These are among the new titles with local themes or released by local writers, listed in alphabetical order by author names:
“Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area” by Rae Alexandra
City Lights, 170 pages, $16.95, March 17, 2026
Bay Area journalist Rae Alexandra’s KQED Arts & Culture series “Rebel Girls From Bay Area History” supplied material for “Unsung Heroines,” a collection of 35 short profiles honoring achievements and contributions of diverse Bay Area women who have not yet been recognized. Alexandra shares stories about Oakland dancer Ruth Beckford, who helped create the Black Panthers’ Free Breakfast program; Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, the San Francisco couple who spent more than half a century advocating for LGBTQ rights; and Abby Fisher, an enslaved woman who became a cookbook author. Among dozens. Maxine Hong Kingston, author of “The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts,” says, “The Bay Area would not be as civilized as it is without the brave work of the women in this book. At last, we can know them, and sing their praises.” Alexandra, an award-winning arts and culture writer, was born in Wales and lived in San Francisco’s Mission for 20 years. Before joining KQED in 2017, she wrote for SF Weekly and The Village Voice.
“Nocturama: Poems” by Will Brewer
Milkweed Editions, 88 pages, $18, Feb. 24, 2026
Oakland author Will Brewer, a former Stegner Fellow and current Jones Lecturer at Stanford University, released his first collection of poems, “I Know Your Kind,” published by the National Poetry Series, in 2017. It examined addiction in the Appalachian world. In 2022, his first novel “The Red Arrow,” published by Knopf, received the Silver Medal for First Fiction from the California Book Awards. His second poetry collection “Nocturama” spans the country from Appalachia to California, clarifying some of life’s most difficult moments–from a friend’s death to environmental catastrophes hitting the West Coast–noting fine details along the way. Eduardo C. Corral, author of “Guillotine,” calls the book “a dazzling second collection from an immensely gifted poet.” Brewer and poet Richie Hofmann, author of “The Bronze Arms,” appear at 7 p.m. March 12 at Green Apple Books, 1231 Ninth Ave., San Francisco.
“Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance” by Cindy Cohn
MIT Press, 248 pages, $21.95, Feb. 10, 2026
Bay Area civil liberties attorney Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Bay Area’s Electronic Frontier Foundation and its former legal director and general counsel, has been protecting digital rights and ensuring that technology supports speech privacy and innovation for decades. Her new book, part-memoir, part legal history, examines major legal precedents regarding the digital age, addressing post-9/11 surveillance, crypto wars and FBI gag orders. Harvard University’s Lawrece Lessig, author of “How to Steal a Presidential Election,” says: “These beautifully written stories show why the fight for privacy is worth having and reveal all that Cindy Cohn and EFF have done to establish the modern privacy doctrine as the essential core of a free society.” Cohn, named to The NonProfit Times 2020 Power & Influence Top 50 list, also appeared on Forbes’ 2018 America’s Top 50 Women in Tech. Cohn appears at 7 p.m. March 10 at City Lights, 261 Columbus Ave., San Francisco and 7 p.m. March 18 at Kepler’s, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park.
“The Bronze Arms: Poems” by Richie Hofmann
Knopf, 96 pages, $29, Feb. 10, 2026
San Francisco author Richie Hofmann, a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship recipient, follows “A Hundred Lovers” (2022) and “Second Empire” (2015) with the poetry collection “The Bronze Arms,” a personal history of love and survival. Hofmann starts with a childhood memory of nearly drowning in Crete to explore risk, abandonment and sexual awakening. “In Richie Hofmann’s poems, love is considered as a force, as a sort of beautiful violence,” says Seán Hewitt, author of “Open, Heaven.” “Leading us through classical civilizations and visions of the old world, ‘The Bronze Arms’ excavates the body’s labyrinth, through which desire stalks, restlessly.” Hoffman’s poetry also has appeared in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Poetry, The New Republic and The Yale Review. He appears with poet Will Brewer at 7 p.m. March 12 at Green Apple Books, 1231 Ninth Ave., San Francisco.
“The West Facade” by Lauren C. Johnson
Santa Fe Writers Project, 380 pages, $17, March 3, 2026
San Francisco novelist Lauren C. Johnson, co-host of Babylon Salon, a quarterly Bay Area reading series, has described “The West Facade” as “a Gothic fairytale about a statue that comes to life through her yearning”; its set as the Bubonic Plague sweeps through Europe, and its protagonist is Sainte Geneviève, a real statue outside Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Johnson, interviews editor for The Racket Journal and a member of The Ruby, a Bay Area collective for women and non-binary artists and creatives, earned a master’s degree in creative writing at American University. Cari Luna, author of “The Revolution of Every Day,” says of “The West Facade”: “Johnson’ s fiction debut is “an insightful meditation on what it means to be alive…. Johnson shows us humans and statues at their best and at their worst, set against the tumultuous backdrop of plague-ridden Paris.” Johnson appears with Tara Campbell and Beth Winegarner at 7 p.m. March 11 at Green Apple Books, 1231 Ninth Ave., San Francisco.
“Discovering Golden Gate Park: A Local’s Guide” by Marta Lindsey with Nancy Botkin
Mountaineers Books, 224 pages, $21.95, March 2, 2026
San Francisco communications professional Marta Lindsey, who lives just one block away from Golden Gate Park, is an expert on the famous 1,107-acre site, one of the largest urban parks in the world. In her third guide to the park, Lindsey unveils its hidden secrets and unmissable experiences. She also includes details about how to get around (including accessibility information); advice for parents with young children, tips for birding and tree hugging (or just identifying); walks and hikes, and the best private views. Lindsey’s previous books include the award-winning “Golden Gate Park, An A to Z Adventure,” for kids, and the board book “ABCs of Golden Gate Park.” (Hint: B is for Bison.)
“Good Woman: A Reckoning” by Savala Nolan
Mariner Books, 240 pages, $28.99, March 3, 2026
Bay Area attorney, essayist and professor Savala Nolan’s new collection of 12 essays, which combines memoir, reporting and history, has been named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by Ms. Magazine. In the book, Nolan takes on (and takes down) a lifetime of expectations for women about size, sexuality, marriage, identity and choice. Nolan’s first collection, 2022’s “Don’t Let It Get You Down: Essays on Race, Gender, and the Body” was called “a brutal, beautifully rendered narrative” by the New York Times Book Review. Nolan, who directs the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at University of California, Berkeley’s School of Law, was awarded the MLK Living the Dream Award by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in 2025. Brittney Cooper, author of “Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower,” says, “Savala Nolan’s ‘Good Woman’ is a stone cold, knock-out punch delivered with the caress of a silk glove. … This book will change you.” Nolan appears at 5:30 p.m. March 10 at Book Passage, 1 Ferry Building, San Francisco.
“A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness” by Michael Pollan
Penguin Press, 320 pages, $32, Feb. 24, 2026
Popular Berkeley author Michael Pollan’s “A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness” is among the New York Times and Oprah Daily’s most anticipated books of 2026. Ever the investigator, Pollan, bestselling author of “Cooked,” “Food Rules,” “In Defense of Food,” “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “The Botany of Desire,” brings together scientific, philosophical, literary, spiritual and psychedelic perspectives to examine what consciousness is in the new volume. In a mission to help readers understand “the subjective experience of the world,” Pollan offers stories of neurobiologists searching for consciousness among plants and engineers hoping to assign feelings to artificial intelligence. A longtime writer for the New York Times Magazine, Pollan teaches writing at Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley. In 2010, Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
“Gravity: Poems” by Elizabeth Rosner
Counterpoint, 112 pages, $16.95, March 3, 2026
Berkeley novelist, poet and essayist Elizabeth Rosner spent 20 years composing her new collection of poetry that examines her life as the child of Holocaust survivors. Rosner also discusses her father’s life as a survivor of Buchenwald concentration camp and their travels together to see Holocaust sites in Germany. Including illustrations by Lola Fraknoi, “Gravity” examines the facets of inherited grief. Luis Alberto Urrea, author of “Good Night, Irene,” calls it “a profound work of true beauty and mystery.” Rosner’s previous books include “Survivor Café: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory,” a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, and the novel “Electric City.”
“The Badass Widows: A Mystery” by Valerie Saul
Sibylline Press, 268 pages, $19, March 6, 2026
Mill Valley resident Valerie Saul, who has degrees in audiology, speech pathology and psychology, embarked on a unique career in hearing healthcare in the U.S., New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore. A participant in the Stanford Continuing Studies Creative Writing program, she wrote her first novel “The Badass Widows” to combat the reality that “society underestimates older women and we underestimate ourselves.” The Bay Area-set book is about a former FBI agent and three other widows who form a secret society of crime fighters. They begin with minor capers but before long, they’re committing bold acts and are hooked on the “rush” of secret justice. Featuring unconventional characters, irreverent humor and the power of female friendship, “The Bad Widows” is described by Suzy Vitello, author of “Bitterroot” and “Griftopia,” as “a “propulsive romp delivered with warmth and humor.”
“Where the Girls Were, A Novel” by Kate Schatz
Dial Press, 368 pages, $29, March 3, 2026
Alameda-based feminist writer Kate Schatz turns her sharp eye to historical fiction with “Where the Girls Were,” which revisits a time when the sexual revolution clashed with society’s expectations and reproductive rights. The novel follows Elizabeth “Baker” Phillips, an accomplished high school senior headed to Stanford University in 1968 until an unexpected pregnancy gets in the way. She’s sent to a home for unwed mothers, trapped with other young women who grapple with their fears and futures. Catherine Newman, author of “Sandwich” and “Wreck,” calls the novel “thrilling, propulsive, breathless, and brimming with a deep understanding of longing and frailty…of humanness.” Schatz also is the author of “Do the Work: An Anti-Racist Activity Book,” with W. Kamau Bell, and the “Rad Women” series including “Rad American Women A-Z,” “Rad Women Worldwide” and “Rad American History A-Z.”
“Armaveni: A Graphic Novel of the Armenian Genocide” by Nadine Takvorian
Levine Querido, 344 pages, $24.99, March 10, 2026
Bay area author and illustrator Nadine Takvorian’s autobiographical young adult title “Armaveni: A Graphic Novel of the Armenian Genocide” explores Armenian identity, history and the battle against cultural erasure. Takvorian is a first-generation Armenian American whose family came from Istanbul, Turkey. Her book tells the story of Nadine, who strives to uncover her family’s history in the Armenian genocide despite their reluctance to discuss it. Foreword calls the book “devastating and important…. Memorializing the Armenian genocide alongside its searing tale of family wounds and survival.” Takvorian, who received the Society of Illustrators West, Silver Award in the children’s market category, is a graduate of the former California College of the Arts. She appears at 6 p.m. March 10 at Green Apple Books, 506 Clement St., San Francisco.
“Fifty Mothers: Poems” by Preeti Vangani
River River Books, 104 pages, $20, Feb. 24, 2026
University of San Francisco creative writing professor Preeti Vangani, who was born and raised in Mumbai, continues to explore grief and joy in her second poetry collection. “Fifty Mothers” reflects the pain and pleasures of motherhood in the speaker’s home in India and shines a light on family dynamics and gender roles with lyrical lines. Vangini, a winner of the Foley Poetry Prize, has published her work in the Threepenny Review, The Slowdown podcast and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series. Her first collection, 2019’s “Mother Tongue Apologize,” won the Ralph Angel Poetry Prize. Her story “Work Wives” won the 2021 PEN Robert J. Dau Debut Short Story Prize; and other stories have appeared in The Rumpus, Georgia Review and Minor Literatures. Vangani is a two-time recipient of a San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist grant, through which she facilitates writing workshops.
“Tell Me Where It Hurts: The New Science of Pain and How to Heal” by Rachel Zoffness
Grand Central, 336 pages, $30, March 24, 2026
Pain psychologist Rachel Zoffness, assistant clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco medical school, instructs readers and patients that pain is influenced not just by injuries, but also by emotions, expectations and environment–meaning that humans have more control over pain than previously thought. Zoffness uses both science and true-life stories to discuss how pain is treatable beyond typically prescribed medicines. By reconnecting physical with emotional pain, Zoffness instructs that doctors must treat the whole patient, not a single body part. Dr. William W. Li, author of “Eat to Beat Disease,” says of “Tell Me Where It Hurts”: “In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Zoffness dismantles outdated myths about pain and brilliantly reveals new ways to overcome it. Filled with the latest science, this is a must-read for both doctors and patients, and frankly anyone grappling with chronic pain.” A lecturer at Stanford University, Zoffness also wrote The Pain Management Workbook” and “The Chronic Pain and Illness Workbook for Teens.”