Had you taken a peek into the warm glow of San Francisco’s City Lights Bookstore on Wednesday evening, you’d have spotted more than 50 literature lovers squeezed into the historic North Beach destination. The event was the latest of Alta Journal’s quarterly issue parties, this one in celebration of Alta’s 25th installment, the Writers Issue, and a local launch of Alta books editor David L. Ulin’s new novel, Thirteen Question Method.
City Lights, a cornerstone of California’s literary history, was an especially appropriate setting in which to honor the issue. Many of Alta’s contributors, from poet Kim Shuck and author Carribean Fragoza to Ulin himself, have been published by the bookstore’s small press. (Fun fact: Fragoza’s Eat the Mouth That Feeds You was published by City Lights and is Alta’s December California Book Club title.)
Alta contributor Chris Colin kicked off the program with a reading from “San Francisco’s 24-Hour Diner Stops the Cosmic Clock,” his hauntingly beautiful piece about the city’s Silver Crest Donut Shop, which has quite literally remained open since 1970.
Anita Felicelli, editor of the California Book Club, followed Colin by introducing her “Writer’s Room” pieces, a series of profiles that contemplate the idiosyncrasies of six writers’ workspaces and writing rituals. She read her pieces on Myriam Gurba and Mary Roach, exploring how inspiration is cultivated in altars and in found objects.
Ulin, both a contributor and a profile subject in the new issue, was last to read. The Angeleno flew north for the occasion and began by thanking the crowd for making “an out-of-town writer feel at home.” He read from the chilling first chapter of Thirteen Question Method, which was published by San Francisco’s own Outpost 19 earlier this month.
Following a Q&A session led by Alta editorial director Blaise Zerega, this cozy evening ended with mingling over local wines, book browsing, and lively discussions about Issue 25. Kevin Kelleher and Emily Trinh, both photographers and Alta fans, have become enthusiastic regulars at these issue parties.
“This time, it’s City Lights,” said Kelleher. “How could you not love City Lights?”
“We love meeting new people at these events—and anyone who reads Alta, we already know we’re going to like,” Trinh added, gripping her copy of Issue 25. “The fact that you’re still in physical print makes going to an event like this a really special experience. It’s clear how much work is going into the issue—the print quality, the photos, the paper.… It’s like a book, and you want to keep it forever.”
Among the crowd of readers and shoppers mixing in City Light’s main room were Alta editor and publisher Will Hearst and contributors such as writer Jennifer Lewis, poet D.A. Powell, and photographer Gordon Wiltsie. These issue parties in the Bay Area and Southern California—six and counting—have become a ritual of bringing each new issue to life; connecting face-to-face with Alta’s community of readers, contributors, and staff; and supporting indie bookstores throughout the West.
Want to attend the next party? Join us Wednesday, November 1, at Diesel, a Bookstore in Santa Monica for an event that will feature Ulin, author Jonathan Lethem, and Ask a Californian columnists Gustavo Arellano and Stacey Grenrock Woods. Sign up for our newsletters to stay in touch on events live and virtual, and if you haven’t already, grab your copy of Alta’s Issue 25 at your local bookstore or in the Alta Store.•
