Events

Join us for a special book launch on Sunday, September 11 to celebrate local author SALLY ENGLELFRIED's debut novel Learning To Fall, recommended for ages 9-12. The story revolves around 12-year-old Daphne as she reconciles with her father, who left her stranded three years ago, and learns forgiveness one fall at a time. Sally will read from the book and be joined in conversation by author LISA MOORE-RAMEE (right).

Join us Tuesday, September 13th when author SIERRA GODFREY comes to Mrs. Dalloway's to launch her debut novel A Very Typical Family, in which a woman must return to her hometown of Santa Cruz, CA and reunite with the estranged brother and sister she sent to prison 15 years earlier. It's a propulsive contemporary women’s fiction debut with dark humor and messy yet warm-hearted family dynamics, perfect for fans of Claire Lombardo’s The Most Fun We Ever Had and Emma Straub’s All Adults Here.

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.

Natalie Walker is the reason her brother and sister went to jail over 15 years ago. As a result, she hasn't spoken to her family since. On the same day she expects to be promoted at her job (until her boyfriend Paul swoops in and takes the position), Natalie receives a letter from a lawyer in Santa Cruz saying her mother has died and the only way for her children to inherit their family's large, historical home is for all three adult children to come back and claim it.

Natalie drives to Santa Cruz, expecting to sign some documents, see siblings Lynn and Jake, and get back to her life in Boston. But Jake, now an award-winning scientist, is missing. And Lynn, working as an undertaker in NYC, shows up with her teenaged son. While Natalie and her nephew look for Jake—meeting a very handsome Spanish scientist in the process—Natalie takes stock of her life and the guilt she has held dear for so many years. Though no one can change the past, every day is an opportunity to change how you want to live in the future.

Join us at Mrs. Dalloway's Monday, September 19th at 7:00 PM for acclaimed author and poet SANDRA CISNEROS reading from Woman Without Shame, her first book of poetry in 28 years. In addition to the readings, Cisneros will also be in conversation with author Reyna Grande.

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.

With dozens of never-before-seen poems, Woman Without Shame is a moving collection of songs, elegies, and declarations that chronicle the pilgrimage Cisneros took toward rebirth and the recognition of her prerogative as a woman artist. These bluntly honest and often humorous meditations on memory, desire, and the essential nature of love blaze a path toward self-awareness. For Cisneros, Woman Without Shame is the culmination of her search for home—in the Mexico of her ancestors and in her own heart.

SANDRA CISNEROS is a poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist, performer, and artist. Her numerous awards include NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction, a MacArthur Fellowship, national and international book awards, including the PEN America Literary Award, and the National Medal of Arts. More recently, she received the Ford Foundation's Art of Change Fellowship, was recognized with the Fuller Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, and won the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. In addition to her writing, Cisneros has fostered the careers of many aspiring and emerging writers through two nonprofits she founded: Macondo Writers and the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation. As a single woman she made the choice to have books instead of children. A citizen of both the United States and Mexico, Cisneros currently lives in San Miguel de Allende and makes her living by her pen.

REYNA GRANDE is the author of the bestselling memoir, The Distance Between Us, and the sequel, A Dream Called Home. Reyna has received an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and a Latino Spirit Award. In 2012, she was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awards, and in 2015 she was honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature.

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 4pm on September 19th.

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.

Author TONI MIROSEVICH will make an in-store appearance at Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore on Thursday, October 13th. Toni will read from and discuss her new linked story collection, Spell Heaven and Other Stories, in which, after moving to a coastal town, a gay couple is drawn to a group of outsiders living on the edge of the sea. Toni will be joined in discussion by author Janine Kovac (right).

To register for this event, you must sign up on Eventbrite or come to the store in person.

Stories in the the collection include the tale of an undocumented boy's drowning when a wave pulls him out to sea, an ex–FBI agent’s surveillance of a man who leaves chocolate bars at a tree in a weekly ritual, a mother on meth who teaches a lesson on mercy, and Kite Man, who flies kites from a fishing pole and sells drugs on the side. His motto: When the kites fly, you can buy.

TONI MIROSEVICH was raised in a Croatian American fishing family in Everett, Washington. She is the author of a book of nonfiction stories, Pink Harvest, winner of the First Series Award for Creative Nonfiction, and five books of poetry. A professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University for many years, she currently resides with her wife in Pacifica, California.

Drawing from her career as a professional ballet dancer, JANINE KOVAC writes about power dynamics and women’s bodies. Her memoir Spinning: Choreography for Coming Home was a semifinalist for Publishers Weekly’s BookLife Prize and a winner of the National Indie Excellence Awards.