Frances Dinkelspiel did a nice write-up for Berkeley Inside about the 8th Annual Author’s Dinner at the Berkeley Public Library on Saturday. The food and wine were over-the-top wonderful (especially the homemade banana ice cream), and I had a great time catching up with Rabih Alameddine (The Hakawati), Daniel Mason (The Piano Tuner), Alan Black (Kick the Balls), Frances (Towers of Gold), and lots of other writer folks I tend to only see when I come out of hiding for literary events. I had a chance to chat with Tom Leonard, head of the UC Berkeley Libraries, about e-books, the Google Books settlement, and digitization in general. Many thanks to the Berkelely Library Foundation, and to Linda Schacht Gage, whom I met last year at a wonderful UC Berkeley Library Story Hour featuring Michael Ondaatje, Michael Chabon, and Robert Haas. I’ll be appearing at Story Hour on April 8.

Also on Saturday, I participated in the Berkeley/Oakland Festival of Women Authors at the Berkeley Marina. More than 250 women attended the event. They were a terrific audience, and the ticket sales went to benefit the programs of the YWCA. The other authors were Bonnie Tsui, Vivienne Sonowski, and Dana Whitaker.