Visit Us at the Bay Area Book Festival!
Categories: Event Info
The wildly popular Bay Area Book Festival returns to downtown Berkeley June 3–4 and once again North Atlantic Books will be a part of this exuberant spring celebration. We invite everyone to join us at Booth #140 on Allston Way from 10:00am until 6:00pm on Saturday and Sunday, where we’ll have a wide selection of books discounted just for this occasion. Stop by and meet our staff, talk to our authors, receive a free tarot reading (more on that below), and browse our groundbreaking books in fields such as alternative medicine, ecology, spirituality, social justice, martial arts, somatics, herbalism, psychology, and much more. We’re also holding a contest to give away three books at the festival.
This year the Bay Area Book Festival will highlight “literary activism,” with more than 200 local, national, and international authors and speakers scheduled to appear. “There is no better place than Berkeley, renowned for its intellectual activism, for an event that highlights literature as a vehicle for social change,” the festival’s founder and executive director, Cherilyn Parsons, said in a statement. “Great literature is not didactic, but it is inherently activist.”
Founded in 1974, North Atlantic Books has been on the cutting edge of literary activism, with a range of books that explores environmental sustainability, sacred activism, and alternative approaches to science, religion, healthcare, and economics. A nonprofit with an eclectic approach to publishing, NAB collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives; nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing; and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature.
On Saturday, June 3, Uwe Blesching, author of Cannabis Health Index and a leading voice in the medical marijuana movement, will be at our booth to sign books and answer questions about the powerful healing effects of cannabis on over 100 chronic symptoms and diseases. Editor-in-chief of Healing Times magazine and a medical journalist with a PhD in alternative healthcare, Uwe has spent years researching our endocannabinoid system and the ways that cannabis can be used as a safe, effective alternative to pharmaceuticals. He will be at our booth from 12:30pm to 2:30pm, so stop by and find out more about how medical marijuana can play an active role in improving your health and well-being.
On Sunday, June 4, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm, Mahealani Uchiyama, author of The Haumana Hula Handbook for Students of Hawaiian Dance, will be at the booth to answer questions and sign books. Mahealani is an award-winning dancer, musician, composer, choreographer, recording artist, and teacher. An advocate for cross-cultural understanding, she is the founder and artistic director of the Mahea Uchiyama Center for International Dance in Berkeley, and is Kumu Hula (master teacher) of Halau Ka Ua Tuahine. She has been an instructor of Hawaiian language at Stanford University and also serves as president of the board of World Arts West, the producers of the annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. Her book explores the origins, language, etiquette, ceremonies, and spiritual culture of hula, the indigenous dance of Hawai’i.
Benebell Wen, author of Holistic Tarot and The Tao of Craft, will be in the booth from 3:00pm to 5:00pm on Sunday. She is a certified tarot master who also studies feng shui, the I Ching, numerology, and both Chinese and Hellenisic astrology. Holistic Tarot, a best-selling and widely acclaimed book on the topic, has been referred to as “a modern alchemical achievement,” “magnificent, intelligent, and comprehensive,” “one of the jewels in the crown of tarot literature,” “a new tarot classic,” and “a modern masterwork.” In addition to signing her books and answering questions, Benebell will be giving free five- to ten-minute tarot readings.
On June 3, NAB author and Maker Faire Festival creator Dale Dougherty will be the keynote speaker at the Goldman Theater in the David Brower Center from 3:15pm to 4:15pm. Author of Free To Make, Dale will talk about how the world we inhabit was built by makers—curious, enthusiastic, amateur inventors whose tinkering habit sparked whole new industries and changed the world. This is a great opportunity to get inspired by the original maker and MAKE magazine publisher who will teach us how to embrace our inner maker and bring our wildest, most innovative ideas out into the open.
We’d like to give away three books at the festival. Sign up for the contest here, and we’ll announce the winner on Thursday, June 1. The winner may stop by the festival any time between 10:00am and 6:00pm on Saturday or Sunday to select the books.
North Atlantic Books Author Schedule
Booth #140 on Allston Way
Saturday (booth open 10:00am–6:00pm)
12:30pm–2:30pm: Uwe Blesching, Cannabis Health Index
Sunday (booth open 10:00am–6:00pm)
1:00pm–3:00pm: Mahealani Uchiyama, The Haumana Hula Handbook for Students of Hawaiian Dance
3:00pm–5:00pm: Benebell Wen, Holistic Tarot and The Tao of Craft. Free five- to ten-minute tarot readings during this time.
About the Author
Leslie Larson
Leslie comes to book publishing from both sides of the fence—both as a veteran editor and marketing copywriter, and as an author. She joined NAB in 2013. Her first job was with an independent press in London where, because the staff was so small, she got hands-on experience in all aspects of publishing. For many years she was senior writer and publications manager at the University of California Press. She has managed the communications programs and written copy for a number of nonprofits. Her two novels, Slipstream and Breaking Out of Bedlam, were published by Crown/Shaye Areheart Books and her work has appeared in Faultline, O, The Oprah Magazine, The Writer, Flaunt, The Women’s Review of Books, and More. She likes deadlines, untangling sentences, and finding the right word. When she isn’t reading, writing, or walking, she enjoys cooking and feasting on the produce she grows in her Berkeley backyard.
