Some of the speakers confirmed for this year’s Berkeleyside Uncharted Ideas Festival, Oct. 5-6. See full line-up.

Berkeleyside’s Uncharted Ideas Festival, to be held Oct. 5-6 at the Berkeley Rep and Freight & Salvage in downtown Berkeley, might be the Bay Area’s best-kept secret. Over two days, the festival will offer an extraordinarily diverse range of thought-provoking conversations, as well as music, dance, great food and drink.

If you like what happens at TED, Pop-Up Magazine, City Arts & Lectures or the Commonwealth Club, you’ll love Uncharted.

It’s definitely not an industry conference. Berkeleyside’s Ideas Festival is a chance to dig into key local, national and global issues, to build connections and initiatives with fellow festivalgoers, and to have that all-too-rare escape from our daily tunnel vision. (That said, you probably can convince your boss it’s a good use of your time.)

Early-bird ticket discounts end Tuesday, Sept. 4

For a taste of this year’s program, here are five conversations happening at Berkeleyside’s festival that you won’t want to miss. If you want to come for one day but can’t yet decide which one, don’t worry. We’re always happy to swap for you. Visit BerkeleyIdeas.com to see all the speakers and to buy tickets.


A courageous 18-year-old tackles gun violence

Eva Maria Lewis, 18, activist, artist, co-founder of Youth for Black Lives, talks gun violence with Kate Schatz, author of bestseller Rad American Women A-Z

The rent (and house prices) are too damn high

State Senator Scott Wiener explains to TechCrunch writer and partner at Initialized Capital Kim-Mai Cutler how he sees solving the housing crisis.

Black feminism can change the world

Brittney Cooper, author of Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, talks to San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr.

Drama in an age of drama

Playwright, screenwriter and author Ayad Akhtar (American Dervish, Disgraced) in conversation with writer David Mura (Turning Japanese).

How to be a rebel conservative

Conservative columnist Mona Charen was shouted down at CPAC for doing some truth telling about today’s Republican leaders. She’ll talk about it with Berkeleyside co-founder and author Frances Dinkelspiel.


There’s plenty more, including live music, dance and a Friday night party with excellent food and drink. Check it out on BerkeleyIdeas.com.

Uncharted is made possible thanks to our partners: Cloudera; Levi Strauss Foundation; Wareham Development; DeYoe Wealth Management; Jetton Construction; North Berkeley Investment Partners; Panoramic Interests; Grosvenor Americas; The Grubb Company; Berkeley Hills Realty; 2000 Center Street LLC; Avi Nevo; BAMPFA; Downtown Berkeley Association; Hotel Shattuck Plaza; BARTable; Berkeley Path Wanderers; Cupcakin Bake Shop; Edible Excursions; Left Margin Lit; OCHO Candy; APS Wine & Spirits; Vignette Wine Country Soda.

Lance Knobel (Berkeleyside co-founder) has been a journalist for nearly 40 years. Much of his career was in business journalism. He was editor-in-chief of both Management Today, the leading business magazine...