Events

RAQUEL DONOSO will present her debut children's picture book Viva's Voice, an empowering picture book about five-year-old Viva, who learns there is a need for girls with powerful voices everywhere when she helps Papi raise his voice on the picket line.

To register for this event, you must sign up on Eventbrite or register at the store in person at least 24 hours prior to the event.

Viva's Papi is a bus driver and Viva loves going to work with him. The sounds of the traffic and the voices of the passengers are music to Viva's ears. When she finds out that Papi's union is going on strike, she convinces Papi to take her along to the picket line. When quiet Papi is too nervous to give his speech, Viva uses her powerful voice to give him the confidence to find his own. A first introduction to labor unions, strikes, picket lines, and workers' rights, this powerful picture book is both educational and endearing. Viva's story is based on Donoso's own childhood experience, in which her father's union went on strike.

Dr. Raquel Donoso is a native of California and the daughter of immigrant parents who instilled in her a deep love of reading and learning. She is an activist, consultant, and philanthropic advisor who works to increase educational opportunities for students. Her books are inspired by the sights, sounds, and flavors of the world around her. Raquel is the mother of two sons and lives with her husband in the San Francisco Bay Area. Viva’s Voice is Raquel’s debut children’s picture book.

Carlos Vélez is a professional illustrator from Mexico City, Mexico. He has illustrated more than 20 children’s books and is the author/illustrator of the graphic novel Salón Destino. Carlos has been recognized with two illustration awards from the International Children’s and Youth Book Fair in Mexico. He is a graduate of the National School of Plastic Arts of the National University Autonomous of Mexico.

Due to ongoing COVID concerns and customer safety considerations, we will be limiting the number of attendees at our in-store events. To that end, please note the following and thank you for your understanding.

THIS EVENT is free but pre-registration is required.

BECAUSE SEATING is limited, please register only if you plan to attend.

DUE TO SPACE limitations, we may not be able to accommodate every person at an event, so early registration is encouraged.

MASKS are required for attendees during the event.

Rich City Rides and the University of California, Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute host a night of storytelling with Madeline Ostrander, author of At Home on An Unruly Planet, a new book that tells how Richmond and other communities across the country are facing the climate crisis and fighting for community, health, safety, and justice. The book dives deeply into Richmond history and activism, environmental injustice, and how growing healthy food is changing what’s possible in our city. Starting at 4:00pm, we’ll host music and mingling followed by an open mic for Richmond storytellers at 4:30pm.

At 5:00pm, Madeline Ostrander, Doria Robinson, and Najari Smith will talk about hope and resilience—and how what happens in Richmond is part of an important national conversation.

BYO food and beverages from 4 the Soul Catering (vegan options available, please preorder by calling 510-228-8721 or DM on Instagram @4theSoulCatering) or El Garage. Mrs. Dalloway's will be selling At Home on An Unruly Planet at the event.

Author MADELINE OSTRANDER will read from and discuss her new book At Home On An Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge On A Changed Earth. From rural Alaska to coastal Florida, it's a vivid and hopeful account of Americans working to protect the places they call home in an era of wildfires, floods, and uncertainty—including efforts in Richmond, California, to transform a city built around an oil industry giant, the Chevron refinery.

Co-hosted by the University of California, Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute, Madeline will be joined by KQED reporter Ezra David Romero and the Richmond Listening Project's Alfredo Angulo to talk about how Richmond and other frontline communities are finding resilience amid new threats, recovering after almost unthinkable disasters, and reimagining themselves in a time of climate emergency.

To register for this event, you must sign up on Eventbrite or register at the store in person at least 24 hours prior to the event.

How do we find a sense of home and rootedness in a time of unprecedented upheaval? What happens when the seasons and rhythms in which we have built our lives go off-kilter? Once a distant forecast, climate change is now reaching into the familiar, threatening our basic safety and forcing us to reexamine who we are and how we live. In At Home on an Unruly Planet, Ostrander reflects on this crisis not as an abstract scientific or political problem but as a palpable force that is now affecting all of us at home. She offers accounts of people fighting to protect places they love from increasingly dangerous circumstances, from a group of urban farmers work to transform Richmond, California, in the wake of a disastrous refinery fire to a Florida preservationist striving to protect one of North America's most historic cities from rising seas.  Ostrander pairs deeply reported stories of hard-won optimism with lyrical essays on the strengths we need in an era of crisis. The book is required reading for anyone who wants to make a home in the twenty-first century.

MADELINE OSTRANDER is a science journalist and writer whose work has appeared in the NewYorker.com, The Nation, Sierra magazine, PBS's NOVA Next, Slate, and numerous other outlets. Her reporting on climate change and environmental justice has taken her to locations such as the Alaskan Arctic and the Australian outback. She is the former senior editor of YES! magazine and holds a master's degree in environmental science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She lives in Seattle with her husband.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ

THIS EVENT is free but pre-registration is required. Registration ends at 4:50 pm on October 5th.

BECAUSE SEATING is limited, please register only if you plan to attend.

DUE TO SPACE limitations, we may not be able to accommodate every person at an event, so early registration is encouraged.

MASKS are required for attendees during the event.

WE ARE NOT ABLE to accommodate any walk-ins that evening.

WE ASK that attendees arrive between 6:30 and 6:45pm for the event.

Acclaimed author MALINDA LO will read from her new Young Adult novel A Scatter of Light and will be joined in conversation with Printz Award winner, NINA LACOUR (right). Malinda will sign copies of her book at the end of her presentation. A Scatter of Light is a companion novel to Malinda's National Book Award winner Last Night at the Telegraph Club. 

To register for this event, you must sign up on Eventbrite or register at the store in person at least 24 hours prior to the event.

Aria Tang West had big plans for her summer before MIT. Then an ill-advised party hookup with a forgettable boy ends with non-consensual topless pictures on Tumblr, and Aria quickly finds her invitation to Cape Cod retracted and her flight to Marin County to stay with grandmother booked. But the summer of 2013 in the Bay is a momentous one for Aria, for the working-class queer community she finds herself in, and for her artist grandmother. It's the kind of summer that changes a life's trajectory forever. Set against the backdrop of the first of the major Supreme Court decisions that brought marriage equality to the United States, Aria's coming-of-age story is deftly entwined with a poignant note of closure for Lily and Kath from Last Night at the Telegraph Club.

MALINDA LO is the award winning and critically acclaimed author of several young adult novels, including most recently Last Night at the Telegraph Club,  winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Stonewall Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award, and a Printz Honor award. Her novel Ash, a lesbian retelling of Cinderella, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and was a Kirkus Best Book for Children and Teens. She has been a three-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Malinda's nonfiction has been published by the New York Times Book Review, NPR, the Huffington Post, The Toast, the Horn Book, and in many anthologies. She lives in Massachusetts with her wife.

NINA LACOUR is the bestselling and Michael L. Printz Award-winning author of picture books, young adult novels, and adult literary fiction. Her novel We Are Okay was named one of TIME Magazine’s Top 100 YA Novels of All Time. Her adult literary debut, Yerba Buena, was a Book of the Month Club selection, Target Book Club selection, and Indie Next Pick. Garnering starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, BookPage, Booklist, and others, Nina’s books have been translated into over a dozen languages.

For a list of books by both authors, click here.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ

THIS EVENT is free but pre-registration is required.

BECAUSE SEATING is limited, please register only if you plan to attend.

DUE TO SPACE limitations, we may not be able to accommodate every person at an event, so early registration is encouraged.

MASKS are required for attendees during the event.

Eminent sports photographer Michael Zagaris joins us at Mrs. Dalloway's to present his new book FIELD OF PLAY: 60 Years of NFL Photography. Michael will show images from the book, discuss his lifetime of photography, and will sign copies of this stunning gift volume.

To register for this event, you must sign up on Eventbrite or register at the store in person at least 24 hours prior to the event.

Field of Play is a striking celebration of decades of unparalleled access to the NFL by a critically acclaimed sports photojournalist. For the past 60 years, Michael Zagaris has taken his camera behind the scenes of the NFL, capturing the moments that define America’s game. With unparalleled access—42 Super Bowls, 49 seasons as team photographer for the San Francisco 49ers, and a behind-the-scenes passport to the rest of the NFL—Zagaris takes his aim beyond the field and to the locker room, the bench, the practices, and the training camps. His intimate portraits convey the nerves, the tension, the pain, and the elation with emotional depth and the clarity of a longtime insider.

With contributions from celebrated Hall of Famers Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, and Fred Biletnikoff, as well as text from renowned sportswriter Steve Cassady and sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards, Field of Play highlights Zagaris’s storied career as a photographer, showcasing the irresistible force of football and celebrates its enduring presence.

MICHAEL ZAGARIS is a critically acclaimed sports and music photographer who has photographed the NFL since the 1970s and continues to be the San Francisco 49ers team photographer to this day. He has photographed 42 Super Bowls and 12 World Series and has earned three Super Bowl rings and one World Series ring. Zagaris lives in San Francisco with his wife and muse, Kristin.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ

THIS EVENT is free but pre-registration is required. Registration ends at 4:50 pm on October 27th.

BECAUSE SEATING is limited, please register only if you plan to attend.

DUE TO SPACE limitations, we may not be able to accommodate every person at an event, so early registration is encouraged.

MASKS are required for attendees during the event.

WE ARE NOT ABLE to accommodate any walk-ins that evening.

WE ASK that attendees arrive between 6:30 and 6:45pm for the event.

Bestselling author SILAS HOUSE comes to Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore for an in-person reading and discussion of his new novel Lark Ascending.  It's a riveting story of survival and hope, set in the not-too-distant future, about a young man forced to flee the United States and seek refuge across the Atlantic. 

To register for this event, you must sign up on Eventbrite or register at the store in person at least 24 hours prior to the event.

As fires devastate most of the United States, Lark and his family secure a place on a refugee boat headed to Ireland, the last country not yet overrun by extremists and rumored to be accepting American refugees. But Lark is the only one to survive the trip, and once ashore, he doesn’t find the safe haven he’d hoped for. As he runs for his life, Lark finds an abandoned dog who becomes his closest companion, and then a woman in search of her lost son. Together they form a makeshift family and attempt to reach Glendalough, a place they believe will offer protection. But can any community provide the safety that they seek? 

For readers of novels such as Station Eleven, The Dog Stars, and Migrations, Lark Ascending is a moving and unforgettable story of friendship, family, and healing.

SILAS HOUSE is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, one book of creative nonfiction, and three plays. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Advocate, Time, Garden & Gun, and other publications. A former commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered, House is the winner of the Nautilus Award, the Storylines Prize from the NAV/New York Public Library, an E. B. White Honor, and many other awards.

Due to ongoing COVID concerns and customer safety considerations, we will be limiting the number of attendees at our in-store events. To that end, please note the following and thank you for your understanding.

THIS EVENT is free but pre-registration is required. Registration ends at 4:30 pm on November 3rd.

BECAUSE SEATING is limited, please register only if you plan to attend.

DUE TO SPACE limitations, we may not be able to accommodate every person at an event, so early registration is encouraged.

MASKS are required for attendees during the event.

WE ARE NOT ABLE to accommodate any walk-ins that evening.

WE ASK that attendees arrive between 6:30 and 6:45pm for the event.

Bestselling author DANI SHAPIRO returns to Mrs. Dalloway's to read from her new novel Signal Fires; she will be joined in conversation by author TOBIAS WOLFF (right). It's Dani's first work of fiction in fifteen years, a deeply felt novel that examines the ties that bind families together—and the secrets that can break them apart. 

To register for this event, you must sign up on Eventbrite or register at the store in person at least 24 hours prior to the event.

Signal Fires opens on a summer night in 1985. Three teenagers have been drinking. One of them gets behind the wheel of a car, and, in an instant, everything on Division Street changes. Each of their lives, and that of Ben Wilf, a young doctor who arrives on the scene, is shattered. For the Wilf family, the circumstances of that fatal accident will become the deepest kind of secret, one so dangerous it can never be spoken.

On Division Street, time has moved on. When the Shenkmans arrive—a young couple expecting a baby boy—it is as if the accident never happened. But when Waldo, the Shenkmans’ brilliant, lonely son who marvels at the beauty of the world and has a native ability to find connections in everything, befriends Dr. Wilf, now retired and struggling with his wife’s decline, past events come hurtling back in ways no one could ever have foreseen.

DANI SHAPIRO is a best-selling novelist and memoirist and host of the podcast Family Secrets (now in its sixth season). Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, and Time. She has taught at Columbia and New York University and is the co-founder of the Sirenland Writers Conference. She lives in Litchfield County, Connecticut.

TOBIAS WOLFF is an American short story writer, memoirist, novelist, and teacher of creative writing. He is known for his memoirs, particularly This Boy's Life and In Pharaoh's Army . He has written four short story collections and two novels including The Barracks Thief which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Wolff received a National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in September 2015

Due to ongoing COVID concerns and customer safety considerations, we will be limiting the number of attendees at our in-store events. To that end, please note the following and thank you for your understanding.

THIS EVENT is free but pre-registration is required. Registration ends at 4:30 pm on November 4th.

BECAUSE SEATING is limited, please register only if you plan to attend.

DUE TO SPACE limitations, we may not be able to accommodate every person at an event, so early registration is encouraged.

MASKS are required for attendees during the event.

WE ARE NOT ABLE to accommodate any walk-ins that evening.

WE ASK that attendees arrive between 6:30 and 6:45pm for the event.