Alongside Bay Area Book Fest's Women Lit, we're proud to host a visit by Ada Calhoun, author of Also a Poet, Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me, in conversation with Ruby member, Kristin Keane, author of An Encyclopedia of Bending Time.

In honor of Frank O'Hara and Pride Week, we will also be collecting donations on behalf of the Trevor Project, a national, 24-hour, toll free confidential suicide prevention service for LGBTQ youth. This will be an all-genders welcome event.

Books will be available for purchase at the event from our bookseller partner, Dog Eared Books. Also a Poet, Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me is also available for preorder via Bookshop.org.

About Also a Poet: Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me

Years ago, bestselling author Ada Calhoun made a startling discovery: a trove of old cassette tapes of interviews between her father, the renowned art critic Peter Schjeldahl, and legendary Greenwich Village poet Frank O’Hara, his peer and idol. These tapes—the background material for her father’s never-completed biography of O’Hara—became, for Calhoun, the key that unlocked not only revelations about her family legacy, but a fresh way of understanding one our most important poets…and, fundamentally, her own sense of identity as “more than a great man’s daughter.”

Also a Poet, one of Vogue’s best books of 2022, contains multitudes: it’s a piercingly tender father-daughter story (“deeply moving and exceptionally well written,” says Library Journal), a fascinating literary, cultural, and queer history, and, according to Shelf Awareness, “an entirely new nonfiction genre: the biographical profile within a biographical profile within a memoir.” Raves Robert Kolker, journalist and best-selling author of Lost Girls and Hidden Valley Road, “If you are interested in parents or children or New York City or poetry and art — or have ever wondered about the legacies we leave, the lives we touch, without even knowing it — then ALSO A POET offers observations and insights that you'll carry with you for a long time to come.”

In Calhoun’s words, O’Hara “sprinkled fairy dust on the difficult parts of life to make them warm and inviting and generous.” In this groundbreaking book, Calhoun does the same; Publishers Weekly lauds her for “finding beauty and potential in everything.” Just in time for Pride Weekend in San Francisco, join Calhoun and Kristin Keane at the Ruby, for the healthy sprinkling of fairy dust our world, and our spirits, are so in need of.

About Ada Calhoun

Ada Calhoun is the author of St. Marks Is Dead, Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give, and Why We Can’t Sleep. She has written for the New York Times, the New Republic, and the Washington Post.

About Kristin Keane

Kristin Keane is the author of Luminaries and An Encyclopedia of Bending Time. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New England Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere.

About Bay Area Book Fest

One of the largest literary events in Northern California, the Bay Area Book Festival, now in its eighth year, annually welcomes 250 renowned authors from all over the world for curated conversations about art, craft, and the social and political issues that matter most. Lauded by Literary Hub as “the best fest in the West,” this weekend-long book-lovers’ paradise in downtown Berkeley features hundreds of exhibitors, a free outdoor fair, and a free spectrum of programming for children and teens as well as free and low-cost events for adults.

About Women Lit

Founded in 2018 at the height of the MeToo movement, Women Lit is a way for book-loving women to use their voices and connect with one another and some of today’s most lauded and visionary female authors. This year-round literary series has featured Gloria Steinem, Rachel Cusk, Tayari Jones, Rebecca Traister, Ann Patchett, and many more: offering unique events open to the public, with membership perks including a monthly newsletter, early-access and/or free tickets to events, and rare opportunities for members to meet with featured authors in beautiful locations throughout the Bay Area.

About The Ruby

The Ruby is an arts & letters-focused collective of women, trans women, and nonbinary creatives. We call our members — who include writers, artists, photographers, filmmakers, podcasters, and other creatives — "Rubies." Rubies are multifaceted, and share a common desire to expand their world views and communities, share their passions, and make meaningful connections. And Rubies are strong: as resilient as sapphires and only a little bit softer than diamonds. Almost all rubies have flaws, and that’s what makes them interesting: we wear ours proudly.

Learn more about us at our website and Instagram.

Health & Safety Information

We will ask for proof of vaccination at the door. Masks are required for this event and we have KN95s available at the front desk if needed.

Please don't hesitate to let us know (events@therubysf.com) if there's anything we can do to ensure you are comfortable at the event. There is a staircase that leads up to the space and we are on hand to help if anyone needs support up the stairs.

[IRL] In Conversation with Ada Calhoun, author of ALSO A POET