Saturday, September 02, 2006

Upcoming book events

I recently gave my first reading at HeyDay Books in Berkeley. Up until the moment I was parking my rented car in front of the building, I had no idea what excerpts I was going to read, or even what witty anecdote I would tell everyone before I started the event. That's because for the past week I had been packing up my home into 20-by-20-20 Balikbayan boxes for my enormous move to Hawaii.
After 7 years at The San Francisco Chronicle -- and 36 years in the Bay Area -- I'm leaving to start a new job in a whole new state. Granted, it's "paradise," but that doesn't make the move any less overwhelming.
I took my seat in front of the 40-or-so people in the crowd after an introduction by HeyDay publisher Malcolm Margolin, and explained what I advice I thought each of my grandparents would have given me about the decision. The crowd reacted with laughter. They appeared touched when the passage called for emotion, and smiled when the the passage called for levity. I couldn't have asked for more.
With the upcoming release of the book in October, more events such as these -- some small, some not-so-small -- are in the works. Come join the laughter:

Oct 20 - Manilatown Heritage Center, San Francisco, 7 p.m.
Oct 21 - 1:00 Eastwind in Berkeley
Oct 21 - Arkipelago Bookstore, San Francisco, (time to be announced)
Oct 24 - 7:00-8:30 - Sacramento Library panel
Nov 1 - 7:00 City Lights in SF
Nov 2 - Asian Art Museum
Nov 12 - California Library Association Conference Panel

To order your copy of the book now, go to www.heydaybooks.com.