{"id":4002,"date":"2026-07-08T04:09:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T04:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4002"},"modified":"2026-07-08T04:09:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T04:09:46","slug":"alameda-book-con-2026-happening-saturday-at-island-citys-main-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4002","title":{"rendered":"Alameda Book Con 2026 happening Saturday at island city\u2019s main library"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>The Alameda Free Library will hold its inaugural book convention this Saturday, featuring Bay Area authors and their latest books at the library system\u2019s main branch.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, the scribes in attendance at Alameda Book Con 2026 will discuss their most recently published works as well as their paths to literary success.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4000\">Letters: Abuses at ICE facilities don\u2019t make U.S. great<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ll be focusing on their life story, their journey to becoming an author, and then they\u2019ll be probably reading, especially the children\u2019s\u201d authors, says the Alameda Free Library\u2019s Fernanda Nu\u00f1ez Gutierrez, a Children\u2019s Department librarian who played a key role in developing the convention program.<\/p>\n<p>Afterward, all authors will be available to sell and sign their books. In addition to the writer talks, the library will host two workshops: one on how to make perzines \u2014 small, stapled-together personal magazines popular in the 1990s \u2014 as well as one on penning \u201cfriendship poems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Authors on tap for Saturday include animator, illustrator and author Alan Barillaro and new young adult author Abbie Harlow as well as Vincent Chu, Jerrold Connors, Meg Elison, Briana Loewinsohn, Edna Cabcabin Moran and Thien Pham.<\/p>\n<p>A previously scheduled presentation with Brian Copeland and Janet Dawson has been canceled. Copeland, a longtime comedian and talk show host from San Leandro who\u2019s penned two crime novels as well as writing and performing several one-man plays, recently had emergency open heart surgery and is still recovering.<\/p>\n<p>Author and Alameda resident Barillaro won an Oscar for directing the animated short \u201cPiper\u201d for Pixar \u2014 a saga featuring the lovable Sandpiper, a shorebird that is very prominent on Alameda\u2019s beaches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy talk will be about being an author and an animator. As an artist, I would love to share that with kids and anyone who is interested in a career that is this fun,\u201d says Barillaro, who eventually left the Emeryville-based and Disney-owned Pixar on good terms to pursue his own projects.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI love them,\u201d Barillaro said of Pixar. \u201cIt\u2019s like home, I started there when I was 21, but you want to do your own thing. You\u2019ve got to step away from Disney and try to make your own books. I pick up film work, and that could even be Pixar (again) one day. It\u2019s just more like they are really close friends. But I had to step away from the studio to focus on my own writing, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Barillaro plans to discuss his latest picture book, \u201cToday We\u2019ll Be Eaten,\u201d the story of a ladybug and dragonfly floating upside-down on a river and \u201ccertain that they\u2019ll be eaten.\u201d That is until \u201csomething vastly different happens,\u201d promises the pre-book hype. In the end the two bugs make some \u201csurprising new friends\u201d and learn a lot about living in the moment.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3998\">Letters: Critics are using scare tactics to stop switch to electric<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll read them my new book and show them a little behind-the-scenes process of how I make books. So I\u2019ll bring some examples of sketchbooks,\u201d says Barillaro. He also promises to embellish his presentation with some old-school drawing with \u201cjust an easel and some paper because that\u2019s always fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another Alameda author with a new book to talk about is Abbie Harlow, author of the young adult novel about a female teen boxer engrossed in the underground boxing scene called \u201cThe Butterfly Stings.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Despite the subject matter, Harlow is not a pugilist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018People ask me a lot, \u2018Do you box?\u2019 I don\u2019t. I came to the idea in a really roundabout way,\u201d says Harlow, who works as an Oakland school administrator by day. She also has deep Island roots as a fifth-generation Alamedan who grew up and still lives south of the Oakland Estuary in Alameda.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wasn\u2019t drawing from personal experience or an Alameda boxing scene, but I had the idea first of this character who is fighting, and I was kind of thinking about her motivation because I had that as a concept,\u201d said Harlow. \u201cAnd I had the thought of \u2018what if it was her job to fight?\u2019 So I followed that and brainstormed on it, and that led me to the idea of this kind of underground boxing tournament and scene that she\u2019s part of and participating in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As to whether the novel is inspired by Brad Pitt and Ed Norton\u2019s 1990s film \u201cFight Club,\u201d Harlow says \u201cIt\u2019s definitely got some \u2018Fight Club\u2019 inspiration behind it, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Remember the first rule of Fight Club \u2014 \u201cyou do not talk about Fight Club.\u201d Except this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>The inaugural Alameda Book Con will happen from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the library\u2019s main branch at 1416 Oak St. on the corner of Lincoln Avenue, across from Alameda\u2019s Police Department. Admission is free. For more information online, visit alamedafree.org\/alameda-book-con-2026.<\/p>\n<p><em>Paul Kilduff is a San Francisco-based writer who also draws cartoons. He can be reached at\u00a0pkilduff350@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3996\">Brentwood picks O\u2019Grodnick as city\u2019s next police chief<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several area authors will be on hand to discuss and sign copies of their most recent works at the inaugural convention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alameda Book Con 2026 happening Saturday at island city\u2019s main library - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4002\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alameda Book Con 2026 happening Saturday at island city\u2019s main library - 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