On Saturday night, the Berkeley Public Library Foundation hosted its 14th annual Authors’ Dinner, a fundraiser which this year will help remodel parts of the Central Library, especially for the use of teenagers.
Hundreds of guests mingled with 32 local authors who were honored at the event, which is always one of Berkeley’s most popular social occasions. Attendees proudly recite their library card numbers and bid for silent auction items to raise money for their favorite local public institution.
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The honorary chair was Frances Dinkelspiel, co-founder of Berkeleyside, whose bestselling book, Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California, was published in 2015.
The evening was hosted by Linda Schacht Gage and emceed by Bill Schechner, and the dinner, with a Southern-style menu overseen by Brown Sugar Kitchen owner-chef Tanya Holland, was served among the stacks in the Central Library.
The dinner showcased the recent work of local authors including Rabih Alameddine, Annie Barrows, Khalil Bendib, Kenneth Brower, Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada, Mary Ellen Hannibal, Saru Jayaraman, T. Geronimo Johnson, Carol Pogash, Peter Richardson, and Victoria Sweet (see full list).
Enjoy photographs of the event, taken by Richard Friedman.
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