Story is the Thing

Looking to discover your new favorite author? Join us for our signature reading series, Story is the Thing, to hear four stellar Northern California fiction authors read from their debut and latest titles. Plus, take 20% off the list price of any of the featured titles.

Our guests are Richard Osborn with his haunting new novel Not Long Ago Persons Found, Lori Ostlund reading from her remarkable new story collection Are You Happy?; debut novelist Raj Oza with Double Play on the Red Line, and award-winning author Shobha Rao with her unforgettable new novel, Indian Country.

The Program

6:30 - Reception with the authors

7:00 - Readings, discussion, and Q&A

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The Lineup

J Richard Osborn lives in Oakland, California. His poetry has been published in Blue Satellite, Beyond the Valley of the Contemporary Poets, Berkeley Poetry Review, Processed World, Rain Dog Review, and Fell Swoop. Crève Coeur, a chapbook of his selected poems, was published by Sacred Beverage Press. A video performance of the long poem Crève Coeur, has been screened at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Eye Gallery, in San Francisco, as well as other venues. He has been a featured reader in poetry series at Beyond Baroque in Venice, Café Babar in San Francisco, and the Coffee Mill in Oakland. His fiction has appeared in the New England Review and the Yale Literary Magazine. His novel, Not Long Ago Persons Found, is available now from Bellevue Literary Press.

Lori Ostlund is the author of the story collection, The Bigness of the World, which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the California Book Award for First Fiction, the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award, and was a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her second book, a novel, After the Parade, was a Barnes & Noble Discover selection and a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Ferro-Grumley Award, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. Her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, The PEN/O.Henry Prize Stories, and literary journals such as New England Review, The Kenyon Review, and ZYZZYVA. Lori is the series editor of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.

Dr. Rajesh C. Oza has contributed to Living in America and written Globalization, Diaspora, and Work Transformation; Satyalogue // Truthtalk; and P.S., Papa’s Stories. Over three decades he has written columns and book reviews for India Currents and Khabar. Double Play on the Red Line is inspired by his daughter’s experience with Northwestern University’s Innocence Project.

Shobha Rao moved to the United States from India at the age of seven. She is the author of the short story collection, An Unrestored Woman, and the novel, Girls Burn Brighter. Rao is the winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction and was a Grace Paley Teaching Fellow at The New School. Her story “Kavitha and Mustafa” was chosen by T.C. Boyle for inclusion in Best American Short Stories. Girls Burn Brighter was long listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and was a finalist for the California Book Award and the Goodreads Choice Awards. She lives in San Francisco.

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COVID SAFETY PROTOCOLS: We strongly encourage attendees to wear masks at our events, although they will NOT be required. We will have masks available for attendees who want them. Do NOT attend the event if you, or any member of your family, have any respiratory symptoms (e.g. cough, runny nose, and/or sore throat), or have had a significant exposure to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

Host or Publisher Kepler's Literary Foundation