Live, Not Alive

Lauren C. Johnson's The West Façade follows a Notre-Dame Cathedral statue who gives in to her desires and becomes human. In Ilana DeBare's Shaken Loose, a modern San Francisco woman falls into the classic fire-and-brimstone Hell she never believed in. Together, these fantasy novels play with and subvert Christian iconography to explore what makes a meaningful life.

While the eras couldn't be more different—14th-century Paris in The West Façade and the 21st-century Bay Area in the Shaken Loose series—the books share unexpected common ground. Each features female characters who challenge moral authority and learn to trust their own voices. Join DeBare and Johnson for a reading and conversation about writing women characters who break the rules—and why sometimes it takes a statue or a damned soul to show us how to make the most of our time as mere mortals. There's plenty of humor, too!
Ilana DeBare, a former business reporter for the S.F. Chronicle, published her debut novel Shaken Loose in 2023 and its sequel Shaken Free in 2025 (Hypatia Press). Ilana is also author of Where Girls Come First: The Rise, Fall, and Surprising Revival of Girls’ Schools, which grew out of her experience as a co-founder of the Julia Morgan School for Girls in Oakland.
Lauren C. Johnson attributes her upbringing in Florida to her interest in the ecological and surreal. She's the interviews editor for The Racket Journal, where she champions experimental literature, and is a co-founder and editor of Club Chicxulub, a speculative fiction journal and reading series that amplifies emerging authors. She also co-hosts Babylon Salon, one of the longest-running reading series in the Bay Area. Her short stories, interviews, and essays have appeared in numerous journals, including The Rumpus and Orion Magazine online. The West Façade is her debut novel.

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