO of Thrive Global

 

 

 

Mark Nepo photo courtesy of Brian Bankston. Brooke Warner photo courtesy of the author.

Online Event

Art & Architecture of Northern Spain with Kerrin Meis

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 - 1:00pm


Art & Architecture of Northern Spain

Two Wednesdays - April 10 and 17, 2024
1PM-3:00PM PT

Corte Madera Store

$120 for both, $65 for one session

 

 

 

 

From Barcelona to Santiago de Compostela, discover the fantastic art and architecture of this diverse and captivating area. We will explore:

  • Paintings from the prehistoric to the Modern including Pablo Picasso,
  • Architecture from the Pre- Romanesque churches of Oviedo to the Post Modern masterpieces of Frank Gehry in Bilbao,
  • Renzo Piano in Santander and Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona and beyond!

We will also spend some time in Navarra. There is much art there beyond the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. A major focus on the Basque region: San Sebastian's museums and the Santuario de Loyola. In Castile we visit the spectacular Gothic Cathedral of Leon and some surprises. The Asturias residence of the first Kings is home to the marvelous city of Oviedo and Covadonga where the Reconquista began The Heir or Heiress of the Spanish crown is the Prince/Princess of the Asturias. We shall learn why. Great museums here!

We will also travel for a distance on the pilgrimage route visiting spots of real interest along the way. The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is worth some time as are some other places in this originally a Celtic city. We will visit some festivals in various cities and learn why the Basque area is considered the gastronomic capital of Europe. Perhaps we will even learn a few words of the several different languages spoken in Northern Spain!



Kerrin Meis taught art history at SFSU for ten years and has led study tours in Europe. Her Book Passage classes have been favorites for years.

Book Passage Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925

Italian: Elementare 1 with Valentina Medda

Friday, April 5, 2024 - 10:30am


Italian: Elementare 1

with Valentina Medda

Eight Fridays
April 5 - May
 24, 2024

  10:30am – 12:00 pm PT

Corte Madera - $350

 

 

For students who have completed all beginner classes at Book Passage, or for new students with previous basic grammar knowledge of the Italian language. New students: It is recommended that you reach out to the instructor before registering for a free language assessment via Zoom to ensure proper class placement.

In Elementare 1, students will further develop their Italian language skills, focusing on the following:

  • Engaging in social interactions in Italian.
  • Topics this term will focus on shopping, family, celebrations, food recipes, and more.
  • Weekly acquisition of new vocabulary and common expressions.
  • Reading simplified Italian short stories to improve pronunciation, comprehension, and to review grammar

Textbook: Dieci A1 (Alma Edizioni). Texts can be ordered online, by phone (415) 961-7860, or purchased in person at:
Libreria Pino
1501 Grant St.
San Francisco

 

Valentina Medda was born and raised in the beautiful island of Sardinia. She holds an honors degree in Japanese studies from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and also earned a master’s degree in Italian Language and Literature Teaching Methodology from the International University of Siena. Valentina is a certified CELI examiner and holds preparation courses for Italian citizenship applicants. 

Valentina is very passionate about her job and truly loves being part of her students’ progress. She lives in Marin with her husband, son, and their beloved Milo rescue senior dog, Roscoe. 

 

 

Book Passage Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925

Writing Picture Books with Monica Wesolowska

Sunday, April 14, 2024 - 2:00pm


Writing Picture Books:
The Rules (and How to Break Them) 

Sunday, April 14, 2024
2:00PM - 5:00PM

$115

Corte Madera Store

 

 

How hard can it be to write for children? As it turns out, children’s picture book writing has rules that can be challenging. Fortunately, constraint can actually foster creativity. (Look at what Dr. Seuss did. When asked to write a book using 100 simple words, he found “cat” and “hat” and wrote The Cat in the Hat. And with that subversive book, he transformed reading for generations of children!) 

 

In this class, you will learn some of the rules for writing a picture book for publication today. You will also be encouraged to play around with those rules, unleashing your own unique creativity. 

 

Here is what the class will cover: 

  • A brief history of picture book writing 
  • The expectations of the publishing world today 
  • Craft elements including characterization, point of view, and plot 
  • Writing exercises to practice what you learn 
  • A chance to share what you are working on 

 

This class can be followed by Monica’s 6-week picture book class, Writing Picture Books: Drafting and Deepening, starting in fall 2024.

 

Monica Wesolowska is the author of two recent children’s picture books. Leo + Lea (illustrated by Kenard Pak) won an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award. Elbert in the Air (illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey) was praised by The New York Times as being “effervescent…whimsical and relatable.” She’s also written for adults, including the memoir Holding Silvan: A Brief Life (named a “Best Book of the Year” by The Boston Globe and Library Journal). For over two decades, Monica has taught creative writing around the Bay Area and she works one-on-one with clients as an independent editor.

 

Book Passage Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925

Italian: Beginner 1 with Valentina Medda

Friday, April 5, 2024 - 12:30pm


Italian: Beginner 1

Valentina Medda

Eight Fridays
April 5 - May 24, 2024

  12:30pm – 2:00pm PT

Corte Madera - $350

 

Join Valentina for a fun and communicative introduction to the Italian language. You will start from the basics, learning and practicing in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Communicate in Italian at a basic user level.
  • Engage in simple social interactions in Italian - ask and answer simple questions about familiar topics.
  • Use classroom language, greetings, expressions of salutation and courtesy, basic commands.
  • Pronounce Italian words correctly and speak with the right intonation.
  • Learn about Italian culture and the ways Italians communicate.
  • Order a cappuccino or a spritz like a pro, impressing the locals while vacationing in Italy.

Textbook: Dieci A1 (Alma Edizioni). Texts can be ordered online, by phone (415) 961-7860, or purchased in person at:
Libreria Pino
1501 Grant St.
San Francisco

 

Please contact us at classes@bookpassage.com if you have questions about which level class is best for you.
 

Valentina Medda was born and raised in the beautiful island of Sardinia. She holds an honors degree in Japanese studies from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and also earned a master’s degree in Italian Language and Literature Teaching Methodology from the International University of Siena. Valentina is a certified CELI examiner and holds preparation courses for Italian citizenship applicants. 

Valentina is very passionate about her job and truly loves being part of her students’ progress. She lives in Marin with her husband, son, and their beloved Milo rescue senior dog, Roscoe. 

 

Book Passage Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925

Nina Schuyler - Building a Story: Plot

Sunday, April 14, 2024 - 10:30am

Building a Story: Plot

Two Sundays, April 14 and 21
10:30AM -12:30PM

$125

Hybrid: Corte Madera store and via Zoom
Classes will be recorded and video replay will be available for a limited time. 

 
* Note that for all classes held on Zoom, registration closes at noon the day before the class begins.  Same-day registrations are not available, so please plan ahead.

 

In this two-day workshop, students will explore a different approach to plot each session: the causation plot and braided or episodic plot structure.

Session 1: At our first meeting, we’ll focus on causation plot. George Saunders calls this approach “the preferred, most efficient, highest-order form of energy transfer.” Causation plot resembles how we tell a story about ourselves. We string together events to create coherence and meaning. After reading and discussing a published short story that exemplifies causation, we’ll do in-class writing, using this plot’s energies to build a story.

Session 2: Sometimes the causation plot isn’t the right form. In the second session, we’ll explore the braided or episodic plot. This plot consists of discrete events not connected causally but loosely by imagery, theme, or something else. For this session, we’ll read and discuss examples of published stories using this plot, which will prepare you for in-class writing and building your own braided story.



Nina Schuyler’s short story collection, In This Ravishing World, won the W.S. Porter Prize and the Prism Prize for Climate Literature and will be published on July 2, 2024. Her novel, Afterword, was published in 2023 and was named a Top 100 Notable Book by Shelf Unbound and a Top May Book by Alta Journal.

Book Passage Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925

Brian Hyman with Anjula Duggal - Recovery with Yoga (Online Event)

Wednesday, February 28, 2024 - 5:30pm

Brian Hyman
In conversation with Anjula Duggal

Recovery with Yoga
Supportive Practices for Transcending Addiction

Free Online Event

Wed., February 28th • 5:30pm PT

Please contact webmaster@bookpassage.com with questions regarding virtual events.
 

​​Drawn from yoga philosophy and mindfulness, this collection of 30 potent, supportive tools will bolster, inspire, and assist those in addiction recovery. ​

​This collection of 30 yoga and mindfulness tools will help support those in recovery from addiction of all kinds. Thirty accessible, pointed teachings offer inspiration, comfort, and solidarity in the moment, helping us cultivate a powerful and purposeful life in recovery and to create a new design for living. Each chapter focuses on a quality—such as vigilance, acceptance, accountability, among others—and delves into how to manifest it in your recovery journey.   
Brian Hyman, a yoga teacher and recovery activist, understands deeply what people need to maintain sobriety and strengthen recovery—and knows that those who struggle with addiction also often need support with other mental health challenges, like obsession, anxiety, depression. 
The practices—which include inquiry questions, meditations, awareness exercises, breathing practices, yoga nidra, among others—will quiet the mind in difficult moments, support us as we establish meaningful relationships, and reinforce the power that recovery offers us. He offers resources and additional reading suggestions in the back matter. ​​Hyman uses yogic philosophy, mindfulness teachings, personal anecdotes, and secular wisdom to illuminate each quality and the role it plays in helping us create the life we want.

Brian Hyman, RYT, is a yoga instructor, meditation guide, dharma teacher, author, and father. He has been clean and sober since 2009, and he has been teaching yoga and meditation at Cliffside Malibu since 2012. His dedicated work in the field of addiction treatment and recovery combines yogic philosophy, Buddhist wisdom, Twelve Step principles, and timeless insights from various spiritual traditions. His innovative teachings about healing and transformation have been featured in Whole Life Times, Mantra Wellness + Health, Yoga Digest, Sobriety Corps, and many other publications and podcasts.

 

Anjula Duggal is an ayurvedic counselor, chef, yoga instructor, and the founder and editor of Levitating Monkey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian Hyman photo courtesy of the publicist. Anjula Duggal photo courtesy of the publicist.

Online Event

V: Formerly Eve Ensler with Michael Cunningham - Reckoning (Online Event)

Tuesday, February 27, 2024 - 5:00pm

V
Formerly Eve Ensler
In conversation with Michael Cunningham

Reckoning
 

Free Online Event

Tues., February 27th • 5:00pm PT

Please contact webmaster@bookpassage.com with questions regarding virtual events.
 

This virtual event presented in partnership with All She Wrote Books, Book & Books, Miami, and Women & Children First, Chicago.

The work of a lifetime from the Tony Award–winning, bestselling author of The Vagina Monologues—political, personal, profound, and more than forty years in the making—now in paperback.

The newest book from V (formerly Eve Ensler), Reckoning invites you to travel the journey of a writer and activist’s life and process over forty years, representing both the core of ideas that have become global movements and the methods through which V survived abuse and self-hatred. Seamlessly moving from the internal to the external, the personal to the political, Reckoning is a moving and inspiring work of prose, poetry, dreams, letters, and essays drawn from V’s lifelong journals that takes readers from Berlin to Oklahoma to the Congo, from climate disaster, homelessness, and activism to family.

Unflinching, intimate, introspective, courageous, Reckoning explores ways to create an unstoppable force for change, to love and survive love, to hold people and states accountable, to reckon with demons and honor the dead, to reclaim the body, and to see oneself as connected to a greater purpose. It reimagines what seems fixed and intractable, providing a path to understand one’s unique experience as deeply rooted in the world, to break through one’s own boundaries, and to write oneself into freedom.  

V (formerly Eve Ensler) is a Tony Award–winning playwright, author, performer, and activist. Her international phenomenon The Vagina Monologues has been published in 48 languages and performed in more than 140 countries. She is the author of The Apology, the NYT bestseller I Am an Emotional Creature, and many others. Founder of the organizations V-Day and One Billion Rising and co-founder of City of Joy, she lives in New York.

 

Michael Cunningham is a novelist, screenwriter, and educator. His novel The Hours received the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1999. He has taught at Columbia University and Brooklyn College. He is currently a professor in the practice at Yale University.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

V (formerly Eve Ensler) photo courtesy of the publicist. Michael Cunningham photo courtesy of Richard Phibbs.

Online Event

Diana Nyad - Find a Way (Online Event)

Saturday, February 3, 2024 - 10:00am

Diana Nyad

Find a Way:
The Inspiring Story of One Woman's Pursuit of a Lifelong Dream

$20 Ticketed Online Event
($15 of each ticket will be donated to EverWalk)

Sat., February 3rd, 2024 • 10:00am PT

Please contact webmaster@bookpassage.com with questions regarding live events.
 

NOW THE NETFLIX FILM NYAD, STARRING ANNETTE BENING AND JODIE FOSTER

Hillary Clinton said that Find a Way would stay with her through the general election:  “When you’re facing big challenges in your life, you can think about Diana Nyad getting attacked by the lethal sting of box jellyfishes. And nearly anything else seems doable in comparison.”


When Diana Nyad arrived on the shore of Key West after fifty-three hours of grueling swimming across an epic ocean, she not only set a world record—becoming the first person to swim the shark-infested waters between Cuba and Florida with no cage for protection—she also succeeded in fulfilling a dream she first chased at age twenty-eight and at long last achieved when she was sixty-four.  

Now, in a riveting memoir, Diana shares a spirited account of what it takes to face one’s fears, engage one’s passions, and never ever give up. For no matter what life may throw at you, or how many times you may have experienced defeat, it is always possible—as long as you commit to living life to the nth degree, no regrets—to “find a way."

For her maverick open-water performance of the 1970s, Diana Nyad was known as the world’s greatest long-distance swimmer. For the next thirty years, Nyad was a prominent sports broadcaster and journalist, filing compelling stories for National Public Radio, ABC’s Wide World of Sports, and others. She is a national fitness icon, has written three other books, is a talented linguist, and is one of today’s most powerful and engaging public speakers.

 

 

Diana Nyad photo courtesy of Catherine Opie.

Online Event

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Virtual Events