Tens of thousands of book lovers filled 11 different venues, as well as the open-air kids' stage, the Lacuna book installation and scores of publisher booths.
If you were one of the tens of thousands to attend the first Bay Area Book Festival in downtown Berkeley last June, you’re certainly looking forward to the second edition, June 4-5. If you missed it, don’t make that mistake this year. Nearly 300 authors will be speaking, performing, reading, signing and mingling at the free festival which takes over dozens of downtown venues.
On Saturday night, the Berkeley Public Library Foundation hosted its 14th annual Authors’ Dinner, a fundraiser which this year will help remodel parts of the Central Library, especially for the use of teenagers.
How do you decide if an event is a success? One clear indicator is how many people turn up, but the day after the inaugural Bay Area Book Festival came to a close, its creator and executive director Cherilyn Parsons was still trying to put a number on that.
The Berkeley Board of Library Trustees (BOLT) Thursday night voted to recommend to the City Council that the South Branch of the library be renamed to include the name of Tarea Hall Pittman (1903-1991), a long-time South Berkeley resident and civil-rights leader.
The Board of Library Trustees (BOLT) will hold a special session Thursday May 7 at 6:30 p.m. to make a final decision on a community proposal to rename the South Branch library after a local activist.
Berkeley Design Advocates, a volunteer group of architects and urban planners, showcase the best contemporary design in Berkeley — as well as the best restoration of the city’s historical buildings — with their bi-annual awards.
Update, April 23: The Board of Trustees of the Berkeley Public Library voted against renaming the South Branch after civil-rights leader Tarea Hall Pittman at its April 22 meeting. (See who is on the Board and listen to a recording of the meeting on the Library’s website.) The leader of the campaign in favor of the idea, Charles Austin, told Berkeleyside reporter Natalie Orenstein he was devastated, and that supporters would protest the decision at the next Berkeley City Council meeting. “Racism is alive in Berkeley,” he said. The South Branch of the Berkeley Public Library was remodeled two years ago, and soon it might be rechristened too.
The West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, which opened in Decemeber 2013, produced more energy that it used in 2014, and it has been officially anointed as the first “net zero” library in the state and only the third municipal building of its kind in the nation.
The quirky-looking building on the southeast corner of Telegraph and Haste, now Amoeba Music, has a colorful history that illustrates several chapters in Berkeley’s proud, independent history.
What has Erik Tarloff got that I haven’t got? After all, we’re both, let’s say, not getting any younger; both long-time Berkeley residents; both Jewish; and both writers. OK, scratch that last one: we’re not in the same league.
A book festival is coming to Berkeley. Doubtless many people will say, “It’s about time.”
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