City Arts & Lectures

NOTE: This is a PODCAST-ONLY program - the titles and contents of Adam Mansbach's books have NOT been bleeped!  
Adam Mansbach is a novelist, screenwriter, humorist, and cultural critic, as well as the author of the “children’s books” Go the F*** to Sleep and You Have to F***king Eat, and F***, Now There Are Two of You. His other books include Rage Is Back, The End of the Jews, and Angry Black White Boy.  His latest book - written as the child who did not want to go to sleep prepares to leave the nest - is Go the F*** to College.
Sociopolitical comedian  W. Kamau Bell is the host and executive producer of the CNN docu-series United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell and author of The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6′ 4″, African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama’s Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian.

On May 12, 2026, the two came to the studios of KQED to discuss Mansbach's latest book - Go the F*** to College - written as his eldest child prepares to leave the nest.

This week, a conversation about children’s literature with author Mac Barnett and illustrator Jon Klassen. Barnett is National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and the author of numerous children's books including “Sam and Dave Dig a Hole” and “Extra Yarn”.
Jon Klassen worked on films like Kung Fu Panda and Coraline, before he decided to create books, like the best-selling Hat Trilogy. Klassen and Barnet are collaborators on the animated series Shape Island and the popular substack newsletter “Looking at Picture Books.” 
On May 14, 2026, the two creatives came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater to talk about the world of children’s literature. It’s the subject of Barnett’s newest book – this time, for adults. It’s called Make Believe: Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children.

This week, our guest is Jeff Hiller. The veteran comedian and actor is hardly a newcomer, but it’s his recent role on the television series Somebody Somewhere that has finally brought him widespread recognition. In 2025, he earned an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for that performance. Hiller talks about the journey in his memoir, Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success.  Fans have appreciated his captivating and heartfelt humor for decades at stand-up shows; in theater performances including Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Tempest, and most recently the 2025 revival of Urinetown; and on television series like 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Community.
On May 8, 2026, Hiller came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk to Poulomi Saha about comedy, friendship, and success.  Saha is an English professor and the Co-Director of the Program in Critical Theory at UC Berkeley.  The evening was co-presented with San Francisco Public Library and a supporting non-profit, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Demis Hassabis is an artificial intelligence researcher, scientist, and entrepreneur.  In 2010, he co-founded DeepMind, an AI research lab which is now part of Google. In 2024, Hassabis won a Nobel Prize for using AI to predict the 3D structure of proteins, critical for disease understanding and drug discovery.  He was also awarded a knighthood that year by King Charles III.
On April 20, 2026, Sir Demis Hassabis came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with author Sebastian Mallaby, who recently published a book about Hassabis’s work, The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence.  The two were interviewed on stage by journalist Emily Chang.

Rabbi Sharon Brous is a leading voice at the intersection of faith and justice in America. She is the founding and senior rabbi of IKAR, a trail-blazing Jewish community based in Los Angeles.  Brous’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post.  Her new book is The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend our Broken Hearts and World. 
On April 23, 2026, Sharon Brous came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for an on-stage conversation with john a. powell, another scholar helping forge connections across political, spiritual, and cultural differences.  Powell is the Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute and a Professor of Law and Professor of African American Studies and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. His most recent book is The Power of Bridging: How to Build a World Where We All Belong.