Kirthana Ramisetti

Dava Shastri's Last Day

Sun., Jan. 16 • 2:00pm PT • Ferry Building Store

In this thought-provoking and entertaining debut novel about of a multicultural family, a dying billionaire matriarch leaks news of her death early so she can examine her legacy—a decision that horrifies her children and inadvertently exposes secrets she has spent a lifetime keeping: "Full of music, magnetism, and familial obligation" (Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here).

Dava Shastri, one of the world's wealthiest women, has always lived with her sterling reputation in mind. A brain cancer diagnosis at the age of seventy, however, changes everything, and Dava decides to take her death—like all matters of her life—into her own hands.

Summoning her four adult children to her private island, she discloses shocking news: in addition to having a terminal illness, she has arranged for the news of her death to break early, so she can read her obituaries.

As someone who dedicated her life to the arts and the empowerment of women, Dava expects to read articles lauding her philanthropic work. Instead, her "death" reveals two devastating secrets, truths she thought she had buried forever.

And now the whole world knows, including her children.

In the time she has left, Dava must come to terms with the decisions that have led to this moment—and make peace with those closest to her before it's too late. Compassionately written and chock-full of humor and heart, this powerful novel examines public versus private legacy, the complexities of love, and the never-ending joys—and frustrations—of family.

As a former entertainment reporter for Newsday and the New York Daily News, Kirthana Ramisetti has written her fair share of stories about the lives (and deaths) of the rich and famous. She has a master’s degree in creative writing from Emerson College, and her work has been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. Dava Shastri’s Last Day is her first novel, and she lives in New York City.

Kirthana Ramisetti photo by SubUrban Photography

3 Minute Reads from the Writers Grotto!

Join us for a fast-paced and irreverent evening, showcasing new work from the students of the Writers Grotto writing classes. On this Saturday evening, both fiction and nonfiction writers will read their work — but only for 3 minutes each! Their instructors (Grotto authors) will enforce the time limit. Join us for wine, fun, and fresh new writing.

Attending authors: (list is subject to change up to and including the day of the event)

Preeti Vangani is a poet and writer from Mumbai, writing and teaching in the Bay Area. She is the author of Mother Tongue Apologize (2019), winner of the RL India Poetry Prize. Her work has been published in The Threepenny Review, Gulf Coast, Cortland Review among other places. Preeti has received fellowships and support from UCross, Tin House, Napa Valley Writers' Conference and the California Center for Cultural Innovation. She has taught poetry with Youth Speaks and at the MFA program at University of San Francisco.

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Maw Shein Win’s poetry chapbooks are Ruins of a glittering palace (SPA/Commonwealth Projects) and Score and Bone. Invisible Gifts: Poems was published by Manic D Press in 2018. Win is the first poet laureate of El Cerrito, California (2016 - 2018). Her full-length poetry collection Storage Unit for the Spirit House was long listed for the PEN America Open Book Award, nominated for a Northern California Book Award for Poetry, and short listed for the California Independent Booksellers Alliance’s Golden Poppy Award for Poetry for 2021. She often collaborates with visual artists, musicians, and other writers and was a Spring 2021 ARC Poetry Fellow at UC Berkeley. mawsheinwin.com
 

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Tonya M. Foster is a poet, essayist and Black feminist scholar. She is the author of A Swarm of Bees in High Court, the bilingual chapbook La Grammaire des Os; and coeditor of Third Mind: Teaching Creative Writing through Visual Art. Her writing and research focus on poetry, poetics, ideas of place and emplacement, and on intersections between the visual and the written. She is a poetry editor at Fence Magazine and a member of the San Francisco Writers Grotto. Forthcoming publications include poetry collections—Thingifications (Ugly Duckling Presse); a chapbook—AHotB; a 2-volume compendium on the Umbra Writers Workshop (Wesleyan University Press); and an anthology of experimental creative drafts (Nightboat Books). She holds the George & Judy Marcus Endowed Chair in Poetry at San Francisco State University.

Michelle Tam & Henry Fong

Nom Nom Paleo: Let's Go!

Sun., Feb. 6 • 2:00pm PT • Ferry Building Store

The New York Times bestselling creators of Nom Nom Paleo are back with a new collection of internationally-inspired, umami-packed dishes—including keto-friendly, Whole30, and plant-based recipes! With step-by-step photos, fun cartoons, and a dash of snarky humor, Let’s Go! will have you running into the kitchen and ready to cook!

Michelle Tam and Henry Fong know that the healthiest meal is the one you make yourself, so they’re all about getting you off your butts and into the kitchen. Whether you’re cooking for yourself, whipping up a family dinner, or preparing a special-occasion feast, Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! will inspire you with deliciously nourishing meals.
Weeknight suppers should be healthy and flavor-packed but also fast and simple. Weekends and celebrations, on the other hand, are the perfect excuse to craft elevated (but easy!) crowd-pleasers. This cookbook offers crazy-delicious recipes for all occasions, and every single one is free of grains, gluten, dairy, and refined sugar. Better yet? No one in your family will notice what’s missing!
As always, Nom Nom Paleo’s recipes reflect the diverse cuisines Michelle grew up with and culinary ideas from her travels. Often Asian-inspired, Michelle’s unfussy recipes maximize flavor, optimize whole foods, and are presented with photos of each step so they’re absolutely foolproof—even for novice cooks! New recipes include:

• Cantonese Roast Duck
• Nom Nom Chili Crisp
• Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole
• Chicken Karaage
• Instant Pot Balsamic Beef Stew
• Paleo-Friendly Cream Puffs.

So what are you waiting for? LET’S GO!

Michelle Tam and Henry Fong are the James Beard Award nominated creators of Nom Nom Paleo, the critically acclaimed website and award-winning cooking app. Their first two cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans and Ready or Not! were both New York Times bestsellers.
Dubbed “the Martha Stewart of Paleo” by the New York Times and CBS News, Michelle is the food nerd behind Nom Nom Paleo’s recipes and personality. She has a degree in nutrition and food science from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned her doctorate in pharmacy from the University of California, San Francisco. For over a dozen years, she worked the graveyard shift at Stanford Hospital and Clinics as a night pharmacist.
Henry is a lawyer by day but moonlights as the photographer, illustrator, and designer of the Nom Nom Paleo cookbooks, blog, and app. Henry is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and Yale Law School.
Michelle, Henry, and their sons Owen and Oliver split their time between Palo Alto, California, and Portland, Oregon.

Michelle Tam and Henry Fong photo courtesy of the publisher