Eureka! A Peninsula
of Literary Salons
After picking up my pen over a decade ago, I looked for places
where I could learn more about the book business, but also where I could connect
with other bibliophiles. In our current
turbulent era when the world of the written word seems to be turning on its
ear, the sanctuaries I have found come with a most ironic twist.
In the line of great traditions in literary gatherings -
from staid 17th century salons to spontaneous 20th
century sidewalk cafés – the modern rendition of literary meetings here seems to
meld the two. With numbers small enough
to conduct conversations but large enough to create a buzz, colleagues gather
slowly over wine and cheese and ultimately compose the audience for a presentation. This model occurs repeatedly in the Bay Area.
The first crowd that I found in the San Francisco area
consists of a broad mix of the publishing world, from TV hosts and master
agents to pulp novelists. NCBPMA comes together about once a
month and puts on panels, speakers and events of general interest. The Northern
California Book Publicity and Marketing currently meets at the Mechanics’
Institute Library café at 57 Post Street, very convenient to BART. Anyone is welcome. Admission fees are collected at the door,
with a break given to members.
The Mechanics’
Institute Library puts on high quality programs in its own right, but also
preserves the beautiful historic building which houses the events. Tickets include a glass of wine. Generous hors d’oeuvre usually complete the
scene at the Library.
One newly refashioned literary lounge and library pulls its
participants from Berkeley and the South Bay, as well as urbanites within
walking distance. The Book Club of California beautifully occupies part of a floor in
the World Affairs Council building and welcomes members and nonmembers
alike. We discovered this erudite assembly
when Stanford’s Green Library presented a superb “Treasures of the Archives”
program there. Primarily this group is
devoted to the art press and California history.
The Rondel Society at Stanford’s
Green Library itself brings cutting-edge thinkers like architect William
McDonough into splendid hallowed halls, but also provides a venue for PhD
students with myriad ideas.
My most recent discovery has been the Center for the Study of Western Civilization, just across the
freeway from DeAnza College. Lectures there
are open to the public, cover a broad range of topics and draw on local
expertise. Its interior gravitas belies
its commercial surroundings; inside the atmosphere evokes a European institute.
In the cases of all of the programs I’ve mentioned above,
both size and setting afford yeasty situations conducive to discourse. If you love books and relish learning from
the like-minded, consider frequenting these oases. In these locales we may be witnessing the
spoken word reviving the written one.
If you’d like to take a look, I invite you to the lectures
I’ll be giving on my new book, Champagne
Regained, at the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco at 5:30 p.m. on June
26 and at the Center for the Study of Western Civilization in Cupertino two
days later at 6:30 p.m. on June 28. For
more information please visit my website www.lexicuspress.com
or
lib.stanford.edu/files/Rondel%Society%Brochure
www.westernciv.com
More immediately, if you’re in Chicago please join us at the
venerable University Club of Chicago’s Learn at Lunch program at noon on May
24, or if you’re in Paris please stop by the illustrious Louvre bookstore just
inside the gate from the Place de la Concorde in the Tuileries gardens at 4
p.m. on Sunday, June 2.
Santé,
Jacqui
