Book talks and author readings in Santa Cruz — 12 upcoming

Katy Scott - What Goes On Inside a Tide Pool

Science & TechCulture & Humanities Book TalkBookshop

Sat, Oct 24 ·11:00 am ·Bookshop Santa Cruz ·Santa Cruz

Author and Education Programs Director at Monterey Bay Aquarium Katy Scott reads and signs her illustrated children's book about a hermit crab's 24-hour journey through a tide pool ecosystem. Through the crab's search for a new shell, readers learn about tide cycles, marine adaptations, predator-prey relationships, and the interconnected life of tide pool creatures. Scott brings expertise from nearly 15 years developing STEM education programs at one of the world's leading aquariums.

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A Discussion and Reading with Fady Joudah: Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza

Culture & HumanitiesCivics & Power Book TalkLecture / ForumUniversity / College Free

Wed, Oct 28 ·6:00 pm ·Museum of Art & History ·Santa Cruz

Award-winning poet, translator, and physician Fady Joudah discusses and reads from Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza (2026), a finalist for the National Book Award. Writing from the perspective of a Palestinian American doctor witnessing Gaza's destruction from the United States, Joudah examines the paradoxes of his position—caring for the sick while complicit in their suffering, writing in English while defending a colonized people, finding beauty and survival amid devastation. The book explores how beauty persists through Palestinian resilience and the nonhuman world as refuge from human-inflicted war. Hosted by UC Santa Cruz's Center for the Middle East and North Africa with the Humanities Institute.

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Julie Orringer - Luna, Phoenix, Queen

Culture & Humanities Book TalkBookshop

Wed, Oct 28 ·7:00 pm ·Bookshop Santa Cruz ·Santa Cruz

Julie Orringer reads from and signs her new novel Luna, Phoenix, Queen, a multigenerational story spanning four decades and four thousand miles. The novel explores infidelity, artistic theft, and the power of storytelling through interwoven voices: a Midwestern couple—one a fiction writer, one a literature professor—whose marriage fractures as she secretly writes a novel and he steals and publishes it as his own after she develops early-onset Alzheimer's. Orringer, author of The Invisible Bridge and The Flight Portfolio (basis for Netflix's Transatlantic), teaches at NYU and Stanford.

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Priyanka Mattoo - How to Be Less Useful: The Joy of Inefficiency

Culture & Humanities Book TalkBookshop

Wed, Nov 4 ·7:00 pm ·Bookshop Santa Cruz ·Santa Cruz

Priyanka Mattoo, author of *Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones* and contributor to The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Vulture, reads from and signs her memoir *How to Be Less Useful: The Joy of Inefficiency*. Mattoo explores how American culture has become obsessed with optimization and efficiency, especially in work, parenting, and self-care, and investigates why pleasure gets pushed aside as we age. With humor and insight, she examines what we systematically cut out—solo travel, dessert, dancing, unhurried time with friends—and shows how to reclaim joy, authenticity, and ease. A reading and signing.

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Matt O'Hara - The Flying Death

Science & TechCulture & Humanities Book TalkLecture / ForumBookshop

Mon, Nov 9 ·7:00 pm ·Bookshop Santa Cruz ·Santa Cruz

A reading and discussion of *The Flying Death*, historian Matt O'Hara's account of 1930s explorers racing to harvest curare from the Amazon—a poisonous vine used by Indigenous tribes that became foundational to modern medicine and surgery. The book traces Richard Gill's obsessive quest to broker deals between Indigenous poison masters and American pharmaceutical companies, his competition with rival Boris Krukoff, and the human cost of their success: curare became central to shock therapy and surgical innovation, eventually earning a Nobel Prize, yet the story raises urgent questions about who profits from discovery and who bears the price. O'Hara is a professor of history at UC Santa Cruz and author of *The History of the Future in Colonial Mexico* and *A Flock Divided*.

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Avia Tadmor & Keetje Kuipers - The Hive Live! Poetry Reading

Culture & Humanities Book TalkLecture / ForumBookshop

Tue, Nov 10 ·7:00 pm ·Bookshop Santa Cruz ·Santa Cruz

An evening of poetry featuring Avia Tadmor, author of *Song in Tammuz* (Tupelo Press, 2026), winner of the International Berkshire Prize, and Clinical Associate Professor at NYU; and Keetje Kuipers, author of four poetry collections from BOA Editions and Editor-in-Chief of *Poetry Northwest*. Kuipers' *Lonely Women Make Good Lovers* won the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, and her work has appeared in *The New York Times Magazine*, *POETRY*, and *American Poetry Review*. A rare shared reading from two acclaimed contemporary poets.

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Naturalist Night: State of Change — Laura Cunningham

Science & TechCulture & Humanities Lecture / ForumBook TalkMuseum Free ✦ burnoff pick

Thu, Nov 12 ·6:00 pm ·Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History ·Santa Cruz

Join artist-naturalist Laura Cunningham for a reading and presentation on the reissue of her natural history masterpiece *A State of Change: California's Forgotten Landscape*. Cunningham, who studied paleontology and biology at UC Berkeley and has worked field biology jobs for the California Department of Fish and Game and USGS, presents illustrated scientific detail of California's precolonial ecology and historical biodiversity. This fully redesigned edition features new material on wolf reintroduction, regenerative agriculture, and traditional Indigenous uses of fire. A book signing follows. Hosted at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History.

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James Spooner in Conversation with Johnny Damm on AFROPUNK, Anger, and Other Things

Culture & Humanities Book TalkLecture / ForumUniversity / College Free

Fri, Nov 13 ·6:00 pm ·Institute of the Arts and Sciences ·Santa Cruz

A conversation with filmmaker and graphic novelist James Spooner about his graphic novel *It Starts with Anger: A Punk Beginning. An AFROPUNK Ending*, which traces the origin of the multi-million-dollar AFROPUNK festival from a mixed-race teenager's search for belonging in the nineties New York City punk scene. Moderated by cartoonist Johnny Damm. The event includes a book signing by Spooner, and local author and punk historian John Malkin will also sign his new book *Punk Spirit! – An Oral History of Punk Rock, Spirituality, and Liberation*, with Damm's latest comic *I'm a Cop: Real Life Horror Comics No. 3* available.

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Daniel Duane - Yosemite Falls

Culture & Humanities Book TalkBookshop

Sun, Nov 15 ·4:00 pm ·Bookshop Santa Cruz ·Santa Cruz

A memoir of climbing, California, and the legacies of wilderness and preservation. Daniel Duane, author of six books including the surfing memoir Caught Inside and a three-decade contributor to The New York Times, discusses Yosemite Falls, his examination of his family's devotion to John Muir's vision of California's wilderness alongside the park's violent and complex history—including its erasure of Indigenous peoples like the Yahi, whose last member Ishi was taken by UC Berkeley as an object of study. Duane reckon with the true cost of his ecological heroes' legacies.

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Dav Pilkey - Dog Man: A Sprinkle in Time

Culture & Humanities Book TalkLecture / ForumBookshop

Thu, Nov 19 ·6:00 pm ·Santa Cruz Warriors Arena ·Santa Cruz

A visual presentation and live drawing session with Dav Pilkey, bestselling author-illustrator of Dog Man, Captain Underpants, and Cat Kid Comic Club. The 30-minute program features Pilkey drawing on stage, trivia with prizes, a photo opportunity with the author, and exclusive activities including character meet-and-greets and giveaways. Attendees receive a pre-signed copy of Dog Man: A Sprinkle in Time and a limited-edition glow-in-the-dark backpack tag. Costumes encouraged.

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Morton Marcus Poetry Reading with Lee Herrick

Culture & Humanities Lecture / ForumBook Talk

Thu, Nov 19 ·6:00 pm ·Cultural Center at Merrill College ·Santa Cruz

The Seventeenth Annual Morton Marcus Poetry Reading features California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick, who was the first to be reappointed to a second term. Herrick, author of *In Praise of Late Wonder: New and Selected Poems* (2024) and co-editor of *The World I Leave You: Asian American Poets on Faith and Spirit*, discusses themes of adoption, faith, social justice, and environmental poetry. Poet Gary Young hosts, and the evening includes announcement of the Morton Marcus Poetry Prize winner ($1,000 award).

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Al Ridenour - The Krampus and the Old Dark Christmas

Culture & Humanities Lecture / ForumBook Talk

Sat, Dec 19 ·6:00 pm ·The 418 Project ·Santa Cruz ·$28.52

An evening exploring the history and cultural significance of Krampus, the Alpine folkloric creature linked to centuries-old witchcraft beliefs and darker pre-Christian understandings of the Christmas season. Author Al Ridenour, who wrote the definitive English-language study *The Krampus and the Old Dark Christmas*, delivers an illustrated presentation revealing how Krampus traditions connect to the spirit world. The evening includes live traditional St. Nicholas songs performed by singer Christina Linhardt, a curated collection of European Krampus video shorts (DIY horror films, disco shows, metal music videos), a rare excerpt from the 1955 German film *Der Struwwelpeter*, costumed Krampus performers for photo opportunities, local artisan vendors, and a book signing.

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