How They Did It: Imagining a Future California

Co-presented with LitCamp

In the latest in our quarterly “How They Did It” series of craft-focused conversations, Litquake and LitCamp gaze beyond the horizon, bringing together five talented authors whose fiction imagines a California of the future. Some visions are bleak (a submerged San Francisco, a fascist dystopia) while others are fanciful (a time loop romance, a robot-run restaurant)—all offer the chance to shake free from our current moment and speculate (and hope) about what tomorrow might bring. We’ll get tips on writing and publishing speculative fiction from authors Mike Chen (A Quantum Love Story), Anita Felicelli (How We Know Our Time Travelers), Susanna Kwan (Awake in the Floating City), Sheri T. Joseph (Edge of the Known World) and Annalee Newitz (Automatic Noodle), all joined by moderator Zoe Young. We'll gather at Page Street Co-Working in Berkeley, where in addition to the conversation and Q&A, we'll enjoy time for casual networking. We'll be pouring Prosecco, wine, and fancy nonalcoholic drinks. Proceeds from ticket sales will support both LitCamp and Litquake. Doors at 2:45.

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About the Speakers

Mike Chen is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Brotherhood, Here and Now and Then, Light Years From Home, and other novels. He has covered geek culture for sites such as Nerdist, Tor.com, and StarTrek.com, and in a different life, covered the NHL. A member of SFWA, Mike lives in the Bay Area with his wife, daughter, and many rescue animals.

Anita Felicelli is the author of the short story collection How We Know Our Time Travelers, along with Chimerica: A Novel and the award-winning Love Songs for a Lost Continent. She is the books editor at Alta Journal. Anita has contributed essays and criticism to the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Slate, and the New York Times (Modern Love), among other places. She served on the Board of the National Book Critics Circle from 2021-2024. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she grew up, with her family.

Susanna Kwan is an artist and writer from San Francisco. Awake in the Floating City is her first novel.

Sheri T. Joseph grew up in a New York beach town until her family relocated to the San Francisco area. She went to UC Berkeley, received a JD from UC Law San Francisco, and studied economics, geography, and creative writing. She is passionate about the need for housing and serves as executive director of a nonprofit corporation that supports creation of affordable housing for families, veterans, refugees, and vulnerable populations. She’s also a trustee for Homeward Bound, a provider of homeless services and housing. Sheri and her husband have three adventurous children and live in Marin, California.

Annalee Newitz is a science journalist who also writes science fiction. They are the author of several bestselling books, including The Terraformers, which was nominated for the Nebula Award, and Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age. They have a monthly column in New Scientist magazine, and are the co-host of the Hugo-winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct. Their forthcoming novella is Automatic Noodle, which drops in August 2025.

Zoe Young (Moderator) is a San Francisco writer. You can read her work in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Grist, Identity Theory Magazine, Anthropocene, Downbeat Magazine, and on multiple bathroom walls. Her dramatic works have been produced at Berkeley Rep and at venues throughout San Francisco. She holds an MFA from California College of the Arts, teaches Playwriting and Screenwriting at Berkeley City College, and served as Head of Creative Content for The Nature Conservancy in California. Zoe fronts a Bay Area punk band called The Furious Tits.

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About Litquake

Since being founded by Jane Ganahl and Jack Boulware in 1999, Litquake has hosted 10,500 authors for 275,000 attendees and distributed 12,000 free books to San Francisco schoolchildren. With over 225 literary partners, Litquake functions more than ever as an umbrella organization stitching together the Bay Area’s literary scene. In its lively, diverse and inclusive celebration of San Francisco’s thriving contemporary literary scene, Litquake, which enters its second quarter-century in 2025, seeks to foster an interest in literature, perpetuate a sense of literary community, and provides a forum for Bay Area writing as a complement to the city’s music, film, and cultural festivals.

About LitCamp

LitCamp exists to help writers hone their craft, navigate the world of publishing, and find community. Each year, the organization holds two conferences at the stunning Bell Valley Retreat Center in Mendocino County: one focused on craft, the other on the business of being a writer. Lit Nights events, held at the Page Street co-working space in San Francisco, give emerging writers the opportunity to read their work in front of an audience. LitCamp's in-person and online classes, taught by published writers and experienced instructors, help writers develop their craft. Retreats, held at some of the most secluded and beautiful locations in Northern California, give writers the time and space they need to write.