Sky Daddy and Soft Core with authors Kate Folk and Brittany Newell

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Mechanics' Institute

Join authors Kate Folk and Brittany Newell in conversation on their recent novels, Sky Daddy and Soft Core. Co-sponsored by The Ruby.

Join authors Kate Folk and Brittany Newell in conversation on their recent novels, Sky Daddy and Soft Core. Co-sponsored by <a href="https://www.therubysf.com/" title="https://www.therubysf.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">The Ruby</a>.A special tour will be held for the Rubies at 5:00 pm prior to the talk!About Sky DaddyLinda is doing her best to lead a life that would appear normal to the casual observer. But on the last Friday of each month, she indulges her true passion, taking BART to SFO for a round-trip flight to a regional hub. Linda knows that she can’t tell anyone she’s sexually obsessed with planes. Nor can she reveal her belief that it’s her destiny to “marry” one of her suitors, uniting with her soulmate plane for eternity. But when an opportunity arises to hasten her dream of eternal partnership, and the carefully balanced elements of her life begin to spin out of control, she must choose between maintaining the trappings of normalcy and launching herself headlong toward the love she’s always dreamed of.Both subversive and unexpectedly heartwarming, Sky Daddy hijacks the classic love story, exploring desire, fate, and the longing to be accepted for who we truly are.“Sleek and darkly comical . . . with the melancholic wit and whimsy of Miranda July.”—The Boston GlobeAbout Soft CoreRuth is lost. She’s living in a drafty Victorian with her ex-boyfriend Dino, a ketamine dealer with a lingerie habit, overdosing on television and regretting her master’s degree. When she starts dancing at a strip club, she becomes Baby Blue, seductress of crypto bros, outcasts, and old lovers alike. Plunged into this swirling underworld of beautiful women, fast cash, ungodly hours, and strangers’ secrets, Baby’s grip on reality begins to loosen. She is sure she can handle it—until one autumn morning when Dino disappears without a trace.Thus begins a nocturnal quest for the one she still loves; a brutally funny, propulsive story of power, fantasy, love, and loss, Brittany Newell’s Soft Core is an ode to the heartbroken and unhinged, to those whose appetites lead them astray.“Vivid . . . Exhilarating . . . Soft Core is pacey and rich, full of verve, drama and detail.” —The New York Times Book ReviewAbout the SpeakersKate Folk is the author of the novel Sky Daddy and the short story collection Out There. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, n+1, The New York Times, Granta, and The Baffler, among other venues. A former Stegner Fellow, she’s also received fellowships and residencies from MacDowell, the Headlands Center for the Arts, and Willapa Bay AiR. She lives in San Francisco.Brittany Newell is a writer and performer living in San Francisco. Her debut novel Oola was published in 2017, and her second novel Soft Core was published in February 2025 to much acclaim. From 2017-18 she wrote a regular column on gender and sexuality for Dazed Digital. You can find her written work in Granta, n+1, The New York Times, Joyland and Playgirl. She was a recipient of the San Francisco Arts Commission's Individual Artist grant for artists serving under-represented communities and runs a monthly drag and dance party called Angels at Aunt Charlie's Lounge with her wife Maria Silk and Myles Cooper.About The RubyThe Ruby is a collective of Bay Area nonbinary, transfeminine, and woman-identified creatives who have a desire to learn, curiosity, and a range of interests—and who continually seek enrichment. It's for those who are passionate about their creative and professional pursuits and want to share them with others, who value community and are interested in new friendships — especially outside of their chosen fields of work. More than just a workspace, The Ruby offers its members opportunities to learn new skills and engage over a communal table of food and drink made by local nonbinary, transfeminine, and woman-identified chefs, restaurateurs, and wine makers.

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