Join us on May 12th as we welcome Vanessa Hua back to the shop for the release of Coyoteland. She will be joined in conversation by Oscar Villalon. Save the date! RSVP is not required, but appreciated. Seats are limited and can be guaranteed with the purchase of a book or a $3 sliding scale donation to our program.

About the book

From the BESTSELLING author of A River of Stars comes a FUNNY, HEARTFELT novel set in an affluent Bay Area suburb where a Chinese American family moves in and sets off a series of scandals

Living in El Nido, a privileged community in the hills east of Berkeley, is supposed to mean you’ve made it. So when Jin Chang moves there with his wife and daughters after years of scraping by, he hopes it will finally be the end of his bad luck. What his family doesn’t know is that he’s bending the rules for one final scheme: to make it big in real estate. Next door, Blair Belle prides herself on her progressive politics. After all, she treats their new nanny, Ana Rodriguez, and her daughter like family—even if she doesn’t know them all that well. But she can’t help but feel skeptical of the new neighbors, especially when she begins to suspect that Jin’s plans might interfere with the Belle’s own luxury development.

Jin’s teenage daughter Jane can tell her dad is keeping a secret, but she’s also struggling to navigate El Nido’s cliques. Tasha Washington has always felt isolated, too, as one of the only Black girls at the school. In the wake of a coyote attack, Jane and Tasha bond. Together, they hatch a plot to expose the town’s hypocrisies. The shockwaves will rock their own families. As fire season escalates, and the roaming coyote continues to unleash chaos, the characters become embroiled in a series of scandals that will change El Nido—and their own fates—forever.

Urgent, riveting, and deeply heartfelt, full of sharp wit and keen empathy, Coyoteland is at once a delicious suburban drama and an unflinching exploration of our current moment.

About the author

Vanessa Hua is the author of the national bestselling novels A River of Stars and Forbidden City, as well as the story collection Deceit and Other Possibilities, a New York Times Editors’ Pick. A National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, she has also received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, a Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing, a de Groot Foundation Writer of Note Grant, as well as awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association, among other accolades. She was a finalist for the California Book Award, Northern California Book Award, and New American Voices Award. A former longtime columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, her award-winning work has also appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She has filed stories from China, Burma, South Korea, Panama, and Ecuador. She teaches at the Warren Wilson MFA Program, Sewanee Writers Conference, and elsewhere. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

About the bookstore

The Booksmith is an independent bookstore located in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco since 1976.

Please note:

• Check-in for the event will begin at 6:45pm.
• Priced ticket holders (Book+seat, Pay it Forward!+seat) will have seats held until 7pm. Arrivals after 7pm will be allowed admission, but seats are not guaranteed.
• General admission ticket holders will be offered seats at check-in on a first-come, first-served basis. May be standing room.
• Space at the door on the day of the event is usually available, but not guaranteed.
• Books will be for sale on the night of the event.
• ADA accessible. Bathrooms on site during event hours.
• Events typically end between 8:30 and 9pm.
• Questions? [email protected]