Whether you’re looking for unputdownable fiction, intimate memoir, luminous poetry, or insightful perspective on our city and society, you can find it within the bumper crop of books published by Oakland authors in 2023. Here’s a list, organized alphabetically by author. Double down on your support of our local arts community by buying these from your neighborhood indie bookstore!
Note: This list is limited to first editions of books released in 2023 by traditional publishers, not hybrid or self-published works. If we missed your book, email Oaklandside contributor Ilana DeBare at ilanadebare@gmail.com and we’ll add you to the list.
The Joy of Cannabis by Melanie Abrams (Oakland) and Larry Smith (Sourcebooks; non-fiction)
A sophisticated and humorous cannabis book to enhance your life through the science and magic of weed. Charts, fun facts, essays, and 75 curated activities to promote creativity, boost productivity, and more.
Deep Oakland: How Geology Shaped a City by Andrew Alden (Heyday Books; non-fiction)
A scientist excavates the ancient story of Oakland’s geologic underbelly and reveals how its silt, soil, and subterranean sinews are intimately entwined with its human history—and future.
You’ve Been Served by Kristen Alicia (Entangled/Amara; novel)
A California chef throws everything away to go to law school but finds herself tragically unprepared. Then there’s her annoyingly cute neighbor. Off campus, he’s incredible—kissable, even. In class, he is one thousand percent the obnoxious kiss-ass.
The First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris (Harper Collins/Quill Tree Books; children)
Geared to grades 3 through 7, this humorous graphic novel follows the First Cat in Space as he and the Moon Queen try to find an antidote to the soup that poisoned her. Second book in a series.
Twenty Questions by Mac Barnett and Christian Robinson (Candlewick Press; picture book)
Not all questions have answers. Some have more than one answer, while others have endless answers. This spare yet expansive narrative is a quirky, wandering exploration of where the best questions lead—to stories.
Prescribed Burn by Sara Biel (Finishing Line Press; poetry)
This debut poetry collection traces the complicated nature of love and pain. It is a close exploration of the relational landscapes between parents and children, friends and lovers, even the self and society.
Rintaro: Japanese Food from an Izakaya in California by Sylvan Mishima Brackett (Hardie Grant; cookbook)
The chef/owner of Rintaro in San Francisco’s Mission District translates the experience of a Tokyo izakaya to the home kitchen. Alice Waters said this “might be the most beautiful cookbook I have ever seen.”
Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig (Bloomsbury; novel)
Historic novel about the legendary 19th century Chinese pirate queen Shek Yeung, her fight to save her fleet from the forces allied against them, and the dangerous price of power.
Monica by Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics; graphic novel)
This genre-bending graphic novel from the author of Ghost World tells the life story of its title character with surreal twists and chapters reflecting classic comic genres such as war, romance, and horror.
Shaken Loose by Ilana DeBare (Hypatia Press; novel)
A 29-year-old Bay Area college dropout dies and finds herself in an unjust and unraveling Christian Hell. Her quest to escape raises provocative questions about God and justice.
Fire in the Canyon by Daniel Gumbiner (Penguin Random House, novel)
A California grape grower and his family are displaced and transformed by wildfire in this intimate look at people who are already living through the climate crisis.
Hold Off the Night by Teresa Burns Gunther (Truth Serum Press, short stories)
Twelve stories that explore the difficulties of life inherent in families and relationships, complicated by class and faith, fear and loyalty, and longings that resonate with the broader human experience.
Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris (Harper One; essays)
The NPR cultural reporter mines her ’90s childhood for tropes—such as the “Black friend” trope found everywhere from Mark Twain to the Spice Girls—that shaped her, other millennials, and our society generally.
Winter Stranger by Jackson Holbert (Milkweed Editions; poetry)
Winner of the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, Winter Stranger is a solemn record of addiction and the divided affections we hold for the landscapes that shape us.
Deep Care: The Radical Activists Who Provided Abortions, Defied the Law, and Fought to Keep Clinics Open by Angela Hume (AK Press, non-fiction)
A history of radical feminist networks that acted outside the law to defend abortion, Deep Care focuses on activists and health workers associated with the Women’s Choice Clinic in Oakland from the early 1970s until 2010.
The Deserts of California: A California Field Atlas by Obi Kaufmann (Heyday Books)
Featuring over 400 watercolors, this field atlas blends science and art to show the beauty and jeopardy of California’s sun-scorched Sonora, Mojave, Colorado, and Great Basin deserts and their micro-ecosystems, plants, and wildlife.
I Would Meet You Anywhere by Susan Kiyo Ito (Mad Creek Books; memoir)
Growing up with adoptive nisei parents, Susan Kiyo Ito knew only that her birth mother was Japanese American and her father white. Finding her birth mother in her early twenties was only the beginning of a decades-long search for answers, history, and identity.
Closing the Equity Gap: Creating Wealth and Fostering Justice in Startup Investing by Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor (Harper Business; non-fiction)
The VCs behind Kapor Capital—known for investing in startups that help close the opportunity gap for communities of color and low-income communities—offer a win-win road map for creating wealth and addressing inequality.
What You Don’t Know Will Make a Whole New World by Dorothy Lazard (Heyday Books; memoir)
Celebrated librarian and public historian Dorothy Lazard explores her personal experiences growing up in the Bay Area of the ’60s and ’70s, including the Summer of Love, the flourishing of the Black Arts Movement, and the redevelopment of Oakland.
Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton, non-fiction)
The behind-the-scenes story of Sam Bankman-Fried, the world’s youngest billionaire and cryptocurrency’s Gatsby, who fell from the peaks of the business world into indictment for fraud and money laundering.
All the Right Notes by Dominic Lim (Forever; novel)
In this joyous gay rom-com, sparks fly when a piano genius and his ex—a Hollywood heartthrob—are thrown together for a charity performance of solos, heartfelt duets, and a show-stopping finale.
Ephemera: A Memoir by Briana Loewinsohn (Fantagraphics; graphic novel)
Poetic and dreamlike memoir about a daughter trying to relate to a parent who struggles with mental illness. The story drifts between a grown woman, her early memories as a child, and the gossamer existence of her mother.
Dagny by Matt Luedke (Nat 1 Publishing; novella)
In this fantasy novella set in Scandinavia, Dagny sets out to recover her family’s reindeer stolen by a troll. She’s relying on elven magic but ultimately must confront the wild spirit inside herself.
I Am Minor by Ryan Nakano (Black Lawrence Press; poetry)
Formally inventive poems (one is a Venn diagram!) that started as a film critique and developed into a reflection on how Hollywood and other systems represent us and tell our stories.
Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell (Random House; non-fiction)
Why don’t we ever have enough time? Odell examines different ways to experience time—inspired by pre-industrial cultures, ecological cues, and geological timescales—that can bring us a more humane way of living.
Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better by Jennifer Pahlka (Holt; non-fiction)
A bold call to reexamine how our government operates―and sometimes fails to operate ―from President Obama’s former deputy chief technology officer and the founder of Code for America.
Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam by Thien Pham (First Second; young adult graphic memoir)
Thien’s first memory was the sweetness of watermelon and the saltiness of fish—the foods he ate while adrift at sea as his family fled Vietnam. A moving graphic memoir about a Vietnamese immigrant boy’s search for belonging in America.
The Slave Who Loved Caviar by Ishmael Reed (Archway Editions; play)
Debuting at the Theatre for the New City in New York in 2021-22, this unsparing, deeply researched play examines the fraught relationship between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson (Oakland), Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards (Liveright; non-fiction)
A behind-the-scenes history of how Marvel Entertainment, a moribund toymaker, became the dominant player in Hollywood and global pop culture over the past two decades.
Women and Water: Stories of Adventure, Self-Discovery, and Connection in and on the Water by Noel Russel (Oakland), Gale Straub, and Hailey Hirst (Chronicle Books; photos and essays)
A celebration of women who love nature, adventure, and water sports. This collection combines photography and narratives from women who swim, surf, kayak, study glaciers, and more.
Yenebi’s Drive to School by Sendy Santamaria (Chronicle Books; picture book)
In a sunny voice in a bright, friendly palette, debut author-illustrator Sendy Santamaria tells the story of one girl’s commute—a commute Sendy herself made growing up as an American citizen living in Mexico.
In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life by Amy Schneider (Avid Reader Press; memoir)
An inspirational and bold memoir from the most successful woman ever to compete on Jeopardy!—and an exploration of what it means to ask questions of the world and of yourself.
Oldest San Francisco by Alec Scott (Reedy Press; non-fiction)
From Alcatraz and the Tadich Grill to Gump’s department store and Portland Square in Chinatown, Oldest San Francisco tells the stories of the longtime institutions that have made San Francisco distinctive.
Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater (FS&G; young adult)
The exposure of a racist social media account at Albany High School in 2017 changed everything for students and their community, raising the question: What does it mean to be held accountable for harm that takes place behind a screen?
Ghosts and Oceans by Jan Steckel (Zeitgeist Press; short stories)
With lushly musical style, these magical realist stories explore fluid realms between rumor and myth. A woman becomes the color of a mango, an angel makes a hurried appearance at the hour of death, and more.
The Bridge on Beer River by Terry Tierney (Unsolicited Press, short stories)
Short stories centered on Curt, an ex-Marine struggling to find himself in a Reagan-era rust belt city. Publishers Weekly called it “a tapestry that expresses vivid yearning and desperation.”
The Siren, the Song, and the Spy by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Candlewick Press; young adult)
A diverse resistance force fights to topple an empire in this pirate fantasy that addresses themes of freedom, identity, and decolonization. A companion to her earlier novel, The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea.
The In-Between by Katie van Heidrich (Aladdin; middle grade)
This middle-grade memoir in verse with “stellar writing [and] perfect pacing” (Kirkus Reviews) chronicles a young girl and her family who must start over after losing their home.
The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-up in Oakland by Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham (Atria; non-fiction)
A critical look at the systematic corruption and brutality within the Oakland Police Department, and the more than two-decades-long saga of attempted reforms and explosive scandals.
Forget I Told You This by Hilary Zaid (Nebraska Press; novel)
A queer artist in love with old-fashioned calligraphy confronts the shadowy world of tech giants, Big Data, and the violation of personal privacy in this futuristic literary thriller set in Oakland.
