About this Event
for in person tickets go here (coming soon)
"No More 'Normal': Radical Healing in a Hurting World” is the next installment of the Merritt Dialogue Speaker Series, a program of the Bay Area Book Festival, bringing together renowned physician and trauma expert Dr. Gabor Maté and social worker and wellness practitioner Nicole Steward for an evening of deep conversation about how we heal in a time of pervasive stress, inequity, and collective grief. Moderated by author and cultural critic Jeff Chang, this event at The New Parkway in Oakland invites participants to question any desire to “get back to normal” and instead imagine forms of radical, community-centered healing that address the roots of personal and social suffering. Through an engaging dialogue that weaves together stories, research, and practical insight, the speakers will explore the connections between trauma, the body, and our broader systems, and offer pathways toward more compassionate, just, and resilient ways of living together. In-person and virtual tickets are available, making it possible to join the conversation from Oakland and beyond.
Both in-person and virtual tickets are available for this hybrid event. Come engage in one of the most urgent conversations of our time.Moderated in person by , author of and host of Notes from the Edge on KALW.
for in person tickets go here (coming soon)
Nicole Steward is a San Jose-based social worker with a focus on public education, child welfare, and social justice. She is a K-12 McKinney-Vento homeless and foster youth liaison, past president of the board for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY), a member of the Santa Clara County Child Abuse Prevention Council (CAPC), and sits on her county’s Child Death Review Team (CDRT). With more than a decade as a CASA and foster parent, and two decades of social work practice, she is committed to supporting vulnerable youth. She champions radical self-care as essential to managing the stress of this work, enabling helpers, healers and changemakers to thrive without sacrificing their wellbeing. She is a facilitator of yoga and sound healing in her local community, and is the author of Radical Self-Care for Helpers, Healers, and Changemakers (W.W. Norton, 2025).
Gabor Maté (pronounced GAH-bor MAH-tay) is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of five books published in 43 languages, including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, Gabor is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. For his ground-breaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His most recent book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture is a New York Times and international bestseller. His next book, Hello Again: A Fresh Start for Parents and their Adult Children is expected to be published in late 2027.
Series description: The quarterly Merritt Dialogues, launched in Uptown Oakland in 2025, invites us into generative conversation—where two thinkers, whose viewpoints may align or diverge, engage in dialogue that engenders critical thinking and deepens understanding of complex issues. Our aim is not to sway but to illuminate, cultivating nuance and richer perspective. Rather than trickle up or down, insights move in and out, sending reverberations through our myceliadic communities, weaving empathy and complexity into our collective consciousness. Participants will leave not only transformed as individuals, but also as threads in a larger societal stitching, our communal weave ever more intricate and alive.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The New Parkway Theater, 474 24th Street, Oakland, United States
USD 11.49
