As far as artist scenes go, the literary one can be the hardest to assess. It’s not like with music, for which you can count the number of local bands booked at shows in town. Writers, even the most prolific of them, may come out of their basements only to do a reading or a book signing once every five years. You could have an incredibly exciting literary movement happening in your town and never even hear about it.
The East Bay is a notorious hub for the literary arts. Its literary ghosts don’t quite have the same cachet as San Francisco’s (Mark Twain, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Maya Angelou), but it’s damn close (Gertrude Stein, Philip K. Dick, Jack London, Ursula K. Le Guin). Most of those icons are long gone, of course. The literary world in general is not what it used to be. So where does this leave the East Bay in terms of literary fortitude today? If you’re a young writer looking for a literary community in Berkeley or Oakland, will you be disappointed?
Believe it or not, despite housing prices driving out artists in hordes, the East Bay scene isn’t anywhere near dead. In fact, quite the opposite. Here’s a look:
East Bay Writers: Modern Giants
Here are just a few giants who currently hail from the East Bay. This list is admittedly curated in terms of my personal favorites, so it’s only a snapshot of the depth of the writing talent that exits in Oakland, Berkeley and beyond.
Ishmael Reed — Author of Mumbo Jumbo and 10 other celebrated novels, including the recent work, Conjugating Hindi. Also an innovative poet, playwright, essayist and editor, Reed is a cultural icon and all-round literary champion.
Arlie Russell Hochschild — Prominent sociologist and author of several highly praised books, including her recent work, Strangers in Their Own Land, which was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the National Book Award.
Robert Reich — Former US Secretary of Labor and best-selling author of 18 books, including Saving Capitalism, The Work of Nationals and Reason. He currently teaches at UC Berkeley. To anyone who cares about economic disparities in America, he’s basically a living legend.
Michael Chabon — Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, he often writes about life in the East Bay, particularly in his 2012 novel, Telegraph Avenue.
Shanthi Sekaran — Author of The Prayer Room and Lucky Boy, which was named the Best Book of 2017 by NPR. She currently teaches creative writing at St. Mary’s College of California.
Carolina de Robertis — Author of The Gods of Tango and other award-winning novels, she currently teaches creative writing at SF State University.
Robin Sloan — Author of the New York Times best-selling debut novel Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore and the 2017 novel Sourdough, Robin Sloan is becoming well known as a pioneer in writing fiction with machine learning.
Boots Riley — Screenwriter and director for the dark comedy Sorry to Bother You, Riley is a powerful voice in Oakland’s present-day political conscience. His Twitter bio tells it like it is regarding his hometown: “Oakland—which isn’t near L.A.”
Xandra Castleton — Emmy Award–winning screenwriter living in Berkeley. She teaches screenwriting workshops at the Grotto in SF and is an inspiration to many upcoming Bay Area screenwriters.
Joining the Literary Community
If you’re not studying literature at UC Berkeley, Mills College, St. Mary’s or another local institution, it may not be obvious how you can connect with the literary community. You can always go back to school, but that sounds pretty terrible, if you ask me — especially since there are plenty of literary communities out there that don’t involve writing term papers.
First of all, “joining a community” doesn’t have be a once-a-month thing. If you’re really committed to the literary life, check out some of the local publishing companies to see if they’re hiring. A few book publishers in the East Bay to consider include PM Press, an independent publisher of anarchist literature; Callisto Media, a tech-savvy publisher based in Emeryville; Seal Press, an imprint of Perseus Books; Montag Press, Oakland’s finest underground fiction publisher; and Wolfman Books, a small press with an artist-residency program based in downtown Oakland.
The East Bay is also home to a number of fantastic literary journals. In my experience, literary journals are often excited to take on volunteer submissions editors. A few of the best East Bay journals include Jokes Review, a biannual print journal of humorous fiction, poetry and art; The Threepenny Review, a highly regarded publisher of fiction, poetry and critical articles; and Star 82 Review, an art and literature publication with a distinct aesthetic featuring “gemlike” forms of creativity. Also, if you happen to be a student at UC Berkeley, you could look into joining the editorial staff at Berkeley Poetry Review or Berkeley Fiction Review.
But you don’t have to be an editor to join the local literary community. Here are three easy ways to meet people with like-minded interests:
Attend literary events in the community:
- Anarchist Bookfair annually in Oakland
- Oakland Book Festival annually in Oakland
- Bay Area Book Festival annually in Berkeley
- The Octopus Literary Salon weekly/monthly in Oakland
- InsideStorytime monthly in Oakland (and SF)
- Ars Technica Live Talks monthly at Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland
Hang out in local bookstores:
- Pegasus Books in Berkeley and Oakland
- Moe’s Books in Berkeley
- Mrs. Dalloway’s in Berkeley
- Spectator Books in Oakland
- Owl & Company Bookshop in Oakland
- Wolfman Books in Oakland
Join local reading groups or writing meet-ups:
- AfroSurreal Writers Workshop in Oakland
- East Bay Book Club in Emeryville
- East Bay Mystery Readers’ Group in Oakland
- East Bay Classic Fiction Book Club in Oakland
- East Bay “Write to Heal” Circle in San Leandro
- Poets Wanted in Berkeley
Checking the Pulse
There have been only a handful of indisputably epic literary scenes in history. There was Bloomsbury in London in the early 1900s with Virginia Woolf and E. M. Forster, then Paris in the 1920s with Ernest and F. Scott Fitzgerald, then San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s with Ferlinghetti, Kerouac and Ginsberg. I’m sure there are plenty more, but these are the typical ones that spring to mind.
But the East Bay is certainly one of the world’s great mainstays for literary culture. With its historical ties to the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party, it has served as ground zero for particularly powerful voices in modern writing. And that’s not to mention all the household names in literature that have called the East Bay home at one time or another — from Jack London to Joan Didion to Jonathan Lethem — who, incidentally, worked at Pegasus Books and set his debut novel in Oakland.
By all accounts, and considering the details outlined above, it appears that the East Bay literary community continues to thrive. And that means that now is as good a time as ever to join the cause.
Hey! The Bold Italic recently launched a podcast, This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley. Check out the full season or listen to the episode below featuring Eileen Rinaldi, CEO and founder of Ritual Coffee. More coming soon, so stay tuned!
