Booksmith is thrilled to host NYT-bestselling author and longtime friend of the store, Caroline Paul, to celebrate the San Francisco launch of her new book, Tough Broad: From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking, How Outdoor Adventure Improves our Lives as We Age, at the beautiful Potrero Hill Neighborhood House. (Never been??!! It’s a historic Julia Morgan building!) There will be food and drink and general oohing and ahhing of the prized downtown views starting at 5:30, with the hour-long event beginning at 6pm. Caroline will be interviewed onstage by esteemed journalist and local tough broad Bonnie Tsui, author of Why We Swim and Sarah and the Big Wave. Join us!

Please note: Advance registration is full. We may have space available at the door on the day of the event. Questions? Write [email protected].

About the book

Caroline Paul has always filled her life with adventure: From mountain biking in the Bolivian Andes to pitching a tent, mid-blizzard, on Denali, she has never been a stranger to the exhilaration the outdoors can hold. Yet through it all, she has long wondered, Why aren't women, like men, encouraged to keep adventuring into old age?

Tough Broad is her quest to understand not just how to live a dynamic life in a changing body, but why we must. She dives deep into the current research on aging, and highlights the results with the stories of women like ninety-three-year-old hiker Dot Fisher-Smith, eighty-year-old scuba diver Louise Wholey, fifty-two-year-old BASE jumper Shawn Brokemond, sixty-four-year-old birdwatcher Virginia Rose, and the many septuagenarian Wave Chasers who boogie board together in the San Diego surf. These women aren't experts. But their experiences and the scientific studies that back them up offer important insight into our own physical and emotional health as we age, showing that growing older is no reason for women to sell themselves short. Tough Broad is a high-spirited call for women to embrace the outdoors, not back away from it, in our fifties, sixties, seventies, and beyond, casting our own futures in a new and dazzling light

About the authors

Caroline Paul is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure and Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology, which has been translated into fifteen languages. She is also the author of the memoir Fighting Fire, the middle-grade book You Are Mighty: A Guide to Changing the World, and the novel East Wind, Rain. Her TED Talk, “To Raise Brave Girls, Encourage Adventure,” has been viewed over 2 million times. A longtime member of the Writers Grotto, she lives in San Francisco. Photo by Lauren Tabak.

Bonnie Tsui is a longtime contributor to The New York Times and the bestselling author of American Chinatown, Sarah and the Big Wave, and Why We Swim, which was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and a Time magazine and NPR Best Book of the Year; it is currently being translated into ten languages. Her next book, about muscle, will be published next year. Photo by Kai Sotto.

Please note:

• Masks will not be required for this event, but we are limiting capacity somewhat. For that reason, we can't guarantee we'll have space for walk-ins. This is a free event, but the best way to ensure you’ll get a seat is to reserve your spot in advance.
• We are happy to offer *signed copies* of Tough Broad: you can guarantee we'll have a copy for you at the event if you order in advance here. We will also have additional copies for sale at the event. You can order here if you just want a signed copy and no admission.
• Safety protocols are subject to change. If we feel it is not safe to gather, as the event gets closer, we will pivot to a virtual event and your registration will remain valid.
• Questions? Write [email protected].