An Evening With Hernan Diaz

Much has happened since East Bay Booksellers hosted Hernan Diaz back in 2017. It was a small gathering that night. The legend goes, it was his first event! A small group of us loved his strange, picaresque take on the American Western, In the Distance. Buzz was growing in bookselling circles, and that night we took the buzz to heart and sat in a small circle with a bottle of bourbon discussing the book with the man himself. It was wonderful -- a "you had to be there" sort of punk rock literary event.

Shortly thereafter, this wonderful, mostly unknown novel would become a finalist for the Pulitzer! It was on damn-near every year-end list? Booksellers put it on display, and for many of us it's never left.

But then what did he go and do? He went and won the bloody Pulitizer Prize with his epochal follow-up , Trust -- which has been one of our (and so many other bookstores' top-selling books from the day it first entered the store).

Hernan has been a wonderful friend to East Bay Booksellers. Since that memorable autumn evening in 2017, he's swung by casually to say hi and sign stock. He had some very kind things to say to his publicly and privately following the fire at our store. And now, we're so very excited to team up with Litquake and host him again at our favorite spot for events, Gilman Brewing Company. He will be discussing his work, signing books, and we imagine be the pleasant human being he's consistently shown himself to be!

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1) Most tickets are paid -- this will get you a reserved (general admission / non-numbered) seat and a deluxe hardcover copy of In the Distance.

2) There are also a limited number of "Pay What You Can" / Donation tickets. These will reserve you a seat, but not the book.

3) If you are unable to pay at all, please email us at [email protected]. We have set aside a small number of reserved seats for this as well.

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Doors open at 6:30.

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If you are unable to make it, and would like to have autographed and/or personalized copies of Hernan Diaz's books, you may order them at our website and request as such in the notes of the order. Due to our present circumstances (i.e., being without a storefront), preordering copies of Herna's books you plan on buying at the event would be tremendously helpful.

Hernan Diaz is the Pulitzer Prize–winning and New York Times best­selling author of Trust. His first novel, In the Distance, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, won the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, was translated into more than twenty languages, and was one of Publishers Weekly’s Top 10 books of the year and Literary Hub’s twenty best novels of the decade. Trust was translated into more than thirty languages, received the Kirkus Prize, was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and was named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and Time magazine, and it was one of The New Yorker’s 12 Essential Reads of the Year and one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, The Atlantic, Harper’s Magazine, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere. He has received the John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, and a fellowship from the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.

Litquake, the largest independent literary festival on the West Coast, celebrates its 25th anniversary from October 10 - 26th with 135+ events featuring 500+ authors. More info at litquake.org.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Gilman Brewing Company, 912 Gilman Street, Berkeley, United States