Jenny Bowen, a former Los Angeles-based screenwriter and filmmaker, is the director of Half the Sky Foundation, an organization that is dedicated to reconstruct orphanages and increase learning through relationships. Wish You Happy Forever chronicles Bowen's personal and professional journey to transform Chinese orphanages from a state of quiet despair to one of vibrant promise. 

Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes beloved mystery writer Cara Black back to the store in celebration of the publication of her newest Aimee Leduc mystery, Murder in Pigalle. Ms. Black will be in conversation with bestselling author Laurie R. King (The Bones of Paris, The Beekeeper's Apprentice) and their discussion will be moderated by Soho press editor, Juliet Grames.

 

Read more about this event on our website. 

Can't make it? Order your singed copy online! 

In her book, Under My Roof: A Mother's Story of the Heinous Crime of Incest, Emalou King shares her own story of starting over out West--when she kept her family secrets from friends, clients, and colleagues because of shame and embarrassment. In her quest for healing and understanding, though, King became dedicated to telling her story--continuing the pursuit of truth, justice, advocacy and education in the prevention of child sexual abuse. Ms. King's reading will be followed by a facilitated discussion with staff from the Survivors Healing Center. Royalties from books sales sold that evening will be donated back to the Survivors Healing Center.

Bookshop Santa Cruz is thrilled to welcome author Mary Roach to celebrate the paperback release of her bestseller, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. Called "America's funniest science writer" (Washington Post), Roach is the author of Stiff (an exploration of cadavers), Packing For Mars (an examination of everyday life in space), and other favorites. With Gulp, Roach continues to explore the world of strange science and eye-opening anatomy in a way that is both informative and entertaining.

Lorrie Moore, one of America's most beloved and admired short-story writers, will join us to read from Bark, her first collection of stories in fifteen years. Eight masterfully-written stories illustrate the extremes and monotonies of American life, love, and irony, in a heartrending mash-up of the tragic and the laugh-out-loud. Richly developed characters cope with dating after divorce, facing the serious illness of a longtime friend, being visited by a ghost, living in a nation on the edge of war, and more.

Is there a writer in you that wants to come out? If you have stories you want to tell or would like to explore writing as a way to know yourself better, join local author Laura Davis for her monthly introductory evening of writing practice.

Emma Donoghue, Bookshop Staff favorite and author of the international bestseller Room, will join us to read from her new novel, Frog Music, a vivid historical drama based on the still-unsolved 1876 San Francisco murder of Jenny Bonnet. Frog Music has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist: "Donoghue flawlessly combines literary eloquence and vigorous plotting in her first full-fledged mystery, a work as original and multifaceted as its young murder victim." --Booklist