Francesca Wade: Gertrude Stein, An Afterlife at Womb House Books

Schedule

Tue Oct 28 2025 at 07:00 pm to 09:00 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

Womb House Books | Oakland, CA

Advertisement
Come join us at Womb House Books for a lively discussion on Gertrude Stein's legacy with Francesca Wade!
About this Event

Please join us as author Francesca Wade discusses her new book, with WHB owner Jessica Ferri on Tuesday, October 28th at 7pm.

publishes on October 7, 2025. Pre-order your copy and reserve your space now!

Gertrude Stein’s salon at 27 rue de Fleurus in the 6th arrondissement of Paris is the stuff of literary legend. Many have tried to capture the spirit and glamour of the place that once entertained and fostered the likes of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse, but perhaps none as determinedly, and self-consciously, as Stein herself. In this new biography of the polarizing, trailblazing author, collector, salonnière, and tastemaker, Francesca Wade rescues Stein from the tangle of contradictions that has characterized her legacy, expertly presenting us with this towering literary figure as we’ve never seen her before.

A genius to her admirers, a charlatan to her detractors, Stein achieved international celebrity in 1933 with her bestselling memoir, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, written in the voice of her devoted partner—a triumph which, ironically, only drew attention away from the avant-garde poetry she called her “real” writing. After Stein’s death in 1946, Alice B. Toklas made it her mission to shepherd all of Stein’s unpublished writing into print, all the while negotiating her own fraught role in the complex mythology they had built together. The biographers who flocked to Stein’s newly opened archive found a surprising trove of secrets which would change Stein’s image forever: a forgotten novel, a cache of love letters, and a series of notebooks which shed entirely new light on her early years in Paris.

Pushing beyond the conventions of literary biography, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife is a bold, innovative examination of the nature of legacy and memory itself, in which Wade uncovers the origins of Stein’s radical writing and reveals new depths to the storied relationship that made it possible. A captivating, brilliant work of biography, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife is a groundbreaking examination of a true literary giant.

Francesca Wade is the author of (2020). She has received fellowships from the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, the Leon Levy Center for Biography and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and her writing has appeared in The New York Review of Books, London Review of Books, Paris Review, Granta, and elsewhere.


Event Photos
Advertisement

Where is it happening?

Womb House Books, Temescal Alley, Oakland, United States

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Tickets

USD 0.00 to USD 35.00

Icon
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Womb House Books

Host or Publisher Womb House Books

Ask AI if this event suits you:

Discover More Events in Oakland

Q Parker Founding Member of 112
Mon, 27 Oct at 08:00 pm Q Parker Founding Member of 112

Yoshi's Oakland -Jack London square

HEALTH-WELLNESS ART
Aging with Clarity: Planning, Protection and Peace of Mind
Tue, 28 Oct at 10:00 am Aging with Clarity: Planning, Protection and Peace of Mind

The California Endowment's Center for Healthy Communities Oakland

BUSINESS
Fall Wellness Workshop: "Spooky" Sciatica Solutions
Tue, 28 Oct at 06:30 pm Fall Wellness Workshop: "Spooky" Sciatica Solutions

Life Chiropractic

WORKSHOPS HEALTH-WELLNESS
Speed Dating @ Two Pitchers
Tue, 28 Oct at 06:30 pm Speed Dating @ Two Pitchers

Two Pitchers Brewing Company

SPEED-DATING
Tony Lindsay w\/ Michael O'Neill Sextet
Tue, 28 Oct at 08:00 pm Tony Lindsay w/ Michael O'Neill Sextet

Yoshi's Oakland -Jack London square

MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Kneecap Tickets Oakland CA Fox Theater
Tue, 28 Oct at 08:00 pm Kneecap Tickets Oakland CA Fox Theater

Fox Theater - Oakland

ENTERTAINMENT CONCERTS
Valgur, Malcriada, 55CASTLES
Tue, 28 Oct at 08:00 pm Valgur, Malcriada, 55CASTLES

2330 Telegraph Ave Oakland CA 94612

MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Kneecap at Fox Theater Oakland
Tue, 28 Oct at 08:00 pm Kneecap at Fox Theater Oakland

Fox Theater Oakland

ART THEATRE
West Oakland Book Club X Oakland Public Library
Tue, 21 Oct at 06:00 pm West Oakland Book Club X Oakland Public Library

1801 Adeline St

MEETUPS ART
Soul Credit's Land of Terror
Fri, 24 Oct at 06:00 pm Soul Credit's Land of Terror

1127 11th Ave

ENTERTAINMENT ART
RPSC October Book Club: Franz Kafka Metamorphosis
Fri, 24 Oct at 06:30 pm RPSC October Book Club: Franz Kafka Metamorphosis

Rock Paper Scissors Collective

MEETUPS
Jon Klassen at Womb House Books - Adult Book Club Discussion
Sun, 26 Oct at 06:00 pm Jon Klassen at Womb House Books - Adult Book Club Discussion

Womb House Books

ART LITERARY-ART
Francesca Wade: Gertrude Stein, An Afterlife at Womb House Books
Tue, 28 Oct at 07:00 pm Francesca Wade: Gertrude Stein, An Afterlife at Womb House Books

Womb House Books

ART LITERARY-ART
Grace Byron in conversation for Herculine at Womb House Books
Tue, 04 Nov at 07:00 pm Grace Byron in conversation for Herculine at Womb House Books

Womb House Books

ART LITERARY-ART
Baldwin: A Love Story
Thu, 06 Nov at 06:00 pm Baldwin: A Love Story

Oakstop - California Ballroom

ART LITERARY-ART
Litquake Aftershocks: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore
Sat, 08 Nov at 02:00 pm Litquake Aftershocks: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore

Kinfolx

ART NONPROFIT
Jackiem Joyner
Tue, 11 Nov at 07:30 pm Jackiem Joyner

Yoshi's Oakland -Jack London square

ENTERTAINMENT MUSIC
Part I: Wuthering Heights Book Club at Womb House Books
Wed, 12 Nov at 06:30 pm Part I: Wuthering Heights Book Club at Womb House Books

Womb House Books

MEETUPS
Wuthering Heights Karaoke Party at Womb House Books
Sat, 15 Nov at 07:00 pm Wuthering Heights Karaoke Party at Womb House Books

Womb House Books

KARAOKE MUSIC
Part II: Wuthering Heights Book Club at Womb House Books
Wed, 10 Dec at 06:30 pm Part II: Wuthering Heights Book Club at Womb House Books

Womb House Books

MEETUPS ART

What's Happening Next in Oakland?

Discover Oakland Events